30 Weeks

Pregnancy is like a checklist of milestones!  First you have the pregnancy test, then the 12 week mark, then the big ultrasound (18 weeks), then the halfway point (20 weeks), then start of the third trimester (27 weeks), then 30 weeks (because after all you are 3 quarters down), then 36 weeks (full term), then 40, then BABY!  Each of these milestones feels like a glorious success and should be celebrated in style if you ask me!  For this milestone, my fellow pregnant friend Sarah and I decided to take advantage of the nice weather and head to the zoo!

I don't really know why, but hitting the 30 week mark has been AMAZING!  I loved turning 30 years, but this 30 week mark makes me giddy.  Sure I still have 10 more weeks, but thats the beauty, only 10 more weeks until Evie Frances will be in my arms, in the flesh.  I just cannot wait to meet her.

Evie is so active right now and so strong.  I think her little feet are in my ribs because when she kicks, I FEEL it!  Her residency resides primarily on the right side of my tummy and she is getting so big that sometimes I find my tummy very uneven.  I love it! We have one final ultrasound in 2 weeks and I am looking forward to seeing her cute little figure again!

This past week I had to take my glucose test.  Its another one of those milestones that you have to get past and the test is kind of yucky.  They make you drink an orange syrup-like drink (12 ounces of it) in 5 minutes, sit for an hour and then have your blood drawn to see if you are glucose intolerant.  Unfortunately, if you throw up the drink, or throw off the results by having any sugar or carbs in the morning you have to come back to do it again.  I still deal with daily nausea so praying that I would keep it down became a daily request.  I drank my drink and then called a friend all the while coaching myself, "Mind over matter Bethany, don't throw up."  I made it, got my blood drawn and managed to skip the toilet!  YEAH!  Two days later I got the call that I passed with flying colors!  That's my A+ blood for you!  Bob told me later, "Honey, you may not be a valedictorian in pregnancy, but you can still pass your tests!"  Amen!

As this last quarter slowly ebbs by I am focusing on enjoying ever minute of this pregnancy.  No, its still not easy, but 10 weeks is not that long before I will be chasing around 2 little doe eyed girls.  Evie will be out, in the big world with her big sister, where keeping them safe will be that much harder.

My heart will once again dwell outside of my body and now in two parts.

He is RISEN......Indeed!

Okay so every mother says it, but my daughter is absolutely the cutest.  She is so unbelievably smart and will repeat just about anything you say (yes, beware!).  As Easter approached I began talking about Jesus and what He did on the cross, including the empty grave and the Easter phrase she was sure to hear.  I would tell her,  "Lily, when someone says 'He is Risen!' you say 'He is Risen indeed!' okay?"  to which she would reply "Yeah."  Me: "He is Risen," Lily: "He is Risnnn"  Me: "Indeed," Lily: "Indeed."  No mater how much I tried to convince her that "indeed" followed her line she just couldn't get it all together without prompting.  Like I said, SO CUTE!

Grandma Jill came for a visit and we started the pre Easter celebration with a trip to the museum, cookie making and a whole lot of book reading.  We had a wonderful time enjoying all things Grandma together!

Easter this year was going to be quite a celebration.  Since Grandma's passing, my family has felt the weight of loss and it seems the heaviest around any holiday.  Gran Fran was always there planning, preparing and of course, cooking!  Now we have been left to carry on her legacy and are finding that we all have special parts of her in us, we just have to get organized enough to compile them.  This year we had a wonderful chance to have all of us together in one place.  From Denver to Wyoming to Illinois we all came together again to celebrate what this Easter holiday is all about, LIFE!

We celebrated two birds with one stone!  Thanks Honey for  sharin' your day with Jesus!

Its hard to stay in a place of sadness when you are surrounded by family, love, kiddos and babies whether on the outside or inside!  It was simply wonderful!  We took advantage of the holiday feel on Saturday to have a little egg hunt followed with cookie decorating.

Well, who am I kidding, my child took part in cookie eating (I think she took a bite out of every cookie she made).

As soon as Uncle Chase, Aunt Beth and Elly arrived on the scene, all attention turned to the adorable little bundle.  All of the girls got a chance to hold and love on little Miss Elly.  It truly is a wonderful sight to see these little cousins loving on each other.  Just makes your heart melt!

Elly was such a great sport because when she wasn't being shared between Lily, Mckenna and Kennleigh everyone else got their turn.  People kept "baby jacking" each other in an effort to soak up all of the wonderful baby snuggliness!  It was great!

This year we did Resurrection Eggs with the girls.  It was a great way to combine the fun of Easter Eggs with the story of salvation and resurrection.  Each of the 12 eggs had a little trinket in it that told part of the Easter story.  I started doing the eggs with Lily earlier in the week and she LOVED them.  Her favorites were the one with the cross and of course the empty white egg.  By the time Bob shared the story with everyone we would ask Lily, "Why did Jesus die on the cross,"  to which she would reply "for sins!"  The white egg was her favorite.  We would ask, "Lily, why is the white egg empty?"  She would get a big smile and say "Because Jesus is not there!"  Out of the mouth of babes Jesus will be proclaimed!

Being a mother around Easter time always makes the Holy Sacrifice that much more powerful.  I have a fellow blogger that titled her Easter post "I Wouldn't Do It."  She wrote on the depth of sacrifice it took for the Lord to give his one and only Son.  After reading it, I had to concur, I wouldn't do it either.  Than heavens I'm not God!  Life is beautiful, life is precious and the unimaginable Grace of the Almighty astounding.  Thank you Jesus that you are risen......indeed!