Update---Via Friends

Merry Christmas to all my blog readers! We've been pretty busy around here getting ready for Christmas and getting ready for the Baby coming (only 6 1/2 weeks until my due date!!!). Seeing as at the moment I don't have time for a real post, never mind posting some pictures, I thought I'd be nice and direct your attention to this post at the Seven Sisters' blog, where you can see lots of fun pictures of Andrew from our recent trip to Indiana.

May you all have a blessed Christmas!

Pictures

Here are several pictures (mostly of Andrew).....

Earlier this month we celebrated Scott's birthday! We got both of our families together (at my parents' house since their's is the largest) and had a party.

My sleeping boy:

And then he moved....

"Just Hanging"

Oh, and being "curious"


That's it for now.

Cousins

On Thanksgiving I took this pictureof my newest cousin Jason (who is 6 1/2 weeks younger than Andrew) and Andrew. It is so cute, and I just know they'll have lots of fun together as they get older.

Mystic Seaport

On October 30th we took Jacob to see Mystic Seaport. It was a beautiful, sunny day and we had lots fun! It was extremely windy since we were so close to the water (hence our messy, windblown hair). It was rather "handy" having Jacob with us as for the first half of the day Andrew was in the stroller and so we took turns staying with Andrew and touring the ships. I took this picture (below) at one such time. You can see Scott and Jacob having fun taking pictures and such on the deck of this ship (I don't remember all the names).



And I had to take a picture of "Andrew". not that you can see him or anything. It was less windy at the end of the day but at the time this was taken, it was so windy I made sure Andrew was nice and protected from the cold wind in his little "bubble". As you can see, my sling as many uses. It is very versatile! :)

Here is my sweet, darling Hubby enjoying all the opportunities for picture taking with his oh, so very nice, camera. :)

For fun we did this "quest" thing (it was free... :) ) that the Nautical Instrument building gave us. They gave us a bag that had a compass and spyglass in it (we didn't get to keep them though) and we also got a GPS devise and instructions on things we had to do as we found different boxes throughout the "village". It was lots of fun and we learned a lot about ships, and how they did different things (like the codes they used with flags to send messages to other ships). This is me in front of the gazebo (it was a land mark for finding one of the boxes for the quest).

As you can see, when Andrew got tired of the stroller, I had to keep him warm in the sling. So, he was in a "fleecy" bunting, in the sling, with a receiving blanket tucked in around him and I kept my nursing cover on to give an extra shield against the wind. He was "toasty warm". :)

We went down the road a ways to a restaurant for a late Lunch half-way through the day, and I snapped this photo of Andrew. He's so interactive and smiley now. We've been having lots of fun playing.
The other day Scott was playing with Andrew and sat him up on his shoulders. It was so cute because Andrew grabbed a hold of Scott's hair and thought it was very interesting. Since then Scott has put Andrew on his shoulders again, and he is all smiles. :) It's so much fun watching Andrew interacting with Scott.

Andrew's first Shoulder Ride:

Andrew has a new buddy, Jacob. They have had lots of fun together, although, I'm sure the next time we see Jacob, Andrew will be even more interactive, running all over the place. :)

Just "hanging out"

Today is Jacob's last day here, and I can't say we're doing anything interesting other than just hanging out and taking it easy. Of course, we did forget to turn the clocks back last night so I guess we all could have slept in an extra hour, but that's okay. :)

Today also marks 8 weeks since Andrew was born. I can't believe how big he's getting, and even though he is about twice the size of his 2 cousins who were born in the last 2 weeks, I told him, he's still "my little baby". :) As of Friday he weighed 12 lbs, 13 oz, and is just over 24 inches long. He is just SOOOO cute. I say that all the time, but I just can't help it, he IS! :) I love him so!!!!

I hope all my readers are having a relaxing, restful Sunday. Don't forget to think of something to be thankful for today. I'm thankful that God made me a mother and gave me the ability to serve those I come in contact with.

Waiting, Waiting, Waiting...

Right now we are playing the waiting game. My due date is on Tuesday and we are so ready for this baby. Not to mention, I'm looking forward to not having a big hard belly again. I mean, I know it will take time to get back to "normal" (that is, whatever my new normal is) but when I'm doing dishes or cooking and I need to get something from the upper cabinets, I am constantly reminded of the fact that I'm 39+ weeks pregnant! As you can see in the pictures I've gotten quite large and baby is ALL in front now (and a little lower). I am praying and praying that if it is in accordance with God's will He will allow the baby to be born sometime in the next few days. But, for all I know, I may not have the baby until September 10th, or sometime around there! (Oh, what a dreadful thought that is!)

Thanks to the shirts my Mom gave me (they came at JUST the perfect time) I still have 3 shirts that I can alternate with, two of my new ones and a size XL maternity shirt that I had bought just before my shower. I don't know where expectant mothers of twins find shirts to wear when they get close to the end of their pregnancy! As it is, I never thought that I'd fit into a size XL, never mind an XL maternity shirt! Anyway, enough about me and my clothes!!!! :)

I've had a nice, relaxing weekend. Yesterday I got some cleaning done (I'm hoping the next time I need to do the vacuuming, will be after the baby is born!) and started on a new baby blanket for my Etsy shop.

Today I took a short nap after Church and then later this afternoon, we went out to dinner at a Thai restaurant. It was very good and close by so we were back home before 6. Now I'm writing a blog post and Scott is working on writing and the likes. :) Check out his blog post about his short stories here.

I don't have many plans this week. Actually, I don't have any plans this week other than my weekly prenatal appointment (which I'm hoping will be something different...). I don't know if that's a good thing because the baby will come, or if that's a bad thing because I'm going to end up finding myself rather bored. :)

It is so strange to think that Summer is practically over. I have many friends who have already gone back to college and I know that even the high schools, middle schools, and elementary schools are starting as well. I am very thankful though that we are at the end of summer because that means the baby will be here very soon as well as the fall weather! I love fall, the leaves changing and cooler weather! Of course, I have other reasons for wanting fall too. September marks the first month that I'll be a Mommy and we have company coming at the end of the month that we are greatly looking forward too!!! I'm also looking forward to after I have the baby and getting things a little more settled and organized as right now we have all we need for the birth and everything taking up a lot of space in this (while larger than our apartment was) small, house!

So, what are you looking forward to in Fall?

Pictures!

As promised (for once) I am back with new pictures. I am now 37 weeks, 1 day along in this pregnancy...

And for a close up:

The baby has been moving a lot and still having those lovely braxton hicks contractions! :)

We picked up the bouncy seat and the Pack 'N' Play today and so now, I must go put them together while my darling Husband gets some writing done. Why isn't he putting everything together? Because he's writing and I find great enjoyment in putting them together. :)

Warning: Long Post

Well, I'm a little late seeing as I planned to do this post 5 days ago, but oh well, that's life. :)
I am now 31 weeks, 1 day along. KallyLyn was correct last week when she guessed that I had 9 weeks, 6 days until my due date. Of course, today it's only 8 weeks, 6 days until my due date. But who's counting, right? :)



The baby's movement has certainly stepped up! I think I talk about the baby's movement every time I do a post. :) But every time I'm updating, everything is more than it was before, and I just have to take notice! I have been able to feel arms, legs, it's back, it's bottom, (not so much it's head anymore as that seems to be staying down more, which is a good thing....) all with just the thin layer of skin between us. It is so neat! Today the baby's knee was poking right out and when I touched it, it moved over a couple inches before pulling back in. Baby's are just so neat! God's design is just incredible!!!!!!! I can't wait to meet this precious, Little One!

As you can see, I am definitely "popping out". I can not see my feet anymore, and it is getting a bit hard to pick things up off the floor. If it is just one item, and I have nothing else in my hand, then I can usually do it, but if I'm holding something else or I need to spend more than 2 seconds down near the floor, it's hard! :)

And now, for a tour of our new home. However, please keep in mind that even though we've been here for 3 1/2 weeks now, we are still in the process of figuring out where things should go and getting everything set up just how we want it. But, if I waited until we were completely done and I had enough time to do it, then I'm sure I would have no readers left because everyone would have given up on me. :)

Here is our bedroom. As you can see there are still some boxes to be unpacked. The towel over our window is because this room has 3 windows and as soon as the sun starts coming up, it is streaming into our room while we are trying to finish off our night's sleep. Here is a full view of our bed (and Teddy) and the lovely quilt that we received as a wedding gift.

Moving down the hall..... Here is our bathroom.

And a view of our hallway:

And now we enter the beloved, Baby's Room. However, as you can see it is not fully the "Baby's Room" just yet. :) Just the other day I finished the curtains in their. If you click on the picture you can see that they are Winnie the Pooh themed. You can also see here what we have left to take care of and get out of the bedroom before my shower which is in 2 1/2 weeks. We've also been "throwing" stuff on the shelves and I plan on reorganizing them (and the books on them) once we finish emptying our last boxes.

This is the one area in the baby's room that is obviously "baby" at the moment. I have diaper and wipes samples from when we set up our gift registries, along with the diaper bag (and some little girl outfits and a Winnie the Pooh "blankie" (as in, Pooh-head attached to a mini blanket) that are inside) and our first cloth diapers which came in today! I was so excited to get them!

Here is the wall right next to the door with more things to be organized. :)

Here is our Kitchen table and you can see my first curtain that I made.

A full view of our kitchen. I also made the valance curtain for this window as well.

Here is Scott in our Living Room writing on his day off! :) From what he's told me, he's gotten a lot of writing done on his third book! The purple yarn on the side of the couch is the beginning of my second baby blanket. (Come back later to find out what happened to my first baby blanket.)

And here is where I've been sitting today, working away on my computer as Scott has worked on his.

Big announcement coming soon!!!

But first, I must go finish dinner so my darling Husband and I can eat. Oh, how I love Crockpots!!!!

8 Weeks

Today I am 8 weeks along in the pregnancy. It was about this point when I miscarried last time, and I am very happy to say that everything is very different this time. As some of you may have noticed, I have not posted in a week. Most of that is due to the fact that last week I came to know the real meaning of "Morning Sickness". Headaches and a "yucky" stomach have been my companions for over a week now. However, I know that being sick means that the baby is healthy, so I am NOT complaining! :)

The baby measures approximately three fourths of an inch and is about the size of a pinto bean. The eye lids are forming as well as the ears (inside and out) and the fingers and toes. The elbows and wrists are developed (and growing) and the legs are just about long enough so that it's feet can touch in front. It is so amazing to me how quickly a baby grows and how everything is developing and growing. Babies truly are miracles from heaven!

Stay tuned for pictures and details of where we've been since Sunday. Can anyone guess???

The Creation Museum

Yesterday we had the exciting opportunity to go to the Creation Museum. The exhibits were very well done and lots of fun to see! :) I didn't get too many pictures on my camera (and I don't know how to get Scott's from his camera to my computer) but I did manage a few! :) Below is a poor picture of an exhibit right in the main entry:

The birds in the next to pictures are all Finches! They were so much fun to watch!

Here is a Chameleon that I could not seem to get a picture of without his tail glowing! :)

Oh, and did I mention that we got to go to the Grand Canyon?

Here is a SCARY dinosaur! :) No, it's not alive although it looked real enough to be. If you stood to his side and looked at his eye, it looked like he was watching you!

It was pretty cold out, but it didn't keep us from walking the garden, and going to the petting zoo. Here we are on our way back to the Museum (we were getting pretty cold by then!) :)

It was a great day! We ate lunch at "Noah's Cafe" (sorry, I didn't get a picture). Scott had a sandwich, and I had a wrap (all very good). After eating we went and spent quite a bit of time in the Bookstore (see Scott's Blog for a picture) and spent $110 on books, including Creation Evangelism for the New Millennium by Ken Ham, After the Flood by Bill Cooper, and Taking Back Astronomy by Jason Lisle. We got a couple more books and a DVD titled: State of the Nation with Ken Ham. It was done in July '09, and we are greatly looking forward to watching it! When our children are old enough to read, we want to have lots of good books available, and in the mean time it's always great to brush up on and learn new things! :)

One thing is for sure, we serve an Awesome, Incredible, Creator!

Our Trip So Far - In Pictures

We arrived safely in Sunman, IN at 7:30 last night after doing 2 book signings en route. We so enjoyed our stay at the Richardson's house! I've made new, dear, friends, and we can't wait to go back. I have taken lots of pictures since we left New Jersey, and so I thought I would do a post about our trip so far, in pictures! :) So, here we go:

We left New Jersey Wednesday morning at 9:00. As we were driving through Pennsylvania, we drove through several tunnels. Here is our view as we headed into the first or second one (I can't remember which one)

Here is our view, driving through the tunnel. Scott loves to drive through tunnels, but I have yet to experience it myself, so I just take his word for it, for now at least. :)

We arrived safely in Pennsylvania, however it was raining constantly. Here are a couple pictures from the concert.

Shane Barnard (Bethany Dillon's Husband)

Bethany Dillon, singing and playing. She and her Husband are very talented on the Guitar!

This was during the Intermission

After taking a nap when we first arrived at the Richardson's on Thursday, I taught the younger girls how to play Parcheesi and from that point on, when anyone had a free moment, Parcheesi was brought out. :)

On Saturday, I stayed "home" while Scott went back to the book signing he was at the night before. We played Apples to Apples (Bible Edition) and took lots of pictures :)

All my new, dear, friends!

I didn't get any pictures :( but, Susannah, Jessica, and I played Monopoly, and the game lasted a total of 6-8 hours. We had a blast playing!

Sitting around the dinner table, our last night there.


On our way to the second book signing on Sunday, waiting for a train to go by... :)

At Kelsie's!!!

Sunday was Scott's birthday, and Kelsie (and her family) helped me surprise him with a celebration after we got to their house. Scott had no idea. The poor guy, thought he wasn't getting a cake or anything other than birthday greetings, but "little, did he know." :)


That's all for now. I hope you enjoyed the pictures!!!!