She's Here!

Our little princess is finally here! Her big brother is currently holding her, so I thought I'd catch a couple minutes to recap her arrival!! 

After some delays at the Labor & Delivery unit, we finally were able to head out on our hour drive to the hospital late morning last Wednesday for my inducement. I was excited the whole pregnancy to be able to deliver in the brand new wing! It's so pretty! 

We waited some more, but finally got things started around 12:30 pm! Here I am all ready to go! 

Just like all of my other labors, it was SUPER long! I was contracting all evening, but progressing really slow. At about 1 or 2 am things started really picking up and I was ready to deliver by 4. Honestly, the whole 17 hours was kinda a blur, but I do know that she arrived at 5:06 am! This is our midwife, Patty. She has delivered all three of our babies and I just love her! She delivered a couple other babies and assisted in a C-section all while I was laboring! She's an amazing woman! 

Our "little" princess was 9 lbs 2 oz and 21 inches long! She beat her biggest brother by over a 1/2 a pound! 

I was also super surprised that she has tons of dark hair! Both of the boys had really light hair when they were born. 

Speaking of her big brothers - they fell in love with her right away! 

She slept the whole way on her first car ride home! 

So far she's fitting into our crazy family just perfectly! (Somehow she can sleep even with some loud brothers!) 

You won't see much posting going on here for a while! I'll be busy cuddling with Sleeping Beauty.........

Still waiting.....

Just like my other pregnancies, my due date has come and gone. I thought maybe a girl would be different, but God obviously has better plans. I have an induction scheduled for this coming Wednesday, but I'm still praying that she'll come on her own before then!

39 weeks

In the meantime, I thought I'd post a couple pictures and a little update because I know I won't be around much here after she arrives!

We had a great 4th together as a family. It was really special to have one last holiday with just my two boys before we become a family of five.

This little guy was totally excited for the parade that goes right by our front yard!

Me and my sweetie! This was our 10th time celebrating July 4th as a married couple! I can't wait for the next 10 celebrations! 

 We love having some of our best friends come down to watch the parade with us! 

 Adam's been doing a weekly Bible class with the boys on top of our family devotion time! 

We've been searching for clues pointing to the story of redemption throughout the Bible.

The boys even get to use a little magnifying glass, hence the strange one-eyed face! :) 

Yesterday, I found the best surprise in the mailbox from Bethany House Publishers and Elyse Fitzpatrick/Jessica Thompson! I feel like my oldest is getting to the point where he's thinking about the "deeper" things in life and in the world. I'm SO excited to read this brand new book for some Christ centered advice on answering these inevitable questions. 

This is getting packed tonight in my hospital bag! I'll let you know my thoughts in a few weeks! 

In the meantime, if you want to read it with me, you can buy it here or here! 

Follow me on Instagram, our FB page, or here on the blog for any baby updates! I'll do my best to not leave you hanging!

P.S. My pregnancy brain totally forgot about a Friday Feedback question this past week. Let me know how you've been doing in the comments here or over at Facebook!

36 weeks....an update.....

Whew! It's been a long day!
Somehow, we fit in a grocery shopping trip, elementary talent show, and a few hours of work in the church office before 1:00 nap time.
After working from home most of the afternoon, fighting an ongoing issue with giant ants in the kitchen, whipping up PB&J for dinner (don't worry Adam was enjoying steaks with his guys small group tonight), and making it through bathtime (complete with a poopy accident), I'm finally sitting down to put up my puffy feet.
I started to catch up with some of my blog reading, and then I remembered - I'm 36 weeks today! Add to that the week that I'm usually overdue and we get to meet our little girl in less that 5 weeks! Eeeek!! That deserves a quick update post, right?

I didn't get a belly picture today (and Adam won't be home from his meeting till late to snap one for me), BUT I do have some pictures I haven't shared yet from the amazing shower my friends gave me a couple weeks ago! 

They planned a beautiful Saturday morning brunch complete with DELICIOUS food and gorgeous decorations! See that sweet fruit bouquet? I just loved the lavender theme. It wasn't traditional pink, but it was still SO feminine! 

All of the flowers came from the different yards and gardens of people in our church family! It was so pretty!! 

Not only did my friends put together a beautiful shower, but they overwhelmed me with gifts! I received everything from practical diapers and wipes to girly dresses and bows! I'm so glad I waited to buy anything until after the shower! 

One of my favorite gifts was this coffee filter lampshade my friend Katie made. I've always wanted to make one myself, but have never gotten around to it. 

Doesn't it look perfect in my Beatrix Potter nursery?? 

Honestly, one of the best parts of the morning was spending time with all of my friends! Since we live so far from family, these ladies have become my adopted family! I love them all so much! 

Our oldest has a few more days of school and then I'm excited to spend the last couple weeks before our new little one arrives making memories with my two sweet boys. I'm hoping to write a couple posts (or even vlog a bit) before July 8th, but at the very least, I'll write a quick announcement when she arrives! 

Until then......

New (an update)......

Can you believe it's May?? We're 5 months into 2014 already! I've been noticing a pattern of firsts in our little family lately! 

Here are some things that have been "new" for us in the last month or so......

 Our big guy competed with his fellow AWANA Sparks in his very 1st Sparks-a-rama. 

Adam had the sweet opportunity to share the gospel with all the K-2nd grade competitors before the games began.....

A few of the kiddos ready to go! 

Our team was super young and the whole day was new for many of them, but because of some mistakes from the other teams, we brought home 1st place! Woo Hoo! 

Adam celebrated a new year of life at the end of March. The boys thought it was hilarious to use trick candles for the 1st time! 

One of Adam's birthday gifts was the new P90X3 workout! I love watching my boys learn healthy living by watching their Daddy's example!

I've done some of the DVD's with him so far, but can't wait to do it full-force once this little sweet pea arrives! 

Easter was an absolutely beautiful day here in northern Pennsylvania. It was one of the first warm Easter Sundays we've had in years! 

There's always something special about setting a whole day aside to focus on the new life we have in Christ! 

One of the biggest changes we've experienced as a family in the last couple weeks is Adam's new job! 

Our Sr. Pastor recently retired after 26 years of ministry at our church. After much prayer and discussion, our church family voted to call Adam as their next Sr. Pastor. We felt God's leading to accept that position and start this brand new journey. 

Would you pray for us? We desire to know God and make Him known in our little community. We desire to more fully grasp the gospel and share that with our church family. 

This new job also brings more stress and emotional demand on our growing family. I struggle with fears that we won't be able to balance it all! I pray that this new season will cause me to lean more into Him and His unending grace and strength! All in all, we're pretty excited about this new chapter! 

Before jumping into the saddle, we took a little weekend getaway down to Lancaster. Our little monkey was super excited about his first ride on the train in Strasburg! 

 Loving the new experience!

Have I ever mentioned that these boys have my heart? 

The new little girl in my belly is healthy and growing bigger every week. I took this picture at the beginning of last week! We're in the home stretch and overall, I've been feeling wonderful still!  I'm enjoying all the kicks and somersaults before she arrives. Won't be long now! 

Well, that's what's been new with us lately! Lots of changes and new experiences! 

How have YOU been? Share with me in the comments!! 

Lately......

This blog is starting to remind me of the long distance relationship I have with my childhood best friend in Florida. Because of the craziness of motherhood, ministry, jobs, and life in general we go months without talking. When we finally get a free moment to chat, our conversation lasts for hours because we have so much to catch up on. 

I love this space here, but I feel badly that I check in so infrequently that I post a million pictures from the last few months! Hope you don't mind if I share some recent highlights.......

We hosted a volleyball night at our church gym recently. It was so fun to do something active together! The kiddos even played nicely together the whole night! 

Just like so much of the country, winter just will not end here in PA. It's been bitterly cold for months which means the snow we get never melts in between storms. 

 This is one of our recent snowfalls! Crazy, huh? 

The forecast shows that we may possibly reach 40 degrees this weekend, though! I can't wait! 

These kiddos are the love of my life......

Our school recently held a special day at our local university for all the elementary kids. We got to attend one of their basketball games for free (popcorn included). The boys really loved their first game ever. 

 Last month, I was able to attend the IF: Gathering online. What really got me excited after such rich teaching and encouragement was the new site, IF: Equip. Thousands of women around the world are currently reading through the book of John. Each day, we read a portion of a chapter then watch a short discussion about it on the website. I can't believe how refreshing it has been to read this familiar book again. I've been reading from the Gospel Transformation Bible that I wrote about a while back. The notes with each passage really trace the beautiful thread of redemption throughout the entire Bible. 

If you don't currently have a plan for your reading, I'd definitely sign up for the daily emails. 

We had so much fun snow tubing last weekend! Even the boys loved it! 

Best buddies!! 

Our little one is growing bigger. This is a picture from about 22 weeks. Later that day, we found out that we are having a....... 

Supergirl! 

We're still a little shocked to be entering this new world of girliness! I'm sure I'll have much more to share on that topic in future posts!!

That's about it for now! I've had a few other posts bumping around in my mind. We'll see if this pregnancy brain can get them actually written one of these days!

I'd love to hear how you have been lately! Feel free to update me in the comments or over at our A Steady Rain Facebook page!