AVA @27 WEEKS

We are 11-12 weeks from meeting another sweet little girl! Had doctors appointment today and we scheduled all of my appointments until our Due Date :)

Ava (Belly) @ 22 weeks!

Well we are a little more than half way there! We are about 17 weeks from meeting Miss Ava.

The doc will probably be inducing 4-5 days early as she will be out of town on our actual due date. Ava could always decide to come early...but if she is like her Big Sis Emma she will stay in there as long as she can!

If you ask the Big Sis to say "Ava"...she simply replies "baby."

Here is a belly pic from my pregnancy with Emma @ around 24/25 weeks and then me with Ava @ 22 weeks! 

EMMA around 24/25 weeks

AVA at 22 weeks

Family Photos Sneak Peek (Emma age 19 months/Ava Age 19 weeks and growing)

It's A... GIRL!

Emma will be a BIG SIS to a LIL SIS :)

AVA CLAIRE DOTY

will be gracing us with her presence in March!!!

EMMA'S 18 MONTH CHECKUP

EMMA IS NOW 18 MONTHS!

(Last week technically)

We went for her check-up and her stats are:  31 inches tall and 21.8 pounds!

Here is the big girl waiting on the doc!

Baby Bump

Two weeks until we learn the gender of number two...that is providing he/she cooperates :)
Here is the belly 14 1/2 weeks in...

I really think this a little BOY in there---we shall see???

Big Sis PICS

BIG SIS EMMA

After a rough start to the year we are happy to report Emma will be a big sis on or around 3/18/2013. The kiddos will be almost exactly two years apart.

Can't wait to find out boy or girl. We think boy. We should know on October 4th if baby cooperates.

Here are some pics of the big sis in action!

Emma's Big News!

ENOUGH

Some days we just need to remind ourselves:

Miscarriages

Unfortunately, in February I had to join the club with so many other moms. The miscarriage club. This is a club that I hope you never have to join. But, after months of debating about posting about it...I have finally decided to. Maybe I will help someone in the process. I found out I was pregnant around Feb. the 4th. I was a little nervous because my little lady was only 11 months old at the time. But, then I got really excited! Then I got the call from the doctor that because of my numbers and levels I would likely miscarry. AND I did. But, then I kept having terrible abdominal pains and positive pregnancy tests. After a few weeks of pain we opted for surgery. I had a Diagnostic laparoscopy. 


Diagnostic laparoscopy is a procedure that allows a health care provider to look directly at the contents of a patient's abdomen or pelvis, including the fallopian tubes, ovaries, uterus, small bowel, large bowel, appendix, liver, and gallbladder.


We were then told we had to wait 3 months to "try" again. It all seemed to happen in an instant. One minute I was so happy picturing my little lady being a big sis and then just a few days later I felt more pain than I knew I was capable of feeling. I still struggle with hard days. I had a friend who was very supportive thru this whole thing and shared the following blog posts with me and they gave me a lot of peace to hear that someone else felt how I felt, and that I wasn't crazy! 


Here are the blog posts: http://www.brookemcglothlin.com/2012/05/when-radical-faith-goes-in-mourning/  &  http://www.brookemcglothlin.com/2012/05/when-the-power-of-prayer-seems-lost/


The thing she said that has resonated with me the most is that after my miscarriage I still believed God to be a good God. I just am having a hard time believing he wants good things for me.


Here's my favorite section of one of her blog posts: 

“So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house.” ~John 11:20

Mary, the one Jesus once praised for sitting at His feet. Mary, the one who neglected serving to share in the Master’s teaching. Mary, the one who opened her heart to Jesus so deeply, now sat unmoved by His presence.

Why?

I believe it was because she no longer trusted Him with her heart. Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible states that Mary “was so overwhelmed with sorrow that she did not care to stir, choosing rather to indulge her sorrow, and to sit poring upon her affliction, and saying, I do well to mourn.”

I Do Well to Mourn

Mary had lost heart. And while scripture doesn’t give us an inside look at exactly what she felt, it’s easy to deduce that she felt abandoned, alone, and angry with her Jesus. I felt each of those emotions in the wake of my miscarriage. I still believed that God was good, but I closed off the place of radical belief in His desire to be good to me. I quit dreaming. Quit hoping. And just sat still, basking in what goodness He had already given, refusing to dream that He might give it again.

I think the important thing for us to remember is that everyone deals with pain differently and we should never judge how another person deals with loss of any kind. I know I am going to come out stronger from this and be able to help others who have to suffer thru a miscarriage. Some days it is just hard to see the good in something so sad. I do know though that God is still Good and even if I never have another child...God is still good.

DISNEYLAND & CALIFORNIA PHOTOS

WE HAD A WONDERFUL VACATION GOING TO DISNEYLAND AND CALIFORNIA A FEW WEEKS AGO. HERE A LOT OF PHOTOS. IT STARTS WITH EMMA AT THE AIRPORT IN OKC--READY TO GET THE VACATION UNDERWAY!

SHE LOVED MEETING MICKEY AND MINNIE AND I WILL NEVER EVER FORGET HER FACE THAT DAY!!!