Cameron Denise

Most of the people who read my blog - if not everyone who reads it - already know this, but our new daughter was born!! And, we finally figured out a name for her!

Cameron Denise was born on Saturday, October 24th, at 3:43 am. She was 9 lbs 12 oz, and 21 1/2" long.

I'll post more of the birth story later, but to sum up...it was pretty incredible! More painful than Kendall's, but much quicker, and I feel MUCH better afterwards. Just really, really tired - but that's because we lost an entire night's sleep, and didn't get much sleep Saturday night.

We're home now, and very happy to be. Kendall is absolutely in love with her new little sister, and can't stop touching her. Unfortunately, thanks to the swine flu, Kendall wasn't able to come to the hospital to meet Cameron. Not because she has the swine flu, but as a precaution, the hospital set up a rule just within the last few days, that there are no visitors under 18. So, the first time she saw her was when we came home. She was really excited.

Ryan

One year ago today, Grant's little brother, Ryan, passed away at the age of 17. Honestly, I don't really know what to say about it all, because it still seems so surreal. Since we haven't been living near family for almost 7 years, there are days that I have to tell myself, "Ryan's gone," just because I already wasn't used to seeing him that often.

We miss him. I hate that he only met Kendall twice, and that he'll never meet his new niece. I hate that we weren't able to spend more time with him. I hate that he's dead.

Grant was reading a passage in the Bible the other day, and shared it with me...it gave us such reassurance...

This passage from John 11 is talking about Jesus' friend, Lazarus, who died. Jesus is talking to Lazarus' sister, Martha.

Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again." Martha answered, "I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day." Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives in me will never die. Do you believe this?" "Yes Lord," she told him, "I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world."

Even though Ryan is dead in body, he's alive in spirit, because he believed. Do you believe?

Forever

There comes a point in (probably) every woman's pregnancy, when she thinks she's going to be pregnant forever. That's where I am right now. And I want to make it clear that I'm not saying that in a complaining kind of a way. I'm saying it in the surreal kind of way - like, I can't imagine not being pregnant. But that could and will all change any time now.

Now, a week ago, I would've totally said it in a complaining kind of a way. I was stressing about so many things that were going on, and I just wanted this baby OUT! But then I went to my mom's group Bible study on Wednesday (I almost didn't go - I'm so glad I changed my mind). We're going through Beth Moore's study of Esther. This particular week, Beth was talking about God's timing. She said something that really stuck out to me - it was something to the effect of, we shouldn't wait on the thing, we should wait on God. She even mentioned waiting for a baby to come! I mean, was she talking directly to me, or what?

This was something that I was really struggling with. And I would openly admit it to anyone who asked.

So being at that study on Wednesday....well, I just really needed to hear it. I can honestly say that right now, 8 days after my due date, I'm totally fine with whatever timing God has for this little girl.

Not Yet

There's still no baby, but Melissa recently suggested that I put up belly pictures like I did when I was pregnant with Kendall.

I apologize for the gross-outness of these pictures, but I guess they're kind of cool to see the difference.

The first was taken when I was 7 weeks pregnant, and the second is from the 39th week.

Soon...

The reality is starting to sink in that very soon, we'll be a family of four. Grant normally takes the bus to work every day, but next week he'll start driving in. My mom comes out here next week, too.

Baby clothes are washed, car seat is cleaned up, baby's outfit for coming home is packed...now we just need her.

October

October is really turning out to be a bittersweet month for us.

The sweet part, is that very, very soon, we'll have a new addition to our family. And that's really exciting!

But we have two bitter parts of October that we won't soon forget. The first is something that happened 2 years ago today.

Our very dear friend, Brent, died unexpectedly. By the time I had found out, it was after midnight - I had been in Pensacola for the weekend, and Grant didn't want to tell me sooner, so I wouldn't be an absolute wreck on the plane. So he told me when I got home.

I'm so glad that I can still remember what Brent's voice sounds like, and remember word-for-word some of the things that he said, and I can laugh outloud to those things, as if he were standing in front of me, saying them for the first time. He was an amazing guy, and he left behind an incredibly amazing family.

When we moved into this house, we propped up a funny picture of him on our little upstairs overhang, and it hasn't moved since. We look at it every day and remember our very good friend.

If you have a minute, please read his wife's blog - it will be a blessing to you, I promise.

The second bitter thing that happened in October, is Grant's brother passing away. We still have a couple of weeks for the anniversary of that, so I'll wait and give him his own post.

With both of these losses that we remember this month, there is a peace to it, because I know where they went after they died - and not because they were "good people", but because they were followers of Christ. And that's such a comfort to me...because as hard as it is to think that we'll never hear their voice again, or see them again on this earth (and it is very hard), I can rejoice that they are with Christ, and that we will see them again someday.

Kendall and Daddy Time

We kind of copied Dan and Haley, and started implementing outings with just Kendall and Grant. Not only does it give them time to bond, but it gives me a little break, and helps Kendall with her "mommy issues," which will come in handy when the baby comes.

Anyways, they have lots of fun together, and Grant takes great pictures of her. I thought I'd share some...

It's October!

Wow...this pregnancy has just flown by! I can't believe it's October, and the baby will be here before we know it!

Anyways, now's the time to take a guess as to when the baby will be here. As far as the due date goes, I've always said it was the 17th, because that's the date I was given by the first doctor I went to. But my current doctor says it's the 15th. So why don't we just cut it down the middle for this little game and say it's the 16th, okay?

Also, since we're still pretty clueless about a name for this little girl, feel free to put in any name suggestions. We need a first and a middle this time (last time, even though we didn't have a first name, we knew the middle would be Elizabeth). Thanks.