Presenting baby Carly Jean....... yup it's a girl!!!

This beautiful baby was born on April 16, 2012 at 2:49 pm. Carly Jean weighs 7 lbs 10 oz and is 20 in long. It was so exciting to hear the Dr announce it's a girl. We are over the moon in love and can't wait to share our life with this precious girl.

Baby names

Forgot to share our names:

Carson John

Carly Jean

John was my dad's middle name and Carly Simon his favorite singer. Jean was Aaron's grandmother's name or at least that's what we called her Mama Jean.

32 weeks and nesting

Wow it has flown by so fast. With Ashley I have few belly pics. With the twins I was obsessed with taking a pic every week in front of our fireplace to see my expanding belly. Now I have I think 2 belly pics. I guess it's just different when your pregnant with #4. It's like been there done that ready for baby to be here. At least that's how I feel. We got the bassinet all set up this weekend. Yay baby has a place to sleep. I have a 3 drawer unit in my closet stocked full of new baby essentials: diapers, wipes, neutral color outfits. I did buy a boy footed pajamas and a girl footed pajamas. I'll bring both to the hospital and which ever one I don't use i'll donate to Cypress Calling. Next pack my bag. This should take all of 5 minutes.
Everyone at our house is doing good. Preston and Lily have started t ball. Preston played in the fall so he knows a little about the game. Lily is just happy to be out there with her pink bat and glove! Ashley has her permit and will be fully licensed in July. Wooot! I'm sure we will get her a little beater car so she can get a summer job. Her not working during the school year has worked out great because she has been on honor roll 2 times since school started. It's too hard to work and concentrate on school. She does babysit. She has 3 families that use her regularly. With rodeo she has 3 babysitting jobs this week. Helloooooo being gone for 6 hours and getting paid $10 an hour!!!
When the term nesting comes up wouldn't you think of cleaning out a cabinet or rearranging the fridge? Yea I did that the 2 previous pregnancies! This pregnancy we are doing some major renovations. A few weeks ago while Aaron was in Germany I had our painter come out and paint the 6 unpainted rooms in our house. Tomorrow I am having drapes installed. Aaron and I have gone back and forth for 2 years about the decor (or lack of) Neither of use has a decorating bone in our body. I mean even as far as hanging pictures where. It really is sad. Our houses sit looking unlived for years. Our last house we remodeled the bathroom and replaced floors only to move to Canada a short time later. So we had an interior designer come out and give us some advise. Her first piece of advise and probably the only thing we need to do is add drapes. I know it's so simple so why didn't we have her come out when we first moved in? Intimidation I guess. We were scared of the cost, the advise, the unknown. I wish we WOULD have had her come out the week we moved in but you live and learn. So we have drapes coming, matching pillows and seat covers. We are also finally approved by our homeowners association to add our patio and outdoor kitchen onto our house. Once again something we wanted to do but never did in our old house. We have been in this house 2 years and are glad we are finally doing it. The process has taken a long time to get started. We got the estimate back in August. Decided to go all in in January, submitted the paperwork to the HOA on January 23rd. SO seriously it seems like we have been working on it forever and for them to break ground this week or early next is going to be so awesome. I can't wait to sit on my patio with a fire and drink a glass of wine. So some major nesting going on and we are having a baby in the middle of all this chaos. It will be so worth it when it's all done.

Expert mom?

I surely think not. I often get asked questions about parenting a teen. I guess because my circle of friends all have school agers or preschoolers. The thought of having a teen absolutely scares the crap out of them. I am no expert but I have made my fair share of mistakes and definetly learned alot in the process. I received a piece of advice from my {wise} aunt Diana when Ashley was probably 15. It was right at the beginning of the troubles we HAD. (HAD, thank God) Aunt Diana said "pick your battles" At first I was like what the hell everything is a battle. That was her point. Everything shouldn't be a battle. What shoes to wear was not as big of a deal as homework. What color to dye your hair is not that big of a deal as coming home at curfew. I have used this piece of advice alot especially lately with the twins. If Preston says he's done at dinner that's fine but he is warned that there will be no more food until breakfast. He will not starve so cramming food down his throat is only going to lead to a huge battle and eventually end up with him either losing story time or gong straight to bed. Lily has started to want to pick out her own clothes and put on her own shoes, WITHOUT socks! This drives me crazy but really in the grand scheme of things who cares if she doesn't have on socks and her shoes are on the wrong feet. At least she put them on herself and is pretty proud that she accomplished that.
I am less controlling with the twins than I was with Ashley but there are still rules and consequences.

Happy New Year

Our 2012 started out with lots of excitement. We headed home from the annual beach house trip on Monday. As we got home I started to clear out the car from the cups and trash that usually collects on road trips. As Aaron was unpacking the car he sees me messing with the garbage disposal for some reason it stopped right after I turned it on. He opened the cabinet under the sink and starts messing with it. As he does that I stick my hand in and all I hear is the roar of the garbage disposal. He accidentlly hit the button not knowing I was still messing with it. Thankfully I hit the button very quickly and had my dish gloves on. My ocd side would never touch food inside a garbage disposal blah! At first I thought my finger was broke..... it seriously hurt so bad. I took the glove off to asses the damage. All I saw was blood and I got really dizzy. I laid down in the middle of the stairs and really felt like I was going to pass out. My finger swelled quickly so we decided to go to the emergency room. After a few hours, xrays and some pain reliever the Dr said it wasn't broken but bruised and that it would be in pain for a few weeks.
Today we just had a busy day making up for all the lazy days we've had the past few weeks. We have a long list of things that we need to get done this week since Aaron is off and the kids go back to school tomorrow. Today we started with getting my car worked on. We got the brakes changed, rear bearings replaced, all fluids flushed and a 100k mile tune up. We figure if we are going to keep it we might as well get these things done before it breaks. We also took Lily for her f/u to the allergy Dr. The Dr thinks she has eczema but started her on a new regimen of creams and we are to f/u in 2 weeks. If this new regimen doesn't work we will be referred to a dermatologist. Also today Ashley started drivers ed. In 4 short weeks she will have her driver's license. Look out Cypress there will be another teen driver on the road. Good thing she is nervous nelly when it comes to driving. Hopefully she will stay that way.
Tomorrow we are going home decor shopping. We have lived in our house for almost 2 years and we have yet to decorate. Aaron or I have no idea what to do when it comes to decorating. We have decided to enlarge a few family pictures onto canvas and get those framed. We got curtains for the kids rooms and a few wall hangings. We have also decided to add on to our back yard. We got a few estimates back in October and have finally (after lots of research) decided on a company and the design. I can not wait to enjoy our new porch and outdoor kitchen this spring. Stay tuned for lots of before and after pics.

This year is going to be about simplifying and taking it easy. I am researching preschools closer to home, minimizing my volunteer time, and only taking orders for a few weeks at a time. I will completely shut down Lily Lou Designs for 3-4 months once the new baby is born. I have really enjoyed the last few weeks with everyone home. We have spent lots of family time together. I hope this year is filled with simple pleasures.

A very Merry Christmas

I hope you and your family have a very Merry Christmas. We have learned in the past that less is more. We didn't go overboard with gifts, we didn't travel, we spent less and donated more. We are truly blessed. I tell myself that everyday. I don't know what I did to deserve the wonderful life I have. I am so grateful each and everyday. I hope you took some time to reflect on the blessings you have in your life this Christmas season.

Happy 17th Birthday Ashley

I know it's a little late but hey LATE is my middle name. We celebrated Ashley's 17th birthday on Saturday October 29th (her actual birthday) by taking her and 3 friends out to dinner to Taste of Texas. It's pretty much the best steak house aside from Ruth's Chris which is way too expensive for that many people. Myself, Aaron, my mom, Ashley and her friends had a wonderful time. I can't believe she is 17. She has so many plans for the future. She made honor roll the first 6 weeks of school. Which is amazing since she had a rough few years. She is doing so well though and really has her life on track. She is making plans to go to culinary school, although she doesn't know where yet. She is touring U of H in December but would love to go to Le Cordon Bleu in Austin. I personally would love for her to go to U of H but the decision is ultimately up to her. Her plan is to go to culinary school, get a job then go back to get a restaurant management degree. The great thing is she has a plan and has goals.

14 weeks

Yesterday I hit the 14 week mark. I have an appt Tuesday and I'm sure everything will be moving right along. This pregnancy is so different than my other 2. With Ashley I was 16 and well don't remember much from that far back. With the twins I was high risk and at the Dr all the time. It seems strange that I only go to the Dr every 4 weeks.
We have been a busy family lately. Preston is playing baseball with Aaron being his coach and me being team mom. My business is going extremely well. We had the twins farm birthday party last Saturday. With oh about 25 kids here at the house, family and friends. It was a great, chaotic time. Then the yearly tradition of going to the air show. Ashley will be celebrating her birthday this Saturday. We are taking her and 3 of her friends out to a fancy restaurant. Yesterday Ashley & Aaron went to buzzfest in the Woodlands and I took the twins to the pumpkin patch. It seems like as soon as the weather gets cool our schedule gets busy busy.

Exciting News!

Aaron and I decided in March that we would do the frozen embryo transfer pretty soon. I mean what were we waiting for the baby has been frozen for 4 years. (see our prior blog for IVF details) I started on BC pills in April and we were to do the transfer in May. That's when we got the news about my dad so we decided to postpone until fall, until after the kids went back to school, until daddy got better and until there wasn't so much stress. Well daddy didn't get better but he knew were going through with this and he told me it would work and that we would have a boy. I started back on BC pills in July and did the frozen embryo transfer on August 2nd. One little 5 day blast (google it for those have no clue about the infertility terminology)
The next part......... wait
wait wait........ wait 2 weeks before a pregnancy test at the Dr. Luckily I know someone on the inside ;) and she got me in 9 days past. I tested positive on day 9 and on day 13. I am officially pregnant. My due date is April 21,2012, 7 days after my brother's wedding :\ Hopefully i'll either have given birth by then or I will be HUGE!
August 31st- Ultrasound to hear heartbeat. Heartbeat has been heard, ready to share the news.

Summer is OVER!

I am happy and sad that summer is over. Happy because we might finally get some cooler weather in the next month. Happy because we will finally get back to a schedule and a routine. Maybe my house will remain clean for longer than 2.5 minutes.
Sad because tomorrow my daughter, my baby, my girl starts her junior year. Where did the time go. She is already talking about homecoming which will be in a few weeks. Next thing I know it will be her senior year. Time sure does fly by.

Q & A Wednesday

Follow up- These will be on Friday normally.
Jenn asked: What's one thing from your past you wish you would have never done/said? Describe the perfect date night with Aaron...your choices not his!

Answer- I try not to have regrets but I do wish I would have said/did alot of things with my dad and grandpa while they were alive. Now they are gone I often think of things I want to tell my dad but can't. I can't recall anything I wish I never said or did though.
Every date night we have is perfect because we are alone. I do love going to watch live music. I would love to go to Gruene, eat at the Gristmill and end the night dancing at Gruene Hall.

Ask your questions, i'll be back FRIDAY to aswer them. 2 questions per person please.

Q & A Wednesday {Thursday}

Well crap I forgot yesterday was Wednesday. We spent the morning and afternoon at the Blue Bell Creamery then went to the Blue Bell Aquatic center so by the time I got home I was exhausted and totally forgot about my promise to bring back Q & A Wednesday. Forgive me? SO here we are on Thursday......... ask away! Limited to 2 questions per person. Ask me anything seriously anything. I'll answer I'm not shy!