It's a...............

BOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Our ultrasound today confirmed our suspicions that we are having a little boy this time! We are thrilled to now have "one of each!" Machen of course is beaming & I have adjusted to the idea of moving out of my "girl world." I'm ready for a new adventure! And the best part of all...everything looks absolutely normal. We have NO high risk issues this time around!! We are so thankful that God has once again answered our prayers. The doctor said his heart looks "beautiful!" Below is a profile picture. It looks like he is "kissing" the placenta. What a little miracle from the Lord! :)

Updated pics

Hello everyone,

I've gotten a bit behind in updating our blog now that the holiday season has hit! You will find pics from our fall colors, fun at our church Harvest Hoe- down party, our Thanksgiving dinner, & our trip to the Children's Museum in Asheville, NC with Machen's side of the family. Lately we've been enjoying getting our home decorated for Christmas. I'll send more pics soon. We have our first (21 week) ultrasound on Dec. 17th. We can't wait to see if it's a boy or girl! Hope you enjoy the pics!

Check out my Slide Show!

Fun at the Mall

Hard to believe it's time for Christmas decorations already!

Brianna loves the toddler play area in the mall.

She also loves her Aunt Laurie! :)

Runnin' Crummy

Machen's poor old work truck is on it's last leg.

Daddy's new car

This is Machen's new "gangsta' car! :) Doesn't he look the part?! Actually, his work truck pretty much died this week, so he decided to get a car that gets really good gas mileage to replace it. Now that he just drives around all day supervising his jobs he doesn't really need the big work truck anymore. Some days he drives 150 miles. His truck only got 12 miles to the gallon, but his new Honda Accord (sorry Dad Smith...GM exec.) gets 30 miles to the gallon. Much improved!! Now we can start buying groceries again! (Just kidding!) :) :)

14 wk. check-up

I had another check-up today...and we finally got a great heartbeat!! Yay!!! She found it right away & it was good & steady. She thinks it's a girl b/c it was beating quite fast. I guess baby girls have a consistently faster heartbeat than boys in the womb. We shall see! I would love another girl, but would be very happy with a boy too. Of course Daddy prefers a boy next. We'll see who wins out! I'm def. starting to show now & have had to start wearing maternity clothes. Thankfully the nausea is beginning to taper off. Hooray!!! It's not completely gone yet, but I already feel like a new person. What a relief. We plan to get an ultrasound by week 20...just before Christmas. At that point we should know the gender. Can't wait!!

Nana & Papa's Visit

My parents (Lisa's) just left this morning after a fun-filled week at our house! It was sad to see them go, but we will see them again for Christmas. Below is a slide-show of our week. We went to a "Storytelling Festival" at a mill not too far from here. Brianna had a blast playing in the old-fashioned water pump. My wonderful mom spent many hours at her sewing machine while she was here & made me custom drapes for my dining room. Thanks a million mom!! You're the best!! She has made many of the rooms in our house beautiful with her handiwork! Brianna enjoyed having Nana come to Kindermusik with her. She will definitely miss not having Nana & Papa around anymore. They spoil her rotten! What are grandparents for?! We also had a good time with Laurie & Rich (my sister & her hubby) throughout the week. We celebrated Rich's b-day our last night together. My dad enjoyed going to work several days with Machen. Machen loves having Dad help him out whenever he's down here. Brianna accomplished several "firsts" while her grandparents were here. She can now walk down our carpeted stairs all by herself like a big-girl holding onto the railing. I still hold my breath watching her, but she loves doing it all by herself. We had a near accident when she decided to attempt coming down in Nana's high heel shoes. Thankfully she grabbed the railings with both hands & hung on for dear life (crying) until Papa quickly rescued her. Phew! She also just about mastered feeding herself with a spoon/fork this week. She can actually get food onto the utensil now & usually gets it into her mouth! :) She said many new words this week too. Enjoy the slide show!

Check out my Slide Show!

12 Wk. Check-up

Just wanted to let you all know that my check-up went fine today. I got all the lab work done which is never fun for me...but at least I didn't have any fainting spells this time! :) It was still too early to get a really good heart tone on the baby. She thinks the placenta is in front, hiding the baby right now. So, I'm going back in 2 weeks for another heart tone check. At that point the uterus should be in a better position to hear the baby. She was able to hear a lot of uterine activity which is good. Also, the fact that I've had so much nausea is a good sign. I had to bring Brianna with me cause my sitter fell through & she was such a good girl! She sat in her stroller for an hour without a complaint! I was so proud of her. She's already learning to be a good big sister! :)

18 mo. check-up

Yesterday Brianna had her 18 mo. wellness check-up. The doctor confirmed our suspicions that she is a VERY healthy girl who's development is right on track. The nurse was amazed that we've never had to take her in for sickness...just routine wellness check-ups (knock on wood!) We praise the Lord for good health for all of us. The doc said her heart sounds very strong. Her height is still in the 93rd percentile, but her weight has dropped down into the 63rd percentile. Meaning...she's thinning out & is going to be quite tall! I go in for my 12 wk. check-up on Monday. I'll be sure to give you an update on how that goes! Only a couple more weeks until I start the second trimester. Yay! I can't wait to be done with all this nausea & sickness. The sickness has been much better the last 2 weeks, but the nausea is almost always there. Ugh!

Fun with cousins!

Reading with Uncle Wade & new baby cousin Elizabeth ("Lizzy") Joy.

A couple nights ago we had dinner with Machen's side of the family. Brianna had already eaten at the "adult table" when I found her here! She had managed to climb up onto the table where her cousins were eating & like a scavenger just started eating all the leftover scraps on their plates. It was too funny. I call her my little "mooch." She loves to eat & will beg food off of us whenever she sees us eating something.

She laughed harder that night than ever before with her cousins. She LOVES her cousins!

Kyle (2 1/2), Sarah (5 1/2), Katie (4), Brianna (18 mo.)

"I finally get it all to myself!" :)

"Hill Jillies!"

Ok, let me explain lest you think I've lost my mind! :) (Although, that does happen more often these days in my life with an 18 mo. old who's into EVERYTHING!) Machen & I work with the kids at our church on Wednesday's Nights. A couple weeks ago we had a "Hill Billy/Hill Jilly" theme & everyone had to come dressed up. Due to a stomach virus going through the nursery, Brianna lucked out & got to stay with us for the evening. It was quite the project trying to get freckles on her face. She kept turning her head, thus making brown lines all over her face instead of dots! :) We made a fun memory.

A New Cousin!

Ok, it's been over a week since my last post & it's time for some more news! We decided to have our baby early...NO, JUST KIDDING!! :) Last Thursday my sister-in-law, Becca, had her 4th baby. She was a big girl weighing over 9 lbs! Baby "Lizzy" is a sweetheart & we are very excited about her arrival. Brianna enjoyed seeing her new baby cousin at the hospital. This was good practice for getting ready to be a big sister! She's making her "shy smile" in this pic....a new look that is quite characteristic these days. She wasn't too sure what to think about mommy holding another baby. I don't think she was too happy about it. She's in for a big adjustment!

Finger Painting Trauma

Oh, I had to show you guys this pic. Brianna was finger painting for the first time with her little friend, Leah, & you can see that she is not enjoying herself. She hates having "sticky" hands. I made her put her hands in the paint & then she got upset & held out her hands for me to wash them off. Too funny! Leah painted Brianna's picture for her. :) I guess my paranoia about germs & dirt have rubbed off on her! :)

Fun at the Park

This pic was taken at Heritage Park near our home. Brianna loves the slide & swings. She's also just discovered that she can climb around the "older kid" part of the playground. One of us always goes up with her just to be safe! :) She's such a "dare-devil"...as soon as we put her at the top of the slide she just takes off down the slide whether we're there to catch her or not! Her new word of the day is "baby." She's been attempting to say a lot of words lately & even though they don't always sound right at least she's trying. She played with Play Do for the first time this week & loves it! She hasn't tried eating it yet...phew! I was wanting to add more pics to this entry but I'm having technical difficulties. I may have to do them separately.

Welcome to Our Blog!

We are very excited to finally have our very own blog! We are hoping this will help in keeping you updated on our lives. We just celebrated Brianna's 1/2 b-day on Wed. She's now a very grown up 18 mo. old! She tries to say new words each day & never ceases to put a smile on our faces. And of course you all know that we are expecting baby #2. The official due date is May 2. This was my mom's due date for me (Lisa), but I was born a week late. I'm hoping the baby has it's own b-day which means it can't be born on May 9th! :) I had my first doc appointment this week & everything is fine so far. It was too early to actually hear the heartbeat, but by my next appt. (week 12) we should be able to hear it. I'm in week 9 & I'm definitely feeling the effects of pregnancy. I'm nauseated 24/7 & have been getting sick a lot more than I did with Brianna. I guess it's a good sign that there is a lot of pregnancy hormone in my system. We will keep you posted on the progress of the pregnancy. Hope you enjoy our blog! :)