Life for the 4 A's...

So, there are many positive things that are happening since I'm not pregnant anymore! First of all, I get to hold and kiss the feet of the most beautiful girl in the world! (I'm a little biased) Also, I can wear shoes other than flip flops, eat tomato based meals without fear of heartburn, I can breathe again, and I sleep with only 2 pillows instead of 7! My energy is up and I'm feeling great!

Angel is truly and angel! There is no doubt in my mind that God had chosen her name for us, and spoke through Aden to get it here! No other name could suit this little girl! She's just precious! She sleeps most of the day, and gradually is beginning to have more 'awake' time. Today, I popped on some Norah Jones while I cleaned the house and she gently fell asleep after playing for an hour! I feel so blessed, and God is so good!!

Aden is doing amazing! He is doing such a good job as a big brother, almost like he was designed for it! He sings to her and helps without question. My favorite thing he does is sing to her, and as her crying gets louder-so does his song:) He finished his soccer season strong! His team was undefeated (until the last game, but that doesn't count for Aden, since he was in OK!!). He had a soccer party at a pizza place and got a trophy and a medal that he is so proud of! Some of the games, he scored up to 3 goals! He also had a play (The Very Hungry Caterpillar) at school last week. This week, he has a gymnastics recital, which I'm looking forward to watching! We take a weekly trip to the library and pick out new books and movies to tide us over. No t.v. here, so you can imagine keeping a 5 year old entertained while feeding a newborn every other hour! He's so much bigger than he was last summer! It's hard to believe that our little man is growing up!

Arthur is also doing wonderful! He is currently neck deep in flight school. We were able to watch him fly last Friday at his 'family day'. He works about 12 hour days, sometimes starting at 3:30 am. We run into each other, as I am giving a middle of the night feeding to a hungry little girl:) He studies hard, is staying in shape, being a great new father, and supportive husband all at the same time! Did I mention that I feel blessed?

I am working on a gift for Arthur...shhh, don't tell! Our one year anniversary is on Sunday (Angel will be 1 month old on the same day!). I have a book that says the 1 year gift in paper. Really, paper? I'll let you know what I come up with! He is making plans for us, but I'm secretly looking forward to unwrapping our wedding cake and eating it! Oh glorious day:)

P.S. This post has been ready since before May 17 (Our anniversary), but the computer didn't allow me to upload pics until now...and I wanted to show you what we've been up to!

Angel is here!

Have you ever had an answer to prayer? We have! This little girl now has Arthur, Aden, and I captivated, and she is absolutely an answer to our prayers!! Currently, Arthur is in flight school and his hours are extremely long. We both knew that when he started flight school, our best 'option' (as if to say we had one) was to have her over a weekend when he could be with us at the hospital. For two weeks in a row, the Doctor told me that I was progressing towards an early delivery.

Well, last Thursday night, I laid awake in my bed just praying that she would come during the next day. After about an hour and a half of only sleeping 5-10 minutes at a time, I decided that it was contractions that were waking me up! After timing contractions for 3 hours, packing our bags and waking up Aden at 4:00 am-we drove to the hospital! To make a long story short...labor went EXTREMELY WELL!! Thank you for all of your prayers from my previous post! I progressed rapidly without pain (until the hospital decided to give me pitocin to speed up the contractions). I soon received my epidural and went from 7 to 10 cm in about half an hour. Angel arrived at 11:58 am-only 12 hours since I had said my last prayer! That sure beats the 36 painful hours of labor with Aden!! She was born approximately 3.5 weeks early, but all of the doctors and nurses said you can't even tell! She's amazing!!

Later, I found out that my sister Bridget and my mom were also lying awake in bed that night praying for me!! Only God knew our individual prayers, and he took care of our small family like no one else could! No timing that Arthur and I could dream up would have ever compared to His PERFECT timing! Arthur was able to miss work on Friday, and stayed at the hospital with Angel and I until we came home! We had some amazing friends that were able to keep Aden until my sister Bridget and niece Georgia arrived. We came home Sunday evening with our arms full of blessings!

OH! I need to mention another blessing! I have recently mentioned attending MOPS meetings (Mothers Of Preschoolers). Well, yesterday, two of the women from the meetings called and are planning on setting up meals for us for all of next week!! Just another prayer answered that we didn't even ask for! God is definitely preparing the way for this family!

Okay, so here's the stats of our baby girl:

Name: Angel Michelle Clymer

Weight: 6 lbs 9 ozs (she's currently down to 5 lbs 13 ozs, but it's coming back up)

Height: 20 1/2 inches long

Birth date: April 17, 2009 at 11:58 am

Changing things up...

So, things are changing once again...we just can't sit still down here in Alabama!! First of all, I'm getting a new O.B. doctor-and I'm 28 weeks along! Whew! Can't wait to meet her, though! My friend, Julie, just delivered at an incredible hospital down here-so Arthur and I decided to make the switch. It's a female doctor, and the facility is MUCH nicer than the one we were going to settle for!

The night before Valentine's, Aden had his first dance at school:) The dance was at the elementary school, and of course all parents were invited. Well, my pregnant self was ready to bust a move on the dance floor, but Aden decided he would rather chase other little boys (not girls, mind you) and hit them with balloons. Arthur took pics for us since it was supposed to be a mother/son, father/daughter dance. He could have danced with my belly if he wanted to:) There's enough of it to go around!! On Valentine's Day, Arthur ordered pizza while I took a hot bath. It was GREAT:) The pizzas were shaped like hearts, and I was too hungry to take a picture of them first! Maybe next year!

Biggest change of all!!! We have decided to start going to a church that's not exactly what we are looking for, but have decided it's better to start getting plugged in somewhere than to keep looking. So, off to MOPS and hopefully Bible Studies in the near future! I'll keep you posted! We have been going on Sunday nights to a Dave Ramsey financial peace university class (a Biblically based class on living debt free and saving for the future). It has completely changed our lives!! We have put ourselves on a budget for every dollar earned, turned off our t.v. to save money (so long American Idol), and sold his big red truck to buy a less expensive vehicle. You heard me right!! Arthur had bought a 2007 Chevy Silverado last Spring...super nice, with tons of perks. We went car shopping this week, and found an incredible deal on a 2004 Honda Odyssey. I'll put pics up so you can see our new find!! Goodbye Chevy and Hello Honda!

Pregnancy clarified:)

Oops! I feel the need to clarify after reading some responses! I was not trying to vent or complain...just stating the truth in love:) Some people have great pregnancies. Some do not. I seem to be one of those people that have a tough time with it! I am incredibly grateful for the chance and blessing to have another bundle of joy on the way!! So excited in fact, I wish that she'd come today, and not in 13 weeks...but that may also just be me wanting to finish this pregnancy quickly:) Either way, thanks for your encouragement and thoughts! It's going to be great to post pictures so that you all can see her!! Wish that you could be here to hold her, too!! We'll just let you know how good that feels via blogging:)

Pregnancy...

When Arthur and I decided to get pregnant, we had a completely skewed view! The sunny times, the happy times, the beautiful growing moments together...eerrrrrrr (think car brakes squealing!). This pregnancy has turned out to be close to the opposite!! I hate to be the bearer of bad news to friends and family that might think that I'm 'glowing', but ouch! This is hard! When we were basking in the joy of making a baby we didn't really stop to think about these things...weight gain, hip pain, heartburn, shortness of breath, lack of energy, mood swings, sleepless nights, swollen ankles/body, irritability/tearfulness, frequent bathroom breaks (5 times nightly, hence the lack of sleep), and the increased awareness of scents around you (as in a new husband's breath and body odor after he works out!). Nobody told me that I would be so fearful of going into labor and delivery again (if you don't know...it was B-A-D for me, and seems to be great for all of my friends...hence the frustration).

So, friends and family, this is my pregnancy in a nutshell. I'd love to blow flowers and bubbles in the air, but unfortunately I just don't have the energy to do that anymore!! I love my husband, and he is forever trying to please me...poor guy. I love my son, he is forever kissing my belly and telling his baby sister that he "can't wait for her to come out to play". I love my daughter that's growing inside me, who never stops kicking my bladder or my ribs! I love my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ who can conquer any fear that I might be experiencing and be the unwavering truth in my life! I love my family members and friends that encourage me, knowing this experience is completely different for me and reminding me of that each time we talk (I have tears as I type that)! Oh, and I love meeting strangers that say I look so 'small' for being this far along. HAHAHAHAHA:) They don't know how much I've gained, and neither do you!!

I have 13 weeks to go. PRAISE GOD!! Oh, and before the next time we decide to have a baby we have to meet 2 criteria: 1)I'll be in the best shape of my life, 2)Arthur will be deployed (due to all of the reasons listed above!!)

The most magical place on earth!!

Now that I have updated you about our Christmas and travels, there is more to talk about! After a week of being home in Alabama, we found out that Disney World put out a great deal for active duty military and their family! Arthur and I talked about it in depth and decided to bite the bullet and go for a couple of reasons:

1) I am getting bigger and more swollen by the day

2) Take a vacation before we have the baby

3) Aden is a great age to remember this experience

4) Arthur had 4 days off from work

We quickly planned the trip, bought groceries (we packed our lunches/snacks everyday), and headed down to Orlando. We kept telling Aden what we were going to do, but his little mind had no idea what was about to happen! We were able to go to all 4 parks and see amazing fireworks/shows/rides! Some of our absolute favorites were the Indiana Jones show, stunt shows, Finding Nemo live show (Broadway worthy!), Disney Playhouse show, Toy Story ride, thunder mountain, It's a Small World, the train ride around the Magic Kingdom, Dinosaur roller coaster ride, the fireworks over the castle and Epcot, the 3-D movies, and every parade that we could possibly see!

Aden had more energy than Arthur and I put together! We were there from the time the parks opened until they shut down! He ran everywhere we went, including to the car as we left each night! We kept seeing kids asleep on their parents shoulders, but not our little tyke! It was a great adventure overall, and we hope to go back again someday! With the military, we also get discounts/free days at Sea World and Busch Gardens, as well as the Disney water theme parks!! They expire before the end of the year, and I'm not real anxious about getting back in a swimsuit anytime soon...so we'll see! Hope you enjoy the pictures!

Finally, an update:)

So, I haven't posted in about a month, but now I have a lot to share!! We were able to come home and visit family over Christmas! Thankfully, since we had been missing them very much! Our first stop was in Tahlequah to visit my sisters, brother-in-laws, and kids. We had a few days of playing games, eating too much food, having girl talk/boy talk, and watching the kids put on a talent show! So much fun, and EXTREMELY hard to say goodbye!

Our next stop was in Edmond at Arthur's dad's house. We had more good food, lots of entertainment, watched the OSU bowl game, went ice skating, bowling, and were blessed by exciting gifts at Christmas for us and the baby!

The final stop before we came home was Arthur's mom's house. Again, we had great food, entertainment, had a night out watching fireworks for New Year's (Aden's first time to stay awake that late and he LOVED it!), and then had to pack up for the long drive home. So, Aden ended up crying for about an hour and a half the night before we left, because he was having a really hard time saying goodbye to all we had just experienced. He said, "There's no family in Alabama!". Needless to say, mommy held him and had a few tears myself! He took about 3 naps on the 14 hour car ride home, I propped up my swollen pregnant ankles, and Arthur took on most of the driving!

In more recent news...Aden had his school pictures taken last Friday, we've been hunting down awesome baby deals through craigslist.com every day, have been attending a Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University at a local church (great program for anyone!!), have still been searching for a church, been on a homemade dessert kick (bananas foster, grapefruit cake, homemade doughnuts, coffee cake, lemon bars, cookies, etc) and preparing the house for upcoming visitors! We are looking forward to having family come to visit us for the first time since we've lived here!! After that...the baby will be here soon! The baby is due in May, but there is always a chance to go early (or late). Please keep us in your prayers!!