Wednesday!!!

Wednesday's are busy busy busy... Because Bella wasn't feeling good yesterday I let her sleep in until 9:00 and headed to Pathway's just past 10. But usually we are up by 8:00 and getting ready to go here from 9-1 (although most wednesday's we usually stay past 1):

Since September 2008 I have been volunteering at Pathways... It's a Pregnancy Resource Center as a counselor to pregnant or mothering women in need. Pathway's is a Pro Woman Life Affirming Organization, that strives to give clients non bias, loving support and grace in whatever situation they may be in. We mostly see two sets of clients:

1. Young single pregnant mothers who are in need of EVERYTHING!

2. Mother's who have a child already looking for support.

We offer various services from pregnancy testing, abortion information and counseling (Pathway's is a Pro Life Organization and does not perform or refer for abortions), spiritual counseling and a program called Earn While You Learn (where pregnant women and mothers go through a curriculum watching videos and completing homework assignments to get 'Mommy Money' where they can buy necessary baby supplies for their children)

Over the past 15 months I have looked forward to going every Wednesday to volunteer and be a service to these women. It is a busy job... and sometimes exhausting, but I love doing it! Thank goodness for my sweet, well tempered baby who comes with me every week. While we are there, she takes her naps here:

In the bathroom...

These are the women I work with while at Pathways:

Stephanie, Rita and Edie

While I was getting ready this morning... Bella was busy with the cotton balls:

After Pathways... we come home and have lunch... Bella and I play and do some household chores:

After Bella's 2nd nap in the afternoon... it's off to Church for dinner... I love Wednesday's for that reason alone... I don't have to cook. The Church has a great chef and catering staff and they feed us every Wednesday. Although, tonight Ben was craving Pizza Hut, so that is where we ended up for dinner:

From 5:45 until 7 I get to hang out with this group teaching Mission Friends:

Each month we have a different SBC missionary that we learn about, pray for, and even do projects for. It is a fabulous program that teaches our little ones about how important it is to tell others about Jesus.

Here is our kindergarten class with Me, Julie, and Laura in the back. Note: these pics are from last week... because we didn't have Mission Friends tonight...

Isabella gets to hang out in here (and Daddy gets some peace and quiet for an hour to work on his Master's at home):

Mary, Carol and Isabella with her best buddy Maddie!

After Pizza Hut, Ben took us on a little drive to see the Christmas Lights... THis was Isabella's favorite house!!!

Then it was home to take photos... Because today is Bella's 18 month Birthday!

She definitely wasn't cooperating on the picture taking tonight... Crazy little girl! I'll update later on all the things she is doing now that she is on the way to 2 years old!

Tuesday December 15th

Well today started off bright and early... or should I say still dark and VERY VERY early!

Isabella woke up crying at 12:45am. I went into her room to check on her and I could tell that it wasn't a normal 'I lost my susu cry'. I picked her up and she was boiling! Poor little thing. I took her temperature at it was 104.1 degrees. NOT GOOD! I gave her some baby motrin and called the 24 hr nurses hotline & Dr. Shaub (aka Grampy)!

Long story short... the motrin and advice brought her temp down and Bella and I settled down in the guest room by 2:15am.

This was Bella in the bath tub at 1:30am. You really couldn't tell she had such a fever... she's such a trooper!

When we woke up at 8 her temp was 100 degrees, so of course that meant that this Tuesday wasn't going to be a normal Tuesday.

Normally we would head off to Women's Bible Study at our Church to spend the morning (9:30-1:30) with these wonderful ladies!!!

I was especially looking forward to today, because we were going to have a Christmas Party with the ladies. Bella usually goes into the nursery with the best nursery ladies ever and her good buddies.

I called the Dr's office and they had an opening for us at 10. I sat Bella on the potty for at least 30 minutes thinking she would pee pee so I could take a urine sample into the drs with me... but no such luck. She has peed on the potty twice up to this point... But she was not going to go in the potty this morning. But we did have fun reading books, while we waited.

This is Belles playing with a puzzle at the dr's office. Look at that face. She is so cute!

We were also supposed to have Bella's 18 month well baby appointment this afternoon, but I obviously cancelled to get her in sooner.

She weighed 22.1 lbs and was 33 inches long! I was happy that she had gained over 2 pounds in the last 3 months. We were sorta stalled out at 19+ lbs for quite a while!

The doc was worried Bella might have a UTI... but a urine sample test showed otherwise. I just have to watch her and bring her back in if she gets worse.

When we got back from the dr's office Belles had some breakfast and a LONG nap. After her nap, she still had a fever, but seemed to be a little more chipper... as you can see!

Isabella playing with her baby (my cabbage patch doll from way back when)

When they are sick.. you sorta let things slide:

After dinner, belle-bees had a shower...

Acquired some crazy hair upon getting dry...

And then we had story time. Bella LOVES her books and she has her favorite too. We usually read for at least 20 minutes and go through all the books. She can sign book, so when we are done reading she will sign book and say 'more'. We literally could read all night long!

I put her down at 7:45 and then headed to teach my spin class (that is why I am in my workout clothes). Forgot my camera!

So there you have our Tuesday... not the typical Tuesday... Hopefully tonight and tomorrow we will have a happy little girl!

Monday December 14th

Mondays are our down days before the crazieness of the week starts. At least 2 loads of laundry get done on Mondays and I usually run to Walmart because the commissary (grocery store on base) is closed. And today was no exception...

I went to check on Belles at 9:15am and found her quietly playing in her crib. She is such a happy girl when she gets a good nights sleep. Up for breakfast... was yogurt and toast.

After breakfast it was laundry time. I washed Isabella's diapers and then did one whites and one darks. Bella sure is a good helper when it comes to folding... NOT! I make all the piles of nicely folded laundry and she comes along and pulls all the clothes off the piles... she thinks it's funny. Mommy doesn't! I didn't make it that far on the laundry folding today... as most of the clean clothes are still in a pile on the ground... waiting for me to fold them. I will fold them before bed tonight.

Ben came home for lunch today. He comes home on most days, which is so nice. Bella also loves having her daddy home for lunch too. Here you can see she was stealing his chips! After Daddy left, it was time for a nap. She slept from 12:15 until after 2.

My little raggamuffin' when she was all done her nap.

After nap we headed to WalMart for a few things. Bella loves outings... especially when I allow her to walk instead of going in the cart. "Bella Follow Mommy" is said every 2 seconds, until she goes in the cart. I tell you, this child sure melted some hearts at WalMart... especially with her hat on! Every turn people would comment on how cute she was... I would have to agree!

After we arrived home from WalMart, Bella was very excited to get into her Christmas Calendar and eat some chocolate! Yummie! Then it was off to bed again for another nap, before dinner.

Ben came home early today (before 5). After our dinner Ben got Isabella up from her nap, or she would have slept too long.

Bella loves her food, especially now that she is starting to feed herself.

STAY TUNED FOR A CUTE VIDEO OF BELLA FEEDING HERSELF... it was taking too long to download... and I'm tired. See you tomorrow!

A WEEK IN OUR LIFE!!!!

First off, if you haven't been on in a while, check out the updates below!

And now Presenting:

A WEEK IN OUR LIFE!

Starting Monday December 14th I will be posting daily on all the things the Shaub family does in a given week. I must say, we are busy people... so Stay Tuned... This should be fun!

Altus Christmas Lights!

Tonight we braved the cold (not really it was 55 degrees) and took Bella girl to see the Altus Christmas lights. I knew she would like them, as every time we are in the car and she sees Christmas lights, she points and says look at those lights mommy (in her own baby way)... it's so cute! We took the stroller, thinking she would like to stroll wrapped up in warm blankets... But no no no. This little girl was on a roll. She walked the whole way around the park, loving EVERY minute of it. She got very excited when she was the horsey pulling the wagon, to which she let out a BIG neigh! Bella even got to sit on Santa's lap... not just any santa... the most realistic looking Santa I have ever seen. At first she wasn't too sure about it, but then she gave in and sat there to get a few pics. But she wouldn't look at santa if her life depended on it. He tried to bribe her with a cnady cane... but she just stared off very deliberately in the other direction. It was really cute!

What a difference a year makes. I remember last year Ben and I quietly walked around the park while Bellie slept the whole time in the stroller. I must say even though it was a little hard keeping this determined little girl on the path, I much prefer these moments now that she can interact, talk a little and express all the fun she is having!

Deeper Still in OKC

Before my mom planned to come visit... Julie, Laura and I planned a trip to OKC to go to the Deeper Still Women's Conference hosting Beth Moore, Pricilla Shirer, and Kay Aurthur. I was sort of hoping that Ben would manned the fort ALL BY HIMSELF... But My mom was here to help (although little Isabella is hardly a struggle on her worst days!!!)

Anyway, Friday night and all day Saturday was filled with deep, passionate women sharing what God had laid on their hearts. It was amazing to hear all 3 of these gifted ladies speak to the audience of over 9000! I can't say one was better than the other... Because all three were filled with the word of God and spoke truth at every turn. Each lady had a special message that touched my heart in a different way.

Click HERE for a link to a Deeper Still promo.

Julie, Laura and I had a fabulous time just us girls! We were able to leave at noon (thanks to Grandma Susie who watched Maddie and Bella) to go Shopping and out for dinner before the conference. We ate dinner at the Cheesecake Factory (my favorite place to eat... mostly because of the cheesecake)!

It was a great day and a half with two great girls! Thanks Julie & Laura for the adventure. We'll have to do it again sometime!

Dinner... It was sooo good!

The cheesecake in pj's... even better!

Before we got into it!

At the conference.

Grandma Susie's Visit!

Grandma Susie was here last week for a quick visit from Tuesday to Sunday. I was thankful my mom was here during this time because it was so busy... the only thing was, I hardly got to see her! But let's be honest... grandparents really come to see the babies anyways!!!
Haha.

I know Isabella LOVED seeing her Grandma Susie for the week, getting spoiled in more ways then one! Thanks for coming to visit mom. Next time you come, the house will be occupied by another baby!

Baby Shaub #2

This poor baby is going to feel so neglected! I really haven't blogged about him/her since we revealed to everyone that we were pregnant again. I haven't taken the same pregnancy pictures of my growing belly, like I did with isabella. I feel bad about it. No excuses really... I don't know why! Perhaps it is because I have gained more weight this pregnancy (which for some reason has bugged me). But I try to keep reminding myself that gaining weight is what is healthy for this baby and I really can't control it. I am still working out and teaching my spin classes twice a week... so I am still in good shape, just a little bigger then with Belles. Up 25 lbs to be exact! Oh well life goes on!

Anyway, here are some pictures of the pregnancy so far.

Ultrasound @ 6 weeks

As big as a pea

Ultrasound @ 21 weeks

Frontal head shot... you can see the eye socket and the brain (the dark round things on the baby's head) & the heart in the baby's chest (the dark spot)

The feet

profile of the baby's head

20 weeks pregnant

25 weeks pregnant

30 weeks pregnant

On another note... I have been trying to prepare Isabella for this new little addition we will be welcoming in February. She knows the sign for baby and when I ask her about the baby in mommy's tummy she either points to my belly and signs baby or point to her tummy and says baby. So whether she is actually getting he fact that there is a baby in my tummy, she likes the concept. At this point I am not worried or anxious at all about bringing home another little one. I know that she will be just fine adjusting.

I am just as excited about having #2 as I am about the first time. I can't wait to meet this little baby. I have a feeling that it is another girl... but then again I was totally wrong with Belles, so who knows. Ben and I picked out names the other night. So we are ready come february for a boy or a girl!