Leaving Nothing to Chance

Cole's Story part 3 (sorry it has taken so long...)

2011-04-18T15:17:00.000-07:00

Soooo, where did I leave off??? It has been forever since I have even blogged... Sorry... So, the doctors had gotten 19 eggs!! That was a huge success! After the retrieval they told me to drink lots of gatorade and take it easy. I had only asked off for this one day because I didn’t think the procedure would be too bad, this is what they had told me after all. Boy, was I wrong. On the way home we got Chick fil a, which I could barely eat because my mouth was SO dry. I had no saliva whatsoever because of one of medications they had given me. It was so strange, it took me about 3 hours to eat my chicken biscuit.... We also stopped and got gatorade. I got home and got comfortable, the pain wasn’t too bad...yet... I went to sleep and really didn’t adhere to their whole drink gatorade nonstop thing, I mea, how serious could this be? The procedure was super easy. I woke up from my nap, ate some ramen for lunch and then felt VERY strange. Almost panic attack strange: ringing in my ears, weird vision, sick to my stomach. I thought I needed to go to the bathroom so I got up pretty quickly. I felt very wobbly and the ringing in my ears got worse. Before I got to my bedroom I stopped in the doorway, Jon said he was talking to me and that I was swaying really bad, but I never heard him and my vision had gone completely black. I had passed out. Jon had gotten up just in time to catch me before I fell, thank goodness. One of the scariest moments in my life, Jon’s too. I came to and Jon was beside me yelling for me to wake up and he was very upset. We didn’t know what was going on. He called the doctors office and they said drink Gatorade!!!! So I chugged it, and threw it all up and most of my lunch...all over the carpet. Gross I know, but it was all part of my experience. We were both so shaken that I called my mom and she came down to spend the night. The rest of the day I stayed in bed and Jon walked with me whenever I got up. By that night my abdomen hurt so bad!! That night I slept in our chair since I could not get comfortable in bed. The next day I hurt even worse! Jon called in to work for me to tell my boss I was in no shape to come in to work. We called the doctor back and made an appointment to be seen that morning. I was in bad shape and they had told me it wouldn’t be that bad, they said I would have “minor” cramping. Mom drove us downtown to the hospital and the doctor did an ultrasound. Everything looked good, just my ovaries were VERY swollen (like Softballs!!!) and it would take weeks for them to go back to normal. I mean, I had produced 19 eggs!! What did I expect?!?! I could barely walk and now I could barely eat. My ovaries were so swollen, I didn’t have any room to put food in my stomach!! When I did finally eat I was full after about 2 bites of food...and if you know me you know I LOVE to eat! I stayed out of work all week... I was in pain ALL week!! It is still one of the worst pains I have ever known, even worse than my c-section, I promise!

May 22, 2010 was my scheduled transfer. It was a Saturday morning. The instructions were to empty my bladder an hour before my appointment then drink 16 ounces of fluid and hold it... I am no good at this! I always have to pee!!! By the time I got there I was in pain!! My appointment was at 8:15 and they called me back at 8:30. I couldn’t hold it anymore! I told the nurse we needed to do something quick because I was in pain! I put on my robe and the nurse checked my bladder for me on the ultrasound. It was FULL!!!! She told me to go to the bathroom and count to 8 and then come back. So, I emptied my bladder for 8 seconds, some relief but I still hurt...She checked me again, still full!!! So, this happened about 4 times and then we were good to go :) Jon left after this and the embryologist comes in, (it all takes place in a sterile room and Jon was not allowed in there). She tells me we have 3 morulas but no blastocysts (this is what they want for transfer). We had created 10 embryos and this was all that was left. Morulas are a day behind a blastocyst (day 4 versus day 5), I was upset and thought for sure that it wouldn’t work, but they seemed optimistic. They wanted to know if I wanted all three put back... Jon and I had discussed this and I was terrified if all 3 took!!! We had decided to do 2 no matter what. So, I told them to let one keep growing and put 2 of them back in. The 3rd morula ended up not growing anymore so we have no frozen embryos left, we have 9 frozen eggs though. During the transfer I was able to watch the whole thing on the ultrasound. I saw the 2 little cells being put back into my body. Little did I know then that my precious Cole was there right before my eyes, 5 days old :) Now just thinking about it it brings me to tears. Then after all of that was done I had to lay there for 30 minutes. Luckily the nurse was super sweet and we talked about babies and having kids and just general chit chat. We headed home after that to a day of bed rest for me. Now, if you know me this is not what I do. It was SOOOOOO hard for me!!!! Pretty much flat on my back all day! It was horrible!! I watched movies in the bedroom all day!!!! But I was so bored and so just wanted to get up and walk around. That night I moved onto the couch and Jon went and got us Longhorn for dinner. The next 2 weeks were the hardest yet, we had to wait until June 1for my blood test! I guess we all know where this is headed now...until next time :)

Cole's Story, part 2

2011-04-13T07:14:00.000-07:00

Crazy, right?? We took this picture to forever remember what it took for us to have a baby. Who knew that IVF involved all of this?!? I certainly didn’t. So, I officially started the meds on April 29, 2010. And if you didn’t know the meds for IVF are shots. I have never been a good shot taker...I don’t like them and they make me nervous. These shots are are subcutaneous and I should have been able to give them to myself... Yeah right. So, I made sure Jon knew what he was doing and employed him to be my shot giver. I could not and will not give a shot to myself. I looked back in my journal from this time and here is what I wrote regarding the first shot. Shots were given first thing in the morning...”That night I woke up in a cold sweat thinking about those shots. Then I felt sick the whole next day. The night before the first shot I barely slept. Jon said he was restless too. So, he got up and showered like normal and then woke me up. Ugh, I was so nervous. These needles were short and went in my upper thigh. After all my worrying it didn’t really hurt, though I did flinch.” So, those shots weren’t too bad and I felt pretty good, no real side effects.

Our IVF start appointment was on May 4, 2010. They check hormone levels and do an ultrasound to make sure everything looked ready to go. Also on May 4 was the first day I didn’t flinch during my morning shot :)

The doctor went over the next set of shots with us too. These shots required some mixing on our part and they went in my stomach. These made me a little nervous as well... We were also told that the egg retrieval would fall between May 17 and 26. It was all happening so fast, it was scary and exciting all at the same time. We were praying so hard that this would work, that we would only have to go through this process once to get our precious baby. But, I am a very pessimistic person and always felt like it wouldn’t happen. I always doubted, always thought that it wouldn’t work.

Here is another journal entry regarding the newest shot, “The bravelle and menopure shots STING going in. It hurt so bad that I flinched and have a HUGE bruise on my stomach. Sunday I started using ice beforehand and it helps but it still stings. We went to the doctor on Saturday and they did blood work and an ultrasound. We have 10 follicles and an estradiol level of 298, last Tuesday it was 20. The nurse said they want it to reach 1000. I went to the doctor today and we had 12 follicles ranging from 7-14mm. Dr. Winslow said that we should be ready fro retrieval on Sunday or Monday. I asked off Monday either way, either for retrieval or just to relax. I just pray that this works and part of me really thinks that this will really and truly work. The odds are good for us. It just seems unattainable though and I get so scared sometimes. We would be great parents. I know this. I just have to keep my fears and feelings in check and trust God.”

Retrieval was set for Monday, 5/17/10. I was off that day and was told that it wouldn’t hurt that bad. I would be put to sleep and they would get the eggs. It sounded easy enough. Meanwhile Jon would have to tell them how many eggs to fertilize. When they retrieved the eggs since I would be asleep/out of it Jon would have to tell them how many to fertilize. We had talked to some of the nurses at the practice about our beliefs, about when we felt life truly began and what we could do to feel good about this process. Like I said before, I didn’t want a lot of frozen embryos sitting around. One of the nurses told us we would freeze some of the eggs and only fertilize some of the eggs. She said that frozen eggs can be used later if we wanted more children but that frozen embryos would work better. But, I felt better about this. To me a frozen embryo represents a life whereas an egg does not, this was definitely something I wanted to do. We realized that frozen eggs may not work as well as the frozen embryos but I felt better about in my heart, I knew that this was the right thing to do. So, Jon and I discussed this over and over again. What was a good number...how many would we do...half of however many eggs they got...6...8...10... It was a constant conversation for us. We didn’t want to do too few because they usually put 2 embryos back. So, we prayed and continued talking about it. We decided we would do 8. That would be assuming that they would all “take.” Embryos are given 5 days to mature properly and then they are put “back in” so to speak. I have read stories where 10 were fertilized and none made it to day 5. So, it was scary making this decision. I didn’t want to go through all of this and end up with nothing... We had to choose our number and stick to it and pray that we at least got one baby from all of this. That is all we wanted.

May 15 at 9pm Jon gave me my HCG trigger shot. This was a different kind of shot. It went into the muscle on my upper backside region, if you know what I mean... I was SO nervous about this shot. We watched a movie that night, tried to relax (yeah right...) and then about 5 minutes til 9 we got up and iced the region to prep for the shot. The nurse had drawn a box with a sharpie on the place that he was to give me the shot. It didn’t hurt at all!!! We were on our way. My retrieval appointment was at 7am on Monday and I was called back at 7:30. They took me to the OR and told me what was going to happen. They said after the procedure to take it easy, drink LOTS of fluids especially Gatorade for the next 10 days or more. They said the more eggs they retrieved the more liquids I need to drink. I was so nervous... The eggs were retrieved and I had 19!!!!! Wow!!!! Our odds were looking very good!!!
More to come... :)

Cole's Story

2011-04-08T04:57:00.000-07:00

I was watching Cole nap yesterday and realized again for maybe the hundredth time that this was MY baby. It is such a surreal feeling. Jon and I will say to each other several times a day, “this is our baby, can you believe it?” When you think you may never have a baby of your own and you finally have one even 2 months later we are still in disbelief. I guess it is time to share Cole’s story. I have not shared this story yet not because I was ashamed or even scared of what you might think, because many people already know his story, but because it is so close to my heart I don’t know if words will express how deep my feelings are.

Jon and I struggled with infertility for almost 3 years before we had Cole. We waited to have kids initially so we could be married, travel, have fun, experience new things together, and grow as a married couple. We never, ever thought in our wildest dreams that we would have trouble getting pregnant. So, when we finally felt like the time was right we thought it would happen right away, why wouldn’t it? We were both healthy adults, everyone else could get pregnant so why wouldn’t we be able to? Well, we ended up trying for a year and nothing happened. I started reading books and knew that after a year you should see you doctor and get some tests done. So, we did just that. Needless to say we were diagnosed with infertility and my doctor referred us to a specialist. So we went to the specialists, they did more tests and ended up telling us we had about a 3% of getting pregnant on our own. How could that be?? It was a hard thing to hear but they said we had options. Option number 1, intrauterine insemination. They said we could try this 4 times and see if it worked though they said that the best option was IVF. These were terms I had heard before but never paid much attention and I wasn’t really sure what they were. So, we asked questions and did lots of research. We started the IUI’s in January 2009. I started Clomid and things looked hopeful. Month after month we went back in and things really looked good, like it might actually work... And month after month ended in tears and heartbreak. My insurance at the time did not cover infertility so we were paying dearly and then it never even worked. Our doctor checked my husbands insurance and discovered that his insurance covered infertility at 95%!!!!!! Unheard of! But, I wasn’t on his insurance and no matter how hard we tried to get me added, we couldn’t. So, we did 4 IUI’s all ending badly and with no pregnancy. We decided to wait until 2010 and add me to Jon’s insurance. So, that’s exactly what we did. We finished our last cycle of IUI in April 2009 and decided to put everything on hold. We almost didn’t even talk about the future or having a baby again. I thought about it all the time, cried all the time, but rarely in front of anyone. I just grew more bitter with each new baby born. I would see pregnant people and be filled with resentment, why couldn’t that be me. Friends would have babies and I would be so jealous, I would try to be happy for them but deep inside I was mad and upset.

Finally, I came to a realization... I had a wonderful life, a beautiful home, a husband I love, a job... I would be okay and I didn’t need a baby to feel whole. We could adopt one day and even if that didn’t work out Jon and I would have a beautiful life together, whatever God had in his plan would be fine. I still cried of course because deep down I thought one day I would end up pregnant. So, 2009 passed uneventfully and 2010 began. I enrolled in Jon’s insurance as well as my own. We discussed IVF and decided that we probably needed to go talk to the doctor again about it. We wanted to give it a try especially since it was covered by Jon’s insurance; that was a sign to us that it was meant to be. Most insurances don’t cover IVF and his did. So, we met with the doctors because we had some reservations about IVF. We didn’t want to have lots of left over embryos to freeze. Because if you have left over embryos you can use them one day, freeze them indefinitely, adopt them out, donate them to science or throw them away. And for me personally I didn’t want to do any of that...I wanted to use them and no one else. And freezing them indefinitely is just as bad as throwing them away. And if we had left overs I didn’t want a lot left over. I have heard of stories where people get pregnant with twins and don’t want more kids and they have 10 embryos left over...then what...? So, we prayed... We asked for prayers of our church and asked our friends to pray. I wanted this to be the right thing to do, I wanted to feel good about it.

I also had reservations about stepping in and taking things into my own hands. What if we weren’t meant to have kids and this was God’s way of telling us. So, I prayed about that. After talking to Jon and many others about this issue I realized if we weren’t meant to have kids then IVF wouldn’t work. And regarding my thoughts on “playing God” I realized that God blessed us all with amazing medical technology... People can receive new organs, we can destroy cancer and people who are infertile can have babies. So, we decided to go through with it. And so we began our IVF journey in April 2010...

To be continued...

Cole is a connoisseur ...

2011-03-19T08:49:00.000-07:00

...of pacifiers that is. We have 3 pacifiers that we carry around everywhere with us. If we are holding Cole we have those 3 magic pacifiers with us. Let me explain... Cole wants a different pacifier for different things. It sounds strange but it is so true. Whatever works, right? Well, this is what works for us. Let me introduce you to our lifesavers :)

Here we have the Soothie...

Cole wants this pacifier only when he is bottle feeding. We have to stop him when we feed him with a bottle because he drinks it SO fast. So, we take the bottle away for short periods of time and give him his soothie. He sucks happily away (after crying for a short while about losing his bottle) and then we give him his bottle back. This soothie definitely works it’s magic for Cole.

Here we have the Platex Binky.

This one is used more frequently than the soothie, like I said the soothie only works during bottle feedings. The Binky is mostly used after I nurse him. These first 2 pacifiers don’t stay in his mouth that well. He sucks on them and they eventually fall out. But, they work when they need to.

Here is our MVP the Nuk.

This pacifier is the one used most of all. He sleeps with it, rides in the car with it and just overall enjoys it. When all else fails he will take this pacifier. It stays in the best and works the best. I don’t know what we would do without it.

Jon jokes that he wants to put them all on a key ring so we have easy access to all of them. It is so funny how 3 of the same thing work so differently for our little boy. But, like I said whatever works. Cole is our little pacifier connoisseur :)

Cooking with Cole

2011-03-18T11:10:00.000-07:00

(2nd post today, see below for another post :) )

While I was pregnant I researched lots of things to be able to have the best when Cole got here. One of the things I really wanted was an Ergo baby carrier. I was lucky enough to get one a couple of weeks back and let me tell you it has been a LIFESAVER!!! Cole loves to be held, he doesn’t care for the bouncy seat, swing or carseat so when I NEED to get stuff done I strap him into the Ergo carrier and he usually drifts off to sleep. As I mentioned in my last blog we even have to shop with him in the carrier. I so wish that he liked his carseat or any of the other things that he SO hates but at least he loves his carrier.

So, about 2 weeks ago I put Cole on to cook dinner. It was quite successful. I managed to cook a whole meal with Cole fast asleep. I cooked an artichoke and fontina cheese pasta that was so good. Problem was that after dinner was cooked Cole was still asleep. At the time I had not yet mastered putting Cole down to nap from the carrier, now I am a pro at that :) So, I decided to eat dinner while letting Cole snooze in the carrier...Here is what happened...

Yummy pasta...

And an artichoke in poor Cole’s hair. I tried so hard to be careful. Jon and I cracked up over this :) Cole was none the wiser and never even woke up.

2011-03-12T04:34:00.000-08:00

So, it has been a while. But it seems I never have time to do anything anymore... Who knew a newborn would do that to you? It seems I have never given mothers enough credit... When you see people out and about with their babies it always looks so fun, so easy. You never see the behind the scenes...what it took to get out and about (making sure they were fed, diapered), getting them in their carseat and keeping them happy while you head to your destination, making sure they have napped or had a good night’s sleep. Now I see all the behind the scenes work and let me tell you Jon and I are working our tails off.

I am so blessed that I am able to be a stay at home mom, but don’t let anyone tell you that it is easy. Especially at this stage. Cole is 6 weeks old and everyday seems to get a little better. We have had him in his crib since he was 2 weeks old and this seems to be working out well. We started putting him to bed between 8:30 and 9:00 this way we can enjoy a little time to ourselves before we go to bed. We used to be night owls staying up late, now we are always in bed by 10pm, usually before that though. Cole will sleep anywhere from 2-5 hours at first during the night. It is usually about 3 hours and then he wakes up and one of us feeds him. During the week Jon usually takes the first feeding and I take all subsequent feedings which are usually like at 3 and 5. By 5am Jon is getting ready fro work so I get up and get my coffee and then take care of Cole, who on a good day will go back to sleep after the 5am feeding. This past Monday was not one of those days. He would not go back to sleep and he wanted to eat hourly almost. I finally figured out he was probably going through a growth spurt. This happened 2 days this past week, fussy not wanting to sleep and only wanting to eat. So, it was tiring for all involved.

Cole really doesn’t like to sleep on his back. So, during the day he naps on his tummy and I check on him regularly. I am afraid to do this at night since he is across the house in his own room. So, we had to figure out how to make this work. We swaddle him tightly after we feed him and then wait until he is relaxed and put him in his crib. Jon is so good at getting him down at night, it is such a blessing. If the swaddle comes undone he is awake, if he went down with his pacifier and it falls out he is awake and if he is hungry he is definitely awake. Sometimes he wakes up just to be held, he is definitely a cuddler and loves to be held. Sometimes he’ll wake and as soon as you pick him up he is fine and falls back asleep in our arms.

Cole hates all things carseat...the car, the stroller and the carseat itself. He did so good at first. By at first I mean about the first week of life. After that it has been a challenge. We put him in and strap him in and he cries. So, we give him the pacifier. We get into the car and he does okay at first. Then the pacifier falls out and he cries. We put it back in, it falls out, we put it back in until finally he is done. Nothing will calm him down and he screams. He is only better once we are at our destination and we get him out of the carseat. So, the last couple of outings we have had (with both Jon and I, I have only ventured out once by myself and am scared to try it again) I wear him around in our Ergo Baby Carrier. He loves this and usually goes to sleep while we do our shopping. At least this works. He does okay on walks but when we have tried to go shopping someone usually has to get him out and hold him while the other pushes the stroller. We are definitely learning more everyday. Life is different now and chances are it will never be the same, but that is alright because God blessed us with our little miracle named Cole.

How do I love thee...

2011-02-13T11:46:00.000-08:00

Cole is now 2 weeks and 4 days old. Yet, I feel like I have known him forever, like he has never not been with us. They say that is what it is like when you have children and I now can vouch for that on my own. He has changed our lives and we will never, ever be the same. I can stare at Cole all day long and still be amazed that God blessed us with this sweet, sweet baby. He is beautiful and he is more than I ever dreamed he would be. I remember when I was pregnant (not too long ago... :) )that Jon and I would wonder what he would be like, what he would look like. And I never could have dreamed or imagined how perfect he would be. I sometimes stare at him and tears fill my eyes, this baby is such a miracle for us, such a blessing from God. Motherhood does change you, you love like you never knew that you could and you love someone so instantly that you cannot quite believe it yourself. I dream big dreams for Cole already, I worry for him already, I want to protect him from this world and always be his mommy.

Now, let me start with Cole’s birth story...we went to the doctor on 2/2/11 to see how everything was going. Cole had STILL not dropped and there was no progress in any way. So, my doctor sent me off for another ultrasound to see what his weight was. Well...this time he was off the charts. The calculation couldn’t even calculate his weight because his tummy was so big. I told them I enjoyed eating and so did he :) The last couple of months we lived on brownies and steaks and potatoes :) They estimated him at being between 10 and 11 pounds. NO way, right. Jon and I were both 8 pound babies, there was no way we were having an 11 pound baby. But, my doctor still suggested the c-section. I was terrified and even started to tear up as I watched the ultrasound, I knew what the doctor was going to suggest and I was scared to death. We went back and talked to the doctor and asked all of our questions. He wanted what was best for us and for Cole, so we put our trust in him and planned for Cole to come on Friday, February 4, 2011 at 7:30 am. I wasn’t sure if I was relieved or not by having a c-section, I wouldn’t have to go through labor or pushing for hours on end and chances were that Cole was just too big for me to deliver, even if I had tried he probably would’ve ended up a c-section anyway. So, we left the doctors office, called our families and then Jon and I went and got a pedicure :) We both really enjoyed it and it helped calm me down a little bit. I even got mine painted blue for boy.

We went home and packed our bags again (by the way we packed WAY too much and have learned our lesson for next time). We ran errands on Thursday and did my pre-op. Thursday night my entire family (minus Jason) came down for dinner at Longhorn ( I told you steak and potatoes...) it was so special to me. It was a celebration of what was to come. Thursday night was weird for us, we couldn’t believe that Cole was going to be here so soon. We got our sleep and had to be at the hospital by 5:30 am.

Here I am before we left for the hospital with my other kids

There was a 10 pound baby in there!!!!!!!!

It is still so surreal to think about. I know that I did it, I had the surgery but it feels like it was years ago. But it wasn’t even 3 weeks ago. We got there and got checked in, got my IV and then we waited. Both sets of parents came to see us while we waited and then at about 7am they wheeled me to the OR. Jon had to wait outside so I could get prepped and get my spinal. The nurses and doctors that were there that morning were so nice and so reassuring. The spinal wasn’t bad at all, I barely felt anything. I got back on the table and felt so weird...every breath felt strange and I started to panic. Then when they strapped my arms down I really started to panic. Again they reassured me, told me Cole would be here soon and that Jon was on his way in. The surgery wasn’t that bad, I really shouldn’t have been so afraid. Jon looked more scared than I felt. I think it was the table shaking as they tried to get Cole out. He was so far up in my ribs that it took the doctors 2 pushes to get him out. I loved hearing him cry for the first time and it made me cry and Jon cry. Jon got to go see him and he told me he was beautiful, that he had lots of hair and that he had his chin. They also talked about how big he was, I couldn’t wait to hear how much he weighed and I couldn’t wait to see him. It was so hard to wait. They finally brought him by so I could see him. He was beautiful and he had tons of hair!!!

Well, he ended up weighing 10 pounds and 4 ounces and was 20.5 inches long. So, the doctor was right, he was a big baby. There was no way I could’ve delivered him naturally. Thank goodness we listened to the doctor!!!! Cole also had low blood sugar at birth, which lots of big babies do. They had to check him after every feeding to make sure his blood sugar was going up and by midnight that night his blood sugar had gone up and stayed up. After that Cole continued to do great. I however, did not. I lost a lot of blood in the surgery and had to have 2 blood transfusions on Saturday. So, I had to stay in bed for almost 48 hours without being able to get up. It was horrible!! By Saturday night they got me up and let me sit in a chair and go to the bathroom. It was so nice to finally get up and move around even though I was really sore. By Monday we were ready to leave the hospital...Sunday night they moved us to a smaller room because the wing we had been in was closing since we were the last people over there. It was a tiny room and we could hear everyone around us. I barely slept and was just so ready to be home. Monday morning they tested Cole again for jaundice and it turns out he had a touch of it. But, thank goodness we could still go home. We left at about 3:30 and it was cold and rainy.

Me and Cole (a horrible picture but really the only one that was taken in the hospital)

We have been doing great here adjusting to our new life. My mom stayed with us off and on for 2 weeks. She went home over the weekend but came back on Sunday night. I am so glad and grateful that she was able to help us. It was such a blessing. Cole has been doing great, he is back up to birth weight and the jaundice finally went away. I am healing pretty well, I was doing really well and then felt very sick the other night. My doctor gave me some new pain medication and I have been doing much better. I will write more later about the last couple of weeks but I will leave you with some pictures now :)

In our bed one morning after we had gotten up, I love the milk on his face :)

Daddy and Cole asleep

Ashley and Cole (he was 1 week old)

Look at that hair!!!! It curls when it is wet!!!!

Cole and his cousin Elyn (who is about 3.5 months older than him!!!!!!) Pretty much the same size!

At the zoo today, we went with my mom and Kelly and her girls

With daddy at the zoo

With his cousins at the zoo :)

Meet Cole...

2011-02-07T05:59:00.000-08:00

Cole made his entrance into this world on Friday, February 4,2011 at 7:49am. We learned on Wednesday 2/2/11 that Cole would weigh in somewhere between 10 and 11 pounds at birth. Our doctor told us it would be best to have a scheduled c-section and after much thought and talking to the doctor we made an appointment to have a scheduled c-section on Friday at 7:30am. It was so surreal knowing that he was about to come into this world...I was nervous and scared and excited all at once. Now, only 3 days later I cannot imagine him not being here with us. We are still at the hospital today and are praying to finally go home today. So, please pray that our little family can go home today. We are all doing well, just waiting to hear whether or not we can leave. We are so ready to!!! I will post more later when I am settled in at home but here he is...

Cole Thomas born on 2/4/11 at 7:49 am. Weighing in at 10lbs and 4 oz. and 20.5 inches long. He was a big boy!!!!! Last night he weighed 9lbs and 8oz.

Meeting him for the first time. He is precious and so beautiful!

Daddy and Cole. Look at that hair!!!!!

I love, love, love this picture. He is adorable!!!!!!!!

God has blessed us and we love this boy more than we ever thought possible.

Baby Showers and Cole Update

2011-01-25T15:22:00.000-08:00

My work baby shower was back in December. I have a few pictures from that to share. My last day of work was Friday, the 21st. It was bittersweet for me, as I have made some great friends there and it was by far the best job I have ever had. I got to use my degree in the field I have always wanted to work in. I was in the Biology Lab at our local electric/water/sewer utility. I worked there almost 5 years and mostly loved my job...though it had it’s moments...I take away mostly good memories from it. So, for the past two days I have been a stay at home mommy to Roxy and Grady and my belly....Cole. It has been great so far. Yesterday I was productive and did thank you cards and went for 2 walks, cleaned up, did laundry, studied my Bible and watched some Netflix. Anyway, back to my shower at work.

Me and Tori

Me and Patti...I will miss her the most. Patti I promise I will come back to visit :)

My church shower was 3 weeks ago. It was decorated so beautifully. I am so thankful to have such wonderful friends and church family. I don’t know what I would do without them in my life. Thank you to everyone who made this shower possible.

I love this... :)

I love this too, I have some talented friends

The cake. I love it!! It was very yummy too.

The family :)

Diaper cake made by Moriah and Pam. I love it!! There were so many neat things in this diaper cake, including many cloth diaper liners. Thanks!

I had lots of help from Jenna. She brought gifts to me and threw all the trash away.

Ashley wanted to help open gifts, which was fine because I could not bend over to unwrap anything.

I love this too. Also from Moriah, it has the verse from Proverbs about “training up a child.” I adore it.

Everyone that helped with the shower :) I am so blessed.

My sweet helpers

Definitely :)

She is precious

Now, on to my update. We went to the doctor this morning only to find out that Cole is super happy in my tummy. No change... So.... We go back next Wednesday to see what is going on. Hopefully there will be a change. As I have 12 days left and he is only getting bigger. My doctor said since he is in position to be born they won’t induce yet. And they won’t induce at all if I don’t progress soon. So, he said we will see what happens on Wednesday. If I have progressed we can do an induction or still wait to see if he comes on his own. If nothing has changed we will wait another week. Hopefully things will start moving by then (pray)... If not he’ll let me go a week after I am due and then have a C-section if nothing else changes. So, pray that Cole decides he wants to meet his family soon. We are so excited to meet him and cannot wait for him to get here. Whatever way God has planned for him to come into this world. Please pray for Cole and that he continues to stay healthy and decides to come soon, pray for us as we get anxious about the big day and pray for my doctor as we continue to make decisions.
Here are my updated pictures :)
34 weeks

35 weeks

36 weeks

38 weeks

Until next time...

Cole's Room is DONE

2011-01-20T16:36:00.000-08:00

Well, Cole’s room is finally done. I am so glad. We love his room and find ourselves in there often dreaming about the very near future. Here you go...
Cole’s bathroom (jack and jill bathroom)--all artwork made by Jon :) I love it all.

Cole’s Room :)

Artwork made by Jon

I still have my weekly pictures to add but my last picture is on my camera, so I will add those later.
We went to the doctor yesterday and we have 2 1/2 weeks left, Cole is in no hurry to get here as of yet. So, until next week everything remains the same. Cole keeps growing and so do I. Tomorrow is my last day of work!!!! YAY! We all went out today for lunch which was nice. Everybody went and they pretty much shut the whole place down to go. That is unheard of, we never shut down the lab. Then at our weekly meeting they had a delicious birthday cake for me, all CHOCOLATE. So, it was very nice. I will miss the people there but am so glad to finally to be done.

Maternity Pictures

2011-01-18T16:21:00.000-08:00

Here are some of the maternity pictures that Jon and I took. I am only posting a few, I touched these up myself. Jon is a little better at it than I am. If he does more I will post some of those too. These were taken at 36 weeks. We should have done them earlier as I am HUGE... Anyway, we have a growing boy on our hands... :) If you don’t want to see bare belly then skip this post....

Also, we went to the doctor last Wednesday for our last ultrasound and had a checkup. Apparently according to the ultrasound Cole now weighs 8.3lbs... Interesting. So, pray that either they were wrong (since I have 3 weeks left) or that if he is that big that he comes early. I was threatened with a c-section and I really don’t want that. We have 19 days left, we put the car seat in today and are getting our bags together tonight. As ready as I am for him to be here I am terrified of the actual birth process. So pray for me too. I have no idea what to expect. On a brighter note my last day of work is Friday, YAY!!! I will get some updated pictures of Cole’s room, shower pictures and weekly pictures of me next time. I hope you enjoy the pictures, even though like I said, I am huge and apparently so is Cole! :)

Cole's Room--quick update

2011-01-08T19:32:00.000-08:00

Here are just a few quick pictures of Cole’s room. I want to take some more pictures and post them too. But here are some for now :)

Over the changing table, we have ordered pictures for the frames. They will be here Monday.

Magnetic chalk board Jon made

One month...

2011-01-04T16:19:00.000-08:00

Cole’s expected arrival day is one month from today. The room is done, pictures coming this weekend. We worked all weekend and week long getting it done. I put his clothes in the drawers tonight and organized as much as I could. My baby shower is Sunday so I am thinking we will have a lot to put away and organize then too. I am so excited for the shower and all of the little things that Cole will get. We are so blessed to have such a loving church family and friends. We go to the doctor on Wednesday to get one last look at Cole and I guess see how big he is, I cannot wait! He seems big to me. I feel like he is taking up every square inch of my stomach now. It feels tight and I can feel his little body parts right below the surface. I am praying for an average sized baby, Jon and I were both 8 pounds or so, I am hoping NO bigger than that. But, we will see. Continue to pray for us and Cole as we are in the home stretch now. It still seems unreal to me that we are a month away from meeting him. We have waited so long for this. Sometimes when I am feeling good and energetic I seem to forget how big I am and how far along I am...then I step in front of a mirror and I am instantly reminded, this journey is coming to a close. It has been so wonderful for me to experience this and I pray and hope that I will experience it again one day. I will update with pictures soon. Jon and I are so pleased with the way the nursery turned out. We both are in there often just looking at it and loving it. We poured ourselves into this room and every detail that went into it. It is special because it was put together with a very special boy in mind :) So, like I said, 1 more month...will he be on time or late or maybe even early? Who knows? But, we do know that we are excited and he will be one loved little boy. Until next time...

Roller coaster

2011-01-01T10:50:00.000-08:00

I know it has been a while since I last blogged and I apologize. Christmas snuck up on us this year and I found myself very unprepared. And if you know me well enough you know that I do not like to be unprepared. I found myself scrambling the week before Christmas to complete my shopping and then wrapping them all on Christmas Eve. I have had many people remind me this year that this was our last Christmas before Cole and next year would be totally different. It would be all about him, which to tell you the truth is fine with me. I have everything that I need and want in my life. All I really want now is Cole. I am ready for him to be here and to become a part of this family. Which he already is a part of, I can attest to that from all of the kicking day and in day out, the hiccups that happen almost every morning as I lay in bed and the way Jon and I look at each other and say, “Can you believe it...? He’s almost here.” We say things like that every day. It used to seem impossible to believe that a little one would ever be a part of our lives and now we are almost a month away from him being in our arms. We have decided that we will probably fight over who gets to hold him... That is how anxious and excited we are about his arrival. Not that is doesn’t come with it’s roller coaster moments. For me anyway...

Some days I feel like I am on the downward side of a very fast, steep roller coaster. Ask Jon he will tell you that this much is true. I feel excited and nervous and scared all at once. It is crazy, I feel like the wind is whipping around my hair and face and I cannot seem to slow this thing down, slow time down. Time has flown by in this pregnancy. However, I feel like I have been pregnant forever. I don’t remember what I felt like before pregnancy. What was it like to sleep on my stomach (my favorite sleep position), what was it like to run and exercise, what was it like to bend over and not groan or grunt, what was it like to clean my house quickly and easily (as opposed to now it takes a LONG time and sometimes several days), what was it like to squat down, stand up or sit down without feeling like I am ripping in half...? It is crazy, but I have loved it all. I love how I can feel Cole all the time now (it will be weird when I no longer feel that, but he will be here in my arms), how on days when we can sleep in we both lie in bed and feel him moving around or hiccuping and talk about the days that are quickly approaching. It is so special to me. But just as a roller coaster can be exciting it can also be scary. Some days I wonder how I’ll ever do it, how will I be a mom when I never have been? How can I care for a newborn when I never have? How will I ver know what to do? Jon is so good at reassuring me that we will do great, we will be fine. And I pray about it all the time for the knowledge and wisdom I will need as a new mom. I know that all first time mom’s must feel this way. So, like I said, a roller coaster...emotional ups and downs all the time right now. I cry a lot, and I am not a crier by any means. I find myself crying happy tears because I am so excited about Cole, I cry when my feelings get hurt (even at the smallest thing)... I could go on and on. But, by far I am so excited and happy and blessed that Cole is almost here. This new year is a new beginning for us. We are going to be parents!!! It is unreal and I thank God every day for this blessing. It is also a new beginning for me because I quit my job in 21 days!!! My life is totally changing and I am so excited about it. We have prayed and worked so hard for me to be able to stay at home and take care of Cole and it is finally becoming a reality and we are so, so blessed.

Now for some updates. We host a Christmas party every year (this is our 4th year), this year the theme was pajamas. Last year we did an Ugly Christmas Sweater party and it was a hit. This year we wanted to do it a little different. So here are some pictures of that. First off, I took my 32 week picture in my pj’s in Cole’s room. The pj’s were not maternity, but I didn’t care. I loved the bulldog on the shirt.

32 weeks

Here I am at the party with Annie (holding Camryn) and Cassidy

Here I am with Amber, Jeni and Kristie

The party was a lot of fun as always and we had good food, fun games and great company :)

In other great news the furniture is FINALLY getting done!!!!! After buying more paint that was “supposed” to work we discovered that it didn’t work. Jon tried out some of the paint on a test piece of wood we discovered that this paint also left a tacky/sticky finish. So, Jon called back the place where he bought the paint and explained to them that we were running out of time and needed to get this furniture done. Jon had heard that tinted lacquer was the way to go when painting furniture and this paint store agreed, although they didn’t sell tinted lacquer. They agreed to take back all of the paint we had bought and gave us a full refund (which was GREAT, paint is NOT cheap). Then they also referred to a place where we could get the tinted lacquer. Jon took a foot off of the crib and took it to the new paint store. They matched the color and finish perfectly and even showed him how to mix the paint to the right consistency with his HVLP spray gun. It was a much better experience. So, as of now the dresser is DONE (drawer faces are not painted yet but will be by the end of the weekend as will the changing pad holder), book case is DONE, night stand is primed but not painted, shelves are built but not painted or primed. Everything should be done by Monday. Lacquer dries SO fast and the finish is SO smooth. We are beyond excited that we are this close (FINALLY) to being done with the furniture. Jon loves to wood work but he is growing a little tired of it at this point. We both want him to be done so we can spend time together this last month before Cole gets here, and him not be out in the garage every night working. So, here is the bookcase...built, painted once and stripped and sanded, painted again and stripped and sanded...and finally, finally painted and finished!!!!!

We are so happy that it is finally done and we are so happy with the finished product. I couldn’t wait to stuff all of my old books and Cole’s new books on there.

We had a wonderful Christmas with our families. We spent Christmas Eve with Jon’s mom and dad and aunt and uncle. We went to Kan-ki for dinner. It is kind of becoming a tradition for Jon and I to go there on Christmas Eve. Then Jon and I went to the movies. It was lots of fun. We woke up Christmas morning and opened our gifts together. Jon got me a charm for my Pandora Bracelet ( a wooden one which I love), a new small digital camera that does video so I can capture every cute thing Cole does, a Petunia Pickle Bottom diaper bag and some other little stocking stuffers. Then we went to Jon’s parents house for breakfast. I made the Pioneer Woman’s cinnamon rolls (which were SO messy to make but so, so good. We opened gifts with them and drank coffee and laughed. It was a great morning. After that, we came home unloaded our gifts ( which for me was a Keurig coffee maker and lots of coffee and some clothes for Cole) and the reloaded the car and headed for my parents house. We had to of course grab some Starbucks on the way. Once we got there it was after 2pm so we went ahead and ate our lunch/dinner. It was yummy as always, as my mom is a GREAT cook! Then we opened gifts with the family. I love Christmas so much and I know I will love it even more when Cole is here next year :) After a long day we headed home, opened up all of our gifts and finally got to play with them. My parents got us our pack and play so that of course was set up immediately and they got me a digital frame that we both love!! I have been touching up pictures all week to put on it and I am up to about 80 pictures on it now. It looks great! Here are some shots of Christmas.

Not the most flattering picture but this was me holding a pair of slippers given to Cole from Jon’s aunt Martye. They were bought in Scotland. So cute!

Not sure what is going on here, but it is classic Jason...

Me and the girls

Jenna in the cool bounce house Santa got her and Ashley

A very bored looking bride Ashley. I love it!! She danced and danced for us. Dress made by her Nanny Deb.

Jenna in her Cinderella dress that Deb made for her. They were beautiful dresses.

And finally...here I am at 33 weeks...

We hope you all have a blessed 2011 :)

Sorry for the SUPER LONG post... :)

These are a few of my favorite things...

2010-12-14T13:50:00.000-08:00

“Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens

Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens

Brown paper packages tied up with strings

These are a few of my favorite things”

Ever since I thought about doing a blog on my favorite things these lyrics keep popping into my head. These are not my favorite things however. I compiled a list last week of my favorite things thus far in pregnancy. It is a blog more or less for my own remembrance. But, I figured all of you out there might enjoy it too :)

So, there you have it. Some of my favorite things. Things that I could not do pictures of were:

over the calf compression socks (love these), my Barely There bra, and Jon tying my shoes each and every day :)

Here are some new pictures of me.

31 weeks

Well, that is it for now. I went to the doctor today and heard Cole’s heartbeat. I go back in 2 weeks for another check up and then back in 3 weeks for an ultrasound. I cannot wait to see him again. The ultrasound is scheduled for 1/6/11. That sounds so weird and it is a month away from when he will actually be here. Crazy!!!!! Anyway, Merry Christmas!!

It's Official!

2010-12-13T15:45:00.000-08:00

Well, it is finally official!! My LAST day of work is January 21, 2011. I told my bosses today. It is such a relief to finally be out in the open. I knew that it was time to say something since I couldn’t sleep last night because I was thinking about it so much. I also knew that it was time when my main boss said after today he would be gone until after the new year. So, this morning I woke up and told Jon today was the day. I was nervous but I knew that I had to get this off of my mind and my heart. I wanted to give them ample time to find someone new to hire and maybe train someone to do my job. Everyone took it very well and told me how much I would be missed. Of all of the jobs I have had this one was by far the best. But, things change and family definitely comes first. I used to be worried that all of this wouldn’t work out, we wouldn’t have the money, something wouldn’t work out...my mind would run wild with bad things and situations happening to us to stop me from quitting my job. But, the last couple of weeks all that has really bothered me was actually telling my boss I was quitting. I knew that it would work out, I have prayed daily that it would work out and now I finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. I am so excited about it. I am so blessed to be able to stay home and raise my little boy and Jon’s job is so flexible that he will be able to stay home to work 2 days a week. God always has a way of letting things work out, I know that it is just hard to trust it. So, now I am almost a month and week away from being home for good (for now anyway). I can prepare for Cole and just be ready for him to get here.

I also have some updates of Cole’s room. Not really his room per se but decorations we have bought. So here we go...

We bought these book ends at a antique store several weeks ago, I know that they aren’t elephants like the rest of the room, but they are green and I love frogs!!

I sure hope this little guy likes to read like his mom does. These are only newly acquired books... All of my old books are in his closet waiting for the bookcase to be done.

Here is the mobile that we recently got

We bought this “piggy” bank at Hobby Lobby. It is an elephant and matches his room perfectly and we couldn’t believe we found it.

This was our most recent purchase. We bought this elephant and it was black. Jon spray painted him navy blue to match the room. We are so proud of it.

Here are some stuffed animals we bought to put up on the shelves Jon is building to go above the changing table. My mom bought the light blue one the day we found out it was a boy. She didn’t even know about the elephant theme yet.

So, there you have it. In other news Jon is having to strip, sand and repaint ALL of the furniture. The bookcase had been painted for over a month and in the house and the paint still felt tacky. Everything was almost done, dresser, nightstand and bookcase. We didn’t know what to do. Jon called around and discovered we had used the wrong kind of paint. So, here we are less than two months away in freezing cold weather and Jon has to redo it all. My heart really goes out to him. He has done so much for Cole’s room. He is working on the furniture and busy making artwork and other projects too. I feel bad because there is nothing else I can really do except pray that we can get it done. What is making it hard now is the COLD, windy weather. Not good painting conditions. So, please pray that Jon can get our projects done and all will be ready when Cole gets here. I hope Cole one day understands all we went through to give him the perfect room.

I realized today that I was 32 weeks pregnant. I thought I was only 31 weeks. Somehow I lost a week somewhere. I told several people at church yesterday that I was only 31 weeks. I am not sure what kind of time warp I slipped in to. But, Jon called me today to correct me. So, I have even less time left than I thought. Weird.

My heartburn has gotten a lot better. I stopped dairy pretty much after I realized a correlation between that and the acid reflux. I had read that milk helped acid reflux so was guzzling it. Well, I think it might have been the culprit all along. I have stopped the Zantac completely and take about 1 or 2 Tums a day and that is it. So, that is a huge relief to me. I am sleeping a little better too. Still waking up 3 times a night and still having some leg pain and cramps but not too bad. I feel overall really good. Which is such a blessing. I just can’t get over that the end is drawing near. It feels so weird. I have an appointment tomorrow so we will see how we are doing. When I was in there 2 weeks ago the doctor told me I was measuring 2 weeks ahead of schedule. Which I know I am not! But, either I am just big or Cole is growing. If I am measuring big tomorrow I will get an ultrasound to see how much he weighs. The doctor doesn’t want him so big that and I quote...”can’t get him out...” I don’t want that either!!! Good grief, don’t let him be a ginormous baby!!!! We also are meeting with a pediatrician tomorrow to see what we think. It will be a full day but we are excited.

I have another blog coming up soon with new pictures of me and some of my favorite things. I can’t wait to share them with you. Merry Christmas!!

Quick post

2010-11-28T13:42:00.000-08:00

I was just on my blog changing it to a Christmas background and noticed that I have 70 days left! Can this be right???? I am 30 weeks today, only 10 weeks left. It is crazy how fast time is going by. Nothing new is really happening to Cole’s room, Jon is still hard at work finishing the remaining furniture. This effort will be hampered by trying to get ready for Christmas...decorating and buying gifts. Every weekend from here until Christmas is busy...next weekend: birthing class, following weekend we might go to Orlando to do some Christmas shopping ( a tradition of ours) and then the next weekend is our Christmas party that we have every year with our friends from church. I feel like time is moving so quickly!! I want Cole to get here but I don’t feel ready for him yet. I want to get the room done, I want to prep myself with more reading, I want to have everything organized... I am sure you get the picture. Jon assures me we’ll be ready and knowing us we’ll be as ready as we can be. Anyway, that is my quick update. Hopefully I’ll get some pictures soon of some updates. We are also planning on decorating the house for Christmas soon, so I can post pictures of that too. Oh, and Cole is kicking ALL the time. He spends lots of time in my ribs, I am thinking it is his feet... He moves so much and I love it. It makes me know how real he is and how active he is and how soon he’ll be here. I can’t wait!!!!! I wake up at night and can barely hoist myself out of bed, I cannot tie my shoes, I cannot bend over at all in fact, when sitting I feel like Jon always has to help me up, I have heartburn everyday. These are my complaints but it is so, so worth it. I love it in fact because it means my little boy is growing more every day :)

I love November

2010-11-22T17:09:00.000-08:00

November is such a great month. As I sit here tonight I am so happy with where I am. I had a wonderful weekend and have had lots of time off lately. I am listening to Christmas music and my Evergreen candle is burning away. Jon is outside working on Cole’s changing table and our carpets are freshly cleaned. I am so thankful for the life I have and the people God has blessed my life with. It is so easy to get caught up in the ways of the world and forget the simple things: friends, family, laughing, my puppy dogs, cool autumn evening walks, card games with family, sitting around the table with people we love sharing our lives with each other, family members you don’t see often enough... I could go on and on, but I will spare you.

Last weekend we had our beautiful nieces Jenna and Ashley spend the night with us. On a whim I called my mom on Saturday morning to see if we could take one or more of the girls for the night while she watched them for the weekend. I initially was only going to take Jenna but I knew that Ashley would be heartbroken. Jenna has spent the night several times, but it had been a while. And I knew that I wanted Ashley to spend the night before Cole came, because after he gets here who knows when they’ll be able to come down again. I wanted to give her that opportunity, I knew how much Jenna loved it and I knew Ashley would. When I asked her on the phone if she wanted to come down she was SO excited and she wanted Jenna to come with her. So, we met my parents at Ollie Koalas. Which turns out to be for a little bit older kids. But they loved it just the same.

The girls were so good for us that night. After Ollie Koalas we went to Al’s Pizza for dinner with mom and dad where both girls proceeded to eat 3 pieces of pizza each. They loved it!!!! I was impressed. This was almost at 4pm... Well, we headed home then and made a couple of stops at Lowes and Home Depot. Then we got home and Jenna declared that we still needed to eat dinner even though we had stuffed ourselves with pizza. So, I made so pasta and gave it to them. Jenna ate most of hers and Ashley wanted none of it. Jenna also decided she wanted pumpkin pie and vanilla ice cream. We told her we would wait a little while for that. I bathed both girls and then dried Ashley’s hair which was easy. I dried Jenna’s for at least 15 minutes and it was still wet and I was sweating and in pain on the floor. I gave up after that and let it air dry. At 8pm Ashley’s said it was bedtime so I tucked her in on our love seat in our bedroom and we didn’t hear from her again. When I put her to bed I said, “sweet dreams,” to which she replied, “why?” I am not sure what that was about but it was cute. Jenna picked out a Christmas movie got her dessert and settled in for the night. At 9pm she said it was time for bed and we didn’t see her again until 6:45 the next morning. They were so good and we so enjoy our time with them. They have been such a blessing to our family as a whole and we are so thankful for them

Last week Jon and I were off on Friday. Why you ask? We went to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows at midnight on Friday (late Thursday night). We managed to get a pretty good group of friends to join the craziness with us. We all met up at 9:30 at Starbucks and then headed over to the theater. People were dressed up and it was so much fun. The movie was really good too. The only downfall was we didn’t get home until 3:30am and most people either went to work or school the next day. Thank goodness we were off.

Matt, Staci, Roddy, Annie, John and me. Not sure where the others were....

Death Eaters

Me and Annie :)

Me and Jon

Friday night we went to my parent’s house for dinner with family (my Aunt Beth was in town). We had a great night. After dinner we headed back to the house, played with the kids and then my mom and dad, Beth and Jon and me played Nerts. It was the first time for everyone but me and Jon. They loved it. Now we have more people to play with. I plan on playing again when we go up Thanksgiving. I love sitting around the table playing with family and laughing and just having a good time.

We spent the night there Friday night and got up nice and early Saturday morning to go to Savannah. Beth has never been and it has been at least 2 years since Jon and I have been. We left at about 8am and got up there a little after 9:30 to put our name in for Lady and Sons (Paula Deen’s restaurant). We had reservations for 1:15, so we walked ourselves ragged for several hours, bought and ate lots of candy and then went to go stuff our faces. The Lady and Sons restaurant is so good, you have to go if you are ever in Savannah. We all left feeling a little sick and stuffed. So we walked some more, at least 2 more miles!!! But, it was fun and so worth it.

Beth and a statue reading... :)

SUPER steep steps!!!!

Jon and me at Forsyth Park

Mom, dad, Beth, me at Forsyth Park

It has been a great couple of weeks to say the least and I know it can only get better with Christmas on the way. Our Christmas tree will hopefully make it’s way down on Saturday. I am so excited!!! I love to decorate the house all pretty for Christmas!! Yay!! I hope everyone enjoys their holiday and remembers how blessed we truly are. Give thanks for all the things in your life, love your family and enjoy every moment you have with them.

Here is my update:

27 weeks

28 weeks

I cannot believe I am 29 weeks!!!! 11 weeks to go! The time is flying by!!!! I cannot believe it. Cole will be here before we know it. It is exciting and scary all at the same time. What makes it even more nerve wracking is the fact that I am going to quit my job. I haven’t told my bosses at work yet and I am so nervous to do it. I want so badly to stay home to raise Cole but it will be so weird to not have to go to work everyday. That is all I have known for almost 8 years of my life, getting up and going to work, whether I wanted to or not. Most often not... I have always wanted to be able to stay at home when I had children and now that it is here I don’t know how to tell my bosses what I want to do. They think I am coming back so it will be very awkward for me. We will also be taking a huge pay cut in doing this but we both discussed it and it is the right thing to do for us. We will manage, we have been cutting back for months now in preparation and paying off bills getting ready for this. I just wish we would’ve started sooner. I cannot imagine someone else watching my little boy grow up while I am at at work 11 hours every day. That thought breaks my heart. So, pray for me as time gets closer for me to tell them the truth about my future in working with that company. If you have any advice please let me know. I will take any I can get :)

Anyway, Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!!!

Repost...less than 100 days...

2010-11-21T13:41:00.000-08:00

Had to repost this blog, having trouble with the photos....I hope I don't continue to have problems... :)

Let me just say that I have less than 100 days left?!? In fact it is 90 days!!! That is crazy, where has my time gone??? It has gone by so fast and I feel totally unprepared for what, or should I say who is coming. I cannot believe that it is less than 3 months away. I am so excited but also nervous. I was talking to Jon the other day and I told him I couldn’t believe that we were actually going to be entrusted with a child. I know that we can do it, but having never done it before it seems a little daunting. We have prayed for this little miracle for so long and we cannot wait for him to get here. He will be so loved and cherished by his mommy and daddy, that is for sure. We have been preparing for him nonstop, the room is nearly done, the furniture is almost done, registering is done, we are getting closer and closer to just needing him to be here for everything to be complete. I love to go into his room and just imagine what it will be like. I love to think about who he’ll look like. I cannot wait to see!!!! It seems unreal to me that we are FINALLY going to be parents. It has been a long journey and God is finally blessing us with our own little baby to raise and to love and to make memories with.
I was talking to my aunt the other day and she mentioned the verse Matthew 21:22: "And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive." We decided that this was a very hard thing to do. It is easy to talk about it but very hard to apply to your life. Especially when you have prayed and prayed and prayed and still haven’t gotten the answer you wanted. But, God does everything in His time according to His will. We knew that He would bless us with a child one day, but there were days when it was very hard to believe, it was easy to let the devil in and let him get us down and depressed about it. But, we kept praying and believing even when it seemed impossible. We eventually asked from prayers from the church regarding our situation and we had friends and family praying for us as well. God knows what is best for us, and maybe He knew that we needed this time in our marriage to just be together and to grow stronger together and to grow closer Him. I wouldn’t trade any of it for the world, I love that Jon and I have had 7 years to travel and bond and really to make our marriage stronger than ever. Now, we are ready for this little baby. We have been waiting for Cole for so long and I cannot believe that in 3 short months that he will be here and we will be forever changed.
So, this week I am 27 weeks. I have pictures from 25 and 26 weeks.
25 weeks :)

26 weeks :) The weather is finally cooler so I could wear some of my new winter clothes

Some days I feel huge, other days I feel like I am not nearly big enough. It is weird. In this pictures I feel like I look really big, who knows. I just know that Cole is there and he kicks away :)
Here are some updated room pictures. The bookcase is almost done. The back,shelves and feet still need to be painted still and then Jon needs to clear coat it all. It looks so good though. I love that he was able to make something for Cole that he will always be able to have. We also got the chair a couple of weeks ago, I love it!!! We hung up the curtains and bought a rug. It is really starting to come together.

So, there you have it. That is where we are as of now. Please keep praying for our little boy and my pregnancy that everything goes well. Also, we are trying really hard to keep me home so I can take care of Cole and not have to go back to work. So, pray for us about that too. We have cut back quite a bit and we have paid off several credit cards and it looks like we are headed in the right direction.

Today...crazy

2010-11-03T10:06:00.000-07:00

Yesterday and today have been weird days for me. First off all I want to do is go out to eat. I think mainly because we are trying not to this month in order to save money and to try out the new budget that will go into place if I in fact do not go back to work after Cole is born. However, as much of a role that I think this is playing in that I think I am just craving certain things. And they are not healthy, good things for me to eat. Like yesterday for instance, I sat down to lunch (ham and swiss brought from home) and all I wanted was a hamburger and french fries. I finished my lunch yesterday and was unsatisfied... Then I went to get a snack yesterday afternoon (granola bar) and saw an egg roll in the fridge and almost lost it... I wanted that egg roll so bad. I wanted lo mein and an egg roll. Well, that didn't happen. I wanted to go to PF Changs or even Panda Express, somewhere, anywhere with an egg roll. Fast forward to today... I took a chicken salad sandwich for lunch. It tasted good going down but it was not what I wanted. I wanted something sweet, and today of all days I packed nothing sweet in my lunch. So, I finish up lunch and have 30 minutes to spare. I decide to make a trip to the downtown Winn Dixie by my work. After telling co workers I would be fine alone at Winn Dixie someone decided to go with me to make sure I got back safely. Downtown can be kind of rough here, but I had my mace so I was set. So, I go into Winn Dixie (their bakery is SUB-PAR) compared to Publix and they had nothing there. I did spot some fudge though in the bakery and it looked pretty good. My friend from work asked if there were any samples of it we could try. They said they could open the container for me and let me try it. If I liked it I could buy it if not it would pretty much go in the garbage. So, I tried it. It was good and I was all set to get it about to check out, but it wasn't what I wanted. So, this is bad I know... we put it back on the shelf, already opened... I set about looking for anything else. I finally ended up with some cookies. I ate one on the way back to work, it turns out that this is not what I wanted either... UGH!!! I have decided what I must have is some red velvet cake from Publix ( I tried it several weeks ago and it sounds SO good right about now...). But, alas no Publix around here and the cake cost $20... I am cheap and don't think I could buy a cake just for me for $20... So, maybe I will attempt to make my own this weekend... I don't know. But, it is crazy how I feel. I feel like I cannot function without whatever it is I want to eat. I guess life must go on and I must get back to work.

Also, I have been suffering from major acid reflux as of late. I have had GERD (bad acid reflux) for several years now and I guess with the baby pushing on everything and all the hormones going on in my body right now it is worse than ever!!!! I am living day to day on Zantac! And I hate it. I hate to take medictions for it but I have tried not eating certain foods and every day at about 9 am or so I can feel the acid creeping up in my throat. It is misery. If you have any suggestions let me know. Otherwise, I guess I'll be sticking to my Zantac.

Lots of Updates...

2010-10-24T11:53:00.001-07:00

I know it has been a long time since I updated and I apologize for that. We have been busy lately finishing Cole’s room and now we are pretty much done, walls are painted and the chair rail and crown molding are up. So, there will pictures of that to come.

Let me start with updates about the baby. I started really feeling Cole move around week 21. I think I felt him before that, but I really felt him then. He has been more and more active as the weeks progress. Last week I saw my stomach move from the outside when he moved and Jon was able to see it and feel it. So, that was 24 weeks. Then today in church ( I am 25 weeks today) I saw my stomach move through my clothes. I love it. It is the most amazing feeling. I love knowing that he is in there and I cannot wait to meet this little mover. I am also excited that Jon can see and feel him. I feel him a lot during the day, even when I am busy at work, all I want to do is sit down and watch him move. So, when I get home the first thing I do is sit down and watch, we both do. I am just amazed that there is a little person in there. This baby will be so loved when he gets here, God has truly blessed us.

Here is a catch up of weekly pictures:

21 weeks

23 weeks

24 weeks

Here are some new pictures of the puppies that I took earlier this month.

Grady, he is so handsome.

Roxy, isn’t she gorgeous??

This past Thursday night we went down to Ocala to see Jars of Clay and Brandon Heath. It was AMAZING. Jars of Clay released their first album 15 years ago, so in tribute to that they sang their entire first album at the concert. It was so good, I remember listening to them in the 9th grade and I have bought every album since then. This was about my 4 times seeing them. Brandon Heath was also there, this was our second time seeing him and he is amazing too. Here are some pictures from the concert.

Brandon Heath

Jars of Clay lead singer Dan Hastletine

Brandon Heath

Jars of Clay and Brandon Heath

Joe Moralez, he is Brandon’s back up singer and key board player. Jon and I met him last year when Brandon Heath was in town. He was super nice and we bought his first CD from him. It is a great album. We talked to him again this year and he was super nice.

Friday night we have Girl’s Night Out. We went to Annie’s house and carved pumpkins and ate yummy snacks. It was lots of fun. Going from left to right: Cassidy and Kelly’s painted pumpkin, mine, Annie’s, Leslie’s Mr. Meowkins, Jackie’s and Rachel’s. It was a great time.

Here are some new things that we have gotten for Cole. After much consideration and talking to others for advice Jon and I have decided to do cloth diapering. I know what you are all thinking...diaper pin and the old style cloth diapers and rubber pants. Nope, these are the new cloth diapers and they are amazing. We have purchased cloth diapers made by Fuzzibunz, Bum Genius and Sunbaby. We bought them all on eBay so far. We have several Bum Genius newborn sized diapers and then about 8 Fuzzibunz One Size diapers, meaning that Cole will be able to wear them from about 8 pounds to 35 pounds. We still need to buy several more one size diapers and we plan on buying the Sunbaby diapers on eBay. They are just like the other brands but WAY cheaper. The Fuzzibunz run about $20 a diaper and the Sunbaby diapers are $5 a diaper, we bought one and they are JUST like the Fuzzibunz. Here are some photos of them. We are really excited. They are costly up front but will save tons in the end. Because we shouldn’t have to buy disposable diapers much.

Here are some outfits that we bought for Cole. I love them!!

And of course we had to get these just because :) They are precious!!!

Here is Cole’s room. We hope to start decorating more soon. My rocking chair is in but we still need to pick it up. The book shelf will be getting painted soon and the changing table is a work in progress. We finished his name up today too. We had the frames already, so we spray painted them, found a font online and printed out the letters and Jon painted them onto the glass. I think it turned out great.

The door here goes to the walk in closet.

The door on the left is the bathroom and then the other door goes into the hallway.

So, that is my very long update :) Enjoy!!!

Here is a video from Jars of Clay, it is there new song The Shelter. I love it!!!

The Shelter=AMAZING!

2010-10-08T09:11:00.000-07:00

If you are a Jars of Clay fan you NEED to purchase this album. This is their 12th album in 15 years. I still remember listening to Jars of Clay when I was in ninth grade. They have been around since 1995 and are still thriving. Their newest album "The Shelter" came out this past Tuesday and it is AMAZING. Jars of Clay never disappoints. This album is a collaborative album, it features Mac Powell (Third Day), David Crowder, Mike Donehey (Tenth Avenue North), Leigh Nash (Sixpence None the Richer), Brandon Heath and Amy Grant, to name a few.
Jon and I both love this album and have listened to it nonstop since buying it on iTunes. My favorite track is the Shelter. It is a great, great song. So, I just wanted to recommend this album and I hope you buy it. Jars of Clay just started their fall tour with Brandon Heath and I am so excited to see them. They are coming to Florida later this month, although not to Jacksonville, they will be in Ocala and we will be there. We hated to miss Rock the Universe this year (Jars of Clay was there) but we will get to see them now. And Brandon Heath is amazing as well :) Enjoy!

Cooking, Cole's Room & More

2010-09-25T18:16:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday was cooking day in our house. Last month we started doing monthly cooking or freezer meals. Last Saturday I prepared 4 meals for the next 4 weeks. It was so much fun. I love to cook. I decided to make chicken vegetable soup, turkey meatloaf with mashed potatoes, shepherds pie and baked ziti.

These are all of the ingredients that I started with. It made it easier to have all of the ingreadients in one place when I started to cook.
I started off cooking the baked ziti and the soup. Those were very easy to make. Once the ziti was done I divided it up into 4 plastic containers, let them cool on the counter and then in the refrigerator for a while then labelled them and put them in the freezer.

Then with the soup I let it cool in the pot I made it in, put it in the refrigerator to cool and then divided it up into quart sized freezer bags.

Then I made the meatloaf and mashed potatoes. This was super easy because the meatloaf you just mix everything together, make into four mini loaves and freeze. Then when you are ready to eat it you thaw it and cook it for 30 minutes. The mashed potatoes I made like I usually would and then just divided them up into freezer bags.
Then I made the shepherds pie. With this recipe you make the meat mixture (which I modified by adding frozen corn and peas) and freeze that. Then make mashed potatoes and freeze them. When you are ready to eat this you add the meat mixture to a small casserole dish and put the potatoes on top and bake.
So far we have eaten the soup, meatloaf and potatoes and shepherds pie. They were very, very good. I would recommend all of these recipes for freezing. It has made life so much easier for us. We can eat something different every night and it is super easy to fix when we get home from work.
We also started painting Cole’s room this week. We have finished painting and now we need to get the chair rail and crown molding up. Here is the room before we started.

Here it is with just the bottom portion painted.

Here is the finished product minus the crown and chair rail.

Here is the bookshelf Jon has been building for the room:

Here is my 20 week photo :) My eyes were more squinty than usual as it was bright outside...

We are working on some more projects this week and I hope to update more then. Everything is going great and I am feeling good. My feet hurt a lot of the time and I have leg cramps at night. But, other than that I don’t have many complaints. We go back to the doctor in a week and I am excited about that. I hope everyone has a great week!

Baby Updates

2010-09-13T12:10:00.000-07:00

Well, as of yesterday I am 19 weeks pregnant. One more week and I will be half way there. I cannot believe it, nor do I feel prepared!!! There are days where I feel like I don’t look or feel pregnant and then there are days like today where I feel huge and don’t feel too hot. It is always hard after the weekend to get up and get back into the swing of things, even more so if you are pregnant. I hate getting motivated to go to work when I wake up tired! I wish I had endless days off right now!!! Wishful thinking I guess.
We finally decided on the paint for Cole’s room. We picked 2 colors of blue that were in the bedding and matched them pretty closely. We are doing a darker shade on the bottom and a lighter shade on top with chair rail separating them. We are also doing some crown molding. I think it is going to look really nice. The bookshelf is also almost done and I’ll post pictures when that is completed. We were going to paint it a shade of blue but I really wanted it to be white to match the crib and the changing table so that is what we are doing. It looks so good.
A couple of people have asked me about the bedding so here is the link. I love it and I love the stripes and polka dots. I cannot wait to get the room painted. We might start on it this weekend. I don’t know how much I will actually do, but I plan to help a little bit. All I have so far for the bedding is the 4 piece set. I also want to get the mobile and the hamper. I have looked for curtains but haven’t seen anything that I love. I think we are going to have to make them, or I should say have someone make them for us. I want either polka dot or stripes and I haven’t found anything at all like that. We have already bought a cute little stuffed elephant and my mom bought us one too, even before knowing about the bedding. Great minds think alike I guess. We also saw a rocking elephant on JC Penney’s site that might be something we’ll need to have... :) I don’t know though.
Nothing much more to update on. My next appointment is the first week in October. I cannot believe fall is almost upon us. It is still so hot here. But, no matter the weather my pumpkins will start coming out the day fall starts. I am already burning pumpkin candles and making pumpkin bread and muffins. I love fall! It might be my favorite season. I love all of the smells of fall and everything pumpkin. Ask anyone who knows me. And if you really know me you know that I am already SO ready for Christmas!!! I get excited just thinking about it all :) Also, I may or may not be already listening to Christmas music... :) Anyway, that’s all for now. Have a good week.

We have a name...

2010-09-09T15:26:00.000-07:00

First things first, we decided on name for our little guy. The name we have chosen is Cole Thomas. Cole is just a name that I have heard and liked very much. Even when we had our list of names I think we both knew that it would be Cole. It was a very easy decision for us. Thomas is Jon’s paternal grandpa’s name, Jon’s brother’s middle name and his maternal grandpa’s middle name. So, it is a family name. We also discovered that Cole will be the sole carrier of the Morrison name…for now. Who knows maybe we’ll have another little boy one day. So, we are all very excited.

I am doing well. These last 2 days though I could eat ALL DAY LONG. I snack throughout the day, healthy snacks mind you, but once lunch and dinner come along I eat my meal and am then pretty much hungry an hour later; if not sooner. I am guessing someone is growing by leaps and bounds in there. I get tired at work seeing as how I am on my feet ALL DAY LONG. My job is not a sitting job. I am constantly walking, standing, barely ever sitting. So, I take breaks and sit for a while and then resume my work. But, if it is hard now I cannot even imagine a month from now. I guess we’ll see what happens. The other day I had acid reflux all day long. So, I would pop some Tums and then the acid reflux would return. I have GERD (gastroesophogeal reflux disease) anyway, so this baby is really taking it up another notch. I went to bed that night and woke up at about 2am and my throat and stomach felt like they were on fire. Acid!! I hate it! So, I called the nurse the next day and found out that I can take Zantac or Prilosec. What a relief. I wasn’t sure what I could take, but this is welcome news. I try not to take any medication unless absolutely necessary but that night it was misery! I don’t know how I ever got back to sleep.

We have also been busy planning and preparing. I picked out the bedding for the nursery last week from JC Penney and a sweet friend at work told me she would buy it for us. I could not believe it; it was so sweet of her. So, it was ordered last week and should be delivered today. Once we get it I can pick out my paint colors for the room. I have stacks of colors samples at home all different shades of blue. So, we should have a decision on that very soon. We want to do 2 shades of blue with a chair rail in between. I cannot wait to get it started and start posting pictures of it as it comes together. We ordered the crib last Saturday. It should be here next week and then we can match the paint on that to refinish our old dresser to use as a changing table. We also got our rocking chair this weekend. It will take 6 weeks or so to get here but we are so excited about it. The nursery is so far from being done but we know once everything comes in we will have no trouble putting it together. Oh, and Jon is building a bookshelf for the room and it is coming along nicely. I cannot wait to see the finished product.

I also have thought a lot about registering soon, maybe next month. I have lots of books that review baby items but if anyone has anything in particular they love or don’t love let me know. Baby monitors, I know nothing about these so some input on these would be nice. Any other tidbits you want to share are welcome too. I think we have chosen a stroller and the pack and play but other than that I have no idea!! So, leave a comment for me if you can, it would be appreciated.

I am sure that I have more to say but it is dinnertime and I am hungry. So, goodbye for now…

Meet our...

2010-09-02T18:55:00.000-07:00

BABY BOY!!!
That's right...We had our ultrasound yesterday and we found out that we are having a little boy. We are beyond excited!! It will be the first grandson on both sides of our family. Everything is going well and the baby was SUPER active during the ultrasound. It was great to see him again, our last ultrasound was at 8 weeks. I am feeling good, having a little trouble sleeping but otherwise everything is moving right along. I would post more but it is late and I'm tired. But I wanted to let everyone know that we have a healthy little boy on the way.

This is a profile view of the baby with his hands behind his head. You can see his elbow up in the air and the hand behind the head

Here is a profile of the baby

This view is of the top of the his head. His hands are behind his head like he is relaxing :)

Just another profile picture :)

Jon's 30th Birthday

2010-08-31T18:28:00.000-07:00

Jon turned 30 on August 21. We celebrated with his family on the 20th by going to Kanki Japanese Steakhouse and then back to his parents house for ice cream cake!! Yum! I brought my camera that night but forgot to get any pictures. Then Jon and I spent all day on his birthday together. Running errands, looking at baby things and then out to dinner. It was lots of fun.

My parents were out of town on Jon's birthday weekend so we celebrated with them this past weekend. With my family on our birthdays we typically get together and the birthday boy or girl gets to pick their favorite meal for dinner. My mom asks Jon every year knowing what his answer will be; her homemade fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy. We have tried to replicate her chicken and we never have. In fact, the last time we tried to make it, it ended with us using our cast iron skillet, smoke throughout the house and grease splattered on our carpet. It is a long story but grease ended up on our family room carpet as we were trying to get the heavy cast iron skillet out of the house as it was smoking. That was over 4 years ago. It was tragic, so we have never attempted it again.
So, this year was like all the rest, fried chicken and mashed potatoes. We always have a great time with family, especially the girls. They fight over who gets to sit by us at dinner, and we both eat it up. So, Ashley sat by me at dinner and Jenna sat by Jon. For dessert they switched it up and Jenna was by me and Ashley by Jon. They are so cute!!!

Just a suggestion...

2010-08-28T07:07:00.000-07:00

I wanted to pass on some information on something I love! I am an avid reader. Not only do I read but if I like a book I will read it over and over again. I have a Kindle (which I love) but if I truly love a book I need to have it in my hand and it needs to be hardback, I hear my dad is the same way. So, about 2 years ago when I first came on board with the Twilight franchise I was desperately trying to find other books to read after I literally devoured the Twilight books. The Twilight books I have in hardback as a matter of fact; this should tell you how much I love them. So, I went on to Stephenie Meyer’s website and she offered up some book reviews of books she loved. One of them was The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. So, while at work I head over to Amazon.com and check it out. Upon reading the description of the book it doesn’t sound like something I would like. But, Stephenie liked it so much she couldn’t put it down and I love Stephenie so I decided to give it a go. Sometimes Amazon will have the option to read the first chapter of a book. This was the case for The Hunger Games. So, again, while at work I read the first chapter.

HOOKED! After chapter 1! I told Jon I must find this book, and so we did. In fact I think he went out that day or the next during lunch and bought it for me. It is and was such a good book. The premise sounds odd but I promise it is WONDERFUL. Here is one such review:

“This is a grand-opening salvo in a new series by the author of the Underland Chronicles. Sixteen-year-old Katniss poaches food for her widowed mother and little sister from the forest outside the legal perimeter of District 12, the poorest of the dozen districts constituting Panem, the North American dystopic state that has replaced the U.S. in the not-too-distant future. Her hunting and tracking skills serve her well when she is then cast into the nation’s annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death where contestants must battle harsh terrain, artificially concocted weather conditions, and two teenaged contestants from each of Panem’s districts. District 12’s second “tribute” is Peeta, the baker’s son, who has been in love with Katniss since he was five. Each new plot twist ratchets up the tension, moving the story forward and keeping the reader on edge. Although Katniss may be skilled with a bow and arrow and adept at analyzing her opponents’ next moves, she has much to learn about personal sentiments, especially her own. Populated by three-dimensional characters, this is a superb tale of physical adventure, political suspense, and romance.”

Yes, it might sound a little strange but there is a love story in the mix here and that keeps the plot even more interesting. Even better, the books are a trilogy. Last summer Catching Fire came out. I read it in a day and a half. This past Tuesday Mockingjay came out. Here is how serious I am about these books… I have known that the final book was coming out since last year. I instructed Jon to purchase it on Amazon over a month ago thinking that it would be delivered on the day it was released, as ALL of the Harry Potter books were. Nothing better than coming home to a great book on the doorstep. No crowd to contend with, no going in to

the store to purchase it…just delivered straight to you. So, we ordered the book. I get an email on Sunday saying that my book has shipped! Yay! I go online Monday to track my package. All that it says is that it is on its way. It has left the facility. I leave it at that. I go back on later Monday hoping to see it is in Jacksonville. It is then however that I discover that it is scheduled for delivery on 8/27! Friday! The book comes out Tuesday! I panic. I look on Amazon and at my receipt, there is no mention of the delivery on the release date. Come to find out not EVERY book that is pre-ordered will be delivered on the release date. I guess the Harry Potter phenomenon was so huge that they HAD to deliver the day of release or they would have some unhappy people on their hands. I didn’t know what I was going to do, it had been written on my calendar for months that it was coming out, that I would have it by Tuesday, I was crushed. I am weird, I know. So, I get home and it is raining. I track my package on last time (after already checking the front porch in case it was a cruel mistake) and see I can return Amazon items. Aha! I can return it. I check online and see that Wal-Mart has it in store. Long story short I went to Wal-Mart in the rain to get my book. We were going to return the Amazon book but some good friends of ours and fellow Hunger Games readers bought it from us. So it was a win-win for everyone. I finished the book yesterday when I got home and overall was happy with the ending. So, if you are a reader, or even if you aren’t you should definitely read these books, I think they are my favorite right now. As for now I am trying to find something

else to read to fill my void of Hunger Games being over…I will take any suggestions.

New ideas...

2010-08-23T14:11:00.000-07:00

There are 2 new things that I wanted to blog about. I mentioned before that Jon and I cut off our DirecTV over a month ago. We haven’t really missed it all that much but we were keeping our eyes and ears open for new options. I know some new TVs can be connected to the internet and you can watch TV through that. However, as nice as our TV is, it is not new…nor does it do anything fancy like that. I was talking to my friend Becky last week and she mentioned Netflix. I had heard of Netflix, but only as a DVD rental/mail thing. Been there done that. But, they now have a new( I think it is new)feature. If you have a Wii, PS3 or Xbox 360 you can watch movies instantly over the device onto your TV (as long as you have Wi-Fi, which we do). So, I looked it up. It looked pretty decent with lots of choices for TV and movies on it. It was also only $8.99/month with unlimited instant viewing through the Wii or the computer. But wait, there’s more…they have a free month trial going on right now!! We signed up and by Saturday we had our instant viewing disc. We searched through the titles and we were pleasantly surprised. We loaded up the queue and watched a movie Saturday night. It was very handy. We usually rent from Redbox, but at $8.99 you cannot beat this. We love movies so it was a win-win for us. I definitely think that anyone who has the capabilities should try this. It is a much cheaper option than cable but there is still tons to watch.

The other thing that I wanted to mention was our new cooking technique. We have thought about this for a while but in an effort to save time and money we decided to bite the bullet and do it. This weekend we made all of our meals for the next 3 weeks. One would usually do it for the whole month but since it is new to us we didn’t want to bite off more than we could chew, so to speak. So, we picked out our recipes on Thursday night. Jon went to Publix on Friday and bought all of the canned goods and anything other than the meats (by the way we price checked later and Wal-Mart was cheaper on almost everything!! So as much as I hate to grocery shop there we will be from now on). Then on Saturday we went to Costco and bought our meats in bulk. Yesterday while Jon was working on a bookcase for the baby’s room I cooked away. I felt like it was the day before Thanksgiving! I have never cooked so much. We decided on The Pioneer Woman’s Chili, Paula Deen’s Chicken and Wild Rice Casserole and pulled pork made from pork tenderloin (recipe courtesy of Jon’s boss, who truly convinced us to do this. They have had great success with it). I cooked everything and let it cool. Then put it all in our new to us fridge in the garage (that we got for $50 from a neighbor) to cool even more. After church last night we bagged/stored it all up and put in the freezer with labels on them. We are so excited. It will definitely save us time and now we don’t need to purchase things for dinner for the next 3 weeks. We have a cook book that is all about freezing meals in bulk, but we didn’t necessarily want to freeze in bulk. Some of these recipes you would have to make 3 of each meal and I definitely would get tired of something after a while. So, we picked out things that we thought would freeze well and took some tips from Jon’s boss. We are hoping that it works. I will keep you updated!!!

February 6, 2011...

2010-08-21T06:18:00.000-07:00

(Written on 8/20/10, posted8/21)

So, even though I said I was going to blog more I haven’t. And I am still not totally sure that anyone reads this blog (besides Erin ). Anyway, big things are happening in our lives right now. So, I figured it was time to give an update. Where to begin…

Well, tomorrow is Jon’s 30^th birthday. My how time flies! I cannot believe that we are both in our thirties now! I still feel young though and now that I have been 30 for several months it isn’t all that bad. Nothing big is planned for the event other than time together and time with family. So, needless to say it will be a great weekend. Jon chose his birthday gift months ago…an iPhone 4. So, he will be turning 30 with an iPhone in hand. Another thing to make note of is that Jon and I have been together now for 13 years now… Amazing! That is like a 7^th grader! I always keep track of time by grade and school age for some reason. I don’t know why. Thirteen years is a long time though, considering we were 17 when we got together. It has been an amazing ride so far and I wouldn’t want anyone else by my side but Jon. We have been through a lot but we always manage to make it through tough times and laugh through the good times. He is my best friend and the best husband I could ever ask for. I am so lucky to have him in my life. So, Happy Birthday to Jon! I love you.

In other news…I hope I have you on the edge of your seats now. Maybe you are wondering about the title of this blog. Most of you (who ever you are reading this…) might already know this but since I am not a very good blogger I haven’t gotten back on the blog to post this news. So, without stalling anymore…Jon and I are expecting our first baby on February 6,2011. Exciting, right?!?!?! I am almost 16 weeks along and doing great (thank goodness!!!). We are so blessed to finally be expecting a baby. We know that this baby is truly a blessing from God and we cannot wait to meet him or her. We have prayed for this baby for so long and God heard our prayers and we know how blessed we truly are. Speaking of him or her we are supposed to find out next month what the sex is. We will be thrilled with either a boy or a girl and just pray that when we go in we will be able to tell what it is. I have to know and cannot wait any longer!!! I am a planner and I need to start planning. If you know me, you know that I am a huge planner! So, I will definitely update when we find something out. Otherwise, just be praying for a healthy, happy baby!!!

So, in addition to all of this news above there have been other changes in our lives as well. Jon and I really started to think about things when we found out a baby was on the way. We need to save money and pay off bills…the story of all of our lives right?? So, in trying to do this we turned off our beloved DirecTV. And our DVR. We have since purchased an antenna and basically watch the news in the morning while getting ready for work and when we get home from work. Other than that we turn on a DVD for about an hour a night. Cutting out TV has been great. I am sure once the Fall season starts it will be a little harder to watch everything since we don’t have a DVR, but life isn’t all about TV is it? We have so much more time to do things around the house, spend time together, play board games or read. We have truly enjoyed it so far. Plus, it is a HUGE savings. We were paying $50 a month and weren’t really watching all that much TV to begin with. We were big HGTV and Food Network junkies, so we do miss that.

As I mentioned in the previous post I also turned off my Facebook account. I haven’t used it in almost a month and turned it off for good last week. It is such a relief to not feel attached to it any more. It really was an addiction for me. I was on it at work, on my phone and at home, in the car, wherever I was I could get my Facebook fix. I finally realized I was letting life and time pass me by as I read about my friends lives and looked at their pictures. But, I have lived without Facebook for the majority of my life ( I have only had it for 2 years and I am 30…) so I figured I could do without it again. If someone wants to tell me something they can call me or tell me face to face. It is so easy to get caught up in technology and let it rule your life and that is where I was. I was tired of it. So, it was hard at first. But, I was strong and checked it every couple of days and then finally a week passed by and then 2… Then I didn’t even miss it. I think it was a great move for me.

So, I hope I haven’t bored you too much. I hope to really keep up with the blogging. It should be easier to blog about things now that we have a baby on the way. And then once the baby gets here I am sure there will be LOTS to post about!!! So, until next time!

Catching up...

2010-08-03T14:30:00.000-07:00

After much debate with myself I have decided to quit Facebook. It was such a time waster and I hated how often I felt like I needed to be on it. So, I took about a 2 week break and then decided I will shut it down. The longer I am away from it the less I miss it. So, I will be posting here now. I love to write and this blog is much better for that than Facebook was.

We are fast approaching my favorite time of year. Most of you that know me, know that I love the Fall and the holidays in general. I know it is JUST now August but to me we are on the downward slope to the holidays. I cannot wait. I will be decorating for the Fall before you know it!

In other news there are some GREAT concerts coming our way. I cannot wait. First up is Switchfoot's Hello Hurricane Tour! Jon and I have seen Switchfoot once in the past and they are AMAZING!!! Their new CD Hello Hurricane is also AMAZING. So, if you live in the Jacksonville area they will be here August 13 at Murray Hill. I am beyond excited about this.

Then we have Rock the Universe!!! My favorite thing of the entire year. Jon and I have gone for several years and this year will be all that much better since the Wizarding World of Harry Potter is open at Islands of Adventure. I cannot wait for some butterbeer and maybe a wand or 2 or some dress robes...! :) The groups this year include Jeremy Camp, Needtobreathe (can't wait to see them), Newsboys, Jars of Clay, tobymac... Need I say more?? It will be amazing. It is a must if you can go

Well, there is much more to update on, but I might work on that tomorrow. I am tired and HOT right now, seeing as how it is 100 degrees or more outside. I need to go through my pictures and I might post some of them later on. Anyway, I hope people actually read this and I am not just writing into cyberspace... :)

Waiting

2009-03-18T08:05:00.000-07:00

Have you ever had something happen that you just couldn’t explain; something that is so unexpected and catches you by surprise? I have very few moments like these in my life…

Monday night Jon and I downloaded some new songs from iTunes. I had heard some on XM that I really liked so I wrote them down at work as I heard them and then we downloaded them. The main one I initially wanted was John Waller’s song “While I’m Waiting.” I had heard this song on the movie Fireproof and really liked it. The movie by the way is amazing if you haven’t seen it. The acting isn’t the best but the story is real and I think we could all identify with it. I watched it twice in one week; that should tell you something.

I love music; I love it more every day; especially when a song really speaks to you and applies to you in EVERY way. So that is where this story is heading. Maybe some of you get tired of me droning on about music but it is something that truly influences my everyday life. So, I was on my way home yesterday listening to this song by John Waller. I think I was playing through the 2nd time and as I was singing I pictured the movie; I always associate things when I see/hear them together. But, all of a sudden when I was singing it was like, this song is about you not the movie. It hit me so hard that I felt like I couldn’t breathe; tears came to my eyes before I could fully grasp what had happened. I will post the lyrics here and will explain below…

While I'm Waiting :
I'm waiting
I'm waiting on You, Lord
And I am hopeful
I'm waiting on You, Lord
Though it is painful
But patiently, I will wait

I will move ahead, bold and confident
Taking every step in obedience
While I'm waiting
I will serve You
While I'm waiting
I will worship
While I'm waiting
I will not faint
I'll be running the race
Even while I wait

I'm waiting I'm waiting on You, Lord
And I am peaceful
I'm waiting on You, Lord
Though it's not easy
But faithfully, I will wait
Yes, I will wait
I will serve You while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting
I will serve You while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting
I will serve you while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting on you Lord

You can watch the video here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3b2jw1rjBc

It is hard when you are struggling with something to wait on God; you beg and plead with Him and then you have to wait. It is so hard for me; I am someone who is not very patient so when I have been asking for a while and feel like I am getting nowhere I get upset and frustrated. I am sure you can all identify with this in some way. I let other things and my emotions take over and I become obsessed with this particular thing. It is easy to lose sight during times like this. It is easy to put other things first and God comes in last. Yet, we still beg and plead with Him all the while He is still last in our lives; watching TV is more important than studying, falling asleep is more important than nightly prayers, and many, many other things get in the way. I have been trying to catch up on my daily Bible reading. I am 13 days behind right now. Does that tell you something; many other things are coming first right now. This song really seemed to be meant for me in that moment. It was telling me to wait on God; He will do all things in His own time. He has heard our prayers but that doesn’t necessarily mean He will answer them the way we want Him to or when we want Him to. I write this mainly for my own benefit; it is easier for me to write things out than actually say them and I wanted to share this song with you. It is a wonderful song and I am sure it applies to many of us. It is easy to get caught up in life and it is nice when things can be put back in perspective for you. For me it happens in music; I always try to apply music to my life and it is very therapeutic for me.

The other songs I wanted to download that night were by Remedy Drive. We downloaded their newest CD and it is awesome. I highly recommend it. Watch their newest video here:
http://www.tangle.com/view_video.php?viewkey=9ae5876c866e64065536

It's that time again...

2009-03-08T09:47:00.001-07:00

Universal Studios has just released the lineup for Rock the Universe 2009!!!! It will be held on September 11-12 at Universal Studios!! I cannot wait! Casting Crowns, Third Day, Switchfoot, The Afters, Jeremy Camp, David Crowder....
http://www.rocktheuniverse.com/

Still here...

2009-02-25T04:28:00.000-08:00

So, I noticed that I haven't posted in almost 20 days!!!! Back to my old ways of having a blog and never posting. I have several photos (dogs, Jenna's party...) and a video that I want to post but haven't been able to do it yet. Jon and I have been busy just doing odd stuff around the house and things like that. Softball is about to start up again for Jon which is always fun and stressful at the same time. Games are on Monday nights so getting home from work, eating and then driving to the other side of town is no easy task, but we enjoy time with friends. We are trying to not watch as much TV lately and doing other things instead. We are reading our daily Bibles, studying, doing laundry, I have been organizing our photos on the computer, taking walks... Things like that. TV consumes SO much time and sometimes we just plop down in front of the TV and then it is time for bed. On Monday night we watched 1 hour of TV, which is quite a downgrade for us. We didn't even turn it on until almost 9pm!! I feel like the night passes by more slowly without TV and we definitely get more done.
Sunday is our 6 year anniversary so we will be going out on Friday night to celebrate. I am not sure what we are doing yet but I am sure it will be good times. Spring is almost here, and I cannot wait. I want to get out and plant stuff RIGHT NOW!! I want my ugly brown grass to be pretty and green again and I want to ride my lawn mower again. I am planning a vegetable garden and should maybe begin that on Saturday and Jon and I are getting a tree for the front yard. I love spring and all of the new growth that it brings, I just wish it would hurry up and get here! Anyway, I will post more later...when I get the time!

Something I always do

2009-02-09T04:17:00.000-08:00

Usually when I hear a song on the radio I like I will buy it on iTunes for my iPod. Sometimes I will listen to some clips of other songs by the artist/group and decide if I just want to go ahead and buy the whole album. I have this bad habit of buying a CD and then ONLY listening to the song that I bought it for. Most recently I have bought the new Jeremy Camp CD (only listen to 2 songs I know on it), Switchfoot "The Best Yet," and Above the Golden State. Well, since I have 600 Christian songs on my iPod; that's right 600!!! It is hard to hear them all and I have a really bad habit of flipping through the songs like crazy. I can tell immediately if I want to hear a song. I am sure that there are songs on there that I have never, ever heard before. I have the songs on shuffle so it randomly goes through them.

Several weeks ago I finally put my iPod on Switchfoot and gave them a try. I love their song, "This is Home," from the movie Prince Caspian; so Jon bought me their greatest hits album. Anyway, I gave them a try and LOVE the entire CD. Who knew? I have had it since Christmas and just now like it. Well, even worse than that...we bought a CD on iTunes back in September or so. It was a group called Above the Golden State. I heard their song "Sound of Your Name" on our local Christian station and loved it!! I had never even heard of them before. So, I went home that day and listened to a couple of clips and then bought the whole album, never even listening to the other songs until last week.

So, like I said my habit is flipping through songs like crazy, I have to be in a certain mood to hear certain songs. If I don't know the song or the title too bad, it gets flipped through. Last week I was in the car and not really paying attention to my iPod and then I heard a song I had never heard before. It was "Comeback" by Above the Golden State. I really liked it and told Jon about it. He had never heard it either. Like I said with 600 songs it is hard to hear them all. So, later that day when we went out we put it on Above the Golden State and listened to their album for the first time. I have got to say, they are my new favorite. I really like the whole album, they are upbeat but get a good message across. So, give them a listen. I think you will really like them. It took me months to listen to them and now I am listening to them nonstop!!!

http://www.myspace.com/abovethegoldenstate

If you feel lost...

2009-02-06T07:18:00.000-08:00

James 1:2-3: My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.

This was written a couple of days ago, but I just posted it today, sorry for the delay...

This is my favorite verse in the Bible. It has been for a couple of years now; for reasons that are personal and are my own. I try to remember this every time something pops into my life that is a “trial.” That we are to count it a joy, something good will come from it; whether it be here on earth or in Heaven. I feel like everyone will encounter the storms of life at some point, and in those moments we need to reach out to God and pray to him and make him the center of our lives. Sometimes it is so hard to hold on in times like that; sometimes God is the only thing to hold on to. It is when you are on your knees that you look up and see God and remember what this life is all about.

I think it is hard for me in times like these because life really does not seem “fair.” I know that no one was promised a “fair” life but sometimes it is so easy to get down and feel really low. You start to wonder and ask “why me?” I know I have done this a lot lately and there is no answer to this. My life in recent years has had its ups and down; happy times and sad times; and when something new strikes, a new trial is brought on, it can be really overwhelming. And the questioning begins. It is hard to stop it once it starts, and it is hard to just realize that God has a plan for our lives and what is meant to happen will happen. God works in wonderful and mysterious ways; we just have to trust Him. I say all of this even as I struggle to understand it myself. Jon reminds me all the time that what is meant to happen will happen. But, no matter how many times I hear it I struggle to understand it and accept it. I need a daily reminder of this, a daily reminder to trust Him. I try every day to do this, but sometimes it is so hard for a cynic such as myself. I know all of this sounds cryptic but I really just needed to get my feelings out there. Some will know what I am talking about, others will not and I am sorry about that for now.

Anyway, I heard this song this morning on the way to a doctor’s appointment and I have heard several times before but sometimes something just hits you when you are in a different place in your life. It is like I had never heard it before. It meant something totally different to me than it did the last time I heard it. Jon has always liked this song and I have listened to it with him several times. But, this morning I had a lot on my mind and on my heart and this song really spoke to me; it was like it was for me in that moment. Music is so healing to me. It can do wonderful things; it can make you cry, it can make you happy, it can bring something into perspective, it can open your eyes. This song really touched my heart today and I wanted to share it with you. The lyrics really do not do it justice. I will post a link too, you can listen to the song on the right hand side of the page. It is such a pretty song...

Shine Your Light on Us

Robbie Seay Band

Oh, my God

Shine Your light on us

That we might live (repeat)

I've been holding on

All that is inside me

Screams to come back home

Chorus

If you feel lost

Sing along

If you feel tired

Sing along

If you feel lost and tired

This is your song (repeat second time)

I've been broken down

I ain't giving up

Love will come back around

(Chorus 2x, repeat last 2 lines 2nd time)

Shine Your light

Shine it down

Let Your rescue come for us, we long to love

And if you feel lost, sing along

And if you feel tired, sing along

http://www.last.fm/music/Robbie+Seay+Band/_/Shine+Your+Light+On+Us

Zing, Zang, ZOOM...an afternoon at the circus

2009-01-24T17:16:00.000-08:00

Today we ventured over to see Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus with Jenna and Kelly. We KNEW Jenna would love it and she did. She loved the popcorn, the candied cashews, the soft pretzels and everything else. It was so cute to watch her enjoy something like that for the first time.

Me and Jenna. She did not want to have her picture taken at all! In the other picture she is holding the toy that Nana gave us money to buy for her. She loved it.

Her with her new toy. It was so much fun!

Jenna with the elephants in the background. She did not want to leave when it was over. She danced and "felt the music" during the entire show. PS--she looks just like Kelly in this picure!!

The tigers. They did not like to perform and even Jenna noticed how "angry" they were.

The elephants. They were impressive.

We had a great time and it was so much fun with Jenna. We have a ton more pictures but I am sure you will see some from Kelly too!

By Your Side

2009-01-22T09:53:00.000-08:00

Here we are again…another song post!! I love music, what else can I say? This song is by Tenth Avenue North. I heard it for the first time probably about a month ago on my fabulous XM radio (thank you Jon). It is called “By Your Side” and it is just a wonderful song, it really makes you think about your life and your relationship with Christ. I love songs like this one. It is such a pretty song and the words if you really listen to them can really affect you. I love to listen to music on my way home from work. It gives me perspective when I have had a bad day or if I am down and upset it can bring me up again and make me realize that life isn’t really all that bad. This song will really lift your spirit if you need it and if you let it.
Tenth Avenue North: By Your Side

Why are you striving these days
Why are you trying to earn grace
Why are you crying
Let me lift up your face
Just don't turn away

Why are you looking for love
Why are you still searching as if I'm not enough
To where will you go child
Tell me where will you run
To where will you run

Chorus
'Cause I'll be by your side
Wherever you fall
In the dead of night
Whenever you call
And please don't fight
These hands that are holding you
My hands are holding you

Look at these hands and my side
They swallowed the grave on that night
When I drank the world's sin
So I could carry you in
And give you life
I want to give you life

Chorus
'Cause I'll be by your side
Wherever you fall
In the dead of night
Whenever you call
And please don't fight
These hands that are holding you
My hands are holding you

'Cause I'll be by your side
Wherever you fall
In the dead of night
Whenever you call
And please don't fight
These hands that are holding you
My hands are holding you

Cause I, I love you
I want you to know
That I, I love you
I'll never let you go

Chorus
'Cause I'll be by your side
Wherever you fall
In the dead of night
Whenever you call
And please don't fight
These hands that are holding you
My hands are holding you

'Cause I'll be by your side
Wherever you fall
In the dead of night
Whenever you call
And please don't fight
These hands that are holding you
My hands are holding you

You can listen to it here:
http://www.tenthavenuenorth.com/media/music

Live Your Life!

2009-01-19T17:05:00.001-08:00

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

Second post for today, see below for another post...

Saturday night we had Jeremy and Laurie and the kids over for some homemade pizza and Guitar Hero World Tour. This game is so much fun and the whole family can really enjoy it. Emma loves it and tried her hand at the drums
She was really good at it, even though the drums were turned off she did really well. Then she decided that she wanted to sing.

Singing is by far my favorite, especially if I know the song. Some of the ones on the game are Heartbreaker (Pat Benetar), Go Your Own Way (Fleetwood Mac) and many others that are so much fun to sing. Anyway, Emma decided she wanted to sing. Well, we left the mic on and decided to see if she could get us through the song and beat with her singing whatever she wanted. It worked!! She sang the same song over and over and we beat at least 4 songs like that!!! As long as she was in the same tune/range the game considers you to be doing well.
This is the best part. I got video of Emma singing, which she loves to do. During dinner Emma was humming and I couldn't figre out what she was singing and then I caught part of it. She was singing the very beginning of the song "Live Your Life" by T.I. and Rhianna. The begining is the only part of the song that I really like anyway. It is Rhianna singing and Emma apparently liked that part too. Anyway, when we were playing and Emma was singing this was ALL that she sang. You will recognize the song if you have heard it before. She gets SO into and we were all laughing SO hard!!!!!!

Here are Jon and Jeremy and Laurie being Guitar Heroes. They are so hard core!!

Breaking Free...

2009-01-19T16:08:00.004-08:00

As I mentioned in an earlier post Jon and I made several resolutions/goals/dreams for 2009. There are many of them that I really want to accomplish this year. I was telling Jon today that this year just feels like my year. For those of you who do not really know me do not know that I am often crippled by my fears. I have been studying a lot lately and read a book recently about believing God; which I do believe in God but my fears often get in the way of that. Someone told me several years ago that fear is the opposite of faith; and I will never forget that. It truly stuck with me because I often let my fears get the best of me. I had two experiences this week regarding what to me is my biggest fear...flying. Now I have flown before, when I was 4 and then again when I was 6. We flew overseas to live in Sicily. I remember flying and the experience but I do no remember being afraid. I remember sitting by the window on the plane and being totally at ease. Well, as I have gotten older fears have defiinitely gotten the best of me and then 9/11 really got me. I refused to fly anywhere for our honeymoon and have refused to fly ever since. This might be the year that all that changes. So, back to my experiences... I was at work yesterday and I just started feeling like this was something I could do, something I would do this year. Jon and I love to travel, but we have always driven to where we want to go. Jon has never left the southeastern part of the country and I know he would love to see this country. I have been to the west coast and to the Pacific Northwest and have always wanted to go back but again been too afraid to.

Anyway, so I got this feeling that it would be alright and that God would take care of me no matter what. No matter what happened on that plane that I would be okay and that I could do it. I am so tired of being held in captivity of my fears, it is tiring to say the least and worst of all life continues to pass me by and I do not get to do the things I want to do because of my fears. That is unacceptable.

Then today as I was working out and listening to music it hit me again... I do not want to be enslaved by fears. It was very surreal, I felt like I could do anything. It is hard to explain... Anyway, I talked to Jon about it and told him my feelings on the issue. I want to do it. There are so many places in this beautiful world that I want to see and that I also want to show him. People fly every single day. This is my year that I plan on breaking free.

Yes, I am still terrified if I stop and dwell on it; and I will probably be terrified until I am safely back on the ground. But it is truly something that I feel like I can do and that I need to do. I can in fact do all things through Christ who strengthens me. We want to travel while we still are on our own and do not have kids, because once we have kids we know that it will definitely be harder to travel like this. So, please pray for me. I know it may seem silly to be so afraid of flying but it is really a struggle for me. If you know me then you know this. It is my biggest hurdle, and I want to finally conquer it. I really want this to work out. If we do get our chance to travel this year it will be later this year. Many things have to fall into place before we go, money for one and me getting over my fears and onto a plane is another. But, if any of you have any encouraging words or thoughts I would appreciate it.

Holy Water...

2009-01-15T17:37:00.000-08:00

This is one of Roxy's bad habits...drinking out of the dirty bird bath. She LOVES it. I love that I was able to capture this with the sun and lighting like it was. It was perfect!

Something Beautiful

2009-01-15T04:34:00.000-08:00

For those that have read my blog before you know that I often post about music, Christian music mostly. Well, today I heard a song on my iPod that I thought I would share. I had the great pleasure of seeing the Newsboys for the first time last September. They have been around a LONG time and Jon and I had never seen them before. I was kind of excited about seeing them but nothing prepared me for what I saw once we arrived. It was easily one of the best concerts I have ever seen. Anyway, this song is called Something Beautiful off of their current album "Go." I will post the lyrics and then post my thoughts of this song and why I chose to share it with you.

Something Beautiful

I wanna start it over

I wanna start again

I want a new a new beginning One without any end

I feel it inside Calling out to me

CHORUS

It's a voice that whispers my name

It's a kiss without any shame

Something beautiful

Like a song that stirs in my head

Singing love will take us where

Something's beautiful

I've heard it in the silence

Seen it on a face

I've felt it in a long hour

Like a sweet embrace

I know this is true

It's calling out to me

CHORUS

It's a voice that whispers my name

It's a kiss without any shame

Something beautiful

Like a song that stirs in my head

Singing love will take us where

Something's beautiful

It's the child on her wedding day

It's the daddy that gives her away

Something beautiful

When we laugh so hard we cry

It's the love between you and I

Something beautiful

I loved this song the first time I ever heard, hearing it live was even better. As I grow ever closer to my 29th birthday (eeeek!) and my 6th wedding anniversary I have been very nostalgic lately. I realized that I have known Jon for almost half of my life, and dated him since I was 17. This year we will have been together for 12 years!!! Incredible, I don't even feel old enough for that. I have been so blessed to have Jon in my life and realize that it is only through God's grace that we are where we are today. Sometimes life is hard, we have been there; sometimes it is trying, we have been there too. But, above all I realize how lucky I am to have him in my life. We truly share a beautiful life together and I would change nothing about it or how we have come to where we are now. Tough times often bring people closer together and we are a true testament to that. Things happen in our lives to make us realize how lucky and blessed we truly are. One such thing happened in our life this week. It really makes you step back and look at your life for what it is, and really appreciate all of the blessings that God has given you. So, anyway; with all of that said...I heard this song today and it just really made me happy to be where I am in my life; and it made me happy knowing that Jon is in my life. I could not EVER imagine myself with anyone else and I know that God let us find each other. I am so blessed and so loved and hope that everyone else out there feels the same way---Something Beautiful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBJVrkRxIJQ

Something Wicked This Way Comes...

2009-01-07T05:42:00.000-08:00

So, I am so excited! Jon mentioned to me the other day that at his job they can get discounts on some of the shows coming to town. Well, he remembered that I have talked about "Wicked" for some time now. It is a Broadway musical adapted from the book, "Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West" written by Gregory Maguire. I don't know that much about the show other than it is the other side of the story, it is all about the witches of Oz. I am so excited! The show runs in town from April 24-May 10, we haven't gotten our tickets yet but plan on it soon. The only other musical I have seen was Phantom of the Opera and that was YEARS ago. It should be a great show and I cannot wait!

New Year's Resolutions...

2009-01-05T16:42:00.000-08:00

So, this year Jon and I did something a little different. Jon knows someone that said every year they make posters expressing their resolutions, dreams and goals for the new year. So this year we decided to try it out. Last year my biggest resolution was to lose weight, as always. I actually did it!! I lost 15 pounds last year...however, I still need to lose more so it made my list. Anyway, back to the story. So, we bought a poster board and each got a half of it. We bought markers and made them all colorful and pretty (in my case). Then we hung them up in a place where we will see them all year long. We weren't sure where to put them initially and then decided to put them up in the pantry, right inside the door. So, we will see them MANY times a day. Jon also wrote his down so he can look at them at other times too. I will share with you some of the ones that I had on my board. Like I said they are dreams, goals and resolutions...so, lose more weight, exercise of course, read my Bible/study everyday (we each bought a new Bible that has reading the Bible in a year so easy, it is all set up for you with dates and everything!!), pray more, simplify my life, keep to a budget, start a vegetable garden, let go of my fears and worries to God, slow down and enjoy life more, less tv and internet, Saturday night cooking nights (something we started where we cook a new recipe together on Saturday nights), get a hobby, not be afraid to fly, make a list of things I want to do with my life, have deep and lasting relationships...and on and on it goes. I feel really good about the things I put on my poster. They are all achieveable, all within my grasp and seeing them everyday will remind of the things that I want to accomplish. So, I encourage you to all write down your resolutions and maybe you can achieve them this year. Or if you actually read this blog you can share some of yours with me. I hope you all have a happy and blessed new year.

New Year, New Blog

2009-01-02T10:19:00.001-08:00

We are moving our blog over to Blogger after much trouble with Wordpress. Here's to a new year of blogging I hope I can keep up with it!