26 weeks

 

I feel really good! My energy is up, and that's a lot being said while chasing a three year old around! I am experiencing some rib pain here and there and the normal pregnancy lower back pain. Aside from that I feel really good. She is moving more and more, and I can now feel her when she shifts her body into a different position. Still amazes me every time I feel her move that I am carrying a baby! I went to the doctor last week and she said all seems well. She measured my belly and said I am measuring just right and that the baby had a healthy heart rate of 145-150 beats per minute. I gained 3 pounds in the last 5 weeks, my appointments were not exactly 4 weeks apart due to the holidays. Next time I go in I will do the test for gestational diabetes.

Owen wanted to get in on the belly pictures too-so sweet!!

SNOW DAY!

Well. the weather men were right one with this storm. It's been a big deal on the news the last few days, trying to prepare us all for A LOT of snow. And, a lot of snow we have gotten! Last night we started seeing the snow fall about 9:00, and within 30 minutes Joe and I started seeing it stick and covering our car and the streets with a light layer of snow. When we woke up this morning we had blankets of white snow everywhere! It's just beautiful. Although, not the kind of snow you would like to make a snowman-too hard, but still fun to play in. We probably have gotten around 3 inches, maybe more??? The thing that has Atlanta in a frenzy is 1. we rarely see this much snow at a time 2. what we are getting now and will continue to get is freezing rain. Which means LOTS of ice and dangerous roads.

Joe has been working from home today and maybe tomorrow too.  Soooooo we bundled up this morning, and enjoyed some time in our front yard and went on a small walk in the snow!

Thoughts on the book of Job

Well, it's a new year. I am not too big on resolutions, but I like the idea and it always seems like I fail at about week three into a new resolution/goal/promise...whatever you want to call it. I'm going to call it a promise, and I pray with The Lords help I can keep this promise!

I decided after reading this article, that I was going to start a Bible reading plan for the year. The plan jumps all over The Bible and has no particular order, but it is a plan to read the whole Bible in a year. WHOA! that's a big commitment/promise! I was hesitant to mention I wanted to do this,  to my small group last night, because I am already afraid of failing. But, I feel like I NEED to do this, I feel as if God is calling me closer to Him and it would be so sad for me to  ignore Him. I was not reading before. I really am bad in this area. It's sad. But, I want to try and I love how this article talks about fearing to fail and that God gives us His grace to fail. So, here's to a year in the Word!

I wrote this email to some my girlfriends after reading this morning, and decided I needed to share it on my blog:

So, I read my first day of my Bible reading plan. Job. Job 1-3, when I saw that this was today's reading I thought, thanks God...that will be uplifting. And, you know what? It kinda was! In Ch. 2 toward the end I really resonated with verse 10 when Job tells his wife (after all his livestock and such was destroyed and had sores covering his body from head to toe) "Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?" I also loved verses 11-13 when it talks about his friends who came to visit him because of his pain. They were emotionally so upset because their friend was in such horrible pain, all they could do was just sit with him-not saying a word. They probably provided so much comfort to him in those 7 days and nights they were with him...In all these things Job never cursed our Lord. WOW!

These two things that stood out made me think our our dear friend, Norma, who passed away yesterday afternoon. She was so good. She blessed so many people with her love and generosity, some would say through her they were accepting the good. And, now since she is gone it just reminds me we need accept Gods trouble sometimes. Weird? Make sense? I know Norma is "dancing with Jesus now" as one friend said yesterday, but it's still hard I think for some to accept. I have no idea if this is making sense so I'm sorry if you are like, Jen you have no idea what you are talking about =) The other thing it made me think of is good friends...that would be you girls. I so pray that in moments of your hurt I have been able to be there for you and just be quiet and be a comforting spirit. I will do my best in the future to be that person for you if you need it. Just like Jobs friends were to him. The best I know how to relate to this is, after I had Owen I had mastitis, I was sad because I was all "alone" with this new babe-Joe went back to work, and my family was back to CA. I felt like I was failing 3 weeks into his life as a mom because I was not nursing him. I was falling into a depression. I remember Sherry Scott and Audra coming at different times and helping me when I could not help myself, or Owen. And they would just sit, and I knew they were there. I was so thankful for them.

Anyway, that's what I learned and was reminded today. Hope I didn't ramble and it all made sense.

Have you read yet today???

A baby girl

Oh, how it makes me smile just typing those words. We are thrilled we will be parents of a baby girl.  Joe has said from day one of this pregnancy that he knew she would be a girl and desired a girl. We think it's so great Owen will be a big brother to a little girl. Someone to watch over, and to protect the rest of his life. He will be a wonderful big brother and I cannot wait to see that relationship develop.  I never really had a guess of what this baby was. I thought at one point I was carrying her similar to Owen and that made me think boy. I always visioned myself as a mom with two boys...I guess God had a better/sweeter vision for me =) Now, that I know I'm going to have a daughter...wow a daughter. I am so excited! I can't wait to see what she will be like, and the live the adventure of being a mom to a boy and a girl.

We decided to find out her gender a little differently than going to our 20 week ultrasound and having the ultrasound tech tell us her gender. My sweet friend Shannon gave me the idea to have the doctor send her the results and she would do something fun for us. Since we were having that ultrasound the first week of December Shannon suggested that she buy something very gender specific, wrap it and give it to us on Christmas Eve, so we could open the results on Christmas morning together as a family. Joe and I loved this idea. So that's just what we did. Let me tell you, it was the sweetest, best idea ever! I loved finding out this way. I can't even put into words how awesome it was. It was joyous. One of the gifts Shannon gave to us was a Christmas ornament with the word JOY on it. It is beautiful and our daughter will have it forever.  It will be such a fun reminder of her each year when we decorate our tree. The other gift she gave was a white onesie with a lower case pink B on it. So cute! I am so appreciative of Shannon and her heart for wanting to do this for us, and making our Christmas so special!

We also have named our sweet girl. We have decided on Selah. We have liked this name for long while now, but have fallen more and more in love with it as my pregnancy has progressed. Here are a few of my favorite meanings of her name: "to weigh or determine the value" "to pause and reflect" "let those with eyes see and with ears hear" "Amen". I love the richness in each of these meanings.


One more thought on having a girl. A friend of mine and I were talking about Selah and the joys of a daughter and she reminded me of this. Boys leave. That makes me so sad to think about, but know one day that will happen with Owen. They leave and cleave. That's how God intended it to be. One of my biggest prayers for Owen is that he does just that. That he love the Lord with all his heart and leads his future wife and children in Him. With a daughter she will always be there. Maybe not physically (like in my case with my mom at this point in my life) but emotionally we will always be connected. I'm very close to my mom and I talk to her about every other day, she is my best friend. I call her about recipes, about raising my child, about successes in marriage, about what I found on sale, about a bad day... We have a special bond. A bond that I pray I will forever have with my Selah. I can't say it enough we are so very excited to meet our baby girl in April!

Christmas 2010

Christmas was really fun and relaxing in our home this year. We have really enjoyed that we spend a lot of that time at home and make plans as we go. No rushing from one home to another...we enjoyed time with good friends, but missed our families far away like crazy!

On Christmas Eve Joe worked some of the day and Owen and I hung out at home and continued his potty training efforts (another post for another time) Our church's service is earlier in the evening and we enjoyed sitting all together singing lots of music, worshiping God and celebrating His son's birth,  together as a family. We also do a short video for the teaching versus a traditional Christmas message. It was a short and sweet service. After church we headed up to our friends' The Scotts house and ate finger foods with lots of other friends, played Rock Band, and just enjoyed one another's company. We got home late and put a very sleepy little boy to bed. After Owen went to sleep Joe and I watched  A Christmas Story and wrapped ALL the presents we had, plus any presents from family. We went to bed after midnight and slept SO good!

Christmas morning was really fun with Owen this year. Although, his attention span for each gift was about 30 seconds, he LOVED unwrapping gifts this year. He loved all his presents, from all who spoiled the child! He would open one gift, be excited for a bit, then say "another present?" Joe and I gave each other our gifts before Christmas, and knew what we were getting. I got Joe tickets to The Avett Brothers, a band he really likes, and a gift card to get some new running shoes. My lovely husband gave me BOOTS! Oh, how I have wanted a new pair of boots for such a long time. I LOVE them! He also scored an awesome deal on a Flip camera for me. =)

The best part of the morning was our big reveal of the baby's gender. My friend Shannon gave me an idea of finding out the baby's gender in a special way and I selected her to help me, since it was her idea. That morning we found out we would be having a baby girl, in April! We are thrilled to welcome this child and cannot wait to see her sweet face. Aside from Jesus being the best present, ever....finding out this baby is a girl was one of the best Christmas mornings I have ever had!

Crafty Mama!

For Christmas this year I am channeling my inner craftiness (with the help of my dear friend Sarah) and hoping that it becomes a Christmas tradition of making my kids one homemade thing that they can open Christmas morning. Something made with love!

It didn't take me long to decide I wanted to make something CARS for Owen. If you know my son you know that he love loves with anything CARS. I decided on a blanket. I didn't want to do anything to complex, so I started asking Sarah and my other super crafty friend Michelle about some tips. I went to Joann's bought two different fabrics (when they had a super sale and used coupons) one yard each, cut up a white sheet to put in between the fabrics, and sewed it all together. Now, it wasn't that easy...but pretty close. I will say this is the second thing I have sewn in my whole life. So I needed a lot of coaching and guidance and "that a girl's" from Sarah. All of which she did perfectly! =) Also, I used a machine that was so much easier than the one I used on my first sewing project...some burp rags for my niece. Having a machine that works and works easy is a major plus!


Here's the result!!! Best part less than $15 for a super cozy blanket that I know Owen will LOVE!

My new favorite side dish/lunch

I have always loved a good combo of black beans and corn. Last Saturday night I made a steak that was marinated with cumin so it had a little bit of spice to it. I wanted to make a healthy side dish to go along with it so I searched my pantry and found a few treasures. It was perfect!! Here's what I made:

1 can black beans
1 small can of corn
1 red pepper
1/2 white onion sliced
1 can of Rotel-loved the sicy that this brought
1/4 cup of red wine vinegar
a little olive oil
a dash of sugar
salt and pepper

I actually tried this little salad mixture in the oven and served it warm. SO GOOD!

I also served this meal with some wild rice. I had both left over and it has served as two great lunches for me. One lunch I did was threw both the rice and black bean mixture in a bowl, heated it up and enjoyed the yumminess. Today I wrapped it both in a whole grain tortilla and had a slice of cheddar cheese and that was my lunch!

All of the uses of this ridiculously easy dish has served me and my family well!!! YAY for healthy and delish food!