honeymoon memories

ahh, this time 2 years ago, we were strolling the streets of charleston, hand in hand as husband and wife... with not a care in the world except what we should order for our breakfast that would be delivered to our room the next morning. :) we actually stopped in amelia island for the first two nights..after first going to chick-fil-a and walmart (ha--we laughed pretty hard about that!). we stayed at the most wonderful b&b, the elizabeth pointe lodge. our room overlooked the atlantic ocean... and it was more than beautiful. then we headed on to charleston, where we stayed downtown right by the water at the harbourview inn. we took an airplane ride over downtown charleston, which was quite an adventure! we also planned on going on this huge sailboat while we were there, but we were quickly reminded that hurricane season is not limited to our neck of the woods... we visited the biggest oak tree we've ever seen and loved exploring downtown. we visited the market (where they sell those crazy expensive baskets!) and took the tourist carriage ride, too... so much fun. we could've stayed a lot longer. enjoy all the pictures....

i love this picture of us entering our home
for the first time as husband and wife...

here we go to amelia island!

this is our bed & breakfast on amelia island.
our room was the very middle 3 windows on the 2nd floor.

our quaint little room

our view overlooking the atlantic...
the candles in the window are now in our bedroom,
and the smell always reminds me of our honeymoon!

the beautiful porch downstairs

see? not a care in the world. :)

we got caught!

now on to charleston...

the harbourview inn...
our room was to the left of that really bright part on the wall.

the brick in our room dates way back to sometime important...
they turned down our bed & left chocolates on our pillows every night. :)

the little airplane we rode

a lighthouse off the coast of charleston

we loved exploring the historic neighborhoods

more historic downtown

isn't this a huge tree?
you can see how tiny we are compared to it

these baskets in the market are famous... and crazy expensive!
i asked about the price of one, and the lady said, "three fifty"...
at first, i thought she meant $3.50, but it was $350!!

one more kiss.....

i love this day....

today is the 2nd anniversary of the day that brian and said "i do"... it was a perfect day and a perfect beginning of a life together....for two imperfect people depending on a perfect God for true happiness and joy. i sometimes still get giggly at the fact that we're married (i think i exclaimed "we're married!" at least 500 times on our honeymoon)... i'm thankful for the countless ways in which God is teaching us and blessing us on a daily basis. i love my husband, and i can't wait to celebrate our anniversary for years and years to come!!! i could go on and on, but i thought you'd all rather see some pictures from our wedding day.

august 28, 2004

that day i became a part of brian's fun and crazy family! :)

the ceremony seemed to go by so quickly...

i especially loved this part :)

our wedding party

my favorite part...the cake!

i loved seeing the ring on my husband's finger!

off to happily ever after!

stay tuned for a sneak peek into our honeymoon (ok... not THAT kind of sneak peek..haha)

time flies when you're getting fatter...

has it really been almost 2 weeks since i posted anything? gosh, i didn't think my days were THAT busy, but i guess they are. last week, brian was in st. louis for work, so i was kinda in a funk all week anyway. i don't do well when he's gone. i don't sleep well (pregnant or not), and my mom comes over to stay every night after work to help out with ethan. he really is ready for new entertainment by 5pm! :) (thank you mom!!) we are so blessed to have so much family here to help out with ethan. i am sure God would get me through it if we lived away from family, but i appreciate His grace in planting us close to home.

i have a lot of pictures to post, but i don't know how much i'll get done tonite. it's been a busy weekend for our family. we all went to see brian's grandparents and aunts & uncle yesterday... jeff & kristie introduced karina to the crazy family, and ethan got to show off his walking. :) i will hopefully post those soon.

my dr's appt this past week went well... i'm measuring just as i should be, though i expect to get the "you're measuring big" comments beginning next month. :) caroline is definitely growing... i am still feeling good, but sleeping and bending down are getting harder to accomplish. i'm including my latest pregnancy picture--28 weeks--though it's not too great. the reason i don't like it is because i look bigger than i did in my last one (DUH!!)... i said that to brian, and he just looked at me with that "whatever i say is going to get me into trouble, so i'm not going to say anything" look.... all of that to say, i'm growing, caroline's growing, all is well. just counting down till november 14th. i can't believe that's only about 11 weeks away!

as most of you know, i had a c-section with ethan due to the fact that he did not drop and my labor was not progressing after 33 hours of natural labor.... well, my doctor has been very encouraging (since my 2-week post-delivery appointment) about the possibility of being able to deliver my future babies by vbac (vaginal birth after caesarean). i didn't know that would even be an option, but the more i read about it, the more i see that the success rate is rather high for it. there are "risks", and some have the opinion that it is more dangerous to attempt a vbac than to have a repeat c-section... i don't really agree with that, but that's another post for another time. i am hopeful that caroline's birth will be less eventful than ethan's. this has been a very different feeling pregnancy to me (she's sitting so much lower, kicking so much more....) that i'm hoping it will be a very different labor. i'm just mentioning this because i would appreciate your prayers in several ways:

1. prayer for peace over the next 11 weeks- i can analyze and research this to death, but it doesn't make the possibility of a successful vbac for ME any higher. this is yet another way that God is reminding me that HE is in control and that HE will ordain how caroline will come into this world. i seem to always need a lesson in the whole control thing...

2. prayer that i will look to His Word for guidance in this issue-instead of googling "vbac" at night, i need to be searching Scripture for verses to remind me of God's faithfulness and His sovereignty in my life.

3. prayer for discernment and wisdom if/when we need to "decide" c-section vs. vbac- my dr. has said that we'll "play things by ear" and see how things look as we get closer to my due date.

4. prayer for a safe delivery-when the day comes for caroline to enter this world, of course we will just want her healthy- no matter how she gets here.

thanks for your prayers about our baby girl! we can't wait to share her with all of you.

mom! what about me?

alllright, so i guess i need to put some recent pictures of ethan on here. :) he'd better get used to sharing the spotlight-- his place in the spotlight only gets smaller from here! :)

ethan has been doing some pretty funny things lately. he loves phones, but he's not allowed to play with our house phone or our cell phones. he doesn't give up trying, though!! anytime he sees a phone, hears it ring, or knows you have one, he puts his whole arm up to his head like he's on the phone... and sometimes (as in this case), he does both hands. (it's cute, ethan, but you still can't have the phone!)



he has also learned the concept "hot", initially from us blowing on his food and telling him it's hot... now you just say the word "hot" and he blows (it's more like "fffffffffff").. and once he knows something is hot (stove, candle, a car on a summer day), he blows without you having to say the word. :) he also likes to imitate fans... and he does this by making the same "ffffffffff" sound, and he waves his hands about quite wildly... so the spastic hand waving has also carried over to his "hot" sound since they're the same sound.... in these pictures, he found the candle i had burning last night. in the 2nd picture, you can see him blowing and waving his hands with excitement.... (i'm such a sucker for babies in overalls!)




now that ethan is walking, we have allowed him more freedom in our house (like we had much of a choice--haha). he learned the boundary of staying in the living room to play, and now he is allowed to come into the kitchen with me or walk down the hallway to our room if we're going there... so as you can imagine, he is LOVING this new freedom, and he especially loves being in the kitchen... whether i'm in there or not! (we are working on him coming back to the living room once i'm no longer in the kitchen... so pray for my patience and consistency there!) anyway, i was making dinner for jeff & kristie last night, and ethan would have been right under foot except for the fact that he found new toys to play with... groceries that had not yet been put away! horray for parmesean cheese and canned veggies! ethan was thoroughly entertained by these and other foods for a good 30 minutes. it was a great break for me-- i may just have to put a bag of cans on the floor whenever i need to get some kitchen work done. ha. :)




as much as ethan is into EVERYTHING right now, we are enjoying him so much. it's so exciting to see his mind work and figure things out... and to just see evidence of God growing his little brain on a daily basis. his vocabulary is starting to explode-- he saw his toothbrush in the bathroom last night, and he pointed to his teeth and tried to say "teeth"- it was more like "tttt". the other day, i asked if he was hungry, and he immediately did the sign for "eat" and tried to say it. i was pretty amazed that he associated hungry with "eat"-- well, he does have a pregnant mommy in the house. :) haha. he is pretty much doing everything he's supposed to, but it is just such a blessing to watch my own child grow. i have worked with and been around so many kids-- some developing on schedule, some far behind the norm... and just to see how he is learning so much from everyday conversations and interactions with me (though i do tend to get into speech therapy mode pretty automatically!!) and brian and others... it's pretty fun. :) so just humor me over the next several months as i blog about words he says that every other 13-18 month old can also say.... just let me enjoy it. :) i'll leave you with one final picture for tonite. this was taken last night at jeff & kristie's as ethan was, yep, exploring... the stairs! i left that adventure for daddy to supervise!!

cousins!

karina and ethan sure do look like their daddies! i can't wait to see how much they look alike as they grow up. how fun :)

more pictures of baby karina

ok, ok, i know i said i'd post more pictures of this sweet baby girl... sorry it took me a few days! i took donuts to the new little family in the hospital on friday, and i was able to snap some cute shots of karina. when ethan was 5 days old, kristie brought cupcakes over, and we put a candle in one for ethan's "birthday" (and took a ton of pictures of it, of course)... so i put a candle in a donut for karina's bday... kristie got a big kick out it. :) carrie brought baby brian down to their room to visit-- how fun that they were in the hospital together! they got to go home just 24 hrs. after karina was born, and they are all settled at home. karina even found her thumb her first day at home! (see picture below.) we brought them dinner & ate with them last night... and baby girl slept through our whole visit with the exception of about 5 minutes! ethan finally showed some interest in karina, though i think he's a bit confused. we kept saying, "ethan! look! the baby- look at the baby!" and when he FINALLY would give her some attention (pulling her leg, etc.-haha), we'd say, "no ethan! no!" poor kid!! we'll all get the hang of this sooner or later. :) we are so thankful for this beautiful baby girl. i just think of all the prayers that were lifted up for her, especially in the early weeks of kristie's pregnancy... praise God for a healthy baby and a cute one at that! :) i can't wait to watch her and her cousins grow up together. what a blessing to have family. thank you, God!

here's some sweet pictures of karina in her daddy's lap...

get used to the flash, baby girl!

karina is a beautiful little girl! i had my hands on that baby less than 30 seconds after we stepped in the hospital room... she is a "big baby" but she's SO tiny! she has had a great first day-- it even looks like she's working on her first smiles! mom & dad are doing well... just ready for a little sleep tonite. ethan was more excited about the buttons on the hospital bed than his new cousin... so we didn't get any great pictures of him adoring her... yet! (we have 3 more months to practice those. :) ha.) karina looks like she has her mommy's eyes and her daddy's little chin and not so little cheeks. she and ethan do look like cousins, though she has these long, elegant fingers and toes, and ethan's are STILL squatty little fat things. so.. it's neat to see their differences and similarities already. hope you enjoy the pictures. i'm bringing them krispy kreme in the morning, so i'm sure i'll have more pictures tomorrow.

OH! and our friends carrie and freddie had their 3rd baby right next door to kristie & jeff an hour after karina was born! they didn't find out what they were having, so brian robert was a fun surprise for all of us today! he looks JUST LIKE his big sister ansley! it was great being able to see both the babies today. they are sort of related, which is also fun... kristie's sister is married to carrie's brother. so they're almost in-laws...

ok, here's the pictures. be prepared for many more!










carrie looks so good for just delivering her 3rd baby in 3 years! and baby brian is getting ready to sweep all these baby girls off their feet! (he's the only boy so far in a bunch of baby girls at church.)