Gifts for Benjamin

I appreciate all of the thought and consideration behind every gift given to us for Benjamin, but I have to admit that there's a special place in my heart for the gifts that people have taken their time and talents to create for him.  We have gotten several blankets and quilts so far for him that I wanted to share with you all.

One of my favorites so far, for obvious reasons, is the quilt that Josh's Aunt Janet has made for us.  The most amusing story behind this quilt is that she did not know that we are going with a forest theme, that I absolutely love owls, and that our nursery colors are brown, green, and blue.  Isn't God amazing how he planted the idea in her head to make this specific pattern?

I like the little details that she added such as the quilted starts in the blue portion of the window.

Also, if you look closely at the owl, he has a vest with buttons stitched on him.

Also, with the owl theme is a set of burp cloths made for me by our school secretary, Shonie.  She did have some help knowing what I like since I picked out the fabric for the 1st one. :)

 Josh's Aunt Nancy crocheted the blanket below.

A man from our church made the quilt below (close-up for detailing).

This is just a quick snapshot of some of the gifts we have received so far for Benjamin.  There are countless clothes, diapers, and baby items that we have already been blessed to receive.  We have a large shower coming up on Sunday which will be fun not only because of the cute items for him but because we will have a wonderful time visiting with family and friends.  More to come from me soon.  I'm going to try to play a little bit of catch-up on my blog posting.  Happy summer everyone. ;)

Coming soon...

Now that I'm on summer break, I anticipate blogging very soon.  We've had a busy, but fun, weekend so far.  We visited with my family today up at the cabin, and we are supposed to visit with some of Josh's family tomorrow.  Once things calm down this next week I'll try to post some pictures and give baby updates.  My #1 priority next week is working on the nursery.

9 weeks to go...

Diaper preference?

As an expecting mom, I'm curious to ask those mothers & grandmothers who are reading, what is your favorite brand of diaper, and why?  Do you have the same preference for your brand of wipes?

Happy Graduation Day, Josh!

More to come, but I thought I would load a sneak peek.

New arrivals

New arrivals in the garden, that is.

I planted some lupine seed last year in our back bed, knowing that it would take a full year to mature & bloom.

I'm happy to see how beautiful they are becoming.


Our lilies have returned, thankfully, and they have multiplied much more than we had expected. We are patiently waiting for buds & blossoms. Any ideas on when it is safe to transplant lilies to other locations if needed? I'm wondering the same for tulips.
Josh's Papaw has been working on a project of his own. With our permission & that of Josh's aunt who has adjacent land to ours, Papaw is putting up a cattle fence. He plans to put about 20 head of cattle on the sloping acres in "front" of our house. (in front of our front porch, but really to the right of our driveway which runs in front of the house, if that makes any sense). The part of the house that faces the road, where we have our "front" beds is actually to the left of the front porch.

I just finished spreading Black-Eyed Susan, Blanketflower, Marigold, and Wildflower seed. We'll see if half an hour on a spring afternoon with yield much result with our front flower beds. I'll leave those hours of weeding our garden and back beds for another day. I have too much indoor housework to do in preparation for Benjamin. I'm off to eat some dinner, and then I'll focus my attention to housework. Have a great evening!

Baby Shower #1 continued

Here's a few more pictures from our shower. It was held at the church where Josh formerly youth pastored.

There was a rubber ducky theme, complete with yummy punch.
If you notice, the cake says, "Welcome Benjamin Thomas Holder."
I made Josh pose for a few shots, including a humorous one. He's a good sport. I found it adorable that he ended up coordinating outfits me, which was completely unintentional on his part.
Have I really gotten this big already? I still have 14 1/2 weeks to go. I noticed this evening that I can no longer suck my tummy in. It is growing firmer every day. I'm so glad that little Benjamin is growing!
Sweet little Christianna. ;)
We had a great shower, and we're thankful to the ladies who helped host. Josh's family helped a lot along with a church member who is close to the family.

I'll have to detail items received a little more later. I can say that our crib & mattress has been purchased as well as our playard (which will also double as the bassinet beside the bed). We have a high chair ordered for us that we should receive in the next few weeks. Overall we were highly blessed with this shower, and we feel even more blessed to realize that there are still several more coming from friends, family, and co-workers.

Hopefully our car seat, bases, and stroller will come along in one of our new few showers. Now that I know he has a place to sleep my focus is on having a way to transport our little bundle home safely!

I'm off to bed now. We are doing our required end of the year home visits for our class, and it is getting me out of bed about 15 - 30 minutes earlier than usual.

Baby Shower #1

More to come....