Carving Cuties

A few nights ago Grammy and Papa Hubbard brought pumpkins over for the kids to carve. The pumpkins were actually grown by Uncle Colby's grandparents. Papa did most of the carving, but the kids did help clean out the insides a little. They had lots of fun and were proud of the finished products.

Hope everyone has a fun and safe Halloween. Can't wait to see all the posts of cute little trick or treaters over the next few days!

Pregnancy Update

I went back to OU for my appointment yesterday. Everything is really about the same. The bleed is still there (a lot of times they are reabsorbed by this late in pregnancy), but it didn't appear to be any worse. So that is really good news. Also everything looks good with the baby and he seems to be growing right on schedule. They estimated him to weigh about 1 pound, 10-14 oz., which is right at average for almost 26 weeks. This is also really good news. Having small babies has never been an issue with me!, but it CAN be a complication with my diagnosis. It doesn't seem like this will be a problem at this point.
As far as the lab work to check for the clotting disorders, (the 14 tubes of blood they drew, which I got a $3,000 bill for yesterday!!) it was basically normal. I say basically, because there was one thing, if you are interested in this sort of thing, (Maybe I am kind of dorky, but I think this sort of stuff is interesting) I'll give you a brief explanation. If you couldn't care less, aside from knowing it was all "basically OK", then just skip down several lines....

Explanation: I showed to be heterozygous for the MTHFR gene mutation. MTHFR is an abbreviation for a gene that produces an enzyme used in clotting. Those who are HOMOzygous for the gene mutation usually have a high homocysteine level, caused partially by faulty folate metabolism. Being HETEROzygous means I have one copy of the mutated gene (not two, like in HOMO). This is actually pretty common (I've read up to 50% of the population has this, but just never have a reason to find out). It usually doesn't cause any problems, but to be sure, by doctor ordered MORE lab to check my homocysteine level. This being high can cause a greatly increased propensity to clot, which would explain my issues. This is also known to be a BIG risk factor is cardiovascular disease, i.e. heart attack, stroke, DVTs, etc. Anyway, my level actually came back LOW, not high. From what I can tell this really doesn't have much significance and does NOT explain why I have this problem in pregnancy.

SO....long story short......my lab was "basically" normal, and we still don't know why I do this weird thing when I'm pregnant.

Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers. God is taking good care of us both. I go back in about three weeks to check on everything again. I'll keep you posted.

Halloween Flashback Friday

I have enjoyed looking at the Halloween flashbacks some of you have done, so I decided to join in.......

Hollace's first Halloween she was only 2 weeks old and just wore a little pumpkin hat. Her second Halloween she was a butterfly. I don't have pics on the computer and was too lazy to find them, so you'll just have to imagine.

In 2005, Hollace's third Halloween, she was in a phase of loving Jo Jo from JoJo's Circus. She made a pretty cute little JoJo.

2006, Rhett's first Halloween, he was just a couple of months old and was a little Chili Pepper. Hollace of course wanted to be Cinderella.

He was not impressed with the hat portion of the costume. It stayed on just long enough for these pictures

Last year Hollace wanted to be Tinkerbell

Rhett didn't have an opinion (or a choice) so he was Peter Pan to go with Tink.

Cars......A Boys Best Friend

Rhett has developed a new obsession- and I do not use the term,obsession, lightly. He has always been a fan of cars....and trucks, airplanes, and any mode of transportation, really. But lately it is almost getting out of hand-especially with cars in particular. He absolutely LOVES the movie "Cars". He begs to watch it all day long. (I don't let him watch it all day long, of course.) When he does watch it, he watches it so intently, like he has never seen it before. He can't take his eyes off of it, and he never really watches any other movie or cartoon. He has cars and trucks that he carries around everywhere and even has to take 1 or 2 of them to bed with him. My mom bought him some "Cars" underwear (he hasn't actually worn yet) that he carries around, all 6 pair, and loads them up in Hollace's doll stroller and pushes them around the house. It is all pretty funny and just as bad or worse than any obsession Hollace has had with Cinderella, Hannah, etc.

Here is Rhett is his favorite race-car pajamas

Here he is playing with some of his cars and trucks.

Look at that serious face while watching "Cars".

Here I was trying to get him to smile for the camera. He smiled and even "cheeeesed", but couldn't take his eyes off the movie. (This is Aunt Sydnie on one of her RARE visits).

Here he is with one his new pair of "Cars" undies

Happy Birthday, Hollace!!

Today is Hollace's 5th Birthday! I just can't believe she is 5. I decided to ask her some questions and record her answers, so I can look back at this and remember how she was at 5.

5 of your favorite things at 5 years old:
1. My brother
2. All the things I got for my birthday
3. My Mom and Dad
4. My friends
5. My Barbies that my Mom gave me (these were Barbies I had when I was little)

Something special about being 5 years old:
"I get to go to pre-K"

What is something special about you that makes you different? :
"That I'm going to have two brothers, and I'm the only sister, that makes me special."

What is your favorite Bible story?:
"When Jesus died on the cross for us."

Something that you are really good at:
"coloring in the lines"

Something you would like to learn how to do:
Play a flute


Hollace has been such a blessing to our family. She is so smart, sweet, strong-willed, funny and loving. She is such a good big sister and has such a big personality. We love you Hollace!!

Here are some of my favorite pictures of her over the last 5 years: (Sorry about the quality, some were pre-digital era)

Hello Kitty, Hello FIVE!

We had Hollace's birthday party on Saturday. She chose a "Hello Kitty" theme this year. There isn't a Hello Kitty cake pan, but I made do and it was actually the easiest one I have done. Her face is actually very simple with little detail. We made headbands with kitty cat ears for all the girls and painted their faces when they got there. We took a picture of all the "kitties" to put in the frames which the girls made. It was lots of fun. She got lots of great gifts. Plenty of Hannah Montana, Disney Princess and Barbie. Her big gift from Mom and Dad was an American Girl Doll she has been wanting for sometime. She was really excited. Here are some pictures of the big day.

Catching Up with My Boy!

I have been meaning to do this since Rhett turned 2 in August, but I couldn't find all his pictures and I just hadn't done it yet. Since Hollace will be having a birthday next week I decided I better do it now before I have her bithday stuff to post.

So here are some of my favorite pictures of my sweet boy over the last 2 years. He is so sweet and funny and ALL boy! He gives new meaning to the word BUSY! It is hard to believe it has been two years since God blessed us with his arrival. We love you Rhett!!

(Sorry about the picture overload)

**These last two are actually from his 2 year pics that my dad took. He (Rhett, not my dad)wasn't cooperating very well this day. (It is difficult to convince a 2 year old that there is any need to smile AND stay still at the same time!) we are going to try for some more soon.