It's Raining Babies!

this weekend mimi and poppa (or whatever our little peanut decides they need to be called) were in town to help me and my big ol' preggo belly work in the yard and so that mom could come to the union avenue baptist church baby shower that the sweet ladies there gave me and trish. the church has been unbelievably welcoming of us. we have felt their love for people and willingness to serve others for the glory of God since we started visiting late last summer. we had a wonderful time fellowshipping with the ladies of the church and getting to know them better. most of these ladies i hadn't met before, but they were so excited to be there and be a part of this. several who couldn't make it even sent gifts anyways. isn't the body of christ amazing! i can't thank them enough for all they did! we are going to be well prepared for baby's arrival thanks to all our generous friends and family.

i love this picture of trish and me. wow...my belly doesn't look like it's 5 weeks behind trish's. i bet we have a rolly-polly little guy :) that's all good with me though, as long as he's healthy!

check out the load of presents for the babies!

here's trish opening up the present from my mom. too cute, a diaper genie from jeanie :)

please continue to keep me and baby in your prayers. i defend my thesis on monday, and though i know everything will be fine, i'm still incredibly nervous about it. i have a lot to do before then and i pray i get it done. i praise God for all the encouragement i have received about my work and from people who have said they are praying for me. just a few more weeks until i can add those two letters after my name, M. S., and i'm a free woman :)

Tick Warning:

I got this email warning from Chris through Katy and I thought everyone should be made aware:

I hate it when people forward bogus warnings, and I have even done it myself a couple times unintentionally...but this one is real, and it's important. So please send this warning to everyone on your e- mail list.

If someone comes to your front door saying they are checking for ticks due to the warm weather and asks you to take your clothes off and dance around with your arms up, DO NOT DO IT!! THIS IS A SCAM!! They only want to see you naked. I wish I'd gotten this yesterday. I feel so stupid.

Wiggle Worm:

we're headed down the home stretch now! this saturday we will officially be in our 3rd trimester...with just 12 weeks (more or less) to go. i have to say, baby class this week worried me a bit by saying i should have my hospital bag packed, the car seat, and the pediatrician already just in case the little kiddo decides to show up early. let's pray he just stays put and keeps growing and developing as he should for these last months so that he's ready for the world and we're ready for him!

our little guy sure is making great progress these days! we had a check up with the doctor and his little heart was just beating away at about 145 beats per minute. my stomach is just the size it should be and my weight gain is not out of control going into the last trimester.
right now he should be 10-16 inches, somewhere around 2.5 lbs and about the size of a hair dryer. he sure has been very active!! last night chris and i just laid in bed and watched my tummy move around with him. i still can't get over little arms and legs being in there wiggling around. i have to say i get distracted during my meetings at work seeing him bouncing around having a grand ol' time in there :) if he's at all this active when he comes out into the world, chris and i will certainly have our hands full!

Prayer Request:

well, it's been a long time coming....but i have just scheduled my masters in biomedical engineering thesis defense! i give all the praise to God for getting me this far and i know it will be Him who will get me through the next few weeks. i know that finishing classes, my research and my paper was not of my own strength, but only through Him alone since my own efforts would have failed me years ago.

four and 1/2 years ago i signed up to take my first class in graduate school at the university of memphis in their biomedical engineering program. i've been working full time in research at my job and part time on my degree and it's been an uphill struggle filled with many tears and much anxiety since then. only in the past year did i really commit to giving this over to God and since then the tears have been much fewer, the anxiety much less and my time with friends and family much more treasured.

please pray that even in the middle of baby showers, work, and projects around the house that everything will come together these last few weeks and that the defense will go well on July 2nd. i can't believe this giant task will be behind me soon! praise God!

and a huge "thank you" to schmoopy for supporting me through this process...it hasn't been easy for him either! we tend to like to do these big life events in groups...whether it's getting married, moving, starting a new job and grad school or finishing grad school and having a baby :)

Playing Catch-Up:

sorry to leave you hanging for so long, but we've just been so busy living life i haven't had a chance to write about it! things have been really wonderful for this mommy- and daddy-to-be.

a couple weekends ago we had an awesome visit from aunt katy! katy flew out to memphis for one action-packed weekend. she came in at lunch time on a friday, so i took a half-day to hang out and spend some quality time with my moh. we had to grab some yummy hummus and falafel in memory of our christmas in kuwait :) and, of course, get some shopping time in before chris joined us. we took the poopster for a walk down to the neighborhood pizza place for dinner and we're so excited to see chris and leslie there. we all chowed down on some tasty pizza out on the patio and watched the kids play. one brave little guy came up to tilly and ended up with a big sloppy kiss :) saturday we went to the zoo, which is always a fun time. since we went later in the day than we usually do, we got to see lots of fun stuff like the daddy panda out playing, the polar bear getting her fish-popsicle and the rhino getting her leg and belly scratched by the keeper. we were exhausted by the end of that, but rallied in time to meet steve, annah mary and amelia for a redbirds game downtown. i don't think we watched a lick of that game, but we had a great time eating bbq nachos and letting amelia entertain us. sunday we went to church together, then of course tilly talked us into taking her to the park where we met up with jason. it was awesome to see jason, since he and tonya have moved up to yankee land PA. wish tonya could have come, too!

as soon as katy left, i had to pack for a trip to boston. i love boston and the folks i work with up there, but let's just say this preggo body doesn't take traveling as well as i'm used to. i did get an awesome italian dinner in the north end of boston out of the effort :)

just a couple days after coming home from boston it was time to pack up for the beach. the schmoopy and poopy and i met up with mom and dad to head down to st. george's island, fl. we had an amazingly relaxing time at the little house on the beach. i wish i were still there to sit out on the porch and listen to the waves rolling in. tilly wore herself, and us, out playing frisbee in the waves and taking long walks up and down the beach. of course, we had some tasty food too. for those of you wanting to escape from crowded beaches and don't mind driving a bit for shopping and dinner--this is the place to go. appalachacola was about a 15 min drive away, and is just the cutest little town. the best part was that i could eat all i wanted and just let my big preggo belly hang out of my swimsuit!

on friday we loaded up the dogs and made the long drive to clemson...but not without a stop at the world famous finchers barbeque in macon, ga. macon just happens to be where my dad was born, and boy...the finchers who are still there sure know how to make some awesome bbq. seriously...best ever! we even had the pleasure of meeting and being entertained by the human trumpet while there...no lie! he's been on america's go talent and jay leno! i got his business card and everything...crazy!

the trip to clemson was because chris' aunt susan and nana were so sweet to throw us a baby shower with family. almost everyone was there! i know mamma jeannie and daddy-o steve wish they could have been there, but they are still holding things down in kuwait. it was really wonderful to see family and just be surrounded by the love that this baby will be born into. susan and nana did an amazing job with the party! just check out how cute everything was! we can't thank them enough for doing that for us, and for everyone who came to show their love to our little peanut and help us get ready for his arrival :)

this weekend, we are taking it easy at home. well, sort of....chris is working away on the bathroom renovation and i've been doing some cleaning and sewing. tonight, though, we have tickets to see the producers at the orpheum. a fun way to wrap up a nice weekend at home :)