perfect timing

you'd think i'd be used to waiting. we waited what seemed to be an eternity to get pregnant and now that we are 39 weeks and 4 days pregnant, it seems like mason will never get here. we had our weekly doctor's appointment today and disappointingly, we're still in the same spot we were in last week. no progress.

i've tried so hard to just enjoy the process. but the truth is, my anticipation of what is to come is so great that it's an uphill battle for me. it's not that i want to rush this, but i am just so excited to meet this little person who's been a part of me for 9 months that i can hardly stand it. the room is ready, the bags are packed, the car seat is installed, the cradle is set-up and ready to go... the only thing we're missing is mason - and he is quite content in his present circumstances. i'm sure there's a lesson in there for me. :)

at this point we have 2 back-up plans... a tentative induction date on sept. 4 (if the hospital can fit us in), and a more firm induction date on sept. 8. of course all of this is null and void if our little man arrives on his own timeline.

the joy in all of this, though, is that God knows precisely when our little one will be born. in spite of all our plans and back-up plans, all of mason's days have already been ordained and written in God's book. his [God's] timing is perfect, even when i've grown weary of waiting.

"for you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. i praise you because i am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, i know that full well. my frame was not hidden from you when i was made in the secret place. when i was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be." psalm 139:13-16

the end of an era

for the past two and a half years, brad and i have had the pleasure of being part of a "mwok" small group with our church. nine couples "married without kids." it's strange to think that in just a few days, the "without kids" part will be a mute point. sure, we all have our dogs, but something about adding a tiny human to the picture makes a huge difference! while brad and i may be the first to start the baby boom, it's clear that we're not the last. three couples are currently expecting with at least two more who admit they're working on joining the ranks of parenthood.

can we just say how thankful we are that these couples are in our lives? in addition to providing spiritual accountability on a weekly basis, they also serve as encouragers, prayer warriors, dinner companions, and weekend escape friends, too (canton, anyone?) here's to many more years of faith, fun, friends, and now... babies!

note: we need a new group photo as this one only has 8 couples in it -- wade & stephanie, you may be absent from the photo, but not our hearts!

life of cassie louise

with all the talk here lately of mason - we have neglected to show off our attack dog - cassie louise. pretty much every day we are at home she is either chewing her foot in the corner which drives brad completely crazy, sleeping on the nice cool hardwoods, or sleeping in various places on the couch. we captured some of her naps today, even though she was peeking during the pictures to show you how hard of a life our dog has. it is pretty funny to see the stink eye she gives us when a new package arrives and we start putting it together. not sure if she knows exactly what is about to happen, but she knows there have been some major changes to the house. these changes include the loss of the extra bedroom which she would lounge in during the day (now the nursery), all the new baby stuff (swing, bouncy chair, etc...), and the most important change is she can no longer sit with kammy on the couch because it crowds her. we're sure that cassie will be a really good big sister when mason arrives as we have seen her firsthand around other little babies and she is very careful and curious. anytime they make a noise she is sure to let us know because she gets really nervous. it is going to be very interesting to see how she acts when the baby is in the house permanently instead of just for a couple of hours. here are a couple of the pictures of our original baby...

sprawled out on the top of the couch, giving her an elevated view of all our happenings...

asking mommy when mason will get here

mason's crib...

you might be thinking that we've forgotten that our child needs a place to call his own. while we've been busy getting other things ready for him, we've also been slowly piecing together mason's room. there are still a few finishing touches to be done, but by and large, it is ready. for your viewing pleasure, here are a few photos from various angles...

my sister korey is painting a couple of items for the walls flanking the chair (which is a glider by the way, although it doesn't really look like one). we're hoping that she'll bring them on the plane from new york with her when she comes to meet him :)

we are officially 37 weeks now (technically full-term), so any time the munchkin wants to arrive is fine by us. i guess we should finish watching the childbirth video sometime soon!

have a great week!

itchy, but still pregnant

last week was interesting... brad and i made major progress on our "things to do before mason gets here" list and we completed a test-run in the triage room of the hospital. starting about a week and a half ago i started itching like crazy (all over) and having some sharp pain in the upper right side of my belly. i figured it was just another quirky pregnancy symptom and went along my merry way. last tuesday, though, i decided i'd look it up in the book just to confirm my suspicions and discovered instead that it was on the "call the doctor first thing in the morning" list. oops. so i called and was ignored for 7 hours until brad showed up at the doctor's office and demanded to talk to the nurse (my doctor was in surgery all day). they told us to go to the triage station at the hospital, so away we went!

six hours and seven vials of blood later, we went home with no more answers than when we entered. turns out the lab was having "issues" that night. no kidding. anyway, it turns out that it is just more quirky pregnancy symptoms (the pain is probably bruising on the inside and the itching may be allergy related), but they did rule out all the scary stuff like liver/gallbladder failure. praise God. we did get to enjoy six straight hours of mason's heartbeat, which was strong and stable. we also gained valuable information about what we need to bring with us to the hospital to make our stay a little more enjoyable (flip-flops, quarters, my own pillow, etc!)

it was an unexpected adventure, but nothing compared to the wild ride to come with mason's arrival! for those of you counting down with me, we are t minus 4 weeks. yea!