Happy Fathers day Kevin...

Dear Kevin,
It has been an honor to parent along side you the last 3 (plus) years! I have loved watching you grow and develop as a Father, I love watching you snuggle, play and laugh with our daughters. I Love your excitement when we talk about meeting our son. I love the initiative you have taken in leading our family in devotions and prayer time. I love that your greatest desire is to please our heavenly father not yourself, me or our children. It has not always been easy having our children so quickly after our marriage or having them so close together, and I know Reiter will add a lot more love, laughter and fun to our family as well as moments of exhaustion and tension but I would not want to experience any of those things with another man. You are such an example both to me and our children of Christs love for us, I could not ask for better! I love you.
Love,
Rach

Kevin and Averi


Kevin and Sofie

girls night...

One of the biggest blessings of my job has been the sweet friendships I have been able to make! These four girls Allie, Allison and Allison have become so dear to my heart! We went to dinner the other night and a movie and it was oh so fun! They also gave me a little gift for the girls and baby Reiter that I can not wait to put them in!

33 weeks..

Here we are @ 33 weeks! Counting down the last few weeks until Mr reiter makes his appearance and looking forward to meeting him! I talked to my midwife at our last check up about having an induction late July if he doesnt choose to come on his own. There are a lot of reasons (listed in a prvious post) we want him to come in july but we just added one more! I am beyond thrilled that I was able to find a one day a week position at work. It is not in the NICU which makes me VERY sad but it is in Newborn Nursery which is our sister unit so I have worked in there a ton as well and am very familiar with both staff and the job requirments! I have to make the switch tho before I leave for my maternity leave so I will switch the begining of July. Because this is a part time position I will no longer recieve benefits through Vanderbilt, which is also not a big deal except we would like to have Reiter on my current insurance because I get a pretty great discount. My benefits will drop August 1st so we desperately need him to come in July! My midwife was not thrilled with the induction idea, and I agree with all her reasons 100% except that I REALLY want him to come in July! the plan as of now is to take it week by week, she has given me a lot of tips to try to get him to come on his own which I will start once we hit 36 weeks and then there are some things she is willing to try (such as membrane stripping)after 37 weeks, if we get to the last week of july and he still hasnt come then she will atleast discuss the induction with us...discuss...she was very non committal! For now we are praying and praying and praying he comes in July, God has been so good to us, he has answered every desire of our heart and need throughout this pregnancy I refuse to doubt he wont take care of Reiters birthday,even if that means he doesnt come until August!

Fifths Disease...

So last weekend Averi had super red spots on her cheeks, just below her eyes... we had been outside almost non stop tho so I just figured despite the sunscreen maybe it was her first sunburn!Well by monday we realized whatever was on her face was much more then a sunburn so off to the doctor we went!
We learned she has fifths disease which is apparently a VERY common childhood disease and majorely contagous! It starts with achiness and a mild fever which is when it is most contagous but most people dont realize their child even has it because it is typically so mild, then a really red rash develops (typically called slap cheek because their face gets so red, at this point it is no longer contagous! But because it is such a severe rash and spreads all over their bodies you are supposed to avoid the sun!
So we have been on lock down for nearly a week waiting to see if Sofie is going to develop the enfamous rash and since she hasnt we havent been around ANYONE in fear of passing this on to them since she could be contagous and we just may not know it!And we have been locked inside trying to allow poor Averis skin to heal and avoiding the sun! Needless to say we have played and played and played and read SO many books and done puzzles and play dough... as badly as I want to be outside with my babes I can't say inside has been all bad, they are funny and I enjoy playing with them!
Our biggest fear was could I catch fifths disease and how would that impact Reiter. All our pediatrician knew was that it could be really bad for unborn babies (thanks doc!) but he couldnt tell me anything else! Luckily I had an appointment with my midwife after Averi's doctors apppointment. She explained that before 14 weeks of pregnancy it could be really bad for the baby (even Fatal!) but after that it doesnt typically affect the baby and the very worse that could happen to Rei at this point is anemia, so we are just watching him a little closer the chances of anemia are less then 1% so we are probably fine!

Avs new hair cut

before...


So last year I cut Averi's hair in an "angled"bob, I was not crazy about how it turned out, the guy chopped it WAY to short! So we spent the last year growing Averi's hair out, i hadnt even trimmed it I was so scared it would get messed back up!

After...


so finally after a year of growing it out I took her to get it all evened out... I explained to the girl that it had been cut in an angled bob last year and I didnt like it and that we had spent the last year growing it all back out. I wanted it at her shoulders and all one length... well apparently all she heard was "bob" and before I knew it CHOP there goes a year worth of growth!I gasped when the girl cut and she looks at me and says "you want a bob right!" WHAT that is not what I said at all, but at that point there was nothing that could be done to save all that hair, LUCKILY the hair cut turned out ADORABLE, short but ADORABLE! Her hair looks so much healthier and thick and she is loving showing it off so all in all it turned out ok!

SUMMER...

We are LOVING summer! We are spending lots of lots of lots of time outside riding bikes, playing in the princess pool, swings, and slip n slide and going to our new favorite find, a FREE splash pad about 15 minutes from our house...it is AWESOME and the kids love it! I am thoroughly enjoying these last few weeks of pregnancy with my sweet babies and husband as a family of 4!