Bloggy Giveaway Carnival!

OK, I love these Bloggy Giveaways, but I've never been brave enough to do one of the giveaways. I'm just not the most online savvy person :) But I came up with a good reason to offer a giveaway this time around. We love BOZ the Bear over here and we are going to giveaway two never opened DVDs. To learn more about BOZ please goto: www.bozthebear.com

Its a great series of DVDs for the 2-6 year olds, although all my kids enjoy them :)
And we need help playing the baby name game ... how fun is that?


So to enter:

1. Leave a comment here at this post and help us with a the "baby name game" We know we are expecting a baby girl and we are certain we will be using the name Mary. Just not sure if it will be her first name or middle name. So please leave me a suggestion for names that go good with Mary.

2. A winner will be chosen using some fair, objective method (Isn’t there a website I can use?) at the end of the Superbowl on Sunday, February 3, 2008.

3. Winner will be contacted via email, so be sure you leave your email address either in your profile or on the comment itself. In the event that some one gives the wrong email address, another winner will be selected within 3 days.

4. Contest is open to bloggers and non-bloggers alike, but to U.S. residents only.

And be sure to check out other giveaways at the Bloggy Giveaway Carnival (just click on the button above)

Wordless Wednesday - the view from bed rest

Here is what I Have been looking at most of the day:
The end of my bed, the closet, a TV table with the kids homeschool books piled on it, my dresser with our TV on top (playing movies for Z. and O.) And of course my little gift of encouragement from my dear friend, ML.

Friday's Ultrasound

Quick explination about these pictures: top one is full baby profile, with head toward bottom left and butt and legs toward top right. She is quite a wiggle worm, so not the clearest of ultrasounds. The second photo is of the area were you can tell is it a boy or is it a girl.

We took all 4 kids and went to our 19 week ultrasound on Friday. The Dr. doing my ultrasound was great about the full room. He walked in, looked a little surprised and said with a big smile "Great! a party!"

Up until this ultrasound I'd been saying I wanted to keep the gender a surprise, but the kids wanted to know so badly and something told me I should go ahead and find out. So at the very end of the ultrasound our Dr. says "last chance to find out..." I told him "go ahead ... tell us boy or girl". He was great about it and really tried to explain each part on the baby so the kids could get it. But it basically boiled down to, "if it were a boy we'd see a little boy part right here, but we don't, so you are getting a baby sister". It made it worth losing out on my surprise at the birth to see the look on my Rosebud's face when she heard that. It was shock for about 30 seconds and then just a huge grin and giggle. She has hoped for a sister each pregnancy, but as you know she has only gotten brothers up till now. Honestly, I am thrilled to just have a baby. Boy or girl does not matter to me one bit, but it was so much fun to see Rosebud's reaction. But as we are all giggling and smiling about it, O(our 5 year old) says "A girl baby?! That's my worst nightmare!!!" We assured him it was no nightmare and I know he'll love and cuddle on her just the same. It really was a fun day! And now I guess we can go shopping for pink :)

Bed Rest

Well, being on bed rest means I get to read and catch up on a lot of blogs. Yep I said bed rest already ... but hopefully just for this week. Here is the story of our crazy weekend:


I went in for a normal 18 week appointment on Friday morning and was so dehydrated that my OB sent my off to the hospital for IV fluids. Being dehydrated in pregnancy is not unusual for me, but this time it took 4 bags to get my levels back to normal. It seems I've been feeling sick for so long I did not really identify the signs of my own dehydration. Please pray that I won't do that again. I spent 9 1/2 hours at the hospital that day and my dad came and entertained our kids (hours at Underwater World and dinner and ice cream at my sister's house - kids never missed me). Allen was able to be at work since the kids were cared for. I finally arrived home around 10:30pm, to 3 sleeping kids and my dad and O.(our 5 year old) watching Star Wars in the living room. Owen tells me that Papa is his very best friend (I wonder why)

We all slept great till about 3:30 Sat. morning, I woke up and felt very odd, went to the bathroom to discover bright red blood. Very very scary, lots of tears and prayers. I continued to spot over the next few hours and called the on-call OB at my clinic who said I could wait and see what happens or come in for monitoring and ultrasound. We waited around for a bit, and my dad came back to get the kids, Allen called work and let them know he would not be there on time. When the bleeding seemed to get worse we went in. Praise the Lord they found baby's heartbeat right away! What a relief. Then we had an ultrasound that looked great! There were several theories on what caused the bleeding, but no way to know for sure. We were just thrilled that baby was fine and the bleeding seemed to be slowing and turning more brown than red. My dad had our kids for several hours and knowing that baby was ok Allen went to work and our good friend, Marcia, came to sit at the hospital with me. At some point in the afternoon my dad delivered our 4 kids to Marcia's house. So her dh got to enjoy the chaos of 10 kids in his house. Thank you, Mike!!!! I was finally sent home around 7:30 pm and told to stay on bed rest for a few days to be sure the bleeding did not reoccur and to resume my activies slowly.

Sunday went OK, I have 4 kids, so I can't admit to complete bed rest, but we tried. Over the evening my lower abdomen and left side started to ache. I tried to sleep, but by morning I again called my clinic. Since I was not bleeding they were not overly concerned but wanted me to come in for a few tests. Turns out there is blood in my urine and I have a bladder infection. So I am now on antibiotics and supposed to try stay on bed rest for a whole week. Please pray for me and the kids, this could be a LONG week. And please praise God that it does not seem to be anything more serious than my usual pregnancy nausea and a bladder infection.

Our Crazy Little Z-Man!

Who holds your hand?

Friday, January 11, 2008
Who Holds Your Hand?
I wonder who holds your hand? Who has a grasp to you during the trials and tough times that come with life?

David wrote this is Psalm 10:17
You hear, O Lord, the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry.

To read the whole story behind this touching picture please visit:

who-holds-your-hand - from the uncle's blog

confessions of a cf husband - the daddy's blog

whos-in-charge-here - from the grandpa's blog

How Great thou Art, from the Hospital

On our way home from a family lunch Sat. afternoon, we were in a minor car accident, no one really injured, just a bit jarred around and whiplash aches and pains. But to be on the safe side I called and talked to my OB office, they wanted me to go to the hospital for an ultrasound. They sent me up to L&D, hooked me up to baby monitors and all looked good, but we had to wait 4 1/2 hours for an available ultrasound. Baby and placenta look just fine. And I got 5 hours of quiet time in a hospital room (trying to find the positive there). I did bring a notebook and a few books to read with me. And at one point could not get the hymn "How Great Thou Art" out of my mind, so I sat there writing out the words to How Great Thou Art ... great words to meditate on, if you ever find yourself sitting in the hospital for hours on end.

Am pasting in here a video to Selah's version of How Great Thou Art, its just beautiful!




Seems like that Selah one only works for some people, so I'll add this one too:

Another Miracle

Our life continues as it has been, pregnant, exhausted and sick, but also elated, joyful and blessed! God is with us each day and I'm in awe of all he does. Someone shared a story of a miracle with me this week. True, it filled my eyes with tears, but also fills my heart with the joy of the Lord!


I'd like to share that story with you, its been followed and updated on several websites, please visit these websites often to see how you can pray for this family.

http://cfhusband.blogspot.com/

http://theaddyouthpastor.blogspot.com/

http://nagsheader.blogspot.com/