Dear Our Sweet Lemon,

Hip Hip Hooray...we have officially made it through what many call the toughest time of pregnancy, the first trimester!! Due to your compliance (and I thank you so much!), we have had a really great first 14 weeks with no nausea, just a few crying spells (when I see any dog away from his home, I immediately think he's stray and the flood gates open), and occasionally fighting through times of being extremely tired. I will take that! I was told last week by a dear friend that I could hear your heartbeat if I used my stethoscope. This was exciting news!! I went straight home that evening to listen to your little pitter patter, however, I couldn't seem to find it. Not to worry, we went to the doctor this week, and heard your heart beat for the very first time. This is the sound we had been waiting to hear since we found out we had been blessed by your existence. Once again, I looked at your dad, and tears filled his eyes. He loves you so much. Your heart beat at the beginning of week 14 was a strong 152. The doctor was very pleased with your development. You are now the size of a large lemon, about 3 1/2 inches in length, and you weigh 1 1/2 ounces. Who knew something so tiny could be loved so much? This week you will be starting to squint your eyes, learning how to frown and grimace, pee, and suck your thumb. Your facial muscles are getting a workout as your tiny features change from one expression after another. Sometimes I wish there was a little window to be able to peek into to see your little face. My stomach is starting to protrude a little, which is fun to see you start growing! My craving this last week consisted of sausage, egg and cheese biscuits...eeeekkkkk :/
After my 3rd one, it began to taste a little repulsive to me. No harm done right? It was just 3...
We go back to the doctor December 22nd for our 18 week check-up and then just two weeks later we will find out what you are!!!! We tried to talk Dr. Martin into letting us find out sooner, but she wouldn't budge. Oh well, you are worth the wait.

We love you so so much,

Mom, Dad and Mayer

Our Precious Little Shrimp,

Today you are just over 3 inches long. It is amazing how you can be so small, yet your body already has so many functioning parts. This week you are the size of a shrimp! Your dad and I are so eager each week to read what new things you are doing and how you are growing. You have no idea how much you are loved already. We were able to see you for the first time 2 weeks ago on our first sonogram, and when trying to ask your dad if he could see your heart fluttering on the monitor, there was no response for a bit because tears of joy filled his eyes by just seeing your very existence. Your dad already talks to you frequently and kisses you every time he gets a chance. I think you already have your biggest fan. We are SO excited to be your parents! We promise to love you the best we know how, to demonstrate and show you the unconditional love that is exhibited by Christ, and raise you with a foundation that enables you to know that in His eyes you are righteous, you are perfect, you are enough. Until your arrival (May 27th as of now), we will be preparing for you the best we know how. My nightstand is currently occupied by 3 books! However, I have a feeling that most of the learning is going to be trial and error. Ha! I would like to thank you for keeping the nausea to a bare minimum. It would make it extremely difficult to leave class frequently to lose every ounce of food I've consumed. As far as all of the other symptoms that are considered "normal" for being pregnant, I feel like I've done pretty well. I have only had one hysterical cry on the kitchen floor because I was so incredibly tired. But not to worry, your dad never made me feel like a crazy person. He just encouraged me, while Mayer was there to lick up all the tears as they were flowing very rapidly down my cheeks. There is a great team waiting for you here! :) We love you so much, and we thank God every day for allowing us to be your parents one day.



Lots and lots of love,



Mom, Dad and Mayer

Yikes!!

A couple weeks ago, Lance was about to head out of town for a long weekend at the lake with some friends he gets to see a couple times a year. It was already a longer day at work than he anticipated, and then....yikes!!!! At the end of everyday, he has to unload the back of his truck that is home to VERY heavy drill bits. Well, he was unloading a bit that was 315 pounds and whamo...finger is smashed! Thankfully, they are required to wear these certain gloves that protect the bones of their hands, BUT...his finger was blown out! Ewwwwww!! He had to go to the ER to have it xrayed, where they thought for sure it was broken, his finger nail was removed and they had to stitch him back up again. Thank you Baker Hughes for the saftey guidelines you place on these guys to wear the correct gloves...his bones were very much in tact. Here is a pic of the lovely finger for those of you who don't have a week belly. :)

Carrie Underwood! Whoop!!

Last Saturday, October 9th, we went with the Grimes' to the Carrie Underwood concert. It was PHENOMENAL! I love love love Carrie! She is such a great role model to little ones, and I love that about her. We got these tickets back in May, so I had been counting down the months until the big day. It was no disappointment! She puts on a great Concert! Thanks Jon for the amazing tickets! And thanks Grimes' family for a great time! We had so much fun.

Heels and Hills 10K!

Last weekend Lance and I ran our first 10k (6.2 miles) together! The race was in Las Colinas this past Sunday and it was really a lot of fun! My Mom, Sister and Emersyn came along too. They did the 5K together. The weather was so great, it was so cool and oh so fall like. Perfect running weather. This is the beginning of our running plans!! Our next goal is a half marathon. Let the good times roll!!

Congrats friends and family...if you haven't seen what I look like when I wake up, now you have! Don't you feel so fortunate! Ha!!

The Amazing, The Beautiful, The Absolutely Stunning, The PERFECT...Emersyn Rose Kennedy!!

She's here!! Yes, much to Heather's doctors' surprise, she delivered on her due date (8-9-10) with a couple of hours to spare! Her Doctor cleared his schedule for August 18th, because he was sure he was going to have to induce her, but Emersyn had a plan all her own! Heather had quite a tough day with 22 long hours of labor and then ended up having a c-section. She did such a great job all 22 hours! I probably heard her say 975 times that she was starving in all of those long hours, but she chomped away on ice chips and occasionally we would sneak a few sips of water...Sorry Jeremy! Hands down, she was a great patient and endured a long labor so very well! For a little story time...Lance and I had gone to the lake a few days the week prior to Emersyn's arrival date, and then finished up our weekend (we were celebrating our anniversary that weekend) in Dallas. We left to come home Sunday afternoon and had to make it back by 6pm to get to our church group we meet with on Sundays. We live in Longview which is about a 45 minute drive from Tyler so we drove straight into Tyler where we were meeting our group, but we got there a couple hours early. To kill time we decided to do some shopping, went and threw Mayer his ball in a field, you know just trying to find things to do until 6 o'clock. During this time we COMPLETELY forgot that when we left the following week for our lake trip, that we left from my office in TYLER and my car was still sitting at the office. Our plan all along was to pick up the car on our way back since we were going to be in Tyler Sunday night. Sunday, it never crossed our minds. After church group, we go all the way home to Longview, raise the garage, and Lance says, "Andrea, someone stole your car." Then without hesitation or a pause between sentences he immediately says, "we left your car in Tyler." Well, the time is now 9pm, we are exhausted. We leave to go get the car, get back home and as we are getting ready for bed, Heather is calling because her water broke!!!! Well, all of my tiredness escaped me and I was ready to hit the road back to Dallas. I picked up my bag of dirty clothes from our previous outing and I was on my way! I was so ready to see that little girl. I had been anticipating every little thing about her for so long, and I couldn't miss a thing. I mean this little girl has my entire heart! She is so precious, I don't want to put her down when I'm holding her and I miss her everyday. She is amazing...

Emersyn came out with some claws! But, nothing Aunt Annie and a finger nail file can't fix! :)

She already has such a special place in Uncle Lance's heart!!

This is my favorite pic of her!!

Resting after a good feeding :)

Ahhhhhhh....I love her...

What a great little outfit! I was about to change her diaper here, but after we got the 3rd diaper on her, she wasn't able to wear this anymore. She peed twice all over everything. Dang it. I will get better! Ha!

One day old!

And...how could we forget Oscar and Mayer?! :)

July 28, 2010

Happy Anniversary!! Where have the 3 years of marriage come and gone to? These past three years have honestly been the most amazing years of my life. Talking to people about marriage before tying the knot truly scared me to death! "The first year is the hardest", "after the honeymoon stage is over, it's all down hill from there", "just wait, after you live together for a while, you won't look at each other the same." I mean what a death sentence right?? Who wants to sign up for that? Ha!! I can say with an honest heart that the man of my dreams 8 years ago, is still the man of my dreams today. Life, love and relationships is everything you make of them. Lance and I came into marriage naive, open hearted, and on our knees asking God to direct us every step of the way. It has been far from perfect, but every bit beyond amazing! I thank God every day wondering how in the world I received a man that loves God first and then myself. Nothing short of that is every bit of what I wanted in a mate. To wake up beside a man and know that everyday of his life he strives to be the best husband, and put my feelings and desires before his own is mind boggling. I am very thankful and at a loss for words for the gratitude in my heart for such a stand up man. Ok...enough with the mush right? Haha! Thank YOU to all of you who invest in our lives, you mean more to us than you will ever know! 3 years down and a lifetime to go!

4th Festivities!

Happy Birthday America! What a great Country we live in...we are so fortunate! This weekend, we headed to Dallas Friday night to hang with my parents for dinner. Saturday, we Met the Grimes' for Lunch, while we secretly hoped Tatum would decide she was ready to join us. :) After lunch we headed downtown Dallas to a wedding of a friend of Lance's from childhood. We had a great time. I LOVE weddings. It always takes me back to mine and Lance's wedding day which was the greatest day of my life. I would do it all over again in a second! Lance's Parents went to the wedding as well, so we headed back to their house after the wedding. Sunday Morning we took family portraits, laid by the pool, and cooked out. Lance and I had to head back to Tyler/Longview area early due to him having to be in a certain proximity to the work place just in case one of his rigs needed something from him. So, we headed to Tyler and had dinner and watched a fire works show with a few couples from our community group at church. They are a really great bunch!! Whew, what an eventful weekend! Monday, Lance and I were the laziest bums! We had such a great time with each of you! We love each of you SOOO much. :) Here are some pics from our fun filled time...

On our quick/busy trip home for a couple days, we had a quick lunch with the Mel, Jon and Cade. This is the last picture without Tatum! We love her already! She will be here in a matter of days.

Roy, Ryan and Lance. These are a couple guys Lance grew up with since he was a wee little one. This was at Ryan's wedding. Congrats Ryan and Pricilla!

Lance and Haley Playing in the pool.

Mayer, pretending he loves to swim because we want him to love it. Hehe! But, he is swimming to the steps so he can get out.

Ha! Love this picture! When we were taking family photos I got to snap this quick shot! These two are amazing. I'm so fortunate to have such great In-Laws!

Some of our community group girls. I love them!

Some of the boys from our Community group. Lance really enjoys these guys!

Mayer's first fireworks show. I was kinda nervous, because usually they scare little guys like him, but I'm not even sure he knew there was a fireworks show going on. They didn't phase him a bit. :)

Visiting The Gilmore's

2 weeks ago yesterday, Lance and I hopped a plane to Pennsylvania to visit our dear friends Jeff and Dana Gilmore. We had so much fun with these two as well as there PRECIOUS little girls, Logan and Landry. Landry was born this past March, so this was our first time meeting her since her arrival. Truly, the best baby one could ask for! We love these little girls like crazy! During our visit, Pennsylvania had amazing weather mainly in the mid 80's during the day, and low 70's at night with a cool breeze. Needless to say, we spent a lot of time outdoors, which I love!! We cooked out a lot, played games, shopped, and toured the town. We enjoyed our stay so much. It always goes by way too fast!

This walk was more intense than it looks here. There are some pretty steep inclines!

Logan, swinging at the Park!

Lance and Jack...we LOVE Jack!

Precious Landry!

Best Buds!

Jack, lounging out on the steps, Ha!

This Pic cracks me up! Logan hates the sight of anything dirty. Her whole body shakes when she sees a bug or something gross, but this morning, she decided she wanted to eat dirt out of the flower bed. Ha!!! She is so cute!

Lance helping Logan put her shoes on, love it!

Lance's first time to feed and Burp Landry. He learned a lot on this trip! :)

Ha!

I really love this picture. We stopped at the Pittsburgh Pirates Stadium and walked around a bit. Baseball will always be in their blood. Can't you just see this picture when they were 6 years old? Love it!

Saturday in Shreveport

Hi Friends and Family! This past Saturday, Lance decided to make some plans for the two of us in Shreveport! We live just over an hour from the middle of Shreveport, so it was a FUN day trip that we enjoyed SO much! They have an outdoor shopping center there called "The Boardwalk" that we have briefly been once when we were previously in the area for Lance's company Christmas party. As soon as we arrived we were starving of course, so we ate at Salt Grass and forgot how truly devine there steaks are! Then, off to the outdoors to shop! Before we left that evening, I really wanted to grub on some true Lousiana food, so we went to Ralph and Kacoos, delicious! I am just starting to make myself enjoy food from the water, and this was really great! We had such a goodtime! Love to all!

This cracked me up since we WEREN'T in Texas! Ha! Love it!

This is too funny! Lance is like a kid in a candy store when it comes to Bass Pro Shop! He wanted to save it for last so we could spend lots of time in there...and trust me we spend LOTS of time in there! Ha! But, he deserves it!! :)

This and That...

So...Lance and I have officially been living in Longview now for just over 3 months. We really love it here! Lance's job is going great, and he finds so much joy in doing something he loves. As a wife, this makes me so happy! As of May 4th, my brain has taken a much needed vacation from hygiene school. The funny thing is last week, Lance and I were relaxing on the couch watching a show and I felt the urge to grab a book to get a head start on for next semester. Seriously, what was I thinking?? Once I realized how ridiculous this was, I immediately put the book back and returned back to the land of relaxation. :) I have really enjoyed the beginning of the summer months! I am still working in the same dental office just part-time for the summer. The girls I work with are so great, I'm super thankful for that! Well...it has been a couple months since our last post, so here are some pictures of what we have been up to lately...Love to all!!

Back in April, Yes April...This was the absolute CUTEST Easter Egg hunt I have ever witnessed in my life! I wish I would have taken a video of this hunt, because It is just indescribable. Our little Niece Haley was the only kid at Lance's parents house for Easter, so she didn't have any one to hunt eggs with. So...Lance being the kid he is at heart made this Easter egg hunt so much fun for her. He carried the basket and he and Haley would sprint from one egg to the next and as soon as Lance saw one, he would scream AS LOUD AS HE COULD out of excitement, then Haley would scream as loud as she could as her little body would shake from screaming and excitement, they would count their eggs in Spanish as they put each one into the basket, and so on and so on. This went on for at least 20 minutes and we were all in tears from laughter. It was the greatest thing to watch! I really really hate that I didn't get a video of it!!

Also in April, my cousin Sherrie turned 40, so we threw her a surprise party! It was so much fun!

The gang showering Mel for Tatum's arrival in only 5 short weeks!! Love these girls!

Look how precious this little face is!! Isabelle is Michelle's little angel, and it is so hard to believe in a matter of 3 weeks, she will be turning 1!

Just a couple weeks ago, at the end of May, we gave my sister, Heather a baby shower. Showers are so much fun, especially baby showers! Emersyn keeps growing everyday, I love her so much already!

For my sister's shower, I thought I would take on a new project. Instead of having a bakery make a cake, I decided to attempt it myself! So...Voila!! Not that I can take all the credit, I have a friend here in Longview who has started this as a hobby and she helped me so much! Thanks Kara! It really was so much fun, and I would love to do it again. I was kind of nervous that the cake was going to be dry because I had to make it a couple days in advance since I was traveling with it, but the fondant sealed all the moisture in. I was quite impressed! :)

This was a gift for my sisters husband at the baby shower. I thought it was so genius! It is a tool belt full of necessities for the dad. It was made up of Tylenol, a face mask to help with the gag reflex when changing the dirty diapers, wipes and many other items that a dad must use and all wrapped up in just his style. Such a great idea, and too funny!

Doug, Lance's brother came to visit for Memorial Day weekend. Good times we had! Lots of cooking out, making smores and the boys played some golf. Thanks for visiting Doug, we enjoyed having you! :)



This weekend my mom and sister came to visit. My mom's 48th birthday was this past Friday, so we had to have cupcakes and a small celebration. Heather and I were laughing just a little too much. We all had such a great time together. We went to Canton on Saturday, OH MAN was it hot!! But, we sweated and laughed and had a great time!

I had to post this picture because it truly just melts my heart! I LOVE this little guy so much!

Until next time...hope everyone is doing well! We love you all!