32 Weeks Belly Shot

Here I am. 8 weeks to go! Pardon the washed out, tired look. It's Sunday evening, and I'm feeling a little tired and washed out! :)





The girls from my youth group threw me a surprise baby shower this afternoon! It was so awesome and thoughtful, and I totally wasn't expecting it!! Very sweet. We got lots of cute clothes for Carter, especially in the 6-12 month sizes, and I'm so excited about it! Caden is such a messy eater, that those sizes are when the hand-me-downs are thinner, and it will be so nice for Carter to have some things that are his alone. They totally had me fooled! My mom had me thinking we were going to a craft fair at their community clubhouse! She even made up fake fliers to fool me!! So funny. When we got there and they all jumped out and yelled SURPRISE! I was floored! Thanks so much girls for your thoughtfulness!! You all mean the world to me! I love you all so much!! (I'll try to add pictures from the shower to this as I get some from the girls.)

Carter's Coming Home Outfit

Today, I bought yet a third outfit for Carter to come home in. The first one I bought and loved, is super cute and soft navy overalls with striped lining that folds at the cuffs, with a cute onesie to match. When we got it in the mail, it just seemed to big, so I started looking again.

Then, I got these short winnie the pooh overalls at Target in newborn, and I think they will fit him right away. I was happy with the outfit, and got socks to match, and felt settled until I found....


THIS!!! The boys and I cruised the mall today for something to do, and I fell in love with this outfit right away. I'm so excited! :) Check out the accessories! :)

Crafting to pass the time

Since this is our third little, and since he is a boy, I don't have a whole lot of prep to do before Carter makes his first appearance. That being said, the nesting instincts have kicked in full force. I don't want to set up the pack n play that he'll spend his first 4-6 months in (depending on when Caden moves to his big boy bed) because then I will just have to dust it. I have however cleaned out our closet to make a nursery corner of sorts in there, so it's space is ready. I don't want to wash the baby clothes yet, because then I will just want to refold and reorganize everything so it doesn't become permanantly pressed from being folded for two months without use. I don't want to set up the swing and other baby toy paraphanalia because then I just have to keep Caden out of it all so he doesn't hurt himself, and they are all one more thing to dust for now. I am cleaning and organizing, but I can only handle so much of that before my body starts to tell me to sit down. 3 pregnancies in 4 years have really been a doozy on my body, I have to say. And I don't want to pack the hospital bag yet, because then I'll just start to get anxious for it to be "time." So I've resorted to what Cary says is so domestic. I'm making all new burp cloths for this little one. And I've made two identical lovey take-along blankets that are matching fabric to the large one my mom is making Carter. So fun, and I'm loving making this stuff! :) I wish I had thought to do this with my other boys. I did make burp cloths for Carson, but I was just reaquainting myself with a sewing machine, so they weren't so cute. And while I was pregnant with Caden, my sewing machine was in storage and we were renovating our house. That's okay though. Carter will have some things to call his own, which will be nice since he has so many hand-me-downs, toys, clothing and otherwise.

Here are some of the burp cloths I've made so far.

And here is one of the lovies. It's kind of hard to tell, but the soft side is a baby blue, and the backside is a lime green satin.


My next project is to decorate these fun dyed burp cloths that I just found. I found them in navy, baby blue and kelly green. So fun! :)

Check It Out

Right now, and for the rest of the week, Cary and many of our youth are on a missions trip to Iowa to help with the flooding and devastation that they have had there. Here is the link to the blog they are keeping about their adventure:

SLCC's Iowa Blog

Please keep them in prayer as you think of them all! Thanks so much!!

Family Reunion and 30 Weeks

Home again, home again. We had such a great time on the family reunion! So much fun. It was awesome to see everyone and get to spend some time catching up. All of Grammy's sisters and Uncle Bud came out for their reception. I haven't seen many of them in years. Then my cousins Daun and Leslyn came, and I haven't seen them since I was 15! It was an awesome time! The boys had so much fun, and were Papa's buddy's of course. They also had a great time playing with Daun's little boy Joshua who is a little older than Caden. Carson kept asking to play with the boys, my cousins Devin and Drew, and thought they (along with my brothers) were the coolest boys in the world. He kept saying, "I want to go play with the boys." And they would play too. It was funny watching them treat him as if he was as big as they all are and see them cracking up at everything he would say. It lit up his world! The reception for Grammy and Papa was SO nice, and turned out nicer than any of us had hoped, I think. I don't have all of the group shots that we took to remember the trip, but I have some candids that we took on our camera, so here are a few of those...

Caden & Uncle Nathaniel (or Uncle Faniel as Carson calls him):


Carson and his buddy Papa at a Fort we toured:




the boys taking a walk with Uncle Nathaniel and Uncle Tina (Austin):




Kels and Dad:


the boys (Nathaniel, Cary, Dad and Tina):


My immediate fam minus the future bro in law, Scott (Kelsey, Natalie, Dad, Mom, Nathaniel, Me, Caden, Cary, Carson and Tina


Papa & Caden throwing rocks in the lake (Caden's arms crack me up):

Sisters, Kelsey, Natalie and I (mom, the one with you in it didn't turn out well....sorry....):


The boys and I before Grammy & Papa's reception:



I can't believe I only have 10 weeks until we meet Carter! Crazy. I'm not stressed so much, just can't believe how fast this pregnancy has gone! I'm sure our schedule has helped it go even faster, but seriously, it feels like I should only be about half way. I'm feeling pretty good for the most part, but I've reached that point in pregnancy when I start to doubt that my body will ever return to normal. I just keep reminding myself that it always has before. When I was reading stories to Carson tonight, he had to adjust himself in my lap because he said he was going to fall off, so evidently he is noticing that my lap is getting shorter as well. He's pretty excited about Carter's upcoming debut. Hopefully his excitement will help Caden adjust as well. I don't think he knows what he's in for, but that's okay. In the next few weeks, I have a short list of things I want to do for Carter. I need to wash all of the baby clothes, at least newborn to 3 months or so. I need to rearrange our walk in closet, since Carter will be using a portion of that as his nursery until we move Caden to his big boy bed. Carson and Caden will be sharing a room, and Carson is SOOO excited about that. I was really nervous about how that might work, but they shared a room for a few days at our reunion, and bedtime was a breeze. Nap time on the other hand did NOT work, so we'll have to figure something out for that. Or maybe since they'll be a bit older, they'll come around...time will tell. I also need to order the new crib bedding and car seat cover for our infant seat. We're keeping the same nursery theme that Caden has had, but changing up the bedding so that Carter has something that is his alone. The car seat cover is just worn out and needs replaced, so I think I'm going to change the pattern up. Oh, and I also want to get a sling carrier so I can leave the house with 3 littles in tow. Other than that, and getting some little diapers, there's not too much to do this time around, which is nice and is helping me not stress out. It's probably also adding to my shock that we can be this close to the end though, because I've done nothing but make some super cute burp cloths for fun. That's okay though. With three boys in a row, the baby could come tomorrow, and we would be just fine! That is definitely a nice thing.

What's In A Name?

Naming our 3rd boy has been quite a challenge. When we first thought of names for our children, we had 1 boy name, since we're now on our 3rd, we really had to think hard! We finally believe we've come up with one! Drumroll please.....

The name of our 3rd sweet boy will be:


Carter David


Carter traditionally means one who pulls a cart or transporter, but we have decided it should mean one who chooses the right path (to pull his cart). David means God's beloved. All of our boys' middle names are family names, and we have chosen them in hopes that their character will be like that of the person who's name they have been given. David is my Dad's name (my mom's current husband), and if Carter serves God and loves his family like my Dad does, we will be quite blessed! So there you have it ladies and gentlemen! Our third son has a name.


Right now we are at my family reunion in California in honor of my grandparents' 50th anniversary (my mom's parents). It's been so fun to see everyone again, and it's a great reason to be together. My Grammy brought a lot of things from their wedding that few of us have ever seen. She even brought her gown and my Papa's tux! Gorgeous. I'm sure I'll have lots of fun pictures from this week to post!