Thankful Thursday

Hello, everyone! God has been so good to us this week! Let’s get started:
ABCs of Gratitude:

• Jesus: He gave me the greatest gift ever in my salvation, then topped it off with an incredibly blessed life. I love you, Lord!
• Joy: I’ve found so much joy in my life lately, and it just humbles me with how much I’ve been blessed!
• J-my mom: My mom’s name starts with J, and I really couldn’t ask for a better mom. She can sometimes drive me crazy like everyone’s mom occasionally does, but if I can be half the mother she is, my kids will be doing pretty well.
• Jokari: Gosh, it’s been a while since it (or any of our implements) has been out of the toy chest, but it figures heavily in my imagination these days, and I’m grateful for the times it’s come into use in the past, even if I wasn’t too happy about it at the time.
• June: 26th to be specific – the day I married the love of my life! It’s proven to be a pretty special day in our family. Nick’s great-grandparents married that day, as well as his aunt and uncle. We actually didn’t know that when we set our date, but last year his cousin (the aunt and uncle’s oldest daughter) tied he knot on the same day!
• Jeans: Right now it’s the sole pair of maternity jeans that I have that fit me (fortunately all the others are too big and not too small!). But I live in jeans whether I’m pregnant or not. I really have more pairs than a reasonable person should, and I’m looking forward to the day I get to get back in the rest of them!

Recent Blessings:

• Last week I mentioned that we had a number of large bills that we just couldn’t pay this week. We went ahead and made the car payment, but that still left the electric bill and the house payment as the two most pressing needs. Now we don’t have a huge house payment compared to most people. But it is over $500, and that’s just not easy money to come by for us. God blessed us both with some additional work. I had an engagement shoot where I received a down payment on a wedding for next month, and Nick was able to do some side mechanic work and also haul off some old junk cars on my papaw’s property and keep part of the profits. The mechanic job even brought in a $30 tip, and yesterday I was able to put enough in the bank to pay the house payment and have $26 left. Praise God! And we’re still trusting him for the electric bill.                                                                        
• Last Friday night my parents stopped by with about 6 bags of groceries for us. They insisted that they were out shopping for themselves and just came across such great deals that they couldn’t pass them up, but it was a pretty transparent plan to bless us and help us through a tight week, and I love them for it!
• Monday Daisy said “I wuv you” for the first time and it was AWESOME!
• This morning I got to play baby dolls with Daisy for a while. It’s been so long since Morgan was at that stage, and I had so much fun just playing along and watching her mother her doll!
• Sunday my friend Denise gave me about 4 brand new bras that she had bought and then just didn’t like. The best part is that they are in several different sizes, so some I can wear now, and some I can wear later when my boobs quit going so crazy! And I can tell you that a few good bras was definitely something I needed!
• Saturday we get to have a family cookout to celebrate the fall birthdays. For years Nick’s grandmother has hosted a June birthday party up at the lake cabin because she, Nick’s dad, Kate, Nick’s great Aunt, and now Maddox all had birthdays in June. Quite a few of the rest of us have birthdays in August, September, and October, so last year I suggested we do a fall get-together too. Nick’s stepmom (an August birthday) ran with the idea, and I can’t wait to see everybody and enjoy some family time together. And because Daisy and I are both October birthdays, my parents are going to be there too!
• One thing I was worried about was the fact that Daisy’s birthday is on the 5th (before Nick’s next payday), and I didn’t have anything for her. We had been kind of doing the whole “maybe we’ll have enough money next payday” thing for a while now, but it was pretty obvious that it just wasn't going to happen. Now I looooove to go to thrift stores. When I was growing up there wasn’t always money for new toys or clothes, and we learned early that just because something had been previously owned, it didn’t mean that it wasn’t still useful, valuable, and/or lovable. In fact, there were many birthdays/Christmases when we opened up (well cleaned) previously loved toys, and we were just as delighted as if they’d been brand new. I’m proud to be able to say that Morgan considers thrifted clothes “vintage” and extra cool because they’re generally one-of-a-kind. Anyway, I stopped at my very favorite thrift store on Monday just to kill some time. This place is so informal that they don’t price anything, or even take checks or credit cards. They just eyeball your purchases, give you a ridiculously low total, and take your cash. I found Daisy four Webkinz, four Care Bears, three baby dolls, and two other stuffed animals, plus some vintage sewing trim for me, about 4 bottles for the new baby, and a couple of baby shower decorations. My grand total? Six bucks. I almost felt like I should apologize for getting out so cheaply! Now I have plenty for Daisy to open, and I know she’ll love it all!
• Speaking of baby shower decorations, those are for my friend Elizabeth. She’s about 8 weeks ahead of me, and this is her third baby. She and her husband are in pretty rough shape financially, and she doesn’t have very much stuff for the baby. She has two older kids, but this was one of those “as soon as you sell everything in a yard sale you get pregnant again” babies, and none of her family were planning to give her a shower. I know a lot of people believe that you should only have a shower for the first baby, but I disagree! Every baby is a celebration, and unless your last one is still a toddler and is the same sex as the one on the way, you probably need a few things too! I wanted to throw her a shower, but obviously we’re not really able to spend the money right now. So I contacted some of her friends and family, and it looks like everyone is willing to contribute financially so that she can have one after all! I’m so glad I get to be a blessing to her, and I can’t wait to put it all together!

Baby Update:

Week 22 of Pregnancy: Baby's Hair Growth

Your baby has finally broken the one-pound mark. The eyelashes and eyebrows are well formed now — and even more hair is sprouting atop that cute little head. But hair at this stage of fetal development has no pigment, so it's bright white.

Guess what? At 22 weeks pregnant, your baby has finally broken the one-pound mark. How heavy is that? Hold a one-pound box of sugar in your hand the next time you're in the grocery store (and expect people to ask you why you're grinning from ear to ear). Is the box eight inches long? That's about the length your baby is too!  
This week, your sweetie is making more sense of the world as he or she develops the sense of touch. In fact, your little one's grip is quite developed by now — and since there's nothing else to grab in utero, he or she may sometimes hold on tight to that umbilical cord (don't worry — it's tough enough to handle it). The sense of sight is also getting more developed. Your fetus can now perceive light and dark much better than before (even with those fused eyelids). But remember — unless you're shining a flashlight over your belly (which you can do, by the way), it'll be mostly dark for your baby inside that cozy womb of yours.
Moving up from the eyes, the eyelashes and eyebrows are well formed now — and even more hair is sprouting atop that cute little head. You'd be quite surprised, though, if you could see your little one up close and in color. Hair at this stage of fetal development has no pigment, so it's bright white.

Source

Thankful Thursday - Extra Edition

Sometimes I feel like I must be such a huge burden on God with my many constant needs. Somehow though, He always comes through. This week we’re facing some incredible obstacles financially. I won’t say that we’ve never been in this tight of a spot before, but it’s rarely been this bad. Nick’s work has been unusually slow, and we’re staring down the barrel of several pay-it-this-week-or-it-will-go-against-your-credit bills, among them the car payment, the house payment, and the electric bill. We just don’t have the money to pay them all. I have to remember though, God is bigger than all of our problems. He knows our needs, and His pockets are certainly deeper than ours. I’m not afraid to post this here, because I know that His promises are real, and He has promised to provide for us. With that in mind, I want to go ahead and do my next Thankful Thursday, early for once!
ABCs of Gratitude:

• Italian Ice – okay, this one is kind of silly, but the one and only thing I’ve craved with this pregnancy are Lindy’s Orange Italian Ices. I’m eating one right now, and it is soooo good!

• Innocence – It is such a privilege for me to be able to be home with my children, and I just drink in the innocence in them. I feel like I missed out on a lot of the baby years with Morgan. Even though I only worked part time until she was four, I was still away from home for parts of 4 days every week, and they just change so fast at this age.
• Ice Cream – right now one of Daisy’s favorite things to say is “Eye-keem, Mommy?” It’s cute enough to get me to share those precious Italian Ices with her.
• Insurance – I am so incredibly grateful that we have medical insurance right now. Although I’m having a serious issue with our homeowner’s insurance! Out of the blue they decided (after ten years with them!) that they don’t want to renew our policy. This wasn’t precipitated by anything on our part, but rather by new policies on acceptable home value set out by management. Apparently our home doesn’t meet their minimum replacement value threshold. Or actually it does, since our agent sent over updated numbers, but they then decided that because our roof has never been replaced (even though it’s in decent shape), we’re too much of a risk. Very frustrating since the next cheapest company is going to take our annual premium from $425 to $788. Plus we have to get new car insurance because it’s with the same company. But even this is a blessing, because I have to believe that God is guiding us away from them for some reason, so I’m trusting Him to lead us to a good company with good rates!
• Income – I’m so blessed to have a husband who was willing to be prayerful and follow God’s leading about going to a single-income lifestyle. It’s never been easy, but it has been rewarding, and the gift Nick has given me and the kids in allowing us this time together is priceless!

Recent Blessings:

• Okay, first the big one: my dad had his heart cath test and it came back with absolutely no blockage! I don’t know if the stress tests showed false positives or if God just removed the blockage, but I am very, very grateful! They’ve put him on some new blood pressure medications, and we continue to pray that he won’t have any further episodes.
• Today I was so stressed out about everything from money to the insurance issues to housework. I went out to get the mail and found a package from Kate. It was full of precious little clothes for the new baby, and even a couple of outfits for Daisy! It was just what I needed to brighten my day! The things she sent the baby are soooo precious, and I can’t wait to get them on him. Included was this outfit (minus the bib), and I think I want to bring him home from the hospital in it!

• Daisy has been ridiculously cute the last few days. She’s started saying so much stuff! My favorites include “Yokay, Sissie?” (Are you okay, Sissy?) – said during the many occasions Morgan pretends to fall down to entertain her. “Pimmy-uh, pimmy –uh!” (Pick me up, pick me up!) – made even cuter by the come-here hand gestures. “Hin me a nanana” (Hand me a banana) – about eighty times a day! I had to cut her off after four the other day! “Hin me baby” (Hand me the baby) – said whenever she drops her baby doll. Today she was reaching for a scented rice bag and said “Hin me smell, Mommy!” Maybe the best was today when she said “Hin me book”, and when I handed it to her, “Good job, Mama!” She will also, if lying between me and Nick, put one arm around each of our necks and hug us both at once. Today I was scolding Morgan for something, and Daisy climbed up on the couch between us, put an arm around each of our necks, said “Guys…”, and pulled us in for a group hug. It was pretty hard to stay upset at anybody after that!
• Besides getting the clothes from Kate today, Nick also brought home a huge garbage bag full of baby boy clothes from a guy he works with.
• One big blessing is that even though we don’t have the money we need right now for bills, we do have most of the stuff we need for day to day living. We have plenty of diapers, wipes, dish and laundry detergent, fabric softener (actually I’m trying a homemade recipe right now, and it seems to work great), toothpaste, toilet paper, deodorant, shampoo, conditioner, Tums (life or death for a pregnant woman with crazy heartburn!), etc. And we may be a bit sparse on meat for the next few weeks, but we have enough for a few days anyway, and plenty of rice and beans for after that! The only things we should absolutely have to come up with are milk and bread and maybe butter.
• Wednesday as I was driving home from lunch with Nick this metal plate about 6 inches by 6 inches and maybe a quarter of an inch thick came bouncing down the interstate right at my car. There was no place I could go, and it hit the bumper and put a pretty nasty gash in it. Unfortunately the insurance company (them again!) will count it as an at-fault collision and charge us a $500 deductible if we want to report it. Honestly, we’ve never had so much as a hint of a problem with them in 10 years time, and suddenly all this stuff! I’ve never heard of a company that will count road debris as an at-fault collision! But the blessing here is that it didn’t hit higher up on the car and bounce up into my windshield. I honestly think it would have caused a very serious wreck if it had done so. It definitely would have cracked the windshield, if not broken all the way through it. Or if it had hit the road and bounced up under the car it could have done some serious damage mechanically.
• While there’s not been any real mention of DD lately, Nick has at least (at my request) given me one room a day to focus on for the last few days. I could really use some stress relief, or even some motivational help, but I’ll take what he can give.

And because my “What to Expect When You’re Expecting” online profile changed weeks a few hours after I wrote the last post, here’s the new one. I’m actually 20 weeks and 1 day, but since that means I’ve just completed my 20th week of pregnancy, it gives me the info for week 21.

Week 21 of Pregnancy: Baby's Taste Buds Develop

At about seven inches in length and almost 11 ounces in weight, your baby is about the size of a large banana. There's still a great deal of room in your womb — though your tenant will soon begin to feel cramped, so be prepared!

At about seven inches in length and almost 11 ounces in weight, your baby is about the size of a large banana.
By 21 weeks pregnant, your baby swallows at least several ounces of amniotic fluid each day —  not only for hydration and nutrition, but also to practice swallowing and digesting — skills your baby will need as soon as he or she arrives in your arms. And keep this in mind: The taste of the amniotic fluid differs from day to day depending on what you've eaten (spicy enchilada one day, sweet carrots another). And that smorgasbord of tastes won't be lost on your baby. That's because your little one has very developed taste buds already. In fact, researchers have noted that babies who were exposed to certain tastes in utero via the amniotic fluid were more eager to eat foods with that same taste after birth. Want your baby to eat his or her broccoli later?  Eat yours now!
Your developing baby still has a great deal of room in your womb — though like anyone who lives in one space for a long time, this tenant will soon begin to feel cramped. Until those uterine walls start closing in, however, there's plenty of space for twisting, turning, and even an occasional somersault (so that's what you were feeling last night!). 
With all that belly dancing going on, it's hard to believe your baby gets any sleep at all. But believe it or not, your fetus sleeps as much as a newborn, perhaps 12 to 14 hours per day! (Now if only you could get some sleep!)

Source

Thankful Thursday

Hello, everyone. I really should be in bed, but right now I just really need to focus on the things I have to be grateful for. About 14 years ago, not long before Nick and I got married, my dad had a serious heart attack. He actually had two, but the second one came on the heels of the first and was much less serious. It turned out that he had major blockage in the big vein they call the widow-maker. At the time he was just 52, and he made a full recovery, although he was out of work for almost six months.

Sunday before last my mom called me before church and told me that he’d had a nosebleed they couldn’t get stopped and had been in the ER all night. His blood pressure has spiked, and caused a ruptured vein, which was thankfully in his upper nasal cavity and not his brain where it would have caused a stroke. They packed his nose and gave him some medicine, and on the following Monday he was able to get the packing removed, and everything seemed fine.

This Tuesday morning he called me and told me that his blood pressure had spiked dangerously high again and that they were on their way back to the hospital. I called Nick and my brothers and let them all know, and after a while my mom called and let me know that his bp had stabilized, but that they were going to run some blood work. A bit later she called back to tell me that his blood work looked fine, but they wanted to keep him overnight and run some heart tests. I wanted to go see him, but she said that he was resting and would be checking out early the next morning, so rather than injecting my toddler into the situation, I just waited. I talked to him that night, and he seemed to be feeling well.

Yesterday morning (Wednesday as I’m writing this very early Thursday morning) my mom called again and they had run some stress tests on him, and they had come back with some abnormalities, but they were waiting on the cardiologist to come and tell him was that meant. It turns out that it meant that there was serious blockage again and that his heart was only functioning at 45%. Nick was home by then, so we all loaded up and went to see him.

There’s just something indescribably frightening about seeing the man who raised you, the very epitome of strength, lying tethered by tubes and wires to a hospital bed. In a few hours they’ll do a heart cath to see if they can put in a stent or if they’ll have to do open heart surgery. I covet your prayers.

Focusing on good things: The ABCs of Gratitude:

• Hospitals – they aren’t very fun places to be, but oh how grateful I am that we have access to them, and that the one currently caring for my dad is such a fine one.
• Husband – I am far beyond blessed to be married to such a wonderful man, one who didn’t hesitate to, without having dinner, pack up me and both kids and drive across town to take me to see my dad.
• Hugs – right now Daisy is a world-class hugger. I’m talking about those priceless little toddler hugs where she throws both arms around my neck and squeezes as tight as she can while saying “Mmmmm-mmmmm!”
• Halfway – as of today, I’m half-way through my pregnancy. Yay!
• Heaven – the place that I know I have waiting for me, and if you don’t know it too, you can!
• Heat – it’s starting to finally cool down around here, and there’s nothing cozier than the first time you turn the heater on in the fall!
• Home – these days our house is feeling a bit crowded, and it’s only going to get more so, but crowded or not, it’s our home, and I’m grateful for it.

Recent blessings:

First of all I’m grateful that my dad was sensible enough to go to the hospital when he needed to. He very nearly died with his first heart attack because he was too stubborn to go on his own. My mom found him in bed and made him go, and the doctor said that if she’d gotten home 15 minutes later we would have lost him.

I have a client who I’ve done a couple of photo shoots for. She always wants to buy the CD, but she has a hard time holding onto money, so she mails it to me a little at a time. A couple of days ago she sent me the last $20 on this order, and that paid for our hospital parking as well as our dinner tonight (since I didn’t have time to cook).

Daisy and I got to have lunch with Nick today. It was just sandwiches and chips from home, but we really enjoyed the time together.

I went to the used book store today and traded in a bunch of children’s books that the kids didn’t care for. I didn’t get much for them, but it was almost enough to pay for two books that I know my dad will love for Christmas.

Saturday I got to go to a car show with Nick. He finally got to drive his Fairlane, and we really enjoyed the kid-free time.

Night before last Nick’s parents had us over for dinner. Hooray for food someone else cooked!

I’m super excited that we’re having a little boy! Of course we would have loved  another little girl just the same, but we’ve both always wanted a little boy.

Speaking of, when I went to the doctor last Wednesday to find out what we’re having, the ultrasound tech came out just before I went back and announced that the ultrasound machine was broken. I was terribly afraid that we’d have to wait another month to find out, and Nick had even taken the morning off to come to the appointment with me! Fortunately the doctor across the hall was out that day, so we were able to use his machine. The baby looks great, everything’s normal, and he’s growing right on schedule!

Saturday I have an engagement shoot. It’s a bit of a drive away, but I should get the down payment on the whole wedding package, which Nick and I will be shooting together next month. Yay, teamwork!

Baby Update:

Week 20 of Pregnancy: Boy or Girl?

You've got a heavyweight in your belly now (well, in baby terms, anyway). Your little champ weighs about ten ounces and has a height, crown to rump, of about six and a half inches. Think of your developing baby as the size of a small cantaloupe (and probably as sweet too). Boy or Girl? You'll also be able to see your baby's gender in the ultrasound by now!

You've got a heavyweight in your belly at 20 weeks pregnant (well, in baby terms, anyway).  Your little champ weighs about ten ounces and has a height, crown to rump, of about six and a half inches. Think small cantaloupe (and probably as sweet too).

Is it a boy cantaloupe or a girl cantaloupe? You'll be able to find out your baby's gender via the ultrasound by this point. If you're carrying a girl fetus, her uterus is fully formed this week and her vaginal canal is starting its development (which means that in about twenty-five or thirty-some-odd years, she could be just where you're at, Grandma!). She also has primitive eggs in her tiny little ovaries now, seven million of them — though by the time she's born, that number will be down to two million (still more than she could ever hope to use). And interestingly, your baby girl will be born with all the eggs she'll ever have. 

Have you got male? If your fetus is a boy, his testicles have begun their descent this week, though they're still located in the abdomen, waiting for the scrotum to finish growing so they'll have a place to drop into in a few weeks.

Though the external genitals in both male and female fetuses still have a way to grow, you should be able to find out the sex of your baby (if you want to) during an ultrasound exam. 

Source

So I had my ultrasound today, and…

Thankful Saturday

Yes, I missed Thursday again, but it was a really busy week! Nick was out of town at school for most of the week, and I got to play single mom for a few days. But he’s home now, and I sure am glad!
ABC's of Gratitude:

• Groceries – while we didn’t go hungry last week, we were definitely eating out of the back of the pantry, and it’s nice to have a few more groceries in the house this week.
• Gift-giving – I spent a good part of one day last week making up a couple of lists (I’m a big list maker). One was our Christmas list, and the other was a list of the supplies I’ll need to make all of those gifts. Yep, I’m going to do my best to make almost every gift we give this year. Last year I made a significant portion of them, and it really added a new layer to Christmas for me (not to mentioned helped the budget quite a bit!). Now I know that there will be a few things I can’t craft myself, but I was actually pretty impressed with the number of ideas I found online, and I even came up with a few all by myself!
• Grandparents – Tomorrow is Grandparent’s Day. I no longer have any living grandparents, although both of Nick’s on his dad’s side are healthy as horses. We’re so blessed to still have them, and we’re even more blessed that our parents are such amazing grandparents to our children. Both my mom and Nick’s stepmom were in the delivery room for both my girls’ births, and they’ll both be there for this baby as well, and it’s so important to me that they get to be grandmothers from the very first moment of the baby’s life!
• God – Wow, how on earth can I express how grateful I am for and to God? If not for Him, there would be nothing else at all.
• Grace – Grace is a concept that is so incredibly important in both marriage and parenting, and I’m so grateful God has shown so much grace to me.

Recent Blessings:

• My parents safely returned from L.A. this past Tuesday. They also dropped off $50 with me just because they knew Nick was out of town and we were pretty tight for money.
• Nick safely returned from school on Thursday. He had a great time, and he learned a lot!
• Nick’s dad came over Thursday before Nick got home and mowed our front yard and cleaned out our gutters.
• I took advantage of this deal on www.moneysavingmom.com, and it’s going to get me a sweet little stocking stuffer for Nick, always a hard order for me to fill.
• A few weeks ago I also signed up for www.savemore.com and ended up getting a couple of kids watches for free, which will also make a couple of great Christmas gifts. They came in the mail a few days ago, and I love them! By the way, the link in the last sentence only is my referral link. If you would like to sign up through it, you get a $10 credit, and then I get a $10 credit if you make a purchase (but it will not tell me your name or email address, just in case privacy is a concern). I got the watches completely free because I signed up and got my $10 credit and used it to purchase the $7 watch deal, then referred Nick, and he also purchased the same deal with his $10 credit. And because he made a purchase (albeit one covered by his free credit), I got another $10!. Currently I’m hanging onto my remaining credit for the next great deal that comes along for a Christmas gift!
• Last year I signed up for an off-site storage account with Mozy. I lost my hard drive a couple of years ago, and it was a pretty devastating experience. Once I started doing photography professionally, I knew there was just no way I could risk losing client images. At the time I got a great deal with Mozy, and I’ve been very happy with them. Unfortunately they did away with their unlimited storage option a few months back and went to a new (much pricier) by-the-GB plan. My first year with them cost me about $46. Under the new plan I would be paying over $300! My contract with them was up August 31, and they were going to renew at the higher rate if I didn’t cancel. I knew I needed the service, but I also knew we just didn’t have the money to either renew with them or open a new account elsewhere that week. Fortunately a friend who’s tech-savvier than me suggested I try out Crashplan (not an affiliate link), and they were running a 30 day free trial special. I signed up with them, and I’m so excited to have an extra 30 days to come up with the annual fee (which is comparable to the one I started out with at Mozy).
• Pinterest – If you’ve never hear of Pinterest, you should really check it out. It’s basically a free bulletin board for you to pin up all the great ideas you find online, and to see other people’s finds as well. It’s where I’ve found a big chunk of my Christmas gift ideas. A warning though: it will suck you right in, and you might find yourself exploring there for hours at a time!

Baby Update:

Week 19 of Pregnancy: Vernix Develops

Six inches long this week and about eight ounces in weight, your baby is the size of a large mango and is now covered in a protective substance called vernix. Arms and legs are finally in proportion, neurons are now connected between the brain and muscles, and cartilage throughout the body is turning to bone.

Six inches long this week and about eight ounces in weight, your baby is the size of a large mango.
Your little action figure is able to choreograph Matrix-like moves at 19 weeks pregnant. Arms and legs are finally in proportion, neurons are now connected between the brain and muscles, and cartilage throughout the body is turning to bone. All these upgrades combine to give your baby more control over limb movements. Which explains all that kicking, stretching, and bodysurfing (or rather bellysurfing) you've possibly started feeling by now. 
Something else going on this week: Your baby is getting a cheesy varnish. Say what? Yup — a protective substance called vernix caseosa (vernix is the Latin word for varnish; caseosa is cheese) now covers your baby's skin. It's greasy and white and is made up of lanugo (that downy hair), oil from your baby's glands, and dead skin cells. This waxy "cheese" may not sound too appetizing or attractive, but it's there for good reason: Vernix protects your baby's sensitive skin from the surrounding amniotic fluid. Without it, your baby would look very wrinkled at birth (sort of what you'd look like if you soaked in a bath for nine months). Some babies — especially those born early — will still be covered with vernix at the delivery, so you might get a look at your baby's first anti-wrinkle cream.

Source

Thankful Thursday

Er, Friday. Okay, fine, SATURDAY. So yeah, I’m late again. But I’m here now!
ABC’s of Gratitude:

• Family – you can’t choose the one you get, but Nick and I are both incredibly blessed with the ones we have. My parents have been married for 43 years; Nick’s mom and dad were married for just over 20 years when Nick’s mom passed away, and Nick’s dad has been married to Nick’s amazing stepmom for almost 12 years now. We are so thankful for the wonderful examples we’ve had of married couples in our family!
• Fathers – First of all, my own father is just an incredible dad. He’s taught me so much, and I’ve never for one day doubted his love for me. Secondly (but just as importantly), Nick is a wonderful father to our two girls – and I know he’ll be just as fabulous with our new little one. And the most important Father of course is my Heavenly Father. I cannot even begin to express how much I love God and how very much He loves me!
• Fathers-in-law – Nick and I both got lucky here. My dad considers Nick a son, and he truly treats him as such. Nick’s dad is forever coming over to help out with something we need fixing around the house, and my very first Mother’s Day he was the only person who thought to buy me a gift.
• Fixing stuff – Today I had something scary happen: the charger cord on my laptop died. It had been fraying right at the base of the end you plug into the computer, and it finally completely broke tonight. Right now we do NOT have $80 to go buy a new one, and I depend on my laptop for SO much. We do have a desktop upstairs, but all of my clients’ photos, as well has all my editing software is on this laptop, and frankly I would be lost without it. Fortunately, after a lot of prayer, soldering, and electrical tape, Nick got it fixed good as new! Now we’re dealing with a broken DC jack on his laptop, also a serious issue because he uses it daily for work. The part that will fix it (we hope) is really cheap on ebay, but it’s still not quite cheap enough for us to buy it this week. Anyway, we would really appreciate your prayers that we can get the part soon and that he will be able to fix it completely!
• Faith – these last two years our faith has really had to stretch with the switch from two incomes to one. But I am so glad to be able to say that not once has God failed us. Right now we’re definitely running on faith: It’s 6 days till payday, and I only have enough food for about 3 more days, plus Nick is completely out of gas, and I have just enough to get us to church on Sunday. But I’m not panicking. Matthew 6:25-34 tells me all that I need to know, and I can know it with such certainty because He has proven it over and over again:

   Matthew 6:25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?

²⁶Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
²⁷Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
²⁸And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
²⁹And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
³⁰Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
³¹Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
³²(For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
³³But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
³⁴Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.


• Freebies – It’s getting to be the time of year again when I start thinking about Christmas gifts. Last year almost every gift that went out of our house was something I got for free or almost free with various online deals and/or coupons. It was actually a lot of fun to be able to get Christmas gifts for everyone for so little, and it really helped us focus on the true meaning. I’m looking forward to a now holiday season full of great deals and freebies, not to mention lots of crafting and handmade gifts!
• Fabric – I’ve mentioned that I’ve really gotten into sewing and crafting over the last year, and I’ve found myself developing a real love of fabric. There’s just so much you can do with it, and I love how unique a project can be depending on the type and print you use.
• Fun – well who doesn’t like to have fun?

Recent Blessings:

• At my last doctor’s visit I had my quad screen. This is the blood test that checks for, among other things, indicators for chromosome abnormalities (such as Down Syndrome) and neural tube defects (like spina bifida). This is a common test, and one I’ve had with all three pregnancies, but it’s still nerve-wracking, especially since the results take a few days to come back. Toward the end of last week my test results came in, and they were all normal.
• Nick will be going to school for work next week. This is a mixed blessing for me, because I always hate being without him. But they feed him (quite well, actually), as well as pay for travel and lodging, so that means we wont have to pay for gas for him to go to work and back for most of the week, and we also won’t have to worry about lunches for him. This is also a necessary step for him in getting his ASE certification, an accomplishment that will mean more money for him. He also gets to go with one of his closest friends at work, which is nice.
• God has already stretched our food this week. More than once I’ve found things in the cabinet that I didn’t know we had, and our bread machine has really been a lifesaver, giving me the ability to put together things I would not have otherwise been able to. I also really appreciate my meat and potatoes husband sweetly eating whatever I put in front of him (and even taking it for lunch the next day!), even if it wasn’t exactly what he would have chosen.
• My parents are currently in L.A. visiting my brother, who’s there on assignment. They visited him in Houston last year and hated almost everything about the trip, but this year they’re having the time of their lives, and I’m so happy for them!

Baby Update:

Week 18 of Pregnancy: Fetal Nervous System

This week your baby is about five and a half inches long, crown to rump, and weighs about five ounces. And fetal development has reached the stage for you to start feeling those movements some time in the next few weeks — so get ready!

At 18 weeks pregnant, your baby is hitting the height chart at five and a half inches long (remember, that's crown to rump) and weighs about five ounces (the weight of that boneless chicken breast you're making for dinner).
And now for the skill of the week (drum roll please…): The art of the yawn has been mastered by your baby (someone's sleepy!).  In fact, you might catch a glimpse of that adorable yawn if you're getting an ultrasound this month. You'll also catch a glimpse of all the fetal movement your baby's doing — twists, rolls, kicks, and punches. And would you believe your baby is finally big enough for you to start feeling those movements now (or anytime in the next few weeks). So get ready!
Something you won't see on the ultrasound, but you'll know is in working order, is your baby's nervous system, which is maturing rapidly at this time.  Nerves, now covered with a substance called myelin (which speeds messages from nerve cell to nerve cell), are forming more complex connections. And those in the brain are further specializing into the ones that serve the senses of touch, taste, smell, sight, and hearing. Talking about hearing, your baby's is growing more acute, making your little one more conscious of sounds that come from inside your body (which means you could both be listening to each other hiccup  — a skill that your baby has by now).

Source

Thankful Thursday

It’s Thursday again, and this week I made it on time!

ABC’s of Gratitude:

• Eggs – I’m not a huge fan of just egg dishes, like scrambled eggs, deviled eggs, etc. But I do love Nick’s egg salad sandwiches, and I definitely wouldn’t get very far in my cooking without always having a carton or two on hand.
• Dr. E – my OBGYN’s last name starts with an E, and I just have to say that she is a FABULOUS doctor! She’s delivered both of my babies so far, and Lord willing she’ll deliver this one too. She’s a doctor who really, truly cares about her patients, and her practice reflects that. I can’t tell you how many times over the years she’s sent me home from her office with 6 months worth of birth control samples just because she knew we were having a rough time financially, and she’s always gone above and beyond the call of duty in addressing any concerns I had, whether over my PCOS or any of my pregnancies.
• Elevators – since I no longer work outside the home (other than for photography), elevators don’t play a huge part in my life anymore. But I had to visit the hospital’s billing office when I went in for my doctor’s visit this week, and you can bet I was happy not to have to traipse up and down stairs between all those floors!
• Electricity – We ended up going without power for most of the day a few weeks back due to some area storms. Now I know that there were plenty of folks without power for weeks, so we were quite fortunate to get it back so quickly, but I sure did miss it while it was gone!
• Easter – the day we celebrate the greatest gift we were ever given!

Recent Blessings:

• I went to the doctor on Monday, and everything is going well with the baby. I even got an unexpected peek at him/her! I wasn’t supposed to have another ultrasound until next month, but my (awesome) doctor asked me if I wanted her to try to see if she could tell what I’m having. Unfortunately our little peanut wasn’t cooperating AT ALL. My doctor said that a lot of times when she says she can’t tell for sure, she’s pretty sure it’s a girl, but this time she wasn’t getting even a glimpse of the relevant parts. But it was still really neat to get to see the baby, and this way Nick will get to be with me when I find out. Plus, I get to go back 3 weeks from yesterday instead of waiting a whole 4 weeks like I usually have to do.
• God has, as always, kept His hand on us financially, and as we face some upcoming expenses in the next few weeks, it’s wonderful to know that we can depend on Him to continue doing so.
• Morgan is back in school, and she’s enjoying it. Now there’s a little more to the story than just that. For the last 6 years she’s attended the Christian school that I attended from 1st grade through graduation. My mom worked there for 22 years, retiring just a couple of years ago. Now this has always been a great (if small) school with some great teachers, but over the last few years it has quickly begun to decline. The founding pastor retired in 2009 and passed away later that year, and unfortunately the man he hired to replace him has made some really terrible decisions. Sadly he has proven to be a less than honest man, although I think he genuinely wants to do a good job. Piece by piece the ministry has started to deteriorate as he has replaced some of the much loved and very capable long-time employees with people of his own choosing. At this point there are a total of 8 teachers for the entire K through 12 school, and enrollment has bottomed out. Since he took office, the school has lost about 20 different teachers and office workers, some of them who have dedicated 20 years or more of their lives to this ministry. Some, like my mom, retired because they felt like it was no longer the place God had for them, some were forced out by pay cuts, and some were outright fired because they didn’t agree with his policies. Anyway, since last year Nick and I have been in serious prayer about where to send Morgan this year. Just a few days before the school year started he fired a lady who had not only been a tremendous asset to the ministry, but who had also kept a close eye on Morgan, no small thing for us in the climate that had begun to develop there. We felt it was God really working on us to go ahead and move her to a new school, so with much continued prayer, we have done so. Her teacher at the new school seems to be a really great guy, and Morgan is really enjoying the new setting. The academics are also on a whole new level at the new school, and I just thank God that He guided us and smoothed the way for her to have everything she needed to enroll there.
• Morgan wore a uniform at her old school, and since the decision to send her to a new school was not made until literally last Friday, we didn’t have much in the way of school clothes for the new school. Nick’s dad and stepmom came and took her shopping for most of what she needed, and I was able to get a few other things on clearance for her.
• Morgan’s school bus now picks her up and drops her off 3 houses down from ours. This is great news, because at first it was going to be about a quarter mile away – not a huge distance, but far enough that I had to stick Daisy in a stroller and walk her to the bus stop the first three days. This is not such a big deal right now, but when I have a toddler and a newborn, it will be a huge help to not have to get them both out every morning.
• With the bus now coming to get Morgan, Nick no longer has to drop her off at school, and I no longer have to pick her up, saving us both lots of gas!
• We went out to eat tonight (a rare treat, but I had to take Morgan for her school physical and didn’t have time to make supper). Shortly after leaving the restaurant, I realized I didn’t have my phone. I borrowed Nick’s to call the restaurant and see if they’d found it, but they said they didn’t have it. Praying hard and trying not to panic, I drove back down there and found it under the table where we were sitting. Yay!

Baby Update:

Week 17 of Pregnancy

Your baby is practicing sucking and swallowing as she gets ready for the real thing: a breast or bottle! As for Mom, you may be warding off some unwanted belly touching.

Your Baby in Week 17 of Pregnancy

My how your baby has grown! She's about the size of your palm, weighs about five ounces, and is developing some body fat (join the club, baby!). Her heart is now regulated by her brain (no more random beats) to beat 140 to 150 times per minute — about twice as fast as yours! What else is up? She’s practicing the survival skills she’ll need at birth — like sucking and swallowing.

Learn more about your baby in week 17 and a baby’s body fat.

Your Body in Week 17 of Pregnancy

Now that you're starting to show, chances are that friends, coworkers, and even strangers may feel the urge to reach out and touch your belly. If you don't mind, that's fine. But if you do, speak up kindly but firmly. More new developments with your body: a slight vaginal discharge (leukorrhea) and a greater sensitivity to allergens these days — both are totally normal — and the appetite of a truck driver now that the queasy feeling is (probably) gone.

Learn more about your body in week 17 and your growing appetite.

Week 17 Pregnancy Tip: Snoring

If your partner finds your new snoring habit about as sexy as a hippo in a thong (which, by the way, you're starting to feel like), take heart. The stuffiness that often triggers world-champion snoring is common and temporary, another unexpected (make that inexplicable) side effect of those pregnancy hormones at work (that’s right, even your nose is affected by pregnancy hormones!). Try putting a humidifier in your bedroom, using one of those nasal strips on your nose to open up your nasal passages (doesn't look pretty, but it works for some people), or sleeping on a couple of pillows to keep your head slightly elevated. And if he still complains, buy him a set of earplugs — or banish him to the couch for the night; after all, it's more important that you get a good night's sleep these days.

Source

Thankful Thursday

Ok, I really am sucking at this. After being late with Thursday before last, I forgot last Thursday completely, and here it is almost midnight on this Thursday. But I made it!

ABC’s of Gratitude:

• Dip. Cannoli dip, specifically. This one. Make it and eat it with animal crackers and you can thank me later.
• Dollars – like it or not, we’ve gotta have them, and it sure is easier when we do.
• Dogs – not all of them, necessarily, but I sure do love ours.
• Donuts – Okay, I don’t actually love donuts. They’re okay, but I’d much rather have a cupcake. But our church serves them with coffee every Sunday after the evening service, and I cherish the fellowship time.
• Date night – we really, really, REALLY need another one of these pronto.
• DVR – it has revolutionized our TV watching.                                          
• DD – is it a sad sign that I almost forgot this one? Yes, it’s been awhile since there’s been too awful much sign of it, but I think it’s still there under the surface, and I‘m grateful for however much of it there is.

Recent Blessings:

• Nick installed our new garbage disposal and it works great! Yay!
• Last year when we went on vacation, Nick’s supervisor forgot to put his vacation in to payroll, and his paycheck was majorly short. This year Nick made extra sure to fill out the necessary paperwork (which he also did last year, not that it mattered). Unfortunately, his supervisor did the exact same thing this year. Last year they refused to fix it till his next paycheck, two weeks later. Fortunately at the time we had some money coming in from elsewhere, so we made it, but this year there was just no way we could make it another two weeks. We both really prayed about it, and his supervisor pulled some strings and got Nick a check cut for the difference the same day.
• On several separate occasions both my mom and Nick’s dad have found Nick nice used left-handed golf clubs at flea markets and thrift stores. Today his dad dropped of a very cool golf bag along with another club, and his set is nearly complete.
• We’ve been interested in moving Daisy to a toddler bed in the very near future. She’s gotten very proficient in climbing out of her crib, plus we want her out of the crib well before the new baby arrives. Less chance of her feeling like the baby has pushed her out of her bed that way. Nick’s dad and stepmom found a perfect one for a great price at a little antique store while we were away in Texas, and they bought it as a gift for us.
• Nick got a little bit of side work today, which is always nice.
• More movement from the baby over the last few days. Happy times.                 

Baby Update:

Week 16 of Pregnancy: Baby's Hearing

Listen up: Tiny bones in your fetus's ears are in place this week, making it likely that the baby can hear your voice when you're speaking (or singing in the shower) at 16 weeks pregnant. In fact, studies have found that babies who are sung to while they're in the womb recognize the same tune when it's sung to them after they are born (so choose your baby Muzak with that in mind…).

And baby's busily boning up in other ways. For one, the backbone (along with the back muscles) is stronger now — strong enough, in fact, to enable your baby to work on straightening his or her head and neck even more. Baby's crown-to-rump measurement is between four and five inches in length, and weight is hovering around three ounces.

This little one's a looker — with a face that has both eyebrows and eyelashes — but a skinny looker since there's no baby fat yet. And here's the skinny on baby skin: It's practically translucent now, so if you took a peek inside your uterus, you'd be able to see your baby's blood vessels under that thin skin.

Source

A bit late, but so much to be thankful for!

Sorry I’m late with my Thankful Thursday post, but I was busy in Texas last week!
ABC’s of Gratitude:

• Cuddling – whether with my husband or my girls, I’m a big fan of cuddling, and I can’t wait to cuddle with the new baby!
• Comcast – okay, most of the time. There are occasions when we lose service for a little while (like yesterday), but their customer service has always been phenomenal with us, and I love their On-Demand and DVR services.
• Casseroles – I admit, these are my go-to dinners when I don’t know what else to fix, and I’ve got a million of them.
• Couches – I mentioned a few months ago that we got a new living room set with our income tax return back in March, and I just have to say how very much we all love our couches. One is technically a love seat, but it’s almost big enough to stretch out on, so I think it counts as a couch.
• Chair – Oh, and I love the huge chair and 1/2 that came with the couches too!
• Cousins – Morgan and Daisy got to spend the week with their cousins while we were in Texas, and it was so much fun to watch them interact with each other, especially Daisy and Maddox, who’s four months older than her.
• Crafting – the last year I’ve really grown into my crafting hobbies, especially with sewing, and it gives me so much pleasure and satisfaction to be able to create something. My mom was always an incredibly talented person with sewing and crafting, and it makes me happy to wander down the same pathways.

Recent Blessings:

• First of all, I felt a liiiiittle bit of movement from the baby on the Saturday after my last post. Be still my heart!
• A big one of course is the fact that we all got to go to Texas and spend the week with Kate and her family last week. It was just a wonderful vacation, very comfortable and relaxing, and with staying at their lake house, very luxurious as well.
• We got to Texas safely!!! We left on Friday evening after Kelly got off and arrived Sunday morning. It’s a long trip, but we split the driving, and it wasn’t too bad.
• Kate and Will actually have their lake house on the market (so this will be our last visit to Austin, although we’ll still visit them in Houston where they live full time). As soon as we arrived they had a showing on the house, despite prior instructions to their realtor that they didn’t want any showings this week. We were happy to just hang out and get lunch, but Will sent us to Academy (a huge sports store down there) with instructions to all pick something out for ourselves, and they would meet us there as soon as they could and pay for our purchases. Now that was an incredibly generous offer, but it was also sort of an unusual one, and we all felt kind of strange taking him up on it. None of us really felt comfortable with that kind of freedom with someone else’s money, so we all just kind of hung around the store till they got there. Morgan had picked out a few little things, but she had her own money that she had saved for the trip, and she was planning to pay for everything herself. Kate and family arrived, we all hugged and exclaimed over how much all the kids had grown, then Kate and Will did some shopping of their own. Kate immediately picked out a couple of pairs of shoes for Daisy (something she really needed!), and they insisted on paying for Morgan’s stuff as well. It was so incredibly sweet of them to do, although I’m glad the rest of us didn’t take him up on his offer, especially considering how generous they were with us the rest of the week!
• Beyond just the trip itself, there were many other blessings last week. I’ve mentioned before that Kate and her family are very, very blessed financially, and they obviously love to do things for those that they love. It ended up costing us more in gas than we had thought to get down there, leaving us with barely enough to get home. Of course we never said a word about it to anyone, but we were a little worried that something would come up that might leave us short. The third day we were there Kate pulled Nick aside and handed him a handful of Visa gift cards and just said, “Here, these are for you.” It was completely out of the blue, and she just said that they wanted us to have them and use them to enjoy the week. It turned out to be $600 worth, and there were also six $10 iTunes gift cards in there as well. He of course told her that we appreciated it very much but that it was completely unnecessary, but she insisted he take them and told him it was just something they wanted to do. That generous gift not only allowed us to have some fun down there, but it’s also helping us this week too!
• On Tuesday Nick and Grant got to have a guy day and go visit Austin Speed Shop, which is Jesse James’ motorcycle shop and has long been on Nick’s bucket list. They really enjoyed the day, and Nick got to bring home a really cool t-shirt.
• The same day Nick and Grant hung out, Daisy, Morgan, and I went shopping with both of Nick’s sisters and Kit and Maddox. I didn’t know at the time about the gift cards, so I didn’t do any shopping of my own, but Kate bought several outfits for Morgan and Daisy, and took us all to lunch.
• Wednesday Nick’s sisters agreed to watch the kids for us so Nick and I could spend some time together alone. We went shopping at one of my own personal favorites – the Goodwill! I loooove to go thrifting – I think it’s just so much fun to find hidden treasures at a fantastic price, although lately I’ve not really had much extra money to go with. Let me just say that the Goodwills in Austin (at least in the rich part of town lol) are AWESOME.

        We went to three different ones, and I cleaned up! I got two brand new, never-been-worn pairs of shoes, a low heeled dressy pair with the original price tag still on them for $6.99, and a pair of Converse All Stars (which retail for about $40) for $4.99. I also found a pair of awesome maternity pants for $6.99, and several shirts for $1 to $1.99 each.

• My very favorite purchase though was………….a garbage disposal! How random is that at the Goodwill? But it was also brand new, never been installed, still had all the paperwork with it and everything for $14.99. See, a few months ago, our garbage disposal bit the dust. I had really missed being able to use it, but a replacement was over $100, definitely not in our budget, so we were just living without it. The one we bought in Austin is actually a better, more powerful one than the one we had previously, and I can’t wait till we get a chance to install it!
• Wednesday Will got to rejoin us (Monday he’d had to drive back to Houston to work for a few days). He took us all to an incredible dinner at a really high end steakhouse in downtown Austin, and afterwards we went to Congress Bridge to watch the bats take off.
• Thursday they took us all to Sea World. It was an awesome trip, and we all really enjoyed the Shamu show as well as all the other animals and attractions.
• We got home safely on Sunday morning – what a long, long drive! Whew!
• After the last fill up that Kelly did on our way home (we were splitting the gas with them), we had enough gas to make it home plus get Nick to work and back this week.
• We had enough left on the gift cards to go on until payday this Friday.

Baby Update:
At 14 Weeks Pregnant, Your Baby is a Mover (But Not a Shaker Yet)
Growing by leaps and bounds, by week 14 of pregnancy, your baby is leaping and bounding. He or she is on the move almost constantly — and those movements are a far cry from those jerky twitches of last trimester (though you won't feel any of them for weeks to come). They are now ballet-like, smooth and fluid.
Your Baby at 14 Weeks: Developing Perfect Posture (or Better Posture, at Least)
Speaking of ballet, it'll be years before you'll start nagging your offspring to stand up straight — but unbelievably, he or she is doing it right now, without any prodding!  No slouch anymore, your baby's neck is getting longer, helping his or her head stand more erect. This gives your 14-week-old fetus a more straightened-out appearance.
Your Little Bigfoot — A Hairy Baby at 14 Weeks
Growth is happening on top of the head as well — by 14 weeks pregnant, your baby could be sprouting some hair (though the final color may not be determined until birth) and the eyebrows are filling in, too.
Hair growth isn't limited to the baby's head, though.   He or she is also covered with a downy coating of hair called lanugo, largely there for warmth. As fat accumulates later on in your pregnancy (the baby's fat, not yours — though that will accumulate, too), most of the lanugo will shed — though some babies, especially those born early, still have a fuzzy coating at delivery (it sheds soon afterward).

Source

Thankful Thursday

ABC’s of Gratitude
Babies – of course!
Breastfeeding – I loved nursing both of my girls (although I’m glad to be done for the moment), and I can’t wait to nurse the next baby!
Blogs – Craft blogs, spanking blogs, money saving blogs – fun, fun stuff!
Blogging – being a blog writer myself has allowed me to meet lots of wonderful people and have an outlet for all my spanko-ness.
Brothers – I have two, and I’m so proud of them both!
Bed – I love my bed, and I can’t wait to go spend some time with it!

Recent Blessings:

• We get to leave for Texas on Saturday! I’m soooo excited to get to go!
• Kelly and Grant are going with us and will be paying for half the gas.
• While it’s definitely going to be pretty tight, Nick’s paycheck was enough for us to be able to afford our part of the gas and have a little bit of money to go on while we’re down there.
• Morgan’s new glasses. Okay, a bit of back story: I mentioned a few months ago that Nick’s dad and stepmom took Morgan and bought her two new pairs of glasses.

        A few months ago her favorite pair got broken (I can’t remember how, but it wasn’t that she was being rough with them). There was insurance on that pair that paid for one complete replacement, so we went and got them replaced. Then, the earpiece got broken while she was at my mom’s house one night. Since we had already used the replacement, we just tried gluing it back on. It worked for a while, but the day she left for camp last month, she pushed them back up on her nose and they snapped again. And she had conveniently “lost” her second pair because she didn’t like them. The only reason she got them in the first place was because the store was running a BOGO deal.(This was the same day I found out I was pregnant – stressful much?) Anyway, we eventually found them and got her packed off to camp. And like them or not, she did wear them (except when she could get away with NOT wearing them).
        Then a few weeks later we went to the cabin for the weekend, and she had them hooked into the collar of her t-shirt while we were unloading. Of course if she’d been wearing them like she was supposed to…but she wasn’t, and they fell off in the gravel driveway just behind the car. She realized they were gone, and she and I were frantically looking for them when Nick found them for us – by stepping on them.
        The lenses were pretty scratched up, but once we got home Nick was able to get them back in one piece with some crazy epoxy work, but they could no longer be closed. We also tried making a workable earpiece for the other pair out of a matching pipe cleaner (don’t judge – we didn’t make her wear them in public like that!).
        ANYWAY, we knew we needed to get her a good pair before school started, and hopefully before we left for Texas. Her new insurance fortunately has vision benefits, so I took her today to get a new pair, and by combining insurance with a store special and a coupon, I was able to get her TWO pairs, BOTH of which she loves for a grand total of…..wait for it…….$9.98! Woohoo! We use Dr. Bizer’s Vision World, and if you have one in your town, I HIGHLY recommend them.

• The other day Nick’s dad and stepmom came by brought 5 packs of the diaper wipes we use as well as a pack of diapers for Daisy. The diapers are rather large, but they might work in a pinch, and we will certainly use the wipes! They also brought Nick 3 used golf clubs they picked up at a flea market. Back in March Nick played in a charity golf tournament using some borrowed clubs from a friend of a friend. The guy never called to get them back, and Nick has really gotten into the game. It’s rare for him to be able to afford to play, but he would go to the driving range quite a bit, and my brother took him out to play several times. Then a few weeks ago the guy wanted his clubs back, and Nick has been mourning their loss ever since. Unfortunately left handed clubs are hard to come by secondhand, so it was great that his dad brought him a few to get started with.
• A few days ago I got a partial payment on a photography CD for a photo session I shot a few months ago.
• I sold a couple of pillow covers to a girl at church, which gave me the money to pay for the sweet double stroller I got off Craigslist for $20!
• I’ve been wanting a bread machine for a long time now, and I found a great one at the thrift store a few days ago for $4.99!

Baby Update:

Your Baby in Week 12 of Pregnancy

By now, your baby weighs a full half-ounce and is about the size of a large plum. Most of his systems are in place, though there's still plenty of maturing to do. For one thing, his fetal digestive system is beginning to practice contraction movements necessary for eating, and his bone marrow is busy making white blood cells — weapons against germs once he's out of your safe haven. The pituitary gland (at the base of the brain) has started producing the hormones that'll enable him (or her) to make babies of his (or her) own in a couple of decades or so.

Source

Thankful

So I’ve decided I’d like to do a series of gratitude posts again. While doing a series can sometimes end up feeling a little bit like a chore, it also always (at least with the gratitude series) makes me really appreciate the wonderful things about my life, large and small.

So this is going to be a hybrid sort of thing – part alphabetized Gratitude Tuesday (but on Thursday), part recent blessings, and part baby update (since Thursday is the day the I go from one week of pregnancy to the next – I’m 11 weeks today). WARNING: I’m pretty blessed, so these may be some looooong posts!              

ABC’s of Gratitude:

Again: As in, pregnant again. What a wonderful and unexpected blessing!

Amazing Grace: Not just the song, although it’s one I love, but more importantly the meaning behind the song. I truly once was lost but now I’m found, was blind but now I see.

Autumn: my favorite time of year, and the season of both my birthday and Daisy’s.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Recent Blessings:

I cannot begin to tell you how very much God has blessed and taken care of us recently, but I’m going to try. Some of this I’ve mentioned before.

• After over a year without insurance of any kind, this pregnancy not only qualified me for a FABULOUS insurance plan through our state, but it also provided Morgan, Daisy, and eventually the new baby with full medical, dental, and vision coverage.
• The hospital where my doctor primarily delivers, the same one where I’ve had both of my girls, did not accept this insurance plan – until right around the date this pregnancy got started.
• My hospital only works with one group of anesthesiologists. This group was not in-network for my insurance plan, and with my last pregnancy I ended up with a $900 bill that accrues interest at 18% (which I’m still trying to pay off by the way). I knew that we just could not afford to have another interest accruing bill piled on top, but I also knew that an epidural is not what I’d call an optional procedure. (I know lots of women have babies with no pain meds, and more power to them, but it took 45 minutes just to stitch me back up after I had Morgan. I’ll take that needle, please.). After many, many phone calls, I finally reached someone at the anesthesia group who let me know that, despite the fact that none of the doctors in their main office are listed in my provider directory, they are in fact in-network for my plan because some of the doctors in their other offices are in-network, and they subscribe to all insurance plans that include any of their doctors, and I should be covered fully. Yay!
• With the rest of the family covered, we have been able to pick up medical insurance for Nick through his work with the cost being about $120/month as opposed to $1500/month for employee plus spouse and first two kids, the reason we were without insurance in the first place!
• Monday Nick was able to sign the papers and bring home our brand new used Toyota Sequoia!
• Trading in my Camry on the Sequoia saved us $13 a month on our car payment and $50 a month on our car insurance!
• This is a small thing, but our insurance company also started accepting payments by phone for free, saving us another $5 a month.
• Getting the Sequoia means I get to go to Texas! Hooray!
• When we bought the Sequoia, the dealership sent it home with Nick with a full tank of gas, no small thing with today’s gas prices!
• This week has been Vacation Bible School at our church. Besides offering the standard kid fare, they’ve also had an adult class and a full meal every night, so we’ve gotten to not only have some great fellowship, but also have dinner for free all week!
• Yesterday my brother-in-law C found out that he was hired for a new position in his company, something we’d really been praying for. He loved working for his old boss, and the job was one he enjoyed, but the new position is a move up.
• Coincidentally (or rather through God), my friend D had applied for a position at the same company. She’s been having a REALLY tough time with her job at the bank (where C and I both used to work), and she was just ready to walk out, but had no job lined up. C saw her name on some paperwork there at his current company and recommended that his old boss hire D for the position he (C) just left. D has an interview next week, and she couldn’t be more excited!
• Daisy has been officially weaned for a week now. I never intended to nurse her past 18 months (when I weaned Morgan), but she just didn’t seem ready to give it up then, so I didn’t push it. Then I got pregnant, and it was like she sensed something and wanted to nurse ALL THE TIME. I really wanted to get it done sooner rather than later so that she wouldn’t see the new baby as encroaching on “her” territory. Finally my mom suggested I try weaning by the Farmer’s Almanac. Whaaaaaaat? But I was desperate, so I decided to give it a try. The suggested dates were July 12-19, and I have to admit, it was surprisingly easy to accomplish during those dates. She hasn’t looked for it more than a couple of times, and she was easily distracted when she did.
• Recently we’ve noticed that when Daisy runs, her left foot tends to turn in. This concerned us, so today I took her to see the doctor. Fortunately, after a thorough exam, he declared that while there’s a slight turning right now, it’s nothing to worry about and should correct itself over the next few months. Whew!

Baby Update:

Your Baby in Week 11 of Pregnancy

Your baby (now about two inches long) has been pretty busy this week, growing hair follicles, fingernails, and ovaries (if she's a girl). She has distinct human characteristics by now, with hands and feet in front of her body, with ears nearly in their final shape, open nasal passages on the tip of her tiny nose, a tongue and palate in the mouth, and visible nipples. What else makes her look human? Those hands and feet have individual fingers and toes (meaning good-bye to those froglike webbed hands and feet). Hooray!

Source

 

Bunch of randomness :)

Gosh, I feel like I never post anymore, but it seems like the days have gotten shorter, not longer! Did you all have a good July 4th? Ours had a bit of drama.

The night of the 3rd we went to a friend’s house after church for fireworks and a cookout. They had a bonfire for us to gather around, and a big trampoline within viewing distance of where we were. Morgan was playing on the trampoline just like she does every time we visit.

Suddenly I heard a scream, then Morgan calling for me, sounding pretty breathless, scared, and desperate. I ran to her, and she was rolling around on the trampoline, unable to really speak. It scared the crap out of me, and I was begging her to tell me what hurt. Finally she was able to tell me that she had been trying to turn a flip and landed on her head/neck. It knocked the wind out of her, which was why she had a hard time talking, but what really terrified me was the fact that she was crying so hard. Morgan can be a whiney, dramatic preteen with the best of them, but she very rarely cries if she gets hurt. I ran and got Nick, and we got her into the house to lie down. Within about 15 minutes it was clear that she was still in real pain, not just scared, and we headed to the ER. It turned out (thank God!) that she had only strained/bruised her spinal cord (which is certainly serious enough, but at least she didn’t break her neck!). The doctor gave her strict orders to stay off the trampoline until she healed, and to stay away from flips on the trampoline forever! She was pretty sore for a few days in her chest area from the way she scrunched up when she landed, but she’s all better now.

I’m 10 weeks pregnant now, and the baby is the size of a prune. Sadly I look like I’m about 4 months pregnant instead of 2 and 1/2, although I’ve not gained any weight. I’ve heard that you show earlier with each child, and I know that was certainly true with Daisy. I didn’t even know I was pregnant with her until I was 13 weeks along, but I remember getting really frustrated because I was losing weight but seemed to have developed this unexplainable extra (extra) padding – above my belly button! My ab muscles never really regained their former strength after Morgan, and when my uterus started expanding, it started pushing everything up and out.

For now I’m still in regular jeans, but maternity jeans are starting to look awfully appealing. Funny story – my friend Elizabeth is about 8 weeks ahead of me, and about, oh ONE DAY before I found out I was pregnant I took her all my maternity jeans. I had a ton of them because jeans were all we ever wore at my job, and I gave her every single pair. She’s been kind enough to offer to give them all back, but I told her it would be great if I could just get back a couple of pair.

Oh yeah – I got spanked Monday night! I was just kind of feeling down and stressed about everything from money to the housework to a crazy day with the kids to the fact that Nick and I never seem to get date nights anymore (I know, we had one just last month, but it was the first in AGES). Nick took me upstairs, pulled out the Spencer paddle, made me bend over the side of the bed, and told me that I needed some motivation and some stress relief. He let me keep my jeans on, but he spanked hard, and I didn’t do a great job of staying put. I think I got somewhere around a hundred swats, and by the time he was done I was crying. He put the paddle down and picked up a bottle of lotion and began to massage first my back, then my arms, and he eventually took off my pants and massaged my legs and my poor throbbing bottom. When he was done with the lotion he moved on to an even more effective form of stress relief, and it ended up being a very good night after all.

Today Nick brought home a used Toyota Sequoia from the dealership where he works. He wanted to see what I thought about it, and honestly I’m a little bit in love. I have a built in bias against buying a (new to us) car, just because I never think we can afford it, but this one just may be different. We would be trading in my Camry, and our car payments might actually go down. Insurance should stay about the same. The only downside that I can see is that we would be losing just a little on gas mileage, but this would be my daily driver, not Nick’s, and I don’t do all that much driving unless I’m picking Morgan up from school 20 minutes away. The thing is, we really do need a bigger vehicle. It’s just not very doable to squeeze Morgan into the back of the Camry between two car seats. Honestly, it would be a tight fit back there even if there were three kids not in car seats/booster seats (which there won’t be for another 8 years or so). Anyway, this just came in yesterday, and we’re really praying about it. For it to work for us, we would really not be able to go up at all on our car payments.

Let’s see, what else? We’ve had a trip to Texas to see Kate and her family planned for the end of July/beginning of August for months now. We’ve made this trip for the last two years with Kelly, and this will be the first year that Grant is also able to go, something we’ve all been looking forward to since last year. A few weeks ago it became apparent that we (Nick, I, and the girls) just couldn’t afford to go. Last year Kate flew us all down, but this year we were driving. True, we were planning on splitting the cost of gas with Kelly and Grant, but with there being 6 of us total, we were going to have to rent a van or something else capable of hauling all of us, and that was just more expense to split. Plus, it’s a long, long way to Kate’s house, and the first year we drove Nick and I had to get a motel room and make the drive over two days.

SO, I decided that Daisy and I would stay home and just let Nick and Morgan go. That way they could rent a cheaper vehicle (or maybe just take Nick’s Xterra) since there would only be four people, get a single motel room instead of two if they had to stop, and it would just be cheaper to feed two less people on the road and in Texas.

Last year we had like $40 to go on the whole week – not that we didn’t try to save, just the way it turned out. Kate kept suggesting all these cool things to go and do, and finally I had to sit down with her and explain that we just didn’t have the money to really do anything. THAT was an awkward conversation, and one I really didn’t want to have. Kate and her husband are extremely well off (thus them flying us down last year), so the conversation had the unfortunate result of making her feel like they should just pay for everything for us while we were there (very generous, but NOT my intention, and it really embarrassed us and made us feel like we were imposing, especially since we were staying in their home and they had flown us down).

Anyway, I felt like Daisy and I staying home would automatically take two people out of the equation if Kate and her husband did decide to treat everyone to lunch/dinner/entertainment. Nick was not happy with the plan, and honestly I was pretty heartbroken myself, but I just didn’t see another way, and I felt like it was important that he and Morgan get to go and visit. Now that this Sequoia has come up as a possibility, and if God does allow us to get it, it kind of changes the game. First of all, we can take all 6 of us without renting a car, and with 4 adults, we can probably just drive straight through instead of stopping at a motel. Nick has assured me that he’s totally fine with just hanging out with me and Daisy by the pool while everybody else goes and does fun stuff (Morgan automatically goes along because Kit wants her to), and he’s sworn to live off McD’s $1 cheeseburgers on the road (yuck, but affordable). I’m still trying not to get my hopes up, but it would be sooooo awesome if I got to go too. We would really appreciate your prayers – both for the trip and for God’s guidance on the car!

I’ve got another Eden Fantasys product review coming up in a few days, but I’ve got to get a chance to actually try the item first.

Oh, more randomness, I’ve sold a few things from my etsy shop now. Actually I got a request for a custom order yesterday, although that lady has not yet actually pulled the trigger on buying. And I booked two weddings for this fall for my photography – one in October and one in November! Nick’s going to second shoot for me, and I’m sooooo excited!

Anyway, that’s all – I’m off to bed. Have a great weekend!

Grabbing a minute…

Ok, I’m making myself sit down and post. I’ve been meaning to get an update out here for a couple of weeks, but life has been CA-RAZY!

Everything seems to be going well with the baby. I did have a scare a couple of weeks ago. Thursday before last (the 16th) my mom was at our house helping Morgan go through her room and pare down on some clothes and toys (my job, I know, but I’m working on Daisy’s room so we can hopefully squeeze a toddler bed in there too by the time the baby comes). Anyway, I went to the bathroom and had just a huge gush of bright red blood (sorry if that’s TMI, but for the time being this is more of a pregnancy blog, so don’t be surprised to see more of such down the road).

I hadn’t yet had an ultrasound, so I didn’t know how far along I was, but I knew I was less than 2 months, and bright red heavy bleeding in early pregnancy is always alarming. I called my doctor’s office and let them know what was happening, and they told me to go ahead and come in for an ultrasound. I told them that my insurance was still in the process of being approved, but they said not to worry about it and to just get there ASAP. Fortunately everything turned out to be just fine. I got to see the heartbeat, and they gave me a due date of February 9, 2012. Yay!

My insurance got approved about a week and a half ago, and I got to have my official first visit today (er, yesterday). Everything still seems to be fine, but I’ll find out for sure tomorrow (today?) how my progesterone level is doing.

The day after the bleeding scare Nick and I got to have a date night of sorts (better do it now while there’s still just two to find sitters for lol). Robert and Faith had gotten us a Red Lobster gift card for Christmas, and Nick’s sister Kate had given him a movie gift card for his birthday in April 2010 (shows you how often we get a chance to go out!). Anyway, we had a lovely dinner at Red Lobster, but unfortunately the movie we had planned to see was sold out when we got there, and there wasn’t another one we could fit into our allotted baby-sitting time. It was still a lovely night, and this way we can enjoy the movie as a separate date. My in-laws kept the kids for this one, so my mom said she’d be happy to keep them while we go to the movie one night.

Speaking of keeping the kids – I’m a little concerned about Daisy having to be away from me overnight a couple of nights when I go to the hospital to have the baby. I’m probably being overprotective – after all, Morgan will most likely be with her, and she/they will be with either my parents or my in-laws. But Morgan didn’t spend the night away from us until she was four, and even then she got really homesick for us. Daisy will just be 2 (gaaahhhh – is she really almost 2!?!?!?), and she’s used to sleeping in a crib, although we hope to change that before the new arrival.

I’m actually thinking about letting Morgan be in the delivery room this time. The hospital is pretty open about who you have in there, so I think it would be okay with them. She wanted to be in there when Daisy was born, but I felt she was too young then. I guess I’ll wait to see how the pregnancy goes. Daisy was an amazingly easy delivery, and they tend to get easier with each one, but we’ll definitely have to do some praying about it.

What else? Father’s Day was a week ago Sunday. I got my dad a book about the history of our town, which he LOVED. That made me really happy, because he’s really hard to buy for. I got Nick a pair of shoes he wanted. For Nick’s dad we got a book about roadside attractions across America – really cheesy stuff, but exactly the sort of thing he and his wife are into, so it was a big hit too. And for Nick’s papaw we got a book like my dad’s only it was about the town where their lake cabin is, also a winner.

And speaking of the lake cabin, Sunday was mine and Nick’s 13th anniversary, so we spent the weekend there with the kids. It was a short trip, but a lot of fun, and both girls had a blast in the lake.
Geez this is a long post! Well, I’m off to bed – night all!

So what’s new with you guys?

So I look up and it’s been three weeks since I posted. Surely I’ve had a few interesting things happen since then!

Let’s see – I had a photo shoot. It turned out great, and the client (a repeat client!) wants to buy a CD just as soon as she gets the money together.

Daisy turned 20 months old (gaaaaahhhh!).

James moved to L.A. He’s really close to Venice Beach, and he seems to be enjoying it there. He’s planning on (hopefully) being back home by the time Christmas gets here. Last year he was gone for Thanksgiving and Christmas, not to mention New Year’s and Easter, so it will be nice if he can wraps things up there by then.

We’re supposed to be going back to Texas to visit /kate and her family in August. I’m not sure if we’ll be driving or flying (depends entirely on whether or not they book us plane tickets like they did last year lol), but either way it’s going to be an, um, active trip with a 22 month old!

Tonight I made this pie. It’s called Danger Pie, for two very good reasons. First of all because there really is an element of danger in the prep work if you do it wrong – but only if you’re careless with it. It calls for the magic of boiling an unopened can of sweetened condensed milk for 2 1/2 hours, then opening it (after cooling!) to find it astonishingly full of ooey-gooey caramel. This really, really does work, but you have to keep a close eye on the water level and add more as needed to keep the can submersed – otherwise it will explode (thus the danger). The second reason it’s called Danger Pie is of course that you may very well face the danger of locking yourself in the bathroom and eating the whole thing yourself. It is THAT GOOD.

Morgan is away at church camp this week. It’s her very first time going, and her first time being away from home this long. (Well, she stayed with my parents while we were in Hawaii a couple of years ago, but that doesn’t really count since she was with her grandparents and even got to take Pancho with her.) Anyway, she was super nervous about going, but being the pushy awesome parents we are, we insisted, and of course she’s having a blast!

Nick finally got his Fairlane running! Yay for him not being in a bad mood about it anymore!

Anything else? Oh yeah – I’m pregnant. What?

Yep, I was about a week late, so Monday after taking Morgan to camp, I went to Wal-mart and picked up a couple of tests. Honestly though, I was a little stunned when they came back positive. And the teensiest bit panicked. Uh, we don’t have health insurance. The health insurance through Nick’s job is – get ready for this – $1500.00 a month! That $18,000.00 a year! There’s just no way on earth we can afford that, so we’ve just gone without since mine ran out after Daisy was born. I’ve been taking Daisy to the Health Department for immunizations, and we found a health department referral clinic willing to take payments so I could take her in for a check-up about a month ago. Fortunately Morgan hasn’t been sick.

BUT, God has already begun providing for us with this baby. Me getting pregnant makes us a family of five and qualifies me for maternity benefits through a program in our state. When it was just four of us, Nick made too much money for us to be eligible. I had checked into it before because I was trying to get coverage for the kids as part of the same program, but no dice. Now, not only do I qualify, but Morgan and Daisy do as well, so they’ll have insurance again – yay! And actually it’s much better insurance than we would have had through Nick’s job anyway. This program pays 100% with no premiums, I’ll have one $15 co-pay on my first doctor’s visit, one $100 co-pay for the hospital stay (can I just say that we still owe almost $1000 on Daisy?), it will cover the baby for a year, and me for 60 days after delivery. Another awesome thing God has done: I called my OB-GYN to tell them I had a positive test and explained that I needed a statement from them saying I was pregnant so I could apply for the insurance. They let me come in and do the bare minimum (a simple blood test to confirm the pregnancy and check my levels), and the lab is going to let me make payments. Unfortunately my progesterone came back very low, so they needed to put me on medication immediately to raise it. Now this happened with Morgan (and very well may have happened with Daisy, but since I was 3 months along before I knew I was pregnant I have no way of knowing), so I’ve dealt with it before, but still, it’s pretty critical to not delay treatment. Unfortunately, this is a pretty expensive medication. Even with a discounted cash-pay (no insurance) price, every pharmacy I called was charging $5 a pill, and I need two a day. $70 a week is just not within our means right now. BUT, my friend Elizabeth is also pregnant right now. AND she’s been on the same medication for low progesterone. AND they’re taking her off of it today, but she has two refills left! She called in the refill and let me pick it up, and for $40 I was able to get 30 pills, enough to do me for 15 days, by which time the insurance should kick in!

Anyway, please be in prayer that a) the baby will be okay and my progesterone will come up and b) that there won’t be any snags with getting approval for the insurance. Oh, and if you’re my friend on FB, my in-laws are out of town and don’t know yet, so please don’t say anything about it on there. Thanks!

So anyway, what’s up with you?