momma & the babes...

Psalm 127:3

Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from Him.

pondering how the Lord's stretched and molded me as a mother.

how i have so much more to learn.

how they are His reward to an undeserving me.

how thankful i am for this fantastic privelege.

here are just a FEW of my favorite shots of me and these precious babes i've been given...

Asa

Bellamy

all together now

Olive

{oh, i might not have told you... that's her name. we're sure now.}

24 weeks

precious moments...

one of my {small} resolutions for 2012 was a memory jar.

it sits on our kitchen counter with scrap paper and pens nearby for anyone and everyone to jot down happy thoughts and special moments as they please.

the memories stay in the jar until they're read out loud as we ring in 2013... 

then, we start all over again.

here are just some of the many precious moments put in the jar by my hand the past few weeks ::

• the time when Asa said "bye-bye, Daddy. ah-yu (love you)" for the first time WITHOUT being prompted as J headed off to work.
• the time when Bellamy was having a little trouble getting to sleep, so momma snuck in, picked her up to calm her down and her head rested on my shoulder, nestled in my neck for the next 10 minutes.  {this NEVER happens... Asa's my cuddler}

cuddles all around these days

• the time when Asa made his dinosaur talk to Bellamy in the tub with his goofy voice and she nearly fell over laughing.  {she's all giggles and smiles, but a belly laugh is rare}
• the time when Asa insisted on holding my hand {for at least 15 minutes} while J pulled the babes in the wagon on our evening walk.
• the time when hubs and i stepped out into the quiet night at half past 11 to see the super moon and were overwhelmed by God's majesty.

our hope is to make this a yearly tradition.

i can't wait for our kids to add to this jar someday soon.  

22 weeks...

i'm a bit over 22 weeks now...

reaching the halfway mark is such a sweet victory for my heart.

my monthly baby check-up was yesterday and i was in and out of there, which is always a good thing. 

her heart rate was right at 160 and i'm measuring just right.

i've gained 16 lbs so far. 

{i'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that most of that resides in my hind quarters. hmph.}

believe it or not, i didn't feel this girl move much until very recently.  i expected it so much sooner, being my third, but it seems she'd just rather relax.

honestly, i can't wait 'til she's running out of room in there, stretching from side to side, lodging her feet under my ribs, and pressing her little tush against the side of my belly.

it may be a bit uncomfy, but gosh... such a sweet miracle.

we still haven't completely settled on Olive {although we truly love it} or a middle name.  there are a couple other names in the running, so we shall see.

it may just take meeting her to know for sure :)

{this was taken at 21 weeks, but looking pretty much the same}

i was overwhelmed and so encouraged by all your prayers and kind words in response to my heavy heart post. 

seriously, thank you.

choosing to trust Him with this precious baby's life is one of the hardest and most liberating things i'll ever do.  renewing that trust every morning.

before & after : bathroom edition

our home sweet home has undergone quite a few major changes lately...

all things that we've talked about doing since we moved in 5 years ago. 

the house was built in 1932 and has some amazing character to say the least.

we knew before we started our hunt that we wanted a home with history and we didn't mind a few projects.  

ha!

in the past few years we've :

-- painted/wallpapered all the walls

--replaced radiated heat and window cooling units with central heating and air

--refinished all the hardwood flooring

--installed a gas fireplace {was a non-working coal burning}

--majorly upgraded the kitchen

--installed a large brick patio out back

--renovated the sunroom

--added on a master bath

--overhauled the front yard

did i say we didn't mind a few projects... well, we kinda LOVE projects!

and i'm fairly sure there will be many more to come!

anyway, thought i'd do a little before & after series about a few of our most recent endeavors.

starting with the bathroom.

we shared a bathroom with the kiddos, which was fine, but

when we found out the third baby "B" was on his/her way, we decided it was time to allow for a little privacy.

{many of these shots were taken with my iPhone, in the evening... so, not the best, but it'll do}

.

we were able to climb out of our bedroom window onto the flat roof of the sunroom below and decided it made so much sense to convert that window to a door and build the master bath on top of the sunroom.

of course the sunroom wasn't in the best shape, so the walls and roof had to be majorly reinforced before we could begin bathroom construction.

Justin did so much of the work, along with a few hired hands {family/friends} along the way.

handsome, manly and handy... a triple threat. i love this about him.

this space has made such a world of difference for us.

there are still a few finishing touches, but we're seriously loving it so far.

next week, the sunroom.

US.

a couple weeks ago, we packed up the mini van and headed down to Charleston for J to race in the Cooper River Bridge 10K.

our dear friends, Lee and Leah, were gracious enough to let us crash their pad for about 5 nights... such a blessing to have a free stay and good company :)

our last night there, Lee took us down by the marshes near his house for little impromptu family photo shoot.  

this literally took all of 15 minutes, but he captured some of the sweetest moments.

here are some of our favorites...

Lee's here

R.L. Morris Photography

or here

Fstoppers

our Easter...

every year this little life i've been given grows richer.

i'm thankful every day.  but there's this one day apart from those other 364 that i'm overwhelmed by God's grace in my life.  my debt has been paid!

seriously?!  new mercy every morning and a love too big to fathom... i'm so undeserving, but still, He chose me.

we've only just begun to explain this to Asa.  until he fully understands the love of the Father, i pray he sees it through his momma and daddy.  

John 20 blows my mind, every time.  gosh, how amazing would it have been to be standing there with Mary Magdalene when Jesus appeared to her!  how fantastic!

J and i talked about this for a bit Easter morning and then went to fetch the babes from their beds...

their Easter pails were filled with just enough little goodies...

a vintage childrens book for each : Peter Cottontail for Ace & Little Red Hen for Belle

they also both got antique paper mache eggs with treats inside

Asa got peeps bunnies, a couple chocolates, and a train whistle {to add to his growing collection}.

Belle got baby MumMums and a small antique ceramic bunny.

after a Neese's sausage and orange cinnamon roll breakfast, we dressed in our Sunday best and headed off to worship with our Branch family.

an egg hunt for the little kiddos followed service.  it was Asa's first!  a precious sight!

after this, we headed to my parents' for the day...

it's sorta rare to have all my siblings together {there are 5 of us} and pretty special when it happens.  i think so, anyway.  

my grandparents and cousin were in town as well. 

{brother Grant, Justin, brother Stacey, brother-in-law Justin, Asa, my dad (or "Ba-ba")}

{sister Gretchen, mom, sister Kathleen, Belle, me}

it's become my Grandpa Sullivan's tradition to bring Ace a giant carnival pop every time he visits.  Asa loves it.

Bellamy and her 'cousin' Truitt {my sis Gretchen's Vizsla}

 such a good day.

 J and i went to bed with full hearts that night. 

thankful.

Olive or Sebastian???

we're SO thrilled to announce that baby B #3 is beautiful, healthy, and growing!

we couldn't have been more pleased with this doc visit!... although i was a wreck during the sonogram... asking every 10 seconds whether everything looked okay, if this or that was normal, etc. hah!
SO many thanks for your prayers and encouragement... it seriously touched our hearts!  

anyway, the names we had picked out were Sebastian Gaines and Olive Marie {both middle names are family names from my side}

and the little peanut shall be called....

click
find out with us!

a heavy heart...

tomorrow's the day!

will our fam add another handsome little man to the mix or will it be a another sweet little lady??

i want to get excited.

but, in this moment, my skin is crawling with nerves, my anxiety's reaching an all time high, and my stomach turns every time i let myself think on it a little too long.

i'm ashamed to admit this, because i'll preach it all day long to anyone that might be going through a dark valley in their own life.

{give it to God}

but, my ability to trust in the Lord on any given day throughout a pregnancy is pathetic, at best.

i want to.  i want him to lift this burden off my heart and chew it up and spit it out, but i hold onto it.

on a good day, i pray over this baby a hundred times, i feel it move, Justin lays hands on my belly, and i meditate on Psalm 139... 

specifically,

13 you made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb.

14 thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!  your workmanship is marvelous -- how well i know it.

15 you watched me as i was being formed in utter seclusion, as i was woven together in the dark of the womb.

16 you saw me before i was born. every day of my life was recorded in your book.

every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.

17 how precious are your thoughts about me, O God. they cannot be numbered!

18 i can't even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand!

and when i wake up, you are still with me.

{a very dear lady and amazing woman of God prayed this scripture over me with our second loss... Sally.  she died at 20 weeks gestation to a genetic disorder known as Turners Syndrome}

on a bad day {like most}, i convince myself that it wouldn't make sense to have another healthy baby.  it's too good to be true, isn't it??  the Lord's blessed me with two precious miracles and chances of another are growing slim.  i mean, three in a row?  if i think i might have felt the little bean kick, i tell myself it was just gas.  anything that can translate into a remotely negative sign, my mind takes it and runs with it... until i'm shaking and sobbing and calling someone close to pray because i don't trust myself to do it.

guys, motherhood has been THE greatest gift that my Saviour could ever have given me.

i count myself unbelievably blessed to have been entrusted with this responsibility.

and there's absolutely no reason why i shouldn't believe for one, two, three, four more healthy babes, that i shouldn't walk into that office tomorrow beaming with excitement and anticipation for GOOD news... but there's a wall there.

so, i'm humbly asking you to help me crack away at it.

hold me accountable.  i need to give this to my God in the most serious way.

will you pray with me?