Isaac's birth story

On Friday night I started having contractions that felt different, but I had already gotten myself excited once so I just ignored them. By about 3:30 a.m. there was no more ignoring them. I downloaded myself a contraction timing app and began timing. 1 minute long, 7-8 minutes apart. By 9:30 they were getting stronger and closer together so we called the on-call midwife. She had us come in, but I was only dilated to a 3 so she sent us walking to see what happened. An hour later, still only a 3, even though I couldn't walk through the contractions. I was disappointed and discouraged, but she sent us home to rest for a few hours. By about 3:00 I was really starting to dread facing any more contractions in the car. We only live about 20 minutes from the birthing center, but we ended up having to deliver at the South location- about 45 minutes from our house. 45 minutes of contractions every 4 minutes while sitting in the car sounded like torture. Once we were in the car contractions slowed down a little bit, which had me worried that I was once again going to get sent home, but I was hoping it was just God being merciful to me. He was. I was at a 5 once I got there- phew. We let our family know we were "checked in" and we turned off our phones and got to work bringing a baby into the world.

Let me just take a minute to say that my husband is the absolute perfect labor coach for me. There is no way I could birth without him. Unfortunately for him, that means that going to the bathroom and getting a bite to eat is pretty difficult since I didn't want him out of my sight.

I labored on the birth ball against the bed, then in the bed for a while before finally getting into the tub. I felt so much more relaxed once I got in the tub the midwife even commented- the birthing pool is the midwife's epidural. So true. My contractions continued to stay 4-6 minutes apart, which was good in some ways (lots of rest), but I think made labor last longer overall. I was 5 cm at 4:00 and only 8 cm at 8:00. I stayed at 8 cm for about 45 minutes (and if you know anything about 8 cm- that's a long time to not make any progress). The midwife thought it was because my water hadn't broken yet so the baby's head couldn't push down enough to make me dilate. She said she could break my water for me to hopefully speed things up if I was getting impatient, but she warned me that it might not work, but it would definitely make it more painful. What kind of choice is that?! While I was thinking about what to do my water broke. Let me just say- best. feeling. ever. Until she told me that it was meconium stained. Basically Isaac had already pooped. I freaked out a little bit. I know that makes some babies have to go the NICU (and there is no NICU at the birthing center). The midwife reassured me that his heart rate had been good so we had no reason to think he was in distress. I didn't believe her for a while, but after another contraction I could not think of anything else besides getting the baby out one contraction at a time. I'm pretty sure that I went from 8-10 in about 3 more contractions and I was ready to push.

So many people talk about pushing as something that comes naturally and the urge takes over your body. I think I'm broken or something. Because that does not happen to me. I did feel more comfortable this time than I did with Ethan, but it still felt awkward and unproductive. I pushed for about 20 minutes in the tub before Isaac's heart rate started dropping. The midwife said she would let me push one more time and if I didn't make significant progress she wanted me to get on the bed so I could feel contractions a little better. I really wanted to have a water birth, but I knew that she was right. Once I got out of the tub and on to the bed I only had to push a few more times before he was finally here. He cried the tiniest little cry immediately (oh, and pooped ALL over me) and as soon as I started talking to him he quieted down and cuddled up to me. About 3 minutes after he was born I remember saying, "that wasn't that bad." Ha! Talk about endorphins kicking in because I'm pretty sure the 20 minutes before he was born were filled with "I can't do it, I hate it."

So all in all- nearly 12 hours of early labor, followed by 4 hours of active labor, 2 hours of transition, 25 minutes of pushing- got us a 7 lb 9 oz, 21 inch long baby at 10:40 p.m. on April 12, 2014.

He is amazing and all three of us are in love.

My little genius

I recently listened to this podcast, called "Unstoppable Learning." It was full of very interesting information for someone who is a teacher and a the mother of a young child. Listening to the podcast led me to watch this TedTalk by Alison Gopnik about how babies learn. She compares a baby's mind to that of the most brilliant scientist. That perfectly sums up my amazement as I watch Ethan explore his environment. It is amazing to think about how it has only been 9 months since he was just a tiny, scrunched up, eating, sleeping, pooping machine. I feel so blessed to be watching him grow.

Here are a few pictures of my little scientist exploring the backyard. Doesn't he look like he is concentrating and trying to understand? 

3 months and 5 months

You may notice that a month is missing. That's because I'm a bad mom and never took a 4 month picture. The really embarrassing thing is that the reason I never took a 4 month picture is because we didn't have a white shirt, and I wanted it to match. Then, we got white shirts and life got really busy. Maybe I am a little bit OCD. However, there is no shortage of pictures of this little man, so I'll put up one that I think is close to 4 months.

I can't believe my little man is 5 months old. He is learning all kinds of new tricks. He can sit up for a few minutes at a time; he can roll all over the place (especially at night in his crib); he can sleep through the night (not that he does, but he's done it before!); he is full of belly laughs and big grins; he is starting to babble all kinds of sounds and he is trying really hard to crawl. We celebrated his first Christmas and he was baptized (those pics will be a separate post, if I ever get there). Needless to say, we sure do love our little man. It's hard to believe that we ever lived without him in our lives.

2 months

Is it just me or is putting photos into blogger a pain these days!? They are so hard to move around.

Anyway, my little man had his two month birthday so we had a photo shoot. With my iPhone. Because I can not find my camera. It was moved to a location safe from the walking tornado, otherwise known as my niece, Adalee. I forgive her though because she's so darn cute. See?

Here are the 2 month pictures. Sorry they are blurry. I did manage to crop my toes out of the aerial view one though. We just got back from his 2 month check up and he's doing great! He's gained almost 6 pounds since he was born, putting him up to 12 pounds 3 ounces. He is 23 inches long. Both are exactly average for baby boys (50th percentile). He also had to get three shots and oral drops. It was probably more traumatic for Mom and Dad than for him, although he did let out some pretty healthy screams and has been sleeping ever since.

Two month milestones:

• He has great head control and is starting to push all the way up when we do tummy time- he's so strong! 
• He smiles and coos lots!
• He got to meet his Aunt Alaura, Uncle Brian, cousin Adalee and G.G. (great grandma) this month.
• He wore his first cloth diapers this month.
• He slept in his crib for the first time (we usually make it at least half the night in the crib- I think he still prefers to sleep on an incline in his bassinet).

I sure do love this little guy! 

Cloth Diapers, here we come!

I admit, my first desires to cloth diaper came from the little bit of hipster in me desiring to be in on the latest trend. I did a lot of research and scoured all kinds of blogs and asked all kinds of advice from people who cloth diaper. The more I researched, the more cloth seemed do-able. When it came down to it, I convinced Andy to cloth diaper after reading this article about the cost of cloth vs. disposable. Our conversation went something like this:

Me: According to this article, even if we choose the most expensive diaper option, we will save $1,000 on diapers until the baby is potty trained. Even including laundry.

Andy: Okay then, let's do it. 

What can I say? Money talks. 

After 8 weeks of using disposables, and cringing every time we had to drop another $30 on a box of diapers, we are finally in transition to all cloth. I bought 6 BumGenius One-size, All-In-One (AIO) diapers from kellyscloset.com and they came in the mail a couple of days ago. AIOs are supposed to fit Ethan from birth (I don't think they would have fit until 4-5 weeks, he was a little guy) to potty training. They are the most like disposable diapers. You just put them on, take them off and wash them. 

After one night of cloth diapering, here are my opinions so far:

1. Cloth diapers just look so darn cute it's all I want to dress him in.

2. His diaper area looks so much better. We don't have problems with rashes (*knock on wood*), but he was always red and had big indents around his legs with the disposables. After just a few hours of his first cloth diaper, everything looked better. 

3. The AIOs are really bulky because they have two really thick flap inserts. I'm a little worried about some of his clothes fitting over them. I also don't know how many can fit in the diaper bag when we are out and about!

4. Since the AIOs are all sewed together, they are supposed to be line dried. This took 4-5 hours outside yesterday when it was 90 degrees. I can see this being a problem once I start back at work and don't start the laundry until 4 or 5 p.m.

5. We need WAY more diapers! We put the first one on him after dinner last night and I am down to two clean diapers already this morning. I knew this going in, but I wanted to try out a couple of different styles before going all in and purchasing a whole set. 

Now, we need to decide if we are going to stick with the AIOs or try a different kind of system (like these ones). I also need to get and/or make some cloth wipes. It's a big pain to have disposable wipes and cloth diapers and remember not to throw the wipes into the wet bag with the diapers. 

All in all, so far so good.

And because who doesn't love pictures of babies in cloth diapers...

One month!

Me: Can you believe Ethan is one month old?
Andy: It feels like he's always been with us.

That conversation pretty much sums up my feelings about the last month. Some days feel like they last years and some days are over before I've even showered. Okay, lots of days are over before I've even showered, not necessarily because the day goes quickly.

We've had lots of visitors and lots of help, for which we are very grateful. Ethan got to meet all his grandparents this month. He's been to church several times (and consistently cries only during the quiet parts). We are starting to be able to get out and about more, he even visited the capitol building (which echos baby screams quite nicely). He watched his first Alabama football game and he is growing like a weed.

Here are some one month pictures and info:

Likes: laying on the floor, watching the fan

Dislikes: this one is still a mystery to us...

Milestones: He is starting to focus on our faces more, and we are getting a few smiles and coos out of him. He's also pretty good at holding up his head!

Ethan's first few weeks

Gathering pictures from two phones and a camera has been difficult while having a newborn. I know pictures are in high demand, so here are a few of my favorites from the last couple of weeks.

Sleeping on Daddy's chest- 3 weeks

Soo much milk.

Sleep smile. So sweet.

After his first bath, which he loved.

Tummy time.

Having a newborn has been a much different experience than I thought it would be. It is much harder in different ways than I thought it would be. Going without sleep seems like it will be hard, but it's really not that bad. I sleep about the same amount as I used to, it's just spread out over 12 hours instead of all condensed. Once you get used to that it's not so bad! 

We have struggled a bit with breastfeeding. This Mama is in pain when the baby eats! We have good days and bad days, but we have lots of support from experienced lactation consultants, so we're working it out. 

The most exhausting part of having a newborn (maybe this gets better with the second?) is constantly second guessing everything. Should he be sleeping now? Should I wake him up to feed him? Did he eat enough? Does he want to be held? What about the swing? Can we give him a pacifier? Can he take a bottle? He only pooped three times today, is that enough? He pooped 12 times today, is that too much? Is his poop the right color? 

So. Many. Questions. 

When it comes down to it, we tell ourselves- God already created this incredible miracle. He will give us the wisdom that we need to take care of him and help him grow. Lord, grant us wisdom as we raise Ethan to grow into a God-fearing, loving man.

Ethan's birth story

4:00 a.m., July 31st

I get up to go to the bathroom, get back in bed, feel a small rush and wonder how I peed my pants immediately after going to the bathroom. I go back to the bathroom and decide that maybe I lost my mucous plug. Definitely something to celebrate, but nothing to get too excited about. I go back to sleep, noticing that I'm having some cramps about every 10 minutes.

4:00-8:00 a.m.

I go back to sleep.

8:00

We wake up and I tell Andy that I think I lost my mucous plug, but don't get too excited. But just in case, we should probably just make sure that we have everything we need before the baby comes (we had a large to-do list we were planning on accomplishing).

8:00-10:00

I notice that the gushes of water are still coming every 30 minutes or so. I do the next logical thing and google "water breaking" and read about it. All signs point to broken water so I give the birthing center a call and the on-call midwife calls me back and asks me what's going on. When I told her she said to come on in and she would check me out to see what was going on.

10:00-11:30

Andy vacuums (I've read stories where Mom starts doing weird things at the beginning of labor, in our case it was Dad.) I pack a bag and make a list of things we need to take with us.

11:30-12:30

We head to Target to buy last minute things. I should note, at this point I'm still unsure if my water is actually broken. It is nothing like the movies, people. We conquer and divide to get the items on our list. I comment to Andy, the baby feels really heavy down there!

1:00

The midwife listens to my story, says it sound like my water broke, but let's just confirm. She checks me out and there is definitely water (everywhere). I had a contraction while she was checking me so she was able to see that I was a little bit effaced and a little bit dilated. Good news.

The bad news is that I've had period cramps more painful than my contractions and they are still far apart. Since the water is broken, baby needs to be here or very close to here in 24 hours (which is now 15 hours).

She gives us three options: 1. Do nothing, wait for contractions to get strong; 2. Use the breast pump and take herbs to help contractions along; 3. Jump straight to the big guns and take some castor oil.

2:00-5:00

We chose the middle of the road option and pump. It makes my contractions stronger, but the hour after I pump, they taper off. Bummer. On to the big guns.

5:00

The midwife makes me an awesome smoothie with an orange Popsicle and castor oil. For some reason the "oil" part of the name never occurred to me. Basically I drank a melted orange Popsicle with a layer of fat on top. At least it didn't taste too bad.

5:00-7:00

The unpleasantness that goes with castor oil follows, meanwhile contractions are getting stronger and stronger. We are very relieved at this point, because if I didn't go into labor on my own we would have to go to the hospital to get started on pitocin. Bad news all around.

And now the rest is a blur as far as time goes. By this point I was in active labor, concentrating very hard on staying on top of the contractions. Andy was the absolute best birth coach, helping me relax through every contraction and sitting in some very uncomfortable positions so that I could be comfortable.

My last recollection of time is Andy saying, "we're past midnight so his birthday is going to be August 1st."

The midwife came every hour or so to check on us and check Ethan's heart rate. She always tried to listen through a contraction. Those were the easiest contractions to make it through- listening to the steady beat of our little guy's heart helped me focus.

At some point the midwife suggested the tub and I eagerly agreed. Apparently getting in too early can slow labor down. I guess by this point she could tell that wasn't going to happen. I remember her commenting later that every time she came in the room I was a little more serious. This is a good thing when you're about to have a baby.

I spent transition (7 cm to pushing, two hours maybe?) in the tub. The tub was amazing, the contractions sucked. I said all kinds of crazy things about how much it hurt (but never a swear word!) and the midwife responded to every single one in a classic "affirm the feeling and redirect." "I know it hurts, but that's the baby's head pushing down, he's getting ready to come out!"

I wanted to deliver in the tub, but it was too hot. I was sweating and my heart rate started to go up and so did Ethan's. The midwife made me get out, despite my desperate attempts to convince her otherwise. Again, "I know you don't want to, but you are going to. I'll help you."

I had just started to push in the tub, so moving to the bed was terrible. The birthing assistant got there and I started pushing. The hardest work I have ever done in my life. It didn't come as naturally as I had heard. It felt awkward and I wasn't really sure how to work with the contractions to make the baby come out. The midwife and birthing assistant were amazingly encouraging and Andy nearly suffered broken fingers. When he started to crown (OW!) and Andy could see the top of his head I really got down to business. The midwife kept telling me he was close, but when Andy said he saw his head I really believed them. I think pushing took about an hour and half, but I'm not really sure.

I suddenly looked down and there was my baby's face. I was so excited I think I pushed a little too hard to get the rest of him out. Soon I had a squirming, crying baby on my chest and I could not stop smiling. And I'm pretty sure I kept saying, "I did it! He came out of me!" He was born at 4:29 a.m., almost exactly 24 hours after my water broke.

The midwife spent the next 45 minutes stitching me up and Ethan spent the next 45 minutes testing out his lungs and screaming on my chest.

By 12:30 that afternoon we were discharged and heading home with our baby! And I can't believe that was two weeks ago. We loved our experience at the birthing center, and we love our little man more than words can say!

Midwives help people out

We were beyond blessed to have an amazing birth experience at the Austin Area Birthing Center. A lot of people wonder why we chose to go the birthing center route so I'll explain a little bit about what we wanted in prenatal care and the birth.

The most important thing to me was that I was receiving prenatal care somewhere that I felt comfortable. I had heard a little bit about the birthing center, so when we found out we were expecting we scheduled a tour. The whole atmosphere was very homey and comfortable, and the ladies who work at the front desk were amazingly friendly (I have a big thing about friendly receptionists).

I also liked the idea of having a natural birth, which I felt would be impossible for me if I had any other option. I know myself well enough that when the going got tough in the pain department, I would definitely give in to an epidural if given the option. Delivering at the birthing center took care of that problem, because they can't give any medication, much less an epidural. Not that I think anything is wrong with getting an epidural, I just really wanted to trust that God created my body in a perfect way to nurture and deliver our baby into this world.

As we continued our prenatal care, both Andy and I became increasingly impressed with the care we were receiving. Each midwife that we met with made us feel so comfortable and they were all so knowledgeable about natural ways to have a healthy pregnancy. Even the way they treated the baby was special. It seemed like they felt privileged to be able to feel him and listen to his heartbeat.

The more I learned about natural birth, the more I knew it was the right decision for me and for our baby.

Good Eats

My new found love for Google Reader (I know that I am extremely late on this bandwagon) and Pinterest have encouraged me to get in the kitchen a little bit more often. I'm also really working on cutting carbs and sugars down to a minimum (the midwife says that excess sugar and carbs are what grows big babies in the third trimester and the thought of a natural birth of a large baby has me motivated to watch what I eat).

A while back I found Mark Bitman's Food Matters cookbook at Half Price Books for less than $10 and I have been trying some recipes from there. I really like his food philosophy- eat whole foods and enjoy in moderation, and keep in mind how what you eat impacts the world around you. He's pretty "granola," but in a more sensible way that some. My favorite recipe that I have made from there is "Beans and Greens." It was a great way to hide some veggies into my meal, since pregnancy has made me revert to my childhood hatred of vegetables.

Here is the recipe:

1. Saute an onion and some garlic in olive oil for 5-7 minutes. Add some chili powder (a teaspoon or so) and some cumin and some red pepper flakes if you want. Cook a little longer.
2. Add about a pound of kale to the pan and cook until the kale wilts.

Mmm. Kale. And amateur iPhone phootgraphy.

3. Add a can of black beans (drained, liquid reserved) and cook to heat beans.
4. Use a potato masher to mash up the beans. Add some of the bean liquid if it seems dry.

Mashing beans. One pan dinner- sign me up!

 5. Put the bean/kale mixture into a tortilla, roll up and serve. The make great leftovers for lunches, and I hear they freeze well, too.

No picture of the final product because I was too busy eating it. That's the difference between me and people who write real food blogs. They take beautiful pictures of their food before they eat it. I just eat it.

Final ratings:
• Me: GREAT because it was super easy, made good leftovers and tasted great!
• Husband: GOOD because I ate vegetables and the taste was tolerable. Complaints: no meat, whole wheat tortillas are "like the desert in my mouth."

Green and gray for Baby P?

 A nursery mood board that we really love. Maybe our final nursery decision? We shall see.

[source]

I think I really can say "we" for this one. I can convince Andy that we need anything if it's green or coordinates with green. Too bad it's not yellow, because yellow is much more in style right now. But I think I can make green work in the nursery...especially with Etsy close by.

We registered at Target and Babies 'R' Us this weekend. People who design nurseries like the one above definitely do not shop at Babies 'R' Us or Target. After registering at Babies R Us, I was looking through one of the free magazines they gave us and I came across an advertisement for a sleek looking black and silver pack and play. It said: "Bunnies and pastel pinks may be cute and all, but every woman has her breaking point." My sentiments exactly. Not that there's anything wrong with pastels- I've seen really sweet nursery designs with pastels, it's just what I'm looking for.

Anyway, I realized quickly that they decorative type items I'm looking for will not be purchased in bulk at Babies 'R' Us or Target. Here are a few things I really have my eye on from Etsy (per request of my mom):

Ottoman

Bunting

Custom bedding

Custom bedding might be a bit of a stretch on our budget...but I love it. I really just need the skirt, sheet and changing pad cover. I did find a no-sew crib skirt tutorial, so maybe I'll attempt the skirt myself! How hard can it be? I'm guessing harder than it looks since most people charge around $100 for custom crib sheets....Maybe I'll be feeling adventurous one weekend and attempt it.

It's a....

BOY!


It's so weird to actually know. For so long we've just been saying "it" or "him or her." Now he has so much more of an identity. I feel like I'm adjusting all over again to having a baby. First I had to adjust to the fact that a little person was going to join our family and now I have to adjust to the fact that a little BOY person will be joining our family.

As for names, I promise we will name our child before we leave the birthing center. But probably not before we meet him. I just don't see my indecisive self and my think-everything-through-one-million-times husband coming to a decision anytime soon. For now, he is Baby Boy.

I can also narrow down my nursery ideas, even though I don't really like all girly or all boyish nurseries. Basically, I want a bright and colorful nursery that will grow with him. And items that can be used outside of a nursery (read: I don't want everything in the nursery to have a lion or a sports item or a train...).

I like this design board/color scheme a lot:

Source

The sad news about this design board is that my favorite part, and probably the only thing I can actually afford is the scalloped flags (no. 11 at the top) is an Etsy find that sold out. Let me know if you find anything similar!

Last but not least, 21 weeks and finally looking more pregnant. As Andy put it, "You look pregnant now!"

Productive

Today we:

1. Rearranged our bedroom. Andy didn't want our head by the window anymore, since our window overlooks the parking lot and we can never sleep with the windows open because it is way too loud. I mean come on people, is it really necessary to take that speed bump at 30 MPH in the middle of the night?

2. Filed our taxes. Go me.

3. Mentally spent our tax return at IKEA on furniture for Baby's room. Not that the baby has a room yet. But he or she will, eventually. And when that time comes, there will need to be furniture! Here's what we are loving so far:

I'm kind of obsessed with the new gray-brown color at Ikea. I was originally thinking we would go with white furniture, but since we won't be able to paint the walls I think this color will stand out without being obnoxious. Plus, I want to do bright colored accessories for the rest of the nursery like...

from Anthropology and only $24

 ....this for a girl...

From Urban Outfitters ($39-$74, depending on size)

....or this for a boy...

We are pretty set on the crib and dresser (right design and the price is right!). We are still thinking about the chair. It's not really super cheap, but it was cozy and small. We are into small things right now since our apartment feels incredibly packed full. I don't anticipate that wherever we move will have that big of a room for the baby either.

Today was my first day of spring break without a nap, which means it's nearly my bedtime! I sure am going to miss spring break when it leaves.

Spring!

Spring is springing around Austin. We have already had several days in the 80's. I love it! Although the past couple of days have been gross and rainy. I'm trying hard not to complain about the rain, because I know how much central Texas needs rain. Plus, staying inside to clean house and do homework is much easier when it's rainy outside. (We did 6 loads of laundry yesterday, and we're still going. I guess we were a little bit behind...oops!)

Here are a couple of pictures from the other weekend when we decided to boycott homework and enjoy the spring weather. Austin is much prettier these days, since it's been raining. 

And a quick baby update...

I'm feeling good pretty good. I started feeling baby move around 17 weeks, but wasn't quite sure if that what it was. Now, I'm sure that's what it is and he or she is pretty active! Last Monday we had a check up and we could hardly hear the heartbeat because baby was moving so much. ADHD already...great! Andy is anxious to feel the baby move, but it's hard to catch it. We have our 20 week ultrasound next week and we are really excited to see baby again...looking more human than alien this time. We do plan to find out if we are having a boy or a girl, if baby will cooperate. Any guesses?

Here's a picture that I am posting begrudgingly. I am not a fan of taking picture of my belly. I love looking at other people's pictures of their growing bumps but I just feel awkward! It doesn't help that I still just feel fat, not so much pregnant. All that to say, don't expect too many pictures!

And we're back

This is what has happened since last time I blogged:

August: I got hired to teach 5th grade. Six days before school started. I worked a lot with the 5th grade team last year and I felt beyond blessed to be chosen to join them this year. Although, 6 days is not a lot of time to get a classroom set up and wrap your brain around teaching 5th grade.

September: I started getting to know 22 ten year olds who have so far this year have made me laugh much more than they've made me cry. (I don't think I've actually cried yet...just felt like it).

I also visited my sister, brother in law and one week old niece. Being an aunt is the best! We shared lots of cuddles and a major diaper blow out, too.

October: I can't really think of anything big that happened this month...Halloween with 5th graders was not that fun...neither was the day after Halloween, but we survived.

November: Annie came to visit! We had so much fun showing her around Austin- the weather was beautiful and we ate A LOT of really good food. I really love that girl! I have no pictures of our adventures because she never sent them to me (HINT HINT, if you're reading this, Annie).

We headed to Houston for Thanksgiving with Chris, Connie and the girls. By the end of Thanksgiving Day we were starting to feel very suspicious that this:

might be the case. This was right before church and we decided to keep the secret to ourselves for a little while, but we were afraid that we would not be able to act normal. We pulled it off though.

December: My sister, brother-in-law and niece came to Austin. We had so much fun!

I gave this to my sister for Christmas. She was excited. Brian was confused.

We drove to Alabama right after Brian, Alaura and Adalee left. I was really nervous about being in the car for that long, but it all turned out okay. We gave a picture frame similar to the one above to Andy's parents the night we got there. Alaura brought my parents and other sister theirs and our secret was officially out of the bag to our families and close friends.

January: This accessory was added to the front seat of the car after a bad experience with driving to work and scrambled eggs. Turned out to be much worse for Andy than it was for me. Hence, his insistence on my new traveling companion:

We went to the Austin Area Birthing Center for our first appointment. We heard an amazingly fast heartbeat and saw our little one moving around on the ultrasound screen. It was so exciting, and very surreal. We took these home as our souvenier:

Top right is the head, bottom left the rump. Baby measured a little over one inch- 10 weeks exactly.

Close up of baby's face, with the hand on the left, next to the mouth. I know, it's hard to see/understand. I still think it's cute.

I am 14 weeks right now, feeling much better, and the cat is officially out of the bag- we are having a baby! August 3rd is the due date. I'm really looking forward to looking pregnant instead of like I've eaten too much junk food and of course, to feeling the baby move in the next few weeks (hopefully...it can be anywhere from 14-22 weeks before that first kick is felt for sure).

I have officially wasted a large portion of my morning collecting pictures from various sources and putting this blog together. Saturday mornings are supposed to be set aside for doing homework. Oops. The good news is that next week is three days of professional development in my district. Three days without kids. Don't get me wrong, I do love them. But I find they are much cuter when I haven't seen them for a while. :)

Hopefully I will be a little better about blogging, now that there are more exciting things to blog about. :)

Church

I love our church. People always ask if we've found a good church in Austin, and they are surprised to know that we didn't church hop when we first moved here. We knew that we needed a place with solid teaching, and people who would love us. Crosspointe offered both on our first Sunday; so we stayed. It was really tempting to look for a church with a hopping young adult program where we could meet a lot of people our age, but we decided to keep our focus on how we could serve the church rather than how the church could serve us.

It has turned out to be a great decision. We don't have a lot of friends our age there, but we have people who would drop anything to help us if we needed it. And most importantly, we are part of the living, breathing, serving, worshiping Church. Every Sunday is so encouraging and refreshing. The leaders of our church are committed to loving God and loving his people.

I learned this song from our phenomenal worship team (I'm sure it's old, but I just learned it) and I love it. The words are simple, the tune is bluesy, and the truth is powerful.

I have a hope, I have a future

I have a destiny that is yet awaiting me

My life’s not over, a new beginning’s just begun

I have a hope, I have this hope

 

God has a plan, it’s not to harm me

But it’s to prosper me and to hear me when I call

He intercedes for me, working all things for my good

Though trials may come I have this hope

 

Chorus

I will yet praise Him, my great Redeemer

I will yet stand up and give Him glory with my life

He takes my darkness and He turns it into light

I will yet praise Him, my Lord my God

 

My God is for me, He’s not against me

So tell me whom then, tell me whom then shall I fear

He has prepared for me

Great works He’ll help me to complete

I have a hope, I have this hope

 

Goodness and mercy, they’re gonna follow me

And I’ll forever dwell in the house of my great King

No eye has ever seen all He’s preparing there for me

Though trials may come, I have this hope

 

Bridge

There’s still hope for me today

‘Cause the God heaven loves me 

-Tommy Walker

Summer Vacation

We just got back from nearly 3 weeks of vacation. We worked hard for the first half of the summer and played hard for the last part.

My dad came with us for the first week. He flew to Austin and then we drove from Austin to Gulf Shores, and stopped in New Orleans for a couple of days. We had been there before, but only for a few hours. It was really fun to be able to spend time and enjoy more than one restaurant, since there are so many delicious ones. Here are a few of my favorite pictures from NOLA.

Nothing says French Quarter like wrought iron and lots of plants!

Jackson Square

Carriage ride at dusk

Then we headed to Gulf Shores where our goal was to spend time with Andy's family and friends, enjoy the beach and eat lots of seafood. All three goals were accomplished.

White sand and turquoise water- what more can you ask for?

Kissy faces on the beach.

On the way home we stopped to visit friends we met in Malawi- the Evans and their new baby, Jack, the Jones family in the Mississippi delta, and the Kilpatricks in Ruston, LA. It was so good to be with people who knew us in Malawi. What a special connection the mission field creates between people. Here is a picture of me with 7 week old Jack Nolan Evans. 

Sweet sleepy baby

School starts on Monday and classes start the following week. I am so glad we had a break before we go back to the grind!

4th of July traditions

I have spent very few 4th of Julys in civilization. Usually I am in the middle of nowhere, enjoying the great outdoors. This is the first year in 20 years that I haven't been camping for the Fourth of July!

Tonight in my class (yes, Andy and I had class on Independence Day...) we did a presentation that was supposed to tell something unique about us and I shared these pictures.

The view from the bottom, where we camp.

2010- married for a week!

1991- Kelsea and I on our first trip to the river!

Despite the evidence that this picture presents, I actually do like it there. I'm pretty sure my dad woke me up to take this picture, which made me upset. Then I got upset about the scratchy grass and the bugs. Oh, the memories. Thanks for forcing the picture, Dad!