Waiting...

We are now only ONE week away from baby girl's due date. And it's official- we are going to name her Charlotte! We are still deciding on her middle name, but more on that later...
The past three weeks my doctors have consistently told me that she would be coming "soon, and quick," due to how fast Abby's delivery was (4 1/2 hours!!), and how much I have already "progressed." Not helpful. There is still so much unknown, and it has been a really different experience for me to wait to go into labor. With Abby I got to pick the date and the doctor and though I didn't know what to expect with labor, I knew I would at least be able to be fresh and showered and have my bags packed before she arrived. This time around I wake up every morning wondering "will today be the day?" And each night when I climb into bed I think "tonight is the night!!" Yeah, this is how most people have babies, I know. It's just new for me. What makes it even more fun is thinking about what it would be like to go into labor during the day, by myself, with Abby underfoot. During a temper tantrum. And a dirty diaper. See where my mind goes?
Anyways, in the meantime, while we wait, I have been getting everything ready- washing and folding clothes, burp cloths, and blankets, getting her bassinet all set up, making lists... I have also been really enjoying each extra day I have with Abby, trying to spend some extra moments reading together, having tea parties, coloring, singing, or whatever she wants to do- because I know that my attention is going to be divided once Charlotte comes. It will be good for her, but also hard. So I've been getting some extra snuggles in whenever she lets me.

Here are some shots of my 39-week belly that Andy took of me the other day.







And a few from this past weekend, we went to First Landing State Park to walk and enjoy the nice sunshine.







Hopefully our next post will be of our new addition....

In Abby's words, "come on, Sha-wit!! No more cookin!" (she says that Charlotte is "cookin" right now... haha)

Longest post ever!!

Since soon enough the pages of this blog will be filled with new baby pics, I figured it high time to do a big post on things we have been up to, with lots of photos of Abby for her faithful followers (aka the grandparentals...)
So cozy on up cause it's a long one!!!

The other day the lighting was so good outside and Abby had on this adorable fleece my aunt Carole gave her for Christmas, so I thought I'de try to capture a few good shots of her. I like what came out.

I saw this one and immediately was struck by how old she looks!! She is SUCH a little girl now, and not my "baby" anymore. Although, I still call her my baby from time to time- I'm not quite ready to let go of all her "babyness" yet...

My favorite smile


Abby has been pretty obsessed with "pody tails" lately. She loves me to put her hair into one, but will only leave it in for a little while. If I have my hair up she likes to play with it, and when she sees other girls with pony tails she always points them out. I love that she is starting to take more of an interest in her hair, it's so fun!



This is what greets me every morning- a big smile, Bear Bear, and crazy messy hair. She has the CRAZYEST bed head I have ever seen. This picture doesn't do justice! I have to comb all the knots out every morning which she loves... (not)...

Abby still loves to dance, and her favorite dance partner is Andy. We are all about spontaneous dance parties in this house.

...and air guitar, apparently...



Abby's favorite shoes lately are a pair of black New Balance sneakers that one of my JMU girls gave me at my baby shower for her. They finally fit her, and she loves them!! I have to say they look pretty darn cool.



We have been really into tea parties lately. Uncle Chris gave Abby this awesome wooden tea set for her birthday, and she loves it and asks for it almost every day! We spread a blanket out on her bedroom floor and invite some of her "friends" over for tea. It's so fun to watch her imagination grow so much every day!!





What crazy snow we had last month!!! We didn't get as much as the rest of Virginia, but we did get a little and tried to take Abby out into it...

...but she hated it!!

It may have had something to do with the fact that it was an hour past her naptime and she was exhausted, she was wearing rain boots and so her feet could feel how cold the deep snow was, and it was so bright out and she HATES it when its bright out (she inherited my sensitive eyes!)... oh well there's always next year.


For Valentines Day (I know, forever ago, right?) Abby and I melted crayons down to turn this...


...into these!!!


And though its almost Easter, they are still hanging, and probably will be for quite a while. I think you can stretch out decorations like these longer than Christmas decos, right?....


One of my FAVORITE times of the day is when Andy gets home. It's always the craziest time of day as I am trying to finish making dinner and get it on the table, and Abby is tired and hungry and at the height of her crabby-ness. But he is so great about jumping right in and playing with Abby to keep her occupied and happy until dinner is ready. They have such a good time together and always end up in a tickle fight at some point. She loves it, and I delight in hearing her little giggles and squeals as she plays with her Daddy. It reminds me of all the wrestling matches my brothers and I got into with my Dad.




Last month we had the pleasure of traveling to Hendersonville, NC, to visit our dear friends the Weymouth's. It was an adventure getting there, we had to pull over and stay in a hotel the first night because it was snowing so bad, but once we arrived we had a wonderful weekend of watching our two girls play together, watching the Olympics, catching up, laughing, encouraging one another, and meeting the newest little Weymouth, Madeleine Jayne!


Our girls are only 3 months apart, and it is such a joy to watch them play together. Abby has a bit to learn about sharing, and about not decking your friends in the face (yeah, not so sure how to work on that one, besides being very stern with her when she does it... yikes!). But, she as soon as we left she would not stop asking for her "Yayie" (Lallie).

They got all dressed up in red dresses for church on Valentines Day, and Lallie was gracious enough to share some of her wings with Abby. How cute they look together!!



And last but not least.... I will leave you with a glimpse of some of the silliness that has filled our home as of late!


Abby is such a lively, energetic toddler. She is always doing crazy things and cracking herself up, and cracking ME up! We have such a great time together. On one had she is incredibly exhausting as she takes a lot of instruction, discipline, and shepherding in this age of testing and new-found independence. We have meltdowns every day (yes, both of us!), and it seems like all I have been praying about lately is for the Spirit to grant me more and more patience and grace and gentleness with her. And oh, the whining!! It's about to drive me nutso! But, in the midst of all that she is so incredibly delightful, fun, hilarious, and brings me so much joy. I can't think of anything else I would rather be doing than spending my days with her. It is worth having less money, less time for myself, not being as "successful" in my job as I would like, and the feeling that some days all that gets accomplished is lunch and a few diaper changes. It is so worth all the sacrifices to not miss a single moment of her life that is quickly passing by me. And really, they aren't sacrifices at all- the real sacrifice would be what I would be missing if I wasn't at home with her. Oh how she has changed me in just two years!

No time for any fun blogging lately, too much to do before baby girl enters the world!
Right now I'm working on a talk for this weekend that I will be giving to college women at JMU for their InterVarsity Women's Conference. I am doing a "breakout session," so not the main talks, thank goodness! It's so fun to be working on a talk like this because I feel that I can really share my heart, and there is less pressure than when I am speaking for a Large Group setting. My talk is about Women in Community- our relationships as God intended them to be- our relationships with each other as sisters in Christ, and our relationships with men as our brothers in Christ. It's almost funny to me that the most common topic I get asked to speak on is relationships- I have been asked to speak on dating, singleness, friendship, marriage, community, and now women in community again! After being asked to speak on dating for about the third time, I remember thinking to myself "oh great I am that speaker now, aren't I? The one who can only talk about how to have a healthy dating relationship but can't speak well about anything deeper like the authority of scripture, or the divinity of Jesus, or the importance and practice of prayer." For a little while I just felt lame. I have so many more things to say than just "if you can't imagine heading towards marriage with this person, you probably shouldn't be dating them..."!! But, then I realized that I was the lame one- because this stuff is so important! It's so important to talk to college students about pursuing healthy friendships and to help them wrestle through God's design for marriage. It's so important to show them that our gender differences are intentional and created by God and they are good. It's so important to help them value the other gender, and even in some cases to repent of hatred towards their own gender, and to learn how to relate as the women God created them to be. So, I don't feel lame, I feel honored, and really excited to share with these women this weekend.
I'll leave you with a quote from John Piper I have been stewing over that I have fallen in love with.

“At the heart of mature femininity is a freeing disposition to affirm, receive, and nurture strength and leadership from worthy men in ways appropriate to a woman’s differing relationships.”

What would it look like if more women actually embodied this?

January Cuteness

Abby loves to climb in Bruiser's bed and cuddle with him. He takes it so well! I love that she enjoys him so much. She chases him around, wrestles with him, orders him around- "Boo-suh SIT!" and he just takes it all and is so gentle with her. They are best friends!



She has lived in this tent since we set it up after Christmas. It's her little hiding spot, book-reading area, and a place to take her dollies and have tea parties with them. Every kid needs a cool fort!!




The other day the three of us visited the children's museum in Portsmouth. Abby had a BLAST, so we paid the balance to upgrade to a year membership. It will be a great place to bring Abby during the week while its still cold out, especially once the baby gets here and I am going stir crazy!!








THis last one is one of my favorites right now. This is how Abby smiles for the camera :) I love it!!