Maternity Shoot

I love our maternity shots!
Especially because my very talented S.I.L. took them!
She has her own little {and very busy} photography business and it couldn't be more conveinent for our family!! We are thankful!

So here they are. Our little bump celebrated through pictures!
Can't wait to meet him.
One more week until FULL TERM! Crazy.
Almost "go time". Maybe I should pack a bag. Sheesh!

Anyway, without further ado....

Mady's 3rd Birthday Party!

Here are some, ok a TON of pictures from Mady's Party!
We had so much fun...and it was easy. Which really, to me is the most important part.
An easy going, fun, enjoyable party. Its about Mady, but at these young ages its so much fun for the adults too. We get to hangout!

Here's the spread. Lots of fall things for our "Little Pumpkin". 

Birthday girl herself. Dancing around and singing right before everyone arrived. Very excited!

She's growing too fast!

Bryan and Jon.

So glad my dad was able to come and visit the same week as Mady's birthday party again this year. Worked out great. We've had a lot of fun!

Girlfriends.

Pops and Mimi and the grandkids!

After we ate a lot of sugar and pizza we headed out to the playground on site and "burned" some of it off!

Love her!

Cousins!

Me and my beautiful sister in law, who later too some great maternity pictures and Mady's 3 year pics! Love them and her!

Mid party pic.

Giving Uncle Blake some love!

Does she look like she had fun?

Eating candy corn and chex mix!

Family shots.

The 3 amigo's...only 3 for a few more weeks :)

Such a great day.
Full of fun. Mady ate entirely too much sugar and smiled from ear to ear!
We are so thankful for her life and grateful to the Lord in blessing us with Madelyn Joan.
3 Years. So quickly!!
What a joy they have been.

Life and other happenings

Well, we are at 35 weeks!
I cannot believe it.
I know a lot of people say the 2nd goes by way faster, but I don't agree.
This pregnancy has been a little stressful. Lots of anxiety and nerves...especially around the beginning. Learning to trust the Lord, even when He opens His hand with blessing was a new "uncharted" territory. Sounds weird, but it was easier for me to trust Him when I was suffering through our losses. Harder to trust Him when He gives.
But, "it is better to be a door keeper in the house of the Lord than dwell in the tents of wickedness." Ps. 84:10
So we choose to trust Him. Even though you may fear Him and His sovereignty.
He is good no matter what, Great is His faithfulness.

Speaking of great. Not that this can even compare to the Lord's greatness- but it is of His doing.
Check out this belly shelf.
Who needs a plate when you've got a nice little shelf? Hah!

Mady has been doing some growing!
Wanting "Princess Tiana" pony-tails. Makes me sad. I love those curls and I hate to smooth them down to even put them in a pony-tail...but I have to admit, that little puff of curl is pretty cute.
I mean I don't even comb her hair! Seriously. I pick it. haha. I let the curl air dry and its precious. She is so lucky.

Everyone asks if Mady is excited about being a big sister....and she TOTALLY is!
Talks about him all the time. When we play with "pretend animal families" there is always a "Mommy, Daddy, Mady and baby Collin". So sweet that she includes him on everything.
Here she is giving him a kiss.
Soon they will be real kisses.

Today was Bryan's 28th Birthday.
We had some fun celebrating. We started out the day surprising him while he was teaching with 2 dozen, warm Krispy Kreme donuts to share with his students. So fun. He was shocked to see us. I really stink at surprising him, so I was glad it worked.
Mady and I gave him a wireless keyboard, which is right up his "tech-lovin" alley!
Mady especially enjoyed the edible arrangements he received as well.

We had a little scare this week.
On friday I started having contractions at about 10 pm and they didn't let up. They were a tad more painful than normal Braxton Hicks, but accompanied with some pressure and sharp pains. Since I didn't have normal contractions with Mady's birth, I wasn't sure what to do. Because they didn't stop and were 4-5 minutes apart I thought I better call my doctor. I did. He said to come down to the hospital because it sounded like the "real thing". Oh LORD! I thought.
Mady was asleep. So was Bryan.
I had to wake him up to tell him I was going and that I'd let him know. It was like 12am at this point and I hadn't even made a plan of who we'd call when we were actually in labor. My mom was out of town too, to top it off.
I arrived (yes, I drove myself, they weren't so bad that I couldn't drive)  and they monitored me and my contractions were anywhere from 2-7 minutes apart. Irregular.
My water had not broken and the contractions were nothing more than just a "fussy uterus" contracting. Not labor inducing. I had to get checked...which I was not happy about, especially since I was only 34 weeks 5 days. But, they had to. I was dilated at 1 1/2-2, which they assured me was normal for where I was in my pregnancy. I received a shot of something that stopped my contractions and about an hour later was on my way home (at 4am).
It was hard to be there by myself, mainly because I was soooo bored. There is NO sleeping in Triage. Especially when you hear women coming in at all hours, screaming!! and in labor! One women even HAD HER BABY in the room next to me....yes, in TRIAGE! She didn't make it to labor and delivery! It was so cool to hear that though. Screaming, then baby crying. Very neat.
I'm just glad it wasn't me. Doctor sent me home with a diagnosis of "doing too much", possible dehydration, stress....or all of the above.
In all honesty, I had done too much. I was probably not drinking enough (and cried a bunch that day, which doesn't help with the hydration) and was stressed. So check, check and CHECK!
He gave me some meds and said to take them when they contractions started again and stop them in 2 weeks at 37 weeks (full term).

I have been having Braxton Hicks, which I had with Mady. They are waking me up at night. So please pray that I would take care of myself, drink lots of water and get lots of rest. I am a machine and really hate to be "still". But its worth it. I really want to make it to full term, at least. So pray with us and for our little man. For a safe continued pregnancy and safe delivery, healthy babe!

Latest pics....
Looking pretty similar (if not a bit bigger) to my belly pic from my 37 week pic with Mady (at the bottom).

35 weeks carrying Collin

37 weeks carrying Mady

Trying to soak in these last few weeks with Mady.
We are celebrating her 3rd birthday this Saturday! So excited.
My dad is planning a trip to come visit soon!
We are doing our maternity pictures and Mady's 3 yr pics this weekend.
The zoo's trick or treat is going on!
Leaves are changing and so is the weather!
So much going on.

New Stages, Transition and Stablitiy

We are entering new stages as a family. Especially Mady.
New Baby.
Big Sister.
School (ok, well....Mother's Day Out)
Big Girl Beds.
Potty Training.
Making new friends, saying good bye to old ones.
New jobs.

Transition.

But what do we crave (I do admit I like change....but the little kind, like a re-arranged room, new rug or throw pillows) ...we crave STABILITY!

Stability, for a child is so so so good. They really need it and crave it. Its good for them. Definitely been good for my Mady. When things are stable and consistent in her life; life generally feels "easier" for us too, as her parents. When we are lazy in discipline / instruction and routines we often see that effect her behavior in big ways. Now, I am not saying we run a tight-ship, army-regimented, routined household. By no means... but remaining steadfast in typical routines, bedtimes, familiar outings and such are all good for Mady and me.


So what do we do when the inevitable happens? When change, new stages and transition are upon us?
Freak out.
Haha! Just kidding. Well, maybe a little bit of freaking out.

We are knee deep in the "muck and mire" that is: potty-training. I'd rather call it "potty-hell".....but in order to not sound sac-relig....I'll resort to "potty-PRISION"!!

I know some people that have such an easy time with this....I'd like to know what drug you have your kids on when you do it, because mine 'ain't biting'. So recently, I vowed to wait until I saw SURE signs that she was FOR SURE ready. Like her specifically ASKING to go. Which she did....Sunday night (today is thursday). I was encouraged and thought...with the no coaxing on my part and her desire to do it...and then immediate success, I assumed she was ready. So I vowed, the next day to try and start.

Well, what I forget is that TRANSITION is so so so HARD on my EMOTIONAL little lady.

Thankfully.
We have had little problems with other "new stages"/ transitions with Mady like: Big girl bed, giving up passey, sleeping, school, etc. We have actually been very lucky. Because I know lots of mom's who grieve these other transitions for their children because it is so hard on them.

So I write this in a meager attempt to solicit prayer from the 6 people who read this.
Please pray for wisdom for Bryan and I as we navigate these "mucky" waters of "potty-prision".
I will spare details of how she is or isn't doing/ going. But, I will say there is general fear there and her heart is having a hard time getting her body to align with what she knows she wants to do {read=she wants to DO it}. ...such an odd place to be.

So please pray.
Her heart is tender, which is what I love about her....but also have a hard time instructing her well through dealing with her emotions to new and "scary" stages of life. Including this one. Her fears often manifest themselves out in different ways (like saying her knee hurts and refusing to walk, when really she is just nervous about needing to go #2)=true story, actually happened today at MDO.

Tender heart.

Of course, I want to make all things better for her and want to now throw in the towel because of these recent emotional issues....but I know I need to stick it out. If not completely, at least partial effort at home and staying dry other places...I want to encourage the good things. And we have had good success.

Transition is hard. Never more than on a tender hearted (almost) 3 year old.