Ryan + 3 girls = Out numbered!!

We had a wonderful Dr. visit today and got to see our sweet, healthy baby GIRL! We couldn't be more excited about having another girl and I'm excited that Kinsey will have a sister so close in age to grow up with! With another girl in the house, Ryan will quickly become out numbered but I know he'll be just as wrapped around this baby girl's pinky and he is with Kinsey...that's just what little girls do to their daddies! No we don't have a name yet and if naming her goes anything like it did with Kinsey it will be a while! If you have any suggestions feel free to leave us a comment...we'd love your ideas! I wish she would have cooperated a little more today during her photo shoot but she didn't so we really didn't get any good ultrasound pics. She did wave at us once which melted our hearts! Today just made us more anxious for November to get here so we can meet our precious baby! Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers!

Halfway There Baby!

At 20 weeks today, I am halfway through my pregnancy and I can hardly believe it! Time is flying by and I know November will be here before we know it! We find out Tuesday morning what precious little #2 will be and Ryan and I are both getting very excited to hear that our baby is healthy and to know the sex! I am definitely growing and think between Uplift at HU and the family reunion this weekend I've packed on about 10 lbs in the last month...so it should be interesting to see what the scale says on Tuesday! Baby has definitely started moving more and more the last few weeks. I felt it for the first time at 15 weeks but as each day passes I feel it a little more, especially when Kinsey happens to be on my lap! With each little kick and nudge, I feel so blessed to have a new life growing inside me...there's truly nothing like it! Thank you God for entrusting us with this child!

20 week baby belly

There are 3 thing that I wanted to try to get Kinsey to do/transition into before November rolls around and the baby is here and so far we've accomplished 2 of the 3 so I am very pleased!

#1) About 2 months ago I cut the tip off of Kinsey's passy and told her the passy was broke. She got mad at first and would just try to chew on it but within a week she didn't even ask for it at all! I was amazed and never thought that getting rid of something she was so attached to would be that easy but it was! Now there were a few rough nights but we made it through, didn't give in, and the little bit of lost sleep was so worth it!

#2) Our big girl has just as easily transitioned to her big girl bed which I'm glad but her nursery is looking more and more sparse and it just saddens me to think how quickly she's growing up! We started taking naps in her big girl bed and she was still sleeping in the crib at night but when we got back from Harding she didn't want to even be laid down in the crib so we put up the bed rail on her big bed and she started sleeping at night in there last week! The only drawback is that she's figured out she can get down and come see us after she's gone to bed : )

#3) We started potty training last week and well it was absolutely exhausting for me but she's catching on and I know I'll be so glad we didn't wait and try to do it after the baby comes! Since we have our Dr. appointment Tuesday morning, Gram and Grandpop offered to keep Kinsey so we just left her in Paris today to stay with them a few nights. Ryan told his mom that we weren't coming back to pick her up until she was potty trained! : ) Of course he was kidding but I'm hoping Gram can work her magic and things will starting clicking for Kinsey over the next few days!

Takin' care of business...

Ready for the Runway!

The best part of baking...licking the beaters!

I can't believe how much our Kinsey has grown up over the past few months! My goal for the next few months is just to enjoy our one on one time together because I know when November rolls around our life will be much busier with a newborn in the house again! We have so much to look forward to! Hopefully I'll get a chance on Tuesday to post some ultrasound pics of our sweet baby boy or girl! Thanks for your prayers!

Blount Reunion

We spent a wonderful weekend in Paris with the Blounts! Saturday there was a Blount family reunion so we enjoyed catching up with family we don't ever get to see and for me meeting lots of them for the first time. Steve and Patsy did a great job heading things up and I think everyone really enjoyed themselves. Kinsey got to meet a few of her Blount cousins and had fun playing with them! I told myself I was going to take lots of pics and then didn't so these are a few of the ones I did get!

Patsy had quite a spread...it was delicious!

Steve and Ryan

1st cousins

2nd cousins

Working puzzles with McKenzie and Avery

My big girl!

Zoo Trip

Tuesday a small group from church went to the Nashville Zoo! Besides it getting extremely HOT by noon we had a great time! I invited Callie to come along so she met us there and Kinsey and I had a good time spending the day with her looking at all of the wonderful animals God created! Kinsey was really cute...occasionally I would ask her, " Who made the elephant, bird, snake?" (or whatever animal we happened to be looking at) and she would very matter of factly would reply, "God did." in the sweetest little voice!

Uplift at Harding

Last week Ryan and I had the privilege of taking 4 girls from our youth group at church to Harding's summer camp Uplift. It was an amazing experience and we made many unforgettable memories! We attend a smaller country church and due to our size we don't have a youth minister so Ryan was recently appointed youth deacon and we have very much enjoyed getting to know the young people better and providing opportunities for them to grow! They all just love Ryan and he's great with them! Of course, Ryan and I, being Harding alum, love going back and being on campus but I think the girls fell and love with campus too and had so much fun they are already talking about going back next year! Now on to the marathon of pics!

Our girls...Casey, Brandi, Mary Grace, and Ashlyn Being silly : )

Our first night on campus we enjoyed an Acapella concert! Baby was lovin' some Acapella and the loud music...I've never felt it move more at one time than during the concert!

Another group shot...

and another one


Singing on the front step of the Benson

Ashley got to come down twice to see us while we were there! As always, it was great to see him and Kinsey just ate him up! (It's ashame you can't tell they are kin!)

The parents of a family we worship with at Stroudsville live in Searcy and invited us over for supper Tuesday night. It was delicious and we all enjoyed a break from the cafeteria food!

Every morning we would always start off by singing silly songs to get the kids awake...here they are "Singing in the Rain"Kinsey fit right in and tried her best to do all the motions....including sticking her tongue out while singing!
Such a big girl!

Ryan was asked to be a God time teacher and had 3 small groups that he met with each day to talk about certain Bible stories and discuss the things they were learning over the week.

This was his 7th - 8th grade group.

The 9th - 10th grade group...I think he enjoyed them the most!

Playing a game they taught him...

Mom was able to go out with us and help with Kinsey which was a HUGE blessing! I learned really quickly that a pregnant woman has no business trying to keep up with a bunch of teenagers and going to bed at midnight every night so I know there's no way I could have kept up with Kinsey without having mom there! They stayed at Terri's and we got to see them during the day which worked out really well. I told her next year she definitely has to go since we'll have 2 kids in tow! Thanks mom, you're the best!

Kinsey and Nana on a HU swing

Reading books in the library!

Cooling off in the fountain!

Family pic!

Terri, Allison and me...it was so good to catch up with these special gals!

The last night was by far the highlight of our trip! After the evening worship service Brandi and Mary Grace told us they were thinking about being re-baptized and Ashlyn told us she was ready to be baptized! Accepting Jesus Christ as Lord of your life and putting Him on in baptism is such an important step and decision for anyone so Ryan talked to each of them, they talked to their parents and each of them decided it was the right decision for them. So Ryan had the privilege of baptizing 3 of the girls at Harding. It was such an amazing experience...there is a baptistry in the fountain in front of the Benson and over 600 fellow Christians sang and rejoiced with us! I am so proud of each of these girls and know they will do great things for God's kingdom!

Ryan baptizing Brandi...

Ashlyn...

and Mary Grace

Mary Grace and Jennifer, her mom and our other chaperon

Ryan and the girls...all smiles : ) There's no better feeling than knowing you are saved!
By the last night Jennifer and I were getting used to staying up late even if we were a little delirious!

As you can tell we had a very emotional week and I think we, as adults, got just as much if not more out of camp than the kids did! It was so nice to be able to spend 4 full days totally focused on our awesome God. We are so easily distracted in our day to day lives that too often we don't make time for Him like we should so a break from the daily grind was much needed for me!

On our way home from dropping the girls off at the church building, Kasey's mom called to let me know that Kasey wanted to be baptized too she just wanted to wait until she got home. So later that evening a small group of us met back up at the church and Ryan got to baptize Kasey too!

The girls rejoicing with Kasey afterwards!