Belly pic...

Well, like I mentioned...I won't know how far along I REALLY am until after the ultrasound, but I figured I'll post this anyway, because if I'm wrong I'll have to change everything from the beginning regardless whether I post this or not. So....here's the belly!

We're growing! There is no doubt about it! I've gained about 7-8 lbs so far. Now that I've popped and actually look like I'm nourishing a life...not just overeating, I absolutely LOVE my belly! There's something so fascinating and precious about a baby belly!!! :0)

I still get nauseous, but in the last week it seems to have subsided a little. It's mostly early in the morning, sometimes in the afternoon and late at night. If I wake up in the middle of the night (typically 2-3 times...I'm sure you know what I mean) I'm usually really sick thanks to my prenatals. I have to take them just before bed so I'm not sick the whole day. If I didn't have to pee every couple hours at night it'd be great because I could just sleep off the nausea ;0)

Josh and I noticed that my belly button has started changing. I thought that was interesting. I've always had a very tight, small innie...but I'm noticing that the bigger the belly gets, the more noticeable my belly button becomes. It'll be an outie before long I assume.

I've been craving fresh fruit and veggies (hence the previous post), especially PEACHES! I LOVE PEACHES! I've been on a serious kick! Peach and Ginger tea, Peach cobbler, fresh whole peaches...yeah...you get the idea!

I'm not really sleeping well...between the pee breaks every 2 hours and nausea I'm lucky if I get a few hours of true "rest". I'm up between 6:30 and 7 at the latest.

My sister in law gave us some more of her old baby stuff....we now have a diaper genie, wipe warmer, bibs, and wipes.

My mother in law gave us one of the pack and plays she had...so we're getting there!!! :0)

Other than that I don't think anything else has changed....we can't wait for Wednesday to get here! I cannot wait for us to see the baby together and find out for sure what is going on. I'm so in love with this child already! I stare at the little pic all day! Can't wait to see this little one again!

mmm....

Yesterday we went grocery shopping, a little later in the week than we usually do because we've been so busy all week (probably not the best day either...it was very busy!!). Anyway, we stopped by a farmers market that apparently has grown a lot since we went last. I had been going there about a year ago, but the never really had much and what they had, usually didn't look too great. Well, I'd been wanting to go back and see if anything had changed because I love fresh/home grown fruit and veggies....to my surprise they've stepped it up a bit. I was so excited! When I got home and finished putting all the other groceries away and washing everything I had to take a picture of the loot! ;0) $21 for all these fruits and veggies!!!

I told Josh I felt like a kid in the candy store! He laughed... ;0)

Baby and I are very happy!

Sunday Scripture...

"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble." Matthew 6:34

The first "unofficial" ultrasound...

Here is our babies first photograph ;0) So precious and long overdue...I was devastated that Josh couldn't get the day off today to be there...thankfully my mother in law drove and hour north to take me and be there with me! The doctor that I saw today decided that he wanted to do an "unofficial" ultrasound just to "confirm" the pregnancy. We won't really have any more information until next Wednesday when we have an "official" ultrasound. The appointment was really quick so I really didn't find out much. I got to see both the profile pic and then when the Dr did the internal ultrasound he snapped the above pic of baby looking down. If you look close you can see the eyes and above the eyes are the two frontal lobes of the brain...you can kind of see the little fist in the lower part and the little legs tucked in. At one point I saw baby kick (or move) during the profile image. He said that it looks like the baby is measuring smaller than 17 weeks ...more than likely (from what he can tell "unofficially") he is guessing we're about 14 weeks. I'll let everyone know as soon as I find out Wednesday. Of course if we are only 14 weeks tomorrow we won't be able to find out the sex for another 3-4 weeks. If we are 17 weeks tomorrow then we'll find out Wed...(naturally I'm hoping we are really 17 weeks, I want to know! but...of course I'd be happy just to know our munchkin is healthy!!!)

Umm....

Do I look big for 16 weeks? I'm becoming more and more nervous, lol. I look at pics of other ladies around my stage in pregnancy and I'm noticing I look a bit larger than they do? Hmm...I really hope I get to hear the heartbeat soon so I can figure out if there are one or two in there!!! Twins run in Josh's family...they've skipped a couple generations and it's bound to happen again! I'd just really like to know...you know...mentally prepare for double duty....lol!

belly pic...

Zucchini Pancakes...

Barefoot Contessa, as usual, had me drooling today! She made some very yummy looking Zucchini pancakes...basically just like potato pancakes, except she used zucchini instead. The recipe looks super simple and would make a delightful side dish with a meal!

Check out the recipe...

www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/zucchini-pancakes-recipe/index.html

Scriptures....

Here are some of the scriptures of my week that spoke to my heart....

"My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness" 2 Cor 12:9

"But when He, the holy spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all truth. He will tell you what is to come" John 16:13

"Now the LORD is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the LORD is, there is freedom" 2 Cor 3:17


Just a little bit of inspiration for the week...Hope you all had a wonderful Monday!!!

I need one of these...

I'm so going to make these when I have a baby shower...this is just too cute! Baby stuff is addicting!

precious!

This little mobile (birdies) is even cuter than the last!!!

nursery art ideas...

Found these beauties on Etsy.com!!! :0) Love it! I think we're going to go with a "nature" theme....I seem to be gravitating towards those types of items.

birdies on a branch...

I love the handmade mobiles! I love birds! I have to at least attempt this for baby D! I want to change it up a bit...instead of several branches like this one, I want to do just one brach with several curves (I'm not sure how to describe this but I can see it ...in my head it all makes sense). I'll do maybe 3-5 birds...depending on how many fit on the branch.

What do you think? Any tips?

JOY...

Jesus first

Others second

You last

I have no idea where or when I found this but I have had it for a long time, the other day it fell out of one of my books when I was cleaning. I thought I'd share...

Hope so far everyone is having a great week!

One and a half days until I get to see this little miracle wiggle around in my tummy! I'm so nervous because twins run in Josh's family and I'm still adjusting to the thought of having one baby...but I'm so excited! No matter what happens...we are blessed and thrilled to finally become parents.

I am still very humbled that GOD gave us this chance. I truly was not sure that it was ever going to happen this...while I hoped I'd get to experience pregnancy...I had managed to be at peace with the fact that no matter which way we'd create a family, it was special and part of GOD's perfect plan. It seems that when I finally stopped questioning GOD's will and timing and just trusted that it was perfect...our little miracle happened (and even if we hadn't gotten pregnant...it was still a great feeling to be at peace with GOD's will for our lives). Sometimes the only thing standing in our way is ourselves.

I think about how all of this came together and the timing, I definitely wouldn't have planned the last 5 months the way they played out...in January I was heartbroken that all of my hard work in school was basically useless....once again. I didn't have any idea what I would do or how this would ever work out. I certainly at that point didn't think "now would be a GREAT time to get pregnant" lol....jobless, majorless, confused mess. It makes me laugh now. I look back and I realize...everything is slowly coming together and though I still can't really see how GOD will make it all work in the future...I can certainly see that everything that has happened in the past....happened for a reason and he's taken care of us through it all :0)

Faith and Hope and Trust are all things we learn through perserverance...I don't know of anyone out there to whom these things come naturally. It's human nature to doubt, fear and not trust anyone but ourselves. Once we learn them though, it's amazing what they can do!

I'm sorry that I'm still so absent in the blogging world. I love you all dearly and think of you often. Everything has been good, but very busy. As I've mentioned, when I am home...I'm still pretty tired (and sick a lot too....but no worries....)although while you're going through it, you really don't feel like it...it's an honor to be able to experience it all. I'm not complaining by any means. I am, however, ready for that second trimester feel-good feeling ;0)

Belly pic...

So far other than starting to fit into some maternity pants, everything is still pretty much the same. I've still been nauseous most of the day...and I tire very easily. Getting through regular household chores can be quite a challenge. I'm still sleeping as much as I can although the last few weeks have been super busy so I haven't gotten near enough sleep (this has caused me to be slightly cranky on more than one occasion). I'm still having some terrible back pains (ligaments + hormones = ouch!) I read in a magazine that it's pretty much one of those things that some women deal with and some don't....I'm always starving, but food doesn't really taste "good"....the only thing that I can think of that I've really been "craving" so far are veggie dogs (you know the soy stuff) and corn on the cobb.

I absolutely love this blog!!!

This woman is seriously talented. I've spent the evening looking through her entire blog and I am so blown away! I hope that someday I'll be at her level with my crafts. I think it's just the coolest thing to be able to make everything yourself and it's thrifty too! Check it out...if you love crafts you'll be glad you did ;0)
http://homemadebyjill.blogspot.com/

Getting started....

I know it's early, but since I'm hoping to furnish and decorate the nursery on a very small budget and mostly with used items...(well technically it's part of our bedroom...we're a little tight on space)...I wanted to start looking early so that I'd have enough time to find everything we need. As I've mentioned before, there isn't a whole lot around our area when it comes to used baby items. I lucked out last week though! We found a crib for $50 and the gentleman even gave us the changing table for free!!! I also decided since dressers are so expensive I'd buy a matching white shelf from Walmart (for $25) and buy some cute little baskets to put the baby's clothing in. It's pretty much the same idea and I can buy the kind of containers that allow me to add labels. My sister in law and her husband have also been kind enough to buy us some gifts early....she found some really nice items for a fraction of the price they are new. So we already have the crib, changing table, shelf (I'm buying this weekend), the bouncy seat (I think that's what it's called, lol....I'm new at this folks!) and the swing!!! I'll post better pics once it's all situated, for now it's in my living room...it's a disaster! Lol! ;0) My mom also bought several maternity outfits (which I'm just about to start wearing...I'm struggling to squeeze into my regular clothes).

Praise GOD we also FINALLY have the medical issues squared away and my first appointment will be next Thursday the 20th. Secretly I'm hoping since I'll practically be 16 weeks by then I'll get lucky and they'll just tell us whether we're having a little boy or a little girl. Wishful thinking, I know...but a girl can hope...right?! ;0)

I hope all of you are doing well!

Hope...

"Hope does not disappoint because the love of GOD has been poured out in our hearts by the holy spirit who was given to us!"

Romans 5:5

She's just too cute!

Belly Pic....

5-10-10

drumroll please....

After months and months of searching and trying on countless bathing suits...I finally bought one. We'll technically I bought half of two, lol. I bought the top from one and the bottom from the other because I was unable to find one where I liked both the top and the bottom. I think it's going to work out well. I got the bandeau top with a removable strap in white and the boy short bottoms in the turquoise color (example above the pic of the black bikini). I am so happy I finally found one...after all the stuff I tried on...oh my goodness. I tried on like every different style I found. I couldn't believe how small some of the bottoms were....and to be honest after trying on a bunch of tankinis I don't really like those either. That was probably my biggest dilemma...I wanted to be somewhat conservative but I don't mind the belly showing (to me the belly is much less of an issue than having half my butt exposed...that's just me....I doubt men are going to be like "oooh look at that belly" vs. "oooh look at that booty", ya know?!)

What do you guys think?

Maybe I should have...

...been a Florist! I LOVE LOVE LOVE flowers!!! I'm sure a lot of you have seen the movie "Love Happens" (I love that movie)...in the movie Jen Aniston plays a Florist...she owns her own cute little flower shop in Seattle! It just looks like the most fun job in the world to me!

I feel like a blogging loser....

Lol...I don't know what it is lately. My blogging is either lame or non existent! I miss it but no matter how long I sit there and stare at the screen I can't seem to think of anything blog worthy to talk about.

**sidenote** Today marks 14 weeks...hopefully that second trimester "feel good" feeling and energy will kick in asap! I had a great day last Monday and the rest of the week I felt horrible. Which was not ideal considering I started back to school and have been pretty busy as a result. I've also been trying to find used baby furniture on craigslist and surprisingly found some great stuff for a great price BUT it's gone before I can get to it. You wouldn't believe how fast this stuff sells!?!

What are you all doing for Mother's day? I know I'm still preggo but it still counts, right ;0)

I can't believe it's going to be our first Mother's day/Father's day!

Belly pic...

Money Saving Tip...

A few months ago I needed to replace our shower curtain liners. I had heard people telling me about the fabric liners before but I hadn't tried them myself. They're a little more expensive than the plastic but I have to say I'm glad I gave it a shot because unlike the plastic ones #1 They don't have that gross new plastic smell #2 They don't rip #3 They can be put in the washing machine with stain remover to get rid of any funk that may accumulate on the bottom #4 They dry pretty quickly.

All in all I say it was worth the extra money and I won't be throwing away my money on the plastic junk anymore.

Scriptures...

Luke 16:10

"Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much."


This is one of those verses that makes me try harder to be a good steward with what GOD has entrusted to me. It's not always an easy task...but I am determined to get better at it with each passing year. I'm definitely still figuring out what works for us and what doesn't but even any mistakes we make along the way are an opportunity to learn and do better the next time.

Happy Sunday!

They're just too cute!

My furry babies watching the duckies swimming around in the puddle! ;0)

Blogging Funk...

I don't what it is lately but I can't seem to think of much to blog about. I guess honestly there really hasn't been anything terribly interesting going on other than baby updates but still...usually I can find something to talk about. I have been pretty busy this last week in preparation for school (I start back Monday) and cleaning/organizing the home (since I've been so sick I had been putting some things off and since I am feeling better at least some of the days I figured I better take care of it while I still can).

This morning Josh and I were running some errands and decided to stop by the book store. We had talked about getting the munchkin a baby bible and we just so happened to find the perfect one for a great price...so we got it! :0) It's perfect for a little one...we'll be able to read it to him/her and later he/she can read it and even cross reference the chapters of the stories to a big kid bible ;0)!!!

I'm still debating a lot of stuff such as do I want to use reusable diapers or disposable and do I go all natural when it comes to baby toiletries...there's so much to consider. All natural does have many benefits, especially when it comes to very sensitive newborn skin and tummies but it does cost more and often requires a little more effort. I love the fact that disposable diapers are so easy but my heart says..."do your part to save the planet" (as best as one individual can...I mean I get that one person can only do so much... but I strongly believe in each person doing his/her part). For a while there I was using primarily the all natural products (cleaning supplies and toiletries) but they did cost more money (than the chemical store brand versions) and some of course don't have the power to do what chemicals do...but I did always feel better about using them most of the time and only using chemicals when necessary. I know for sure I'd feel more comfortable knowing I'm using natural products around my baby...I just worry about the budget. I just don't think I can make it work at this point in time. Vaccinations are another thing...some are necessary especially in other countries but others I'm still undecided on. I definitely believe in Risk vs Benefit....if it's worth the side effects and potential issues then get it but if it's not then I don't want it in me or my child. I'm sure I'll be bullied to get the Swine flu vaccine but to me they came out with that thing way to fast to know what it might do to a baby in utero when mommy gets the vaccine while pregnant. It scares me too much...Obviously Immune compromised individuals the benefits far outweigh the risk but as a "healthy" individual I can't say I'll be standing in line for that one. Natural vs. medicated childbirth ( I mean I won't knock any woman from using an epidural but for me the thought doesn't sit right but of course I haven't gone through labor before so I won't say "I'd never consider it" but I'm hoping I have a high enough pain tolerance and strength/will power in me to do "au naturel")...I definitely want to Breastfeed I've taken enough medical courses to know the benefits of breastfeeding however I do realize some women try so hard and still can't... and end up having to supplement with formula...hopefully it'll work out for us...I'll give it my best effort and if not at least I can say I tried.

I hope you're all having a great week! Hopefully soon I'll have more to talk about...I've been such a blogger bum!