The Night Watches

This year, we are going to New Attitude without our little boy!!! I can hardly believe we will be away from him for 5 days! We haven't even left yet, and my heart already misses him! I am super excited to be with my love on this trip, and excited to be at the conference! My mom is graciously taking care of the boy! I know he is going to have a blast, and may only realize I am gone for a few short moments! he is going to be having too much fun at grandma's house! This year I will actually be able to focus and listen to the messages! Last year, Tyler and I spent a lot of time in our room!!! I get to serve as a Ninja this year, and I am not 100% sure all that entails, but details and pictures to come when we get back Next Tuesday! Baby update- I think I am at the end of nausea. This past week I have had a bad cold, so I haven't felt much like eating, but aside from that, I have felt really good. I am in the "I don't really feel pregnant" phase they say you get in...

That's right... we did it.. we braved the metro and the DC National Zoo~~~ We met up at the metro, and took the ride downtown... complete with a missed stop for some of us, a search for the elevators, and lots of walking... Here are some pictures of our fun filled day! Janelle enterertaining all the babies! The happy group... pre-2 mile hike through the zoo~ The babies... and our entourage of strollers!!! Imagine us in the metro.... This was the view we had of a lot of the animals... see the back side of the elephant, and the chubby cheek of Tyler (left side of the picture)... the animals were not very corporative! Like usual, all the kids wanted to play with the toys Faith had... The boys sharing cars! They are really cute together! Little Katie... I love how her little belly sticks out... Cally girl... On the LONG uphill walk back.... it was not a good sign to me that I got winded in the first 5 minutes of this walk!!!!

Well, we are back from our weekend away in North Carolina! What a weekend it was! It was so great to see my sister and her husband, and his family. We had lots of good food and fun. Tyler was loved by all, especially my sister's dogs! He discovered how to feed the dogs, and began to grab handfulls of dog food and feed it to them with his hand. Tyler soon realized that spreading the food all over the floor from the bowl was a lot quicker and more fun to do! At our Mother's Day Brunch, I introduced Tyler to my ipod. As soon as I put the ear buds in, he began to dance around. It was so cute... A little mommy/boy self-portrait in the car! My Aba, sister Lotte, and the graduate, Wes at the NC State Chancellors Reception before graduatoin began. Aunt Lala and the Boy... Ok, so this was a highlight for sure! I go out back to see why the music was so loud curious to see where Tyler was too... to find him the DJ turning up the music as loud as it would go and bouncing up and down... App...

Went to the Dr. today for my monthly check-up. Things are looking good! Baby's heart beat was good and strong with the Doppler, so no need for any more sonograms till the big one at 20 weeks when we get to find out the sex of the baby. Believe it or not, I have lost another pound. I asked the nurse to check out how I was doing at this point in my pregnancy with Tyler, and she said that by 10 weeks, I had gained 7 lbs!!!! And by 14 another 2!!!! Yikes!! I have been looking through my maternity clothes, and none of them fit yet, because I haven't gained any weight!!! This time in my first pregnancy, I was in maternity pants all the way! Now only the small ones fit. It is so weird to me, how different this one is! Still feeling yucky, most evenings, but there have been some very good days, which make me think I am at the end of the nausea! Praise God! No picture to post today... just a happy update!

I always said that I would never post on blogs, but this has proved a worthy exception. I wanted to honor a woman who is greatly deserving of it, my wife. Proverbs says "An excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels". I have a found a woman who grows more precious to me every day as I observe more and more of her Godliness, her character, and her beauty. To say that my wife is a great mother would be an understatement. She is a mother who is worthy of much praise. To observe her in her role as a mother is to observe true greatness. My wife sacrifices. She has sacrificed by planning, reading, and learning before our son was born. She has sacrificed by giving birth to him (and after having watched that, everything else kind of fades in comparision!). She now sacrifices every day, not only doing the things Tyler needs (feeding him, changing diapers, changing clothes), but also the things that bring him joy, the things that don't have to be done. Stuff ...

Some recent cutie pie pictures of my boy to enjoy over the weekend. We (Tyler and I) and my folks are heading to North Carolina for my brother-in-law's Graduation! So we will be back on Monday! Happy Mother's Day to all you ladies out there who give your lives away daily! I am so grateful to have so many examples and friends to look up to and learn from.... enjoy my cute boy... I had to run in the house to get something, and told Tyler to sit in the doorway and eat his snack... and he was so good.. he didn't move... it was so cute! Trying to be gardener with mommy. He was trying to put on my gloves here... Ah, 4 teeth and waiting!!! But boy, does he know how to use those 4 teeth! This was the day he learned how to say apple. Now when he sees them on books and in the fruit bowl, he calls out, "abpullll!" I love this boy!

A few weeks ago, we had the privilege of spending the day with the Simmons kids! What a wonderful way to spend the day! Tyler had no shortage of hugs and tickles from all three kids... Daisy, the mommy of the group, helped Tyler get from place to place, as at this point, we had just begun walking on his own, and didn't have sure footing yet! They were so cute. Like I said, just so cute... As soon as we walked in the door, the kids went running off to get toys and books to read with Tyler. This picture was taken a good 5 minutes into our arrival. They were pretty excited to see him! Then the fun with my glasses begun. First on Tyler, which was just adorable, and brought many laughs from all of us... Everyone took a turn being 4-eyes! A day is not complete without a guitar lesson! Thanks for letting us spend the day with your kids Lisa! We love them so much, and cannot wait to spend more time together!

This past week we celebrated 3 years of marriage together! it has been such a wonderful 3 years, and has flown by! God has been so faithful to us, as we reflected back on his goodness to us, and the grace in our marriage. I love my husband more today, respect him more, and cherish him more! He has grown dearer to me with each passing day, month, and year. Here are some pictures from three years ago! I didn't know how to make them any smaller, so enjoy the BIG version! Little Ethan (only 2 and a half then) was a little nervous going down the aisle, and so Megan was trying to convince him to go for it! He ended up being carried.. which was just as cute! The masterpiece my mother-in-aw designed and created, and broke many fire code laws with!!! This was my dream come to true for my wedding, and I will never forget the labor of love that it was to pay for (Mom and Dad) or create (Julie)! So, my darling husband sought to bless me by borrowing his friends Cutlass Convertible for our anni...