Lankford Love

I'm now 33 weeks... 8 months! Time has flown by! And my tummy has just ballooned... or I feel like it has anyway! So I stopped taking pictures with fruits... I haven't really wanted to buy a spaghetti squash or honey dew or pineapple. Plus taking a picture with one might just be awkward! So to normal pictures it is. I have been exhausted! Sleeping has become difficult. Some nights I'm restless, though thankfully I have slept for the last few. My tummy is getting HEAVY. At the end of a long day of being active, I just want to lay in the recliner, put my feet up, and take the weight off. I've had a few hormonal break downs... I've really been good up till now. But I think the exhaustion (sleepless nights and heavy tummy) is getting to me. Weight gain... blah. Apparently the baby goes through a growth spurt around 32 weeks. My midwife said it happens to everyone. I'll just say that the scale definitely reflected that. Oh well. Maybe I should just embrace...

I love Christmas! The bright colors. Cool weather. Merry music. Everyone in a good mood. Holiday parties. Gifts. Family. Friends. And of yeah, lots of great deals! ;) But Christmas isn't something everyone looks forward to. This Christmas will be our last to go visit family (on the actual day), as next year we'll start our own traditions. So this Christmas is a little bittersweet for us. I'm so excited to do our own thing next year, but I also want to relish in the traditions I've enjoyed up till now. Christmas Eve morning at the Galleria, watching holiday shoppers hustle and bustle about, trying to get last minute gifts. Then going to lunch with my dad and his siblings. Our big annual Christmas Eve party. Midnight church... which has recently turned into afternoon church. Who can really stay up that late and then get up early Christmas morning? The gift unwrapping free for all at one house and then going to the next house and being expected to take turns openin...

It's been so fun getting ready for little "Brenleigh"! Here are some photos from baby showers! I had a Dallas shower, a church friends shower, and a Houston shower. Dallas shower hostesses

As Christians, we are called to take care of widows and orphans. I love this story because this family is truly living out the calling to care for those who can't care for themselves. I've been thinking a lot about adoption lately. It's definitely something we want to do. And I think Scripture is pretty clear about God's heart towards orphans and His desire to have His people care for them. Gn. 22:21-22; Dt. 24:19, 21; Ps. 68:5-6; 82:3-4; Is. 1:17; Js. 1:27 This video spoke to my heart. Promo for "We Have Room" Documentary from David N. Watson on Vimeo .

Many of these giveaways from my Thankfully Thrifty Baby Shower end tomorrow! Don't forget to enter! TT: Baby Bargains Book ends 11/29 GAMDR: Protect-A-Bub Compact Sunshade ends 11/29 TT: Old Navy Jeans (For anyone!) - 3 Winners! Ends 11/29. AFF: Dipe N' Go . Ends 11/29. TT: Shutterfly Birth Announcements or Invitations . Ends 11/29. GAMDR: Lansinoh nursing gift pack . Ends 11/29. TT: Stonyfield Baby gift pack . Ends 11/29. AFF: My Brest Friend nursing gear . Ends 11/29. TT: $60 to CSN . Ends 11/29. TT: Sassy Baby toys - bumpy ball and jitter bug . Ends 11/29. TT: Baby legs and baby balm from Muffin Baby . Ends 11/29. Letter from Santa - 2 Winners ! Ends 12/1.

This was taken earlier this week at one of my baby showers - at 29 weeks! I've had two now, and I have one more coming up! So exciting! More shower pics to come. But here's an update... I am loving getting the baby's room ready. Again, pics to come... slooowly that is. I've also been getting more tired... hi, third trimester. Also I'm in the process of switching doctors... okay really switching from my OB to a midwife. I have been reading more about natural birth and decided that a midwife has more of the mindset I'm looking for. Not to worry - I'll still be delivering in the hospital and under great care, should anything unexpected creep up. I'm excited though to have the extra care, attention, and natural birth specialization that a midwife offers! Oh and here's a pic from today  at almost 30 weeks...  And PS check out my cute nephew, born two weeks ago! His dog sister Caylee got jealous and needed attention too... left to right: Brendo...

Okay I'm losing count... This picture was taken at 26 or 27 weeks, although tomorrow I'll be 28! I can't believe I'm already into my third trimester and almost 7 months! Time flies! Brenleigh is now moving a ton! I can see my stomach moving at times. So strange! He or she is as long as a cucumber. And I believe it! I can tell that it's starting to get a little squished... hang in there 12 more weeks! I had a little growth spurt right before this picture, but I am pretty sure I haven't grown much since then... or the scale doesn't look much different anyway. I was shocked last time I went to the doctor though to see how much weight I had gained. Definitely a growth spurt! But now I've gained about a pound in the last 3 weeks, so it has slowed down, at least for the time being. Other fun symptoms... heart burn (Yuck. Tums is my friend.) and leg cramps/pulls (ugh... though two bananas/day seems to help) And I have baby showers coming up! So fun! T...

And my brother's team won SPC Champs!! Way to go William!

It's almost my birthday! I truly love my birthday. I always get hyped up weeks before and declare it "Princess Ashleigh Week/Month." And since gifts are my love language, you can imagine that on my birthday, I'm in heaven. I feel incredibly loved. It's always a great day. But somehow this year it doesn't seem as exciting... not sure if it's the fact that I'll be 26 (not that that's old, it's just not exciting) or the fact that I'm pregnant and there's enough hype going on with the baby or it might be the fact that things have changed over the past year. Soon after I turned 25, we began TTC (trying to conceive). It took longer than we had planned. The journey began in November. What made it difficult is that it seemed like all of my friends were getting pregnant right away - without even "trying." Really? Who does that? I didn't face the devastation I've seen some friends face since then - with fertility testing, pi...

Me and Austen - 1991, perhaps.

Just wanted to show off some of my fun photography skills. Doesn't this face just melt your heart? You'd think I never take her on walks. I'm pretty sure we had already been out for over an hour that day.

I can hardly believe it's been 24 weeks! Now I'm on the count DOWN - 16 to go!! Totally amazing. Here's the latest baby bump photo update. Technically, Baby "Brenleigh" (Brendon/Ashleigh. Like Bragelina... get it?) was as long as an ear of corn last week, but this week is an egg plant... and not only am I not buying egg plant, but I had already bought corn. So corn it is! And right after this picture was taken, I proceeded to drop the corn on the floor. It smashed. Yuck. And my dog wouldn't eat it, so I had to bend down (a surprisingly difficult task) to clean it up. In the past several weeks, my tummy has had a little growth spurt I think! I've been hungrier more. Bending over has gotten harder - a good time to practice my chiropractor's advice and kneel down, rather than bend. And in the past week, I've been exhausted! I thought that wasn't supposed to happen again until third trimester... anyone? Other than that, I am feeling great!...

From Cait ... 1.  What are you looking forward to most about having children?  What's not to look forward to? I love kids! So much fun! I'm not as much a fan of newborns as I am little kids, so I guess I'm most excited for them to get a little older and be able to communicate, have fun, and show off their personality! 2.  What is your favorite bible verse? "Serve whole-heartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not man." -Ephesians 6:7 3.  What is the most romantic thing your husband has done for you?  I'm bad on the spot at thinking of these things. But one thing he does that I love is when he'll randomly call or email me from work and just say, "Hey can I take you to dinner tonight?" I love that. 4.  Where do you see yourself in just 5 years?   Two or three kids and loving being a mom! I plan to take the NCE, get my hours, and become a Licensed Professional Counselor at some point, but I think that's more a 10 year plan! 5.  W...

Look what hubby brought home from work for me yesterday!   Okay here's the story... A couple years ago, when the economy turned and we had just bought our house (great timing!), his work (a non-profit) had to give pay cuts. Bummer. And with the still-not-so-great-and-even-questionable-in-my-opinion economy, the cuts are still in place. So I think every so often his work likes to send home fun gifts to show how much they appreciate the employees, as a sorry-we-can't-give-you-back-your-pay-but-here's-a-fun-treat type gesture. I'm a gifts girl. I'll take it. About a month ago he brought home an iPad, which was a fun toy for him. I have an iPhone, and I think he's been jealous. So now he has his equivalent! Then yesterday he brought home this fancy-schmancy camera! Funny thing... I had been thinking about how I wanted one of these all day... well, really for about a year, but I had come to the conclusion it wasn't happening. But yesterday I decided we ...

I saw a miniature Australian Shepherd the other day. Precious. The miniatures range between 17 and 35 lbs. Compare that to a full-size Aussie, like my Sammy, who is 50 lbs. If the miniature is still too big for you, yes you can get a toy Aussie! With the option of a toy or mini Aussie, I'm not sure why anyone would ever get a small dog of another breed. No offense to any small dog owners out there. I'm just obsessed with the fluffiness (not to mention smarts) of the Aussie. Look how cute!

On my other blog Thankfully Thrifty (Click the button above), I have an upcoming baby shower event coming up!!! There will be reviews and giveaways, so stay tuned! And be sure to join in the fun on November 1st! Thanks, Nicole , for creating this fabulous button!!

Bittersweet: Thoughts on Change, Grace, and Learning the Hard Way I just started reading Bittersweet by Shauna Niequist. I read her first book Cold Tangerines last year. It was fabulous. Today I began this one. I think her prologue pretty much sums up my life these past six months and the way I have come to redefine my faith. "The idea of bittersweet is changing the way I live, unraveling and re-weaving the way I understand life. Bittersweet is the idea that in all things there is both something broken and something beautiful, that there is a sliver of lightness on even the darkest of nights, a shadow of hope in every heartbreak, and that rejoicing is no less rich when it contains a splinter of sadness. "Bittersweet is the practice of believing that we really do need both the bitter and the sweet, and that a life of nothing but sweetness rots both your teeth and your soul. Bitter is what makes us strong, what forces us to push through, what helps us earn the lines on...

This video is so sweet! It brought tears to my eyes. My dad sent it to me, along with a sweet message. Love you, Dad!

How precious is she? And this is what her sweet sister drew for me: We are all now one big happy family! Too cute!

I am now 20 weeks... well almost 21, I guess. The baby is as long as a banana! It's been kicking a lot - but not hard yet, just cute kicks. And Brendon has been able to feel it, which is fun! And I've been feeling great! Second trimester truly is bliss! We went to the doctor today, and it is 12 oz. From what they can see, everything looks healthy! Heart beat is 144 - aka healthy. And we got to see him or her sucking their thumb - A LOT! It actually switched thumbs a couple times, I'm pretty sure, and then tried to get it's whole fist in its mouth! We told the tech that we did not want to know the baby's gender... and apparently the baby does not want us to know either because it was sitting Indian style. So the tech couldn't even tell. Although I will say, it did take a break to kick my bladder... delightful child! Here's it's profile. There were several pictures, but this is the clearest. Little Baby Lankford has its hand under its chin. The doc...

Image courtesy of Pottery Barn When we decided we wouldn't find out the baby's gender, I thought about a Texas theme for the room. And with the bedding we already have for the full-size bed staying in the room... ...and the crib bedding I just ordered...  Again, image courtesy of Pottery Barn . Check out how the patchwork and stars detail matches the artwork above. Now back to what I was saying... Given the beddings I've chosen, I think this piece of art would coordinate well. But for $200 (on sale!), no thanks. So what do you think? Can I pull off making this? If you have an idea of how to get all those small pieces of perfectly cut wood, let me know!! The floor is now open... ideas please!

After visiting B's grandparents, we headed over to Breckenridge! My dad recently bought a place there, and since he was there for the week, we decided to visit him as well. I love Breckenridge! Such a cute town! One day we took the gondola to the top of peaks 7 and 8 to eat and play put-put! Eventually we headed home, through New Mexico, where we had some friends from church we stopped to see and stay with for a night. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of that! (Bad, photographer!) But here's a picture of our stop on the way there. We stopped at the Rio Grande Gorge. I was too chicken to go all the way to the middle though, where you can stand directly above the gorge and look out. No thank you. And our drive back... Sammy was tired of riding in the car. It was good to get home!