Anyone who has spent any time around me knows I’m not a quick decision maker. In fact I’m not real big on having to make decisions at all.

Tonight we drafted our ‘birthing plan’ for when Nolan Boy comes. That entire process is decisions. That’s when it hit me… We have to make A LOT of decisions about and for Nolan. That’s a lot of pressure. Every decision we make from here on out affects (or effects?) our boy. That’s crazy!!

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.
- Philippians 4:6-7

Listen to advice and accept instruction,
and in the end you will be wise.
-Proverbs 19:20

“Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.
-Matthew 7:7-8

Sooo given those three verses alone I feel a whole lot better. Either way here we go.

Not much needs to be said here…. just watch and enjoy.  I think these are awesome / hilarious.  Happy Friday!!

Welp, my Nintendo Wii has and or is dying.  It won’t stay on for longer then about 20-30 minutes.  It completely dies after running for that short amount of time.  At first I thought maybe it was over heating, but it doesn’t seem to be affected by temp.

This brings me to my next point….
The new Red Wii Bundle!  It comes with the new Mario Brothers and a Motion Plus controller that has the motion plus built in.

The issue here is……. we’re having a baby.  And life is no longer about me.  The cost for this bundle looks to be only $199.  So the question I’m facing is how will the baby benefit from have a new Wii in the house? We can stream Netflix Veggie Tales on the Wii.  There are lots of games that promote ‘family game night’ and being together.  Once Nolan is a little older he can learn from interactive teaching games….. I think I might just be trying to stretch it.

Any other ideas of how to justify spending 200 bucks on a toy right before the baby is born?

I hope everyone who has the internet has watched this video already.

Well, in addition to this video being super funny…it now holds a bit of a higher meaning to me.  Last week Mike Breen shared a story at our Lewis 3DM Learning Community about finding God’s peace in the middle of a storm.  I don’t wanna try and paraphrase his story cuz I wouldn’t do it justice but I’d just like to encourage everyone to seek God’s peace in the middle of your storm, and then stand in it.  Just stand in God’s peace.

The adventure of my wife’s pregnancy has given me multiple opportunities to find God’s peace and stand in it.  I’m finding the longer I stand in that peace the easier each ‘opportunity’ becomes.  (opportunity in this context is code word for trail or storm)

When is the last time you needed to find God’s peace and stand in it?

Two reasons I’ve decided to be ‘more healthy’ …

First: I think God calls us to take care of our bodies.  It’s as simple as that.

Second: In about a month and a half my wife will give birth to our first child, Nolan.  I want to raise my child up to be a healthy young boy/teenager/man.  If I can’t be that myself he will never make it.  I don’t wanna have to tell him no because I’m too tired when he asks me to grab the football or baseball and go outside to play.  Basically, I’ve gotta be healthy for him.

So what I’ve done is started tracking what I eat using the Lose It app on my iPhone in addition to going to the gym 5 days a week and doing lots of cardio workouts. (tracking my workouts with the RunKeeper app on my iPhone…I sound like an iPhone commercial.) I hate the idea of dieting, blaw blaw blaw, but just simply trying to eat less food, and maybe not having that second piece of pumpkin pie.  I don’t really like going to the gym so much, but again it’s what needs to be done.  And I’ll admit I feel so much better and alive now that I’m trying to be more healthy.

Bottom Line: 8 months ago life changed and became no longer about me.

…I got married.  Below are some words I said on this day one year ago.  I’ll let these words mark the return of my blogging.

“Katey -
Today marks the first day of the rest of our lives.  The story so far has been one that will be cherished forever.  I have been blessed by the love you’ve given to me thus far.  Your daily smiles could not be replaced by anything else this world has to offer.  I truly believe that our story so far has proven our love to each other and the world around us however today we must realize that yesterday has come and gone and today we start anew.

With this new today I vow to love you outrageously just as Christ love first loved us. (Ephesians 5:21-32)
Today I vow that no matter the world around us, I will keep God the center of our household. (Joshua 24:15)
Today I set forth the task of breaking the mold of worldly leadership as I vow to be your spiritual leader leading you toward God with servant leadership just as Christ exemplified. (Matthew 20:28) (John 13:12-17)
When sickness or trails shall come, I vow our love will outlast the darkest hour of the darkest day. Life knows no greater sacrifice then to shine the light of love to one another in their darkest time and for you this I vow will be done.  If my arm where to get cut it shall bleed Katey colored love.
Love is a dream I wish all could see.  Today before you and everyone else here I vow that our love is a dream that will be seen and lived more real than any dream could ever portray. My love for you is no more perfect then your love for me and that excites me to live in imperfection with you as we grow closer to one another and toward God.
On this new Today I vow that from this day forward love will be felt in our laughter together.  Love and laughter shall be one in the same. The day love stops laughing is the day I’ll come up with a new joke for I truly believe life was not meant to be anything short of enjoyment.  Who better to live life’s enjoyment with then you.
Yesterday I thanked God for putting you in my life, Today I thank you for staying in my life….and now I can’t wait for tomorrow, and every day after it to be the first day of the rest of our lives…”

A friend sent me this video and I just had to share it with the world!

I think it’s both creepy and funny.

On a different note, if you have not already shared you favorite or funnest memory of me or us please do so.  I love hearing stories and having all these wonderful friends just blesses me to pieces.

Say that five times fast!

It’s true, we’ve kicked Baby Rallis off of this blog. But don’t worry, Baby has his/her own blog! …sort of.

We have received several requests to publish a blog all about Baby. We love working on DIY projects and thought this was a great opportunity to share our baby happenings with those of you who want all baby, all the time. Don’t worry, this blog will still be your main source of info as we will continue to update with daily rambles about our marriage, family and home.

For the goods on baby, visit www.makingbabyrallis.blogspot.com

Baby Rallis now has fingerprints!! Book ‘em Danno!

Tomorrow (Friday, June 10th) I will leave the 14 week mark in the dust as I waddle my way into week 15 where all sorts of amazing things await…like hiccups. In the meantime, let’s talk about fingerprints…

We all know that we each have our own unique set of prints on the tips of our fingers…but have you ever thought about what you can do with those little ridges and valleys of skin? When you are pregnant, you sit awake in bed all night (while your husband snores loudly with Law and Order’s tenth season blaring in the background) and you think about things like, well, fingerprints.

We probably think most of getting caught in a crime when we think of our prints but let’s expand that thinking for a minute to the fun things that we can do with our digits…like enter a top-secret, super fancy building that requires no keys but instead, a reading of your thumb on the digital do-hickey machine with green lights and a computerized woman who either says, “Enter” or “Denied”. See? Fun!

And surely, with the technology that it requires to operate a space ship (just play along), you’ve got to use your prints all the time! Probably to do simple things like shoot lazer guns at the sun and dial a phone to call home and tell your mother that you will be missing dinner…again.

There are all sorts of cool things that Baby will be able to do with his/her fingerprints….like finger-paint a beautiful mess of a picture for Mom and Dad, or wrap those little fingerprints (and fingers) around Dad’s pinky finger while walking through the zoo, or even take that sweet little fingerprint and stick it up his/her nose and then into his/her mouth. Lots of fun, practical things!

Doesn’t this make you appreciate your prints so much more?

More Baby updates coming soon. Stay tuned!

For those of you avid blog readers (hi mom) who have missed a month of posts here at the Rallis blog, don’t be alarmed. We are still living and breathing….just haven’t had much time for writing. Don’t worry, it will get better.

A quick recap on why we have been absent for a while…

You see, there is this crazy thing happening – I, Katey, am growing a human and much to my surprise, this requires great effort, lots of ice cream and more sleep than you can imagine. Mix all of that into four weddings, a flight to Seattle, a cruise to Alaska and Canada, and a busy work schedule for the both of us and…well…a month flew by.

Let’s not waste any time. Alaska pictures will be available for your viewing very soon but c’mon, we know that you only show up to read the blog these days because you want the goods on Baby Rallis. So here we go…

I’m growing. The end.

No really, I’m growing like crazy! Today is my 11th week of having another human, another heart beat, another whole body inside of me and my belly sure is showing proof of what’s happening. I always thought that gals didn’t show until around week 15 but I have had a swollen belly for weeks! My doctor says that because I am so tiny to begin with, that my uterus has no choice but to stick out. So, there you have it… 11 weeks pregnant, looking about four months pregnant.

Let’s answer the most recent/common questions:

Gaining any weight?
Ask me this in person and I will turn bright red and laugh while my mind recalls every ice cream sunday that I have enjoyed over the last few months. The answer, yes. Yes I have gained weight, am continuing to gain weight, and will probably gain weight for the rest of my life, thank you very much.

So how much have you gained?
I knew you’d ask. Alright, hold your gut, don’t roll your eyes and for one moment just TRY to understand that I started off underweight and had/have a long way to go…. are you sympathizing yet?

23 pounds. Week 11, 23 pounds gained. I’m a blimp.

Will you find out the gender?
Yes. We would have found out weeks ago, if possible. Our official sonogram to reveal Baby’s sex is on Friday, July 30th at 4pm. Put it on your calendar. While we are on this subject, I’d like to talk about something that I can’t seem to wrap my mind around…

If I am having a boy, that means that my body is working to grow a little wee-wee. I mean, think about that for a second. Me, a woman, who knows very little about wee-wees, who wants very little to do with wee-wees, might possibly be growing one inside of me. Is this weird to anybody else? I only know how the girl stuff works! I am good at the girl stuff but a little wee-wee?! Inside of me? Really, it makes me feel very strange so we try not to think about this too much…

Do you have a gut feeling about what you are having?
Yep. It was week 5 when we heard little one’s racing heart for the first time and just a few days later, I was strangely convinced that sure enough, there is a little wee-wee inside of me. Husband and I both refer to Baby as “him” and we are drawn to the boy section each time we go shopping. We will be in for a huge surprise if he is actually a she.

Have you narrowed down your list of names?
Yep. I am set on a boy’s name and Jason is set on a girl’s name. We still need to do a little convincing on each end of our choices but it sure seems like for now at least, we know what we will be calling our child.

How is Mom doing?
I’m great, thanks for asking! Two weeks ago, we had a scare. I have a blood disorder that was at war with the baby’s blood and my body thought it was time to reclaim my womb, not realizing that I was working hard to grow a baby (possibly a baby with a wee-wee). This caused me to get high fevers and vomit more than anybody ever should for about 48 hours, which totally dehydrated me, making the whole situation worse. Four hours at the doctor’s office, hooked up to an IV of really yummy drugs and I was feeling much better. I was prescribed heavy meds that I had to take every eight hours and within a few days, I was back to feeling normal. Baby had no idea that any of this was happening and he/she went unscathed, thank you Lord.

How big is Baby?
Hah! Funny you asked! According to my doctor, Baby Rallis LOVES to eat. I am 11 weeks along however Baby is measuring at about 14 weeks. My doctor said that Baby is healthy and “chubby”… now, if you are giggling to yourself, thinking that Baby got his/her dad’s genes, I will have you know that my sweet husband was born very small. This picture should point you in the right direction (if you were wondering why Baby is measuring big)…

Speaking of pictures, here are a couple to keep you happy until our next post…

Baby was doing summer salts so it was difficult to get a clear picture but if you look carefully, you can see his/her little head on the right. On the head, you can see a pointy nose (mom and dad both have obnoxious noses), the mouth and chin (white lines).  The chubby area is Baby’s body and those two bony white lines sticking up above the body are Baby’s arms.  The bright blob of white in the Baby’s belly is that beautiful beating, pumping heart. On the far left, at the end of the body, you can see Baby’s legs and feet.

Our God is an awesome God!

Stay tuned for more updates, and pictures from our cruise!