Baby Lucy's Party

Annie's sister, baby Lucy turned one a few weeks ago. We had fun celebrating her party with all the kids. It was a great day, the last hot day of summer (side note, we've been having gorgeous weather and are due in for some more through the week, so thankful). Hard to believe Lucy is already one!


Here are a couple of shots of all the c.o. little ones. Josiah and Owen were even able to come! Lucy is standing down front. I love the second picture of her. She is so happy and seems to know that the party is for her!

34 1/2 weeks

It's crazy that I am 34 1/2 weeks already! Sometimes I feel like this pregnancy is flying by and then other times I feel like I still have a ways to go. Here's a few little tidbits from pregnancy this go around.

-I got bigger faster (crazy how that's even possible, I got big, fast the first time)
-Coleman is pretty active in the womb (maybe even more so than Callie, wondering how that will translate when he's out of the womb...yikes)
-pretty sure he's head down which is a blessing
-feeling very winded these days
-overall this pregnancy is more taxing b/c I'm taking care of Callie at the same time
-I can see him squirming under my skin much more clearly than w Callie (maybe b/c my uterus is more stretched out? kind of weird)
-sleeping has been way more difficult than I remember
-fun to have Callie feel my belly
-feel hotter w/ this pregnancy.. temperature wise that is :)
-feel like I am carrying exactly the same way I did with Callie
-overall I have more energy when I am pregnant, was the same way with callie. It's crazy. My body will feel tired but I almost NEVER feel sleepy, which is quite unlike me.

Nature Center

A couple of thursdays ago (thursdays are our new day off), We and the Lonergans went to a nearby nature center for a picnic. We are trying to make the most of being outside while the weather is still pretty nice. This particular day it was actually quite hot! The nature center had this nice outdoor play area for the kids. Callie and Evey enjoyed exploring everything. Evey is really growing up; becoming quite the playmate for Callie.

I had to blog about this

I have had this blog post rolling around in my head for some time now. I am just now getting around to posting it. I think it is a sweet testimony to God's answering prayer. This picture is old. It's actually from beach project when I wasn't quite 20 weeks. Rest assured I am much larger than this now! My friend here is Lauren. Lauren and her husband are on staff with Campus Outreach in a region in the south. Lauren is also about 20 weeks pregnant here. Her due date is one week behind mine. In this picture we had actually just met each other in person for the first time. We actually got connected back in the fall ( a year ago now) through a mutual friend. This friend thought we should talk with each other because we had something in common, infertility. I don't think that I've ever mentioned our infertility on this blog, but I am pretty open about it when people ask. Charlie and I had a hard time getting pregnant with Callie (took about 14 mos) and with Coleman (took about 18 mos). Whenever I had a chance to talk with other women who went/were going through the same thing it was such a blessing, so when I had an opportunity to talk with Lauren I jumped on it. At this point last year when I first started talking over the phone with Lauren (mind you we had never met in person), her and her husband had been trying for nearly 4 years to get pregnant! I was honored that she was willing to talk with me. I had not even come close to dealing w/ infertility as long as she had, plus I had one child already. Nevertheless, she opened up her life and heart with me, basically a total stranger. Our phone friendship proved to be such a blessing! About once or twice a month we'd catch up with each other and we would pray for each other over the phone, praying that we would trust the Lord amidst our struggles and asking that He'd open our wombs. This went on for a little over 6 months. She was such an encouragement to me during that time. Anyway, you can imagine what a sweet blessing it was for us to find out about a week apart that we were both pregnant. There was not even a part of me that thought "funny coincidence." It was no coincidence that after 18 mos. for me and 4 1/2 years for her that we were pregnant at the same time. I truly believe God brought us together to pray for each other/bear each others' burden so that we could together, watch him answer our prayers. So, you can imagine how sweet it was to get to meet her in person for the first time this summer. So, thanks for reading this long post. I can't end though without mentioning that as sweet as it is to be pregnant (I thank God constantly) it just isn't the greatest, best thing on earth. Family, pregnancy, babies, they are all awesome gifts from God, but they really do not compare with the gift of Christ and the joy of having a relationship with him. I wouldn't want anyone (esp. anyone who might be struggling w/ infertility) to read this and think, "now she has arrived" or "God is not as good to me as her because He has yet to answer this prayer of mine." The reality is that He's always good and his goodness is most evident in the gift of Christ, not the gift of pregnancy. Now, if I could always live in light of what I just "preached" here, that would be awesome.

Play Dates

We've been having playdates with all the girls on Monday mornings. It's been a really fun time for the girls to connect (and the moms as well)! For the older girls, Annie, Maddux, and Callie, we've been trying to go through the alphabet. Each monday, we're focusing on a different letter. A stands for animals, so our first hangout time was at the free zoo. I love this picture of the girls and the polar bear. It was so neat seeing him up close.


A little blurry, but here's Maddux, Evey, Annie, and Callie




C stands for cupcakes! Here are the older girls making cupcakes together. As you can imagine, they were a hit.

Big Girl

We certainly have a big girl on our hands. Callie has met a few milestone's in the past couple of weeks. One being, her first haircut! Well, I literally cut a couple of hairs the other week. She had a few that were just "stray hairs" that were longer than the rest. But, since it technically was a haircut we had to document it!





Next milestone...a big girl bed! This has actually been quite a smooth transition thus far. She doesn't seem to know that she can get out of her bed! It's great. She still calls us in there to get her out each morning and after naps. I'll take it while it lasts.



As you can see one side of her bed is against the wall and the other has a long bedrail. However, she still managed last night to roll all the way down to the foot of the bed and fall off in the middle of the night! I can't believe she managed to do that.

Just the three of us. This will probably be our last picture like that. I am currently 32 weeks. Lord willing Coleman will be here in about 2 months!