31 Weeks

I’ll be 31 weeks tomorrow and failed again at posting my 30 week belly shot. It’s been a busy couple of weeks with getting Brenna’s new room ready, moving Brenna in to her new room and getting the nursery ready for Felicia’s arrival! I still have plenty more on my “to-do” list, but it feels good to have that accomplished. Brenna seems to be adjusting to her new room fairly well. She’s had several bad nights of sleep recently, but since that started before we switched her, I don’t think her new room is to blame.

As far as the pregnancy goes, I think I’m in a love-hate relationship with pregnancy right now. I do LOVE the miracle of pregnancy and the feeling of life inside of me, but I’m not so much loving not being able to do everything I want to do without the aches and pains associated with a growing belly. I’m not complaining, though, I realize soon enough we will meet our precious second daughter and everything will be SO worth it!

I think the last week or so, things have really started to click in Brenna’s mind. People always ask if she realizes there is going to be another baby in our house, and up to this point I’m not sure she has. However, we have really been working on trying to get her to understand she’s going to have a sister as much as is possible for a 15-month-old. A few days ago we gave her one of Felicia’s ultrasound pictures to carry around and look at and now she will point to it and say, “Bee-sha” or “Wee-sha”. Also, when we ask her where Felicia is she will point to my belly (or once in a while to Drew’s belly…haha!). She LOVES “kissing” Felicia and can even say “sister” if we ask her to. It’s absolutely precious to me and I cannot wait to see the two of them actually interact with each other.

I have another doctor’s appointment on Monday and they are going to do another ultrasound. I’m measuring a little small (not due to lack of weight gain…trust me.) and my doctor just wants to make sure my fluid level is ok and Felicia is measuring on track. He’s not too concerned and thinks it’s just my long torso and the fact that I have more room to spread out. We are, of course, excited to get another peek at Felicia!

Here’s a belly shot we took a few days ago and if I ever remember I will take pictures of the new rooms and post them sometime.

30 weeks and 4 days. I don't know how I could be measuring small...I feel huge!

Miscellanies (Vol. 1)

We’re going to try something new. Many of the pictures and videos we take end up being somewhat random, and on their own they wouldn’t necessarily be enough for an entire blog post. So we’re going to try and start saving up these assorted photos and videos, and we’ll put them together in occasional hodge-podge posts that we’re calling “Miscellanies” (creative, right?). So here’s our first installment:

We got to hang out with our favorite Minnesotans, Luke and Laura. They visited KSBC on Sunday and we got to spend the afternoon with them.

If there's a camera out, then Jeremy has to be in a picture. So this one's for you, buddy!

Happy little girl in her jammies before bedtime!

She's quite proud of her awesome shades, as you can see. The hairstyle is her Dad's fault.

The excitement about going out into the snow only lasted about 30 seconds. Thankfully, we got a picture before things went south!

Here you can see the "please take me inside" look on Brenna's face.

And here's the look of resignation that says, "there's no escaping the fact that my parents are positively evil." Oh well, maybe next year we'll play in the snow...

And here’s a short video of Brenna giving her little sister a kiss and trying to say her name. You’ll notice that Felicia will probably be known as something more like “Weesha” for at least a little while:

15 Months

Our big girl turned 15 months old this past Sunday! Hard. To. Believe. This last 3 months have been just as wonderful with Brenna as the 12 months before them were. She makes us laugh every single day and brings such joy to our lives! I’ll be honest, there have been plenty of frustrations as well. As Brenna grows, so does her defiant attitude. Drew and I are trying to figure out what the appropriate discipline is for a 15-month-old and, while there have been plenty of hard days, God has been good and gracious to us and continues to teach us how to be godly parents who daily display the gospel to Brenna. We have failed many times, but the Lord remains faithful. Our greatest desire for Brenna is that God will save her and she will learn to love the Lord with all her heart, soul, and mind.

Her personality continues to just blossom, as well as her vocabulary! She has an infectious laugh and loves to give hugs and kisses (which we, of course, NEVER turn down!). She can say please, thank you, all done,  mama, dada, snow (as you will see in the video), pops (still working on grammy, nana, and papaw), snack, Brenna, socks, ball, book and Felicia (that’s in the video as well). She can follow commands, wave “hi” and “bye”, and climb up on all our furniture. She loves to dance and listen to music and adores imitating her daddy (whether that is by doing somersaults, push-ups, or whatever else he happens to be doing). Her favorite foods are peas, beans, corn,  yogurt, pretzels, soups, and anything sweet. She refuses to eat pretty much all fruit and meats, but the doctor said no worries and to just keep trying. It seems very weird to me that she prefers veggies over fruit, but I’m not complaining at this point.

That’s our Brenna in a nutshell. There is always much more I could say, but that gives you a little picture. She had her 15 month check-up yesterday, (which was quite traumatic for baby and mommy), and her stats are:

Weight: 22 lbs. 4 oz. (40th percentile)-that is less than both Drew and I weighed at the same age

Height: Supposedly 33 3/4 in. (which would be off the charts)I’m thinking they measured wrong, because otherwise she grew 4 1/2 inches in 3 months and her clothes aren’t exactly indicating that.

Head: Do I even need to say it? Still big and at 96th percentile.

So, it appears she’s on track to be tall and skinny like her daddy. She’s a healthy girl and we are SO thankful!

Here’s a video we took yesterday of our goofy little girl (excuse me in the background munching on my mid-afternoon snack).

 

The Queen B

Even with a room full of new Christmas toys, the one thing that never fails to capture Brenna’s attention (and seemingly, her imagination, too) is a nice, sturdy cardboard box. So when the bedding for her new crib was delivered the other day, Daddy and Brenna got to work, putting the box to good use. The end result: a throne for our very own “Queen B”. She was quite proud of her royal roost.

Surveying her loyal minions...

At least she's not too queenly to stick out her tongue!

And here are the (quite skilled) architects of this cardboard masterpiece

28 Weeks

Hello third trimester!  I’m so glad you’re here! I crossed the 28 week mark yesterday and am on the home stretch now.  I’m feeling the crunch as my to-do-list before Felicia arrives is growing by the day. However, getting things done works out a little differently the second time around as now I have a one-year old  who needs my attention almost constantly. I’m not complaining about that as there is nothing I would rather be doing than spending time with my sweet Brenna (ok, maybe spending time with my amazing husband!). However, I am trying to learn how to balance being a faithful mommy and getting a few things done around the house. It’s a hard lesson to learn, but God is lovingly and patiently teaching me.

As far as the pregnancy goes, I continue to have a lot more aches and pains this time around (hmmm…maybe from lugging around a 22-pound little girl?). Actually, my doctor said it is quite normal for a second pregnancy and so I’ve just succumbed to the fact that it is going to be like that for the next 10-12 weeks. And probably continually getting worse as Ms. Felicia continues to grow and my belly continues to get bigger and bigger. I have no doubt, though, that it will be COMPLETELY worth it in the end!

Felicia is picking up the movement in there and I’m now at the point where I can just sit and watch in wonder as my belly moves. I so wish I could get a sneak peek!

It’s been a month since I’ve posted a belly shot (I’ll blame that on the holidays) and my how I have grown (perhaps, that is from the holidays as well). Here is our precious Felicia Laurelle at 28 weeks (here was my belly at 29 weeks with Brenna) .

28 weeks and 1 day

Holiday Pictures, Part 2

As promised in the last post, here are some more photos from Christmas (most of which, of course, prominently feature the adorable Brenna Noelle). All of these are from our trip to visit Troy and Lindsay in Memphis this past weekend:

Just sittin' on the heating unit at the hotel room. Nothing unsafe about that.

For a 14-month-old, boxes are more interesting than the presents inside.

The girl's got swag.

Playing with Uncle Ian.

Brenna and Olivia having a private cousin chat (on the subject of pretzels, apparently).

Enjoying the warm weather at the playground.

This is priceless.

Heading down the awesome jumbo slide with characteristic exuberance.

Ian and Jeremy on the swing.

We tried to get a picture of everyone in their matching pajamas. Didn't work so well. Brenna is rolling on the floor and Olivia is off-screen.

Holiday Pictures, Part 1

We’ve had a wild and crazy last couple of weeks. Lots of driving, lots of Christmas celebrations, lots of food, lots of people, lots of presents, and lots more driving. But even though we had a hectic holiday season, it was certainly enjoyable. So now that we have a chance to (somewhat) catch our breath, we’ll take a few posts and share some photos from the last few weeks.

Brenna got a cool new wagon for Christmas!

Cousins Alexis and Mariah showing Brenna how to use an iPad.

Mimi introduced our little musical prodigy to the organ, and she loved it (as you can see).

The 5 Crawford cousins (minus the two en utero): Mariah, Baileigh, Alexis, Domenic, and Brenna.

Checking out her new book from Papaw and Nana.

Never in the history of the world has any kid been more proud of his new cowboy boots than Lucas.

Playing with Mom-mom and Dad-dad.

Two beautiful ladies!

Having way too much fun with Mom-mom and Uncle Ian!

Stay tuned; more pictures to come…

Christmas Day

We hope that everyone has had (and continues to have) a wonderful Christmas!

Our Christmas began with the special treat of Brenna sleeping all through the night and not waking up until after 7:00am! We got up, sang a Christmas song to Felicia, watched this video, ate some breakfast, and then Brenna got to open her presents. We’re thinking it will still be another year before the hype of Christmas morning fully sets in. But we had a good time playing with some new toys. Here are some pictures:

There's our astounding bounty of presents under the tree. Too many to count...

Stockings! Notice who has the largest one...

We got Brenna some pretend food. Maybe it will compel her to be a less picky eater.

Is this shirt awesome or what? Someday Brenna will be incredibly embarrassed that we made her wear this.

After playing for a little while, we got ready and headed to church for our Christmas morning worship service. Brenna looked stunning (of course)  in her new Christmas dress from Great-Mimi and Great-Pa:

Modeling her Christmas dress.

With Dad before church...

...and with Mom, too.

Christmas wouldn't be complete without a picture of the two love birds. Liam appears ready to make a move, while Brenna prefers to take things slow.

Stay tuned; we’ll have more pictures from other festivities posted soon…

And her name is…

A few weeks ago, we settled on a name for our little girl. Initially, Elizabeth and I had thought that we would keep the name of our second daughter a secret until the day that she was born. Since we’re horrible at keeping secrets, we thought this would be a good challenge for us. And, it would be a change of pace from what we did last time.

But as we talked more about it, we started to rethink our decision. And here’s why.

One of the great tragedies of our culture is the de-humanization of unborn children. What’s almost as chilling as the millions of lives which have been taken by abortion is the eerily sterile terms in which such procedures are talked about. Not babies but “fetal tissue.” Not murder but “termination of pregnancy.” Not motherly compassion but “reproductive rights.” The mere fact that such phrases find their way into our vocabularies speaks volumes about the way in which we view unborn children.

Elizabeth and I have a desire to position ourselves in opposition to such cultural currents. We believe that unborn children are people, not just potential people. We believe that God gives life, and it is not up to us to take it away. And we believe that by being faithful to these convictions, we can advance the gospel in our world and be voices of hope, truth, and redemption.

So the question came up recently: If this little girl is indeed a person, then how can we as her parents put ourselves in a position to defend her personhood during these final months before her birth? How can we use this opportunity to stand up for not only our own unborn child, but all unborn children? And although there are many ways to answer this question, one thing seemed strikingly obvious: if this girl is truly a person, then she deserves to have her name known. When we introduce Brenna to others, we don’t say, “Here’s our child. We can’t tell you her name.” We say, “Here’s our daughter, and her name is Brenna.” So if both of our daughters are people in every sense of the word, and if both of them have names, then why would we only allow one of their names to be known? Is the one outside the womb more of a person than the one inside the womb?

Now we don’t think that every pro-life couple is morally bound to find out the gender of their children as soon as possible, bestow a name as soon as possible, and then announce that name as soon as possible. But in our case, we felt that this was one step (albeit small) which we could take to defend the personhood of the not-yet-born. So by announcing her name, we’re making a social and theological statement, declaring publicly that we’re not waiting on this girl to be born until we officially welcome her into our family. She’s already part of our family. She’s already a Humphrey. And not only that, but she’s…

Felicia Laurelle Humphrey!

It’s both a joy and an honor to be the parents of these two little girls, Brenna Noelle and (now officially) Felicia Laurelle. Both are made in the image of their Creator, and both are blessings to their mom and dad. We’re excited to meet Felicia face-to-face in March!

5 years

Yep. I’m writing another post. Three in one day might just be a personal best for me. I couldn’t let the day end, though, without saying how very thankful I am that I agreed to a first date five years ago today! I just so happen married to that special guy now and haven’t regretted a single day with him! In fact, I treasure every single day God gives me with him and look forward to our date nights more than ever!

Love you babe!