27 Weeks*

*We're now being told our due date is October 2, which would make our 27 week mark on Saturday (3 days from now) instead of today. The Nurse Practitioner and Ultrasound Technician gave us the September date, and the Doctor gave us the October date. Oh well. What's a few days really going to matter in the long run?? Although Brian and I are still inclined to go with September 29...FYI.

Soon enough we'll be wrapping up month 6 of pregnancy, as the 27th week is its caboose (not sure why the random train analogy). According to average stats, our little girl is a whole 15 inches long and weighs in at 2 pounds!!! And now for the surprising fact of this stage: She has more taste buds now than she'll have at birth. That would explain why I've noticed her react to different kinds of food...I think she likes sweets like her Mommy:)

Oh, I almost forgot! Here's a picture of the baby and me at 27 weeks.

Quick house update

Hey girls!

I wanted to give you a quick update on our house - it's really coming along now! I've heard from other people that the framing process goes quickly, and it sure does! It's so incredibly exciting to watch it go up, and to see Max toddle around in it - if only there was a way of explaining to him that it will be his new home! Here's a shot from the front:


And then I love this one of Max peeking through some of the beams:


Love and miss you all! :)

~Kelly

Dee Ann's Graduation

This past weekend, Brian and I drove out to Wichita (where the rest of the family also had traveled from Indiana) to honor Dee Ann. She graduated from her residency in Family Medicine. Phew! What a HUGE feat! I honestly don't know how she did it. I admire her gifts...and her endurance.

Yay, Dee Ann!!!

Happy to join her on this joyous occasion.

The whole gang!

Cupcakes and such

Hi girls!

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile. I actually just put a bunch of pictures up on facebook, including Max's birthday party last Friday (Thank you Chrissie, Kirk, and E for coming!!!). And, I'm going to try our family blog again. I hadn't posted anything since last August, but I thought I'd give it another try :) A friend suggested just trying to do one post once a week. I gave it up before because I just seemed to have a hard time keeping up with it, and I've never been one to journal, so I'm not a "natural" at the whole blogging thing :) But anyway, just wanted to let you know, in case you ever want to look at it!

Here's a picture from the birthday party - I think most of you know that Hutson (Brad's cousin's son) was born two days before Max (in the same hospital even...they live here in Upland), so we decided to have a joint birthday party. It was fun watching them dig into their first cupcakes together! So this picture is Brad, me, Max, Sarah, Ben, and Hutson.


I really miss you girls. When are we going to decide on a date for our next reunion? Minnesota in the fall is beautiful, plus then we can hang out with baby girl Peters :)

Love you all!
Kelly

"Takin it Easy"

Hey Girls! Sorry for the long stretch with no post from me. Wanted to give you all a little update about what's happening this week. We were in Chicago for the weekend to celebrate Nathan Diepstra's wedding which Kirk was in. When we got home Sunday night, I noticed I was bleeding and I was also experiencing some cramping. I called the Dr and was advised to come to triage at the hospital so they could check me and baby out. Fortunately, they monitored the baby for a few hours and everything seems to be fine. The dr. has instructed me to take it easy for the week and try to rest at home. This is a much easier task when you don't have a 17 month old running around!  Hopefully there will be no more bleeding or other symptoms in the coming days and we will be able to go out again and enjoy the sunshine next week!

In the mean time, Elijah and I have been entertaining ourselves by taking self-portraits...

...watching videos and drinking juice...

...standing on a slide/making mommy nervous...

...and every once in a while, getting a little cranky :).  

Hong Kong

Great news. Brad met the president of SCAD at a grad student tea and gave her his website. A few weeks later the office of the president e-mailed him and wants to buy 3 of his prints and has commissioned him to do 10 4 x 6 foot drawings. The commission is fast paced. They need it by the 25th of this month, because it is going for permanent display at SCAD's new campus in Hong Kong! He is only going to be able to get 3 done by that time period, but will work on the rest later. This is obviously a huge accomplishment. He will get great exposur and is adding work and experience to his portfolio. He has been spending practically every waking moment in our guest room working on these. So my job is to try and keep food in him. Last night I went to the grocery and prepared for big meals for the next couple of weeks. Tonight I made a shrimp boil with homemade cole slaw and corn on the cob. Last night I made a pie, Old Fashioned Cornflake Pie. Weird yes... but very tasty. I love making pies! SO here are pics of him working and tonight's dinner. His work is incredible.

Baby Griffith

A couple weekends ago, we threw a baby shower for my sister-in-law, Sarah. She is due with a girl in August and her bedding has little birds on it so we threw a bird-themed shower. It was fun and I'm so excited to be an aunt again! Here are some pics.....

These little birds were on the food table showing the different food options.

These little nests were at each person's place with Sarah's favorite mints in them.

My mother-in-law, SIL Anna, me and SIL Sarah

One of the activities was everyone could decorate a onesie for baby griffith. We had fun making them and Anna and I made some before hand to hang up and show people.

After the boys came back, they got in on it too. Of course Jimmy made a titleist hat in hopes that baby griffith will someday be in the LPGA.

Baby Bump

It's been 6 weeks since I sent you my last side profile picture, so I thought it was time to update you. Today is the 3rd day into my 24th week of pregnancy. This little girl is growing with leaps and bounds, apparently now gaining 6 ounces every week! She's very active, and, I believe, likes that she's more visible to the world.

Last Day

Today was my official last day at CMS (well, perhaps "unofficial", since I'm still helping out with summer school...though that has a whole different flavor to it). It was a bit surreal as I walked out of the parking lot with my co-worker (and wonderful friend) Dorothy, chatting all the way to our cars as we normally do. This time, however, when we reached our cars and said, "Goodbye", there were a few tears in our eyes...tears that I think we had both been fighting all day, but which we couldn't conceal any longer. As soon as I drove away, I felt them drip down my face. This place which had in some ways caused so much hardship had become a familiar home with people I love and respect. I'm so thankful for what God has taught me these past four years at CMS.

When Brian walked in the door today from work, he had a little somethin' extra in his hands...this Dairy Queen blizzard cake!!! Delicious. What a thoughtful husband:)

Tennessee

Kirk and I spent this past weekend down in beautiful Tennessee...I mean, seriously, it is BEAUTIFUL. My friend Jessica (who I call J-Bird) from Focus got married. It was a great wedding...lots of fun, good food, live music and a great time reconnecting with all 3 of my Focus roomies. It was the first time all 4 of us have been in the same place since we had a reunion at my parents house in December of 2005. It was awesome to see them all again plus have a little baby-free time with Kirk. Here is a picture of the 4 of us at the wedding.

Pie in the Sky

This week was very busy at work and when 6:00 rolled in on Friday, I was very happy to rest. I came home and took a nap and then Brad and I went to Barnes and Noble. I bought a book, A Long Way Gone, by Ishmael Beah. It is a story of a boy in Sierra Leon whose life as he knows it is gone and his story from running from the rebels and becoming a boy soldier. It is crazy! The book is violent, but a captivating read as I finished it in one day.



Yesterday, Brad and I relaxed by the pool in the morning and then went shopping. He always says he doesn't need clothes because he already has a pair of shorts, etc. I am trying to get him to believe you can have more than one pair of shorts. So yesterday we went to the outlet mall and got some amazing deals at J.Crew. He got a pair of chinos for 20 bucks, jeans for 30, and shorts for 25. And they are all super cute!

Lately, I have been baking a lot, as you can tell by my posts, and now I want to open my own pie shop. Of course if this ever happens it is a long way off, because I need to continue baking and making all sorts of pies. This past week I made a key lime pie - here it is without the meringue on yet.


and last night I made a lemon meringue pie. I am so proud of my meringue's stiff peaks! Yummy


I know many of you have tried calling me in the past week and I am going to return the calls. I apologize for not doing so yet.

Our 4th Anniversary

Hi, gals! Like Chrissie, I'm going to paste a link for you to check out my latest posting on our home blog. Brian and I celebrated our FOURTH anniversary on Thursday...hard to believe it's been that long! http://ourpetersfamily.blogspot.com

446 W. Berry Ave.

This is so fun, exciting, and wonderful for me to be sharing this news with you, my dear friends! Yesterday morning Brad and I closed on the construction for our new house. I haven't said much about this up til now, because we didn't know if it was going to work out or not. As you all know, with the Florida house fiasco, we didn't think we'd be able to get into a house, much less build a house, for years. But because of the generosity of Brad's parents gifting some of their land to us, we have just started building back by the bonfire (I think all of you have been back there at some point). We feel so unbelievably blessed - undeserving - but blessed. God is always good and always faithful to us, but we especially experienced this yesterday at the closing. We are SO SO SO excited! And I can't wait for all of you to visit us in the new home someday. It should be finished right around Baby Girl Peters' arrival, actually :)

Here are a couple shots of the construction getting started. If you're at UCC looking at Brad's parents' house, it's to the left of the red barn, tucked back against the woods. This first one (which, by the way, I think Max looks SO grown up in this one, and SO much like Brad!), is taken from Mark and Colleen's house - the driveway was just put in, and you can see a truck doing something in the background. The second one is when they were digging the footers (but don't ask me what footers are).




Love you girls lots, and miss you tons and tons.

Love, Kelly

lots of updates

Kirk, Elijah and I had a great long weekend together. Check out the Duncan blog for lots of updates... the big highlight was getting BD2's room ready (which is actually just rearranging Elijah's room because the kids will be sharing).

Love you all!