Comparing Circumferences

Not long after we found out that we were expecting, we found out that my sister-in-law is expecting as well. She is around 2 weeks behind me, so we have been able to share the experience of pregnancy together. As you can imagine, Carl's parents were elated and are soon about to become VERY busy grandparents! Anyhow, she came to my baby shower and at the time we were comparing size. Keep in mind she is a couple weeks behind me, which around this time is a lot (in baby size). Below you will see the picture of us back-to-back, comparing our baby bellies. : )

How fun to see the differences even in the way we are carrying, huh?

Carl, feeling left out because he does not have a baby belly to compare. ; )

A Shower for the Baby

Carl and I went home last weekend and celebrated my grandparent's 50th wedding anniversary (wow!) and had a baby shower with family. We had a wonderful time and I thought I'd share a few pictures. Our little boy received some great gifts, as did his mother. : ) It is so fun to go through all the little things he got, sorting them and imagining our little baby boy actually in them. He will be a well-dressed and covered little guy. We can't wait to actually put all his gifts to use!

One of the many cute gifts I received.

My sisters, Mom, and I at the shower. They hadn't seen me since we (the baby and I) had grown. They were excited to feel the baby move, which is always fun.

My grandparents celebrating 50 blessed years of marriage. We thank God for them and the great godly example they are to our whole family.

My family!

Bigger and Better

Here is a recent photo of me at 28 weeks, bigger and better than ever before. I post these periodically because we are far from friends and family and many of you like to see the progress of our first little one. : ) I do continue to grow, and actually am growing out of the few maternity clothes I have. Also, as an update, I have had my glucose testing and do not have gestational diabetes (Praise God!). I know that is a standard test they do for all, but every test makes me pray and be thankful for good results. So far all is going well with both baby and mother. I had a great second trimester, with much more energy than the first and no sickness! Now I am into the third, can you believe it?!?! Time seems to have flown and my appointments are now more frequent. I have been reading up a lot lately on the stages of labor and coaching and breathing techniques. Wow, it is a lot of information, but I am excited about getting closer to the day our baby boy will join us (outside of the womb)! For now, he is growing, as am I, and continues to be very active.

Men in Uniform

On Memorial Day Sunday, the men in our church who have or are currently serving in the military, or civil service (fireman, police officers) wore their dress uniforms to church and performed a flag presenting ceremony. During this they presented the American flag, went through the ceremony of folding it, and presented it to our pastor. Then they played Taps and Amazing Grace on the bag pipes. The whole ceremony was beautiful and produced much sniffling and tears among church members. Carl of course took part in this ceremony and below are a couple of pictures taken afterwards. The first is all of the men in uniform and the second is the men with their wives. It happened that many of us wives actually ended up dressing in matching colors with our husbands. Funny. Anyhow, it was a wonderful presentation and a great reminder for us not to forget what so many have given for us and our home, while still "under God", the greatest country on earth.

Carl is in the very middle, if you have trouble finding him. : )

Cool Hand Carl

Last weekend Carl shot in an IDPA (International Defensive Pistol Association) competition. I observed from afar and took some videos, as I am not able to shoot anymore being with child. :) He did a great job, better than last time he competed and scored in the top of his class. Here are a few cool videos of a some of the stages. Half of the fun of these competitions is seeing what the stage creators come up with to challenge shooters, and challenge they do, as you will see!

Challenging moving men.

Carl on the move.

Action-packed stage.

Carl is good at those metal targets! Here he shoots the paper once, then each metal, then the second paper target twice and the first paper target one more time. Good job Carl!

A Fun Project

Well, I have been quite busy lately, but not with anything particularly interesting to the outside world. : ) One fun thing is that I just made this diaper bag today. A friend of mine at church had made one for herself and gave me the pattern. I love the bright colors and the pattern was super easy! I was excited to make it because I hadn't seen any diaper bags I like, as I am pretty picky about bags (silly I know), and it's always fun to create something useful! So, here it is--my latest creation.

It is a fairly simple design, and a nice size.

The inside--there are some nice large pockets. It's also reversible, the design says, but then all your pockets would be on the outside, which I wouldn't find as useful. : )

New Pictures of Mama and Baby

Due to some family health history we have, I had to get an in-depth ultrasound of our little boy. This was to ensure he is healthy, so could have been a scary visit, but thankfully I was completely secure in the comfort of the Lord during the appointment and praise God all is well!As a side, I was able to enjoy seeing my little one in such detail. Part of the ultrasound was even 3D, so they gave me a couple pictures of his face, which are so precious to us. I thought I'd share them with you all, a little glimpse of what he may look like. He refused to move his little arm off part of his face, but the part you can see is pretty clear. I also added a picture of me, so those of you from afar can see that I have grown! :)