30 weeks, 151lbs

Alright now, the weight gain is getting a little ridiculous. I really don't think I am "supposed" to be putting on more than a pound a week and well, I like to overacheive. I really do NOT make good, healthy eating choices anymore at ALL and I eat even when I'm not hungry. I need to do better I think, but it's so hard...

So, yesterday we had another appointment with the high risk doc. We got to see baby girl again, I love seeing her, she's MINE all MINE! GrandMama got to come see her live for the first time as well. The bigger babies get the less you can see all their movements on the ultrasound, because you can't look at there whole body at once...so, we have to try to piece together what she is doing in there. She had the hiccups for the majority of the time, ultrasound tech said that is good because it proves her breathing functions work...who knew? Well, they do, cause she gets the hiccups ALL the time! I can't post pictures of the ultrasound because, like I said before, no printer/scanner :(

So, after that we met with Dr. Maher to go over everything. Here is what we learned:
#1 - her feet are 2.5 inches long which is RIGHT on target with a 30 week old baby...yay, was stressing about her boats for a while there.
#2 - all of her growth is perfectly proportional (head/abdomen/apendages)
#3 - she weighs 3 lbs and 10 oz. Which is in the 57th percentile (a little tiny bit big but she has evened out since our last appointment when she was in the 66th percentile)
#4 - my placenta moved more than it ever has! It is now located 2.7 cm from my cervix. This is good news because if it keeps moving out of the way, I could still go into labor naturally and have a vaginal deivery...no c-section. So, we'll keep praying about what's best for little Charleigh!
#5 - for the first time they hooked me up to a fetal and uterine monitor to watch the baby's heartrate, movements, and any contractions of the uterus (don't worry, nothing was wrong, they just do that to all women starting at 30 weeks). Turns out, I'm having contractions pretty regularly and not knowing it. I was told to push a button every time I felt her move, but she was sleeping so she wasn't moving at all for the first 30 minutes. Then, I thought I felt her roll a little bit, really faintly, so I pushed the button, then it happened again about 10 minutes later, and again. Those were the only times I felt her move for a good while. Then she woke up, and HOLY LORD the child was cha-cha sliding in there. The button officially got pushed every few seconds for the next 30 minutes! Well, the doc came in and said that those "rolls" I was feeling before were actually not the baby at all...they were contractions...who knew?
#6 - Baby Charleigh is head down and ready to roll whenever that time comes!


Newest symptoms: My belly is back to flaking again. Weirdest thing, no matter how much I lather it up with lotions and tummy butters, it gets dry again and flakes like crazy...
Just when you thought the off-the wallness couldn't get worse...I now developed clicking. That's right, periodically, my belly clicks. It's getting more and more frequent. It always happens when she's moving and it is random in nature. But just like tiny little suction noice or click of your tonque, that sound comes from my belly! I feels like a little bubble bursts inside (a very small bubble, not my water or anything). I've talked to several midwives, nurses, and doctors and the only thing I get is (at first a puzzled stare) that the hormones are making my cartilidge relax which is causing my joints to click...but, this is not the problem I tell ya. It's not coming from me or my bones...it's straight up in my belly! I've researched and other women have complained of this "clicking" but, no one seems to know what causes it ???


In other symptom news: we're back to no sleep, I mean, none, tossing and turning and muscle pain (I had the ripping thing under control until this week), and backaches. Oh, I know she is so worth it and I am thankful to be having all this discomfort. My eyes is on the prize :)


I'd like to ask or prayer from you prayin' folk out there. My sister and her husband have been trying for a baby for about a year now with no success. They went in to do an exploratory surgery yesterday and found that she has stage four endometriosis, it covered both her ovaries, her fallopian tubes, and is wrapped around her intestines (she has REALLY painful periods mind you). Well, the got rid of as much as possible on the right side, which was a lot, but the left side was so inflamed and swollen that the doc couldn't tell the different between her intestines and her fallopian tube. So, he had to stop the surgery short and is now going to put her into Menopause for 3 months to get some of the inflamation to go away so that he can do a more invasive surgery to remove the rest of the problems. Needless to say, it was not the best diagnosis for them. She is in pain now recovering from this surgery, you can imagine how frustrating it is to try for a baby for so long and now be set back 3 more months are you go through MENOPAUSE...which the doc says will be horrible! And then, you're looking forward to another surgery that may or may not save your left ovary and fallopian tube...
She is in good spirits, better than I would be and the doctor said he does think she will be able to have a child in the future, but not to get her hopes up on having more than one or two.
Today in my quiet time I read the story of 10 lepers who wanted Jesus to heal them. Jesus told them to simply go show themselves to the cheif priest...something that was forbidden because they were contagious! It sounds really simple and small but all they had to do was risk looking stupid and go...I'm sure after much debate and discussion amongst them, they went, and it says that on the way there they were healed. My prayer for my sister is that God give her healing, I pray that if he puts a simple task of faith in front of her that she would be faithful, that she would set aside reason and logic and complete the task. Then I pray that he would heal her, on the way. My Jesus doesn't need a three month menopause, or an invasive surgery to heal her, I pray that if she is found faithful, that he heal her along the way, suddenly, without explanation.
I'm not really sure HOW we would know that this has happened...they won't be going back in to "look" at her or anything, but I'm sure God will let us know :)

Okay Okay, so, I have so much exciting wonder that God is revealing to me and so much that he is doing inside my heart these days. I don't write about it much because everytime I sit down, I don't know where to start. They haven't made up words big enough and miraculous enough for me to use to accurately describe. Just know. He is HERE.

29 weeks, 149 lbs.

Woah, check out that belly...this week I can officially say I am huge (but only I can say that). It even looks that way from above! haha! And it's only going to get bigger :) The good news, I think my big belly is starting to make my legs look skinnier! On the days they aren't swelling ;)

So this week we started our Childbirthing classes. Pretty fun times to say the least. Justin and I walked in carrying our three mandatory pillows and signed in on the registration sheet like everyone else. I can see Justin looking around scoping out the other couples. After a few minutes he leaned over to me and said,"I think we signed up too early for these classes." To which I assured him we did not and it was the doctor's recommendation. He then came out with his reason for thinking this, "All these other couples are way farther along than we are." I just answered with a, "Ya think?" and giggled to myself. You see, I had signed the check-in sheet and saw everyone's due dates...most of them were BEHIND us, or in the exact same week! This short, simple conversation confirmed something I had been thinking in my mind...my husband never has any pregnant women to "compare" me to...sometimes I think all the poor boy sees in his head is his ever-expanding wife whose waistline is growing uncontrollably! So, it's only natural that his mind's picture of me is fairly large. It wasn't until all the couples started introducing themselves that he heard all the due dates, and was surprised, I could tell. After class he said the most flattering thing to me he has said so far (I think it was so flattering because I watched his eyes come to the realization before his mouth did) he said, "You carry your baby the best, BY FAR!" As if to say, "You don't look so HUGE after all!" (haha) He kind of had a proud little grin on his face, like I made him proud (even though we both know I have NO control over where and how I carry our child). haha, I don't know why, but that made me feel beautiful. And I've felt that way ever since he said that :) Weird how these pregnant emotions work.

So, anyway, back to the class itself...the lady informed us that we would be there for 2 HOURS every Monday night and Justin almost peed his pants. He just mouthed the words, "What about dinner?" Poor guy had to come straight from work and we wouldn't get out of there until 8! I'll have to bring him some dinner before class starts from now on. Once we got into talking to the other couples, gawking at strange pictures the midwife tried to describe to us, and hitting up the snack machine, the class was pretty fun after that. I know Justin and I are bad students, we couldn't stop giggling during the relaxation exercises. It all started when she instructed everyone to make themselves comfortable on the floor with their pillows. So, Justin, being the good student that he is...laid those suckers out and plopped right down on top of them. I sat down beside him and he plopped his head over into my lap. I couldn't help but feel as if something was wrong here.... Okay, so I knew he was just playing and he did eventually let me lay down on the pillows. What was really funny is that he laid down right beside me and as she called out instructions like, "tense up your right arm and breathe deep" I could see his arm stiffen and his chest rise up real big...haha, I leaned over to him and said, "Jus, open your eyes, you're the only other "coach" doing the exercises." That's when the giggling started. It was hard to breathe deep and focus when every time we made eye contact we couldn't stop laughing at how crazy he is. He eventually rolled over and rubbed my arm as I relaxed but then the REAL ham of the family started acting up...Charleigh! She was about to jump out of my skin! And it's IMPOSSIBLE to relax when the little being inside you is on a caffeine high. And the giggling started again.....I even caught the dad from the couple next to us chuckle at how hard my stomach was bouncing...

Anyway, class was soon over and the teacher warned us that in the 4th week we would be watching "movies" so we wouldn't need to bring our pillows. As we headed out to the car I said something about watching the "birthing videos" and Justin, with much amazement, said, "We have to watch birthing videos". Then I just started belly-laughing this time, "Justin, what "movies" did you think she was talking about that whole time? Finding Nemo?" I can't wait to raise a child with this man. Never a boring day there will be!

Onto other things, Big Mama and I decided to spend all day Tuesday working on the roman shades for Charleigh's room and the Bumper for the crib bedding. Since the crib itself is STILL not here...long story...we started with the shades. Now, of course, I had a vision of exactly what I wanted and so we had to create our own ways how to make it, that took a while. As we are in JoAnn and Lowe's shopping for supplies to piece our masterpieces together, my right fingertips start going numb. I figured I must have been cutting off some circulation to them so I started shaking them, and moving them around. Unfortunately, the numbness started moving down my hand. Uh oh, the only other time this has happened was when my face went numb as well and I had that horrible migraine where I spent 5 hours in the ER puking my brains out... We decided that I HAD to get home to my migraine prescription (I used to carry it around with me but I haven't needed it in SO long that I put it in the medicine cabinet recently). The numbness went away in my hand and never made it to my face this time, but I started sweating, and my head started to hurt a little. By the time we were in the car headed home Big Mama was playing Chinese firetruck at stop lights trying to find things in the bag of the car for me to throw up in...it got bad quick. I ran inside, gobbled down my pill and collapsed on my bed. I couldn't go to sleep for a while because every spot on my head is now a pressure point and even the pillow touching your head feels like a knife. But, I think the medicine started to dull the pain because before I knew it I was waking up 2 hours later, feeling MUCH better. Poor Big Mama just sat in the living room and waited on me...apparently she had strict instructions from my husband to stay there and make sure I didn't die...haha.

After my "near death" experience, haha, we finally got started on the shades. We got some good work going and then I had to leave for our GMCGR bible study. So for 3 hours Justin's mom sat at my house and sewed...and just like a good little sweat shop worker, she was still sewing when I got home. Big Mama, Charleigh is VERY grateful for your hard work on her shades. They really did turn out PERFECT! Here is a picture of one of them, we hadn't gotten the other hung up yet but, there will be two just like this hanging side by side on the big picture window.

check out the cute little pleats at the bottom, and I added the bows for extra girliness!

4th of July Weekend!

Wow! What a packed, fun weekend! So many pictures to tell the story so, I'll keep it short. On Saturday we started our celebrating by heading over to Ben and Sam's house for a little fun in the sun and steaks, grilled to perfection (until Ben and Justin had the "pepper accident"). Aren't they a cute little family?

Justin and Ben spent most of the time playing with little Hayes in the blow-up water slide. I REALLY don't think this was made for grown men but, try telling my husband that.
Jus thought it was hilarious to pull Hayes's pants down as he was climbing up the slide, do boys EVER get over hinny-humor?
After we wrapped up there we headed to a get-together with most of our Sunday School friends at Jaime and Adam's.

I guess it would have been good to get my belly in this picture? Just know, I get wider on the way down these days ;)

I just love Titan and Tacoma (combined they weigh less than Prissy...they are the tiniest/most agressive pups I know...they've got little dog syndrome and they hate Justin! haha)

We stuffed ourselves again (especially me with Jen's banana pudding...I ate three, rather large, helpings ;) So worth it! Then we broke out the Trivial Pursuit...we ALWAYS play Trivial Pursuit, Boys vs. Girls, but this time we had the new Wii addition. Pretty cool I must say. The boys spanked us (I'm sure this was the first time EVER!) haha

And after we got tired of using our brains we had to get the Band back together:
Jen on Bass

PePe (whose real name is Felipe but we like to make him "extra mexican" at times) is killing the vocals and Adam on Guitar.

Master of all drumming (Justin was taking all the pictures :) and I'm not sure where Jaime, Charity, Jonathan, Shaun, or Chris were? (By the way, Tyler and Susie...where were you Sat. night?)

So we recovered enough to make it to church this morning and then were so excited to go out on the boat with Jaime, Adam, Jen and Felipe...

Check out PePe. I took this picture as my husband says, "Dude, he seriously got at least 6 inches of air!"

Jen, killing the wake board

Jen and Pepe

Yes, Adam is kind of the man on the wake board and yes, everyone hates him for it.

And Jaime, with her signature move we like to call the "T-Rex"

Jaime and Adam

The boys are so silly, every time someone would fall off the wake board Justin and Felipe would go into "Bay Watch" mode and jump in to save them...looks like Pepe has Adam, Justin...who exactly are you saving?...the board?
And our feature performer of the day...Jus! it was his first time wake boarding and things were looking grim at first. (check out the slack in that line)But it wasn't long before he got up and going...
Even trying a few daring tricks on his first run...He's so manly!

And, Charleigh and I just did what we do best, relaxed and tanned :)

28 weeks, 148 lbs. THIRD trimester!

The revenge of the "charleigh" horse! Seriously, I had never had a charlie horse before, those suckers are painful. I've actually been getting them for a few weeks now, just like everyone warned me I would. To be honest I remember thinking, "Yeah right, how does a baby growing in your belly cause your legs to cramp..." And now, I know.

Craving update: Everyone keeps asking me what I'm craving and to be honest, nothing. I craved a LOT more at the beginning of my pregnancy but lately, I'll just eat anything! (except vegetables of course, oh poor Charleigh, good thing I take my vitatmins religiously :) But, I will say that this week, I've definitely been craving chocolate! And I know it seems like EVERYONE craves chocolate (pregnant or not) but not me. I like chocolate, and I'll eat chocolate at any time but, I've never been sitting on my couch and had this strong, urgent desire to down some Reeses' or make myself some chocolate milk...Oh I am going to gain SOO much weight this trimester!

So, as you can see in our previous post, we had our 3D/4D ultrasound and got to see our pretty little girl. 3D ultrasounds are a bit creepy but you just can't help yourself...to be able to get a little glimpse of your precious offspring, you'll do anything! After just watching her in 3D moving, sucking, sticking out her tongue, smiling, kicking, etc. you are just amazed that this little perfect person is growing inside you. How can you not praise our Creator? Even though it's my body that is "making" her and constructing her at this moment, my body can't do THIS! My body can't tell her fingers where to form and her eyes how to blink. It can't instruct her little lungs how to breath even though they've never felt air...it's just all so amazing, and I really can't believe it's happening to us :)

My prayer for our daughter:

O Lord, search Charleigh and know her. Know when she sits and when she rises; percieve and direct her thoughts from afar. Discern her going out and her lying down; Be familiar with all Charleigh's ways. Before a word is on her tongue, know it completely, O Lord. Hem her in-behind and before; lay your hand upon her. Such knowledge is too wonderful for her, or me, too lofty for us to attain. Where can she go from your Spirit? Where can she flee from your presence? If she goes up to the heavens, you are there; If she makes her bed in the depths, you are there. If she rises on the wings of the dawn, if she settles on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide her, your right hand will hold her fast. If she says, "Surely, the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me," even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. For you created Charleigh's inmost being; you knit her together in my womb. I praise you because she is fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are WONDERFUL, I know that full well. Her frame was not hidden from you when she was made in the secret place. When she was woven together, your eyes saw her unformed body. All the days ordained for her were written in your book before even one of them came to be. How precious to her are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! Were we to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When Charleigh awakes, she is still with you. Search her, O God, and know her heart; test her and know her anxious thougths. See if there is any offensive way in her, and lead her in the way everlasting. (Psalm 139)

Well, we also had another doctor's visit this week, with my regular OB. He is not optomistic about this placenta previa. He says he is 75% sure we will have a C-section. The good news is that instead of it having to be 2 or 3 weeks early, it will only have to be 1 week early (since my previa is marginal instead of complete). I know that we would LOVE to have her 2 or 3 weeks early but I want to make sure she has plently of time to grow and mature in there. Doc is estimating that she will be close to 8 pounds (but not over 8)...I was 7 lb 2 oz and Justin was 9 lbs!! Charleigh is measuring in the 66th percentile (means a little big for her age) but luckily I'm tall and she has lots of room in there, my belly is measuring small for this stage, Woo Hoo, let's stay away from those stretch marks! My mom never got any through ANY of her pregnancies so I am hoping I'll take after her :)

This week Big Mama and I plan to start construction on the bedding and window treatments! I am really hoping that all I have planned for Charleigh's room is going to turn out like it looks in my head...I'm scared it may be a bit busy but...we'll see! So, by this time next week, I should have more updated nursery pictures.

Exciting news, for those who want to know...SHOWERS are in the works! My love language is gifts, those who love me, know this...so when someone offers to throw me a shower, I cannot describe how loved I feel. It really means so much to me for people to take time, money and effort out of their lives just for me (oh and Charleigh). So, July 26th we'll be enjoying a shower up in Bama with all the fam and old friends. I am so glad I get to share this with my sisters and all my Aunts and cousins and friends from back home. My "old" church is throwing it for us, all those ladies are just so sweet and babies are their FAVORITE! I have to go by my mom's Sunday School class every time I am in town to model the growing belly...they just ooo and ahhh. I know that they were prayer warriers in our time of need. I am so thankful for that. And then all my girlfriends here (with their powers combined) are throwing a shower the very next week (Aug. 1st)...this is going to be the mother of all showers. I don't know how they are going to do it but they are amazing so I'm totally excited and honored. Instead of doing a couple smaller showers here in Pcola they decided to roll all of them into one (which I must say is a blessing to me!) and invite EVERYONE in our freakin' church...well of course not everyone but, a large number of folks. Thank you girls with all my heart for the hard work, cooking, decorating, invitation mailing, etc that I know you will do for this. You are my heroes! Since the guest list is continually growing please let me know if you don't get an invite and would like to come. Is that weird to say? I just don't want to forget anyone that I know and love and it turns out...that is A LOT of people!

*Update* I got a picture of our changing table in the construction process so far... it's perfect! Thanks Trey for all your hard work so far!

**Update Update** I just had a sobering realization. If you scroll down to the very bottom of our blog you will see a little baby ticker. It shows where we are in our pregancy and says some witty thing below it. I just scrolled down and saw that we are almost at the end! I remember through 4 pregnancies now, posting one of those tickers every time and just yearning for the day that we would make it to the 3rd one, you know, the one where the baby actually starts looking like a baby, and every time, we wouldn't, instead we would have to start all over again with a new ticker but....oh joy, God has given me great blessings and and overflowing heart today :)

Our Sweet Little Charleigh

I'll post my 28 week update and belly pic tomorrow. But for now, I couldn't wait to share our 3D pictures!

Here is her sweet little face. The tech kept saying how she has big pretty lips...were did she get those from?:

For all my family out there, doesn't she look like Tatum in this one?? Check out the dimple on the right cheek:

I like to think she is praying here:

There is one of her "boats" we like to call feet. She had her foot right in front of her face again, she likes that position it seems:

And here is her face with her hands and feet in front of it...this is why her butt is ALWAYS in my ribs!
Sooo, who does she look like?

27 weeks, 146.5 lbs

Good news: nausea is seriously few and far between so, I'm happy. I also got a belly support band that is WONDERFUL! It helps relieve all that pressure and those "ripping" muscles that I talked about earlier (I don't know why I put the word "ripping" in quotation marks, as if that makes me feel as if we are talking about something hypothetical...maybe it's a mind game?)

More good news, with all the chaos that is our lives these last few months we haven't done a THING to Charleigh's room. I mean, the dead animals (i.e. deer heads and mounted fish) were still on the walls, my treadmill was still in there, TONS of hunting stuff including a nice oak gun cabinet filled with rifles. It was SO not my little girl's room! So, luckily on Monday, my mom came down and we got to work. I do have to give Justin credit, after a stressful week at work he still managed to get all the furniture and heavy stuff out of our way just in time :). We spent the next 4 days running errands to get everything we needed (plus just the regular bazillion errands I have to run everyday...why does it seem that every day I have a full list, even though I DO get things accomplised the day before...it just doesn't make sense) and, of course, we PAINTED!

I want to warn any of you traditional, "calm-type" people out there that you may not be a big fan of Charleigh's nursery. I just figure she is going to be quite the sassy girl and wanted to give her a nursery to match! I'll post some pictures of our work so far but, keep in mind, the window treatments, bedding, and furniture (which is all being MADE right now) will bring it all together! Speaking of furniture...the one piece that we are not having made is the round crib...which I wanted desperately for Charleigh's nursery. So, I am so excited to announce that Paw Paw and GrandMaMa are getting that for her! Actually, they already got it, but when we started unpacking the box, it was damaged soooo, now I have to send it back and order a new one...sigh. But it should be here soon anyway! I am beyond happy about my child having a place to SLEEP!

On the far wall we decided to do an argyle print, and when I say "we decided to DO an argyle print" I mean, we decided, for some reason to paint my child's nursery by hand with tiny craft brushes. Haha, okay, so we were able to use regular paint brushes for some of it, but we kept getting deliriously giggly and would keep going back to the fact that NO ONE in their right minds would use tiny craft brushes to paint a room but...we did for a lot of it! I love how it turned out, just preppy and pretty enough for my taste. (Those colors were pink and brighter pink,

in case you can't tell by the pictures)

Across the room, on the opposite wall, we did black and white stripes. A little bold for a nursery but so cute none-the-less. We will definitely be having some pink accents on this wall for sure. Hey, I've also been reading and apparently the bold contrast of black and white, stimulate the baby's vision so, this wall may just be good for little Charleigh!We also took the door off the closet and painted it pink as well, She already has a closet full of clothes (and another bin full that I didn't have room to hang up yet...don't worry, Jus is installing another shelf in there for her)
Also, I do realize that we had an ultrasound last week and I STILL have not posted the pictures but, my scanner at home is broken (has been for a while now) so, I was using the one at school to scan my ultrasound pics...now that I am not in school anymore...I'm having a problem. I just need to go buy a new printer/scanner...sigh. Until then, here is a small video of our little girl. It's not the most interesting of all her videos, she was actually pretty chill this visit, I think she is just running out of room these days.

Big Mama got to come to this ultrasound and see baby Charleigh moving and kicking and doing all her tricks for the first time! I already see her sweet (and as I mentioned before, sassy) personality. I just love her. High risk doc says I still have that darn Placenta Previa but he thinks it still has time to move. Charleigh weighs 2 lbs and 5 oz already, a little big for her age but, healthy says the doc. Next on my list is Childbirthing classes and all that good stuff!

Also, it has been brought to my attention that I do not post ANY full body pregnant pictures on this thing and to those who are hurt by this...I am very sorry :) My mom is definitely one of those people so she made me do a small photo shoot in my kitchen after our day of running errands...

The traditional pose...

As you can see, cotton dresses are my FAVORITE these days. Maybe because it's been over 100 degrees all week long...man it is sooo hot!

The last drama I've been dealing with this week...my iphone. I just got one less than a month ago, paying full price might I add. And then, I see on TV that they have come out with a new improved iphone...for the SAME price I paid! What? Why didn't anyone at AT&T warn me they were about to reduce mine to half price and introduce a new one...I would have waited! So, I had to take mine back (you have 30 days to return it) and order one of the new ones. So, until it comes in, I am back to using my Palm Pilot. So, if you are a follower of mine on Twitter or my friend on Facebook/Myspace, sorry, the updates and emails will be reduced significantly until I get it back :( The good news is that I get upgraded from 8 gigs to 16 gigs, get the new features of the iphone and a brand new phone, for nothing basically, just a little inconvenience really.

Mom just left, sad. I'll post more pictures of the nursery as our window treatments and bedding get finished!

26 weeks, 145 lbs.

Well, the week started off with me and my prissy little dog getting some much needed pampering, I took her to the grommer and got myself a mani and pedi...much needed people. I feel like I am always writing the horrid things about pregnancy on here, but there are definitely some good points too! So let's discuss: My nails grow out of control these days, and they are nice and strong, I now get my REAL nails done, not the fake kind! My hair is getting thicker and longer, still not thick or long enough, I don't think it will ever be though. People give me their chairs for no reason, well, besides that I am large. I like when people touch my belly, I'm not offended, or creeped out...at first I was embarrassed because it really just looked and felt like a fat roll that everyone was staring at and rubbing on but now, it definitely looks and feels like a baby...i have grown to like it :) And mostly, I am so happy to be having this baby. No matter what this pregnancy throws at me, she is so worth it. I have longed for her so much. So, ignore my complaining and know that deep down, this is the best thing that ever happened to me (besides you Jus, oh and Jesus of course!) haha!

So with that said, I will briefly mention that the nausea has peeked it's ugly little head again. It is not as constant as it used to be, but when it hits, it is stronger than ever. Again, totally worth it but, as you can see in the weight area, I was making some steady progress until now...that is all I will say about that :)

Today, we go to see Charleigh again! I can't wait, I just know she is doing fine because she is constantly moving, all the time, non-stop. Pretty much everyone in our immediate families has gotten to feel her. It's not hard, you just push on one part of my belly for a few seconds and BAM, she kicks you...she does NOT like people invading her space or disdurbing her sleep (she is SO going to take after her daddy). Justin's new favorite thing is to WATCH her kick, or roll. He thinks it is the funniest thing when my whole stomach is just jumping away or totally deforming as she switches sides...it's pretty weird feeling too I must say. He also likes to put is ear up against my belly and see if Charleigh will kick his face...I'm not sure where he got that from but he just laughs when she does it...he's so cute! By the way, he is now training for a marathon. He really wants to accomplish this by next spring, so he started training early. He doesn't seem to think the whole, having a baby thing, is going to effect his training patterns, I'll be anxious to see how no sleep and running several miles a day will add up on his already high stress level. I'm praying for his sanity already.

This weekend we headed up to Bama for the Annual Shrimp Boil. It was a lot of fun. It was the first time a lot of my extended family got to see Charleigh, you know, sticking out there. We had it in Sharry and Josh's new spacious back yard and Grannie didn't bring anything that had been in her freezer for a year so...all in all, it was one of the best! While there we celebrated my mom's bday...Happy Birthday Mommy!

Tuesday was our first GMCGR Bible study over the summer. My friends Leah Taylor and Rachel Traylor came and said, "Hey, we'd like to work with the high school girls!" To which I thought..."Hmmm, someone else wants to disciple MY little babies and I get to sit back and watch?" OF COURSE! I agreed! So we worked hard and fast and started the Bible study that basically tells these girls what they believe and why they believe it...we are teaching them how to use a concordance with the bible in order to find out the Greek and Hebrew meanings of the words they are reading, how to find scripture and archeology to back up what they "think" they know...we had almost 80 folks there Tuesday night! I was blown away that they are so willing to give up a part of their summer to just, dig deeper. This ain't no flowery, feel good bible study...it's grunt and work and dirty. Keep praying for these girls, we are trying to prepare them to lead evangelistic bible studies with their friends as they learn. I am so blessed to get to just see them in their pursuit...it's very motivating on my part as well.

Wednesday we had a little surprise party for Jon's 30th bday. He was definitely surprised. We took pictures that I will post someday...Ironically Jon isn't IN any of the pictures, just the girls...haha. We aren't self absorbed or anything...

Since Jon, Ang, Jack AND Joanna are in town this week, Paw Paw and Grandmama rented a beach house for us all to stay in for a few days. Jus and I didn't get to go last night but we will be laying our heads there tonight! yay!

I'll post pictures of Charleigh's ultrasound today when we get back!