Christmas, Kzoo Baby Shower, and a whirlwind trip through OH

We had the opportunity to spend a ton of time with my parents this holiday.  It was really nice since this is the last Christmas that it will be just Ben and I traveling for the holidays.  My parents came down for my graduation and then we drove up together to KY for a few days for family get togethers.  Then we spent the Wednesday before Christmas until the Wednesday after Christmas up in MI hanging out with my parents and my little brother  and his wife.  We had a great time hanging out and played tons of cards.  We played our fair share of Monopoly Deal as well as a new game we found called Five Crowns.  It was great to spend time with all of them and we got a chance to get in a lot of great conversations and quality time.  Plus we ate a ton of yummy food which the doctor is going to be happy to hear because I already gained my 3 lbs. that the doctor has required of me. :-)

Family Photo 

The 'rents (soon to be Mamaw and Papaw) 

Cody and Justine

On the Tuesday before we left my mom had a baby shower for me too.  It was a nice small group of ladies due to the busy-ness of the holidays.  Plus I was able to see a good friend who was in town all the way from Cambodia.  We had a great time talking about babies, eating yummy carrot cake, and I was blessed to receive a ton of wise baby advise.  God has truly blessed us through all the family and friend showers we have had.  Though they may have been small, they have meant a ton and truly been meaningful experiences in preparation for our little bundle of joy's arrival.  After this shower we are at a poll from the showers of 27 predictions for boy and 24 predictions of girl with birth dates ranging from January 28th to February 28th.  It will be interesting to see who is closest. :-)

All the lovely ladies!

On Thursday morning we left early to head down to Ohio and visit a bunch of people in a short 2 day stint.  Thursday we went over to Amy, Max, and Elliana's place for some yummy soup.  It was great to get a chance to catch up with Amy and have a chance to really get to know Max a bit.  Plus we got to meet their cutie Elliana.  We thoroughly enjoyed out time and we were blessed with a ton of great baby advise along the way too. Then we met up with our old pastor and his wife for the afternoon.  It was wonderful to catch up with them and hear all the exciting things going on in the church.  God is truly working amazing wonders in Xenia, OH!  After that, for dinner, we met up with my former co-worker Holly and her husband Curtis.  Wow that was some much needed catch up time.  After spending every day with her for about a year, we really got used to chatting it up.  So even though it has been over a year since we have worked together, we picked right back up where we left off and realized just how much we have missed working together.  Then finally we ended up over at Ryan and Michelle's house for the evening. We had a blast catching up, playing Monopoly Deal, and simply enjoying some quality time with good friends.  All that in less than 24 hours, but all worth the time.

Then on Friday we got up and headed down to Cincy to meet up with several more friends.  We spend the morning with Michelle, Ben, Naomi, and Josiah.  It was great to catch up with Michelle and hear all about how life has been for them.  They have two cuties and it was crazy to see how much they have grown up.  We got to chatting and realized that the last time we had seen each other was about a month before Josiah was born and he is now 17months old...craziness!  For lunch, we met up with Sarah at Chipotle.  It was great to see her, even if just for a short time.  I love how easy it is to pick right back up where you left off with good friends!  After dropping off our things at Brad and Ashley's and visiting for a bit we headed up to visit with James, Sara, and Jeremiah for bit.  We got some yummy pizza and spent some quality time catching up on life.  Plus we got to meet their little one; such a cutie!  Then we finished off the night hanging out with Brad and Ashley to ring in the New Year.  I just barely made it to the new year, but we had a fun time catching up and hanging out with them, just like old times.

Unfortunately I failed to take any pictures throughout of escapades in Ohio, but we definitely enjoyed our time.  We tried to visit with as many people as we could work out to see, though not everyone, and it was a busy but wonderful two days.  It was really cute too because after seeing babies, and toddlers of many ages Ben was going on and on about how excited he is for our little one to arrive. He is going to make one amazing daddy and I am super excited for that time to come very soon. :-)

Hick's Family Baby Shower and Christmas

We have had the joy of spending the past two days with my mom's side of the family.  Lot's of good times to be had.  We were able to have everyone in town with the exception of Bryant's fiancée Jenny and Scott's girlfriend Amanda.  It was so much fun to have a  chance to see everyone and catch up a little bit.

The whole gang!

Last night we did lots of hanging out and then ended the night with a family baby shower.  Justine was in charge and set up some great games.  First we played a nursery rhyme fill in the blank game and then we had a "diapering the bear" tournament.  The nursery rhyme game was entertaining, but the diapering game was absolutely hilarious.  Everyone had to be blindfolded and it was fun to see how everyone tried to diaper the bears. :-)  We got lots of wonderful gifts that we are excited to use for our upcoming baby.  To name a few, we got a stroller/carseat, homemade blankets/blocks, nursery decor, a scrapbook, etc.  We had everyone guess the gender and they were split 8 for boy and 8 for girl and the birth dates ranged from February 8th to February 21st.

Ben and I "diapering the bear" and unfortunately he won. :-(

Cute whale bath time goodies all the way from Ben's mommy in NY

Then today we had our family Christmas.  We do it name drawing style, so the cousins exchange names and the adults exchange names.  It was fun to see what everyone got and we simply enjoyed spending time with one another in the first place.  Ben got a Best Buy gift card and I got a super cute Christmas dish set that unfortunately I probably won't be able to use until next year. :-(  Then after presents we played a marathon of monopoly deal that was only briefly interrupted by a wonderful meal.  Good times with the family.  If only it could happen more than once a year.

The Ginter crew and spouses 

The family of origin :-) 

Silly pic per Ben's request

Master of Arts in Special Education

The end is finally here!  Today I graduated from the College of Charleston with my Master of Arts in Special Education with a focus in emotional disabilities.  It has been a busy 1.5 years getting this degree.  And as been likes to joke, I went through 3 cycles of stress because I always stress out at the end of the semester because it seems like so much and then usually get it all done early.  I guess that's just me, but it all worked out in the end.

We are going to be the first and only class to finish the degree in 1.5 years because they will no longer be offering that option.  Personally I count it a blessing to have been able to finish it so quick because, with a baby coming in February, I am not sure what I would have done if I still had a semester left to go.  God's timing was definitely perfect and now I have a degree that I gained a lot of valuable experience through and will hopefully someday use.  However, at least for the next few years, I will simply be applying what I have learned toward being a mommy for a while.  We shall see where things go from there! :-)

Me and my love

Me and the 'rents

We went out to Mellow Mushroom, my favorite pizza place, to celebrate afterwards.

32 weeks down, 8 to go!

Wow, it’s hard to believe that I only have 8 weeks left until my estimated due date!  Time is definitely flying by.  We had our regular appointment and this time it was with the midwife.  There are 5 doctors in the practice, any of which could potentially deliver our baby, and this was the last one that we had yet to meet.  To be quite honest I was a little concerned about meeting her because I had heard she was a little tougher, but she actually turned out to be my favorite of all of them.  She was really super nice and even though we were her last appointment of the day she was very interested in all of my questions and was super talkative.  That is definitely not typically the case when I go in for appointments.

The appointment went well.  We found out for sure that my glucose test went well, which we had figured since didn’t hear anything.  From that test though they discovered that my iron levels are borderline being a concern.  So it looks like I am going to have to start eating more iron rich foods. 

I also got in a bit of trouble too because according to their calculations I hadn’t gained anything, but had actually lost a ½ a lb. since the last appointment.  However, according to my weigh ins, since the last appointment 6 weeks ago I had gained 2 lbs. which makes me at least feel better that I am going up in weight.  Either way, the doctor said that by my next appointment in 4 weeks I need to have gained at least 3 1lbs.  My parents were at the appointment too and she turned to them and said that they needed to make sure to fatten me up over the holidays. J  So hopefully, as long as I don’t have a Thanksgiving repeat, I can continue to gain about a lb. a week like I have been over the past several weeks.

As far as baby, everything is looking good.  The heartbeat slowed a little bit so now it is in the mid 140s.  My uterus was measuring a little small though, only 30cm, which she said if I can pick up my weight gain that should help with that too.  But overall she said everything looks great and baby is moving around healthy.

In general everything has been going well with the pregnancy.  The tiredness has seemed to return so around 3ish every day I pretty much hit a wall that I have to push through until bedtime.  Then I have also had some pretty bad hip pain of late to the point where many days I have a bit of a limp.  None of these are ideal symptoms, but really if they are the least of my worries, I am good to go!  Only 8ish more weeks!

32 week belly!

Locks of Love

So after about 2 years of growing it out again, I cut my hair today for Locks of Love.  This is the third time I have done it and it is definitely the most hair I have even given...13 inches!  I am definitely glad to be done with the hair and have passed it on for such a good cause.  I am sure I will torture myself again and grow it out, but for now I am satisfied with less up top. :-)

Here is the before:

Now 13 inches less:

This is just all natural, but I am excited to be back to simple styling for a while!

29 weeks, 2 days ultrasound and the coast is clear!

For now we can relax in knowing that we don't have to worry about the location of the placenta causing us to have to have a c-section.  We went in today for an ultrasound to double-check that the placenta had shifted and thankfully it has so unless another crazy circumstance comes along we don't have to worry about a c-section anymore.  Baby is also positioned head down (at least for today) so that is a good sign if conditions remain the same closer to birth. :-)

It was also super fun to have another ultrasound.  Really they were only supposed to be checking for the placenta location, but I asked if we could get a picture of the baby again and she was super sweet and let us get a few pics as well as checking the heartbeat (still 150bpm). So now we have so more developed ultrasound pictures.  Baby has definitely gotten bigger and it doesn't really even all fit on the screen any longer.  Baby was also super active which was fun and it kept covering it's face whenever she was trying to get a face shot for us.  Though that meant we didn't get to have a picture, it was still fun to see the baby moving so much.  It was also neat because we were able to see the baby yawning and moving it's tongue around a lot.  Super cute!

Baby doesn't even fit on the screen anymore

At 29 weeks, 2 days it looks like baby and mama are both doing well.  I am able to feel baby move a ton lately and even sometimes see the crazy movements from the outside.  The downside of the movement is that some days (especially on Thanksgiving) baby decides to use my bladder as a trampoline which isn't exactly pleasurable.  Thankfully I have still been feeling pretty well.  Though the tiredness has really hit me hard over the past few weeks, if that is the least of my worries, I am okay with that.  My prayer is that the good times keep rolling until February. :-)  Still not gaining a whole lot of weight, but as long as baby is doing okay, I am fine with not having to get rid of very much weight afterward. :-)  Though that means that many people have a hard time believing I am as far along as I am, it still works for me.  The less size probably reduces the discomforts that I would otherwise have.  I will take just being tired and the occasional hip pain.

They say I look a little bigger this week...definitely a bump :-)

New York Baby Shower

One baby shower down, good times!  We had a great time having some family and friends over to celebrate the coming of a new life here soon.  It was really neat because they spent some time in prayer praying for us as we prepare for the baby and prayers for after the baby is born.  We are so blessed.

The Klembcyzk family 

A peak a the rest of who was there

They started it all off with a game to have everyone guess the gender and birthday, and then they picked out a boy and girl name for us.  The names don't matter as much because we already have the names picked whether it's a girl or boy but it was fun to hear all the predictions, but some examples of some are Arriana, Abigail, Collin and William.  The party consensus is that we are going to have a boy (9 people said boy, 4 said girl) and the birthdays range from February 3rd to February 28th.  Personally I am hoping for one of the earlier dates, but we will just have to wait and see what baby decides.

Then we opened up all of our gifts.  We got lots of goodies and it was fun because Diane also had everyone bring a favorite children's book so our collection is beginning to fill up.  One really sweet thing was the Klembcyzk family (Ben's "big brother's" family) chose books out of their own personally library to share with us. They had each of the kids pick one book that was their favorite and they wanted to pass along to our little one.  So those books will have lots of sentimental meaning to us. :-)

 Ben's friend Tim from high school gave us a cute book that basically

 "teaches kids to write on walls" as he said it. Ben got a kick out of that.

Opening a special something sent all the way from MI, via GA and SC

for us from my mom. :-) Some of it gave Ben quite the embarrassed chuckle. 

 Picture of some of the spread of gifts

A few more

Next I worked on trying to put on some weight by eating a massive piece of cake.  MMMMMM, I love me some cake!  We shall see how it works on the weight gain though. :-)

The cake was delicious!

And of course no baby shower would be complete without some XBOX 360 Kinect for 

the boys to indulge in...it made all the baby stuff worth sitting through I think. :-)

Thanksgiving happenings and such...

This past week has been quite the week.  It began with a funeral for my grandmother which was a bit of a serendipity of sorts.  Yes it was sad to bid farewell, but we know she is in heaven and is no longer in pain.  Plus, as a result we got to spend a ton of time with family we had not seen all together in almost 16 years.  Crazy how death can actually bring together such a joyous occasion.

Then on top of that, because I had flown in for the funeral I was able to spend an early Thanksgiving with my parents, brothers, and grandparents.  It was so great to see them and it was comforting to when saying goodbye to know that I would be seeing them in less than a month for Christmas.  I got to help my daddy make dumplings and just spend some quality time with the family.

I got back from KY on Saturday night and then on Sunday I was able to go to church and spend some quality time with Ben before heading off to Thanksgiving #2 at church.  It was a great time of celebration and we really enjoyed the fellowship with friends. Yummy food too!

Then all I had was one and a half days of student teaching (the last official full days, crazy!) and then we were off to NY.  We left SC at 1:00pm on Tuesday and we arrived at Ben's mom's in NY at 3:45am Wednesday morning.  It was a crazy long trip, but it actually worked out quite well. We enjoyed some quality time together and then we were both able to get some sleep along the way by sharing the driving duties.  Plus then we didn't have to pay for a hotel or anything along the way which is always a nice financial savings.

Our time has been great here so far.  It is always filled with a lot more driving than I care to due to the fact that Ben's family is spread out so much though.  We spend a relaxing Wednesday with Ben's mom and grandfather so it was nice to just chill out and enjoy some company.  Then we went to Syracuse to visit his dad and dad's side of the family.  That was a wonderful time together.  We ate some wonderful food at his cousins and got to see their beautiful daughter again for the first time in almost a year.  What a cutie!  Then on Friday we went out for some Panera with his dad and grandma before heading back to Rochester to spend more time with his mom.

Today has been fun so far too.  I got up and did the normal weigh in and weekly bump picture.  And to my surprise I had lost 1.5lbs over the past week instead of gaining.  I don't understand how that happens, but I guess I can't really complain.  Then we had fun relaxing this morning, spending a little time with Ben's mom and grandpa again before heading out to pick up our first Christmas present which is a comforter for the King size bed we are getting Ben from Christmas. :-)  After that crazy Ben decided he wanted to go by and visit a childhood friend (no calling to see if they were home or anything....so uncomfortable).  It ended up working quite well.  I had never met them and they were so glad to see the both of us.  So it was a nice time of catching up even if it was awkward at first. :-)

Now just enjoying some down time before our first baby shower tonight!

26 weeks down, less than 14 weeks to go!

We had our 26 week check-up today.  It was definitely the world’s fastest actual appointment.  I was in and out so fast that Ben didn’t even make it to the appointment.  Not really a big deal I guess and he was at least able to be there to help schedule our ultrasound in 3 weeks to check on the placenta and also our next dr. appt.  is set for the day before I graduate!  I can’t believe that time is really that close! 

Baby is doing fine.  The heart rate is still in the 150s and it was fun because while the tech was getting the heart rate I was resting my hands on the top of my belly and the baby was kicking up a storm to where my hands were actually visibly bouncing. J  The doctor said that everything is looking good.  My uterus is measuring right on target and I am doing well with weight gain.  I just barely made my goal so my gluttony this past weekend paid off.  Now my total weight gain is up to about 6.5 lbs.  Works for me!  Unfortunately the doctor had no better suggestions for hip flexor pain that I am having at night, other than what I already do.  But I am just counting my blessings that so far that pain is really the only pain I face on a semi-regular basis.

The not so fun part came after the doctor appointment because I had to go down to the lab for my glucose test.  They make you drink this funky drink that tastes like bad, flat orange soda and then you have to sit around in the waiting area for an hour.  After that they take your blood.  Not exactly the most entertaining time ever, but I just hope that it was worth it and we find out that I am in the clear for gestational diabetes.  That would definitely not be a fun complication to have to face.

That's all I know for now, but here is the most recent bump picture:

26 weeks with new shirts and maternity jeans that will hopefully 

last me for the duration of the pregnancy pics. :-)

25 weeks, 1 day Happy Halloween!

So we were definitely bad neighbors today.  I was super busy this week and just never thought to go out and buy candy and then I decided once the weekend got here that I didn't want to.  As a result Ben had to go to the door and tell some cute little girl that we weren't giving out candy.  For whatever reason the lack of lights being on didn't deter her.  Oops!

Oh well, in other news, things are progressing well with our baby.  Baby is becoming more and more active with each day.  Some days it feels like baby is practicing for an upcoming boxing match. :-)  Obviously for the most part I don't mind because at this point it is simply entertaining and not uncomfortable.  For the first time today it was pretty neat because I could actually see the movement from the outside and my belly was vibrating.  It wasn't completely pinpointed, but pretty close.  My hope is that we won't have any of that craziness while I am up from teaching, that would be a bit distracting!  Ben is also able to feel baby's movements more and more.  Sometimes it's hard because baby will be very active and then when he comes over to feel, baby is having a bit of a narcoleptic spell and decides to hold completely still.  But I guess Ben being able to feel the baby move will only increase so no worries.

Maybe it's an obsession, but I am very fascinated to observe my weight gain (or lack there of).  Last doctors appointment she told me that as long as I gained 2-4 pounds a month from then on out I should be good.  Well I am almost there.  So far I have only gained 5.8 lbs total and that is only 2.8 pounds more than what I weighed at our 22 week appointment.  So as long as I gain that last .2 before Nov. 9th, then the doctor should be pleased.  I am definitely not complaining about the low weight gain, I guess I just find it funny.  Especially since I pretty much eat whatever I feel like (within reason).  At the rain that I am going I could definitely be sub 20 lbs in weight gain by the end.  That would be pretty stinkin' awesome if you ask me.  Let's hope my body keeps up the minimal gain and then it will be so much less to lose. :-)

Enough rambling for now.  Three weeks, two days until I am done with my full time teaching and get to go on Thanksgiving break, six weeks, three days until student teaching is done, six weeks, six days until graduation and getting to spend Christmas vacay with the family, and fifteen weeks til baby is supposed to arrive.  Lots to look forward too and I know the time is simply going to fly!  (at least until January...)

23 weeks today!

So this past week we went in for our doctors appointment to follow up with them after the ultrasound since they didn't have any available after school appointments last week.  We came in with 2 concerns: one is that I had only gained 4 lbs so far and the other was that they had told us my placenta was too close to my cervix in the ultrasound.  The doctor thankfully didn't seem too concerned about either issue.

As far as weight gain, she said that every woman is different and as long as I am going up in weight that is all that matters.  She said that many times when the metabolism goes up combined with and increased focus on healthy eating (which I definitely have), that results in minimal weight gain.  So thankfully we don't have to worry about that yet and honestly it probably won't be long before the weight will just be pouring on as I get bigger I would imagine.  Then, concerning the placenta, she said that we don't need to be too concerned yet because in most women, with the growth of the uterus, the placenta shifts further from the cervix.  So at 28 weeks we will get to do another ultrasound to make sure that shift has begun to occur. We are definitely praying that by that time the shift will have begun because I really don't want to have a c-section if at all possible. Baby is doing great otherwise, coming in strong with a heartbeat still in the 150s.  That's all we know for now!

22 weeks down, 18ish to go!

So this past week was an exciting week.  We had our anatomy ultrasound on Tuesday afternoon.  It was a really  super cool, special experience.  Baby Hill was moving all over (which I attribute to the juice I intentionally drank before hand) and that made it easy to see all the body parts and get some fun ultrasound shots.  We really enjoyed getting to watch our baby on the screen while the tech did all the work she needed to do to find the different parts.  Praise the Lord, everything is looking good and all parts are there and seem to be functioning.

A nice profile, most of the body shot.

The best we could get of Baby Hill's face

As many already know, we chose not to find out if it was a boy or a girl so when the tech needed to check out things down south we had to look away.  Thankfully that wasn't very often and the tech even said in the end that she didn't spend enough time studying the pic to even find out so at this point nobody knows (except God) whether we are going to have a boy or a girl. :-)  What a very fun and exciting time; we are looking forward to the day when we get the big surprise!


At the ultrasound we learned other details about our baby.  Baby Hill is about 14 oz, almost a pound!  Heart is beating strong at 155 bpm.  The placenta could possibly be in the range of being too close to my cervix, but the ultrasound tech was not for sure what the cut off is now.  However she did say that most of the time the distance grows anyway as the baby grows and it is not something to be too concerned about.  So we may need to have another ultrasound done to double-check later on because if the placenta is too close then that means c-section.  That would be a bummer but, as long as we get a healthy baby, no worries here. :-)

I have been doing well so far at this point.  The second trimester has treated me well so far.  Since about week 18, I have been able to feel the baby moving inside me.  It has been such a wonderful experience and the movements have gotten more pronounced and often as the weeks go by.  Thankfully I haven't really had many pregnancy symptoms, especially lately that have bugged me.  The main thing is that I have to go to the restroom all the time and for about 3-4 weeks the night time trips have become routine.  I was always used to using the bathroom often, but lately it's been a bit much!   The weight gain also hasn't been too bad so far either.  I have only gained 5lbs so far.  No complaining here, but we shall see what the doctor has to say on Tuesday when we meet with them.  I doubt they will care since I can definitely promise them that I haven't been starving myself and before long I will probably be gaining weight pretty regularly now that baby is growing more too.  We shall see.  Exciting times to come, but that's all I can think of for now!

22 weeks!

Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Ahtila!

So it has taken me a while to find the time to write this but I definitely feel the need to write a few words about their day of celebration.  Over Labor Day weekend we made a whirlwind trip up to Kzoo to be a part of Siera and Jeremy's wedding celebration.  I was able to get up their on Friday to be a small part of the set up, join in the rehearsal, have fun out for Chinese for the rehearsal dinner, and then spend a small amount of quality time with Si on her last night as a single lady.  Though the time went by fast and, as always, I wish I could have spent more time hanging out with her, it was still great to be a part of all the events leading up to the wedding.

Then on Saturday morning I got up at the crack of dawn to get myself ready so that I could get to the church by 8 in order to be a part of all of Siera's preparations for the day.  I think this is when it finally became real what was going on.  Siera is one of my dearest friends and to be quite honest I have always thought of her as not only a friend, but as the little sister I never had.  After all the many late nights and long conversations we had had about relationships and our futures, her life with her "honey" (which was definitely weird for me to hear her call someone for the first time), the man of her dreams (who crazily enough she reconnected with after not having seen since sophomore year of high school) was actually beginning.  She looked so beautiful and it was super cute to see all her excitement leading up to her wedding ceremony.

Getting ready, isn't she purdy?

Pre-wedding photo shoot

Their ceremony was definitely characteristic of Siera and it was neat to see her love for God and Jeremy woven throughout the day.  I am definitely not someone who cries often, and definitely not at weddings, but there were definitely points where I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to hold it in.  When Jay was singing "God Gave Me You" I was definitely staring at the ceiling a lot because I couldn't look at Siera or at Jay without getting caught up in the emotions of the moment.  My "little sister" was finally getting married and it was really happening!

The bridesmaids...I feel like I look like a giant!

Introducing Mr. and Mrs. Ahtila!

One other neat thing about the celebrations of the day that needs to be mentioned is that it was great to see people that I hadn't seen in a while like the Kandels, Ashley Carter, and Jessica Weakley Hurst.  That is one of my favorite things about weddings because they always serve as a reunion of sorts and it was great to get a chance, even if only brief, to catch up with old friends.

First dance, so precious!

We got to get out pic with the lovely new couple. :-)

I love you Si and I look forward to getting to know your new husband and stepson.  I will be praying for you as you begin this amazing journey and never forget I am always a phone call away.  Congrats Siera Ann Ahtila! (and Jeremy too!)

Just had to include this one for old time's sake....love you Si!

Puppies to the beach!

Last night we finally got it together and took the pups to the beach.  This something we have been wanting to do for a while, but it is slightly difficult since they are only allowed on the beach at certain times and we don't necessarily want to take them to the beach when we want to relax and swim, etc.  So last night we headed out to Isle of Palms at about 7, only to find out that the park closes at 7, oops.  Then we decided to head over a few minutes to Sullivan's Island.  We found a place to park and a doggie friendly beach.  By this time it was about 8 so it was a great temperature and getting closer to darkness (I love the beach at night!).

We headed down the beach for a nice walk to start out with and of course we made the pups walk in the surf.  Apollo was loving it, but Basil freaked out every time a wave came in so she was jerking my arm quite often.  As a result of the initial reactions we just had Basil hang out in the shallow surf area to get the hang of it, but Apollo went out with Ben to where the water was about halfway up to Ben's knees.  It was super cute because at that point Apollo had to "doggie paddle".  He didn't seem to mind it all that much, but every time Ben moved Apollo would follow him; he definitely wasn't taking any chances of being left out there.

After Apollo got done swimming for a few minutes we continued to take our walk down the beach.  Every once in a while Apollo decided to show us his best cockroach impression and rolled all around in the sand.  They both do that sometimes at home on the carpet sometimes after baths, but this was just hilarious to watch in the sand because he looked like a crazy dog.

A bit further down the beach we came to a calm pool of water that looked like it had been left behind at high tide.  This seemed to be the perfect opportunity to let Basil give swimming a try since there were no waves to freak her out.  So we took both pups out to where they couldn't quite stand and they were swimming around like pros.  They actually both seemed to like it at this point, but we didn't want to press our luck to we brought them back to the sand.

So after a nice walk we headed back to the car, both pups managed to poo on the beach (thankfully we had our bags like we were supposed to), and then we had a lovely ride home that stunk of wet dog.  Gotta love it! (not really)  They were a wet sandy mess and when we got home they definitely needed baths.  I am thinking we need to have a kiddie pool for their baths from now on because after seeing them in the water at the beach I think they would like baths a whole lot better that way. :-)

Our first trip to the beach was a success and we are definitely going to have to try it out again.  I love walking on the beach and bringing the pups along was an added treat.  Next time we are going to have to remember the camera so we can catch their cuteness in action!

Here is just a fun pic of them when they were little; pretty much only the size has changed :-)

Ryan and Valerie Reep!

This past weekend we had the opportunity to go up to PA and join in celebrating Ryan and Valerie's wedding.  It was about an 11hr drive so not exactly your ideal weekend trip but it was definitely worth it.  We drove up Friday as soon as Ben could get off from work and finally arrived at Amish Lanterns Motel at 12:45am.  Let's just say we were a little pooped and I don't think I have been up that late since I have been pregnant so it was a bit of an experience.  Our hotel was pretty cute, nothing fancy, but we were definitely out in the middle of nowhere in Amish country.  The dogs thoroughly enjoyed barking at EVERY horse and buggy that went by (and there were quite a few).

On Saturday we were thankfully able to sleep in some and then we went out to lunch with our good friend from college, Valerie (not the one getting married), who also happens to live in the Lancaster area where the wedding was.  It was really super nice to get a chance to see her and catch up a bit.  We hadn't seen her in over a year I think.  But hopefully we will have another good excuse to see her again soon. :-)

Saturday afternoon was wedding time.  It was a gorgeous wedding.  They put so much thought into every detail of the service and the reception.  It was awesome to see how they wove their faith throughout the day and demonstrated that they truly plan to make God the center of their marriage.  They had both dad's speak at the wedding, giving excellent godly advice.  Then at the reception, it was really neat because toward the end they had everyone get in a circle out on the dance floor and they passed the microphone around so that everyone could say what they wanted about the couple and offer congrats/well-wishes/advice.  It was super neat to see how many people they have already impacted as individuals and as a couple and to hear how God has worked through them to bless so many people.  And we are super excited because we are going to be incredibly blessed to have them down in SC with us for the first few years of their marriage.  We look forward to seeing how God continues to use such an amazing couple for his glory.  And I am looking forward to getting to know Valerie even better since she will finally be joining us in SC! So far most of what I know about her has simply been through Ryan and the very few times we have interacted.  Congrats to the new Reep family!  Here are a few pics from the celebration:

Beautiful Val and her daddy

Exchanging of vows

Attempted to get picture of the kiss, but then the bridal party started blowing party horns and this is the result.

Toward the end of the night, started to get pretty tired, but wanted a pic of us dressed up

Picture with the newlyweds, but unfortunately my eyes ended up closed, oh well!

One trimester down, two to go!

So yesterday was the first day of week 14, which means that the first trimester is over.  It’s crazy to think that our baby is one third of the way to being in our arms.  Supposedly our baby is beginning to be more active in the womb now, but thankfully I can feel any of it quite yet.  One nice thing is the nausea is definitely calmed down and it only shows up on occasion.  Unfortunately I can’t seem to knock this cough that I have had for about 4 weeks now.  The only thing I can figure is that it’s taking longer to go away than usual because I am pregnant.  Oh well, I manage alright and when I asked the doctor at my last appointment he just told me that sometimes coughs can take time to go away.

This weekend I have had a chance to spend the weekend in MI with my parents going around looking at baby and maternity stuff.  An amazing blessing is that a girl that my mom works with gave me all of her maternity clothes to borrow so at least this time around I will hardly have to buy anything.  She gave me two garbage bags worth of stuff which was basically everything she wore when pregnant.  It is so awesome to see how God provides because I was not looking forward to the financial burden of getting maternity clothes. 

Happy “future” Valentine’s Day!

So as most people guessed correctly on facebook, my Valentine’s Day present 2011 (or at least the most amazing one) is that we will be bringing a little bundle of joy into this world.  I am officially 11 weeks and 2 days along and due on February 12^th (hence the Valentine’s Day present).  That is as long as I am not like my mom and deliver 2 weeks late so the baby is born Feb 26^th or like my friend Diana and deliver 6 weeks early so the baby is born January 1^st.  So hopefully all will go as planned and we will have a healthy baby as an awesome Valentine’s Day present this coming year.

We are incredibly excited about this unborn child and feel completely blessed as we know it has come in God’s perfect timing.  Just a little background into that, we have been telling friends for a while now (since January 2009 to be exact) that we were not doing anything to keep from getting pregnant.  And if I had it my way, we would have been pregnant much sooner.  However, God had much better plans.   He wanted me to have the opportunity to grow through the waiting and trusting him with my desires.  And to be honest, I was hoping to be pregnant so I didn’t even have to start my Master’s degree in the first place.  But God had other ideas in mind.  We were blessed with a pregnancy earlier this year, only to experience miscarriage in early March which was heartbreaking, but it made God’s timing even clearer.  If that pregnancy had been successful, I would not have been able to complete my student teaching this fall and graduate in December. 

So even though I still struggle to see the purpose in getting a degree that I know I will most likely not use for several years, I know that God has a plan for it.  This baby will come in February, two months after I graduate, confirming His timing perfect.  I have been off from school and work all summer which has been a blessing since I have been exhausted and nauseous most of the time.  I will complete my Masters and graduate on December 18^th which will put me right around seven months pregnant at the time (meaning I won’t have to be rolling across the stage to get my diploma).  Then I will have almost 2 months (hopefully) to prepare for our precious bundle of joy to arrive in February.  It’s pretty amazing to see how God had worked and he has worked in so many smaller ways that I wouldn’t even want to begin to write here so as not to bore everyone to death.  But this pregnancy is not only a blessing in itself, but has been a huge blessing to see the process God has brought us through to get to this point.

Obviously we are not in the clear and anything could happen to change circumstances with the baby’s health, etc.  But we are trusting God that this baby will arrive healthy this coming February and that miscarriages and other obstacles into growing our family are behind us.  And we are looking forward to the wonderful opportunity of bringing a life into this world and showing them the love of Christ.

At this point baby and I are healthy.  As I said, I am just over 11 weeks pregnant and this past week we were blessed with the opportunity to see our first ultrasound and here our baby’s heartbeat.  It was such a wonderful moment to confirm that the baby was alive and well and that everything was on track so far.  Here are some pics from that day we would like to share with everyone:

Here's our first glimpse of our beautiful baby!

Then we got to hear the heartbeat (176 and strong) and it was so awesome!

Basically to sum it all up we are super excited and ask that you pray with us as we begin this next stage in our lives.  We know we have no idea what is up ahead, we just know that with God’s help we will be ready for whatever He has in store.

Happy July 4th!

Ben is finishing his time up in the math department at work and will be moving up to a new department.  And of course that means it's time for train-up again. So July 4th was the only day that Ben had completely off.  I spent the rest of the weekend relaxing and hanging out with the pups.  They had been sick all week, but thankfully this weekend they were finally both better.

My crazy cute puppy I got to hang out with, so glad he's feeling better. :-)

On the fourth we went to church and then hung out all afternoon at home.  Then we drove down to Patriots Point to claim our spot in front of the U.S.S. Yorktown.  We met up with our friends Ryan and Matt and his girlfriend Nikki.  We sat on our blanket, ate lots of yummies and played a bunch of rounds of Monopoly Deal while waiting for the fireworks to start.  Lots of fun!

I finally remembered I had my camera just before dark

Then the fireworks finally started a little after 9pm.  They shot all the fireworks off the U.S.S. Yorktown's flight deck and you could see them all going up over the harbor.  It was gorgeous!  I have never seen fireworks so big.  They did all the fireworks with music playing over the loud speaker.  It was definitely the best fireworks I have seen.  Once the fireworks ended, we waiting in the car for about an hour and ended up playing a round of Monopoly Deal while we were inching our way toward the exit of Patriots Point.  Good Times.

They shot all these crazy ones right off the deck, awesome!

This isn't even zooming in.  They were the biggest fireworks I had ever seen!

On Monday, Ben had to work all morning, but he came home for dinner.  Since we got all of our yummy organic meat, we decided to make a full blown breakfast meal for dinner.  We had pancakes, biscuits and sausage gravy, bacon, sausage, and eggs.  Yummy!

Too much food, but oh so good!