Bye Bye 09

Hello 2010! Crazy to think it's going to be 2010. WOW! It's been a crazy but good year in the Moeckel household. God has blessed our little family tremendously this year. Especially with the addition of our little miracle Anna Marie, which by the way is so incredibly sweet. Even through all the trials of that pregnancy God did more than what we ever expected him to do in our lives. He most definitely was and still our stronghold. He taught me a whole new meaning of the word TRUST. He is so good.

This ultrasound was done the day after the doctor (not my doc!) told me that I had lost her. Then the next day we got a wonderful surprise! It just confirmed to us that is the giver of Life! From this point on the real journey began and what a journey it was! After an emotional rollar coaster of a pregnancy, a crazy two weeks at Arkansas Children's Hospital after delivery, and as a result of God faithfulness we got to bring our miracle home! Livy was so glad to meet her new baby sister and we were so glad to be home with BOTH our girls. Boy, how we missed Livy!!!

I'm so excited to get to watch both the girls grow and change. Plus I get to enjoy a baby and not have to go back to work. I'm not missing a thing! This was also my first full year as a stay at home Mom. God has also shown us that HE is the one that provides all our needs. I started staying home in Feb of 08 (well almost 2 years.. can't believe it's gone by that fast!) It has been wonderful to see Livy go and change. This was Livy when I started staying home. Precious huh?.?

This is Livy in Feb 09.

Livy at the end of the year.
I love my girls!

And of course God has given me another year with my sweet hubby! I love that man! What a super Dad too!


Hoping for a super 2010! Happy New Year!!

So I'm Blogging..

on this Sunday morning after Christmas and it's quiet in the house. I'm watching my baby girl sleep and listening to an awesome message by James MacDonald on the internet about peace (the peace of God, from God, and with God) It's amazing! I do want to be in church with my family this morning, but this is a super second.

We had a great Christmas!! God blessed us so much over the past few weeks since we have been home. The best present we received is a healthy sweet baby girl. I have reflected over the past three weeks we have been home that God's peace has been so abundant in our home and lives. He is so good! Thank God He allowed us the grace to get through the second half of November. It was funny, a couple weeks ago John said "Christmas is next week." My response was, "No it's not!" Then I remember we didn't have a November! Half of it was spent in the hospital and we got home and it was December. This month has been amazing! The Christmas season has been amazing!! To have our family home and celebrate our Savior's birth "at home exclusively" has been wonderful and restful. Thank God for rest! Seriously.

We opened presents with John's folks on Christmas Eve morning. We thought it would be fun to have two mornings of presents. Hey, why not?

John's Mom embroidered Anna's name on a sleeper sack they folks got for her. Very cute!

This was one of our gifts that we gave Livy. She wanted a doll house and a princess castle and hey, it's the best of both worlds. She had a fit when she saw it under the tree Christmas morning.

We got two wonderful presents this years. We got a Wii and Wii Fit!! YAHOO! This postpartum momma soooooo needed that!! I'm pretty pumped about it. Our family has been on it everyday. Who knew working out could be fun.?.? I'm loving the aerobics and tennis. Livy is loving it too. She loves to bowl. It's pretty comical.

Then John got the TV he has wanted for years. The supportive wife in me is so thrilled he has one. Merry Christmas to us.

John is SUPER happy! Dang if I have a techie hubby!

T'was The Weekend Before Christmas..

and all through our house all creatures were stirring and having fun!

The girls were cuddled up with Daddy on the couch. I love it!

Today has been a great day! First of all, thanks to my wonderful husband who let me sleep in. YAY! Then we had a great breakfast. I made cranberry orange scones and a sausage egg scramble. It was great! I have been so busy with baby lately I thought I would take time out with Livy. We went to see the new Disney movie "The Princess and the Frog". It was okay, but I did enjoy my time out with her. Had a good time. John stayed home with Anna for a couple hours. I was so impressed when I walked through the door later. My wonderful man had wrapped a bunch of presents and did a great job. Go babe! He is two for two today! Then he grilled us some killer steaks. Three for Three. Your on a role. Don't stop! Thanks for all you do. Okay, back to our day....then, I continued candy making. I made some peanut clusters and they are tasty (boy, I hope there are some left for Christmas...hmm). Last night Livy helped me dip pretzel rods in white chocolate then put sprinkles on them. So we have been in the candy making business this weekend. We are having a great Christmas so far. Livy is so much fun this year!

Nothing Says Love'n..

like a blankie and binkie.

Good Times at Christmas

Yesterday John and Livy went to SDC with our friends the Chamberlin's. Since Mere and I just had babies we needed to stay at home and keep them out of the cold and germs. John said they had a blast! Truthfully I was kinda sad I didn't get to go this year. I have went every year since John and I met 8 years ago. Oh well, there's next year. I DID enjoy a quiet house and got some stuff done. I almost forgot how easy it was with just one child.

Sleep In Heavenly Peace

I love it!

3 Weeks Old

There are no words to say except that God is too good!

Happy Anniversary

What a wonderful 7 years it's been. I thank God for giving me an amazing man!

Two Weeks Old

Oh, how I love her!

Home Sweet Home!

We are so incredibly glad to be home from Children's Hospital! Livy loved meeting her little sister. Man, what a crazy two weeks. The days were beginning to run together. We thought it was amusing that we had come home from the hospital twice and still no baby. Oh well, third times a charm. Our sweet Anna was two weeks old yesterday.

Oh, and if a certain amazing nurse named Pam is reading.. Hey girl! You were an incredible help while we were there. You rock!

Introducing Anna Marie

Our miracle was born November 19th weighing in at 7 lbs. 13 oz. 21 in.

After birth Anna was having trouble breathing with a host of other little problems. She was flown by jet to Children's Hospital in Little Rock. She has been there for 5 1/2 days. She has had some seizures but is not now on meds that seem to be controlling them well. More tests are on the way. We came home today to spend Thanksgiving with Livy. The docs and nurses are WONDERFUL at Children's. Anna is in SUPER hands!! We will be going back on Friday to spend another week there. We pray that she will get to come home soon. We know that God is asking us to trust Him again with the miracle he gave us. We trust and know that He is in control and will never leave us. God has spoken this verse over and over to me over the past 9 months, and even stronger now.

Psalm 46:10
Be still, and know that I am God.

I sense his presence so strongly right now. Like he is literally holding my hand.

Oh Christmas Tree

We put up our Christmas tree last weekend. I wanted to get it done before Anna was born. Oh the fun of a box!

It was interesting putting up the tree. The past two years she didn't really know what to think. This is the first year I think she really gets what's going on. She was lots of fun and help. Although the bottom ornaments never seem to stay in the same place. Hmmmm...

John to the Rescue!!!

Yesterday we were trying to put our Christmas tree and the base that holds the tree up broke. He build a new one today. Go John !! Livy was excited!! Here's what he constructed. He's so smart!!

Reflecting on God's Goodness

These 9 months have flown by (however the past three weeks, slow!). Looking back and seeing what God has done for Anna and and what he has done in us has been amazing! Over the past 9 months he has taught us to trust in Him alone. I think back to when I was 11 weeks a doctor (not ours!!) told us that he was 95% sure that I had miscarried her. We hadn't even had an ultrasound yet to confirm that, but some how I had a peace that God was in control and he was going to take care of us. Truthfully, I didn't even want to go back the next day and have the ultrasound, but we did go anyway of course. I can't even describe the feelings I had when I saw a living, kicking baby and her little heart beating like crazy on the screen. God is good! Of course, He still would have been good even if she had of died, but we rejoice that He has the final authority and knows more than any doctor. After that we anticipated another healthy pregnancy like we had with Livy (a couple of scares with her in the beginning too, but after that she was great!!). Of course we can't see down the road and God was going to ask us to trust Him again.

When we found out at 19 weeks that we were going to have another baby girl we were thrilled. Of course, John was praying for a son, but he was happy with whatever God decided to give us. After I had my ultrasound we went in to see our doctor and he said that the baby had fluid in the chest cavity. He thought it was caused by a hole in her diaphragm, possibly a hernia. When they he said we will have to refer you to the Angels program at UAMS I was flipping out on the inside (really!). It was a horrible feeling to not be able to physically see and fix it myself. After a few months of tests and ultrasounds she still had the fluid and they had no explaination of why it was even there. Through that whole process God was teaching us to trust Him as we did before when we thought she was gone. He was telling me that he can see and take care of her better than any doctor because HE made her. My OB doc told me that sometimes these things will clear up on there own. He has seen children come in with very serious health problems and then they clear up on there own. By the way..praise God that our doc. is a Christian and told me that God is the one who heals those children and the funny part is that the docs in Little Rock are totally amazed and stunned when children's health problems are healed unexplained. Hello! That the kind of amazing real God was have!!! After trips to Little Rock, more doctors, ultrasounds, and blood tests; we resolved to trust Him again and believe that he was going to take care of this. That's what happened with our Anna. In October, on John's birthday no less, I had another ultrasound here in town and they said her fluid was gone. "They say" apparently I had a virus and so she had the virus and that's what caused the fluid around her heart. Well, I believe God healed her. They didn't even know what was wrong anyway. I think I trust God on this one! Trust is still a factor today. During my 36 week ultrasound he saw just a little fluid still there. We don't know why it has come back, but we know that we are to trust him again. I have no problem with that. I'm trusting that she will be fine.

Right now, I'm trying to fathom that we are going to have her either this week or next Monday. John and I go in Tuesday to pick a date for sure. I'm also trying to fathom having two girls. One almost three and a newborn. Seems like just yesterday we had Olivia. My how time does fly. I have said it before "when life gives you lemons, God is still good." Reflecting as been sweet! I can't wait to hold our Anna Marie. Thank you Jesus for being so faithful!

BIG Sisters

And what a super BIG sis she will be! I love my girls!!

Also....We got some great news last night! My brother Jason and sis-in-law Buffy (she is like another sister really..) found out they were having a girl. YAY another girl!! Our girls will be only 5 months apart and super friends. All these girls in the Spencer family.....what will Papa Bill do??

Bethany will be a great sis too!!

Thank You Amy!!

Thanks to the lovely styling of my friend and hairdresser Ms. Amy Jines, Livy and I have good hair!! YAY! Okay, Anna NOW you can come. Momma's got good hair! Hey, it's necessary!!

37 Weeks

Yesterday was my doc appointment. I'm dilated 3 cm and 50% effaced. Dr. Lawrence said considering all that Anna has gone through and how "favorable my uterus is" he wants to induce at 38 1/2 weeks. He wants to get an echo cardiogram on her when she is delivered to see about the small amount of fluid that still may be there. Which means I only have a week and a half to go! I'm ready. Momma is tired and I hurt! At my 38 week app on next Tues. we will set a date to induce. Of course, Anna could choose to grace us with her presents sooner. She was REALLY LOW!! Doc said she has hair. Hmmm, go figure. Hope she doesn't fall out before I can get to the hospital!!! I told myself I wasn't going to worry about that. God does have it all planned out for me. He has everything under control.

Got a praise!! Not really on "moderate bed rest" anymore. He told to take it easy and use common sense. So I have been up doing and when I get tired I sit for a while. But I'm thankful my hubby and family is still helping!

My Mom may come this week to help out again. I'm looking forward to that!! I could use the extra rest. Love my Mom!

Family Pics

These are some of my faves. I posted most of them on my Facebook page.