A few random pictures...

Here are a few random pictures...






right after a bath...




I love my Aunt Mandy!


Oh why did you put this on my head Aunt Mandy???


Mommy and Elizabeth











I love this sling! I use it all the time!


quick nap...











playing with Daddy!

A few Firsts...

Here are a few "firsts"


Our first car ride (on the way home from the hospital!)



All dressed up to go out for the first time! (to the Doctor's office!)


We stopped in at High Street to say hi


Ready for our first day at church


Our first walk (with Grandma Julie)



Our first "real" bath - we are not sure if we like it!


We decided we don't like it!


We are not too happy...


All better!

Family visiting

Here are some pictures of family coming to visit...

With a proud Grandad!


With "Bobby"


Proud Grandparents!


Grandma Julie is in town!


Sad Goodbyes!

A few pictures...

Well, I have not done a very good job keeping the blog up to date, but here are a few highlight pictures of Elizabeth...
Her arrival... 9/9/09

Daddy was the first to see her...


First kiss from Mommy!


Being weighed on the scale! 8lbs 6 oz! 21 inches long


In this picture she is only a few hours old, we had just made it up to our room.

Big Decision

So... I made a pretty big decision this weekend. I have decided to take some time off school.

I hate to quit at anything... but things were just too overwhelming right now. I was really struggling with devoting enough time to school to do it right, and really felt like I was failing at everything, being a student, wife and mother. Unfortunatly I think John's school work was suffering because of my stress as well.

I prayed about it alot, and felt that God was urging me to focus on issues at home for now, school would work itself out.

I am both excited and disappointed. It is difficult for me to quit, being a student had become so much of my identity, but I feel relieved and excited about being able to focus on home.

:)

Videos for Mom

Here we go - We will give it a try!

Weekend update

I thought I would just check in again today, we have had a really nice Sunday! Sundays are always a favorite day for us, we enjoy worshiping God so much!

The message at church today was very good and challenging, and we had a victory in our sunday school class today - we (for the first time since promotion Sunday and we got all new students) were able to get the kids to constructively play a game together! (normally we are trying to play a game and we have some playing, some wandering etc. It was so much fun! I remember this point with our last students, teaching becomes so much more fun once we can get participation in games! (It was really cute too, we were marching around and knocking down the walls of Jericho).

It has been a really nice relaxing afternoon as well! I had a nice nap and got some school work done.

Still no Elizabeth, but I have been having some contractions, so we will see! They started Friday night, and have been spuratic, but they are still contractions, which is movement in the right direction! lol I really need to take advantage of the time I have left to work on homework and rest, everything is going to change very soon!!

:)

Baby Stress Test

So this morning we had a "stress test" for Elizabeth to make sure everything is ok (since we have now gone past our due date). As suspected, Elizabeth is cozy and happy! :)

They checked to make sure there was adequate amniotic fluid (which there was) and they also took measurements of Elizabeth and estimate her at 8lbs. Phew! I hope she does not grow too much more in the next week! :)

Our Due Date has arrived!

and Elizabeth has not!

Oh well - lol! I know she will get here when she is ready, it is just so hard to wait!

Yesterday and today were much better for doing homework, I actually got a fair amount of reading and an assignment done, as well as some regular housework.

Our Doctor's appointment went well yesterday, everything still looks good, she should come anytime. Since we are going past our due date I will go in for some tests this week to make sure the baby is not "stressed" and that all is still ok.

The doctor did say that if she has not come by next Wednesday we will go to the hospital to be induced. So one way or another, a week from today we will be on our way to meeting her! I hope I can go into labor naturally though, I know that is safer and more healthy.

Homework!

So the semester has officially started and along with classes comes... homework! I know I need to take advantage of the time I have before Elizabeth comes, but I find it so hard to concentrate with her rocking and rolling inside of me!

Oh well! I know it will be even harder when she gets here! I did get a little reading done today, although not as much as I should have. I will try again tomorrow!

:)

We have another doctor's appointment tomorrow, I am looking forward to seeing if I have progressed any! Last week I was 100% effaced and dilated to 3cm, so we will see!

Doctor's Apointment

So today we went in for our weekly doctor's appointment, and had a great visit! We were both a little worried because the last couple weeks my blood pressure has been up, not high enough to count as "high" but a big enough jump from my normal to cause some extra watching, in fact last week, the nurse mentioned the potential of inducing labor if it did not go down.

This week, my blood pressure is back to normal! Woot!!

I am continuing to dilate slowly, I am at 3cm this week! :) Our doctor said he would not be surprised if Elizabeth came by this weekend! How exciting!

So now we continue to wait...

:)

Elizabeth's Nursery

Elizabeth's Nursery:

So, I meant to put these pictures up last week... :)

I finally finished Elizabeth's "Nursery" Area! Woot! Her crib is in the closet (it is a big closet!). I could not get a good picture of the whole area, so I had to take pictures in pieces.

This was my attempt to get the whole area... This is the far corner of the nursery


This is her crib - instead of buying a whole bedding set, I opted for cute sheets and a white dust ruffle. Most people I have talked to say they end up taking the bumper off anyway! The pink blanket is hand made by Elizabeth's grandma :)


Living in a dorm we can't paint, but I found these wall clings, they stay put really well and don't leave any marks on the wall! I used cute shapes and put her name above the crib. Once she is born I am going to put her birthday right below her name :)


This is Strawberry - John and I went to build-a-bear and made her for Elizabeth :) We had fun! Strawberry is holding a small bouquet of roses for Elizabeth Rose! :)


I decorated a small lamp to match the walls, and you can see a few of her dresses and jackets hanging up!


This is above the crib, it is where we keep heavier blankets and other things


Close up on the lamp... :)



This is the "Changing Area." It is in the bedroom. The hallway to the left leads to the closet where her "Nursery" is. :) Below the changing table we have baskets filled with various baby things (shoes, bibs, ointments, etc).


More wall clings to add flavor :)


Bows, Bows, Bows (boy I hope she has hair! lol)


Everything turned out really cute - I was happy! I was not sure how much I would be able to do!
Thanks for all the love and prayers - we will let everyone know as soon as she arrives!!
:)

Elizabeth in 3-D!

We had our 3-D ultrasound yesterday! It was so amazing to get to see her again! It was really cool to see how much she has grown! She was really nestled deep, so we did not get alot of pictures, but the few we did get were pretty cute! It was really amazing to see her move on the ultrsound screen and feel her at the same time! She is doing very well, and has a strong heartbeat!

Here are a few of the pictures we got: (it takes a moment for your eye to train in on what you are seeing)

In this picture you can see her face in the center - her nose is the light spot in the middle. Her hand is in the lower right - it looks like she is holding onto something, might be the umbilical cord, not sure, we did not think to ask!


Her face is a little higher up here, you can see her nose, mouth and chin really well in this picture. She had moved her arm up, so the white round blotch on the left is part of her arm.


She didn't move around a whole bunch (which is why alot of our pictures are very similar) and in this shot she is in the middle of a yawn, you can see her mouth wide open. We did get a video with her yawn and her stretching her arm - it was so cute!


Another shot of her face, you can see the cleft in her upper lip - a common whallon trait!


This is a shot of a small smile she gave us, she was moving a little, so the upper part of her face was blurred, but her mouth is really defined (look just below the white spot in the middle right section of the picture)


Another shot of her beauitful face!


She looks like she is pouting a little here :) She was also moving back, making it harder to get a picture!


This is the same one, but in black and white, which I think is a little easier to see.


We also double checked that Elizabeth is really an Elizabeth, and not a William Thomas! Yes she is a girl!

After the ultrasound we went to Build-a-Bear and made a cute stuffed cat for her, we gave her a bow and a small bouqet of roses (for Elizabeth Rose!) so she will have a friend already waiting for her arrival! It was so much fun!

Thank you everyone for your prayers, everything is going very well! I am feeling good, and Elizabeth is strong and healthy. I had my glucose tolerance test last week, and results have been good!

As many of you know, we have decided that I will stay home and take care of Elizabeth once she arrives. I am so thankful that I am able to do this. I love my job, and am sad to leave, but I am very excited for the new journey, and feel blessed to have the opportunity to be with her. We are not sure yet how all the finaces will work out, but we know that God will take care of us!

John felt Elizabeth!

So, this is a little late, but last week John felt Elizabeth move! It was very exciting! We are amazed at how quickly she is growing! We read that the average weight for this time is 2 pounds!

Elizabeth has started getting mail too! We received an adorable jacket from her great grandmother Nan. Her Great-grandmother Mi-Mi sent some money which I used to buy a really cute little dress, and she got a package from Grandma Sharon last week too, filled with more homemade crotchet baby items! There was a beautiful rose, white, and green baby blanket and several hats! There were also a pair of booties and jacket that matched a set of the hats! I will try to take some pictures to show!

I had a great birthday, we were so exhausted from the yard sale (which was pretty much rained out - lol) that I spent most of the afternoon hanging out with Mandy. We are going to play board games and hang out this weekend as a birthday celebration. I got several really nice cards and gifts from family - I feel so blessed!

Elizabeth moves all the time!

So I thought I would just take a quick moment to share with everyone how much I feel Elizabeth moving! It is such an amazing thing to feel, I really don't know how to describe it! It is a constant reassurance that she is growing and doing well!

Her movements are getting stronger and I was really hoping John could feel them so last night I made him sit for a long time with his hand over my belly (which of course then Elizabeth sat really still for a while!). Eventually she started moving, but alas, even when I did get a few "big kicks" he still could not feel them!

We are so excited to meet her when she comes, and everyday are amazed by the Father for this blessing.

We have scheduled our 3-D ultrasound for June 12th, we will get pictures and a video! We can't wait to see it and be able to share it with our friends and family!

Anyway, as I was sitting here trying to get some work done, and Elizabeth was being super active (which is really distracting!) I thought I would share!

End of School...

Phew... Sorry it has been a little while since I have updated - we have been so busy! I just can't wait for this semester to be over and we only have a week and a half to go! We have been doing lots of homework, and it will be a push until the end!

It has been an exciting couple of weeks though! I started feeling Elizabeth move last week which is simply AMAZING!!! The first night it happened I was not sure if that was what I was feeling or not. I only felt it once, and so I just was not sure! It was a couple days later, when I was sitting at work and started feeling it again that I knew for sure it was her! Now she moves on and off throughout the day! I love feeling her move!

Her movements are still to soft for John to be able to feel her, but I am sure it won't be too long!

We also got to make a short, but great trip to Tennessee last weekend (sorry to everyone we did not get to see, we were there for a very short trip)

Both Patrick and Robert have birthdays in April so we got to have an awesome party with them on Saturday (we got to share all our interesting snacks from China too!) The boys got these little remote control helicopter things that fly around in a circle which they immediately started attacking each other with! It was pretty funny. I took some video, but I can't get it to load, so I will have to try later!
:)

My mother also gave us some beautiful gifts she has made for Elizabeth and I! She made three awesome (yes - I like all three - even the one my brothers say look like dryer lint!) baby blankets and a really cute diaper bag! I was so excited! They are so special, not only because they are so well made, but also because they were made by her!

Sunday we went to visit our church family at Victory. It was such a wonderful visit! We love getting to hang out in the gym with the most awesome youth group ever! It was so wonderful to get to see everyone, it is always so encouraging! Victory is a place so filled with the Father's love, it is so encouraging to be there!

We made it home safe, but the trip was a lot of driving for such a short time! It took us about 11 1/2 hours to get to mom's house and about 11 hours to get home from Victory, by the time we got home we were ready to be out of the car!!

Ultrasound results are in!!

We had our ultrasound today - it was an AMAZING experience!!! It was so amazing - words can't even describe! We got to hear the heartbeat - WOW!

Baby is healthy - everything looks good!!!



This picture shows baby's gender - can you tell?







Baby is a GIRL!!! (the arrow is pointing to the determining parts)

Elizabeth Rose is 9 oz and based on her measurements will be due September 2nd. The Doctor moved the due date back a little :) But ultimately, Elizabeth will determine when she is born. :)




This is a profile view - her head is on the right and her legs go off the picture





This is a view of her face and body - her face is on the right, with her nose being the middle bright spot. In the middle, just above her belly you can see the tip of her hand :)




This is a closer view of her face (her face is in the middle) - this one is a little creepy!





This is the sign we came home to see on our door! Mandy made us this awesome sign announcing our news! She also bought Elizabeth Rose her first baby gift! She bought her a really cute pair of socks that look like little shoes and have a small rose on them and an adorable little toy rattle thing that had a little girl on it with pink ribbon that looks like a rose! :) (Mandyrod is teroxxors!!)


We are so excited to know that Elizabeth is doing well - I felt great during our trip, but it is nice to know for sure! It is also very exciting to give "baby" her name!!!

Ultrasound almost here!!!

This Monday (April 6th) we have our first "real" ultrasound to make sure baby is ok! They will be looking for all kinds of important things, like if baby's heart is developing correctly and that all baby's organs are there -

but...

We will also be able to tell if baby is a boy or girl!!! (If baby cooperates!) We are so excited - I am counting down the days!

We are home!

We made it! Sorry I did not post earlier, but our time since being home has been a blur! We are happy to be at home, but it was difficult to leave China. We felt such a peace about being there and such a strong desire to go back!

Our plane rides were good but long - :) We were so happy to get home after being on the plane for so long! Our long flight home was really full and so all 3 seats in our row were filled. Poor John sat in the middle (so I could have the isle - he is so wonderful) and had to struggle not to get in the space of the other person for the whole flight.

Our stay at the Hotel in Kansas City was nice too, but all we really did was sleep - we really did not enjoy most of the amenities of the hotel! lol

It was awesome to come home - Mandy met us on the balcony and welcomed us home :)

It is now back to the grind for a bit - we have so much school work due between now and May it is kinda insane, but it will be good to get through it and have the summer to help process everything!