39 Weeks!

We had our last doctor's appointment this morning. I am about 1 - 2 cm dilated and my cervix has lowered and is about 50% effaced. We went ahead and set the induction date for Wednesday, December 16th, if I do not go into labor before then. Of course, we are hoping that I will naturally begin labor but we look forward to meeting our little guy next week at the latest! Bags are packed and ready to go! I am feeling well, just a little tired from restless, sleepless nights and getting up to go to the bathroom every 2 hours. :-) Ryan will post updates and pictures on Facebook when he's born and we'll update the blog once we are home from the hospital. We appreciate your prayers for a healthy (and fast) labor and delivery!

37 weeks!

We had our 37 week doctor's appointment yesterday. The doctor is checking my cervix now and the past two weeks I have been dilated 1 cm and my cervix is still quite high. She estimates that he's about 6 1/2 - 7 lbs. I haven't had any contractions yet and am anxiously waiting for him to drop since he's been kicking my ribs for the past 4 weeks. :-) I'll post an update after our doctor's appointment next week if there are any changes. We hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving tomorrow!

Maternity shoot

My friend Jenn is an amazing wedding photographer. She is the mother of the little boy, Brady, who I watch twice a week. This past weekend we went to a local park and she took our maternity pictures. She already has some up on her blog. They are wonderful and I can't wait to see the rest! Thank you Jenn!!

Here is the link: http://www.twiceshydesign.com/blog/

Baby Showers!

I had two baby showers these past two weekends. One in my hometown and the other here in Fishers. Ryan and I learned that we are very blessed with wonderful family and friends who gave us so many baby gifts. It has been so fun to go through everything. Below are a couple of pics from both showers. The first four are from my shower in Greenwood. Thank you to my mom and sister for throwing it for me and to my grandmother for making the yummy cake. My sister made the cute diaper cake in the first picture. :-)

These next pictures are from my shower in Fishers. Thank you to my friend Jenn for hosting it at her home, to Marcia, my mother-in-law, for the fun games, to my friend Renee for the cute Lion cake, and to Nikki, my sister-in-law, for the cute diaper wreaths! Yes, in the last picture we are drinking juice from bottles. We were timed to see who could drink it the fastest. I think I only got an ounce or two down in 5 minutes! :-)

Nursery Pics

Next week I am beginning my third trimester. I can't believe it! Time has flown by but we have been very thankful for God's faithfulness and protection through this pregnancy. We have been working hard at completing the nursery and I posted some pics below. We really like how the closet turned out. Ryan did an awesome job building the shelves and I am proud to say that I put the drawers together. :) We still have a lot to do before this little guy comes in December and that mostly consists of finishing the basement. Ryan has most of the drywall up and his father, Lonnie, has completed the plumbing, so we are almost there!

Adoption update: Ryan talked with our adoption specialist yesterday. We were excited to find out that when our paperwork goes on hold in December, Ethiopia will hold our spot on the waiting list until after the 6 month wait time. For example, if we make it to 10th on the waiting list for a referral before our biological baby arrives, then when we open our case back up next summer, they will reinsert us in that 10th spot. I hope that makes sense. But we know that God has it all planned out in his timing. (even though we still try to have some control) :)

It's a BOY!!

We had our 20 week ultrasound today. Everything looked very healthy and we are praising God for that. However, the little one was being very stubborn by keeping his legs crossed. The nurse thought we might not be able to find out the sex. After some pushing and jiggling of my belly, he finally revealed to us that he was a boy! We are very excited and can't wait to meet him in December!! Here is the 4D picture of his little face. He's so cute!! :)

Dossier submitted!!

Today we submitted our Dossier to our adoption agency. It will be sent to the National office in Grand Rapids and then they will put a hold on our eligibility to receive a referral until next summer. It feels very good to have all that paperwork turned in!

I had my 18 week appointment today and everything is still going well. We are very thankful to hear a strong, healthy heartbeat each time we go. :) We scheduled an ultrasound for Thursday, July 30th to find out the sex of the baby. We can't wait!! We haven't had an ultrasound since 8 weeks so it will be fun to see how big he or she is now. We will definitely post that day to let you all know what we find out!! We are off to Seattle and Canada for the next couple of weeks. Hope everyone is enjoying their summer!!