Productivity!

This week I have cleaned and organized every room in the house (except for laundry room). It feels really GREAT to have everything sparkling and I definitely feel less stressed about everything which is nice. Baby girl has been kicking me like crazy and I have been SO ridiculously hungry to day. 2 breakfasts, 2 lunches, now a snack... hahaha the joys of being pregnant.

In more fun baby news - we got our little girl's bedding today thanks to A's parents. It's SO cute - I just love it! I can't wait until we have a crib and storage and can start putting her room together! I, however, am now debating on if we should switch the office and her room. I like the light in the room that is currently going to be her room, but it gets so warm in there. I like that the office is cooler, but I don't like the window placement or the fact at it is so dim in it. And I'm also now wondering if we should change her crib/furniture colors from espresso to white. I can't  wait for A to get home from work so we can discuss it. :D

I finished my Halloween costume today! Well, almost, I just need to hem the skirt portion of it which will also need to wait for A to get home from work to help me figure out the length. AND I made Charger's appointment to get neutered. I wanted to cry. I hate the thought of him being in pain. :-(  Gotta suck it up, haha. :D

SO now it's off to start on baby girl's Christmas stocking :)

Have I mentioned this is such an exciting time?!

Joy

I really enjoy moments like these where it's quiet and I can see the movements of a precious little life growing bigger each day.... especially when I've had a stressful day. Hi my little love, you're already such a huge blessing to our family. 

Our little girl is super active... pretty much all the time and she rolls ALL the time. When she does she ends up pushing a part of herself - usually her little tushy - all the way up against my tummy making it all lopsided and hard. Well, tonight she was rolling around a lot and it felt different then usual - I looked down at my belly and there are two distinct hard bumps - one on each side of my belly button (though a little lower). I got to feel her little head AND her little tushy at the same time! I am overwhelmed with emotions right now :D

20 weeks!

Last Wednesday was the 20 week mark! We're at the halfway point and we are SO excited to let you know that we are having a....

GIRL!!!

A has been convinced that she was a little girl for weeks now. Me, on the other hand, I have been convinced that she was a little boy for months now. When the ultrasound tech told us that she's a girl, I actually questioned her. "Are you sure?"  "Yes, there are no boy parts there".  I hope she didn't think I was disappointed or was hoping our baby would be one gender over the other - I was just genuinely shocked.

We are really excited for her to be here - We can't wait for February - though the new Daddy says he needs the next few months :P


We spent the other night in her room trying to visualize how we are going to decorate and set up her room. It was fun. Her bedding should be arriving sometime this week - it's purple and green with rebutterflies and flowers on it. We are planning on painting her room purple with her name and butterflies dancing across the wall above her crib. We have a needlework Precious Moments picture that A's mom did for his sister's nursery that we are going to hang in her room and I am pllanning on making her a hair bow and ribbon holder, too. 

We are VERY excited!! I can't wait to be able to post pictures of the progress of her room and her finished room!

Happy Day! Happy Day!

     Have you ever woken up in the morning and just knew it would be a great day? Lately, I have been having difficulty remaining positive due to my body being sore pretty much always and being exhausted pretty much all the time as well. Last night, A and I had a conversation about glorifying God in our actions and attitudes [[something I have been working hard on changing in my life - though I'm finding all these extra hormones are creating bigger obstacles for me]] and when I woke up this morning after a glorious 9 hours of almost uninterupted sleep (I only woke up once!!!) I was in a very cheerful mood. I just knew it would be a good day - and it has been!  It has just been so wonderful today and I love it and am so thankful that God has not only blessed me with such a beautiful day, but also that He has blessed me with the ability to SEE that it has been a beautiful day and a successful one too!

     We had waffles for breakfast and nice walk around the neighborhood with the puppy. Then we returned a broken leash to Target and got Charger a new collar and leash that he has so far responded very well too. Hopefully this will make walks easier. :)  We essentially got the old leash for free due to an offer we took advantage of - registering for Baby at Target WAY early and received a gift card that covered the leash that broke and the new leash/collar combo was less than the original leash, so we actually got money back for it. Then we both got free Starbucks drinks - SO yummy! I don't even remember the last time I had a Starbucks drink! Then we ran some errands together, came home and had lunch together, relaxed and played with the puppy together.  AND THEN....

          WE FOUND OUT THAT WE'RE GONNA HAVE ANOTHER NIECE!!!! We are SO excited! 

     Today has just been so nice and relaxing and beautiful and happy and lovely.  :D 

     We find out if our baby is a boy or a girl in 2 weeks! We can't wait :) Speaking of which, Baby is moving around a lot right now - kicking me all the time - though usually not during the day. Today is a special day.

     And now, I plan to clean the kitchen and my craft mess which I have successfully spread across 3 rooms in our house. Tidy up the little things we have collected for Baby so far, maybe work on my Halloween costume, research some coupony things, and make dinner.

I hope you are all having a beautiful day as well! <3

No Sleeping in on my Day Off

Last night let we let the puppy sleep in our bedroom which is a special treat for him we allow on occasion (mainly because I'm feeling extra emotional or something). Charger knows that he is not allowed on the bed. I tried to get him on the bed a couple of times when he was really little so I could cuddle him, but he never liked it and always jumped off immediately. Pair that with an increase in allergies as of lately, and we decided that being in the room would be limited and the bed is definitely and completely off limits.  So what happens last night? Charger decides that the best looks mighty comfy and we get this...

WHAT are you doing puppy?!?! He has NEVER jumped onto the bed...EVER and he certainly has never STAYED on the bed. And yet, here he is making himself comfortable at the foot of the bed. Crazy pup. So we have a talk, he gets off the bed and as far as we know, he stayed off the bed the remainder of the night.

Now, it's morning and it's past 6:30AM and I haven't woken up yet!! Let's all  happy dance to that!

**Happy Dance Break**

This past week, between getting up a zillion times in the middle of the night, the baby kicking me more regularly (which is totally the cutest thing ever) and being absolutely starving in the morning sleeping past 6:30AM has been impossible. So last night, for whatever reason, the baby didn't kick me too much or sit on my bladder and my body decided that I wasn't going to be uncomfortably hungry in the morning. All of this means that I had uninterrupted sleep and had the opportunity to sleep in. 

Until one adorable puppy dog decided that I'm normally awake between 5:30 and 6:30 now so obviously at 7AM I had slept long enough. So what does he do? He jumps in bed and starts licking my face and then the baby starts dancing and kicking me non-stop. And I was really looking forward to sleeping in on my day off. Haha. Welcome to mommyhood :) At least the baby and fur babies are preparing me now and I won't suddenly sleep deprived. It's actually quite thoughtful and I know I'll appreciate the training in a few more months :).



Slightly off topic, yesterday the doctor called to see what hospital I would be delivering the baby at1! It's all happening so quickly!! We're almost half way through the pregnancy!!! Ahhh so exciting!!

Things I'm Learning While Pregnant

S

16 Weeks Pregnant and there's the bump!

I'm learning lots of things since I've been carrying this little precious gift. <3 It hasn't always been super easy, but it's always been worth it. So I thought I'd just do a little Preggers update with what I've learned and how I've been feeling, etc.  

What I've Learned:

• Doctors don't know everything and they can be wrong...very wrong. 
• Zofran is pretty much my best friend.
• I'm thankful for modern medicine and the fact that someone was able to create Zofran.
• I LOVE Lemonade. 
• Milk is sometimes not ok.
• Orange juice is not ok (since about week 14.5).
• What is safe to eat one day is not safe to eat the next day.
• Pregnancy makes your whole body hurt...and often.
• I cry a lot. I mean, I cried and was overly emotional before, but this is just a whole new level. :P
• Everyone has an opinion and most of them aren't helpful or encouraging.
• It's ok to spend the evening laying on the couch watching episodes of 90s tv shows.
• It's ok to admit defeat and just take a nap.
• Sometimes all you need is a nap.
• Sometimes all you need is food. 
• Baby flutters is the weirdest sensation I have ever felt (as of now).
• Baby kicks are SO cute. They are just little and precious and feel like little soft kicks.
• Our Baby calms down (AKA I stop feeling sick) when worship music is playing.
• Pregnancy cookies aren't very good.
• I need more yoga pants.

How I've been feeling:

• Weeks 1-4 : Awesome...and all I wanted was guacamole and avocados.
• Weeks 5-13: Sick. Sick. Really sick. ALL the time. Unless I had Zofran. Then I was less sick, but still sick at the same time. And my jeans don't close.
• Weeks 10-13: Getting my energy back and starting to feel better :)
• Weeks 14-16: Yoga pants are amazing. I feel better. Hungry ALL the time, but no serious cravings.
• Week 16:  [[9.15]] Baby is REALLY active around midnight. [[9.16]] It's midnight and the baby kicks have started up again. I should be sleeping but I can't because I enjoy baby kicks way too much at the moment (which means I'll be going to breakfast in the morning in yoga pants).

oh Baby!

We have a little love on the way!!!

Yes we do! And I am SO excited to FINALLY be able to tell everyone! And it has been pointed out by our loving family and friends the more we talk about it that they don't know the drama and the blessing and the miracle of this baby. Since they keep getting surprised, so I figured why not share it here. I finally (finally, finally, FINALLY) found the power cord for the laptop after misplacing it after an organization spree.

So here's the story of our little love [[so far]]...

My good friend Katie texted me a few Saturdays ago (about 8ish) asking me if I was preggers. At this point, it had been about 2 months since her son was born and so about a month and a half since we had seen her (I think that timing is correct). I looked at the text and laughed at it and wrote her back saying "Nope". And then I got to thinking... well, I haven't been able to button my jeans all week and I've been a little teeny tiny bit more emotional than normal. (Ask A - I swear, I was only a little teeny tiny bit more crazy...just the teensiest bit, it was hardly even noticeable...yup.).   We had one test in the house so I took it with the expectation of it saying NEGATIVE, Nope, NADA, You are NOT preggers. That was not the result I got. So I stared and cried and immediately set out on a mission on a fun way to tell A. I settled on balloons and onesies - I filled our living room with pink and blue balloons (and by filled, I mean I stuffed as many balloons as my little car could fit in it and settled on that) and I tied some onesies to our fan with ribbon. Then I waited...and waited....and waited and then FINALLY my hubby came home. He was very excited. We celebrated and immediately had to go tell our family. That was fun. Then the drama starts....

We had my confirmatory doctor appointment where I take another pregnancy test and they say Yes! You're Pregnant! as if you had no idea. hahaha. Although, the doctor I initially saw was not actually excited and informed me that I shouldn't be asking about an epidural because we don't know if I'll make it that far. Ok, so she had seen my history, but still - that's not very nice to say to a pregnant woman. Cross her off my approved doctor list.  And then they drew my blood and called me a couple days later, to tell me that my progesterone was low and that generally leads to a miscarriage. I started medicine that day. Then I went back in a week or so later on July 5 due to an issue that occurred on July 4th in which the on-call doctor told me over the phone that I was most likely in the early stages of a miscarriage. The appointment the next day was encouraging, they told me everything looked fine - until they called me the following work day to tell me that my hormone levels had dropped  by 100,000 points and that I was in the early stages of a miscarriage and that I needed to come in for an early ultrasound at 7wks so they could see if the baby had a heart beat.
The doctor that I like (who I hadn't seen for a year) was finally available, so I made the appointment with her. The U/S tech asked why we were having an early u/s so we told her and she informed us, again, that dropping levels like that means a miscarriage. So I layed down on the table and grabbed A's hand and closed my eyes (because I was too scared to look at the screen). But curiosity killed the cat, so when she put the gel on my tummy, I opened my eyes and there was the baby and there was the heartbeat...and I cried...all day long...very happy, joyful tears. When we got in to see my doctor (the doctor I like), she said everything looks perfect and the baby looks healthy. We then explained to her everything that we had been told the weeks the 2.5 weeks leading up to this point and she informed us that the lab results must have been input incorrectly but that my levels were just fine, increasing as they should be and that there should not have been any doubts otherwise. I then asked her to not tell me I was probably having a M/C unless I was ACTUALLY having a m/c. She assured me she would not have to tell me that.

And here we are now at 13 weeks and baby is healthy and wonderful and being prayed over constantly and consistently and we are just so thrilled and blessed to have this little one and we can't wait to meet him or her!  

And, since I've got this questions about a dozen times today, I'm doing great. I'm starting to get over being sick ALL the time and was actually able to COOK today without getting sick. It was the highlight of my day. I'm starting to feel movements - not often, but they are definitely there and I just grew out of the last pair of jeans that closed. I live in yoga pants and I totally understand why mommy-to-bes and moms wear them all the time. And we are both just so excited for this new chapter in our life together - we are so excited for this new life! This baby has already blessed us so much, even though it was an emotional roller coaster of a beginning, it has been worth every single moment. And I will gladly be sick if it means the baby is okay. It may not seem like I'm happy about it at the time, but really and truly and from the bottom of my heart, I am. I am so happy to be sick if it means our little love is healthy. <3

Big Brother!

Last week my brother, Jason, and his family came to visit for a day as they get ready to move to a new state! J is in the army and has been for awhile so seeing him, my sister-in-law and my nephew is always a special treat :) I was SO excited to have them come that I was up until 2AM the morning they came in. But, it was totally worth it.

The best part was surprising my mom (talk about an easy birthday/Mother's day gift!) haha. My mom had no idea they were coming. As far as she knew, our friends were coming to visit. She screamed when she saw them! It was pretty fun!

It was REALLY awesome and such a blessing to be able to spend some time with my brother, SIL, and nephew. :D I wish it could happen more often, but I'll take what I can get!

You Would Have Thought Someone Had Died

I "deactivated" my Twitter and Facebook accounts the yesterday and the amount of text messages I got from people regarding that was surprising. I appreciate your concern, but I totally got a kick out of how serious everyone thought this was. Granted, I am kinda of attached to the FB so I get why this was a shock and I can understand why I was flooded with text messages like this: "No FB?? Are you ok? What's going on?", "Hey, I just saw you're not on FB, did something happen?", "Do you need to talk? Why aren't you on Facebook anymore?"

So here are the reasons I am sharing:
1) Do you know how much time I waste on that?
2) I was tired of hearing people complain about their lives.
3) Some posts just made me really sad.
4) Some posts made me think I'm not where I should be or that I'm missing out on things.


So what have I done since I deactivated my facebook account?
Well - I have...

• Vacuumed... a lot
• Decided I'm going to build a bay window seat
• Decided I'm going to build an entry way table
• Decided I'm going to make ruffly curtains for the craft room
• Organized the office

• Reorganized the linen closet
• Moved and reorganized the bookshelf

• Reorganized the craft room
• Dishes
• Unsubscribed to a bunch of junk e-mail (that I still seem to be getting)
• Laundry
• Played with the puppy
• Cleaned the bunnies' room - although it's now no longer theirs
• Went to Costco
• Hung out with my in-laws 
• Balanced the pool chemicals
• Gardened... I GARDENED!
• Took the puppy on walks 
• Bathed the puppy
• Painted the craft room

and still had time to slack off, browse Pinterest and watch way too much 7th Heaven.

romans 8 is very comforting tonight.