Baby Belly at 35 weeks

And the belly keeps growing!!!! :)

Can't believe we only have a little over a month to go! I start my 9th month on Thursday!

Pictures of Laila in the womb!

This past weekend we got to see a little glimpse of Laila!!! My mom gave us the wonderful opportunity to do the 3D/4D ultrasound pictures. It was such a neat experience. Now we have clearer pictures of her and a 30 minute video of her sleeping and moving around in my belly. She was very comfortable in the position she was in and didn't want to pose for us too much, but they were still able to get a few good ones! Some of them are a little hard to make out if you don't know what you are looking at, but it kind of gives you an idea of what she is going to look like. I admit it is a little strange, but still very cool! Technology really is so amazing! Nate and our family say she looks like me, but we really won't know for sure until she gets here! It will be so fun to show these to her one day!

We can't say thank you enough!

Earlier this month we had our baby showers for Laila in Orlando. It was so good to see so many of our close friends and family. Thank you to those of you that were able to come to celebrate Laila or send your congratulations. We received so many great gifts to help us prepare for her arrival. We honestly can't say thank you enough for everything! We feel very blessed to have such wonderful family and friends! Nate and I are very excited to start putting together the nursery in the next few weeks. We'll try to post pictures as it starts coming along. Here a few pictures for you to enjoy from our showers! Thanks again to all the wonderful hostesses! Everything was perfect....it was a very special time for me and a weekend I'll never forget! :) I especially loved all the sweet cards, words of encouragement, advice, and prayers that many of you shared with me! These will be things I will treasure forever. Thank you again for your thoughtfulness and generosity.

Love,

Joy, Nate & Laila

Maternity Pictures

It's hard to believe I'm half way through my 8th month now! Laila's birthday will be here before we know it! Everything has been going good so far. I feel very blessed that my pregnancy has been pretty smooth up to this point. Of course I'm more uncomfortable the bigger I get and I am really looking forward to losing the extra weight, but I feel like I shouldn't complain too much because I know it could be a lot worse! :) I'm hoping to be able to work up until my due date, so hopefully things will continue to go smoothly this next month. Please continue to keep us in your prayers during this time. It's so exciting seeing and feeling her move around in my tummy. She's kicking me and wiggling around a little now as I am writing!!!

Last month, Nate's sister Bekah took some maternity pictures for us. She is an awesome photographer located in the Orlando area. I've put up a few for you to see. Yes, I know I'm big, but this is me trying to be transparent and document my pregnancy as best I can! These pictures will always be a reminder to us of a very special time in our lives - preparing for the birth of our first child!

Schuck Architecture & Design

It’s Official! Schuck Architecture & Design can now be found online!

I am so excited to announce that our website has finally been launched! www.schuckdesign.com has allowed us to showcase our passion for design to all who wish to learn more about our services and expertise. We strive to provide the highest quality architectural design for those looking to build a new custom home, renovate or add onto an existing home or develop a townhome or condominium subdivision. Please log on and check out all the information available about our firm and pass along our web address to anyone you know that may be interested in our services. We hope to have the opportunity to serve you and share in the excitement of designing a new home!

God Bless!

Nate Schuck
President - Design Principal
Schuck Architecture & Design
www.schuckdesign.com

Isaac is here!

Our good friends John and Erin Moss had their little baby boy this weekend! Isaac Andrew Moss was born on March 7 at 4:55 PM. He is healthy and weighs 6 lb. 12 oz.! Nate and I can't wait to meet him next weekend!

"Joy"ous Times!!!

Today I am 28 weeks pregnant on my 28th birthday!!! :) It has been a good day! Thank you so much to all of you that called, texted, or sent cards to wish me a Happy Birthday! Besides making me breakfast, lunch, taking me to dinner, and getting me gorgeous flowers, my wonderful husband bought me Carvel ice-cream cake, which I am very excited about...it has been my favorite since I was a little girl! Yummy! He also bought me a beautiful keepsake box that we will fill with trinkets marking precious moments we will be making with Laila as she grows (like her first tooth or the first outfit we will bring her home in)! I can't wait for her birthday so we can start putting things in it in the years to come!

I guess it has been about a month since I've written on our blog, so here is a little update. I am in my 3rd trimester and 7th month now, and I am feeling pretty good. We have been busy picking out things for Laila's nursery and registering (which is so overwhelming because there are SO many choices)!! I can't wait to start getting things ready for her over these last few months before she arrives!

I hope you are all doing wonderful! You are all in our thoughts often! Take care!

In His Joy,

Joy

Carrying Precious Cargo!

Today I had my 23 week appointment. I guess I am officially starting my 6th month (according to the book What to Expect when you are Expecting)! I got to hear Laila's heartbeat, which is always very exciting! The doctor said everything looked and sounded great. I've also been feeling her kick and move around a lot more lately. It's strong enough for Nate to be able to feel pretty good as well! It probably won't be too much longer until we can actually see her moving around in my belly!

As it gets closer to Laila's birthday, I find myself dreaming all the time. Will she have her mama's smile? Will she have her daddy's long legs? (Please Lord, let her have her daddy's long legs!) We absolutely can't wait to meet her! Even though there are babies being born everyday around the world, the whole process truly is a miracle. I just continue to pray everyday that she will remain healthy and that we will be able to hold her in our arms and bring her home from the hospital in less than 17 weeks.

God has allowed me to play so many roles in my life up to this point - daughter, granddaughter, sister, niece, cousin, wife, teacher, friend, but I am so looking forward to my new favorite role - Mommy!!! Nate and I both feel so honored that God has entrusted us with so much!

By the way, we've chosen Laila's middle name to be Grace. Thanks so much for taking time to vote on our poll! It looks like most of you thought Grace was the best choice as well!

Baby Belly - 23 weeks

It's a GIRL!!!

We are so excited to announce that we are having a little baby girl! This past Friday we went in for my 19th week appointment and got to see her moving around a bunch on the sonogram! I was so thrilled to hear that the doctor said everything looked great! Check out a few of the pictures below. The first one shows a picture of her "girl parts" and little legs. The second one is a profile picture, but it's a little hard to make out because she was moving so much and she kept putting her hand in front of her face. I guess she didn't feel like posing today! The third picture is cool because you can see her spine pretty clearly.

We have decided to name her Laila Schuck! After choosing the name mainly because we think it is really pretty and it has my maiden name in it, we found a couple of different meanings....dark-haired beauty, dark-skinned beauty, or born at night. We'll see if the meanings hold true! No matter what her name may mean though, my main prayer is that she will be beautiful on the inside as well as the outside! We haven't picked a middle name yet, so if you have any good ideas, let us know! Since finding out we are having a girl, I've already gotten excited and been busy thinking of ideas for her room. I can't wait to get started on it in the next few months. It's hard to believe I'm almost to the halfway point of my pregnancy. I am so excited to meet her and hold her in my arms! The smile hasn't left Nate's face since finding out we're having a girl! He keeps saying she'll be "Daddy's little girl"!

The Holidays!

We had such a great time this year during the holidays! We were down in Orlando for about 12 days visiting family and friends. Unfortunately I wasn't good about taking my camera everywhere, but we did capture a few of our fun evenings below! You can see more of our pictures on Snapfish by going to www.theschuckfamily.snapfish.com/snapfish. If any of you have more pictures from this Christmas of the Schuck & Lail gatherings, send them our way so we can post them!

These first 3 pictures are of the time spent on Christmas Eve with Nate's mom, sisters, and uncle! Linda's famous Christmas Eve meal was DELICIOUS as usual and the time was filled with lots of laughter like always! Bekah, Linda, Susie, & Nate also got to burn off some calories that afternoon by performing a live-version remake of "You got elfed", which I made for them a few weeks before! If you didn't get to see one of those this year, it was hilarious. Office Depot had this program where you could post people's faces onto a body of an elf, and then email the dancing elves to other people! I have to say the "Live" version was much more entertaining! You can enjoy it too by clicking on the video below! Unfortunately I wasn't able to post the original because it expired. (I hope Linda, Susie, Bekah & Nate don't mind that I'm sharing this with everyone!!!)

This picture above is of the Lail family at my mom and dad's house on Christmas Eve night! Nate and I got to enjoy two delicious meals that day! Even though we were missing a few of our family members that evening, I think this is the first time we've gotten most of everyone together for a picture in a while!

One of the days we were down in Orlando we got to go to SeaWorld with Nate's mom and sisters! We had tons of fun seeing Shamu Rocks and the Whale & Dolphin Show. Nate and the girls also got to enjoy riding the roller coaster Crackin a few times! It was a popular day at SeaWorld because we also got to see my sister and her husband, Holly & Robin, and our friends the Schrimshers and Ryckmans with their kiddos! Me & Nate's sisters also had a blast seeing who could jump the highest in front of the SeaWorld Christmas tree. I think they had a little bit of an unfair advantage since they are about a foot taller than me!

Like I said earlier, we also made a lot of other fun memories with family and friends this year that I did not get pictures of. We had a really nice time celebrating Christmas with the Schuck's in Ocala. Even though we weren't able to stay long, it was so nice to see everyone! Congrats again to Nate's cousin Phil and his wife Jill who just found out they are having a baby boy. It will be fun to celebrate Christmas next year with 2 new babies! We also had a very nice dinner with Nate's dad Greg, Donna, Susie, & Bekah!!! Thanks to Holly & Robin we got to enjoy a nice Christmas gathering at their house, as well as a Dungeness Crab feast & game night! Even though I lost horribly at Scrabble, I'm very proud that I won a round of Scene It against the movie buffs Nate & Robin! (By the way, I still think grint is a word!!!)

This year we got to spend New Year's Eve with the Moss Family (John, Erin, & baby), for the 3rd year in a row! We had a nice time catching up at dinner and then went over to the Melting Pot for some very yummy dessert! Erin and I had a hard time staying up until midnight (which isn't unusual for Erin!) since we are both pregnant and tire easily, but we did it!

I hope everyone else had just as wonderful of a Christmas as we did this year! We are so thankful for all of you!

Happy New Year!!!