Welcome Baby Jocelyn

Elsie, Mike & big brother, Aiden welcomed their new little girl, Jocelyn Myra into their family yesterday. She was born 2 1/2 weeks early but was a healthy 7 lbs 5 oz! Now if it weren't for the fact that she has been born into an Ohio State family, we might already have an arranged marriage worked out. But I don't know if the daddies would ever agree to a Wolverine-Buckeye union! :) Even so, we think she's adorable and can't wait for BabyW to meet her! Congrats Elsie & Happy Father's Day to the proud daddy &(the rest of the dads too)!

Nearing the End!

It has been so fun to be pregnant alongside of several other pregnant friends. I have especially enjoyed talking to Elsie over the last 9 months because her due date is exactly one week before mine.. so we're always practically at the same point. Or we were until today! Elsie is at the hospital in labor this morning! She'll be having her little girl today - How exciting! And then I realize... woah, that would be like me going into labor next Friday! It's only 2 1/2 weeks early, so the babies are fine... but yikes! I'm pretty set on having this boy sometime in July... not June! But obviously these little ones can have ideas of their own! Who knows... but it definitely hits home to hear that she's going early! Especially when we were both at the exact same point of progression at our 36 week appointments... :) All I can do is wait and see...

It does make me feel even better about the fact that Senneca came over last night and the nursery is cleaned, organized and pretty much done... and other than buying some extra diaper cream for downstairs & children's Tylenol, I got her "mom-stamp-of-approval" that we have everything we need!

FUN Weekend! :)

What a fun weekend! It started on Friday with a "Ships Ahoy, It's a Boy!" Baby Shower at my work. Mike got off early and joined us and then I got the afternoon off too! The Childress family arrived at our house Friday night and I had another great Baby Shower brunch thrown by the MWC girls on Saturday morning! We have been very blessed and just enjoyed the time with friends more than anything. Here are the few pictures I got with my camera... Jess took tons so when she gets time to post them, I'll share more! :) Thanks to all of you for such a fun weekend!
Look at all these babies & prego bellies! Elsie is due a week before me & Melissa is due three weeks after. They are both having girls... it was funny to see how high my belly is with this boy compared to theirs. Just a few more weeks and we'll meet them all!

What a difference a year makes!!

This picture was taken exactly one year ago from this weekend. These are all of my dearest friends from MWC and their ever-expanding families. I remember thinking last year how huge our group seemed considering we were just 7 single girls back when we met Freshman year of college in 1997. But as I get ready to see most of these friends again this weekend for my baby shower, I realized that we've grown significantly just since then! Lily & Luke were in their mama's bellies, but now they are here and Joshua is on the scene too... plus Elsie's little girl will be showing her face in just a few weeks and my little boy a week or so after that! 5 new babies in just one year! 7 has become 23...and I know we're not done growing! I am so blessed to have friends that I consider family. I'm excited to see them all this weekend!! (Except we'll miss Dr. Amy Brown... but hopefully her summer visit to Virginia Beach the 3rd week in July will be just in time to meet BabyW... who knows, we've always joked that she should deliver our babies... mine might be as close as she's gotten yet!)

Counting Down...

Have you ever seen Design Remix on HGTV? It's where they basically redecorate a room in the house using items they already had from other rooms. Well... that concept is working quite well for our nursery! This weekend, Mike switched the brown curtains from the guest room with the bamboo panels we had in the nursery and it made such a huge difference! Now it's softer and browner... and they will help block the sunlight since the nursery gets full-sun all day long. Hopefully that'll help keep it cooler and darker so BabyW. can sleep! We are also using the bookshelf from the office and a funky blue light from the kitchen! Nothing like FREE decorating! Even so, another weekend has passed... and I still haven't reupholstered that glider!!! Just 6 weeks left! Yikes!

We did have a great weekend though... Saturday night we had our "End of an Era" party with a bunch of couples from church. Since our kid-free days are almost over, we wanted to have one last "adult" party at our place. Everyone brought over one of their favorite meals to share and we had some Margaritas, Daqueris, Pina Coladas (all baby-safe versions of course!) and had a great time. Then yesterday, Mike and I had a date-day together. We ate lunch at Watermans (where we had our Rehearsal Dinner), watched the airshow at the beach and then spent the afternoon at the Aquarium. We even had time to come home and relax a little (which for me meant a nap, and for Mike meant watching the Stanley Cup Finals!) It was a really fun way to spend the weekend, especially as the next two weeks are full of baby-stuff, and then we'll be halfway through June and BabyW. could arrive anytime! :)

Good times with the Girls

I had the opportunity to go to my church's Ladies' Retreat this weekend and it was great! These are a few of us "young wives" that have gotten to be good friends. It's been such a blessing to connect with not only women who are at a similar place in life to me, but also those who are a few or several steps ahead. There were 44 of us who headed out to Eastover Retreat Center for the night. We are really fortunate to have a very open and genuine group of women who all love the Lord and love & serve one another well. For the retreat, we studied Proverbs 3, and were challenged on having a "well-kept heart." I know that I learned a lot and will be processing it all for quite a while! I'm still tired from a busy weekend, but it was really refreshing!

One more for the Girls!

Another baby is here and the girls' team has increased by one! Dana (Stephens) Wakefield & her husband Dylan welcomed their little girl, Lenox Elizabeth, into the world yesterday afternoon at 8 lbs. 8 oz! Congratulations!!

Two More!

New babies that is!!

Elizabeth & Luke Ehresman's sweet little girl, Audrey Lynn, arrived safe & sound on April 9th.













And Dee & Richard Brubaker are proud first-time grandparents to Nathan Marshall who was born yesterday, April 13th to their son Trent & new mommy, Jessica!













Congratulations everybody!! Can't wait for BabyW. to meet all his new friends!

Lots & Lots of babies!

In the last month, five of my friends' babies have been born (two in the last week!) and I know of eight more who should arrive by the time Baby W. does, and then three MORE later this year! One thing's for sure, Baby W. should have plenty of friends to play with... 4 boys, 10 girls and 3 surprises! That's 17 new babies this year! Wow! I guess we're just at "that point" in life or something, huh? What blessings! I think what is most amazing to me is that I know these little ones are being brought into families who will teach them about the Lord and that each one of them will have such potential to have an amazing impact on our world! It'll be exciting to watch!

My friends Kären & Jared had their sweet little girl, Eliza Hope Fulton on Saturday, March 21st. Coleman is the happy big brother.












And here is adorable little Joshua David Childress, born Wednesday, March 18th to Marie & John, with his proud big sister Anna. Can't wait to meet you!

All Mine Again!

I used to have to go home everyday at lunchtime to let our dog, Shelby out... but she seems to be doing just fine without a mid-day potty break, so I finally get my lunch-hour back to myself! I often still go home to catch a little nap and eat, but having the freedom to be able to run errands or go to lunch with a friend or whatever else I come up with is defintely nice! So I don't know where I'm headed today... but I'm thinking not home! In a few short months my freedom will be gone again, so I think I'll enjoy it while I can!