Ok, so it has been quite a while since my last post, but here goes.

Life is good. Adelle turns 2 in a few weeks, John starts high school in a few weeks, Luke took an amazing trip to Spain this summer, Aaron loves his job and has now been there a year, and we just love our new home.

God has blessed us with so much and sometimes as I run an extra large bath or scrape uneaten food into the sink, I can't help but feel guilty for those who do not have fresh drinking water spewing from a tap or don't have enough to eat every day. I say a prayer each time a thought like this comes on my heart for those less fortunate.

We took an amazing vacation through Nashville, Mammoth Caves Kentucky, Ohio and Niagara Falls. We had not had a vacation like this for quite a while (or ever has a family of 5) and it felt good to spend this time with our family. The boys are growing quickly and will be out of the house in a blink of an eye. I mean, high school, people. John will be IN HIGH SCHOOL.

If you asked me 10 years ago what I thought my life would be like, I could never have come up with this. God has a plan and it may not always (and heck, usually doesn't) coincide with ours. So pray hard and get on for the ride. God's got us strapped in pretty tightly.

Our beautiful Adelle

Our goofball on the trip

Riding the choo-choo at King's Island

Train time!

High School, people. High school.

Corvette Museum

Adelle's one year mark

Demmer Photography: Adelle's Birthday Photos:

I can't believe that my little girl is almost one year old. I was wrapping her birthday presents tonight with little tears streaming down my face because this past year and just flown by. She is growing and changing so quickly that it is hard to remember what she was like a month ago or two or three.

As we embark upon this one year mark, I have a few things that I want my beautiful Adelle Angeline to know, now and always:

1. You are loved. Loved by God. Loved by your family. Loved by multitudes of friends.
2. We are always there for you. NO. MATTER. WHAT. We are here for the ups and downs, rights and wrongs.
3. Your brothers love you more than they even realize. If you could only comprehend the way you make them light up when they see you. You bring an extra little light into their lives.
4. Your Nana, Grandpa, and Grandma Sharon adore you beyond measure. You make their hearts smile and they love you so much!
5. You have such a beautiful soul. You have the knack to make us laugh. You make the silliest faces. You love your pets. You are mischievous, but in a good way. You are adventurous, flexible, goofy, loveable, loud, and heart-warming.
6. We could not imagine our lives without you. You fill our hearts and lives with joy every day.

We love you.
Happy almost birthday, beautiful baby girl.

See the link above to see the pictures that Teresa did for us. :)

Happy to be home

Today is Adelle's 3 week birthday.  So much has happened in the last 3 weeks, it feels like an eternity!  We went in on August 25 to be induced.  After 14 hours of labor, a dose of phenergan to relieve nausea that doped me up, an epidural and a c-section, Adelle came into the world at 8:31 PM not breathing.  After CPR, they got her going, I got to see her for a couple minutes and then they whisked her away to the NICU.  There she stayed for the next 11 days under bili lights with x-rays and iv's, blood tests, and other tests, and nursing care around the clock.  It was the longest, most exhausting time of my life.  I spent my entire days up at the the hospital and NICU and there just is not a comfortable place for a woman healing from a c-section to rest and heal while being in the NICU all day.

We came home on labor day.  And let me tell you, being at home is way more relaxing than being up at the NICU all day.  Adelle is doing well.  She is nursing well and growing.  She is just so beautiful and I can't imagine my life without her.  In some ways, it feels like she's always been here.

Grandma Sharon has been in town and has been soaking up as much cuddle time as possible.  Well, so have mommy and daddy.  It's going to be interesting teaching her how to sleep outside of someone's arms!  After all we went through, I just don't want to put her down or let her out of my sight!  And to add to that, the boys are just absolutely in live with her!

She is an absolute joy and I don't mind the small stretches of sleep, painful recovery or how nothing on my birth plan panned out.  All I care about is that she is here and she is now a healthy girl.  Keep your prayers coming!  We want her to stay that way!

Love to you all!!!

Mama and her sweet baby girl

John loves his new baby sister!

Luke is happy that she is home!

She has daddy wrapped around her little finger!

The Gumps

Almost there!

Well, here we are towards the end of the pregnancy.....She could be here really soon!  I had a dream last night that I was waiting around the hospital to go into labor.

We are gearing up our baby gear to make sure that we have everything.  We have already been given so much and are truly blessed at all the wonderful friends and family that love us and already love this little baby coming into the world.

I think that the scariest part that in just a few short weeks, we will go in, have the baby, and they will give her to us to take home!  Everyone ensures me (and I know this deep inside) that it will be great, but still, a little scary!  I am going to be a mommy!  Something that I have waited for my entire life!  Very exciting as well!

Again, thank you all for everything that you have done for us to prepare for our baby girl.  We can't wait for you to meet her!

The 4 Gumps getting ready for the 5th!

Me at 35 weeks

The Gump Bump

Well, we are halfway there.  Already made it past 20 weeks.  Things are looking good and I am feeling good.  The most incredible thing in the entire world is feeling the baby move.  From the thump-thumps. to the swirls to the waves, it is just amazing.  I really can't compare it to anything I have ever experienced in my entire life and really don't want to.  It just is an amazing gift from God to be growing a new human.

In two days, we get to find out if we are having a boy or a girl (as long as the baby is cooperative!).  The cool thing is that the doctor said that the boys get to come along so all four of us will find out together at the same time.  Luke started talking to the baby tonight and feeling the hardness that is my growing uterus and his baby brother/sister.  Now that I am really showing, the boys are getting more excited.  This is becoming more real for them.

Here is a picture of me on my "20 weeks" day, last Friday.  I am really enjoying my pregnancy.

Trimester #2

So we had yet another ultrasound on Thursday and it was pretty amazing.  I have to say that I did have a hard time focusing on account of the full bladder and my intense need to empty it (I was required to have a full bladder for the US), but it was still such a neat experience.  Baby Gump was very cooperative with the technician and we were able to get some good shots.  On top of that, Baby Gump was moving all around, kicking and jumping.  The baby is now about 3 inches and everything looked really good. 

It was our last time to see our regular OBGYN (she only sees patients through the first trimester), so we will be moving to our new doctor now that we have reached our 2nd trimester.  It seems to be going by so fast, but yet still feels so far away.

The next time we have an ultrasound, which will be in April, we will get to find out if Baby Gump is a boy or a girl.  We have people on both sides of the fence...some on the boy side and some on the girl side, but only time will tell!

Look at that adorable little profile!

Taking shape

So we had another ultrasound at our fertility specialist and talk about an amazing experience!  Seeing the shape of the baby, hearing that nice heartbeat, and actually seeing the baby move about (but I can't feel it yet because the baby is only an inch long!) was just so breath-taking!  Talk about a tear-jerker.

Dr. Dunn has been an amazing doctor and has always made us feel comfortable through this whole process, so when he told us that if we never see him again that it would be okay.  He only means it in the way that he hopes our fertility issues are gone.  He just wants to make sure that we send baby pictures and family pictures his way which we will of course will do!  We are now released to our regular OBGYN and I am eager to see her because she was with us for awhile while we tried as well. 

Another adventure we have already begun is the whole baby registry process.  We already jumped into this because the boys wanted to help pick stuff out and it was really our only opportunity with them before we go to Ohio for spring break.  Luke just ran around Babies R Us with Lillie while John hung in for a good hour clicking the scanner gun on everything from bottles to carseats to swaddles to bath toys.  He was able to pick many things out.  Seeing how it is so early and we won't know the gender of the baby for quite some time, we went with neutral things.  However, we did pick out both our boy and girl bedding.  So once we know what we are having, we will just delete the other set and make the neutral choices more gender-biased.  Registering for baby things is a completely different experience than registering for wedding things.  With wedding things, we already know what things we like and will work, while with baby things, who knows?!  We won't know until we get there!

T.R. is getting bigger.  She now has fully formed eyes (the lids stayed sealed until 27 weeks) and her heart is finishing up its four chambers.  God is so amazing!  We are so blessed to be growing a new human! :)