Getting ready for baby!!

Here is a "before" picture of baby Drew's little "spot" which will be his bedroom! Half of his bedroom is our bonus room....aaahhhhh small houses, gotta love 'em. Anyways, we got his crib furniture this weekend and have been working to get everything organized and ready for Drew's arrival in 6 short weeks from now!!!! YIKES!! I'll post an "after" picture when everything is complete!!

Here is Madelyn in the bathtub tonight with her lovely Hollywood sunglasses on!

Soccer~~~Florida Week~~~Babies!

Well the soccer season is now in full swing and Madelyn is having a great time. She has had 2 games so far. Needless to say, the games have been quite entertaining!! Every time Madelyn runs down the field she looks over and waves so proudly!! Pretty much she just follows the pack of players but makes sure she stays clear of the ball!! ha ha ha... She does enjoy it when the coach lets her kick the ball in after it has gone out of bounds (which is a lot!) I still think she is going to be a little cheerleader because her favorite part is when they all put there hands together and on the count of 3 and yell "PANTHERS!!!". So funny... Here are some pictures from the past 2 Saturdays on the soccer field. I'll even try to post a "movie" clip if I can!! :-)

Just before the 1st game

Her favorite part!

Sitting on the bench with Dad!

Yeah! We have a movie clip!! Click play and you'll see Madelyn kicking the ball in!!

Justin has been busy with work as usual this week. Of course he is looking forward to the big Florida game this weekend and is already thinking of what the perfect tailgate menu should be. Not to say he has been pigging out though...this boy is such a changed man!! I can't hardly get him to eat bad at all!! He continues to do really well with maintaining his HUGE weight loss and is now thinking of training for the Knoxville Marathon which takes place next March (he ran in the half marathon this year). As for me, well I just keep getting bigger which is good when your pregnant!! I went to the doctor today and everything continues to look good. Praise the Lord for that!!

Here's Justin at last year's South Carolina game. Nice tonsils, huh?!!

Here are a few pictures of me with some friends of mine from school (love you guys!!). Sara and I are pregnant together which was totally planned this whole time we have been in school! We both hoped to be pregnant at the end of the program so we could have a baby before starting jobs!!

30 weeks and so thankful!

30 weeks!

Baby boy Drew's sweet little face at 29 weeks

Today I am 30 weeks pregnant! Ever since I had the cerclage done (at 19 weeks) I have had certain milestones in the pregnancy that I have hoped to achieve. Reaching 30 weeks was one of the them! Certainly, it is still too early for the baby to arrive but every week is better than before in terms of survivability. I have done nothing but worry about absolutely everything since I had the "incompetent cervix" diagnosis back in June. My OB/GYN at the time only made my worries worse and just made me a complete basket case. Of course my number one priority is a healthy baby but I would also like to be able to finish school in December as well. My doctor was not being very supportive of that and threatened every week to put me on complete bed rest. I made the decision to switch from my regular doctor to the high-risk OB's since I had to see them occasionally anways. At my first visit with them as a full-time patient, I instantly felt better and they were extremely reassuring of my status and the ability to carry full term. Of course, I know this means to continue to be careful with activities, etc but at least no bed rest at the moment.

So anyways, this past week and today at church I have just been so thankful to the Lord for allowing me to make it this far. I truly believe the Lord is teaching me a huge lesson through all of this. I cannot plan everything!! When I first found out I was pregnant, I made the assumption that I would have no problems and could handle being a mother, wife, student and mom-to-be all at once. I even thought I could handle a small little part time job too. Everything in this pregnancy has been different from when I was pregnant with Madelyn and all that I had "planned" has now been changed and is now up in the air! Now I know that God is still in control of everything and He decides how much we can handle.

We had the best service today at church and I was just so thankful that the Lord has allowed me to make it to 30 weeks! One song we sang today was "In Christ Alone" (if you have your speakers turned up you will hear it!) and I was just reminded that we cannot do anything without Christ alone. This is such a great song and really just speaks to your heart. I cannot even sing it at church without completely breaking down! I am so thankful for all of my friends and family who have been praying for this little baby!! Thank you God.

Looks like I'm an official "Soccer Mom"!!

Madelyn is going to play Upward Soccer this fall at our church and had her first practice Friday night. She was so excited all day about it! She woke up and immediately put her tennis shoes on and said she was ready. We found out at practice that her team is the "Panthers". She did pretty good.... I think the object of 4 year old soccer is just to keep them in the boundaries and point them to the goal!! Justin (who of course is brand new to soccer himself!) is one of the coach's helpers so you will see him in the pictures.....

Jump~Jump~Jump!

Last Saturday, we had Madelyn's birthday party at Jumpity Jump. After 3 years of making my family suffer from super hot August weather and/or being cramped in our house...I finally got smart and decided the birthday party needed to be held elsewhere! It proved to be a good move because the party was very easy on me (just show up and the workers at Jumpity Jump do all the work!) and the kids seemed to have fun.

Madelyn invited 6 or 7 friends from preschool/church and all of her cousins were there; even Sophie and Emma (who live in New Jersey) were able to come! We had a good time and Madelyn enjoyed being with all her friends and family for her birthday. Here are a few pictures from the party.....


Avery, Madelyn and Mallory


Madelyn and her friend, Cade

Sophie

Madelyn and her friends from preschool and church

AND THEN.....

That same night, Madelyn invited all of her girl cousins (sorry Riley!) over to our house for a big sleepover. For some reason, we thought that would be fun!! ha ha.... It did get a little loud but it was lots of fun for Madelyn and we did manage to get them all to go to bed aroun 10:30. Here are a couple of pictures...

Happy 4th Birthday, Madelyn!!

Good Morning Birthday Girl!!

It is so hard to believe Madelyn turns 4 today...she is growing up so fast. She was so excited this morning when I told her she is no longer a "3 year old" but now a bigger and better "4 year old"!!

We had a fun today...we went to the park

with her cousins Sophie and Emma who

are visiting this week from New Jersey......

Then after the park it was time for the first dance class of the new year! Madelyn is taking dance at "GymBugs" which is a different place than where she took last year. She had so much fun and learned so much today! Here are some pictures from class....

Madelyn's birthday party is Saturday and she can't wait. I had to explain a thousand times today that today is her birthday but her party is still 3 days away. Very hard for her to understand! Another funny thing is that all day I was calling her the "birthday girl" and then she finally said "Mom, you can call me Madelyn". So anyways, our little girl is growing up. It is so hard to make time stop and take advantage of every moment!!

Prayer Request

Justin and I would like to ask all of you to pray for our friend Josh Houston (Justin and Josh grew up together). Josh is having surgery at Vanderbilt on Wednesday to remove a possible cancerous tumor from his upper femur. Josh and his wife Tanya have a new baby, Trence, who was born in March. We talked to Josh last night and he seems to have a good, optimistic attitude about the surgery.

Please remember Josh and his family in your prayers this Wednesday. You can read more about him by going to his blog.