It's a....

Here are the results of the blood test....

This is the picture I took to announce on facebook.

Here are some other recent happenings.

Zoey has loved drawing lately.  Here is our family.

We went to the mall to see Santa.

And we got together with our good friends who live on the other side of Houston.  The girls had a blast and enjoyed sharing our news.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.  We go back for a week of classes and then finals.  The girls have school until the next week.  I cannot believe it is time to decorate for Christmas.

Happy Thanksgiving

Those who know me, know I love the number 5.  Well, here is the announcement that in 2015, there will be 5 Southern Kellings!  2014 was a pretty rough year, but it has had great moments.  We waited until our future was a bit more predictable job wise to try for kid number 3, but we did not want to space out kids too much.  Additionally, we did not want me to be much older since many risks increase with age.  Happily, we can announce that baby Kelling is low risk for chromosomal disorders based on a Panorama test and the nucal fold test.  We will have the anatomy scan in early January.

We just told the girls after the results came in. They are very excited.  Zoey wants a sister named Flower, although Samantha was wearing a flower sweater so that may have inspired her name choice.  She also has no real concept of time, so the many weeks to go will seem long to her.  Sam is thrilled and promises to be a big help.  I am hopeful that both will enjoy a baby.  I know Zoey will have some issues becoming a middle child, but her spunk should help her through that.  She is our little spit fire.  They have enjoyed telling a few of our friends.

More updates to come....

Have a great Thanksgiving!

I know you cannot get much from these early images, but here are some of the first pictures.

Happy Halloween!

I hope everyone had a nice Halloween.

We were lucky to have my parents visit while Nick went to his annual Human Factors conference, which was in Chicago.  We had a great time with my parents, although Zoey ended up with croup while they were here.  They were so generous to drive all the way out here to help out and spend time with us.  They are the most amazing grandparents and we cannot thank them enough for all they do for us.

Of course there were gifts.

We made a trip to the Johnson Space Center. My dad had never been and space exploration is big in our house right now.  We have also been watching From the Earth to the Moon.  Sam loves it, but Zoey gets a little bored.  When we were at the space center we watched a short film about and saw the podium JFK used for his speech.  When Sam saw him in The Earth to the Moon, she said, "Look there is George Bush Washington."  Umm, not so much.  :)

We also were lucky enough to have Nana and Papa here for Halloween, which is also my dad's birthday.

We had a silly Olaf...

And a still sick Supergirl in her flying stance.  Zoey did not officially have a fever, so we let her go to a few houses.  We had said something about the barking cough she had, which she started calling her doggie cough.  She is finally doing better now, and should go back to school tomorrow.

Nana and Papa are back in Lakeland.  We miss them a ton already.

Ah, October!

It seems like every October of the past few years has been a challenging month.  This year has been no different.  Of course, during this month of gap insurance, everyone has been sick.  Sam started us off with a sore throat and fever.  She was out of school for 3 days.  Then Zoey kicked it up with a higher fever, she got up to 104.  In the end, I am pretty sure she had fifth disease since she got the red cheeks that looked like she had been slapped and the lacy rash.  Then Nick got viral conjunctivitis.  And I got an excruciating sore throat, which I think was just post nasal drip, but my nose never got stuffed.  And Zoey got a splinter that ended up becoming infected in just a couple of days.  I put a bandaid on it when she complained to soften the skin and she took it off, so I ended up forgetting.  She then complained again and it was swollen, red, and had pus.  So we went to CVS to check Nick's eye and Zoey's finger.  Turned out they do not fix finger issues, so Zoey and I went to urgent care for that treatment.  I am glad there are only 9 more days in this month and hopeful that we will all be healthy soon.  Sam did have a very short fever last night, but nothing this morning, so just a day off school and she seems fine.  I know that I will be doubly thankful for health once everyone gets there.

Here is Zoey after the finger treatment.  She was a trooper.  I know it had to hurt, but she stayed still and barely cried.

We have also had some fun in this crazy month.  Here are the girls in silly outfits putting on a concert.

Zoey and I went to a nice pumpkin patch.

And Sam had a sock hop at her school.  I did not find a poodle skirt, so I threw this together.

I wish everyone a healthy and wonderful rest of October.  I hate to ask time to speed up, but I am so ready for November!  Although I would appreciate being able to enjoy the rest of this month too.

A month to celebrate!!!

There has been a lot of rain lately, and many days it comes during pick up time.  We are so close, we walk to school to get Sam.  So there has been a lot of rain gear.  This is just when Zoey wanted to dance in the rain.

Here is where Zoey drew a sun.  I think Sam helped her with the person.

Here is Zoey being a busy mom.  She has a stroller, grocery cart, and is on the phone.

September includes both Nick's birthday and mine.  For his, he went into work.  We went out on his actual birthday.  I baked him, from scratch, a salted caramel apple pie.  He loved it.

I wanted a picture of the girls and Nick.  Zoey was not feeling cooperative.

But then she felt bad and jumped on him.

My birthday fell on a day that Nick had to work until 10.  So we celebrated the night before.  He made me a special dinner.

The girls are sometimes rough, but sometimes they play together so well.  This picture is when Sam said she wanted to paint and Zoey said they could pretend face paint.  So they did.  It was so sweet and imaginative.  

And some close ups.  Zoey is hard to get in focus as she is a perpetual motion machine.

 Sam poses better.

Zoey making a mad face.

And the other big news from September is that we sold our house!!!!  It closed on 9/30.  We are so thrilled to be back to only one mortgage.  It has been rough, especially since USF had my paperwork wrong and UHCL does not pay new employees until a month after official start, which was September 1st.  Our current struggle/worry is that we are on gap insurance for all of October.  We are lucky USF's lasted as long as it did.  But UHCL requires 60 days after hire to start coverage.  So we bought gap insurance, but please send thoughts/prayers/etc for us all to stay healthy and have no accidents.  There is never a good time, but this is an especially bad month for a broken arm.


Happy Fall Y'all!

Fly little birdie!

Zoey has started preschool.  In many ways, it was a lot easier to send her than Samantha since we have been through this before.  But she is my baby and it is still a mixed emotion type thing. I know she will thrive, she is such a free spirit and will love all the activities, friends, and teachers.  And I definitely need the time to get things done.  But it is hard at the same time.


She met her teacher.  She is super sweet and very organized.  She seems like she can handle our little spit fire.

Zoey usually gets up pretty early.  But last night she was up for a bit to go potty and she ended up sleeping in.  She was so hard to wake up and super cranky about getting dressed.  She came around and was excited about her special pancakes.  I made batter and Nick made her special letter ones.  She recognized them immediately and was happy to take a picture with them.

A quick hair fix and she wanted another picture.

And she was so full of energy it was hard to get a decent picture with her sign.

I still cannot believe how quickly this day has come.  I think the second kid ages faster :)

We stay super busy.  My mom left last Saturday, which was sad.  We miss her tons, but are so thankful she came to help us out in this chaotic time.  She is the BEST!!!  Nick drove her to the airport and we went to Space Center Houston with friends from the neighborhood.  Nick also took the girls to his lab to write on the (whiteboard painted) walls and watch frozen on the projector.  And we squeezed in one last swim before our neighborhood pool closed.  Both the girls like jumping off the diving board, although Zoey still wants help.  Work is still chaotic but I know this semester will mostly likely fly by.  I hope everyone had a great Labor day.

Adios summer!

These last few weeks have flown by.  We keep slowly unpacking, running errands and squeezing in fun.  The really close by kids gym had a carnival.  We got the girls passes.

They got their faces painted.  Bounced in the bouncy house.  

                                      

 Climbed the climbing wall.  Sam was hesitant until Zoey said she wanted to go, although neither girl climbed very high.

And they rose ponies in a loop.  It was so hot and a long line.  I felt sorry for the ponies, and us.

We also went to the kids museum.  It was crazy busy.  Zoey enjoyed the blocks, which of course we have at home.

Sam and Nick built a lego car.

And ran it on the track.

We built paper rockets and fired them.

Zoey got to meet Super Why.

We went back to school shopping.  Nana bought Sam's new backpack.

There have been a few animal run ins.  Mom and I both got ant bites on our feet.  I inadvertently crawled on an ant bed when weeding and got 45 bites on my leg.  It looks awful.  Then yesterday, we were going out to take a picture of the girls in their shirts (thanks pinterest for the idea) and a large snake (I think a rat snake) was right by the path).  So we stayed inside, but the lighting was not ideal and Zoey was not cooperative.  Class of 2026 and 2029!

Sam was super excited for her first day of first grade.  She could not get to sleep last night.  She insisted on wearing the shirt we just got her at meet and greet.  She asked for pigtails.  Nick made his famous from scratch cinnamon rolls.

At her desk.

Mom, Zoey and I ran errands this morning and between that I have been dealing with IT issues all day.  Teaching 4 classes at 3 universities is not for the weak.  Hopefully, all will be sorted out soon.  I am excited that Sam will be released soon.  I am ready for the smiling face of my first grader!!!!

Happy back to school!