20 weeks pregnant

So, my sweet nephew Henry is now a year old. It is crazy to see the time go by. he is such a little toddler now! He enjoyed his birthday cake and ran around and played with all his might. I would guess he had a good night's sleep after that. This morning I caught Brody playing by himself singing "happy Birthday" to Henry. I think we need to have another birthday soon or say.... some sort of national holiday where families all get together. :)



This is a picture of our present to Henry. I think it turned out cute and I hear that not only is Henry getting enjoyiment out of his snake, but that Maggie enjoys hauling it around too.
I know that Trooper is now like 8 years old, but I am proud to report that I finally finished his "congrats on being born" painting. It was so fun to make and I hope he enjoys looking at it as much as I enjoyed painting it.

I was in the middle of aerobics class this morning with my belly flying through the air when it hit me... HOLY MOLY!! I am already half done with this pregnancy! That's right. today, I am officially 20 weeks pregnant. It is true what I hear from other moms-that the second pregnancy goes by way faster than the first. This morning Brody got up and we asked him his usual questions.. "Did you sleep well?" "Did you have any dreams?" He usually answers that he dreamt about grandma and papa, but this morning he said he dreamt about the baby. SO sweet. Please continue to pray for a sweetness and love between these two siblings. God has been faithful to show us the beginning of fruit in Brody's heart about loving his little brother or sister. We just have to stay on our knees.

What's been going on...

Can you believe I am almost 15 weeks along already?? Craziness. Not much of a tummy, but I thought I'd share anyways. :)

So, not too much has changed around here. John has really been enjoying working and I love listening to the different crazy cases he's been assigned or the trials he's had to sit through. It is all really interesting.. well... maybe not all of it! :)

Brody and I went to the grocery store two days ago and I just needed 1 thing so I thought I'd let him roam free in the grocery store. He thoroughly enjoyed this and would look up at anyone passing by and say, "hello!". I think the best moment however was when I was checking out. I had 2 pie crusts to buy and so I thought I'd use the self check-out counter. So, I scanned the first item and placed it in the bag. Before I could get to the next one, I heard a BEEP. Sure enough, Brody had found a snack pack of cookies and had grabbed it and scanned it after he saw me doing it. Of course I had to get them after that since i thought it was so funny. What a goober! he really is paying attention to everything!

Beach-O-Roma!

So the Tyler fam all packed their bags and went off to Holden Beach, NC. We had sooooo much fun! I don't have any of the actual on the beach photos on the computer right now, but I'll try to put them up later.

So, John and I brought our wii with us for some serious tournaments and it did get pretty heated as you can
see from the following picure: This picture is from the end of the week. These two were soo funny. They started out as best buds, but by the end of the week they were sneaking pushes to each other. They still hugged good-bye and were terribly sad to part ways. Here they are taking a little movie break to watch some Veggie Tales.

Oh Tristin. So cute.

Brent Toothman, Megan Zaepfel's dad, took Brody, John, Joe, Zan and I on a boat trip around the inlet. It was beautiful. every time the boat slowed down for a no wake zone, Brody would ask for more. he loved it. Thanks Brent!!

Here's one of the neat looking boats we saw while out.
In between John and my beach trips, we had a gathering at Grandma Dot's house. Here is a picture of Grandma Dot and all of her great-grandchildren! So fun. She will soon have two more great-grandkids to add to the mix!

So, John and I had a wonderful time down in Florida. We were staying at John's Aunt's home down in West Palm Beach. So, the first day we got there we wanted to go wakl on the beach. Well the walkway that we happened to choose to go down had these crazy spiders EVERYWHERE!!

Needless to say instead of walking beneath all of these scary spiders, we went to a different beach access spot.

We got up one morning and drank our coffee on the peir and watched all the fishermen. It was so nice to just be able to get up and go!

Here's the view.

This is one of the restaurants that John and I ate at. It was called Guanabanas and it was fabulous. We had a lot of good food down there!

We are finally home and all settled back in now though I think we could have stayed down there forever! John started his job yesterday and I think he had a great first day. The baby is now 12 weeks old and we are out of the first trimester! It has gone by so fast already. I feel like our little guy or gal will be here so soon. I know they will!

Well-please keep praying for a positive bar result for John, continued health for baby and me, and that Brody will continue to grow and will learn more how to love the Lord.

Visit with Aunt Lizzy

So, before Brody and I went off to North Carolina to see Aunt Lizzy, John and I spent some gift cards to Baskin Robins that we had gotten for our wedding! Brody was bewildered with amazement. Lizzy, Brody and I wanted to go to the beach on the Monday that we were there, but it stormed like there was no tomorrow!! It was insane. So, instead Lizzy came up with a fabulous alternative of the Aquarium. Brody liked the entrance so much he hardly wanted to go on.

Here we are inside a shark mouth. brody is trying to open his mouth up like the shark's.

Then later he got a little crabby.

After dinner, Lizzy took us to this beautiful area on a river. It was drizzling slightly, but there were a ton of ducks out. I told Brody if he could catch one we would take it home (sound familiar mom and dad?). So, he took me very seriously and was amused the whole time with chasing one down.

I think he's trying to rope Lizzy into helping him catch one.

It was great. Thanks Aunt Lizzy for a fun time!

Big Brother Brody?

Really? no comments on the previous post? You guys need to read the end of the last post... let me know what you think. ;)

The 4th of July

The Tyler families and the Zaepfel families all gathered at the Lake thanks to hospitable Grandma and Papa. There was so much excitement and fun that Brody about played himself into oblivion that night!! Here is a summary of the great day!

The babies played in the kiddy pool for a while.
Here they are still enjoying the pool.

Later on Maggie and Brody did some syncronized swimming. They are very talented I must say.

Henry did some of the moves as well.

There was so much yummy food. I think almost everyone that came brought a different kind of dessert. There were scones, sugared fruit, a flag cake, Debbie's special icecream cake, lemon marangue pie... the list goes on! It was amazing.

Henry again...I just couldn't resist posting this picture.

Teal and I enjoyed a fantastic intertube ride on the boat. She beat me staying on the tube 2 to 1. It was fun.

Here Tristin and Brody ran around over and over the basketball court chasing a basketball. Just another piece of the play into oblivion puzzle.

Come on... Henry is so cute.

So here is the highlight of our Fourth of July! Brody came out of his nap wearing this shirt...

So we are excited to see Brody as a big brother at the end of February. Please pray for safety as baby grows and for health for the whole family as we prepare for the Tyler family to expand a little more! :)

We broke it to Churchill...this was his response.

On a side note...Brody has been trying to go potty... hasn't actually gone yet. However, Brody is proud of himself for trying. We hope that he will get the hang of it before February! ;)

Hey everyone!

Well, we are all looking forward to seeing our families this weekend for the 4th of July! Brody anticipates a great time as you can see in this picture. Speaking of our families, I just wanted to take a moment to praise God for all of you. You have been such a blessing in our lives.

"I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now." Philippians 1:3-4

We are so privileged to know that our family will instill the gospel message into our son's heart at any and every opportunity. Thank you, Lord! What a HUGE blessing and one that not many people (including believers) are blessed with.

Please continue to pray for us as this summer continues. John has only 1 MONTH left until the bar!!! yikes. He is being very diligent, but I know he is weary. Pray for me as I try to teach the Word to our son daily at his level... how?? by God's grace alone because I am clueless! and pray for Brody. It is so sweet to see fruit in his life. Every night when we pray he actually prays for each of you by name.... although some of those names may only be understandable by those of you who know his language... :) but he says, " Gohh (aka "Dear God"), Akuu ("thank you for")... Ma-Ma-Ma (Grand-Momma), Pa-paaaa (I think you know that one), Pee-poo (this one is subtle because it can either be Peter, Carrie or Trooper)...." and the list goes on. Last Sunday as we got ready for church he kept saying, "I want church". So, praise God in his own special way he is beginning to show fruit. Let's pray that it deepens and he grows in his love for Jesus!

Well-we will see you all very soon. Can't wait!