Grown Belly- since it can't possibly get any bigger!

Well, here we are at the end of 9 wonderful months! I am 38 weeks today & we are expecting to welcome sweet Eloise Hope sometime within the week.

Here is a recap of our last few visits with our Doctor:

• 34 week appointment- my fundal height should have been close to 34cm but was over 37cm. We laughed as we thought about how large this baby could be by 40 weeks. We discussed possible options if the ultrasound the following week showed a baby in the 95th percentile. We were praying that she was not quite that large.


• 35 week appointment- an ultrasound revealed a very smushed up baby with feet as large as big sister ; ) The estimated weight was just over 6 pounds which is what Charlotte was at 35 weeks. The amniotic fluid level was perfect & Eloise scored an 8 out of 8 on her biophysical profile. What a good little girl!


• 36 week appointment- after a long discussion lasting over multiple appointments, we decided with our Doctor to schedule an induction at the 39 week mark. Charlotte was 8lbs 4oz & took nearly 3 hours to push out before turning into a shoulder dystocia. Our goal is to get Eloise out before she weighs more than Charlotte did : ) I gained 3 pounds in 7 days.....thanks to birthday week & probably the day that I got a full breakfast from Chick-Fil- A + 3 white sprinkle donuts. I savored every bite & it was worth it.


• 37 week appointment- my fundal height is right on for my weeks now! He is estimating her to weigh about 7-7.5 lbs today. I was 1 cm dilated & 60% effaced. We are all scheduled for Saturday, June 4th if she hasn't surprised us by then!


• we are set to return next Tuesday for our weekly appointment.

I feel like my brown shirt in the picture above kind of hides how large my belly actually looks. People are really saying that I look like I am about to pop now! It hangs SO low, I barely have any shirts that cover my whole belly. In fact, I was in Target a couple weeks ago talking to another mom on the diaper aisle. She had a whole brood of kids with her including a very curious 5 year old. She loudly whispered to her mom, "she has a baby in her belly." Her mom said "yes sweetheart, she does!" Then the little girl looked straight at me & said "Miss, I can see your belly sticking out." She said this as she placed her pointer finger on my bare skin. I said "you are right, it is hard to keep covered!" It made me & her mom laugh pretty hard.

I am actually feeling pretty great. I have some varicose veins that are causing some discomfort + swollen ankles at the end of the day but other than that, I am great. Sleep has not been easy to come by but I think it is more related to my crazy brain that prevents me from falling asleep quickly & then my sweet little toddler that has become quite the early riser lately. I have been napping when Charlotte does nearly every afternoon & that feels WONDERFUL! I have fairly regular contractions every evening for about 2 hours prior to getting in bed. Some hurt a bit but I am able to fall asleep meaning it's not labor!

Emotions have been interesting to say the least. Starting about 1 1/2 months ago, every Tuesday for 4 weeks, I had this massive cry fest. I must be super optimistic because I just never expected to think the transition from 1 to 2 would cause me to feel overwhelmed (at least not before the baby was here). Ha! That feeling came over me like a flood & seemed to stay for a month. As Robby would hug me while I would sit & cry, I felt so loved & supported. Through these Tuesdays (and the rest of the week) the Lord has really revealed some sin in my life that I have been working though & fighting against.

I will use some bullet points to help explain:

• I am prone to pretending that I am the person that has it all together & can handle anything thrown my way. I frequently attempt to handle things on my own until I explode (on Tuesdays).


• I might be a control freak. I like to plan everything & make sure everything goes as planned. When I am on the verge of a mental breakdown, it takes next to nothing to send me on the downward slope.


• I set unreal expectations for myself. I expect to have a clean house, a happy husband & well behaved child 100% the time. I expect to have great relationships with everyone I know.


• I can easily find satisfaction in things other than God. This usually includes a combination of doing my "job" of mom, wife & homemaker well. Sometimes it consumes all my energy & emotion.

The one thing that all of this mess has in common is that I depend more on myself than on God & I see myself as less than God sees me. The gospel, the "good news" that the bible has for us is that Jesus came to save us from our sin & unite us with Himself. It is by grace alone through faith that we are saved so that no one may boast in his own works but instead, Christ receives all the glory. (Ephesians 2:8) Being united with Christ means that when God sees us, instead of seeing our sin, He sees Christ in his perfection instead. What an incredible thing to trust in! I am so thankful that God has revealed my weaknesses lately and is causing me to rely on His perfection as I consider what God thinks of me when I feel like a failure. Robby thought it would be helpful to write some scriptures on cards that I can look at & pray through when these feelings seem to take over. I have had them for 2 weeks & God has been so merciful with me as He has brought me much needed peace & comfort.

Overall, it has been a wonderful last 6 weeks of pregnancy. Now comes the exciting part : )

All we need is Baby Eloise!

The room is pretty much complete! There are still a couple projects I would like to do but my energy only gets me so far these days : ) I have really enjoyed the bedding set & decor we did for Charlotte when she was born. We were excited to find out we were having a second girl & that they could be roomies. We took the quilt off the wall & put it on Charlotte's big girl bed which she proudly sleeps in every night now! The crib has been converted back to accompany a newborn & looks so inviting with the bright colors.

We did a little rearranging because the chair didn't fit with both beds. It got moved into the master bedroom which we are really enjoying as a place to sit & read away from the main area of the house. The dresser got moved & one canvas was added to the wall along with a couple changes to others so I didn't have to buy anything new. I do love this room. Sometimes I joke & say that I want to live in there : )

All that to say, here is a little tour of the room for Charlotte & Eloise:

In the photo above, the newest addition is the floor pillow in front of the bookshelf. I covered them first with some scraps from the crib sheet & then made a slip cover out of the brown with white polka dots. A friend of mine has an embroidery machine and helped me with adding "Charlotte" & "Eloise" to the covers. It is Charlotte's favorite place to sit in her room these days! Hopefully Eloise will like to sit there too : )

Onto the sewing that has kept me busy lately.....

Big Sis & Lil Sis matching outfits with hair clips

Clippies from this TUTORIAL

Newborn caps from this TUTORIAL

Homemade nursing pads from this TUTORIAL

I really enjoy sewing. I grew up with a mother who could sew just about anything.... really, amazing seamstress is an understatement. Of course, I had zero interest the whole time I lived at home & even when I was 4 hours away from her in Dallas. It took me moving to Florida to all of the sudden have this strong desire to learn how to sew. She inherited a couple of my Grandmother Alene's machines when she died in 2005 & graciously shared one with me. She shipped it to me soon after we moved here right before she came to visit. We started with a purse & grew from there. It used to only be fun to me if my mom was helping me in person. Now, I am feeling much more confident to try things on my own although I still call her from the fabric store to do all my calculations for me. She is like Rain Man when she gets going with all the numbers : ) Sometimes I call her & tell her I need her to calculate how much fabric I need just to get her going. Just kidding, but I should do that & I should definitely record it ;)

It has been a blast to sew this girly stuff so far! Of course we are SO excited to meet Eloise.... can't wait to dress her up in her lil sis outfit & see if her noggin fits into the caps I made!

Planting Flowers

Yesterday afternoon, Robby came up with the great idea to head over to Home Depot & pick out some flowers, plants & herbs to plant in our many pots that were sitting unused in the garage (for 3 years). It was perfect to do the potting after 5pm without the hot sun directly over us.

Here is our first family planting experience in pictures....

What we started with The cutie patootie with her funny little grinRob - the leader/instructor next to our Texas pot

Me & Char mostly playing with dirt. Eloise is getting to be a big girl at 37 weeks! Totally kissable dirty, sweaty little face : )

Helping Daddy
After the first big spill while trying to carry the water pail

Always has kisses for Daddy : )

Big hands, little hands


Finished Product!

Our favorite pot, thanks Mom & Dad!

What a fun family activity! Charlotte was FILTHY afterward....love seeing that side of her. We were beginning to wonder after seeing her daily routine of accessorizing herself with headbands, bracelets, necklaces, begging to pretend to put on make up & freaking out whenever a love bug is within a mile radius. You proved us wrong Charly! Sounds like Grandpa Valentine wants to do some more planting with her when he comes to visit in June....Char will be delighted!

I must give credit to my talented friend Jocelyn for the adorable hair clip Charlotte is wearing. She sent 4 for Eloise but said that Charlotte could wear them too : ) They are so sweet!
I am impressed with Jocelyn as she is a wonderful mommy to two handsome boys yet she still has the cutesy girl stuff on the brain. Thanks Jocelyn!

Charlotte & Matilda

I had to do a quick little post on this lovely pair of little ladies. Matilda is pretty much Charlotte's best buddy. Robby & I met Hugo, Juanita & Matilda in summer 2009 when the girls were only weeks old. They live around the corner from us & we met them while out walking with our new babies : )

The girls really started playing together more frequently when they were 9-10 months old. Here they are at almost 2! They look so old to me!

They love to hug & kiss each other : )

Charlotte seems to be happiest when somewhat bullying Matilda.....in this photo, it is by sitting on her lap, uninvited. Matilda's smile usually only lasts seconds before she is trying to push Charlotte off. I don't blame her : )

About 5 months ago, Juanita and I started our own little mini Mother's Day Out. We each get 4 hours of free time a week while the other gets to have a blast entertaining or being entertained by Char & Mati. They play really well together for the most part but we do have to help them share on a regular basis.

Charlotte has picked up any spanish she knows from this family. Juanita says that Charlotte can follow most directions in spanish which I think is pretty neat. She refuses to call water "water" & will only call it "agua." In fact, when we pull up to Matilda's house, I say "who lives here?" Charlotte usually says "agua!!" Neither of us taught her that but it cracks us up. She also loves Juanita's cooking. She refuses chicken at our house maybe 75% of the time but always has a perfect eating report when spending time with Matilda.

One other thing these girls have in common is that they love motorcycles. Both Daddies ride motorcycles & both girls wish they could : )

We are so thankful to have this sweet family living so close to us & look forward to watching the girls grow together for as long as we are both here!

Celebrating Mother's Day

Well, I am only a week behind on this post....just a little taste of how slow I will be moving here in a couple more weeks : ) Mother's Day has taken different shapes through the years. It began with each of us celebrating incredible mothers & seeing our parents celebrating their mother's. A couple years after we got married, there were 2 quite difficult Mother's Days'. Years where the desire for a child was very strong & God was leading us through our time of waiting. It is a special time in my life to celebrate in a new way.

We had a lovely Mother's Day here in the Valentine home or rather out & about! I woke up to Robby & Charlotte jumping back into bed with me for a snuggle before getting the day rolling. Charlotte is so cute in the morning. She has more energy than Robby & I combined & bounces all over our bed giggling the entire time. It was the perfect start to my day. We had breakfast together & my sweet husband surprised me with my gift. It was definitely a surprise because he had said that my gift was our outing as a family : ) So, his clue was that it was something that would help me with my household duties. He told me this as Charlotte was screaming bloody murder from her high chair. I asked if it was a nanny ; ) It wasn't, and I didn't really want one anyway. The gift was that I had a certain amount to spend on the steam mop of my choice! After borrowing steam mops from two different friends. I had been hoping to add one to my cleaning supplies at some point. I did a bit of research & decided on these...

One for the floor & a handheld that is perfect for cleaning grout, granite counter tops, bathroom fixtures etc. They were put to the test this past week & were great! Thanks Robby & Charlotte for making cleaning a bit easier on me : )

After breakfast, we headed to church at CCC. Prior to the sermon, our pastor's wife, Heidi read an excerpt from a book by Elisabeth Elliot about motherhood. It was wonderful but what was even better were the words that she spoke from her heart with a shaky voice. She talked about the common pitfall in motherhood where you continually compare yourself to other mothers & see your shortcomings. The words that have been running through my mind since then are "God wired you specifically for your children." This has been SUCH an encouragement to me as I have struggled lately with feeling overwhelmed in parenting Charlotte especially when considering the soon to be new addition to the family. Thank you Lord for using Heidi's words to calm my heart.

We left after church & had a quick lunch at Chili's before heading out on my first trip to Tampa. Our hour drive was perfect for a quick nap for the little lady & some time to visit with my husband. We went straight over to a fountain outside the Children's Museum. It seemed fitting to do something I enjoy for Mother's Day.....watching my sweet girl enjoy herself.

35 weeks!

After a good hour of running through the fountains, we dried off & headed over to the ice cream shop. Charlotte could eat a gallon of ice cream in one sitting....just like her mommy!

We ended our evening with a leisurely dinner at the Tampa Bay Brewing Co. where we were seated outside. It was SUPER relaxing & delicious. Yes, you read it correctly, I had dessert & then dinner.....it was Mother's Day!

We are thankful for our own mother's who sacrificed to care for us, taught us, encouraged us & loved us as children & have continued to do so into our adult years. I am thankful to celebrate with one sweet girl in my belly & one that gives me eskimo kisses : )

Big Girl Bed - Part 3 - success!

I can hardly believe I am writing about how Charlotte is actually sleeping in her bed!! After the FAILURE with our first attempt, I had really considered just waiting until Eloise is a couple months old before trying again. Robby wanted to give it another try now. So, I went with it....he has wonderful ideas & I love supporting him.

Here is how it went down:

• Friday night, a friend of ours from church said we should lay her in the bed after she fell asleep. We did. She lasted from 8:45pm-4:15am.


• As soon as she woke up & was crying, Robby went in there with her. He stayed with her until 6:30am. They talked about how Charlotte has to stay in her bed until the sun comes out. He put her back into her bed about a million times & she never fell back asleep. At 6:30, they opened the blinds & made a big deal about it being the morning & how Charlotte was such a big girl to sleep in there most of the night.


• By 9am, she was a disaster so while Robby was gone, I attempted to get her to take a nap. I sat outside her door & walked her back to her bed a ridiculous amount of times. Long story short, the last time she came out, I was crying so hard & so was she. We just hugged each other & cried for a bit until Robby came home.


• For her afternoon nap, Robby put her in her bed & then left, locking the door behind him. She cried for about 15-20 minutes then was silent. We peeked in & she was sound asleep in her bed! She slept for over 2 hours.


• Bedtime Saturday night, we did our usual routine which now includes talking about the dark since she learned that word early that morning : ) She kept pointing at the window saying "dak" & doing a fake cry. After singing Twinkle Twinkle a couple times & praying with her a couple times, we left. She screamed for about 3 seconds until she touched the door that was locked & she stopped! After 15 minutes, we peeked & she was out cold in her bed again! She slept for nearly 13 hours.


• Last night, nap today & bedtime tonight, there was not ANY screaming!

Here are some photos of the sleeping beauty:

Sunday morning- Mother's Day- What a great gift!

This funny little smile was during our praising her for how she is such a big girl...I think she loved hearing it over & over : )

I took this tonight after she fell asleep, it is a tad blurry but she looked so peaceful & so adorable.
She must be so tired this weekend from all the talking she has been doing. She is repeating anything she can & doing pretty well. She is saying "Jesus.'' She is putting two words together more frequently & even said 3 in a row, "I go pool?" as we drove past the pool the other day. She is also saying "Eloise" sounding like "eho-isse" very frequently with no prompting. Loving that!

It is special to see her do something that big girls do & to be proud of herself. I just love her...if you haven't heard me say that before ; ) I can't imagine we would end up back in a crib but I will leave it as is for the week then we can get it ready for baby sister.

Shower for Eloise

On May 1st, some very special friends hosted a shower in honor of Baby Eloise. It was absolutely lovely! The hostesses pictured below have all been in a Life Group with me at some point since we have been in Florida. They are women that I trust for advice, receive much encouragement from & experience lots of laughter with.

Christi, Rose, Jenny, Me, Christine & Cathy

Once we dove into the delicious spread of fresh fruit, mints, spinach dip & double chocolate cake we sat in the living room to chat. They began the shower with having each person share how they met me & a favorite memory they have from our friendship. There were all sorts of stories from funny to very serious. Over all, it was overwhelming to hear what people said & realize how much the Lord has blessed my life through these women in such a short time.

Here are some of the decorations:

Christi made this banner....I want to hang it in my house : )

She also made this adorable diaper cake. What a talented woman!
This was sweet : )

So, I think you can't have a fun shower without a game ; ) Jenny had asked me some questions earlier in the week then passed out the "You look like you're ready to pop-quiz." Leave it up to Jenny to come up with such a clever title! You can see a few of the questions listed...there were 10 total. A couple others were, How many inches around is Lauren's waist? & What has she craved the most during this pregnancy? The waist one was funny....no one wanted to say their answer because they thought it would insult me : ) My friend Molly won the Starbucks gift card. I was so proud of her : )

One other really sweet thing they did was pass out cards with all different numbers on the front. These numbers represented birthday years for Eloise & we were assigned the task of writing her a note she could read on her birthday each year. It was crazy to imagine her as any age other than a newborn but I am sure it will feel as thought we are flying through the cards year after year!

Here I am with Jenny, my sister in law that I just LOVE. I know I have mentioned her quite often in my blog posts so it is no surprise that I will write about her again : ) She lived with us for the 6 months before she married Steve. She asked me to be her Matron of Honor for her wedding. She is an encouraging wife & a patient & loving mother. She is fabulous at asking questions & helping me think through things. She cleans my house better than I do. She does a great job at making me feel cared for. Thanks Jenny for being the organizer & planner of such a wonderful day celebrating this precious baby I have growing inside.

Here is Christine with my adorable niece, Karis Ann. She was exhausted by the end after partying hard, she fell asleep while Christine was walking around holding her. This girl is so darn cute at 8 months old! She is Charlotte's favorite baby to spend time with : )

Hostesses & friends who joined us, thank you for your friendships, thank you for sweet & thoughtful notes & gifts, thank you for loving both my daughters, thank you for taking time to pray over me. I am grateful to have such Godly women in my life to support me in this journey & for my girls to learn from.

Family of 3 going on 4!

Here are some pictures of our growing family that our sweet friend Christi took for us earlier this week. We enjoyed our photo shoot in the beautiful surroundings offered by Christi's parents land in Haines City, Florida.

Thank you Christi! You did an amazing job : )