Closer Still

Well, the time is drawing near. We are within about a month or so of the arrival of this baby! Isn't that crazy!? Everything is still looking good, we're both healthy and growing! Hopefully the next time I post it will be to announce the birth of our second child!

P.S. I tried to post a recent pix of us but Blogger is being weird. Hopefully it'll be working right when the time comes to post pix of the baby!

P.P.S. Good thing you have a friend that knows a little bit about HTML!!!
-kev

Sleddin'

Here are Nate and JJ getting a taste of sledding. We had alot of snow that day!
We're at 34 weeks and counting! Just over a month before this baby will be making its arrival. We'll keep you posted when the big event happens! Keep us in your prayers as the time draws near!

Happy New Year!

Well, we had a wonderful Christmas season filled with family and friends! We were blessed in many ways. Now that the excitement of the holidays have passed we're turning our focus to the baby to come. Part of me feels like March is so far away... and part of me thinks its so soon! Isn't it weird how that works? Anyway, the pregnancy is going well. Its been different than with Nate's - I think this baby is already trying to prove its individuality. We're at about 29wks and still planning on a mid-March arrival. Nate came a little early so there is a little bit of me that hopes this one will too, since I'm feeling weighed down by my growing belly. But only God knows the day and time that this one will greet us for the first time. Please continue to keep us in your prayers as we prepare for this arrival.

Excited

We went to the lakehouse for Thanksgiving weekend. Deb and Dane just finished adding on a master suite and there's a small ramp going up to the bedroom. Nate thought the ramp was so cool - he kept running up and down it all weekend. As you can see in the pix, he was very excited! He would scream and screech as he ran back and forth. It was pretty fun to see him get so worked up.

Harvest Blessings!

Here is the Family Picture Collage that we're sending out with our "Harvest Blessings" letter. We're trying to beat the rush of Christmas cards by doing ours now(hopefully... they aren't exactly in the mail yet, but will be soon). Enjoy!

Ultrasound Pix

Here is a few of the ultrasound pictures of the baby at 20weeks. It was so different this time than it was with Nate's. He was only 16wks when we got to see him for the first time via ultrasound so obviously he was smaller. This time it was easier to recognize parts of the body and such since we'd experienced Nate's before. We clearly saw all four chambers of the heart all pumping strong. We had a pretty good look at the baby's face and saw its' lips moving (that was really neat!). We chose not to find out the sex of the baby. Its kind of neat not knowing until the baby actually arrives.
By the way - I'm on www.myspace.com now if anyone wants to look me up.

Fall Fun

Our church had its annual Fall Fun Fest this past weekend. We had a beautiful fall day for it. Except the time had changed so it was dark at like 6oclock! Stupid daylight savings time... I still don't get it, sorry. Oh, well, it was a nice party. Aren't Nate and Ella cute together? Ella and her Grandma Cheryl were dressed as lady bugs... it was adorable. We were party poopers and didn't bother dressing up this year. Maybe next time.

Pumpkin Picking

We went to Stony Creek Farm today. I have the greatest memories of when we did pony rides there during their Harvest Festival for several years. It was alot of work but alot of fun. It was weird to see all the changes they'd made since the last time I'd been there. But its still a great place for families. Nate enjoyed helping pick out a pumpkin, as you can see. The reason he's got a funny face is he was telling us that the pumpkins were dirty (its his latest word). He's so fun.

Field Trip to Museum

We went to the Children's Museum with some friends. Nate loved the PlayScape. He romped and explored and would have been content to stay there all day. We didn't stay in the sand area too long... he kept trying to eat the sand. And if any of you saw the episode of House that dealt with an autistic boy who ate sand and got worms you'd have been a little leery of sand too. Anyway, it was a fun time.

Girls Nite

My friend Julie just celebrated her 25th birthday this past weekend. We got together with her and a few of her friends from home and had a girls' nite. Sometimes its odd being the only one in a group who's married w/ kids... but at the same time its nice to get out and not act like a mom for a few hours. We went to Cheeseburger in Paradise. There was live music and fruity drinks with fruit sculptures in them, and the food was pretty good too. What a fun group of girls that night!

TP Run

One of us accidently left the bathroom door open... and Nate had a hayday with the toilet paper! He was so proud of himself as he ran around the whole downstairs dragging that tp behind him. What a cutie!
We got to hear the baby's heartbeat at the last doctor's appointment. This one is already showing off that his/her personality is different than Nate's. Throughout the whole pregnancy with Nate we had a hard time hearing the heartbeat, we'd search and finally we'd get it then he'd always move away real quick so we only heard it for a second or two. This one we found right away and heard it good and strong for what seemed like a couple of minutes. It was so special. There have been a couple of times that I thought I felt a little flutter of movement... but its still kinda early, so it could have been gas. ha ha

Corn Corn and More Corn

We enjoyed a nice weekend at the lake again. Here is Nate enjoying whats left of mom's ear of corn. The Wrights joined us for a day and even though it was quite brisk, the girls still made it in the lake. I think Jeremy bribed them.
We are about 15wks into the pregnancy now. I'm not feeling as sick as I was, but certainly feeling pregnant. We're meeting with a midwife this weekend so please pray for that meeting, as it might be a major part of our decision making process.
Things have been a little slow with pictures this summer. Which is fine, I had a few weddings in the spring which all went well. I have a wedding scheduled in Dec. and one in June, and possibly a prom in May. I'm trying not to book anything too close to when the baby will be coming.

First Trip to the Zoo!

A great group of other mothers from our neighborhood and I had a book study over the summer. We read Creative Correction together. It was really good! We all took our kids to the zoo yesterday. It was so much fun! Nate loved watching all the animals. He kept pointing and oohing at everything. It so neat to see him get excited and interested in new things.

Nice Weekend

As you can see from the pix, Nate got a haircut. It was a little shorter than expected, but its growing on us. He's still as cute as can be. We enjoyed a nice time of visiting with friends and family this weekend at the lake.

Pool

This is from a couple weeks ago. Nate really enjoyed playing in the pool on our partially finished deck. He was so funny splashing around. He's been identifying his and others' nose & ears, etc lately. Only when we try to get him to show someone who hasn't seen him do it he clams up and won't "perform". Its so much fun to see him learn things.
We met with a doctor in our area today. We really like her, she seems really open to doing things as naturally as possible and understands personally my desire for a VBAC. We're still deciding on our birth location but we have a good feeling about this doctor. Keep us in your prayers as we coninue in the decision making. Thanks!

Big Brother

Here is the look on Nate's face when we told him he was gonna be a big brother! Ok, so maybe he isn't really excited just yet... but we are! We're about 10weeks along (click to see how the baby is growing and changing) http://www.babycenter.com/mybabycenter/110.html, which makes us due around March 17th of next year (maybe we'll have a St. Patrick's Day baby!). We'd appreciate your prayers as we are choosing a new doctor (change in insurance and all that) for this pregnancy and birth. We want to have a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean) and it can be challenging to find a docor who will support that choice. So keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we have alot of decision making ahead of us. Thanks, we'll keep you updated as things progress!

Walking!

Well, its official, Nate is walking on his own! He's taken a few steps here and there for awhile now, but he's roaming all over the place now. He's still at the point where he goes back and forth between walking and crawling. But then today I put a pair of shoes on him... thats slowed him down a little. He's very talkative lately too, testing out his vocal range... he can get pretty high and pretty loud! We love seeing him grow and change.

Cake

We had a few people over to my parents to play on the moonwalks and have some cake. Nate had a blast in the Toddler Town moonwalk. He jumped and crawled around like he owned the place. When it came time for the cake he wasn't sure what to do at first but then he dug right in and flung it everywhere! It was really cute. Thanks to everyone who came, we all had a good time!

One Year Old!

Well, last year at this time Nate was just getting to know us for the first time. What a huge difference he has made in our lives in the past year. He's brought many changes, challenges and so many joys and blessings! We think we'll keep him! ha ha - Here is a collage I made of pix from over the past 6mos or so for his birthday. Enjoy!

Splash!

Nate had his first experience w/ a pool this past Sunday. He loved it! Just a big bathtub to him. We had a good time seeing him enjoy himself so much!