Update

I figured it was time for an update about some things going on around here!

Our pregnancy is still going great.  One month to go!  I’m still feeling great, and we get more and more excited every day about meeting our baby boy!

Here’s our 34 weeks picture (two weeks ago).  I’m getting a bit huge.

For those of you participating in the wager over whether I’ll surpass Kolby’s weight before giving birth—the verdict is still out but I have to say the scales are tipping (literally) in the direction of YES.  We weighed in for the first time in awhile last night and the scale showed the exact same weight for us both, even out to a decimal place!  Yikes.  But technically I haven't passed his weight, and he said he's going to try to outgain me in these last few weeks (good luck!).  We'll see how that goes...

I thought I’d share about my work arrangement with regard to the baby.  I’m planning to take 11-12 weeks of maternity (FMLA) leave.  Most of it will be unpaid, but can you really put a price on snuggling with a newborn?!? :)  Hopefully I’ll be able to work up until I go into labor (likely working from home quite a bit toward the end) so that I’ll have the full time with Baby B here rather than using up any days before he comes.  Kolby will take 1-2 weeks off.  The timing worked out perfectly because Kolby will only return to work for a very short time before he is off for two weeks for Christmas break.  I know we will be so grateful to have such an extended amount of time home together as a new family!

When I go back to work, I’ll be going back only part time.  I can’t tell you how amazing it is to write that!  This is something we have wanted for our family all along and had been praying would work out.  I’ve worked really hard over the last 3 years to prove that I was worth keeping on part time, but it’s the kind of thing that you don’t know if it’ll work out until you ask and you can’t ask until you’re pregnant.  I am grateful beyond words that my company is accommodating my request.  I’ll work three days a week—Mondays and Wednesdays at the office and Fridays from home.

I am so excited about this schedule for our new family!  I’ll get to be home with Beckett a lot, which makes my heart so happy.  Kolby gets home from work around 4:30pm, so we’ll have a lot of good time all together during the week, plus weekends.  And of course, Kolby has the summers off as well as school holidays.  Sure we’ll have to make (big) adjustments to our finances, but we’re happy to give up a whole lot to avoid either of us working more.   We are so thankful to have a schedule that allows for so much time together!

As far as childcare, a friend from church will be a part-time nanny for Beckett—taking care of him at our house on days that I work.  Kolby’s mom is also going to help us a few days a month.  I’ll be sad to be apart from him, but we’re blessed to get to leave him in such good care!

In other news, we’ve completed all of our baby classes—including four childbirth class sessions, a breastfeeding class, an infant care class, and an infant/child CPR class.  I guess that means we’re as ready as we’ll ever be! :)  After the CPR class we stopped by the labor & delivery ward to see where it was and the lady behind the desk asked if we were checking in.  Ha!

We've done a lot of fun things over the past few weeks, including baby showers, trips to Wimberley and Waco, and dinners with friends and family.  We also hosted our annual pumpkin carving contest, but this year it got too big to host at our house so we moved to the church.  Kolby won the contest with this 10% cute/90% creepy entry:

Right now we’re just doing everything we can to soak up this last bit of time before the baby comes.  Sure, we are BEYOND excited to welcome him into our family, but I’m trying to treasure these last moments before the big change… last moments of being a family of two, having tons of time to spend together as a couple with no real responsibilities... and selfishly, the last moments of being the center of attention.  I know good and well that having a super cute baby in tow when we go visit family and friends means that it won’t be about us anymore :).