Almost 23 weeks...

I've had a ton of people asking me to post a pic of what I look like right now in the "belly" progression. And although I feel a little weird about posting a picture of my growing tummy, I'm indulging their requests. So here you go. 


I'm 23 weeks tomorrow...or sometime this week. I know, I know - I should know the exact date, but based on my due date, I'm 23 weeks on Wednesday. But based on our first ultrasound, I'm 23 weeks tomorrow. My doctor has referenced both a couple times, so I don't know. A "due week" is probably more accurate than a "due date" anyways, right?


Though I may not be really BIG yet (I know I'll get there), I feel like Baby Dough has grown SO much over the past 5 or 6 days. It's really the first time I've actually noticed the growth. I can feel my tummy tightening and stretching. It is such an amazing feeling - hurts a little, but still incredible. 


So, enough words...I know you just want the pic. Here you go at 23-ish weeks:

Another Sister

Well, it's official. I have another sister. My baby brother got married last Saturday. It's kind of hard to believe, but at the same time, it just seems right. For those of you who know me, you know I'm fairly protective over Ryan (so is Paige, I'm just more vocal about it - she'll always be the sweeter sister). But from day one, we have ALL loved and adored Libby (formerly Libby Hanson, now Libby Wegerer - YAY!!!) She just fits - the perfect last piece to the Wegerer family puzzle. 


It was such a fun day - great weather, great ceremony, great reception and great company. It was fun to finally get some of the extended family together because it doesn't happen very often. Just makes it harder that we don't see them very much. Stupid geography. But to those of you who are reading, thanks for making the trek down to Arkansas to celebrate Ryan's big day - we loved seeing you all! 


Did I mention my husband performed the ceremony? Yep, he's officially ordained and licensed by the state of Arkansas. This was his first wedding, and he did a beautiful job. I was SO proud. Just makes it that much more personal when he knows them so well. He's gotten to watch Ryan grow and mature since he was starting high school. Sorry, had to brag for a minute.


I'm sure most of you are just skipping down to the good part - the pictures - but per usual, I don't have very many and quality is lacking. I'm bummed that I never did snag a picture with the bride or groom, but you know how difficult that is on the big day. So here's a little glimpse from the few pics I took. (I couldn't take any pics during the ceremony because the groomsmen were literally RIGHT in front of me. We had a good view of their butts the whole time.)  


Congrats Ryan and Libby! So glad it's finally official and we now get to walk alongside you both in your new life together. Yay for being so close! 

The front of the chapel. It was beautiful. Glass all the way around.

The bride. She looked gorgeous.

Cutting the cake. 

Josh and I before the wedding.

Dad and his girls. 

Mom and 2 (of her now 3) daughters. I personally think you can see my baby bump in this pic.

First dance. I love the way he's looking at her. 

First week on the job...

As usual, I intended to post earlier in the week and time has slipped away from me. This has been a big week - well, for Josh at least. He started his new job on Monday. Most of you already know, but for those who don't, he is now working for Fellowship Bible Church of Northwest Arkansas as a Community Pastor, specifically for Springdale. Although he is only 4 days in to the new job, it seems like it is going to be a great fit. 


Looking back, we are grateful for the time we had working for K-Life. Josh's job as a Regional Director really stretched and grew him in areas he wouldn't have grown in otherwise, but it is a blessing for him to once again be back in his "sweet spot." This job will allow him to be back on the front-lines of ministry, training and pouring into guys. He is so relational and wired to be with people, so we're thankful for this opportunity. 


I'm not going to lie though, it's been an interesting transition for me. (I don't have a job yet and don't plan to go out and look for a "career" or my dream job, since I'll be having a baby in 4 months. The hope is that I will just find a good summer job, then look for something small and part-time I could potentially do from home after the baby is born.) Anyways, it's been interesting because since Josh and I got married 5 years ago, we have always worked together. Some people think that's crazy and wonder how we did it, but we loved it and work together really well. It's not like we spent every moment of the day together, but it was nice that we could eat lunch together, we could just go down the hall and see each other, and we knew what was going on in each other's world. Like I said earlier, I'm excited about this new phase and new job; it's just different. And different isn't necessarily bad, it just takes adjusting. So, make fun of me as much as you want, but I do miss him a little during the day. A job and I'm sure, down the road, a baby will occupy my days more in the future. Looking forward to that. 


I felt guilty on Monday when Josh got up early to head to work and I really only had a few things to do, with no set times or agenda, so I occupied my afternoon making him this little treat. (He loves Oreo Balls - thanks Mary Powell for introducing us to them!) 

B-town Baby Shower

This is going to sound bad, but there's not a lot I'm going to miss about Branson itself. That is, besides the amazing friends and community we had there. I won't miss the strip (which I think Josh and I drove on maybe 10 total times in the 3 years we were there...you learn the back roads, for sure.) I won't miss the tourism. And I definitely won't miss the old people trying to figure out how to drive in the round-a-bouts. This became humorous, it really did. But I promise that for all of the funny quirks you will find in Branson, you will find that many more amazing people. The community of believers there is incredible. We feel so blessed and encouraged to have spent three years living alongside people who were so like-minded and who challenged us to love the Lord more just by how they live. 


What does this have to do with a baby shower? Well, I don't know exactly. Besides that I am so thankful for the chance I had to gather one last time with these amazing people to not only celebrate this new little life God is giving us, but also a chance to say good-bye. It was a baby shower, but it also turned into a going away party too. Not too many tears - not sure how I skated by that, but I did. (Maybe because I'm not one of those "pretty" criers. My face gets all sour looking - you know the look - and I think it just makes people awkward. I'm jealous of all those pretty criers out there.) 


Anyways, we got some great stuff to get us started, and it was a sweet time of fellowship. As I stated in my last post, my camera stinks so I don't have too many pictures, but here are a few. Oh and the one thing I'm kicking myself for not taking a picture of was the final "Baby Dough Predictions" chart. I know I could still take a pic so you could see all the predictions, but I left it at our house in Branson. Anyways, it was hilarious seeing everyone's predictions, especially the little girls that came. My favorite was sweet Holland Houston who picked her birthday for the day the baby would be born - did I mention that was in January? My due date is in September, in case you needed the reminder. So funny. 

The classic diaper cake. Thanks Erika! How long do you think those will last me? 3-4 days, from what I hear! :)

The party favors. Not a good picture, but these are "baby rattle" cake balls (made by the talented Lauren Minor.) They tasted amazing!

3 of the hostesses. Wonderful friends from a wives' accountability group we started 3 years ago. There used to be 6 of us, now with me gone, it's down to 3. I will miss you ladies!

The other 4 hostesses. From our couples' small group at church. We are going to miss our small group so much - such a fun crew!

Random gift shot, but I had to give a shout out. My friend, Sarah Wasemiller, makes these car-seat blankets and they are so stinkin' cute. I'm obsessed with the fabrics she picked out for mine. They fit into the car seat and you can pull the straps through the holes, then wrap the blanket around the baby. The other side is a solid color minky fabric. Check them out (and more of her stuff) at her etsy store: http://www.etsy.com/shop/swas. She is SO talented!

(wishing we were still) Seaside...

During the last week of April, Josh and I spent the week in Seaside, Florida with two other great couple friends of ours. This trip was long overdue, since we really haven't taken an "official" vacation since our honeymoon. I know, I know. Those of you who have been married longer and have kids are thinking we should have taken advantage of this time more, but being in ministry and resources always being a little tight, we had to be creative. No worries, we've spent long weekends at lake houses, spent brief overnight trips at Big Cedar, and have taken lots of road trips around the country visiting friends. I think we've done a great job of appreciating our time being "just us" and we're excited for the next phase. 


Anywho, we rented a house just a couple minutes walk to the beach with our friends the Barret's and the Ashby's. There's nothing very exciting to tell you about the trip because this is what our days consisted of: woke up, went for a run each morning, laid on the beach all day, and ate great food at night. I'm pretty sure we treated ourselves to ice cream every night as well...something about being on vacation makes that seem okay. 


The week really couldn't have been more perfect. And I'm not just saying that to paint my life out to be something it's not - it really was an incredible week. The weather was amazing, the fellowship was great, and there's just something about the ocean that takes you to another place and reminds you just how big of a God we serve. 


I'm not good at taking pictures these days. I used to take a ton and I'm sure I'll take more in the near future. I blame it on the fact that I have a crummy camera. Side note: major item on the wishlist before or soon after Baby Dough comes: a NICE camera (even though I won't really know how to use it.)  So here are a few pics from the week. 

 First night, taking a quick walk on the beach before dinner. What a welcome.

The guys and their boogie boards. This was the first day in case you couldn't tell-no tans yet. They spent majority of the trip on these boards while the girls read and talked on the beach. Board introductions (from left to right): Mayflower, Flamer, Skull & Crossbones 

(if you know Brad at all, you have to find this funny)

 View of the beach from our access. Pretty sure this was the most busy the beach was all week. We basically had it to ourselves.

 Group shot. We didn't get many of those. Us, the Barret's, and the Ashby's.

Couple shot on the beach.

Girls' pic on date night. Lots of patterns in this picture.

Before our date night, just us.

Last evening, walking around at Rosemary Beach.

The Absence...

Well, remember that first blog when I talked about my fear of failure? And how one of the reasons I didn't publish the blog was because I thought I might fail at keeping up with it? Well, looks like I did fail at that and I still came out okay on the other end. Wow, not so bad after all. Like I said, my husband is always telling me I need to fail more. He'd be so proud. 

 I really do have a goal to post at least once a week - more if there's something worth sharing - but I feel like my reasons for the absence are pretty justified. Here's a small glimpse of what's been happening:

• 2 wedding showers 2 weekends in a row (both out of town) 
• quick trip to Fayetteville to see my best friend and meet her fiance - absolute stamp of approval. 
• 1 week of vacation (not a good reason to not blog, but I didn't take a computer.)
• wrapping up my last couple weeks of work with K-Life (pure craziness, but it happened!)
• baby shower/going away party with my sweet Branson friends before we left 
• packing
• figuring out what to pack and take with us, what to leave in our house to keep it "staged"
• more packing
• lots of "final" meals and going out to eat with our friends before we left (this is the other thing that took up all my evenings besides packing)
• 20 week appointment :)
• did i mention packing?

You get the idea. What makes me sad is so many of these things were totally post-worthy. I guess that means I have plenty to post about - better late than never, right? 

As you probably gathered, we officially made the move to NWA yesterday evening. Bittersweet is all I have to say about it. I'll post more about those emotions and that experience later. But first I have to catch up on posts from some of the afore mentioned items. See you tomorrow? (Fingers crossed.)