Finally Friday!

I am so glad it is Friday. It has been a long week...or at least it seems. When you get to the last weeks of pregnancy, time doesn't seem to fly as quickly as in the beginning. Sarah Beth has been so active over the last few days. She will poke out her knee or elbow (not sure which it is) and you can actually see it on my belly. I know she is getting more and more crowded in there. I go for a sonogram next Wednesday. It will be exciting to see her again!

So tomorrow is Valentine's Day. I have the most wonderful sweetheart in the world! Roger is so good to me! I can't imagine my life without him! My heart still goes "pitter patter" around him! I am so thankful that God placed us together. He is a wonderful husband, best friend and daddy to our kids! I am so anxious to see him with Sarah Beth. I know she'll have him wrapped from the beginning! Tomorrow night we will celebrate by attending the Sweetheart Banquet at church!

We are blessed above measure. The boys haven't been sick hardly at all this winter(Thank you, Lord). Besides an occasional cough or runny nose...the Lord has kept them well! I am so grateful! They are both getting excited about Sarah Beth. Ben keeps asking me when is she going to come out of your belly??? I know they'll both be big helpers.

Well, I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! God Bless!

My Little Student of the Month

Andrew is growing up so fast...already almost finished with the 1st grade...time is flying by...

This morning he received the Student of the Month award for January. Roger and Mama came to watch as he received a certificate and t-shirt. He was so excited...grinning from ear to ear!

He was thrilled that his Daddy was able to take off and come and watch him...they are so handsome, aren't they!!

I am really glad that Andrew enjoys school...and he does so good! So far, he still has never gotten his name on the board...I'm afraid if he does...he'll probably cry! He is tenderhearted. We are so proud of him, though. It does pay off to discipline and raise them to be respectful! Just gives me a full heart today!! We love you Andrew!

Sugar Test

Whew! Glad that's over. Yesterday I went for my check-up and sugar test. I had to fast for 12 hours and then they drew blood. Then I had to drink this sugar drink (tasted like a really sweet sunkist). I had this done with Andrew and Ben so I knew it wasn't going to be fun. This time though I got really light headed and started to feel as if I were going to pass out. They had me lay down and it finally passed.

Everything still looks good. I actually did not gain any weight this month...I am trying really hard to eat healthy and not gain a bunch of weight...before I got pregnant I had worked so hard to get off weight from Andrew and Ben and still wasn't where I wanted to be. So far I have gained 10 pounds. I think that's okay but I do know that in the end you usually put on a good bit of weight...we'll see. I discussed with Dr. Mills about what to expect with my due date. He said that he would see how I dialated but that he definitely would not let me go past 39 weeks. So, I have 10 weeks to go. I really want to be prepared with my classes and all...so I've got to get busy on lesson plans and such!! I have definitely carried this baby all in the front...one day I'll get a picture on here of my belly...it's just a little ball in the front!

I will start going every two weeks now to the doctor. My next visit will include a sonogram to check everything and see how big Sarah Beth is getting. It will be fun to actually see her moving and not just feel her. I also can't wait to see if she has any hair...I'm excited about BOWS!!

Keep us in your prayers!!

Sarah Elizabeth "Sarah Beth" Lofton

Well, I think we are pretty settled on the name for our sweet baby girl that is on the way. We will call her Sarah Beth. We wanted to use a Bible name as we have for Andrew and Benjamin "Ben" and I wanted her to have my middle name which is Elizabeth. I also wanted a double name...thus Sarah Beth. The boys are already wanting to pick out things for Sarah Beth...Ben says her name so sweet...kinda like Serda Beff....

We really hope to get new furniture for the boys room since they will soon have to share a room until we can hopefully build on to the house! Everything is just questionable in the economy right now and I hate to spend any of our savings until we know how things are gonna go...We'll just have to see :)

Trip to the Mountains

The day after Christmas, we loaded the boys and headed for the mountains. Roger was going to be off the majority of the next week anyway, so we decided we needed to just get away. We left at 4:30 that morning. We really took our time on the trip up...we stopped at a few stores so that I could check out the after-Christmas sales. I didn't find much at all.

Mama and Daddy have a week at a timeshare between Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg...that was our home for the week. It has an indoor waterpark (but it was still too cold for us) and an outdoor playground. The cabins are very nice with full bathrooms and a kitchen. I did cook a good bit while we were there...we were really trying not to spend a lot...and eating out can add up quick. Mama & Daddy had some free tickets to play mini golf...that was fun...

I was able to find Dollywood tickets online. We ended up turning them into season passes since we plan to go there again to vacation in the summer. We'll have an additional passenger for that trip :)

I have tons more pictures but this is taking a while to upload images for some reason today. We stayed until the day after New Years and then headed home. It was a great trip! I really enjoyed spending time with my family away from the normal routine! So our next big thing will be the arrival of _________ ___________...I'll have to tell you what name we've picked for Baby Girl Lofton???????

Christmas 2008

Our God is truly a wonderful Saviour!! We were so blessed this Christmas! I realize that many families had to cut back on Christmas this year...we did too to some extent...but we certainly did not go without! Andrew and Ben received more presents than they knew what to do with...in fact, I've put some of them in the top of the closet and when they get bored with their current toys, I'll get a new one down and they will be so excited! I did this last year and it really worked out good!!

Christmas morning, I of course was the first up...I didn't have to call Andrew and Ben very much before they came a running! Roger was a little tougher but he wasn't far behind them. We had prayer first and discussed the true meaning of the season...Jesus Christ. We then let them start opening gifts...they made a huge mess....



Roger bought me some very special gifts...the most special being a charm to add to my necklace...I have a necklace that has the little boys with their birthstones...he bought me a little girl with the April birthstone to add to it...I have to say I cried a few tears...he said he bought it before we even had the ultrasound...I guess he just had a feeling that we were having a girl! It was priceless!!



We then headed to Mama's where she had breakfast casserole ready for us to eat. We ate and then once again had prayer...this time Andrew prayed. It was the sweetest prayer I have ever heard him say. I wish I had videoed it...he prayed for the lost that they would receive salvation, he prayed for the kids who did not have toys for Christmas...he even prayed for the soldier's families who were away during the holidays. There wasn't a dry adult eye in the room. It was very special!!

We all had tons of gifts to open...it was very fun! We then headed home to take down the tree and pack...we were headed to the mountains!! I'll tell you about our trip in my next post!!

And the Baby Is....

Roger and I really contemplated finding out the sex of baby #3. With both of the boys we waited until their births to find out what there were...but we are planning that this will be our last baby and so I wanted to find out. We discussed it back and forth even up until going into the sonogram room yesterday afternoon. I was very anxious...we watched as the sonographer showed the sweet head and face...then she looked at the hands and feet...and then she asked..."So, do you want to know?" I looked at Roger and he said yeah, so we both prepared as she took a look between the sweet little legs of our baby...and guess what????

IT'S A GIRL!!!

We are so excited!! Now, I just can't WAIT to hold her. We would have been excited if she had been a boy but were praying that God would allow us the priviledge of raising a little girl along with our two boys! The boys are so excited to as they both said they wanted a baby sister. And so now, we have to decide on a name...don't have a clue but we have plenty of time. I hope when I get back to school to be able to scan the sonogram pictures so that you can see how sweet she is in her second pictures (see earlier blog for first pictures). Please pray that the remainder of the pregnancy will go smoothly and we can welcome this sweet blessing into our lives in April, 2009!!