grumpy but grateful

i've caught myself being grumpy the last few days... not intentionally, of course, but one of those "hmm... that probably didn't sound very nice" afterthoughts. you see, things are getting a bit crowded in my belly and i'm not used to having to share my insides with a very wiggly (albeit very cute) growing boy.

that's one of the reasons i was so glad we had another ultrasound (pictures to follow soon). i needed the gentle reminder that i'm hosting a miracle. and sometimes miracles aren't comfortable, but it doesn't change the fact that God's hand is at work. as many of you know, brad and i have been praying for years (literally) for a child. this very child. and despite that fact, i am amazed at how my temporary circumstances as insignificant as a little back pain, puffy feet, and concrete floors can interrupt the joy that i have growing mason. talk about needing to get perspective!

one day (not too far away!) i will be holding mason in my arms, looking face-to-face at my little miracle and be blessed beyond words remembering all the kicks, squirms, punches, rolls, and other random movements i haven't yet figured out that first introduced me to my precious baby boy. and for that, i am grateful.

"The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy." - Psalm 126:3

flooded with distractions

despite our attempts to be somewhat regular with our postings, sometimes we get distracted. this time, it was a whole flood of distractions. brad and i had the pleasure of visiting his parents over memorial day weekend to catch up, show off the belly, and just generally enjoy each others' company. then the phone rang at 7:30 during dinner friday night. randy and shelley (parents of our close friends davon and kimberly) who were staying at our house while said friends brought baby #2 into the world were calling to share the unfortunate news that our house was under water due to an equipment failure in the master bathroom. not fun to hear and definitely not fun for them to have to make that phone call.

now for the good news -- randy and shelley were there!! we're thanking God that they were staying there -- otherwise, we're not sure we would have had a house left! special thanks also go to our small group who graciously came to lift/move furniture and sop up all the excess water.

needless to say, we've been dealing with aftermath since we returned. with all that excitement plus the endless piles of work at both of our jobs, we haven't had much time for anything else. including scheduling the delivery of mason's furniture, which ironically came in the day before the flood.

in mason news, the little monkey is doing well. he has taken up permanent residence in my ribcage (i'm not a fan) and spends his days poking and kicking mommy. in fact, when i try to coax him to move out of my ribs, he pushes right back at me! we have a doctor's appointment monday for my glucose test and as a bonus, we get to have another ultrasound! we can't wait to see how much he's grown!

stay tuned for more updates (we'll share more pictures of the house once it's pieced back together). have a great week!

mason's mommy is old!

mason's mommy may be old, but the good news (for me) is that his daddy is old too! kammy turned 30 this weekend and contrary to the popular belief that fun and pregnancy don't go together, we managed to find a few ways to kick up our heels... sort of... if dinner at luby's and a night at the local bingo hall fit into your definition of a "wild weekend". as for me, i'll take what i can get! the best part about the whole night (outside of all the laughs we shared with friends) was that i actually won!! if only brad had a camera to capture the "oh my goodness, BINGO!!" expression/shout that came out of my mouth!

we also had the chance to catch up with my best friend from high school and her husband and daughter as well as my mom, dad, and sister. let's just say that mason is quite a fan of crawfish -- he's had it 3 weekends in a row!

the pregnancy is going well and there's really no "new" news to report except that the belly is on a weekly growth plan and mason is as active as ever (brad even got to see & feel him moving around!) of course, all of this seemingly mundane stuff is still very exciting for us...

we're looking forward to a slower-paced weekend this week before heading to see mason's louisiana grandparents for the memorial day holiday. have a great week!

party at my crib

so it's not quite mtv cribs, but mason now has a bed to lay his head -- well, almost. we bought the crib and a dresser for him and in 8-12 short weeks (ha!) it should be delivered. funny how they plan all that -- you order the furniture when you feel good and can still move around, and then you wait three months until you're exhausted and huge and then you get to put the room together... makes perfect sense! oh well, i guess that just means that brad will have a supervisor when it all arrives! (he loves it when people tell him what to do...)

we're still on the hunt for a chair after an unfortunate run-in with a less-than-brilliant salesperson who gave us lots of inaccurate information, but we're hopeful we'll find the perfect fit for mason's room soon.

outside of these room developments, we're just hanging out watching my belly grow! brad felt mason kick for the first time this week. i've felt quite a bit more of mason's gymnastics lately, but being able to see little movements on the outside is definitely a new thing. for those of you who have already experienced this, you know how cool it is to see and feel the little one inside you moving around.

we go in for our next doctor's appointment this friday to check in on him and see how much i've/he's grown in the last month... always a fun experience, especially considering that the first stop is the scale. i've decided that i'll just start standing on it backwards to avoid witnessing the inevitable climb in the numbers! have a great week!

mason's on the way

ok so before we begin this post let me point out first that there will be no kammy to proof read anything so i don't want to hear anything about my gramatical or punctual mistakes. so with that being said - everyone needs to learn to listen to brad when he says that the babys going to be a BOY!!!! yep, the ultra sound lady said she was 100% sure it was a boy and from the looks of the picture we have i would have to agree that it is definately a boy. today was pretty cool, except for the fact that kammy had to down 2 bottles of water and then on top of that have mason kicking her bladder which made things worse! during the ultra sound we got to see every feature of mason - feet, hands, arms, legs, sausage!!! sorry kammy i couldn't resist, this is what happens when you go out of town and i get to do the blog. everything look perfect from what we could see - his little heart was beating at 142 beats a minute and we actually saw him move his eyes and swallow as well as kick like crazy and stretch once momma went to the bathroom. so now that we know it is a boy, kammy is off to canton for another shop-a-thon adn this time she went with the check book. that is scary to me which means she will actually be balancing it while there to make sure we don't overdraw! i might need to pick up a third job so if anyone needs their yard mowed i have a new mower and all and will give you a good price. well i have attaced several pictures and they are pretty self explanitory when you see them. hope you enjoy our little man!


little arm



looking down on the head




the package

strollers, car seats, and cribs, oh my!

can you say overload? this weekend brad and i decided to do a little investigating of baby items that we will soon be purchasing... after 2 hours in the baby furniture store and another hour in babies 'r us, we are ready to curl up on the couch and hide for a while. who knew there were so many choices and so many dollars just waiting to be spent??!! looks like brad will be working a few extra baseball games to help fund all these new-found necessities (he's thrilled and worked 4 games today alone).

we found a crib that we love, we just need to measure the room to make sure it will all fit & brad found the world's largest beanbag that we will definitely NOT be purchasing. (he could fully stretch out on this thing and still not touch any of the edges -- apparently that's a very cool feature to guys, not so much for me.) our only purchase of the day was a box of diapers -- we figured we should get a head start on that since the word in the nursery is that babies go through about 10 of them a day. holy poop!

in development news our little munchkin weighs a whopping 7 ounces and is 5 1/2 inches long. it won't be long before mommy runs out of room in her belly and we start to see some major growth. say your prayers that the baby cooperates on thursday and we know for sure if it's a boy or girl -- i don't think we can wait any longer to find out! check in on thursday for the big reveal!

we have a wiggler...

we checked in on baby m today at our doctor's appointment and all is going well. turns out the baby already has a sense of humor like brad's and likes to wiggle around just when you're trying to get him to be still! as the nurse was checking the baby's heartbeat, baby m decided to play chase inside mommy -- moving from one side to the other before we were finally able to hear the steady "whoosh-whoosh" we've grown to love. baby m's heart was kicking it at 146 beats per minute, well within the normal range.

the chase for the heartbeat wasn't that much of a surprise to mommy as she has been feeling the flutterings of baby m for a few days now. baby m apparently prefers the nightlife as just as kammy is ready to go to sleep, the baby kicks into high gear. at this point it just feels like tickling from the inside, so it's not too distracting. baby m's grammy has warned that this will soon turn into more persistent kicks and what feels like the baby gnawing on my ribcage... time will tell!

in other news, if baby m cooperates, it will soon have a name! we are scheduled for our "anatomy screen" ultrasound next week. they'll do lots of measurements to make sure baby m is developing on schedule... with the added bonus of finding out if baby m is a girl or a boy! if you haven't cast your vote yet, time is running out! we'll post the news once it is confirmed... stay tuned!