37 1/2 weeks

Can't wait to meet Small Child!!

35 weeks

Here is my belly and Small Child at 35 weeks. Only 5 more to go! Things are going well overall, been experiencing braxton hicks, the baby's hiccups, returned tiredness, and it's uncomfortable to sleep. But all that is worth it to be able to see my baby in just a few weeks! I've been reading "The Christian Childbirth Handbook" which is such a great book and an amazing blessing to me right now. It's really helping me prepare spiritually for labor and birth. God has been working in my heart about the fears I have of giving birth. I am learning to lay them at His feet and trust in Him. It's been a battle recently to not give into fear (the unknown, complications, death, pain), but with God's sustaining grace He has helped me not dwell on those fears, instead I turn to Him and His Word for peace. There's a great poem from the book I'm reading that has really helped me in giving over this baby to God because ultimately this child is His and I am just blessed to be able to care for this little one.

Gift from God

I give thanks to You alone
Who sits on the throne
To loan me this precious gift
And to call it my own.

May I always see, Lord
In every waking hour,
Your majesty and grace
In this delicate flower.

Help me, O God,
To guide and preserve,
This wonderful blessing
to love and to serve.

-Doran Richards

God is so good and faithful and I cannot wait to meet this precious blessing soon!!

30 weeks

Here is the baby bump/Small Child at 30 weeks! Only 10ish more weeks to go! It's coming up so fast. This last Tuesday we finished up our birthing classes that we had for 10 weeks. They were very good and informational. I now feel better prepared and it's nice to know how Tom can support and coach me through the labor and birth. The Bradley Method's main focus is on relaxation and having the husband coach the wife through labor and the birth. I now know some relaxation techniques to use for labor, but who knows which one(s) will work for me. Ultimately I know my main focus will need to be on God and getting through by the strength that only He can gives. Trusting in Him and laying all my fears at His feet. It's comforting and reassuring to me to know that God created childbirth and He has made women's bodies to give birth naturally! So amazing.

28 weeks

I have officially entered the third and final trimester! In just 2 1/2 months or so I will be holding Small Child in my arms!!! I can't wait. The excitement is definitely building now as it gets closer. Here are some belly pictures for those of you who have requested them! :-)

Small Child :)

The crib is up in Small Child's room!

The old is GONE and new has COME!

The painting is done and it looks great!!!! Here are some before and after shots.

Before: neon green master bedroom

After: beautiful paramount sage master bedroom!

Before: boring white baby's room

After: tropical themed bluefin bayou baby's room!

Baby's room is in progress...look for updates in the near future.

The old is going and the new is coming

This weekend our cousin Christina is going to paint two rooms in our home for us--the baby's room and our bedroom!! The one that I am most excited about is our bedroom! NO MORE NEON GREEN WALLS!!!!!! YAY!!! For my husbands sake I will take a couple minutes/seconds to mourn the change. (It is Tom's favorite room and color in the house) Look for pictures coming Saturday of the rooms with their new colors!

22 weeks

Small Child is growing and I can feel him/her move a lot these days! It's so exciting and makes it more real. :) We started our birthing classes a week ago and are really liking them! We are doing the Bradley Method, which promotes natural birthing and the importance of the husband as the coach. We are learning a lot of information about nutrition, exercise, and just overall about pregnancy.

Here's a picture for those of you wanting a belly picture. :)

Half way there!

Today we got to see our baby for the first time and it was sooo amazing!! The little one was moving quite a bit which was fun to see. Saw the mouth moving (it must have been eating the Indian food I had for lunch). Seeing the baby just made me marvel at God's creation and how everything works together so perfectly. The fact that there is a little life inside of me is wow...incredible.

The foot

The little hand is so cute!


Small Child

18 weeks and Spring

Here is the baby bump at 18 weeks. Small child is growing slowly but surely :) I'm pretty sure I felt the baby move yesterday! It felt like something was popping inside of me, very weird feeling. I'm going to pay attention and see if it becomes consistent. We have our first ultrasound in a couple of weeks. We're not going to find out what the baby is for those of you wondering. Keeping it a surprise until the birth day. I'm excited to finally be able to see the baby!!


Spring is here in Minnesota so we have been doing a lot more things outside. Tom has golf fever so has been golfing a lot and is already tan! I'm still pale but hope to get some sun soon. We went out on the river (Mississippi) last week with some friends on Tom's parents pontoon boat. That was really nice and peaceful. The grass is green, the trees are getting leaves, flowers are blooming, the sun is out, and it's in the 60-70's!!! I love Spring.

Small Child

Here is a pic of me and the growing 'small child' (emphasis on small) as my husband refers to the little one inside of me. This was taken on Saturday, so 15 1/5 weeks. Excuse the messy closet. I was doing some Spring cleaning and rearranging :)

Ice Cold Water

I'm sitting here drinking some ice cold water and I'm realizing how much I like cold water. The lukewarm stuff just doesn't cut it. It makes me more thirsty and my throat becomes dry. Cold water is so refreshing and rejuvenating. I can gulp it a lot better than lukewarm. This reminds me of a verse in Revelations....

Enough about cold water. My birthday was yesterday and I turned 25 and my oh so sweet brother told me not to have a quarter life crisis. Thanks Carl. I'll try not to. ;-) I think this will be a good year though. I already have some exciting things to look forward to in this 25th year of my life. Such as, a one year wedding anniversary (oh yeah!), trip to CA, seeing my cousin get married, planting a garden at my in-laws, getting ready for a baby and Lord willing welcoming the baby into the world. That's a lot! Yes, this will be a good year.

Baby update: The babe is doing well at 15 weeks and so am I. Pushing through more so I have a bit of a rounding tummy. It's enough to not be able to button all my pants and use nifty rubber bands to hold them up. If I don't feel like rubber banding it then I use this awesome invention called the belly band which can be found at target. I seem to be losing the "I need to eat something now or will be nauseous" stage. I'm not as exhausted anymore which is super nice, still tired but there is no need to have/want a nap every three hours! I'll try to get a picture up here soon of the belly. I know certain people have been asking :)

Off to enjoy this beautiful sunny Spring day!

New heartbeat

Today Tom and I had the privilege and blessing to hear our baby's heartbeat!!! :-) I am 13 weeks pregnant and the little one is due September 29th. Hearing your baby's heartbeat is just so amazing. I can't even describe it, just plain awesome. I am in awe of God and how He works everything together and how such a tiny tiny life can have such a great heartbeat! Things are going well and i'm feeling fine other than just tired and hungry all the time. Will keep you all updated as time goes on. :)