Yummy Goodness

Day 3 of sequential blogging. I may be getting better at this! Anyway today I had Noodles and Company for lunch oh my goodness ya'll, sooo good! I discovered it while with child. Get the Wisconsin Mac and Cheese with Parmesan Chicken mmmmmm! It is probably THE WORST thing on the menu to get but totally worth it. They also have a cucumber and tomato salad. Awesome! Anyway, thought I'd share!

Birth Announcement

Here is the birth announcement. I worked with Jamie at Wee Little Designs and I loved the results. She is awesome to work with and has lots of creative ideas. Thanks Jamie! You can also check out her blog here.

We Turned 4!

Well, life has been great so far. Miss Adeline is still an easy baby and very good natured. She is finally gaining weight. It took going to a GI doctor to get her there but we are on the right track. Right before Christmas we took her in to her pediatrician just to be weighed and she hadn't gained much. The doctor was concerned and sent us to the GI the next day, delaying our trip home a day. The GI sent us to do a sweat test for Cystic Fibrosis. It came back negative. This was the 3rd time a screening was done. I had a test done when I was pregnant, Adeline had one in the hospital as part of a newborn screening, and then this one. They were all negative. The GI had us start adding extra formula to what we were already giving her. Leaving the amount the same but, adding extra powder. This increased her calories per serving and did the trick. We went back exactly 2 weeks later and Adeline had gained 2 1/2 pounds! She has continued to gain and she goes Saturday for her 3 month check-up. I am anxious to see how much she weighs now! The child has rolls on her legs!

We celebrated 4 years on December 13th. We had someone watch Adeline for the first time and we went to dinner at The Melting Pot. It was amazing! Neither of us had ever been before and we are both wanting to go back again! While we were eating, Phillip told me that he has been accepted into the ThM program! So he is starting to take classes this semester to get a head start. Also, he told me what he got me for our anniversary because it hadn't been delivered yet! He got me cashmere! Gloves and a hat to go with the new coat he got me for my birthday! Then during dessert, he gave me an envelope. When I opened it there was a piece of paper folded in half that said "Open for your surprise...", when I opened it there was a picture of the Nashville skyline. He gave me Nashville! We're going home!!!! He is able to do his ThM distance so we get to be home and still have him be in school! I cried right there at the table. I was so excited. Totally unexpected but totally accepted!

That's all for now. We seriously don't have anything going on worth blogging about. I don't want to bore you! Until next time....

Sorry Ya'll!

So, it's been over 2 months since I posted last. I am so completely bad at this. Baby shower #2 was great. I got to see lots of family, you know the kind you only see once a year if you're lucky. I was given 2 special things at this shower: Phillip's baby blanket and a dress that was mine that will fit the baby at the same time I wore it. We went to the Alabama/ Vandy football game and had AMAZING seats. We had given Phillip's grandfather tickets MONTHS before for his birthday and we finally got to go. They won which was great. It was really humid and I was 9 months pregnant at this point so when it started raining I was a pretty happy girl. It was awesome! Not much has happened since then except..... we welcomed Katherine Adeline into this big bad world on October 20th (I have to brag that this was her due date) at 1:23 pm. She weighed in at 7 pounds, 7 ounces and was 21 inches long. God was so good to us through the whole thing. My dad got to the hospital literally minutes before I was able to start pushing, the rest of the family was already there and patiently (and eagerly) waiting for her arrival. Once I started pushing we lost her heartbeat, which was pretty scary. Phillip said they had the tools out ready to do a c- section (I'm so glad they didn't!). This happened every time after that when I pushed. After about 8 minutes of pushing, with the help of forceps, she arrived safely with her cord wrapped around her precious little neck. But she is happy and healthy and as the nurses put it, "darn near perfect". The funny part about the whole delivery is that my brother in law, Mark, was at the Alabama/ Tennessee game and was text messaging score updates. Phillip had predicted a few weeks before that she would be born at halftime so not long into halftime, she arrived! I married a prophet (ha ha).

We have now had miss Adeline in our lives for 4 weeks and can't remember life without her. She is amazing and makes us unbelievably happy. She sleeps all night (8 hours) and has been since about the 2nd week. We are truly blessed to be getting sleep! And I have finally figured out how to post pictures so I will leave you with these:

Baby Shower #1

Well, my time being pregnant is winding up. This past weekend we went home to Nashville for a baby shower. This one was given by my sweet mother in law. She put lots of hard work and thought into this day and it totally showed. It was awesome! There were so many special things: the table centerpiece was made by Phillip's aunt with some flowers from her yard and the container they were in had one of my baby pictures in it, she had put a framed picture of me in the entry with ribbon and a decoration from her baby shower with Phillip, and she had a small ceramic cradle someone had given her with Phillip and it had dried flowers in it from our wedding. So much meaning. We had a really good turn out, more than expected, and ended up with so much stuff! I was just excited to see so many people that I love all in one place!

We also celebrated Mark's birthday. It was great to see him. We don't see him often with us up here and him away at college and working in Georgia. But it was great! We're going back this weekend for my last trip. We have lots of stuff planned, so I'll have more to write about.

To Live is Christ

My sweet, amazing, God fearing and loving husband preached on this today. Very convicting. He spoke about the things that define us and how they change. Like right now, the baby defines him. He thinks about her and what life will be like with her all of the time. Paul says, "To live is Christ and to die is gain". Christ defines Paul. Whoa. Does Christ define me? That was a hard pill to swallow. How I desire for Christ to define me. Phillip asked the residents at the nursing home where he was preaching if they are afraid to die. Most of them said no but I suspect that they are a little afraid. I realized that I am not. I am afraid of how I might die but I am not afraid of dying and it is because Christ is on the other side of death. So it seems that i have the last part of the verse down but the first got me. He also talked about how we can't desire Christ and what's to come if we haven't tasted Him. "Taste and see that the Lord is good". We cannot desire what we have not tasted. He pointed out that Paul is living out the 2 greatest commandments: 1) Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and 2) Love your neighbor as yourself. He is living for Christ and desiring to be with Him and he is living because he loves his neighbors. Paul got it. He loved Christ with all that he had and Christ defined him. John Piper's spin on this verse is, "To live is Christ and to die is more Christ". Love it. If Christ is what you desire and what defines you then you lose nothing in death. "O death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory?"



I'll leave you with this question: What defines you?

Update

It's been awhile. We are still alive. Nothing major has happened. We did move to a much bigger space two weeks ago. This weekend, Phillip's parents were here. We painted the nursery (we have one!!) and they brought the crib up and helped assemble it. It's very strange to walk into that room now and see paint and a crib and changing table. A baby will be living there soon. 9 weeks soon. We are now down to single numbered weeks. We started at 40 and now we are facing 9 weeks until my due date. I have a sneaking suspicion that I'll go early. I really don't think she's going to wait 9 more weeks. Weird. Exciting. I am so ready! It's in the 100s here. Very hot. Not very comfortable. At all. But pregnancy is still awesome. Sickness and stretching and extreme fatigue and back pain, still all worth it.



My dad called yesterday and said that my sweet grandmother is in the hospital. She has been there since Wednesday night and still has a few more days. They don't really know what's wrong. At first they said it was a light stroke. Now they're not sure. She is in physical therapy and is walking with a cane. It hurts my heart to imagine her in pain and helpless. Honestly, I am surprised that she has been as independent as she is. My grandfather died in 1997 after they had celebrated 50 years of marriage. I really didn't think she'd make it on her own. She has survived on her own for 10 years. I worry about her a lot. things like who is going to know if something happenes to her. About a month ago, she fell. But she called my aunt and uncle and they got her taken care of. And now this. Living away from home has shown me how old our grandparents are getting. It's hard to see. I think being near them and seeing them a lot before we moved blinded us to this hard fact. I just don't want to be spending their last years a long way away. I'm ready to be home.



My sister has had some drama. I won't go into detail but she is making some bad decisions. I don't know what the deal is or what is influencing her but it needs to go away. She is 18. I want her to make something of her life. But I'm worried that she is heading nowhere. But I have to suport her and love her no matter what she does, if I approve of it or not. She is my sister. Her situations have shown me what we are like outside of Christ. Our sin nature is huge. We cannot do anything worth anything without Him. Sin is ugly and makes us do ugly things.

On a happier note, we have an ultrasound tomorrow. It's an ultrasound that I have looked forward to since I was made aware that these were possible. It's in 4-D. We will be able to physically see her and what she looks like before she actually arrives! I'm so excited! I'm also curious to watch her move around and kick just to see how she is actually laying. I feel her all over, rolling and kicking or punching in different spots. Technology is amazing. I'm so thankful for it. Maybe seeing her will help us decide what in the world to name her......