My first ever maternity pictures! Am I thrilled at how they turned out??? Oh yeah. Everybody sing, “I feel pretty, oh so pretty!”
It was great having pictures of what my pregnant belly looks like. I really wanted Mark in the picture but he just wanted pictures of me. If there is a next time, maybe I can coax him to get in the pics! Again, these are Portrait Innovations. I’m just saying…if you want professional pictures without all the “professional” expense, this is the place to go!
We get family pictures done every year. I would love to be one of those mom’s who does the pictures like every six months, etc…but we just can’t afford it. I have a friend who told us about Portrait Innovations a few years ago and we willingly make a trek to one each year as the pictures turn out awesome and they are very reasonably priced. Recently one opened up where my parents live, however, we could not get schedules to coincide with going there so we had to travel to another one! They take a ton of pictures and Mark and I were really brave in letting the photographer know what we wanted this year. Without further ado…the pictures.
I just pulled these from our cd, so I didn’t get a chance to crop any…sorry!
Zoe’s picture to go on the wall!
I’ve always wanted a picture of her twirling since that’s what she loves doing!
Contemplative…we didn’t choose this one because she was playing with her wiggly front tooth…I still like it though.
Ace’s flirtatious wall picture!
We just had to get this one. I think I’m going to put it up in the boys’ room.
Does this say All-American or what???
My football lover!
Liam’s wall picture…gotta have that mischievous grin.
The, “What did I do now???” look
Full force loveable boy (and our wall picture)
Yeah, he was a challenge to sit still…but he liked this rocking chair so we threw it in.
Stay tuned for the football story and maternity pictures!
While visiting with family this past weekend, we also got to visit with my side of the family. My niece has been riding horses since she was in the first grade. She’s in fourth now. I can not begin to express how proud we are of her. She’s so good at it and my girly girl niece can muck a stall with the best of them! She’s an animal lover and horses seem to be a passion of hers. They’ve also been a great therapy tool as she continues to miss her best friend who passed away a year and a half ago. All that to say, J we are seriously proud of how well you ride and how much you know about horses!
J took the kids on a walk around with the horse in turns. Ace wanted to ride by himself. He had a look of discontent the whole time and we asked him several times if he wanted to get off, but he kept saying no. When it ended, he told us he didn’t like it…his reason: it was too bumpy.
This past weekend we were able to descend upon Papa & Grandmere, Mark’s parents, and spend time visiting with them and with Mark’s brother and family. So, again, for those who didn’t pay attention when invaded in September, here’s the run down stats:
Ages: 8, 6 (turned 6 while we were there), 5 (but will be six in two more days…so I’m reminded), 4, 4, 2, 2, 1, 6 mths, 6 mths
Gender: 3 girls, 7 boys
That’s six on B&B’s side and four on our side.
No, we’re not Catholic (not that there’s anything wrong, etc…I’m just saying, I know people wonder)
On to the pictures shall we! I will say that Ace was as sweet as he could be with the twins. Probably his favorite time, hands down. I think he really enjoyed that they played on the floor and he could entertain them. Zoe loved having someone her age to giggle and laugh and play with. The boys loved jumping on their big cousin. It was a wonderful time for us all.
Our weekend consisted of traveling to Atlanta to the Georgia Aquarium, to my dad’s team’s semifinal game (they lost…it was very hard), to Market day, to home, and then church, a baby shower, and church….it’s been a busy weekend.
We enjoyed seeing my family but were sad to see the season end without the championship. They are a great team of football players…some of the best we’ve been around. Dad has really enjoyed this year and the past 40 plus years! We can’t wait to see how God is going to use this next phase of his life. He is retiring from coaching this year but will continue to teach AP European History and World History.
Sure that’s some sort of weird movie I never saw…but it’s also the number of career wins my dad has had in his 42 years as a coach!
They won last night and are headed to the semi-finals. Are we thrilled?!! Yes, very much so. We were able to watch some of the game on the internet and enjoyed seeing and cheering them on from our home.
Congrats Dad…let’s make it 302!!!
We have some dear friends who moved away in December to St. Louis. They were great friends and the first ones we met when moved to Augusta. There’s a connection with them as Mark’s dad and C’s dad were Gideons together. However, C and M are Auburn fans…but that’s pretty much their only flaw, so we try to overlook it. Anyway, they came through town visiting their “old haunts” so we were lucky enough that they were able to come to dinner on Monday. It was a lot of fun. Chris & Annette, more friends, came with their two children. So, we had a total of nine kids. However C & M’s oldest is 12 and will be in seventh grade next year. Yikes! She was starting first when we first met her and their second was just walking. And their third wasn’t even here! Their third, a boy, S, is the same age as Zoe. They are really good friends and Zoe has missed him a lot since they moved. She and her other good friend talk about him a lot and I’m sure this visit will trigger more talk. Ace loves to play with S too. They all have a good time and this visit was no exception. I wish I had gotten a picture of their kids with the Alabama jersey and helmet on, but I was in the blahs, so please forgive!!
Josiah hanging out with C.
Miss K in disguise!
Chris getting attacked doing some kind of crazy thing. To quote Madame Blueberry in Duke and the Great Pie War, “It’s complicated. I’ll explain later.”
L enjoyed toting Josiah around. He enjoyed it too!
All nine of the kids! Here’s their initials (sorry, trying to use privacy for friends): S (4), L(almost 12), Liam (2), Ace (4), Josiah (1), M (8 or 9, I can’t remember), Zoe (5), K (2 1/2), S (5). That was a couch full!
So, I was trying to find a new t-shirt that said just what I needed it to say.
Something like:
Yes, they’re all mine.
Yes, we know what causes it (can’t you see we like it).
Yes, we’re expecting, again.
No, the baby’s not an accident (but planned by God).
Yes, we’re thrilled!
Hmmm, what do you think??
Yep, here comes another one on March 17th.
Now here’s the details for all you nosy people who have to know! And because I want to share.
We weren’t “planning” on getting pregnant…hello?! We’re working on an adoption right now and wanted to add to our family exclusively through that. We still feel that adoption is God’s will for us. However, we also just really didn’t “worry” about preventing for our own personal reasons, knowing that if God wanted us to get pregnant again, we would.
I thought there might be a chance of a #5 last month, but it didn’t turn out so. I was convinced we wouldn’t have to worry about it this month…God is in control…He knows we’re adopting, etc.
I decided that since my “friend” didn’t show up on it’s appointed day (trust me, I’m like clockwork), then I would go ahead and do a test the next day. I had felt a little nausea, a lot of tiredness (mostly attributed to getting ready for and going camping) and a lot of irritability. I still didn’t think much about those symptoms, but since there was no evidence otherwise I decided to test.
Surprise, surprise! One word (it was one of those new fangled, can’t second guess digital tests): Pregnant!
I didn’t tell Mark about the test or my symptoms (except he knew I was always tired…but I’m always tired). So, I devised a plan. I bought a maternity shirt and more tests (just to make sure it wasn’t confused…it wasn’t). My spring/summer maternity clothes missed the spring consignment sale because we couldn’t find them. I am now convinced that the house ate them…along with Zoe’s ballet leotard from last year. Okay, back to the story. I put on the maternity shirt and met him at the door when he got home…I just couldn’t wait. I asked him if he liked it (I didn’t…too low cut and very uncomfortable on top), and he said yes.
“You don’t think it makes me look pregnant?”
“Umm,” he says as he looks me up and down.
At this point I was grinning and had to say something quick or I would bust…
“Because that’s what I was goin’ for.”
Biggest I’ve ever seen his eyes get! He stammered out, “Your pregnant!”
That was funny.
We were both in shock all day, but I think it’s finally sinking in. It’s a good sweet surprised shock that God has truly blessed us with children! As opposed to an, “Oh my gosh, what are we going to do and how are we going to cope with another child.” Like adding another child will really throw our family for a loop…hmm, I can handle four but five, oh no!!
As far as adoption, we’ll be continuing on with it. There are no restrictions on waiting, etc while you are pregnant. By the time we finish with the adoption this baby will probably be around 1 or so. We’ll just have to pay a little bit more to update our home study after the baby is born.
So, I’m at home today with the kids. Due to pink eye in Josiah, we had home church instead of actually going to a building. I didn’t want to risk the other kids actually having it and giving it to other kids.
We’ve done our Bible time, sang songs, and listened to a sermon (lifechurch.tv…on Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and believing God not just believing in God…fact versus truth…obeying God no matter what…general stuff that I really needed to hear).
I’m a little bummed because one of Zoe’s friend’s father was preaching today and I’ve never heard him. I would have loved to have been there and I think Zoe would have actually paid attention since she knows him.
Now, we’re still in pjs and watching a video Ace got on Jesus and his life.
Our home study home visit didn’t go today. We had to postpone it due to needing some information from the adoption agency and some other things that we needed to work on before we could meet with our social worker. It was kind of nice not to have to add that stresser to the weekend.
I’ll update when we do meet with her though. And thanks, Mom, for reminding me to update.
Pictures are to come of Josiah’s first haircut and other crazy antics around here!