Here It Is...

This is me at 38 weeks...

You must be thinking, "No wonder her back hurts - she is huge!" Well, at least one of us is thinking that!

The doctor thinks Josiah will be about the same size as Thomas, who was 7lbs 14oz. I'm really hoping Josiah isn't over 8.5 lbs, but when I see the size of my stomach in these pictures I think he must be 10lbs already!

Thanks for your prayers these next couple of weeks. I asked the doctor this morning how long they would let me go before inducing and he said a week. He told me half of all women don't have their babies at their due date and if they give them a week usually the babies come without any intervention. My prayer is that I won't make it to the next appointment next Tuesday morning!

Just Waiting

I'm officially 38 weeks pregnant today and beyond ready for Josiah to enter the world. On Friday afternoon I had some light contractions and generally felt uncomfortable, but within two to three hours I felt normal again. Of course I am hoping that the contractions will come again very soon and Josiah will be ready to greet us. This is definitely the toughest part of pregnancy for me (and I'm sure most women): waiting. I wake up every morning thinking, "Could this be the day?" The waiting is good for my sanctification because it forces me to learn patience anew and to trust the Lord's timing for Josiah's arrival.

I was not as eager to have Thomas too early because there was so much happening with my family around the time of his birth. My grandmother was dying of cancer and was placed in hospice just 10 days before he was born. She passed away exactly one week before he came and I went into labor the day after her funeral. There is part of me that wonders if all the grief and stress of traveling (the funeral was 3.5 hrs away) contributed to my labor. Thankfully, there is nothing upsetting happening in our lives right now, and I know that I just need to be content to wait. This I know, within a month I will have a sweet baby boy!

Hopefully, we can get a picture of my huge belly at 38 weeks to post here later today. I feel huge and don't even want to take a picture, but I know I'll regret it later. Plus, maybe it will make me feel better postpartum that I'm not this big!

Rushing & Resting

Well, I admittedly have been doing much more of the first than the second. As we only have 3 weeks left until Josiah's due date I feel like I'm on a deadline to get everything done before he gets here. One of the reasons I haven't blogged as much lately is because I rarely sit down until I'm just so exhausted that I only want to lay down. What have I been doing?

• Washing baby clothes, blankets, crib bumper and sheets, etc. Our church was very kind to us and gave me a baby shower on Sunday. We were blessed with cute little outfits as well as tons of diapers! Now I have an outfit for Josiah to wear home from the hospital and plenty of diapers to get us through the first few months.
• Buying a new pack-n-play. I actually ended up with a different one than I originally planned, because I really liked the bassinet feature. I only kept Thomas in our room until he only woke up once at night - about 5 weeks - because I had a really hard time sleeping with all of his noises.
• Buying a new crib. Yep, our crib was recalled and we finally received the voucher from the manufacturer today to buy a new one. We never had any problems with our crib, but I didn't want to take any chances and plus, I love to shop with someone else's money! We are planning on going to Babies-R-Us Friday night to buy a new one.
• Cleaning, cleaning, and cleaning! I want my house to be clean and all the clothes washed when I go into labor, even though I know it probably won't happen. After I cleaned the bathrooms last week I had to sit down because I was out of energy! However, I wasn't down long because I wanted to mop the floors.
• Grocery shopping. I'm trying to have the cabinets stocked before I go into labor and plus, I can't pass up a good sale. Now that I'm "addicted" to coupon shopping, I'm always looking for the best deals and every Tuesday morning after my OB appointment Thomas and I are going to Target, Bi-Lo, & Publix. After taking him in and out of the car four times this morning, I have decided that I am going grocery shopping by myself!

As of now, I have not had a single contraction. I didn't have any Braxton Hicks contractions with Thomas, but I did go into labor one week early. The doctor said this morning that everything looked great and I could have this baby whenever he is ready to come. They won't check to see if I have dilated or effaced until two more weeks.

I'm trying not to complain too much, but I am very tired and beginning to feel miserable. Patience is hard to come by at times, especially with a toddler. I know it is more of my sinful heart and less of Thomas' misbehavior. He is at the age where he is a ball of energy and just wants to have fun, and while I feel like I'm carrying a big ball there isn't any energy there!

Last night Josh told me that I am to lay down at least an hour in the afternoon while Thomas is napping. All things will come together and even if all the clothes aren't washed, the house isn't spotless, and I don't have everything I want in the cabinets we are still going to have a sweet baby boy in less than a month! Now, I'm following my husband's orders and laying down.

Watch This

Many of you who read this blog probably also read GirlTalk. If you haven't read their post from yesterday and watched the video they recommend, I want to encourage you to. This post is a link to an extraordinary testimony of a lady named Rachel Barkey who is dying of cancer and probably won't live to see her 38th birthday. I watched her testimony this afternoon and was moved beyond words. She gives such a clear presentation of who we are and who God is while being very honest and open about her situation. Make sure and have some tissue handy because you will cry. I hope more than bringing you to tears, her testimony will increase your love for Jesus; it certainly did for me.

Mother's Day

I just wanted to take a moment and brag on my wonderful husband who despite feeling crummy went out of his way to make me feel special this mother's day. This is what awaited me on mother's day morning:

The balloon is obviously from Thomas and I love it! There is nothing sweeter in the world than being Thomas' mama. The cards are from Thomas & Josiah and then of course Josh. As any of you know who read his blog, he is great with words and his cards always are so meaningful. My gift was what every woman and especially a 9 month pregnant woman wants: pampering!! He bought me a 1/2 hr massage, pedicure, and a mini-facial - woo hoo! I'm hoping to get the pedicure this week because that is the one thing I don't do very well since I have a hard time getting to my toes!

I wished I could upload his mother's day sermon here because it was a wonderful reminder of what biblical mothering is. Josh also said some very sweet, and I think undeserving things, about me that made me cry (along with every other woman in the church!). I'm so thankful for the way he gives to me sacrificially not just on mother's day, but throughout the year. God has truly blessed me with a godly husband and two beautiful boys - my cup runneth over!

Cakes

Last night I finished course 1 of the Wilton Cake Decorating class. The last 4 weeks have been fun, but a little tiring as well. I'm glad I took the class, but it will be a while before I take another one for obvious reasons. Right now I'm content with what I have learned and I think I have enough knowledge to make Thomas a great birthday cake in August.

Here is last week's cake:

Yes, I made the clowns (except of the heads) and one of the clowns is pregnant! They were actually very easy to make and I hope in the future to find some other type of "heads" instead of clowns (they can be kind of creepy!).

Here is this week's cake:

I made the roses before class and they turned out okay. I definitely need more practice. The bow isn't great, but she didn't give us a lot of practice before telling us to put it on the cake. I was really hoping to write "Happy Mother's Day" on it, but there wasn't enough room after the bouquet of flowers were added.

After Josiah is born and we get into the routine of having a newborn again, I'll definitely have fun playing with my new skills. And by the way, Josiah is due one month from today - I am more than ready!!

Weekend To Remember

This past weekend, Josh and I had the privilege of attending the marriage conference Weekend to Remember. It is a conference hosted by FamilyLife and I first heard of it while at the True Woman conference last year. We have never been away for a weekend since we have been married and this was a great opportunity to not only get away, but to think about our marriage as well. There are WTR conferences all over the country and we were able to go to one very near our home.

The best part of the weekend? Spending the entire weekend with Josh and not having to think about the routine things of life. We stayed in a hotel and I didn't have to cook the whole weekend! I also really enjoyed the application projects at the end of the sessions, because it made us think about certain issues in our marriage and evaluate how we are doing. Josh and I have a healthy marriage and the conference helped us to see areas where we could improve. Since I come from a divorced family and we know friends and church members who have been divorced, we realize that to keep a marriage healthy and strong you have to work on it. Thankfully, Christ is the foundation of our marriage and He continues to sustain us and keep us as we both seek to walk with Him - which is the key ingredient to a great marriage.

This was our first weekend away from Thomas and all three of us did better than I expected! Thomas stayed with my parents and he had the best time...well, my parents probably enjoyed him more than he enjoyed them! I don't think he really missed us while we were apart, but he realized he missed us when we got home, because he has wanted to be especially close last night and today and we eagerly give lots of hugs and kisses! Now my dad is anxious for us to go on another trip, but it will be a long while before I'm ready to leave my boy again. I'm already dreading being away from him while I'm in the hospital with Josiah.

If any of you who read my blog have never been to a Weekend To Remember, we would highly recommend it. After attending the conference, Josh and I have decided we want to attend a marriage conference every year if possible. Having a young family and Josh's responsibilities as a pastor can make life very busy and we realized how wonderful and refreshing it was to get away. We were reminded again this weekend that our spouse is the most precious gift the Lord has given us (apart from salvation) and we want to make each other a priority.