Please Pray

Please pray for the Kissinger/Parker families. Flip Kissinger, a Raleigh firefighter, was in a horrible car/bus accident yesterday morning and has critical injuries. We have been friends with Flip's in-laws for years and I can't imagine how difficult this must be on them all. Flip and his wife have 2 little girls. Please pray for healing for Flip, and strength for the family.

You can read the whole story here.

Still Here. . . .

I haven't posted in over a week and I know that's a little unusual for me. I seem to be in a blog funk. There's a lot going on but I have no motivation to blog about it. Hopefully, I'll get it together in the next few days!

Thankful

I have been so blessed this year as always. We went to VA for a few days to visit my family for Thanksgving. It was thankfully, a fairly drama-free holiday and it was great to catch up with family and close friends. My parents hosted about 30 people and Ava enjoyed soaking up all the attention from everyone.
Mimi has all kinds of cool toys and fun things to do that Ava always gets a little spoiled on her trips to VA. I guess that's what grandparents are for!

We're Having a . . . . . .

GIRL!

Obviously, we ended up finding out and we're so excited to welcome another little girl into our family! The ultrasound technician whispered into Ava's ear and she proudly announced to us, "It's a baby sister"! What a special moment.

I'm happy to report that Baby Girl Stewart looks perfectly healthy! No signs of a birth defect what-so-ever, and although she's a little on the small side, she's thriving and looks great! I can't wait to see her precious little face and kiss her sweet cheeks!

Great Fall Day

This morning Ava and I went to Caribou's and then returned home to help Matt with raking the leaves. We are the only people on our cul-de-sac who have big trees in our yard and it's so hard to keep the grass alive during the Fall because all the leaves keep falling on it. So, just about every week, we end up raking or blowing all the leaves. Ava enjoys helping and playing in the leaves. The bubble blowing pics below were when we were taking a break.
After a great family day, we spent this evening hanging out with our sweet friends the Kilcoins, Goodyears, and the Bouldins. What a perfect day!

To Know or Not to Know. . . . .

Well, that seems to be the big question around here lately.

We have my 18 week ultrasound scheduled for Monday and that is when we will get a really good look at Baby Stewart's organs. There is a chance for complication due to the meds that I have to take to keep my immune system strong, but we are trusting God that all is well and that Baby Stewart is healthy and thriving. We also will have the option to find out the gender at that time as well. I have really wanted to wait and be surprised with this baby. We found out with Ava, but the second time around I feel more at ease and not in such a rush to have everything perfect before the baby arrives. Ava's nursery sat empty for 4 1/2 months while we kept her downstairs in a cradle in our room. I figure if it is a boy, we should still have plenty of time to decorate a boy themed nursery for him after he arrives.

Which leads me to answer the question that I get asked a lot lately. What gender do we think this baby is? I actually took an Intelligender pee test from the drugstore several weeks ago just for fun and it said "boy". This test claims to be 90% accurate but I've read several message boards that have said it's actually only about 70% accurate. Well, 70% isn't really impressive when you know you have a 50% chance of getting it right either way! So, I knew I was only taking the test for fun and wouldn't rely on the results AT ALL.
I've had an overwhelming, dare I call it "Mother's Intuition", that we are having another girl. I knew immediately when I was pregnant with Ava that she was a girl, and I've had the same feeling with this one.
I've doubted my intuition a few times because all the "old wives tales" seem to point to boy, this baby is CLEARLY at lot more active than Ava was, and in all my dreams this child is a boy.
We would LOVE to have a little boy and will be so excited either way, I just really feel like it's another girl and I'm sticking to it until I see a penis.
To wrap it all up, we still haven't decided if we are going to find out or wait. Matt REALLY wants to know so it's a battle of the wills at this point. HA! I'll let you know on Monday!

Quick Weekend

This past weekend flew by so fast! Matt had another entire weekend off so it was so nice to have him home.

Saturday morning Ava and I went out for our traditional Saturday Breakfast at Caribou Coffee. We always go there to get out of the house so that Matt can sleep in a little and we always order the same thing. Hot Chocolate and a slice of banana bread. It's such a nice Mommy/Daughter time together and Ava actually sits still long enough to let me enjoy it. We went to Marshalls/Home Goods after breakfast and I got a couple of things to put under the tree for Christmas.

Saturday evening, we got a sitter and Matt and I went to a friend's wedding. John Scott and Ashley Maddox are such a sweet couple and we loved being a part of their special day. It was a gorgeous wedding and we were able to catch up with some good friends while we were all there without our children! I snagged this pic of the happy couple from Betsy's blog.

Sunday we went to Sunday School and then skipped church to go to the Panthers Game. Matt firm has a box, which is always a really nice way to watch the game. It's catered, so we just ate and enjoyed the game with some of his coworkers/clients.

The weather this weekend was perfect. Mid 70's and sunny all weekend. It didn't really feel like Fall, but it was a nice change from all the rain that we have been having lately!