Me & "My Girls"

In case you haven't noticed the baby ticker, we are just 4 days away from baby A's (each of the names we are deciding between start with A) due date- super bowl Sunday. Unbelievable! We are getting really excited, yet it still seems surreal. Somethings going on in my body because I have been REALLY emotional lately! I've been crying over everything! I've been having contractions and am dizzy at times, but won't know if I've made any progress until tomorrow morning at my OB appt. For now I am trying to keep my heart at peace as I finish up last minute projects around the house. Alathea has been a joy to spend time with, but at times a real challenge (especially with my heightened emotions) with the constant training & discipline she requires. I'm praying it will bear good fruit, as it takes everything in me to be faithful to do so. I am really praying for much grace in this area once I have a newborn added to the mix.

Reba was kind enough to take some sweet pictures of Alathea & I today. She really is a sweetie- and I believe at least for the most part, she'll be a great big sister :) I think its funny seeing how it looks when Alathea is sitting on my belly. Quite the seat she's got! As far as the baby front, we'll keep you posted!

Making Progress

If only I could get my pictures to upload so you could see my basketball sized belly! For some reason I am having trouble uploading them, but I will keep trying...

We are making much progress around here. First of all I am officially 1cm!! Wow! That is huge for me. With Alathea I was one week late when I was induced and even at that point I had made no progress. I am still very aware that 1cm is not much, and I am not expecting our sweet girl to arrive early at all. I am doing pretty well physically still- what a gift from God! I've noticed myself being much more emotional the past few days, which is a sign to me that I am fatiqued and a bit anxious. I can still feel like there is a lot to do before baby arrives, and at the same time ALL I want to do is savor each moment with Alathea, as I know my time alone with her will decrease once little girl #2 arrives. This makes it hard to actually get done what it is that I need to attend to :) In the end I'm sure I will not regret the time I spend with Alathea!

We are making progress on baby prep though- I now have her own closet set up (as she doesn't have an official room, just a closet for her stuff :), and her clothes washed and put away. I was INCREDIBLY blessed last week with one of my dearest friends throwing me a surprise baby shower. It meant the world to me, was super fun and it blessed us in the "baby needs" department tremendously. It also helped the reality of this girly coming soon sink in.

Alathea has been so sweet each day "kissing" my tummy, rubbing it and "singing" to baby sister. I know she doesn't completely have the concept grasped as last week at my DR's appointment, she convinced my OB to put the doppler up to her tummy, which only further convinced Alathea that she has a baby in her tummy too! It was really cute :)

Please keep our little family in your prayers- for a healthy baby girl and smooth delivery, for a smooth and peaceful transition for Alathea, for grace for Joe as he has much on his plate as far as preaching and planning in the midst of having a new baby come any day, and for me to trust the Lord with the transition. Also, that I would trust the Lord to provide the help I need once the baby is here- Joe will only be able to take one day max off of work after the hospital, and my Aunt Jeanie, who is planning on coming to help for 5 days once we get home from the hospital, only is available to come up until Feb 13th- which means that if the baby is late, she may not be able to help. The Lord will provide! You can also pray for wisdom on baby's name- we are almost certain on one, but are not 100% there yet.

Only 10 days until d-day! Wow!!

SNOW!!!

Yipee!! It snowed! This is quite a novelty since living in Charlotte. When I woke up to the beauty of the winter wonderland that snow brings, I couldn't stop staring out the window to soak it all up. The snow was unfortunately accompanied by rain as soon as Alathea woke up, but we still managed to get 30 minutes of play time in before she was cold! She loved it until then- she kept saying in her excited voice "snow! snow!".
And for those of you who know how much I dislike cold weather & winter- it is still true- but I have always loved snow!

Daddy love

Just a quick post to let you know that we are still alive :) Alathea & I (along with Lizzy Honea) made a 3 day trip up to MD this weekend to surprise my sister who was receiving a big award. I'll post more on that hopefully tomorrow. We've been keeping busy getting things in order for baby girl- whose due date is 19 DAYS AWAY!!! So incredible! We still have no baby clothes or items out at all...guess we've got a lot left to do :) I'm trying to savor every moment with my big girl right now- we've been spending lots of momma-Alathea time together!

Well, enjoy these sweet pictures of Alathea and her favorite person in the world- her Daddy!!

Julie & Ellen visit!

Aunt Ju-Ju is HERE!!!! Alathea could hardly contain herself!!! She did some sort of screaming, jumping, hysterical victory dance around our family room for probably 15 minute after Julie arrived on Friday!! I know now to have the video camera out and ready because it was so funny!! We were all laughing hysterically!


Here is a picture of Julie and one of her very best friends Ellen. They came in town with about 10 other MD folks to go to the MD vs UNCC basketball game on Saturday. Joe & I both were able to go as well. It was so fun to see BOTH of my colleges play against each other (I was in MD 2 years and UNCC 2 years). I couldn't decide who to cheer for, so I thought I'd go back to my roots and wear red for the Terps (and for fun since Joe was cheering for Charlotte. Maryland won by the way :).

The weekend went quick and Julie & Ellen were quite busy visiting friends, but we were grateful for the time we did get with them! Its always so fun to be with them!! I thought these pictures below of Alathea & Julie were so funny! Only Julie can get Alathea to make faces like that! Alathea adores Julie and will do anything she does...








We explained to Alathea that Julie & Ellen had to go bye-bye. When they left this afternoon Alathea burst into tears and banged on the glass door. I opened it so she could wave good-bye and she sprinted to the car, hopped in and waved good-bye to me!! After a few minutes I finally got her to stay with me :) What a gift Aunt Ju-Ju is to us!

9 Months

28 days?? That is what my little "baby ticker" says- WOW! Its so hard to believe. I remember when pregnant with Alathea and due on Feb 5th that the holidays make time fly during month 7 & 8 and before you know it the 3rd trimester is almost over before you realized it began. The blessing is that I in no way have the struggle "waiting" for month 9 to pass by and baby girl to arrive. Honestly I would be happy if she waited until at least her due date. I still feel great- what a gift, huh? Its a bit more cumbersome to move sometimes, but I am still sleeping well at night. I remember being more uncomfortable with Alathea than I am now. I go back & forth now with having incredible amounts of energy that keep me up organizing under sinks and closets and scrapbooking until 2am, to feeling utterly exhausted before lunch time! I am starting to really get excited about this baby- it is starting to feel more "real". We just got an incredible deal on an amazing bassinet for baby to sleep in. It was unplanned and God kind of dropped it in our laps, but its a HUGE blessing! Now she has an "official" place to sleep. And its one of the only things that is just for her (not a hand me down :). Hopefully we'll get the other baby stuff we have down from the attic soon. Every little baby thing like that helps me get ready! Oh- and Joe and the rest of my family all pitched in a surprised me with a glider for Christmas!! What a HUGE blessing! Its something I've always wanted, but they are so expensive and we have so little space in our tiny house, I kinda let it go. But after spending 18 months either nursing Alathea on the couch in our family room or on the floor next to her crib, I am so excited to feed the baby in comfort this time around :).
I am still tempted on and off being anxious and fearful about being able to sufficiantly love and care for an infant and a toddler. I an especially tempted to fear not being able to give Alathea the time & attention I want to and have been able to- as well as wanting to be able to faithfully train and discipline her. It seems like a daunting task if I will be up most of the night with baby and then Alathea will be ready to go bright and early in the morning. I'd love any advice from you experienced Moms who make it look so easy!! Pray that the next few weeks I will be able to cast these cares on the Lord and fill my mind with truth before the battle begins! Also please pray obviously for a healthy baby and smooth delivery, as well as for Alathea's little heart and her own transition during this time.