Update since August!

Time to do an update! It's been a little while....(I always say that don't I?!). As we prepare to celebrate Emery's 3rd birthday this month, I have had a time to reflect on the last few months. They've definitely been interesting! We had our *hopefully* annual beach trip to the South Walton area with the whole family--Grandma, Pop, Grandma Connie and even Great Pop. We rented a house that was basically right on the beach and had a pool to cool off in. We all had a blast! It was super relaxing and Emery had a ton of fun chasing the birds on the beach, playing in the estuaries, building sand castles and swimming in the ocean. She is doing fantastic at swimming and doesn't even need water wings. We are proud of her! Its our dream someday to have a beach house of our own to retreat to...we spend so much time down here that it would make sense! Since our return, Emery has been asking to go back to Grandma Connie's house lol! I guess my mom told her that that was her house! She wishes! Hahaha! The trip made a lasting impression on Em! After our return from the beach, we discovered that we are expecting another baby. Such an exciting and scary time those first few weeks, considering our past losses! I continued to follow up with a specialist and had weekly ultrasounds to make sure the little bean was growing properly. At 8 weeks, I "graduated" from the specialist and was then to see my regular OB doctor. I found out while around 15 weeks or so that my current OB was no longer delivering at Emory Johns Creek (the hospital I delivered Emery at and the closest to our home) so I switched back to the OB that delivered Emery. I felt instantly like I was in the right place! Two students that graduated from Lanier Tech work there I remember me from school (good thing I helped them! lol!). I had had two tests done to check for any problems with the baby--an NT scan during the 1st trimester and then the Quad Screen done during the 2nd trimester (new OB). The NT scan came back perfectly normal, however, the Quad Screen showed an abnormal risk for Downs Syndrome (1 in 152 as opposed to normal at 1 in 250 for my age). Also, the ultrasound shows a calcium, bright spot in the heart which is also a soft marker for downs. Needless to say, we have done a lot of soul searching. We met with a genetic counselor and she said that the NT scan is usually the most accurate test and was created to replace the quad screen. That did make me feel somewhat better but there was still the issue with the ultrasound. Of course, I broke down in her office--pregnancy hormones got the best of me! We then got another ultrasound and baby girl (yes it's another GIRL!!)still had the bright spot in her heart, however, everything else was measuring on target. She's pretty much 50%percentile for all body parts growth and they didn't see any other problems. The doctor explained that the bright spot on her heart is not a heart defect and doesn't even harm the baby at all. In fact, he says he sees it everyday with patients. So that made me feel a little bit better--that it seems fairly common. So all in all, the only way to make sure there is no chromosomal abnormalities is to get an amnio and I have some pretty bad memories from getting that done(after my loss at 15weeks). I decided to opt for a new blood test that just came on the market to test for downs syndrome specifically. It's called MaterniT21. Got the test done Monday and should get the results late next week. UGH it's going to be a looooong week or so! No matter what though, we love this little girl and know that God planned her just for us. I find myself getting more and more excited to meet her and introduce her to our family. I just know Emery will love having a little sister. Emery will give me food and say "it's for the baby" and she will tickle my belly and say she's tickling the baby. So darn cute! She will be the best big sister ever! Emery has been doing great! She is thriving in preschool and loves her teachers--Ms. Martha and Ms. Mandy. She's in class with Nick, one of her best buds! Even if he does "wrestle with me." He is a boy remember! lol! She is growing up to be a little lady every day. She uses the potty now and only wears diapers to bed and nap. She's had few accidents and because she did so well she got to pick out a potty dog from Build a Bear. Potty Dog comes complete with her own big girl undies. Hahaha! Halloween made quite an impression this year--four months later and we are still talking about skeletons and ghosts! She wanted to be little red riding home (most days anyways! It did change every now and then!). Her outfit was the cutest and she got sooo many compliments on it! She did great this year and really figured out the key to knocking on the doors and saying trick or treat! All in all it was a super fun night! Thanksgiving was spent at Grandma Connie's house. All the cousins came over so Emery got to play with Leanna and Brianna. She has such fun with them since they are older than her. The girls built little foam gingerbread houses and then put stickers on them to decorate them. We found this much easier than last year's project of actually doing a real gingerbread house! Christmas came fast...first up her Christmas party at school with her class, then visits to see Santa--first at the Deer Park and then our annual Atlantic Station Santa visit. Every time someone including Santa, asked her what she wanted, she would say a teddy bear. What color? "a pink one." So funny! Not sure why she wanted that but that's the only thing she would mention. The Deer Park Santa visit was a fun one. She had some friends join us there and we went on a hay ride and got to pet and feed the animals. Definitely a fun place to go! Had fun at out annual visit to Atlantic Station too. We did the same thing last year with our friend Lenea and Sam and got to go again this year with them. Love that we can keep to the tradition :) The kiddos had fun running around after lunch and then getting some sweet treats from Kilwins. The Santa pics came out great too! Right before Christmas, we also got to go see a puppet show downtown--Rudolph! That was interesting! Daddy came with us as did several friends families--Nick and family and Sam and family. We made a tasty lunch pit stop at the Varsity on our way home too! Yummy! Christmas Eve was spent at Aunt Lisa's house. The whole family goes there for dinner and singing and festivities. It was a late night and we were all beat! Christmas morning she woke up to lots of presents under the tree--including her pink teddy bear. She was so excited when she saw it...she said "a pink teddy bear--just what I asked Santa for!" Seeing her eyes light up like that is the best part of Christmas for me! She also got a Buzz, a little princess castle, a toy story music cd and the Winnie the Pooh movie (the first movie she saw at the theaters), among a few other things. Grandma Connie brought her a Woody doll and a real working camera. Her uncle "Bran Bran" came with Grandma Connie and she had fun playing with him. Love to see that they are becoming fast friends :) She talks about him all the time! lol! New Year's Eve was spent celebrating the countdown to 2012 on London time! Hahaha! We found a dinner and dancing place that was designed for kiddos at a reasonable hour--complete with countdown and balloon drop. Emery's friends Carson, Nick (and baby Adam), Sam and Reagan all came. We then completed the evening with a tasty treat from a yogurt place. It was a fun evening...with mommy and daddy watching the countdown from bed with glasses of sparkling juice! Times sure have changed! Well that's the news for now...I will update as I think of stuff!

Emery's 3 rd Birthday Bash!

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Emery's Birthday party is coming up soon!!