Shower for Amy...

Our sweet friends Jeff & Amy Jackson are having their first baby 2 weeks before us!

His name will be Hunter Luke Jackson!

Here are a few pics from her shower last weekend...

Jeff is a football coach, so Hunter's room is sports themed. The hostesses made this adorable sign with Hunter's name and decorated with a sports theme!

This was a sweet blanket Amy's sister gave her with scripture on it.

Amy could not stop crying when she opened it!

Amy & Julie

29 weeks...

Our baby now weighs about 2 1/2 pounds, like a butternut squash, and is a tad over 15 inches long from head to heel. Her muscles and lungs are continuing to mature, and her head is growing bigger to make room for her developing brain. This trimester, about 250 milligrams of calcium are deposited into Lily's hardening skeleton each day.

29 week baby bump!

11 weeks to go!

Wow...check out the beautiful sunrise God showed us this morning!

Does that not take your breath away!

Weekend Getaway!

We took a mini vacation this past weekend before our sweet Lily arrives and before all the fall events kick off at church. We left for Southlake Town Square Thursday afternoon and returned to real life late Saturday night. Southlake Town Square is near Grapevine, so it's not a far drive but once you're there, you feel like you're far away from everything! We came to this place for our 1yr Anniversary which was almost two years ago and fell in love with the place so we went back for our mini vacation and had an amazing time!

Here is the Hilton Southlake where we stayed. Our room was one of the balcony rooms under the Hilton sign, so we had a beautiful view of the Town Square! Yes, the picture is crooked on purpose! Julie got to play with her new camera while we were on our trip...so hope you enjoy the pics!

Thursday night dinner was at Taco Diner...Yummo!

Yes, we are "those" people that take pictures of our food if it's picture worthy! If you know us well, this doesn't surprise you! Carter had some amazing pork tacos.

Harkins Theatre is the movie theatre in the Town Square, this picture was taken from our balcony. Thursday night we saw G.I. Joe and Friday night we saw Julie & Julia...both awesome movies!!

Friday we had breakfast and then headed to the Terrace Retreat Spa in our hotel. After several hours of pampering there we headed to lunch and then back to the room for a nap! What a day!

We also did some shopping on our little stay...of course mostly for Lily!! We visited the cutest baby stores...Baby Bliss and Janie & Jack and we had to go through the huge Anthropology...love it! We laughed when we saw this store...Lilly...because when we were here two years ago, we were eating lunch at Brio and looked across the street and saw this store and Julie said "Lilly...I like that name a lot!" Well...here we are two years later having our very own Lily...we just took out one of the l's!

Friday night we ate at Brio...an Italian restaurant that we really like! We have only eaten there one other time, and it was on our last visit to Southlake, so this is our little place to go when we visit! No food pictures...we were too hungry, the food didn't last long enough for a picture!

Saturday was spent at the pool and then we headed home! We are so thankful we were able to get away for a few days!

28 weeks...

By this week, Lily is weighing two and a quarter pounds, like a Chinese cabbage, and measures 14.8 inches from the top of her head to her heels. She can blink her eyes, which now sport lashes. With her eyesight developing, she may be able to see the light that filters in through your womb. She's also developing billions of neurons in her brain and adding more body fat in preparation for life in the outside world!

28 week baby bump!

Laney turns 5!

Julie's niece, Laney, turned 5yrs old on Tuesday! Her Ariel party moved from the swimming pool outside to Chick-fil-A inside because of the possible storms rolling in. She had a blast with all her friends!

One of Laney's gifts was a princess picnic basket and she asked Carter to join her for a picnic! Rex invited himself to the party too! So cute!

27 weeks...

This week, Lily is weighing over 2 lbs and is about 14 1/2 inches long with her legs extended. She's sleeping and waking at regular intervals, opening and closing her eyes, and perhaps even sucking her fingers! With more brain tissue developing, Lily's brain is very active now. While her lungs are still immature, they would be capable of functioning — with a lot of medical help — if she were to be born now.

Oh sweet Lily...we pray that you continue to grow and stay healthy for the next 12 weeks or so inside mommy's belly. We love you so much!

27 week baby bump!

26 weeks...

Lily at 26 weeks!
You can see her precious face on the left side of this picture...looks like she's pretty cozy in there snuggling up to her momma! :)

This week, the network of nerves in Lily's ears are better developing and are more sensitive than before. She's inhaling and exhaling small amounts of amniotic fluid, which is essential for the development of her lungs. These so-called breathing movements are also good practice for when she's born and takes that first gulp of air. She is continuing to put on more baby fat...weighing in at 2 lbs and 1 oz this week and measures about 14 inches from head to heel!
Wow...she is getting so big!


26 week baby bump!

25 weeks...

We have entered into the THIRD trimester! Woo Hoo!!

Head to heels, our baby now measures about 13 1/2 inches! Her weight — a pound and a half — isn't much more than an average rutabaga, but she's beginning to exchange her long, lean look for some baby fat. As she does, her wrinkled skin will begin to smooth out and she'll start to look more and more like a newborn. She's also growing more hair — and if we could see it, we'd now be able to discern its color and texture.

Wow!!! Oh precious Lily...we wish we could see what your beautiful hair will look like! We wonder if it will be blonde like Mommy's (it really was my natural color at one time!! ha) and super straight or will it be curly and black like Daddy's (this was also true at one time!)!?

25 week belly bump!

Mission Galveston 2009

We just returned from Galveston, TX with 40 of our students where we helped a church in the area by holding a VBS (11 children accepted Christ!) and we helped schools in the area and helped rebuild homes for victims of Hurricane Ike. God did some amazing things while we were there in the lives of our students and the people we were able to serve.

Pics coming soon!

24 weeks...

Baby Lily is growing fast! She has gained about 4 ounces since last week! That puts her at just over a pound. Since she's almost a foot long, about the length of an ear of corn, she cuts a pretty lean figure at this point, but her body is filling out proportionally and she'll soon start to plump up. Her brain is also growing quickly now, and her taste buds are continuing to develop. Her lungs are developing "branches" of the respiratory "tree" as well as cells that produce surfactant, a substance that will help her air sacs inflate once she hits the outside world. Her skin is still thin and translucent, but that will start to change soon.

24 week belly bump!

23 weeks...

Our baby girl's sense of movement is well developed by now! And now that she's more than 11 inches long and weighs just over a pound, about as much as a large mango, we have been able to see her squirm underneath Julie's clothes. So cool! Blood vessels in her lungs are developing to prepare for breathing, and the sounds that our baby's increasingly keen ears pick up are preparing her for entry into the outside world. Loud noises that are becoming familiar now — such as the roar of the vacuum cleaner — probably won't faze her when she hears them outside the womb. We know she hears the buzz of the alarm clock because as soon as that thing goes off in the morning she is kicking Julie so hard...saying "Time to get up Mommy!" ha ha ha

23 week baby bump!

Carter's parents visit!

Carter's parents, Lonnie & Kathy, came from TN to see us this past weekend!

We had a great visit!

First stop...Saltgrass...their favorite!

The girls went to see Ice Age in 3D on Saturday! Awesome movie!

Julie's nieces, Laney & Keely in their cool 3D glasses that they're going to "keep forever!!"

Our baby girl's name is...

Lily Faith Morris!

We finally took the plunge and picked a name! We have loved Lily Faith for a long time...came up with it about 2 years ago...and then more recently came up with Adyson Rae, which was our second runner up! We loved both names so much it was a tough decision...but this weekend we both felt she wanted to be Lily so we agreed!! ha ha

We love calling her by name and praying for her by name...so sweet! AND little miss Lily had hiccups for the first time on Monday! woo hoo

4th of July

This year for the 4th...we headed to Frisco to eat at Willie's Burger House and watch the Pizza Hut Park fireworks from the parking lot! We took Julie's Mom & Dad and met some friends and neighbors there. Our neighbors that live behind us, Chris & Chalet, and their family came too! It was so fun! The firework show was incredible!

Carter & Woody at Willie's Burger House

Willie and his friends hanging out!

Julie's parents

Chris & Chalet with their family!

Julie got a "big girl" camera for her 30th birthday this year from her sweet husband Carter and had fun trying it out on the firework show!

22 weeks...

Our baby girl is starting to look more like a miniature newborn this week! She is 11 inches, the length of a spaghetti squash, and almost 1 pound. Her lips, eyelids, and eyebrows are becoming more distinct, and she's even developing tiny tooth buds beneath her gums! Wow! Her eyes have formed, but her irises (the colored part of the eye) still lack pigment. If we could see inside the womb, we'd be able to spot the fine hair (lanugo) that covers her body and the deep wrinkles on her skin, which she'll sport until she adds a padding of fat to fill them in. Inside her belly, her pancreas — essential for the production of some important hormones — is developing steadily.

What a busy week! No wonder she's squirming all around!

22 week baby bump!