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.

First BIG Gift

It's been so fun getting little boy outfits from people and various hand-me-downs. I'm realizing that I probably won't need to have any clothes on our registry because that I think that's everyone's favorite thing to buy. It's so fun piling up the cute little boy clothes. Our biggest gift though was given to us by Brian's dad and mom: our Evenflo Aura Select Travel System. Wow-wee! We love it. Brian put it together the night we got it. It also came with a bonus umbrella stroller for when the kiddo gets bigger.

We are so blessed by these gracious gifts, and we can't wait for our Little Man to use them!

Bloggy Vacation

Here I am with some of my senior high girls -- Girl's Night Out at Macaroni Grill.

It's been a while blog friends. I needed a break, and really life just needed me to step away. But, hopefully I'm back . . . in more regularity. I'm not quite sure how to update you on 3 months . . . but the bottom 4 posts should help.

Babies abound

I think this is a baby season if I've ever known one. I've been going to baby showers like there the new thing to do. My best friend, Krissy had her little girl Katy Rai the end of July . . . a very special day. I got tingles when I saw the picture she texted of her and her little girl. God is so good.

Other special births were Nathanael Shover and Clara Mooney this summer. There are more babies that I simply don't have pictures for yet too! Babies are great :).

Nathanael


Clara

Family Vacation in OBX

We sure love the Outer Banks in NC. We had a great time this year. We were joined by Brian's brother and our sister-in-law, my brother, his wife and their 3 kids, and my mom. It was great to see my brother and his family because we don't get to see them too often. His wife is pregnant too, so we had fun sharing pregnancy stories.

We like being lazy on vacation, with nothing planned. We aren't excursion people, planning things to do or see. We wake up, leisurely eat breakfast, Jenna and I would go on a run or exercise, we'd pack lunch, head down to the beach, be there a few hours, come back to our pool at the house and eat a few snacks, get a shower, eat dinner, enjoy the sunset, and chill together (maybe with a game or a movie or a walk or a dip in the hot tub). It was delightful.

Bri, Me, My Mom, My Bro w/ Jacob, Robin

Mike, Jenna, Me, Bri

The pregos

Miss Ansley Grace, my niece

Caleb, the lego man

Jacob, smiley man

My Mom (Nanny D) and Caleb having a chat at sunset

Always working on a puzzle

Sistas

Jacob, making a get-away

Us at sunset

We miss you OBX . . .

Youth Basketball

My hubby has such energy and passion . . . for lots of things, . . . but very much for God, athletics, and kids. So, this summer we started a youth basketball program at our church. It's every Thursday night, and we've had a mix of church kids and community kids. I help with the administration of things. Brian has done a great job starting off this ministry: organizing the coaches, teaching the kids new skills, leading devotions, refereeing, and doing lots of other things no one notices. It's a blessing to have lots of church support; we couldn't do it without them. We'll end the season on August 30th with a family BBQ and ceremony for the kids. We actually have a Christian speaker who was a Olympian hurdler. It should be a memorable time!

The Little Man in my belly

Here I am at 23 weeks. We found out we're having a boy, and we couldn't be more excited! He's an active little fellow, wiggling pretty much all day (and night). My first trimester, I was very tired and nauseous, but that pretty much came to a halt at week 14, hallelujah. Since then, it's been some "round ligament pain" (basically my uterus doesn't like stretching), some sciatic nerve pain (which the chiropractor has really helped), some stiffness sleeping (but yoga and stretching has been helping that), . . . I by no means want to complain because I have so much more energy and many days I feel really good. It's just hilarious how very different each day is -- it's an adventure! It's a privilege to be carrying our little man around. We can't wait to meet him in a few short months.

19 weeks
18 weeks
16 weeks
14 weeks
12 weeks
10 weeks

Starting the Hand clan!

Guess what?!! We're expecting! I'm 10 weeks today. The little one is expected to finish cooking in the oven on Brian's birthday, Dec 6th! We're so excited!