Third Trimester

Today marks my official first start to the third trimester. Griffin is 27 weeks and 0 days. I sometimes count from Fridays (there's a reason why, I'll explain it to you if you want) which would make me 27 weeks and 4 days today.

Third trimester means I'm supposed to officially be getting ready, right? Well, I guess you have to sometime. My sweet husband has been so busy this summer. Since pregnant women really aren't supposed to be lifting and moving treadmills and things like that, I decided to wait for him to help me. :) SOOO - here's what we have done:
Griffin's room cleaned out - check
Griffin's furniture picked up and put together - check
Bedding ordered and arrived - check
ummmm....
You get the idea. We still have LOTS to do. But here you can at least see the furniture and a little bit of what the bedding looks like on the crib.

You can't really see, but the furniture is "distressed black." It is black with some of it rubbed out and there is actually red peeking through. It's very boyish. Chris loves it and I'm pretty proud of it, too. Here are the dresser (with Chris's guitar in front of it. sorry for the lazy picture taking!) and the bookshelf! Yay for the bookshelf. I want lots and lots of books for out little guy and so I was determined to find a great bookshelf - that we could afford. Not as easy as you might think.
I didn't realize how horrible this picture was until I posted it! Yuck! But the shelf really is great. You'll just have to come over and see!

Other updates: I have decided to start reading Griffin the book Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb by Al Perkins (I mentioned reading in my last post). It's a Dr. Suess-ish book and one that I really liked when I was little. I actually remember sitting in our burnt orange rocker and my mom reading it to me. :) It has a bit of a rhythm to it when you read, too. It's great. I'm also going to read - by suggestion of my sister, Rachel - Oh, Baby, the Places You'll Go adapted by Tish Rabe from the works of Dr. Suess. This book was written by Dr. Suess's wife and meant to be read in utero. It's great for a Dr. Suess lover. Chris hasn't picked his yet. He says he doesn't remember many of the books he read or that were read to him when he was little. I'm sure he'll pick a great one and I'll let you know.
Finally - here's what I look like. This was taken on Friday, my pseudo-start to the third trimester. I feel like I actually get bigger every day right now. Griffin moves a lot! It's not painful (yet), just lovely. I love that I can see it and that it is easy for Chris to see and feel, too. My next appointment is August 25th and we will be having another sonogram! Yay! We love to see him.

Sabbath

Yesterday, Chris and I got back from a great trip to Boulder, CO with our youth group.

The name of the trip was Sabbath. It was a mission trip with the Sevens ministry in Boulder. Benny and Niki Nowell are the leaders of this ministry. They are "friends on the street" to the enormous homeless teen population in Boulder and Denver. They taught us to "mozy" and notice the story behind everything we see and that many stories are not so far from our own.

The kids (our youth group kiddos) had a great time and really learned a lot. They experienced God's love for us in the beauty they saw in Colorado, walking a mile in someone's shoes by "flying a sign" on a street corner to get money for supper, and ministering the the most unloveable of God's children both by inviting them to a meal in "our " territory and then going to "their" territory and trying to find conversation and show the love of Christ there. Chris has several write ups on his facebook that go into more detail about what exactly happened and some of the kids even added to it, so check that out if you're more interested.

Here are a few pictures from the trip. The mountain we are on is Mount Evans - as yes - At 25 weeks preggo, I summitted a mountain! (It helped that we drove all but about the last 100-150 feet!)

Goodbye to Jenny, Jeremy, and Lucas (from July 11th, and 17th)

I wrote this a few weeks ago, too:

Chris's sister, her husband, and their son, Lucas, moved to Scotland for 5 years on Friday. They have been planning to do this for over a year now. The original plan was May of 2010, but due to waiting on visas, they were delayed until now. Needless to say, it was a bittersweet goodbye. We had all been preparing ourselves for it and it was strange that it was finally happening. We were able to go to Tenth and Broad Church of Christ, Chris's home church and Jenny and Jeremy's main supporting congregation, last weekend for their "Sendoff Sunday." They said lots of prayers overy Jenny and Jeremy and sent them off with a bang.

Then, Sunday when we were headed back to Cresson, Jenny, Jeremy and Lucas came with us and stayed Sunday night! We had a great time riding on Uncle Chris's "choo choo" - also known as Pee Paw's old lawn mower! - around the yard and swinging in the hammock. Then on Friday, we all met at Cracker Barrel, a place we frequent when we are with all the Robeys, before Chris's parents took Jenny and Jeremy to the airport. It was a really nice way to say goodbye.

Enjoy the pictures!

Backing up again...

I typed this post a while back , but we've been having internet trouble...sooo...Here it is!

Okay - so here's a picture of me a week ago (July 12 at 23 weeks)... it's a big difference from the last one!

Also, since I last updated, we have been seeing and feeling Griffin moving. I first knew I was feeling him when I was on an airplane to OKC for camp on June 22. I felt him move a few times through the week, but Chris was never able to feel it. He felt and saw Griffin move for the first time on July 3rd when he got home from camp.

Since then, Griffin is moving more and more and getting stronger and stronger. It's so fun to try and figure out his schedule. He usually moves after I eat something. He also seems to move during Chris's classes at church. I think he know's Chris's voice!

Chris and I have decided to each pick a book to start reading to Griffin. I'll be sure to tell you what our choices are when we make our decisions.

Hmmm...other updates. Still no big progress on his room, but we did register this weekend! Wow - is that overwhelming?! It's just so humbling to take a little gun and point at all the things I want in a store actually expecting that other people might buy them for me. Thanks in advance if you are one of the people who might do this. It is so neat and such an honor to be supported like that!

That'll do for the Griffin update. We go to the doctor on Wednesday!