Snow Day!

We woke up this morning to more snow! We probably have about a foot and a half. The girls wanted to go play in it, so we all got bundled up and headed outside.

Cambree was in heaven, smiling from ear to ear!

Addie on the other hand wanted to come right back inside. Not her thing quite yet.

I'm sure as soon as Benton gets off work, they will all head back outside to sled!

Aquarium

The day after Christmas we went to the aquarium. Benton had never been so it was fun for Cambree to lead the way and show him all the exhibits.

Cambree loves walking across the rope walk way that they have. Not sure what's up with her smile, obviously it's not her real one. But at least she'll look at the camera!

We sure love the holidays so that we can spend time together as a family!

Christmas!

The girls didn't wake up till 7:30am! I was so happy they slept in, so that I could get our breakfast casserole in the oven. Cambree was eager to run straight downstairs but we had to wake Addie up first. Once they saw all the presents it was pretty chaotic. Wrapping paper was flying everywhere, Cambree hardly looked at a present before opening the next. After they were all unwrapped, she went back to look at everything she got. Addie on the other hand wanted us to take out each toy from it's box so that she could play with it. And we had to tell her to open her gifts.

We woke up to our first real snowfall of the year! It was such a wonderful sight to see on Christmas morning, it looked so pretty. After presents, the girls got all bundled up and headed outside with Benton. They love playing out in the snow.

Later on my parents dropped by to say hi and see what the girls got. Cambree was too busy showing off her toys to get a picture with her grandparents.

Then we went to dinner at Benton's dad's house. Marie is the BEST cook around and this time certainly did not disappoint. I was more than stuffed after dinner, I mean she made 5 different cookies a pumpkin pie, and cheesecake...so you can imagine how full we really were. Thankfully she sent us home with TONS of leftovers!

And on our way home we stopped by to blow kisses to our baby girl. Cambree wanted to get out and sing her "We wish you a Merry Christmas" so that's what we did. She was pretty excited to sing to her.

It was a busy day but filled with love and happiness. I'm so blessed and can't wait to see what's in store for next year! Merry Christmas friends!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve morning we had breakfast at Carol's house. The rule was, PJ's only! That made it easy for all of us to roll out of bed and drive over to her house. I didn't take many pictures, but we had a good time visiting with each other. We missed Benton's mom and Tony who usually host Christmas Eve breakfast but they were unable to make it back up for Christmas. But I'm glad us sisters were all still able to get together, that's what its all about, family.

After Carol's we ran to a doctor appointment for Benton. We had a scare with Benton's health this past week, but luckily we found out at the doctor appointment all is well. It sure did make us thankful for our health and thankful that he's here to stay. Best Christmas present!

Later that night we went to my parents house for Christmas Eve dinner. My mom made a big turkey dinner, nothing feels like Christmas than going over to your parents house for dinner.

After dinner the kids reenacted the nativity. They sure looked cute all dressed up!

And to end the evening, the girls opened some gifts and then changed into their Christmas pi's (one of my favorite traditions).

We got home, put some cookies out for Santa and some carrots out for the reindeer and off to bed the girls went. They were exhausted from all the running around, I'm so glad they went to bed so easily...I'm sure it won't always be like this!

Coming April 2015

Coming April 2015 Baby Carnahan #4!

After a lot of talking, Benton and I decided to have one more. It was a huge decision for us. We know we can take care of another baby. We can most certainly can love another baby. We were hesitate because we weren't sure if we were emotionally able to have another one. The not knowing if your baby is healthy is a fear I hope you all do not have to face. The unknown is heart wrenching and that's why we've been quiet about our pregnancy this time around. We know we cannot keep it a secret because I have been showing for a while but there have been so many unknowns that we cannot answer yet and for that reason we've kept it to ourselves.

Yes, the doctors tell us what happened before is something that will not reoccur again. But the birth defects Allie was born with happens about 1 out of 2.5 million...but it happened to us. So what's to say something like this couldn't happen again? I've learned I am not exempt from horrible things happening to me. And because I know I am not exempt, I worry so much more than I ever have. This whole pregnancy I worried about miscarrying our baby. I kept thinking about all my friends and family members who have experienced a miscarriage, so why shouldn't I? Well thankfully I made it through my first trimester with no problems. But still at every appointment I was waiting for the worst, no heartbeat. But every time, I hold my breath till I hear those little beats and I know all is well till our next appointment.

It's hard to be excited for something you are terrified about loosing. I know what it's like to see my child wheeled off to the mortuary. I never want that to happen again and I am so afraid it just might. I have to say, I have been holding back this pregnancy about being excited.

Now here's our story. I got my IUD removed July 9th and surprisingly we found out we were pregnant August 19th (2 days before Allie and Addie's birthday). We went to our first doctor appointment September 9th-I was 7 weeks along. My doctor said "What? You were just here! I just removed your IUD!" Yes, it was extremely fast. But all looked good.

We didn't tell our girls or family until I was 11 weeks along, after our second appointment. I had already started wearing maternity pants and I knew it was a matter of time before others could tell I was pregnant. We sent this photo out in an email...

My first trimester was physically hard, like most pregnancies. I was constantly nauseous, headaches daily, fatigued, and I had horrible heartburn. Even though I felt like crap, I was happy to be sick hoping that meant the baby was fine. My sickness continued into my second trimester, till about 16 weeks.
Me at 12 Weeks.

At 15 weeks we went in for another check up and found out that we were having a BOY! We were shocked, doubtful and so happy all at the same time! Our doctor said she was 95% sure it was a boy. It's still hard to comprehend, Benton thought we could only make girls...it's hard thinking you aren't having a girl after having three.

So here I am at 16 Weeks. Showing for sure, especially since strangers make comments, that's how I really know I am showing.

And heres me at Thanksgiving I was 18.5 weeks.

We had our big, targeted ultrasound last night and found out all is well! We are more than thrilled. There were multiple times both Benton and I almost cried. Knowing that he is healthy is the most important thing to us and it was such a relief to actually hear everything looks normal. He weighs 1 pound and is measuring exactly right for his due date of April 27th.

Looking at the 4D ultrasound is really something else. You can see features you otherwise wouldn't see till birth. We see Benton's lips in his little face. And he's yawning in the other picture!

And we got multiple shots that he actually is a boy!

I feel like I can finally relax and enjoy the rest of this pregnancy, especially since it's our last. I will keep you all updated as we go!

My girls

Not too much has been going on around our house. With all the sickness, this is the first week where I actually feel good enough to plan activities. Addison has done really well with just hanging out at our house. She's talking a lot more and understands everything you say to her. Some of her letters are switched when she talks but as long as you know what letters to switch you can totally understand her. For example "dog is dod", "cambree is dam dam", "frog is fraud", "oh my gosh is oh my dosh", I love to listen to her talk...so adorable!

Cambree celebrated her half birthday at preschool since her actual birthday is in the summer. She was more than thrilled. It was a bit confusing however since her half birthday was on Benton's actual birthday. She didn't quite understand why we were singing to Benton and making him brownies for his birthday. So we ended up singing to Cambree as well. She loves to be spoiled and she certainly was at preschool. She was able to bring treats to her class and she chose caramel apple suckers, I tried talking her into taking something else but she was set on bringing suckers. So suckers it was.

I know next week we will be busy with get togethers and celebrations for the holidays so more to come!

The flu bug

We got home from Mesquite Sunday afternoon and early, early Monday morning as in 2:30am I got the stomach flu. Then a day later, I got the other flu; chills, cough, body aches and a fever. Let's just say last week was a rough one for me. Thankfully nobody else got the stomach flu. And on Saturday morning Addie came down with a fever, which actually wasn't too bad considering how sick I was. I'm just hoping that nobody else gets it. I still have a bit of a cough but otherwise feel better. Here's to hoping this week is better for us all!

Thanksgiving 2014

This year we drove down to Mesquite to celebrate Thanksgiving with my Mother in Law, Linda and Tony in Beaver Dam (which is 10 min away from Mesquite).

We stayed at a hotel in Mesquite and the girls thought it was pretty fun. Addie was excited to jump on the beds!

On Thanksgiving day we cooked, ate, snuggled and relaxed. It was the perfect day spent together as a family. I love the family I married into, couldn't love them more.

The day after Thanksgiving we drove to Ivins and spent the morning playing at Snow Canyon. A portion of it is sand dunes, so what kid wouldn't like to play and roll around in the sand?

Cousins seriously are the best. I just let them go off with their older cousins and play, my kids adore them all!

And of course our Allie baby was their in spirit. Saw this beautiful butterfly land on a bush near us, which brought tears to my eyes. Miss her everyday.

On Saturday morning we woke up bright and early and drove to Las Vegas. Our niece, Maddie played in a soccer tournament, so we all wanted to support her. It was so fun to see her in action, she's really talented and they've done well as a team.

Later on that afternoon after we drove back to Mesquite and took the kids swimming. It was in the 70's the whole time while we were visiting, so it was perfect to go in a heated pool for a couple hours.

We left on Sunday morning and made the trek back home. The trip couldn't have been more perfect. It was full of love and I couldn't ask for a better Thanksgiving than that. Hope yours was as lovely.