Baby cakes, you are kicking and squirming all over the place these days! And it is a joy to experience. I sure enjoy feeling you moving around. After five long months of always wondering how you were doing, it’s nice to have a little reassurance that you’re actually in there! Your squirming reminds me a little bit of how my tummy feels when I’m doing flips on a roller coaster, or plummeting from high places. Pretty regularly it takes me off guard, but then I just wave “hello” back to you and cherish all these “firsts” we’re experiencing.

A lot has happened in the last ten weeks. While you were squeezing your way up and through my pelvis you had me in a whole lot of pain, kiddo! I could barely walk for several days at a time and had a two week period where I wasn’t sure what the rest of pregnancy would look like when it came to working… or walking! Thankfully you popped up above the bones and ligaments (for now) and things have been great ever since. God orchestrated things perfectly so we were able to go to Orlando for our orientation with PI and I survived two eight hour car trips and four days of non-stop meetings with little to no physical pain… whew… what an answer to so many prayers.

The last couple months have been full of transitions in a lot of ways. Some of our closest friends have moved away, and others will be soon. Daddy’s been working so hard at his job and trying to get everything sorted out there (so hopefully he’ll have a more normal schedule by the time you come along!) Mommy has started meeting with a group of mom’s to pray for you and the rest of the little ones. We joined PI and were finally able to start the process of actively planning our next steps toward ministry overseas… and in the midst of it all we are so very aware that our  life is in the process of changing dramatically!

We’ve been planning your room and how we’ll add a couple of walls in the corner of the living room to give you your own little space. Daddy’s been building his own space too by adding a shed outside where he can do repairs and keep all his tools.Our mantra for this fall is, “Cleaning out and cleaning up. Making room for BabyStev!”

I’ve meticulously scoured the internet for affordable (and gender neutral) decorations for your nursery. I’ve piled up your registry with lot’s of fun stuff! Oddly enough, the items I’m most excited about at this point are the crib comforter I found you from Ikea, and this adorable, and applicable, artwork!

My favorite part of the boring white comforter is the fact that we can put whatever duvet cover on it we want! My current idea is to make you a duvet with some fun fabric to match your room, but we’ll figure that part out later. Your Daddy and I sure LOVE our comforter and duvet, so we’re banking on you being pretty excited about yours too. I sure am enjoying finding things for you!

In the next couple weeks we get to go on our first (and last) extended vacation since our honeymoon. We put it in the calendar months ago, and have been looking forward to our 10 days at the beach with MUCH anticipation. We can’t wait to have solid time to pray, process, dream, rest, read (parenting books) and have a lot of pure fun. And, we can’t wait to take you on our next vacation! It’ll be fun in a whole new way.