What's In A Name???

Okay......Jeremy and I are stumped!!!! We are having a hard time agreeing on a name for our baby girl! Along the side of this blog, you will see our "Top 10" baby names. We would love for each of you to take some time to vote on your favorite. Just to spare some feelings, please don't comment on the names. Although there are 10 names on the poll, a few of them are our top favorites! So, she is more than likely going to end up with one of our favorites, but we just love polls and love to see what you all think!!!

Swimming, Swimming In My Swimming Pool!

Family and Fun at Fifty

Pardon all my "f" words in this post!

I learned quite a FEW things this weekend as I spent time with my FANTASTIC FAMILY....mainly my FIFTY year old mom!

FIRST, FIFTY is FABULOUS!


FIFTY is FUN!


FIFTY year olds FISH with their FOREHEADS?!?!?!


FIFTY is FRAGILE!! (notice the FINGERS on the ribs.....that is a whole other story)


FIFTY is FANTASTIC! (Well, maybe the girls just think so!)


FIFTY is FOREVER young!


FIFTY is FABULOUS....especially if you are my FANTASTIC mother!!! I'm a FAN!!!


HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!!

Snakes!!!!

Hi Mommy, Daddy and Macy,

I am doing fine. Grandma takes me on a walk twice a day. Today we saw 3 (count them) snakes. The first one scared both of us so bad I almost peed myself. I think Grandma peed her pants. Then we saw one sunning himself, and on the way back one was crossing the road. You better believe that we went on the other side of the road, and Grandma kept making these little screeching noises. Therefore, I hurried real fast! I am going to have a little nap. When you come up, can you bring extra food? They don't drop their food on the floor like you all do, and I am really hungry.

Love,
Tucker

Poor Tucker!!!!

So Tucker is spending the week at Camp Grandma and Grandpa. We will be joining him at the lake on Friday night. Today, we received this letter from him.


Mommy and Daddy and Macy,

I do love it at grandma and grandpa's! They give me treats and take me for great walks. I have been outside a lot! But I have a problem. The CAT loves my bed and thinks it is his. This has forced me to sleep on the cushions. I am not happy about this! Can you come and get me? I love my house!!!!!! Wait, Grandma is giving me lots of love and food. I guess I am O.K. to stay for the week, but is it O.K. that I fight with the cat?

Love,
Tucker

It's a.........

YES.....a girl!!!! We were shocked!!! We both felt like it was a boy, and we had a boy name. But, Macy must have had that true instinct...she kept telling us she was having a sister!

The best news of the day is that this little girl is completely healthy!!!! We couldn't be happier.....and more relieved!!!! They checked her out thoroughly, did a fetal echo, and said she is completely HEALTHY!!! She is quite a feisty little girl though (no, not another feisty one!). She moved so much that they had a hard time at first viewing her heart like they wanted to, and she almost didn't let us see that she was a little girl!

Here are a couple more pictures of our little bundle of joy:)





Oh yeah, I bet you are wondering about her name. Well, that is a secret until she is born! I guess you only have 20 more weeks to wait!

Interview With The Vampire...uhhh...I mean 3 Year Old.

Have you ever sat down and actually interviewed a toddler? Well, I have! I decided to interview Macy about her favorite things.

*Notice the shouting (!).

Color: “Green.”
Food: “Pizza.”
Drink: “I like juice!”
Snack: “Pizza.” (again)
Baby Name: “Darcy.” This is her cousin, who she just adores!
Shoes: “Tiny shoes.” (she means tennis shoes, but things they are called "tiny" shoes...just like it's not a bathing suit but a "baby" suit)
TV Show: “Han Tanna!” (Hannah Montana)
Movie: “Han Tanna!”
Song: “ABCD(left out E)FG…..”
Outside Activity: “See the bug!” Yesterday we caught a bee, today we caught at butterfly. It's the new thing!
Best Friend: “Michael and Shayla.” (Her friends at school)
Animal: “Lion (pause) I like baby elephant!”
Thing to do with Daddy: “I laugh at my daddy.”
Thing to do with Mommy: “Run.” I have no idea what she is talking about!!!
Thing to do with a real baby: “Rock, rock, rock the baby.”
Outfit: “Jammies….I like jammies!”
Book: “Biby books” (Library books)
Toy: “Shots….I like shots.” Awww....you can tell where she's spent a lot of time!
Lake Activity: “I like Dick!” (Grandpa….who she loves to tease over and over by calling him by his first name)

Check back on Thursday for baby news!!!

Show Us Where You Live

So I have done a very bad job at staying with "Show Us Where You Live Fridays" at Kelly's Korner. So I decided today that I would play a little catch-up. If you click on the icon at the top of the page, you can go to Kelly's Korner to view foyers/entry ways today. Also, I am making my pictures small since I have so many. If you click on them, you can view them closer.

Our Loft
Our loft used to be used as a den, but as soon as we found out we were expecting another little one, it turned into a loft/toy room. We removed the larger corner desk, and moved Macy's toys into the far end.






I bought this great cabinet with doors for all of Macy's toys, games, and crafts. It's a great way to hide things!




Our Bathrooms
We have 3 bathrooms in our house, but I am only showing two of them. The downstairs bathroom is small and has an octagon window in it, both of those things making it almost impossible to get a picture.

Macy's Bathroom


Our Bathroom


My Big Tub




Our Toilet Room (you've seen one, you've seen them all!)



Our Sun Nook
This was something we almost did not add onto our house. In order to make it more afforadable, we removed the fireplace and vaulted ceilings in the master bedroom from our original plans. We are so happy we made that decision!





I love this ceiling fan!


Our Kitchen





This is our backsplash that we just did last fall.


Some of my decorations above the cabinets.




My box pleats that my mom made for my kitchen window.


Last, but not least, is Tucker's adorable "cookie" jar that Jeremy painted after we got married.



Once we find out the gender of the baby, and get the baby's room decorated, I will show you Macy's bedroom and the nursery. I don't like our master bedroom, so until we decide to get new furniture and decorate to my liking, it will not be shown. I guess we've saved that for last because no one ever sees that room. We still have a lot of things I would like to do to the house, but it's coming along.

Thanks for visiting!

Babies on Skates!

If you have not yet seen this Evian commercial.......it's a must see!


Enjoy!

Surgery Update

You can follow my recovery at:
www.caringbridge.org/visit/macyvanvleet

Night Before

Well, it's the night before surgery. Some of you may wonder how we are doing, what goes on in our house, and how we are feeling. We are doing "fine"......"fine" is that four letter word that doesn't mean a lot. I use that word because honestly, I can't even desribe how I am feeling. True, this is no heart surgery, but if you've ever seen your child go under general anesthesia, then you know that "surgery is surgery".

I think Macy's surgery count is 18 going on 19. Amazing, considering she is only 3 1/2 years old. So you would think with all this practice, that surgery shouldn't be hard for us anymore. Well, it never gets easier....no matter the procedure, no matter the hospital stay, and no matter the recovery.

It was extremely hard the day they took her from us for her first surgery. She weighed only 4 lbs. It was very hard the day we took her for one of her CT scans. As Jeremy held her in his arms, he gently placed the mask on her face. It took all I had in me not to lose it as I tightly held her hand and watched her nod off to sleep. It was difficult the day I took her for her veno-gram....knowing I was not going to get the answers from the test that I wanted. I will never forget watching her eyes roll back in her head as tears rolled down her cheeks and she fell asleep. Praise God for my mother-in-law who held me tightly when I lost it. She held me as I sobbed on her shoulder. Nothing can explain the feeling Jeremy and I had the day they took her from us for her open-heart surgery, not knowing if we would see her again.

What a blessed weekend we had with the family. I cherished every moment that Macy ran and played with her cousins. I loved every second that she sat with her aunts and uncles, or hugged her grandma and grandpa. I constantly laughed as she teased her grandpa calling him by his first name, just to tease him.

It's hard to have a happy weekend knowing that our poor little girl has to endure another surgery tomorrow. I am having a very hard time wtih this surgery....Macy understands so much now! She has clearly told us that she does not want the doctor to fix her neck. She doesn't know how many doors this surgery will open for her. Tomorrow is going to be hard. I won't be able to sleep tonight, I won't be able to eat breakfast in the morning, and I may even have to pull over along the way to the hospital to get sick. I won't be able to stand walking in through those hospital doors, I will shake as I check in with the receptionist, and I will break down when she leaves my arms for surgery. I can only imagine how Macy will feel.

I will not be facing this alone. My parents will be there, Jeremy's parents will be there, and THIS VanVleet Family will stand hand in hand...just like we always do.

Please pray for all of us tomorrow! God will once again, protect my baby!