I'm Trying to be a Good Patient

So, my only complaint during this pregnancy is the continuing return of a cold that won't go away. I'm in my second day of my 4th round with this stuff in the past 7 1/2 months, and let me just say that it sucks!! Congestion, coughing, sneezing, body aches, sore throat, pounding head...all of it, sucks. And, being pregnant, there's not a lot I can take to try to help relieve all this crap. I try not to whine too much to Ronnie, although he's very sweet when I do. Last night, he did a very sweet thing, and I wanted to share. My daddy used to make this homeade cheesy chicken noodle soup, and he almost always made it for me when I was sick. He rarely cooked with recipes, but thankfully, this was one of the few things that he used a recipe for. Anyway, my husband, being so wonderful, slaved in the kitchen last night for over an hour making me this soup because he knew how much better it would make me feel. It was so good and yay for leftovers!! I'm so blessed to have such a wonderful man in my life who is able, and willing, to take care of me, especially when all I can do is moan, groan and whine about feeling so bad. I sure do love that guy, and look forward to the many ways he continues and will continue to show me just how much he loves me.

I'm Going to be an Aunt and Ethan is Going to Have a Cousin!!!

Last Thursday, October 9, my brother and sister-in-law, called to share their exciting news - they are expecting!!!!!!!!!! She is due in June, 2009. We are so EXCITED! This will be their first child together. Stormy has an 8-year-old son, Reese, who is just precious, and is so excited to be a BIG brother!! It's hard for me to believe my brother is old enough to (1) be a husband, and (2) be a Daddy, but he will be so great at it. We are all so excited (I'm over using that word, I know) that our kiddos will be about 6 months apart in age - that's going to be so cool! Holidays around our homes are going to be such a blast!! I can't wait to find out what they are going to have and I can't wait for our little Ethan and their blessing to be the best of cousins, and hopefully friends!

This news brings a bit of sadness to our family at the same time. We all wish Daddy was going to be here - he would have been the most awesome grandfather. He was so excited about mine and Ronnie's bundle of joy, and I know this would have just added to his joy and excitement. But, we know that he's holding both of our children in his lap right now, until it is time for us to hold them; and, our kiddos will just have one more guardian angel to watch over them. We love you, Daddy, and miss you more everyday.

My last 20-something, Kid-free birthday

So, I never actually thought this day would get here; you know, the day of your last 20-something birthday. It has just always seemed so far off, and then wham! It's all of a sudden here. However, I've decided I'm stopping with this one, and will remain 29 forever....I did have an awesome birthday weekend, though. Ronnie & I went to Oklahoma City for 4 days. I had to work a couple of those days, but we still had a great time. Friday night, October 3rd, we spent the night at the Skirvin Hilton downtown OKC. It was awesome; such a beautiful hotel!

The rest of the weekend, we just hung out. We shopped, spent time with my mom, watched movies - it was great and so relaxing! Kudos to my husband for making it a priority to make my 29th birthday so wonderful!! At the time of the trip, I was about 7 months pregnant with our little Ethan.

The Joys of Pregnancy

Joys, you say? Yes, joys. I have been so blessed in my first pregnancy. I have felt better than I probably have in a long time. I have not, knock on wood, had one episode of morning sickness, all of my lab work has come back normal and good, and up until about a month ago, the only sign that I am actually pregnant is the beautiful sound of Ethan's heartbeat at my doctor appointments. I am 31 weeks today, and I have only gained 5 pounds, which for me is amazing because I can do that just by looking at something! So, yay for me!!

This has been such an amazing experience that could never be accurately described or put into words and we can barely wait to meet our son! I finally (without a doubt) felt him moving and kicking about a month and a half ago. I think I probably felt him move before then, but wasn't sure that's what I was feeling. But, what an awesome feeling!! Ronnie happened to have his hand on my belly and was talking to Ethan when he decided to make his first detectable move, so that was pretty awesome for mom & dad! This is another experience that could never be put into words, and I find myself anxiously awaiting his next kick and squirm. I have a feeling I'm really going to miss these moments of mommy-baby bonding time when he decides to make his appearance in the world. Ethan is quite the active little fellow, but I love to feel him swirling around and exploring his surroundings. We have such great days together; we work, we listen to music, we read and I look forward to when I can actually hold him. He's definitely starting to really grow and make his presence known, as he is starting to make me a little uncomfortable, but nothing too terrible yet. I'm incredibly short, so I don't have much room for him, so therefore he's pressing on things, but this is definitely a time to be cherished, despite the soreness and achiness.

The Difficult Challenge of Naming a Child

I, being a girl, have always thought about names for my children, in the event I had any someday. Over the years, those names have changed and some have become as common as Joe, Bob, and Debra. However, when you are faced with actually having to name this beautiful life growing in your belly, it becomes some sort of indescribable challenge, like no challenge ever faced before. When we found out we were pregnant, the name choices began to fly out of our mouths - we thought, piece of cake. If it's a girl, we'll name her this; if it's a boy, we'll name him this. HAHAHA! In mid-July, we found out that we are having a boy. By this point, we thought we had decided on Ethan Thomas. However, after the passing of my Dad in May, I decided that if it was a boy, I would like to have "James" as his middle name. James is a family name on my dad's side, carried down through the generations. It is normally used as the first name, such as James Olen (my granddad), James Ronald (my dad), and James Allen (my brother), and so on. It is naturally my brother's duty, if he has a son, to name him James something or another. But, I wanted to, in some way, carry on and honor my father's name. So, my husband, being so wonderful and gracious, agreed to James as the middle name. For a little bit, we entertained the name of Graham Allen (both family names on both sides). However, if we have any children in the future, and none of them are boys, I would miss my chance at having a James. So, back to Ethan James. We were happy with this choice until one day, a friend of my husband's mentioned the name Hagan. At first, we thought, eh maybe not. But, the more we said it and after putting it with James, we decided we really liked that name, too. Back to decision making we went. For weeks, we went back and forth between Ethan James and Hagan James. This huge decision all of a sudden became the focal point of all of our conversations, as crazy as that may be, but it literally consumed us. Finally, one recent Sunday in church, the preacher included Romans 8:28 (the verse that goes with Ethan in a name book we have) in his sermon. Ronnie & I turned to the verse in my bible, and it was underlined (from a previous lesson in college, I believe). We both looked at each other and just knew the little one's name would be Ethan James Cason. We went on to read the next couple of verses following verse 28, and this is what it says:

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose. For those God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those He predestined, He also called; those He called, He also justified; those He justified, He also glorified."

So, that, my 2 readers, is the story of how we finally decided to call our firstborn Ethan James. Now, we move on to the easier things: getting his room ready, the actual delivery, and this thing called parenthood for the next forever! Ha - just kidding of course; now we are faced with the real challenge of raising him up in the ways of the Lord and praying daily he sees the truth and the way of our God.