Wordless Weekend

Kamdyn is telling us to be quiet on the blog and enjoy our weekend!  :)

*for those less familiar with ultrasound reading...it's her profile - her head is on the left, her legs are crossed and on the right...it looks like she's laying in a hammock actually!  And she has her pointer finger up to her mouth as though telling us "shhhhhhh!"*

It's A….

{I am so sorry for the delay in getting this up - calling people took a very long time and the drive home was long, so I'm just getting back to the land of internet}

Tonight, I am overwhelmed with emotion and so extremely thankful for a healthy, perfect baby.  Today was everything we could've ever imagined it to be.  The weather was beautiful (we saw plenty of it since we were in the car for 9 hours) and we had a safe trip.

The staff at Ultrasona St. Louis was absolutely amazing.  They were patient and so extremely personal.  They took the time to explain what things were and took so many pictures I don't even know where to begin in posting them all.

And Julie is more amazing every single time I see her.  I sat there today watching my baby on that screen with tears in my eyes absolutely overcome with thanks to her for giving us this gift.  It is so much more than I could've ever imagined.

Lastly, I am so overcome with thankfulness and humility to be able to introduce you to our beautiful, perfect, healthy, thumb-sucking

DAUGHTER!

Everyone, please meet Kamdyn.  :)

We are over-the-moon with her - she is our miracle baby and a blessing straight from God Himself.  Thank you to everyone who called, texted, and Facebook messaged.  We are relieved to be able to finally share our amazing news!  :)

Back with more pictures once I finish staring at her for the next few hours.

Lots of Love -

17 Weeks

Here is the 17 Week Belly Pic - 11/14/13

And the side-by-side from last week:

Bigger, huh? Hello, growth spurt this week! And how adorable could Julie be?!  Seriously.

The baby is the size of a turnip this week - about 5 inches and weighs about 5 ounces.

It's skeleton is changing from soft cartilage to bone.  It can move all it's joints and it's sweat glands are starting to develop.

And the big news of the week is that TODAY we find out whether this baby is a HE or a SHE.  I cannot wait to find out - I'm tired of calling the baby "it" or "the baby" - I'm tired of wondering.  I feel like finding out the gender is the big turning point in the pregnancy…it's the downhill slide.  After all, we will get to finally buy some clothes!!  Don't think my mom and I don't already have a shopping date planned for Friday night.  :)  I'm also so excited that my best friend, Jamie, who is expecting a baby a few weeks before us - is also finding out the gender of her baby tomorrow!  We are beside ourselves.

Depending on how quickly we can tell our families, we will have an update on the blog by either tonight or tomorrow morning.  Obviously, above all the gender excitement, we are just praying for a healthy baby in there and can't wait to have more pictures to show you all.

Thanks for all your love & prayers!

Love -

So What Wednesday

Linking up with Shannon at Life After I 'Dew' today for another installment of So What Wednesday.

This week I'm saying "So What" if…

• I have been living my life in terms of days/weeks until I find out the gender of my baby - which is tomorrow, so I'm interested to see what the next benchmark will be.
• Each week I think to myself "if I can just make it through next week" - turns out, each week isn't really better than the next and I'm essentially wishing away time.
• I went all summer without getting my nails done, but now that I'm back to school - I'm back to getting my nails done…I can't stand not having them painted.  Makes me feel like something in my life is put together.
• It's NOVEMBER and I still don't feel like I have myself in order at work.  Ridiculous.
• I am very sporadic in eating well and have sucked it up at exercising this year.
• Although my child isn't due for another 5 months, I absolutely spent part of my night doing this:

So, tomorrow morning you will have your last BUMPdate without knowing the gender and tomorrow afternoon we will officially know whether Baby K will be wearing pink or blue!  SO excited!  :)

Happy Wednesday, Friends!

Hardships

I came across this the other day and it really struck a cord with me.  As our story is getting out, people have emailed, sent texts and Facebook messages, and stopped me randomly to tell me how much our story has touched them.  I am saying this with humility because it is still extremely bizarre to me that this miracle is actually happening to me.  The is really MY life.  I am a very ordinary girl from a small town in Iowa.  I grew up with the "All-American" family - two parents who love each other and a younger sister.  I graduated from high school, went to college, and found my dream job.  I fell in love with an incredible man and we got married.  My story is no different than yours.  I am one person.  Yet, God is using my story in big ways in other people's lives.  And for that, I am eternally thankful.

When I saw this quote, it really spoke to me because I feel like I am finally in a place where I can see the hardship we faced for the blessing it truly was and still is.  Had we not gone through the past 3 years of infertility trials and heartbreak, the beautiful story of generosity and compassion that I'm living because of Julie & Dan wouldn't be - and in turn, the people our story has touched and inspired to perform intentional acts of kindness for others might never have occurred.  When I stop and think about the ripple effect of people who have been touched by the hardships Kevin & I have gone through, I get tears in my eyes.  Although I would've never chosen this journey for myself, I am living proof that God's plans for our lives are often far more than we could've ever dreamed for ourselves.

I'm challenging each of you to view the hardships you're facing today as an opportunity to bless and inspire others.  You never know where the ripple effect of you sharing your story will end.

Lots of Love,

Monday Morning Musings

Regular Blogging again friends!  :)  Now that the week that never ends has finally ended - I feel like I have my life back!  Ready for a brain dump?  Let's roll.

This weekend was just what I needed to refresh and recharge.  Although it went by quickly, I feel like if this week could continue to go by quickly and Thursday could go ahead and hurry on up so I can find out if we're having a son or a daughter, that would be excellent!

Friday was a sad night for my Spartans.  They lost in the quarter-finals of the State Playoffs.  It was an amazing season and we had a great time cheering them on anyway.

Saturday was fun because I had the chance to see my cousin, Sara, who lives in Virginia Beach.  For living so far away, we are fortunate to see her many times in the year.  We share a love of dance, but most of all - she is ridiculously funny and we always have a wonderful time together.  After we worked at the studio, we enjoyed a nice dinner with these monkeys:

After church yesterday, we just had a pretty low key day around here.  Kevin is very slowly beginning to feel a little bit normal again and is hoping to begin working a bit this week.  We did get the chance to go see our niece, Kristina bowl for her college team who was in town this weekend.  In an effort to not be an obnoxious aunt, I didn't take any pictures - but I had a really fun time watching her.  While we were there, I was texting my sister-in-law (Kristina's mom) and she asked how the team was doing.  My response?  "I think they're doing awesome.  Anything above a two digit score is amazeballs in my opinion."  :)

Went to the store over the weekend - can't lie, seeing this caught me a little off guard.  I love Christmas just as much as the next gal, but could we at least pretend that we want to enjoy Thanksgiving?  Or at least get to the week of Thanksgiving?

Was going through my Facebook "Thankful Thanksgiving" posts from last year - just taking a trip down memory lane when I stumbled upon this:

A little over a year from the day we found each other on Facebook, she offered to carry our baby.  We can always tell Baby K that they were born thanks to Facebook.  CRAZY.  :)

So, I was thinking - wouldn't it be awesome if I had one place that would show me all of my favorite blogs and when they're updated?  *cue angels singing* Over the weekend I discovered BlogLovin.  Yes, I realize I'm multiple years late to the party - but better late than never, right?  Here's the deal, I can follow all of my favorite blogs and it is my one stop to catch up on all my favorites.  Love it.  So, if you want to be notified of all the updates on this blog - you can follow me here on BlogLovin.  Want even better news?!  You can download the app from the app store for both iPhone and other smartphones!  I am just so excited about this!!  :)

And last but certainly not least: Today, although my school district will be in session, I think it's important that we stop and truly think about the sacrifices made to defend this country.

I am overwhelmed with gratitude when I think about the countless lives that have been lost so that I can enjoy the freedoms we have.  During 5th grade, my students learn about American history.  From the explorers all the way through modern day.  It's my favorite subject to teach because I want them to always understand the beautiful stories of bravery and hardship that were faced by generations and generations of people before them.  I want them to be thankful for the men and women who fought to defend the freedoms they enjoy.  And above all, I want them to know that we live in the land of the free, BECAUSE of the brave.

Happy Monday,

16 Weeks

{The amount of people who have sweetly stopped me to tell me how much they look forward to Thursday mornings because they religiously log in to check my blog for the BUMPdate absolutely warm my heart.  I am so honored and humbled that you all have found joy in our story - we are honored that you care about us so much - so THANK YOU!}

16 Week Belly Pic: 11/6/13 -

And the side-by-side from last week:

The baby is getting ready for a huge growth spurt - lucky for Julie!  :)  In the next few weeks it's going to double it's weight and add lots of inches!  It's 4 1/2 inches long and weighs about 3 1/2 ounces.  It's eyes have moved closer to the front of it's face and it's ears are nearing their final destination.  It's scalp is starting to pattern, but it doesn't have hair quite yet.  And it's growing toenails!  :)  It's little heart is pumping about 25 quarts of blood each day and that amount will continue to grow until it's born.  It's about the size of an avocado this week:

In other news, one week from today we get to find out the gender of this little boo!  I am beside myself.  Like cannot wait beside myself.  Sooooo - you will have one more BUMPdate before you get to know the gender - I'm hoping to get a gender update up Friday morning.  We obviously want to let our family know before going public to our blog family.  :)

Personally, this week has been crazy with conferences and getting Kevin home and comfortable.  He is recovering well - thank you all for your prayers and checking in on us.  Since the beginning of the year, I've said "if I can just make it through fall conferences - this year is going to fly".  I've said that because after this week we're quickly approaching the holidays and then the spring semester always goes by so quickly and then this baby will be here before we know it.  So, I am about 24 hours from making it to my marker to the year flying!!

I hope you're all having a wonderful week -