Early Morning

The more I think about it.
The more amazed I am.
At the marvelous creation.
Of my magnificent God.

My most favorite part of the day is awkwardly crawling into bed with all my pillows and Justin crawling in close enough to hold my belly. We feel our daughter moving around and giggle thinking about what she is up to in there. It is the most amazing way to drift off to sleep. I don't take a moment of this time for granted. In less than two months, that movement now inside my belly, will have her own bed to sleep in. They grow up so fast, don't they?

We've been reading through Psalm 139 at church. It has always been one of my favorite chapters of the Bible. Experiencing a person being "formed in my womb" gives it an even deeper meaning. The other thing I love about the chapter is how it makes me think about how I was also formed in my mother's womb, and her in her mother's. It seems with every generation that passes, our lives are that more full of purpose. Without the love of my grandparents and Justin's grandparents, our parents, and now our love for each other, this little blessing of ours would not be in existence. Life can seem so mundane if you let it. Get up, go to work, pay bills, go to sleep and repeat. But God has made us for so much more. Life is so refreshing when you can see the immense love that He has for us and I believe at the heart of that love is purpose, significance and relationships. Even something as small as a baby. Significance.

Good sleep is getting harder to come by these past days. My Saturday morning started much earlier than I had hoped (no thanks to an aching back). But with Justin still asleep, I found it a great time to get in some quality blogging. Not to mention, I caught an entire episode of Bob Ross painting on PBS. There is something about his soothing voice and the way he paints that is so calming. I'll have to remember his show when I'm up early with Baby Girl in the very near future.

Justin is now on a 'days' countdown. I think it's down to 54 today. Things are really coming together though. Mama got a new washing machine this week! Let the deep cleaning begin! Thanks to another great online deal, we've stocked up on almost all the cloth diapers we should need! I'm so excited that we'll never need to have diapers on our grocery list! I also found another great used deal on the exact baby bouncer that we originally registered for! It is so cute and I love how the owls match the wall decal that Justin put up last week. (Margie - I was able to use the rest of your gift money for this great deal!) 

And one more thing has been checked off the to-do list, we think we found the perfect name for our baby girl. You'll have to wait for her debut to find out. ; )

Changes: Observations from a Daddy-to-Be (Guest Post by Baby Daddy)

They say that your life changes after your baby is born -- that things will never be the same. Well, I’m here to tell you that it’s not true.

Things start changing even before that.

Let me frame it this way: No matter who I talk to, I always get one of two reactions when I tell people that we’re having a girl. Either “Oh, cute!” or something to the extent of “She’ll have you wrapped around her little finger.” I’ve already seen both of these reactions themselves in my life over the past few months.

“Cute!”
I’ve never really been one to enjoy baby clothes, girl or boy. They don’t know what they look like, right? And don’t get me started on those baby headbands. But then we started registering;  I have to say they make some pretty cool stuff for little girls these days.

Then there was Christmas. Erica was nice enough to wrap a present that was “To: Baby. From: Daddy” that I got to unwrap. Inside was a sleeper with guitars all over it. Maybe she will be her father’s daughter.

Wrapped Around Her Finger
Yeah, I’m pretty sure this has already happened.

Just look at our nursery. I’m definitely not the most “handy” guy, and I don’t really enjoy manual labor all that much. But over the last few months, I’ve been moving furniture, assembling cribs, installing curtains, installing roller shades to go behind those curtains... and now my latest masterpiece:

That’s a big wall decal that Erica found on Etsy, and we got it for Christmas and a baby shower from her mom. It was a lot of work, but it seems to me that I’m already smitten with my daughter.

-----

It’s funny: I’ve never really enjoyed holding babies. I’ve always been afraid I would drop them or break them or do something wrong. At this point, though, I can’t wait, probably because it will be our daughter. I am so excited to be a father. It’s crazy to think about it right now, but in roughly 61 days, I’ll be holding our little one for the first time.

So things have already been changing, and our daughter hasn’t even been born yet. At this point, I can’t imagine what kind of changes will happen after she’s born -- but I can’t wait to find out.

Showered With Blessings

Ok. Less than 9 weeks to go! Baby girl is growing more everyday it seems and I think she's going to be a dancer or gymnast. She sure moves around a lot in there!

I had a fabulous 10 days off work and spent the entire vacation at my parents' house. It was wonderful. My sisters, brother and brother in-law as well as my nephew London, all made it home for Christmas, so we had a nice time hanging out and reconnecting. London kept us busy and laughing almost non-stop. Our daughter has no idea what she has in store with that cousin of hers. I'm so looking forward to future Christmas's to spend with more children around Grandma and Grandpa's house. London kept asking me, "Erica, what time is the baby coming out?" It was the sweetest thing. Before he'd go off for his nap or to bed for the night, he'd say goodnight to everyone, including the baby. He's a real sweetheart.

My sisters threw my first baby shower for me after the first of the year. What a blast! It was so wonderful to see my family and friends that I'm not able to see as often as I'd like. And they sure blessed me with some wonderful (need I say, absolutely adorable) things. It's becoming more and more real to me as I start doing laundry and hanging up the onsies and sleepers to dry. Oh my they are cute.

Beautiful baby quilt made by my mom. It is soo soft!

I've been having so much fun putting everything in it's place. I'm so excited to welcome her to her new home! Speaking of which, stay tuned to the next blog post. We'll have a guest post from 'Baby Daddy' who shows us what he's been up to these days.