Bluffton Baby Shower

This past weekend, my mom and I went to Bluffton for a baby shower that was hosted by the ladies on Drew's side of the family. It was great getting to meet everyone in his family that I haven't met yet. Being able to put a face with a name now for most of his family is really great. The decorations were beautiful and the food was amazing! Grandma Judy made me some pumpkin cookies that were probably the best tasting cookies that I've ever eaten in my entire life!!! I love pumpkin anything: pumpkin bread, pumpkin coffee, pumpkin pie, etc. So to have some pumpkin cookies made by the lovely Judy Kipfer was WONDERFUL!! The advice that was given to me by these ladies was invaluable and I treasure all of it. It was also very nice being in Bluffton, since I've only been there one other time since Drew and I have been together. I'm sure we'll be going there a lot to visit family and stuff once the baby gets here, so it was nice to get to visit and see where everything is now.

I just wanted to thank all of Drew's family for the lovely gifts that they gave us. They were wonderful and we treasure all of them. Thank you all so very much!!

Thank you all for all of your thoughts and prayers. It is only through God and your prayers that we are making it through these long six months. Thank you so very much.

visiting with drew

Well, this past Sunday I got the chance to see Drew for a few hours. Other than port security being a HUGE pain, it was a great day. Supposedly they weren't letting the crew off at a certain time because it was too windy (that's what I was told at least so don't quote me on that one...ask Drew for more details). We got about 6 hours together. It was definitely better than no time at all but the hour or so that port security took from us would have been nice to have also. He did get to feel the baby move, although she decided it was going to be a quiet day and she didn't move around quite as much as she has in the past week or so. She does things that way though, everything in her own time and the way she wants it, so I guess I wasn't that surprised. His face was priceless though when she did decide to move. Drew said that it was absolutely awesome to feel her move and roll around. She definitely recognized her daddy's voice though. She really likes it a lot! I have the distinct feeling she's going to be a daddy's girl, but he'll have to share her. Haha. After relaxing for a little bit, we all had lunch together, Drew's parents and grandparents and the two of us. It was nice having him there in person and be able to talk to him in person and not just over the internet. It definitely was a mixed blessing though. I loved having him there in person and seeing him and knowing he was ok, but it was very very difficult to put him back on the ship. That was definitely a very hard thing for both of us. I was able to deal with it a little bit better than putting him on the plane 4 months ago, but definitely wasn't a cake walk either. Luckily, we only have 2 months left. That's a positive thing. It definitely made it easier that I got to spend a few days with Drew's parents and grandparents before I had to come home. I had a great time with them in Fort Myers. Overall, it was a great weekend and I loved seeing Drew!!!

Thank you to everyone for all of your thoughts and prayers. It is all truly appreciated!!!

1st Trimester, Check. 2nd Trimester, Check

Well as I sit here thinking about it, my second trimester has flown by. I feel like I was just writing about being done with my first trimester and now I'm writing about being done with my second trimester. Nothing too out of the ordinary happened in my second trimester. She has gotten a lot bigger, as she should, but I love to sit around and watch her move and kick and punch. I'm ready for the third trimester and I'm ready for her to be here. I hope she doesn't come early, but I definitely can't wait to meet her. I'm finally starting to show. It's nice to have a belly and not just look like I've eaten a pretty decent sized meal. I know that one day soon I might regret saying that I'm glad that I have a belly but for now I love the fact that I do. I've been unbelievably fortunate with not gaining a whole lot of weight and not having a whole lot of swelling. I hope that it stays this way for the rest of my pregnancy. Being active has definitely helped with that.

It's been very nice to be at home. Not working has been very relaxing. I've been running errands for my mom and doing chores around the house. Even though our house is a mess at least I feel like I'm nesting a little bit before she gets here. The upstairs is still a wreck but it's moving along. I'm still hoping that it's going to be done before she gets here.

Thanks everyone for all of your prayers. They are all greatly appreciated!

Fall in Love with Baby Kipfer

My cousin hosted a baby shower for me this weekend for everyone who lived in Southern Indiana and most of my family. It was beautifully done. Because it was in October, she had the idea of having the theme be "Fall in Love with Baby Kipfer". It was fall themed with apple cider and fall colors and stuff like that. It was great!! Julia made such amazing food! A pregnant woman's dream come true! Haha. A lot of people were there. We all just barely fit into her cute little house, but we did. The shower started off with mingling and socializing. Time for everyone to get to know each other. There were a lot of people from different sides of my family that didn't know each other. And Janean had only met a few people before the shower, so it was a great time for her to meet some other people in the family too. After that we ate all the delicious food. Some of the best food I've eaten in a long time. Then we played some games. The first one we played was a questionnaire about Drew and I as babies. My answer sheet didn't count (neither did the two grandma's answer sheets. that probably wouldn't have been fair), but if mine had I totally would have won. I only missed one question out of all 18. It was hilarious!! The next game we played was a baby food guessing game. My aunts, Pam and Debbie, volunteered with my cousin's girlfriend, Amanda, and one of my family friends, Maria. They were pretty brave souls. I got to feed them baby food!! It was hilarious watching their reaction to the taste and smell. I fed them things like carrots, apples and cherries, chicken noodle dinner, and butternut squash. I loved it!! Haha. After that I opened presents. We got a TON of blankets...that was kind of the joke of the shower was the crazy number of blankets that we got! The shower was so much fun though. I loved having everyone all there to celebrate our little one.

I wanted to say thank you for all the gifts and for everyone who came to the shower. It was so much fun and I loved having everyone there together. It was great having everyone meet each other and share some time together. I also really want to thank my cousin, Julia, for hosting such an amazing shower. Her devotion at the beginning of the shower was a great insight into living my life as a mother through God and His word. I really loved it.

Thank you for all of your prayers and thoughts. It is all very much appreciated.

man! she likes to move!

i have discovered just how much she loves to move. the other night i just laid in bed and watched her roll and kick and punch. it was probably the greatest feeling in the entire world...well at least until she gets here and then i'm sure i will have a million more great feelings. but watching her move was pretty great for right now. so watching her move and roll around is by far my new favorite pastime. it definitely blows rugby and cycling out of the water!! she definitely LOVES to move around. i can definitely see her constantly being on the move whenever she gets here. it makes me really curious to see if she'll be interested in dancing or sports or what will make her happy. but i'm that it'll be probably be something where she'll constantly be on the move.

all of her movements and just all of the stuff she does absolutely amazes me. i can't even begin to describe the feelings that i get whenever i watch her move around in there. she really is one of God's little miracles and i am so grateful to be blessed with the ability to carry such a beautiful little being. i love her so much (sorry drew, still love you, but i definitely love her in a very different way. can't help it. i'm the mom and i spend every day with her. haha).

all of your prayers and thoughts are greatly appreciated. thank you so much. we love all of you.

22 week appointment

today was our 22 week appointment. her heartbeat sounded absolutely great! it's still very strong and constant. she measures exactly where she should be for how far along we are, even though i haven't gained that much weight since i've been pregnant. this will be good in the long run for losing weight after she gets here but it definitely had me worried for a minute about how big she is. other than that it was a pretty routine appointment. we met a new doctor in the practice today and i liked her a lot (i like the other doctors a little bit better but she was very nice and very attentive so i have absolutely no complaints. she just wasn't quite as thorough as the other doctors normally are). the baby also didn't run away from the doppler this time, so it was nice of her to cooperate; i was very proud that she decided to be nice to the new doctor. haha. 

we have developed a new game to play when she decides she wants to really move around (i'm sure this is something a ton of mothers before me have done before me and many will do after me but i find it fascinating!!). when she kicks i will push back on her to get her to kick again. she seems to like playing this game and does it for 20 to 30 minutes at a time. she usually moves around quite a bit. the last few days she was a bit sluggish and didn't move around that much, but in the short time that i've been writing this out she's decided that this is one of the nights that she's gonna kick around in there like crazy. maybe i do have a little soccer or rugby player on my hands (if she turns out to play rugby drew might kill me. haha). people can finally start to feel her too. i was sitting on my couch with my mom writing some emails and checking on some stuff online and the baby started to move around. there was one particular kick that made me laugh because it felt like she was kicking my entire right side. it felt crazy. so i wanted to see if i could feel her by putting my hand on my belly and i could. i told my mom and she put her hand on my belly. after a few minutes another strong kick came and she felt it. her reaction was AWESOME!! i can't wait to see drew's reaction when he feels her in november. i really hope she decides to be active that day or he might be a little more than disappointed. 

i want to thank all of you for everything that you have done for us. it makes it a lot easier while drew is away. all of the prayers and thoughts are greatly appreciated.

my little swimmer

so i've been to a few doctor's appointments now where she decides to do the same thing...swim around and avoid the doptone. she really likes to hide from that thing!! it's kinda funny. the doctor will find her and then she'll quickly run away from it. she's a very very active little one. she always does that! it really does make me laugh. 

she moves around a lot now. i can feel her move every few days or every other day. it usually depends on how i'm sitting or laying down and what her position is. it's a great feeling whenever she decides it's time to punch or kick mommy. she's not big enough or strong enough yet for anyone else to feel it (kelly, one of my best friends, really wanted to feel her the other night but definitely didn't get the satisfaction of feeling her move around. haha. sorry kel. love you though). feeling her move or kick or punch is by far the best thing that i've ever felt. it amazes me that i have a tiny little life growing in my belly. having a baby is a blessing from God and one of His little miracles. 

another thing that amazes me is that i have never loved someone so much in my entire life (drew i love you and you are my everything but i'm not gonna lie i might love our little one a tiny tiny tiny bit more. it's only because i'm growing her in my belly and have a very different connection with her. but dont worry you're still my everything and i can't wait for you to come home so we can start our life together. i love you i love you i loooove you!!) she's so amazing to me. i'm in awe of her and all that she's doing in my belly. growing, swimming, rolling, punching, kicking, and just really existing in there. it's all a miracle to me. drew and i are so very very proud of her and our new family. it will be a blessing for him to be home and for us to be able to start our family together. 

love all of you and thank you for your prayers and support.