Thankful Thursday

With the baby countdown under way (5 weeks to go!) it's becoming more and more uncomfortable. So I'm reminding myself of all the things I'm thankful for! Join me in counting your blessings today...even amidst trials.


1. Two great friends who've been helping me get my room packed, moved, unpacked, and set up. Without them, I probably would have already had Nate that's for sure!


2. A GREAT night's sleep! No leg cramps, no potty breaks, no contractions. It felt awesome! Thank you Lord for granting me the rest I so desperately needed.


3. My baby "sprinkle" coming up this Saturday. Mexican pot luck, couples game night...what else could be more fun?!?!


4. Getting to see Jared for a little while on Tuesday. He's been at GA Camp all week as their camp pastor and I've been missing him like crazy! I went for a visit on Tuesday, but I still can't wait for him to come home tomorrow. Our house is just not the same without him.


5. Dinner with friends last night. Love that God has blessed us with such amazing friends. I also love that Nate was wide awake and moving for them to feel! :)


I challenge you to think about and let others know what you're thankful for. It's really easy to get in a funk or to go through difficult times and not be able to see God's blessings all around. STOP and THINK right now of one thing to be thankful for today and share that blessing with someone. You never know....your perspective might be the only God-glorifying thing someone hears/sees today.

~Elizabeth

Nate update/random ramblings

One of the biggest questions I get about being pregnant (after the whole...go through the heat of the summer business) is "Is Sam ready to be a big brother?". And I always respond the same way..."He doesn't know what's about to hit him!" It's true. He has no clue what Nate means. He knows that Nate is in Momma's tummy, but he also thinks that Nate is in his tummy, and Daddy's tummy, and a lady from our church's tummy too! It's been really sweet here lately because my belly is getting SOOOO big and at random times Sam will come up and give Nate a gentle kiss or he'll say "tickle tickle tickle" and tickle my belly. He's just now starting to realize how to be easy and gentle and it just melts my heart. In my head I wonder...what does he really understand? There's no way he could possibly fathom a baby growing in my belly. But I wonder, what is he going to think when he meets Nate for the first time? He is going to think to himself..."THIS is Nate???? Boy did I have it all wrong!" Haha. I kid around, but at the same time I'm serious. We've got seven weeks left to get into gear as I've been telling myself and it just doesn't seem real. Summer is completely flying by and before you know it, the school year will start back up again. Ugh. Not ready for that, but I know with a new year comes a new baby! I'm so ready. I can't even begin to explain how ready I am. I just wonder if Sam is too.

Goals for the Week:

I'm hoping that by posting my goals for the week that it will increase my chances of them actually being accomplished so here goes:

1. Clean out spare bedroom closet/get Sam moved into new room. We've really been talking it up with him and we got the new mattress delivered today. Every time he walks by it he says "big bed". Fingers crossed he loves his new room/bed.

2. Get a pedicure. :) I've had a gift certificate since two weeks before my last day of school from one of my students and I have yet to use it. Jared's day off is on Thursday and EVERY Thursday since we've been out for summer we've had doctor's appointments or something. I'm looking forward to some mommy time ALONE. :) Can you tell I'm excited????

3. Practice making Sam's birthday cake...again. I made a trial run cake on July 4th and while it tasted GREAT, it looked awful. I'm attempting to make a baseball cake and it keeps sticking to the pan. I put plenty of shortening inside but no such luck. Any ideas or suggestions would be most appreciated.

4. Print out Sam's bday invitations. My amazing husband created invitations based on what I saw a lady selling them on etsy design. I told him how she could make them for us and he said "oh I can do that". And what do ya know??? He did! He's very creative when it comes to computer stuff...and that saved us a lot of cash too so we're both happy. :)


Well....happy goal meeting! Good luck with your goals for the week! Hopefully both of ours will get done

It's been a while...

It's been a while since I blogged last, but for good reason! Sam and I have been quite busy with each other lately. Lake days? No. Shopping? No. Just hanging out around the house and trying to stay cool that's all. He's kinda thrown his Momma & Daddy a curve ball since transitioning into a toddler bed. No more sleeping until 8 am anymore. He wakes up at least once a night and his new wake up time is anywhere from 6-7 am....sometimes earlier. So needless to say this summer dream of sleeping late has faded fast. But tomorrow we get his big mattress delivered and I think that should help his sleep habits more. He did great sleeping at my dad's house on their full size mattress so I'm hoping that this transition will help. We'll also been getting him new bedding and redoing his room (everything but paint thankfully). I can't wait to get it all fixed up and then move on to Nate's nursery. Crazy how everything is happening so fast! I'm ready though....We went this past week for Sam's ear checkup and for my regular checkup and 3d ultrasound. What a day that was! Sam's hearing is now ABOVE normal (praise the Lord!) and baby Nate is weighing in at 3 lbs. 12 oz so far! I started having some contractions this past week and have been pretty miserable since. It's getting harder for me to sleep or should I say fall asleep and stay asleep. My legs are cramping up a lot this go round, which didn't happen with Sam at all, and I wake up listening for Sam to be up and about. So overall...sleep isn't great with me right now. We put a safety lock on the door so Sam couldn't get out of his room at night, but the little stinker has already figured it out. He does pretty good most of the time about not getting out of bed. When he wakes up in the mornings he'll either come in our room (and we put him back in bed) or he'll knock on his door until someone comes to get him. Either way, whenever he leaves his room he ALWAYS shuts the door behind him! Jared and I were laughing about that yesterday bc we don't really know where he picked that up from except that we close doors to keep him out of our room I guess. He's growing up so fast and becoming so silly everyday. In fact, a friend from church has taught him to refer to himself as Silly Sam. I think the title fits him to a t. I think that's about it for us....we've just been relaxing at home. I've gone up to the school a couple of times and gotten most of the stuff moved out of my classroom and into my new one, but I can't work anymore this week bc the school is closed. After that I hope to get my room set up and work on writing some mini lessons to teach writing in fourth grade (I had already done 1-3rd 6 wks for third grade before they told me I was moving grades). I'm getting more okay with teaching a new grade, however the anxiety of teaching two tested subjects is a little bit scary for me....especially since it's a new test that I don't know much about. I know that it's going to be a different kind of year for me taking eight weeks off for maternity leave then coming back full swing, but I'm excited at the chance to do something new and different. Teaching never gets boring that's for sure!

Anyway, I hope all of you are enjoying your summer...whether you have it off of work or just a little vacation time!