I'm currently doing a Bible study on Gideon by Priscilla Shirer and after just two weeks into it, I've learned so much about the Bible and myself. Gideon was one of the twelve judges and had many weaknesses that God turned into strengths. Part of the story we are focusing on opens with an angel of the Lord appearing to Gideon (before he was appointed to be a judge) as he was going through the boring, monotonous job of pressing wheat into a wine press.
One of the main points to take away from the opening of the story is that God often shows Himself in ordinary ways while we are doing ordinary things. Pricilla asks us to think of five things that we do on a daily basis that we find boring or that may even seem meaningless. I had no trouble coming up with five and here's what mine were:
1) Changing diapers
2) Dishes
3) Picking up toys
4) Laundry (ok so maybe not every single day but close enough)
5) Taking a shower
I thought of those five things immediately and could have come up with five more easily. At the end of this day's study, she talks about how the things that can seem mundane to us have God's blessings in their midst. Two quotes from Priscilla that really spoke to me during this day of Bible study were: "Gideon's story reveals that even your most mundane duty has a twinkle of the favor of God." And, "Don't despise the very things that signify your seat under the umbrella of God's goodness each day." Then after explaining that a little further she had us go back to those five things and write how they are really a blessing to us from God. Even if we can't see a blessing in the actual task, the tasks themselves come because of a blessing (we have mounds of laundry to do because we have a family and our family is a huge blessing). It was so convicting and powerful. I'm just a few weeks back from spending time in a third world country where while I'm there I swear to myself I'll never take certain things for granted or complain about them again. But it's time like doing this Bible study last week that my human, sinful flesh is revealed. But another but...God shows His love and grace and mercy. Here is how my list changed:
1) Changing diapers. I have a healthy little boy to change diapers for. So many people would give anything to have a baby. Also, I'm home with Gray and get to be the one to care for him every day. And another also, he has diapers!! It might be hard for us to believe, but there are many people in the world that don't use diapers because they simply can't afford them-cloth or disposable. Kenya happens to be one of those places-I've been peed on many times by some sweet African babies!
2) Dishes (my least favorite house chore). I have a family to cook for and enjoy meals with. We have a dishwasher. We have nice dishes. And most of all, we have plenty of food to fill the dishes daily.
3) Picking up toys. I wouldn't have toys to pick up if I didn't have a child. That in and of itself should be a big enough blessing to erase the mundaneness of picking up toys. Gray has more than plenty of nice toys to enjoy. So much more than so many children. We have nice toy boxes and baskets to keep his toys in. We have a nice, warm home for him to play with these toys in and room enough in our house for this many toys. I could definitely go on and on for this one.
4) Laundry. I have a family to wash clothes for. We have a washing machine and dryer rather than having to hand wash and hang dry our clothes like many people do. We all three have nice clothes and far more of them than we need, despite the many times I've said "I don't have anything to wear." I ought to be ashamed!
5) Taking a shower. We have hot, running water that we get as much as we want of. We don't walk for miles to carry 40 pounds of cold water on our heads like most everyone has to do in Kenya.
I could go on and on about the many blessings in each one of these mundane daily tasks. I don't believe God wants to bring things like this to our attention to make us feel guilty, rather to help us see the blessings and joy behind any and everything that He has us doing in life. He is more than good, my friends.
Happy Monday!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Monday, January 27, 2014
Sunday, January 26, 2014
Kenya, part 1
Between five days of the stomach bug and my feisty little boy deciding he doesn't want to nap longer than an hour, I've had this in draft mode for far too long. So I decided I'll have to post at least twice about our trip, just so that I can finally be done with at least part of it.
We had smooth, safe and un-eventful travel on the way there. It is so long though and every time I've been I think I can't do it again. But then we get there and one look at the country and it's beautiful people and I swear I'd fly for days to do it again. We left here at 4:45 the morning after Christmas and arrived to our hotel around 5:00 ish on Friday-Kenya time, which is 8 hours ahead. We hadn't been to sleep for more than a few minutes since we left and only got about 2.5 hours of sleep the night before we left so we were EXHAUSTED!
Saturday we had the honor of attending a wedding, which was a first for all of us. Paul's first experience with the African people and culture was shocking to say the least. Everyone was so happy to welcome us when we got there and gave us front row seats-plastic chairs, as opposed to benches. Y'all, we even sat IN FRONT OF the family of the bride and groom. That's just how welcoming and generous they are to their guests. There were some things about their wedding that were similar to weddings here, and of course some were very different too. The ceremony had been going on for an hour or two before the bride even got there. When she did arrive, she sat completely across the tent from her groom for most of the rest of the ceremony. They barely smiled or even gave each other eye contact, but that is just one way in which their culture is so different from ours. After the ceremony, everybody walked to the village of the groom's family where they would have cake and a party for the rest of the evening. We didn't stay long because the heat was getting the best of us and were all still so tired.
Sunday Paul and I went to Pastor Harrison's church and Chuck went to and preached at one of the other churches within the Malindi Baptist Association. Harrison is the pastor who my mom and I met several years ago and have become close with his family. They have eight children and even named their youngest daughter Sharon, after my mom (pictures of her to come in part 2). I was so excited for Paul to get to see the church and meet his family. This would be the day that Paul got a good feel for how laid back things are in Africa. If they say church starts at 10:00, they consider it to be 10:00 until it's past 10:59. They aren't in a hurry there but most of them don't have a watch or clock anyway. Also, people are walking, bare feet, from who knows how far to come to church. So they get there when they get there. Most of the Kenyans aren't very organized either. Combine laid back, no concept of time and disorganized and you've got nothing but type B personalities! But I find a lot of good in that and you learn to just roll with it. Paul knew he'd be expected to preach so he was well prepared and we were sitting in the front of the church waiting for the "ok" to start when Harrison says to Paul, "Can you teach Sunday school too? And you can start now." Poor Paul started sweating bullets. Thankfully he had a lesson in the back of his Bible (I'd warned him something like that was likely to happen) and with God's help, he taught Sunday school. After that there was a lot of singing and dancing and just straight up worshipping God. These people love God with their whole hearts and it is a beautiful thing to witness. Here are some pictures from church the first Sunday...
Church took up the majority of Sunday and the car was left with us so we still had to make a 30-45 minute drive back to pick up Chuck and then head for our hotel.
Monday and Tuesday Chuck taught a pastor's conference and Paul and I met at Harrison's church where we would spend all day going village to village telling people about Jesus. Some of the most amazing experiences happen while doing that; most of which are hard to put into words and wouldn't mean much if you weren't there. I never get used to how welcoming they are to us. As soon as we walk up to a village, they are scurrying around to find us their best seat-most of the time that happens to be a piece of a tree. They are so excited to see us and even the tiny children stayed glued to us the entire time we talk. Y'all, the children are SO well behaved! It makes it hard for me not to resent our culture and how spoiled and bratty the majority of children are in America (including our own!). It makes me want to move there and raise our children. Anyway, on Monday we saw two special needs children and visited a few of the same villages I'd been to the last time I was there.
There are a lot of stories about the next picture. It was the second child with special needs we met. I thought it was a girl because he was dressed in all pink, but that just goes to show they wear what they have and don't dress for fashion's sake at all. The mom of this little boy had five children, two of which were twin babies, and lived in a mud hut that was about the size of our bedroom. That is no exaggeration. Her husband had left her not long ago and she had no job. This ended up being one of the families that touched us the most and we felt such a burden to help. My friend Caroline made some pillow case dresses for me to give to girls there who needed them and this was the first one I gave. This family had so many needs. The mama told us her twins were eight months but they were so tiny and looked like they couldn't be more than two months or so. We bought her a bunch of food and were even able to buy a mama goat and baby goat for her to get milk from for her children. Another story from this picture is about the t-shirts that two of her sons are wearing. If you're local, you may remember hearing on the news about a 16 year old boy named Jacob who was in a bad car accident several months ago. He hung on for almost a month but sadly didn't make it. He was a soccer player at a local high school but a cousin to a good friend of mine. Jacob was an only child but thankfully his parents are Christians and though they have suffered a great deal, their hope is in Christ. Jacob has influenced so many people, both while he was alive and since he has gone to heaven. A bunch of people from his high school rallied together to try to bring prayer back to schools, which is what these t-shirts are from. There were a lot of them left over that we got to take to Kenya. When we'd give them away we'd tell Jacob's story and ask them to pray for his family. The children were all so excited to get a nice, new, white t-shirt to wear as their Sunday best. Last but not least about this mama is that she became a Christian after we told her about Jesus. Some people leave you doubting their sincerity but she wasn't one of them. I know God will take care of this sweet lady and provide for her family. I have a picture of her from later in the week that I will share but here's the picture of three of her children...
We ended up being with that family for a while before we moved on. Shortly after that we came to a village I'd visited last time I was there. Remember the young boy who had fallen out of the tree that I wrote about before? I'm pretty sure I mentioned this in a blog post when I heard about it, but he later died (not from the tree fall, I think it was malaria but never got a for sure answer). This was the village where he lived and his mother immediately greeted us and tears swelled up in her eyes. She spoke to Harrison in Swahili and told him that she remembered me-her exact words were, "I could never forget her eyes." Oh boy! It took all I had not to just weep like a baby right there in front of her. She was so happy to see us and to meet Paul and the Lord gave me the privilege of leading her to Christ that day. She has seven children and is a widow. I just can't imagine. She is so heavy on my heart.
We had smooth, safe and un-eventful travel on the way there. It is so long though and every time I've been I think I can't do it again. But then we get there and one look at the country and it's beautiful people and I swear I'd fly for days to do it again. We left here at 4:45 the morning after Christmas and arrived to our hotel around 5:00 ish on Friday-Kenya time, which is 8 hours ahead. We hadn't been to sleep for more than a few minutes since we left and only got about 2.5 hours of sleep the night before we left so we were EXHAUSTED!
Saturday we had the honor of attending a wedding, which was a first for all of us. Paul's first experience with the African people and culture was shocking to say the least. Everyone was so happy to welcome us when we got there and gave us front row seats-plastic chairs, as opposed to benches. Y'all, we even sat IN FRONT OF the family of the bride and groom. That's just how welcoming and generous they are to their guests. There were some things about their wedding that were similar to weddings here, and of course some were very different too. The ceremony had been going on for an hour or two before the bride even got there. When she did arrive, she sat completely across the tent from her groom for most of the rest of the ceremony. They barely smiled or even gave each other eye contact, but that is just one way in which their culture is so different from ours. After the ceremony, everybody walked to the village of the groom's family where they would have cake and a party for the rest of the evening. We didn't stay long because the heat was getting the best of us and were all still so tired.
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| At first I thought these were bridesmaids but there were several groups of girls dressed up like this but in different colored dresses, so I'm not sure what each group represented as far as the wedding party goes. |
Sunday Paul and I went to Pastor Harrison's church and Chuck went to and preached at one of the other churches within the Malindi Baptist Association. Harrison is the pastor who my mom and I met several years ago and have become close with his family. They have eight children and even named their youngest daughter Sharon, after my mom (pictures of her to come in part 2). I was so excited for Paul to get to see the church and meet his family. This would be the day that Paul got a good feel for how laid back things are in Africa. If they say church starts at 10:00, they consider it to be 10:00 until it's past 10:59. They aren't in a hurry there but most of them don't have a watch or clock anyway. Also, people are walking, bare feet, from who knows how far to come to church. So they get there when they get there. Most of the Kenyans aren't very organized either. Combine laid back, no concept of time and disorganized and you've got nothing but type B personalities! But I find a lot of good in that and you learn to just roll with it. Paul knew he'd be expected to preach so he was well prepared and we were sitting in the front of the church waiting for the "ok" to start when Harrison says to Paul, "Can you teach Sunday school too? And you can start now." Poor Paul started sweating bullets. Thankfully he had a lesson in the back of his Bible (I'd warned him something like that was likely to happen) and with God's help, he taught Sunday school. After that there was a lot of singing and dancing and just straight up worshipping God. These people love God with their whole hearts and it is a beautiful thing to witness. Here are some pictures from church the first Sunday...
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| Young children's choir and dancers. |
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| Adult women's choir. |
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| Women guests are pulled out onto the dirt floor to participate in singing and dancing. I'm the furthest there is from an African dancer, but you just have to go with it! |
Church took up the majority of Sunday and the car was left with us so we still had to make a 30-45 minute drive back to pick up Chuck and then head for our hotel.
Monday and Tuesday Chuck taught a pastor's conference and Paul and I met at Harrison's church where we would spend all day going village to village telling people about Jesus. Some of the most amazing experiences happen while doing that; most of which are hard to put into words and wouldn't mean much if you weren't there. I never get used to how welcoming they are to us. As soon as we walk up to a village, they are scurrying around to find us their best seat-most of the time that happens to be a piece of a tree. They are so excited to see us and even the tiny children stayed glued to us the entire time we talk. Y'all, the children are SO well behaved! It makes it hard for me not to resent our culture and how spoiled and bratty the majority of children are in America (including our own!). It makes me want to move there and raise our children. Anyway, on Monday we saw two special needs children and visited a few of the same villages I'd been to the last time I was there.
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| Meet Zinga. I'm not sure what disability she had but she was so precious to me. She was playing on this clothes line when we passed through her village and was still in the same spot over three hours later when we came back through. |
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| You can see Mama and one of her twins in the background. |
There were so many other incredible stories from Monday and Tuesday but I could be here all day so instead I'll include some pictures from those days to wrap up part one of our Kenya trip.
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| Walking through "the bush". |
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| This picture says so much about the Kenyan culture....children taking care of children, dirty, raggedy clothes, I could go on and on. |
Part 2 coming soon. Well, I hope so anyway!
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
Scenes from a long weekend
Paul was off Monday and Tuesday so we soaked up lots of quality time with just the three of us.
Saturday was a busy day. We got up early and headed out for hair cuts for my boys. This was Gray's third hair cut but first one without my friend Meredith, who is on maternity leave, doing her magic. So we braved Great Clips and I was very pleasantly surprised. Gray sat on Daddy's lap and was such a good boy. He wasn't a fan of them getting close to his ears so there are a few places there that don't look great but otherwise it was a success.
After the hair cuts and a few errands, I enjoyed a nice lunch out with some ladies from our Bible Fellowship class at church. I have come to really crave girl time/child free time since becoming a stay at home mom. I LOVE my job and my time with Gray but its healthy and needed to have a break too. Saturday afternoon we went to Gray's buddy Lucas' first birthday party. It was a winter ONEderland theme and so very cute-I wish I'd taken pictures at the party. My friend Abbie made the cakes and I'm certain she just keeps getting better with time; they were soooo cute and just as delicious!
Gray had the best time playing with all of Lucas' new toys and even got to help him open a few. He says it was the best two hours he's spent in a long time!
Sunday our sweet boy woke up with a really nasty cold so we stayed home from church. He did a lot of this...
...while Paul and I started the slow and long process of transforming our spare bedroom into Gray's big boy room. Since his room is so small, it can only serve as a nursery so we will be moving him to our third bedroom and keeping the nursery as is. The room isn't huge by any means but is so much bigger than his room now and I am so excited about it! We have to move a dresser that is in there back in our room and take our desk to be stored at my mom's. We don't sit at the desk much but use a ton of stuff that's in it regularly, so it will take a while to go through it and find places to keep it all. It's been interesting creating space in this 1400 square foot townhouse but amazing at the same time-God continues to show we have more than we need and things just keep working out for our family to grow while we are patiently (trying to be patient anyway) waiting to have a "real" house one day. We also have a twin bed in there that we thought would be Gray's and still might be, but Paul is really itching to build him a toddler bed and it would make for even more space in there so we'll see. I am excited for him to have space enough for some toys and to be able to play in his own room. We are going to go with an African animal theme in his room without it being too themey and not baby-ish at all so it can carry him through many years to come. His favorite things besides tractors are animals and we already have so much we can use for it. I want to get some canvases made from some pictures I took on safari while in Kenya several years ago. We will also need a small dresser and bookshelf but will look for those used or cheap over the next few months. Right now our plan is to work on clearing the room out and also the closet, which is completely full of Paul's clothes and other random stuff that needed a place to be stashed. We've got several months to make this happen but we want to enjoy it and not be rushed and also have Gray moved in there by the first of May so it doesn't seem new to him by the time baby brother arrives.
On Monday we ventured out a little to run some errands and get wood for the attic (Paul is laying more floor up there so we have more storage space). Lowe's happens to be one of Gray's most favorite places on earth. Just look at our little redneck boy in his hand-me-down Carhart overalls sitting on a John Deere.
It was a whopping 60 degrees here on Monday so we took advantage of the warm temps and sunshine and went on a very long stroll. I'm not sure who was happier to be outside for more than two seconds, Gray or Sophie!
Tuesday Gray woke up feeling worse so we called the doctor and after hearing his symptoms they wanted to check him out to make sure he didn't have RSV or anything of the sort. Turns out he had a really bad ear infection in one ear, which would explain all the fussiness and not eating well all weekend. He never pulled at his ear or gave us any indication it could be that so I'm glad we took him in. He is already feeling so much better.
As if one trip to the doctor wasn't enough, I had my monthly OB check up and ultrasound yesterday afternoon. We had planned on taking Gray knowing this would most likely be our last chance to see Walker before he makes his debut in just a little over four months. We were at the doctor for two hours because they were running behind and Gray could not have been any better behaved-thank God! He didn't pay much attention to the ultrasound but we got him a bear with Walker's heart beat in it and he was in love.
Everything checked out great with my appointment and they were able to get the images they needed of Walker's heart. So assuming everything stays normal and healthy, we won't be seeing him again until the first of June or whenever he decides to come. My belly was measuring right on track and I'd gained another four pounds, putting me at nine total. Honestly, I was thrilled it wasn't more (Christmas and Kenya did a number on my growing bump!) and most certainly would have been had I not gotten the stomach bug for five days right when we got home from Kenya. I'd blog about that but I know you don't want to hear about it and I sure don't want to re-live it!
Off to hopefully finish our Kenya post!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Saturday was a busy day. We got up early and headed out for hair cuts for my boys. This was Gray's third hair cut but first one without my friend Meredith, who is on maternity leave, doing her magic. So we braved Great Clips and I was very pleasantly surprised. Gray sat on Daddy's lap and was such a good boy. He wasn't a fan of them getting close to his ears so there are a few places there that don't look great but otherwise it was a success.
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| This post hair cut balloon was enough to make Gray's whole weekend complete. |
Sunday our sweet boy woke up with a really nasty cold so we stayed home from church. He did a lot of this...
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| Yes these are Christmas pjs and yes he will wear them until they don't fit anymore! ;) |
...while Paul and I started the slow and long process of transforming our spare bedroom into Gray's big boy room. Since his room is so small, it can only serve as a nursery so we will be moving him to our third bedroom and keeping the nursery as is. The room isn't huge by any means but is so much bigger than his room now and I am so excited about it! We have to move a dresser that is in there back in our room and take our desk to be stored at my mom's. We don't sit at the desk much but use a ton of stuff that's in it regularly, so it will take a while to go through it and find places to keep it all. It's been interesting creating space in this 1400 square foot townhouse but amazing at the same time-God continues to show we have more than we need and things just keep working out for our family to grow while we are patiently (trying to be patient anyway) waiting to have a "real" house one day. We also have a twin bed in there that we thought would be Gray's and still might be, but Paul is really itching to build him a toddler bed and it would make for even more space in there so we'll see. I am excited for him to have space enough for some toys and to be able to play in his own room. We are going to go with an African animal theme in his room without it being too themey and not baby-ish at all so it can carry him through many years to come. His favorite things besides tractors are animals and we already have so much we can use for it. I want to get some canvases made from some pictures I took on safari while in Kenya several years ago. We will also need a small dresser and bookshelf but will look for those used or cheap over the next few months. Right now our plan is to work on clearing the room out and also the closet, which is completely full of Paul's clothes and other random stuff that needed a place to be stashed. We've got several months to make this happen but we want to enjoy it and not be rushed and also have Gray moved in there by the first of May so it doesn't seem new to him by the time baby brother arrives.
On Monday we ventured out a little to run some errands and get wood for the attic (Paul is laying more floor up there so we have more storage space). Lowe's happens to be one of Gray's most favorite places on earth. Just look at our little redneck boy in his hand-me-down Carhart overalls sitting on a John Deere.
It was a whopping 60 degrees here on Monday so we took advantage of the warm temps and sunshine and went on a very long stroll. I'm not sure who was happier to be outside for more than two seconds, Gray or Sophie!
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| Pardon the apple about to fall out of Gray's mouth as he laughs at Sophie. |
As if one trip to the doctor wasn't enough, I had my monthly OB check up and ultrasound yesterday afternoon. We had planned on taking Gray knowing this would most likely be our last chance to see Walker before he makes his debut in just a little over four months. We were at the doctor for two hours because they were running behind and Gray could not have been any better behaved-thank God! He didn't pay much attention to the ultrasound but we got him a bear with Walker's heart beat in it and he was in love.
Off to hopefully finish our Kenya post!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Thursday, January 16, 2014
Halfway there!
If Walker decides to come early like his brother did, we reached the halfway mark last week. But I'm not banking on that happening again. Either way, I'm excited to be 20-ish weeks away from meeting our sweet boy and cannot believe how fast this pregnancy is going. Let's see if I'm still saying that in another 10 weeks or so ;)
At 20 weeks, Walker is about 10 inches long from head to heel and weighs about 10 and a half ounces.
I started feeling him move right at 17 weeks, a week earlier than with Gray. I'd been expecting to feel him even sooner than that since I've heard you can so much earlier with the second one. Within minutes of us being on our first long flight to Kenya, not only was I certain that I was feeling him but Paul could even feel him when he put his hand on my belly. I bet if I'd had a chance to be still long enough before then I would have noticed some little movements. Feeling a baby move inside of you has to be one of the most amazing things in this whole world. And it is no less exciting for me the second time around. Since recognizing those little kicks on the airplane, I've felt him off and on every day since and I just love it so much. They are still faint enough that I feel them most when I am being still but have noticed a couple here and there at other times and it catches me off guard-in a good way of course!
At 20 weeks I am still feeling pretty good. I felt big for the first time last week and it is way too early to be feeling that way. I think a lot of it has to do with not exercising for three weeks and eating a ton of unhealthy food while we were in Kenya. And I don't need people to tell me "just wait" this go around....I remember far too well how humongous I got and I'm afraid working out or not, I'm going down the same big mama road. My doctor already mentioned something about me being short and how it makes you "look" bigger. Haha, it is what it is and at least I know I can get it off, even if it takes almost a year ;) Hitting the gym after three weeks off was pretty tough last week but that would be the case not pregnant. I still hope to work out 4-5 times a week for as long as I can, even if I have to modify what I'm doing. It is no doubt helping me feel better and I am hoping will help make for an easier labor too. Walker already seems to be carrying low, just like Gray was the whole time. I am praying this doesn't mean in another 8-10 weeks he'll be pressing on my bladder and sciatic nerve like his brother did. But I'm feeling good now and will enjoy each day that I do so in case the last couple months aren't so comfy. My belly definitely seems a little bigger at 20 weeks this time around than with Gray but until I'm at the waddling stage I reckon I might as well embrace it. Gray is really paying lots of attention to my growing belly and this morning when I walked in his room to get him, he pointed at it and laughed. What a way to be greeted first thing in the morning :) He loves to love on the baby and give him kisses, but it almost always has to be my bare belly, which I hate! We are working on that, especially since he likes to show other people how he loves on his brother. We are working on him saying Walker, but so far nothing sounds anywhere close to it. I just can't wait to see him as a big brother!
At 20 weeks, Walker is about 10 inches long from head to heel and weighs about 10 and a half ounces.
I started feeling him move right at 17 weeks, a week earlier than with Gray. I'd been expecting to feel him even sooner than that since I've heard you can so much earlier with the second one. Within minutes of us being on our first long flight to Kenya, not only was I certain that I was feeling him but Paul could even feel him when he put his hand on my belly. I bet if I'd had a chance to be still long enough before then I would have noticed some little movements. Feeling a baby move inside of you has to be one of the most amazing things in this whole world. And it is no less exciting for me the second time around. Since recognizing those little kicks on the airplane, I've felt him off and on every day since and I just love it so much. They are still faint enough that I feel them most when I am being still but have noticed a couple here and there at other times and it catches me off guard-in a good way of course!
At 20 weeks I am still feeling pretty good. I felt big for the first time last week and it is way too early to be feeling that way. I think a lot of it has to do with not exercising for three weeks and eating a ton of unhealthy food while we were in Kenya. And I don't need people to tell me "just wait" this go around....I remember far too well how humongous I got and I'm afraid working out or not, I'm going down the same big mama road. My doctor already mentioned something about me being short and how it makes you "look" bigger. Haha, it is what it is and at least I know I can get it off, even if it takes almost a year ;) Hitting the gym after three weeks off was pretty tough last week but that would be the case not pregnant. I still hope to work out 4-5 times a week for as long as I can, even if I have to modify what I'm doing. It is no doubt helping me feel better and I am hoping will help make for an easier labor too. Walker already seems to be carrying low, just like Gray was the whole time. I am praying this doesn't mean in another 8-10 weeks he'll be pressing on my bladder and sciatic nerve like his brother did. But I'm feeling good now and will enjoy each day that I do so in case the last couple months aren't so comfy. My belly definitely seems a little bigger at 20 weeks this time around than with Gray but until I'm at the waddling stage I reckon I might as well embrace it. Gray is really paying lots of attention to my growing belly and this morning when I walked in his room to get him, he pointed at it and laughed. What a way to be greeted first thing in the morning :) He loves to love on the baby and give him kisses, but it almost always has to be my bare belly, which I hate! We are working on that, especially since he likes to show other people how he loves on his brother. We are working on him saying Walker, but so far nothing sounds anywhere close to it. I just can't wait to see him as a big brother!
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| 20 weeks with Gray/20 weeks with Walker |
We have an doctor's appointment on Tuesday and will get another ultrasound since I was too early at our last one for them to get the information they need on the heart. I am so excited to see him again!
Thursday, January 9, 2014
Surprise gender reveal
Paul and I have known since my appointment the day before Thanksgiving that we'd get to find out the gender of baby number two on Christmas Eve. Although it was going to be a little early (2 days shy of 17 weeks), they wanted to do an anatomy scan before we left for Kenya to make sure everything looked ok with the baby. We decided to keep it a secret and do something fun on Christmas to reveal the gender. I've been to several gender reveal parties and though they were super fun, something that big isn't really our thing but we liked the idea of surprising our immediate family. We also knew there was a slight chance it would be too early to determine the sex on the ultrasound so if that ended up being the case, our family wouldn't have to be disappointed.
Just a minute or two into the ultrasound, baby number two confirmed our suspensions of having a second boy. There was no denying it, just like with Gray. Although we've had a strong feeling we were having another boy for a while now, it was still so exciting to know for sure and be able to call the baby by name. More on that in a few...
My friend Ashley was keeping Gray for us so after the appointment we headed to a party store and stocked up on blue balloons. We wrapped them in a huge box and Gray opened it on Christmas Eve night. My family was shocked and Gray couldn't have been more excited aboutthe balloons finding out he was going to have a brother.
Baby boy number two's name is Paul Walker, but will go by Walker. We've had this name picked out since before Gray was born and almost named him that but wanted to use Gray since it was a family name in case we didn't have another boy. Walker is not a family name, just one we have liked and talked about since right after we got married. We knew we wanted to use Paul but Walker Paul doesn't flow as well so there you have it. Of course we've heard some comments like "Haha, Walker Texas Ranger" and "don't you know there is an actor named Paul Walker?" and "did you know that the actor Paul Walker was recently killed in a car crash?", yada, yada, yada. Yes we know all about the actor Paul Walker and no our choosing that name has nothing to do with him or Walker Texas Ranger. Those names will be long forgotten sooner rather than later and we could pick the most common name there was and somebody would have something to say about it.
Anywho, it is sinking in more and more everyday that I'm going to be a mom to two boys and I have to say, I'm quite excited about it for so many reasons! Stepping on tractors and legos is a small sacrifice to pay. I'm excited about Gray and Walker having a brother, I'm excited thinking about them playing with their tractors together and down the road playing sports together. I'm especially excited that we won't have to buy anything (other than maybe a sippy cup or two) for this baby. Everything in the nursery will stay the same and Walker will even be able to wear all the same clothes since they will both have June birthdays. I won't be doing it often, especially since there is no need to buy more clothes, but I am excited about dressing my boys alike every now and then too.
Everything checked out great at our anatomy scan and we are so thankful to God! All of Walker's body parts and systems were counted for and healthy, though they can't get the information they need on the heart until 18 weeks or later so we don't know about that yet. My iron levels are up so I guess the shortness of breath is just pregnancy related. I'd gained a few more pounds, putting me at 6 total, which is one more than I'd gained with Gray by that time. No doubt the Christmas goodies were to blame for that! And I don't even want to think about how many pounds I gained in Kenya-there is nothing healthy to eat other than fruit and all of the other foods are carbs and starches. I have two weeks to eat healthier and get back to working out before my next doctor's appointment. I went to the Y today for the first time in three weeks and thankfully it wasn't as bad as I anticipated.
I am 19 weeks today and we go back to the doctor on the 21st. We'll get another ultrasound since I wasn't far enough along for them to get the info they needed on his heart. I am so excited about seeing him again! We never got to see Gray after 18 weeks and this will be my last one with Walker, assuming everything stays healthy and normal with the pregnancy.
Kenya post hopefully coming soon!
Just a minute or two into the ultrasound, baby number two confirmed our suspensions of having a second boy. There was no denying it, just like with Gray. Although we've had a strong feeling we were having another boy for a while now, it was still so exciting to know for sure and be able to call the baby by name. More on that in a few...
My friend Ashley was keeping Gray for us so after the appointment we headed to a party store and stocked up on blue balloons. We wrapped them in a huge box and Gray opened it on Christmas Eve night. My family was shocked and Gray couldn't have been more excited about
Anywho, it is sinking in more and more everyday that I'm going to be a mom to two boys and I have to say, I'm quite excited about it for so many reasons! Stepping on tractors and legos is a small sacrifice to pay. I'm excited about Gray and Walker having a brother, I'm excited thinking about them playing with their tractors together and down the road playing sports together. I'm especially excited that we won't have to buy anything (other than maybe a sippy cup or two) for this baby. Everything in the nursery will stay the same and Walker will even be able to wear all the same clothes since they will both have June birthdays. I won't be doing it often, especially since there is no need to buy more clothes, but I am excited about dressing my boys alike every now and then too.
Everything checked out great at our anatomy scan and we are so thankful to God! All of Walker's body parts and systems were counted for and healthy, though they can't get the information they need on the heart until 18 weeks or later so we don't know about that yet. My iron levels are up so I guess the shortness of breath is just pregnancy related. I'd gained a few more pounds, putting me at 6 total, which is one more than I'd gained with Gray by that time. No doubt the Christmas goodies were to blame for that! And I don't even want to think about how many pounds I gained in Kenya-there is nothing healthy to eat other than fruit and all of the other foods are carbs and starches. I have two weeks to eat healthier and get back to working out before my next doctor's appointment. I went to the Y today for the first time in three weeks and thankfully it wasn't as bad as I anticipated.
I am 19 weeks today and we go back to the doctor on the 21st. We'll get another ultrasound since I wasn't far enough along for them to get the info they needed on his heart. I am so excited about seeing him again! We never got to see Gray after 18 weeks and this will be my last one with Walker, assuming everything stays healthy and normal with the pregnancy.
Kenya post hopefully coming soon!
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