The Not So Simple Life

Christmas 2011 and Beyond

2012-01-02T23:34:00.007-06:00

I admit, I haven't been a great blogger lately. Taking care of an active toddler and a newborn is more work than you can ever anticipate.

I thuroughly enjoyed our Christmas this year. My sister and brother-in-law came up from Georgia for a nice long (but never long enough) visit.

We started Christmas week with a girls baking night. Wish I actually got pictures of all the yummy creations. I made Oreo Truffles, Rice Crispy Treat Snow Balls, and chocolate dipped pretzles. My sisters made various cookies and mom made some homemade fudge.

We also had our very first annual craft night. We made homemade yarn wreaths. They all turned out great....well, we have yet to see Michele's finished product, but knowing her it will blow the rest of us out of the water :) Maybe next year I will be a little more organized!
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My finished product w/ homemade felt rosettes.

We spent Christmas Eve and Day with my family. The in-laws came to my parents' house to join in on the festivities on Christmas Eve. It's wonderful that we are able to celebrate with both of our families. We are so blessed.

Christmas Day we got up and went off to church, then we all gathered at my parents' house for out traditional gift exchange. I have to note that I felt my family did a great job with gifts this year and thought there were some very thoughtful gifts given. Makes me want to do better next year.

Unfortunately, a flu bug ran through not only me and the boys, but also my poor sister Michele and mother. Not a great way to end Christmas and bring in the New Year, but thankfully it seems to have passed now.

Birth Story: William Richard Gehrig

2011-11-02T08:57:00.002-05:00

Brothers!

*Warning: May be too much information for some. Read only if you are interested in this sort of thing. This is written mostly for my own memories sake*

It is hard to know where to start with this one. I started having painful contractions 3 weeks before William was born. They would range from a couple an hour to every 15 minutes for a couple hours. Then, they would just die out completely. After a week of that, I woke up one Saturday to contractions that got from 15 to 10 to 5 very quickly. We thought it was time to go to the hospital. They monitored me and I had contractions every 3 minutes in Triag. They addmited me being at 5cm and then after a few hours the contractions completely stopped again! I never thought that I would be one of "those people." Going to the hospital too early or having multiple "false alarms." I thought I knew my body well enough to know when I was going to into labor. I will never judge again! Little did I know it would be another 2 weeks of on and off contractions before the baby would arrive!

The day before I went into "real labor" I had an appointment with my midwife and I was still at 5 cm. We thought it was reasonable to sweep the membranes to try and help things along. I also went to the Chiropractor that afternoon to see if an adjustment would move things along as well. We bought some Castor Oil and that evening we walked the mall. At 3:30 in the morning I started getting intense contractions every 15 minutes apart. Didn't think to wake Byron since I have been going through that for the past 3 weeks. After I woke up around 7:30am and started moving around for the day contractions got closer together and were about every 5minutes. We decided to have my mom come to get Gideon and head to the hospital. After monitoring me at the hospital I was still at 5cm, but 100% efaced. Contractions slowed down to every 7minutes, but once I got in our room and got settled they increased to every 5minutes with increasing intensity. Unfortunately, after hours of this, I had not progressed in dialation. I was completely exhausted at this point and extremely frustrated. We had a talk with our midwife about our options and thought it would be a reasonable thing to break my water bag. This was not our ideal, but being an hour from home and 100% with regular contractions we felt it the best decision for our situation. After she broke my water, contractions got increasingly stronger and closer together. My poor husband's arms may have gotten bruised a little, but he was a trooper and huge support. I eventually started using the birth ball and that helped a little. I started feeling the need to push. I was SO happy to finally be at that point. I was terrified, but excited at the same time. I pushed for maybe 20 minutes and then our baby was born! Another boy! It was about an hour and a half after our midwife broke my water that the baby was in my arms!

I feel so blessed to have been able to have another natural birth (or as natural as it could have been with a minor intervention). The Good Lord has blessed us with two beautiful boys! We are just so happy and having fun figuring out how life works as a family of four.

William is such a relaxed baby compared to Gideon. He totally goes with the flow and tollerates all the hugs and kisses his brother loves to give him. Gideon is doing so well adjusting to the new baby and their our no big signs of jealousy-yet. He helps me throw away diapers, gets me burp cloths, and the like. I also wasn't sure how he would take to me nursing the baby, but he is just fine with it-and doesn't even seem to remember nursing himself just about 5 months ago.

Praising God daily for these two beautiful blessings in our lives.

William Richard Gehrig

2011-10-25T12:02:00.003-05:00

William Richard Gehrig. Born on October 22, 2011. Length-20.5 inches. Weight-8lbs, 5 ounces.

Our little one finally decided to join our family Saturday afternoon! I will give a quick update here and hopefully write a full birth story later on. Saturday morning my contractions started to increase in intensity and were getting closer together. Definitely felt like it was time to go to the hospital after we all had breakfast. Called my mom to pick up Gideon and we were on our way! At 3:40pm William was in our arms!

We were able to come home Sunday evening. Gideon seems to be adjusting as well as can be expected. He loves to kiss and hug the baby and let him hold his finger. It is quite precious. I just hope he doesn't decide he is sick of him in a week or so here!

Huge thanks to my wonderful husband who not only allowed me to beat him up a little during labor, but who has been a huge support at home as well. Doing laundry, dishes, warming up meals, extra help with Gideon, and the like. I could not do it without him! I also thank my parents and family for their much appreciated help with Gideon, our friends and family for setting up and cooking meals for us, and all the prayers and well wishes from all! We also are so thankful to our GREAT God for looking out for all of us during all of this. Mom and baby are healthy and I was able to have another natural birth! We are so blessed in so many ways!

Praising God...

Pumpkin-ish Picking

2011-10-19T15:35:00.008-05:00

Saturday we thought it would fun to take Gideon to pick pumpkins. After checking out some places, the cost, and the fact that it was going to be a cold and windy day we decided for something a little let extravagant. We basically went to a local glorified farm stand. They basically picked all the pumpkins and put them in big piles according to size outside of the barn. There you can go and "pick" your pumpkin. They also have some cheazy kid stuff like pony rides, train rides, and the like. What drew us here was the there was no entrance fee and the fact that we didn't know how long our 2 year old would last.

Out of the only 30 minutes we were there I think our son had about 10 minutes worth of fun. He HATED how windy it was. Such a wimp, but good call on our part. Here are some pictures...

Checking out the ponies

This one gets me.

Hiding from the wind, but still smiling.

Fall Things

2011-10-19T15:21:00.006-05:00

To keep my mind off of things the last couple days, I have been distracting myself with some fall-ish activities. Ideas from Pinterest, of course-my latest addiction.

Yesterday, I made this fall centerpiece using the pumpkin candle idea from above mentioned website. I just cut out the centers of the mini pumpkins (only 3 for a $1) and inserted little tea candles. It was actually a really easy project. I got some pine cones and fake fall leaves from the dollar store to finish it all off.

Today I decided to take the plunge and bake something due to some encouragement from my mom and my husband's aunt. I made Cinnamon Sugar Pumpkin Pull-apart Bread. I will say, I should have picked a simpler recipe to bake today, but it made the house smell like fall and tastes delish. It reminds me more of a pumpkin monkey bread. Yummo right out of the oven.

RandomGoingCrazy-ness

2011-10-18T16:27:00.003-05:00

Aaaahhh! Okay, so it is only the day after my due date. BUT I AM GOING CRAZY. Probably because this baby has been messing with me for the past two weeks and last weekend we spend a half day at the hospital thinking we would be leaving with a new baby in our arms. BUT NO. This baby just wants to play tricks on me-forever I think. A friend suggested spinningbabies.com, which i have been trying different exercises and techniques from there. I have also been walking a lot and trying to stay active in general to hopefully get this baby on the move. Along with some other ideas I found online, we went out for some spicey Thai food for lunch as well.

I guess I just feel like my life is hold and that I am constantly living on standby. Thinking that any moment we can go into labor and everything has to be "just-so" just in case. I have been crazy making sure every dish is washed and every bit of laundry is washed. I have been ITCHING to do some fall baking, but the crazy person inside me says, "No! What if you start something and go into labor while it's cooking in the oven" or something like that. I am going nuts over here. I did manage to do a fall craft today to keep my mind off things. Maybe I'll post about that later.

It doesn't help that I can't nap because of all the house construction work noise on our street EVERY DAY FOR THE LAST THREE WEEKS! AND not to mention our tenant upstairs is a lover of generating noise. All day I hear his computer vibrating through the floor (because it is old and needs to be fixed but he won't fix it and I have to suffer). Yes, I have asked him to shut it off several times when he is not home or not using it, but he just "so forgetfull" he says. Yeah, I am ranting....and going crazy. CRAAAZZY! I need to get out of the house, but I am afraid to go too far for too long.

My midwives tell me I am a "loaded gun" and when things start going I better get over to the hospital fast. I am already 5cm and an hour away from the hospital. Any conventional doctor would have induced me for sure by now, but if the baby isn't ready then it isn't ready. No matter how much it is driving me crazy I want to do what is best for my baby, not give into my selfish desires.

So pray this baby is done cookin' soon! I know it won't get any easier when he/she arrives, but I really just want to move on and figure out how to do life as a family of four.

For now, I will just spend some time with my new addiction, Pinterest. I finally decided to jump on the bandwagon after many invites from friends. Now I just get depressed at all the fun crafts or yummy food I can't(err won't let myself) make until baby comes.

That's enough for now. Blah!

Number One is Number Two!

2011-10-12T21:45:00.006-05:00

2 years ago today Gideon Anthony Gehrig was born! Time flies so fast. We started the day by opening his birthday present (his dad just couldn't wait). He loved it and played with it all day.

We got him this:

We thought we would stick with tradition and go to McDonald's Play Place for dinner. The eating part went great, but he definitely didn't like play part this time around. He totally freaked out in the tunnels and daddy had stick with him every crawl of the way. Let's just say it didn't last too long! Funny. Last year he had so much fun. FAIL!

Short video on the way to dinner:

Gideon and daddy

Happy at first...

Then freaked out. Can you tell he is hanging on Byron for dear life?

Sweaty and glad it was all over

After that we decided to stop by the library and check out the new remodle. He loved it there, but I forgot my camera in the car, so no pictures.

We ended the day playing with his cars and track a little more and now he is sound asleep.

Happy Birthday to my big boy-err "happy day" as you say! Love you more than you could possibly know. Thank you, Lord for our little one that proves to be more of a blessing each day.

Potty Training my 21 Month Old: Week 2

2011-08-12T07:59:00.003-05:00

All I can really say is that God has been sooo good! Gideon amazes me more and more each day. He is still in his cloth training pants. I purchased those Gerber ones that are just like underwear, but have just a little more absorbancy. They seem to work great. He still feels it if he has an accident, but it doesn't make as big of a mess. He still has accidents here and there, but he goes days without having one at all. The accidents he does have seem to be "half accidents" and always finishes on the potty. I give him pants free time in the morning and then the "undies" go on for the day. He just tells me when he has to go and I help him pull down his pants. Even at the store. He hasn't had a single accident while we have been out running errands. Even if we are at the opposite end of the in the morning and then the "undies" go on for the day. He just tells me when he has to go and I help hie store he can hold it all the way until we get to the bathroom. For whatever reason he seems to have more accidents if we are away from home and at someone elses house. Not sure if he just gets distracted with playing or what it is, but I am hopeful he will get there. I would much rather help him pull down his pants everytime he has to go rather than fighting a 25 lb kid to change his diaper.

Yesterday was an impressive day, except for the morning at my mom's house. We started the morning at my mom's house playing outside with sidewalk chalk and in the playhouse. He had two "half accidents" while we were there. Then we went to Target and to the mall for shopping and lunch. The kid was great while we were there. Not a single accident and told me when he had to go while we were at the mall. We weren't close to a bathroom, but he held it all the way until we could there. A good 2 minutes or so probably. After that we headed to my doctors appointment that was an hour way. This was the longest trip since we started training him, so I put him in a cloth diaper since he tends to fall alseep in the car on longer trips. He did fall asleep, but never wet his diaper. He went on the potty at the doctors office and made it all the way home without wetting his diaper. No accidents for the rest of the day. Woke up in the middle of the night to go potty. Woke up in the morning and went potty with the tiniest bit of wetness in his diaper. Pretty impressive day!

We decided we could roll out the area rug again :)

This will probably be my last potty training post for a while. I feel like we are at a good place right now and progress is continuing. I guess the next step is for him to have a good week without accidents and then we can skip the trainers.

Thanks to all have prayed for us and I still give so much thanks to our good God who is giving my little boy the heart and will to learn.

Potty Training my 21 Month Old: Week 1

2011-08-08T08:38:00.003-05:00

After the first three days of being trapped in the house, we decided it was time to venture out into the world. We started with a short trip to the post office in cloth training pants. The trip was a success. Throughout the week we spend a couple hours at my parents' house here and there. He had several accidents, but he always seemed to catch himself and then finish on the potty. I have taken a few short trips to the store. I reminded him often about asking to go on the potty if he needed to go. Each trip we made he had to go potty, and he did great going on the big potty in the public rest rooms. I had him stand up on the toilet seat facing the wall and he did great. We took him to a birthday party yesterday. I thought that could be a rough one because of all the destractions and playing with the kids, but he did great. He had one minor accident. We have been putting him in cloth diapers for naptime and a disposable diaper for bedtime. Almost every night since Day 3 he has woken up and asked to go on the potty at least once, but often several times! Not going to say I love waking up in the middle of the night more often, but the hubby has been a great help and I don't mind so much when Gideon is making such great progress.

In conclusion, I believe it is safe to say that Gideon is completely potty trained-WHEN HE IS NAKED. He runs to the potty when he needs to go and can hold it until he gets there like a pro. When he has is training pants on it is a bit more of a challenge for him. In this next week I am going to make a concentrated effort to have him wear training pants most of the time. I still like to give him a little pants free time in the morning (because that's when he seems to go the most and has his bowel movement). I don't feel like I have been doing tons of laundry. I am feeling great about the progress he is making.

Thanks for all your prayers and support, but most of all i thank the Lord for his strength for myself and HIS working in my little guys heart.

Potty Training at 21 months: Days 1-3

2011-08-01T13:56:00.005-05:00

Warning: Lengthy Post that has the words 'poop' and 'pee' used often. Post is mostly for my own records, but please read if you are interested in our journey!

Now that I am into my 3rd Trimester I am thinking more than ever about how our new little addition is going to effect Gideon and how to best prepare for it. I have been thinking a lot about potty training him. He will be 2 years old when baby #2 comes along and because I still plan to breastfeed and know how demanding it is in the first several months, I figure the earlier I start the better. Gideon knows what the potty is and knows that 'poo poo' and 'pee pee' go in the potty. He has been telling me when he has to poop for a couple weeks and has been even asking for diaper changes a few times. So, after some advice from friends and family and doing a little reading (not a whole lot) I cleared the schedule for this past weekend and decided to give it a go.

The week before we put him back in cloth diapers. I used cloth diaper for him for about the first year of his life and I regret getting lazy with it, because I know it really helps with the whole process. Being in a cloth diaper really helped him be aware of when he peed and he did not like being wet. We taught him how to take off his diaper and where the potty was if he wanted to go pee pee on there. We explained it all to him and had I had him sit on the potty a few times just to get used it. After he peed I would get all excited for him and we would take the pee pee to the big potty, flush, and get an M&M for a "treat". Over the next couple days I would find him taking off his diaper and sitting on the potty. He peed a couple times and couple times I think were just for fun. The day before the big weekend started I had him sit on the potty while eating lunch and put on his favorite show for him. He had a couple pees and really seemed to understand what was happening. Then, Saturday arrived. I decided to try the "naked potty training" method. Which basically is keeping your baby diaper free from the waist down. I did this for two days. Here is my log for the past 3 days. This is really for my own notes of this journey, so don't bother reading if you are not interested.

Naked Potty Training Day #1

-I Set a timer to go off every 10 minutes. Every time the timer went off he had to sit on the potty.

-Gave 1 M&M for each pee on the potty and 2 M&Ms for each poop

7:15-Gideon wakes up with a poopy diaper. Dad cleans him up and no diaper is put back on for the day. Gideon promptly poops more on the floor. We clean it up and explain to him where the poop goes.

8:30-Gideon pees on the kitchen floor and comes running to tell me what happened 10:30-Runs to tell me he has to poop and poops a little on the floor on the way to the potty. Half makes it in the potty.

10:40-Pees on the floor

11:05-I saw him holding himself, put him on the potty and he went pee on the potty

1:30PM-Put on cloth diaper before nap

3:00-Woke up with wet diaper from nap, put on potty, but no pee

3:40-Peed on the floor, but ran and sat on the potty in realization that was what he needed to do. No pee made it into the potty.

4:25-Pee on the floor, but ran to tell me

4:50-Pee on the floor and some in Potty, came to tell me 6:00-Went pee on potty encouraged by timer and treat insentive

6:40-Pee on potty encouraged by timer and treat insentive

8:05-Pee on potty on his own accord (he seemed to realize he had to go)

**Diaper was put on for bedtime **

Naked Potty Training Day #2

-Timer went off every 30 minutes
-M&Ms for pees and poop

7:00AM-Woke up for the day with wet diaper, put him on the potty and went a nice long pee to start the day.

8:50-Pee while standing up in bathtub during his morning bath

9:00-Pee on potty after putting him on after his bath.

9:10-Sat and Peed on potty on own accord with no prompting

9:10-Sat back down on potty on his own accord and went poop

9:20-Insisting on another "treat", he sat back down on potty and squeezed out another Pee

9:21-Sat on potty on own accord and squeezed out some more poop.

9:40-Went Pee outside in his underwear while giving dad some water

11:00- Peed on potty with promptin by mom

12:20- Peed in shower with dad

1:10- poop on potty after a prompting from mom

1:45- Peeds on floor, then pooped on potty with prompt from mom

2:00-diaper for naptime

4:14-woke up from nap with wet diaper saying he to go pee, but didn't pee when I put him on (maybe I didn't get to him fast enough?)

4:35-Went Pee on potty with prompting from mom

5:50-went poop on potty with prompting from mom after he got some on my pants.

6:10-Pee on potty after prompting from mom.

7:45-Poop on potty with promting from mom.

7:55-Pee on potty on his own initiative.

**Diaper on for bedtime**

Potty Training Day #3

-Timer set for ever 60 minutes
-M&M's given as rewards

6:00AM-Gideon wakes up. Mom puts him on potty and he goes Pee. (Naked time starts).

7:00-Pee on Potty with prompting from mom to go.

7:40-Pee on potty on his own accord

7:50-Pee on potty with prompting from mom after seeing him "hold himself."

8:10- Pee on potty on own accord

8:12-Poop on potty because he wanted a treat

8:40-Poop on potty on own accord

8:50-Squeezed out a little more poop and some pee on his own accord

9:15-(Cloth training pants are put on after expaining what they are not to go pee in them) He immediately tells me he has to pee and walks to the potty. I help him pull down training pants and he pees in the potty

10:25-Small pee on potty prompted by timer

11:30-tiny pee on his t-shirt (during short naked time while baby was napping). He was trying to "hold it" with his hand wrapped around his shirt.

12:30-(Training pants back on) Pee on potty after lunch prompted by mom.

1:00-Cloth diaper put on for nap time

4:20-Woke up with wet diaper. Pee on potty with encouragement from mom.

4:40-Went on a 20 min. trip to Post Office in training pants. Came home dry.

5:20-(Resistant to training pants, so left him naked. Baby girl went home for the day). Ran to potty on own accord and went Pee.

6:25-Went Pee after dinner with prompting from mom.

6:35-Poop on potty on own accord

7:05-Pee on potty on own accord

7:20-Pee on potty on own accord

7:40-Pee on floor/potty. I saw him hold himself, look at the potty, and then decide he was thirsty so went for a drink from his sippy. He started to pee on the floor. I immediately said, "hold it! Go pee pee on the potty." He did exactly that.

8:00-**Diaper went on for bedtime**

8:40-(40min. after bedtime) He calls us from his room saying "pee pee! pee pee!" We go to him and bring him out to the potty. He goes pee on the potty and his diaper was completely dry.

9:00PM-SAME AS ABOVE!!!

Thoughts from the day: Day number three was awesome. Although he is very resistant to the cloth training pants (prefers to be naked-uh oh!), he is really starting to get the hang of holding himself. During training pants time he never wet himself. I know that he still needs some time, but in 3 days he has made such amazing progress.

If you are reading this, I am no expert at potty training. This is my first child and I am pretty much just winging it. Got some advice from friends and family and did a little online reading, but I am really just trying to see what works for my child and go with it. Even though I feel stress free about our potty training experience so far, it is still SO MUCH WORK! Today was a great day, but I am SO EXHAUSTED. I hope that the logging of our experience inspires whoever reads it. Every child is different. Go with your instinct and be open to change if things aren't working out how you planned.

A little update

2011-07-17T19:42:00.005-05:00

I haven't been doing a very good job of keeping up with my blog lately. Ugh! Here is just a bunch of random stuff and thoughts.

Today marks 6 months into my pregnancy. I can't believe how fast it has gone! Gideon is now 21 months and between him and the 11 month old I watch a couple days week, they sure do keep be busy!

Earlier this month my sister and her husband came to town to visit for a week. It was so great to have them here and spend some good quality time hanging out. Wish it could have been longer!

Me and my sis!

Hanging with his Uncle Shane

Gideon and I walked with them to a local nastalgic candy store. It was Gideon's first time there. It was so fun taking him to a place that I grew up going to.

What to choose

We settled on some sweet tarts

I made some gluten free graham crackers for Gideon this week. They were very tasty, but weren't as crunchy as I hoped. I probably just needed to bake them longer. The little guy loves them, though!

As said, Gideon is 21 months this week. He LOVES letters. We have a alphabet puzzle he loves to do with me and any time he see words (beginning of a movie, books, signs while we are driving in the car) he spurts off random letters. He loves looking at photo albums and picking out everyone he knows. His vocabulary is increasing daily and it is exciting (and frustrating) at times.

I seriously love this kid so much!

CSA-Week 1

2011-06-23T10:28:00.002-05:00

Last night we picked up our first box from our CSA. Included was a variety of lettuces, snap peas, bok choy, and lemon balm. The lettuces and peas will be easy to use since we pretty much have a salad with every meal. I am on the hunt for bok choy recipes (that aren't just a wilted glob of a side dish) and meals where I can use the lemon balm. Our CSA sends along a few recipe ideas, but the one the sent along with the bok choy really isn't my cup of tea. Maybe I'll post some recipe success stories associated with the CSA in future posts.

Wish I got a picture of everything we received. Maybe next week.

Good Friday

2011-04-18T16:49:00.006-05:00

This song came to mind as I started to reflect on Christ's sacrifice.

"When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of Glory died
My richest gain I count but loss
And pour contempt on all my pride
See from his head, his hands, his feet
Sorrow and love flow mingled down
Did ever such love and sorrow meet
Or thorns compose so rich a crown

O the wonderful cross, O the wonderful cross
Bids me come and die and find that I may truly live
O the wonderful cross, O the wonderful cross
All who gather here by grace draw near and bless Your name

Were the whole realm of nature mine
That were an offering far too small
Love so amazing, so divine
Demands my soul, my life, my all"

The Wonderful Cross by Chris Tomlin

Mixed Feelings

2011-04-05T21:20:00.004-05:00

Today marks the first day of a huge change in my relationship with my son. It was my first day not nursing Gideon. I have been trying to speed up the weaning process since I found out I was pregnant. It was very much my choice and not Gideon's, which has been giving me feelings of guilt often. It has been increasingly painful to nurse him and I have been anxious for it to end for a while. I am so glad that I made the decision to breastfeed, but sometimes I feel/felt like a bad mom for wanting it to be over. Maybe because he nursed every 2-3 hours during the night until he was 12 months old, maybe because he seems to be such a needy boy, or maybe because I am selfish? I even felt relief that I got pregnant thinking it was a "good excuse" to wean early. I am not sure if breastfeeding is completely over yet, but today marked a big step. The funny thing is...now I just feel so sad. Gideon has never been big on snuggling and cuddling, and nursing was "our time." It was the only time he would let me snuggle with him. Maybe it's also because Byron has been working so much overtime and I haven't had much a husband lately. Maybe it's that and whole bunch of different reasons. Whatever it is...all I want to do now is cry...

Fat Head

2011-03-28T14:25:00.002-05:00

If you have seen the movie, "Super Size Me" (or not) my husband and I recommend another movie to add to your Netflix Queue. Tom Naughton reveils in his documentary, "Fat Head" that what we have been told about saturated fat and cholesterol has been a bunch of "bologna". Laced with humor, full of facts, and "busting" myths, this film may leave you never looking a cheeseburger the same again...and not the way you might think :).

I heard this film can also be watched on Hulu :)

If You Haven't Already Heard...

2011-03-01T09:28:00.007-06:00

...by the end of 2011 we will have a new addition to the family! We are only about 7 weeks along, but I was having hard time keeping it a secret this time. The morning/all day sickness has taken over and when people start getting suspicious I just can't lie! If my calculations are correct, we should be having another October baby. I was very shocked to see all three of the pregnancy tests I took come out positive. I have only had one cycle since I was pregnant with G and I thought it would take a lot longer than it did to get pregnant again.

Heavenly Father, thank you for this little one growing inside of me.

Here are some pictures of Gideon these days and video of him dancing:

Gideon and Dad sporting their free hats from Home Depot

Haha!

Watching Wheel of Fortune with Dad

Gideon Dancing

Blizzard of 2011

2011-02-03T17:29:00.007-06:00

I am sure I am the last one on the planet blogging about this one. You know all the details. It's all over the news. We spent Byron's 'snow day' taking turns shoveling. With snow drifts at almost 4ft in some areas of our driveway (which yesterday it seemed to be the longest driveway in the world) we managed to dig ourselves free. Well, my strong and handsome hubby did most of the work. Good thing we didn't have a storm door (broke a year back or so and never replaced it) or we wouldn't have been able to leave our house. Unfortunately the little guy didn't want any part of the snow.

A few pictures...

What we opened our front door to that morning.

Byron beginning the 'big dig' out of our home.

Our creepy lawn child (*wink* Mish)

Our family. Can you tell that we all just woke up? And that G wants to go inside?

Experiencing the snow from a safer, warmer distance.

Goals 2011

2011-01-16T22:07:00.005-06:00

Here are few of mine...

#1. Be in the Word and have quiet time with God AT LEAST 5 days a week
#2. Be more giving of my time and finances
#3. Live more in tune with the Lord
#4. Be a more Christ-Like mother
#5. Grow a manageable organic vegetable garden
#6. Cook one vegetarian meal a week
#7. Make one "raw" vegan meal a week
#8. Have a 51% raw diet by year-end

.............

Four Years and Going Strong

2011-01-07T11:42:00.005-06:00

Can't believe we have been married FOUR YEARS! Time is flying, but I wouldn't have picked anyone else to spend it with.

We enjoyed a quiet dinner at the Bangkok House & Shanghai Restarante in Elgin. We dropped the little man off at my sister and bro-in-law's place and walked over. I guess this place has been around forever. It was very Gluten free friendly and they were careful to make sure what I ordered was completely wheat free. The service was great and friendly. We were also only one of two couples in the place. They have two menus-Chinese and a Thai. We had a combonation of both and it was fantastic! We started off with a seasoned beef and lettuce appetizer with a zesty dipping sauce. Byron had a ginger/shrimp dish, I had Scheswan chicken (spicey just how I love it) and we also shared an order of beef fried rice. Byron also enjoyed some Thai iced coffee, which he really loved. One thing I couldn't stop laughing about was that they had this 80's sounding Chinese/Thai music softly playing in the background. Hilarious. Would highly recommend this place...but maybe not. I think I want to keep this our little secret.

We ended the night with a brisk walk to Al's Cafe for dessert. Had a fun evening with the hubs. Love you, Babe!

The Last Couple Months in Pictures...

2011-01-07T10:48:00.007-06:00

Haven't posted in a while, so here are pictures to tell the story...along with short commentary.

Gideon's first snow experience

Very unsure...and hated it in the end-ha.

Trying on Uncle David's cowboy boots

Nick and Danielle's Bridal Shower

Cake made by my cousin

Thanksgiving/Christmas Family Photo

Yes, his bib says, "I love Pasta"

He also loves chips and salsa...hahaha

Wedding Day! N & D XOXO!

Not even half of the Bridal Party

G was infatuated by the lights behind the head table

Yesterday Was the Most Beautiful Fall Day

2010-11-10T11:46:00.005-06:00

Our Journey to Raw and Living Foods

2010-11-05T11:59:00.003-05:00

My husband I recently watched the movie, Food Matters via our Netflix instant download a month or so ago. It inspired us to do some more research and start making some changes in our lives.

Among those changes are adding more supplaments (specifically vitamin C, D, and some probiotics) and eating more RAW food. Yes, raw as in uncooked foods. Among the usual salads and eating more veggies and fruits for snacks, we are incorporating greens smoothies and other creative meals. My dehydrator has been running a lot lately...

Here was last night's meal:

Vegetable Semosas. Mine don't look half as good as these. These are completely raw because the wraps are made of mostly zuchinni and spices and cooked in the dehydrator at a low temperature which does not kill any of the enzymes. Byron thought these were great.

(Homemade cucumber and homemade chipotle dip)

Green Smoothy that is not pictured, but tasted delicious.

Dessert was Banana Nut "cookie balls." These were made with ground up walnuts and homemade dehydrated banana chips as the main ingredients.

My little cutie pie enjoying his dessert

Yuumm...

Gideon is ONE!

2010-10-13T10:47:00.005-05:00

Yesterday my little man turned one year old. My husband woke up that morning and said "it's time to go to the hospital"! I definitely had a flood of mixed emotions. Remembering that day and how we had the most amazing birth experience, our first moments as a family, nursing him for the first time, our stressful ride home in the car, the first time he smiled at me, the first time he rolled over.....crawled....NOW HE IS WALKING! Oh how I love this little one and thank God every day for what a blessing he is in my life.

The three of us had a mini celebration and I believe it was the perfect evening.
Byron and I both bought him a balloon independently of each other (we know what our baby likes). We started off the evening at McDonald's for dinner and play time at the Playplace (Byron insisted). We ate, and then it was time to play(closely supervised by mom and dad of course). Gideon was a little shy at first, but when a few other kids started playing he warmed up fast. We then opened a couple presents. A card he got in the mail, a gift from Aunt Michele and Uncle Shane, and a gift from mom and dad-of course. We returned home and sang happy birthday with a candle in a fresh baked gluten free cookie he absolutely devoured. We ended evening with a nice bath and a quick visit from GiGi for a birthday kiss.

He loves balloons!

The two handsomest men on the planet.

Happy birthday boy

Playing with daddy

Looking out the vent...silly Gideon

He made it!

His own laptop from mom and dad

More interested in his balloons

Enjoying his birthday cookie

"Happy Birthday" song with a little help from some aliens

Yes, a perfect day for the cutest boy in the world.

Apple Picking 2010

2010-09-27T12:43:00.004-05:00

Our annual apple picking event was an adventure to say the least. The first orchard was completely picked clean of apples, went on a hunt to find the alpaca farm, finally found a mom & pop orchard with TONs of apples...only to find out after getting out there that they were all damaged by hail and/or bugs...hmmm....We got one yummy gluten free french apple pie out of the deal though, but no picture taken of it's yumminess.

We were missing several people, M & S, D & N, Dad, Uncle John...it just wasn't the same without yas...

Here are a few pictures of our fun.

Loved that apple

Gideon's first apple picking experience

Gideon and daddy

Picking out some gourds

Apple Picking 2010

A few videos for Shane & Michele

2010-09-15T13:13:00.002-05:00

Yes, these are for you! Gideon is growing up fast :( Miss you guys!

Gideon's New walk

One place I said I would never let him play

He's going to be walking before we know it!

G's First Hair Cut

2010-09-09T15:36:00.005-05:00

Aunt Nicole did a great job and we appreciate her perseverance through the tantrum!

Getting ready

The pro at work...hmm...he's not feeling this so much...

Yeah, it's freak-out time

Daddy is fun and makes a great distraction

Wish I would have gotten a nice picture of G and his aunt in the end, but he was screaming pretty bad...

Thanks, sis!

30 Day Recipe Book, Recipe 1

2010-08-13T13:28:00.004-05:00

I was inspired by Hip2Save to compile a 30 Day Recipe book that contains 30 of our family's favorite dinner recipes. This is in an effort to make meal planning just a little easier.

Chipotle Shredded beef is one to add to the book. We LOVE this recipe and it is so EASY. If you like meals with a little "kick" to them (which we do very much), this one is for you.

This is for you, Deb

2010-08-10T20:32:00.003-05:00

I don't have many pictures of my little guy sleeping because well...he doesn't really like to do that sort of thing. Here is a shot I got of him snuggled with his new monkey from Gigi and Papa G.

"You Must Like Bread"

2010-08-06T16:27:00.006-05:00

"You must like bread." That's what the cashier said as I loaded up the belt with my 16 loaves of bread and 10 packages of bagels. "Why the heck would you buy all that bread," you ask?

While I was looking through the grocery ads yesterday I noticed that our Italian grocer, Caputo's, had Natural Ovens Bread and Bagels on sale for $1.99-A STEAL!!! If you have every had Natural Ovens bread you must know that it is the absolute best bread for you that you can buy. Made with the most wholesome ingredients and definitely NO High fructose corn syrup. Well, my hubby LOVES this bread and will settle for pretty much nothing less. At Woodman's I can find it for around $3.79 a loaf. You can see how I was pretty excited about the $1.99. If you know me by now you know I rarely make a purchase without a coupon. I was ready to clear out the store with the $1.99, BUT I found a coupon for 60cents off any Natural Ovens product! As an added bonus this is a .pdf coupon, which means you can print as many as you want until it expires!! That brings the cost down to $1.39 a loaf!! You can hardly get a loaf of your standard crapola white bread for that price. I literally felt like I stole a cart full of bread today.

And this, my friends, is another example of how you can still eat healthy and coupon at the same time :)

So, yes...I stocked up....but don't worry I left plenty for you :)

16 loaves of bread, 10 pkgs of bagels=$36.14+tax

They have a variety of yummy flavors, such as sunny millet, whole wheat, organic wheat with flax. The bagels: cinnamon raisin, blueberry, brainy.

Spontaneity

2010-07-31T20:55:00.005-05:00

I woke up Friday with a hankerin' for doughnuts. Now, I'm not really a huge fan of doughnuts, but for some reason I had a craving. Byron didn't have to go into work, so he suggested go to Krispy Kream for breakfast and then go garage-saling. I'm not really a spontaneous person, but I went along with it. So, Byron found some garage sales to go to and mapped it all out. We were out of bed and out the door in 20 minutes.

Unfortunately, the closest Krispy Kreme is 35 minutes away. With our belly's grumbling it was a looong drive. When we finally got there we realized that we were at the actual Krispy Kreme factory-cool! As we were figuring out what we wanted to order we were handed two fresh baked glazed donuts (my fave!) for free! We were tempted to just order a milk chug and call it a day, but we were polite and ordered a few more. Plus, Gideon had to try his first donut! We enjoyed a nice and very sugary breakfast (maybe that's why my eye was twitching all day) and then went on to the garage sales.

Dad showing Gideon how it's done

He's a fast learner ;)

Needless to say the pickins were slim. Some of the ones we went to literally opened the garage door and called it a sale. We didn't even bother getting out of the car for half of them. Oh well. Better luck next time? It was still a fun morning and I got to spend it with my two favorite guys....and leftover Krispy Kreme as an added bonus!

"Garage sales are boring, dad"

My Kid is a Weirdo

2010-07-27T09:13:00.002-05:00

One of the many joys in my life is watching my little man play. Today he was being such a well behaved cuddly kid. Here is one of the silly things he was doing (for several minutes before I got to film it). Boy, do I love this kid.

My 9 month Old

2010-07-21T14:54:00.004-05:00

Have I really been a mom for 9 months already? It seems like just yesterday that I taking my little boy home from the hospital.

He's been keeping me busy these days. Always, ALWAYS moving. Can hardly keep up with him. Pulling himself up on everything. He went from slithering everywhere to doing a full out real crawl now.

Baby-Led weaning has been working out well for us. He eats a variety of foods. I was a little worried about the orange today, but he seemed to like it. His pincer grasp has developed quite well. He can pick up any small piece of food and get it to his mouth just fine.

G enjoying some watermelon

He also is "sharing." He likes to offer up whatever he's playing or eating. I pretend to take or eat it to encourage him to share.

I used to think I kept a pretty clean house until I found him finding little things (like pieces of fuzz) and putting them into his mouth.

He has 2 teeth on the bottom now and another one on the way. The poor kid is in a lot of pain and sleeps even worse than ever now. We have found two secret weapons (for the sleep) that seem to do the trick though: The vacuum and dancing with mom to Jack Johnson. Any suggestions on ways to help with the teething would be greatly appreciated.

G's first firework show

Hangin with Papa

Loves his daddy

Gideon Likes to Share

2010-07-10T17:16:00.002-05:00

Michele & Shane~June 27, 2010

2010-06-30T09:24:00.002-05:00

My sister was married off this weekend to a wonderful Godly man! Many blessings upon this Christ-centered marriage!

8 Months on the Potty

2010-06-30T09:02:00.003-05:00

Okay, so I took a little break from elimination communication (Diaper Free Baby) due to the fact that Gideon got really heavy really fast and I couldn't hold him over the toilet anymore. A couple months ago he was able to start sitting on his potty on his own. He has a very predictable poop schedule: once in the morning within an hour of waking up. I've been putting him on the potty with his diaper on because he freaked out in the beginning when I would take it off and sit him down. He would poop in his diaper but be on the potty. I recently started putting him on the potty with no diaper. He was cool with it, but didn't actually go to the bathroom. TODAY HE DID IT! Yay! So, I can officially say that Gideon is pooping on the potty at 8 months and 3 weeks old. He peed on the potty too, but I haven't really been focusing the peeing part. I'm still a little unsure how to work on that part considering he is a boy and he can't even stand up on his own yet. One step at a time I suppose. Still hoping to have him potty trained around the age of one...so we'll see how it goes!

8 Months

2010-06-17T22:18:00.004-05:00

Our little man is 8 months already. I really can't believe how fast he's growing up. We went to his 8 month check up this week. 21 lbs-28 inches-healthy, happy baby all around. In the last two weeks he got his first tooth (on the bottom). It's really quite cute. He's making a bunch of new sounds. He gets around quite well too. Still wouldn't call it crawling, but whatever he does he can move fast when he's motivate. He likes to follow me around the house. I have to admit that I love that {for now}. The other day he pulled himself up to get something out of his toy basket. I think we are in trouble now. One of his favorite activities is using mom and dad as jungle gyms.

Love Long Weekends

2010-06-02T14:22:00.007-05:00

I so love long weekends. Mostly because of all the family time and partly because my sweet hubby lets me sleep in a little. G likes his morning walks with his dad.

We started off the weekend with a little trip down to central Illinois for a family BBQ. It was great to see family that we don't regularly get to visit with. Especially our West Coast visitor! Love you Aunt Marilyn! We also got to meet Byron's cousin's newborn baby boy. Just 6 weeks old. Such a sweet little guy.

G giving his new cousin a kiss...or a taste...??

Aunt Leanne helping G cool off

Sunday we spent some of the day at home, some of the day at Menards buying a pool, and some of the day at my parents{for dinner}. Yeah, we got a pool. Just big enough for our little family to enjoy. Looking forward to lots of pool time this summer.

Gideon's Grandma and Aunt's made a little pool for him out of storage container

Monday we ventured out to my aunts house to enjoy the holiday. The rain put a damper on swimming in their pool. When we thought all hope was lost, the sun poked out from behind the clouds and we got a little swim time in.

Having fun in his cousin's Little Mermaid floaty...

Byron is so much more tan than us...

Hope you enjoyed the long weekend too!

Yes, more Gideon

2010-05-19T09:50:00.004-05:00

A few videos of my little guy...he's a pretty loud kid, especially when he decides to get in the screaming mood at the store.

Gideon is a lot more interested in things he should not be than his own toys now that he's getting more mobile. Time to get serious about baby-proofing the house.

2010-05-17T21:59:00.003-05:00

Surfing the internet as my two best boys sleep. That NEVER happens.

Staying Healthy & Staying Green....

2010-04-29T21:59:00.008-05:00

Here is proof that you can Supercoupon and still eat healthy and stay green...

Wild Harvest Organic Roman Lettuce (3 heads)-$1.00!!

Grande all natural, multigrain tortilla chips- $1 per bag

Special K cracker (90 cal a serving)- $0.49 cents a box

{LOTS} Dannon Activia yogurt- FREE

Seventh Generation liquid dish soap-$0.69 cents

Seventh Generation disinfectant spray-$0.99 cents

Palm Olive Pure + Clear dish soap-$0.57 cents

Marcal* facial tissue- $0.29 cents a box

Marcal paper towels- $0.29 cents a roll

Marcal toilet paper-$0.29 cents a 4 roll pack!

*100% of our Small Steps® products are made from 100% premium recycled paper, not trees. Our 100% premium recycled eco friendly products are hypoallergenic, virtually lint free, and whitened without chlorine bleaching. Small Steps® bath tissue, towels, napkins and facial tissue contain just the right combination of strength, absorbency and softness to handle every job.

Plus, with all that you save you can afford to purchase more organic, healthy, and sustainable products!

Supercouponing update: 3rd month of supercouponing and saved 57% ($200!!!) of our monthly grocery budget (all food, household, and personal care items). Not too bad if you consider I'm stockpiling too!

God's Blessings

2010-04-28T14:23:00.008-05:00

Okay, so I'm trying to keep this blog going. My little man still keeps me quite busy. He's napping now, so I thought I'd try a quick post (although, his naps are usually only 20 min. long so I'm trying to type fast)!

Byron's employer just called him and told him they would like him to do the construction supervision for their job that is starting on Monday. This will be about 8 to 12 months of work, which would be a huge blessing and we are thanking God for his provision.
Couple down sides: Byron has no experience in construction supervision, so he is a little unsure of his abilities (I know he's going to do great, but prayer for him in this area is appreciated); The commute is 1.5 hours each way and a very early start in the morning; We are really going to miss all the family time we've gotten the past few weeks, but are thankful for the time we had. Thanks for all the prayers. God is so good and so faithful.

Gideon Development: Now scooting/pulling himself forward on his tummy. May have this crawling thing down soon. Getting better at eating solid foods. Even though there are no teeth yet, he seems to have a handle on the chewing thing, some-what figured out how to swallow bigger pieces of food, getting better at picking up smaller pieces of food and getting them into his mouth (50% of the time). -6 months, 3 weeks

How Long Has It Been??

2010-04-07T22:29:00.008-05:00

Wow, so it has been over a month since my last post. Life with our little guy leaves me little time to check my email let alone keep up with my blog these days. Dont get me wrong, he is a great kid, he just does'nt like to nap :). He takes 20 minute cat-naps which seems to work or him, but is hard on me.

So, life these days real quickly...

Aunt had her 4th baby-a girl!. I have been trying to go out there to help her out with my mom once a week. She also has a 17 yr. old, 8 yr, old and almost 2 yr. old!

My husband and I wet on our first date without the baby to celebrate his 28th birthday on tuesday. It was nice and we didn't even talk about the baby. G has been able to go much longer between feedings these days (which has been so nice on me).

My husband was recently layed off from his job :( The Lord continues to provide and we just found out his unemployment benefits will cover the bills ad there should be no reason or us to aquire any debt from this. On the up-side I am looking forward to the extra time with him. **Please pray for a job to come his way**

Gideon is going to be 6 months next week. We just started introducing him to solids and are trying Baby Led Weaning (more on that in a later post). He loves going on walks, listening to music, and playing with his mom and dad. He is rolling over from his back to tummy (but not visa versa). Diaper changes are a little more challenging now that he can squirm away. He tries to move forward, but doesn't quite know how to go about it yet. He does manage to turn himself around while he's on his tummy.

I am having fun and very busy being a mom. My little man brings me such joy. Balancing the mom and wife roles is a little challenging but I think I am getting better at it. Other than that my current hobby is Super Couponing.

Some pictures...

Easter 2010

Having fun playing with his toys

Eating an apple

Super-couponing

2010-02-22T19:49:00.004-06:00

My mom and I recently started Super-Couponing. Super-Couponing "combines the best techniques for following sales with using newspaper and internet coupons to their fullest advantage."

In these tough economic times I've been desperate to find any and all ways to cut back. It's hard when you already feel like you cut back as far as you can go. A family friend posted a note on facebook about her success with SC and it intrigued me. A few weeks ago I ordered Jill's Super-Couponing workshop on DVD. The next week my mom and I attended her 2nd workshop at a local church.

With little work or effort (thanks to the internet and the many women who do all the leg work) I was able to save A LOT of money. Just two weeks into it and look at what I did today!

-30 boxes of Betty Crocker Potatoes
-3 boxes of Chex cereal
-1/2 gallon of orange juice
-I bag traditional Chex mix
-1 box Cutie manderines
-Olay body wash
-2 Gillette Men Hair & Body wash
-Travel sized women's shaving gel
-2 tubes Arm & Hammer toothpaste
-1 tube crest toothpaste
-2 bars Johnson baby soaps
-Excedrin Menstrual Complete
-Pep. Farm Tim Tams
-Gillette Fusion Razor
-Gillete Venus Razor
-4 new placemats
-PicturiKa card game
-Trident Layers gum
-1 caramel candy

All of this for only $39.76! PLUS, I also have $12 worth of catalina coupons and Register Rewards (store money)! It's like paying $27.76 for that whole table of groceries!

You really do have to change your mindset about how you shop. Don't be intimidated. It's WELL worth your time!

I'm really excited to see where I will be 2 months from now. It can only get better, right?

If you are interested in Super-Couponing, here are a list of websites that are helpful:

Jill Cataldo's Super Couponing Website (this is the best source) She is also local (NW suburbs of Chicago), which is also really helpful. She shops at all the stores I do!

Hip 2 Save

Money Saving Mom
Happy Couponing!

A few Videos

2010-02-18T10:08:00.002-06:00

Here are a couple videos of the little guy. Sometimes I think he just can't wait until his dad gets home to play.

Oh yeah, this kid will try to eat anything

Reunion!

2010-02-09T15:22:00.004-06:00

(Thanks for the picture, Tina)

Last night we had a little reunion with our Bradley class. It was so much fun to meet everyone's little ones and hear all of their birth stories. Even though they were all different, the result was the same-Beautiful, handsome baby boys! Yes, we all had boys! It really was a great class and I look forward to getting together with them again.

Diaper Free?

2010-01-31T20:50:00.010-06:00

I realize that most of my posts have centered around the new addition to our family. I'm not really good about scrapbooking, putting together a photo album, or even a baby book (which I would still like to do). So, I'm using my blog to document the different milestones in his life for something to look back on one day. So please bare with me...I don't expect everyone to read these long posts
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My husband and I recently decided to try Elimination Communication.

I bought a book called The Diaper Free Baby. I purchased this book after hearing about it from my husband. He heard something on the radio about it. Then, a church friend started doing it with her little girl. Amazed that a 9 month was using the toilet 80% of the time, I was intrigued.

"As Christine Gross-Loh reveals in her progressive, enlightening book...infants are born with the ability to communicate their need to "go," just as they communicate hunger or sleepiness."

Now, I was thinking just as you are now. A baby with no diaper? That seems pretty messy! But diaper-free doesn't mean diaper-less. It's all about listening to your baby's cues of when they need to go. The book talks about how babies are not born with desire to sit in there own waste. This makes perfect sense to me, because I've always hated the idea of my baby sitting in his dirty diaper. I change him as often as possible.

The U.S. average for potty training is 3 years! I just can't imagine changing diapers for 3 years! This book is not about trying to get your baby potty trained as early as possible. It's a book about being in-tune with your baby and listening to your baby's cues, just as you do with other things...sleeping, eating, etc., but it seems that most parents who practice EC have their babies potty trained at around one years of age. Did you know that 50% of the world's children are "potty trained" by one year's old? I didn't.

I love how the book puts no pressure to do EC full time. If you do it part-time or even occasional and it can be beneficial. This is where I am at with it. For the past week or so, we've been doing it occasional to part-time. I was very skeptical at first, but figured what could be the harm in just trying it out? We mostly catch his bowl movements because they are the easiest. Whenever we see G working on a bowl movement, we hold him over the toilet and he "goes." It's kind of exciting actually. Less messy diapers to clean and diaper rashes are pretty much an non-issue.

I'm also making my own version of these cute babylegs to make this whole process easier. We'll see how it goes. So far, so good.

3 Months

2010-01-18T16:28:00.005-06:00

Gideon is 3 Months old already! What a big boy. He's 2 feet long now and over 17lbs. He's so much more vocal and plays with us a lot. He loves to be "rough housed" by his dad. He has a lot of control over his neck and is one strong baby. We just love him so much!

Our little boy!

Chubby!

3 Years

2010-01-07T20:20:00.002-06:00

My husband and I have been married for 3 years yesterday. Wow, have the past few years flown by. We enjoyed the evening with an early dinner at our favorite Italian restaurante, Biaggi's. We haven't been there since our anniversary last year. It was delicious! We also brought the baby along with us (he's just too little and too unpredictable for us leave him with a sitter yet). He was so good for us. I fed him right before we left and slept on the way there and until we were served our entres. The rest of the time he spent exploring the new surroundings from his car seat. My husband and I were able to talk about things other than work and G's poop and really enjoyed the time out.

Merry {Belated} Christmas!

2009-12-30T15:02:00.004-06:00

Okay, so I realize I'm a little late on this one.

Hope you all had a blessed Christmas. We started off our celebration of Christ's birth by gathering at our church for a reflective Christmas Eve service. The baby was so well behaved. We didn't even have to leave the sanctuary. It was nice to be able to focus on the sermon and reflect on the true meaning of this season. We spend the rest of the evening at my parent's house with good food and good company of about 50 family members and church friends. Christmas day we spent a nice day at my husband's grandparent's house and his side of the family. All in all I think Gideon had a good first Christmas. And probably too many gifts for a 10 week old.

Here is a video and few pictures...Happy New Year to all!

Gideon playing & talking w/ his aunts on Christmas Eve

Opening up presents on Christmas Eve
Gideon's First Christmas Morning
Christmas Day: Uncle Brad, Byron, Gideon
(picture courtesy of Aunt Leanne)

I Celebrate the Day

2009-12-23T07:29:00.003-06:00

I really love this Christmas song by Relient K. It always seems to bring a tear to my eye. Listen. Reflect on these words. Enjoy.

You can download this song for FREE off of Amazon.com as part of their 25 days of free Christmas songs. Click here!

Pets or People?

2009-12-21T10:58:00.004-06:00

My husband and I considered getting a dog a couple years ago. That lasted about an hour before we decided we just couldn't justify it financially (among other reasons). Especially when there are so many people in need in the world. There are several people in our own lives that could use the money and time it would take to care for a dog. When you take into account the cost for the dog itself, vet appointments and all the other "stuff" a dog needs. Then there are the people who get stuff for their dogs that they don't need, like those cute little outfits you see at the stores. Yeah, and those are the same people whose neighbor has been out of work for the past year.

I came across an article by Chuck Colson called Save the Pet? Or Save the Stranger? This article talks about people who put pets on a par with humans and how this is affecting worship at church. Here are a couple excerpts:

"Whether it's "pet-ernity leave" for employees with young puppies, or people demanding human rights for pregnant pigs, there's something dramatically wrong when people place animals on a par with humans.The most recent example of this comes from the Rev. Tom Eggebeen, pastor of Covenant Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles. He has begun a church service where congregants are invited to bring their pets to church with them. Not only are the pets allowed in the church, but the pets receive special blessings while the owners enjoy pet-centric services."

"I recently received a note from a high school teacher. Each year he poses an ethical question to his students. This year his question was simple: What if your house were on fire and you could save either your household pet or an electrician who was trapped inside? In past years, the teacher's students have been divided pretty evenly on this question. This year, to his astonishment—and mine—90 percent of the students said they would save the pet."

I encourage you to read it.

Don't get me wrong. I think dogs and other pets can be great companions for some people, especially the elderly and people who have disabilities. They bring much joy in peoples lives and are a part of God's creation to enjoy. I'm sure others can make the same argument about other things in our lives. This is one area that my husband and I feel very convicted about. I do think there is a problem when we start putting pets over people and especially over God.

2 Months (and things are getting better)

2009-12-11T11:35:00.008-06:00

Our little boy turned 2 months old on Monday. He really is growing up so fast. He had his first church experience on Sunday. We were finally ready to take him. He did suprising well and only fussed a tiny bit when he got a little hungry. I hope no one was offended, but we just aren't ready to have people hold him yet with the flu season and all. He's not his fragile newborn self anymore. He has very strong neck control already. He spends good chunks of time playing with daddy and me-smiling and baby talking. He follows me or dad with his eyes and moves his head to see us if we're moving around or picking things up in the room. If he's in his swing he will be looking at us doing whatever it is we are doing. Although I feel bad sometimes about this, he does prefer us over other people. It's a great feeling to know your baby loves you. He is a lot less fussy than he used to be. If you can call it a schedule, he's been going to bed between 10-11pm and gives me chunks of sleep ranging from 3-5 hours a night (wide range, but so much better than the average 45 minute intervals he was giving me before). I really think the chiropractor is helping. He's such a happier and a more content baby. At 8 weeks he's already 14.5 pounds. He's growing out of all his newborn clothes and fitting into 6-9 month clothing. Crazy.

..........................................................................
Speaking of clothes...
Byron and I have been using a envelope/cash method of purchasing things since May. We are still working on using strictly cash for all of our everyday purchases, but we do make the exception here and there. Our Discover card gives us coupons every now and then. We received a few this week and among them was a Kohl's coupon for $10 off of a purchase of $10 or more if you use your Discover card. While we were Christmas shopping we found this cute outfit on sale (the only one of it's kind and in G's size). It was originally $26.00, but on sale for $10.40. With our coupon it cost us $0.43. Sweet dealio if you ask me. We had to use our credit card, but I really don't think we are going to have a problem paying off the 43 cents at the end of the month. Of course, Discover was hoping that we would use the coupon on a purchase much more than that, keep a balance on our credit card, rack up interest on the purchase and in the end make money on us, right? Do you think Discover will stop sending us these coupons?

Life Update

2009-11-30T14:08:00.009-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving everyone...okay...maybe a few days too late...

It's been a long few days. Our Thanksgiving festivities started on Wednesday. My husbands parents traditionally host a three day event. Extended family come in on Wednesday and stay until late on Friday. This year was a bit trickier with little man. We decided to spend Wednesday and Friday with my husband's side of the family and Thursday with mine. It was great to see everyone especially the family that we only get to see once or twice a year. It was a little different with the baby. Especially on Friday when he just seemed to want to eat all day long and was rather fussy. I think he may have been a little over-stimulated with all the driving around, getting passed around, and it was much louder than our quite home that he's used to.

Saturday I had a house full of my girlfriends that came over. A few were in who live out of town now, so we all got together. It was really nice to see and catch up with everyone. Boyfriends, engagements, careers, babies...we're all grown up now. I remember it like yesterday having sleep overs and talking about boys.

Sunday was a fantastic day. It was just me and my two favorite guys. I was a little stressed out at first because the house hadn't been cleaned due to the holiday and laundry was piled up. My husband was great and let me take a nap while he started on things. We finished up together. Gideon was such a good boy all day. We watched the Bears game (eeeh). We ordered one of my favorite pizzas for dinner, Pizza Hut (don't judge me) and got a great online deal. It was a good day.

Gideon is 7 weeks old today. I can't believe it. He's growing up so fast. He's already grown out of all of his 0-3 month clothing and turning into quite the chunker. He's smiling a lot more these days. Very responsive to me and daddy playing with him. He'll yell at me if I stop talking to him-funny. His top 3 activities right now are Eating, Shower Time with dad (he just loves this), and getting his diaper changed (he gets all smiley and laughs/"talks" to me while we get the job done). The poor kid still has his painful gas/bowl movements that wakes him up and keeps him fussy at times while he's awake. I've been taking him to the chiropractor regularly now and seems like it's starting to help some. Pray he starts to feel better soon. He really is a sweetie when he's not all uncomfortable. Right now he's snoring away, sleeping on my chest as I type. Couldn't have asked for a more precious boy.

Oh, and for all my FVC family, don't worry. We'll finally be attending church this coming Sunday, so you'll get to meet our little guy :)

Blessing to all. Hope you had a great Thanksgiving!

Pictures...

Monkey Boy

Little Man

Matching

Chubby Cheeks!

Allergies

2009-11-19T11:46:00.005-06:00

Within the past few years my mother and two of my sisters have become gluten intolerant (or at least now they know why they have been feeling so lowsy all these years). BOO. Being part of an Italian family that eats a LOT of pasta...this has been no picnic for them. Although, it seems that there are a lot more gluten-free pastas out there now that are reasonably prices and are tolerable to the taste buds. My sister is turning 18 in a couple of days. Not only does she have an allergy to gluten, but also to dairy. What a rough combo. This is a rather recent discovery for her. I'd really love to make her a gluten-free/dairy free dessert or birthday cake, but am having a hard time finding something that doesn't require obscure ingredients that may be hard to find at the grocery store or that are just too expensive to justify the purchase. Anyone out there have any suggestions or recipes to share? Thanks....

One Month Old

2009-11-09T14:22:00.006-06:00

I can't believe our baby boy is already 1 month old today! He's already grown 2 inches and gained a wopping 3lbs! Here are some more pictures and a couple short videos.

He's so peaceful when he sleeps

Out for our first walk!

He loves hanging out with Dad

Byron calls this his "jail-bird" look

Cute shirt from Uncle Brad and Aunt Leanne w/ his matching cute cloth diaper cover

Cute onesie from Papa T

Daddy Time

Tummy Time

Life These Days

2009-10-26T10:05:00.008-05:00

Blogging has not been a priority for me lately. We've all been pretty tired around here. Our little man is keeping us busy, but we just fall more in love with him each day! Here are some more pictures...

He loves his little boy!

Yes, he smiles in his sleep. Love it!

Birth Story

2009-10-17T16:27:00.004-05:00

**Warning: Some content below may be a little too "girly" for some to handle**

Sunday, we were finally able to move back home after having our hardwood floors refinished. We were taking turns staying with my parents and the in-laws. We really appreciated them taking us in, but I was so looking forward to sleeping in my own bed that night. The next day was the baby's due date, but I was expecting to be a little late as most first baby's are. Little did I know I would only be sleeping in my bed for 3 hours. I was woken up just after 1am by a sort of "pop" feeling. At first I just thought it was the baby moving, but then came an almost menstral type cramp. Could it be? Yes, my water broke. For the next hour my contractions were about 10 minutes apart closing in on 5 minutes apart in the next couple hours. I was definitely in active labor and working very hard. I told Byron to call the midwife and see if she thought we could head over to the hospital. She pretty much told him that he called way too early and that we would be spending at least 12 hours laboring at home before we would head over (we live an hour away from the hospital). She told him to tell me to just try to sleep through the contactions because I would be having a long day. Yeah right. I remember from our Bradly class talking about the different stages of labor. I was expecting to be eased into labor. They said in early first stage to try to distract myself by folding laundry or cleaning or going for a walk. Um...yeah...I think I just skipped that whole part and went straight into active labor. My contractions steadily got closer together and longer and stronger. At 8am I told my husband to call the midwife again and tell her we had to leave for the hospital. She tossed the idea of coming to the office first, but then agreed it would be okay to head to the hospital and we headed out on our one hour drive during rush hour traffic. Thank God for Columbus day because it ended up being smooth sailing on the way there. Byron continued to time my contractions in the car. Some being as close as a minute apart. The worst pain of my life. Yes, I believe I was going through transition on my way to the hospital (the hardest and shortest part of labor). We finally get there and they monitor me in triage. They find that I'm already 7 cm dialated! Holy cow. After 20 minutes of monitoring they admit me to the alternative birth room. My midwife still hasn't arrived there. I get into the bathroom and get on my hands and kneesg. I'm in such pain that I'm screeming now. Byron thought I comfortable on the bed, so I make my way there. My midwife finally gets there and checks to see that I'm already 9 1/2 cm dialated. What?! Minutes later I am ready push. This baby is coming! The nurse, midwife and Byron were there with me through it all. Byron never leaving my side and encouraging me the whole way through. I never thought I'd be able to do it. I was terrified. But I just had to psych myself and say "I'm the only one that can do this. I just have to let my body do what it was made to do and push this baby out." After the head came out the whole baby followed very quickly. "It's a boy" Byron says. He was directly put on my chest. The most beautiful boy. I couldn't hold back the tears. "Hold your baby, Byron. It's a boy. You wanted a boy." I said. As I looked up, tears (may or may not have been) were falling from his cheek. We did it! I couldn't have done it without my coach, Byron. Gideon Anthony Gehrig entered into the world on October 12, 2009 at 12:35 pm. Weighing in at 7lbs 15oz and 19 inches long. Full head of dark hair. Gorgeous. Within a half an hour I was breastfeeding our baby. He latched right away and has been a good eater ever since. Byron took the baby to get weighed and bathed as I remained in our suit of a hospital room to recover. He also got in trouble for walking in the hallway with our baby without it being in it's "crib." It was the most amazing experience of our lives. All in all I beleive we had a fantastic natural birth experience. I didn't give into the drugs, which I feared that I might. The only thing I might have changed was leaving for the hospital a tad bit eariler :). Byron is such a great father already. He just can't seem to put him down. He's been doing laundry, dishes, keeping things tidy around the house. He changes diapers, bathes, and rocks the little man to sleep. He's really taking care of us over here. It's going to be hard when he goes back to work next week.

Thanks to all our friends and family who prayed for us through it all. We felt them and definitely needed them.

A Boy

2009-10-14T14:31:00.005-05:00

Just a quick post. Our little Gideon Anthony Gehrig was born October 12, 2009 at 12:35pm. We absolutely love him. Being the oldest of six girls, it's pretty exciting having a little boy around. Byron is such a good dad already and can't seem to put the kid down. I swear he's had more baby holding time than me. I will be posting more about how the labor and delivery went in the next couple days. Just wanted to post a few a pictures and let everyone know we are all healthy and very happy. Thanks for all the prayers. We felt them!

Daddy's Boy

He's so alert and opens his eyes a lot

Seconds after delivery

2009-10-05T11:48:00.003-05:00

Several of you have been asking for pictures of the kitchen, but we haven't really been living at home (thanks mom and dad for housing us for a few days!) due to the smell of the fumes. We were finally able to move back home on Saturday and then realized several bare spots on the floor. So, the guy is coming back today because he's going to have put on another coat-eeehhh!

I was able to paint the kitchen (thanks to Sherwin Williams for their sale on Low-VOC paints) on Saturday with help from my mom-in-law while B worked on the garage with help from our dads-THANKS. I was also able to paint our enclosed side porch as well, so I feel good about that. Unfortunately, our kitchen is still in our dining room and encroaching on the rest of the house. This is not extactly how I planned things going. And now we are looking at being banned from the house again for another 5 days. With 6 days until our due date...I'm feeling a little anxious about things. I'm trying to stay calm because I know this is not good for the baby, but it's hard. I really don't know what's wrong with me and why I opened up this can of worms. It is what it is now....

With all of that being said, Byron and I are getting exciting about our little one arriving soon. I can't believe we went from weeks to days now. I'm feeling wobbly these days and things are definitely starting feel different. I was hanging out with my one-year old cousin today. She is such a happy baby and got me so excited to have my own child to kiss, snuggle, and squish anytime I want!

Kitchen Floor Update

2009-09-25T14:22:00.005-05:00

This is the black stuff that covered the entire floor
(also seen in previous post)

So, our floor guy came on Monday to see if he can save the hardwood. There was a layer of black stuff and adhesive from the tile that he wouldn't be able to remove. It would gum up on ruin his sander. His advice was to just tile or put new hardwood over the old stuff. So, that night we went to the local big box store and purchase all the materials to tile. The next day we decided we wanted to see what it would actually take to remove the " black tar looking stuff" from the floor. I did a little internet research and it turns out that with a little Murphy's Oil and some elbow grease it wasn't the worst job in the world to remove it. It did take me about two days total to remove it and clean up the glue, but I did it! Byron was gracious enough to spend several hours pulling out a long line of staples we discovered. We called our floor guy and he's coming out tomorrow morning to take a look at it again. I just hope all that work was worth it! If he's able to save it we will actually be saving $300 by not having to tile it. Which is about 40% savings for us!

Oh, and I just got an e-coupon from Sherwin Williams for 25% off all of there low-VOC paints. BONUS. Our kitchen definitely needs a new paint job after all of this. By this time next week our kitchen is going to look fantastic! Riiight??

Now, just pray this baby hangs on for a couple more weeks so I can finish my project :)

After all the scraping and cleaning!

House Projects

2009-09-21T13:50:00.003-05:00

Byron and Dad working hard

The garage is coming along. Much thanks to my dad for all of his help! Byron's father has also been helping with the electrical work (thanks!).

Destroyed Kitchen Floor

So yesterday I got a strange compulsion to rip up the kitchen floor. I HATE our floor with a passion. It's a floor made up of those cheap stick-on vinyl tiles. Many of them were pealing off and on hot humid days the pieces of tile would actually stick to your feet. Horrible. So, I decided it was time! While B and his dad were working on the electric for the garage I got out the shovel and started tearing up the floor. I guess I was a little loud in there...Byron was a little shocked when he came inside to see what is VERY pregnant wife was doing...We ended up finding three layers of tile. Two vinyl tile layers and one layer of linoleum. Not so terrible to rip out. We did find something we were not expecting, though-hardwood flooring! We were just going to re-tile the floor, but I called our floor guy and he's coming to do an estimate on the refinishing process. Yay! Oh, and I can't take all the credit. My wonderful hubby pulled up half of the old flooring for me when he was done with his project :)

My only fear is that it won't get all done before the baby comes. Not because 3-5 weeks isn't enough time, but because I'm afraid our little one will be coming earlier than that! I heard that when pregnant women start "scrubbing behind the stove" to beware because it may mean baby will be coming soon. 37 weeks is full-term...oh Little One, hang on a little longer!

Getting Closer

2009-09-15T18:12:00.003-05:00

B and I went to our orientation/tour of the hospital/alternative birth rooms last night. I was actually kind of worried that I would be disappointed. It ended up that we both felt really good and at peace about where we are going to be giving birth to our baby. This is actually the only hospital in the area that lets you wear your own clothes during labor and keeps your baby with you instead of bring them to the nursery unless it is requested. There was actually only one baby in the nursery when we walked by. All of our questions were answered and we really feel like this is the best place we could have picked to have our baby.

Things are all starting to fall in place. At 36 weeks I'm feeling a little more anxious to see what our little one looks like. I went to see my midwife today and things are all looking good. 130 HR, 35cm, Blood pressure 112/72, IRON LEVELS ARE UP, baby is head down and still very active. Sometimes I wonder if this baby every sleeps! But everything looks good. Next week we get to go through our birth plan with the midwife. The end (or should I say beginning) is in site. It's kind of scary and exciting at the same time.

Labor Day Weekend=Wedding and Fun

2009-09-08T19:37:00.008-05:00

My sister got married over this Labor Day weekend. B and I were both in the wedding along with 16 other bridesmaids and groomsmen! It was a long day on my feet being 8 months pregnant and all, but it was a beautiful wedding. Congrats, Nicole and Adam. We love you!

Nicole, Mom and the Sisters
(4 other bridesmaids not in picture)

Having fun dancing with my Handsome

Monday we enjoyed the beautiful weather and day off at the park with my fam and some family friends. Picnic, softball game, and THE SLIDE! Good times...

"Wax Paper makes you go faster!"

How many pregnant women do this?

**Thanks to the people I snatched these pictures from. You know who you are.**

34 Weeks

2009-09-02T14:36:00.005-05:00

I just had my 34 week appointment with the midwife yesterday. Things are getting so close. We only have one more Bradley class to go and are scheduled for our alternative birth center orientation in the next couple weeks. The baby's room is already to go. We even have the car seat in the car. Things are coming together. The reality of this baby coming is definitely starting to settle in. I still have some fears, but am definitely feeling a lot better about things. Other, than the bruised ribs, of course. The bigger this baby gets the stronger it is getting, that's for sure. It's amazing how God created our bodies to take all of this abuse. Here are some pictures of the baby's room:

Pictures

2009-08-28T11:07:00.003-05:00

A few pictures from the baby shower

My girls and Me

The Ladies who put in all the hard work.
Thanks again, ladies!

My mama and me w/ the beautiful tasty cake my cousin made.

The Natural Way

2009-08-21T11:53:00.004-05:00

In preparation for breastfeeding I've started to read Breastfeeding Made Simple by Nancy Mohrbacher and Kathleen Kendall-tackett. After reading just the forward of the book I had a funny thought. Why is it that we have to learn how to do things that are supposed to come natural to us? My husband and I are taking a natural childbirth class, I'm reading a book about the seven natural laws for nursing mothers, we learn how to garden organically and cook unprocessed and healthy meals, how to clean with safer/homemade products. The list goes on. All of this would be unheard of to a person who was living 200 years ago. Even though I'm looking forward to reading the rest of this book I am also a little embarrassed that I even have to. I didn't grow up around women who nursed (not that I blame them for my ignorance). Could it be that our "advanced" western culture is stealing the beauty of how God made our bodies and the world to work without all of this human intervention?

Feeling The Love

2009-08-17T13:35:00.005-05:00

There are some women in my life that I have to recognize. Last Sunday the women in our Bible study group and some other important women in my life threw us a baby shower. It was so beautiful and such a special day. They really put a lot of thought into it. Everything from my favorite candy to the "table cloths" (they were pieces of fabric that I could take home for baby sewing projects). The devotion was beautiful and the games were silly. We also received some great gifts for baby and are just putting the finishing touches on baby's room. Thanks for such a special day Jeanie, Deb, Patty, Beatriz, Julianne, Cathy, and Libbie. The Lord has truly blessed us with you in our lives.

Me & B before everyone arrived.
30 weeks pregnant here.

Awesome cake my cousin made for us!
Thanks Alex! It was yummy.

Notice the center pieces/prizes and handmade pretzel party favors. So pretty and tasty!

Also, if you have any other pictures from the shower please email them to me! Thanks!

Money

2009-08-08T22:44:00.003-05:00

So we've finally been seeing the savings our Costco shopping has been given us. In the month of July we saved over $125 in our grocery budget. Sweeeeeeeet.

Home Sweet Home

2009-08-06T10:49:00.006-05:00

We arrived home early Monday morning from our vacation. It was fun trip...other than my back killing me half the time (yay for free chiropractic care!). The drive through the badlands in South Dakota was beautiful. Nothing to talk about in Wyoming. We could see the mountains from our hotel in Colorado. The wedding was beautiful and we are so excited for our good friend.

Here are some pictures of journey...

First Stop: SPAM museum Byron takin' a ride on Mr. Hormel's piggies

Gotta take a picture with Spammy!

Green Giant...look how tiny Byron is...

Goofing around at Wall Drug

Climbing around the Badlands

Hangin' with Cornelious at the Corn Palace

Mount Rushmore

Congrats Mr. & Mrs. Flager!

Time for a Break

2009-07-27T11:30:00.006-05:00

Life seems to never stop. Saturday we spent the day going over finances (isn't it funny how you can do everything right and still get screwed in life?) and then helped get everything ready for my sister and brother-to-be's bridal shower. Sunday we got over to help with the party several hours early and stayed for clean up as well. The shower was beautiful, although after everyone left it felt like we were still just putting up the streamers. What a whirlwind. I did have to sneak away for a nap. This third trimester is really "weighing" on me.

All the Bridesmaids

Good thing is that we are getting ready to leave for vacation early tomorrow morning. (We are traveling to Denver, CO for my husband's close college friend's wedding. He's in the wedding.) I'm really looking forward to this break from life and all the wedding festivities...and spending time in the hotel pools. I love just floating in the water to take all this weight off of my body. All I have on my agenda today is to pack! Then the craziness begins again when we return. Monday night childbirth class, Thursday 30week ultrasound, Friday church young adult meet n' greet, Saturday family party, Sunday church hosted baby shower for us. Oh goodness....things need to slow down before this baby arrives!

But for now...Colorado, here we come...

New Etsy Items/Blog Feature

2009-07-24T16:40:00.004-05:00

I've been busy sewing and adding new products to my Etsy shop. Today, I discovered that my shop has been featured on this blog. How sweet is that? Check out Andrew's blog and browse around his Etsy shop. If you like to garden you'll be sure to find something you like.

Here is what I've been up to...

Two new collections of Reusable Gift Bags and a set of Reusable cloth baby wipes/washcloths. Made from cotton flannel pirate ship print and terrycloth on the other side.

New Etsy Item

2009-07-21T17:34:00.003-05:00

New collection of reusable gift bags just posted at Cocoa Tree Creations.

Simple Church

2009-07-21T12:47:00.003-05:00

My husband and I have been interested in simple/organic church for quite some time. One of the blogs I follow posted a video today. Click here to get a better idea of what it's all about.

Reusable Gift Bags

2009-07-20T10:48:00.004-05:00

I just made my first sale on my Etsy shop over the weekend. I'm super excited! It was a collection of my reusable gift bags. The item sold after only 3 hours of me posting it. After getting that all ready to be shipped out I made a new collection of my bags and posted it this morning. We'll see how things go, but I thought it was a pretty successful first week considering the little amount of advertising I've done so far.

Cocoa Tree Creations

2009-07-17T16:03:00.005-05:00

Wow, it's been a while since my last post. I've been busy sewing. I just opened up my own shop on Etsy, Cocoa Tree Creations. Etsy is a place to buy and sell things handmade. I sell my handmade fabric headbands and reusable gift bags-for now. I only have a few items at the moment, but am posting new items regularly. Click here to view my shop and please tell your friends!

26 week belly shot

2009-07-08T11:32:00.004-05:00

26Weeks

I FINALLY got a belly picture. I'm feeling like such a cow these days.

B and I did some baby registering over the weekend. I was really excited to be able to park in the expectant mothers space!

Baby

2009-07-02T07:25:00.006-05:00

It seems like after those long sick days during my first trimester ended, these past months have been flying by! I'm already into my 7th month of the pregnancy-26 weeks! I just had and appointment with my midwife last week. I had to take my gestational diabetes test (the orange stuff I had to drink wasn't all that bad). My midwife called me on Friday and told me my glucose looks good. Yay! She did say that my hemoglobin was low and I'm border line anemic and I need to go on an iron supplement. That's probably why I've been so exhausted lately. I am weighing in at 140lbs. Right on track. That's 20lbs more than my body is used to carrying around, so it's getting harder and harder to do everyday things as efficiently as I used to. Baby's heartbeat is strong and he/she moves around often. Our Bradley class is going well. I really feel like the more I learn, the more my fear of the whole birth thing is going away. I really like how this whole pregnancy is bringing my husband and I even closer than we already are. It's such a fun time! I'm feeling sooooo heavy these days. There is really no doubt that I look pregnant. I have to post a belly shot soon! We went to my Aunt's for the 4th of July and went swimming in their pool after the rain had stopped. B pulled me around as I held on to a floating device. It felt soooo good to have all that weight lifted off of me. I hope to spend more time in the water this summer!

Cheap Date Night

2009-06-29T11:26:00.010-05:00

Two FREE burritos from Chipotle, coke, chips & Guacamole- $4.88
Browsing around Once Upon a Child (B got way too excited about the toys)-$0
One rented movie from the Redbox-$1

Spending the whole evening with my main man-Priceless

Summer Treat

2009-06-24T11:13:00.004-05:00

Cool summer dessert I made up over the weekend. Made with a graham cracker crust, cream cheese, whipped cream, strawberry yogurt, and freshly picked strawberries from our garden on top. I chilled it in the freezer over night and it was a refreshing treat. The strawberries on top were so yummy. The best part are the leftovers!

First Bradley Class

2009-06-23T12:35:00.003-05:00

We had our first Bradley natural childbirth class on Monday evening. Our class is made up of 5 couples. One of the couples' due date is just days before ours, so that's kind of fun. I like our instructor. She's a wife and mother of 3 children under 7. She's informative and brings a sense of humor as well.

We started off the evening talking about what the class is all about. Here are the 12 ideals: (1) natural childbirth (2) active participation of the husband as coach (3) excellent nutrition, the foundation of a healthy pregnancy (4) avoidance of drugs during pregnancy, birth, and breastfeeding unless absolutely necessary (5) training: 'Early-bird' classes, followed by weekly classes starting in the 6th month, continuing until birth (6) relaxation and NATURAL breathing (7)"tuning-in" to your body (8) immediate and continuous contact with your new baby (9) breastfeeding beginning at birth (10)consumerism and positive communication (11) parents taking responsibility for the safety of the birth place, procedures, attendants, and emergency back-up (12) parents prepared for unexpected situations such as emergency childbirth, and cesarean section.
After going through what to expect from the class we learned several exercises to start doing daily to help with labor. I like how B and I can do some of them together. We also spent a little time doing some relaxation techniques (the baby was jumping all around inside of me during that time!). At the end of the class we watched an actual childbirth video. It was of a women who was a midwife herself and had a waterbirth at home. It was very interesting, to say the least. The good thing (for me) is that you couldn't exactly see everything because of the water. I am considering having a waterbirth myself, so it was good to see. We will watch other birth videos in the classes to come as well (I hope I can handle this).

Our homework for this week is to do our daily exercises along with reading the first couple chapters of "Husband Coached Chilbirth."

I'm looking forward to the classes to come and getting to know the couples more. Most of the couples seem to be around our age having their first baby as well.

Pregnancy Update

2009-06-18T10:48:00.006-05:00

Picture of Black-Eyed Susans from our yard last year that my talented sister took

23 weeks pregnant this week(almost 24!). I'm enjoying this 2nd trimester a lot. I'm exercising and a lot more active than the first trimester. I just feel so good most of the time. I do get a random morning where I feel nauseated and I still can't do as much as my pre-pregnancy body could in day, but I feel pretty good overall. Although, I can't resist an afternoon nap if I can get one.

I really like feeling the baby move around inside me. This little one is SO active. Every time I sit down or lay down he/she starts swimming around. Last night my hubby and I had some good laughs as we were getting ready for bed. I think the baby was doing stretches, because we were watching my belly as one side pushed up like the baby was trying to get out or something. Not quick jolts like a usually feel when the baby kicks. Really weird...and my husband related to that Aliens movie. Good times...

I'm liking how clear and glowy my skin looks. My hair even seems to be working for me better these days. I don't seem to get that heartburn or indigestion everyone talks about (but maybe as the baby grows??).

I do like looking pregnant and not just bloated anymore, but one thing I really can't get over is the number on the scale these days. I am managing to keep my weight in the normal range for a pregnant woman my size, but still...seeing a number I've never seen before scares the crapola out of me. This week I weighed in at 138 lbs. Ah! Of course, it's all baby and stuff for the most part, but I just can't get over it. The number just gets higher every week and it will for the next 4 months? Will I ever be able to get back from this after the birth? I've had to consciously change the way I walk and move. I sometimes forget that I have this big belly and get confused I can't squeeze through places I could before. Or I find myself bumping into things more.

A few nights I have been woken up in the middle of the night from our little one's kicks and I start to freak out. I start thinking that this baby is going to have to come out of me at some point. How the heck is that gonna happen? Can I really do this? Am I really ready to be a mother? What if I can't hack it? All these crazy thoughts start floating through my head...
Monday we have our first Bradley class and I'm really hoping it will start taking some of my pregnancy and birth fears away.

Thank you for all the prayers of our friends and family. All three of us have managed to stay healthy thus far! We thank the Lord every day for this little blessing growing inside me. And I'm so thankful He is allowing me to be a part of this amazing experience.

EA SPORTS Active Review

2009-06-15T10:58:00.008-05:00

My husband is a "Project Architect" for a family owned design/build firm that specializes in Christian churches. Recently he passed the exam to become LEED Certified (I'm so proud!). Among getting a few extra letters at the end of his name, he also received a bonus from work (Thank you Lord for always providing). After figuring out what our needs are and saving some of it, Byron thought we should have a little fun to celebrate his hard work and achievement.

He surprised me by purchasing EA SPORTS Active for our Nintendo Wii. We tried it out last night and it is sooo cool. We do have the Wii fit board and game, but I found it to be easy to slack off on. The Wii fit game doesn't give you a whole lot of guidance or a program for you to work with, but just lets you pick and choose the exercises you want to do. You can spend the whole time doing balance exercises and feel good about working out for 30 min. with no real results in the end. EA SPORTS Active focuses more on burning calories and getting your heart rate up with combining strength training exercises as well. You have your own personal trainer that makes a workout program for you. You are able to customize it a little if you just don't feel like running that day or some other exercise. You can also pick out the intensity of the workout you want and even what kind of music you want in the background. The graphics are pretty good too. They have you start with a 30 day challenge which includes 20 workout days and 10 rest days that they plan out for you (great feature!). I like how I am already starting to sweat in the first minute or two of the workout (which rarely even happened for me with the Wii fit game). They also go back a forth from cardio to strength training throughout the workout with little rest, which gives it a lot of variety and doesn't bore you. At the end of your workout they entice you to work out again by telling you what new exercises they will incorporate into your workout next time (like practicing your tennis skills or kickboxing). They do have feature where you can workout with another person that we have yet to try. That will be a fun thing to be able to do together. The only thing I wish they would add was an option to keep track of your weight and BMI like the Wii fit does. The game does not require you to have a Wii fit board (although they will integrate it in some exercises if you have one), which I realize is probably the purpose of more sales for the product. The other thing I don't like is that I'm 23 weeks pregnant and can't get as intense as I would like to with the workouts right now. Maybe I'll have to do a little experiment to see how long it takes me to get in shape after the birth of the baby.

So far I think this is a great game. My husband enjoyed it and is motivated to continue with the 30 day Challenge, which is great! What I really like is that we can do it together. If you have a Nintendo Wii and don't have a Wii fit board (or if you do) and are looking for some variety in your workouts BUY THIS PRODUCT. Can't wait for our workout tonight...

**Hubby, feel free to add any of your own comments/reviews on this game**

Green Cleaning

2009-06-11T10:40:00.006-05:00

Household cleaners are SO expensive. If you are looking for something on the safer or "greener" side, you can spend even more. I don't mind making cleaners at home, but most of them have a vinegar base that I just can't stand. I want my house to actually smell clean and not like I just spilled a gallon of vinegar on the floor after hours of hard work. Essential oils can help, but those are very expensive too.

A friend of mine introduced me to Shaklee a while ago, but for some reason I thought you had to be a member to purchase their products. Money Saving Mom is writing a series on her blog on 100 Different Ways to Save $100 This Year. She tipped me off on Shaklee's Basic H2 Organic Super Cleaning Concentrate. It's non-toxic, natural, doubly concentrated, and biodegradable. The 16 oz bottle makes 48 gallons of household cleaner! It has formulas for Windows and Mirrors, Degreasing, and All purpose jobs. The best part about it is that it only costs around $12 a bottle at non-member price.

Working great so far.

Strawberries!

2009-06-09T12:53:00.002-05:00

I loooove strawberries! And I LOVE strawberries from our garden. So sweet. No chemicals. All naturally delicious. There is nothing better.

I picked all of these just today!

21 Weeks!

2009-06-04T20:15:00.005-05:00

We are 21 weeks along in the pregnancy already. Halfway there! I really just can't believe it. Today was a really exciting day. Ultrasound! Byron took a half-day off of work today so we could go together. I have to say it's the most amazing thing to see your baby moving around inside of you. The spine was the first thing I noticed (pretty cool). We got to see the heart beating and the little arms and hands...and the legs and feet that were doing what they like to do (jab me in the side-haha). The appointment took really long, though-1 hour. The baby just didn't want to cooperate and was facing down for most of the time. Didn't get that great of pictures in the end, but it was still cool to see the little one who has been doing gymnastics inside of me for the past few weeks. Part of me wanted to know the gender SOOO bad, but we held strong. All in all the report and measurements all came out normal. The only thing they noted was that the baby has pretty long legs and arms and a big head, but they are all proportionate to the body....haha. Hmmmm....Maybe we'll be having a little Byron running around here after all??

Profile view (Section through Head) of our little one. Mostly head and shoulder area.

Last Night's Dinner

2009-06-03T10:37:00.003-05:00

I'm a pretty picky eater. This whole eating less meat and more legumes thing is a bit of a challenge for me. I'm not a huge fan of beans, but I do like lentils (as of recent). I found a recipe from my More-with-Less cookbook using lentils that looked interesting-Lentil Burgers. Hhhmmm....well I decided to try it out last night. We ate these on whole wheat buns with a side salad, strawberries from the garden, and watermelon.

What I liked: Used little ingredients, quick and easy to make, tasted GREAT, and didn't stick to your gut like a regular burger.
What I didn't like: They didn't seem to actually stay together, very messy.
What I'll do different: Instead of making them into burgers, next time I will make them as a sort of sloppy joe.

Dehydrated Apples

2009-06-03T10:02:00.004-05:00

My husband and I went to an Italian grocery store in our area this weekend. What I really like is going to their discounted produce area. They package up produce that is on its last leg into big boxes for $2.50 (no matter what is in there). My husband recently has been juicing for breakfast and this is a cheap way to juice. I have also wanted to get back into dehydrating. I got a dehydrator a couple years ago through freecycle.org. We purchased two big boxes of apples. One for juicing (which was enough for the whole week) and one for me to dehydrate. Just make sure you wash the produce and cut off all the yucky parts.

How to Dehydrate Apples

Wash, peal (optional), and slice to 1/4ish inch (just make sure they are all the same. After that you want to soak the sliced apples in a bowl of equal parts lemon juice and water for about 10 minutes.

Evenly spread apple slices on food dehydrator trays. Do NOT overlap apples.

Every food dehydrator is different, so check your manual for drying time and temperatures. Mine doesn't have a temperature gage, so I just let it go for about 6 hours and checked it every hour after that until apples were slightly pliable.

Remove from trays and put into air tight freezer bags. Label with date and enjoy! These will last for up to 1 year.
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My handsome husband with our first harvest from our strawberry patch!

Family Budget Update

2009-06-02T13:21:00.003-05:00

Last month we decided to switch over to a cash/envelope budget system. I must say, I was a little skeptical about it. The Costco membership we got this month cut into my grocery budget, so I was a little worried that I wouldn't have enough for food. We also ran out of money for gifts pretty fast. B and I went over the finances for May over the weekend and we were pleasantly surprised.

Dave Ramsey turned us on to the envelope system after hearing that people save an average of 12% more using it. We only have two credit cards. One for emergencies and one for everyday use. We never carried a balance on either card paying the complete bill every month. We still felt like we didn't quite have a handle on what we were spending each month. We haven't actually "cut up" our credit cards yet, but we didn't use them at ALL last month. Using this envelope system and using cash for almost everything (everything but the bills we pay through our bank online from our checking account) does work. I am excited to say we actually ended up saving 20% MORE this month! We ended up having $8 left in the grocery budget even after the Costco membership. I know I can do better next month. We ate a lot of meals "from the pantry." I was able to be creative with what I had in the freezer, fridge, and pantry. Now that I am learning how to sew, I am able to be creative and frugal by making gifts for people. It's really been great.

I can't wait to see how much we will save this month!

Weekend Movies

2009-06-01T10:32:00.004-05:00

After a long 2 days of having a garage sale with my grandmother, Saturday evening my family rented The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. This movie received 13 Academy Award nominations and won 3 Oscars. However, we were surprisingly disappointed with this film. No one seemed to enjoy it. I found it to be extremely depressing. Someone always seemed to be dying and there was as constant reminder of age and getting older. My husband especially couldn't get over how inconsistent the movie was throughout. The movie was fairly long and left you feeling like "why did I just waste 2hrs and 45min of my life watching this movie." Don't waste your time with this one!

After spending the day weeding, planting flowers, and tending to the garden & yard on Sunday, my husband and I found a documentary on Hulu to watch called the Future of Food. "THE FUTURE OF FOOD offers an in-depth investigation into the disturbing truth behind the unlabeled, patented, genetically engineered foods that have quietly filled U.S. grocery store shelves for the past decade." WATCH THIS MOVIE! It's an eye opener....and it's free! Watch the trailer below.

The Future of Food

Sewing Projects

2009-05-26T15:13:00.004-05:00

I used this pattern to make these cute little bibs for my cousin-in-laws baby. Her baptism was this weekend. Not quite your typical baptism gift.

I made these with a terry backing so they can be used as a washcloth after eating.

A coin purse I made for my sister. I'm in the middle of working on this clutch to match.

Our life these days

2009-05-26T10:12:00.008-05:00

This weeks marks our 20th week in the pregnancy! I'm just loving being pregnant right now. This second trimester has been soooo much better than the first. I'm still feeling quite pregnant, though.

Not-so fun things: ~I do have occasional pelvic bone pressure (which can be so bad I can hardly walk) if I have a really active day or I'm walking for a long period of time with no rest (i.e. running errands) this tends to happen. ~A couple of my sisters and I went to Old Navy for their $1 flip-flop sale over the weekend. We were waiting for 2 hours in a line that wrapped all around the store! I almost made it to check-out before I had to run outside and "empty my stomach." ~One thing that has been a struggle for me is the ever "expanding belly." I love looking pregnant, but I HATE figuring out what to wear. I'm very uncomfortable in maternity pants and most of my regular t-shirts and tanks don't fit me anymore. My aunt gave me bags of maternity clothes (which I've been so blessed with), but half of them are pants and long sleeves and it's getting warmer these days. I've been working on getting a few of my own maternity clothes here and there. While my sisters and I were at Old Navy I purchased two maternity dresses along with the flip-flops. One was on sale for only $9.99. I have a feeling I'm going to spend most of these summer months in skirts and dresses.

Fun things: Byron is getting his lunches made by me and his homemade meals again. I've even been able to start cooking more meat and my pasta sauce! ~The baby has been very active these past couple weeks. Some days I think he/she's doing gymnastics in there. I've also been able to see my belly move during kicking-weird. ~Oh, and the best part is that Byron has been able to feel the kicking-finally! ~Next week is our 21 week ultrasound. Can't wait! No, we aren't finding out the gender. I like the mystery. It's fun looking at boy and girl clothes and just wondering.

Byron has been working on the garage project. Tearing it down and rebuilding it, that is.
My father and his brother helped in the "destruction" of the old one. Now it's time to build a new one! I'm just praying it's completed by the time the baby comes :)

Please pray we rent out our apartment soon. It's been vacant for one month now. We have had a little interest. I actually showed it today to a really nice girl around my age. She seemed to like it...we'll see.

More-with-Less

2009-05-20T15:54:00.014-05:00

More-with-Less by Doris Janzen Longacre, is much more than your average cookbook. The cover of the book says it best..."Recipes and suggestions by Mennonites on how to eat better and consume less of the world's limited food resources." This book was given to me by a good family friend. What a great gift it has turned out to be.

Using a Christian and Biblical lens, Longacre writes on world shortages of food, overeating, and how to change. She goes through how to build a simpler diet by eating MORE whole grains, legumes, veggies & fruit, and nuts & seeds...and LESS meat & dairy and AVOIDING all together "superprocessed" & "superpackaged" food and things like food that has been shipped refrigerated for long distances.

She also has some great charts on things like "Comparative Costs of Protein Sources" along with writing about how to shorten your shopping list. And of course, most of the book is FULL of great recipes.

This book has been very helpful on my quest to become more frugal with the money God has blessed us with. I recommend everyone having this book close to your kitchen!

I made a Whole Wheat Dinner Roll recipe from this book to go with last nights "Pantry Pot Roast Dinner." Yes, I know it's not quite pot roast weather, but we are trying to eat more from the "pantry" as another money saving tactic and I had one in the freezer. I added a mixture of fresh, canned, and frozen veggies and it was delightful! I'm not a really big fan of the whole eating a big hunk of meat thing. I'd rather eat pasta any day, but I must say that this was the best pot roast I've ever eaten (and I'm not one to brag about my cooking). I'm just really impressed that mixing a bunch of stuff I had laying around turned out to be soooooo tastey. I also made a couple dozen rolls to freeze. I take just few out when we need them. A little time and money saving tip I learned a while ago.

Costco

2009-05-20T10:13:00.005-05:00

Staying on the money saving theme...

My husband and I have been thinking for quite some time about getting a membership to Costco. Last night we decided to take a ride over there and browse around the store. Neither of us have actually ever been in one. To make a long story short and after spending some time price comparing, we decided to sign up (yes Lori, we finally did it).

This is another money saving experiment we are doing right now. I do have some mixed feelings about it, though. Buying in bulk is a great deal, but can the two of us realistically use those items before they go bad. Will I end up actually spending more because I think I'm saving so much money? Is the membership fee actually worth it? We'll see I guess. If any of you have any strategies for how to get the most out of shopping at Costco I would really appreciate it!

Family Budget

2009-05-18T10:32:00.008-05:00

*Long Post Alert*

My husband and I have been very blessed to both not bring any debt into our marriage. Since we got married we've been very intentional about keeping it that way. During our engagement period we even put together a budget for our life after we became One. Our budget has been changed and refined a lot since then (almost 2 1/2 years ago already), but we are staying strong.

The reason I am writing this post is because I have stumbled across this website that I am really enjoying. It's called Small Notebook: for a simple home. It has a articles ranging from housekeeping & gardening to family life & money. I'm getting some great tips on how to keep our life simple and I was reading a few things last night in the money section that gave me the urge to write about how we do our family budget.

With the baby on the way, we have been thinking a lot about money and how to prepare for our growing family. We are a one income family aside from me working a few part-time jobs and selling things on ebay here and there. This is how we originally set up our budget: We first set up an Excel-type spreadsheet on our computer. One column for "Budget" and one for "Actual" spending. Then we listed by category the items along the left side of the spreadsheet. Income, mortgage payment, electricity, natural gas, water, groceries, savings, tithes/giving, grace/misc., etc.(add a debt payment column if you have debt). Before we started adding in numbers we looked at our monthly income and then our reoccurring bills (mortgage and utilities). We added in all of those numbers first (into the budget column). Some of those numbers can change from month to month, so we just looked back in our records and rounded up a few dollars. We then basically did an educated guess for the rest at first, but staying within our income limit. As the months went on we were able to pin down a better number for things such as groceries, gifts, household, etc. After every purchase or bill payment I would add those numbers into the "Actual" spent column on the spreadsheet. This means keeping every single receipt. Yes, even for that .50 cent candy bar. We set up the spreadsheet to automatically show us if we were overspending in area or underspending in another. It totaled everything up, so that at the end of the month we new if we went over budget or under budget. It's been working for us pretty well and we are already building up an emergency fund for the tough times.

As much as I like the system we've been using, we've been a little disappointed. The only way to really know how much we are spending is to make sure we were constantly checking our budget. That's kind of hard when you are on a road trip for the weekend. So, sometimes we ended up going over a little here and there. Nothing huge, just not what we wanted to happen. What we've also been doing for the past 2 1/2 years is using our credit card for every purchase we could. The thought was "Hey, we get the 1% cash back. We'll be making money." Well, statistics show people actually spend more money when they use a credit card (even if they are sticking to a budget). We were intrigued and wanted to put that to the test starting this month.

What are we doing different? Using CASH for everything we possibly can. We are using an "envelope system." There are many out there. Search the web. Every category in our budget has an envelope with the actual cash amount for the whole month in it. So say when I go grocery shopping all the money I have for the month for groceries is in my "groceries" envelope. When I make a purchase, I take the cash out of that envelope to pay. I put the receipt and any change back in that envelope. Sounds pretty simple. It is. If we have to use our debit card for a purchase (like for shopping online) we take the cash out of the envelope for that category and put it in a separate envelope, so we know that money was spent. We are not using the spreadsheet anymore, but are still keeping the receipts just in case. This is new to us, so we are still figuring out how we want to do this (and maybe I just wanted a break from inputting every single receipt into the computer). We still think the spreadsheet method is a great way to go.

How's it going so far? The month is more than halfway over and I am loving it. By seeing the actual dollars I am spending makes me so much more aware of how much money I am spending. I find myself trying not to spend all the money in the envelopes so there will be some left at the end of the month. We already have an envelope for savings, but how great would it be if I could add to that?

Setbacks? We ran out of our gift money pretty fast this month due to Mother's day, birthdays, a graduation, and a baptism. There just wasn't enough money in the envelope for it all, so I got to get creative. I've been teaching myself how to sew, so I've been making a few things instead of buying.

I will be writing a follow-up post at the end of the month so you can see how we did. We are pretty comfortable talking about money and our budget, so please feel free ask questions. I hope this post inspired you at the very least. Happy saving!

Free Food

2009-05-13T12:26:00.004-05:00

Who doesn't like free food? Suzanne Wells, Ebay Selling Coach, not only blogs about her ebay selling success and offers great tips, but she also writes articles for eHow.com.

Most recently she wrote a series of articles on how to get free food. Click here to read her article on how to get Free Organic Fruit and here on how to get Free Wendy's Hamburgers.

Garden in the Spring

2009-05-11T13:04:00.017-05:00

With a really rough first trimester, we didn't get the seedlings started indoors quite early enough. I got about half of our seeds and seedlings planted so far. Here are some pictures.

2nd Year Asparagus. We'll finally get to harvest next year!

Some flowers I planted. Stupid deer ate the flowers on the lower step.

Little Tomato Plant

Pea Plant

Cucumber plant starting to flower

Our Strawberry Patch

Baby Apple Tree

Mother's Day, College Graduation, & New Hobby

2009-05-11T12:09:00.004-05:00

We had a packed weekend. We enjoyed a nice lunch at my parents' house Saturday afternoon to meet my sister's boyfriend's parents (did you catch all that?), we hosted a pre-Mother's Day dinner at our house with the in-laws Saturday evening (first party since I got pregnant), and Sunday my sister graduated from college (we're so proud of you, sis!) and went out for a Mom's Day dinner with my side of the family.

My grandparents-in-law gave me my very own sewing machine for my birthday a couple weeks ago. I've always wanted to learn how to sew and have already been working on some little projects. I just can't wait to start making little outfits for our baby!

Reusable gift bag for Mother's Day gift
(I just loved this fabric I found on sale)

Cloth Baby Wipes/Washcloths for baby!
(I just loved these little monkeys)

My sister and her boyfriend at graduation!
Too cute.

Me and my belly at 18 weeks.
I'm just loving being pregnant!

16 Weeks

2009-04-28T20:30:00.005-05:00

Wow, I can't believe I am already 16 weeks along in my pregnancy. I get these weekly pregnancy updates via email on things like what will be happening to my body and baby. This week they informed me I'm entering my 5th month! I guess I just wasn't paying attention. My belly is definitely getting bigger, but people who don't know still may not think I'm pregnant. I'm starting to feeling these strange flutters and am convinced it is the baby.

Here are two belly shots (not the greatest).
12 weeks and 16 weeks.

Important Things

2009-04-24T10:58:00.004-05:00

I really do hate politics. I'm not really a fan of talking about politics all the time, however I do believe there are very important issues that need to be discussed. The issue of abortion is one of these. Liberals and Conservatives have been debating and fighting this issue for years, but for me this isn't just some "political issue." This is life and death.

I'm not going to go into all the medical technicalities of what they consider to be person and all of that. There are some things that are just common sense that we can talk about plainly.

My husband and I are pregnant with our second child. We had a miscarriage back in October of '08. We lost the baby at 10 weeks (6 weeks in size) and it was a devastating loss for us. That baby was our baby at the point of conception until it left us. My body was going through many changes with the morning sickness, swollen breasts, increased trips to the bathroom, bloated tummy. I was pregnant. There was a baby growing inside of me! I believe I will meet that little one someday after this life. Even though we didn't choose to have our baby taken away, I just can't comprehend how someone could. And now, the good Lord has blessed us with another pregnancy and being almost 16 weeks into it really makes me think about these things. Being pregnant is one (if not the only one) of the most amazing experiences in my life and I believe most women would agree. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say I believe most abortions are done out of plain old selfishness. Yes, it is scary and maybe not always so convenient, but is that really reason enough to take a life? You know, what's really funny to me is that the same people who are "pro-choice" are the same people who are "anti-gun"......hhhhmmmm

I mean if you really think about it, people don't ask a women who is expecting how their fetus is doing, they ask her how her BABY is doing.

The video I posted above (thanks mom) is devastating to me. My heart just breaks for those little ones. They need a voice. We need to be their voice for them. When is this debate going to stop being about Life and Choice and start being about Life and Death?

"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made . . . your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be" (Ps 139: 13-16)

Earth Day Birthday

2009-04-23T11:09:00.004-05:00

My birthday falls on Earth Day, April 22nd every year. We didn't do a whole lot to celebrate Earth Day, but we did plant three trees a couple weeks ago. Does that count for anything?

These last couple birthdays have been hard for me. I really hate getting older. Everything seems to be shouting it out to me, too. My youngest sister is a Freshman in high school, I have another sister getting married this year, I'm pregnant with our first baby. Don't get me wrong, these are all great things. I'm just feeling....OLD. I guess it could have something to do with all these crazy pregnancy hormones too.

My youngest sister and I took a little afternoon walk along the river yesterday. It was beautiful day and being outside always makes me feel better. And so does candy, so we made a stop by our cute local candy store. I love that place. They have a good selection of nostalgic candy that really brings you back to your childhood.

Youngest and Oldest

Gosling in Row

Cute little fuzzies

My hubby came home early from work to spend some extra time with me. I really do love him and he's so good about making me feel better about my age. We went out for dinner to Olive Garden. We had a gift card to use up there (thanks Nicole & Adam). After that we went on a little hunt for an area rug that I've been wanting for our living room. We ended our search at home on the internet. I don't know why we bother shopping sometimes.

Enjoy the beautiful weather today!