I first met Carl my freshman year of college in the fall of '99. I didn't know much about him other than he ran sound at our church and that he had once asked one of my good friends out for coffee. That was pretty much my only interaction with him during my college years. Fast forward 4 years later to May 2003, I had just graduated from The Masters College and was working as a Pre-K teacher. Now that I was out in the working world, I joined the Career Group Bible Study at our church, which Carl had been attending for quite some time (he had graduated from Masters the year before I came in as a freshman).  Over the course of the next year or so, we had a few conversations together. I thought he was nice enough, but definitely not someone I would be romantically interested in.

It was in the very early morning hours on, April 11, 2004, Easter Sunday, that I received a call from my mom in South Africa, telling me that my daddy had passed away unexpectantly. I was devastated and all I wanted to do was get on the next flight back home to be with my family, but I wouldn't be able to get a flight out till the following day. I had a horrible time trying to sleep that night. I just lay in bed crying and praying. (Thank you to my sweet roommate who sat up with me that night, praying with me and reading me scripture, you know who you are and I am forever grateful!) That morning the phone rang while I was dozing in bed and I picked it up wondering who it could be. To my surprise it was Carl on the other end. He had just heard about my daddy that morning at church and he felt he just had to call to say how sorry he was and that he was praying for me. You see, Carl too had lost his daddy years before and he knew the pain I was feeling. I thanked him for calling and for his prayers and thought how kind it was for him to give me a call. Little did I know how much I would come to cherish that phone call. As I look back now, it brings so many tears to my eyes to know that Carl was, even in that small part, there for me and praying for me through such a dark trial in my life, before we even had an interest in each other.

That summer we had the opportunity to spend a lot of time together with other friends from our Bible Study. Carl began expressing an interest in me, but I just wasn't interested in him in that way. Slowly though, over the course of the next couple months, the Lord began changing my heart and the way that I thought about Carl. I saw that he was a gentle, kind, godly man and he was great with little children. (I always saw him holding someone's baby at church :)) I also saw that he was respected and liked by so many others. During that summer, Carl left on a 2 week mission trip to Colombia with a group from our church. We emailed each other every day and I remember the excitement and anticipation of checking my email each morning to see if he had written. I learned so much about him during those 2 weeks and his heart for serving others. Could he be the one for me?

Well, it was on August 26th, 2004, 3 weeks after he had returned from Colombia, that we began dating! (Although Carl will tell you it was the 19th. I was unaware that we were dating for a whole week... talk about communication break down :) ). And almost exactly a year later, on September 3rd, 2005, we were married!

I am so thankful for the 5 years that the Lord has given us together as husband and wife, and I pray that the Lord would bless us with many, many more. We have walked some hard things together as a married couple, but we have also enjoyed so many rich blessings.

This song is super popular at the moment, but I just love it and it fills my heart with such joy thinking on the fact that the Lord blesses us with the spouse that is just perfect for us. It doesn't mean that our lives will be all rosy together, but rather that through the mountains and valleys of life, God gives that special someone to share it with...

Carl Barnes, I am so glad that that someone is you! Happy Anniversary!

Aiden and I have been doing "school" together since he was about two. Obviously, we didn't do a whole lot at that age, mostly just some flash cards, learning letters, numbers and colors and reading lots and lots of books. However, since early on he has loved the concept of school and has been such an eager and attentive learner. His excitement to do school and his hunger for knowledge encouraged me to start doing more with him. Once he turned 3, I decided that we would take things a step further and have a structured time 3-4 days a week doing preschool material. I in no way wanted to push him, but I also realized that this is something that he needs. It became clear that he is craving the mental stimulation, as well as all the hands on creativity (Aiden and lack of structure do not go well together!). So I dug out all the curriculum that I used when I taught Pre-K after college, added in some other resources that I have found, and together we have really been having a good time.

He honestly has surprised me so much. As I have mentioned many times before on this blog, Aiden really struggles with self-control and acting on impulse. He is also very strong willed and not always the most compliant (he surely is a sweetie though :)). HOWEVER, when we are doing school together, he morphs into another child. He is sits quietly, works diligently, follows my instructions and directions very well and works hard to please me. He is always sad when our time comes to an end and asks to do more. Not that I am complaining in any way. It is a joy to my heart that (for the moment) this is an area in parenting that is going so smoothly. I used to think that homeschooling probably wouldn't be for us, knowing Aiden's personality, but instead I have seen how homeschooling can be great for us and we are praying for God's direction for our family.

One of the reasons for me doing this post is to share a wonderful resource that I found that might be a help to other mommies out there. While 3 is definitely a very trying year in many ways, it also is an amazing year, watching a child grasp and understand concepts... especially about God. I am absolutely loving all the questions that Aiden has about God and Jesus. I see just how much of a sponge he is and I know that this time is so fleeting. His heart is so tender towards the things of God and he just loves reading the Bible with us. Carl and I see how vital it is at this age to be filling our little boy's mind with God's Truth. All too soon he will start realizing that there are different worldviews out there that will challenge this Truth. It is to this end that I wanted to make sure that we weren't just doing preschool work, but also learning about the Bible. I scoured the internet and found a wonderful free resource out there for moms. It actually is a complete preschool curriculum but it centers around the Bible. What a I really love is that you don't have to do it all, you can pick and choose what you like (so don't feel intimidated), but we are really enjoying the Bible reading schedule, the scripture memorization, and all the activities and crafts that go along with it. Here's the link: http://abcjesuslovesme.com/

I went back and looked over pictures that I have taken over the past few months and some of the fun things Aiden and I have been doing together and I thought I would share some. [As a complete aside, I have to say though, does anybody else who blogs ever feel like they are showing off? Uggh, I think that is the thing I dislike the most about blogging. I enjoy sharing what we are doing as a family and I know so many of you enjoy reading (hi Grandma's), but I never want to sound like I am bragging about something, ever.  Maybe it is just me, but I really struggle with feeling that way? I always wonder what I should share about and if it might come off the wrong way. Anyway, as I have said, that is certainly not my intent and, really, I never have that feeling from others when I read their blogs. I suppose it is always good to check our motives for what we do :)] Now back to the pictures...

Aiden's D duck :)

I am trying to incorporate as many Bible crafts as I can find. I just love all the conversations that they lead to!!

Working on his letters. Yes, he's a lefty!

I bake at least once a week and Aiden is always such a willing little helper. Lots to be learned too with all the measuring and pouring. Fun (although, messy) times :)

We have been studying insects for the past few months. He LOVES insects. I bought him this little bug catcher and we have lots of fun finding and catching bugs. We study them for the day and then we let them go.

Working so diligently!

The first word that he phonetically spelt out. He did this shortly after we got our minivan and we told him it was a Honda. He did the H and the N by himself and just needed a little help with the others, but I was just so thrilled to see that he is understanding it and I think we are ready to start learning to read!

The first time Aiden wrote his name all by himself!!! It was one of those moments that you just feel so incredibly proud of your child. Wasn't so impressed that he wrote it in one of my books, but I guess it really is good because now I will always have it and it will be such a sweet memory. Oh, and he added an X in there too because we had been working on the letter "x" that week :)

Aiden's Apple Art :)

So we went back last Thursday for a redo of the 3D/4D ultrasound. This time the umbilical cord was just slightly in front of his mouth, but towards the end of the session it moved out of the way and we were able to get a good view of his sweet little face! The technician took over 100 pictures so I had a hard time just choosing a few, but I thought these ones were particularly cute :)

Little face. His hand and umblical cord below his face.

Face with umblical cord just below mouth.

Chewing on his wrist :)

So flexible, at one point he had his foot up right next to his face!

Love this little scrunchy face with his hand next to his mouth! When the technician saw his hands, she exclaimed 'Wow, he has big hands!! Carl and I just laughed and told Aiden to show her his huge hands :)

She then checked his feet, and sure enough, more big feet in the Barnes Family :)

Last week we had some 3D/4D ultrasound pictures done. It was quite surreal watching our little guy on the screen. We got to see him yawn many times and even make a squirmy face that had us laughing. It just doesn't seem possible that this miracle is growing inside me. We had a very nice lady doing the ultrasound and she really took her time trying to get good shots. Unfortunately, the umbilical cord was in front of his face the whole time and no matter what we did, it didn't move. She had me get up and walk around, drink water, use the restroom, but it would not budge. She kindly offered to bring us back for a redo to see if we could get some clearer shots, so tonight we get to see our little man again, and hopefully the cord will have moved. We still were able to get some really cute pictures, though, and I can clearly see a strong resemblance between these pictures and Aiden as a newborn.

I think we have finally settled on a name, we just have to decide how we want to spell it. We are so excited to meet him in about 6 more weeks!!!

This pregnancy is flying, I can't believe I am 32 weeks already! It has has gone so much faster than Aiden's. Not sure if it is because this is my 2nd child and I am so busy with Aiden, or because this has been an easier pregnancy AS-wise? I am actually starting to feel sad about this pregnancy ending (ha, although ask me again in a month and I'll probably feel differently) :)

We had the joy last night of having a 3D/4D ultrasound done. We didn't do this with Aiden and so this time we thought we would splurge a little and have it done. I figured I would always regret not doing it, but I would never regret having it done. It was so much fun to see his little face. He is absolutely precious and I cannot wait to meet our newest little guy!! I have to get the pictures off the CD that we got and then I will post some for everyone to see.

This little munchkin is a mover and a shaker. He is in the same position now all the time. He is head down, with his spine along the right side of my stomach with his tooshie at the top, and then his little feet at the left side of my stomach. He loves to stretch out, pushing his feet against my side which then pushes his tooshie and spine out on the other side. It is so fun to watch and certainly makes my stomach take on all kinds of weird shapes :) He also hiccups ALL the time. I feel bad for him, but from what I have read, they don't even notice it right now.

As far as how I am doing, everything seems to be going well. I have been feeling fairly good too. I had somewhat of a flare around the 20 week mark that lasted for about a month. It actuallly wasn't so much a flare, but rather a ligament in my groin that kept popping out of place and causing me pain and making it difficult to walk. It is related to my AS and I have had trouble with them ever since I had Aiden. We think those ligaments were damaged while giving birth. Anyway, thankfully, around the 24th week the ligament popped back into place and it has stayed put since.

Other than that, everything else seems to be pretty much regular pregnancy stuff. I am definitely to the point where I feel large and very pregnant. I haven't had too much swelling so far. Last time I had horrible swelling and had huge cankles. Carl and I still joke about the puffy feet (and legs and thighs) I had :) Probably my biggest discomfort at the moment is the almost round the clock heartburn. Just drinking water brings up all the acid. I have been taking papaya enzymes and then I tried some tums, but they just weren't helping enough. Eventually my OB put me on Zantac and that has helped give some relief.

I took the 1 hour glucose test a couple weeks ago and I failed by 1 point :( I then had to go back and take the 3 hour one, where you have to drink an even sweeter drink and then have to have your blood taken 4 times. Not fun, but thankfully I passed it just fine and I don't have to worry about gestational diabetes. I have also been stuggling with anemia and the subsequent tiredness, dizziness, weakness etc. I knew those signs right away as I was very anemic after having Aiden and I promptly started taking Floradix which brought my levels back up within normal range. This stuff is seriously amazing! I have taken it numerous times over the past few years and each time it brings my iron levels up very quickly. I highly recommend it for anyone who struggles with anemia.

Well, I think that pretty much summarizes how baby and I have been doing over the past couple months. At my next appointment, in just over a week, we will be choosing a date for my c-section. I'll be sure to let you know the when our little babe should make his arrival (unless, of course, he decides to come sooner)!

26 weeks

30 weeks. I really popped out :) I'll get a 32 week one this weekend. I am sure I am even bigger now!

Aiden had to get in the pictures too :)

At the end of last summer I bought some clearance items for Aiden to use this summer. One of things that I bought was a slip n slide, thinking it would be just his kind of thing. It seems I was wrong.

I got it all ready a few days ago. I even watched a couple videos on YouTube with him of other little children on a slip n slide so he would get the general idea (it's not like I could demonstrate for him). He seemed all excited and ready to try it but when we went outside to give it a go, he seemed less than enthused by the whole thing...

Really not so sure about it.

The little fountains seemed to be rather annoying...

... and the water got in his eyes!

He mostly just stood on it and played with the water.

I then tried putting some dish soap on it in hopes to make it more fun for him. He slipped and fell... and the "fun" was over :(

Sometimes this little guy really surprises me. Maybe next year he will enjoy it more!