Moving

Because we have moved 3 times already in a year, why not move once more, right?! As most of you know, this past year hasn't been exactly easy, but it has been sanctifying to say the least. It is a crazy journey that the Lord has purposed for us and there are still things about it we totally don't understand, but He is good. The greatest joy has come from knowing that our Savior is good, that He restores, and that He is faithful in all that He does and promises to those that are His. 

It has been so much fun and such a joy to blog about our pregnancy, and the sweet blessing of a little guy who is on his way into the world within only a few short months. Ahhh! We so look forward to continue sharing our journey through parenthood and surrender of this child daily to the Lord. We know that our dear son is the Lord's, and we are expectant for Him to be the one who guides our steps of this unknown territory of parenthood just as He has through this past year of unknowns. He has been ever so faithful!

We are beyond grateful to share that we are not just moving for the heck of it. On September 29th, we bought our first home! We close in only 2 weeks and could not be more thankful!! The inspection is complete, and now we play the waiting game until closing and move-in.

I love our red door! We are moving from Keller, Texas to The Colony, Texas. This will now change Cory's commute to work from an hour and a half (sometimes 2 hours) to 20 minutes with traffic. What a blessing that will be for him! I am thankful that his drive will be close. He is so ready. Also, I will finish work in December so I'll have to make the treck back to Keller for about a month BUT I want to say now that it will be totally worth it to be in our home! Right now, I only drive a mile and a half so I'm pretty spoiled. We will also be only 20 minutes from our church! 

I am ready to do some cooking in this here kitchen!

As of now, we are packing like maniacs. We're also trying to decide on colors for the nursery, but I just am so terrible with decision making... can't I just pay someone to come make all these decisions for me? Oh, if only...

My exhaustion has returned but I'm guessing it's due to all of this crazy, fun running around. Can I just be honest? I despise packing. We have done this so much we should be pro's by now but we absolutely are not. :( As much as we dislike the packing process, it is so exciting to know what we will unpack these boxes into!

If you think to pray for us this week, please pray for our hearts as we are going through so much transition. There is so much going on in both of our hearts as it should be with all of this newness around us coming, but we want to actively be pursuing and listening to the Lord. Pray that we could quiet our busyness enough to simply be still and be in His presence. Also, that we will continue engaging those around us and those we are in community with. May the Lord be exalted and our hearts be stirred to worship during this time. Pray that we will find and get plugged into a home group quickly when we move. This has been the true lifeline of the body of Christ at work within our past 2 years at the Village Church, and we know that God is sovereign over this all. We ask for an incredible community of believers that we can learn from, grow with, and one that will support us in loving our son well.

Thank you for those of you who ask for ways you can pray and who truly do bring our requests to the throne! We are so grateful for your prayers as they are heard and felt.

Cory & Hannah 

It's a....

At 19 weeks, we are announcing to the world that LS is a BOY!!!!!!

We are in love with this darling little man! 

There were only about 3% of our friends/family that thought it was a boy. 

Contrary to the rest of the 97% of people and to just about EVERY old wive's tale, our LS is definitely a boy! 

This is a happy mommy about our boy!

And now for a few highlight pictures from our gender reveal party. The rest will be on facebook soon!

Opening a few sweet gifts.

Celebrating our little man! 

The dearest family and friends!! (minus Autumn & Austin)

We passed out staches to commemorate the night!

I absolutely love this series of pictures with the mustaches :)

We don't have any pictures of the way we revealed. It was a precious memory that we caught on video but these are some blue-filled cupcakes modeled by the beautiful Brittani that we all enjoyed! 

My grandparents and parents ecstatic that it's a boy!

Cory's grandmother, his parents, brother, and sis-in-law rejoicing and in shock that it's a boy! :)

How far along? 19 Weeks
Total weight gain/loss: 7 lbs. 
Maternity clothes? Yes. 
Stretch marks? Not yet but cocoa butta has been bought!
Sleep: I am so tired! I've been going to sleep around midnight every night though because we've had so much going on. That makes anyone tired! 

Best moment this week: Our gender reveal party! It was the most precious, dear time that shocked everyone. It was so much fun. I just wish I could have spent more time with all of our people. Another best moment is just sharing our news with our dear friends here in Texas and just with everyone! This blog entry has been so long awaited and I've been ecstatic to share!! I accidentally erased all of my pictures last night so I was bummed to have to retake them and postpone the blog even longer.

Miss Anything? family and friends :) As far as missing previous things I could have before pregnancy-lots and lots of caffeine. I miss not having to worry about my caffeine intake. 
Movement:  I'm so longing to feel his movements! I was able to feel my little nephew's kick inside Kala's belly this weekend and it was the sweetest thing!
Food cravings: Hot chocolate with marshmallows and cracked sea salt on top. I really have been craving all things chocolate this week!
Anything making you queasy or sick: Nausea is gone! 
Have you started to show yet: Yes, of course! 
Gender prediction: B-b-b-b-b-oy!
Labor Signs: Nope
Belly Button in or out? In
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time: Moody, super moody 
Looking forward to: Feeling him moving inside of me. Once it starts, it will be constant I feel like. He is an active little guy in there. Every sonogram, he is turning flips and pushing on the walls of my uterus. :)

All about baby BOY Steiner:

Our munchkin is in the 95th percentile already they are saying and I am measuring a few weeks early. He also has "highly above average femur bones"...just like his daddy!

He very much wanted us to know that he is a boy. He didn't give us a very good facial shot. He cooperated well for the anatomy sonogram!

Please join us in praying for our baby's health and development, his salvation in Christ one day, for him to be a good sleeper when he arrives, and for his size. :) 

Our darling boy is happy to welcome his best friend and possible future wife today into this world Emma Kathryn Ilse! He can't wait to meet you already!!! :) Congrats Sara and Terry!

We are hoping to officially decide on his name very soon! 

Love to you ALL for your anticipation, excitement, and sweet words! 

You guys are great!

18 weeks...Which will it BEE?

Mommy and LS at 18 weeks!

I just love our board this week! It's always an intimidating process to decorate. When I finally do, I don't like erasing it! HE or SHE... Which will it BEE? We find out tomorrow :)

How far along? 18 Weeks
Total weight gain/loss: 8 lbs. I'll have a more exact number when I go to the doctor tomorrow.
Maternity clothes? Yes. My favorite jeans are some Old Navy bootcut jeans with a full panel :). haha I love them. They're super comfortable. Cory loves the idea of belly bands and panels in jeans so much that he would like some also. :) 
Stretch marks? No, but my tummy has been itching. 
Sleep: I feel the need for more and more but am not sleeping too well. We've been keeping Collier, the two year old girl that I nanny this past week during the day and overnight. This could add to the need for more sleep and the result of less. Parenthood is slowly creeping in on us! I'm praying that LS is such a good sleeper!
Best moment this week: I am sitting in tears as I write because it was such a pivotal moment for me this week. I was struggling with something deeply as I was sitting at the park watching the kids play. I was praying knowing the Lord was meeting me there and heard every cry of my heart. I was just processing some things hoping to have someone to talk to about it. I knew He was enough and He was listening and fulfills the every longing of my wayward heart. I could faintly hear the kids playing but was so focused on this moment of surrender to Him (such a bad nanny, I know). I noticed this other mom there and we ended up talking after introducing our kids to one another. She is also a believer in Jesus and has a beautiful heart for Him. She just started pouring her heart out through conversation over something that probably didn't mean that much to her, but as the words fell from her lips, I felt the Spirit of God reassuring me that I am so loved by Him, this is ultimately for my joy, and His plan is so intricately perfect and beyond my wishes and hopes. 
"I have come that they may have life and have it more abundantly." John 10:10.
I felt so loved and cared for by the Creator of the universe who was bringing out the wind from His storehouses (ps 135:7) that was blowing on our faces. I'm glad I had my shades on because she might have thought I was crazy as my eyes were filling with tears. In such huge ways and small ways, I could firmly believe in my heart that I am His and He is mine! 

"No power of hell, no scheme of man can ever pluck me from His hand. 'Til He returns or calls me home, here in the power of Christ I'll stand."  -In Christ Alone 

Our faithful and sovereign God so purposed for that sweet lady to be there at the perfect time. His grace was extended through another sister. This was my best moment this week! This might not seem baby-blog worthy but it is a moment I don't want to forget.

Have you told family and friends: Yes! We are only two days away from telling our family the gender and only ONE day away from finding out ourselves! We are so thrilled to go to our appointment tomorrow!!
Miss Anything? sleep
Movement:  I don't know for sure. There was a slight "flutter" I felt, but I wasn't sure what exactly it was because it went away so quickly. Sometimes I'll sit really still as though if I concentrated on it, it would happen. haha!
Food cravings: Applesauce, chocolate, fudge, ice cream (which is dangerous bc of a lactose intolerance. Mom, you can relate :)
Anything making you queasy or sick: Nausea is gone! Praise the Lord! Back pain is here and in full force, but I'm so thankful nausea is gone! I'm thankful for the encouragement from so many women that understood, related, and encouraged during that seemingly forever long season of nausea!
Have you started to show yet: Yes, of course! I've gotten several of these- "I know you're not supposed to ask a woman this, but are you... (hoping I'll fill in the blank while they pause....) pregnant?" Haha :) It always makes me smile with the awkwardness they must be feeling when I let them pause. 
Gender prediction: HE or SHE, which will it BEE?!! We find out TOMORROW! 
Labor Signs: No. For the most part, the BHC are gone!
Belly Button in or out? In
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time: Moody 
Looking forward to: Our appointment tomorrow with the sonographer and our OB. Cory and I are extremely ready to see our little darling moving and stretching in there. I was able to see it a few weeks ago but Cory wasn't there. I'm ready for him to experience it with me and especially to see if it's a boy or girl! Also, we are really looking forward to going to Louisiana this weekend to share with our families and a few friends what this munchkin is! 


I just want to say that it is such an encouragement to me having people read and comment. For those of you that leave me some love, I so appreciate it and every post means a lot to Cory and I both! Thank you guys for reading and keeping up with us through this current journey. We are grateful for the family and friends that our baby will be welcomed into this world with!

17 weeks :) ...overdue

Mommy at 17 weeks

Our little darling's profile! The baby is measuring early. We went in at 16w4d and the baby is measuring 17 weeks 1 day. Changed due date to March 7th...for now anyway. 

So this is LS at 17 weeks! Look at those sweet cheeks!! Ps...the white-ish part on the back of the head is from the ink smearing when the picture was printed. We love this little one!!!

Here's a picture of Mommy and Daddy at our sweet friends' wedding shower. Baby LS looks squished here with me slumped over. We were roasting apples over a fire. Baby LOVED them :)

Here's an update on this week. We apparently have a long baby growing. LS is growing perfectly on the "average"scale except for above average-size femur bones. :)  

How far along? 17 Weeks
Total weight gain/loss: 7.5 lbs. It seriously looks like way more. I guess that my weight just shifts. I was really surprised to go into the doctor and find that out. 
Maternity clothes? Yes and no. Mostly, I have been wearing maternity clothes, but there are a few things that I've still been able to wear. I did find some great deals on maternity clothes at Ross this week :)
Stretch marks? No
Sleep: I have not been sleeping very well. I am already barricaded in with lots of pillows for comfort. 
Best moment this week: Seeing our sweet baby's profile and hearing that he/she is looking great! I loved seeing LS hiccup during our appointment. The baby kept moving and stretching like never before! It was a precious moment for me. He/she looked squished in there because LS kept pushing and kicking around in there. It's been so great to feel more of an emotional connection to our baby this week. Those pictures and sonogram sure do grow my love more and more for that dumpling. It's truly a miracle how our Creator forms and knits new life together!
Have you told family and friends: Yes!
Miss Anything? I miss being able to eat sushi this week.
Movement:  Not yet
Food cravings: I have been craving candy like crazy! How weird is that? I am definitely a chocolate kind-of gal but I have been wanting sugary, sweet candy. Also, I've taken a new liking to Gatorade
Anything making you queasy or sick: PRAISE be to the Lord that the nausea hasn't been as bad! Nasty smells still make me sick but that's pretty normal. 
Have you started to show yet: Yes! Now, even when I lay down flat on my back, I have a distinct bump still.  
Gender prediction: So, we've been thinking girl but I've been having boy dreams. Maybe it's a boy. 
Labor Signs: I've actually been having Braxton Hicks contractions. I had to go in for a work-in appointment this week to make sure everything was okay. The baby and everything else looks great but I'm having the Braxton Hicks. I'm thankful to know that baby is good though!
Belly Button in or out? In
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy and tired, tired
Looking forward to: Feeling the baby move!

Week 17 post is about a week late so be ready for week 18 sooner than later! I'm such a terrible blogger, but I'm trying!