Flashback: Announcing Baby #2

I knew I was pregnant pretty much immediately. My body let me know what was going on well before it was time to take a pregnancy test so when we returned from our Thanksgiving trip to Kansas City, I quickly took a test to see if anything would pop up yet. And, boom! Just like that I had the official news. 

I decided to wait until the following day to share the news with Brent. When I returned home from work, I gave Brent a little ice-cream "happy" from the grocery store. 

"If I'm going to get fat, so are you! (We're pregnant!)"
Free printable from craftaholicsanonymous.net.

Since I took the test before I even had a missed period, Brent was completely shocked. He had no idea I could know already. It was so much fun to surprise him with the news!

Waiting to share the news with the rest of our families was killer. I wanted to spill the beans as soon as possible. Luckily, Christmas lined up with an appropriate time to announce. It was such a joy to share our news over the holiday (and we were even able to capture it on camera!) 

We used a template (from TheCreativeMama.com) to create a custom book about Fisher's birth to announce the news. We kept a copy for Fisher and then gave a copy to each of the grandparents to keep. I was able to customize each of the pages and even switch out a few that I didn't need. 

Here's a look at some of the pages:

We just told the grandparents that we created the book for Fisher as a Christmas gift and thought they would like a copy too. Here's some video of their reactions:

So fun to have their initial reactions recorded! Needless to say, I believe the parents were completely shocked (as well as Liz - the only one who cried) and I guess my siblings were expecting to hear some baby news in the near future. Either way, what great memories!

Until next time...

Emmy's Gender Reveal: The Crafty Details

We had a gender reveal party when we were pregnant with Fisher which was so much fun and a great memory that I cherish. For baby #2 I wanted create an equally wonderful memory without having to host a party. This time around we opted to just include our immediate family (parents & siblings) in the gender reveal fun. 

Brent and I teamed up for some killer crafty creativeness to make a great gender (& name) reveal package for our loved ones (in my unbiased opinion, of course). Since we knew it'd be impossible to get all of our family together we wanted to create a gender reveal package that we could send via mail. Brent came up the idea of sending a puzzle and I ran with it. 

For this inexpensive, but perfectly personalized project, we purchased:

• 10 24-piece puzzles from the Target Dollar Spot (We needed 5 puzzles, but went ahead and prepped a puzzle for both a boy and a girl so we could mail them out ASAP.)
• 2 Cans of Spray Paint - 1 Pink, 1 Blue
• Clear Cellophane bags
• 2 Rolls of Ribbon - 1 Pink, 1 Blue
• Small Kraft Paper Tags 
• Kraft Paper Note Cards
• 2 Rubber Stamps - a Bow & a Truck (both at 40% off at Michaels)
• White Stamp Ink Pad
• 2 Marker Pens - 1 Pink, 1 Blue

Step 1 involved opening all the puzzle boxes, separating out the pieces on some scrap cardboard outside and spray painting everything. We needed 5 blue puzzle sets and 5 pink puzzle sets. Strangely enough, the light blue paint covered the puzzle really well, but the bright pink still allowed the original puzzle image to show through. Brent later painted an additional coat on the pink puzzles with a lighter pink spray paint for me. They came out looking much better and the pale pink was ultimately a sweeter look.

Step 2 was the super fun part where Brent and I had to put all 10 puzzles together with no image to help us along the way. Luckily these were only 24 pieces (and made for children). I'm sure we would have cracked under the pressure of a larger puzzle. 

Once all the puzzles were assembled, it was on to Step 3: Painting the baby's name onto the puzzles. Unfortunately, this part was all up to me to complete. I had hoped that a simple paint pen would do the trick, but I had issues getting it to adhere to the spray painted surface. Ultimately I had to paint all puzzles by hand with a small brush and white acrylic paint. It was much, much more time consuming, but the final look was dramatically better than the paint pen efforts. 

After the puzzles pieces were dry, I tossed them into little cellophane gift bags, tied them up with both blue and pink ribbon and added a little Kraft paper gift tag (Step 4). Yep, it looked adorable. The idea was for our family to know right away whether we were having a boy or a girl based on the color of the puzzle pieces, but they would still have to assemble to puzzle to find out the baby's name.

Step 5 involved creating the card that would accompany the puzzle and give directions to our family. I just used Kraft paper note cards that had raised polka-dots on the front and added a little white truck stamp to the front for the boy cards and a sweet white bow for the girl ones. Inside was a playful poem that Brent created for the occasion. (That was one of my favorite elements!)

Here's the boy version that did not get sent out:

"It happened again! Robin and Brent had some sex! Once again Brent gave Robin a Y instead of an X! We're having a boy! Trucks and video games! Put the puzzle together and you'll learn his name."

And here's the girl version that our family received: 

"It happened again! Robin and Brent had some sex! But this time instead of a Y, Brent gave Robin an X! We're having a girl! Dresses and bows! Put the pieces together and her name you will know!"

We love how everything turned out and how stinking fun were those poems?! I just love that my hubby can jump into my crafts with such commitment. He really is the best. 

So as you can see, our baby girl's name is Emmy Josephine. Her middle name is Brent's grandmother's middle name (Emmy's great-grandmother) which makes it very special. I love that we were able to incorporate a family name since Fisher (Neil Fisher) is named after my grandfather, his great-grandfather. 

As the final step of our gender reveal, I asked our families to take photos of their puzzles once they received them and here's the shots we got back:

Aunt Kelsey & Uncle Alex were so excited they took a pre-puzzle photo! 

Momma C couldn't even wait to get inside. She put the puzzle together on the car seat while sitting the driveway. That's probably why she didn't bother to get in the photo. Too funny. 

Gran & Pap

Uncle John

Aunt Liz

Aunt Heather & Uncle Kelly

So much fun! We loved sending these gender reveal packages out and getting the family reactions one-by-one. (I even loved watching Facebook friends suffer through waiting to get the word on girl or boy. Ha!)

What do you guys think? Would you ever do a project like this?

Until next time...

There's Another Baby on the Way: 20 Week Update

We've made it to the halfway mark and we now know that there is a baby GIRL on the way!  (Even though everyone told me we were having a girl, I was still quite surprised with the news. Brent of course knew it all along.) Sweet Emmy Josephine was healthy and active at our last check up. She's hanging out super low which made getting photos of all her parts a bit difficult, but we got what we needed.

I've gained 8 pounds so far in this pregnancy and, thankfully, I'm starting to feel less of the nausea theses days. I do, however, have my acid reflux kicking in which was very present in my pregnancy with Fisher. Overall, I'm doing great and am loving feeling miss Emmy move and dance in my belly. She's a mover and a shaker for sure. 

Here's what I'm looking like these days:

We had a great time revealing the gender to our family after our appointment. Stay tuned and I'll share all the details of our crafty gender reveal packages. (You'll be surprised how big of a roll Brent played in it all.)

Until next time...

There's Another Baby on the Way: 16 Week Update

The keeping up with the blog thing isn't going too well. This is my 16 week update although I'm now 17 weeks and really closer to 18 weeks. Oops. Better late than never. 

At our 16 week check up I had gained a total of 6 pounds, our baby looked great and the heartbeat was strong. Now we're just waiting for the "big appointment" on March 20th to find out the sex. I can't wait! 

Here's how I'm looking as of 16 weeks:

Until next time...

There's Another Baby on the Way!

Obviously keeping up with a blog hasn't been going well for me, but now that we are expecting baby #2 (crazy!!!) I'm going to attempt to at least post some pregnancy progress. I love being able to look back and read over what I experienced when I was pregnant with Fisher and want that for this baby too. I have a terrible memory so if I want a chance of remembering anything, I better write it down. So, here we go again...

I'm now 13 weeks and it has been EXTREMELY different than my experience with Fisher. I have been sick like crazy. I'm hoping by week 14 I'll be in better shape. Due to my increased sickness this time around, Brent is already convinced it will be a girl. I'm leaning towards girl, but I refuse to call it this early. 

We had our 12 week check up last Friday and the baby looks great. He or she was moving their legs and arms all over the place. It was amazing to see so much movement at just 3 months. I think this kiddo is going to be active and energetic. (Fisher was a very chill baby even in the womb. We had to force him to move during checkups.) 

I gained 2 pounds during my first trimester which is good. I'm a little concerned about what growth the second baby will bring to my body. All I want is a healthy baby, but I'd love to not be a whale at the end of this journey. Here's some shots of what I look like now at 13 weeks. 

Until next time...

"It's My Worship" [Haiti Part 1]

James 1: 27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Isaiah 58:6-12  Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.

If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. Your people will rebuild the ancient ruin  and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.

Romans 12:1  Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.

I'm afraid I may have returned from Haiti with more questions than answers, but thankfully I believe our God welcomes questions. Haiti has created an opportunity for a dialog that wasn't present before, but is having a list of questions comforting? Not really. 

I feel a bit lost. 

I've consistently struggled in my adult life with the "what do I want to do with my life" question. What career would fulfill me? What success will make me feel important or worthwhile? Should I pursue this or that? After Haiti, I wonder if this constant desire for "more" or something bigger was less about a job that would somehow satisfy me and more about living life that truly reflects Christ. Has the void that I assumed needed to be filled with work, success or a career actually been about finding a way to serve my God all along? 

I've returned to "normal life" and I'm terrified that I'm going to slip back into the routine and Haiti won't have truly changed me. Will it all be for naught? Will God be able to use me in the States in a way that really makes an impact or will I only be fulfilled if serving in a third-world country? Will I be able to hear God's calling?

How do I offer my body as a living sacrifice, not just one week out of the year, but every single day? How do I watch after the orphans and the widows? How do I help clothe the naked, feed the hungry and shelter the wanderer? Am I capable of truly making a difference for God's kingdom? 

---

I would argue that we met the nicest man on the planet while in Haiti. Schera works with G.O. Ministries and helps get all the teams back and forth across the DR/Haiti  border. He speaks Creole, English and Spanish and is a smooth-talker in all three. Unfortunately, Haiti is a very corrupt country so although you may have all you need to get across the border, it is common to have to give small bribes to officials along the way. Luckily, Schera is an instant friend to everyone he meets making the team feel secure and travel easy. 

As you could imagine, constantly traveling from the Dominican Republic and Haiti with G.O. Ministries is not only time consuming, but tiring. During our trip, Schera traveled with us to Haiti then left a day or so later to go take a test back in the D.R. He then returned to Haiti for the last portion of our trip and led us back over the boarder just to get onto another team's bus and led them straight back into Haiti. I don't know about you, but that doesn't sound like fun to me. Schera, however, does it with a huge, joyful smile on his face. 

Jeff, our G.O. Ministries team leader, told us about a conversation he had with Schera regarding his constant travel all the while attending school. Jeff basically asked, "how do you do it?" Schera's response to the question was beautiful and inspiring. He simply said, "It's my worship." 

Do you limit your worship to singing songs on Sunday mornings? Or a prayer at the end of your day? I'm afraid I do. But why?

---

I returned to Nashville overwhelmed with lots of questions, but I think they can all be summed up with this one simple question: 

What is my worship?


Until next time...


Hear about our trip from someone else's viewpoint. Check out Taelor's blog here. Learn about our G.O. Ministries hosts here. 

Do a Little Good Today

I don't know much about the adoption process, but I do know that adoption is expensive. Really expensive. Brent and I have talked about whether we feel like adoption is something God is leading us to and honestly, I hope one day it will be clear that it is His desire. In the meantime, I love to support others in their efforts. What a beautiful way to grow your family!

Here's a adoption fundraiser I came across via Facebook. If you donate $5, you not only help this family towards their goal of adoption, but you also get a chance to win some amazing etsy prizes or if you blog, a chance to advertise your blog on other websites in November. Check out all the details below or visit the website at: http://kateandkuby.blogspot.com/. 

Do a little good today. Give $5 to help a family bring their child home.

Until next time...