Tilly's First Photo Shoot

My sweet friend, Lisa Zimmerman, came to the hospital yesterday to take pictures of baby Tilly. She has already uploaded them to her site and they are precious! Lisa is a gifted photographer! Her website can be found under the links on the right side of my blog page. Once you are in the site, click on view your photos, then parties and events, and then welcome Tilly Brooke O'Dell - enjoy! They are so sweet!

Tilly is doing great! Two different ladies from the nursery told us this morning what a delightful daughter she is! She was very sweet for the nurses during the night while David and I slept! I hope this is a sign of things to come! So far, she seems really content and oh so sweet! We are going home in just a few hours, yay! I am sure more posts will follow as we adjust to our party of five! Thank you for all of your prayers and encouragement for our family during this very special time. We can't wait for Tilly to meet all of you!

Special Visitors

Today, Tilly had many special visitors to welcome her into the world. Early this morning, T came all the way from Athens to meet baby Tilly. It was love at first sight! Then, Papa and Gigi brought Carter and Summer to the hospital to meet baby Tilly and to see Mommy and Daddy! We had so much fun visiting! Baby Tilly is one blessed baby to have so many special people in her life! Here are some pictures from our visit!

Tilly Brooke O'Dell

Tilly Brooke O'Dell was born on August 19, 2008 at 4:48 PM at Northside Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia. She weighed 8 pounds and is 20.5 inches long. Tilly was delivered by Christine Gordon the same midwife who delivered both Carter and Summer! The delivery was as smooth and perfect as we could have hoped for it to be. We received the phone call from the hospital just before 8:00 AM. By 11:00, all paperwork was complete and pitocin was working its magic. I received the epidural about 1:00. By 4:45PM I shared with Christine that I thought it was time. Tilly arrived just 3 minutes later - it was so fast! She is perfect and oh so sweet! We never cease to be amazed by the miracle of birth even though we have gotten lots of practice in the last two years! We are so thankful for our baby girl. We know she is a gift and will change the dynamics of our family in her own little way! Carter and Summer came to the hospital today to meet her and it was so sweet to see them interact with her. Carter said, "Tilly pretty!" Summer helped her with her pacifier! David and I are thrilled to be parents again! We will post more updates soon!

What's in a name?

When we found out we were expecting a baby girl and took great care in choosing her name, I sent out an email to our family. I wanted to post it on our blog page too for those of you who may not have seen the email explaining her name. Most of you know by now, that we are going to have a baby girl in August. Most of you also know how much we value the names we choose for our little ones. Carter Stokes and Summer Journey both have so much meaning in our lives and we did not want this little one to feel slighted in any way. We took longer than we have in the past to choose her name because we wanted it to be so very special as we are confident she is going to be to us! That being said we know many of you are so curious to know her name and we want to share in this special moment with each of you, though many of you are far away from us. The name God laid on on our hearts and the name we have chosen for our little girl is Tilly Brooke. We hope that all of you will begin to pray for her by name as we await her arrival. We chose the name Tilly because of our time in New Orleans. We lived in the "Gentilly" area of New Orleans. The seminary was located on Gentilly and the name of our apartments were Gentilly. Our time at seminary completely changed our marriage and our lives forever, we believe. We are confident that we would not be where we are today were it not for those two years spent in that special city. We wanted to take a part of that with us and pass it along to our children. We want to be constantly reminded of God's provision for us while we were living in New Orleans. We have always wanted to use the name Brooke because of a special friend in our lives. Brooke and I were prayer partners our first summer to work camp together in Nashville in 2003. Brooke prayed over me and with me all summer about moving to New Orleans. She also taught me about being a godly wife and what it means to submit to my husband. I was struggling with moving to New Orleans because that meant leaving my family again and not returning to school. Ironically enough, Brooke was not even married at the time! She is married now and she and her husband, Jason, live in California. They continue to be a godly example and encouragement to us through their ministry. We believe God used Brooke at a critical point in our lives to help lead us down the path He chose for us. (You can view Brooke's blog from my page to see what she and her husband are up to now!) We hope that you will find Tilly's name as precious and special as we do. We hope that you will continue to pray for our rapidly growing family. Carter and Summer have both been amazing blessings in our lives and we are excited to see how God is going to use them and baby Tilly to further His kingdom. Join us in praying that for our children.

Where does the time go?

Lots has happened in the O'Dell household since I last blogged! Our family is so busy! We have officially become residents of Austell by purchasing a house close to the church. We are so thankful for our home and so many people in our church family have helped us to make this transition as smoothly as possible! David has begun his doctoral classes at the seminary and is enjoying being a student once again. We celebrated Summer's first birthday with my family in Athens. Mama came and spent a week with us, which was such a treat! Carter and Summer went for their check-ups and boy have they grown! Carter weighed 29 pounds and is 37 1/2 inches tall! Our BIG boy has grown almost 4 inches in the last 6 months! One morning David and I looked at each other in disbelief because it literally seemed as though he had grown overnight! Amazing! Summer weighed 23 pounds 8 ounces and is 32 inches tall! She has grown 2 inches since her last check-up! They grow up WAY too fast! Speaking of check-ups and time slipping by, I am going every week to see the mid-wife now that we are nearing the end of the pregnancy! I cannot believe these nine months are almost over! We are scheduled to induce baby Tilly Brooke on August 19th if she does not decide to make a debut earlier on her own! It seems our babies always need a little coaxing, so we are prepared for that again. We are so excited to meet this little baby girl and continue adding to our family! We talk about baby Tilly being in Mommy's tummy a lot, so hopefully we are preparing Carter and Summer for their new sister! We look forward to sharing with you the news of her arrival!

Hanging out with friends in Arkansas

So, I have put up several posts from our trip to Arkansas, but here is one more. We were able to spend some time in Jonesboro with David's roommates from college and their families! It was wonderful to watch our children play together! We sure do wish they were closer to us! Here are some pictures of Carter and Summer playing Noah and Nia! Thanks for the pictures, Brad!

Summer's First 1st Birthday Party

While visiting David's family, we had a birthday party for Summer since our family in Arkansas will not be here for her first birthday! We had a wonderful celebration complete with a birthday hat, a precious cake, ice cream and lots of presents! We still cannot believe our little girl is turning one very soon! This year has flown by. Below are some pictures from her birthday party! As you can see the birthday girl was not the only one who had a ball, big brother, Carter, had so much fun too! Thank you Gigi and Papa for a wonderful party for Summer!

Summer Fun in Arkansas

Well, the O'Dells have been on a whirl wind tour this last week. We left Atlanta last Thursday morning and headed to Jonesboro, Arkansas to see some friends and family. By the way, if none of you have had the blessing of staying in a hotel room with a two year old, almost one year old, and a very pregnant wife - I think everyone should experience the madness! Pure craziness! But, we survived and enjoyed ourselves quite nicely! We were able to visit with some family members, David's college roommates, and our precious church family from Marmaduke, Arkansas. David was on staff at Marmaduke First Baptist Church before we went to seminary. We were able to worship with our church family there on Sunday and enjoy a meal fellowshipping together for lunch. It was so refreshing to be with these folks again. Many of them had not met Carter and Summer, so that was quite a treat! Above are some pictures of our church family from MFBC. It was wonderful to spend some time with them.

After finishing lunch on Sunday, we hopped in the "mommy car" (appropriately named by Carter) to drive to Bryant, Arkansas. David is spending this week with our home church doing mission work in Mountain View, AR. Every summer, our church goes on a mission trip with an organization called Builders for Christ. Lucky for us it was in Arkansas this year, so David was able to go. He dropped the children and me off at Gigi and Papa's house. We have had a wonderful time playing with Gigi, Papa, and Aunt Karen. They have been most hospitable and have frankly spoiled us all rotten. Carter and Summer have enjoyed playing in the pool, reading, going to Chuck E Cheese, and just spending time with their grandparents. Attached you will find a slide show (thanks to the help of my friend Hannah) of Carter and Summer having fun in the swimming pool. I am sure there will be more posts from our trip to Gigi and Papa's. Uncle Cory and Aunt Cari are scheduled to join later in the week and we are going to celebrate Summer's first birthday! I know, I can't believe she is one!

Summer is 11 months old

Here are some pictures taken today on Summer's 11 month birthday. As you can see we were getting ready for bed. We have started putting them to bed at the same time, so that we can enjoy story time with the two of them together! I was thinking today about what was going on at this time last year before we welcomed this precious baby into our lives! We were chasing her big brother, Carter, all over the place and just getting so excited about her arrival. It was so hot as she was born in the middle of July! Today, much of the same is true. We are still chasing her big brother all over the place and we are yet again expecting another baby girl, Tilly Brooke, in less than 9 weeks! And, it is still so hot! Summer is such a sweet and precious little girl - as you can see she is her daddy's mini-me! David could never deny her! I thought in honor of her 11 months of life, I would update the blog on life with our little girl. Summer has 8 teeth and will eat anything that we put in front of her! She loves to blow kisses and say "mama and dada." She waves with both hands! She is crawling and moving all over the place! She loves to walk around the house holding onto whatever is close by! We figure it won't be long before she lets go so she can keep up with Carter! Speaking of Carter, they are so sweet together. They love each other and play so well together. I love to listen to them at night laugh and sing and talk before they go to sleep! These are precious days and I don't want to miss a thing!

Happy Father's Day, David!

Today is David's special day! We started the morning by giving Daddy his presents from Carter and Summer! Then, we went to church for Doughnuts with Daddy! Here are some pictures of Carter and Summer enjoying their breakfast with Daddy! In honor of David, I wanted to post the top ten reasons he is an awesome Daddy. There are so many more, but it's a start!

10. He willingly changes poopie diapers daily.

9. He helps with all of the day to day routines of parenting: baths, bedtime, laundry, dishes etc.

8. He makes the children laugh.

7. He loves the children and me with all of his heart.

6. He desires for our children to know and love Jesus.

5. He reads to the children every day.

4. He prays with the children.

3. He provides for our family.

2. He puts the needs and wants of our family ahead of his own.

1. He would rather spend time with the 3 of us than do anything else in the whole world!

Happy Father's Day, David! We celebrate you today because you are the best Daddy ever! There is no one I would rather be doing this whole parenting thing with than you! You are my favorite! I love you!

Trying this thing again

Well, after many years as you can see of trying to get this blog thing up and running, I think we may have succeeded! The purpose of our blog is for our family and friends to keep up with our rapidly growing lives! I love Saturdays with my family. We spent the morning eating breakfast together at the house and playing with Carter and Summer. After we all got dressed and ready (no small feat for a family of 4 and a heavily pregnant mommy!) we headed out to see what we could see! Apparently, I am starting this thing out right because I have been tagged by my sweet friend Mary Katherine. I am supposed to tell you 6 things about me that you may or may not know. So, here goes MK!

1. I love love love being a Mommy to Carter, Summer, and soon to be baby Tilly Brooke. I never knew I could love doing something so much. Being a Mommy is so hard and rewarding and nerve-wracking and exciting all at the same time! I love it!

2. I am so very much in love with David, my husband of soon to be 7 years! Wow, the time sure has flown. God has taken us on so many amazing paths and it has been the most fun experiencing life together. David is so much fun - there is never a dull moment at our house! I am so very proud of him and his accomplishments and the way he leads our family.

3. I teach at a private Christian school in Atlanta. I love my school. When I look back at how God brought me to this special place, I am still so very thankful! This will be my fourth year teaching here. Every year God reveals more to me about Himself through the people I work with everyday! I find that teaching helps me to be a better Mommy and vice versa.

4. I would like to take flying lessons one day. I just finished reading a book called "Twenty Wishes," so I have been thinking about what my twenty wishes would be and I definitely think I would love to learn to fly.

5. Reading is a passion of mine. I guess that is my escape at night when the children are in bed and David is watching boring shows on television like The O'Reilley Report and Hannity and Colmes - I don't even know if I spelled those correctly! I am currently reading books about how to potty train Carter. This is my summer project, but according to one book it can be done in a day! I will let you know how it goes when I am brave enough to try! I am also reading Parenting By The Book - a great book given to me by my school. A book I would recommend to all families is The Jesus Storybook Bible! I read this with my class this year at school and I look forward to reading it with Carter and Summer.

6. I have the sweetest friends in the whole world. I love keeping up with my friends from high school and college through facebook. It has been so wonderful, too, reconnecting with camp friends from Fuge and Tapawingo. I love my sweet friends from school - they spoil me and my family rotten! Recently, my sweet school friends took Carter, Summer, and Me to Build A Bear where we had a baby shower for Tilly! My girlfriends made "bears" for all 3 of my children - such a sweet outing!

I am new to this whole blog thing, so I don't have 6 friends on here to tag. I will tag Jenna, Casey, and Brooke because I know they all have blogs!

just getting started

Heather and I are trying to figure this out.