Naming Our Son

As I mentioned in this post, we have had a boy name since January 2009. It wasn't because we were looking for names, but because it was a name that was laid on Patrick's heart. Here's the story.

Last January we were deep in the heart of our infertility journey. We hadn't yet started discussing adoption, and were still waiting on the Lord for guidance. Our church started off the year with a 14 day fast. During that time, Patrick heard from the Lord that we would have a son, and when we did, what we were to name him. While Patrick was very excited to feel this confirmation, he was hesitant to share this with me immediately. He wanted to make sure I was at a point that I would be okay with hearing this, because though he was certain this was a promise from God, the one big piece he knew I'd want to know was: but when will we have this son?

At the end of January, we had a special speaker at church, and what he said that night was perfect for where we were at the time. He even stopped his message at one point and said he didn't know why, but he felt the Holy Spirit prompting him to tell this story because there was a couple there that needed to hear it. It was pretty long, but I swear the story could've been us...the ups and downs of waiting, the questions, and everything in between. Through it all, you could see God's hand though, and they were blessed with a child when they least expected it after several years of waiting. It was such a wonderful service; one that I will never forget.

So on the way home from church that night, Patrick felt that he was supposed to go ahead and share with me what he had heard. And he was right, I did ask if God said when we would have our son, but Patrick said he didn't know that part....but it didn't matter. It was such an amazing confirmation and renewed our faith.

Sidenote: As most of you know, we then decided in April to start the adoption process. That was a result of another fasting period and we felt confirmation from the Lord that even if we pursued adoption at that time, it wasn't giving up on the promise of a son He had given us. (You can read about that decision here.)

So! What is the name of our sweet little promise from God that is arriving this May?

Emanuel - meaning "God with us". And He truly is. Of course He always is, but his presence became so obvious to me from the first moment that the little plus sign showed up on the pregnancy test. And to think that Emanuel's heavenly father played a part in telling his earthly father his name, well quite honestly...it is so humbling. We feel so blessed and can't wait until Emanuel is here with us....every moment that I look at him I will be reminded of God's presence and goodness. (And in case you're curious, William is after my dad & Patrick, as that is both of their middle names.)

Some people have asked how we're pronouncing it, so here's a little pronunciation guide for you: E-man-yule. Not so much E-man-you-elllll, as one might sing it. :) It's not a big deal - we're not correcting people or anything, but I just thought I'd throw that tidbit in, because I get asked that often! Though it is hysterical every time my nephew sings his name....he's too funny! We'll probably call him Manuel a lot of the time, too. He already has a billion nicknames, so we'll see what sticks. Though I do have a tendency to over-nickname people...just ask anyone in my family. :)

Here is a bib I got for the little guy.

My mom made this frame for him for Christmas...isn't it adorable?!

AND please don't laugh, but a burp cloth I made for him....my FIRST ever attempt at sewing!! Thanks mom for sharing your awesome expertise...I think it's time for another lesson! :)

And I couldn't get a good picture of these, but I absolutely love them. They are personalized name labels that slide on bottles & sippy cups.

And can I just add that I LOVE some of the names y'all guessed? If we ever have another boy, I definitely might have to use one of those! Congrats to Angie for being the only person to guess correctly...way to go!! :) Email me your address and I'll send you a little surprise. :)

Shopping for the Baby!

I totally didn't realize how much stuff I've picked up for him until I started adding pictures to this post. I mean, it's not a ton of stuff, but keep in mind I've bought this all just here and there, picking up one and two things at a time...and most of it has been on sale at excellent prices! (Yes, I feel the need to justify myself.)

Here are some preeesh-ious shoes I found and a cute onesie...mama can always dream that he loves to nap, right?! (Sorry the picture is turned...can't figure out why it's doing that - anyone know? I've re-uploaded it 3 or 4 times and it keeps doing it.)

Another cute pair of shoes I got for 99 cents!

I got these at one of those surplus stores...they are all Gap & Old Navy and were 99 cents each...thought they'd be perfect for lounging. :)

On the left is a set of fold-up hooks that we'll put somewhere in the nursery. I also bought several of the blue storage boxes for $1, because I have a passion for containers. :) And a little thingy you can put in the dishwasher to wash stuff...yes, that's the technical name for it.

I know this is a little premature, but for $2.99 how could I pass?! Any volunteers to remind me next year that I have this?

This was one of those things I couldn't decide if I should get or not because I could always just put it on my registry. It's a Jeep brand shopping cart/high chair cover. I love the print, and for $15 bucks I decided to just go for it.

This was on sale at Wal-Mart for 50 cents...how could I resist? :)

Some more storage things as well as receiving blankets. I think we might use one of those to have my mom make me a nursing cover.

Some more containers...the same blue one you already saw, a smaller blue striped one that was also $1, and the khaki ones from Target weren't on sale, but I still needed them.

This next item I would like some feedback on. It's one of those blanket bags. I got it for like $16, which is a good price compared to other places I've seen them. It seems like a cool concept, but I'm curious...will I actually use this? Anyone out there have one?

Some cute booties...one pack was $3, the other $5.

I loooove this super soft swaddle blanket, and it was only $5!

I found this JJ Cole Diapers & Wipes pod for only $8. I think these are so cool and will definitely be useful for on the go.

Not sure where we'll put this, but it's a cute train set from IKEA that was cheap...Patrick loved it too so we decided to go ahead and get it.

I got this nursing cover free with a coupon from Udder Covers. I did have to pay $8.95 shipping, but not too bad a deal!

A cute pack of onesies and some plaid shorts...when I showed Patrick these, he asked if I was going to get him a pocket protector, too. The plaid is cute, right?!My favorite onesie from the pack above. :)
One of my favorite onesies from Gap...only $3!!
And finally, a few decorations for the room. Some of you have asked if I've decided on a theme, and we're not really going with a set "theme", so to speak. His bedding & room will be in blue, chocolate brown, white, and khaki mostly. We will have some accents, such as vintage airplane type stuff, and of course you can't forget this guy, so a monkey or two will be present. Here are a couple of planes and a frame I got from Kirkland's.

This is all currently in a ginormous stack in his room...mama needs to get busy! Hope to have some pictures of room ideas/progress for you soon!

Christmas Gifts for the Babe

I know I'm a little late on this post (say, like a month...can't believe that much time has passed since Christmas!) but I said I'd post pictures of some of the Christmas gifts Baby Martin got, so here we go.

Check out this sweet onesie my Aunt Nancy sent him...I love it!!

My mom and dad got him these outfits...aren't those monkey feet too precious?!

This stuff all came from my nephew Jax. There are getting to be so many grandkids in the family that they draw names & buy for each other, so this year he got in on the fun a little early. Love it all!

Here is a little picture I made for Patrick and framed. In case you can't tell, this is the ultrasound picture where you can see him playing with, ahem, it. I thought it would be a funny little joke and I put it in Patrick's stocking. Imagine my horror when I went up to his clinic the other day and he has this sitting out in the nurse's station!!! Seriously?! He thought it was funny and said everyone gets a laugh out of it. Again, I'm dealing with a child here. But I wouldn't have it any other way. :)

I also put this onesie in his stocking...so cute. :)

My parents got him this Baby Bible Storybook and I love it!! We try to read him a story every night.

Some more cute little monkey outfits from my sister...just can't get enough of those!!!

And this last gift is from my little sister, and includes a hint as to Baby Martin's name! Any guesses?? It's pretty uncommon, or at least not something I think anyone would just guess out of the blue. I just might have to give a little prize away if someone guesses correctly! (Those of you who know PLEASE do not say...you won't win!!) Either way, I'll share his name this week.

Sound off below with your guesses! :)

Headed to Ecuador!

Well, I am SO excited to share that we are finally heading to Ecuador this Friday! As I've mentioned before, Patrick's brother and wife are serving as medical missionaries there. They moved down there at the end of last summer, and we have always said we wanted to go visit soon. We are going a little bit earlier than we had originally thought we would, but when we had our surprise pregnancy, we bumped up our plans accordingly.

We'll be there for about 2 weeks and can't wait to spend time with them and our niece and nephew! I'm planning on spending some time at the orphanage there as well as visiting my nephew's school...I just know it's going to be such a great time. I do wish I could speak Spanish a little better than I can. I mean, if anyone needs me to count to ten or know what color something is, I'll be the go to person. Apart from that, let's go ahead and call my 15 hours of college Spanish a waste. Patrick speaks Spanish so he's tried to give me some pop quizzes lately...however, they mostly result in me staring blankly at him. So wish me luck!

We sponsor a little girl through Compassion that lives only about 15 minutes from where they are, so we were hoping to get to meet her while there. Unfortunately that isn't going to work out this trip due to Compassion not having the ability to schedule a sponsor visit at this time, but there's always next time!

I will try to blog some while I'm there, but no promises. (Not that you guys have any expectations of me anyway since I'm pretty hit and miss on my blogging consistency...) Please pray that this will be a blessed trip and that I will continue to feel great. :) Thanks!

Label Giveaway Winner

And the winner of the label giveaway is Brittany at Perfect Harmony! Brittany, email me at sjg_ou@yahoo.com with your mailing address and I'll get them in the mail. Thanks to everyone who entered. And just because you didn't win doesn't mean you can't get organized...so get to work! :)

Baby Martin Update: Month 5

Our little monkey is growing up before our very eyes! Last weekend my parents were in town, so we decided to go take a look at the little guy. They had never seen an ultrasound before, even though my mom has had 5 babies...they didn't have all this fun stuff back then! :) So it was neat for them to get to see him. And my how he's grown since last month! I mean, I don't want to brag or anything, but I am doing my part by supplying him with plenty of Krispy Kremes keeping him well fed. We took a few pictures with my phone...quality isn't the best, but it gives you an idea. Check out this cuteness...I love my little thumbsucker!!

And here's another shot proving he's a boy...because my husband just can't get enough of those. Notice the comment he typed on the screen...silly boys!!
It was so fun to see him again and know he's doing well. I've been feeling really great...enjoying the 2nd trimester through and through. Here is an update on some belly pics of me. I will be honest though...I forgot to take my 5 month picture. This picture was taken Sunday, so I'm technically 23 weeks...which is still in the 5th month, so that counts, right? Anyway, as evidenced below, I continue to grow from the chest up...it's getting ridiculous.

Don't forget to enter my label giveaway...it ends Sunday at noon!

Label Giveaway

So as I mentioned, I'm an organizing fool lately. With the help of my mom, we tackled the garage this weekend. Here it is before (and yes, I'm so embarassed it looked like this. We never organized after moving in.)


And the after! Thanks so much mom!! :)


On to the giveaway. I love labeling things, and ended up with some duplicates last time I ordered, so I'd like to share them with one of my lovely readers! Here are some I have in our bathroom cabinet.

I have about 15 or 20 labels of different words that I used to organize my pantry, linen closet, and movies. They are all soft copper in color and 1 inch tall.

Want to win? Here are the ways to enter. Please leave a separate comment for each entry.
*Leave a comment saying which part of your house needs organizing the most.
*Become a follower or let me know you already are one.
*Blog about this giveaway.
*Tweet about this giveaway.

Contest is open until Sunday, January 24th at noon. Good luck!

Friday Fragments

The Office Quote of the Week
"Hi, Jan, it's Michael. I just, um, I just want to let you know that I am going to go to your Lamaze class tomorrow. Um and if there's any details you need to fill me in on, like what exactly Lamaze is, that would be great, and I will see you tomorrow morning." -Michael
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I was so sad to get to the end of my Office Daily Quote calendar. I've searched everywhere but can't find it in stores. I did see it on Amazon, but am waiting until I need some other things so I can qualify for free super saver shipping...makes it all worth it. No worries though, I saved some quotes from my 2009 calendar to hold me over on my Friday posts til I get the new one.
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I'm still on a huge organizing/decluttering kick, which makes me happy!! If you follow me on Twitter, you might have seen this unruly picture of my closet:Pretty much this is what happens when you a.) haven't unpacked from all your travels since Thanksgiving, and b.) add maternity clothes to an already crowded closet. I have since divided & conquered the closet, and have 3 huge bags of clothes to get rid of now. SO much better! I will post some before and after photos next week because...well, because I forgot to take any after photos. I have moved on to my craft armoire which has completely fallen apart, so I hope to find a solution to that this weekend. All this organizing makes me feel warm & fuzzy. You know what else makes me feel warm & fuzzy? Labeling things. So in honor of that, I have some labels I am going to giveaway next week. (I will post pictures & details of what words they are, etc. when I do the giveaway.)
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And finally, a friendly reminder...

Happy Weekend, Friends! :)