Family and House Updates

Wow that was an incredibly boring title. But I'm too tired to come up with something more creative. You love me anyway, right?

I'll start with myself and baby bun-in-the-oven. AKA- the nameless one. :) We're still taking name suggestions. Nothing is striking us, like, at all. Just waiting for that supernatural, almost audible voice to speak it out of heaven (which is how I got Abby's name). Any time now, Lord. ;) My morning sickness is preeetty much gone. A lot of mornings I still take a half a Zofran just to ensure a good day... I might still have the occasional morning "heave", which I'm sure has nothing to do with waking up to 3 stinky, explosive diapers. Anyway, I haven't thrown up food in a while, which is great. And the crazy cravings have kicked in which is always a good sign. If any of you ever want to go get some fried pickles at Applebees at any time, hit me up. My belly is really getting bigger too. That point where anything but sweatpants are uncomfortable. And I refuse to put on maternity jeans because they make my butt look flat aren't very flattering. The three littlest kids have noticed my baby bump too. Every now and then, they'll look over at me, poke at my belly and give me this half-disgusted look like, "uh... what is that?"

Miss Mabry is doing well. Saying a few more words. Mostly... "no". But she's also started this great thing where she acts like she's laughing when other people are laughing. Like throwing her hands up and smacking her legs kind of laughing. Its hilarious, but mostly because she has no idea what she's laughing at. :)

Abby. Well... with mixed emotions I report to you that Abby Grace is going to start riding the bus next week. Its hard, obviously because she's my baby. (Not my littlest baby but, whatever, you get it). She'll be riding it with Micah (I'll explain that more in Micah's update) which makes me feel so much better about it. Actually I wouldn't be putting her on the bus at all if it weren't for the fact that she's riding with Micah. But as my belly grows, its becoming increasingly harder to lift Abby and Micah in and out of the suburban. The fewer times, the better. And of course the bonus of not bundling Mabry up for a 5 minute round trip car ride. Also, a few of her friends from her class ride the bus. So ultimately, I think she'll be fine and even enjoy being a "big" girl. :)

Mr Micah will be riding the bus with Abby because, he's now going to pre-K 5 days a week! When the school suggested this after his last IEP (individualized education plan) meeting, I wasn't the least hesitant. Because Micah is bored at home and I don't feel like I can do enough to keep him busy or stimulated enough. I think he'll benefit from the additional speech therapy and will love the structure of daily school. They also decided to keep him in pre-K 5 days/week next school year as well. Which I'm also happy with because 1) He's such a little guy. SOLID as a rock, but little. :) 2) His speech is still so behind 3) He's still not... uh, "#2" potty trained and 4) He's just generally so developmentally behind I can't imagine him keeping up in Kindergarten class by the fall. So for now, I'm happy with this arrangement, and I think he is too!

Kindergarten has proven to be awesome for Emily this year though! Love love love her teacher and her classmates. One of her best-friends-from-birth buddies started coming to her class after Christmas and she was really excited about that. :) She's such a little peanut but she sure packs a punch, so she's keeping up well! She's still doing ballet after school once a week (with Ashley) and loves that. Its been the perfect activity for the girls, what a blessing.

Ashley's doing well in school too. We had a little time before Christmas when she was getting stressed out about "friend drama" at school. But with a little mom and teacher intervention and some new rules in place about trading toys and "clubs" ;) things seem to be going much better. She's been having lots of playdates after school and sleepovers on the weekend, which I think keeps them focused on schoolwork during the day. I guess they don't feel like they need to cram all of their conversation into one 7 hour period. And trust me, 1st grade little girls have LOTS they NEED to say.

Jake now has both of this years winter retreats (Jr and Sr High) under his belt and his home for a while (can I get a hallelujah?!) He also preached in "big church" ;) twice in December, which was cool. You can check those messages out here and here. He's been playing basketball on Tuesday nights, which is a great physical outlet for him, he loves sports. And if its an early game, he picks up Ashley and Emily after school and they hang out and go to the game together. Its awesome for the girls to have that Daddy time and its nice for me to have an evening with just the little ones.

Last but not least, the Spencer HOUSE is for sale! WHOO HOO!! It is officially listed as of last night. Its definitely bittersweet. When we moved into this house, my belly looked just like it does right now... but with Ashley. This is the only house any of our kids have ever known. And part of me is really sad that we won't be bringing this last baby home here too. But I keep telling myself that bringing the baby home to our new house (where ever that might be) will make that house feel like a home. And of course, it'll be so nice to have some space. In case you missed it, you can read more about our space/sleeping issues here. And that was before we found out about baby bun-in-the-oven. (We have got to name this kid...)

Please pray with us that Lord would orchestrate buyers for the house as well as a new house for us. It was so clear when we bought this place that it was directly from the Lord. I really want that for our next place too. Also please pray that its a smooth transition for our young but large, growing family. I'll keep you updated!