our little Valentine

Lydia’s First Valentine’s Day

Mommy and Daddy love you Lydia! You can tell because we don’t stop taking pictures of you! ;)

Lydia Joy!

We’re so happy to announce that Lydia Joy was born on January 8, 2010! Right on her due date!! 

Labor started pretty abruptly Thursday night and then progressed for about 12 hours in the hospital before our little girl arrived. I’ll share all the details another time if anyone’s really interested. But for now, on to the exciting things about LYDIA!

She was born at 8:05am on Friday at a healthy 7 pounds, 7 ounces and 21 inches long (nice and tall!)

Blessed to be is now a complete understatement. We can’t begin to describe the joy that she has already brought to our lives.

These first few days, Adam and I have just been in awe of her beauty and God’s amazing creation. I think it’s still sinking in that we are parents and that she is ours to raise and grow in the ways of the Lord! What a privilege!

Thank you so much to all of our loving friends and family who were praying for Lydia and me throughout labor, delivery, and recovery. We couldn’t have asked for a better first week. Praise the Lord!

Lydia has had a lot of “firsts” already in one week… We’ll try to keep you posted on all of that soon!

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/

married 5 years!

Last Friday Adam and I celebrated our 5th Anniversary! On Thursday night, we decided to take a spur of the moment weekend getaway to South Haven, Michigan.

It's a cute little town on east coast of Lake Michigan which makes for awesome sunsets!!

This year, we have even more to celebrate as we await the little precious addition to our family! :)

 
One summer back in High School, I lived with my aunt and uncle in South Haven while I worked at their embroidery store and hotdog stand. It was fun going back and remembering all the sites, shops, and restaurants. Adam and I brought our bikes so we could ride into the downtown area from our hotel (only 1 mile away).

Across the street from our hotel is Sherman’s Dairy Bar, AKA the BEST ice cream we have EVER had!!!! We waited 45 minutes at 10pm on Friday for it and it was SO WORTH IT!!

And since we don’t live nearby, we had to take advantage of this delicious little find a SECOND night in a row!  (Hey- I’m eating for two, right!?) This is me holding our “baby size” (Mackinac island fudge- on the left) and “single size” (blackberry- on the right) ice cream cones!! So huge and so good!!

What a great weekend!

 

Happy Anniversary, sweetie!! I love you now more than ever!

 

Pregnant!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here's the latest picture from our bathroom remodel! ;)



We did two, just to be sure, and they were both positive soo...

We're Having a Baby!!! :-D

We're going to be PARENTS!!

(It's still sinking in!)

We are so excited!!

Here is our little "bun in the oven" at 10 weeks:



And again at 11 weeks:



I've already had 4 doctor appointments and everything is going very smoothly. I heard the baby's heartbeat for the first time last Monday and it was soo soo precious!!

Currently, I am 17 weeks along, due January 8, 2010!!

I've been so blessed to have very little morning sickness or any other bad 1st trimester symptoms; a few moments here and there but not much at all! And other than a little motion sickness and fatigue, I've just been enjoying this time of imagining what our little bundle of joy will be like! :) We truly see this as a blessing from God and we look forward to drawing closer to Him as we learn about love, sacrifice, and all the joys of parenthood!

We are also so thankful for all the amazing family and friends we have in our lives, many of whom are parents themselves- we're counting on YOU for your advice, support, and prayer! Thank you!!

my Valentine

Last Saturday, after working on the bathroom all day, we went out to Graziano's to celebrate Valentine's Day.



We were pleasantly surprised when our pizzas arrived in the shape of hearts! How fun!



Love and pizza.
What a great combination. :)

I love you, Adam! Thanks for my awesome water bottle!!

missed

"missed" has two meanings in this post.
The first is that Adam missed me while he was in Germany last week.
{And I missed him!}

He has actually been traveling for work A LOT lately which stinks.

But he's so sweet- he'll usually do something special for me like send flowers or bring home some yummy way-better-than-American chocolate. :D

Thank you soooo much, hun! I appreciate it more than you know. :*)

The other meaning is that I *missed* blogging his birthday way back in August (for which he was in Germany as well)

GASP! How awful of me! How could I?!?!

So Adam, Happy Birthday!!
Please forgive me and know that I love you non-stop all year round!

gaining a sister in law

Adam's brother, Aaron, got married!



The wedding was in Omaha, NE. It was a fun weekend of hanging out with everyone, meeting Anna's family, and checking out their apartment.





The rehearsal went well. The dinner was sooo delicious. And we had so much fun at the "outcasts" table (as Dad put it!) talking with Grandma, Pastor Tito and Amy!!





Rebekah was an adorable flower girl! She was a bit shy, but she made it down the aisle (running into Papa's arms)!!





The beautiful bride...








I like this picture... :)



The ceremony was very moving. I got to read Colossians 3:12-17, the passage that the message was on. The pastor was choked up from the beginning. The bride and groom and both Mom's and Dad's (and me!) shed some tears... it was very touching for all!!





The siblings...



The reception was at a very nice golf course. Guests had lots of food, drink and fun well into the night!






They showed a cute slideshow of baby pictures and the pictures of them dating.





Mom and Aaron looked so natural as they danced.



Rebekah loved dancing too- as long as no one was watching her. At one point, she had been dancing a lot by herself, and as soon as we tried to dance with her, she ran under the table to hide!



Grandma, Amy, cousins Rhodric and Desmond, and Adam and I joined in on the dancing too!



As the best man, Adam gave a toast and he did a fantastic job- a perfect balance of humor and meaningful encouragement.



I think he looks a lot like his Grandpa Bond here...



Congrats Anna and Aaron!! We are so happy for you two. Hope you are having a blast in Hawaii!