My two preggo friends!

It seems as though everybody I know is pregnant (I guess because technically we are in our "childbirthing" years), but EVERYBODY is pregnant.  On Facebook, there are so many people from my high school who are pregnant...some with their first child, others with their 3rd.  It is preggo-mania around here.    

I am happy to report that two of my closest friends in the whole wide world are having babies this summer!  These girls let me "cry in my sweatpants and eat Pringles"--you know, the ones that you can tell everything and they won't judge you, but they will remind you that God is sovereign and loves you more than you can ask or imagine. 

I consider it a privilege to walk this journey with them. 

Kelly Marie Benda Earnheart (with hubsters, Byron) is pregnant with John Aubrey, who is due to make his debut in August.  Kelly Marie and I met when I was in 9th grade.   One school trip and I don't know how many cans of Pringles later, we hit it off!  

Kelly was a rock to me when my daddy was sick...she was a balm for my whole family.  She loved us...she understood my pain...she told me to breathe and to love my daddy in the midst of the heartache.  I will always remember how God used her in my life during that time.  She ministered to me in a way that words cannot explain.  I love this girl...I love her husband (although I'm still waiting on my bbq plate)...and I love John Aubrey.  

What can I say about Julia (pictured on the right)?  She was my maid of honor.  She is a prayer warrior.  She came to visit me in the middle of visiting her family after I gave birth to Emmanuel. She has a heart that is as pure as gold...and she's a lot of fun, too!  I love this lady, more than she will probably ever know.  I love her heart for justice...I love her thirst for the righteousness of Christ...(I love her food!), and I love her ability to let me just be.  I love her super smart, religion teaching, 2 masters and a PhD husband...and I love the little baby girl who will be born in June.  

Reese, John Aubrey, and Baby Lincicum are a part of this post-recession baby boom we are experiencing.  I am so thankful that we will be able to pray for our little ones together and to keep one another in check as we start on and continue on this journey of motherhood :)  

To the babies!  

Reese's 1st Baby Gift

The beautiful thing about having two boys so close together in age is that I don't have to buy anything for Baby #2 (I have thought about buying myself a "mama" gift, which includes a pedicure in Green Hills--woot!)  Honestly, because Emmanuel has two male cousins who are just 18 months older, I never really had to buy anything for him.  It has truly been a blessing.  

Baby Reese received his first Baby gift at the end of February from one of the guidance counselors at my school.  

(It is a blue blanket with Reese monogrammed on it!) 

So, Reese will have something special that is just his (and well, his mama will probably steal it every once in a while).   

Home Stretch

Today I am 29 weeks and 4 days pregnant.  

This pregnancy is highly emotional for me.  We moved to Nashville, to our surprise conceived immediately...and decided that whether the baby was a boy or girl and since this is probably our last child, we would name him or her Reese...in memory of my dad and to honor the legacy of the Reese family. 

I, then, decided that I would deliver this baby at the hospital where my beloved daddy passed away three years ago.  I can't even drive past the hospital without tearing up, but I want to deliver there.  I desperately miss my father.

Several weeks later, we found out it was a boy. 

A boy named Reese.  

A boy who would be delivered in the hospital where my dad passed away and named to honor a family legacy that includes hard-working, God-fearing, faithful, and dedicated men...

God has given us an awesome opportunity to celebrate life and legacy...to raise God-fearing, hardworking, faithful men.  

My cup runneth over.   

Reese Martin Foster, 29 weeks, 4 days old.  We highly anticipate your arrival in our lives.  

What NOT to say to pregnant women

I was at a conference today, and these ladies told me that I looked "beautiful pregnant" (bless their souls, if they only knew).  My wonderful husband tells me on a daily basis how beautiful and hot I am (he's a good man)...despite the super fast expansion of my body, every part of my body.  My dad told me on more than one occasion that when my mom was pregnant, she was the most "beautiful he had ever seen her" (he was a good man, too).  

But, after talking with a few pregnant girlfriends (and trust me, I know so many women who are pregnant right now, it is absolutely ridiculous), I have come to the conclusion that there are just things that people should NOT say to pregnant women.  Pregnant women are already filled with so many emotions and their hormones are all over the place...it's just a little dangerous to say the wrong thing to pregnant women.  

So, here is the list of things "not to say" to preggos.  (By the way, this is a purely scientific study and women who were underweight, normal weight, and overweight prior to pregnancy were interviewed to get their opinions...and the conclusions were the same.)

1.  How much weight have you gained?  I don't think this question needs any explanation.

2.  Are you having twins?  Again, no explanation needed.  

3.  Oh, this must not be your first baby?  So, obviously pregnant women show a little earlier and faster with their second, third, etc. babies...trust me...the pregnant woman already knows that she's wearing maternity clothes earlier than she did when precious little Johnny was born...she doesn't need the public to remind her.

4.  I didn't even know you were pregnant?  This may seem innocent, but I have heard from many preggos that this is quite an insult when you are OBVIOUSLY pregnant.  Either people are trying to be nice and end up lying (oh, sweet Southerners really struggle with this one) or well, they are trying to be nice and end up lying.  

5.  Are you still exercising?  (I have to laugh at this one--it's time for personal disclosure). The answer is usually yes, but please don't make us explain that even though we walked a few miles and lifted a few weights, we still gave into that craving of Chick-Fil-A French Fries, the Peanut Butter Mousse Cupcake from the Cupcake Collection (fabulous place for those of you who live in Nashville...it is both family and black-owned in an upscale neighborhood here...I promise to take you here if you visit...they absolutely love Emmanuel ), or the Fried Catfish that smelled and looked so perfectly that was cooked by Granny Myrt.  (For everyone else): You may have wanted to exercise, but maybe your doctor has put you on bedrest...or maybe you are only allowed to do light activity...or well, maybe you are just scared to death to do anything that is going to get your heart rate up because you are worried that it will hurt your baby. 

6.  Are you swelling so much because your baby is due in the summer?  No explanation needed. 

7.  When I was pregnant...(insert your own preggo story here).  Most of the time this unsolicited advice is well, unsolicited.  Please don't tell us how much weight you gained and how long it took you to get it off (or worse, if you never got it off).  Please don't tell us that you embraced every time that you threw up, every time you had a backache or headache, and every time your ankles were swollen or worse (especially for those who have more difficult pregnancies), that your pregnancy was perfect and you would have been pregnant for your whole life.  We have our own story (which, by the way, we are very thankful to the Lord for and are very proud of) and a unique experience.  Please let us have our time of "being" pregnant and help us to enjoy being pregnant (however wonderfully complicated that might be).  

At the end of the day, the perfect resolution to encourage pregnant women everywhere is to take the cue from my hubsters and my daddy:  tell us that we are beautiful and please tell us often.  :)  

Good Friday, the Saturday-in-between, and Easter Service

Good Friday started with the Annual Easter Egg Hunt at my mom's house for all of the grandkids, cousins, and well, whoever else wants to drop off their child!  

The kids who arrived after lunch dyed all of the eggs.  

Emmanuel thought to himself, "Hmm...I did this last week...I think I want to play with my truck instead."  Eventually, he dyed a few eggs, but only after playing with every truck outside.  

James IV was the designated "place-the-vinegar-in-the-water-so-that-the-tablets-can-change the-water-color" boy.  

After dyeing all of the eggs, we had a big Easter Egg Hunt on the land.  (Unfortunately I have no pictures of this because I was helping Lil' E pick up eggs.)  Emmanuel had a great time looking for the eggs, and he found quite a few.  His favorite part of the hunt was eating the candy that came inside the plastic eggs.

After a long Good Friday, we were all well-rested on Saturday morning.  Emmanuel was so rested that he thought he was BB King. 

He had a time-and-a-half with his harmonica.  Although he has a grandmother from both sides of the family, he actually has a 3rd grandmother--Granny D.  Granny D is my sister-in-law's (brother's wife's) mom.  She gave Emmanuel his harmonica, and he loves it and plays it very well. 

So, after Emmanuel's show, we headed to one of the largest Easter Egg Hunts in Davidson County.   In fact, this Easter Egg Hunt is located in the area that we are moving to, and it is sponsored by one of the large churches in the area.  It is listed on the Top 50 List of things to do in Nashville (with your kids).  A lot of the things on this list are located in the area we are moving to--woohoo! 

Take a look at all of the eggs (if you can see them). 

And all of the people...

Emmanuel started the hunt with his car in one hand...

But, once he realized that there was candy in the eggs...the car went to daddy, and he started opening the eggs! 

Here's a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup...

And, here is the chocolate on the lips! 

"Daddy, I want more candy, please!"

Afterwards, we walked over and played on the playground for a little bit.  Daddy and I were acting a little silly.

Well, here he is on Easter Sunday (and yes, this is the best picture we could get at 6:30AM)!  There is nothing like Sunrise Service to let the world know that He is Risen, indeed!  Even Lil' E said, "Amen!"  

From the Foster Family to yours...we hope that you had an amazing  Easter.  

Palm Sunday Weekend

There is always something fun going on in Nashville for the weekend. This weekend, we hung out at our church for a Parents Day Out. We could only participate for a little while because we had to attend Mia's first soccer game, but Emmanuel had a ton of fun. The ladies in the church love this little boy.




Ms. Charmonad helped Emmanuel make an Easter card for Eli and me. He gave her a hug afterwards, and he made sure to pat her back three times like a good Southern boy.

The lady who took this picture was begging E to smile...he he. I've been there before--you just got to take what you can get!

Emmanuel's favorite activity of the day was playing the piano. He LOVES music...I mean LOVES music. He gets upset when the choir is finished singing for the day. If they stop playing the drums, he starts doing the sign for drums. He LOVES music.

We let him play on the piano pictured in the basement, but he desperately wants to play the grand piano in the sanctuary.

And, of course, he loves standing on the stage and singing in the microphone.

He dyed his first eggs on Saturday!

Ms. Bea worked really hard with him, and he even picked out his own colors.

Another fun part of the day at church included kicking the ball and running with it...he's got great foot-eye coordination.

And...the princess of the day had her very first soccer game! Emmauel calls Mia, "Mimi," and when he sees her picture, he reaches out his arms (she always picks him up.) She's already asked to hold Reese and promises that she will be very careful.

Her team yelled, 'Go, Purplelicious!" before they started the game.

Mia had a lot of fun playing, but I think she had more fun watching Emmanuel. He was asleep when the game started and woke up shortly afterwards. After a play, she ran to where we were sitting and said, "Ya'll woke up Emmanuel!" (I don't think she was too happy with us, she knows he needs his sleep!)

Happy Palm Sunday! We hope that you have a Holy Week that is filled with joy and that you are blown away by God's crazy love. We know that we are.

Kids and Kites Day...or Parents and Kites Day?

Nashville is starting to grow on me.  

At the end of the day, even though I miss my job and my friend in Baltimore, I must admit that Nashville is a great city.  There is ALWAYS something to do on the weekends here.  Most of the activities are family friendly or at least kid friendly.  The people are nice...even my hardest teenage cases at school are very respectful young people. There are so many parks and green spaces (I have seen some of the most beautiful birds in the middle of the inner city)...so many amazing playgrounds...and the city is crazy diverse!   There are 30 languages spoken at my elementary school.  There are Egytians, Somalians, Latinos, Laotians, and one of the largest Kurds population in the United States.  Who knew?  I still doubt that we will "settle" here...but it sure has surprised me with its city benefits.  

On Saturday, we ventured to the Bicentennial Mall for the Kids and Kites Day to fight Childhood Obesity. 

Emmanuel was #100!

There wasn't much wind early in the day, so Eli did a lot of running to get the kite started.  He said that instead of fighting childhood obesity, it should be used to fight adult obesity becaise he was exhausted after all of that running!  The first time I ran (backwards), I fell flat on my larger than life pregnancy bottom., which probably isn't a great thing at 6 months pregnant.

Emmanuel tried to figure out how to get that kite up in the air. 
(Here is my 26 week preggo shot for those of you who have been asking!)  We had fun walking up and down the ampitheatre and blowing dandelions.  

E is also fascinated by planes and trains these days (we were pointing to a plane).  Nashville should be called "Train City" instead of "Music City."  There must be a train every 5 minutes--they are in the city, the suburbs, behind schools...it's insane.  The amazing thing is that there are no passenger trains in Nashville--they are all commercial.

Eli and Jarvis had fun flying the kites for their kids (please notice that they are standing--it finally became a sunny/windy day, so they didn't have to work as hard.)

Emmanuel got in on the kite-flying action...

Here is his kite up in the air.

Emmanuel and Jamiya had so much fun playing together.  They both know baby sign language, so it is adorable watching them communicate. 

Ok--this pic is worth a thousand words.  Let's just say that our indestructible kite got stuck in tree.  No one could get it out.  Eli tried to get the kite out of the tree.  His brilliant method was to throw his keys in the tree to knock down the handle of the kite.  Well...you know what happened...his keys got stuck!  Eli and Jarvis tried to rescue the keys to no avail, but at least it made for a great picture! 

Finally, a brave teenager climbed up the tree to try to rescue the keys. 

And the five men below (Eli is not pictured) were giving the teenager instructions.  

Eventually, the teenager rescued the keys...and I would like to tell you that that was the last time the kite got stuck, but that would not be the truth.  I can tell you, however, that it was the last time that Eli's keys got stuck. 

All the while, Jamiya and Emmanuel just played in their own little world...sharing their toys and their food.  

It was a great Saturday afternoon in Nashville.