Weeks 21 & 22

We've had an eventful couple of weeks...my dad came up to visit and bring bedroom furniture, I went to NC for Heather's lasik surgery, we hung out in NC with the Fords and Chancey's, the Fords came to TN for the holiday weekend, Grits had crazy drama that scared us to death, summer staff arrived, I met with our new doctor, and now we are getting ready to jet off to Jacksonville for a QUICK turnaround trip for Bruce's (further referred to as Booger) ordination. Whew.

Most of our family has now seen our new home and in some way have planned to head back this way sometime before Christmas...praise the Lord for being back in the south! We've realized that if we were still in MO during this adventure we would probably struggle being pregnant and welcoming our baby without our parents and siblings. We are extremely thankful for the whirlwind that has been our life in the past year... Chris was reminded of that blessing the other night during vespers. Unexplained emotions can be overwhelming.

We were given our first glimpse/heart attack of what parenting will be like. Over the weekend Grits started acting funny Saturday night. Usually she goes upstairs to bed before we do, but when we got up to go she just laid on the floor in the living room. We called her and called her and she just laid there real still. I went on upstairs and Chris stayed back with her. They both came in the room and Chris looked very worried and Grits was not moving at her normal speed (90 to nothing). We thought maybe she had injured one of her back legs but couldn't remember and incident when that would have happened. Around 5am we heard her get off her bed for her routine of jumping up on the bed with us... but she never jumped up. We could hear her wimpering and whining. We both got up to check on her and she couldn't move her back legs at all, she couldn't even stand without Chris holding her. He lifted her onto the bed where she slept with us the rest of the night. In the morning I called her personal physician (Mike) and he said to keep an eye on her. I stayed with her while the Fords went to church and she slowly started moving around on her own. She progressively got better throughout the day and was back to almost 100% by the next morning. Mike thinks she may have had temporary paralysis caused by a few ticks we picked off of her (even with Frontline). It scared us to death...

I met with our new Dr. yesterday and she seems really great. She's young and energetic, relaxed, and really seems to care about our experience. I didn't realize all that I needed to be thinking about right now (pediatrician, birth plan, etc.), but apparently there are a lot of things we have to know coming up for our 28th week. I scheduled my hour long blood sugar testing which should be interesting for someone who doesn't so much care for needles. We are signing up for a birthing class for new parents that will start in August. It's hard to believe it's already time to do all that...

I am looking forward to heading to Pensacola in about 3 weeks for family time and Kristen's wedding. Chris has already told me that I need to warn the seamstress to get her sewing maching warmed up because she will have to perform miracles to fit me in my bridesmaid's dress. Not really... but it will need some tweaking.

We will update pictures soon, probably after this weekend. I am reminded often that I seem to "be bigger everytime I see you". Not good coming from someone I see a few times a week. :)

Bullington/Giusti April Visit

Anne Lois, Uncle Matt, & Abigail

The Bullington Family in Tellico Plains

Abbey & Uncle Matt @ Tellico Grains

Wilson, AnneLo, & Abbey @ camp...

Beth and all the kiddos...

Walker & Mason @ the lake

Sweet kisses from Walker

Sassafras...

Best buddies...

Sisters

New Year's Resolution

We decided last night that in order to be a good blogger you must update near about everyday. Well, I would like to think that my life is THAT interesting to say something profound each day, but we all know that's a stretch. However, I love to take pictures of our life and the amazing adventures we take so on days we don't write I will try and provide something for your viewing pleasure. Here are a few from the last few weeks:Grits' favorite past time

Chris nearly busted his rump

She hangs on his every word...

A word from the Mama...

So Chris finally realized that as a SUMMER camp director that he would not be able to uphold his blogging duties without my help... so I am now allowed to update on here. Yay.

I've come to the conclusion that baby boy is throwing rebounds of my belly, spiking the football on my bladder, drumming on my stomach, and many other rather active things as of the last week or so. About two weeks ago Chris felt him bump real hard for the first time, you know, more than the "it feels like gas" movement. That was pretty surreal. He seems to be most active in the morning and in the evening... I think he's telling me he's hungry. Either way, I love it and it makes me giggle everytime. I want others to be able to feel his bumping, too, but I always seem to be alone when he gets going.

I go next week to the NEW doctor in Knoxville for the first time. I've been doing research (probably that I should have done the FIRST time we chose a doctor) on what I should ask and how I should communicate what we want during the rest of the pregnancy and birth, and let me say, there's a lot to talk about. Drugs or no drugs, induction, c-section, birthing positions, etc... Chris and I want to do this as naturally as possible and I feel like that's all I should have to say, but apparently there's a lot more to it. These are the kind of things that are starting to consume my thoughts... so I think I will start to work on the birth plan.

I've officially outgrown my pre-preggo clothes. Well, except my elastic-waisted skirts, they will be my best friend for the rest of this pregnancy. Thank goodness it's the summer! I also got a lot of great hand-me-downs from my sister and her friends.

Speaking of summer... Chris is about to kick off the camp season next Tuesday. Say a prayer that he will feel prepared and will be ready to take on another full and amazing summer. The staffing has all come together and prayers have definitely been answered for that. We really like John Knox and the family that we have already made in TN... we are hopeful that this will turn into a permanent gig for us.

And... being a housewife is hard. If anyone has suggestions of things to busy myself while we wait for baby, I would LOVE it. I try to create hobbies for myself, but they can be expensive.

Oh yeah... I don't know if we have "gone public" with his name yet, but drum roll please.....
Noah Matthew Ford.

We love our brothers. The end.

Well girls just want to have fun...

So thank God that we are having a BOY! Yes, that's right we are having a little Chris Jr. We got to see his manhood flopped out for all to see. So, luckily everything we have bought for baby so far has been boy colors/ gender neutral. It's not like we would have bought all pink for a girl anyways!

Chris