Lydia is Here!

Lydia Kyrie Gillum is in our arms. Yay! She was born at 5:30 a.m. on October 26, 2011 weighing in at 7 lbs. 8 oz. and with 19 inches long. This makes her exactly 2 years and 12 hours and 29 minutes younger than Karis her sister. She is already nursing and sleeping great. We pray this continues. She has a head full of jet-black hair and looks a lot like Karis, but unique in her own way. We are leaving the hospital tomorrow morning. Right now we are enjoying the peace and quiet because Grandmommy is at home with Karis.

Waiting is a Lesson in Patience

Here it is today, Oct. 22, technically my due date was yesterday. This little girl does not want to come out to our crazy world. She wants to stay in the warmth and cozy belly of mine. I am keeping busy with baking. However, I should be using this time to write papers and read. I can't sit that still. Praise the Lord for Karis, again, because she is the best at keeping me occupied. Our little (big) family has been spending a lot of time together since we'd already cleared the calendar for 24hour newborn care. So that's been fun. Yesterday I made K's birthday cake and put it in the freezer for whenever we actually get to celebrate. I really don't want them to have the same birthday, but I don't really have a say.

Please pray for a healthy delivery and a healthy baby girl! You'll know when she arrives...

The picture- K helped herself to the frig and tried to pour herself a cup of milk.

Swim Class

This was taken after only a few classes. Now she is much more brave. She looks forward to swim class and gets so excited when it's finally time to go.

Photo Session

Last week we had a Karis, Emily and belly Photo Session. It was easy (cheap) and simple (cheap) thanks to our pretty nice camera and husband/dad/photographer. We are getting some good natural light through our windows so we even took all the pics in the apt. Here are some of my favs.

Also some folks have been asking about what we (the baby and Karis) need/want. I figured I could make a list for anyone (grandparents, aunts, etc.) interested.

Karis- Any learning/school games/activities/toys: coloring books, stamps/ink pads, play dough/moon dough
Dress up clothes: police officer, doctor, fire (wo)man, postman, pilot, etc.
Play kitchen items: tea set, fake food, etc.
Books! The kids loves books just like her daddy does.
Movies: She loves musicals and Pixar. She already has Marry Poppins, Up, Cars, Madagascar, Milo and Otis. 
Clothes sizes: At the doctor the other day she weighed in at 11kg or 24.3 lbs and is 86cm or 2ft 8inches tall- making her right above the 50% for her age. So mostly she's moving out of 18 months and into 2T or 24 months. She is tall and skinny.

Baby- She will have all of big sister's clothes, but most of them are summer. So she's going to need some sweaters, pants, shoes, etc. to stay warm. She'll be around 4 months old before it gets really cold. So warm clothes starting around 3-6 months sizes. Shoes I think are the most needed b/c I don't remember Karis even wearing shoes and I certainly don't remember any when I was organizing the baby's room. So shoes for sure.

Pictures to Share

35 weeks done or 35 days to go. I am almost ready. If that's even possible. The time is going faster each day. Perhaps I have taken on a little more than I'm comfortable with. I started back to school this semester. I'm only taking one class and it's online. Supposedly I'm still a language student that spends 50% of my time learning. Also we're working closely with two church plants and trying to start a church in a neighborhood that has no church. Karis is potty training, learning colors and letters in "school" and soon is starting swimming classes. I am trying to cook a ton of food to store up in the freezer for when the baby comes. It's a fun adventure daily. Good news is that her room is ready except for a mattress. We have narrowed the name list down to 3 names. I got my toe nails done. My friends are throwing me a baby shower.

Tia Bekah and Tio Kevin

Thank you FBC for sending encouragement in the form of friends! For a whole week Kevin and Bekah loved on Karis (even changing diapers) and served us so well. I didn't have to put K in or out of the car the whole time they were here. This, my friends, is a big deal when I have the baby belly going on.
Here are some pics of their time here.