Joseph's Showers

There is one thing that is for sure: our little man will be spoiled. Josh and I are so thankful for our families, friends, and church for showering Joseph with gifts. Each gift was greatly appreciated.

The ladies at church hosted Joseph's first shower on March 8th. We are so blessed to be a part of such a wonderful church family and we are beyond thankful for the beautiful shower they gave.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My mom, Jennifer, and Danielle hosted Joseph's second shower on April 11th. This was a children's book themed shower and I absolutely loved it!! They put so much time and effort into making this shower perfect for Joseph and we are so appreciative for it. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Josh and I cannot thank everyone enough for all the gifts and support we are given. We cannot wait for Joseph to be here to feel the love that will surround him. Less than two weeks!!

20 Weeks

How Far Along: 20 weeks - we are at the halfway mark!

Size of baby: BabyCenter tells me he weighs about 10 1/2 ounces and measures about 6 1/2 inches from head to bottom or 10 inches from head to heel (about the size of a banana). I have a check up on Tuesday and will know more of an exact size then.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Maybe 6-7 pounds

Maternity Clothes: Not yet. I have held off this long wearing mostly leggings but I think I will be purchasing my first pair of maternity jeans in the near future. 

Gender: BOY :)

Movement: Last Saturday, I felt him kick for the first time! I was cleaning the house and sat down to take a break and he kicked twice. I felt him kick twice again late Monday night. I have felt movement for a while, but it has always just felt like butterflies. 

Sleep: I toss and turn all night and get up only about once or twice now

Cravings:  I don't really have any

Symptoms: None really this week.. the only two symptoms I've had is acid reflux and tiredness. I think I have been pretty lucky!

Best Moment this week: Feeling him kick and ordering his nursery furniture! It should be here next week. I can't wait to get it all set up in his room. My goal is to get most of it in order before I get overwhelmed with school.

Joseph Neal

It's a BOY!! Josh & I are over the moon that God has given us a little boy to raise. We got to see our little man yesterday and it was one of the most precious sights we have ever seen. Since Josh & I dated for almost 6 years and have been married for going on 2, we have had names picked out for our future children for quite a while.

We chose Joseph Neal because they are both Graben family names and they hold special places in our hearts. Joseph was Josh's paw paws name and has been in the Graben family from the first generation in America. Neal comes from Josh's great grandfather on his maw maws side of the family. It is also Josh and Josh's dads middle name. It's a plus that our little boy will have the same initials as his daddy. Maybe one day, Joseph will have a little sister and I will get to tell you about her namesake on my side of the family.  :)

We cannot wait to welcome Joseph into our world. May cannot get here soon enough! We are so excited to start our journey of parenthood together and we are blessed with the support system we have. We know he will be surrounded with so much love and we could not ask for better grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends. We are ready for Mark, Jennifer, Michael, & Danielle to have a special bond with our little boy like we do with their boys. It is such a special bond; and nothing like it! We also cannot wait for Chad to have that special bond with our sweet boy! There is no doubt he will be a great uncle. I have a feeling Joseph will be spending a lot of time at the lake with Uncle Chad.

Here are a few pictures from yesterday:

 He waved at us!

 His little feet

His profile

Until next time.. :) We hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!!

Welcome

Hi everyone! I want to document all the new and exciting things that are happening in our lives (especially now that we have a little one on the way), so I decided to join the blogging world! Also, I thought this would be easier for our family and friends to keep up with what is going on.

Here is a little bit about our story: A few months ago, Josh and I decided it was time for our little family to grow. We prayed and prayed, and prayed some more. After several negative test, I began to get discouraged. One day while I was waiting on class to start, I sent Josh a text message and told him I am going to try one more test. I tried my best to wait on him to get home from work, but I was unsuccessful. I took the test... and it was Positive!! I waited the longest hour of my life for Josh to get home to tell him the good news. That had to be one of the happiest times of our lives. Of course over the next several days, the paranoia in me thought I needed to take 4 more test to make sure it was right.

I called my doctor and set up an appointment for October 7th. We had a long three weeks to keep this a secret. In my head, I still didn't believe it until Dr. Young confirmed that in fact, I was pregnant. Seeing the baby's heartbeat was one of the most exciting and emotional things we had ever been through. Our due date is May 23, 2015!

 

 

We were finally able to tell our family and friends and everyone was so thrilled. We have had a very exciting past few weeks and we are trying to savor every moment. We went over to Mark & Jennifer's house to take our announcement picture. This was a little more complicated than we expected, but I think it turned out great!

Thank you for reading our blog! I may not have much to write about until we have our appointments, but I will keep y'all up to date. :)