Christmas Update

Here are lots of photos from my time in Michigan - I know the grandparents will enjoy seeing the kiddos and my big belly, sorry, lots of pics :)

We had a great time with the Joneses on Christmas Eve: White elephant/grab bag gift exchange, guys and girls had their own times to chat and hang out which is always fun. Then Christmas morning with presents and breakfast, then Christmas dinner at Aunt Marie's and presents galore and time with extended family. Then we headed to Michigan that night, went to church in the a.m. and heard my dad speak, then a Christmas lunch, adult present opening during naps during half time of the Bears game, kids opening time after naps. Just spent the afternoon hanging out and snacking of course :)
Then we headed home that night when my parents and Dan and Allison all drove back to Virginia.
We've just been trying get things settled at home, running errands and trying to relax some too :)
Hope you all have a very happy new year!!

30 weeks

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas - I'll do a full blogpost soon, but here's a picture documenting me at 30 weeks from my dad.
Happy New Year!!

Merry Christmas to all!

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Just wanted to wish you all a very Merry Christmas!
We had our candlelight service last night and are gearing up for a big Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with family beginning tomorrow.
Today was a busy day with wedding dress shopping with Sarah and the Jones girls, showing my brother and sister in law our new house and some last minute grab bag & white elephant gift shopping...harder than it sounds!
Also enjoyed watching the Nativity Story earlier this week with Joe, Don and Sara. Definitely has had me thinking more in depth on the story and details of Mary's whole pregnancy, Jesus's birth, etc.

Thankful for Jesus, for His birth and His death. We are so undeserving of His precious gift of salvation and new life. We just have a lot to be thankful for.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

29 weeks

29 Week update:

How am I feeling? Pretty good. Getting slower in movement, harder to get out of bed, legs are always on the verge of cramping in bed and can't see the lower half of my body well at all. but comes with the territory, eh?

Movement: Lots of movement - always like when Joe can feel him or her moving - usually before bed.

Doctor’s Appointment? Next appt is Jan. 3, then I'll start going every 2 weeks, and then every 1 week - wow!

Sleep? Still not sleeping as well as I would like, but doing ok. Looking forward to Christmas break to catch up a little.

Weight Gain? Not sure!

Baby Preparation? Put up the canopy that I have loved for the last 2 years and I think it looks really cute above the crib. Definitely hard to prepare when we don't know the gender, but we've been talking through shower dates and plans, so that has been exciting!!

Likes/Dislikes? Been getting more heartburn, but it's not too bad. Been eating a lot of grapefruit, OJ, ham and Christmas cookies and sweets....

Milestones: Baby is around 2.5 lbs and 15 inches long. wow! And I think he or she is very strong based on how hard I'm being kicked everyday!

Anniversary & Kitchen Photos

Celebrated 3 years of marriage last night - had dinner at Domo 77 and then we saw Voyage of the Dawntreader. Very good food, movie and evening together!







I will try to post pics as we finish all our rooms - and though none of them are entirely done, I am happy with the progress of the kitchen! I just love it - feel like it's totally my style :)

29 Weeks and Baby's Room

Yes, I took these after just after waking up....
But we're off today and I thought it'd be funny to show what my old shirts look like - although usually they are sliding up even higher..fun!


The Nursery using the ikea canopy that I love and pieces/bedding that were given to us. The room is being used for overflow and Christmas presents right now - but we still have a couple months to settle right? :)

THREE Years!

Wow.
Joe and I have been married for three years and together for over eight.
It's sure been fun to reminisce on these past three years...lots of ups and downs, mostly ups - lots of wonderful memories and hope to have many more to come!
Looking forward to celebrating this weekend with my Love!!

8 years of memories!

Taylor's Silent Night!

Wow - good ol' TU made some pretty big news when they covered the "silent" night festivites on espn and yahoo. See the story and videos here (thanks for posting on FB, Rach :))

http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/19780/prepare-to-love-taylor-university
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/blog/the_dagger/post/Never-heard-of-Taylor-University-s-Silent-Night-?urn=ncaab-295229

Contentment

"I rejoiced greatly in the Lord that at last you renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you were concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it. 11 I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength. "

Joe finished up his series on Philippians last night in youth group and it was a really great message and created some good conversation in my small group. Just thinking through if we are content or are we always wanting more or bigger, better...
Also in the rest of Phil. 4 - we discussed if we are giving sacrifically - even at their age, in high school. Really good things to think through. How awesome is it to be storing up treasure in Heaven instead of on earth, where moth and rust destroy.
If you are struggling with contentment - I recommend the below book along with others by Lydia Brownback - I also read "Trust" and her new ones are Joy and Purity, which I need to check out as well.
But these "Trust" and "Contentment" books really helped me through some difficult times - when Joe was in school, through our miscarriage, not knowing if we would move away or stay here, seeing others with children and wishing we had our baby, not knowing if we should buy or rent - big and little things. They were simple one a day readings that meant a lot to me. I highly recommend them!

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

Wow - The Christmas season is upon us! And although we are not entirely moved in or done unpacking, first things first: I had to put up decorations and have things feel Christmasy around the house.
I'm not nearly done with all of that either....but hopefully soon :)
Here's a sampling.
My "Christmas Village" thrift store find and window boxes that I made:




In baby news: I had my Rhogam shot :(
So that is done - do not know my Diabetes test results yet. Then one more appt in January and then I go in every 2 weeks for appts. Wow! Time is a-flying!

Baby and me at 26/27 weeks!

We were able to get a free ultrasound at a new pregnancy clinic in St. Charles that Rachel Brooke told me about. It was very fun! They were practicing on me basically, measuring different body parts and then Joe and I got to see everything when they were done. Baby was head down and face up - so again it was hard to get good face and profile print outs, but we got to see so much of the sweet face on screen. It was awesome!! So here is a labeled picture from that. The tip of the nose is pointing straight at the word Mouth :) (Click on picture to enlarge it)
Then the other pics are from the weekend that Mom and Dad were here!

Me at 26 weeks

Yes, he's almost dropping me, yes, I'm heavy...

:)


27 Week update:

How am I feeling? Good! still congested from a cold at thanksgiving or maybe this is just life - allergies and colds since end of August....

Movement: Crazy movement all the time. Day, night, waking me up in the morning and sometimes in the night :) I'm a light sleeper and he or she is quite the mover. Especially if I roll over at night. Seems like always moving when I'm sitting somewhere where I need to be paying attention, i.e. church, marriage builders, a work meeting...And I'm always poking joe and telling him to watch, but he's better at focusing than me so he'll glance and then keep listening...

Doctor’s Appointment? Yes - 3 appts yesterday. Regular check up and all was well, "strong heart beat and good acceleration" was what I was told (?)
Then glucose/diabetes test where I had to drink sweet Hi-C type drink, wait there for an hour and then they drew 5 vials of blood.
Then my free Ultrasound! That was a fun one!!

Workouts? I should just take this out of the questionnaire...

Sleep? Not sleeping well over Thanksgiving with the cold and congestion that I had, but it's been getting better and better since the weekend. And I sleep now with a humidifer in my face :)

Weight Gain? Maybe around 15 lbs?

Baby Preparation? Joe set up the little ones room since we had the furniture sitting in there - nothing set in stone position wise, but it's a small room and we don't have many layout options! Just fun to go in there and dream though!

Likes/Dislikes? Need to avoid anything spicy - started getting heartburn. but other than that I like all things :)

Milestones: Baby is almost 2 lbs and 14.5 inches. CRAZY!!