Spring Weather Makes Us Feel Better!

March 14, 2014

Spring Weather Makes Us Feel Better!

SPRING IS HERE!

It is mid-March and I have officially not been able to keep my New Year's Resolution, just like last year. Maybe if I didn't call it a New Year's Resolution then it wouldn't be so hard to keep! Anyway, Many things happened in February and so far in March and we would love to share them with you!

We last left you with the baby shower for my cousin Natassia in St. Louis. Since the last week of January, our "busy season" has started. We began premarital counseling for a couple who will be married (by Hunter) on Memorial Day; The Olympics were on TV; Valentine's Day came and went; Hunter took a ski trip with some men from Rogers to Breckenridge, CO; We went on a "Babymoon" to Charleston, SC; and now here we are- halfway through March and a day we have been looking forward to for some time now is coming tomorrow - a 3D ultrasound for our little baby boy who has been growing and growing and making me feel like I can't get much bigger, but I do and I will for 3 more months!

Premarital counseling has been so fun and we have loved getting to know this couple, as we do with all the couples we do premarital counseling with. This will be Hunter's 3rd wedding and when that day comes I will be fully pregnant with 2 weeks until the due date. We really enjoy doing premarital, mainly because when we prepare for each meeting (about communication, finances, expectations, roles, etc.), we are reminded of what we need to work on as well. We've been married for almost 3 years and I can honestly say that I am incredibly thankful for Hunter and how he models his love and leadership after Jesus. I'm not sure how healthy we would be if he didn't.

The Olympics! How fun was that? I'll admit, we didn't get to watch all of it, but what we did watch was amazing. Some of our favorites were all the Alpine Skiing Events, Freestyle Skiing, Freestyle Snowboarding, the ski jumping that has all the flips and twists and last but certainly not least - Ice Skating/Dancing (Although this wasn't Hunter's favorite, I love it and he did watch a handful of routines, including Yulia Lipnitskaia, who was amazing). I think our favorite part of the Olympics was all of the background stories. Being the pregnant lady that I am, yes, I cried in almost every story we watched!

In the spirit of the Winter Olympics, Hunter took a ski trip to Breckenridge, Colorado! They didn't go because of the Olympics - they went to take a fun men's trip out there, hang out, hit the slopes, eat some food, do whatever it is guys do. Hunter and his co-pastor and his son went a day early and got to stay with my Aunt and Uncle in Denver for one night, which was incredibly generous of them! No one got hurt, and Hunter is already looking forward to next year's trip!

Finally - the Babymoon. For those of you who have never heard of this term, I believe it's a relatively new thing - only my friends in their 20s have heard of this, and even less have actually taken one. It's a mini-vacation before your first baby is born. Similar to a honeymoon, the first vacation of married life, a babymoon is the last vacation of the DINK life (Dual Income No Kids). We visited the wonderful city of Charleston, South Carolina.

Charleston is located on a peninsula between two rivers, who knew? Not me!

The first two days were rainy and 40 degrees, which is not exactly ideal when you don't have a car and have to walk everywhere - especially when you're pregnant- BUT the third day was a beautiful 70 and sunny! We did all the touristy things: Took a carriage ride to hear the history of the city, saw Rainbow Row, Walked through the Market, got sweets (and free samples/smells) from King Street Sweets, ate and shopped off King Street, and toured Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum, the home of the USS Yorktown aircraft carrier, USS Laffey and USS Clagmore submarine. I'm not sure what I was expecting when thinking of touring a submarine, but turns out there isn't much room in those things! Just enough room to walk through all the gauges, buttons, knobs, and important things. Overall, the weekend was much needed time together, away from work and baby preparations.

Pregnancy update: I am currently on week 27 of my pregnancy and Little H is moving and kicking and hiccuping and doing all sorts of things! I don't have many complaints beside my terrible lack of sleep and the occasional heartburn. I usually get anywhere from 3-4 solid hours of sleep and then 2-3 interrupted (by trips to the bathroom, trips to the kitchen for water and animal crackers, needing to get up and walk and stretch my legs, shortness of breath or heartburn OR just can't sleep) hours of sleep. It's been difficult learning how to adjust to so little sleep, but I think it's great preparation for when our little guy arrives. We have painted his room, assembled his crib and Pack-n-Play and Hunter has built his dresser. We have some shelves that Hunter is also building that will go up this weekend. All we have left is to wait for the two showers and of course the baby! We also went ahead and painted what was once the "Pink Room" and redecorated it with the bathroom. We just can't wait for him to get here!