fast forward

so the dr. has decided that our son will be born December 17th...about 2 weeks before due date. this is due to several reasons...high blood pressure, swelling, etc. etc. needless to say...we're excited! we are stoked to have him here before christmas. we will, once again, combine our families for a holiday and just surround ourselves with God's blessings on our family. i really don't think many of us have given much thought to actual wrapped presents this year...which is great! our little bundle of joy will be more than enough for years to come.

we had one final ultrasound today to confirm baby's position, size, etc. as part of the final plans. we were able to see a 3d ultrasound, which was incredible. tim's parents were able to come to the appointment as well, so they were excited. the lab tech spotted a head full of hair already! (i've always known this boy would be just like his dad)

i'll have to update later on our staff christmas party tonight....that turned into a surprise baby shower for us! it was absolutely incredible to feel so loved by a church family. we are truly truly blessed to have found this ministry.

here are some of the latest pictures...enjoy!

i will be out of commission as far as blogging goes for the next few days. we're moving into our new rental this weekend, doing thanksgiving w/ tim's family, etc. etc. don't know when internet will be set up at the new house and all that jazz.

i'll leave you with a couple of other random updates:

i'm excited to have a good 5 day weekend ahead of me
my feet and hands continue to swell by the end of the day
we're in the process of moving (again) but we're both really excited about this new place - more details later.
i continue to get closer and closer to wanting to have this baby - you're all more than welcome to pray that he's here by christmas! :)
my energy level is diminishing
my MRE friends threw me a fantastic shower and were more than generous
they're calling for possible snow on thursday!

love.

34 weeks

no room in the inn

i apologize (again) for not posting sooner. it's been crazy around here, and i don't expect it to slow down soon for awhile. we're still in the process of finding a place. the house we really want to rent is still not put back together so we can see it. the realty company that owns it decided to replace all the carpet, paint, trim...you name it. it looks really nice (yes, i peeked in the windows when no one was there)but we're still waiting on the realtor to give us the official tour. once we've done that, he has a couple of applications to weed through, including some people that could possibly be interested in buying the house instead of renting. i've been using my dad's advice by basically calling or emailing once a day since i found the listing and not letting him forget me. he's going to have to either let me have the house or deal with a very irate pregnant lady. i now understand a bit of what Mary went through trying to find a place just to have her baby! i've done everything from send our rental application in early to chatting with him on the phone about his son to pulling the pregnant and i have no place to live card. So i feel like we're on a first name basis and he can't say no:) hopefully the house will be done by Monday and we can get a move on! Literally. in the meantime, we have an apartment on hold if nothing works out. not our ideal choice, but yet it's a nice place and would force us to downsize and live as simply as possible- which we're totally ok with. i only worry about poor Miss Marley not having her big yard to explore. keep us in your prayers that we can get a place and get moved soon....i will not bring a baby home to unpacked boxes! :)

a few college friends had a surprise shower for tim and i (even though he knew about it and helped plan it) and i was blown away! i had absolutely no clue and it was so amazing to see how friends will drive long distances just to be a part of something like that! i definitely felt overwhelmed at how much i love my friends. tim and i really do think that we have the best friends anyone could ask for. it's just amazing doing life together with people you love with all your heart, even if they now live several states away. thank you guys from the bottom of my heart!isaac is going to grow up with so many amazing aunts and uncles, he's not going to know what to do:)

no pictures this week....i'm in the swollen stage of pregnancy, so i've definitely become a little more camera shy. sleeping through the night has become a challenge, since i can only sleep on my sides and i have trouble with my hands going completely numb to the point of pain. i can't wait to sleep on my stomach again....sigh. i'm still measuring about 6 weeks ahead, which means even though i'm only at 33 weeks, my belly is the size i should be at full term! i hope that means i can't get any bigger...i can't imagine it. tim is being so generous by sharing his sweatpants and sweatshirts with me:)

the more we think about it, the more excited we're getting about having a baby close to the holidays. we both didn't really want a christmas baby at first, but just the season of christmas alone is so fun for us that it just adds to the excitement. plus, i'm VERY thankful that i'm not hugely pregnant in the heat of the summer!

well, i should get off and start packing a box or two...that's the rate i can go these days, without getting too overwhelmed by how much crap we have to get rid of or just by being exhausted.

more updates soon, hopefully! love to all.

now what?!

so....we're moving again. the house that we're renting finally sold (miraculously) and we're going to have to find another place to rent. i really was not worried due to the economy and the fact that there are probably a million and a half houses for sale in Anderson b/c nobody moves here. well, i'm now proven wrong. we technically don't have to be out till december sometime, but i'm not moving then!!we decided to do it now and get it over with.

we only have one prospective house that we're looking to rent and, needless to say, we're REALLY hoping it works out. we can't see it until november 1, and from the pictures it actually looks like it would be just fine..maybe even another full bathroom! i'm just really hoping that we're the first ones in line with deposit and application in hand, that the house is a decent place to live, and that we can just hop on over there without a hitch. we'll see. what timing, huh?

i'm really trying not to be upset about it, even though the timing sucks and moving's a pain and costs money AND the fact that we just finished painting the baby room here. we have very generous landlords who allowed us to paint whatever we wanted, and i'm wondering if that helped sell the stupid thing. some couple probably thought, "oh,look. the nursery's already done and it's so cute! we'll take it!" bah.

ah, well. onward and upward. just waiting for that peace i'm supposed to be feeling. how am i supposed to "nest" and get ready for the baby if i don't even know where my nest will be?

30 week pictures coming soon. i'm getting a little more camera shy the bigger i get...

pictures for heather

here i am at 28 weeks...and marley at 28 weeks. :) i can't believe i still have 12 weeks to go. have mercy! where will it all fit? it's a wonder i'm still upright.

27 weeks

sorry for such a blurry picture...i know i skipped a week, too. i honestly don't see much of a difference as the weeks go on in this stage but i still want to keep the motherly folks and faraway friends happy:) plus, this is like my own pregnancy journal.

not much news to share...i still have to get a picture up of the painted nursery for Heather, even though it only has a crib in it. i promise, Heather!

fall is definitely here in indiana. i know that by two things: it's 40's in the mornings and i am in the middle of my annual battle with strep throat. i guess your immune system is a lot weaker when you're expecting so the little ones at school have blessed me with their germs early this year. hopefully this will be the only time i get sick!

tim is FINALLY getting his big half sleeve tattoo next week. i told him to save up the money and get it by christmas, or he never speaks of it again. i was tired of hearing about how much he'd wanted it since we'd started dating 5 years ago (no, i'm not exaggerating)so i set a deadline. surprisingly enough, there's a really nice tattoo shop here in Anderson so Tim set up an appointment. sure, we could use the money somewhere else, but he deserves it. i guess it's his "thanks for pulling over so i could throw up, telling me i'm beautiful, eating taco bell 3 nights in a row, and dealing with my leg cramps at night" daddy-to-be gift:) plus, the guy haggles so much on craigslist, i think he just ended up selling a few things to foot the entire bill. i'm sure i'll have pictures of that when he gets it. i'm pretty excited for him! his son will be proud. and no, i'm never paying for any of my son's tattoos. unless it's a birthday gift. a small one. and it's "mom" inside a heart:)