2011 Year In Review

January
The new year started off on a sad note- my brother was deployed to Afghanistan on the 2nd.
I turned 25. I remember thinking "I'm halfway through my 20's, and halfway to 50!"
We started our master bathroom overhaul- click HERE to see the  post on this adventure.

February
We spent a wonderful weekend in Birmingham enjoying good worship, music, food, and time together.


March
March was a laid back month. We spend most of it working around our yard and enjoying the early Spring days.

April
We celebrated my husband's 33rd birthday.

May
This was a month of answered prayers. We had a bit of a health scare. Bob had surgery and our prayers were answered. Another answered prayer was my job- I was told I would be able to teach at SW again in the Fall. We were a bit concerned due to all the budget cuts, etc...

June
I spent most of June soaking up the sun. I stayed with my grandparents a good bit and enjoyed just spending time with them.

July
We celebrated 6 years of wedded bliss on the 22nd. Little did we know that an anniversary gift would be arriving 9 months later!

August
We found out we were expecting on August 5th and we were just in awe of what God had done for us. We saw our sweet baby for the first time on August 31st at our first doctor's appointment.

September
We finally announced our pregnancy to our family on September 3rd. This was also a special day because my brother surprised us all by coming home on leave for a few days!

On September 4th, I was blessed to witness my husband's baptism. This was an answered prayer many years in the making.
I had been asked to take over our young adult Sunday school class back in the Spring. As the new quarter rolled in, Bob and I began this mission together.

October
October was a slow month. We enjoyed the cooler weather and spent most of the month in 'negotiations' as to whether or not to find our the gender of our baby.

November
On November 10th we found out we were expecting a sweet baby GIRL! My brother was finally able to come home for good from Afghanistan. I was sick with a sinus infection over the Thanksgiving holidays, but we still enjoyed seeing our family and friends. On Thanksgiving day we were officially half-way through our pregnancy.

December 
December was spent gearing up for the holidays (of which I was just not in the Christmas spirit). We also spent most weekends working in the nursery and finishing up a few last little projects around the house.


And there you have it- our year in review. 2011 was definitely a year of answered prayers- Bobby's health, my job, my brother returning safely from Afghanistan. Our biggest answered prayer was in God blessing us with a child. We had waited nearly 2 1/2 years for that answered prayer.

As wonderful as 2011 was, we are even more excited to see what the Lord has in store for us in 2012! This is the year our first child will be born! We are blessed beyond anything we deserve or could have ever imagined, and we give all the thanks and glory to our sweet Jesus!

"....for God has been gracious to me and I have all that I need."

Genesis 33:11

Baby Bump on Christmas Day

Here is our baby bump at 24 weeks and 3 days along.

Can you tell how exhausted I am in this picture? This was Christmas night after we had finally made it back home from visiting our family. We had a fantastic Christmas and Mary Grace received so many great gifts! It was a bit surreal though, knowing that this was our last Christmas as just the two of us. 

I'm still able to wear most of my pre-preggers pants with the help of a Belly Band (I bought mine at the Motherhood store and it has been a life saver!). Shirts are a different story as most of my pre-pregnancy shirts are getting too short for my belly. These days I'm pretty much in maternity shirts, and I do have a few pairs of maternity pants.

I've been stretch mark free so far, but I know the day is soon coming when that will all change. Everyone says that no matter how much coco butter you use, you will still get them. I'll have to learn that lesson the hard way, because I use it religiously (and as a result I walk around smelling like a giant chocolate bar).

23 weeks, 6 days - Checkup

On Wednesday, December 21st, we had another great checkup! This time MG was very active! She ended up kicking the exact spot where the doppler wand was positioned on my tummy. It was too funny! Then she continued to roll around in my tummy, something my husband could see from where he was sitting and thought was very funny.

Mary Grace had  a heart rate of 154 bpm, which is the highest it's been in a few months. I think it was because she was so busy practicing her ballet moves (or, as the nurse probably thought, her kickboxing moves).

This was the first time I inquired about my weight and measurements. I've deliberately not looked at the scales nor asked about my weight gain since our first appointment. But this time around I couldn't resist. So far I've gained 12 pounds. My belly measurement is 24 cm- which is right on the button since we will be 24 weeks tomorrow.

I love appointments where the only thing I'm required to do is give a urine sample and sit contently and listen to our baby's heartbeat. I've been forewarned that our next appointment will not be so pleasant.

We're scheduled to see the doctor again on January 16th. This will be the gross glucose screening and lovely lab workup. Yuck!

One bit of good news, we will soon get to have our 4D ultrasound! Since we have so much lab work schedule for next time, the ultrasound will probably be sometime in early February. We're excited and cannot to see our sweet Mary Grace!

Ready For A Stroll- or perhaps a Jog

Look what UPS Santa brought tonight! We knew we wanted a jogging stroller and there are hundreds out there to choose from, but finding a jogging stroller travel system is nearly impossible. I finally found a jogger that is also a travel system, so I'll be able to use it fairly soon after MG makes her debut (that is, if I'm she's feeling up to it).

While there are some super cute, girly strollers and carseats out there, I wanted something neutral. I figured that a good jogging stroller is something we can keep for our future babies use, so I didn't want to order one in pink and have a little baby boy riding in it someday.

I insisted that my husband put it together tonight, and I'm a bit embarrassed to say that I've been pushing it around the house all evening. After all, we do need to get acquainted with how it and the car seat works!

Here's the stroller we ended up getting- it's the Baby Trend Expedition Jogger and the color is called green tea, but it's really all black with barely a hit of green piping along the carseat. Love it!