Recent pics...

On Jake's birthday (after the CT scan... Yuck... no news yet as to what was found... we're hoping a brain haha :) Jake and I went to Bentonville where he drove in a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Simulator...

He actually did really well!
Then that night we went to Bikes Blues and Barbeque. This bike was interesting.. it had an '09 Chevy Corvette V8 engine in it... over 450 hp. All I can say is that it went fast. Very fast. Very quickly very fast.
We just received this gift for Emelyn today. It was such a special and unique gift that I wanted to share it with you. It is a receiving blanket that has Bible verses written on it that have been personalized with Emelyn's name. Simply beautiful!

The big 3-0!!!

Today is Jake's 30th birthday!!! Jake's mom recently sent these pictures and I just have to share. Isn't he adorable!!!

Jake - 1.5 months oldJake and his brother playing football (Jake is #11)
I usually try not to post pics of others unless they say it's okay, but Lloyd I couldn't resist this one! Still to this day, Jake STILL gets annoyed when he sees this picture because he can't beleive his brother would actually smile... "He's suppose to be an indian... doesn't he know Indians DON'T smile for pictures?!?!?" I can hear him saying this again.
Missing teeth! 7 years old
Wresting outfit

Happy birthday Jake!!! Also, today is my cousin Kassie's birthday, as well as her fiance, Jeff's. Tomorrow (26th) Jeff and Kassie are getting married. Congrats you two! We wish we could be there!!

Lazy days...

September 15th was my official last day of work. It was a bittersweet day. I absolutely loved my job and looked forward to going each day. (Don't get me wrong, there were days when I'd rather sleep in, or days when I felt I had too many other things to do, but once I was at work, I loved what I did.) For those of you that did not know, I was a financial counselor for a non-profit agency, and as you can likely imagine, we have been very busy lately. I almost felt guilty leaving since this is such a hectic time with all of the need out there. I am/was also accredited by HUD and the AARP to do Reverse Mortgage Counseling for Seniors who were interested in a reverse mortgage loan. (Seniors are required to meet with an unbiased counselor who will explain the loan to them and their alternatives before they commit to getting this type of loan.) I really enjoyed working with such a wide variety of generations every day at work. It's amazing to see the different mentality of the various generations based on events that had happened in their lifetime (wars, economic challenges, unemployment etc..)

On the other hand, this week at home has been absolutely wonderful too. I have felt much better and the majority of my swelling is down. I had lost 2 pounds at the Dr. this past week (of water - Emelyn is still growing right on schedule!) and I have ankles again! After seeing Jake off in the mornings (it's nice to be able to pack a lunch for him - when we were both working he always packed my lunch!) I have time to read the Bible without having to set a timer or limit my time. Then I usually enjoy a 30-45 minute walk around our neighborhood and usually get a call into a sister or friend during that time. Then I come home, read the paper on our front porch while eating a small snack like yogurt or an apple (I feel like I'm hungry all the time lately!) Then I am able to do laundry, cleaning, cooking, reading etc.. until Jake comes home. Since I get most things done during the day and have supper ready by the time he gets home, we are able to enjoy our evenings together. It has been so nice! Of course, I realize this will all change soon, but for now, we're enjoying each day we get.

Speaking of the baby, it looks like there may be a chance that she will come early. She has already dropped and Dr. Birch actually felt her head when she checked me Tuesday to see how close we are. We're just waiting for me to dilate past 1 (which is where we were on Tuesday.) I have to say that it's a little painful walking each morning when she starts moving. I feel like she's trying to push her way out. (Using my ribs to push off of with her feet I might add!) Such fun. I can't begin to tell you how much we can't wait to meet this little swimmer. :) She may come soon, then again she may just wait another good month, who knows! Two things I want to do this week: pack a hospital bag as well as save the hospital's number in my phone. Then again, knowing Jake, he probably already has these two things covered. :) Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend!

Preparing to be a dad

Wednesday night Alisha and I completed our 6 weeks of courses that focused on birthing. After taking the classes and learning everything the teacher had to say, I feel like we are prepared for Emelyn's arrival. We learned everything from laboring and nursing to what to expect after the baby arrives. To me this course seemed like the "last steps" before Emelyn is born.

We are in our 36th week of pregnancy and it's hard to believe that any day now Emelyn could be born. It's amazing that in a matter of hours (12-15 on average) after the water breaks we will have a new bundle of joy.

It's such a huge responsibility that God has given to us as parents. To think that God is giving us a baby to raise that will hopefully become a dicsiple of His is more important than anything in the world. The Bible says in Matthew 18:6 "But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea." I know we are not perfect and we sin every day and it's hard enough to control that sin, but if we cause our children to sin, we are basically told it would be better to die. Children are so impressionable, they mimic everything their parents do. Knowing this, I'm going to have to "be on my best behavior" all the time. The last thing I want my child to do is repeat something I said that wasn't "Christ-like". Don't get me wrong, I'm really looking forward to raising Emelyn and leading my family, but I guess I'll always wonder if I'm doing a good enough job. In light of this huge responsibility, I also know that God has clearly called me to be a dad so He must think I'm ready. Ready or not, she's coming!

Organization...

Over the weekend, Jake and I were both anxious to use our free time to organize and decorate a little. We went to Hobby Lobby and bought some unfinished wood projects (shelf, letters, and then a finished magnetic chore board that we thought could be used to post family pictures instead of chores (for now!) :) Jake is a perfectionist and did an amazing job painting everything after I picked out colors. Then we went to Bed Bath and Beyond to find something to store a few things in like bibs, receiving blankets etc... things we didn't want in the closet since we knew we'd use them often. I think we've found a place for everything now. We still have some more we'd like to do, but in the mean time, we're "ready enough."

The shelf (that I still need to fill) along with the organizer we found at BBB..

Letters painted green with little lady bugs on them (quite cute!)

..and her "chore board" ... for now we just posted some favorite verses but plan to add pics when she's born... I'm going to go back to Hobby Lobby for some more wood ladybugs to make into magnets for the board....

35 weeks and counting!

Today was the first of the ?? remaining one week appointments. We can't beleive she's almost full term! My blood pressure was still great (100/60) despite all of my swelling (as you can see in my face above and my hands a little.) We're on a weekly schedule already to watch my blood pressure. It's so exciting to know she'll be here soon.

Jake also had a Dr. appointment today. He's been having really bad headaches the last few months - something he's never had before and about a month ago he went in to our GP, found out it was allergies, received an allergy shot and antibiotics and then was great for 3 weeks or so. Well now they're back. August was the beginning of a miserable allergy season down here and it appears Jake is joining in on the fun. He has 3 more allergy Rx/antibiotics to start today and then he'll be doing a CT scan in a few weeks to check his sinuses too. This is the first fall I haven't had allergies since living here... maybe that's because I've been staying indoors most of the summer avoiding yardwork, and Jake has been outdoors doing all of it. Poor guy!

It has been absolutely beautiful here lately (one of the positives to all the allergies!) - which really just means cooler! On our meal plan for the week we started adding back in things that require more than 15 minutes in the oven. :) As I was writing out meal ideas Sunday night, Jake threw out a lot of fall favorites like chili/cinnamon rolls, breakfast casseroles etc... Ah... fall football weather! Gotta love it! I was walking with a friend today and we both commented that this weather makes us ready to get out the pumpkin spice candles and fall wreaths! Last night I made some banana bread while supper was cooking and I'm hoping to make something later this week to use a can of apple pie filling. (Earlier this week I was in an organizing mood (not sure that it was "nesting" since I still don't have Emelyn's room ready!) and I went through our cupboards to see what cans I had hiding before making out the menu/shopping list for the week... low and behold I found apple pie filling that expires in one week! Oops! I guess I'll be making an apple ring for either mine or Jake's office later this week to use it up.)

Other than this, our lives seem pretty low key. Jake and I have been enjoying our baby classes and will be done in two weeks. We've also been enjoying our evenings organizing Emelyn's room together as well as washing her clothes/blankets/bedding and buying things we're realizing we need. We'll be using everything before we know it! Until then, we're enjoying our quiet evenings together and have taken advantage of this time to go on dates and doing things with our friends. We are so thankful for the wonderful "adopted" family we have here in Arkansas - it makes it easier since our families are so far away. Hope everyone is having a good week!

Dana..

I will try to post a more detailed blog later, but didn't want to leave everyone hanging on my sister. Thank you to everyone who has asked about her and prayed for her. She has gone from an 8 hour/day restriction to 4 hours/day now and seems to be doing really good with these new hours. No more emergency room visits; she is still working a little and also isn't on complete bed rest which is nice. :) Soon we'll know what they're having if they decide to find out. We can't wait!!

Labor"less" Day Weekend

Labor Day weekend was anything but "labor". My brother came down to visit for the weekend and we had one of the most relaxing weekends ever. He arrived Friday afternoon and left early Monday morning. We didn't do a whole lot but enjoyed every minute with him. We went shopping on Saturday and Sunday so he could buy his daughter Emma some new clothes. Other than that, we stayed home and watched college football. It was nice not to be running everywhere trying to show him all the "sites" of Fayetteville. We can't wait until he comes down again, this time to meet his niece Emelyn!