part 2

To be salt and light.

Matthew 5:13-16 (Amplified Bible)

     ¹³You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste (its strength, its quality), how can its saltness be restored? It is not good for anything any longer but to be thrown out and trodden underfoot by men.

    ¹⁴You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.

    ¹⁵Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a peck measure, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house.

    ¹⁶Let your light so shine before men that they may see your  moral excellence and your praiseworthy, noble, and good deeds and recognize and honor and praise and glorify your Father Who is in heaven.

12 weeks!

How Far Along: 12 weeks!

Size of baby: Junior has doubled in size over the past two weeks and now weighs almost ½ ounce. He's also now around 2 ½ inches long, about the length of your pinky finger or a Vienna sausage, which, in a few months, will be indistinguishable from one another.

 

Total Weight Gain/Loss: none

Maternity Clothes: trying not to wear them, but I've pulled a few things out.

Gender:well... it's too early to know for sure :)

Movement: I can feel the babe roll around ever so often but not more than once a day so far. 

What I miss:feeling good!

Sleep: some nights I sleep well, others not so much.

Symptoms: Slowly coming out of the first trimester fog. Thank you Jesus!!! I have a little more energy and am only nauseous periodically instead of all day long.

Best Moment this week: Being able to start to feel little flutters even though I know it'll be weeks before I feel anything consistant.

What I am looking forward to: feeling little sweet pea move and having a baby bump instead of chub hehe

His mercies are new...

my boys

I love these two silly boys.

9 weeks

How Far Along: 9 weeks!

Size of baby: Your new resident is nearly an inch long — about the size of a grape — and weighs just a fraction of an ounce. She's starting to look more and more human. Her essential body parts are accounted for, though they'll go through plenty of fine-tuning in the coming months.

 

Total Weight Gain/Loss: none

Maternity Clothes: trying not to wear them, but I've pulled a few things out.

Gender:well... it's too early to know for sure :)

Movement: I've felt a flutter or two but not every day or even every other day. and only once or twice.

What I miss: feeling the need to lose weight.

Sleep: some nights I sleep well, others not so much.

Symptoms: I'm still exhausted. I'm not as nauseous as I was even into last week but still having some nausea everyday.

Best Moment this week: Being able to start to feel little flutters even though I know it'll be weeks before I feel anything consistant.

What I am looking forward to: feeling the babe move and feeling like the weeks aren't dragging by so slowly!

8 weeks!

I'm hoping to do one of these posts every week until I deliver...  so here goes the first!!

How Far Along: 8 weeks!

Size of baby: By now, your baby is really using his bean - his brain is developing connections and, speaking of beans, he is now about the size of a kidney bean.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: none

Maternity Clothes: trying not to wear them, but I've pulled a few things out.

Gender:well... it's too early to know for sure :)

Movement: again, too early.

What I miss: eating normally

Sleep: I get up about 3-5 times per night.

Symptoms: Extremely tired and nausea most of the day still.

Best Moment this week: Today! Reaching 8 weeks!

What I am looking forward to: March!

a lot of news...

I have been such a terrible blogger.

 There are plenty of excuses I could throw out there but truth is, I just haven't known what to blog about recently. Not a thing has felt "right". So, I've remained silent.

July was full of craziness. We were mostly busy getting ready for VBS and there was about 2 weeks where at one point or another we were all sick. We are finally getting back to normal around here. Well as normal as things can get with all the changes going on in our lives!


I'm stoked, that as of this week I am now officially going back to children's ministry! It's been a long time coming, and I wish I could share the whole journey but I just don't need to write it all out here.

By the end of this month, I  plan to be in full swing with the homeschooling as well. I still have a lot of prep work to do, so I have to get on the move with this.

This week, Derek and I celebrated our 7th anniversary! I'm so excited about the things God has in store for us this year!

And for those of you who don't already know this (though I'm sure most of you do)  We are going to welcome a new addition in our family in MARCH :)  We are super stoked about this and know that this is a huge blessing to our family. God is working indeed.

Anyhow. I leave you of a few pics of the baby giraffe I snapped this weekend while Kyley was feeding her. :)

Dragonfly

So I saw this little beauty on my candle off my front porch and thought of Courtney.

Cowboy Elijah

*disclaimer: This post was not purposefully placed right after the last one. My kids just afforded me that opportunity with their cuteness*

Cowgirl Kyley

My little cowgirl :)

Guess Who!?!?!?!?!

Guess who is now officially pap-pap free!?!?!?!?!

We've been 5 whole days without it so far and not a complaint!

A mini shoot with Kyley & Lily

So, Saturday evening we spent some time playing at my mom and dad's house since Michael & Amy and the kids are in town for a few days.

We hadn't been there long, when I heard Lily run up to Kyley and say... "Kyley! Come over here and let your mommy take a few shots of us" lol

It was too cute NOT to take them :) So here are some of my faves. :)

A boy's gotta do, what a boy's gotta do!

Apparently, Elijah was hungry.

Derek and I were out back working in the yard, and on the deck. Elijah was sleeping, and Kyley was playing outside with us. Next thing I know, I see Elijah walk across the kitchen with a bowl. Ok no problem.

I go inside a few minutes later to this.



Apparently, he was hungry. And took matters into his own hands.

Summer Fun

Last week we went to the spray ground with the kids and my niece and nephew.

This is Kyley



Elijah






We saw these people let off these balloons so I snapped a pic



Parker



My brother Michael



and my neice Lily

My girl.

I've got sunshine



On a cloudy day



When it's cold outside



I've got the month of May



I guess



You'd say



What can make me feel this way?


My girl ... My girl... My girl



Talkin bout... My girl.

No use crying over spilled milk

These pictures are from a few months ago but never got posted. I ran across them and thought they'd be a fun post :)

Take me out to the ballgame...

Elijah got to go to his first baseball game.


This was Kyley's 3rd time going to see the Biscuits (yes you read that right)



They had so much fun watching everything that went on.
They clapped with the music and enjoyed watching the "biscuit bunch" dance.


This was the view from our seats.

Pretty sweet if you ask me. A sweet friend made that possible.

And one more fun shot just because I have it.

The wild.

So, I've been MIA because we've been spending a lot of family time outside at random places, and we're having a blast :)

Yesterday, we went to my in laws to hang out with them and grill out, etc.

After lunch we took the kids to the park up the street, and we saw many "creatures" that the kids are not accustomed to seeing in the city.

Kyley exclaimed at one point... "This is so much fun being in the wild!"

Oh that child...

We've been to numerous parks, bike riding, a baseball game and played in the pool in our yard this week and the kids are having so much fun.

Here are a few pictures from "the wild"

This week after swimming in the pool in the yard.


One of the many "creatures" Kyley loved playing with.


and a bloom on the tree that covered the park we were at yesterday. Do any of you know what this is?

Making up for lost time...

Just wanted to share a few new pics of my girl...

This is what happens...

When two crazy guys celebrate a birthday at a Mexican restaurant.