Tea for Two

I know I'm blessed. I know I'm blessed beyond all measure, because this past weekend, I got to spend glorious time with my mother and grandparents, just hanging out and Christmas shopping.

Mom got here on Thursday, and on Friday treated me and Bean to Holiday Tea at the Arboretum. Can I tell you a secret? I don't like hot tea. Honestly, I didn't think about actual tea being part of the Holiday Tea experience. BUT!!! I tried every type of tea set in front of me and found a favorite, which actually wasn't that bad.

Also part of Holiday Tea was a brunch of sorts. It was spectacular, and really special. I felt quite classy eating tea sandwiches! I took pictures the entire way through to show you how scrumptious our Holiday Tea journey was!



The china was lovely. I showed Brian this picture and he asked me if all they served were leaves. He does not appreciate lovely china.



Here we are at our tea table. This was right after I was scolded by the tea hostess. The ladies behind us asked the hostess if she would take their picture. She said she could in just a minute, so I turned around and said I would be happy to take their picture. The hostess looked at me as if I wanted to kill her, and said "You know, that's actually my job. I'll take their picture in a minute." Okay....

Might as well make her work a little, I guess. We had her take our picture too!



First course: Tomato Basil Bisque with a Cheese Wafer



Second Course: Turkey on a Cranberry Walnut Bread with Orange Butter; Pumpkin Bread with Cream Cheese; Egg Salad on Croissant; Cucumber Tea Sandwiches; Chicken Tarragon Salad on Rosemary Bread



Third Course (Dessert!): Pecan Tartlets; Almond Shortbread Cookies; Espresso Puffs with Mocha Filling; Assorted Holiday Cookies; Cranberry Scones with Strawberry Jam and Clotted Cream

This was such a special experience. I'm so glad Mom discovered this opportunity, and took me along for the fun!!

Tea was in the DeGolyer Garden Café & Tea Room on the Arboretum grounds, and afterward, we toured the DeGolyer mansion, looking at all of their Santa displays.



Side note: Mom kept telling me to quit putting my hand on my belly for pictures. She says everyone knows I'm pregnant so I can stop doing this. (She actually yelled this at me as she was trying to take a picture of me in front of a fountain on Arboretum grounds.) I readjusted to a pose without my hand on my belly, promptly lost my balance, and almost fell into the fountain. Apparently, this pose keeps me balanced.

Thanksgiving and Such

For the last few months, I've been mentally preparing myself for the time AFTER the holidays and the mere two months that will remain until Bean arrives. One of those "holidays" is over, and the wagon (or, this overstuffed large mama, if you prefer that metaphor) is rolling downhill.

Sidenote: After eating my weight in goodies this past week, I am incredibly nervous about my doctor's appointment tomorrow which will require me to weigh-in. I am not at all confident that my doctor won't slap me across the face and tell me to hop on a treadmill and to stay there for the remainder of my pregnancy.

Additional Sidenote: I have my glucose screening at tomorrow's appointment as well. Brian has instructed me to stop inhaling chocolate for the following 24 hours in hopes of passing the test.

Additional Sidenote Part 2: No, we are not going to name our child "Bean", contrary to some people's suggestion. We MUST come up with a name for this child soon, lest he be stuck with any of the following nicknames for the rest of his life. The following are what certain people are INSISTING on calling our child until we come up with a name (and perhaps after... I'm not sure if some of these will be given up easily...)

1. Bean (we've called the baby "Bean" since we discovered we were pregnant. You know, since he was the size of a bean.)

2. Newt (Brian thought it would be HILARIOUS to insist we consider "Newton" as a name for the baby. Our friend Jeff caught wind of this idea and has called the baby Newt ever since.)

3. Hammer Jammer (My friend Christy's husband Johnny's nickname is Hammer. At one point, I left the baby name notebook at their house and Johnny threatened to add "Hammer" to the list. Then, at one point, Brian wanted to give the baby the middle name "Jammer", thus creating the name "Hammer Jammer", which Johnny LOOOOOOOVES.)

4. Beau (An actual suggestion from my in-laws best friends, they think that we should just turn the "n" in "Bean" upside-down to create "Beau". A little too country for my taste, but they think it's a fine idea!)

5. Mackie (What my dad and paternal grandmother are calling the baby. We are considering "Mac" for the actual baby name, but dad and Nannie think Mackie's cuter. Brian hates it, so this nickname might actually knock "Mac" out of the running.)

6. Peter Coyote (No, I'm not kidding. My maternal grandmother came up with this. I don't know where she got it. I'm at a loss on this one....)

I think that's it for the nicknames... I thought there were 7, so I may be missing one, but you get the idea. This poor kid's got a lot to live up to!

Thanksgiving was really great. We got to spend almost 6 days in Lubbock with Brian's parents and also got to see my parents and grandparents for Thanksgiving day in Midland. Two fantastic Thanksgiving meals, and I was thankful for my stretchy maternity pants!! Linda (Brian's mom) is sewing our baby bedding for us, and we could not be more thrilled with the way it's shaping up. Here are the fabrics we're using for the bedding (they're actually a lot brighter than this shows, but you get the idea):



We're pairing these two fabrics with a really ultra soft chocolate brown fabric and a bright red corduroy. The quilt has turned out great and we can't wait to see the rest.

This week, we're attending three Christmas parties and getting those out of the way quickly! Gobble gobble and Ho Ho Ho!

Our Little World

I've apologized before for my posts completely surrounding baby topics. I'll apologize again- I'm sorry that all you're getting here are baby-centered updates. Bean is taking over our world right now! But, this blog is a reflection of our life, and right now, he's our life. (And he's not even here yet. This is frightening...)

So. First off! Bean went to his first concert a couple of weeks ago! My friend Christy got tickets to the Lady Antebellum concert and invited me along- they were amazing seats! I just LOVE this group. It was possibly the best concert I've ever been to- pitch perfect. Also, as I was screaming and singing along, Bean was beating on my tummy. Don't know what he thought but he was either having a great time or was miserable.



So much fun!!! Thank you again, Christy, for inviting me!



Okay, sidenote!! I totally had no clue until this minute that there was some freaky guy behind us making a face when we took this picture!!! Check that out!!!

Last weekend, we finally decided on baby furniture!! (For the second time. We had initially picked some out, and then at the last minute decided on something TOTALLY different.) We're really excited to get this set up and in Bean's room. And when I say "we're" really excited, I mean "I'm" really excited. Brian just wants me to stop bugging him about it... ;-)

Here's what we got:

These almost look black in the pictures, but they're a gorgeous dark brown stain. Yeah!! (Brooke, if you're reading this, these are Bonavita, and Baby Bargains gave the manufacturer an "A-" rating. Much better than the initial "F" rating that the Delta cribs had. Just so you know that I listen to you when you make suggestions....) ;-)

This past weekend, I went to a baby shower for my friend Liz, and it was so much fun!! (Not to mention the food was fantastic!) There's something different about attending a baby shower when you're going to have a baby soon too. Maybe the difference was that I was scoping out the goodies she got. Speaking of which, she got some FABULOUS burp clothes that I decided I couldn't live without. Check out the super cool burp clothes on this Etsy site!! I may or may not have immediately ordered five...

Congratulations, Liz, on making it this far with Willa! We can't wait to meet her!

Lastly, here's a belly pic for you. This is at 24 weeks and 1 day.





Happy Monday!

Belly pic

Don't have too much time to craft a post, but my mother told me I was falling down on the picture posting job. So, Mommy dearest, here you go!! (I promise I looked a lot cuter than this picture indicates, but at least you can see the belly here...)



22 weeks and 4 days

Pumpkins, Retreat, Freak Outs, OH MY!

Last week was insane. I get breathless just thinking about it. Let me just put this out there- Never, EVER, start a business if you can't afford to have someone else do all of your accounting and tax prep. It's not worth it. That is all I'll say about that.

In other news, I went with some of our Life Group gals and their kiddos to the pumpkin patch last Tuesday, and had so much fun. Can't wait to take Bean again... you know, when he's not inutero.



Here are the kiddos. I just love this picture!! No one's looking at the camera, exactly, which cracks me up. They're all staring at Madison, who's trying to obey as we all yelled at the kids "Look at the camera!!!", while she was yelling back "The sun's in my eyes, Mommy!!" Poor kids.

There were animals to feed, a hayride, a pumpkin patch where you got to select your own (tiny) pumpkin and plenty of photo opportunities. So much fun!

On Thursday, my mom arrived and we spent Thursday and Friday shopping for maternity clothes and doing some initial baby shopping research. I just wanted to get a taste of what was out there, and I'm so glad I did because I practically hyperventilated when we walked into BabiesRus. It was completely overwhelming, and I can't imagine just walking in and registering. Whoa. So.

Then, on Friday afternoon, we left for camp!! My church was hosting a Women's Retreat at Pine Cove down by Tyler, and Mom came along for the fun. When we got there on Friday evening, she decided she wanted to do a zip line, and when I asked the people if I could zipline too, they looked at me like I was high. Maybe next year.



Here's Mom on the zipline! She's so cute!!

By Monday, I was EXHAUSTED. I'd had a decently relaxing day until around 4pm when I realized I hadn't felt Bean move all day. I called the nurse and they had me lay on my left side after drinking some juice. Still not feeling anything, they had me come into the office for a sonogram.

There was Bean, happy as a clam, sleeping away. The sono tech had to poke at him a bit to get him to move around, and once he was moving quite a bit, asked me if I could feel him. I still couldn't, and the tech pointed out that how my placenta is positioned is acting as a pillow between me and the baby. I'm really not feeling any of his small movements yet. Rather, he pretty much has to be doing jumping jacks for me to feel him. (Which he must do regularly, because I normally feel him quite often throughout the day.) I did get to see him "drink" (or at least that's what she said he was going.) He was moving his little jaw- so cute.

Anywho, 2 sono pictures and $180 later, I felt like an idiot. It's amazing how overprotective I can be while I don't even have a kid to be overprotective of yet!!! (Well, I do, but not anything I can really do while he's in there baking...) The sonogram tech asked me if this was my first pregnancy. Um, yes. Was it that obvious??

Hoping for a quiet week this week!! Just found out that the crib I thought I'd found has been given an "F" safety rating, so back to the drawing board there!! So many things to figure out...

IT'S A.......!!!

BOY!!!!!

I have to tell you, I was kind of shocked. I somehow got it into my head that it was a boy- about two weeks ago, my mom noticed that I was calling the baby a "he" all the time in conversation. She stopped me and pointed this out, and since I apparently "thought" it was a boy, when the sonogram tech said the words "It's a boy!" I was surprised, thinking that there was no way I would be right.

So. The appointment went really well- actually, I could see the bean's two little legs and bottom, and there was nothing in between them! So, I was sure at that point that it was a girl. Then the tech said "Whoops! The legs are crossed, let's see if we can get it to uncross those legs." She poked me a bit with the sono probe, and all of a sudden, there was something between those legs! It is VERY obviously a boy!

Everything else was checked with the sonogram and looks good. The baby is about 10 oz. right now, and was measuring about 3 days ahead of the due date. (This doesn't mean that they change the due date, but rather the baby's growth will probably even out somewhere down the road.) The baby's size is in the 75th percentile; he's a big boy!

We got to see the heart, the kidneys, the brain, the umbilical cord, and everything looks great. The only thing we didn't get to see was a really clear profile picture. He was holding his fist up to his face, so you can see the forehead and nose, but he's hiding his mouth. Sweet baby- I just want to kiss him!!

Predictions

So with the sonogram that will reveal the sex of our child approaching, I've been hanging on everyone's predictions. (Yes, I know that predictions and old wives' tales don't really mean anything and that God determined the sex of our baby before Brian and I even met... But, that doesn't mean I'm not dying to find out what it is!!!)

The first prediction came from one of my best friends, Morgan, who declared the minute I told her I was pregnant "It's a GIRL!!! I can't live with anymore boy babies! It MUST be a girl!!" She was basing her prediction solely on the fact that all of her future sister-in-laws and cousins have birthed boys and she needs a flower girl in the not-to-distant future, but still, it was a prediction nonetheless.

Second predictions came from my book club ladies, who first dangled a threaded needle over my belly:



And then dangled a threaded needle over my wrist:



This prediction was determined by seeing if the needle swung back and forth or in a circle. According to these ladies, in both instances, the needle swung in a circle, predicting (very scientifically) that our little bean was a BOY!

Third round of predictions were a Facebook quiz of my friends. 6 said boy, and 5 said girl. No overwhelmingly one-sided results there.

Lastly, a family friend told my mom that she could very accurately predict the sex of the baby by looking at a current front-facing head shot of me. I sent her this picture yesterday:



I have no idea what she's basing these predictions on, but she mentioned something about tear-ducts to my mom.....? Anyhow, here's what she sent back:

I was at 98% for 25 years

but I'm hitting 75% in the last 4 months????? so let me know what the sonogram says.

Healthy happy Mom and baby! Buy something pink!

So we shall see!! Our sonogram is tomorrow at 5pm, and if the little bean cooperates, we'll be announcing shortly thereafter what God has blessed us with! Both Brian and I would appreciate prayers for calm nerves- we're both really nervous for some reason!!

FLUTTERS!

So for this week's picture update, I was sporting my first official maternity top, on loan from my friend Isabel. Wowza. I wasn't expecting the maternity top to make me look MORE pregnant, but that's exactly what it did. I guess the empire waist and extra fabric does that... Anyways, here you go:



The first with a little bit of sass. Just because I felt like it.



And there you have it.

So last Thursday, for the first time, I felt the baby flutter around! SO COOL! At first I thought that it was, ahem, gas... But, with no actual...ahem... gas, and continued fluttering, I figured out that Bean was just saying hello! It's been fun to get little reminders of him/ her throughout this week. We find out next Thursday (Oct. 7) what we're having!! CANNOT WAIT!

Mountain from a Mole Hill

I was sitting in my friend Christy's living room last night after life group, staring at her sweet daughter, Sam. Jestine, Amanda, Christy and I ooed and ahhed at Sam's cuteness and her obsession with her tongue. She's so stinkin' adorable!

Jestine laughed as she looked around our little circle, and commented that it was amazing that something so incredible (Sam) can come from something so small (a tiny little fertilized egg.) Jestine pointed at her own belly (flat, fantastic and without child) and said "It goes from this, to this (pointing at my developing bump), to that (pointing to Amanda's ginormous bump, due in November), and back to Christy (who's getting her flat belly back, 3 months post baby.)

It was a fun little moment, all of us in different stages of woman hood. I did have to tell Jestine, however, that my belly was NEVER as flat as hers.... Alas! I now have a reason to be proud of my bump!

Here we are today, at 16 weeks and 3 days:



What was a mole hill is becoming a mountain! (But from the looks of Amanda, I have QUITE a ways to go!)

Clara Update

First of all, thank you to those who have been praying for my Goddaughter Clara, and for those who extended the request to other circles. I spoke with Brooke today, and received a much happier update than we had last week. I sent this email to a friend who'd asked for an update, and I'll share it with you now:

I actually just talked to Brooke today- Clara's out of PICU (sidenote: Clara had been sent to the PICU last week when her body could not rid itself of excess fluids. Clara's chemo was put on hold, she was put on dialysis, intibated and heavily sedated in order to give her body a much needed break.) and back on the oncology floor, which is a really good sign. They weaned her off the breathing machine this weekend so she's back to breathing on her own, which is FANTASTIC! We're on Chemo Day 4, and will go to Day 6 before taking an approximately 23 day break. She'll remain in the hospital throughout this time.

Brooke's mom is going home tomorrow, and they'll attempt to settle into more of a routine or schedule during this time. Brooke will stay at the hospital overnight (they have been sleeping at home, which has been good) for the next week or so- until Clara's in more of a sleeping routine. Apparently, she's having some narcotics withdrawls which are messing with her sleeping routines.

So, for now, all good news. I know that last week's scare with her retaining fluids was just one of many bumps in the road, but Brooke has said over and over that they are feeling massive prayers, all the time. They've been able to rest, which is amazing, given the situation, and there are so many other small blessings. Brooke was able to nurse for the first time yesterday in 10 days, I think. This was amazing!!
________________________________________

Thank you, again, dear friends, for your continued prayers. They ARE making a difference in a very real way. I'll leave you with a picture from Saturday, when Clara woke up for the first time in several days. We've got a long way to go, but THIS is worth praying for:

In an instant...

...Things change.

You've heard me mention my bestie, Brooke, here before. I share the news below because while there's nothing that I can do for her here right now, I CAN seek out as many people as possible to PRAY for her, her daughter and her husband.

Brooke is a new mommy to my precious Goddaughter, Clara Violet Boyle. Clara is 4 1/2 months old, and one of the most loved little babies that ever was. Last Monday, Clara was a healthy little baby, and actually went for her "well check" in California where they moved in May. On Tuesday, Clara spiked a fever, and visited the doctor again. The doctor wasn't sure what was wrong, but thought a virus or cold might be the culprit. Brooke was advised that the fever might return, but not to worry.

Wednesday brought a new fever, but since it was expected, they didn't worry. On Thursday, Brooke noticed that Clara's soft spot was swollen, and called the doctor immediately. The nurse on call said that since Clara was smiling and interacting, and eating normally, there was really no cause for concern. On Friday, Clara was more lethargic, and sleeping more than normal. She wasn't eating very much either. Brooke called the doctor's office, not wanting to go into the weekend with a sick baby.

The doctor requested that Brooke bring Clara in, just to check. Once the doc saw Clara, she was immediately concerned, and had Brooke and Alan take Clara to the ER. Spinal taps and blood tests later, Clara was admitted to the PICU. The meningitis test came back negative, and the CT scan was no cause for concern either.

At 2:34am on Saturday morning, I received a text that the doctors were 75% sure that Clara had a form of leukemia. While that text was shocking to me, I can't even begin to imagine the shock that Brooke and Alan felt when they heard the news. On Sunday, they received confirmation that Clara did in fact have leukemia and her particular cancer is "acute myeloid leukemia".

In an instant, Brooke and Alan went from being normal first-time parents of an infant to being parents of a very sick child. Clara went from being a happy, healthy baby to a baby who will be in the hospital for at least 6 weeks while receiving her two initial chemotherapy treatments.

I haven't had the chance to speak with Brooke since Sunday, but I know the following prayer requests:

-Healing for Clara, that she responds well to chemo treatments (which begin today)
-That Brooke and Alan will be patient with themselves as they learn to be parents to a child who now has very different needs
-Brooke & Alan are essentially alone in California, having just moved there in May, and have no support system within their new town. Brooke's mom was able to travel there on Sunday, but please pray that God will send them support- be that in an amazing care team, neighbors or co-workers, they so need to be surrounded with people loving and praying for them.

I'll update prayer requests as I discover new needs, but please PLEASE be in prayer for this little family. Please add Brooke, Alan and Clara to any and all prayer lists you know of- they need all the prayer they can get.

If you would like to send Brooke a personal message of support/love/prayer, you can do so on her blog. You can comment on her latest post with your message (I assume at some point she will begin to post Clara updates there, but she hasn't started this yet.)

Some of you know Brooke, and some of you don't. I thank you in advance for praying for her and her family, as she's so dear to me. Most of you are mommies and probably are thanking God that your babies are healthy- love and hug them. Life changes in an instant.

Removing the Ring

So yesterday morning I woke up in a panic, having dreamed that my wedding and engagement ring got stuck on my finger, and had to be sawed off. I think it was due in part to flipping through my friend Ally's pictures on Facebook on Wednesday and seeing this from her pregnancy:



Ouch!! So, I woke up yesterday freaked out that my rings were going to get stuck on my hand. I make a habit of taking my engagement ring off every day, just to make sure I can, because my hands swell pretty regularly anyways. However, I haven't taken off my wedding ring in probably 4 years.

I decided that this wasn't going to happen to me. Yesterday I lubed up my finger and pulled off my wedding ring. I put it on my cross necklace chain, since Brian gave both the ring and the necklace to me on our wedding day- I thought that was fitting.

So now, I'm sporting my engagement ring on it's own, and it looks so lonely down there! It's definitely reminding me of the time when we were engaged, waiting to get married. So much anticipation for the future, but still so much to do before we got married. Kind of like right now, when we're waiting on the baby. I'm at 13 weeks today, entering the 2nd trimester. There's SO MUCH TO DO before we meet the little bean, but we can't wait!

Brian told me the other day that he was ready for the baby to be here and me to not be pregnant anymore. I laughed and asked him why, and he said my pregnancy was cramping his style. Really?!?! Cramping HIS style?? I almost punched him...

At what point did you have to remove your rings during your pregnancy? (I know I'm removing mine early- what point did you HAVE to remove your rings?)

Bump Alert!

So Brian and I have noticed for the last few weeks that my waistline is obviously thickening, even if other people wouldn't know that it's b/c I'm pregnant. We were quite surprised when I visited the doctor two weeks ago and I'd lost 2 pounds, simply because my waist is obviously bigger.

Yesterday, I had on a cotton skirt and tank top, and for the first time, when I turned to glimpse my profile, there was an obvious baby bump. Thinking it was just me, I walked into a coworker's office and her eyes got really big and she was like "There's really not much hiding that thing for very much longer."

So, we took my first official 'belly' picture yesterday, at 12 weeks and 3 days.



Quite an unattractive picture if I do say so myself, but whatever. This is purely for documentation purposes. Ignore the shiny forehead and awkward smile!!



Grow big and strong, little bean!!

Party Weekend

This past weekend, Brian and I went to Lubbock to help host a 40th Anniversary/ 60th Birthday party for his parents/ mom. Brian's sister, Andrea, and I had planned a surprise party, and it was so cool that we were actually able to pull off the surprise! It was a Dessert & Drinks party, and turned out so well. We spent all day Saturday cooking (and managed to completely destroy Andrea's boyfriend Murray's kitchen) and the party was on Saturday night.

For the party, we had:

Molly's Pecan Pie
Italian Creme Cake (I had to make this one twice. It was a complete disaster the first time around.)
Chocolate Sheet Cake
Banana Pudding
Sugar Cookies


You can kind of see the spread in this picture- so yummy! Some how I managed to get home without any cake, which makes me so sad!!

Plus wine, beer, colas, waters, coffee, etc. It was quite a yummy spread!! (I was dead on my feet by the time the party rolled around, but it was worth it!)


I'm not sure what's going on in this picture, but I had to put it in b/c both Andrea and I look so bewildered and confused.

I was SO impressed with how Linda's teacher friends pulled together and came up with some fun birthday surprises for her! These ladies were so supportive when Linda was dealing with cancer, and they were amazing again in showing her how much she means to them. Also, one of Linda's cousins is extremely talented, and made up two songs- a birthday song and an anniversary song. Way cool and special for Linda and Stewart.


Following along with the lyrics of one song


Linda and Stewart got a kick out of the personalized song lyrics

It was so much fun to get to celebrate 40 years with Brian's parents- it's rare these days, and they're a wonderful example of how if you're willing to work hard, marriage can be a wonderful blessing.

Busy doing... Not much

So in this glorious first trimester, I've kind of been a bum. Okay, I've really been a bum. I've taken to coming home from work and laying on the bed for about an hour before hopping (read: grouchily sliding) out of bed and making something for dinner. Then, after dinner's over, I immediately return to bed and lay some more. Then I go to sleep at about 10:30pm, getting a little over 8 hrs before starting all over again.

It's quite pathetic. I've been told that my energy will return once I'm into the 2nd trimester, and also to enjoy this very first 1st trimester, as the next time I experience it, I'll have a little one running around and I won't get to lay around. So I'm not feeling too guilty.

It's not as though I don't have plenty to do-- remember, we moved in to a new house RIGHT before we found out we were preggers, so the house is still not very put together AT ALL. I'm sure we'll get it there eventually... just not right now!

In other news, my nausea has subsided, but I still am very picky about what sounds good. As most of you know, I enjoy my food. I don't care what I'm eating- I just really enjoy food. I'm to the point now where I wish I didn't have to eat. NOTHING sounds good, and the only reason to eat is because I'm hungry. So, this makes for some very uninteresting meals (poor Brian!) We've had a lot of baked potatoes, and soup goes down quite nicely. Also, peaches. And hint of lime chips. But that's about it- NO meat for sure, and oddly enough, pasta (which I used to LIVE for) doesn't sound really appealing.

I have to give props to my sweet, wonderful husband, who is putting up with my pickiness and high-maintenance tendencies. He has been amazing, and my FAVORITE part is that he's reading all of the baby books with me. He'll give me little tidbits like "Babe, don't forget to pack maxipads when you go to the hospital." (Ugh...) But it lets me know that he is interested and really excited about the bean.

Oh, AND, he's finally started having serious conversations with me about names!! (To this point, his only suggestion was 'Newton'. As in "Fig"....) We're developing a list!!!

I apologize that the last 4 posts, and this one makes 5, have been about baby crap. It's unfortunately all I think about these days. I'm sure I'll get over it... In March, I'm sure... But, then you'll be barraged with pictures and stories of poop and breastfeeding... So there's THAT to look forward to. On 2nd thought, you may want to leave now...

This is SCARY!

So this past Monday I was baking surprise cookies for Amanda and Christy. I'd frosted them in pink and blue, and then written "BABY" and "Boy?" and "Girl?" and "3.4.11" on them. My plan was to take the cookies to them, and they'd take one look and be like "What are these?" and I'd smile, and they'd scream, and get really excited. (As it turns out, they didn't react quite like this, but more on that later.)

I ran to the bathroom to pee for the 47th time that day, as pregnant women do, and saw that I was bleeding. I ran and grabbed Brian, and immediately started calling the Dr. Brian, not knowing what to do, grabbed the book that the doctor's office had given us the week before and looked up bleeding. (Of course, the book told him that the #1 cause of bleeding when you're pregnant is miscarriage. He shut the book and did not mention this to me.) I finally got a hold of the answering service for the Dr.'s office, and told them what was going on. They said they would page the Dr. and have her call me back.

I crawled into bed because I couldn't think of anything else to do. I laid there while Brian rubbed my back and I thought the worse. Finally, I couldn't just keep thinking about what was happening, so I asked Brian to turn on the TV. He got me to eat about 40 minutes later. The on-call Dr. called me about 1 hr and 15 minutes after I'd called them (apparently they'd had some pager issues) and told me that I could either go to the ER or wait to come into their office the next day for a sonogram. She told me that about 50% of the women who have bleeding during pregnancy go on to have completely normal and healthy pregnancies. I truly didn't know this, so I was somewhat relieved. Brian kept saying that "We don't know what we don't know."

I finally fell asleep after talking to the Dr., once we'd decided to wait until the next morning to go to the doctor's office and get a sonogram there.

We scheduled a sonogram for 12:30pm that next day, and I was so nervous once we got there. I kept asking Brian to pray. I kept having to remind myself that whatever happened, God had a good and perfect plan. The tech started the sonogram and we saw immediately the little bean. She zoomed in and we saw the little heart, just flickering away. We heard the heartbeat, and saw that the growth was exactly on track.

Once we'd seen that everything was okay with the bean, the tech started to look for a reason for the bleeding. Turns out I have a bruise on my uterus, which basically presents like a clot of blood. Your body will either shed it or reabsorb it, and my body just shed it. Not a big deal at all!! We were able to talk with the Dr. about the difference between scary bleeding and non-scary bleeding (which I wish we'd talked about before, but whatever.)

So all is okay! Until then, I hadn't thought about loosing this little miracle. We continue to be in awe of what God's entrusted us with. Simply amazing!

1st Sonogram

We had so much fun this weekend- we finally were able to get to Midland and tell my mom, daddy, brother and grandparents that we are expecting a little bambino!! They were beyond thrilled, and their faces were priceless.

We told them my dad that we had a belated Father's Day gift for him, but it was a "we" gift for both of them, so mom would pay attention. I had framed this sonogram picture for them:



Still only the size of a blueberry, Bean (what we're calling him or her for now) is still really small, but we got to not only see the heart beat at our first doctor's appointment which was really wild, but we also got to hear the heart beat. 141 BPM, which the tech said was perfect.

We're due on March 4, 2011. This is NUTS!!! Before I turn 29, I will have a baby!! (Brian, on the other hand, is not so lucky. He turns 31 in September, and will be WAY over the hill before Bean gets here. Hehehee. Love you, babe!!)

The doctor said that everything looks good, and my next appointment will be on August 12. We're still pretty much in shock, especially since we haven't told everyone yet. We still have some of our best friends to tell, and we're really excited to spill the news...!!!

Dr. Appointment Tomorrow!!

Tomorrow, we go to the doctor for the first time, hopefully to hear our sweet bean's heart beat for the first time. It's so amazing to think that there's a life inside of me!! I've been hesitant to get really, REALLY excited about the pregnancy until we get confirmation of a healthy pregnancy from the doctor. I guess it just seems like we've been waiting to start a family for so long that it can't possibly actually be time. Also, I've had a couple of friends who have been pregnant, only to miscarry around the 8th week or so.

I've not been overly apprehensive, but still, we're waiting to tell people until we do have actual confirmation from the doc that we are indeed pregnant (and two preggo tests didn't lie!) and that it's a viable pregnancy. (Not that we would do anything if the doc said that it's not viable- we would leave that all up to God, but you know what I mean.)

So, pregnancy symptoms thus far:

-Slight tummy sickness- overwhelming feeling of NOT being able to stomach certain foods

-Strong cravings for specific foods at a certain time

-Chest tenderness

-Sleeping more than usual (last Friday I slept for 11 hours straight)

-BAD (for me) acne

Other than that, it's business as usual!! I have to say, we're DYING to tell people. We're making a special trip to Midland this weekend to tell my family, and I can't wait! Once we do that, we can tell other people as well. We spend a lot of time talking about how we're going to tell certain groups of people. Brian won't discuss names yet, so at this point, telling people is all we CAN talk about now.

Can't wait to post these "secret" posts so you can reminisce about this apprehensive time with me!!

We're PREGNANT!!!

On Tuesday, June 29, I took a pregnancy test in the bathroom at my office. Quite honestly, I really didn't think that it would be positive; I was just taking one because I thought my tummy looked pudgier than normal the night before!!

But, alas, there were two lines instead of one!!! I sat on the toilet in shock for at least 5 minutes, and when I could stand again, I immediately mumbled something about needing to go to my car, and called my best friend in California. It was 8:30am here in Texas, so it was 6:30am in CA. I prayed and prayed that she would pick up, but 3 phone calls and 2 text messages later, I was still alone with my big news.

I knew that I couldn't tell Brian until we could talk in person, so for two hours, I was completely alone with this news. Then, Brooke called me back, and she spent at least 30 minutes assuring me that Brian wouldn't kill me, and would in fact be excited with this surprise (no, we weren't trying...)

Certainly, we trust that God has a very specific plan for our future, and His timing is perfect. So while it took Brian several days to get used to this news, right now we're anxiously awaiting a Dr. appointment on July 15 to hear the heartbeat and get our first glimpse at the little 'bean'. After this, we will start telling friends and family, and after it's probably after that day that you will first glimpse this post.

So long, Plano!

We've been living in a lovely house (read: grown-up fancy-pants neighborhood in far too large a house) that we got a STEAL in rent on since July 2008. What Brian and I will forever refer to as the glory days are about to end. Truly, God blessed us with a really great deal for a while, and we got to pretend that this large and in charge home was ours. Alas, all good things come to an end- the owners want the house back...

Here's the really frustrating part- the owners don't want to live in the home. They've been working/ living abroad for the last 5 years, and they just want to live in the house temporarily until they find a different house to buy. Should take them 2-4 months, but, that means we have to move out. SERIOUSLY!?!?! (While it sure isn't the appropriate WWJD attitude, if you feel the need to avenge the demise of our really awesome rent deal, I wouldn't hate it if you left a flaming bag of dog poo on their front porch after we're gone... just kidding... kind of...)

While we were extremely upset and peeved for a while, finding a new home to move in to has really relieved some stress, and helped us transition into acceptance. Since I do some work for a real estate company, I've been able to stalk the MLS 'For Lease' listings. We'd looked at 7-9 houses last week, and on a whim, Brian checked Zillow before we went to bed last Friday night. He found a listing not associated with any real estate company, and we called the owner on Saturday morning. After seeing the home on Saturday afternoon, Brian and I were in agreement that this was probably the best deal we were going to find. (Everything that we were looking at was more expensive than we have been paying, and not nearly as nice.)

We put a deposit down on Wednesday night, and will be moving back to McKinney on or before July 1. Looking back, my first and second blog posts were about moving into our Plano house. I wrote about how sad we were to be moving further from church and life group friends, so it is exciting to be moving back closer to those important ties. But. Some of our dear friends just very recently moved to Plano, so moving away from them is hard.

Alas, McKinney, here we come! Again! I don't have any actual pictures of my own yet, but I got on Google Maps and got a screenshot of a satellite picture.



Pretty trippy that I could do that! I guess this picture was taken around Christmas, because I think those are Christmas decorations out front...

Anyways, that's what is new with us! We're excited!

Sorry, Charlies...

I get really frustrated when I follow a blog (ahem, stalk people via their blogs) and they don't update frequently enough. Funnily enough, I'm so often guilty of committing this blogging sin. However, don't for ONE SECOND think that I'm not blogging at all. In fact, I'm blogging for a living these days!! I am solely responsible for creating content on the following blogs, which you're welcome to visit if you're longing to read my words:

Creekview Realty
For Sale by Owner Homes
Creekview Realty's Trulia Blog
Fresh Look Creative
And, um, this one

Add in tweeting and other geeky stuff, and the last thing I can seem to get around to is blogging for myself. Which is unfortunate, because this is an amazing outlet for me.

So, to catch up, I turned 28 a few weeks ago. Really isn't that old unless you have a 22-yr-old brother, and you're constantly reminded exactly how old you are as he discusses his life with you and asks you questions like "What do you mean, you didn't do anything on Friday night? You went to bed at 10:30pm???!?!? I saw the sun come up and then ran a marathon at 7am!" (Not really on the marathon part, but seriously, he makes me feel really, really old.)

We celebrated by eating a cross cake, made by this guy...



This is Christy's hubby, Johnny. He loves to bake cakes. And I love him for that. (Oddly enough, this isn't a picture of him baking my cake. I went to find a picture of him on his Facebook page and discovered this one. He will be thrilled I'm sharing it with you...)

Oh, and the cross cake... My b-day was on Easter, so me and Jesus shared the cake, symbolically. ;-)

We also celebrated by purchasing a loveseat to take the place of the red/pink/flowerdy monstrosity that currently resides in our living room, which I have owned since I was 21, and found in the Thrifty Nickel. It was time to say goodbye. We don't actually have it yet, but here it is....



We didn't get the whole room, just the loveseat.

In other news, I'm a Godmomma!!! I know, I was excited too... ;-)

Clara Violet Boyle was born on Wednesday, April 14, 2010 to Brooke (my bestie) and Alan Boyle.



Don't you just want to eat her face??!?!?! She's the most adorable baby ever!!! I'll see her (in person- we've been video chatting like mad people...) in May when I go for her baptism, so get ready for a ton of pictures!!

I think that's it!! Forgive my prolonged absences- I miss you guys!

"This Will Change Your Life!!"

This post is probably not going to be what you expect when you think of 'life changing'. It will be better.

Recently, I've started saying "This will change your life!" when I'm eating a really tasty food. I don't know when or how this started, but I've noticed it, so I'm sure other people have noticed and think I'm insane. Here, in no particular order, are foods that have "changed my life" recently. (You know, changed my life in a way other than adding an extra five pounds here or there...)

The chocolate mousse cake Erin brought to work yesterday

These potatoes that I made the other day (don't skimp on the olive oil. trust me.)

Chicken Pad Thai from Tamarind

The FREAKING amazing corn bread that Lindsay made on Saturday (Oh. My. Lord.)

My mom's spaghetti recipe she recently found. Don't know why she couldn't have found it before I moved 7 hours away, but whatever.

This banana pudding. It's more unbelievable than the recipe seems.

The pumpkin chocolate chip cupcakes that Amanda makes. She makes them with FRESH pumpkin. I didn't even know that was possible. Really, folks, these will CHANGE YOUR LIFE. (She also uses regular sized chocolate chips. That's important, I think.)

Well, I'm officially ready for food at 9:45am. What food changes your life? Or, you know, what food do you really, really like? (I know that not ALL of you are drama queens like SOME people.)

Life Happens

I always think I should have some significant topic in mind before I sit down to write a blog post. And, since not too much is going on with us these days, you know, except LIFE, I don't really have a topic for this blog post.

But, since I'm a nerd, I have analytics attached to my blog, and I happen to know that my readership goes down when I don't post very often. In fact, as of today, my readership is down by 29.15% since this time last month!! That's embarrassing, really...

Not too much has been going on with us- Brian's working, I'm working (a lot, really- I accepted a new contract that's keeping me extremely busy, so I'm working about 50 hours a week total.) Goose is ticked off that I'm not at home as much as I used to be.

Hmm... what else....?? Oh, yeah, I almost passed out at the gym last week... too many lunges. My 28th birthday is coming up. I'm officially 10 years out of high school in May. Haven't heard anything about a reunion, though. I got two fabulous new pairs of flats at a great Nordstrom's sale this past weekend (gray suede and red patent- I'm telling you- fabulous!!)

And, I have book club tonight!!! We read "The Saving Graces" by Patricia Gaffney. Pretty good- a little bit of a slow start, though.

So, life's happening. We're living it!!!

SNOW!!!

I LOVE the snow! My intense desire for snow probably comes from the fact that I grew up in West Texas where snow was rare, and if we did get snow, even a few flakes, school would close and we would get bundled in ski gear and play the day away. So, you see, I can't be blamed for laying in bed for the better part of the morning with my laptop, snuggled with the dog and watching the snow fall. I didn't have anywhere to be, after all. ;-)

It became apparent that the snow wasn't going to let up, so I texted Brian and insisted he head on home to join the snow party. He did! We played outside for a bit, throwing snowballs at Goose and each other.





Then, we decided to go to the park so Goose could run around and we could see all the kiddos playing in the snow. We had a ton of fun- apparently, kids had been rolling up giant snow balls, and they looked pretty solid. Brian told me to sit on one and see if it held.



It didn't. Brian stood there laughing at me and taking pictures for at least five minutes before helping me up. It was pretty cold, folks. But, he thought this looked like a ton of fun.



Hehehe. I love my husband. ;-)

I love snow days!

I'm a Cake Ball-ah!

Get it?!?! Cake "ball-ah", as in gangster, except not...?? Anyways... I've spent the last week stressing over the intricacies of cake balls for Brooke's upcoming shower this weekend. Let me just say this: the recipe I had SUCKED. It told me to mix a WARM cake and icing to create the ball mixture. Um, wrong-o! This basically reverted the cooked cake back to dough. Nasty. No one wants to eat cake dough dipped in coating. No one wants to wonder if they are about to contract salmonella from a shower treat. Ugh.

So, needless to say, last night, we tried again, with a different technique that I will detail later.

SO MUCH BETTER! Lemon cake balls rock my world!

And, friends rock my world. I feel so blessed to not only have Brooke here, but to also have several buds who don't even know Brooke offering to help me prep for her shower. Thank you, wonderful ladies!

Ice Cream Conquers All

I was having a truly wonderful day. I got some potentially great news (prayers for clarity needed there, BTW), had a great lunch watching Make It or Break It online (which is truly a cinematic masterpiece for the ages...) and then BAMMM! Bad day smacked right in my face. You don't need to know all the nitty-gritty, except to say that one very snarky attorney (who shall remain nameless, you know, for legal reasons) is a jerk-face.

I had to take some stuff to the post office which happens to be right next door to a Sonic (next door, down the street, whatever. So I drove to get there. Don't judge me.) For only $1.08 (including tax), they deliver happiness and cheer directly to your car. Goose, along for the ride, particularly enjoyed the treat, and all is right with the world again... ;-)

Going Shabby Sheek

As you can tell, I've gone Shabby Sheek... While this is a fairly dated design term, I've noticed that I'm drawn to the sort of look lately that cannot be described any other way...

Goodbye, Asian Chic! Hello Shabby Sheek! (Speaking of shabby, you can get FREE blog design templates over here at Shabby Blogs. Which is, in fact, where I got mine!)

AND, I was not only inspired by my friend Christy to change my look after over a year in the red Asian design, but to also attempt a header design. Very plain, but it makes me happy that it's not the same ole thing I've been looking at for a year or so...

Sooo.... thoughts?????

Book Club

Are you in a book club? I am. This is my 3rd shot at a book club; does that make me a serial bookclubber?

My first book club was the McKinney Woman Magazine book club. I went, and no one talked to me. I knew no one, and when I approached people to introduce myself, I got "that look." You know, the look that says "Who are you?? Do I know you?? I'm pretty sure I don't want to know you..." Good book-oriented conversations though....

The second book club I was in got through one book, and then we could no longer find time to get together.

This brings us to the third book club. I was so desperate to find a book club, a good friend of mine finally told me that her sister was in one, and would I please quit crying about not having a book club if she introduced us??? I called Jackie the minute I got the go-ahead from Christy, and only stalked her a little bit before she called me back.

I got the invite, and I'm so glad! Have you ever hung out with a group of people who are different from you, but you totally love them? This group is that way. They're all moms with kiddos in elementary school, and here I am, not even preggo yet. They've got serious grown-up jobs, and here I am, trying to make a go of my own creative studio. But they are so much fun!! None take themselves too seriously, which is quite refreshing.

On to the books... which are, hmmm, interesting. We've read quite a wide variety since I joined the group back in September:

Julie & Julia (okay- the French food we had at the meeting was the best part)
The Shack (really thought-provoking and good)
The Lost Symbol (great book, but not as good as Da Vinci Code)
Kissing Santa Claus (chose not to read this slutty Santa book) ;-)
Summer at Tiffany (very fun!)
You Can't Drink All Day If You Don't Start In The Morning (this month's selection)

I feel blessed to have found this group of ladies!!! Thanks for letting me join you!! You make my 2nd Tuesdays so exciting!

Claiming the Lord's Power

I'm not a Bible-beating crazy person. Until somewhat recently, I've been very closed-lipped about my faith. I consistently feel the Lord pressing me to speak out in certain situations, and I'm growing. Until recently, I thought that anyone who claimed they were "healed" by the Lord was nuts, and speaking in tongues? Are you kidding me?!

I've learned, however, that my God is far bigger than the box I try to put him in. If He wants me to start speaking Japanese tomorrow, you better believe that He can make that happen! I've learned that for His glory, there is nothing that is impossible.

I read this story today, and I get shivers when I watch the tape. See this link. This "crazy" lady called on the Lord, and claimed His power for herself. She commanded a robber to leave her store, in the name of Jesus. And he left. Sure, he was probably taken aback by this big-haired Texas woman's assertiveness and realized she wouldn't give him one red cent and so he left.

But there is such awesomeness waiting for us when we call out to the Lord. What have I missed because I was too afraid or too skeptical to claim what the Lord's promised me?

On the same note, how cool is it that this story made it into the news?? This lady talking about Jesus, and His spirit... The Lord truly does work in mysterious and incredible ways.

You Are SOOO Stalking Me...

I know you're stalking me. You can't deny it, because I have proof that 19 people have read my last blog post. I know that 17.06% of my blog readers hop over here from one of my high school friend's blog, and another 15.88% come from Blogger.com itself. I can tell you that on December 16, I had 16 people visit my blog.

The reason I know all of this is because I've added Google Analytics to my blog. I was actually using my blog as a testing ground for tracking statistics for my clients. Anywho, I find all of this information fascinating. AND, I know that you're stalking me. SOOO, if you want to know who's stalking you, follow the following instructions:

Go to http://www.google.com/analytics/

Sign into Google Analytics with your Google Account.

Once you have signed in you will be taken to a page that asks you to “Click on the Sign Up button to get started.”

Click on the ‘Signup’ button to be taken to the ‘Signup’ page.

Next: Enter the URL of the site you wish to track, and assign a name as it should appear in your Google Analytics reports.

Once you have done this and clicked on continue, you will be taken to a page that asks for your First name, last name, home phone and Country. Fill out the details and click continue.

Next you will be taken to the Terms of Service Page. Put a check mark in the “Yes, I agree to the above terms and conditions” box and click on the button that says “create new account.”

Once you have created your account you will be taken to the tracking instructions page.

Copy the HTML ’snippet’ of Code.

• Sign into Blogger
• Click on the Layout Tab
• Click on Edit HTML

Put a check mark in the box next to ‘Expand Widget Template’.

It’s always a good idea to back up your template before you make any changes.

Click on Download Full Template to back up your template and save a copy onto your computer.

• Scroll down through the template code and paste the tracking code just before the body tag.
• Click on Save Template at the bottom of the screen.

Once you have added the tracking code to your ‘Blogger Template’ go back to Google Analytics and click on continue.

That’s it. You have successfully installed Google Analytics on your Blogger Blog. Google Analytics should be now gathering data about your blog visits.

Please note that Google Analytics generally updates your reports every 24 hours. You may want to check back the next day to familiarize yourself with the different reports.

Good luck!