Bumpdate: Week 22

How Far Along: 22 weeks and counting!

Total Weight Gain: Fifteen pounds...

Maternity Clothes: That's still a negative, although I did buy a belly band this week. I'm undecided on my feelings toward it. While it is somewhat helpful, it hasn't been as wonderful as everyone led me to believe. Maybe my expectations were too high? On a scale of 1-10, I give it a 4ish.

Gender: Boy, all boy!

Movement: Still wiggling away! Brandon has this new fun thing where he pushes on certain spots on my belly (pretty much smashing it in) and Cooper will give him a quick kick. Poor kid, his parents are already annoying him and he isn't even born yet!

Sleep: Still sleeping like a champ.

What I Miss: I must admit, I miss my summer shorts. I tried them on this weekend and it wasn't a pretty sight. Kind of bummed me out...

What I'm Looking Forward To: I finally get my new mom car in next week! We were supposed to get it about two months ago and (abbreviated long story) they ended up having to special order a new one so I've been driving a loner all this time (granted a very, very nice loaner - thank you Mr. Bob Moore). I'm not at all complaining, the dealership has been very good to us, I'm just looking forward to finally getting to drive a car that belongs to ME!

Cravings: Nothing too serious. I've been pretty low maintenance on cravings, with an exception of the day I drove half way across Oklahoma for a particular convenient store bread sticks. I am still a big fan of all things pizza... actually pretty much any carb will work. I find this so weird since I've never been much of a bread fan and now I'm all about some bread, crackers, chips, you name it!

Aversions: Nothing I wasn't grossed out by before being pregnant.

Other Crazy Symptoms: The side pain is finally subsiding a little... or maybe it's just been replaced by added soreness in my back. Either way, it honestly isn't too bad. Slightly uncomfortable, but nothing I can't live with. Randomly, my gums are back to bleeding every time I brush my teeth... or sometimes just out of nowhere. This seems odd, but I've read that this is pretty typical.

Daddy Update: Brandon has been so stinking adorable to watch through this entire process and I know it's going to only get more and more precious! This week, Brandon's older brother and his wife welcomed their first little boy into the world, Aidan. (All three King brothers got married in less than a 6 month span and now we are all having babies less than five months apart! What can we say, we love a party!) Even though we are about six states away and haven't got to meet Mr. Aidan personally, Brandon has been beaming with pride for his big brother Chris. He was so excited as the texts starting coming to notify us that the little man was on his way! It warms my heart to watch him have such joy for his brothers and I can only imagine the level of emotion our little Cooper will bring!

Our new precious nephew, Aidan.
Is he not the most beautiful baby ever?!

Best Moment of the Week: One of my favorite things about this week was that we finally kicked off our very first small group! We had discussed starting a small group with a few of our precious friends and the timing never quite fell into place... Well, we finally gave up on having the perfect time and just went for it! In case you don't know what a small group is let me elaborate briefly - basically it's where you meet once a week with the same group of people to build/strengthen your relationship - your relationship with each other as friends and your relationship with God. It's kind of like Sunday School, but on whatever night of the week you choose! Anyway, this was my favorite moment of the week because Brandon and I truly value these friendships and we so greatly desire their presence in our lives! We need friends who will love us even when we drop the ball and who will hold us accountable when we need to be called out. We want friends that when we move back to my hometown will be “our people” to come visit in OKC. And we, very honestly, covet friends who we can trust to pray us through this new adventure of parenthood! After just one evening of hanging out in our living room, I felt so very encouraged and humbled... Knowing that "our people" are covering us and Baby Cooper in prayer is such a wonderful feeling! And we are doing the same for them!! I am so excited to grow with my dear friends...

I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him.

So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord.

1 Samuel 1:27-28