Abby and Jeremy Came to Visit!

Abby and Jeremy came to visit from Arizona! We met up with them at our friend Jason and Jennifer's beach house.  We all went out to lunch and then we spent the whole afternoon playing at the beach.  Afterwards we went back to the house and had some yummy barbeque.  Then we finished the night by going to the pier and fishing and letting the kids light their sparklers from 4th of July.  It was so great to see everyone! Now who wants to come visit me next???

4th of July

For 4th of July Doug had his big kick off event for his ministry in our neighborhood.  We actually had quite a good turnout and heard from several of the people that it was their first time meeting so many neighbors! Doug got a huge bounce house and a slip and slide for all of the kids.  Logan and Aila wore themselves out and we all had a blast : )

I'm 5 Months Prego!

I am 20 weeks pregnant! Half way there!!!

How's Baby:  Levi now pretty much looks like he will at birth.  He weighs about a pound and he is about the length of a banana.  His body is proportionate with his arms and legs balancing out his head; his features, including his eyes and ears, are in their final position and have begun functioning. Even delicate details, such as his finger nails, toe nails, and the hair on his scalp, are growing.

For past two weeks, Levi has begun to hear sounds in utero. He can now listen to the sounds of blood rushing around, the air moving in and out of my lungs -- and perhaps the most dominant sound, my heart beating.
Hearing and other sensory responses are now possible because the connections between the brain and his eyes, ears, and nose are becoming established. Myelin, a fatty substance, coats the nerve endings and makes it possible for transmissions from his brain to reach his ears more quickly.

How's Mommy: I am just so relieved to still be pregnant! This pregnancy is kicking my butt though! I have been able to do more and more because I haven't had any more bleeding but if I do too much my body certainly lets me know it and I start to have these really annoying cramps. 

I also officially have a baby bump!!! With Logan I didn't start showing until 7 months, and with Aila it was 6, so it seems like with each baby I start to show a month earlier? LOL I am excited to look pregnant though because it means Levi is still in there! I am still wearing my regular jeans, but now I have to leave them unbuttoned and use a bella band around them (basically a big silky black elastic band).  I'll get Doug to take a belly pic of me soon : )

I have a major ultrasound on the 16th to check all of Levi's organs and development so please be praying for that because I am super nervous about it.

Sheppard Update- July

Happy 4th of July everyone! 4th of July is my favorite holiday of the year so I am super excitied! I love summer, hot dogs on the grill, swimming, fireworks and not to mention my birthday! I hope all of you are able to enjoy the holiday! Here are our updates for this month:

DOUG-
Tomorrow Doug has his big kick off event for our community. He rented a bounce house and got sprinklers and a slip and slide and will be giving out free bbq : ) He also started kids club last week but it got rained out so hopefully this week we will be able to get some kids there! He really loves his new job and just wants to be successful at it. Please pray that he will do well and that he would be able to reach the lost people in our community.

He has really been enjoying not working in the sun and he loves living so close to the beach. He has been surfing quite a few times and he is always looking forward to his next surfing trip. I'm sure pretty soon he will have a fishing license and he will add that to the list of things he can do for fun out here. I think he might also be joining a men's softball team that he will be meeting for the first time on Wednesday.

LOGAN-
Logan got to go to VBS and he absolutely loved it (except for the last night when they had to perform on stage for the parents). He was so excited about VBS and now he can't wait to start preschool. We found a nice preschool in a church that has a really good program and still has availability so I think we are going to sign him up. We can either do 2 or 4 days from 9-2. I think we will start him with just 2 this year and then move him up to 4 next year.

We have really gotten on to Logan about his thumbsucking now. If we catch him sucking his thumb we count to 3 and if it is not out by 3 he gets a swat on the butt. We are telling him that if he wants to suck his thumb he needs to go to bed. It seems to be working. The doctor said thumb sucking won't mess up his teeth until he's 5 or 6 but I think 3 is even too old to be sucking your thumb.

AILA-
Aila broke out in a horrible rash but we took her to the doctor and he said it is nothing serious or contagious. That was a relief! I tried picking a female doctor close to our house. We went to a doctor with the first name Shannon, and guess what, it was a HE! Doug reminded me that we have met another male Shanon in the past but I guess I forgot about that. I really liked the guy though and the doctors office was super cute. It is set up like a train station and even has a little door just for the kids to enter and exit and a huge model train set up.

We broke out the potty for Aila again now that we are finally settled. The first day was horrible and I was so upset because I thought she had lost all the progress she had made (she was almost done training when I got stuck on bedrest and then the big move). But then she went 3 days with only 1 accident and she is telling us when she has to go : ) Hopefully we'll be done in another week or two. She'll still wear diapers at bedtime and naptime for a while but I am hoping she will be in undies the rest of the time.

LEVI-
We had a doctors appointment 2 weeks ago and they said there is only 1 inch of hemmorage left and the baby looks great! They confirmed again that he is still a boy and they said he is actually measuring ahead of my calculated due date : ) I have been using his name more and more this month and we moved the crib into Logan's room and decorated it so that it is now officially "The Boys' Room". I guess I was afraid to get too attatched to this baby since we almost lost him but now I am way passed that. I love this baby so much already and we can't wait to meet him. He has been moving everyday which is great and it reassures and comforts me that he is ok. Be praying because we have a major ultrasound on July 16th that will check to make sure all his organs are developing properly and to check on the size of the hemmorage.

ME-
Because of the hemmorage being so small and the fact that I haven't had any more bleeding the doctor put me on an even lighter form of bedrest. I am able to get out more now and walk around. I still can't do much housework and I am not allowed to pick up anything or push or pull. It has been nice getting out as much as we have and I am able to watch the kids more and more on my own. It has been hard not being able to do my job as a mommy. I miss my daily routines with the kids. I love being a mom and having to lay on the couch instead of on the floor playing with them has not been easy for me. I feel lazy and it was kind of depressing. I don't know how women do strict bedrest for their entire pregnancy. I know that if I had to I would, but I also think I would be miserable doing it. But the baby makes it all worth it : ) I feel so blessed to still be pregnant. I am 1 week shy of being half way there!

ALL OF US-
Pray for our health. We have had some kind of stomach bug that just keeps comming back. Doug and I have had it 3 times and the kids have had it twice. Each time we disinfect all surface areas with bleach, spray lysol in all the rooms, wash all linens, mop, vaccuum, wash carpets and yet this bug just won't quit. We are starting to wonder if it has to do with the humidity or maybe our bodies are getting used to the water here in TX? I've been joking with Doug that maybe we are just allergic to Texas : )

Well that is all for now! Keep checking in for more pics and videos! And don't forget to click "Older Posts" at the bottom of our blog above our music playlist so you can see all the posts for the month!

XOXO,
DoUg, NeSsA, LoGaN, AiLa, & LeVi

My Kids Make Wierd Noises!

This is Logan's Ambulance/Police Car/ Fire Truck noise.  Kinda scary!


I wonder where my kids learn these weird noises and then I look at Doug : ) On the way home from the movies he was teaching the kids how to make a more authentic cow moo noise.  Aila really got into it:

My Birthday : )

I turned 27 today : ) I actually had to do some math to figure out how old I was going to be...sad I know.  I guess I don't really tell people my age much or write it down like I had to when I was younger and in school so now it is just easier to forget.  We took the kids to see Toy Story 3 for my birthday at the mall by our house.  Logan absolutely loved it and cuddled with me the whole time.  Aila did not want to sit still.  She wanted to say hi to everyone and see what kind of food they had.  We had to keep stopping her from eating popcorn of the floor, which she seemed to prefer over the bag we had!  After the movie Doug took the kids on the carousel.  It was a really fun evening! Thanks guys for making my birthday so special : )

Fun Times!

Aila loves playing with her dollhouse:

Logan plays with this little fire station every day:

Mommy is working on a flower garden.  To keep the kids busy I filled a bin with water.  They loved it!

While I was diggin out weeds I found the tiniest frog.  It actually looked liek a blob of dirt! I caught it with a shovel (mommy would never touch such yucky things) and put it in the tub.  The kids tortured him for a long time.  Logan named him Toby (this is the 3rd or 4th Toby now) and when we were done Logan picked him up and put him in the dirt.  Logan asked me if the frog could have an m&m for not biting him. LOL Doug told him frogs don't have teeth and that they don't like m&ms.

Baby Burritos

I love when my babies just get out of the bath and they smell so good and I get to wrap them up like little baby burritos : ) Ahhhh! This is the life!

My Vaccum Cleaner is Fixed!

I probably vaccuum atleast twice a day on a normal basis.  We have gone through a series of vaccuum cleaners and they have all bit the dust and none of them ever worked to my satisfaction.  So we decided we would get a nicer one and pay a little more for it.  We decided on the Hoover Wind Tunnel 2 and I absolutely have loved it.  It has lasted longer than any other vaccuum we have ever owned and it cleans better than any other vaccuum I have ever used! Well on the day of the move somehow something happened and the plastic piece that goes over the roller completely cracked and it wasn't getting any suction.  My heart was completely broken! My mom said not to worry and that we could just get that part fixed. Well it turns out the part is extremely hard to find.  We finally found someone who could get us one and I have waited anxiously for 3 weeks to get it! Doug thought we should just buy a new "used" one from the repair store by our house but it wasn't a Hoover Wind Tunnel 2 so I had a melt down and was furious with him because he knew how much I loved this particular vaccuum.  He finally gave in and ordered the part.  He and Logan just put it on the other night and my vaccuum is working beautifully! Please God never let it break again! I will seriously use it til the day I die! Yes, I must love my vaccuum when I write a blog post as long as I do for one of my children : )

Logan is really getting good at using tools.  He actually did almost all the screwing and unscrewing to fix the vaccuum!

My lil repair man!