“For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,  to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”

Ephesians 3:14-20

I thought it was about time for an update on #growingbabyelder.  We were so blown away by your sweet responses when we shared the news a few weeks back.  It literally took me more than a week to sort through all your sweet comments, emails, and responses and I loved every minute of it.  We feel so unworthy for all the love, but give God all the glory for HE is the one writing our story!  So how about some specifics?

due date: February 12, 2017

frozen embryo transfer: May 27, we transferred 2 embryos from our IVF cycle two years prior

found out: June 6th, then 2 weeks later found out it was 1 baby!

how I’m feeling: blah.  the nausea has stuck around this whole time (I’m 19 weeks now), and pregnancy exhaustion is no joke.  but I wanted to feel all the things and experience pregnancy to the full, and that I am!  and I keep reminding myself that while it’s super hard to do this with two little kids at home, it will be worth it.  and how many women have done this before?  I’m not alone.

what am I craving? well, I pretty much eat like a college kid.  lucky charms, ramen noodles, McDonalds and PB+J.  also, cheery limeade from Sonic and my latest craving: tomato basil soup.  shout out to my husband who last weekend in New Orleans, after my tummy could no long handle the cajun food, took an uber across the city to get this for me.

ok, ok, now I’ll share the gender:

It’s a girl!!

We are beyond thrilled.  Stephen thought it was a girl this whole time, and while I had a gut feeling I only really said it out loud a few times – mostly because I would be so happy with either one, and didn’t want to get my mind going too far in one direction until we knew.  but, I would have been totally shocked it that card had read boy!

gender reveal: September 15

so we didn’t find out at the doctor office, but we went straight to lunch to open the envelope together!  We went to a place we traditionally go “to have hard conversations”, thinking we could redeem some of those.  Now, Chimy’s will forever be the place we found out we were having a baby girl!  Stephen is such a stinker and told me after I opened it that he “accidentally” peeked during the sono and happened to look when Dr. Gayle was writing “it’s a girl”.  I was thrilled, excited, overwhelmed, and a little teary!  Love that I can now pray for HER, talk about HER and refer to HER – at least until we have a name 😉

this weekend we were in New Orleans with my family for my little sisters 30th birthday, so I got a few cute baby girl outfits the night before and wrapped them up and let them open them at lunch!  Coming from a family of ALL girls, they were super excited!  Squeals and more tears all around.

I’ve literally dreamed about all the things I”m getting to experience and it’s like my friend Chloe said today, “it’s like watching what we’ve hoped for for so long”.  Yes indeed my friend.  Loved getting to share with the kids via them cutting this cake and sharing with our closest friends.

After I share the news it’s a girl with a close friend, the second thing they say is always “I’m so excited for Asher!”.  They know my girl has wanted “a sister” this whole time, and I’m so excited she will have just that.  I can’t imagine life without my sisters, and am thankful my girl will have that.  and my Camp, I just smile thinking about him being the boy with the sisters.

(reveal photos by the very talented Shauna Maness)

Thank y’all so much for being on this journey with us.  for being excited, for praying, for texting and emailing and encouraging us.  I ask that you keep praying for this baby’s life.  For healthy pregnancy, and gosh maybe if we all prayed my nausea away….  Until next time!