April Fools

BIG NEWS: Allie will be a BIG SISTER in April! Our official due date is April Fool's Day. We are very excited and so is Allie. She has requested a "real" baby since Christmas. She is so excited and would like a baby brother. I hope she is not disappointed if it's a girl! I am almost to the 12 week mark and I already feel like it's going by so fast. I'm not a big fan of the first trimester and I have been exhausted! Starting work at 8 weeks preggo was not easy. The first week I would come home and crash on the couch. Thank goodness Allie is so good and patient. Each week has gotten easier and I look forward to having more energy in the weeks to come. I only get sick at night time, which is better than getting sick at school. I was really sick with Allie and didn't like food. This time I'm only sick sometimes (am taking some meds to help) and want to eat all of the time. I never seem to get full! Plus, I'm already starting to show. That caught me a little off guard. I've always heard that you show quicker with the 2nd one, but I was not expecting it to happen.

Jarod and I feel so blessed to be able to raise another one of God's children. We have wanted to add to our family for the last year and we have patiently learned that it is all in God's timing. Please keep us in your prayers that I continue to have a healthy pregnancy. I've been so worried these first weeks after miscarrying last August. I know that God is in control and I've put everything in his hands.

*At some point I will get better at blogging again. I have lots of things to put on here!

Allie's 3 Year Pictures

We had Allie's pictures taken a few weeks ago at the Dallas Arboretum. It was beautiful and it was hot and we got there at 9:30! We used the same photographer that we used last year. Her name is LE and I just love her. She is so patient with Allie. Allie takes a while to warm up to new people. I had to bribe her with marshmallows! Hey whatever works, right? I think she did a wonderful job. I had a really hard time choosing my favorites to share. I put several on here and there are several more that were left off. Let me know your favorite!

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Classic Allie

We decided it was too hot outside and Allie needed to cool off in the fountains. She had a ball getting wet!

I think she kind of looks like the frog in this picture. Too funny!

Mystery Solved

We finally think we know what has caused me to feel badly the last couple of months! On Monday, I went to see a new GI doctor. The GI doctor(s) I saw in the hospital were not on my insurance plan and said that if I still felt the same that I needed to go back in. I should have gone in June, but I just couldn't make myself find a new doctor. I really thought I would feel better and everything would be just fine. I was pretty good for a week or so, but after we got back from our trip I have felt just awful!

When I talked to the doctor on Monday, I told him everything that went on while I was in the hospital. He said that it should not have taken me 2 days to "clean out" my system for a colonoscopy. When he mashed on my stomach I still had the same pain. He said that he needed to do an upper endoscopy to see what was going on in my stomach.

I went in for my endoscopy early yesterday morning. It was very quick. I think I was only asleep for 30 min. When we talked to the doctor he said I had some irritation in my stomach. He thinks that I had some kind of infection that attacked my body and it changed the bacteria in my body which was causing me to be bloated, feel nauseated, have constipation and upset stomach. This is also know as Gastritis (inflammation of the stomach lining). We are so thankful that it wasn't anything serious and that we finally have some answers. He has put me on two different antibiotics. One stops that bacteria from spreading and the other helps change the bacteria back. We are keeping our fingers crossed that this works. I will go back in a few weeks for a follow up to see how I am feeling.

Road Trip Part 2: Rockford, Illinois

We had a great time in Rockford. It was so good to see my cousins and my aunt and uncle. The drive up there from Omaha was about 7 hrs. Much better than 12! Allie of course was great in the car. All of the pictures I took were at the wedding reception. The reception was at a country club right on a beautiful golf course. We were able to snap some good shots before the rain came in.
Luke and Jill's wedding and reception were both beautiful. Karlie and Greer were both in the wedding and did such a nice job standing on the stage. Allie loved seeing Jill look like a princess. She thinks everyone in a fancy white dress is a princess and she called Luke her prince. Allie could not wait until it was time to dance. She did not eat her dinner very well and I asked her why and she said because she was ready to dance! My kind of girl. It was hard trying to get her to understand why she couldn't dance on the first dances (Luke/Jill's, mother/son, dad/daughter). Once the fast music came on she was out there! We had a few minor meltdowns anytime she needed to leave the dance floor. I tried to get her dancing on video, but it was too dark in there to see anything. She literally danced until it was time to leave. I'm not sure how she managed to dance so long! She loved dancing with me, her cousins, my cousins and perfect strangers!
There was lots of fun had by all and I'm so glad we made the trip up there. On our way back we split the trip up. We stayed in Springfield, Missouri on Sunday night and then got back home by Monday late afternoon. I think we were in the car traveling around 33 hrs.!
(Sorry for all of the pictures. I tried to put them into a slide show and couldn't get it to work and I had a hard time choosing!)

Princess Jill and Prince Luke Tenery (welcome to the family Jill)

The Tenery family: Josh, Kaitlin, Aunt Allene, Jill, Luke, Uncle Dennis, Katie Tenery Lipscomb, and Justin

The Siblings: Josh, Luke and Katie

The other Tenery Family

Kelly and Scott (they will be married 10 yrs. on July 17th!)

Poppy and Mimi with their grand kids

Me with my cousin Katie

I just love this picture of Annie!

My sweet girl dancing!

This was after breakfast on Sunday. All of the kids were exhausted!

Happy 4th of July

Happy 4th of July everyone! I hope everyone has a safe and fun 4th. We started our 4th of July with some fun crafts. We made hand print American flags, a cake (not shown) and stamped stars in paint. Allie also just had fun painting and decided to add a little color to her face. I found lots of wonderful ideas from the blog The Crafty Crow. I would have liked to have done more fun activities with Allie, but she has been sick most of the week. Now I have some good ideas for next year. Later this afternoon we are heading to over to our friends Anna and Karl for some yummy food and swimming!

Road Trip Part 1

A little over a week ago, my parents, Allie and I drove to Omaha, Nebraska. We left early on a Tuesday morning and made great time. It took us just under 12 hrs. to get there. Allie was a great traveler. That was her longest trip in the car and she was fantastic. She watched movies (thank you Kristen) and played with her toys. Of course she didn't fall asleep until the last 45 min. of the trip. For those of you who do not know, I grew up in Omaha. I lived there from the time I was 2 until I was 14. Going back brought back so many wonderful memories. It had been 8 years since I had been there. I loved taking Allie to see the house I grew up in and the school I went to. The only thing missing on this trip was Jarod. It was really hard being away from him for so long. While we were there we stayed with my parents best friends. On Wednesday, we met my brother and his family at the zoo in Omaha. If you ever make it to the midwest, make sure you check out the zoo in Omaha. It is fabulous! I wish that I could mix the San Diego zoo with the Omaha zoo. They are both wonderful and I love them for different reasons. Allie loved being with her cousins. It was so much fun having a vacation with my brother and his family.

The reason we were in Omaha was because my cousin Luke was getting married up in Rockford, Illinois so we all decided it would be fun to drive to Omaha first, spend a couple of days and then drive up to Rockford. Scott and Kelly got there before us and actually ended up leaving after we did b/c their car had broken down. What horrible timing for them. We headed up to Rockford on Thursday and I will post about that part of the trip later.

Annie just goes with the flow!

Sweet Cousins

This is a picture of us in the Rain Forest exhibit

The happy family: Scott, Karlie, Greer, Kelly and Annie

Allie loves Karlie so much and I was able to get several pictures of them together. So many good memories created on this trip!

My parents with their 4 grandchildren

This is a picture of Allie and I at a park in the neighborhood where I grew up. My elementary school is on the top of the hill.

My Little Betty Crocker

I've been a little MIA with the blog world lately. For some reason I've had a hard time making my way to the computer. We've been pretty busy since I've been done with work. Too keep ourselves entertained, Allie and I have enjoyed baking! She really enjoys helping me in the kitchen. We have made muffins, cinnamon rolls, Jell-O, chocolate chip cookies and fruit pizza (thanks Kristen for the suggestion). One of her favorite things to do is help me use the mixer. She also enjoys filling the muffin pans. I think her favorite part about making chocolate chip cookies was the chocolate chips. She loved those but she isn't the biggest fan of the cookie. I think she was deprived too long on some of the good stuff with her food allergy. The fruit pizza was yummy and she loved putting the fruit on by herself. It's probably not the prettiest fruit pizza you've ever seen, but it sure was yummy. I love making sweet memories with my girl!

My fruit pizza isn't round, but still tastes the same.

Look at my masterpiece!

Mixing the dry ingredients for the chocolate chip cookies.


The chocolate chips are the best part!

We attempted to make Jello-O Jigglers with her alphabet cookie cutters. They did not turn out but she had fun anyway.


LADIES AND GENTLEMAN, START YOUR ENGINES!!!

Jarod and I got tickets to the Indy Car races at the beginning of June. I have never been to the car races before. Texas Motor Speedway is HUGE! I've driven by it a few times, but once you are inside you realize how big it really is. Jarod and I went with a co-worker of his and her husband. I'm really not into racing, but it was pretty cool. They are driving so fast. I've included a clip down below. It was a lot of fun for the first hour or so, then I was ready to leave. In the 2nd picture, if you click on it to enlarge it, you will see Shaq. He told everyone to start their engines. Pretty cool. (sorry this has nothing to do with the title of my post!)

Shaq is in the center of the stage