Blog Renovations and Baby Name Reveal!

Welcome to the Godards' newly renovated blog! I finally plucked up the courage to get a little tech-savvy and make a blog header! It took a lot of time finding good quality pictures that all went together! The thing I love about our header is that the two nature pictures hold great significance for our son!

For those of you who don't know already, we have decided to name our son Henry Charles. The name "Henry" comes from my family history. William Henrie (who was the first in his ancestral line to change the spelling to "ie" so that his children's children would know where they came from) was the first in our family (on my dad's dad's side) to join the church. This man and his family lived in Nauvoo with Joseph Smith and the pictures in the header were pictures I took of his land when we visited Nauvoo on our way out to Maryland - mere weeks before I became pregnant! We have some amazing stories that have been circulating in my family that come from the Henries and I wanted to name my son after this great legacy I've heard so much about since I was a child. The name "Charles" comes from my dad because he is my hero! I had always wanted to include the names "Charles" and "Henry" in the names of my children for quite some time. Once we found out we were having a boy, I realized that after this one, we may have all girls so this may be my only chance! Luckily, Andrew also loved the names and their significance so we had the name figured out pretty much right after we found out the sex. I am so excited to name our child something that means so much to us and I can't wait until I can explain to my son who he is named after!

In other news, lately I'm feeling kind of like this...

Today I am 35 weeks pregnant. I'm not at the "get this thing out of me stage" yet, but I'm getting there! It's incredible how heavy you feel when you are pregnant! It's like there are weights hanging off your body everywhere you go! I'm also waddling more and more. The waddle increases if I have to go to the bathroom! I also can't walk very fast. When Andrew asks me to explain why I waddle and walk slower than normal, the only way I can explain it is that it feels like my body can't do it any other way. If I'm walking fast, it feels wrong and very uncomfortable - like I will fall over! When I'm about to cross the street and a car comes up, I always cringe when they motion for the pregnant lady to cross. The thought is nice, sir, but I can't help but speed up when I cross, which then makes me feel like this guy:

http://www.foddy.net/Athletics.html

(try playing that game for 30 seconds and then you will understand)

As far as the baby room is concerned, I've been working away! The baby room, which used to look like this when we moved in...

Now looks like this!

This closet is my pride and joy! With the use of a drill gun and some imagination (and some things around the house that weren't being used) I added an extra lower shelf and the closet rod to hang up my favorite outfits!

 All the toys and books, bouncing chair, diaper bag, some of the clothes, baby bath, and a few other things came from an amazing purchase I made at a consignment sale this last weekend! It was amazing! There is an organization of mothers in Maryland called "Moms of Multiples" who host these sales a few times a year where they sale gently used toys, baby clothes, maternity clothes, and a host of other baby things! It was probably the most fun I've had shopping - EVER (I hate shopping). The ladies volunteering were so pleasant, I was able to get more than half of the things on my list that I needed for mere bucks, and I went with some friends from my ward. The next sale is in September and I will so be there. I loved it! The only thing is that you have to get there super early to stand in line so you can grab the things you really want first - but it was way worth it! It has been incredible how blessed we have been in the process of preparing for our baby. Almost everything we have for the baby was given to us by family and friends. All I have to say about that is that blessings await those who a) pay their tithing and b) serve. I have felt so overwhelmingly grateful for all of our blessings that I try to serve as much as I can because that is all I have to give back and yet I feel like it will never be enough!

Anyway, this last weekend was amazing for so many reasons, the most important being that we had the pleasure of being hosts to some of our family members who came and visited! Andrew's cousins, Ryan and Angie, and their spouses, Kelsey and Johnathan spent the weekend with us and it was a blast. Ryan and Kelsey visited us back in January as well and we had so much fun with them we had to do it again! What made this time even more exciting is that Kelsey is 15 weeks pregnant so we got to commiserate together! John and Angie came to see the sights in DC (which, by the way, if any of you want to visit DC, we live 45 minutes away and you are welcome to stay with us - we have plenty of room!). While they were here, we visited downtown Annapolis, an Amish market, and Little Italy in Baltimore. Here are some pictures I took while we were in Annapolis!

Oh, and I forgot. We also celebrated Easter 2 weeks ago! We celebrated by eating a delicious dinner, listening to conference talks, and coloring pictures...

Please excuse my swollen face!

Things are going very well for us! This weekend some sweet sisters in my ward are throwing a baby shower for another pregnant sister and me and I am so excited!