Happy Mother's Day To My Momma!

Since it is Mother's Day, I thought I would write a little bloggy blog to honor my precious Momma. There are just a few quick facts about her ...

• She is so young! She is only 47! (although she will be 48 on May 20th!) But that is very young for a Mom who has two girls who will be 28 and 25 this year!
• She is number 7 of 10 children!
• She is an incredible nurse! Now she works as an Occupational Health Nurse and doesn't do a lot of floor nursing anymore. She worked lots of places but Labor and Delivery was her favorite I believe. She also has a Master's degree in Special Education and a certification in Occupational Health.
• She was married at 17 and had her first kid (me) at 20 and my sister at 23. She and my dad have been married for 31 years this September. Not too shabby for a whirlwind romance where you meet in May and are married in September!
• She always orders salad and water with NO lemon wherever and whenever she goes out to eat!
• She loves books on CD! Mainly because she doesn't have time to read books.
• She can fall asleep doing any task whether reading, cleaning, or even paying bills. This is because she does too much and doesn't know when to stop working so she can rest.
• She makes an awesome lasanga and Aaron loves her homemade mac and cheese and homemade cookies!

These are just a few of the things she has taught me in life ...

• She taught me to walk by faith.
• She introduced me to good music.
• She taught me how to love.
• She taught me great work ethic (sometimes she takes this too far)
• She showed me how to give without expecting anything in return.

She has accomplished so much in just 47 almost 48 years of life. And although most people would never know it, she has overcome some big obstacles in her life. Growing up I think all little girls look up to the their Mom so much and I had a wonderful example of love, determination, sacrifice, and faith. I am so grateful that God blessed me with her as my Momma. I love you so much and I hope that you have a wonderful Mother's Day! Thanks for being my Momma!

Shopping!

Here are some of the cute little clothes that Carrie bought for the baby!

We are having lots of fun. We did some shopping today and now we are watching 27 dresses. Gotta get back to my sisterly time!

PS ... Thanks for reading. I know this is less like a blog and more like a journal (so says my little husband :) If it is pop culture stuff you are looking for you should read his blog. He is a walking Entertainment Weekly!

I am so hungry ...

I have entered a new phase of pregnancy .... hunger. I eat all of the time. I can't get enough food! So far I have only gained 10 pounds and for 20 weeks preggers that feels good to me. But now I just know that is about to change.

Yesterday I watched Jon and Kate + 8. Then God and I had a chat about how thankful I am that he blessed me with ONE little boy growing in my belly.

Am I talking too much about this little baby on here? Sorry if I am already one of those Mom's. I am just so in love with this little one. He is kicking more frequently and harder. I love it! I keep telling him to bring it on because Momma can take it :)

He has kicked enough to wake me up the last two mornings at 6:15 - which is 8:15 Nashville time. So I told him that we would call his Daddy and talk to him on the way to work :) And I love that time talking to him! You probably think I am crazy. Oh well. I am head over heals in love with both my boys! I never thought I would be a soccer mom but I can feel it coming on already.

I am off to wake up my sister and beg her to make some of her pancakes with strawberries. She is a WONDERFUL cook! I might also go through her cookbooks while she is cooking and make some notes. I can use all of the help I can get and I can eat all of the food she can cook!

I'm In LA!

Two things I love about this place ...

Two Things I Miss So Much About Nashville ...

My sweet, sneeky, little husband put a package in my suitcase that I can't open until Mother's Day. I love him. I wish he were here. There is a 53 inch TV at my sister's house that I feel sure he would enjoy.

We are about to head to target to look at little boy clothes :) Carrie and Kyle bought some adorable baby boy clothes for little Baby Chambers. I took some pictures of them and will post them soon. They are so cute!

Being off from work is great! I have only logged in twice today :) Why can I not just unplug?

Rainy Friday ...

I feel like after the last post anything that I have to say just wouldn't be as exciting :) I am still reeling from the news that our little one is going to be a bouncing baby boy! Honestly, Aaron and I really thought we were having a girl. The only person who really said it was a boy was our friend Angela. She was pretty happy that she called it! We had girl names but we hadn't really thought of any boy names that we both just loved. So we have spent the last couple of nights flipping through the baby name book! My friends at work decided they would come up with a name for him. The landed on DeMario Dunk Chambers. Apparently DeMario means "tamer of wild beasts" and I guess they thought that is what this little one will be ... I am just not feeling it :) We have a little while to think about it though and that is the fun part.

We bought a few little onesies and I keep going into his room and looking at them. I just keep thinking he is going to fit into these little outfits and I can hardly wait to cuddle him in them! Our friends Mike and Michelle came by and we watched the ultrasound video with them. They said we are going to have to get good at swaddling him because the way he is laying his little legs will always be all curled up around his face if we don't :) You can't tell from the pictures but they said he is laying sideways right now. So his little head is on my left side and his feet are on my my right. Now I understand why I could only feel the flutters on my right side because his little feet were over there.

Also it seems this one has some really long legs :) Makes sense since his daddy is 6 foot 4 inches tall! The lady who did our ultrasound said that my due date was measuring around 9/18 and we thought it was 9/23 so maybe my doctor will move it up. We will see. My next visit is 5/13. Aaron goes with me to all the visits. I love it! He is so cute about always asking questions to make sure that we are doing all of the right things. I love sharing every minute of this with him.

Aaron thinks that it looks like he has my nose and I definitely think he has Aaron's little knees and legs. I mean how much can you tell from the photos but this is what we have decided. We were both happy about that because I have always thought Aaron had the cutest long legs and he tends to think I have a cute nose :) So it's perfect.

We are going to have to get started on his room now. We had decided before we even knew what we were having that we wanted to do a lions and lambs theme. A - because Aaron has always loved lions and b - because I really liked lambs. We thought it would be perfect since Jesus is the lion and the lamb. Then my Mom told me that when my sister was little she was fascinated by the fact that someday after Jesus comes back the lions and the lambs would play together as friends (see how precious she was even then). So we decided that lions and lambs it would be. We haven't found any lion and lamb only bedding but we found a kind of an animal theme and so we may do that and have lots of lion and lamb accents. It is so fun shopping for all of this stuff.

This week our friends and also our Sunday School teachers, Jack and Mandy are going to start a series on parenting. Aaron and I always learn so much from both of them and we are so excited to see what God has to teach us. What perfect timing, right! Jack sent an email this week to kind of prepare our hearts for the first class on Sunday and he said that his mother in law gave him a plaque years ago that said parenting is like nailing jello to a tree. I think that must be a perfect analogy. Already God has changed my heart so much even towards my own parents and just realizing the sacrifices and understanding their love for me. You think you know, but you just don't I guess until you walk that road on your own. I am so thankful for how God is constantly working on our hearts and how he uses things that happen in our lives to always point us to him. I am so grateful that my parents raised me to love the Lord. More than anything I just want this little boys heart to search after and love the Lord. Aaron has such a way of pointing out God's hand in our lives (sometimes I will admit it is a little annoying) but more and more I am so thankful that this little one and I have such a tenderhearted man who loves God as the leader in our family. What a gift that is!

I am down to about 3 days and counting until my little peanut and I jump on a plane to visit my sister in Los Angeles ... well Cypress to be exact. I was able to visit her her October and I get to go one more time before the baby comes. It is so much fun hanging out with her. Last time I had my first In-and-Out burger and I can't wait to go again. We may have to stop on the way home from the airport (even if it is 11 pm :) This trip I get to go with her to her company's awards banquet on the Queen Mary. How fun! I just have to find something that I can fit into :) I will miss Aaron so much and I wish he could go; it would be so much fun to share with him. He is saving his vacation for after the baby comes and we are going to visit my parents in Vero Beach at the end of May. We haven't been there since my Momma moved into their house over a year ago. I had saved up so much vacation that I wasn't going to accrue any more if I didn't use it so that made for a great excuse to visit my sister and her husband and then Momma and Dad! I will post some pictures from our visits if anyone who cares to see :)

Well I am off to try and get lots in on this Friday. I am so glad I love my job because I have so many deadlines these days that I just don't even know where to start. We are putting out some 2 for 1's soon. It will be two albums bundled in one CD for the price of one. It is all catalog stuff. Sure it sounds like a great idea but I have to re-write the packaging copy for 60 CD's in about 2 months on top of the other releases we are working on! We just finished up the tobyMac package a few weeks ago. His new CD + DVD will release on 5/27. It is really good! I am not normally a live CD type of person but as always Toby is a genius and delivers so you should go buy it as soon as it comes out.

Ok, well enough rambling from me. Those of you who know how much I talk probably expected these long posts, right :) I promise not to always write so much but it's a rainy Friday and it has been fun to just sit here and type while I look out my window.

Thanks for checking back! I'll write more soon!

It's A BOY!!!!

He's perfect! Here are his first photos ...

Side View

His little legs are up above his head!

His little face! He is holding his hands up on the sides of his face!

No doubt about it ... it's a BOY!

His little arm!

His little foot!

It felt like Christmas morning! We were anxious, nervous, scared - all of it! We still are, but we are so excited and there is lots to look forward to!

This will be a short post because I have to go and read up on Thomas The Train and Aaron is going to teach me all about Soccer! I am sure I will have lots more to say in the days to come. I will be out numbered for now, but that is ok because I love my boys so much! I hope you can stop in again and keep up with us this way! Thanks for sharing this news with us!

New Beginnings ...

After many false starts, I think I am ready to jump in head first to the world of blogging! I feel like I have a lot to share these days and maybe this is the place to let it all out.

My sweet friend Mandy challenged me a year or so ago to quit spending so much time reading other people's blogs and start writing my own. I kept putting it off and then my friend Vanessa made this awesome blog header for me and that inspired me to start off on this new journey.

(On a side note, if you are looking for some cute, creative stuff go here to see all of the fun things Vanessa has created! You can also see some adorable pictures of her little Noah! He is precious.)

Anyone reading this has to know that we are expecting our first baby in September! As I even write that my heart feels a thousand times bigger! I am overwhelmed with a lot of emotions. More than anything I just feel blessed. I am so grateful that God has entrusted Aaron and I with this little one.

We found out on a Sunday morning. From that moment on nothing has been like I had imagined it would be. You know you get this idea in your head about the moment you find out and when you tell your family and what the first flutters will feel like. I have to say it has been even better than I ever dreamed and he or she isn't even here yet.

More than anything, I cherish sharing these little moments with Aaron. What a gift that has been. He is so cute and supportive. From cooking every meal (exactly what I am craving at that moment) to picking up all around me as I lay on the couch with either the tv remote or my laptop in hand. It is so much fun to share this time with him. I cannot wait to see what an amazing dad he will be!

Here is the first ultrasound picture we had taken at 8 weeks. Monday we will be 19 weeks. The time has flown past us. We get to do the big ultrasound on Tuesday and I am so excited to share those pictures and find out if I need to start preparing for tea parties or t-ball games :)

You have to admit ... this kid is cute for 8 weeks, right!

ps ... don't expect perfect grammar here ... I know that I edit for a living and that I have an English degree but I plan on letting loose around here :)