First Day of School

The first day of school has come and gone. We started the semester off with Spiritual and Ministry Formation, which is the class I am most excited about. Jacob is excited about all his classes, but I am especially excited about this particular class because it is oriented toward the couple. The professor and his wife meet with each couple/student at their house once during the semester to help them determine where God is calling them in their ministry lives. Since Sunday (the day before classes started) was spent celebrating Jacob's birthday, I didn't have time to surprise him before he left for work/class on Monday so decided to surprise him after class on Monday night. Here are a few pictures of his surprises.

Don't worry if your not an artist... I certainly am not one

Included: favorite candy, pencils, yo-yo, sanitizer and some chips.

  I raided Target's dollar bin for some items and found some good sales on the other items to make this for Jacob. I have been reading stories from wives about doing something special for their children on their first day of school and decided that I was going to do something special for Jacob on his first day of fall classes. I love doing surprises like this but have a feeling when Alethea arrives the little gifts and notes will be few and far between. Hopefully some of you can use this as inspiration to surprise your husband.

So this is what happens....

... when you get up at 5am:

-a bowl of cereal bright and early (this means I will most definitely be having second breakfast today)

-responding to messages on facebook, that have been there for almost a week

- becoming creative and all of a sudden feeling the need for a new blog template and design (what do you think?)

- a new blog post (twice in a week who would have thought?)

- a new page on our blog! You should go check out the NEW and UPDATED "about us" page

What next, I'm not sure. Since it is not yet 7am on a Saturday I have no idea what I will be up to next. My loving hubby is sleeping next to me in bed while Wallace is curled in between (his favorite spot). There is a lot I can do today, but most of it involves making noise and since I am not inclined to wake my husband, or everyone else in our apartment complex I think I might catch up on some blogs, reading, or just browsing for baby stuff on the computer.  Anybody have some good ideas for the time when they wake up 3 hours before they usually do? This is a new occurrence to me, and something that NEVER use to happen. I use to wake up, look at the clock and happily fall back asleep until I HAD to get out of bed. Now I seem to wake up, go the bathroom, glance at the clock and think "really I have how many hours until I can wake up?!?!?".  But alas, today I got up super early. Maybe that means I will fall back asleep soon and take a mid-morning nap? I'm not sure, we will have to see. Anyways, since I have rambled on enough in this blog, bright and early on a Saturday morning, I will leave you to the rest of your day, or start of your day if you are just waking up. :)

29 weeks!

7 months pregnant! I still can't believe that 7 months ago we found out that we were having a child. This day seemed so far away at the time and now it is already here and moving fast. Although our baby is not due until the end of October, it is in both of our minds that she could come any day now. I have been working on organizing the house a bit more in hopes that it will be easier once she arrives, while Jacob has been studying like crazy for his Hebrew exam. Alithea's crib is set up as well as her swing and car seat. We are so excited for her arrival but are praying that she doesn't arrive for another 10 weeks. 

Total Weight Gain:  not sure I really want to say this anymore...

Maternity Clothes: All the time

Gender: Girl!!

Movement: I have been able to kinda figure out her schedule and when she is awake or asleep based on her movement. There are now certain times during the day when you can see her moving inside my belly. So exciting!

What I miss: being able to move around quickly

Cravings: Chocolate!! I can't believe how much I have been craving chocolate! I could eat it all day for every meal, I just can't get enough.

Symptoms: Not sleeping to well, and being hot ALOT! but other then that things have been great.

Best Moment this week: Going to our Drs. apt and getting to see Alithea on the ultra sound. :)

23 Weeks!

We are almost to 6 months. Who would have thought the time would go buy so fast! I can't believe we only have a few months left before our baby girl will be here. 

Total Weight Gain: +15 lbs... wow have I really gained that much??

Maternity Clothes: :) They are wonderful

Gender: Girl!!

Movement: Lots! It is so neat feeling her move all over the place and already learning what times of day she is most active. So far she moves the most at night (9-11pm) and early morning... hopefully this will change once she is here. It is wonderful to share this with Jacob since he can feel her kicking as well and says he can see her moving in my belly.

What I miss: being able to sleep for more then 2 hrs at a time

Cravings: Nothing particular.. just trying to eat a lot of food... if i'd have to chose i'd say more sweets then usual and less chips

Symptoms: I am feeling great! Other than being tired in the middle of the day and taking a nap I feel wonderful!

Best Moment this week: Buying a memory book/photo album to record all of our daughter's firsts


Jacob's Note:
I think enjoying food has become a more frequent occasion since our baby coming. The lasagna taste better, the Oreo cake taste better, the Brots taste better, just about everything tastes better....maybe that is because I'm eating more of it all!

5 Month Appointment!

Once again I am behind on posting. I purposley did not write a post for 20 weeks because I knew we would be seeing our doctor the next week and wanted to wait and share new from our appointment. Well, after our doctors appointment my mother left town and went back home, and my sister came to town. It was such a fun weekend but was crazy busy! So here I am, over a week late with our update about "little Toman".

Everything went great at our 5 month appointment. We had the privilege of seeing our baby on the ultrasound and were able to find out if it was a boy or girl. (stay tuned and you too will know)  It was so much fun seeing our child in real life and being able to put a face to our child. From the looks of it, Jacob and I think our child will have a nose like Jacob ( it looked big on the screen) and some tendencies from me. Our child was crossing his/her ankles in our ultra sound. How cute!! Just like mom does all the time!


Now I think you all have waited long to enough to find out... that we are expecting a Girl!!! We are so thrilled that we will have a little baby girl in our house! Jacob's response when finding out we are having a girl was rather protective as he already has inherited "Anti-Boys" attitude. Don't you love him? He will be such a great daddy to our little girl and will make sure to protect from those "mean-stinky-bad-boys". 



Total Weight Gain:  +8  lbs
Maternity Clothes: I don't fit in regular pants anymore :)
Gender: Girl!! (she weighs 13 ounces)
Movement: mostly felt at night or right after I eat
What I miss: Hot Dogs!! Who isn't craving a hot dog during baseball season?
Cravings:  sometimes ice cream sometimes chips just depends on the time of day
Symptoms: some lower back pain but not much
Best Moment this week: Finding out we are having a girl and seeing her on the ultra sound

Jacob's Note:
Wallace is getting excited for our little girl! We already have set up the "baby corner" in our bedroom, and with the help of family our home is decorated and baby-prepped. Wallace has sniffed, barked at, and cuddled with nigh everything that we have gotten. Thankfully we have had help very early in this pregnancy and have been able to allow Wallace (and all of us) to get used to the new arrangement of the house. He has sniffed the baby carrier, sniffed the crib, sniffed all the baby clothes, and cuddled up with some of the babies toys already.

Meanwhile I have already tripped, fallen, kicked, run into, and bumbled into basically all of the babies things. I now realize the reason why so many baby items are built so tough, (not because the baby will play with them rough) because their big over sized clumsy daddy will no doubt make his best effort to destroy them via tripping, falling, kicking, running into, etc.

I am so glad that when I trip, make a noise, or run into the crib at night, it's before the baby is here and sleeping. Hopefully we will all get used to everything by the time Little Baby gets here

Baby Shower

 Baby Shower Weekend!! Here are some of the pictures that we have from our babies very first celebration! A few of the pictures are from the night before at my (Amy) parents house with a few gifts from them. Of course anything coming from my family, that is gender neutral, is going to be yellow ducks! A quick family favorite of baby clothes and items. The shower was coordinated by my sister and held at our friends house in Lansing. It was so great to see everyone from Providence PCA and be able to celebrate our child with them. Since "little Toman" will be born the end of October, we will not be able to make another trip to Michigan until early next year. Knowing this, it was great to spend time with our friends and family in Lansing and catch up on all the new events and news.

The awesome "cake" made out of Diapers by my sister Kaleigh!!

 * sorry this took so long to post.. thought I had already posted it* 

19 Weeks!

 How Far Along: 19 Weeks! Almost 5 months!

Our Baby is about 8 1/2 ounces and 6 inches long!

Total Weight Gain:  +5  lbs
Maternity Clothes: Loving the stretchy pants!
Gender: will find out in a little over a week.... stay tuned
Movement: the baby feels like a "lava lamp". I can feel him/her the most in the evening when I am relaxing after work. Jacob has also been able to feel the baby moving a few times!! We are so excited!
What I miss: drawing a blank today...
Cravings:  Food! Mostly salty, crunchy food
Symptoms: back aches but mostly I have a lot of energy :)
Best Moment this week: having my friend notice that I have a baby bump!

Jacobs Note:
I think the most exciting thing about this whole process so far has been the actual realization of the reality that is. Thats a really 'jacob' way of saying-wow everything is becoming real. From seeing the baby on the monitor, to hearing the heartbeat, to dealing with everyday little happenings with Amy, it is really great to experience this reality that I am a part of.