This week.

Just in case you were curious as to how big Baby is getting and what's going on this week....

Week 19

How your baby's growing:

Your baby's sensory development is exploding! Her brain is designating specialized areas for smell, taste, hearing, vision, and touch. Some research suggests that she may be able to hear your voice now, so don't be shy about reading aloud, talking to her, or singing a happy tune if the mood strikes you.

Your baby weighs about 8 1/2 ounces and measures 6 inches, head to bottom — about the size of a large heirloom tomato. Her arms and legs are in the right proportions to each other and the rest of her body now. Her kidneys continue to make urine and the hair on her scalp is sprouting.

Ya know, I was talking to Teresa at church about how incredible the development of a baby is...you may be thinking, what?!  However, it completely blows my mind to think about how tiny the little peanut starts out and in just over 12 weeks all major organs have been formed and in place--granted they can't all function yet, but seriously, it fascinates me more than anything.  In my life, this has reminded me what a mighty and powerful God that we really serve.  I am not sure how else to describe the development of a baby inside the womb....every organ develops in the right place and can fully function, the heart divides into 4 chambers, I could really go on and on---but do people really think this just automatically happens and it's by chance that everything is placed right where it should be?  Gosh I hope not.  I am not sure how we could find any other explanation than it being the Divine hand of God who is forming each and every child and designing each of us with such intricate detail.  Blows my mind.

Anyway, those are my thoughts. 

Have a GREAT weekend!

MG

Meet Farley

Well, this is my pride and joy, Farley.  He is almost 2 years old now and is pretty much the best ever (contrary to what Gavin thinks)!  However, Farley is quite the mischievous one and seems to constantly find himself in trouble with Gavin.  So, in the near future, my little man is going off to boot camp for Obedience School!  We've decided to do this because I could never dream of giving Farley away when the baby comes, but he is too out of control to be around such a little bitty baby!  We're just looking for him to calm down a little bit---You see, he has this problem where he just can't contain his excitement.  This is something that I have grown to love about him because he is the first one to greet me when I get home from work and jumps all over me and is just overly excited about me getting off work; however, now that we have a baby on the way, I have a feeling this quality of jumping up and uncontrollable excitedness is not going to be near as cute.  Anyway, I'll keep you posted on when we decide to do it---but we're thinking it will be in the next few months.  It will be hard to part with him for a while, but I think it will be for the best.  Anything to convince Gavin we should still keep him around!! =)

12 days and counting until the BIG day that we find out whether we'll be decorating with pink or blue!!! Yay!

Memorable Weekend Trip! =)

We're back from our weekend get-away to Oklahoma, and it was nothing short of fabulous!  Gavin wanted to combine Valentine's Day and our Anniversary all in one since I'll be super pregnant by the time the end of May rolls around, so he took Sunday off from church and we packed up the car!  We stayed Friday night with Gav's parents and, as always, it was so great to see them!  They really are such a blessing and it was great to share some sweet time with them!  Saturday we got up and got ready for the day and headed off to the mall.  Gavin let me buy some new clothes (ALWAYS a treat!) and I wore one of my new dresses (in the pic above) that night to dinner.  I was extremely stubborn about it because I really wanted to wear my new dress to dinner despite the fact that it was like 25-30 degrees outside and it was a short-sleeved, knee-length dress!  Yes, I did freeze, but dangit I got to wear my new dress! =) While we wanted to go somewhere super fancy, apparently Gav and I don't really plan ahead that well because we neglected to call anywhere to make reservations until early Saturday afternoon, and by that time everything was booked since it was Valentine's Day.  Anyway, we ended up going to Cheesecake Factory and it was fabulous!  We ended up staying one more night in Oklahoma and we came home today (Monday) just in time for my dr. appointment.

Basically, this weekend was exactly what Gavin and I needed---just to get away, with no agenda and just have fun!  It was a weekend full of laughs and good memories, and a special time that I'm sure we will never forget!  This was probably our last 'just because' trip just the 2 of us for a real long time since we have a little one on the way, which made this trip all the more special!

My appointment this morning went well--we heard the heartbeat again and the dr. said everything looked and sounded good and healthy!  AND the most EXCITING part of the visit was that we set up our next appointment and on March 9th we will find out whether Baby Greer is a boy or a girl!  Oh my goodness I can hardly stand it!!!  3 more weeks!!

Well, that's it for now.  Until next time........

Oh--here are a few pics.  Gav thought he could make his tummy stick out as far as mine....and this is my "I will beat you everytime look!"

Replacing my doubt

Trust----Reliance on the integrity, strength, ability, surety, etc., of a person or thing; confidence.

This is dictionary.com's definition of one of my biggest struggles.  I'm not one to trust too easily, it's just not something that comes easily for me.  This past Sunday in church the theme of worship was TRUST, and, this past week Gav and I have had several discussions about trust and what it really means to trust each other, and most important--to trust our God.  My whole life I have been taught to put all of your trust in God and everything will eventually fall into place.  It's something I've heard over and over and OVER again, yet something I never truly sat down and thought about.  Being a control-freak like I am, that thought is absolutely terrifying to me now that I really think about it, but I think that God is really trying to show me something through all of this.  I strongly desire to be that trusting and to have that much faith--to just give everything over to God (who will take care of things so much better than I ever could), but I'm finding that i'm more of a 'doubter' than I thought I was or than I would like to be.  A 'Doubting Thomas,' if you will.  (Have you ever heard that song by Nickel Creek? Random side note....).  

Anyway, it's just been something that's been on my mind, and something that I'm really going to try hard to work on.  It's so easy to believe the lie that I know what's best for me...but that's just denying God's reign in my life and denying His call.  The truth is, I can only see a small small fraction of the big picture that God is painting in my life, and He will give me a bigger glimpse of all the things He has in store for me if I just let Him and let go of the reigns that I think I hold.  I think that's the key--Letting Him, because I know He wants to.  He really does want the absolute best for His children.

That's all I got.  Just a glimpse of the thoughts spinning in my head right now.

P.S. This upcoming weekend Gav and I are taking a little weekend get-away trip for Valentine's Day and to celebrate our anniversary a few months early.  He said he wanted to go somewhere and assumed that I wouldn't really be up to moving, much less going anywhere when our one year anniversary rolled around because i'll be so big, so we're combining it into one! =)  

15 Weeks and growing!

Good News!  We found our camera battery charger!!  Now we can take pictures again, sheesh, I feel like it's been forever!!!  Several people have told me to take pictures to document the growth of my growing tummy...so now, I guess we don't have any excuses not to.  We went to the dr. a few weeks ago and heard the heartbeat of our precious little one! Such a sweet sweet sound!  It's crazy what all is going on inside of me right now and so neat how Psalm 139 is playing out in me....God is designing and forming our little one as we speak and He has amazing plans in store for them.  How cool is that!?!!!   

On another note, we went out to eat to celebrate Mer's birthday last night at Olive Garden.  I love her!  My sister is pretty much the greatest---I can't believe she's 25!!!  I'm so proud of her, she just started back to school to get her masters in counseling so she can pursue her dreams professionally.  It's hard not to be somewhat jealous of that, but I suppose I'll just live vicariously through her!!  Maybe one day I will go back......

Oh we find out the sex March 16th----Feels like forever away, but time will fly i'm sure!  I still can't believe i'm almost 4 months along!  Where did the time go??!

That's all for now.....pictures to come soon, so it's not just my boring writings..... =)

Love y'all!