Sleeeep

We are happy to say we all slept pretty well last night. Just thought you'd want to know after the last post. :)

39 Weeks

One more week until due date! My doctor's appointment yesterday revealed that I'm still 1 centimeter but a little bit more effaced, and the baby has dropped a little more.

Everybody keeps asking me how I'm feeling... Well, I haven't been sleeping well at all. :( So, physically I really don't feel that great. But emotionally I feel calm and ready. We're just praying we can both be rested for when God decides to bring Adam into the world.

Feeling Ready To Meet Baby Adam

It feels nice to have a couple of hours of quiet to myself this afternoon while Lucy naps and Pete is out. We had a great Thanksgiving with Pete's family this past week and now, more than ever, I finally feel ready to have this baby.

Pete's dad surprised us with bringing us some homemade furniture- well, the surprise was how quickly he made it, and how good it looks! So our house seems MUCH more put together and lived in now. Also over the week, Pete's family helped with little odds and ends such as getting our Christmas tree set up, switching out the crib with the toddler bed, putting shelves up, etc...

Lucy has done very well with sleeping in her big girl bed. :)

I'm thankful for a calm heart right now.

Due date is 9 days away. Hmmm, maybe I'll do a poll... ;)

Little Update

I went to the doctor yesterday. He said the baby's head is definitely down, I'm 1 centimeter dilated and 50% effaced. If that isn't enough to be thankful for, we are excited to host Pete's parents and siblings for Thanksgiving tomorrow!

We hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving!

A Few Pictures

Here are a few pictures of the nursery as we have it set up so far. (The toddler bed will be switched with Lucy's crib soon). The walls are a dusty blue and we're using green and brown too.

And of course Lucy wanted to get her picture taken. She's really in to saying "cheese" lately. :)

Adam Joshua Avery

"Adam" means "Man" or "Of the Earth."

"Joshua" means "The Lord Saves" or my personal favorite: "Yahweh is Salvation."

Both of us had always kind of liked the name Adam, but Pete came up with these two names together. In his words, Adam brought sin into the world, but God saves. So his full name means God saves sinful man.

"For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive." 1 Corinthians 15:22

Our prayer even now is that God would graciously save Adam from his sin and draw him into a relationship with Himself.

Updates... and Something Fun

Our morning started off a bit crazy with Lucy throwing up her breakfast and me trying to rush to a doctor's appointment.

Baby Boy is doing wonderfully. My appointment, which obviously I ended up going to by myself, went well. Doctor Nord has recently changed his policy on vaginal exams. He used to do them starting at 36 weeks, but changed it to starting at 38 weeks. So I have no idea about anything. I'm a little disappointed, but kind of thankful too since its good to not mess with anything too early. He didn't seem concerned with the cramping this weekend since everything else looks great.

The rest of the day went pretty well actually. Lucy seems to be doing not just okay, but very well. We both took extra long naps today (praise the Lord!) sleeping for a solid three and a half hours. I found time to fold the three loads of laundry I did yesterday and wash some dishes, and my wonderful husband did too many helpful things to count.

And now for something on a much lighter note: Pete and I have finally settled in on a name for our boy! Hands down, the most frequent question I get asked these days is "Have you picked out a name yet?" I never knew people cared that much, but apparently its a big deal. So here it is:

Adam Joshua Avery

We'll explain more of why we chose this name later, but for now, there you have it. :)

Another fun thing is that Pete and I bought a package of newborn diapers at the store when I all of a sudden had a moment of "oh no what if we have this baby and I don't have any diapers for him?" I opened them up and was absolutely shocked at how small they were! It just made it a little more real that we will soon have a little person around again.

Sunday Morning Thoughts

On Tuesday I will be 37 weeks (full term.) Last night I woke up in the middle of the night to two unsettling things: 1. Lucy coughing pretty badly, and 2. bad cramps. I was having a lot of trouble figuring out what was causing the cramping (something I ate maybe?) and if I should be concerned... for a few brief minutes I wondered if I might be going into labor. Eventually I settled back to sleep and it has gone away.

Needless to say, my own heart is quick to worry. I don't feel like I'm ready to have this baby and the list of things I could be or am anxious about seems to go on and on sometimes.

My prayer right now is that Pete and I would both trust God in all the details of our lives: When He chooses to bring the baby, allows physical pain, when Lucy is sick, when we are short on sleep... when my expectations are dashed.

I realized this week that I have a lot of expectations for what the next two months of our lives are going to look like. And, I have no guarantee that any of it will happen the way I think or hope. I am not in control.

Lucy and I are stuck at home this morning as our conditions prevented us from going to church. As we sit and play together in the living room, our entire house is creaking from the massive gusts of wind outside. I think about the God who created that wind. He is strong. He is mighty. He is loving.

"...do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6-7

My next doctor's appointment is Tuesday. I'm really looking forward to it because they can tell me a lot more about how my body and the baby are prepping for labor. I'll try to remember to update soon afterwards. :)

35 weeks

There's really not much to update on (which explains the infrequent postings) since nothing is out of the ordinary. I feel like this baby could come any day even though I still have 5 more weeks left and I'm measuring just right. Being pregnant with your second child and having to run around after a 19-month-old is tiring to say the least.

We still have quite a bit to do to prepare for this baby boy. His room has nothing in it right now. We need a dresser and a shelf for Lucy's room so we can move her furniture to his room. I have to finish making curtains, and we still have some odds and ends to do around our house since we've only lived here for 6 weeks. Oh yeah, in case you didn't hear, we moved to a house in mid-September.

This has been a busy fall for us. I think that this pregnancy feels so different because we're just doing more: ministry, church stuff, taking care of Lucy... all things that we weren't doing last pregnancy due to our season of life. I'm also doing water aerobics. :D