Saturday, January 31, 2009

Who has amazing friends? We do!

Over the last month Gabe and I have been amazed at how amazing our friends and family are. I mean, we knew they were awesome, but the way they have showered us with gifts for Isaiah has truly been overwhelming. When I brought everything in from my shower last week, Gabe and I looked at each other and I almost broke out in tears. I know... some of this could be blamed on hormones but I had to take a picture for you guys of what the roomed looked like. Keep in mind, this picture was taken AFTER putting everything away from the first shower.


-- Seriously, can you say blessed! Adrian was very curious as to what all the stuff was!--

[Note from Gabe: The first thing I said when I saw all of the gifts was: "Wow! There are answers to prayer all over the floor!" Thank you all so much for being the hands and feet of Jesus, and for being a part of Isaiah's young life.]

As many of you know I will not be returning to full-time work after Isaiah is born. I have thought about doing something part-time just to make a little extra income (so please pass the word, and if you hear of anything, please let me know!). Your generosity has been a true testament to God's goodness and the kindness of your hearts. Again, thank you!

This weekend the shower was given by my sister, my mom and my good friend Megan (pictured below). I got to see so many friends and family that I have not seen in years.


--The hostesses with the mostest! (my mom, sister, me and Meg) LOOK at that belly!!!--


--Just a few of my many family members that were there (yes we have a large family!)--


--Opening all the wonderful gifts--


Thanks to everyone who came and supported our family. You mean more to us than you will ever know!

Monday, January 26, 2009

Anyone have some Pepto Bismol?

Hey everyone! I will post pics soon of the shower from Saturday but for now I am laid up on the couch with a stomach virus. It began Sunday night and has finally started to let up a little. Lets just say the last 24 hours have been a little rough on me and Isaiah. Gabe has been taking such good care of me though, and I am on the mend.

We got so many blessings at the shower on Saturday and I will try and get some pictures posted and a more detailed account of the festivities in the next few days.

For all of our Tulsa readers, stay off the roads and stay warm!

Friday, January 23, 2009

just checking in....

Just wanted to let everyone know we are still here and doing well. Its been a very busy couple of weeks and I am starting to tire out a lot faster. It is hard to believe that in a little over a month we will be bringing our son home.

Last week we went to see our doctor (our appointments are every 2 weeks-but after next weeks appointment we will jump to weekly visits!) and he said that if all goes according to plan he would be down with inducing me on March 2nd in the evening and then I would probably deliver on the 3rd (which is my due date). He said the only thing that has to needs to happen before he does this is for my body to be showing signs of gearing up for labor. For those of us rookies this means that certain parts of my body begin to expand while others thin out (WOO HOO-sounds like a blast). We are looking into induction because we really want Gabe's parents here for the birth-so please pray my little guy works with us.

Tomorrow I have my 2nd shower and I am looking forward to spending the day with everyone. This one is for family and close friends of the family. There will be several people I have not seen in years so it will be a great time of catching up.

Thanks for all the nice comments on the nursery pictures. It is my first real do it yourself project in the house and its nice to hear we didn't do too bad!

Thanks for all the prayers for me and the baby over the months-keep them coming! We love you guys! I will try and post pics soon from the shower tomorrow.

Monday, January 12, 2009

1 down, 2 to go and then Baby!

Hey friends! We just had a wonderful yet busy weekend. We started out Friday by getting Isaiah's furniture delivered. We had ordered it back in December but we waited until after the new year to get it delivered. It looks so good!

Then on Saturday I went to my first shower. My friends Tracey and Ginger threw the shower for me, and all my church ladies came. On the way over I realized just how close we are getting to seeing our little man. It hit me all of a sudden that I was driving to MY shower not one of my friends...it was very surreal. We were so blessed with many things for Isaiah. He is going to be one loved little baby. Below are some pictures from the shower.

*most adorable cake ever*
*my sissy, mom and friend Judy
* My wonderful friends who hosted the shower*
*opening Isaiah's bathtub*
*you know Daddy was excited about this gift*
*cute little Laney bug-she was our entertainment*

*opening more gifts* *unwrapping the letters for Isaiah's wall (see below to see them hung up)*

On Sunday my friend Tracey came over to help hang everything up on Isaiah's walls. While she was hanging, I organized. I was laughing because if anyone knew me 5 years ago you would laugh at how organized I have become. My mom and I were just laughing at this yesterday. I was the most disorganized and cluttered person ever. Somewhere in the last 5 years I decided I like organization and planning. I was so excited yesterday to get everything in the drawers and just gaze at the order of it all. I will have to pull everything out for a wash day (I am waiting until all the showers are over so I can do it all at once) but just the idea of waiting to start putting everything away just stresses me out. Here are some pics of Isaiah's room with some of the things hung up. And notice the pictures of the inside of the drawers-my pride and joy. And yes I know that they will never look like this again once Isaiah comes-so let me enjoy it now! :)



I LOVE how his letters turned out. Thanks J--you did an AWESOME job!!!

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Can we just stay here?

On Monday night, Gabe and I went and toured the hospital where I will be delivering. It is a newer hospital in our area so neither of us had been there yet. We figured it might be a good idea to learn ahead of time where we needed to go when the time comes.

Every month they have a scheduled time for free tours, and you just show up. We got there and we were the only ones there for the tour! I figured just some random volunteer would show us through the hospital, but to our great surprise, one of the labor/delivery nurses did it. We got there and I think I asked her about 100 questions and Gabe another 100. She showed us this neat little slide show that went over the basics and then took us up to the maternity floor. You know that "Eww gross!" smell that usually resides in a hospital? Yeah, it was nowhere to be smelled. It was the cleanest, quietest and, nicest hospital I have ever been in.

We got to see the rooms where we will deliver and the post partum rooms. I got a little weepy/overwhelmed when I stood in the rooms where the baby will be born. I thought, "Wow! Next time I'm in here, I will be having our son." It was so exciting! The nurse was so sweet. She answered all our questions and allowed us to look at the rooms more then once because, as you read in our previous post, Gabe must take pictures of everything! I am really hoping she is there when Isaiah arrives. She said they have a pretty small staff, so the chance of her being there is pretty high. That makes me so happy! I walked by the waiting room and I could just picture our families and friends filling that place to the brim. It is going to be so much fun but I looked at her and said, "Are you sure your staff is ready for us?" I can only imagine all the the shenanigans that some of our more... ahem, outgoing... family members will pull while they're there. On the way out, we actually asked her if we could just stay there until Isaiah gets here. Ha ha! Below are a few pictures of the room...



This Saturday is my first baby shower and I am so excited. It is so funny because I look back at Christmas and the best gifts were the ones that we received for Isaiah. I think the mommy in me is kicking in, and everything my little man receives is so special. It is going to be so much fun to begin to dream of all the things he will do with his gifts he receives on Saturday... how he will look in a certain outfit, squealing in delight as he plays with a new toy, his first bath... and so many more memories we'll make.

Oh, --and totally off subject-- I am now a brown-haired girl. I still have a little blonde but I was wanting something new and funky and I got it! I absolutely love it-I will have to post pictures of it after the shower.

Friday, January 2, 2009

Don't be jealous...

So what does a young couple do on a Friday night? Well-- if you're cool like we are-- you go to an early dinner and then head to Babies 'R Us to work on your registry. Ha ha! I know you are wishing you could only be half as cool as we are.

Tonight right after work we went to an early dinner and then I somehow managed to talk Gabe into heading to Babies 'R Us. I have done most of the registry online but there are just certain things you need to see before you decide what you want.

I needed to figure out bottles mostly. Does anyone know why they make SO many different kinds?! Its truly overwhelming for a first time mom. I have been researching for weeks now and finally just picked the one that seemed to fit what I was looking for--but again I wanted to go in the store to actually see them. To keep Gabe occupied, I gave him the camera (BIG mistake) to document this experience. As I was walking around I would occasionally see Gabe hiding behind displays to try and get "candid" shots. It was pretty funny. I am sure many people in there got a kick out of it. Below are a few of the pictures he took.

[Hubby's note: I was only doing what my wife asked of me. She deleted some of my "candid" shots--approximately six of them--because she didn't like the way she looked in them. It's hard to be an artist when you're censored like I am. Sheesh. Oh, and you'll notice that I'm sporting a Batman t-shirt. Oh yeah.]

We were there for about an hour or so and then my sciatic nerve began to hurt. (Yeah, I just realized I sound like an 80-year-old woman.) I definitely have the pregnant "waddle" now due to this new pain. Sometimes I feel like I just kind of throw my legs out in front of me. Its pretty funny and much of my family has pointed this new phenomenon out to me! So seriously... could we get any more loser-ish! Ha Ha!

In other news, we had another appointment today and got to see Isaiah. He is growing and getting so big. He was blowing bubbles at one point--it made us all laugh. Below are pictures from the appointment.

[Hubby's Note: We'll have ultrasound pictures to post soon, most notably a shot that I asked our doctor to take of Isaiah's package. He's a real man, and he definitely wanted us all to see it. Just wanted to brag about that.]

My wonderful friend Tracey and her adorable daughter Laney got to join us. Also, that is my AMAZING doctor with us. I have been blessed with a great doctor and nurse. Dr. W is a believer and I love talking to him about this process.

I will now be going every 2 weeks to see my super cool doctor. So hard to believe we are already at that point!

Hope you all had a blessed weekend!

Thursday, January 1, 2009

New Year, New Dad, Old Lessons

Happy New Year to everybody! (It's Gabe, by the way.)

Had a great time hanging out with some friends last night... we dozed off during a movie but woke up just before midnight to welcome 2009.

Per my personal tradition, I watched "The Fellowship of the Ring" and "The Two Towers" today (the extended editions of course). The last one, "The Return of the King," is next. I can't wait to read those books to Isaiah one day. And Batman comics. And the Chronicles of Narnia. As for the finer art of video game warfare, I can teach him how to draw a bead on a terrorist's head with a sniper rifle in "Ghost Recon." Well... that may come later. (Kara's relieved.)

Hard to believe in two months I'll be a brand new dad. Before I join the ranks of parenthood, I'd like to share a few "old" lessons that I've re-learned recently. They're far from original, but each one resonated with me.
  1. It's not about me anymore. This little nugget finally registered this Christmas when Kara and I received some Christmas gifts for Isaiah, instead of for us. I thought, "Wow, people are buying stuff for him and he's not even here yet. He's stolen the spotlight!" I'm sure I'll be learning and re-learning this lesson repeatedly for the rest of my life. Some of you parents are laughing hysterically right now.
  2. Don't sweat the small stuff. Admittedly, I sweat the small stuff. A lot. Like when our home security system company forgot to put a $4 credit on our bill. I got irritated and called instantly. But I'm improving! Last night we came home late from hanging out with friends, and there it was. A mound of fresh, brown turds. After living with us for 3 years, our dog Adrian still poops on the living room floor. Unbelievable. (I've actually told Adrian that one day, I'm going to drop a big one in her crate and put her in there to see how she likes it. "Yo, Adrian... I did it!") So how did I respond? I didn't raise my voice. I didn't call the pound. I spanked her on the nose (gently), told her "No" and put her in her crate. Easy. Done. Now if I could only do that every time...
  3. Be the person you want your child to be. I want my son to have a Dad who lives what he says. As a youth pastor, I had students that were expected to serve God and "behave" with little to no role modeling at home. (Nothing ticks off a teenager faster than hypocrisy. They're oblivious to their own, but they can smell another person's duplicity like a rat.) My challenge is to live like Jesus to Isaiah the best I can, and beg God to let my sin die with me-- so it doesn't hinder my son. I want Isaiah to see that, even though I'm the adult, I'm not afraid to say "I'm sorry." I want him to see that I'm in love with his mother and Jesus more than anything else in the world. I want him to be better than me, to go further than me. That all starts right now, with how I live day in and day out.