HOW TO DO THE TEXAS STATE FAIR WITH TODDLERS

We ventured to the State Fair this year with a 4.5 year old, 2.5 year old and 4 WEEK OLD! Yes... you read that right! I was not willing to give up one of my favorite fall traditions so we strapped Andrew to my chest and went for it!  I wanted to share a few things that made our time at the Fair enjoyable and FUN as a family!

#1 - Weekday.  It is substantially more crowded at the fair on the weekends.

#2 - Plan 3 or 4 things that you want to accomplish.  There is no way you are going to be able to SEE and DO it all.  Our list included:  1) See Big Tex 2) Eat a Fletcher's Corn Dog & Cotton Candy 3) Ride a few rides  // Although my hubby would have loved to walk through the Car Show and see more exhibits, we adjusted our expectations for this year so that no one left frustrated or in "meltdown mode."

#3 - If you have a wagon or double stroller, BRING IT! With 3 kiddos under the age of 5, we were able to easily keep track of everyone by having the girls in the wagon and wearing Andrew.

#4 - Pack water bottles!!! No need to pay for drinks at the fair.  Pack your kids their favorite thermos and spend your tickets on the food and rides!

#5 - This changes every year, but we brought canned goods on Wednesday and each got in for $4! The State Fair can add up, so this was BIG Savings for our little clan!

We went at 4:30 and left by 7pm.  It was genuinely an ENJOYABLE and beautiful night for our family and Gigi!

It's a BOY!

I am THRILLED to announce that we had a little BOY last week!

Tuesday, September 5th at 7:54am little ANDREW MOOSE MISEGADES came into the world while Hillsong's "Oceans" was playing.

He weighed in at 8 lbs 7 oz and was 19.75 inches long. (Our shortest but heaviest baby!)

We hired a photographer to capture the moment Logan told me as well as Logan's proud waiting room moment... Both of those experiences were exactly WHY we wanted to do surprise gender this time and it exceeded all expectations! Before I share all of those the pictures, I did want to explain the details behind his name.

ANDREW -

This is a story I have only shared with a handful of people.  Because we weren't sure on the gender, I was a bit insecure on sharing this yet.  In 2015 I was sitting in a sermon at our church in Southlake.  Chloé was only 5 months old so there was no future baby on our radar.  During the sermon, our Pastor was actually going through all of the disciples and how they died a martyrs death.  When he got to Andrew he choked up as he explained that "Andrew was whipped severely by seven soldiers in Greece and then crucified. His followers reported that when he was lead towards the cross, Andrew said these words 'I have long desired and expected this happy hour.'  He continued to preach to his tormentors for two days until he died." I don't know how to explain it but at the very moment I had the thought WOW what a man of faith, I feel like the Lord downloaded a promise into my heart.  In my heart and spirit I feel like He told me, You are going to have a son and his name will be Andrew.  From that moment on, I have held onto that promise.  I wasn't sure if Andrew would be this baby, a future biological baby, a future adopted baby, or a future boy that we mentored.  What has been cool is the timing of all of this.  He told me this is August 2015 and my anxiety/ insomnia started in September of 2015 and then last summer I had all my health scares surrounding my voice and swallowing.  I remember the darker days when I wasn't sure if I was going to make it through or wondering if I was about to receive a terminal diagnoses... The Lord would gently remind me that He was not through with me yet because I still have a son to be born named Andrew.  So in those valleys, I had a flicker of hope.... The promise of THIS little boy.  Andrew has never been on Logan's or my radar as a name ... ever ... but we obediently named him Andrew and it couldn't be more fitting because of the meaning and the Promise behind it.  He is our redemption baby.

MOOSE -

Moose is actually Logan's Mom's maiden name (Sherilyn Moose).  Pictured below is Grandpa Moose who Logan had a really special relationship with.  Growing up he was always jealous of his cousins who got the last name MOOSE because he thought it was so cool.  We are hoping our boy thinks the same thing! I mean he's bound to be cool with a name like THAT!  Another funny fact is that Logan out of all his siblings favors the Moose side of the family versus the Misegades.  So THERE is the mystery of "Moose" explained for everyone.

People have been asking what to call this little man of ours.  I want it to be organic.  I will refer to him as Andrew but we already have a pretty big fan club calling him Moose.  I am sure the "Moose" popularity will only increase over the coming years, especially when sports get introduced, ha! 

"Blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord." LUKE 1:45 

Maternity Pictures

5 Days to go Ninja Baby. 

So thankful we had these taken.  Dorly you are magic.  These pictures will make me smile ALWAYS.  

Margot or Andrew? 

Either way, you are loved FIERCELY! We know you are STRONG. BIG. And WIGGLE A LOT! 

All my love, my dear XX

Mommy

Gender Predictions for Bébé 3

Old Wives Tales

Heartbeat (Always around 140) - BOY (Both girls were 160s)

Chinese Calendar - BOY

Necklace Test (Circular vs. Linear) - BOY

Morning Sickness (I had ZERO but was very nauseous/ had food aversions with both girls) - BOY 

Complexion (Minimal Breakouts + "Glow") - BOY

Sweet (Girl) or Salty (Boy) - GIRL (definitely wanting all the sweets!)

Carrying High (Girl) or Low (Boy) - BOY (both of my girls were wedged way up in my rib cage)

Statistics (If you have had 2 of the same gender, you are 80% likely to have a 3rd of the same gender) - GIRL

So (almost) all of these point to having a B-O-Y!!!! Logan and I both think it is a boy but we are wrong every time haha! We thought both Stella AND Chloé were boys before we found out... SOOOOO I wouldn't trust us haha!

Regardless we will be thrilled!

I WOULD LOVE FOR YOU TO PLAY ALONG WITH OUR BABY HUNCH POOL --->

If you'd like to play, simply click the link provided below to submit your hunches!

Once you visit the page, click 'Enter New Hunches' to submit your hunches...

BABY HUNCH GUESSING POOL

To my Angel Baby(ies) and my NEW Baby

Written on January 26th.  The morning we were headed in to the doc to confirm my pregnancy. 

_________________________

To my very first Baby(ies)

The sting of your loss is palpable. I can go back 5 years in an instant to that cold hospital and apathetic doctor.  Tears well in my eyes at the thought of it.  The waiting. The hoping. The praying. The painting. The writing. 

You are not forgotten. You are in a much happier place but I still ache because I am your Mommy. 

Hope because you taught us to pray big BOLD prayers despite medical opinions. 

Samuel because you were the child we prayed for so very hard. 

Well I am currently pregnant with your littlest brother or sister and the enemy is trying to steal the joy out of this experience just like he has done every time since I lost you.  But I am going to battle this out. 

We are going to be victorious. We are going to celebrate this life and this blessing and this hope.  

To my new baby. I love you. I have already been daydreaming about you and how you are the missing puzzle piece to our family. We think you may be our grand finale baby and because of that I want to cherish every single moment of this last pregnancy. I do not want to be swallowed up by fear or anxiety. 

Baby - We look forward to seeing you today. Hearing that strong heartbeat and getting sweet affirmation that you are alive and well and growing big and strong in my womb. You are fearfully and wonderfully made. You are being knit together by the most loving and creative Father and I know He has big plans for you and our family.  

So to my Angel Babies- I will never forget you. I will celebrate you instead of fearing. 

To my new baby - You are a treasure.  A blessing after a very long and hard season of bad health. You are the crescendo to the beautiful symphony of our family.  My prayer is that we can enjoy every single note. 

XO

Mommy 

The Night Before 1...

When Stella turned 1, I felt like I had earned a badge of honor.  A huge relief that we survived the first year of parenthood.  We celebrated, ate cake, and breathed a sigh of relief.

But as I sit here the night before Chloé turns 1... I don't share the same sentiments.  This year went entirely too fast and I feel like we just brought her home from the hospital! As I've been putting together her 1 year slideshow, I realized I want to keep her a baby.... not have another toddler.  Of course I'm excited for what is ahead, but I have just had so much fun with the baby phase this go around.  I appreciated its simplicity so much now that I have a threenager ;) BABIES ARE MY JAM.  They LOVE you. Can't talk back. End of story :)

Chloé Grace. You have been a delight since Day 1. You do have the shriekiest cry I have EVER heard but you cry VERY rarely.  You are a snuggler. You love to be held and hugged and kissed.  You are obsessed with your big sister.  You ADORE your Daddy and waddle over to him with a BIG GRIN on your face when he walks in from work.  You are chill. Content. Happy. Calm. Sweet.  ALL the good adjectives and honestly if we have another baby someday... I am not sure I can handle anything less! You have been a DREAM.

We are the luckiest to be your parents.  We pray for you and your sister every single night. For protection. Purity. Health. And a BRIGHT Future. But most importantly, that you will come to know Jesus personally at a young age.

We are so thankful to have 2 sweet precious girls to call our own and we look forward to the year ahead! I am so grateful I will have you home with me all next year before we put you in Mother's Day Out.... Not quite ready to let you go yet. You will always be my baby girl.

We ADORE you.

Lately

 1. Bridal Shower for my cousin Lane!
2. The Flower Girl + The Bride
3. Baby Aggie
4. When your 2.5 year old has a better wardrobe than you.
5. Snuggler.

6. My Little Mermaid. 

7. Melt Me. 

8. Trinity Groves. 

9. Airplane.

10. Monday Blues. 

Chloé Grace: 6 Months Old

Half a year already?!? Are you kidding me with this?? 😭😭 Chloé you are sitting up-ish... Pretty wobbly! Eating food now - You LOVE bananas, peaches, & apples... Not so much the oatmeal or prunes. You watch your Big Sis like a hawk and give her your best smiles & giggles! You can roll across a room no problem and you've started putting your knees under you on your tummy like you are about to figure out this crawling thing. I'd prefer we delay that as LONG as possible 😉 Everything is going into your mouth these days so I think we have more teeth coming in! You are seriously a great napper and are incredibly happy & content during the day. You turn into a vampire baby at night and love to still wake up... A LOT. 😳 Cry it out didn't really work for us so we are going to talk to the doc tomorrow about other ideas! My best guess is these pesky teeth. 😁 I didn't know my heart could love another little girl as fiercely as I did my first baby girl, but this heart of mine has doubled in size because of you. We love you to the moon & back!!! 

Family Vacation in Paradise!

Last week was our first family vacation with just our immediate family unit! We loaded up the car with a portable DVD player and plenty of snacks and headed on an 11 hour drive to Pensacola, Florida to stay with one of my best friends from college, Bromli!  Chloé slept almost the entire way (we had a slight scare involving a 104.2 fever and a trip to the Urgent Care on our pit stop in Houston) so I think the medicine kind of made her drowsy.  Stella was happy as long as she was watching a movie or eating, ha! Go figure.

Night #1 we met the Breedloves at a GREAT restaurant on the beach where we let the girls play on a playground and get entirely too sandy so we could enjoy some adult beverages and some authentic sea food! I had the most delicious snow crab and shrimp dish! 

On Sunday, we got loaded up and took the boat out to a couple of islands right off the military base.  I had never been on a military base and had no idea they were so HUGE and basically a fully functioning city! We dropped anchor and walked in the shallow water to a sandbar and ate our picnic lunch. Stella LOVED it until…. the jellyfish which we accidentally TERRIFIED her about (because she was about to try and touch one) and she subsequently became scared of the water. Oops? So she spent the rest of the day on the boat or in the sand and wanted nothing to do with the water.  She LOVED the boat though and kept telling Mr. Bear - FASTER! FASTER! We also spotted some dolphins only a few yards away from our boat - Way better than Sea World ;) 

Monday was fun because we went to the beach and got wristbands and the Holiday Inn Resort for a change of scenery. It was a beautiful beachside pool with a lazy river and…. A MERMAID!!! Stella was equally entranced and terrified haha! She wouldn't get NEAR her and kept calling her "Ariel" (even though it was her cousin Diamond ;) ) but she also didn't want to leave her line of sight.  I ate Mahi Mahi fish tacos and had some delicious rum punch!   

That NIGHT, Bromli indulged me on a sunset photo shoot at the beach - We really don't have any family pictures since the hostpial when Chloé was born and they turned out beautiful! Yay for not having to figure out Christmas cards this year :) 

Tuesday was a family day while Bear and Bromli worked - We were going to go to the military base to tour the aircraft museum and got stuck in standstill traffic that was spanning over a mile.  So instead of spending our last day in traffic, we went back to the beach and set up camp under a boardwalk since we didn't have umbrellas.  Stella was NOT scared of the water this time- I guess she forgot ;) She kept calling the sand, SNOW because it was so pretty and white! This day was so laid back and fun - We rode a few waves, relaxed, ate sandwiches, and enjoyed our time as a family of 4. Chloé is not a fan of the sand so she preferred sleeping in her tent or on one of us :) She is most definitely our snuggly baby - Big Sister NEVER wanted snuggles! 

Tuesday night we hit up a Blue Wahoos game with the Breedloves. We were exhausted from the sun but it was the perfect ending to our trip! We sat in the outfield on a patch of grass and Stella got to run around like a crazy 2.5 year old and make friends and steal Bromli's son cone and my Coke :) It was so much fun! 

We made memories that will last a lifetime and had the best time getting to see the Breedloves hometown and getting to know Mary Bella (their almost 1 year old) better :)