Happy 15th Birthday Joy!

My precious sister turned 15 on 9/11. Yes, that is her birthday. It's a memorable day in many ways. We celebrated her birthday together today. I truly love Joy like she's my daughter and sister. Our 14 year age spread is priceless to me -- we have a blast together. We've become such great friends, and I can't believe she's getting so grown up. In a few words, Joy is: animated/dramatic, social/gregarious, frank with her thoughts, musical, well-read, thoughtful, bubbly, and our little fashionista. And, the coolest thing is leading her in youth group and Bible study and getting to see her grow spiritually. Happy Birthday my Joy!

Definitely Growing

28 weeks. It's so weird (yet very exciting) to be constantly growing these days. There is no doubt that our Little Man is getting very strong. There really isn't a time of day when he is not kicking and moving -- when I wake up, when I eat breakfast, while I'm at work (and actually knocked over papers I had resting on my stomach), while I exercise, while I wash dishes (always reminding me if I accidentally lean on the counter), while I rest on the couch, after every meal, and then again when I lie down for bed. It's really special . . . and I love that Brian can feel the baby all the time too.

I guess we might have a little football player in the works.

Bradley Method

Heard of it? A method of natural childbirth. Brian and I have been attending a 10-week class on the Bradley Method. Anyone who knows me well knows that I am ridiculously sensitive to medicine, and I mean ridiculous. So, if there is a negative side-effect to medication, you can be sure that I'll get it, and get it bad. So, we'll see about childbirth . . . if I can handle the pain without the drugs.

Honestly though, I have found these birthing classes to be quite helpful (and the book, Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way . . . thanks Krissy). I'm the type of person that likes to be as educated as possible about things like this. Sure, there are some things that we don't jive with completely in this method, but I've have gleaned some great things from the class. First and foremost, all the exercises that they have us doing (with the addition of a few of my own to strengthen my back) have been tremendous for me in my pregnancy. I do stretches and exercises for 15 minutes after getting up each morning, and it really helps me feel like I can get going. We'll see how much they help for actual labor.

I usually don't talk about our birthing choice/method with many people because I feel like women are quite adamant about birthing methods -- either definitely doing what they did, or definitely not doing what they did. I find that I usually get a very long story of someone's labor whenever I mention it.

We know that God has His perfect ways for the birthing of our Little Man. And, we're excited to meet him -- however it happens.