Week Twenty-Six Update

Today I am a little over halfway through my twenty-sixth week. This week I seem to have trouble sleeping past three or four in the morning; usually I will have a nightmare and wake up around that time. Right now it is 6:22 and I just finished sweeping and mopping the kitchen to the tune of whining dogs who want out of their kennels.

Other than that, things are good. We are thankful that Charlie is healthy and growing every day (I can feel his kicks getting stronger!) Mike felt him move for the first time on Father's Day; he was very excited.

Well, I can't think of anything else new going on... I suppose I will post my 20-week ultrasound
pictures!

It's a boy! (23 weeks as of yesterday!)

So as my father has graciously reminded me several times (love you Dad! :-), I am a little late updating this to post the sex of the baby. We found out almost a month ago that we are indeed having a boy! So John Charles, or Charlie, it is! We are grateful to be able to name our firstborn after both of our fathers as our prayer is that we will see the same dedication to God in our son as we have seen in both men.

Lately we have been registering at Babies R Us, Target, and Burlington Coat Factory. We're going with a blue, green, and brown theme with monkey accents for his room. Our neighbors blessed us with a crib and glider for the room, so it is already starting to look like a baby's room! I've begun working on a wall hanging -- definitely a work in progress, but looking good (I think) so far! So far, this is what I have, but I would like to add some colors/patterns to the green part so it doesn't look so plain. Another idea was just cutting out the letters so the piece of paper doesn't look so awkward over the blue fabric (which is actually silverware-drawer liner). Ideas are welcome!
Oh, and here is the picture of my parents' faces when we told them we're having a boy!

They are excited to have a grandson! :-)

Seventeen Weeks

Here I am at seventeen weeks as of today! We just took the picture a few hours ago. Apparently I am carrying low -- or that's what I'm told -- and that means it's a boy??? I guess we'll see! We're finding out the sex on the 28th of May; I'm excited to finally know!

Late-Night Musings

I went to church tonight to hear Mrs. Cindy Winters, the wife of the Maryville pastor murdered last year, speak to our women's ministry. God has truly done incredible things with her -- despite all her pain and grief in the last year, she began Grace and Hope Ministries to help other women who are going through difficult times. To me, this demonstrates a selflessness and strength that could only come from knowing Jesus Christ. Despite all of that, I must admit I hated hearing her testimony! As she spoke, I felt as though I were in her place one year ago, having to hear a nurse tell me that my husband was gone. I hate thinking about that; it is much too painful. But then I began to consider how fleeting life is, how easily I could lose anything and everything I hold dear at any given moment. All I would have left is God; He is the only constant in life. And then the question I had to ask myself was this: Am I cultivating a relationship with God in the here and now that would be strong enough to weather such a disaster? Am I really taking the time to draw near to Him in a way that will strengthen me not only in tragedy but also in the day-to-day? Regardless of circumstances, you and I need Him, even when we feel like we have it together all by ourselves. It's time for us to start living as though He is all we have.

New Blog

Hello, world... or whoever is reading this... Welcome to my first blog since high school, when I wrote about petty high school things. As such, I'm really not sure what to talk about... My mom-in-law made the suggestion that I start a blog when I got pregnant, so maybe I will write about being pregnant. As of today I am thirteen weeks and five days along. In the past couple of weeks, the nausea has significantly subsided (thank God!), most of my energy has returned to me (i.e., I can run more than one errand a day without falling asleep in the entryway at Target -- another story for another time), and my belly has begun to grow (making me look fat, not pregnant). About three weeks ago we got our first ultrasound done, and the baby looked like a teddy graham (very cute). We have names picked out already (to be honest, I've had names picked out since I was fifteen): John Charles for a boy, after my husband's father, and we will call him Charlie after my father, and Evelyn for a girl... though we haven't found a middle name yet. Or should I say, we haven't agreed on one. I thought Evelyn Hazel sounded precious, but Mike didn't like it. He suggested my first name -- Margaret -- but my name reminds me too much of that bossy girl on Dennis the Menace. Anyway, I would like a more princess-y name, somewhat unique, long and flow-y. If that makes any sense. Any suggestions? Bonus points if it starts with an E, because then her initials would spell "Eep!" and I think that is cute. Well, nothing else really to report; I suppose this concludes my first-ever, hopefully non-petty, blog entry. :-) Adios!