23 Weeks

Hi Baby Caleb! You sure are growing, growing! I love rubbing my belly and knowing you are safe in there. The Lord is holding both of us in his hands in a special way during this time. He dearly loves you and so do I. I love talking to you. You move around a lot when you hear momma's voice. You go even crazier about hearing your dad's voice though! He will ask you, "Caleb, where's your foot?" "Where's your arm?" And you respond by moving all around.

Don't even get me started with you aunts and uncles. Uncle Landon will talk to you really weird and make funny sounds and says that he is "training" you to know his voice. Just a little goofy! Maddie likes to head butt my belly and give both of us hugs. She is going to be amazing with you.

Right now our pregnancy trackers says that you are about the size of an ear of corn. Sounds a bit silly to me! At around 1 1/2 pounds and 8 1/2 inches long, I can't imagine you that size and all crammed in there. When we had an ultrasound at 22 weeks, the sonographer said that if we could hold you - you would be a perfect little doll. Everything about you is perfectly developed and proportioned at this stage. We even saw bits of your hair on the ultrasound as well as ten fingers and ten toes. The sonographer was joking that you looked like you had somewhere to be - you were trying to scoot away from her prodding.

With all these strong movements and busy little feet in there I keep asking you what sport you are going to play someday. Maybe you'll play baseball like your daddy and Uncle Mike or be a quick runner like Landon.

Nobody believes that I am 23 weeks pregnant with you; I am still so tiny. I know that it won't be long before your little body starts to take over mine! I'm thankful for this sweet time of transition when I haven't been experiencing too many big changes in my body. It probably won't last long! Ha! It is all a very worthwhile experience and your dad and I wouldn't have it any other way.

You are very loved!

19 Weeks

Bear with me as I play catch up on some life updates and pregnancy posts. Here is a little bit about my weekend at 19 weeks.

November 2-4 Christian and I both joined our 8th grade small groups from our church for DNOW weekend. I enjoyed getting to be with my sweet girls. I was a co leader and we had an amazing leader that came down from UGA to be with us. She did such a great job leading and that just left me with the job of getting to have fun, parent and clean up after the crazy girls! It was worth it though. They kept on complementing me over the weekend as I took care of them saying, "You are such a good mommy!" "You are the best mommy ever!" I was eating that up! That was the first weekend (at 19 weeks pregnant) that I truly felt like I had a baby bump. I can feel Caleb moving all the time. My small group girls had fun feeding me lots of Lucky Charms over the weekend and asking how Caleb was liking them. He does somersaults over his favorite dish. I don't mind eating a bowl myself! : ) Christian and I will have many "built-in" baby sitters that will be fighting over our little man! I am thankful for these beautiful girls and the godly example that I know they will set for our children. I'm sure that Caleb will love them and I look forward to telling him, "Caleb, this is the kind of young lady that you need to look for in a wife someday!" They love Jesus!

Our Fall Porch

"blessed are the people whose God is the Lord." psalm 144:15 So much to be thankful for! Here are some pictures of our front porch. We have so enjoyed this Georgia fall and are now ready to decorate for Christmastime. It's a sweet time.

A Note from Katy

i agree. never settle for less than God's best for you, his princess! the best place to be is where you are finding your identity in Christ and not in a man. for me personally, it wasn't until i was totally and completely satisfied in the Lord that i really began a serious relationship (my first one) with the man that is now my husband. even today my husband is not my everything, but he is one amazing cherry on top! an added blessing and gift to the life God is giving me. i truly believe that it is when we are delighting ourselves in Jesus that he often begins to reveal his best for us. magical, wonderful and beautiful things that we could have never dreamed up for ourselves. fairy tales really can happen.

Caleb's Heartbeat

It was so comforting to hear baby Caleb's heartbeat last week at 16 weeks. Christian and I both went to my routine prenatal checkup and ended up waiting for a long time while our doctor went across the street to the hospital to deliver TWO babies! Amazing! We got antsy from waiting, but it was worth it getting to hear that strong heartbeat. I know that God has already given me such a momma's heart as I often find myself worrying about our little guy. I know that it is not God's heart for us to walk in fear, but I can't help but feel reassured with something as tangible as the sound of those little thuds. It is a sweet sound.

I am already in love with my little man, but my husband still comes first! He is and always will be my best friend and there is nobody that I would rather hang out with. We made the most of the day, that was nearly halfway over with all that waiting, by enjoying a lunch out together.

Hears a little peek of our guy (pun intended)...

I don't like the audio file made it sound choppy...not quite as good as the real thing to be sure.

Little Pumpkin

Our Saturday found us at 15 weeks growing our little pumpkin! It is becoming more and more real. On Wednesday, October 3 at 14 weeks and 4 days we got to see the baby! A friend of ours allowed us into an office she works in after hours to have an ultrasound. She let me know that our family could join us. I let my fam know. I told Robyn that we would have a "small crowd". I drove up to the doctors office to see my family and a few friends gathered on the sidewalk. I felt like a celebrity! All 11 of us, Robyn smiled and said she was setting a new record, crammed into the dark room with a big screen. It was a party.

The real party started when we saw the baby on the screen. Hi baby! I couldn't believe how much movement! My mom has mentioned that when you have an ultrasound later on in the pregnancy the baby doesn't have as much room to move about. At the stage I am at, it looked as if the baby was just chillin' with plenty of room to hang! We were falling in love more and more, all of us, as 5 perfect little fingers waved at us, four visible chambers of the heart beat wildly for our eyes to see and we may even have a Texas A&M fan on our hands as our pumpkin did a thumbs up "gig 'em" Aggies! I was just crying and crying. Sweet baby!

A pumpkin about the size of our guy at 15 weeks

Going into the ultrasound, I didn't have my hopes up too high. I didn't know how clear the image would be. I was so overwhelmed by the treat it was to spend so much time looking at our baby. Robyn took her time with us and at one point, she became determined to answer one question...boy or girl? We could not get this baby to face the right way or get into the right position! She had me get up and walk around the office and have some sugar. Everyone told me to do cartwheels! They were anxious to find out! I was excited to find out too, but I promise you I would have been just as content walking out of there without knowing. I was so happy to see what is going on in there. Still not quite showing my pregnancy at all, I find myself in awe that we are even pregnant at all. It is a true blessing.

 I got back up on the table and we went to work. Robyn is a pro! She has been doing this for over 30 years and it really is a gift! Eventually, my dad thought he saw something on the monitor and kind of freaked out. "What was that?!" He said and pointed. Robyn wasn't quite sure so she kept looking. Then, hello! We got a perfect view. Christian was a little uncomfortable about such talk and pictures taken of his son's manhood. But, it was just so cute and obvious!

We are having a boy! Names? He already has one! I look forward to sharing more about his name in a later post.

We are all so thrilled. I am blown away. With is being just a 50/50 chance, being boy or girl, you wouldn't believe how huge it is to find out. It just makes is so real. So, more about our little guy. He just has the sweetest little profile. He is busy kicking little legs and moving his arms all about and sucking his thumb. I saw. Robyn said that only the most content babies suck their thumbs. He seems to be quite comfortable there. With seeing how much he is moving around I really look forward to feeling him. At 15 weeks, he is about 4.5 inches and weighs between 2-3 ounces.

We had a wild weekend with "the kids". Its practice for us y'all. Practice. Our little sister Maddie Kate stayed at our house overnight. She has been begging my parents to let her have a sleepover with "Coco" and Lindsey. This 5-year-old is busy! She definitely keeps us on our toes. Christian remarked that he is glad we are getting to start our family young...while we still have the energy! We loaded up Christian's Scion with two teenaged girls, MK and Drew. Crammed tight, we headed to Burt's pumpkin patch in North Georgia. We had fun taking pictures and eating yummy pumpkin treats and going on the hayride. It was a glorious day weather-wise and the air was breezy and smelled of pumpkins sitting in the sun. Our group was a little on the diverse side, but we did well and made it to and from North Georgia safely and without killing each other. Barely. Just telling the truth y'all!

Oh Happy Day

God's favor shone down on me when I checked my email yesterday afternoon. All weekend I have been working on some crazy nutty math assignments that were due by my class this morning. It. Was. Torture. But glory, glory I checked my inbox and opened an email from my math professor saying that our THREE HOUR face-to-face class would be cancelled Monday. Oh happy day! Sweet words to read right there!

My week will now have a more pleasant start. Instead of sitting through a three hour math class this morning, I got to do my bible study, go for a walk, keep down eat a nutritious breakfast. It has been lovely.

Have you seen the show Duck Dynasty on A&E?  Christian and I don't have cable, but literally some of the fun we had this summer was getting to watch the episodes on the On Demand section of my parent's television. So funny. I love this family living in West Monroe, Louisiana that made a great living patenting duck calls and other hunting related items. They are rooted in their Christian faith, they raise their boys to be gentlemen and they all have a slap stick funny sense of humor. I discovered this little bit shared on Facebook this morning by a friend.

I don't know about you, but this week, I am taking Uncle Si's advice to heart. As an exhausted, pregnant lady I plan on enjoying my week the the best of my ability. I will work hard and I will nap.

Enjoy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSUAXYtJYCg&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Favorite Things {Fri}

Christian hangs out with a group of high school guys every other Friday afternoon at our old high school. I tagged along and had some fun catching up with a good teacher friend once her classes were finished for the day. It is so weird to be "grown up" now and be friends with my former teachers...not to mention I actually have my high school principal as a mother-in-law! It is awesome. They poured into me a lot during those years and they still do! It's nice to know people that know me well.

Afterwards we hopped over to the Homegoods and had some fun browsing around. My husband will shop with me and I like to think that he has a pretty good time doing it too. See how goofy? He is my favorite thing for Friday and while we didn't come home with the giant bowl and spoon (Christian wanted to use them for his cereal) we did pick out some cool baskets to collect papers and such in the office. Christian said we should put labels in the little slots that say "Lindsey's Stuff" and "Christian's Crap." Indeed, our newly decorated office has become a dumping ground for all of our school stuff (especially Christian's giant engineering textbooks). I will be sure to tidy up before I take you all on a tour soon. Happy Friday! Don't forget to think about your favorite things and to count your blessings!

Hi Baby

It was so nice to just be able to get our news out this weekend and be able to celebrate! We have been blessed by many, sweet comments that friends and family have made. This is a little life! Definitely worth getting excited about!

My mom personalized this frame for me. It hold our first "picture" of the baby.

I often don't "feel" pregnant, but the nausea, food aversions and exhaustion remind me. I am a girl that likes to keep moving (and eating) constantly so it has be difficult for me to slow down a bit. I keep upsetting my stomach by eating too quickly or too much in the morning. I can't help it, I love breakfast foods! When I am taking care of myself and letting Christian take care of me I feel much better. I have even been able to keep up the exercise I enjoy like walking my neighborhood or riding my bike.

Every once and awhile I find myself talking to myself or the baby. Just to remind myself that he/she is there I say, "Hi baby." It has been a sweet time to realize that God has placed this little life inside of me. Even now I get the opportunity to care for this child and to pray for him or her.

This frame holds our little saying. "Night night big baby, night night little baby."

My mom has ministered to me and acknowledged this little life by telling me goodnight each evening by saying, "Night night big baby, night night little baby." I have always been and will always be my mom's big baby. When I told my little sister Maddie that I was expecting a baby; that I was going to be a mommy, she said pointing at my mom, "Silly goose! That's the mommy!" Its hard to belie
ve myself that I will be a mommy soon, but I am thankful for a wonderful mother that has always been the best role model to me in her ministry to her husband, her children and to all the other people God has placed in her life.

I have much to be thankful for!

Wednesdays are nice days for me in the middle of my week. I do not have classes with my program so it gives me a chance to write, to visit with friends and to catch up on assignments. Today, I am going to enjoy my first pumpkin bagel of the fall at Einsteins before I pick up Maddie from preschool. I am obsessed with everything pumpkin and of course I have an even greater adoration for my sisters! It should be a fun afternoon.Tonight, I am starting a book study at church with other newly married ladies and some mommies-to-be in the mix as well. I am really looking forward to all the Lord has to teach me in this new season of life. It is going to be good for me.

My Prayer for Baby Today 

Our Sweet Gift

Maybe, just maybe you have seen our big announcement on Facebook. I’m guessing that you felt that you should hop on over here to the blog to find out more about our little gift. 

We got one last wedding gift at our door today! Yippee! We have been receiving boxes that look like this for months and months surrounding our wedding day. They have always been a welcome sight and we have been so beyond blessed and have felt so loved opening each one. In addition to all the wonderful wedding gifts people have given us, God has chosen to bless us with a gift that is much more extravagant than what we have received from our friends and family. It is a gift that you can’t register for at Crate and Barrel, but I sure am glad that God has entrusted us with this amazing little blessing. There’s a little Maiocco due in early April 2013!

This truly is a gift; to be pregnant. This is a gift that I am willing to admit is not one that Christian and I thought we would be receiving anytime soon. What is true is that we realize and believe that God knows the deepest desires of our hearts. So much so that he knows the desires we have even before we know them ourselves. God has taught this to me before through Psalm 37:4, “Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” Never has that lesson been truer and real to me than now. 

Christian looks at me lately and just says, “I love this!”

Soon after becoming engaged people began asking about when we think we would like to have a baby. Unbeknownst to me Christian had replied several times, “We’ll probably wait a year.” Since we found out about our little gift he has remarked, “Well, I guess it has been a year since I had said that!”

We have had just the sweetest weekend. We are so glad to end it with getting to share our fun news. Here is a list of some of our blessings and some of the details. I really love lists these days and I am sure that I will probably keep up the habit as we prepare for the arrival of our little guy. Yes, sorry to spoil it for you, but it has been “decided” that our firstborn will be a boy. Both mamas and multiple siblings are absolutely sure of it. That has to mean something, right? We are joyfully and prayerfully anticipating the arrival of the future man after God’s own heart, mover/shaker/defender of the Gospel that I might be carrying. Who knows though? God could choose to surprise us with a bold and beautiful princess that will someday change the world. God seems to like surprises. We do too. We wouldn’t have things any other way.

·          

• Verses that we love and are claiming right now…

Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out;
      you formed me in my mother's womb.
   I thank you, High God—you're breathtaking!
      Body and soul, I am marvelously made!
      I worship in adoration—what a creation!
   You know me inside and out,
      you know every bone in my body;
   You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit,
      how I was sculpted from nothing into something.
   Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth;
      all the stages of my life were spread out before you,
   The days of my life all prepared
      before I'd even lived one day. ~Psalm 139:13-16 The Message

Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity. ~1 Timothy 4:12

He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured. ~Colossians 4:12

•   I have gotten to have two appointments getting to check out our growing baby. My doctors are going back and forth with a due date and are saying that I am around 10 weeks. It was shocking to find out at first and it took awhile to let the news settle in, but once I saw that little baby safe and growing and little heart beating and being just 1.17 cm long that first ultrasound….I believed. Okay, I finally believed that I was pregnant. It was settling in for Christian too. We were in awe.

•   It has been so sweet getting to tell our families. We know that God is celebrating this life he has created and it was fun to finally be able to celebrate with others! Everyone is so excited!

• For one, this child will be SO LOVED! Secondly, this child will be SO confused growing up because he is going to have SO many aunts and uncles! In addition to our seven siblings, we have many dear friends that are already accepting the role of honorary aunt or uncle. I’ve got two words for you. Spoiled. Rotten.

• One neat God-thing through these past few months is that as we told people, we found that they “already knew” in some way or another. One friend we called said that her son, Tylor, had come to her a few weeks before and told her that we were pregnant. He had a very clear dream where he had a conversation with Christian saying that we were going to have a baby. I received a text from a godly “mama” in my life saying that God had impressed upon her to pray for Christian and I. It was the night that we had told my parents. Another sweet friend I called said that she had a dream a few nights ago that I was pregnant. She had been debating on whether to call me or not to find out if it was true. When I told her about Tylor who had also had the dream she exclaimed, “Lindsey! You may not be ready to announce your news to everybody, but God is already telling people!” It has been just plain cool to be brought so many forms of encouragement over the past weeks. It can only be explained as our great God who is so intimately involved in the details.

• We are thankful.

A theme throughout our relationship has been adventure. While we dated we enjoyed going on various “adventures” together. We still love getting in the car and traveling some place new. In getting married we especially felt a sense of adventure in not knowing exactly what God would be calling us to in the next few years. We were okay with that; not knowing. We simply knew that whatever the Lord called us to do we would be ready and willing. Little did either of us know that this would be the first big adventure we get to embark on together. A baby. Parenthood. What a calling! What could be more of an adventure than that?

We know that God’s plans are so much higher and greater than our own. We know that his plans are so much better than anything that we could ever in a million years come up with. I know that especially when we get to hold that sweet baby we will not be able to imagine life any other way! With our blessing on the way, we would ask that you would please be praying for us. Please pray that we would draw even closer to the Lord and each other; that are marriage would grow stronger every day. Pray also that we would experience the joy of the Lord in a special way during this time. We are especially thankful for the family and community that Christ has placed around us to lift us up!

A Few of My Favorite Things {FRI}

Ahhh. I've made it to Friday. This has been the second full week since I started back to school and it has been quite an adventure.  I am in a classroom at a local elementary school one morning a week. I am with kindergarteners. It is so interesting because out of 20 students in the class about 17 of them are English language learning. They look at me with their big brown eyes and talk to me in Spanish. Solo hablo un poco de espanol. Sorry. Think about it though, most of these babies (they are so little) have had no preschool experience. This is their first experience in school and before this, they have only been at home with their moms and dads who speak only Spanish in the home. They have a lot to learn, but in just one week I see how they are catching on to what is expected of them in the classroom. I've been learning a lot too. Learning things like that hand sanitizer and wipes will be my best friends this semester. Already after one week in the schools I came down with a horrible cold. When I got to class on Monday with my peers after recovering over the weekend almost everyone of us was sneezing! Okay, so we have a huge learning curve, but we are all staying really positive. These are a few of my favorite things in the past few weeks...

•  The elementary schools that I am spending my days in are just 4 miles from my house
• The college that my brother is attending for dual enrollment is really close to our little house too! He blessed us the other day by dropping by and blowing the leaves out of our yard.
•  Dinnertime. Christian works during the day and has to go finish up his senior year classes mostly in the evening. I enjoy our dinner times together when he gets to come home for a bit.
• The ability to drop by my family's home. When I am home alone and bored I just have to hop in the car to drive fifteen minutes to house that is never lacking in commotion and joy.
• A small house. I have been trying to get into a cleaning schedule that works for us and it has been pretty managable so far.

These are a few of my favorite things in my home.As a wedding gift I received this set of three adorable tea towels from Anthropologie. They were from my best friend and they were the sweetest things to open up at my shower. Everyone had a fit over them and passed them around the room. The first one says They fell in love, the next says They got married, and the third says They lived happily ever after. I love the birds the towels feature. Each embroidered tea towel has one of the phrases along with a cute little scene stitched in. My mom's favorite in the last one that has the little house with the mama and daddy bird with their (little) brood of babies. At my shower my mom yelled out, "There are six babies! There are six! It's a sign!" You can probably guess that my momma is looking forward to grand babies. Everyone, you might as well go ahead and start placing bets on how many kiddos we'll have one day. My mom will smile on you if you pick the higher numbers. : )

Well, as you can see, I didn't resort to simply hanging these tea towels on the side of the sink or near the oven and you would most definitely never catch me wiping my hands on them. My personal designer, my amazing mother, helped transform the towels into curtains for over my kitchen sink and the other one was made into a little curtain on our kitchen door's window. I love seeing them everyday and am reminded of just how sweet life is. They are a few of my favorite things in my home. They just make me smile. 

New Things

This week has been the start to the new semester for me and my husband. So many new things! This stage of life in college has taught me a lot about seasons and how they come and go. I love how college is broken down into semesters. I can often look back at each semester and be able to pinpoint a theme or a particular lesson that the Lord was teaching me during that time. Life is so short and the bible says,

Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that." (James 4:13-15 NIV)

We should live everyday with purpose and in such a way that looks to do God's will wherever he might have you. Whether it be sitting in a cubicle at an office job or beginning a new program in school you can be certain that God wants to be apart; playing an active role in your life.

I felt nervous, yet excited on friday going to attend the big orientation for my new semester. I anticipate each new season or semester because I have seen all the things God has done to work on me during previous ones. I have grown up so much and I have been taught far more by walking with the Lord than by any university professor I've ever had. I go into this new and challenging semester with a heart thats ready and willing to be changed and taught. And I know this for certain...it is never how I think that it will be. It's always better. Maybe not easier, but better. Better because I know that my God is in control and that he knows me better than I know myself. He is so sovereign.

DIY Project - Bathroom Closet

I saw this idea on the blog Young House Love a while back and knew that this was exactly what I wanted to do with the linen closet in our main bathroom. I've never had a bathroom lacking counter tops (we have a pedestal sink) so I liked the idea of having baskets filled with our bathroom stuff within reach.

I was mostly excited about painting in inside of the closet a color. I picked a great green and got my chance to start the painting project last night when Christian had to attend his first class. I stayed busy painting nonstop until he came to rescue me and help finish up. It was definitely a bigger job than I thought it would be. Lots of nooks and crannies!

Christian and I have lots of big adventures coming up including getting into a new pace of life with school starting back up. We have had a blissful summer with Christian getting to work full-time while I nannied for a sweet little guy and finished up a summer class. We got to spend a lot of time with our families and essentially got to "play house". Although it is beginning to set in that this is real life. Together. We are very blessed.

Here are some before and afters of our bathroom shelves. One thing that the couple from Young House Love did was even pried out the door jam erasing any sign that there used to be a door there. Christian is working on that this weekend so I guess you could say that this DIY project isn't quite complete. Though I am already pleased with the way it turned out.

We love taking care of the things that God has entrusted us with. I am overflowing with thankfulness that we have this roof over our head and the opportunity to make it into a home. We will have many more DIY projects on the way! It is going to be a great season for the newlyweds on Brookwood Drive!