3 nights in a row of an adorable 5 week old waking only once?!? Say what?!?

GLORY TO GOD! We've been praying hard.

I never realized how precious sleep was to me. Ben and I found ourselves nearly drooling during a Sleep Number mattress commercial the other day...you know, the ones with all those happy people lounging on their fancy mattresses and sleeping all night. Jerks. :)

God has truly humbled us through parenthood. Basically what everyone has been telling us is true. It ain't easy. I hope I don't have to re-learn this lesson anytime soon. Nonetheless, God has been so faithful to not give us more than we can handle in one day. Grace, grace, grace....

Please continue to pray for us as we attempt to figure out parenthood. By the grace of God, we will make it with both us and Baby Gray unscathed.

Crying aside, Gray has been thriving...She was 8 lbs. 4 oz. at birth and a week ago at her 1 month appointment, she weighed at whopping 10 lbs. 7 oz! Go Gray go! She is in the 90th percentile for both height and weight. Gray's #1 favorite activity: breastfeeding. She's also beginning to smile some...and her gummy smile is terribly cute! I'll post pictures soon.

I'm amazed at how much I have needed to hear of other women's stories (or battles) with motherhood during the newborn period. Just hearing, "It does get better" has been like medicine to my soul. Please leave comments...

Introducing Grayson Lan Gatling...we are calling her Gray. Lan is a family name from Taiwan (pronounced with a long "a" sound).

Our tremendous blessing, Baby Gray, was born on Saturday, July 12 at 2:01 pm after 14 hours of labor. (Not too bad for a first baby.) She was 8 lbs. 4 oz. (just like her mom when she was born) and 21 inches long. All I have to say is that labor is not for the faint of heart. Men, if you are fathers, go kiss your wives and thank them for delivering your baby. :)

Her pediatrician used a great euphemism when Gray was screaming her head off at her first appointment..."My she's opinionated!" Ha! I can see her father in her already. Just yesterday Ben was carrying her around the house and reading her the New Yorker. She was wide awake and taking in all the details of world politics at only 11 days old.

Gray is staying busy keeping mommy and daddy awake at night, and pretty much throughout the day. I currently have her in a sling--works wonders by the way--and she's sleeping soundly...ahhhh....I should probably be sleeping myself.

Please pray for us during this time of great transition. I know sleep will eventually come, but I'm feeling like I've been hit by a train.

In the meantime, we are enjoying our beautiful little girl. We are excited to see how God is going to use her in this world. We are praying for big things.

Sweets?!? What sweets? :)

This picture of me at 37 weeks made me laugh out loud. What an awesome profile...I call it my torpedo angle.

PS...Like our rabbit ears? We're so high tech.

I anticipate this little girl making her entrance into the world sometime this week. Maybe I'll be wrong, but I just have this feeling...

Oh I nearly forgot to mention that Ben graduated on June 8th!



Here's the graduate showing off his M.A. in Near Eastern Languages and Cultures. Congratulations, Ben!

I am floored at how much this little girl is draining my energy right here at the end of pregnancy. It's way more than anything that happened in my first trimester.

Since stopping work, my mornings have typically gone something like this:

Wake up a little after 6 am when Ben gets up for work. I make us breakfast. Once he leaves, I try to check email, the news, etc. but usually end up back in bed by 9. I sleep until 10:30 or so, get up, make an enormous snack (fruit, yogurt, and granola is my current fetish) because every morning at this time I feel as though I haven't eaten in weeks. Then the rest of my day consists of some form of not resting. Even if I'm not doing anything productive, I still find myself pacing. By 3 or 4 pm, I'm done for the day. My legs feel like lead and I'm eyeing my bed again.

Yes, my life is thrilling, I know. :)

It's amazing what pregnancy does to you. What I'm wondering is how on earth women get through a second pregnancy with a toddler running around!

I'm 50% effaced! What does that mean? Well, I asked my doctor the same thing. She said that that tells her that my body has begun to make changes in preparation for labor and that I will probably not go past my July 14 due date. In fact, she guesses I will go into labor even a little earlier than my due date. And that is GREAT by me! I'm dying to meet this little lady.

Oh and she is definitely head down, praise God!

My friend, Jenelle threw a shower for me on Saturday. It was too much fun and I left feeling so blessed by these lovely ladies. Thanks, girls!





Oh, and here are a few pictures that I never posted from May 6, our 2nd anniversary.


And finally, a belly shot for Mom. Keep in mind that this was taken almost a month ago, so I have done some more...expanding.

By the way...yes, same shirt, different day. I'm truly getting the wear out of my maternity clothes. Who wants to spend lots of money of clothes you wear for a few months? I for one am SO EXCITED to get back into normal jeans. Lord willing. :)

Summer, I'm so glad you are here! I made sweet tea today in celebration of your appearance here in Central Ohio.

Our doctor informed us today that Baby Gatling is head down! There is still a chance that she could turn, but things are getting a little crowded in there and she just can't manage her graceful flips anymore. Usually babies that are head down at this point (33 weeks) stay that way until the end. Woo hoo! All those sweet little bumps that I have felt for the past months have become intense pushes. Lately she has taken to pressing against the top of my pelvis and my rib cage at the same time. It feels so incredibly strange.

We have been crazy busy lately, mainly with moving into a house. We are really excited about having a place of our own where we are not sharing walls with our neighbors (who by the way were INSANE--quite literally--at our last place. Ah, the beauty of thin walls). The house has an awesome fenced in backyard and we definitely anticipate lots of barbeques this summer. We also have plans to plant a big garden soon. Bring on the homegrown tomatoes! Mmmm....

This week is my last official week of work. Next week I'll still be in the office, but I'm training the new guy taking my place. It shouldn't be TOO MUCH of a hassle considering the new guy is...Ben! That's right, Ben applied for my job as the Director of Volunteer Coordination (at an awesome non-profit that works with OSU international students called International Friendships) and got it. This job coincides so perfectly with his classes and teaching schedule next year. We could not have asked for a better situation. I was planning on still volunteering with International Friendships and now I can do just that AND see Ben during his work day. The fact that our office is nice and kid (or baby) friendly doesn't hurt either. Again, God is an amazing provider.