20 Week Doctor's Visit - I can't belive we are this far!

We had our 20 week doctor's visit yesterday.  Our ultra sound was good, everything looked great!  Our little man is 16 cm long!  I was worried because I thought I had to get my blood drawn again (I don't do well with this...normally pass out), but to my delight, I don't have to do that until 28 weeks, so I have another 2 months. 

It seems that in the last week I have just started getting noticeably bigger by the day! I think he's growing by leaps and bounds--or I'm eating too much - I prefer to go with the first thought. I did ask about hip and back pain...I seem to have both now.  My left hip feels like it's just going to fall off any second, and my right hip has shooting pains when I turn a certain way or sit for too long...oh the joys of pregnancy!  I would have to say though that I'm not sick near like I was--which I'm sure has a lot to do with me showing more now - I'm keeping down my meals - so I'll take it any day of the week.  And I'll eventually do it all again!  It's only 9 months of pain/discomfort for a lifetime of happiness and joy.

Below are the ultrasound photos they sent home with us.  I'm excited and can't believe it's almost October!  With the holidays quickly approaching, he'll be here before we know it! :) I can't wait!

So we are house hunting...

Does anyone else feel the stress and frustration of house hunting? We moved back to the Memphis area on March 1st and started (slowly) thinking about and looking at houses. We didn’t want to rush into anything and wanted to make sure jobs panned out before taking the leap, but we are now full fledge into looking for a house for our growing family (to be here in FEBRUARY MIGHT I ADD!)

For anyone who knows us, I’m a “little” high strung when it comes to making my list and checking off everything on it…my cowboy husband on the other hand is the most laid back man on the planet (yet very specific about what he wants when it comes to his piece of property – on a side note: I’m completely ok with him being very specific because this has been a long time coming and I really want him to be happy with where we are). He’s not too worried about how long it takes us to find the “perfect” house for us. So here’s our wish list:

1. At least 5 acres
2. Preferably NO neighbors
3. Plenty of land to hold cattle/horses/etc. (so obviously more than 5 acres)
4. Trees on the land – cuz we’ve got to be able to hunt on our own land!
5. Several hundred feet off the street – don’t want to deal with the traffic
6. Preferably on the outskirts of Oakland (me), Somerville, or Whiteville (him)
7. A low volume traffic road – I think he would prefer a dead end road and we were at the end of it.
8. Within our budget – THIS IS KEY!
9. And a House – preferably nice, fixer up, with 3 bed and 2 bath. – This is my request…I think he would be ok with just pitching a tent! Just kidding…I think.

So as you can see “we” have several specifications…I don’t think we will probably ever find ALL of this within our price range in 100 years, but we are sure looking!

I have decided that this is out of my hands—God’s saying it’s about time! –and I’m leaving the perfect timing and place in His will. I know that it’ll all work out as long as we trust Him to put us where He will have us and not where we think we need to be. I hope that those of you who are house hunting are having better luck than we are…I know that it’ll be a matter of time and the perfect place will come up on the market, and we’ll both be in love with it, but until then, here’s to house hunting!

Labor Day Recap

I hope everyone had a great labor day! We sure did! We go every year with Jonathan's family (on his mom's side) to Lake Ouachita in Arkansas. It's the perfect meeting point between the Memphis, Tennessee and Paris, Texas family. This is no small get together, mind you. We had thirty people this year! The Goldings, Byrds and Clarks each have 4 children, and several of us are now married with kids (and four babies on the way)...so it's a BIG group! SO FUN...

Everyone drives down and gets together at the Golding's house for dinner on Friday night. We all catch up and fellowship, and then on Saturday and Sunday we spend all day on the lake -- swimming, riding on the boats, wake boarding, knee boarding, and tubing. Then we get cleaned up and get together again for dinner...it's all about sun and food.

Now that all the cousins are starting families of our own, it'll just get bigger and bigger each year. Four of us were pregnant on the trip this year, and Christy, Jonathan's oldest cousin, got engaged on Saturday night!! It was definately a weekend to remember. There's just no telling how many people we will have next year!

I tried to be adventurous and take photos while we were on the boat, but it made me a little nervous to have a my new camera so close to water, but here's my attempt to take some pictures of our fun this weekend.

I know it's a little hard to see what all this is, but there is a camp back in the woods, and this is the swimming area for it with a high dive and another lower diving board. We pulled the boat as close as we could and then everyone walked down to it...well I took pictures from the boat...but it looked like fun!

Swimming in the COLD lake!

Could you tell we had been on the lake all day...looking so tired and sunburned.
So I don't like individual pictures of myself, but I want to remember the stages of my pregnancy - so this is me at 18 weeks...just a small bump.

All the pregnant ladies...Veronica is due in November, Ashley in December, Lauran in January, and then me in February.

Me and my sweet husband.

David had been sleeping...and Katie was letting him use her lap as a pillow.
Katherine and Scott, you can see in this picture that the boats are right beside each other...we would meet and tie them together and then spend pretty much the whole day at the swimming hole, swimming, eating lunch, and hanging out together! It's the best.

Ashley and sweet Kaleigh - she was all ready to get in the water.

Katherine - cute pose - she was finishing up lunch. Sarah's behind her sun bathing...she likes to do this most of all.