right around the corner.

so i'm just sitting here, all 37 *almost* weeks of me and i thought i'd share how things are going over here lately.

on a positive note, our house is coming along nicely. just a few more details to work through and on to baby girl's room..

what? what's that? -oh yea, we haven't tackled her room yet. and her name..yea still working on that, but we're getting close! thank God for Labor Day coming up this weekend-we're planning to get lots done, that is if little lady decides to let us ;). going into labor on Labor Day could make for an interesting story though. am i right?

annnnd it might be good if we actually packed our hospital bags too.

hey, at least we've cleaned rylan's old car seat and will be able to take her home with us when she comes ;)

on another positive note, we got a little giddy yesterday after my doctor appointment. i'm already dilated to a 3 and 70% effaced! but who knows what that really means, it could be today or it could be two weeks. so we're just sitting on pins and needles now!

we're ready little lady even if we're not "technically" ready!

what to pack-hospital style: baby edition.

so...even though i've made our "idea collages" for what we need to pack...we still haven't done it. 

4 weeks left y'all.

and her name isn't officially decided either.

doh.

i feel so much more behind compared to last time.

did we miss anything for the baby?

i'm so glad the hospital provides diapers and wipes for a couple days :)

say a prayer that we get everything done soon!

what to pack-hospital style: daddy edition.

i think we have daddy covered other than some unmentionables ;)

what to pack-hospital style: momma edition.

you guys, it's that time again.

yep. time to pack the hospital bags. we've only got 6 weeks left!!!!!! (can you tell i'm a teensy bit excited??)
so here goes nothing-let's pack my bag!

what are some of your hospital must haves? am i forgetting anything?? i feel like i'm learning all over again!

from baseballs and blue to pink and bows...

i hate to admit it, but the pink is kind of growing on me.

if you know me then you know i'm not the girliest of girls. in fact, i might have never touched a barbie doll if it weren't for my little sister. she was always the one wearing "princess crowns" and putting on mom's high heels. i, on the other hand, was too busy getting scars from playing with my favorite neighbor boys and now i absolutely cannot wait to pass on my TMNT collection to rylan.

but what can ya' do? God knows i need to learn how to french braid and i've always loved a good pedicure. (can someone please for the love of all womanhood show me how to french braid? those pinterest tutorials are no good!)

anyway, we've been acquiring "the pink" for a couple of months now. we lucked out by having a niece so close to rylan's age-yay for gently used clothes! we got the crib set up last weekend, but are still on the search for a few more items-double stroller...what?? oh yea and ry needs a convertible car seat (perfect timing kid!). let's not even go there on little lady's name...talk about afraid of commitment! phuh! we've still got 9 weeks...right?

oh and what's that??....i can already hear the cries of the "second child syndrome"-"mom, why isn't my baby book finished?", "mom, why are there sooooo many pictures of rylan?"..."mom..". can we just blame daddy on this one for a second? i mean he's the one that's a second child, shouldn't he have the sympathy? this first born momma says, "that's life kid." ;)

so, what about blue bows?

great compromise right? :)

remembering God's faithfulness/the scare.

you ever have those moments where all of a sudden you're brought to tears?

i did today.

this happens on occasion for me pregnancy hormones or not.

i was remembering God's faithfulness.

side note: i get so frustrated sometimes at the Israelites and all the times they forget about God's faithfulness to them-i mean c'mon He parted the red sea for you guys for crying out loud! and yet we do the same thing.

but i'm thankful when i have these moments and am brought to tears remembering God's faithfulness to us.

you see this pregnancy hasn't been easy. at about 11-12 weeks we had a major scare. that morning i went in to the hospital with nick and rylan for routine blood work. afterwards, we ran a couple of errands and then headed home. i was having some cramping, but didn't really think anything of it. once we pulled into the garage i stood up to get out of the car and i felt a gush of something. -now those of you who have been pregnant know about the occasional bladder control issues so i was thinking maybe that was my problem and quickly made my way to the bathroom.

red was all i saw.

my heart sank. i began repeating to myself over and over again, "this isn't happening, this isn't happening". i yelled for nick. and i could tell by his face that he was crushed too because there's no way you have that much blood loss and everything be ok when you're pregnant.

i quickly rinsed off in the shower and we made our way back to the hospital. we prayed anyway.

we were taken back to a room after what seemed like an eternity and i had more blood work done. finally an ultrasound. we expected the worst, but prayed for the best. then we saw our baby. and the doctor said (she) was ok. we couldn't believe our ears. nick literally asked the doctor to repeat himself. and then we cried.

God was faithful. God is faithful.

and now at almost 30 weeks i am thankful. thankful that we've made it this far and for every little kick. i'm just waiting and longing for the day that i see her face and touch her skin because it will be that much sweeter.

thank you Lord for her life.
we can't wait to meet her.

(rylan and i)

a little, or not so little, baby bump catch up.

yea, i think to say "little" here would definitely be an understatement, but let's just run with it folks. our "little" lady has got me expanding at unnatural rates as of late. and the statement "about to pop" comes to mind. and yes i'm as tired as i look in the photos. so let's just pretend for a moment that i'm all sorts of rested up, that there's no such thing as late night potty breaks and that my hip pain and nausea are a thing of the past! hip-hip-hooray!

i've been thinking a lot lately about pregnancy and woah!-has it given me eternal perspective on life. i'm trying to focus on the end goal here-holding my newborn baby will make it all worth it and i see this playing out in life too. keeping myself focused on eternity and "finishing well". HE will be my inheritance.

"forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, i strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us up to heaven."

-Philippians 3:14

"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith."

-2 Timothy 4:7