12 Week Testing

A few months ago I went in for some 12 week testing with a perinatologist to see how the baby was doing, and hopefully find out the sex of the baby. It is crazy how far science has come in the short 4 years it has been when I was pregnant with Isabelle. When I had her Dave and I opted to not have any testing done because nothing was going to effect the outcome of whether we had her or not, although we absolutely feel the same way about this baby we felt like for Isabelle's sake we should probably have some of the testing done. If anything was wrong we wanted to be sure to have plenty of time to prepare and talk to Isabelle about what to expect. Thank God the baby looked wonderful, and the first gender prediction is a BOY! The perinatologist we saw has been wrong 2 times in the past 5 years, so I think our odds are pretty good especially after seeing some of the sonogram pictures.

I love the second picture it is a shot from the top of his head as he raises his little arm to wave!

It is still a little early at 12 weeks to make a 100% positive prediction but we are pretty sure we are expecting a boy in July! Isabelle was fine with a boy until we got in the car, then she told Dave and I that she was very mad at us because she told us she wanted a little sister. Although she was hoping for a little sister she is still incredibly thrilled just to have a sibling, she is going to be such a big sister. She has also made up her mind that the next baby (a year from now, she says) WILL BE a girl, we have tried explaining to her that God decides not Mommy and Daddy but she is pretty sure God will decide for us to have another girl!

As for the rest of the testing we later found out we have a 93% chance of the baby not having down syndrome and a very slim to no chance of the baby having Trisomy, we are truly blessed!

My baby will be 4 soon!

In January we had my good friend Laura (www.watermelon-photography.com) take Isabelle's 4 year old pictures. I cannot believe that my little baby is turning 4 years old, where in the world has the time gone??

New Years Eve

For New Years Eve Dave picked us up some sparking grape juice to celebrate the New Year. All day Isabelle was anxious to drink out of the "Mommy Daddy glasses". Finally the time came, the moment she had been waiting for all day. See for yourself how much she enjoyed it:

She was so giddy, and she just knew that this was going to be so cool drinking her "wine".

YUCK! After one sip Isabelle decides that wine is not for her (thank Goodness)!

The Day After Christmas

So it has been 3 months (to the day) since my last blog post, ridiculous I know! I am not going to make any more promises about the frequency of the post to come, because obviously I cannot live up to that promise. However, today between loads of laundry, dishwasher loads, making a grocery list, entertaining Isabelle, and cooking lunch I am going to try and catch up a little.

I left off on Christmas day, so lets pick up there... The day after Christmas Dave, Isabelle and I made our rounds around town to see family. First stop was Meme's house and we had a great time! Naturally the kids were so excited to open presents:

Poor Conner was so excited on Christmas when he thought he got a Tag reader, come to find out he didn't get the reader all he got was the books (small misunderstanding). He was so disappointed when he found out that he did not have a Tag pen. Dave and I heard on the way to Meme's house so we had to stop by Wal-Mart on the way and get him a Tag, poor guy. When he opened it his first question was, "does it have a pen". So sweet =)

Shane helping Collin open his presents and Ashley helping Isabelle, what good Aunts and Uncles they make.

After Meme's house we went to what Isabelle calls "regular Grandma" house. (That would be my mom, she calls her regular Grandma and calls my moms mom real Grandma) Grandma gave her one of the gifts that she has been dying to have a doll that poops and pees for real! When she opened it she was so excited and announced that it "real blinks" while blinking her eyes rather hard. So I introduce to you, Isabelle's first pooping and peeing baby now known as Caroline:

She has to be one of the scariest looking babies, but like all mothers Isabelle loves her anyway =)

For dinner at Grandma's we ate lasagna and I was worried that Isabelle might make a disaster of her white outfit so Isabelle put on one of Grandma's Olive Garden shirts. It was quite big on her so after some accessories courtesy of mom she was styling while she ate dinner.

Isabelle in her Cowboys cheerleader costume courtesy of Nana and Pops who do not want their granddaughter to choose her Daddy's team, the Redskins!

Christmas Day

Christmas Day was as perfect as it could be, we woke Isabelle up around 8:00 (I still cannot see how the kid could sleep so late on Christmas, if it were up to me which apparently it is not DAVE we would have been up by 6:00 at the latest). After she finally got up we watched her open all of her presents and then we opened ours with Dave's sister and brother-in-law who were in from Borger, TX to visit. One of the best things about this Christmas was pretty successful at keeping Dave's Christmas present a secret. First of all I LOVE Christmas and so when I get someone something I am pretty sure they are going to love I want them to open it right then and there. This year I decided that I was not going to even risk Dave finding out what he was going to get for Christmas so I did all of my shopping without Isabelle, and never mentioned to her what I bought him. Dave's mom had asked us if we wanted a Wii for Christmas and we had been discussing it but decided against it. Then Dave kept talking about it so I knew that he secretly wanted one, I had already bought him an electric razor so instead I took it back and bought the Wii. Well I guess Isabelle over heard me on the phone talking about the razor (after I had already taken it back) and one night at dinner she accidentally let it slip that I had bought him one. This worked incredibly well in my favor because he bought it, so for weeks he was under the impression that he knew what he was getting and who am I to tell him he was wrong.. he he he The bad thing about Dave (and his Dad for that matter) is they are awesome gift guessers, you can give him the present completely wrapped and he knows what it is, ridiculous!! So on Christmas day he had no idea, I handed him the present and of course he knew it was no razor, urghhh! It took him a few minutes to guess but he finally did, I still consider this to be a success on my part seeing as how he made it all the way to Christmas day before even the slightest hint of what it could be.. YEAH! Oh yeah, then his dad comes over and is opening his gifts. Holds one of the gifts we got him and within 30 seconds announces that it is probably apple butte.. what the heck, this has to be some freakish ability!! I can see him guessing jelly or something like that since he can apparently tell it is a jar but how in the world does someone guess apple butter and actually get it right?? WHATEVER!

Jesus birthday cake- This cake was made in loving memory of the late Mom Mom Wink, I tried to duplicate her cake but it was a little dry. I will try again for Dave's birthday!

Isabelle opening her Santa gift- a pink leapster

Dave loves funny shirts so I had these made especially for him. The first one says "No I will not fix your computer", because everyone asks.. LOL He does not mind fixing peoples computer but I thought it was pretty funny. The other shirt we saw in Ocean City this summer and it says D.A.D.D. Dads against daughters dating

I had to show a picture of our tree, it is so big we have no where to put it. The angel is touching the ceiling, so it looks like it is wedged into this spot as if it is holding up the entire house. LOL
Isabelle finally got a robe and slippers for Christmas, she has been dying for a robe like Mommy =)

Her new Cinderella outfit, completely with a crown and "glass slippers", as she takes her princess bow

Mommy and Isabelle both got new purses for Christmas, Isabelle's just does not have a signature C.. he he he! -Alright the Jesus in the box, there is a story behind this one. If you promise not to judge I will tell you the story, but if you are going to judge stop reading now. First I would like to say that we are in no way making fun of Jesus this is just a gag gift that has been in the family for the last 4 years. 4 years ago my sister-in-law, Melissa, and I were at Walmart after Christmas looking for deals and we saw this Jesus figurine. We found it a little funny and tacky and so Melissa bought it and put it on our mantle to see if Dave would notice as a joke. Well of course he noticed and thought it was crazy and so the very next year we wrapped it up and gave it to Melissa as a gag Christmas gift. Last year Melissa decided to take it to a whole new level and so she made a cookie jar out of it and gave it back to us for Christmas. We then had to lay out some rules for Jesus, you have to give him back each year so we rotate, you cannot permanently affix him to anything, and you can in no way destroy Jesus. So this year Dave and I went all out, oh yeah we got them good. We put Jesus in a box and made him pop out of the box with a spring, but it doesn't stop there when he pops out the box sings the Hallelujah Chorus. It was awesome! I cannot wait to see what Brandon and Melissa come up with next year, and I am honestly a little scared =)

A Snowy Christmas Day (as planned by Isabelle)

To our amazement (and joy) there was still plenty of snow on the ground when we woke up Christmas day. After opening all of the presents I made everyone rush out (still in the jammies) and take pictures in the snow, I mean how many times do you get to see a white Christmas in North TEXAS?? According to the news the last time was in 1926, 83 years ago!

Isabelle making snow angels, but she is not heavy enough to even make a dent in the snow.. LOL

A look down our street, the road is absolutely frozen. Isabelle bit it twice on the side walk alone!

Twas the Night before Christmas

Christmas Eve was bittersweet for the Wink Family. Every year since I was a little girl we spend Christmas Eve at my Papaw and Mamaw's house, this was the first year that the tradition was broken for our family. The good news was that it snowed! Isabelle was under the false impression (not sure how she got this idea) that Daddy said it would snow on Christmas. I don't know how where she got this idea but I kept telling her that it would probably not happen because it doesn't really snow in Texas. Well on Christmas Eve it snowed like crazy, it was as if she had some special insight =) So we were very excited to see the snow but it did keep us from going to Mamaw and Papaws that evening. The roads would have been perfectly fine on the way out there but the way back would have been a nightmare! Boy did we make the right decision to stay put because that night there were over 100 accidents and many people ended up spending the night in their cars because they were not able to get home.

Luckily Isabelle was not to upset, but I think it had to do with us allowing her to open one present early. I was so excited to see her open her present and was not at all disappointed in her reaction. As she opened her first present of the year she was speechless! She could not come up with anything to say, we had gotten her a barbie styling head and she played with that thing for hours that night! When it was time to go to bed, she decided that instead of leaving cookies for Santa that she wanted to leave him a healthy snack.. LOL The snack of choice was some pieces of cantaloupe, a drink yogurt smoothie, and a bag of baby carrots (she had to put them in a bag so it would be easier for Santa to take them to the reindeer). Santa was very appreciative of such a change in pace I am sure =) Although we were sad that we had to stay home we had a great evening, and were safetly snuggled in our beds when Santa came.