With less than 6 weeks to go...

I've been stocking up on baby necessities and equipment. All the baby stuff had been purged from the house since this was an unexpected surprise. Let's see...

a beautiful bassinet found at a yard sale...check
a gently used infant car seat (in pink) bought from a friend...check
new-looking clothes from consignment shops and a generous friend...check
a hand-me-down baby bath tub...check
a borrowed infant seat...check
a hardly-used baby swing from a yard sale...check
a brand-new minivan that will actually hold FIVE car seats and/or boosters...CHECK!

Now, what have I forgotten?

A name for this sweet bundle-of-joy?

Well, as a matter of fact, she has one!

Our baby girl will be...



Ellen Amanda Woodall!

She is named after a great-grandmother on my dad's side (Ellen), and my mom (Amanda).


Now, I've got to start stocking up on diapers and wipes!

Pre-Halloween fun

Yesterday, Vivian had her 2-year-old preschool party. The kids were all so cute, but you know who was the cutest! :)


Vivian as a French poodle!


Over the weekend, Billy carved all of our pumpkins with the kids. Henry (aka "Messy Marvin") just loves this part. His clothes were just about dyed completely orange. It took a bit of Shout and OxyClean and a couple of washes to get it all out!


I've got to remember to take some pictures of the finished products! With so many jack-o-lanterns, it's a little hard to get to our front door!


We also went to a costume party for our FCC group a couple of weeks ago. I didn't get too many pictures; I think I was too busy taking kids to the bathroom or just keeping them from terrorizing the whole restaurant!

Preschool Field Trip

We went to Tate Farms again on Wednesday for the boys' preschool field trip. Vivian went along as well, even though her class didn't go. Since we had to be there before her school started, that was pretty much all I could do. But, she did great and had a blast!
The boys did great too. They are in different classes now, but their classes toured the farm together. They were so good about lining up with their respective teachers and not clinging to me or whining to me at all. It was nice not to have to watch them every second too. They are finally at the age where they don't just wander off! We went to this place on a crowded Saturday when the boys were 3, and we lost William for more than 30 minutes! That was a horrible feeling to have a missing child. He had wandered off when I literally turned around for 20 seconds, and made his way onto a hay ride! He was in the middle of a pumpkin patch when one of the staff found him!!







Rebecca has her field trip to Sci-Quest in a couple of weeks. I feel really bad that I am not going to be able to go on her first kindergarten field trip with her. They will be leaving the school before it is time to take the boys to preschool and returning after pick-up time, so I have no other choice there either. Vivian also doesn't have school that day. Oh, and I have a thyroid ultrasound that same day, that has been scheduled for a while. I feel like all I ever do is go to doctors' appointments (for the kids or myself)! I have a large thyroid nodule that was found back in spring of 2007. I have been followed by an endocrinologist who has been doing periodic ultrasounds and thyroid function tests. My first biopsy was fine, but he did another one about 6 months ago because it had grown a little, and that time they could not rule out cancer. So, this thing has to come out. But, of course, I've been pregnant for this same time period, so I'm guessing he'll want to have it taken out first of the year. I find all of this so ironic. All of those years of unexplained infertility, I'd always have my thyroid checked every so often (since that can be a cause), and it was always just fine. The second I get something wrong with my thyroid, BAM!, I'm pregnant! Life is always full of surprises.

Update on Rebecca

The tests that were run on Rebecca last week are negative. These were more tests to determine if she has some type of metabolic disorder/inborn error of metabolism. This is certainly good news! I feel like we have at least ruled that out. It's still frustrating not having a diagnosis, but the more serious diagnoses that are ruled out, the better! We'll go back to the neurologist next month to see where we go from here. We have been thinking that Rebecca's cognitive and developmental delays are related to these episodes that she has been experiencing, but I am now thinking that maybe they are two separate issues. That would be a blessing, that she isn't experiencing on-going brain damage from whatever this is. (That would have been the case if she had been found to have a metabolic disorder.) Also, although she is not yet performing on a kindergarten level at school, she continues to make slow and steady progress. She gains more confidence in herself every day and we are so proud of her! Her behavior at school seems to be improving as well. I think she had been acting out at times just due to frustration. She has such a difficult time communicating and expressing her feelings, but her language continues to build on itself, so I know much improvement is to come!

Our baby girl

I had a 4-D ultrasound yesterday. It was so cool to see her facial features and see her moving in real time. She was smacking her lips and stretching her arms over her face. She pretty much had her hands in the way the whole time so the doctor was never able to get a good picture of her entire face. She has chubby cheeks and the doctor could tell by the 2-D ultrasound that she has a lot of hair! Her current weight estimate is 3 lbs., 14 oz., so she's growing well.
He scheduled my C-section for December 8th, so that will be the day unless something happens sooner! We still aren't 100% on a name; I think we've changed our minds about 3 or 4 times already, so I'll just wait until that is settled before I post it here.

Here we go again...

Rebecca had another one of her episodes yesterday. This one started at school. Billy took off work so one of us could take her to Huntsville to have the further testing that the neurologist had suggested. She was back to herself by bedtime last night and was in a great mood this morning, so I went ahead and sent her to school. Well, the school is completely paranoid now, because I was called to come and get her around 10:30 because she was "tired." Since I didn't know what that meant, we loaded up and went to get her. She was lying in the first aid room, happy as a clam, and requesting a snack. Let's see, it's lunchtime!! The school nurse was concerned because she was perspiring after being outside at recess. Hmmm, sounds like every other Asian kid I know. They just sweat a lot.
I fed her lunch when we got home and she devoured everything in sight. She is making up for those lost calories yesterday!
I hope I not sounding unconcerned because we are very concerned about what may be wrong with Rebecca and just the frustration about not being able to get to a diagnosis so we can move forward. Please pray with us that we can get to the bottom of it all, that it's not too serious, and that a treatment is available.

Pumpkin Patch

On Saturday, twelve of us went to visit Tate Farms in Meridianville. The six of us, my mom & step-dad, my niece & nephew, & my grandparents pretty much spent the day there. The kids played in the cotton trailer, climbed the tractor tires, played in the corn cribs, jumped out of a barn onto hay, made their way through the hay maze, went on a hay ride and picked pumpkins, pet the bunnies & kitties, and rode the "corn train." Oh, and I get to do it all over again when the preschool goes on a field trip there next Wednesday!

Miss Vivian

This sweet thing is now 2 years, 5 months old, potty-trained, and growing up too fast! She's still pretty easy-going, but she can be quite stubborn at times too. She talks non-stop now and is constantly cracking us up. She definitely thinks she's a big girl, and is excited about being a big sister!

We try to wait until we pick up Rebecca up for school for a nap, but some days we just don't make it! (I don' think there was much hair styling happening on this day either!!!)


Ready for school!


I can't remember what song she was singing, but when I turned around, she was belting out a tune complete with microphone. I couldn't resist grabbing the camera!

Roll Tide!

The boys went to their first Bama game this past weekend with Billy & his dad. (Major milestone!) They had a great time but everyone was exhausted by the end of the day. They left around 6:40 am and returned a few minutes after 10 pm on Saturday. I think Billy was more tired than they were!

Tailgating!


Looks like they wore the right uniform! I'm so glad one of them didn't get lost! Can you imagine telling an officer, "Well, he was wearing an Alabama jersey, shorts, and sneakers"??


William & Granddaddy


Ready for kick-off!


A football game is much better when you have cotton candy!


Henry & Big Al!