Wow! Look at all the people who love me...

Jake is blessed to be surrounded by loving and caring friends and family. He was greeted into this world by people who have already been praying for him. Here are just a few of the people who love and care for him. Of course, I have to start with his grandparents. These are my parents who live in Aledo (west of Fort Worth), Grandpapa and Grandmama.Kevin's parents live in Gainesville, Big T and Nana Jake's only blood-related aunt and uncle, Chad and Cassy. I say this because although I am an only child, I definitely have a few close friends who will take-on "aunt" roles in Jake's life.One of Kevin's cousins lives in San Antonio and made the trip with her family to meet Jake at the hospital. This is Kelly (Kevin's cousin), her husband Rodney, and their kids, Ryan and Brittany. I LOVE this family. Kevin has lots of great cousins, but I feel like I've had a great opportunity to especially get to know this family since we live pretty close together. They are a great Christian family and have done an amazing job with their kids. Kelly is definitely someone I will call on for parenting advice.Brian and Elizabeth Bramlett came over our first day home. They live less than 5 minutes away. It's really cool to have good friends so close by.Chez and Cody also dropped Jake a visit at the hospital. Chez and Cody are very special friends to us. We mesh really well as friends, plus we have the opportunity to be huddle leaders together. Although Jake has definitely changed our lives, we hope that his addition doesn't alter our friendship with the Dishmans.This is Wilson and Tanya Robertson. They are definitely one-up on us with parenting experience. They have two adorable daughters, Mia and Ally. It's been a joy seeing them and their family grow.

David and Merry Culp host the young marrieds care group we attend. We are so blessed to have their insight and guidance. In many ways, they serve as parents to many of our young married class whose parents live in other cities and states. Thank you, David and Merry, for your continuous generosity, hospitality, love and prayers. Here is Joe Pollard with Jake. Kim has actually visited Jake twice--in the hospital and at home, but somehow we did not get a picture. Joe and Kim are special to us largely due to their love and support through some of the more difficult parts of our attempt to start a family and pregnancy. Thanks to Kim, I have a wonderful doctor who delivered Jake. They have a beautiful son, Ryan, who just turned 1. We are excited to join them in the endeavor of raising a son.

Caren George came to visit, taking a break from her new addition, Anderson. The Georges just welcomed a baby boy into their family. Anderson is exactly 4 weeks older than Jake--an automatic friendship is formed.

What a difference a week makes

So, as Cassy said Jake arrived. I won't go into all the labor and delivery details, but basically I went in to labor at home around 6:00 AM on Friday, January 2, and he arrived at 7:17 PM on Friday, January 2. God has blessed us with a healthy boy and I couldn't ask for anything more. It's hard to believe that just over a week ago, he was still in my tummy. Here is the last pregnant pic taken of me. This was taken on December 31, two days before he was born.

Here's our new family, just minutes after his arrival. We came home from the hospital on Sunday. We were welcomed by both sets of grandparents and Uncle Chad and Aunt Cassy. I immediately wanted to show him his room. Here is his first experience being rocked in the glider.

Introducing Mr. Jake!

Cassy here again...
Our little baby Jake arrived healthy and safe on Friday, January 2nd at 7:15 pm weighing 8 pounds, 2 ounces and 21 inches long. Kellie is doing great too! You wouldn't know by looking at her that this is her first baby... she's a natural! She's got her hands a little full, so I thought I would give you guys a quick update. I'll let her blog all the details later, but in the mean time here are a few pictures I took when they made their arrival at home.



Oh my goodness! I just want to eat him up!

It's a little difficult to find an outfit that fits him right now.

Cuddling up to daddy! Did I mention that Kevin's a natural too?

Home sweet home... the moment Skylar's (the dog) world was changed forever.

Look at these long toes! Where did he get these?

What a blessed mommy!

The countdown is on....

Well, I can't figure out how to get the underline to go away, so I'll just work with this. Each passing day brings us closer to our baby boy and lately, there have been several things that have made that more of a reality. First of all, we finished the nursery. Wendi--I hope these pics make you happy.

One of my parents generous gifts to Jake is his bedroom furniture. The plan is for this furniture to last a long time. The crib is convertible and we went ahead and got a matching dresser and nightstand. Thank you, Mom and Dad--the nursery really looks great!

My mom made the alphabet cross stitch when she was pregnant with me---in 1979!!! It really means a lot to me that I can have it as part of Jake's nursery.

We were really blessed by our realtor, Melanie Smith (who I highly recommend), because she's letting us borrow this glider. It's in great shape, and we didn't have to spend a dime. Also, if you look closely, there is a pair of boots on the shelf--they belonged to me! That's right, hidden somewhere inside of me is a cowgirl ;-)

Our changing table came from Kid to Kid, which a really nice resale shope. It was just what we were looking for, and we got a great deal.

I've also been going to the doctor weekly. At week 36, she estimated Jake's weight to be 6 pounds and 7 ounces, which means he should weigh approximately 8.5 pounds by my due date. At week 37, she said I was dilated 1 cm. This week (week 38), I'm still dilated 1 cm. but she said he's moved down. Now, we're just waiting for nature to take its course.
Lastly, I finished work on Friday. I love my job, but the discomfort of the pregnancy led me to counting down the days where I could take it more easy. I can't believe that day is actually here. Unfortunately, I do have some work I had to bring home with me, but hopefully I finish up with everything soon.

We're going to have a very laid-back Christmas with just the two of us. We decided this is the only time in our entire lives when this is a possibility, so we saw Kevin's parents this last weekend and mine are coming this next weekend. I really appreciate our families honoring our wishes and understanding the importance of these last few days as "2."

A lot to catch up on

A lot has happened since my last blog, so I'll do my best to highlight some things that have been happening. Be warned...this is a long post. I'll start with a new belly pic. This was taken on November 25, so just two days short of 34 weeks.

Two baby showers have happened. The first, on November 13 was at Tippit Middle School, where I work. It was such a nice time, and it particularly meant a lot because of my unique working environment. Although I am employed by Communities In Schools, I work full-time on a middle school campus. I work very closely with the teachers and administration; however, I am not technically one of their co-workers since I am not employed by the school district. I am very blessed to be on a great campus where I have always felt welcome and part of the "team" working to help our students.

Here are some pics from the school shower...

The second shower was thrown by some of my friends from our Young Married class at church. Being part of this group was one of the reasons why we stayed in Austin, because they truly are family to us. Here I am with the hostesses (minus Noelle): Sarah, Kim, Chez, and Elizabeth--Thank you so much girls; everything was really wonderful!

The shower was a brunch (my favorite!). There was a wonderful chicken salad, fresh fruit, mini quiche, cheese, crackers, and of course, cake!Here's the whole group

One of the greatest things about the weekend is that I got to see some of my best girlfriends. This is Sara, and her daughter, Holly. Sara and I met the first day of kindergarten, so we have officially been friends for 24 years!!! She's one of those friends who I'm certain I'll stay in contact with, even if it's only once every 6 months, for the rest of my life.

My two best friends from college, Carrie and Mindy, also came into town to celebrate Jake's arrival. Mindy lives in North Little Rock, Arkansas and Carrie lives in Shreveport, Louisiana. I'm blessed to have such dear friends who I also know will be a part of my life forever, even if it's from afar. Because I'm an only child, these girls are Jake's aunts on my side of the family.

Finally, we celebrated Thanksgiving at our house since I'm restricted from travelling. It was sad not to do the regular family thing with each sides of our family, but I will admit it was nice not driving anywhere. Kevin's parents, Chad, Cassy and Cohen came in town to celebrate with us. I didn't get any pictures of people, but I did get a picture of the table and the food all lined up on the bar. It's hard to tell from the pic, but we definitely had all the fixin's: turkey, gravy, stuffing, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, fruit salad, Asian coleslaw, cranberry salad, pumpin pie and apple pie. Everything was delicious!

28 weeks...

So, I warned you I wouldn't be very good at keeping this updated, but here's a little something to keep you tuned in. Here are a couple pics to show how big both Jake and I are growing. I was actually 28 weeks on October 16. The first pic is taken in my office at school. Behind me is a quilt from the first year CIS was at Tippit (the first year I was there too). All the students who were involved with CIS decorated a square, then they are tied together with ribbon. I certainly can't sew a quilt, so I went the easy way and ordered the blank fabric squares from Oriental Trading. I'm sporting my very cool Tippit Middle School faculty shirt--don't be jealous! ;-) If you look really closely, you can also see my bully belly showing through the shirt.

Overall, the pregnancy is going well; that is until a little bump we had this weekend. Without getting into details, I'll begin by saying both Jake and I are perfectly fine. Kevin and I left Friday afternoon in an effort to see both our families: Friday night in Aledo and Saturday night in Gainesville. Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned and I spent 9:00 AM-2 PM Saturday in Harris Hospital's Maternity Observation. After having some bleeding in the night, I called my doctor Saturday morning and she recommended going to the hospital to make sure things were OK. Once there, they hooked me up to a monitor to check Jake's heartbeat. I was having some contractions, so I was given a shot and a bag of fluid so they would stop. The doctor said he couldn't be sure what caused the problems, but I left with no contractions, no bleeding, and the orders to take it easy for the next couple days.

The past week has been very busy for us b/c we had classes at the hospital Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday nights. With that going on, the normal stressors at work, combined with the packing and preparation for our trip, I think my body told me to "Stop!" Anyhow, it looks like we are finished travelling, and I'm going to be very mindful to not take on more than is really necessary. I'm thankful God continues to look out for Jake, and I know Jake is in His hands.

Here goes nothing.....

OK, so I'm going to give this a try. Luckily, I have a wonderful sister-in-law who got me jump started on blogging, and I'm now set up with a super cute page. Because I'm a little resistant, you may find my posts to be irregular, but I'll do my best.

Well, as Cassy said, we are having a boy!!! His name is going to be.....JACOB "JAKE" EVAN LAWSON. Kevin and I had this name decided before we even started trying to have a family. It's something that holds a special place in our heart, because our son will be named after his great-grandfathers. Kevin's paternal grandfather went by Jake, so that is what our little boy will go by, and my maternal grandfather's middle name was Evan. Both these men were faithful to God and their families. We love them dearly, respect them, and pray our Jake will possess some of their amazing qualities.

Now time for some pictures...I don't have a new belly pic yet, but I'll try to get that soon. Instead, here is Jake's room making the transition from little girl to little boy.

We also have the bedding. We are doing a western/cowboy/Texas theme.

Lastly, I have to show-off my newly one-year-old nephew, Cohen. Cohen turned 1 on September 1st, so Kevin and I spent some time with family celebrating the occassion. He is so adorable, and I can't believe he is now walking around like a big boy.

Before cake.... (isn't that a super cute cake?!?)
After cake....