Hitting the Home Stretch

I'm in the home stretch of the pregnancy, the final days and weeks. It always seems like pregnant people don't take pictures of themselves. I spend their pregnancies waiting to see updates and pics of their super-cute bellies. While in it myself, it takes a concerted effort to be in pictures. It's not because I don't want to be, but I'm usually behind the camera OR I just don't care about taking pictures and don't have the camera with me.

So without further adieu, here are the past 15 weeks of my pregnancy in pictures. I'm staring down 38 weeks on Thursday, May 7.

tmm

Prego pics

Here is the first installment of pregnancy pics with Baby #2. I'm 27 weeks pregnant and am almost to my third trimester. I'm not sure exactly how that happened! I spent the first trimester waiting to get out of the trimester, taking life day by day and just trying to survive. Now that I've adjusted to it, we're almost in the final stretch!

tmm

ETD May 2015

The Announcement

Who: Us
What: A Baby!
Where: Illinois
When: ETD May 21, 2015

We are excited to announce that we'll be bringing another little life into the world in May. Thank you for your prayers as we continue with the pregnancy. All looks good so far.
tmm

Happy New Year!

We are solidly into January 1 of a new year. There will be many changes to come, both big and small, as there are every year. From our family to yours, we hope you had a merry Christmas and wish you a happy New Year!

Remembering God's Goodness

One year ago today we had just been discharged from the hospital for Annie's emergency surgery. Somehow the significance of the weekend's date had gone unnoticed by me until Friday.

 

The feelings of seeing her symptoms and feeling helpless hasn't left. 

The sadness of seeing her asleep after her surgery and just wanting her to wake up so we could hold her hasn't left.

The memory of seeing her hooked up to wires and monitors hasn't left. 

The feelings of joy mixed with exhaustion come flooding back when seeing the pictures (this picture above is the first time we were able to hold her.)

The joy of having her still with us is also still there.

When she has any of the symptoms from that August 25 date, our hearts still jump. Nate and I still talk about the overwhelmingness of the event. How quickly everything happened. How God supplied our needs through the nurses and doctors. How He sustained us in the wee hours. How He showed His care for us through meals lovingly provided. We are grateful and try not to take our time with her for granted. And we try to hold her in open hands, as a gift entrusted to us to care for.

tmm

My Sweet Girl

Last week I took a few pictures of my sweet girl in the backyard, now 13 months old. They said it would happen, the time would fly -- and they were right. Here are a few of my faves.

tmm

Christmas festivities

Anyone who knows me knows I love Christmas. I love the food, the traditions, the trees, the lights, the baking, the real meaning.... all of it! Today was our work Christmas lunch. Annie and I traveled downtown with Nate for a day at the office, aka an excuse to see and catch up with everyone. Annie did great and got to see her old friends. I enjoyed seeing everyone, too.
tmm