3 Generations

what a beautiful sight!

If

My nephew Trip had to memorize the poem If

for a school project

there's a little impromptu action at the very end

If

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream---and not make dreams your master;
If you can think---and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same:.
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build'em up with worn-out tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings,
And never breathe a word about your loss:
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings---nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And---which is more---you'll be a Man, my son!

Rudyard Kipling

4 Cousins

my favorite boys under 11

{Lukie making his Hulk face}

pretty cute if i do say so myself

:)

1 week Birthday!!

home is wherever i'm with you...

a little late

...but what else is new...

:)

we finally left the hospital last Wednesday

and couldn't WAIT to be home

but for some unknown reason i was crying

{pretty standard for me these days}

loading up in suba-ruby

(my little subaru)

and

heading to the casa

"There are moments when, whatever be the attitude of the body,

the soul is on its knees."

—Victor Hugo

Dear Jamison,

Baby boy we are about to celebrate your one week birthday.  During the last 9 months I've gotten to experience amazing things.  Being pregnant with you was one of the most beautiful journeys I've ever been on.  For 39 weeks God formed you inside of me; half of your dad, and half of me. I watched as my stomach expanded, and in turn, watched you grow, from a little tiny speck inside of my belly to an 8 pound miracle.  I feel so blessed beyond belief God chose me to be your Mama and I hope you could sense all the love I was sending to you while you developed.  Now that you are here, I am sometimes over come by the love I feel for you.  It is a love I could never have anticipated or protected myself from.

The moment you were born, you started out on your own path, but your dad and I will always be with you when you need us.  These past months have been the happiest of our entire life, and we look forward to making many more joyful memories with you.  Remember you also have a Father in heaven who loves you more than you could ever imagine and will guide you.  I pray that you trust Him with your heart; He is good, never-failing and a true constant.  You are proof of that fact. He loves you. He loves you. HE LOVES YOU.  

As we begin a new phase in life, and even though you won't physically be inside of my body anymore, I know I will always carry a part of you with me, as your mother. Wherever we go, together or apart, your heart and soul is joined with mine.  All that to say, we are praising God for the gift of you.

So with that, I leave you with one of my favorite poems by e.e. cummings that i also gave your dad on our "2 years of dating" anniversary while we were in college:

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in my heart)
i am never without it(anywhere i go you go,my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)
i fear
no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

I love you sweet boy, you are my heart.

Love and prayers,
Your Mama

baby hiccups

delicious

thank goodnes...

❝God has paid us the intolerable compliment of loving us, in the deepest, most tragic, most inexorable sense.

— C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain

ssshhh...don't wake the baby

how i'm feelin' about now..

Dear Jamison,

Well, sweet boy your mama is almost 9 months pregnant now. It's funny because before I was ever pregnant I always thought that if someone was 9 months pregnant it meant they were about to give birth, but no. It's a full 9 months which means you could be born today or in a few weeks. Your dad and I are finally getting a little more settled in our home and everything seems a lot more real than before.  Things are happening very quickly and every little baby item we set up is a reminder that you will be here soon! 

As these days wind down I find myself already categorizing events into a "before Jamison is born" and "after Jamison is born" frame of mind.  Your arrival has already changed our lives for the better. I just wish you could see this version of myself and your dad; parents but not-quite-parents, our younger selves about to go on an incredible adventure.  I'd like for you to be able to meet us as we are now and know that we are young twenty-somethings who are in love.  I want you to know our story.

As these next few days fly by, I want you to know how excited we are. You were our world before you ever came into the world, and have always been a part of us. Whoever you are, whoever you want to be, we will accept you fully and love you. You are already loved so much. We've been getting everything ready for you, we've been praying, and waiting.  Our anticipation is unreal and oh-so very exciting.  Hello Jamison! Welcome home! We've been waiting for you.

I love you,
Your Mama

A few pics from the nursery

fun times

at

38 weeks

bebe J's library

amen adele

everyone loves a good before and after

we started this whole journey a little more than a month ago

i was very unsure about what we were getting ourselves into

especially right before the baby's birth.

but it was as good a time as any

and i knew it would be worth our efforts

and we are very excited about the progress

and can finally "see the light at the end of the tunnel"

"we are almost out of the woods"...

{can you handle one more idiom?}

just in time "before the fat lady sings"

...and by fat lady...

i mean me

:)

❝…But I am sure God keeps no one waiting unless He sees that it is good for him to wait.

— C. S. Lewis

sweet kisses

❝I pray because I can’t help myself. I pray because I’m helpless. I pray because the need flows out of me all the time- waking and sleeping. It doesn’t change God- it changes me.

— C.S Lewis

how i'm feeling today...

a picture is worth a thousand words...

so close yet so far

Today Charlie pointed out an interesting factoid about our childhood.  Apparently we lived very close to each other  for about 6 months when we were 7. 

After Charlie's family moved back from Malaysia they lived in his great-grandmothers house at 4807 Creekbend Dr. for about 6 months (first semester of 2^nd grade).

He never knew exactly what part of Houston it was they lived in until he Google’d his old school (Red Elementary) out of random curiosity today.  

When he pulled the school up on the map he recongized the area immediately as it was less than a mile from my sisters house.

 

Charlie then looked to see how far it was from my parents house where I grew up and it turns out we lived 3.3 miles away from each other for part of 1993. 

 

His previous home in Malaysia was roughly 9,400 miles from where I grew up.

This sweet little story reminded me of the romantic stories told by the couples in the movie

 When Harry Met Sally.

maternity pictures!

we had such a great time taking pictures yesterday

in downtown Brenham!



i love everything i am seeing so far 

Happy Friday!

and what else?

we've also been doing a wee bit of remodeling...

on our master bathroom

Charlie has put in his fair share of elbow-grease.

Here he is pouring some cement for the backer board which is

apparently something you need when tiling on a second story.

He also took out our toilet.

Having him do both of those projects saved us in the neighborhood of

$400 clams.

SUH-WEET

Tile will go in tomorrow!

Please note the Whirlpool tub.

I swore I would sleep in that darn thing once it finally arrived.

{there were several back-order issues that held up the whole project}

In the end we didn't get the tub we originally wanted but found a slightly larger

one with more jets. 

Here you can see the paint comparison between our bedroom (waffle)

and the bathroom (water chestnut)

Basically you can say we have come into our nesting season.

Some people might say it's more like nesting "on drugs"

but we like to say we're just thorough.

where have we been?

so i can't deny that i've been a terrible blogger as of late

but honestly we have been SO buys lately.

From hospital tours to birthing classes we have been on the go, non stop.

Busy is good though!

We got to go to a few concerts at the House of Blues and hear our favorite artists

like Tyrone Wells.

Who recently just had a baby with his wife.

After congratulating him on his expanding family,

Charlie told Tyrone that we were getting ready to be in the same boat.

To which Tyrone relied, "Oh, are you trying to have a baby?"

And I piped in with, "Nope we're "5 weeks away from the due date."

You can imagine his surprise when he looked a little further down

and spied the baby bump.

In all fairness, I am pretty short and he is very tall so

I wasn't too surprised by his reaction. 

It was a fun night!

yay for T-Wells!

{those are some tall dudes}

"I guess that’s the beauty of books. When they finish they don’t really finish."— Markus Zusak

(via coffeestainedcashmere)

my favorite story

“Isn’t it splendid to think of all the things there are to find out about? It just makes me feel glad to be alive—it’s such an interesting world. 

It wouldn’t be half so interesting if we know all about everything, would it? 

There’d be no scope for imagination then, would there? 

But am I talking too much? 

People are always telling me I do. 

Would you rather I didn’t talk? 

If you say so I’ll stop. I can STOP when I make up my mind to it, although it’s difficult.” ― L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables

little tootsies are my favorite!

(Source: bohemianbeyou, via bellamumma)

birth class

last night charlie and i went to our first of 6 birth classes with our

dula, Amanda Moore.

We talked about exercise, diet, diaper changing, etc.

She also gave us a breakdown of how a woman gains weight during pregnancy

Amanda compared giving birth to learning how to swim or driving a car.

When we first try something new, we have support people around to guide us along the way.

No parent tells their child as they are learning to swim,

"this is going to extremely difficult for you and you may drown."

The messages are always positive, i.e.

"i'm here if you need me"

"the side of the pool is over here"

"i'll help you through the deep end"

Amanda also said labor and birth can be kind and will speak to us in progressive stages...

"i'm coming"

"i'm coming"

"i'm coming"

"i'm coming"

"I"M HERE"

it's helpful to know there is a process to brith and it will probably be a gradual one

We really like the 4 other couples in the class with us and are looking forward

to the next couple of weeks!

{pic}

No One Else...

one of my sweet co-workers emailed this to me

and i got all teary eyed at my desk!

i just LOVE this!

fun board books!

I am digging these classic board books as new additions for the

bebe's library.

I am already having a great time reading to him before bedtime.

Unfortunately, my cough gets worse at night and I think it makes my voice sounds raspy...

Kind of like the smoking sisters from The Simpsons.

Ah well, smoking voice or not, at least the baby's brain is hearing lots

of stories and music during these last few weeks!

my bearded husband...

i love him...

oh yes, i do

i love it when he gently pats my belly and sweetly says to the baby,

"good job. 

good job for just being"