The latest news

Aunt Alison made us this awesome quilt. We love it!!!

Here we are at 32 weeks and we're doing great! Dr. Morse has me coming to see her every two weeks and I'm actually starting to have some questions. Mainly along the lines of "How big is she?" and "How are we gonna get her out?".

Brad and I finished our child birth classes last Monday and we learned so much! I think we were the star pupils, but then again, Brad has been through this before and I've been around babies a little myself. The nurse who taught the class, Rachel Howard, was awesome! I can't wait to put all the good information she gave us to use.

We're looking forward to Ethan's arrival in Missouri on Monday. Grandma Rene will fly out to Virginia and bring him back (thank you Rene!) and he'll be here until the end of August. He doesn't start second grade until after Labor Day, so we'll have a nice long visit. We're planning to throw a Big Brother Party for Ethan while he's here since he's becoming a big brother not once, but twice this year. His baby sis Claire was born in May and he's doing a great job helping out with her. In Ethan's words, "Babies are A LOT of work!"

We're also excited because my parents, tentatively dubbed Granny and Papa Jack, will be here this weekend for our baby shower. Uncle Nate and Aunt Krista are coming too, so it should be a lot of fun! I can't wait to show off Baby Carmen's nursery and all of her tiny stuff.

By the way, we've landed on her full name, and we're relatively sure that we won't be changing it. The little girl tap dancing away on my bladder is Carmen Renleigh Atkins. Carmen, of course, is for my Nanny, and Renleigh is a combination of baby Carmen's grandmas' names.

Aunt Alison and Uncle Shannan came for a visit this week and brought a gorgeous handmade quilt. I love it so much that I took it to work on Friday.

That's about it for now. Everything is exciting, which is good because I need to keep my mind off the sweltering Missouri heat and my aching back. Thanks for all the prayers and happy thoughts!