Back to school and a schedule

Daddy always attempts grade level pancakes each year the first day of school.

Ready for 3rd and 2nd grade!!  Not too many first day jitters!

Beautiful morning to walk to school...since when is it 70 on a late August morning?

The yearly "Marlatt Elementary" stone picture. A few "future Mustangs" as well!

Quite a few tears in our house as these three best friends were split into three separate classes.  The moms only had to promise to come to lunch at school once a week so they can sit by each other that day.  Pretty sure they are gonna start a Facebook page to boycott the split!

Grayson's letter for Claire and Roe.  She even got her Bible out to look up a friend saying.

Showered with love...

This lovely group of ladies hosted a beautiful baby shower at Harry's in honor of me and baby #4!  I seriously thought you forfeited a baby shower after your second or third kid but these girls never cease to amaze me!!  Thanks for the girl time, super dinner, specially made desserts and the baby bedding!!

Thanks Mandy for the chocolate peanut better and lemon cakes and mini cupcakes!

Cute Courtney baby bedding from Pottery Barn!!

A good long life

Had to put my sweet Miss Harley to sleep last week.  It wasn't something I was prepared to do as she has been a healthy ol' gal her whole life despite being an original farm kitty that was shaken violently by my neighbors dogs which resulted in 2 broken ribs a few years back.  I am so grateful she wasn't sick long but I did have to face that this was her time.  It is crazy to think back to all the amazing times in my life that she was a part of... 3 different houses, my marriage, my 3 children's births and lives.  Sure miss my sweet babe and appreciate all of the love she gave me the past 17 years!  Hope there is some great catnip in Heaven!

Belly pic...me and Vanessa

So I usually wouldn't post something like this but since Vanessa and I are due at the same time and she  did it this a few weeks back I thought I should do it too. (Luckily my pic won't end up quite as public as hers!!)

Sure wish I had that big kitchen in the background!!

Maternal Fetal Specialist

Wow!! Tomorrow is my last KC trip to Shawnee Mission Medical Center for my maternal fetal doctor appointments.  With both Beckham and this baby it was noted that I needed to see a specialist due to the lupus and sjogren's antibodies that are present in my body.  Thankfully I am asymptomatic for both of these autoimmune diseases so far!  However when you are pregnant and have these antibodies you see a specialist to ensure there is no damage done to your fetuses heart.  Essentially these antibodies can interfere with the communication of the baby's heart and if not caught the baby could need a pacemaker when its born.  As a proactive measure, I traveled to KC from week 16 to week 28 for weekly PR intervals of the babies heart. We are so blessed that our little girls heart is in perfect working condition!  You can read more medical stuff about these antibodies and pregnancy here:
http://neonatallupus.com/neonatal-lupus.html.
Also, due to my "advanced maternal age" I had complete growth scans of the baby at weeks 16, 20, 24, 28 and my last will be tomorrow.  Things looked so go at her 16 week growth appt and her heart looked fabulous at weeks 17, 18, and 19.  I guess when you start hearing that everything looks great (for 4 weeks in a row) you get a little comfortable and assume that you will hear the same news each week...but for us that was not to be the case.