Bradley Rhodes Richardson

I'm sure at this point, everyone has figured out that we are expecting a new little addition to our family. This has been such a wonderful surprise, and the greatest adventure that we could ever endure. The love we have for our little boy is one that we could never imagine, and cant fathom how much that love will  grow. Finding out about our pregnancy later in the first trimester has thrown us for a loop in planning. What is typically a 40 week experience is only going to be a 27 week experience for us, but thankfully the holidays fall in the midst of those weeks, which will help tremendously with material needs for our baby, as well as quality family time to surround ourselves in love.

Reaching the third trimester today means only 12 more weeks until we are able to hold our bundle of joy and meet him for the first time. People say the time goes by fast, but I beg to differ. These weeks are creeping by and seem to only creep slower the closer we get!

We both hoped for a little boy, although would have been happy either way, but when we saw the gender reveal at 20 weeks, we both shrieked in excitement! I'm guessing it was meant to be, because we had a boy name picked out for weeks and had no thought of a girl name.

A boy name was easy to come by. We had decided on the first name Bradley when we first found out about the pregnancy. The name Bradley is very meaningful for Todd, as it is the last name of his grandfather. The story behind this amazing man is truly humbling and hopefully everyone will be able to hear the story one day. Rhodes, the baby's middle name, and also the name he will go by, has no particular meaning for us, but was a name that we both instantly fell in love with.

So far, our doctors appointments have all gone smoothly and we have received nothing but healthy news about our little boy. He is growing right on track, has tested negative for diseases, and is a hyper little thing. The nurse always has to chase him around to get images of him. He thinks its a game of hide and seek from Mommy and Daddy at ultrasounds. I don't find it very funny! Ha ha. We have our next appointment at 29 weeks, on Friday, December 2nd, which is when we do a Gestational Diabetes test and an anemia test. I already found out I have -blood type, which upon research, I have read that gives me a higher chance of being anemic, which also gives us a higher change of having GD during pregnancy. Prayers of negative results would be greatly appreciated, as I already have to have extra shots for having a very rare, negative blood type. None of this is anything that can harm the baby, but it just makes stuff a pain in the butt for me!

We have daily reminders of our active baby, as he loves to party like a rock star at Mommy and Daddy's bedtime. His sleeping schedules and our sleeping schedules are opposites, and I have already started planning ways to change that as soon as he is here! Todd is still a little freaked out by feeling all his movements, but they are just a normal part of life for me now! I find it fun to play little games with him. I can poke my belly in all different areas, and he will follow my hand around poking back. Its so interesting to me that he already can respond in such a way, and that his brain is already formed enough to be able to poke me back and follow my hand around.

I will keep updates posted about doctors appointments until the arrival of Rhodes, when we can not wait to meet him ourselves and introduce him to everyone in our lives!

With This Ring, I Thee Wed

Struggling between a small, intimate ceremony, or a blow out of a wedding, ultimately we had to do what was best for our growing family- small and simple, kind of like us! Between family and friends scattered about, it was becoming too difficult to attempt to set a date in a small amount of time for all to attend. Our guest list kept growing, and schedules kept filling, and stress was taking over for everyone involved. Eventually, we realized that a big wedding was not what we wanted or needed at this time in our lives. We were already a family, and a big wedding wasn't going to change that. We were ready to be husband and wife and the constant delay of dates were overwhelming and ultimately made no sense for us. Once the engagement came, our patience of planning a wedding ceased, and our desire for this next step magnified.

I began the final plan for a wedding on Wednesday, November 9th, and immediately saw God working. There was a specific photographer I wanted, and she was available Sunday, November 20th. I was also given the name of a pastor and called him up, leaving a voicemail. He called me back no more than an hour later, and was willing to marry us. His only stipulation was that he was only available Sunday, November 20th. Wow! That worked out perfectly.

For anyone who knows Todd and I, we are both outdoor people and love lakes. I have always dreamt of an outdoor wedding, by a lake, with an old barn. I had basically given up on a barn, but figured any lake would work for our small ceremony. I had looked around, but not made plans. It just so happened that the pastor's church owned 36 acres of land with a lake, and offered it to us for no cost. This was all falling into place too easy! God is good, and he wasn't finished yet!

I had previously gone dress shopping a couple of times, and had found a gorgeous strapless ball gown, with a train, in my price range that I feel in love with. This dress was MY dress. I was so excited about it and it was the very first dress I tried on. I had given up on my dress at one point because I thought that we had changed plans too many times and waited so long, that the dress wouldn't be available. I went into the bridal store on Friday, November 12th hoping and praying for a miracle that my dress would be available, not to mention in my size and ready to wear in a week! They had one size left in a dress, and it was my size, and they were able to steam it and have it ready for me in time! Once again, there was God! He was as determined to get this wedding right in such a short time as I was!

The wedding weekend came, and we kept it simple. No rehearsal or dinner, no reception, no florist to deal with, and no decorations needed for a lake! My mom, two cousins, and I, sat in a hotel room Saturday night hand making my bouquet from stemmed flowers we bought at Whole Foods, and repairing my "something old" that was missing a few pearls. Everything got finished and ready for the morning.

Morning came and after fixing my own hair and doing my own makeup, we arrived at our wedding site. The photographer had beat us there, and had walked around the land looking for photo op locations. Once again, God showed up. There was a red barn that sat on the lake! I was going to get my barn after all! Now, I knew that this day would be perfect, and everything would be the sweet, country, outdoor wedding, I have always wanted. And even better, I had the most amazing man to share it with. I wasn't nervous at all, and was more than ready to say my vows to Todd in front of my family, his family, and most of all, God- who made this day possible.

Our wedding was short and sweet. Todd thought I looked beautiful and I thought he looked so handsome, and the whole day turned out to be everything I wanted it to be. I cant express how much I love him, but I can say that being able to begin this next step is the greatest prize that either of us could ever receive.




We are sad that we weren't able to share this day with everyone in our lives, but you all were there in our thoughts, and we cant wait to be able to celebrate with everyone at a later time. Be looking for a wedding announcement and a Save-The-Date for an upcoming Reception, hopefully beginning of Summer 2012!  -Emma

Engagement

With a baby on the way, lets say that our wedding planning began prematurely! We had already had many discussions, fights, compromises, and changes of plan before an engagement even happened. I honestly wasn't expecting one, and wasn't even sure that I would have an engagement ring before we married! However, it wasn't an issue. We both knew since day 1 that "forever" was our future, so marriage had been a discussion and a plan since we were even officially "boyfriend and girlfriend".  Anyway, I was definitely surprised when the engagement happened.

Todd had planned it out all so well, that I had no clue what was going on. I usually read into everything more than I should, so I had always assumed that I would at least know when it was coming, even if I didn't know exactly how. He had told me that Summer, a friend and co-worker of his, had wanted to go to this Pumpkin Patch and he thought it would be fun to go too. Knowing I am like a 5 year old, this was a good plan, because I was overly excited about a pumpkin patch. Summer is also a child at heart, so this "thought" of her wanting to go worked well!

He had let my two best friends, Trish and Meg, in on his plan, but to get them to go, I had to "invite" them so I wouldn't get suspicious. Trish texted me inviting us to lunch that Sunday. I knew we were planning on going to the Pumpkin Patch with Summer, so I just invited Trish and Meg along, since I wasn't able to make it to lunch that day. Ha! Little did I know...

Sunday, October 30th, Todd, Summer, Meg, Trish, and another great friend, Jamey, and I, loaded into Jamey's car and took off to the Pumpkin Patch. Thirty minutes later, we arrived just in time to catch the train that takes everyone to the Pumpkin Patch. This was pretty cool. I have always wanted to ride a real passenger train, and this was exactly what it was! A fifteen minute train ride, deep into the woods, led us to the Pumpkin Patch, small corn maze, and hay ride. Once we unloaded from the train, Todd pointed to a small area, separated from everything else, that had hay stacks with pumpkins sitting on top the hay, and said it would be a good idea to go over there take pictures. I agreed and we began walking that way. I, as curious as can be, was looking all around at everything, and paying no attention to where we were going. Of course, I didn't know I needed to be paying attention. Eventually, Todd's impatience got the best of him, and he started pushing me toward the hay and pumpkins. I guess I still wasn't paying enough attention, because Todd then asked me what the pumpkins said. This caught my attention as pumpkins aren't supposed to "say" anything, so I walked a little closer to read what was carved in them. "Will You Marry Me?" In utter shock, I gasped, threw my hands over my mouth, and flung myself around to see Todd on one knee, my friends taking pictures, and Summer with a video camera. I could not tell you what Todd said, but it was something along the lines of spending our lives together, and him holding a gorgeous ring out towards me. Of course I said yes and did a happy dance, which is on video. Embarrassing! Anyway, an older man came up to us and already knew what was happening. He congratulated me and told me how Todd had planned this out and called about setting it up. He then took a megaphone and announced to everyone at the pumpkin patch that we were now engaged, which led to many congratulations!

Boy, I was so surprised, and so extremely happy, and so proud of him for pulling this off! It was finally beginning to seem real and all the hectic wedding planning didn't matter anymore. I was ready to just get this finalization done and begin our lives together as husband and wife.

-Emma

Welcome!

Welcome! With family and friends living all around the country, we are excited to share all these new beginnings and adventures that life throws our way! Everything from marriage, pregnancy, family, and all that comes between, we hope to keep this updated with pictures and stories for everyone to feel apart of the action.