Goodbye, Enchanted Shell

Weekend Update:
This was one of the best weekends I have had in...I can't remember how long.

Jimmy and I went on a mini-vaca to his family's beach house in Surfside Beach, TX.  The whole weekend was blocked off for just us. No schedule. No "to-do"s.  It. Was. Awesome.  It was also a sad time because it was our last time to ever visit Enchanted Shell (the beach house name), as it is being sold on March 1st.  Maybe it's the prego hormones but I think I have been more sad about this than Jimmy.  Before we left, Jimmy poignantly pointed out that it was, in fact, just a building.  His childhood memories are with the people who surrounded him at the beach, not the house.  He is so wise, that man of mine.  We are disappointed, though, that our little one will not get to be a part of the 4 generations of Griffins to enjoy the house.

Aspen also had a great weekend.  She was SO well behaved at the beach.  We were able to take the leash off of her and let her run free, thanks to our new training shock collar.  We only intend to use it in situations like this because she has been known to run away from us.  She has put herself in many a dangerous situation trying to make us chase her into traffic.  This was only our second time to use it and she did great! 

             

 

I can't believe I'm already HALFWAY through this pregnancy!! I reached 20 completed weeks of baby growing on Friday.  Why then, do I look 1,000 months pregnant in the above photos?!? Sometimes I feel like I hardly look pregnant at all, but that was obviously not the case this weekend.  I do have to brag on my hubby's photography, though.  Look at that composition! Isn't he getting good?!? I'm so grateful to have some pics of this bebe, technically, at the beach.

I love this photo.  Enchanted shell in the background of my favorite person.  On the left, you can see a sliver of the beach house they sold a few years ago, before I became a Griffin. ;-)

I am so glad we were able to have this time together before life gets even busier.  We both have crazy weeks of work ahead and we go to have our big ultrasound appointment on Wednesday!!  Hopefully no more calling our baby "it," but he or she!! 

Thankful or Throwback Thursday?

In an attempt to be more consistent in blogging, I want to have a weekly themed post.  One of my favorite fashion bloggers used to do Awkward and Awesome Thursdays (I linked to my favorite one about pregnancy), Chelsea, from our old church in College Station has Wordless Wednesday, and then there's the standard "Throwback Thursday" that takes over Instagram every week.  I have recently seen "Thankful Thursday," too.

So what should this blog's weekly post be??  I feel like it has to be simple, because-let's face it, I am not winning any blogging awards over here at the moment.  I have decided upon Thursdays. Because Mondays and Fridays are always too busy, Tuesday is a catch-up-from-Monday kindof day and Wednesday, hump day, is just too middle-of-the-week.  I want something to look forward to write about.  So get ready for ______ Thursdays at Meet the Griffins.  While I mull over what to write about weekly, I will pick up where Awkward and Awesome Thursday left off.

But first--a blooper reel from our weekly photo sessions, because I do not have any new photos. This cracks me up, especially Emily in the middle, who is very much not pregnant.

Awkward: 
- Realizing just because you can zip a pair of pants, doesn't mean they fit (Thank you, week 18 growth spurt)
- The elastic contraption I bought to make my pants last a liiiiittle bit longer, before having to bust out my new maternity jeans, which are awesome btw.
- Spending more on maternity jeans than groceries, electricity, and practically the mortgage.  But I did my research and everyone says they're worth it.  They better make me look as tall and thin as Heidi Klum...
- Going to have your sinuses drained weekly at the ENT.  I mean...does that need more explanation?
- Pregnancy hormones.  enough said.
- Or when said hormones make you start crying un-ridiculously-controllably during worship at church on Sunday.  Then the crying will trigger an asthma attack and you have to leave early.  Yeah...that was pretty awkward. :-/

Awesome: 
- Waking up to find a clean kitchen every day this week!  The dish fairy has unloaded the dishwasher every morning.  Thank you dish fairy Jimmy!
- Turning the TV off for a while.  It has been a great week of reading, learning, talking, and laughing.  Oh lots of laughing.  Laughing 'til my sides hurt.  
- The BEAUTIFUL wood crib we bought for our bebe!! I will soon detail the story of purchasing said crib.
- Receiving encouraging emails from our friend Michael, in Peru.  He is getting married to his beautiful Peruvian bride on Saturday.  We wish we could be there, but a close second is hearing all the stories of God's provision for this obedient couple.
- The crazy weather!  I love a cold morning and gorgeous afternoon.  It is beautiful outside!!
- Family walks!!
- Valentine's decorations! Holidays make my heart happy, especially holidays where decorating with pink is not only tolerable, but encouraged!
- Not having to go back to the pulmonologist for THREE MONTHS!! Praise Jesus!

Baby G

So, here's to updating the blog more! Clearly, I'm very good at it.

Maybe I'll be better now that I have something more fun to post about...our baby!! Jimmy and I are expecting a little one on/around July 5, 2013!

We found out around Thanksgiving and told our families by wrapping up "early Christmas gifts" of picture frames with this picture in them.

Our first doctor's appointment was on my birthday!  It was the neatest experience to see our baby for the first time.   We ended up choosing the second doctor we saw, who said at the time we took this photo the baby was actually 11 weeks.  I started keeping a little pregnancy journal to accompany our "weekly" photos. (Obviously we are not good at frequent updates, which is no different when it comes to prego pics!)

Right after I got out of the first trimester, I became sick with a bacterial sinus infection, which led to exacerbated asthma, which ultimately sent me to a week in the hospital.  I have been sick since before the New Year, but am finally, FINALLY, starting to feel better this week.  God has been teaching me a lot about healing and His sovereignty.