Less than a week!!

What your body goes through in the days before delivery is almost cruel!! I don't remember feeling this way with Thomas and I praise the Lord for that. My back is sore, especially in the morning. This I blame on the fact that I am a tummy sleeper, which is not anywhere near possible. Leaves my hips bent out of shape. I'm also doing something weird with my arms, leaving my upper back miserable as well. This little boy, bless his heart, has found the lower half of my uterus the most comfortable. This means he is pushing against my hips, squishing my bladder like it's a squishy ball, and has somehow figured out to kick my butt from the inside!!

Then there are the crazy hormones. The ones that make you cranky beyond all recognition or feel like crying. The other day I was sent into a tizzy because Jared didn't eat a bowl of cereal with me. Really?! I then spent the rest of the day worried about what life would be like with another child in the house. Then felt even worse about that because I realized I hadn't spent much time pondering that idea at all. This poor baby, who had remained nameless for most of his life, wasn't dreamt about like Thomas was. That I still feel a little guilty for!! Praying the Lord will fill me with joy and happiness when I see him face to face for the first time.

Then, the second thoughts of a C-section have kicked in. Maybe I should just try? Did I give up too soon? This might be my last pregnancy, do I really want to just give up? Then I remember this decision was made carefully with lots of thought and prayer... but still....

See, so much going on in this body as we get down to days away from delivery.

They haven't been all bad. Today I'm praising the Lord for my sweet, sweet three year old. With all this lack of energy (didn't even go there yet!!), we've been spending more time at home. Today was a sweet gift from God of sweet, silly memories with Thomas. We spent almost an hour on my bed just cracking up. He decided we needed to take a morning nap, which was just his way of asking for snuggles, tickling and for him to hide under the sheets. It was truly a precious time. He had me cracking up as he was just a silly boy. He was laughing his wonderful belly laugh at his own silliness and even a little of mine. It was a time of just enjoying life just the two of us. This baby will be loved and welcomed and a joy to our family, but it was great to have some sweet time with my oldest. Our days will be very different, very soon!

Please continue to pray for our little family as life is getting ready to change. That we would rejoice in the changes, be patient with one another and find joy in the little things. Even in the midnight feedings and poppy diapers.

Just 9 More Days

So the name poll has closed and we've loved seeing just what all was voted for. Yes, we have decided on a name, I think. The blog helped cross a few things off and forced us to think through our choices. We are less than 10 days away and we're pretty sure we've decided. However, we're keeping that decision to ourselves for now. Since we're this far along we figured why not (plus, it lets us change our minds another time or two : ) So, in just over a week our little boy will be here and we can't wait to share him and his name with you!!

Two More Weeks!

Thomas loves his baby! He talks to him, he has named him and he gives him kisses before he goes to bed. We had to capture just a few shots of him and the baby.

Getting Ready for Baby

Thomas and Jared made a countdown chain for how many days are left until baby comes. Thomas is getting really excited, but doesn't quite get the idea of weeks. To help give him a little bit of an idea, we thought a chain would be a great idea!

We had Thomas color a couple pieces of paper, then Jared cut them into 21 strips. Here they are putting them together. Well, I guess just Jared. I made the mistake of giving T the beater from the cookie dough, he wasn't so helpful after that.

They decided to hang it next to the crib. Thomas ran and got his hammer so he could help Daddy.

Ta-da! Just 21 short days left!

Nursery Sneak Peek

First, a note about the name! We're getting closer. We have it down to two names, we just can't commit. Either we'll decide this weekend or we'll wait until we meet the little guy. Unless something so unique and so different just grabs us...

But now,

A little peek into little one's room!

The changing table. The boards above are for pictures.

Another spot for picture with my favorite, an uppercase living expression.

The dresser. A hand-me-down from my parents. We'll put something over it for decoration.
The crib. New bedding that was purchased for $15 at that consignment sale I went to a couple of months ago. A new mobile from my sister. The quilt made with love. The yellow blanket J's mom started for this little one 3 years ago. And a few cozy, snuggly friends, some new, some old.

Can't wait to share it with our sweet little boy!

Nursery Projects

I've worked on several projects for this little baby. All of which have taken awhile to actually complete. The theme of the room is "modern vintage" and all in brown and blue. Two projects are still waiting because the baby remains nameless, yes a name has not been decided upon yet. First is his name over the bed and second is this piece.

This is my attempt at being artsy!! I purchased several Golden Books to do a couple projects with. I bought some of our favorite Disney stories that were made to look like they would have been printed in the 50's or 60's, so they fit perfectly with the them. Anyhow, this project is a bunch of the words, all black and white and then on top of this I'll put his first initial covered in the pictures, so full of color! Hopefully it'll work out!

My favorite project is this quilt!! I am not a quilter!! I do not desire to be a quilter. I made one years ago and swore off it! I'm just not patient enough. For some reason when I found out I was pregnant, I decided to make it. With the help of my sister and a dear friend, both of whom are awesome quilters, it is complete! They both helped me avoid silly decisions, cut precisely and Jen sewed the binding on for me! I'm excited it's done and with how it turned out!

Here I am, ready to destroy an old project and make a new project. I decoupaged this shelf about 5 years ago and the colors wouldn't work in the nursery. Since I did not want to spend money on a new shelf, this one had to be re-done.

Here it is before!

And after!

I used a favorite page from each golden book and a couple of the story parts, mainly just the ones with color. I then covered the top of the shelf. Jared talked me out of doing the back of the shelf, like I had originally. You'd never see it, was his point. He's right, so I painted it!! I also gave the shelf a fresh coat of paint, the same paint we used on the wall.

Less Than 10 Weeks

I can't believe it, but we're almost there. We're way past halfway, and under 10 weeks now. I am 30 weeks and counting. Little boy still remains nameless, but I think we're getting closer. (I keep waiting for some random name to pop up and just sound right, we'll still take suggestions.) He's getting bigger every day and he movements are getting so much stronger. He stayed tucked inside for so long, but now at 30 weeks, I finally look pregnant! The nursery is coming along nicely, especially after the wonderful shower this last weekend. Lots more on that coming soon.

We appreciate your prayers as we continue to get ready for our blessing to join us. Especially for Thomas as it'll be a big adjustment for him. We'll need lots of wisdom as all of us learn how to become a family. We're so excited for what God has in store.

Names

Who knew naming a child could be so difficult. We still have no name for our sweet little second boy and we are 13 short weeks from the due date. This was stressing me out until I remembered we weren't much better with Thomas, one day it finally just clicked. We loved it and stuck with it, then we had to come up with a middle name. But we did find one and it will be the same way with child number two. I have come to the conclusion that boys names are difficult because they just aren't as unique as girl names. Our number one rule in naming our boys has been it can't have been on Social Security's top 10 list for the last couple of years. So, the other night we re-looked at it. It's fascinating, you should all take a look. Michael has been in the top ten since 1943 and was number one from 1994 to 1998 with only a handful of years where it dropped down a couple of spaces. Since 1998, it's been number two. Crazy! We also noticed that the top five have mostly been the top 10 for years, just rotating around. The girls names are more over they place, changing more with fads. Boys names just don't seem to be as creative. So, this has left us rotating between just a handful of names, not really wanting to bother with searching a name book or even the internet. We just keep coming across the same names. I'm really not as stressed or discouraged as I sound, really just more intrigued by it. I know we'll end on one eventually.

In the meantime, any suggestions?! We want something strong, traditional and manly. I'll leave our rotating list off the blog for now to see if any of your suggestions match our ideas! Don't worry, I'll fill you all in within the next couple of weeks. And yes, Thomas is still calling the baby Alex. He just doesn't like anything else. I'm convinced this child will be called Alex by his big brother for the rest of his life. It'd make a cute little brother thing, don't you think?! Anyhow, get to leaving your inspired suggestions!

Nesting?

I've been putting all my energy to use. I've been learning to crochet new projects with thanks to you tube and a friend. I'm organizing and re-organizing Thomas room, keeping the counter cleaner than normal. Simply annoyed by little messes and pieces of trash that just shouldn't be there. I didn't "nest" really at all with Thomas, but I'm pretty sure that's what is going on here. Sure, it's stuff that should be done, I just have a different need to do them. I'm annoyed when my back or feet hurt and prevent me from doing them!! Our big project lately has been landscaping! We're planting bright colorful flowers and spiffing up the front yard. We (by that I mean Jared as Thomas and I watched), cut down a tree today. Then got some beautiful, bright pink flowers in the ground. I can't wait to get it all done and share the pictures. Then, move onto the backyard!! Now, I just need to feel the same way about those bathrooms!! Hoping to find energy for those!!

What did you find yourself "needing" to do before your baby came?

Baby Room Sneak-Peak

So nursery renovation has begun!! As I mentioned awhile ago, it was serving as the catch all, playroom and t's old baby stuff. Well last week I got a little ancy and decided it was time for it to get ready for the baby (for those of you doing the math, yes, I am just barely halfway... there was no hurry in this at all). My rationale was that I didn't want Thomas to loose his playroom for the baby, I didn't want any resentment there. Also, I wanted to see what we had so I would know what we need. So, we moved out all the toys and put them in his room. He is loving it!! Me, not so much, it now means the mess is in his room. That's not so great at bedtime. And, now that we know what we have, it saves us lots of money. I've been seeing all sorts of things I was convinced this new baby "needed." I now know that there is very little that this little one needs!!

So, in the room now, it looks like we're almost ready for July!! He has his new bumper out and ready for him. I picked it up at the sale for $15, they are still selling it at Target for around $70!!

We also cleared out the closet and have it organized with the necessary stuff and very little stuff that just needs storing. It really helped get the whole house organized!! (Another reason to get the room ready early!)

Friday, I crawled up in the attic. I hate the attic!! It's dark, musty and just plain scary. Also, the ladder doesn't work so well, not really the safest place for me to be with Jared at work and being pregnant. Well, I had to get the clothes down, so I had to get up there (I think this would be considered nesting?!) So, I prayed my way up and down and got down everything up to 6months old, got everything 0-3 washed, dried, folded and put away! I even cleared out a whole box full of stuff that we don't need. It felt great and was fun to go back through!!

All of Friday's work led to Jared going up in the attic on Saturday to organize all other things baby so that we can get to them according to timing (again, absolutely necessary to my preggo brain). I'm so happy my husband loves me and has lots of patience. We got the attic and whole garage organized, which made both of us very happy!!

We met the baby

It's official, Thomas is going to be a big brother!! We are so excited to welcome another little boy into the family in July! I must admit I was tempted the last few months by all the cute pink, fuffy clothes to really hope for a little girl, but was excited to see proof of a boy. A girl would be tons of fun, but the last couple of days I've really been hoping to have a brother for Thomas. After all, I really have always wanted boys. Jared, being the strong, silent type, hadn't said much either way. He did admit afterwards he was a little relieved and very excited that it was a boy.

As I've thought about it today, I've been so excited to know that God knows what is best for us. He decided long ago that I was to be a mother of boys. Boys! God wants me to have boys. Soccer, frogs, boogers, loud noises, farting and burping, lots of running and lots of food, all things boys. Yikes!! I'm loving it and am excited for all that is to come, but if I really think about it, it's just so different from what I knew growing up. Can't wait for the many adventures to come. Then also in my thinking today I was overwhelmed by the same thought. God wanted ME to have BOYS. He wants me to raise Men. Men are the heads of their families, leaders in their churches and the way this world is going, that's an extra hard job to prepare them for. God thinks I'm worthy to raise someone's future husband and possibly a leader in the church but hopefully a servant worker. Those are two very important roles, one that must be seen as important to them. That I pray with all my heart. That they both now, grow up to the Love the Lord and live a life to serve and glorify Him. And, God gave me two of them to raise. That is beyond humbling to me, beyond!! Something I, most days, feel totally unfit for. I praise Him and find comfort in the fact that I'm not doing this on my own. HE will do it through me. I pray, Lord, that I seek you daily in this daunting task. And, no, I am in no way forgetting that He has given me an awesome leader, partner and husband to do it with. He has given my boys an awesome man to immulate. They truly have a Godly example in their Daddy to watch and to follow!! Together we will enter this crazy adventure, full of all things boys and looking to their future with hope and lots of prayer!!

And I will proudly represent all things girly in my house. I vow to wear pink everyday! (well, maybe vow is too strong a word... but you get the picture)