Down to the wire...

Praise the Lord, I am able to make one last update before Carter joins us!!! I had my last doctor's appointment this morning and have had no change whatsoever! To say I am prayerful and hopeful that we can make it to Monday, for our scheduled c-section, is an understatement.

This past week, I have been feeling great (very little discomfort), Austin has a count-down going until he meets his brother (the excitement is too much for him right now!), and Jason and I feel about as prepared as you ever are for the arrival of a baby. Mentally, I am still trying to wrap my head around what it may possibly be like with two, how things are going to change, and the concept of getting up again all night long, but I know that nothing lasts forever, and I am going to attempt to enjoy as much of this time as possible with such a little baby.

Other than that, we are just trying to prepare for next week! It has to figure that next week is probably one of our busiest of the past few weeks...the c-section is Monday, Austin starts soccer on Tuesday or Wednesday, and he has preschool orientation on Thursday (the same day I am discharged from the hospital). Oh well! I guess you have to get in to the swing of things some time! :)

My last request of all of you is that you pray for us this upcoming Monday. The c-section is currently scheduled to start at 10:30 AM (as long as there aren't any emergencies), so prayers for the doctors, nurses, and all 4 Hoffmans would be greatly appreciated. Right now, I feel such a wonderful calmness, and know that that comes from the love and prayers of the people around me! Thank you all for your support...it means the world to Jason, Austin, Carter, and I!

Austin's 5th Birthday Party and Baby Update 2

Austin and Karli playing a game

Playing Lego Pirates of the Caribbean

The cupcakes I made

The Heffner Family

Austin opening presents at home with family

I guess the most exciting thing right now is that not only did Austin have an amazing time this past weekend with his birthday, but I was able to enjoy it with him!!!

By around dinner time on Friday night, we had 10 family members in our house who would be staying for the weekend. It sounds overwhelming just writing it, and to be honest, it was, but Austin had a wonderful time having so many sets of grandparents in our house. My parents, sister, grandma, and my Dad's parents came in to stay, as well as Jason's parents, brother and grandma. Friday night was chaotic trying to find a place to accommodate all of us for dinner (Golden Corral won out there) and getting things ready for Saturday, but it was nice to have family around.

Saturday morning we had a big breakfast and finished all prep work for Austin's 5th Birthday Party, which had a Super Mario Brothers theme. My brother and his girlfriend came up from Myrtle Beach to celebrate as well (although they couldn't stay the entire day). From 1-3 PM we were at Strafe Gaming Lounge here in Fuquay Varina for Austin's party, and it was great! The kids were able to entertain themselves with the video games, the parents were able to chat and not stress about where the kids were, and best of all, I didn't have even more people in my already cramped house! :) The highlight of the party, for me, were the t-shirts we gave out as party favors. Austin's godmother, Lauren Fasnacht, created the most adorable shirts to give the kids, and Jason and I had them too...they were loved by all, and it will be a wonderful reminder of the great day every time we wear them! After the party, family came back to the house and Austin opened more presents. After a yummy meal of pizza and salad, Austin played with toys and the Wii with Uncle Andy and Aunt Er.

Sunday morning everyone except my grandparents left (they left the following day), and Jason and I had a quiet day at home since we both ended up getting sick Saturday night! All in all, the weekend went pretty well, and Austin had more fun then he could have imagined!

As for the baby update...things have finally slowed down! Nothing has changed since last week, which makes me VERY hopeful that we will be able to make it to our scheduled c-section date of August 22nd. I know that God's timing will be perfect for Carter's arrival, but I must say that I hope God is favoring the 22nd! ;)

Thank you for all of the love, support, and prayers you have been putting our way, and hopefully next week I can blog about yet another week of pregnancy and fun! Above are some pictures of Austin's party!

Baby Update...

So for those that are far away, I thought I would update you all a bit as to what is going on. Right now, I am 36.5 weeks along and VERY done with being pregnant (at least physically)! We had a doctor's appointment on Tuesday that went well, but because he hadn't been moving much over the weekend, we were sent in for a stress test. All was fine, but as of now, my doctor is not hopeful that I will make it to the 22nd of this month. I am currently 3 cm dilated, 50% effaced, and having intense Braxton Hicks off and on all day long. Needless to say, I would prefer the 22nd, since it is organized, planned and all set up, but know that God is in control and will bring Carter to our family when He says it is time! :)

Right now, the goal is to stay pregnant through this Saturday the 6th so I don't miss any of Austin's birthday party, and as long as all goes according to my plan (which we all know is just hopeful thinking), I will update again next week with pictures of his party!!! :) Love to you all and God bless!

5 weeks and counting...

So we are down to less than 5 weeks until Carter comes to join our family. In typical Hoffman style, he was measuring larger than normal at my last visit, so today an ultrasound was done to check up on his progress. His body itself is, thankfully, an average size, however, his head is measuring big. He will probably end up following in his brother's footsteps and have quite a large head when he is born. Praise the Lord for c-sections! :)

On a different note, Austin has been in Pennsylvania visiting family since the 10th of July and won't come back until this Friday, the 22nd. He spent the first week with Jason's parents and the second with mine. Needless to say we have been told about quite a few toys that were bought and nights when 3 bowls of ice cream occurred, so we will need to have a detox session when he comes back! He seems to be having a blast since he hasn't wanted to talk to either of us since he left... :)

While Austin has been away, Jason and I have been trying to clean, organize and prep our house. Other than being completely overwhelmed by the feeling that we will soon be a family of 4 instead of a family of 3, the prep work has gone over well! We have some wonderful friends from church who helped us move furniture around last Sunday, and things are beginning to find new homes throughout our house.

The next few weeks will be fairly busy (when are they not in this house), but they will also be such a blessing. Some neighbors are throwing a shower for me this Saturday, Austin has a big sibling class that same day, on Sunday we are celebrating Colombian Independence Day with a Colombian dinner at a neighbor's house, the following weekend Austin has a birthday party to go to, and the weekend after that our church has an event at a local lake and everyone will be here for Austin's birthday party. It is hard to believe that he will be 5 this year...I really didn't understand how quickly time went by until I had a child...

That's about it from our end. Please continue to pray for us in the coming weeks as things get even more chaotic in our household! :)

So how bad am I at this...

Considering the fact that my last blog on here was when we got our dog (who will be 2 soon), I thought it would be a good time to update. My goal is to try and keep this blog as up-to-date as possible, so those of you who won't be able to see us on a regular basis can still feel like you are a part of our lives! I'm thinking I will try to update about once a week...we'll see how long that lasts! ;)

In case you have been living underground for the past few months, the Hoffman Family is going to be expanding again, but with a human being this time!!! Carter David will be joining our family sometime around August 23rd, and needless to say, Austin is thrilled to be having a brother! The pregnancy hasn't been as great as it was with Austin, but I am assuming that's because it's the second time around. We have a wonderful doctor though who has been watching everything pretty closely since Carter is already measuring fairly large and Austin was 8 lbs. 10 oz. when he was born. Time will tell how big this new Hoffman will be!

Other than that, we are just enjoying life here in the South. We found an amazing church last July that we are active in, Austin went to preschool last year and will go again this year, and we went to Disney again about a month ago. We try to stay busy, and seem to be fairly good at it! (Just ask Jason who says he never has a "relaxation" day...wait until number 2 comes!)

If you got all of the way through this, thank you! I will attempt to be better at this, and feel free to share the link with anyone else who may be interested in our lives (not that we are that interesting, but you know...) :)

Our New Puppy Mac!

This is a front view of our buddy Mac.

Austin and Mac are already the best of friends!

This is Mac most of the time...so calm and sweet!

He loves to chew on his toys!




This was right after we got him...Austin was SO proud.

So I promised pictures of our new puppy, and here they are! He is a four month old lab/boxer/maybe hound/maybe mastiff mix. He weighs about 35 lbs. right now and they think he may be as large as 80 when all is said and done (they really have no idea though). He is the most laid back dog in the whole world, sleeping or resting about 90% of his day. He is already crate trained and rarely has an accident in the house. We are so grateful to Pawfect Match Rescue for fostering him until he could become a part of our family! We hope you all get to meet him soon!

It's been awhile...

Austin at Myrtle Beach.

Austin and some of his friends on his new trampoline!

Austin opening presents from us on his actual birthday!

Austin's PA birthday party.

Austin picking tomatoes in our garden

(we had banana peppers, mint & tomatoes survive this year!)

For anyone who checks this on a semi-regular basis, I am sorry that it has taken so long to write another blog. We had a major computer issue that put our good computer out of working order for 2 months! Way too long to be without, but now we are up and running again and life is good! :) The pictures above are some of the cutest and most recent ones taken.

Since my last post, Austin turned 3, is potty trained, and has given up his pacifier (nuk) for good! Jason and I have definitely had some trying times through it, but we've prevailed. Austin had two birthday parties this year; the first one was the first weekend in August up in PA and the second was the third weekend in August here in NC. Both had a "Cars" theme, and of course, he got way too many presents! It's so nice that he has friends his own age down here that he can invite to a party and see on a regular basis. The potty training began soon after a trip to Myrtle Beach with my grandparents (mid-September), and went very smoothly. We have an accident here or there still, but in general, he did much better than I thought he would do. The nuk was a much bigger ordeal than potty training. He cried himself to sleep a few nights and even though it has been 6 days now, he still asks for it when he is tired.

Our biggest news as of recent is that we are adding on to our family! Not with another baby yet, but with an adorable mutt that Austin has named Mac. He is a 4 month old lab, boxer, hound mix (although this is all speculation). He is the calmest puppy and doesn't seem to have a care in the world (which is good since Austin will be his brother). Mac joins us this Saturday, and we promise to put up pictures!

That's pretty much it from our end. We have traveled a lot this fall (Myrtle Beach with my grandparents, then again with my parents, Wilmington and Mt. Airy with Jason's parents), so we haven't been around Fuquay much on the weekends, but it has been great visiting with everyone. One thing I wanted to update everyone on is that I am not watching the little boy from the previous post. His mom ended up finding a job that was during the night shift, so we are still trying to get by, but know that God has a plan for us. Right now I am looking into getting my teaching certificate (which would only take about 5 classes), so keep us in your prayers as our lives may drastically change again.