She is here!!!

Baby girl is here!!! 

Sloane Michelle Schmitz entered the world on Tuesday at 10:02pm. She was 6.10 lbs and 20 inches long!

Everything was perfect, it couldn't be better. We are so blessed....

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Guest Post: Keep Your Eyes on Him

Today I am guest posting at Emily's A Beautiful Beginning. She is headed to Israel...keep her in your prayers over the next few weeks. Head on over and read the post....you won't be sorry!

37 weeks

Size of Baby: According to Baby Center, about the size of a leek...about 19 1/2 inches and around 6.8 pounds!

Total Weight Gain/Loss: HUGE!

Maternity Clothes: I am so over maternity clothes. I want Spring dresses asap! 

Gender: It's a GIRL! Sloane Michelle

Belly Button In/Out: You know the story-same thing...

Stretch Marks: Besides BLAH! 

Labor Signs: As the day comes to a close I feel more pain in weird areas, lots more Braxton Hicks, and even some contractions. (we go to Dr. today so we will see if there any progress)

Movement: LOTS AND LOTS...she never stops and I am perfectly fine with it. :) 

Sleep: It's getting worse...can't get comfortable, Buddy is back on a terrible scheduling waking up a few times, and then there are the bathroom trips. Phew! Some nights I think I might as well just get up and get stuff done. 

What I miss: Normal clothes, walking without pain, grunting on accident...lol! 

What I am looking forward to: ULTRASOUND today!!! 

Cravings/Aversions: Loving Payday candy bars

Symptoms: Braxton Hicks, contractions, getting a little puffy, achy, can't sleep

Best Moment This Week: Some would not call this the "best" moment but it was for me...Mark said "I think you have double in size over the past week." Without going into detail it's huge for him to comment about my pregnant belly. (something that is still hard for him to look at since losing Ryder;( ) 

A Windy Day

Let me start by saying we are thankful for the mild Winter we have had this year! I know our little situation is NOTHING compared to what some are dealing with now but I since this is our blog and I create a book about us I wanted to have this event documented. 

Mark went to let the dogs in Friday evening and saw this! A huge tree in our backyard was literally in the process of being blown over. We have a corner lot so our back yard touches 4 neighbors yards. This year was about to fall on all their power for our neighborhood, take one house, fall on our fence...etc. 

 Look at the roots...the tree wasn't/isn't dead...that's how strong the winds were. We called the electric company and the lady actually laughed at Mark because she said they "aren't a tree trimming company" and that they"won't touch it until it falls or gets into the power lines." Seriously?!!? After much convincing she told Mark they would send someone out to take a look. Ha! It wasn't until the next morning a man knocked on the door asking about the tree. He looked for about 5 seconds and said they would have a crew ASAP to take care of it! 

Because it was leaning so much this is how they cut it. One man in the tree and 4 on the ground holding the rope. Talk about trust...Wyatt and I watched from the upstairs window. He loved it SO much! 

 We took a break from watching. I saw a few making their way to their trucks so I went around the back to see the finished product. Ya, that's it! They left it just like that...branches, sticks, and the truck ALL OVER our backyard! Fun huh?!!?!? This 37 week pregnant lady handled it really well. (AKA My dad to the rescue and said he would take care of it for us, what would I ever do without him!!?!?) 

Ryder

As the time approaches to meet our baby girl I can't help but miss Ryder more. I wonder how it would be if he was here. It may sound weird but sometimes when I walk past Buddy's room and see him playing quietly to himself it makes me sad. So sad, I long for him to have his best friend, his identical brother, here playing with him. I long to see "our boys" playing together-forever best friends. No one knows each other like twins, identical twins...I hate it for Wyatt.
As time passes I never want to overlook the fact that we have lost a child. That's who we are...that's a part of Mark and I lives now. It's our reality-our life. That doesn't keep us from remaining in the Lord. That doesn't keep us from having joy. It still hurts though.
I recently read this on a blog and it really hit home. She wrote, "I think people who say "time heals all wounds" must not have buried a child. Only Jesus heals wounds, and time passed is bittersweet. We are farther from our earthly life with them, and closer to our eternal life with them - but for now, we have neither." 
As we enter a new chapter of our lives we will cling to this verse:
Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths.
Proverbs 3:5-6

A Family Day-St.Louis Zoo

Friday Mark had the afternoon off so since the weather was so nice we packed up and headed to the Zoo. It was such a beautiful day! Wyatt LOVED seeing all the animals and is animal sounds are priceless! 

He loved the snake inside the trunk. He kept saying "sssssssssssss." 

Look at that happy face!!!

We tried to snap a picture with me in it...so prove I actually went. LOL! 

You can't tell by the picture but he was SO excited to ride the train. 

We stopped to have a little snack. He ate a pretzel in about 5 mins. He had been sitting down on the ground in the middle of the walkway to "rest." 

As we headed for the gate he stopped the stroller to get in....he was one tired boy! 

Update to the "Our Home" tab

I hate that I am even uploading these pictures of Wyatt's room right now. We have been all occupied trying to get Sloane's ready his has become somewhat of a "collect all." Since our upstairs really isn't that big Wyatt spends lots of playtime in his room, therefore there are lots of toys out ALL THE TIME. Also since I don't think it will be too long until we get toddler furniture so I don't want to get something so temporary. So...enough justifying...

Wyatt's Room

The bathroom upstairs is changing all the time. ;) I don't know what my deal is but I sure do love shower curtains. LOL! You can change the entire look of a bathroom with just the curtain. (It doesn't help IKEA has some pretty cool ones.) Actually I do really like the decorations right now but I am just not sure I like the color of the room.

Upstairs Bathroom

I only added this picture below because I had to show off my latest Pinterest project. I love the shelf we got from IKEA! We used to keep all the bathroom "extras' on the spare bedroom closet. Obviously that's no longer a space room so we had to change things up. This isn't noticeable but easy to get to. So cool! I kinda want to do it in every room. (Don't worry, I wouldn't do that.) The weird thing on the back of the door is a towel holder/hanger from the container store, incase you were wondering.

Master Bedroom