One Month To Go...

Only 31 days until Labor Day....

I'm going to state the obvious and say time flies when you're preparing for a baby. I'm sure it has something to do with extra weight and extreme temperatures, but it definitely takes longer to accomplish things these days!

Despite my sluggishness, the nursery is almost finished, we have completed one childbirth class and we are halfway through the other one, and we are steadily checking items off our to-do list. I feel fairly certain he won't come before his due date (I think he's going to take after his mom in this department), but even if he did, we have the necessities all lined up and ready to go -- car seat, clothes, pack n play, crib...only diapers are missing. We want to cloth diaper, but we can't decide if we should start out that way or if we should transition from disposable to cloth after six weeks. Ah, decisions...So many decisions.

This week I'm sharing photos of my adorable husband with his siblings. He was the world's best big brother, and he's going to be such an amazing dad. 

P.S. Happy (early) 30th Birthday, Julie (and Gerald too)!

The Pie Girl

Wasn't Jonathan's grandmother Sadie the cutest pie girl in the world? She was only seventeen when she married Jonathan's grandfather and started working in Memphis. Serving pie was one of the few jobs she was allowed to do, and she fit the bill perfectly! Who wouldn't want a slice of  pie from her cart? I love the photos of her posing with her coworkers. They are too fun.

If you know Sadie, you'll agree that she hasn't changed a bit -- she looks exactly the same and she still works just as hard as she did at seventeen! 

Baby Hardin is...

Baby Hardin's second photo.

A week ago, our prayers were answered when the ultrasound technician told us our baby was doing great. We watched in amazement as she studied each of his/her organs and body parts. The moment that stuck out to me the most was seeing our baby laying comfortably on his/her side -- that little outline, the beating heart, the perfect spine and sweet little head -- and realizing that it all belongs to this tiny person growing inside me. I have images to go along with the dream baby in my mind. I was also pleasantly surprised to learn the feelings I've been feeling lately aren't gas but tiny baby kicks and punches. 

Baby proved to be stubborn (like both of his/her parents) and refused to roll over so the ultrasound technician could get a good measurement of the aortic arch. At the end of the appointment, when she was looking at his/her legs and feet, she asked if we were ready to know...and we both already knew because it was very clearly staring at us on the screen. Yes, Baby Hardin is a BOY.

After we heard that news (I guessed wrong, Jonathan guessed right and we are both overjoyed) and the news that everything looked great, I must have relaxed, because our son started moving around and posing for us. The ultrasound technician said our pictures couldn't have been any better, and she was even able to get a photo of his aortic arch.

He looks just like Jonathan here -- his chest, the angle of his head and his profile.

I will never forget April 9, 2015. It was one of the most blissful days of my life. I also spent a great deal of it answering sharing the news in person (with my sister and Jonathan's grandparents), via FaceTime (my mom, my dad and Jonathan's mom), text messages and Facebook messages because everyone was SO excited and happy to share in our baby joy. I have never received so many likes before...Baby Hardin is very popular!

Please continue to pray for our little one and our growing family. I count my blessings each and every day and recognize how blessed we are to be on this journey. Thank you for sharing it with us.

Family Traits

Now that we're less than two weeks away from our second ultrasound, I'm really beginning to think about our baby and imagine life with him or her.

Obviously our main prayer is for a healthy baby. The health of this baby has been our number one concern since January 4, but the feeling grows stronger each day that its tiny presence becomes a little bigger. I fully recognize that carrying this life in my body is a wonderful gift, and I feel blessed and honored that Jonathan, the baby and I are on this journey together.

People have asked if I have a gut feeling about our baby's gender. I do, but I don't have a strong preference either way. It would be fun to give my parents their second grandson or their first granddaughter. It would be thrilling to add another Hardin boy to the family or welcome the first Hardin daughter of the next generation. I would love to watch our son with his father, grandfather and great-grandfather, or know that our daughter is the next in a line of strong-willed women. 

If you have been following this blog for a while, you know how happy I am that we will learn our baby's gender on Jonathan's grandmother's birthday (April 9) and that our baby's due date is three days before my grandmother's birthday (September 10). I have spent the last two years documenting our family's history and stories, and now I'm ready to see which family traits and characteristics appear in our baby. Blue eyes and fair skin seem like the two most obvious ones, but maybe we'll have a rebel baby with brown eyes like both of its grandmothers.

Until then, I've put together a family album that goes back to our great-grandparents and great-great-grandparents. God willing, our child will grow up knowing exactly where he or she came from and who he or she looks like. What a wonderful thought and what an exciting journey.

Thanks for sharing our joy.

Jonathan and his grandmother Sadie.

Me and my grandparents Bill and Lucy.

Jonathan and his mother Denise.

Me and my grandma Joan and my mother Julie.

My dad Fred.

Jonathan's mother Denise.

My mother Julie and grandmother Joan.

Jonathan's father Greg and his grandfather Gerald. 

My grandmother Joan.

Jonathan's grandmother Sadie.

Jonathan's great-grandparents Dayton and Elzie with his grandfather Gerald.

My grandmother Lucy.

My great-grandmother Jennie Moore (back left), her brother Andy (back right), her mother Martha, stepfather Jacob and half-siblings Jake and Mayme Van Bibber. 

Jonathan's great-grandfather Dayton.

My great-grandmother Elsie (right) and her sister Myrtle.

Jonathan's great-grandfather Clovis Yates (back, second from left) and his great-great grandparents William and Julia.

My great-grandfather Raoul with his sister Marie and parents Ernesto and Adele.

Jonathan's great-grandmother Eliza Michael (top right) and her siblings. 

My great-grandmother Tina (front, bottom center) with her siblings and parents.