1. Feeling exhausted, therefore taking a lot of naps!
2. Peeing more than usual.
3. Mild lightheadedness.
4. Dry heaving over the bathroom or kitchen sinks.
5. Nausea.
6. Wanting to eat more and more often. Or less if I am feeling particularly ill at the time.
7. Growing belly.
8. Positive pregnancy test!

We should be welcoming baby Atchley number 3 in April of next year. We are all very excited and can’t wait to meet this new little person.

Categories: Heather, Weekly Family Update
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My wonderful, sweet, caring, and giving niece Gwendolyn (who is turning 8 in September) has been growing her hair out for months and months so she can donate to Locks of Love. I have known this for months, but when my family was visiting for Spring Break I observed that my hair was about the same length as Gwennie’s. I pointed it out to her and said that I could donate with her. Her face lit up and she got excited. How could I resist?! Locks of Love requires a minimum of 10″ and I knew that was pretty much all I was going to be able to give. My hair is thick and heavy which means HOT! So once the end of July rolled around I could not stand my hair anymore and needed to get it cut. So 2 weeks ago I saw my stylist. She straightened my hair to pull down the length as much as possible, separated my hair into pig tails, and then chop chop! I could not believe how different I felt when the hair was gone! There was NOTHING behind my head and it felt so light and breezy back there. I have not had my hair this short since I was a toddler. This is definitely a change but one I have enjoyed. I have received many compliments on my new hairdo, but as I tell everyone “I WILL be growing it back out.” This has been a fun, different experience to have such short hair, but I do miss my long hair. I can do so much more with it! I basically have one hairstyle now which is strange for me. Hope ya’ll enjoy the ‘before’ and ‘after’ shots!

Thank you Gwennie for being my good example and inspiring me to do something so selfless. I love you and can’t wait to see your new hairdo!

Categories: Heather
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I find out this evening from Sophia’s mouth that Phoebe “ate the bath thingy.” I ask her if she is serious and what she is talking about. “Phoebe ate the bathtub thingy” she repeats.

I found a dollhouse at a garage sale this weekend and with it came a porcelain bathroom set. The faucets are metal and apparently can pop out pretty easily. She handed me the sink and showed me how the faucet had been removed. She found it and handed it to me. I had a “whew” moment, but thought to ask again “Sophia, are you SURE Phoebe ate something?” “Yes, from the bathtub.” So I ask her to get the bathtub and sure enough the faucet is gone. Sophia tells me “See?!” I look at Phoebe and ask her if she ate it. She nods yes, then opens her mouth wide and points. REALLY?!?! So after rolling my eyes and a big sigh I have a discussion with Phoebe about not eating toys. Looks like poop inspection duty again.

Categories: Heather, Phoebe, Weekly Family Update
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Phoebe didn’t poop the whole day after the Lego man toy swallowing incident. However, he definitely came out the next day and I noticed he had sunglasses. Good to know he was such a cool dude. Everything is back to normal now!

Categories: Heather, Phoebe, Weekly Family Update
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Phoebe is quickly establishing herself as our accident prone child. From the moment she was born she caused us to worry. (she swallowed a ton of amniotic fluid and had to be rushed to the NICU) Even before the stitches incident a few weeks ago, in her few short years she has pulled a dresser on top of herself, fallen off the bunkbeds a few times, fallen off of chairs, the kitchen stool, and our tall master bed–twice–and one of them was when she was a small baby! A few days ago we were playing out front and she fell and skinned both her knees. No biggie, we cleaned her off and she was back to playing. About 10 minutes later she was coming out of our house after getting her water bottle and I see her trip and fall AGAIN on our driveway. She was crying pretty bad so I went over to her and she had skinned her knees worse this time. I get her into the house and realize she is dripping blood from somewhere! Turns out she sliced the bottom of her right foot open (probably why she fell). I discovered, after much inspection, that what she cut herself on was a rusty nail sticking up from a broken bit of concrete near our driveway, just after the walkway. We freak out a little wondering about a tetanus shot and how deep it may be. Luckily the bleeding slowed down and nearly stopped after a minute = no stitches! We called her doctor the next morning and found out she got her shot back in 2008. I also found the next morning that she had scraped her wrist and elbow. She looks beat up to be honest. Then the other day she falls off her tricycle and later that evening was standing on an upside down basket and fell off it onto one of her babydoll strollers. Seriously?!?! As if all this weren’t enough, keep reading….

The pictured sports bottle is what she got for her birthday and the reason she went into the house before getting hurt.

Tonight we decided on a trip to the Mall to walk around and play. BJ discovered the Lego store and we stopped to check it out and the girls quickly found a play table with a mix of Legos to entertain themselves. After having our fill of Lego admiring I looked over to see Phoebe just put something in her mouth. She sees that I caught her and was looking right at me. She got this look on her face and did some stuff with her mouth. I realize once I was over her that her mouth is now empty! I ask, “Phoebe, did you swallow a lego??” She nods her head ‘no’ (I very much did not believe her), but after a few more questions and prodding I find out she ate a Lego man’s head. Luckily it was only the size of a slightly large pea, but still! She is not 18 months, she is 3 years old and I would think she would be beyond sticking stuff in her mouth, much less trying to swallow them!! Poop inspection for Mama the next day or two.

BJ and I are just waiting for her to sprain or break something! We could say her bruises and owies are signs of a fun, active childhood. Which is true to an extent, but most of her injuries are from clumsiness and not much else. I see hair dye in my future….thanks a lot Phoebe!

Categories: Heather, Phoebe, Weekly Family Update
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We had quite the fun filled weekend last weekend. This year, once again, our street had a block party. There was BBQ, a water slide, and good company. Sophia, just like last year, adored the water slide and wen down it countless times.

Phoebe on the other hand, never went down without me. Which got a little exhausting for Mama considering what it took to climb up the thing!

The special treat this year was a snow-cone machine. I know I had 4, and I can’t recall how many Sophia had, but it was about that many as well. Haha!

We had planned on attending Kaboom Town in Addison for a fireworks display, but it poured rain from about 5-7pm making everything muggy and soggy. We just stayed home and relaxed, which was more than fine for 4 exhausted individuals!

However, my sister Tiffany had been to a fireworks show the year before over Grapevine Lake. So on Sunday evening after church and some rest we headed out to The Gaylord Texan, a huge hotel and resort in Grapevine, Texas. Little did we know they were doing an Alice in Wonderland theme!!! We were greeted by large flowers (some with faces) and all sorts of decorations of various craftmanship. It was not a bad way to spend some time before enjoying fireworks!

There was an evil Red Queen wandering about the place asking children (and adults) to curtsy. Once my kiddos got over the initial shock and joy of seeing her they braved it, bowed, and got tapped on each shoulder with her wand and was wished a good time at The Gaylord Texan. It was a big deal for them!

I could not resist stopping by the Rabbit’s Cottage where they had all sorts of sweets and trinkets. Being me, I could also not resist indulging my kiddos in some delicious handmade suckers. You can tell they enjoyed them…..

There was also a man there, dressed as a card, doing balloon *creations* for free. I say creations because he wasn’t really doing balloon animals. As you can see Phoebe asked for a sword, and Sophia wanted anything that would allow her a pink heart balloon. We saw several other children walking around with all sorts of hats, and one kid even had an elephant with large ears, long trunk and everything!

We had a lovely view of the fireworks on the top parking garage and the weather was beautiful for the evening. A perfect combo. Here is a small sample of my hubby’s great photography, but also the fireworks we enjoyed!

On Monday we joined my parents and sister at their house for more delicious BBQ and other yummy food prepared by my mom. We stuffed ourselves and then went to go get BJ’s car out of the shop. Once we got home I got the crazy notion that I could go to the lake by myself with the girls (BJ had homework) and feed the ducks and let the kids play at the beach. It was a lot of fun, but nerve wracking keeping track of them with it being so busy and them being so excited. Sorry no photos! It was a very full and satisfying 3 days for us, but now I am ready for some rest….even if the girls aren’t!

Categories: Heather, Phoebe, Sophia, Weekly Family Update
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The girls have not been able to play in the rain in a L O N G time. The other day we had good rain, warm weather, and no thunder or lightening. Perfect conditions for rain play!

Yes, I know she is laying in the gutter.

They really enjoyed being able to dance in it and shake their booties!

Sophia reflects such joy!

Categories: Phoebe, Sophia, Weekly Family Update
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I came out of our room to find Phoebe like this…..

She seemed very proud of herself too. When she dumped it all out I truly saw how much she had stuffed in there. I was amazed!

Categories: Phoebe, Weekly Family Update
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