We're having a boy!!!

So as you can see by the title of the post, we found out today that we are having a boy!!! We are so excited to welcome little Benjamin David this June!

Kelly, Chris's mom, came to Louisville last night so she could be at the appointment. Our ultrasound was at 9:30 and our appointment was at 9:45. We arrived at the office a little early, so we got the ultrasound done early. My heart was fluttering. I was so ready to see our baby! I made sure to drink some caffeine on the way to the office to try to let the baby move, for it sure has made it move before! Well, the caffeine worked wonders! Baby was moving around like crazy! The technician told us what we were seeing, pointing out the head, heart, and stomach. Then she proceeded to say, "And you are having a boy." She said it so casually. And we were all so excited!! We were so giddy! We were having a boy!!

After the ultrasound, we met my doctor. She told us that we have a "beautiful" baby and that everything is growing well. Of course, I was relieved about this. Pregnancy is such an unknown without seeing pictures. I was so glad that my boy is doing well. She was thrilled for us and we loved her enthusiasm.

After the appointment, Chris went to work while Kelly and I went to Babies R Us to go shopping!! I loved looking at baby clothes and KNOWING what I was looking for. Benjamin has some cute clothes already, and Grandma Smith is making sure that he will be a little Volunteer...despite the horrible fact that my family are Gators :)

While we aren't big on specific meanings of names, we do want our children to have good names, masculine for a boy and feminine for a girl. His middle name, David, is specifically after Chris's dad. Even though Chris's first name is David, we always intended on carrying on that name in honor of our son's grandfather. We wanted to make sure that our son's first name was very much "boy", and we think that Benjamin is very much a boy name. Kelly originally wanted Chris's name to be Benjamin, but a close friend of hers had one of her own. So Nana gets her Ben!

We are so excited to raise this little boy. Ben has a wonderful family and we know that he will be so loved by everyone. I wish so many things for Ben and his future. The thing that I long for Him the most is that he will love Jesus and serve Him. We are taking this task very seriously, seeking to lead Ben towards Jesus, showing him that he can never be good enough. We want him to love God's word, treasuring it in his heart. We ask that others join us in this prayer.

To end, I am leaving pictures of our little man. I cannot wait to update again!

Christmas 2010

I love Christmas; I always have. It is fun having a husband who loves Christmas just as much or more than I do. This year, he insisted on putting up our Christmas decorations at the very beginning of November. Even though it is tradition with me and my family to put up decorations the day after Thanksgiving, I gave in. I think it was fun, making us anticipate Christmas even more. It is so weird to say that Christmas has passed, and even weirder to think that next Christmas we will be celebrating with a 6 month old!

Because of the pregnancy, my family decided to drive up to spend Christmas with us in Louisville. My dad, mom, brother, and grandma drove up from St. Augustine, Florida on December 22 and arrived early afternoon of December 23. I was so excited to see them. The last time I saw my dad was in October, my mom and grandma was in September, and my brother was in June. It felt like Christmas with them around.

After I got off of work on the 24th, all of us (minus my dad) went to Babies 'R Us and picked out the baby's crib and dresser! My mom had told me that my grandma was going to buy us the crib; however, she did not mention anything about getting the dresser. We were surprised and thankful for such wonderful gifts for our baby. We love the set and I can't wait to see them in use! Here are pictures of the crib and dresser:


Image courtesy of Babies 'R Us


Image courtesy of Babies 'R Us

On Christmas Eve, we went to Ninth and O's Christmas Eve service. We love our church family, and I was so excited for my family to be a part of something that means so much to me and Chris. Dr. Cook preached a wonderful message on the life that this Baby brings to those in captivity. I came away thankful again for the person and work of Christ, as well as for the faithful preaching that we get to hear each week from our pastor. After service, we went out to eat at O'Charleys and had a great time.

On Christmas morning, I woke up early to fix a breakfast casserole for my family. They came to the house around 8:30. We opened up presents around 9:00 and then ate that yummy casserole (if I do say so myself!). I was so thankful for the gifts that I received, some of them being maternity shirts, gift cards, and Bobby Bowden's book. Yes, I am a girl that loves football, specifically Florida State football, and I love Bobby Bowden! We had lunch around 12:30 and ate a lot of delicious food! I think Chris and I will be having ham coming out of our ears! That afternoon, we went to the movie theater. The ladies went to see "The King's Speech" while the men saw "Tron: Legacy". I LOVED "The King's Speech" and so did my mom. We can't wait to buy it when it comes out on DVD.

On the morning of the 26th, we went back to Ninth and O for church. While Chris went to work, the rest of my family and I had lunch at California Pizza Kitchen (yum!). After lunch was over, the boys went back to the apartment to watch football while the ladies went shopping!! I was SO excited! I had been waiting for this moment for a while, holding out to get maternity clothes until my mom was here. I found a lot of good things and I am so happy to have clothes that fit again! I told Chris that I feel cute again. :)

This morning, my family left bright and early to head back to Florida. I had such a great time with them. While I am completely content with where I am at, it is great seeing my family that I miss. I am blessed to have a husband that enjoys spending time with my family, as well. Here are a couple of pictures of Christmas time:


This is what our living room looks like decorated for Christmas.


This was taken after Ninth and O's Christmas Eve Service. Although I am not crazy about how I look in this picture, I love my family :)

I hope that your Christmas was a wonderful time of celebration. Christ is our Immanuel! I pray that we would be mindful of that in the coming year. Blessings!

17 Week Update

Picture courtesy of thebump.com

I haven't been updating this blog as much as I would have liked. Even though I am pregnant, I see my life as being pretty boring and normal. I praise God that there has not been anything unusual in my pregnancy to make it more interesting than I want it to be. Because of this, I have missed the 16 week mark and update on the doctor's visit. So here it is a week later :)

We went in for the 16 week appointment last Monday. Because the practice that I go to is very popular in the city, we did have to wait a while at this appointment. The doctor that I was seeing had a few patients she had to see earlier than expected. This became very frustrating because I knew that all we would be doing is hearing the heartbeat and checking me to see if everything was ok. Needless to say, I was very happy when we finally saw her.

After the doctor asked me how I was doing and if everything was going well, she then checked for the heartbeat. At our 12 week appointment, it took her a while to find the heartbeat. Our little one was comfortable towards the side of my stomach at that time. I was hoping to hear it sooner this time around, but kept in mind our previous appointment. Almost as soon as she put the monitor on me, the little heartbeat was heard. I was so excited! It was in the 140s this week, down from the 150s the previous appointment. I was so glad to know that everything was ok.

Our "big" appointment will be on January 19. I CANNOT WAIT to find out what this little one is and to see how it is growing. I am also excited because I am seeing my regular doctor at this appointment. At 8 weeks she predicted that it is a girl, so we will see if she is right! I am still leaning towards boy, though not as strongly as I did before. Chris still has no idea how to lean. He just can't wait to call the baby by it's name. We already have both a boy and girl name picked. I am ready to refer to the baby as a boy or a girl. I also can't wait to go shopping! My mother is also ready to know. Grandma can't wait to spoil her grandchild :)

As you can see by the picture, our baby is around the length of an onion. I am continually amazed at how fast our little one is growing and how it is developing. I am waiting to feel the baby move and kick, although I think I may have felt it kick last week. After we went to our appointment, I was sitting down on the couch. I felt a slight bubbly feeling that only last a couple of seconds. From what I have heard and read, that is what women feel early on when their baby kicks. I will know for certain through out the next few weeks if that was really it kicking or not. I also can't wait till Chris feels it kick!

I do hope to be more regular on my pregnancy updates. Keep praying for us and Baby Garner!

12 Week Update

So we have made the big 12 week mark!! We are so blessed that we have reached this mark without any scares or complications. I am very much looking forward to the end of the first trimester sickness. The past week, I have had a hard time at nights having terrible nausea. Milk is my friend during this time, as well as Tums on occasion. One night this week I got sick twice. I am trying to see the light at the end of the tunnel, knowing that this is just a season. I just wish that the light would shine brightly at this very moment :)

About a week and a half ago, my sister-in-law found out that she is having her third daughter!! I was so excited to hear this news. She has two precious girls now, and I can't wait till this little one joins the cuteness! Because of this, I am thinking more and more that we will be having a boy. While it would be super cute if Nana and Poppy (Chris's parents) had four granddaughters, I cannot get a boy out of my head. I will be shocked if the technician tells us that she sees a girl.

We had our 12 week appointment yesterday. At our last appointment, we were scheduled to have an ultrasound. We get in the ultrasound room and the technician is starting to get ready. She asked us if this was our first ultrasound and I said that we had one last time. She looked confused, went out of the room, then came back to tell us that we didn't need one this week. She was afraid that if we got one, our insurance company would not back it up. We understood and then went to see the doctor. I was kind of disappointed. I was so excited to see another picture of my baby, but keeping our money is a good thing. I also felt bad because Chris's mom was with us and she wouldn't see her grandbaby.

So we went to see the doctor soon after. My doctor was out of town this week, so I had scheduled a different doctor. I was hoping that she would be nice, and I am so happy that she was. I felt very comfortable with her. She then went to find our baby's heartbeat. She had put the device on me and started to locate the heartbeat. It took a while to find it, and I was kind of getting nervous. Then I heard it and smiled. Our baby was fine! I looked over at Chris and he smiled. After she heard the heartbeat, there was a static noise. She said that what we heard was the baby kicking. How cool is that!! It's already moving around!

So as you can see from the picture, our baby is the length of a plum, which blows my mind! It has been growing so fast! I am starting to show a little bit, but not enough for me to post a picture. Maybe within the next couple of weeks I will put a picture up of what I look like. I cannot wait to start registering for fun baby things. Even more, I CANNOT WAIT to find out what this baby is. Mommy is getting impatient!!

I hope that you have a wonderful Thanksgiving with your family and friends, always giving thanks for what our Father has done for us in the work of his Son. Blessings!

Meet Baby Garner - 8.5 Weeks

Today was our first appointment with my doctor. Before going in today, I was nervous. I hadn't had any symptoms for me to think that there was anything wrong, but I had heard of stories of woman like that who had found out they lost the baby at the appointment. Whatever was going to happen, I knew God was good. Having Chris with me was great and I hope that he can go to the other appointments.

Once we got into the office, I did the normal "doctor's visit" things. When the nurse was asking for informations, she asked if twins ran in my family. My mom's mother was a twin. That was another worry of mine. Oh no, what if we have twins! I told Chris what she said and said, "We are NOT having twins."

A few more minutes went by and I saw my doctor. I love my doctor. She is incredibly funny, easy-going, and helpful. She made sure everything was fine and saw that I was healthy and didn't have anything to worry about. She made Chris feel at ease, as well. He told me later that he really liked her. She informed me of possible shots in the future, but never told me that I needed to have any of them done. That is another great thing about her. She let me and Chris decide what is best for us.

The not fun part came next: the dreaded blood work. Since I was little, I have hated needles. I sat down and the lab technician proceeded to suck me like a vampire. I held Chris's and looked the other way. That was over and I was happy. After a few more stops, we went into the ultrasound room. We were finally going to see our baby!

We got into the ultrasound room and the technician proceeded to get her stuff ready. I laid down and watched the screen eagerly. The lights went off and the screen was on. She found the baby and zoomed in. Then she did the most incredible thing: she pulled up the heartbeat. It was pounding like crazy!! It was like music to my ears. She then measured it and made sure that everything else was fine. She said that the baby was healthy, were it needed to be, and that there was plenty of amniotic fluid for it. And most importantly, ONE baby :)

We walked out amazed at this little one and our Creator. This tiny, tiny speck on the screen was a human being with a fluttering heart. How could anyone take away these precious babies when their heartbeat races and flutters on the ultrasound screen? God creates life and creates it beautiful at the moment of conception. My baby is a BABY, not just a "fetus" or blob of tissues. I become more resolved to seek the end of the mass murder of innocent babies. I don't know if any woman who has received an ultrasound and seen a heartbeat could choose to abort.

So we are officially 8 weeks and 4 days pregnant and the due date is June 4. Today is Chris's birthday!! What a fun day to see our little one. My next appointment will be on my Dad's birthday and we should find out the sex of the baby just before my birthday. My brother's birthday is June 15, a day that I wish to already have my baby in my arms and out of my womb :)

Please continue praying for Baby Garner. Blessings!

I'M GOING TO BE A MOMMY!!!

So it has been a while since I've blogged. September came and went so quickly, probably because of everything that went on that month. We moved into our new apartment, which was a happy thing. We are so grateful for all of the space. But just a few days later my grandfather died. I went up to Michigan for the funeral and to be with family. It was especially hard because Chris was not able to come with me, since he already took time off for the move. When I came back, we still had items in the old apartment that we had to get out. So yeah...September 2010 was an extremely busy, hectic month and I am glad that it is over. Even though stress came with most of the month, we wouldn't trade the gift that we found when September ended.

Probably everyone reading this already knows the big news. But yes...I'm pregnant!!! I cannot wait to be a mommy and to hold this little one. Chris and I are still coming to terms with this exciting news and waiting expectantly to what will come next. I have my first doctor's appointment on Wednesday, which happens to be Chris's birthday! Needless to say, we can't wait to get there! Even though the pregnancy is not new news, many don't know how we found out.

I had just started attending Weight Watchers on Monday, September 20. I finally had the time to start eating better and becoming healthy. I was anticipating great results when I started this change. That weekend, Chris told me that he thought that I may be pregnant. I completely denied it, thinking that it couldn't be. Just to ease my mind, I told him that I was going to buy a pregnancy test. The next Monday, September 27, I went to my first weigh-in. I had lost 4 lbs!! I was so excited and thought that definitely there was no way that I was pregnant. I wasn't feeling anything and, after all, I had lost weight.

The next morning I needed to be at work early. I decided to take the pregnancy test before I went to work. I was about to get in the shower when I took the test. I put it aside and waited for the results, thinking that nothing would happen. When I looked down, I was SHOCKED!! The test said "Pregnant"....it didn't say "Not Pregnant". Chris was asleep, blissfully unaware what was going on. Because of our schedules that day, we wouldn't see each other until 9:30. There was no way that I was waiting over 12 hours to tell him what I just saw. The only option was to wake him up.

I went into bed and tried to wake him up gently. I told him that I needed to show him something and to turn on the light. Even though it was early, this didn't seem to phase him. When he turned around, I showed him the pregnancy test. He then proceeded to say, "Are you pregnant?". I said, "Look at it." Once he realized what was going on, he laughed and sighed in disbelief. He wasn't being unkind, he was just shocked. We laid there for a good 5-10 minutes in complete shock. We had agreed that we weren't going to tell anyone. On my way to work, the excitement kicked in. What I had always dreamed of was finally coming true! I'm going to be a mommy!

The poor guy felt bad and called me a couple hours later. He wanted to let me know that he was very excited to become a daddy. We then called my parents and told his parents that night, his sister the next day, his family that weekend, and our church that Sunday. I didn't tell anyone at work the first day...until someone had asked me to pick up heavy boxes. I decided that it was a good time to let them know :)

This news has brought lots of excitement to our friends and family. We are so blessed that those that we are dearest to cannot wait to meet this little one. We are especially excited because my sister-in-law is pregnant, as well. Our kids will be around 2 months apart. She is excited about taking belly pics together :)

So I have just entered my 8th week and feeling common symptoms of the first trimester. What first hit me was fatigue. I was EXHAUSTED for a good couple of weeks. I am no longer as tired, but I still like to sleep. I have been starting to get bits of morning sickness. I have become sick a handful of times, and struggle with nausea on occasion. I also have a terrible habit of gagging. I think that may be the most annoying part. I expected to get sick, but not wanting to gag several times a day. I have become hormonal, as well. I can cry and not stop for a while. I HATE IT!! I keep telling Chris that I don't want to do this. I am crying for no reason and I feel stupid. Hopefully, all of this means that our baby is growing well.

We would covet your prayers right now. Pray that we will have a productive visit to the doctor and that our baby would be healthy. Pray that I remember that this struggle with sickness is for the good of our child. Most importantly, we ask for prayers that, even now, this little one will come to know Jesus as King and to live to love Him. I will be updating as the pregnancy progresses.

Blessings to you!!

Life Is Back to Normal

It's been a long time since my last post, and August is almost over. So weird! This summer flew by so fast. The older I get, the more I realize how life goes by so quickly. Life is a vapor, just like Scripture says, and time is so important. I want to redeem the time that has been given to me and not waste it. But enough of my philosophical/spiritual musings :)

Now that the summer is over, school has begun. It is so weird for me to see everyone back on campus and not being in class with them. But I love seeing my friends back. They are so dear to me and I hate not seeing them during the summer. Chris is getting back in the swing of things and adjusting to classes. This is his first semester selling phones and doing school. He is pretty busy all the time. One of his classes calls him to read at least a book a week, and they are not easy books to read. I am so proud of his work ethic and his desire to do things well. He really is the provider for me and our future, and I am so blessed to be married to him.

Work is getting back to normal, also. With most of the students being gone for the summer, work was slow during the summer. Now that the semester has kicked in for both Boyce and Southern, the traffic has definitely picked up. Students are ordering lots of books online, and they are coming to us in piles. It seems like the packages never end!

A big thing is happening in a few weeks. Chris and I will be moving out of our tiny, 500 sq. ft. apartment into another apartment on campus. It will be close to double the size, have a real kitchen, and space to put a study area for Chris that is away from everything else. PLUS we got an apartment with a washer/dryer hookup!!! I have been waiting for this day for a long time. I am so excited to do laundry in my own apartment at anytime. Now if only it had a dishwasher :)

I am so excited about the changes that are coming. I hope that you look at the future with delight and not fear, knowing that the Lord is good and He loves His children.