Ready For Baby Ethan?

Before I answer that question, I want to thank my very talented friend Becky for the beautiful photos I've posted on here. When we booked Becky back in October for our family photo shoot, we booked her ahead of time to do a more maternity-focused photo shoot in January too. As always, Becky did not disappoint!



Yesterday we went up to Bobcat Ridge and had such a great time taking pictures with her. She's so fun to work with! Becky sent me just a few pictures as a "sneak peek" last night and I already LOVE what I've seen. I can't wait to see the rest! I just posted a few of my favorite pictures on here.

I also want to thank my friend Lindsay for making the adorable blue booties that you see in the first picture for Ethan. I can't wait to put them on his little feet. :)

I'm 30 weeks along now! Yikes- that makes meeting Ethan feel so close. As I get closer to my due date, I'm beginning to hear the "are we ready" question more and more. The answer is very much yes! and also very much no. I'll explain.

YES!- I can't wait to meet my son, to see what he looks like and to learn who he is and who God has called him to be. I can't wait to see the ways that he'll be like Elliana and in what ways he'll be different.



My body is certainly ready. I definitely feel (and look) VERY large lately. I can feel the weight taking it's toll on my body and I'm much slower to do just about anything these days. My back hurts, my hips hurt, my pelvic bone hurts, etc. I feel like a bad mom since I'm not able to be as active and run around and play with Elliana. In fact, some days I can barely handle her physically.



I love the newborn stage, at least when it's a happy baby (Elliana was almost colicky and cried a LOT! I did not enjoy that.) BUT I love the smell of newborns, their tiny fingers and toes, holding them while they sleep, and just soaking them in. I can't wait to do all of these things again with Ethan.

NO!- I still feel that we have SO much to do before Ethan arrives. We have to:
Move Ellie to a "big girl" twin bed, get the basement ready to move our office to the basement, move our office (this means guest bed, computer, computer desk, shelves, etc.), set up the crib for Ethan, get all of the "baby stuff" out again, have a shower, organize clothes, etc. etc. Whew! Lots to do!

Elliana's sleeping habits have spoiled me. She's been a good sleeper ever since about 6 months. She rarely wakes in the night unless she's sick or something else is wrong. I'm so not ready to go back to sleepless nights. Especially since I won't be able to sleep when the baby sleeps this time around.



I'm just overall anxious about the idea of juggling two kids. I've heard that the transition from one to two kids is the most difficult. I've heard people say that it doesn't double the work, it triples it! Yikes! These are the thoughts that run through my head: How will I meet both of their needs? How will I give both of them the love and attention they deserve? How will I ever sleep? How will I do all of this and be a good wife to Caleb?



I know that it's all in God's hands though and he will give me the strength, the patience, and the love I need. I'm not the first or the last mom to have a second child (or third or fourth).

I'm just hoping and praying now that God will give me the strength and the energy to carry Ethan as long as I need to so that he will be healthy, and that until that point I can cherish these last few weeks with Elliana as my only child.

I will post an update of my pregnancy stats after my Dr.'s appointment next week.

Lucky In Love

First of all, I have to thank my talented sister Jenn for another beautiful blog design! I'm really liking this new winter design, it must be tough to be so talented. :)

Right after the first of the year, I said there were a lot of things that I needed to catch up on and write about on here.

Then, this past Sunday night we met with our couples group. We've been splitting up the men and the women and the men are reading For Men Only and the women have been reading For Women Only. These have been great books that have brought about a lot of great discussions about our husbands/wives and the opposite sex.



This past week we discussed the topic of romance. This is one topic that I've always felt very lucky in. As in, Caleb is incredibly romantic and he continues to surprise me and plan things to sweep me off of my feet. Please understand, I'm not tooting my own horn here because I know that the romantic things that Caleb does for me are not a reflection of who I am, but who he is and the lengths he goes to to show how much he loves me.

I simply had to share the amazing job that Caleb did with giving me one of the best birthday surprises ever! It was seriously one of the best and most romantic nights of my life.

It started with the Thursday before Christmas. My birthday is right after Christmas and we were going to be out of state then so Caleb knew in order to plan this it would have to be done before Christmas. Anyway, the Thursday before Christmas around lunch time Caleb handed me a box and said "Happy Birthday!" He went on to tell me that I needed to go and shower (we had taken Elliana swimming that morning) and I couldn't open the box until after I was finished showering. He also said to kiss Elliana goodbye- she was sleeping in her crib. I gave him a funny look and then did what he told me to.

After showering, I opened the first box. Caleb and Elliana were already gone. There was a bite-sized Baby Ruth in the box (my favorite) and a note that explained that I was going to be going on a little scavenger hunt that would lead to more surprises. The note told me to go to the basement, pick out one of our suitcases (the note said I would know which one), bring it back upstairs and leave it on the bed. My next note would be in the suitcase.

Sure enough, I went to the basement and found a suitcase with another Baby Ruth sitting on top. I took the suitcase upstairs and read my second note. This note had the key to our safety deposit box with it and it told me to go to our safety deposit box at the bank where I would find me next clue.

So, off to the bank I went and I got into the safety deposit box. In the box was my third note and a $10 bill. The note said that my next clue would be at the Starbucks across the street and I couldn't spend the $10 until I read the next note.

With a huge grin on my face I drove across the street and walked up to the Starbucks counter to ask for my next note. Inside the note told me to buy a non-perishable dessert for us to share (we love mint-milano cookies) and a magazine. It then said to drive back home and pack one dressy outfit, one casual outfit, a swimsuit, something to sleep in, all of my toiletries, and something sexy. ;-)



I was so excited at this point! I did as the note said and Caleb was waiting for me when I got home. He didn't say much except that he was so excited, that he had been planning this for a long time, and that Elliana was safe and happy with his parents for the night. We packed up quickly and drove off.

We headed to Denver and ended up at the Hyatt near the 16th Street Mall. Caleb was a little stressed about the time and I couldn't understand why. When we arrived at the hotel, Caleb turned to me and said, "We're running a little late so you need to go straight to the spa. I scheduled a pre-natal massage for you". Let me just say that the massage was heavenly! It was just what this very prego woman needed.




After my massage we had just a few minutes to hang out in the room and check out the hotel and then Caleb said it was time to get dressed, in our dressy clothes. Because of the location of the hotel, we were able to walk everywhere we needed to be that night. We walked to Maggiano's (a very nice Italian restaurant) and had dinner there. We've had a gift card to Maggiano's for a looooong time and kept saying that we needed to use it up. The dinner was amazingly delicious. On a side note, if you ever eat there, the portions are HUGE and two people can easily share a meal.



Keep in mind that with each surprise, I didn't know what was coming next. Caleb was again a little stressed with the time and I couldn't figure out why. We walked as quickly as our legs would carry us to the Ellie Caulkins Opera House and Caleb surprised me with two tickets to The Nutcracker! Believe it or not, I had never been to The Nutcracker before. The performance was amazing, I absolutely loved it!



After The Nutcracker, we got some Starbucks and walked back to the hotel. The next morning we slept in, had a quick breakfast, and picked Elliana up from his parent's house.

So, this was by far one of the best surprises/ birthday gifts Caleb has ever given me. It was one of those nights that you don't want to end (aside from the fact that I couldn't be away from my daughter too long).

Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures from the night. I really wish I did. So I just added some of the best pictures of the two of us from throughout the year.



I just had to brag on my husband because he seriously is so thoughtful and so romantic and I feel so lucky to be his wife. No, our lives aren't perfect and neither is our relationship. We have disagreements and fights from time to time just like any other couple, but he is my best friend and I feel so loved by him and every day I'm so thankful that God brought us together.



Now, how to surprise him? I've been thinking long and hard about this one. Let me know if any of you have surprised your husband with an amazing surprise.

Our Little Snow Angel

Okay, so she's not really an angel, but she is such a cutie!

I've really been enjoying this fun little gift that I got as a birthday/christmas present from my parents-in-law:



This was one of the BIG gifts that I was really hoping I'd get this year, and I did! I'm still figuring it out, but I've had fun practicing on Elliana and taking all kinds of pictures of her lately.



It's been snowy and looking like winter around here for the last two weeks. Any time Caleb needs to go outside to shovel the walk, Elliana simply has to get all bundled up and join him outside.



She even grabs her own play shovel and "helps" him shovel the driveway and walk. It's too cute for words! I just love watching those two together.






While I don't love the freezing temperatures we've had, there's nothing more adorable than seeing your child run around in the snow all bundled up. I've said this before, but life is so much more fun through the eyes of a child. :)

Where To Begin

Oh my goodness! I can't believe it's been over two weeks since I've posted on here. I don't think I've gone that long since the beginning of this blog. I really don't know where to begin to catch myself and everyone else up on what has happened over the last 2 1/2 weeks.

I could talk about how I have the most amazing husband, and how he gave me one of the best birthday gifts ever, I could talk about how this Christmas was seriously one of the best and craziest Christmases we've ever had, I could talk about the 5 days we spent in California for a family reunion, or the fun New Years Eve we had, or... the list goes on. As you can see, the reason I haven't been on the blog for the last 2.5 weeks is that our lives have been crazy and busy, busy, busy.

Now that the holidays are over, and we are somewhat settling back into our routine, I want to get caught up on here. I do want to talk about all of those things that I listed above, and I hope to eventually, but what I really want to talk about is the exciting news that has changed our lives forever.

As most of you will recall, we waited for 6 looong weeks to find out if we will be bringing home a boy or a girl in just a few short months. I posted here about our plan on how we would find out.

So, Christmas morning, after opening our stocking gifts, Caleb, Elliana and I sat together and opened our "gender reveal" gift.

Here is what we found inside:



Yep, it's a BOY!!



I was both shocked and not shocked. I was pretty sure I saw little boy parts during our ultrasound, but the technician went on to tell me that a lot of people think they see boy parts and really it's just the umbilical chord that they see. So, I doubted what I saw. Then my Dr. had me convinced that it was a girl due to the heartrate, and about 95% of my friends and family were guessing that we were going to have another girl. So, as the weeks went on, I kept going back and forth.

Caleb is over-the-moon excited and I'm a little intimidated to be honest.

All I know is girls. I grew up with 3 sisters, and all this time that I've been a parent I've been raising a little girl. I have absolutely NO idea how to raise a boy. I'm sure I will be seeking lots of advice in the months and years to come from other moms of boys. Right now I just envision chasing two crazy active kids around the house and it makes me exhausted already. ;-)

Don't get me wrong, I feel very blessed and excited too. I can't wait to meet my little man and discover his personality too. It's getting so close, only one more week and I'm in the last trimester! :)

We are planning on naming him Ethan James. Ethan, because we love the Psalm he wrote (Psalm 89) and because his name means "Strong, firm, and steadfast". We chose the name James because that's my dad's first name. My dad raised 4 daughters and was always sad that his last name would not be passed on through us. So we decided at least his first name could be passed on through his grandson.

That's it for now. I know this is old news for most people that are friends with me on facebook or follow my sisters blogs, but I had to get this on here too before I went on to any new subjects.

Hopefully I'll be back on here soon. I hope everyone's 2011 is off to a good start!