Halfway There

I had a checkup and ultrasound on Tuesday. Baby #3 looks perfectly healthy! He/she is measuring 20 weeks, 4 days which is a week earlier than my original EDD (this would give me a DD of 8/14/20). The US tech commented that "Guys, I just think we have a big baby" ha! She was able to record the gender for medical purposes but she was able to keep it from us so we still have a secret! :)

Receiving medical care during the coronavirus pandemic is a scary time. Marcus was able to attend my US but will not be able to attend anymore prenatal appointments with me until further notice. In order to enter the hospital, we were both met at the door by healthcare workers who took our temperature, asked us a short questionnaire of our current health and travel history, and checked their records to make sure our purposes for entering the facility matched the records. With each passing day it appears more and more likely that we will still be feeling the effects of this crisis when it is time for me to deliver. I trust God and I know He will take care of the baby and me. I also have a sound mind to know that I need to be extra careful from now until August to ensure we stay safe. Even if the restrictions are lifted, I will most likely be hesitant to return to normal life. 

I have amazing friends that check on me and do thoughtful things during this difficult time. Ash dropped off my favorite cake, a Gina strawberry cake, to me this week just because. What a perfect way to show love and friendship from a distance!

This was after the first afternoon and it was gone by the weekend! Love you Ash.

Here are a few scenes of our latest quarantine shenanigans:

Breakfast on the porch. These two LOVE a picnic, anytime and any meal. Even sticky, messy, homemade pancakes.

Jack took this sweet picture of Owen one morning (amongst about 30 other random pictures). We love our doggy brother!

The evening after our ultrasound appointment, the kids pulled out their ultrasound pictures so we could compare all three babies. Georgia looked the most like our new baby from the profile pictures. The new US pictures are a little earlier than some of theirs so we will compare again at my next US. This picture just makes me want to cry happy tears. How did I ever earn the status of being a mom to these three precious children? I don't deserve it but I'll be thankful the rest of my life for these blessings.

Our slowdown has given this girl more time to do what she loves. She is working on perfecting a pumpkin cupcake. Pumpkin is her favorite flavor.

Our Disney memories from four years ago are popping up this week. It's hard to imagine that WDW is closed. At least looking back at these memories brings a smile to our face. 

Every afternoon at 4pm, Governor Andy does a briefing on the coronavirus in Kentucky. Georgia has taken an interest in watching and learning about what's going on in our world right now.

Saturday morning I made a french toast recipe from my childhood. It was just as good as I remembered it and the kids loved it, especially G! I think it will become a staple in our kitchen.

Saturday afternoon we practiced social distancing by fishing at our Uncle David's pond. Mamaw and Papaw live next door so of course they had to join us but kept their distance.

This picture is so special to me. Papaw is 81. I'm so glad my kids get to experience a childhood with great-grandparents.

We caught a few good size blue gill but this catch was the funniest! It was almost as big as our bait and could be used as bait. They didn't care, any catch was a win to them. And yes, Jack boy is about to pass his sister in height-he has hit a growth spurt recently!

They sure love their mama and climbing all over her :)

We tried to get a picture to show my growing belly. That's hard to do when you have two growing kids too :)

Daddy teaching Jack how it's done

 A quick selfie to capture a family memory from our fun day. Jack NEVER smiles for family pictures ha!

Brave girl holding the fish that she caught. She has a heart for animals of all shapes and sizes. We had to make sure and get them back in the water in a timely matter or this girl would panic.

The quarantine life continues. I have loved the being #healthyathome side and focusing on family time. I have hated the worry and fear this crisis has caused, and the loss that so many people are experiencing. I'm praying the peak is near and we can start the recovery from this soon.

Coronavirus

I gave up blogging almost three years and it's been on my heart to pick it back up again. I've read the most efficient way to restore a quiet blog again and best practice seems to be to start exactly where you are and go back and recap what you've missed when you have time. My plan is to do a monthly recap post over the past 32 months that includes a picture purge of my iphone pictures (because who uses a camera anymore?:-). The most recent world event has given me a window of opportunity to do this so I decided to make the most of the situation.

The coronavirus is here. Not only has it made its way to the US, but it is in Kentucky and we had our first confirmed case in our county yesterday. I am anxious to look back on my recount of this pandemic to see how things played out across the world. Did we overreact? Did we underreact? Did we all make it through safe?

School has been closed for two weeks and will remain closed until at least April 20th. There are lots of speculation that the rest of the school year will be cancelled and we should hope for a normal start to a new school year in August. We now utilize NTI (non-traditional instruction) days to "homeschool" Georgia. She has done well with her packets so far. We also incorporate other activities for her (and Jack) through the day such as piano, creative time (painting, games, etc.), reading and of course, lots of outdoor recess :) Marcus has been responsible for virtually creating NTI packets for his 5th graders but he's been able to do all of his work from home which is such a blessing.


I have been home for the most part as well. We are continuing to serve meals to our students but I am doing my best to work remotely and stay out of the kitchens (I'm doing better now than I was in the beginning). There's just no point in taking a chance due to my pregnancy. Thankfully, I have amazing staff that I can lead from afar and they continue to get the job done amazingly!

We haven't been in public since Friday, March 13th (except Marcus has made a few necessary trips for us). We do grocery pick-up, online banking, online shopping and drive-in window service. Only essential businesses are still open at this time.

Thankfully, everyone has remained well. A blessing in the storm has been the extra family time we have had to do the things we don't always make time for because of our schedules. These past two weeks have included lots of playing outside, jumping on the trampoline, Georgia learning to ride her bike, house projects, experiments, great progress for Jack on his numbers and letters, nursery organization and the list goes on. This week we have plans to go fishing and other outdoor activities that keep us socially distant.

I have never valued living in small-town, rural America more than I do now. The basic blessing of having a big yard for our kids to play in everyday so their lives seem as normal is possible is invaluable.

Here are a few pictures (I haven't taken many with intentions of keeping things simple) of how we have spent the last few weeks:














Prayers to everyone that has been effected by this terrible virus and to all the "essentials" that are keeping the world spinning while the rest of us do our part and stay home. Those folks are the unsung heroes.

October 2017

Kayla Kiper took pictures of the kids in September but I didn't receive them until October, thus the October documentation :) I loved this session. She was able to get some genuine smiles and they thoroughly enjoyed the shoot! It was a beautiful evening and setting, I just love how they turned out.

This one will be one of my favorites of them from their childhood <3

There's an amazing five second video to go along with this screenshot of Jack saying "cheese" impatiently to Kayla. It's hilarious!

It doesn't get any cuter than this

Georgia had a play date with our cousin, Audrey. They had the best day playing together!

I love her little folded hands under her chin and Audrey's big toothy smile

Frozen for life!

Just a mama and her best boy rocking at bedtime

It's not October until we take a trip to the pumpkin patch!

We go to Jackson's Orchard every year for our pumpkin fix. It was unseasonably hot this day and we were wishing we had made different wardrobe choices.

Gammy joined in on the fun!

You can see the hot and bothered expression on Georgia's face ;)

We had a wienie roast at Auntie and Uncle Pakky's. Georgia had picked out her own outfit!

We made it to a UK football game this season and had a great time!

Celebrating Mamaw Carolyn's 77th Birthday <3

Georgia was sick and we were doing our best to keep sister and brother separated. I caught them talking and waving to each other from one room to another. Precious babies!

We play outside all year long! If the suns out, so are we.

She wanted a leaf pile, a Georgia sized leaf pile

Mommy and sis being goofy with selfies!

She's better at selfies than anyone I know!

 Dress up fun

My friends and I have an annual tradition of attending Glendale Days, it's so much fun!

Denise and I were the only ones free to go this time but we didn't let that stop us from having fun and finding some good deals! Our annual picture with the silo :)

October is a special month at Aunt Kay's with lots of festivities related to fall and Halloween. They had their annual pumpkin carving activity to guess how many seeds and feel inside the pumpkin.

AKK crew 2017

A sweet facetime moment I captured when facetiming Aunt Paige, Uncle Eric and Bobee in Turkey!

The Sanderson Sisters for the AKK Halloween Party! They looked awesome!

Halloween 2017: Jack-Captain America, Georgia-Winifred Sanderson (Hocus Pocus)

She really looked the part! Her Gram made the cape and Ma supplied the accessories. 

 Some years coordinating sibling Halloween costumes are cool. Sometimes letting them choose what they want to be and embracing it is even cooler :)