A Fun Week to Come!

The Bri-den-stines are com-ming to town!!! (imagine that I'm singing that to the tune of a famous Christmas song)

The excitement is mounting. The guest bedroom (er...Beckett's room) is ready to go. The schedule is all planned out in an Excel spreadsheet (Allen). And the fridge is full.

Yes, that means the Bridenstine's will be here very soon!

We've been counting down the days and now we are down to four. Yippee!

We can't wait for your arrival, Will and Janette!

There will be lots of fun to be had, fellowship unlike any since last Christmas, much card playing (fatties get ready!), and many more memories to made, I'm sure.

We LOVE you!

Baby Beckett...or will it be Baby Becca???

Well, come December we may be fully surprised at what pops out of me! I'm totally fine with that.

Today at the doctor visit we did an ultrasound and that baby gave us no clear indication that he was a boy and he (or she I suppose) was completely uncooperative. This would be all fine and good if he had given us absolute proof at any of the other ultrasounds, but that's just not the case. We had thought we saw boy "parts" twice and then they disappeared suddenly and we were never able to even get a picture. At the beginning of this pregnancy I said I would like to know the gender "if the baby cooperates." I guess he or she wants to be a surprise!

My gut instinct still says boy, but I can't say I would be all that surprised if a sweet little girl popped out!

We have yet to think of any girl names we both like so that would definitely be a challenge. I have stenciled "Beckett" in block letters on his wall, so we were kidding saying we could just paint over half of it and name her Becca, if it's a girl.

I'll be going back in 2 weeks because the doctor was a little concerned about low fluid levels and says I need to rest more. That is SO easy for someone else to say! Please come hang out with my one year old for a day and see that it's near impossible! But I am definitely going to try...

Can you believe this kiddo is 3 1/2 to 4 lbs! Crazy! Since there weren't any good sonogram pics I was forced to find this picture of a 31 week old fetus. His head is also down which is a good sign. The doctor says he couldn't probably flip that much before birth to be breech. That makes me happy.

Well, that's all I know. I will update more as I find out myself!

I'm Sorry!

Just wanted to say sorry for not updating our blog very often lately. I haven't necessarily been "busy", but just spending my time in other ways. I know some of you check it everyday, hoping for an update or new picture of Taylor Joy (mom!), so I just wanted to let you know that it's coming! SOON!

I've been working on Beckett's room and it's turning out very cute, but I've been making bumpers, dust ruffles, cute things for the walls, etc. I'm thisclose to being through and I will post a picture of that too.

We're going to the doctor tomorrow and will get another peek at Beckett, so I will update if anything is new. I'm almost in the single digits, 9 weeks to go! It's crazy how fast it's gone, but I am definitely starting to feel big, out of breath and like I'm hauling around a bowling ball in my tummy...a very wiggly bowling ball.

Anyhow, just wanted to say don't give up on the Duty Chronicles. We're here to serve you with Duty updates very soon!

Duty Funnies

I didn't really think much of it until I started describing it to someone at church last night. And I laughed out loud picturing it in my head just now.

This past week has been poop-filled. Yes, Taylor Joy has had a bad case of the runs. Poor thing.

One morning in particular I hadn't heard her at all and then finally decided to go get her. She was laying there, happy as can be in a pool of poop. She just looked up and smiled at me. I almost fainted from the stench.

I told Taylor to stay right there and then literally RAN to get Allen. He was, of course, covered in shaving cream. It seems he's always covered in shaving cream when something frantic happens.

He came to the rescue while I got the shower going, etc. Praise Jesus for husbands who take care of that kind of thing. I literally was about to pass out. I couldn't take it.

Our friends from Dallas came in town and pulled into our driveway just in time to see the whole spectacle.

Allen opening the garage door, carrying all the poop filled sheets, blankets, nighties, with his face covered in shave cream, one mission in mind:

Spray the poo soiled items down with the hose while breathing in as little as possible, with no regard for anything or anyone around him.

There were neighbors outside, probably kids playing, cars driving by...that didn't distract Allen from his task.

It just makes me realize how funny life is with a baby. Things change drastically. Life is no longer life as you knew it. It funnier, messier, sweeter, harder, crazier, more hectic and frustrating, more precious and beautiful and certainly more worthwhile.

I hope this doesn't deter any young couples from starting a family. I really can't describe to you the blessing that this child is in our life. She's the sweetest thing. Just hearing her say, "wub u mommy" makes everything else fade away and my heart melts in a way it never could before children. I love those moments. And they happen much more often than the blowouts.

Taylor Joy is much better and has had the best time with her friend "Ry-ree" (Ryleigh) here this weekend. I'll have to post some pictures of them later...

Get your praise on...

Wednesday was a GREAT day! I MUST share! I didn't have time to get my thoughts together then, but I need to give credit where credit is due. I have to tell you about the way the Lord provided for our family this past week. We're praisin' God in the Duty home because he brought us through a trial these past few weeks and truly answered our prayers. Let me explain.

Two weeks ago I took a glucose test (which is required during pregnancy) so they could check my blood sugar and see if was at normal levels. They tend to increase when you are pregnant so everyone is required to do this. It takes about an hour, you have to drink some nasty orange soda (which is pure sugar) and then they take your blood. No big deal.

Well last week I got a call from the nurse. She said something to the effect of she was calling to tell me the results of my test. I fully expected to hear that I passed with flying colors, yada yada yada. I've never once failed those sorts of tests. I have great health, never had problems. As a matter of fact, I'm not sure I've EVER failed a test period! So, when she said that my blood sugar was "elevated" I was beyond surprised. I needed to come in and take a 3 1/2 hour glucose test.

I went in the next day at 8 am, drank an even nastier drink (WAY more concentrated), thought I was going to throw up, got stuck about 8 times in my arms over the period of 3 1/2 hours and read, listened to my ipod, etc. while waiting this whole time. It was pretty brutal...Nothing to eat since 7 pm the night before, nasty orange syrup stuck in my throat and then having the smallest veins ever doesn't help when they have to stick you multiple times to even hit them. Not fun. Oh and need I mention I had massive bruises on my arms this whole week? Very attractive.

But I had to remind myself that this was for my health, the health of my baby and that I really have NO REASON WHATSOEVER to complain considering what other pregnant women go through that I have never experienced. Through both of my pregnancies I have thrown up ONCE. One time. No complaints here.

Gestational (pregnancy) diabetes is very common, yet I (initially) sort of freaked myself out and failed to turn to the Lord first. I wanted to research it on my own and see if it was something I could handle. I was very nervous for the baby. Some websites I read said that it could cause heart defects in babies and abnormalities. I was grieved, sad, upset. I was blaming myself.

After worrying my stomach into knots, Allen and I talked, prayed and just asked the Lord what He was trying to teach us through this and specifically asked that this test come back with no signs of high blood sugar AT ALL. After that and just entrusting the whole situation to the Lord, as I should have done from the beginning, I felt much more at peace. Whether or not I had it my way, I was at peace with whatever the Lord's plan was.

We asked our HOPE group to pray for good test results and had some other people praying for us too.

Last Saturday I was sitting on our front porch swing, just thinking, praying, meditating and I felt like the Lord spoke a solid word to me that the test would come back clear. That I had nothing to worry about. Suddenly I felt completely sure that the phone call I would receive from my doctor would give me that exact verdict.

On Wednesday we found out that out of the 6 tests taken the week before ALL SIX were under where they needed to be.

My blood sugar was LOW! I passed! PRAISE GOD!

I am so thankful that He heard our prayers and answered! PRAISE HIM and thank you for all who prayed. I hope you are as blessed by this as we are!

I may not have initially reacted as I should have to the trial I faced, but the Lord certainly used it to show me how I should respond in the future and deepened my faith and trust in Him through all this.

He was gracious to show me Himself despite myself.

As I am going through the Experiencing God study at church right now I started thinking about the many ways I experienced Him this week. Here goes:

My Hope: "guide me in your truth and teach me,
for you are God my Savior,
and my hope is in you all day long." Psalm 25:5

My Confidence: "For you have been my hope, O Sovereign LORD,
my confidence since my youth." Psalm 71:5

Him who is able to do more than all we ask or imagine: "Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us" Ephesians 3:20

The Author and Perfecter of my faith: "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." Hebrews 12:2

I just had to share because I want this to be a place of transparency and above all I want to give God the glory for this and for everything He does in our lives.

16 Month Update

Yes, Taylor Joy is past her 16 months and I haven't really done a big update in awhile so here goes.

Taylor Joy is SO full of FUN and ACTIVITY...She's just got to be the most active little girl there ever was.

Her favorite things are going outside to play (especially with Annie "Innie" our neighbor), crackers (which she lets me know every few minutes when she's hungry), stickers "stisters" and, randomly, the vacuum "apu". She thinks it's the greatest. Go figure. These are words that get said most often in our house. And when she wants them, they get said OVER and OVER and OVER again.



She is working on 3 new teeth right now, which will make 11 total. She's a real trooper when it comes to teething.





She has transitioned to her big girl bed (which is actually about 6 inches off the ground...) and she LOVES it! Anytime she sees it she runs and jumps on it and just laughs and bounces around. She thinks its the greatest. She has actually transitioned really well and we are down to ONE nap! Doesn't leave much time for my "alone time", which is often a nap because she and her brother are wearing me out, but it helps me to schedule our day better. Plus, I am learning that no time is my time. I don't even look forward to it anymore because as soon as I do, something comes up. I'd just rather not be disappointed.

Taylor Joy has a personality ALL her own...well, that's not really accurate, I think MUCH of her comedy is a result of Allen. This is her famous scrunchie face. I honestly have no idea where it originated...it just started happening one day and now we ask her to do because its so funny!



Here are some other funny things she has been doing:

-at HOPE group when the group starts laughing, it's like she pauses a minute to watch everyone laugh and then when its dying down she lets out this big fake, "HA HA HA!" It's pretty hilarious.

-she has been loving kisses lately and wants to kiss EVERYTHING. She wakes up in the morning and as soon as she notices the fan she says, "FAN!" to which I reply, "Yes, there's the fan." She then proceeds to say, "Hi, fan!" and make pucker noises like she wants to kiss it. I go ahead and take that opportunity to help myself to some. Today we watched a Baby Einstein video and every couple of minutes (in between dancing) she would run up to the TV and try to give it a kiss. And the cutest thing is when we are driving in the car I will just hear these random smoochy noises and look back. That little pumpkin is back there blowing me kisses! Ahhh... my heart just melts.

-putting Taylor Joy to bed is hands down my favorite part of the day. Bathtime is always a great time of splashing in the tub and then we allow some time for air drying, which is basically Taylor running around the room naked and getting some energy out. After getting jammies on we read a bible story and can I just tell you that this child LOVES her Bible! She is always asking for it. I just love that. We lay her in her bed, tuck her in and pray, which she usually initiates by saying "pay" and holding out her hand. We hold hands while we pray and most often she either kisses my hand or attempts to kiss my mouth DURING the prayer. Now, this is very distracting, but oh-so-cute. She then says sweet things like, "nigh, nigh" and "wub u" and I leave the room almost crying because it's so precious and I don't want to leave her.

I'm always thinking that this stage in her life is better than the last and I definitely think that now. I *want* to say that this is the cutest stage ever, but I realize that she still has a lot of stages to go!

Recipe Time!

Anytime I try something new that Allen RAVES over I just have to post it here. That usually means that all wives should be making this for their husbands and getting raves too.

The recipe came from Lynsey Kramer but I found some other versions online too. I adapted it just a touch and decided to use less butter.

Famous Ritz Chicken

3 eggs, beaten
2 cups of crushed Ritz crackers
1 lb. or so of chicken tenders
1/4 cup of stick butter
garlic salt
pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Beat eggs together in a shallow bowl. Use another shallow bowl for the crushed crackers. Add a generous amount of garlic salt and pepper to the crumbs (1/2 tsp. or so...I just eyed it). Dip tenders first in eggs, then in crackers, fully coating each tender. Place them in a greased baking pan side by side. Cut up the butter and place pieces of it around the chicken. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until they are golden.

I made a bunch so we ate them for leftovers and they were just as good reheated!

Enjoy!

Confirmation

Just quickly wanted to let everyone know that it's for sure that we're having a BOY!

Little Beckett seems to be doing great. My belly measures just right and the doctor says he's a "good size" boy. I take that to mean he could be pretty big. :O

I spent 2 1/2 hours at the doctor taking glucose tests, checkup, sonogram and flu shot...yuck! Not my idea of fun (except the sonogram). I loved seeing that little babe!

Anyhow, here's a picture of the belly. 26 weeks down, less than 14 to go.

Spaghetti Face

A Step Back in Time

I was looking at some old footage of Taylor Joy and just had to reminisce with all of you. This was taken a year ago! She was 4 months old. What a cutie! Make sure and check out the eyebrow action she had going on. That's the funniest part!


Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing

Our Weekend in Pictures

Me, Allen, Ryan and Cate at the Rehearsal Dinner


The four of us saying hi to Baby Beckett


Taylor Joy's hair in curlers, getting ready for her big flower girl debut


Could anyone else look this cute in curlers???


A family pic...


Taylor Joy munching on animal crackers and offering me a rose petal



I don't remember, but I'm sure she's saying, "Tay" upon seeing herself in the reflection


The four of us...can't believe Ryan is actually married!


On Labor Day we took Taylor Joy to the zoo


She absolutely loved giving the animals "bites". She kept saying, "bite, bite" to give them more bites...



She had no fears when it came to feeding them. At some points we would see nothing but her wrist and the rest of her hand in its mouth...



You can see my belly in this picture!


Sorry there's SO many pictures, but I really did narrow it down. We had a wonderful weekend celebrating with friends and definitely wouldn't have been able to do it without Aunt B, who nannied Taylor the whole time. What a blessing you are, sister! I love you and Taylor Joy ADORES you!

I'd like to introduce you to...

Let the guessing cease...

I'm afraid no one fully guessed our little boy's name, but I must say you all DID come up with great names!

Congrats go to the Birkenfeld's who successfully guessed his middle name. You are most welcome to come hold our little one when he arrives.

And now, the moment you've all been waiting for...dum da dum...



Introducing...




As you can see, that baby boy will be called Beckett Cole.

He will be introduced into this world in 16 weeks.

Is it possible that I'm already in my 3rd trimester?

What's in a Name?

Our little fetus has a name now. He has a name that both Allen and I wholeheartedly agree on, which is a miracle in itself. Now, don't get me wrong, Allen and I agree on most things, but when it comes to naming our babies there are definitely moments when we have to agree to disagree and move on. I've told Allen this to his face (and since he doesn't read the blog it doesn't matter anyway), but he is so difficult to talk to about names. Something ALWAYS comes up about 2 minutes into our conversation...which, by the way was started because I brought it up for the umpteenth time. All that to say, we have a wonderful name for the precious baby boy in my tummy. I just hope it's really a boy now! I've definitely been working on the nursery!

Okay, now for some fun.

The initials are: (dum da dum....drumroll)

BCD

Would anyone like to take a guess as to the name we chose? And don't guess if you already know!

The winner gets to decide if he/she likes the name or if we should change it.

Just kidding.

The winner gets his/her choice of homemade yummy snickerdoodles, fresh baked bread or the pinning of a rose on your nose. ;)

Now...

Get to guessing!!!

A Little Pink Fishie

Hey readers...sorry I haven't posted in awhile. I've been a little busy clearing out the entire guest bedroom to make room for this little boy in my tummy. I really wanted to clean out that closet (and all the other closets in my house) as soon as I got pregnant...hmmm...must be a nesting thing.

It feels SO good to have that done with and finally feel more organized! Isn't getting rid of things great? Now I just have to take it all somewhere (Twin City Missions) and get rid of the good stuff I didn't throw away.

Anyhoo, here are some pictures to appease the Taylor Joy fans out there...all 32,000 of you. That's how many visitors we've had. My goodness! I had no idea!

We've been at the pool quite frequently and this was one day last week.

The Verdict is In...

That's right! We found out this morning that we are *most likely* having a....


BOY!





He's a lot like his sister in that he is stubborn...he was facing the wrong direction with his legs flat against the placenta so it made that "region" very hard to get a look at. Although, we (the doctor) saw something hanging so we are pretty sure there is a baby boy in there.

I really thought I would be surprised either way, but the past few weeks the Lord had been confirming with both Allen and me that there was a little boy in there.

We are SOOO excited!

Oh, and we also found out that he's an Aggie! There was a crystal clear shot of him giving the "gig'em" sign! It really was hilarious...and that little hand was SO cute! I can't believe he's learning the ropes already!

I will try very hard to get sonogram pics uploaded, but I'm afraid none of them turned out too great. He is a very big baby apparently and his body wouldn't fit in the screen so there are no cute profile pictures. I just have the aggie hand one and one of like the side of his head and spine (which is very dark).

Only 18 weeks until that little babe arrives! Yippee!

Stepping Heavenward

Oh, the suspense! Was anyone wondering what book I would recommend next? Here it is. It's the book I read during our lovely 10-day vacation entitled Stepping Heavenward by Elizabeth Prentiss.

It's the journey of a young girl as she grows into her faith, starting at age 16 and continuing through her later years. The book is actually her personal journal complete with refreshingly honest thoughts, a gripping storyline and faith that is challenged and strengthened through her experiences.

As a young girl she writes about her mother who went away daily to pray and seek the Lord for her children and family. She and her brother knew it was the time of day that their mother enjoyed more than anything. They actually felt the prayers of their mother in their lives and were thankful to receive them. At that point in her life she honestly recorded the reasons why she felt unable to pray, the distractions and difficulties surrounding prayer...reasoning I could definitely attest to. Later on in her life she had become like her mother, a woman of prayer. She couldn't get through one day with her prayer time with the Lord and her children felt the same way that she and her brother once felt about their mother. A place of spiritual maturity she felt she could never reach was finally in grasp.

I think this spoke to me because so often I desire to be all-wise, all-understanding, and all-Godly overnight. I pray for something one night that the Lord might help me change and then get frustrated when it isn't gone the next morning. I see older women in the church and wonder why I can't be as wise as them. I forget that these things take time. Most likely they are wiser because they are older and have been through many more experiences than I have. They have allowed the Lord to speak to them through their daily experiences and eventually those days turn into months and months into years. I trust that the Lord is maturing me, it's just harder to see when I'm with myself everyday and I see how often I fall short. Seeing her journey in the book allowed me to see what hopefully the Lord is doing in me now...refining me slowly but surely, in His timing.

I highly recommend this book and I also recommend keeping a journal so that you can go back and read each year how far you've come each year in your spiritual journey. In the past I wrote in my journal furiously...ripping through journals in a month. I'm going to try to be better about it this year so I'll be able to look back. One other thing I have been doing since Taylor Joy was born is writing in a journal for her...prayers, thoughts, memories of things that she did or said, encouragement and praise. I want her to be able to look back one day and know that the Lord's promises are true and that her life has been covered in prayer from day one. I believe it will be a treasure when she's older.

Enjoy the book while you are reading! Those 300 pages go very quickly!

Big Sister In Training!

Taylor Joy finally got her big sister t-shirt and she's training for the new baby's arrival. She LOVES babies (be-be) and is excited to be a big sister (ti-tuh). Not only does she give the baby lots of kisses and hugs, she rocks her in the rocking chair, changes her diapee (bi-pee) and pushes her around in the stroller. What a wonderful big sister Taylor will be!




Now if we could just find out if she's having a little brother or sister! More on that to come NEXT WEEK!

Hairspray Recap!

Last night was a ladies' night to remember forever! We got DECKED out, went to see Hairspray at the movie theater and then on to Cafe Eccell for dessert.

Oh, what a night!

Just seeing everyone dressed to the nines pretty much made my evening. Everyone looked SO good! WOW ladies!

Here is everyone in the theatre...people were looking at us like we were CRAZY, but I know they were wanting to hang with us too... ;)



Ashley and I went to the bathroom and we heard some people whisper, "Oh, how cute, they dressed like the movie!" Haha, yeah...we don't normally dress like this and I am glad! I don't think my hair was cut out for the ever popular "flip", it is just WAY too thick and fell after about 30 minutes.

I would like say that Chelsea Groves could go back to the sixties and fit RIGHT in. Did ya'll see her? She's in the lower left corner of the above picture. Doesn't she look like the perfect 60's girl?


Me and Cate...the soon to be bride!



Me and Kelli...This was her mother's old dress! Her and Erin looked "to die for" in them! So so CUTE!



The Hairspray girls! They brought some in case our 'dos fell...

We really should do this more often gals!

Summer Vacay Part II

We love Ruidoso. It's a small quaint town with lots of interesting things to do, but the thing we love most is sitting outside on the deck swing, reading, meditating, watching the hummingbirds and enjoying God's creation in 70 degree weather. If you're lucky you might even see some deer, which we did one night as we were eating dinner outside.

We went to the shops one day (we didn't buy a thing!). We like to save our money for things like expensive dinners instead. Which we did a couple of nights that we were there and then we cooked at the house or grilled out the rest of the time.

One night we went to this place called the Pasta Cafe, which was similar to an Olive Garden. Taylor started off the night being fussy, but when the food came I started giving her my noodles and she went to TOWN on them. She was slurping them into her mouth and it was one of the funniest things I've seen. She loved it and she was a MESS!



Another night we went to a Dinner theatre that was actually like dinner and a concert. They had a band there that was amazing. It was almost kinda like a comedy show as well. They were very entertaining. I can't say so much about the food and the experience with childcare, but I definitely could have watched that show again.

Here's a picture of the stage where they played. One of the guys in the band played ALL of these instruments. Can you imagine? He really was amazing. He was the guy who sang "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" and he can make his voice go real high.



We spent a day at the horse races and thanks to Bobby and Caryl Merchant had wonderful box seats. In between races we entertained Taylor by putting on Baby Einstein in the box and during the races we took her down there to watch the horses and tractors. She loved the "awsies".





While the weather was wonderful most of the time we were there, wouldn't you know it the day we planned our picnic it rained in sheets??? We went to Bonita Lake for a scenic picnic and ended up eating in the car. It wasn't all bad though. Seeing it rain from inside the car and with the amazing view was quite beautiful. We rather enjoyed it and made the best of it.



Other than that we read a bunch and just enjoyed each other. It was such a lovely vacation. Later I will have to do a book review on one of the greatest books I've read. I blew through 300 pages while we were there. I think my life changed while reading it. But like I said, that's for later...