Resolution: 2010

"Faith is deliberate confidence in the character of God whose ways you may not understand at the time."

It's that time of year again.

For resolutions that is. I usually skip it. Making resolutions that is. {you can't really skip time, can you?} It's not that I don't believe in them or think that they aren't a good idea, I think they are a GREAT idea. Striving to improve myself, or rather striving to allow God to improve me, is one of the main purposes for my life.

My problem always lies in the fact that I can be indecisive and to have to choose one resolution for the whole year seemed hard to do. {I know you can choose more than one but really that just complicates things more.} I also think a whole year is a really, really long time {anybody with me here?!} and I just don't know if I can commit to something that I might not be able to get done.

In fact, I know myself and I would probably give up after January!

But, this year I think I'll try a different approach. Instead of choosing a resolution that will probably wear off, {like exercise more, or eat healthier, etc. Not that I won't do these things... just don't want to commit to it. Verbally.} I would rather choose something I know that I won't ever necessarily complete in this life time (that is until I am perfected in my death by God} but wish to improve in continually.

As Oswald Chambers puts it in the quote above, "faith is confidence in the character of God."

Over and over again, in the past couple of weeks, this has come up several times and I believe God has confirmed this as a theme for me: to learn, know and understand who the character of God truly is. And then to claim it. Especially when the lies of the devil are creeping in causing me to fear.

Whether or not you know me as a fearful person, I have become more of one over the past couple of years. You could even say that it has intensified with the birth of E. I know every parent is protective of their children and wishes to protect them from harm in any way. But the fear that I have been battling goes beyond the common dreads of the average parent.

I won't go into detail {it's not the point} and I won't claim to be better than the average parent. I am by far NOT better. But the point is that only God can protect any of us. Of course there are obvious, everyday things that we can act upon to keep safety in our lives. But I'm not talking about those things really. I'm talking about the no good, down right evil that exists in the world we live in. Even accidents claim lives, we are always in a hurry and have to have everything right now. We live in a self pleasing world, myself included. Lets just face it, all anyone has to do is turn on the tv to see the latest terrorist attack attempt or even kidnapping that has taken place. We live in evil times.

God though, my God, is so much bigger. He created all that is living! He is a HUGE God! But He is also a loving parent to His children young and old. Only He can take perfect care of us.

So this next year, and even beyond that, I am committing to learning, knowing and understanding the character of God. I will be happy to share my discoveries along the way, but some things I may choose to keep between my family. I don't know, we will see what God has in store for this next year!

I can't wait.

New Year: New Look, New Address!

With the new year I decided to switch things up a bit. Sorry for any inconvenience with the new address. There is nothing wrong really with Wordpress, I really loved using it to blog. The only thing that I didn't care for was that the templates are limited and quite frankly I was getting tired of my options. So I decided to come back to blogger and have some fun with color and decoration :=D

I'll leave the old blog up so that if you would like to glance back through our year, you are more than welcome to!

Otherwise won't you join me in this new and fresh year with changes awaiting us!

Vacation in Pictures

We went to Lake Tahoe, CA for our one year anniversary!

First stop: Anniversary Inn, Salt Lake City, UT

We stayed in the Log Cabin room!

It had a jacuzzi tub and a 'waterfall' shower!

We did a dinner cruise on a old paddle wheeler boat: M.S. Dixie II

Brandon got to go para-sailing! I watched from the boat :(

We took a gondola up the mountain side of Heavenly ski resort and got to see the view of the lake!

Up at the top they had a zip line of 3,300 feet! Brandon rode that and said it was awesome!! I have to take his word for it ; )

You could see our resort from the top! {It's the little green rooftop in the bottom right corner!}

We watched the sunset on the shore...

One of the days we went to Chico, CA to visit my youngest brother! He showed us around and fed us good pizza and frozen yogurt! {Sorry no pictures!}

And yet another day...

We went on a photography tour of all the off-the-beaten path places in Tahoe! We got to feed the geese, guess they love fruit loops!

And we loved the view...

We got to see a lot of amazing things on this tour... too many pictures to share here, but I've posted a few!

Lake Tahoe is known for it's crystal clear, appearing blue, water. It was glacially formed and that's why it's so blue, almost looks like the Caribbean! {except the pine trees!}

We had such an amazing visit and get away. We were gone for 8 days total and it was worth every minute of it! But after being gone that long it's SO nice to get home too!

Thanks Lake Tahoe for a wonderful memory and vacation!! Hope to see you again someday :)

Making Progress: Nursery

{Wall decor courtesy Upper Case Living}

Sneek-A-Peek…

at the latest project!

I got the idea to make baby hair bows because whenever I’m out and about brousing the baby girl sections of all the stores, I have yet to find suitable bows! Ones that are cute, fashionable and irresistable! So I did some looking around and found out how to make them myself! I cranked these and about 5 more out in about an hour! It’s so much fun 

A Little Piece Of Heaven:

who knew it could come in the form of a $3 plastic inner tube {commenly used in the pool  }…

I can now sleep on my stomach!!! Ok so I haven’t actually fallen asleep on it, like through the night or anything. But I’ve ‘napped’ on it!

When I learned about this little technique I was so excited because before I was pregnant, and even after {until my belly started poking out…obviously} I ALWAYS slept on my stomach. And I was dreading the day I’d have to give it up, but knew the sacrafice was worth it, especially since I wouldn’t be pregnant forever {I have to keep telling myself this over and over and over again…}.

BUT now I can have a little relief and lay for a while on my tummy with out getting jabbed in my ribs and every other major organ! 

They Came!

The cloth diapers came today!!

I’m a little overwhelmed but determined to make the most of them {and hopefully love them!}

They are so cute and the colors are so fun! Now I just can’t wait to see the little cheeks that will fill them 

Are We Crazy?!

I’d like to think we are smart… We took the plunge and will soon be knee deep in cloth diapers :S

“What are you thinking?!” might be going through your head right now. But we did actually put A LOT of thought in to it.

When I first heard the idea from our Bradley instructor (our birth class) I thought to myself, ‘Um, ew. Who would want to put poopy diapers in the washing machine?! The same washing machine that I put our regular clothes in?!’ I also wondered who in there right mind would want to spend so much time and work on a dirty, stinky diaper?!

Then I started thinking about the fact that once the baby comes and I’m no longer ‘working’ a full-time job… out of the home that is… that our income will be taking a pretty big plummet and I will be having to cut corners to keep our household from feeling the strain. So I started looking around online and researching about these cloth diapers. I was picturing the ones you have to safety pin and I couldn’t wrap my head around how the ‘stuff’ stays inside. Especially a mobile baby or toddler.

But to my surprise there are so many varieties of shapes, sizes, colors, you name it of these cloth diapers! After much research and looking and talking and more research and more talking about it…

We did it. We ordered 3 dozen of them! They are ‘one size’ {which means they are small, medium and large sizes all in one diaper. They adjust by snaps in the front.} so she can wear the same ones until she’s potty training, and the next child can use them too!. They are also all-in-one which means that the cloth diaper and the waterproof covering are all one piece for one step changing, just like a disposable!

How do we solve the poopy diaper in the washing machine though…

Well, first of all breastfeed baby’s poop is water solable and will easily break up and disolve in the wash, leave behind little to no reminants {IF there is anything left in the washer then I’ll do an extra rinse cycle.}
Secondly, they make this niftly little contraption that is hooked up to the toilet and sprays the diaper off into the toilet. It’s like a mini shower head and from what I’ve read of reviews and what not, it gets the job done!

The last thing we had to do was decide what company to go with and what colors to order! That was the fun part  We went with a company called BumGenius . I’m excited to give them a try and hoping for the best! At this point there isn’t much of turning back so we will make them work!

Coming Soon…

is pictures of the nursery!!

Brandon got all the walls painted yesterday and we also got the nursery furniture!

I blogged much earlier on that we were getting some hand-me-down furniture from a co-worker of ours. He brought it to our house yesterday. It’s a convertable crib with drawers underneath, a night stand that can be attached to the crib or left stand alone and then a dresser with a fold out changing table on top. Some of the furniture has to be assembled still but as soon as it is and we have it arranged I’ll be posting some pictures!!

I’m just so excited and finally feeling like we are making head way on getting the house set up!!

Next {and for B’s sake hopefully the last before baby comes} is installing the wood floors in the upstairs and downstairs guest bathroom! Can’t wait to see it all put together.

Baby Girl’s Check Up And A Gulp-O-Sugarwater

Yesterday we saw the new doc for the second time. Still like her much much better than the other doc! She’s much more laid back and just receptive to the questions or concerns we have.

We did another ultrasound and got to see our little baby cakes! She’s getting bigger! They are actually conflicted about my due date now. She measured and her weight shows her as being in the 83% {weighing on the bigger size} for our original July 12th due date. Several things point to my due date being July 8th, to include my last period, and her measurements. But because they did an ultrasound at 7 1/2 weeks and it showed me due at July 12th and that is more accurate, that’s what they want to continue to show.

She is weighing in at about 3lbs right now! {That explains why I’m so hungry every 2hrs!!} Talking to the doc yesterday, she knows we don’t want to be inducded and want to do everything as natural as is healthly possible, but her concern is that if my due date really is the 8th but I go too far past the 12th, she’ll ask to induce cause it could mean complications. B and I talked about it afterwards and we will just wait and see what happens. It’s in the Lord’s hands anyways, we have no control over the outcome.

We do know that when the time comes to make that decision that because of our Bradley’s class we will be educated on what some other options are. For example, if they are encouraging us to induce then I’ll try all the natural methods first, like walking and various other things… But I know that medical induction or even the doc breaking my water are going to be the very last resort as there are adverse effects that could easily make labor much more difficult than it needs to be.

I also believe that God made a womans body for this very event and it’s fully capable of doing the whole process naturally. Of course things can always go wrong, we live in a fallen world with sickness and disease all around. But our bodies usually know how to handle the things they were made to do. If the baby is coming or the labor isn’t progressing like we think it should, then maybe, just maybe there is a reason. Baby could be in a bad position or the cord could be in a bad place, etc.

This weeks appointment was also the dredded glucose test where you drink the pure sugar water, wait an hour and then get your blood drawn. They test for how well you body processes sugar and then determine if you have gestational diabetes. I’m not extremely worried about it, the worst that could happen is I do have gestantional diabetes and so I have to watch what I eat. Honestly that should be done through out the pregnancy!! The health of a growing baby depends on our diet and that is reason enough to make sure I eat the best I can at all times! I feel like I do that for the most part, and my husband helps me out with that a lot.

It was a good check up over all and our next appointment is in 2 weeks. Now for the next big thing, B is painting the nursery on Monday and we get the furniture delievered!! Can’t wait…. 

28 Weeks

I think I’m starting to show….

We have our 28 week appointment this week and then we’ll be going to the Dr for check ups every two weeks. {Until 36 weeks, then it’s every week…} Since we have a new doc, she wants to see the baby for herself so we are going to be doing another ultrasound. I can’t wait to see how much baby cakes has grown!! I can see the evidence on the outside, but to actually see her little hands, feet and face is so exciting!

We bought the paint for the nursery on Friday {but not with out spilling a qt of pink paint on the floor at the check out!} and B is going to be painting next Monday! That’s also when we are going to be getting the furniture delivered! I’m so excited to get the room all set up I can hardly stand it! The colors are going to be chocolate brown and a pale yellow with just a touch of pink here and there! I’ll get some pics once we get the room painted and furnished!

Here are some more belly/fun pics courtesy my amazing husbands wonderful photography!

Can't wait to hold her on the outside!

I think the fresh air made me feel a little silly...

Doing my best prego tiger impression?!?!

I love this one! {Our love bump}

Who Has More Fun Than We Do??

That would be NOBODY!

Last 4th of July, B and I went to visit

These are a few of the ‘famous’ words my Gramps Larry used to always say when we got together to visit. He passed away just a week ago on April 11th. He had T-Cell Lymphoma since 2004 and just wasn’t able to overcome it. For whatever reason the Lord had, He brought my Gramps home last Saturday to be with Him in a much more wonderful place! I can’t wait to see him again someday and fill him on that he wasn’t able to experience on earth. I know Gramps is in our hearts and will be a part of our lives forever!

This is the main reason I haven’t posted in the last week. The memorial service was last Tuesday. My two younger brothers, Kyle and Sean, both flew into Denver on Sunday and the four of us drove out to KS on Monday. We stayed there through Thursday so we could spend some time with my mama and be a family for a little while. It was a really great time of healing and bonding.

We went to the Cosmosphere one day in honor of Gramps. He took my mom, brothers and me when we were younger and every time B and I went out there to visit him he said he wanted to take B to see it. We never got the chance before Gramps got too sick. So we went to remember him instead. I know he was there with us the whole time. We kept remembering different things we had done with him or little phrases he was best known by and just reflected on the amazing person that he was in each of our lives. He loved his family so much.

Gramps, you will be deeply missed but we will always remember you and keep you in our hearts. And I promise that no matter what, when we get together we will always make sure NOBODY has more fun than we do!!!! I love you, Gramps!!

Have You Heard?

Some of you may have heard… and some of you may not have heard…

But we are going to be having a little GIRL!!

I know, I know, I KNOW! We said we were going to wait to find out. But we couldn’t!

The truth is we both pretty much knew it was going to be a girl and we decided to get it confirmed. We want our little baby girl to have a girly room and girly outfits when she finally comes!

We do have a name in mind and that will stay hush until she finally arrives! We are doing that because of course we have thought of names that we like, but we haven’t REALLY seen what she looks like and we both agree that when we see her face and look in to her eyes we will know what the right name is for her. So we’ll keep the name quiet until then because it won’t really be set until then.

Since we’ve known I’ve been trying to be really disciplined and not buy every adorable little dress or outfit that I see, but I did find a few cute things while I was out yesterday and I just couldn’t resist!

I’m SO excited to be having a girl and I’m already dreaming and looking forward to seeing who she will be and what she will become!

New Do!

I wanted to show off my new haircut I got last night! I saw a new hairdresser and I love what she did!

I wanted something new, different and fresh! I think she covered that well. It’s straight in these pictures cause that’s how she wanted to style it, but I’m excited to see how it looks curly too!

{I took these pictures with my iPhone… I don’t think they turned out half bad for being a phone camera!}

New Doc

Yesterday was our 24 week check up and it was our first regular appointment with the new doctor. We switched OB offices mostly because the attitude of the other office was gloomy and rude 90% of the time! Seriously, the way the nurse treated me each time, you would have thought I have been diagnosed with a disease, not having have a baby!

Not only was she depressing but she was rude and if I had questions she treated me like ‘Why in the world would you ask that?!’ She also told me after I had first started to feel the baby move that it was too early, there was no way I could be feeling it… I decided to look for a new office.

I understand that not EVERY one is going to be jumping up and down excited about me having my first baby, they work in an office with prego ladies coming in every single day. But the fact that you get to come to work and see the miracle of a life being formed INSIDE of another human being should seem to be something that could put you in a good mood! I can consider that someone is having a bad day or something, but this was the way it was every single appointment for the last 6 months.

Any who, I asked around and got a refferal for an other office we B and I went in for a consultation visit to see how the office was, not just the dr., but the nurse the receptionist, EVERY one!

What a difference it was! The nurse actually acted happy and excited for us and she was very sweet and welcomed all of our questions!

The Dr. at the other office wasn’t the best either. If we had questions she seemed to be on the defense about them. They weren’t personal questions either. They were questions of curious NEW parents who have never done this before and just want to have an idea of what to expect! The whole office’s attitude seemed to expect us to come in for our appointment and do what we were told to do. No questions, just do it. We weren’t happy with that at all!

The new Dr. however, when we came in for the consult, she answered every question we had and never felt defensive or like we shouldn’t have asked. She explained in detail the things we wanted to know and assured us that the other Dr.’s in the practice believed the same.

Yesterday when we saw her again she was just as cheery as the last time and even remembered we were taking Bradley classes. She asked how they were going and if we had any questions about what we had learned so far. It was so opposite the other office, I think B and I are so glad that we decided to make the switch!

Super Baby Food, Vaccines, Breastfeeding And More…

Those of you who don’t know me too well, I’m a reader and I love to know everything I can about something before I make a decision or form an opinion on it. I want to have ALL the information I can because I don’t want to miss out on anything or look back and wish I’d done something differently if I’d only known better.

I LOVE TO READ!!!

The three books I’ve been going back a forth on have been so helpful and full of information! I wanted to share about them. Since this is my pregnancy/baby blog and they are all baby related.

The first one I’m so excited about is called Super Baby Food and it’s a book about the stages of transitioning your baby from breast milk/formula to solids. She explains that breast milk contains all the essential parts to a baby’s diet and once you begin to supplement it with solids you are naturally weening your baby off of breast milk and the most beneficial diet the baby needs at that age. Therefore don’t make that decision lightly. There are also signs your baby will show when it’s ready to eat solids {such as taking an interest in other people eating, the baby is able to sit up on it’s own and move away from a spoon if it doesn’t want any more food, and that it’s able to bring an object in it’s hand up to its mouth, just to name a few.}

The book also includes recipes for homemade baby food! And provides a guide for what foods to introduce at what stage to help with deciphering food allergies and also to aid in the babies growing and developing digestive system.

I’m trying to take in as much of the information now as I know my time for leisure reading will be less and less once baby cakes actually arrives!

The second book was also very informative! It’s all about the vaccines that they will try to give to my baby when it’s first born and through out the first year. I like knowing that I can chose not to have my baby vaccinated because the risk of harm from the vaccine itself may be greater than the disease or virus it’s ‘preventing’. Some of the vaccines have been linked to causing adverse side affects in children because their little bodies reject the vaccine. Autism is not yet proven but there are scary increases in these cases as the number of vaccines required have increased for babies under the age of 1. Even childhood asthma has been linked to side effects of various vaccines given to children at such a young age, where their little bodies are in a critical developing stage!

The book provides information on each vaccine that will be offered to my baby. It explains the disease it’s ‘preventing’ and the risk of actually obtaining the virus. Then it explains the vaccine and how it’s made {most of them are stored in mercury!} and what the known effects have been on different people. It leaves you with the decision of whether or not you want to risk the effects of the vaccine or risk the chances of your baby or child obtaining a virus that has been obsolete in the western hemisphere for over 2 decades! {that is Polio vaccine.}

The bottom line with this book is that it isn’t an all or nothing gig. The book educates the reader on each vaccine individually and then you are left to decide which you are going to expose your baby to. She doesn’t stop there though. IF you decide to do any of the vaccines, she suggests the age at which you do it so to hopefully lower the risk of exposing a foreign organism to your baby’s developing system.

This is a must read for anyone considering whether or not to vaccinate their baby.

The last book I’ve been reading up on is all about breast feeding. I don’t need to say much about it {I’ll spare my male readers ;P} but I’m so excited to experience this natural and healthy way of nurturing my baby, just the way God intended.

Baby Enjoy’s Opera! Boy Or Girl??

Yesterday was my birthday ‘Day’ since we had to work on my actual birthday. And {big surprise!} my husband had a few surprises up his sleeve 

On Friday evening, when I got home from work {I’m working a day shift and B is working a night shift since he is also going to school full time} and found a note on my pillow with a map! It said that I had to be at this location on Sunday morning at 9:30 to start my birthday ‘Day’!!

I already knew we were going to get dressed up and go out to dinner on Sunday evening, those were plans rescheduled from V-day. {We weren’t able to go on our date because of work schedules.} So Sunday morning I awoke so excited for my surprise!! But I also woke with a terrible tummy ache that even tums wouldn’t help. I was in a lot of pain and decided that I better not go because I wanted to actually enjoy whatever this wonderful surprise was.

B is so loving and understanding and patient that he said ‘No problem, babe.’ He called and rescheduled for next Monday, so I still get to enjoy my birthday ‘Month’ instead of just ‘Day’!! He also felt bad enough about how I was feeling to tell me he had booked a spa package at the Ritz-Carlton downtown!!! I was going to get a prenatal massage, a facial, pedicure and manicure!!!

Ok… so after he told me THAT… I was really not liking my tummy! But again, I wanted to enjoy it not be miserable through it. And he wanted the same. The ladies at the spa were very understanding as well.

So I got the tummy ache under control {only took 4 hours!} and we had lunch and took a nap together. Around 4:30 we got all dolled up and about 5:15 headed downtown for a wonderful dinner at the Radizio Grill. It’s a Brazilian grill resturant and it was delicious!

The place is pretty unique too. First they have a salad bar with a lot of different things on it and it’s all you can eat. Then they bring you out appetizers of different kinds of breads and fried bananas! When your done eating salad and appetizers, you have this little salt-shaker looking thing and it’s green on one side and red on the other. When you are ready to have meat, you turn it so the green side is up and all these guys walk around with skewers of all kinds of meat cooked in delicious ways. They stop at your table and ask if you would like some. If you do then they put a shaving on your plate, if you don’t they keep going. When you are done eating or want to take a break, you turn the shaker thing so red is facing up. It was sooooo good! My favorite was the Beef tender grilled with parmesan cheese! Yum 

Then we had a little dessert since it was birthday! When we were done we went out to the car and B asked me to look in the glove compartment for his glasses… They weren’t in there, but there was a note that said, ‘Hope you enjoy these! Happy Birthday’ and it was two tickets for the broadway Phantom of the Opera!! I was sooo surprised and excited 

I had seen the movie and I wasn’t that impressed but that’s because the movie just doesn’t do the real thing any justice at all!! It was incredible! I say babycakes enjoyed it but I’m not 100%, there was a lot of squirming… or dancing! I noticed that when the guys sang, since it was lower, there wasn’t much movement. But when those ladies sang, baby was just bouncing around in there! It was fun even though.

Thank you my wonderful, amazing husband for taking such amazing care of your undeserving wife. I love you so very much! {Only a couple more weeks til I get to spoil you for your birthday!!}

All dressed up for a night on the town!

Not the best quality with the window in the back but I wanted to show off my cute prego dress, also a part of my b-day gift!