Baby McCartney

Last week I had the pleasure of taking Camryn’s newborn pictures. 

 Congrats to Kylie and Adam! 

Baby Clark

Baby Clark is on His Way!

Last weekend we celebrated the upcoming arrival of Jennifer and Drew’s son!  Baby Clark will be here in a little over a month.  I can’t wait to hold him, he will be a great addition to our growing family!

9 Weeks

Who knew a baby the size of a grape could have such an effect on your body, (side note I am not complaining just reflecting)!  I swear that God has a sense of humor he knew how bad I wanted this baby and to experience pregnancy so he is giving me the full blown experience.  I have morning and evening sickness at times I even have the pleasure of losing my breakfast and dinner.  Oh the joy of raging hormones…I already tend to be a bit of a crier so pregnancy has only increased this.  One minute I am on cloud 9 and within seconds I feel like a crazy person.  I am trying to not make Eric’s life to hellish.  The list goes on fatigue, extra saliva, heartburn, oh and my favorite frequent urination!

I am truly enjoying the entire experience of carrying our child.  Yesterday we had the pleasure of having our 5^th ultra sound.  Yes you heard me right 5^th.  We have had more ultra sounds than some pregnant women have their entire pregnancy and we are only 9 weeks in.  When you are high risk you get tons of ultra sounds (which I enjoy).  We heard the heartbeat for the first time on Oct 21^st the heart rate was 175 and yesterday it was 167.  The ultra sound tech Michelle is so sweet she has been doing my ultra sounds since we started fertility treatments so every time she sees me she is so excited.  She even has cried with Eric and me during our visits which I find so sweet.  I feel like she really cares about us and our baby!

So today I am 9 weeks and 4 days and the doctor thinks everything looks good.  I continue to go for weekly blood testing and I have had 2 rH shots.  I am thankful for each day I carry our baby and I feel so blessed.

In 31 more weeks I get to hold my little blessing!

Bun in the Oven

Eric and I could not be more excited to announce that we are expecting our first child! I am 9 weeks today! I know most people don’t share the news until at least 12 but we could not contain ourselves anymore.  Since we used medical intervention to get pregnant we knew  a couple days after conception that we were expecting.    Over the last year and half we have had so many disappointments with trying to get pregnant that we had started to get pretty down about the whole situation.  We were referred to a new Dr. and within 2 cycles we received the best news ever.  

We knew we wanted to share the news with our families in a memorable way.  We told Eric’s parents by giving them a picture frame that said “GRANDKIDS” considering they only have one grandchild we thought this would be a cute way to share the news.  In the frame I put a picture of Ben on one side and I drew a baby stick figure on the other side with the words "Coming in June"! We also put I love Grandma and Grandpa bibs in the bag! It took them a second but then they caught on could not be more excited. 

The next weekend my parent’s hosted their annual Halloween party!  We knew we wanted to tell my family when they could all be together.  So Eric and I decided to go as an oven and a bun baker to share the news!  My family was so surprised and excited!  My older sister Brandy was the first to get it! Below I posted videos of us telling both families. 

We also called Ron and Mary and shared the news.  I have to say that Mary had one of the best reactions.  I think she screamed on the phone for 5 minutes!

Halloween

Eric and I were so excited this year to pass out candy at our own home!  We had about 500 mini candy bars.  We gave 2 pieces to each kid and we ran out by the end of the night.  We also had a chance to meet more of our neighbors.  We look forward to many more first in our new home!

                                                                        My little hot DOG

                            The fire department and police came through and handed out candy to the kids!

90 years and counting

Last weekend we celebrated my Grandpa Sparks 90^th Birthday! During the celebration we all had a chance to honor Grandpa by sharing a birthday message.  Grandpa was very touched by all the messages. 

During the party my dad and his sisters shared many great memories from our grandpa’s life.  We learned all about his interesting jobs, joke telling ability, and love for his family. 

We very rarely all have a chance to get together but when we do it is always memorable. 

My grandparents have passed the baton to the next generation.  We are responsible for keeping our family connected through family functions, cards, and phone calls.  Grandma and Grandpa set the bar pretty high, but I think the next generation of Sparks can do it!

                        

Oh we know how to have fun!

After 90 years we wanted to Grandpa to know money does grow on trees!