Our Growing Angel

Wow. She's 2.5 months old now. It is amazing how fast she has grown. At her 2 month check-up (about two weeks ago), she was 13 lbs. 7 oz. and 24.25 inches long. WOW!! When she was born she was 8 lbs. 9 oz. and 22.5 inches. We were amazed by her height being that we are both on the shorter side. When we went to the doctor, he said she was in the 98% of her height! Take a look at the growth in only 10 weeks.

The picture above is Lenna-Grace only 3 days old.

The picture below is at 10 weeks old.

Everyone wants to know who she looks like. To some, she looks like John. To others, she looks like me. And of course, others believe she is too young to tell. I thought I would show a few pictures and let everyone decide for themselves. Of course, as she grows, she is going to change in many ways. However, for now--take a look at the photos below.

The picture above is of Lenna-Grace at 7-weeks. The picture on the

bottom is of me when I was a baby. She's wearing my dress!!

I will try to keep updating on the growth of this beautiful angel. I call her my "punkin" and John calls her his "pooh bear." She has many names already!

Almost There...

FIVE MORE DAYS!! Well, of course, that means five more days until the "due date." However, the arrival of Lenna-Grace is uncertain by all but God alone. He may have her come early--as in tonight--that sure would be nice!! Or, He may have decided she needed to arrive a little late, I hope not too late. No matter when she is expected to be welcomed into this world--everyone our home and family is getting so anxious to see this beautiful little girl.

For me, I am ready to sleep without this huge bump in front of me. For the past few days, I believe I have gotten at most two hours of sleep a night. I cannot get comfortable. When I do fall asleep, this little beauty inside of me starts kicking. Yes, I know that I will not be able to sleep a full night's sleep for awhile; however, I will able to find some sort of comfortable position and sleep in intervals. Cat naps will work for me!

Today also marks my last day of work for the school year, hopefully. Maternity leave will begin on Monday and I will be out until the doctor says so. I am hoping to be able to finish the whole school year out on maternity leave. This will allow me to spend a complete 4.5 months with my precious bundle of joy without working. Then the new school year would begin in mid-August, early-September. Although, I do have to say I have the best childcare lined up ever and I will not have any worries leaving Lenna-Grace with her--Thanks SIS!! Tuesdee has been an amazing stay at home mom for over eight years now. She has graciously accepted the job of watching Lenna-Grace when I return to work.

Many people hate to leave their children at daycare. Numerous moms decide to stay at home simply because of the fear of childcare providers not doing an adequate job of watching their children. As John and I faced the decision of whether or not I would return to work for the 2009-2010 school year, never once did I worry over how my little one would be provided for. I knew I could leave her with my sister and she would be wonderful with her and to her. I will be returning to teaching once the new year begins. I love teaching and it something God has given me a passion for. I do not feel I will be neglecting my daughter-I feel I will be allowing her some wonderful time with her Aunt Tuesdee:)

baby pics...

My goal was to blog once a week for this new year, but it is close to mid-Feb. and here I am:) So, as Lenna-Grace and I grow, I'll try to update as much as possible.

I thought I would begin by sharing my ultra-sound pictures from two weeks ago when I was 30 weeks, 4 days. I have the wonderful joy of having a doctor with a 3-D machine, so the first two pictures are simply amazing to me!

Enjoy!

Lenna-Grace's precious face. Does she not look so sweet! She has my nose and chin--we can already tell!

Here's Lenna-Grace's profile--she was sleeping on her arm. Such DETAIL in a 3-D pic.

The type of pictures most people see--Here's the profile of Lenna-Grace sucking her thumb and of her chubby belly!!

The Name...

The question everyone wants to know..."What are you going to name her?" John and I had already picked out a boy's name and girl's name before knew what we were having. So this was not too hard for us this time. Drum roll please......

Lenna-Grace Caroline Robinson

Yes, we are putting a hyphen in her first name.

So where did the name come from? Well, the only one with meaning or history would be Lenna. My grandmother Lenna Cathey passed away on Christmas Eve when my mother was only 8-years-old. She died instantly in a car crash from a drunk driver. Unfortunately, I never received the joy of meeting this wonderful mother and wife; however, for my high school graduation, my mom flew me to Texas to meet Lenna's family. I had never met any of them prior to this. During my trip, I learned so much about my grandmother and mom. I discovered where many of my traits and gifts game from--Lenna's side! I realized this family was so much a part of my life that I decided at the age of 18 that Lenna would be the name of my first girl!

Lucky for me, I married a wonderful man who loved the name and agreed to let me pick that part of the name. I actually said I loved Lenna Grace, but I also liked Caroline Grace, but wanted to name our precious girl after my grandmother. So, John said, how about "Lenna-Grace Carolina?" So, there you have it. Grace has so much meaning to it that I do not feel I need to explain it. We think Lenna-Grace flows so well together, that's why the hyphen. Caroline is such a graceful name. We did not chose Caroline because I graduated from Carolina or because we are from South Carolina. Although, that is what everyone seems to think and I guess it can be related, but it was not the reason. However, I can guarentee she'll be wearing more Carolina Blue than Clemson orange, that's a definite!

Expecting a precious little girl!!

On August 4, John and I celebrated two very special occasions. The first one was our 1-year anniversary. We enjoyed a wonderful dinner in Orlando at a fine restaurant. Our family was on vacation (including my parents and my sister's family). When we returned from dinner, we had exciting news to share with our family--we were expecting a wonderful child!

John and I were thrilled because we were not sure if I was going to be able to get pregnant or not. The doctor had placed me on medication in January to assist with some complications for two weeks. We were not going to go get any testing done until we felt it was necessary. We agreed since we got married to leave it in God's Hands. We knew His timing would be the best.

We've waited to post our special news online because we wanted to make sure we told all friends and family first. We did not want our family discovering the news through our blog (which I've been very slack at updating!).

So, here we are--sharing our joyous news with everyone. I'm 19 weeks pregnant and expecting a baby girl. She is due on April 6. I know--she will end up being an April Fool's baby probably! Jamie is very excited to be a big brother, but he was really hoping for a little brother. He told us we need to have one those soon. Everyone else, on both sides, is thrilled about a girl. It's the first granddaughter. I'm sure she'll be spoiled!

I'll try to do better at updating the blog now that we have lots of news to post about more often:)

Family Vacation

Last week, the whole family left for Orlando, Florida. We thought we were traveling with a good size crowd--nine of us--Mom, Dad, Tuesdee, Chris, Blade, Ty, John, Jamie, and myself. We stayed in a beautiful resort. The Fountains was huge--it has a 75,000 square-foot pool area with water slides and everything. It was the first time for many of my family members to fly in an airplane! But we all seemed to have a great time.

While we were there, we went to Sea World--Jamie loved seeing Shamu. He talked forever about the man swimming with the Killer Whale. It was very neat to watch. I enjoyed the Sea Lion show we watched--it was humorous and entertaining.

Although we decided against Disney World for this trip because of the ages of the boys and just not being as interested, we will do it again some time. Disney seemed very pricey for us when our boys did not seem that excited to go. They enjoyed playing in the pool more than anything. I posted a few pictures below of our family fun!

Jamie enjoying the water park at the resort.

John and Jamie trying to squirt me!

I love this picture! John and Jamie trying map out our day!

Part of the Sea Lion Show.

Family Picture insideSea World.

Another Degree

Last year, I made the decision to work on my Master's Degree. Last week, I completed it!! I now hold a Master's of Arts in Teaching. What does this mean? Ummm...not too sure. I know I get a raise!

Actually, I needed to take some course work in education to become fully licensed to teach since I was not an education major in college. It seemed wise to get a Master's Degree to earn my full license instead of just taking random college courses.

I thoroughly enjoyed my year of graduate course work. I learned a lot about education and special education (that was my emphasis area). This has helped me to become more aware of my son's educational needs (Jamie has spina bifida). It has really helped me in fighting for his education and helping him in as many ways as possible. I always thought I would home school and this may still be an option in the future. But Jamie needs to go to school--it is great for him. I could not imagine him growing as much as he has emotionally and socially without attending school. Needless to say, my degree seems to have been more beneficial for me as a mom!