Ultrasound Pics :)

That shot of her booty is my favorite! Is that not the cutest little thing you've ever seen?!

WE'RE HAVING A....

GIRL!!!!

OH MY GOODNESS!!! Who would have guessed! :D

We are SO excited, but I must say, shocked! We definitely all thought for SURE that this baby was a boy. :)

The ultrasound was great, Ashley and Emily went with us and had fun watching the baby squirm on the screen. :) We counted all 10 fingers, she was waving at us lots! I was having some braxton hicks (sp?) contractions during the ultrasound, which was pushing my placenta up into the baby, making it a little hard to get some certain shots that they wanted to get. We couldn't see her profile, but more importantly, we couldn't get a clear view of her heart, so we will be doing another one shortly after we get home (which was perfect timing they said). She did catch that it was beating strong though, just couldn't get the clear picture for records that they like to have. And definitely got a clear shot that THIS BABY IS A GIRL. :)

I'm pooped out tonight, but I'll post all my pics tomorrow.

And we bought a camera today, HURRAY!!! So I've got pictures of the girls in the waiting room too.

But for now, pray for Daddy and Pavel! They are gonna be the lone men of the house! Oh my goodness, I STILL can't believe it!!!!!!!!

Doctor today

My little check up today looked great, I'm clear for travel! :) We heard the baby's heart beat right off the bat and sounded strong.

And they've scheduled my big ultrasound for Monday!!! Jake finally gave in (sorry Babe ;)) and we are going to find out the baby's gender!!! YAY! What a major week this is going to be... whew.

My dear friend came over today and helped me basically GUT my house and organize every room. Its amazing how much better that makes you feel. Tomorrow she's coming back to paint... the hall bathroom, Pavel's room (!) and maybe even the hallway. So if anyone wants to grab a roller and come on over tomorrow afternoon... ! :D

For now, my kids are thoroughly exhausted from playing with their friends, so I'm off to bathe them and put them to bed. :)

We leave the 16th!!

**Update- the nausea is definitely getting better! I think I needed a day to let that phenegran wear off! Thanks for your prayers, they're helping so much. A friend of mine is coming over today to help me get my house in a place where I feel like its decent again and I have an OB appointment today. Will let you know how it goes. :)**

We are booking our flights now, but our schedule is to leave Nashville at 8:45am. We have a layover in DC, then another in Germany. By 1:20pm on the 17th (their time) we will arrive in Kiev!!!

I can't even believe we are leaving a week from Saturday!!! It blows my mind.

If you would, please pray for us. Abby, Ashley and I have each had a little run with a funky stomach bug (actually I got it twice I think). Ugh. Right now, I'm able to keep food and liquid down, but it took two doses of phenegran yesterday to keep anything down. And now I don't really feel nauseated, but my head hurts, my ears are stopped up and I'm kind of dizzy. Which I'm assuming are all left over side affects from the phenegran. I'm back on Zofran right now though, so hopefully these funky effects will wear off and I will remain nausea free. :)

There is SO much that needs to be done around this house to get ready for us being gone for three weeks. I REALLY need the energy to get it all done. The excitement of our first trip (and of MEETING Pavel for the first time), the stress of getting my house in order, the stress of finances (we do still have $4,000 left to raise), and the hormones of pregnancy are all trying to get the better of me. Jake has been amazing and so helpful but he has a lot on his plate as well.

The countdown is on: we leave in 10 DAYS!!!

7 years ago today...

I walked down a grassy aisle, with my dad at my side, and said "I do" to the man of my dreams. I remember every detail of that day as if it were yesterday. I remember getting ready upstairs of the historic Cool Springs house with all of my beautiful bridesmaids and knowing my groom was getting ready downstairs. I remember peeking out the window as the guests would arrive and feeling butterflies. I remember watching our bridesmaids walk out the back door one at a time and dissapear into the aisle. I remember the way Jake's suit felt as we had our first married kiss. I remember the words he whispered in my ear as we had our first dance.

I remember sitting in our first house the night of our first anniversary... boxes still unpacked, eating takeout... I was 5 months pregnant with our first daughter. :)

And now, 7 years later, I can honestly say I am more in love, more in awe, have more respect and a much deeper friendship with that man with every passing year. For every "hat" that I wear listed in the header of this blog, he is the other half. He is a husband, father, adopting parent, expecting dad, house cleaner, lawn caretaker, master griller, breadwinner, disciplinarian, Jr High and Sr High youth pastor, parent of kids with Ds, prayer warrior, son, brother, friend, and Child of God. And so much more. :) He's the head of my house and my best friend. My covering and my love.


Now my girls see the pictures of our wedding and ask if that was the day that I was a princess. :) "Yes." I answer. "It was. But I'll always be daddy's bride."

I love you, Babe. Happy Anniversary. I'm yours now and forever.

Crazy Stuff

**I meant to post this on THIS blog, so if some of you saw it on the adoption one, that was a mistake!**


I came across this video by way of an email forward and just can't get over some of these stats. As I said to some of you, this video doesn't really give a reason or an answer for any of this, it just is what it is. This is the world we are living in now, and this is the world our kids are growing up into.

From what I understand, this was made for a Sony Executive Conference this year. Crazy stuff.