All Madelyn wants for her birthday

is her two front teeth! Just kidding. She really wants to get her ears pierced. Her new little lisp is pretty cute.

Changes for our family

JD and I are excited to announce to the blogging world that we are expecting Baby T number 4 to arrive around July 22. I'm 13 weeks pregnant and slowly coming out of the first trimester blahs. I think this pregnancy has been the worst as far as sickness; I never threw up, but I just felt lousy from about noon on. Over the last week, things have gotten better, and I usually just feel "off" after 5:00 or so. We went for our second appointment last Friday and were able to see some pretty cool pictures of the baby on ultrasound. Pierce and Isabel were with us, and while Isabel was largely unphased by the whole thing, Pierce was trying to figure out what was going on. He had some pretty memorable quotes, and he had us all, doctor included, in stitches for part of the ultrasound. We had a hard time convincing him that what he was seeing was actually a baby because this is what he was seeing:

So, the doctor turned on the 3D and 4D imaging, and he became more convinced.

He was concerned that the baby did not appear to be white. On the screen, the 3D images actually appear yellowish. I assured him that the baby would indeed be white. He also wanted to know if the baby was a boy or girl. When I told him it was too soon to tell, he explained that he thought it was a boy. I asked him why, and he said, "Because he has a really long penis." "Ummm...Pierce that's the umbilical cord."
"Oh, what's that?"

Madelyn was at school during our appointment, but she seems very excited to be a big sister once again. We feel very blessed for the healthy reports so far, and we are thankful that the Lord is, once again, blessing our family with new life. We can't wait to welcome the new baby to our family.

New look for Madelyn

While she looks less than enthused in this picture, Madelyn is pretty cute right now. She lost her left, top, front tooth and now appears slightly snaggle-toothed. She also got glasses. When she's in her "natural state" and not forcing a smile for a picture, the glasses make her look so grown up. She definitely needed them and has commented several times about how much better she can see.

A Small Taste of Winter

We had a surprise visit from the snow fairy yesterday. The forecast was for highs in the 40s and a chance of rain. Well, it never got out of the 30s and we had snow instead of rain. It was pretty to look at, and the kids had some fun, but otherwise it was worthless, as it forced us to cancel our MOPS meeting, and we didn't even get a 2 hour delay out of it this morning.

A Disney Christmas

My parents bought a house in the Orlando area, and we went to visit them for Christmas. We had a great time and the kids did great on the flights and while at the parks. We went to Disney World three days. We skipped Disney on Christmas day and just enjoyed church and a low key celebration. The kids were spoiled by Mom and Dad, of course, who are now working on getting plenty of toys at their new house. We were also able to see one of my oldest and dearest friends while we were there. She and her family live in Orlando, and our kids had a great time playing and we had a great time catching up on life.

We had great weather the entire time, and the kids went swimming when we first got there:




The following day we went to the Magic Kingdom. Isabel was soaking it all in:

Pierce and my mom riding Dumbo:
Both of the younger kids loved It's a Small World:


We all rode the carousel:
Pierce was always excited when we saw characters in the parks:
Cinderella's castle and Main Street, U.S.A. at night:



Woody and Jessie:
Pierce with Jake from Jake and the Neverland Pirates:We went to Epcot one night and Pierce faced his fear of Bruce from Finding Nemo:

Isabel was pretty unsure:
Christmas Day. I could not manage to get a picture of all the kids together, but I did get a good one of Pierce and Madelyn where they really look like they love each other:Isabel enjoyed opening her presents. Who doesn't get excited over hair bows and panties?



We went back to the Magic Kingdom after Christmas. The kids are in jail with Zurg from Toy Story II:Isabel and I rode the carousel seven times while the big kids rode the bigger rides:
On our final night at the parks, we went back to Hollywood Studios. JD took Madelyn to ride the Tower of Terror and we just walked around and looked at The Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights. I loved them so much that we went back after Madelyn was done, so she and JD could see them.



We had a great time. Thanks Mom and Dad for hosting!