Our little blessing

Jeremiah Giese was born Saturday, October 23rd at 1:50 p.m. After a smooth pregnancy we hit a bump in the road medically in the last week where the doctors wanted to go ahead and deliver. We went in Saturday morning at 4 a.m. to be induced. We were all surprised at how quickly things went and our little miracle arrived just short of 10 hours into our visit. While his birth wasn't quite what we planned from the beginning it went smoothly and I could feel God's presence all throughout. All of the concerns they had for me medically are better and everything for Jeremiah looks good as well.

We are very much in love with our son! He is perfect with all fingers, toes, etc just as they should be. He has a very relaxed personality and we are enjoying every minute with him.

Here are a few pictures. More pictures to come.

He's here!

Our sweet gift from the Lord arrived today at 1:50pm. I will post more information and pictures very soon. Right now I am going to collapse in this hospital bed while he sleeps. Praising Jesus for his many blessings and answered prayers today!

It's nearly go time!

Based on my lab work the doctor feels it would be best for us to go ahead and deliver our sweet one tomorrow morning. We will be heading to the hospital at 4 and will be getting things started from there. Sometime tomorrow we will hopefully have him in our arms.
Please pray for a safe and healthy delivery, a healthy baby, and for my lab work to return to normal. We value your prayers and thank God for each of you! We cannot wait to share our son with you. Thank you for praying for us during this pregnancy, God has been so faithful! We cannot wait to give him the glory for a safe delivery and a healthy baby!

What a week!

Well this last week has been quite an interesting one. Our social calendar has slowed down drastically and so I thought would the excitement, haha. I worried on Monday that our little guy wasnt moving enough and right before we called the doctor to see about getting things checked he started movin like crazy again and hasnt really stopped since. I'm with my mom on the fact that this won't be the first time my son will scare/worry us.
Aaron's work week has been very heavy this week as well. He has been working until 6 or later nearly every day. I am grateful that he has steady work during this time and that he works so very hard for our family!
We managed to have dinner with both sets of our parents this week. What a treat to have our families so close by. I love the close family connections and am glad that we will be able to offer those to our children.
The end of the week was certainly the most surprising part of our week. When going to the doctor this week they found some changes in my normally great numbers. As a result of these numbers we are looking at the possibility of meeting our son just a bit earlier than we thought. Even though this comes only days before our due date and is before any health issues would be come alarming it still comes as a surprise to us. My emotions processing this latest news have been all over the place. I know that the Lord my God has ultimate control but my flesh is screamin a different story. Praying for the peace of Christ to overwhelm us at this time.

Baby help/visits

We are blown away by the number of people who have already shown their love for us and our sweet little one. So many of you have asked about bringing meals or coming by to visit once he is born. We would LOVE to share our little one with each of you but would like to ask a few things. Please call/text us before coming to see that it is a good time and that we are not resting. Also if you have been sick recently (last 48-72 hours min) please wait before coming to see us.

To keep any one person from having to coordinate meals for us we are using a website (www.carecalendar.org) to make sure that everyone who wants to provide a meal has the chance to do so. To log in you will need the ID code: 52218 and Security code: 7608. Please let us know if you have any questions or troubles logging in. When you log in you will be able to see the needs for each day and whether or not they have been filled. There is also information there about allergies, likes/dislikes, times etc. There is also a place for you to enter what you would be bringing to allow for a variety of meals.
We love you all and are very thankful for each of you! Thank you so much for everything you have already done and for the love and prayers we continue to feel during these last few days. We cannot wait to share our new little one with each of you!

Ping ponging back and forth, up and down...

The last couple of days have been a whirlwind. Friday was an awesome day at Chrysalis. I hated to not be involved for more of the weekend than we were able to this time but I am always glad to be able to go out and serve and be blessed by the community of Christ out there.

Saturday was the first day where I noticed that my energy levels are definitely on the flux. I slept late, ate lunch, took a nap, and then got ready for my cousin's wedding. You would think after all that sleep I would be good to go. Especially since the only thing I did was attend the wedding/reception. Crazy thing is I came home and went to bed early. This little one is certainly continuing to show us that life is changing.

Sunday was filled with church, lunch, hammock swinging, corn hole, and seeing sweet friends.

Our big projects have pretty much been completed. I am trying to fill my days with the little things I wanted to have done and resting up. My mind is going all over the place these days. I can tell my emotions/hormones are ping ponging back and forth. It is crazy what these last days of pregnancy can do to a woman. I am so ready to meet this little one!

Quick check in

So I'm laughin at myself tonight for not blogging anything for nearly a month now. I have a 36 week belly pic that I meant to post but obviously never got around to it. Things have been a bit crazy around here as we have rushed to get our last minute baby stuff together as well as complete other projects before he gets here. Not to mention all of the other commitments we had/have on us before our new arrival. While life has been very busy for us during this last month it has been a good busy (for the most part) and really is beginning to calm down. After this coming Saturday we dont have anything major planned until our little one gets here. Now I realize that is only a bit more than a week, if he comes on time, but for us not having anything planned for that long is a dream. I am looking forward to having a newborn not only to love and cherish but to keep us at home and not runnin around for just a bit. I'm sure that soon enough we will be back to a crazy enough pace.
A few realizations:
*We are so very very blessed. I am overwhelmed with God's provision.
*The end of pregnancy is tiring. Really tiring.
*I feel like a ping-pong ball most days. Ready to be not pregnant and then the next second almost mourning the end of this wonderful pregnancy. Yes, even at 38+ weeks I am still enjoying pregnancy.
*The human body is quite amazing!

On the baby news front. As of this afternoon when I went to the doctor I have dilated to an almost 2 and have a "very soft" cervix. Most of the time I still feel great all things considering. I am having more contractions and they are getting more frequent and stronger. My mind is still baffled by the fact that our little one will be here any time.

I am not even going to pretend to tell you that we will be updating every day with photos and info once he's here. I will simply do my best to share with our loved ones what I can. Love you all and can't wait to show you the newest member of our family.

Tired?

Many times lately I have been asked if I am tired. Am I tired of being pregnant? Do I tire easily? Am I tired of standing? Etc, etc, etc.
Overall I am doing well. I feel good. Great most days :) I sleep well at least 5-6 nights a week and am blessed to be able to rest frequently during most of my days. So when people ask me if I'm tired I can for the most part on most days say no. Most days I'm doing well. I do have more moments where I wear out more easily. I certainly cannot do all of the things I used to squeeze into a day right now. Since I am blessed to be at home right now I have the ability to take it easy and rest when I need to. Life continues to be fairly busy. We have a lot going on for my family right now and that is keeping me pretty busy. I'm glad for most of the busyness since it keeps my mind somewhat distracted as we wait for our little one. With each day I am growing more and more eager to meet our little one. Only about four more weeks now. All in God's timing.

Our first baby shower and a few pre baby thoughts

A few weeks ago we had our first baby shower. What a sweet time with family and friends. Christal did an excellent job putting everything together. We were blessed with many sweet gifts and an even sweeter time of prayer for our new little family and our little one. I know it is because of friends like these praying for us that we have had such an excellent pregnancy. We both feel very blessed to have such an amazing support group around us. (I have some excellent pictures but just not the time/energy to put them up at the moment)
While we have cut back on many activities in efforts to prepare for our little one we have also managed to stay busier than I could have ever imagined. My days lately have been busy preparing for a bridal shower and a separate reception for two of my cousins. I have also started to make sure that all of the "little" things are taken care of before baby comes, or at least making a list of what still needs to be done. My nesting is definitely beginning to come in spurts~mostly as I have the free time or energy to do so.
This past weekend Aaron and I went and served on a Mountain Top Chrysalis weekend. It was a great weekend full of the Lord working in awesome ways. Even at nearly 35 weeks pregnant I was blessed to be able to serve on the weekend. God is so good!
I am coming to realize that growing this little one is taking more and more of my energy each day. I continue to rest well most nights and am trying to take it easy but definitely feel every bit of the 35+ weeks of this pregnancy at times as well. I cannot wait to see this little one and yet at the same time I find it hard to believe he will be here in just 4ish weeks.

Originally titled 28 weeks, reality is 33 weeks

28 weeks

Here is our 28 week belly shot. I appologize for just now getting it posted. We will continue to do belly shots at least once a month up until the end. I might go to more frequent shots later on if I notice more change but then again who knows.
32 weeks

The 32 week belly shot. I am quite amused by the fact that it has taken me over a month to put up our last pic. and to get this post up. Life continues to be wonderful. We have now finished our childbirth classes and are approaching our final baby showers. Only 7-9 weeks left until we meet our little guy. I am still enjoying being pregnant. I have moments where I am anxious to meet him and hold him and then I realize just how much I am enjoying feeling him roll and kick inside and know that I cant replicate that once he's here. Just yesterday at church I was thanking God for answering my prayers and giving me an enjoyable pregnancy~we have been so blessed and are so thankful!

I have also had people ask if we are going to post pictures of his nursery and to be honest I'm not sure. Probably we will but that all depends on when we get some things done in there and how things are coming along with it. For several months now we have had his crib, dresser, and glider in the room along with the guest bed which is staying in there. There have also been other projects of ours hanging out in there from time to time. I am eager for those other projects to be completed or find other homes.

The third trimester...

We are officially here. The third and final trimester before this little guy makes his arrival into our lives. We have been so blessed to have good health and an overall easy pregnancy. I know that for the most part I have LOVED being pregnant. I love feeling all of his rolling around, kicking and jabbing. Even the occasional back pain and rib pain have been tolerable. It is still hard to wrap our minds around the fact that in around 9 weeks there will be another member of our family.
I read a blog post today about cherising the times when your children are small because you won't ever get them back. I have often thought about that concept as I look at life and especially now that we are getting ready to have a child. It hit me today as I read that post however that it also applies to my pregnancy. Since the beginning one of my prayer requests was that I would be able to enjoy pregnancy, both the good and the bad and to be joyful in it. I pray that others have seen that in this pregnancy as I know we have felt it. We truly have enjoyed this process. We love looking at the updates each week letting us know how our little one is growing and developing.
We are halfway through with our childbirth classes. Several people have asked us why we are taking them with Aaron's medical knowledge of the birthing process and my knowledge of children but I can honestly say that we have both enjoyed and gained quite a bit from the classes. It has been nice to learn new breathing and coping strategies as well as other ways to manage labor. The classes have also been a great starting place for us into discussions of what we want during labor and while we are in the hospital. Next week's class includes the hospital tour which I know we will both find useful. I know that will make things that much more real for us as well.
We love and appreciate all of the prayers our friends and family have offered up on our behalf. What a humbling experience to have so many people praying not just for you but for your child. I am blown away by the number of people that are as excited as we are about this little one and cant wait to meet him. God is so very good! If there is this much love for our child who is not even here yet, how can you truly wrap your mind around the love He has for each of us?

We have a bit of catching up to do...

Going back a bit to the beginning of June. We had our first party to celebrate our little one. As part of the agreement when we decided to find out whether we were having a boy or a girl I agreed that we would have a party to celebrate our big news with our friends. Because we were going to a wedding right after we found out we went ahead and told family but our friends had to wait a few days longer. We asked them to wear blue if they thought we were having a boy and pink if they thought it would be a girl. While up to that point we had more people saying girl we ended up with nearly an equal amount of each that evening.

Here are the pics for team blue and team pink.

We had a great evening of fellowship with friends and enjoyed being able to tell many of our friends at the same time what we were having!

The cupcakes held the answer inside.

It's a boy! A little boy will be joining our family towards the end of October or early November.

We are excited to meet our little one :)

Keepin on, truckin on

Life has been busy. There are so many things that I need to catch up on. The last month has flown by. We started off the first weekend in June with our big ultrasound appointment at the doctor's office. Right after the appointment we drove over and picked up Aaron's mom and started our drive to Northern VA for his cousin's wedding. We had a great trip seeing his family and being there for their wedding.
Week 20 (The beginning of the bump)

A few days after we got back we held a Gender Reveal party for our friends to let them know whether baby Giese would be wearing lots of pink or blue. Our party was a blast! I will put up a seperate post with pictures from that night.


The following weekend I drove down to Winston-Salem to see Abby in Cinderella. For years now I have been able to go down and see the various plays put on by the West Side Civic Theatre. The plays are outdoors and are always fun to watch. I enjoy the layed back night of entertainment. The next day I was blessed to be able to visit with Sean, Christal and Cooper for a bit before coming back up to the mountains.


The last couple of weeks since then really have been a blur. I have gotten back onto the task of crossing items off of my really long and detailed to do list. Many of these items have been on there for nearly a year and some of them I really want to have accomplished before our little one arrives. Starting last week I also started keeping my cousin's little boy a few days a week. I have enjoyed being able to help them out while also forcing myself to stay home and get a few things done around here as well. Not to mention he is such a happy baby! In addition to those things Aaron and I have also made some decisions, based on many prayers, about our church home. We knew my time in the nursery was coming to an end but we have also decided that our time of going to Access church are also coming to an end. We love many different aspects of the church but are feeling led to come back to a more local church in order to raise our family in the way God would have us to.


As far as our little one goes, we are continuing to be blessed by the Lord with an easy pregnancy. My only complaint is some occasional mid back pain. I thank the Lord daily for this child and this pregnancy. I can honestly say I am enjoying being pregnant. I love feeling our little one, who's kicks are growing stronger every day. I am thankful that they seem new and exciting to me each time. I never want to forget just how special this time is. While the heat has been above average here lately I have been managing ok. I have only had one day where I felt miserable with the conditions. Next week marks 24 weeks in this pregnancy! I will post a new belly pic then.


Thanks for continuing to check in on us even in our long absences.

furniture, flutters and funny dreams

Things around here have been very busy lately. We continue to try and finish up projects around the house that we have been wanting to do especially the ones that have to do with baby. At the end of last week the crib and dresser came in and Aaron's mom brought them over here with her truck. During the weekend my parents came over and helped us move around the furniture in our guest/baby room and assemble the crib. It is a beautiful crib and dresser set! We are still getting used to seeing them in the room as we walk by. Once we have things more prepared I will post pictures.
I am getting more and more used to feeling our little one flutter in my belly. Most of the time I start to feel little flutters in the first quiet moments of the evening. Over the last few days and nights I have noticed that I am feeling our little one more often and for longer moments each time.
I am evidently very excited about finding out the gender of our little one. Last night I had 3 seperate and very different dreams about finding out. In each dream there were different friends and we found out or told people in different ways. When I got to the end of the last dream I found myself wanting to go back to sleep and to the dream so that I could find out...haha. Many of our Chrysalis friends and family were in my dreams as well as some complete strangers that I couldnt figure out why they were there or would want to know. I'm glad that I only have to wait 2 more days before we find out (or at least have the chance to).

ch ch ch changes...

This past weekend we began what I know will only be the first of many changes in our little household. We pulled everything out of 3 of our 4 closets and proceeded to sort through and reorganize. Nearly two days later the biggest part of the project was finished. The closets look great, especially the baby closet which is nearly empty awaiting arrival of all things baby.
Yesterday mom and I went to the store of all things baby and bought the car seat and stroller. Later that evening his mom ordered a glider rocker for us and then brought us our crib and dresser we ordered a few weeks back. We have been so blessed to receive so many big items already and all at a discount thanks to an awesome sale at the store of all things baby. With 20% off of each item we really saved a lot!
This weekend Aaron is on call but we are going to spend most of our time working around the house and putting together the crib.
We are getting more and more excited about this little one. It took me forever to fall asleep last night as I realized we had only a week until we will be able to go and hopefully see what this little one is :) As a fun way to announce to our friends what we will be having we are going to have a gender reveal party on June 8th. We will let our families know later that day but will have everyone else wait until the party to find out. We cant wait to celebrate with everyone!

I'm still here!

We are still around and doing great! I am sorry for the long absence between posts. Here are a few tidbits of what has been keeping us busy:

Baby Giese (also known as Wiggle Worm)

I spent most of the first trimester sleeping. That included through a good part of the Olympic figure skating. I was blessed enough not to really have any morning sickness. I did have a few food items that made me feel icky, but with avoiding those items I have felt great. Aaron and I walk as often as we can and have started the process of trying to select names.

I've been to the doctor twice now (I go again next week) and have received two great reports. Thus far this pregnancy has been wonderfully uneventful. I will continue to pray for a happy and healthy pregnancy. We will continue to pray that the Lord continues to form this little one and brings about a healthy pregnancy and delivery.

We have not taken many belly pictures largely because there has not been much to photograph in that department. Around week 12 I began to have a slight bit that I could no longer suck in. Here at 15 weeks I am just barely past that point. Still nothing major to report. Here is a little picture of week 12.

In other events, our social schedule has finally slowed down. We ran a very busy schedule from the beginning of February to the end of April. Lots of fun events but it was very tiring not to have any down time. We were blessed to be able to celebrate Cooper's 2nd birthday with him, participate in another Chrysalis weekend, continue to serve with our church, celebrate Adam's birthday, visit Disney (i promise to upload pics soon) and a number of other events.

I am excited to say that we are making some progress on some personal goals we have around the house as well. It is nice to see some things come to place that we have had to put off for quite some time. Both of us are looking forward to this spring and summer season and all that it will bring!

I cannot wait

I cannot wait to snuggle up with our child. To soak up all of the little coos and sweet baby smells. Oh friends my heart just keeps getting bigger and bigger much as my child does with each growing day. God is so good!

With growing joy and excitement....

we bring you our exciting news..............we're pregnant!!

I had suspicions and decided to take a test even though it was probably a bit early. Within a minute or so the test very clearly read pregnant. Even though I knew it was a very real possibility I was surprised. I looked at it over and over saying to myself...really? I even went so far as to go back and look at the test several times throughout the morning. As the day went on I realized just how excited I was and how much I love our little one already!


Aaron came home from the office for lunch and I had waiting on his computer an "I love Daddy" bib. When he saw it, he looked at it and quickly realized its meaning. He had a few moments of surprise and realization and ended with great joy.



We are both still processing this news and are excited about the changes that are coming!

We have now told most of our families so I thought I would take a moment and post our news on here :)