Our first camping experience in our camper

This past Thursday, Andy and I headed out for our first camping experience in our camper. It was so much fun. We had 4 campers, 2 brothers, 2 sisters, 4 in-laws, 2 nieces, 5 nephews, 1 girlfriend, Lucy and my mom! Now doesn't that sound like so much fun!!! Believe me is was. We enjoyed yummy meals for breakfast and dinner. We were on our own for lunch. We enjoyed time at the pool and playing games at night. It was so much fun being with everyone! It's hard to believe that Jared is old enough to have a girl friend and even harder to believe she came on vacation with us. Lauren is a great girl and we truly enjoyed spending time with her. I just hope that we didn't scare her away...

I look forward to spending more time camping with my family in the future. I hope you enjoy the slide show. (You may want to pause my music on the side...)

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Exciting News

What a day! B had a doctors appointment. B hasn't gained any weight in 3 weeks and hasn't grown but about 1 cm so they decided to do another ultrasound. Caroline looks great! She weighs approximately 4 pounds (so they think...) and is in the 59th percentile for size. So all looks good. B will continue the progesterone shot until 36 weeks, which is the end of August. THE BIG NEWS!!!! Unless there are complications, B will be induced on Tuesday September 9th! I am not sure who was more excited me or B. B is thankful that she only has about 40 days left and I am excited that our little girl will be here in less than 7 weeks!

It's still hard to believe that in just a few weeks our baby girl will be at home with us. I know that we will never be fully prepared for the changes and that our life will never be the same but that's OK. We have dreamed (and prayed) about this moment for so long and it's hard to believe that it is really happening! I think about my mother in laws favorite bible verse Psalm 37:4 "Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart." God has truly given us the desires of our heart.

It's funny how we ask God for things we want and yet we want him to answer our prayers "our way." We think that our plan is best. I must admit that I was very nervous about adopting. I prayed so long for a baby of my own and I thought that the only way I could have that was to get pregnant. Yet, the Lord provided us with this child and I couldn't imagine being more in love with her than if I was pregnant myself. We have been so blessed to be in contact with other adoptive parents who have been so supportive and given us some great advice. We are thankful that God has allowed our paths to cross with these individuals because they have really helped to make this process easier. Andy and I pray that one day we too will be able to share our story with others and help them as well. I am also thankful that we have gotten to know B. She is such an amazing person and I look forward to being able to tell Caroline just how much her birth mother loved her!! Although this is not the journey that I thought we would find ourselves on, I couldn't imagine any other way. God is good and we are so very blessed!!!!

Notice the countdown at the top of my blog... I put in the new due date and wow... 1 month, 2 weeks and 3 days!!!

Our second shower

The hosts'

Today was another reminder of how much our little girl is loved! My wonderful sorority sisters Amanda, Amy, Angie, Catherine and Misty hosted a fun dessert shower for us today. It was so fun to catch up with everyone. Many of my sorority sisters have moved away so I was so excited that they were able to make the shower. With the cost of gas, it means so much that they would not only took time out of their schedules to come but that they used "GOOD" gas money to make my day so wonderful! Caroline got some GREAT things! The hosts gave us our monitor and a swing. Both are major items that we are told that we really need. I have started placing items on "display" in Caroline's room. I am beginning to run out of room.

The Galloway's-Tomi Jean, Delores, Grace, Mema (aka Great), Mrs. Susan (aka Peep) and Me

Mom (aka Granny), Me and Claire (my SIL)

Grace and I trying out Caroline's new Pink bear.

My wonderful ADPi sisters!

Yesterday we hit 31 weeks! YEAH! We are told that if we can make it to 32, we are good. Thank you so much for your prayers for us. I will be going with B to her doctors appointment on Tuesday and we hope to find out more about the induction date, etc. I will update as soon as I find out.

Hope you enjoy the pictures from the shower. Thanks to everyone who made the day so special for us! :-)

Our First Shower

Last night we had our first baby shower for Caroline. It was such an exciting time! Caroline is one lucky little girl to have so many people who love her and her parents. We enjoyed spending time with our friends and family as we celebrated this wonderful time in our life! The food was super yummy! The hosts made many of our favorites. We received so many great items for Caroline, we can't wait until she is here to use them!! We continue to give thanks to the Lord for all that he has given us. We are blessed individuals!

Notice our great corsages. Our good friend Beth, who is a Clemson fan, bought these for us only because she thought we would get them dirty. We worked super hard to keep them clean, we will leave the dirty part to Caroline! :-)

The super YUMMY food!

The cake squares were great! Some even had Caroline's initials.

Caroline is going to be the cutest little "Gamecock" we know! She is ready. She has the bib, the toothbrush, the rattler, paci holder and now the stroller (it's a little hard to see but it has a Gamecock on each side)! We can't wait!

The amazing and wonderful host and hostess gave us the "Cadillac" of strollers according to my friend Angie. My friends Angie and Charissa both have this stroller and love it. It works great strolling around our neighborhood as Charissa and I spent many afternoons with Catherine in hers!

Once again, Andy and I can not express how much we appreciate what everyone has done for us. We have felt so loved during this time. Thank you to everyone who came last night! Thanks to everyone in our small group-Jack and Beth, John and Susan, Wes and Sage, Rhett and Farrah, Chris and Charissa, John Van and Amy and Jeremy and Amy, for giving us such a wonderful evening to celebrate with friends and family as we prepare for Caroline's arrival! You guys are great!

HELP! I can't decide on a bottle!!!

I mentioned in an earlier post I needed some advice about bottles. Well, I am still in need of some advice. I have been told even if I choose a bottle don't open several packages until I know that Caroline likes that particular bottle. Trying to find the right bottle seems a lot harder than I thought. Depending on what website I am on, depends on the overall rating of the bottle. The 3 main bottles that I am looking at is Dr. Brown (which has a lot of pieces to clean), Playtex Ventaire (which some rating say leak after several uses) and Avent. Any ideas, thoughts, ratings... Any advice you have would be wonderful! Who would have thought it could be this hard to decide on what to use to feed your child...

Good news! The nursery is almost ready! Once it is done, I will be posting some pictures! I must say that this wouldn't be happening without the help of our wonderful friends and family. We are so blessed to have people who are willing to help with paint (Tomi Jean), curtains (Aunt Lill and Chris), pictures (Jill) and any other wonderful ideas that Angie could come up with!! Today makes 30 weeks!! How exciting!

We have our first shower Monday night! I can't wait! We are so blessed to be loved by so many wonderful and kind people!

Our Last Class

B and I attended our last birthing class last night. Let me say, boy this one was a lot easier than last week. The worst part about this class was the "pant" breathing. We both realized that I was not capable of concentrating on my breathing and actually breathing! We decided we might need to work on that before the big day...

Andy and I went up a little early and met with B's mom and dad. We met her mother the same day we met her in May. However, last night was the first time we met her father. He is a very nice man and we were glad to get to meet him. B made a beautiful pink piggy bank for Caroline. Since she has freckles, she gave the piggy bank freckles too! B's mom makes teddy bears and made one for Caroline. I love that they are making things for me to give Caroline. I hope that these gifts will help Caroline realize just how much her birth family loves her. How blessed she will be to have so many people who love her!

We had a small "issue" arise during the class. B's mother got upset and felt that she could not return to the class. B was really upset when we left. Please say a prayer for our birth mom. She is such an amazing person and is trying so hard to do what is right for everyone but herself. As I can only imagine, this is one of the hardest things she will ever do. Pray specifically for her relationship with her mother as well as some much needed rest!

Celebrating the 4th!

We have so many holidays that we celebrate in the US we often forgot exactly why we celebrate each one. This year we celebrated the 4th in many fun and exciting ways. Thursday night we were invited to some friends house for a cookout and then to watch their neighborhood fireworks show. Before we ate, our friend Rhett said the blessing. He thanked God for the amazing country that we live in and prayed for the future of our country. It really made me think about how far we have come and just how great we have it. It's easy to moan and complain with the gas prices and all the other "issues" we are facing but boy we really do have it good! :-)

Now on to celebrating... As I said Rhett and Farrah were wonderful host! We enjoyed fellowship with our friends and a great game of boccie (sp) ball. Needless to say, the girls let the guys win. We didn't want to hurt their ego, we will get them next time!! The fireworks were wonderful!

The guys working on dinner

Rylie and Griffin playing at the sand and water table.

Enjoying our yummy meal!

Just for the record, we LET them win!!

We got up early yesterday morning and headed to my moms to work on the camper. We are taking it to the campground tomorrow and will have our first camping trip in a few weeks. We are very excited! My brother Bob was a HUGE help! We couldn't have gotten it all done without him.

We're DONE! (we think...)

Just waiting for Daddy and Uncle A to get finished.

Last night we went to Tomi Jean and Greg's annual 4th of July party. We visited with a lot of our family and friends from Church. My mom and Alston came up for the party and spent the night with us. We really enjoyed having them over. The hardest part of living away from family is missing the kids grow up. I am looking forward to our trip to the beach where we can visit with ALL our nieces and nephews on my side and Jared and Jenna (who might as well be one of our nieces and nephews...)

Enjoying the fireworks show with Mom, Jack, Grace and Alston.

Hope you enjoyed the 4th!

Great meal, great conversation, interesting evening...

We have a wonderful evening with B. We met for dinner at TGI Friday's. Andy really enjoyed his time with B. Because I go to most appointments and they are during the day, Andy doesn't get to interact with B very often. So after dinner, we left for our class. Andy needed to waste about 4 hours so he visited The Fresh Market and bought us some yummy burgers that we are going to have for dinner tonight. He went to Wal-Mart to buy a tire pump for B, who had a flat tire Monday night and had to call a friend, and a cooler on wheels for us. He visited BAM and Starbucks. He had just gotten in the car to enjoy his Starbucks and football magazine when I called to let him know we were done. He is such a wonderful man to ride with me and "waste" time while we are in the class. I really appreciate his thoughtfulness because I didn't want to be on the interstate so late by myself. WHAT A WONDERFUL MAN!!! He is going to be an amazing father...

So more about the class... WOW, sometimes the unknown is better, I think. It was definitely an eye opening experience. Next week we will focus on breathing techniques. B's mother will join us. I am looking forward to seeing her again, she is such a sweet lady. Thanks for your prayers, we had a great day!

The big day or should I say the big "class"

Caroline is now 28 weeks and 3 days. YEAH we are so excited she has made it this far and appears to be doing well. Tonight Andy and I will take B out to dinner and then B and I are off to our first "birthing class." I am a little nervous. I don't tolerate pain very well and I especially have a hard time watching someone in pain. Although I know B will not (should not) in in any pain, it makes me a little nervous about the big day. However, I am thrilled that she has asked me to join her for these classes. I am sure that it will be an adventure. Think about us tonight, I will let you know how it goes tomorrow.