home for Christmas

With baby Hunter’s arrival quickly approaching, we are spending Christmas and New Years close to home this year :)

We hung our little girl’s first ornament, a “Superbaby” onesie

Our daddy, mommy, and baby gifts from Grandma Bond:

Our Christmas present to each other this year is a digital SLR camera!! It’s so cool!! I still need to read the manual to figure everything out. So far, I can turn it on and take an auto focus picture, but that’s about it!!

Adam has figured out quite a bit this last week. Check out some of the cool photos he’s taken:

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Mom and Dad drove in from CT to spend the next several weeks out in the midwest visiting their 6 (soon to be 7) grandkids!!    

We had a pre-Christmas dinner with Robin, Jon and the kids here on Saturday. It was a fun excuse to get out our fancy china from Grandma Bond :)

Merry Christmas everyone!! Hope you enjoy sweet time with family and friends, but most of all reflect on the most amazing gift ever given: our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

MGB owners!

A friend of Adam's coworker was looking to get rid a “project car” he had sitting around. When Adam found out about it, he was more than willing to take off his hands!

So we are now the (blessed?) owners of a free 1974 MGB roadster!

Since it’s not currently running, it was quite a task transporting it to our garage. Here Peter and Adam are working on backing it into the garage. The front right tire went flat during the move which made it much harder to maneuver (but pretty fun for me to watch from our bedroom!)

As you can see it needs A LOT of work- both inside and out. This would be a pretty intimidating task for me, but Adam is THRILLED about it! He is totally up for the challenge and I know he’ll have so much fun working on it!

Despite the body damage, you can tell it’s going to be a really cute two-seater convertible someday!! (Sorry baby Hunter- no car seats here!)

David, Hannah, and Micah had some fun playing in it. Adam heard David call it an “ugly” car- hehe :) Oh well. It’ll just make the total transformation even more impressive someday when it’s finished- and I’m sure David will be begging to borrow by then :)

Adam is contemplating starting his own blog about this exciting project- don’t you think he should!?!

Good luck, hun! I’m behind you all the way!

Just one request- can we install an intercom between our unit and the garage for when I need help with the baby!? ;)

babymoon-ing in Florida!

babymoon:  a vacation taken by a couple that is expecting a baby in order to allow the couple to enjoy a final trip together before the many sleepless nights that usually accompany a newborn baby.

Last month, I got to take an all expenses paid trip to Orlando to present my research at a conference!! We found a cheap ticket for Adam so we made it a “babymoon” :)

We spent the mornings working and attending the conference, but the rest of the time we spent reading and relaxing by the pool.

View from our room while I was practicing my talk:

We didn’t go to any Disney parks, but we hit Downtown Disney and the Disney Boardwallk which was right near our hotel.

While we were there, a space shuttle launched from Cape Canaveral. We completely forgot about it, but when we finally noticed everyone looking up into the sky, we were able to catch a glimpse of the plume:

We splurged on an excellent dinner at BOMA, an African buffet in Animal Kingdom Lodge. SOOO much good food- this is Adam’s dessert plate! I was too embarrassed to take a picture of mine ;)

Overall, a great and CHEAP vacation for us to enjoy- our last as a childless couple!!

friends with a photographer!

Erica is just getting her photography business off the ground and she graciously offered to do our maternity photo shoot!! 

It was a cold blustery day, but the leaves were beautiful.

Help me out- which one should I use for my new blog header??

Erica has such amazing skills with the camera- you can barely tell I had a stuffy runny nose that day!

Here’s little Dufry- the teddy bear Adam bought for his little girl on his last trip to Europe :)

Thanks again, Erica! I love how you were able to capture our hearts in these photos!

check out more of her awesome work at: http://EricaLynnPhotography.blogspot.com/

Showered with love from my family

My family threw a shower for me to get ready for our little girl!!

My family is spread out all over the country, but amazingly, EIGHT states were represented at my shower!!! AND EVERYONE except me and the hostess had to travel OVER AN HOUR (some up to 10!) to get there! What an amazing demonstration of love! :)

The states: Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan, Nebraska, Missouri, Virginia, and Connecticut.

Karen was our hostess. She did an outstanding job of leading the devotion and games.

While I opened so many generous gifts, all the ladies played “bingo” with gift items.

Thank you ERICA for hosting the beautiful shower!! Everyone felt so welcome and comfortable in your beautifully decorated home!

After the shower, all the family and two friends who traveled a long way came back to our house to meet up with the guys to hang out for the afternoon. We made a new record for guests in our little condo: 33 people!!! (18 adults and 15 kids!)

Here are all the 4th generation kids on the front steps! From Mom’s side of the family, we’re just missing Matthew, Matthis, Jonas, and Ila. So 15 for 19, not too bad! Can’t wait for the next time we all get together!

in 3D!

Last Friday we had a super fun appointment getting 3D/4D Ultrasound images of our little girl!! At first she was a little shy... she had her hand in front of her face for the first 20 minutes :)



Following the technician's suggestion, we walked around the halls and up the stairs for a couple of minutes to see if we could get her moving. Then right before I laid back on the table, I took a couple sips of Adam's coffee...



And it must have worked! After that, she was ACTIVE and she moved her hand for a couple minutes so we could get a cute little video:



In the very beginning you can see the umbilical cord in front of her face. Then you'll notice at about 25 seconds, she moves her hand from the front to the side, and then lets out a big yawn. At the very end she rests her head on her hands :)

Some 2D shots:

FEET! (can you see her BIG toe in the left picture?!)


Profile shot, maybe smiling?!


Sleepy!


This one's my favorite, she looks so peaceful!


After that, she was done- she turned her head down to tell us she had enough poking around for the day!!

It was such a fun experience!! Adam loved it and even got a little teary-eyed (sorry hun, had to tell everyone!) What an awesome opportunity it was for us to visualize what's going on in her little world. Can't wait to touch her, hold her and kiss her in about 2 months!!

Retired!

Happy Retirement Mom and Dad!!

We truly appreciate all your years of hard work and dedication in order to serve your family!

Now its time to start your new job:

• ReLaX

• PaRtY

• Enjoy your [almost] 7 GrAndKiDs to the fullest!

We love you and can’t wait to see you next week!

growing

We just got another glimpse of our baby girl! (And yes, a different ultrasound technician confirmed she IS indeed a girl!!)

Here she is at 27 weeks, 3 days! She is measuring just right at 27 weeks (I guess I should start mentally preparing for a late arrival?!)

She is now 2 lbs 2 oz, heart rate at 146bpm. The technician said she has long legs and arms!! No wonder I feel her moving around so much! :)

Also, my placenta moved up, so I am all clear.  We signed up to get a 3D/4D ultrasound at the end of October so stay tuned for more pictures and possibly a video!

Everything is going smoothly, Praise the Lord! We can’t wait to meet our little daughter in about 12 weeks!

Showered with Love

While we were out in Washington, Adam’s parents and sister surprised us by throwing a party for us!! We had somewhere around 60 people over for dinner. Dad grilled chicken, pork, hotdogs, and meatballs and pineapple kabobs. There was also corn on the cob, salads, delicious homemade breads, and an assortment of DELICIOUS desserts made by our friend Leah!

Here’s their newly renovated backyard complete with a huge fire pit:

Dad and a friend built those huge arbors and even installed outdoor lighting on them. It's the perfect place to host a large party. And it looks fantastic!

After we all had our fill, the ladies met inside and showered me with baby gifts!

Here’s Bekah modeling the famous “Tilly Towel” sewn by Adam’s mom:

We received many cute things like sleepers, blankets, and books.

Rebekah and Sadie were excellent helpers with all the gifts!

And it was great to see so many friends from Olympia Bible Presbyterian Church.

Thank you Tonya for taking all these photos!!

Here’s a view of what the TV room looked like during the shower! All the guys were outside talking, all the women were inside chatting, and the kids were watching Cars! And this isn’t even all the kids between the ages of 2 and 8 that were at the party!!

And the most special gift of the night… all the ladies of the church, as well as Grandma Bond, Mom, Karen, and Robin each hand-embroidered a square of a baby quilt!!

Adam’s sister Amy did all the hard work of designing the squares and assembling all the pieces. Isn’t it beautiful!!! (you can find more of her handiwork here)

Click on the picture below to see the details. I typed out the name of the person who made each square!

It is sooo special to us! It means so much that all these friends of ours from far away are praying for us and our little baby!! We have such an amazing support system of family and friends. I can’t wait to hang it on the wall of the nursery. What a fabulous focal point it will make :)