Eleven Weeks!

Today marks my 11 week mark and i'm so grateful! Insomnia has been frequent and sleep seems to be slim but naps have been many trying to make up for the lost hours during the night. Food aversions are still high on my list. I bought a rice maker to as my sister swears by hers. I normally make my rice in a skillet but haven't had much energy to to my normal rice and thought this would be something new to try. My next appt is a week from Tuesday and i'm excited to see the baby again and see how baby bean is doing. I took Ky with me to run errands yesterday and while out Target he was pointing to things he thought would be perfect for the baby. I just love that the boys are old enough to participate in this pregnancy. They continue to talk about the baby throughout the week and even while cleaning up their playroom today they talked about how we needed new baby toys. I can't wait to see them hold the baby and be big brothers. Kylan is excited because he's been the baby for 6 years and will now have the opportunity to be a big brother...it's so precious and a little sad to see my baby become the middle child, but I know he will do fine.

My commute has started to wear on me especially since I am just so tired right now. Driving three hours 2-3 times a week is getting old but i'm thankful that I have the flexibility to work from my home office a couple of days a week...that offset does help so much. I'm definately feeling like a oompa lumpa right now. I can still wear regular tops but most dress pants, and casual capris are maternity right now altough my yoga pants are still manageable. I do need to go and get a few more staples and while was going to atempt to do that this weekend I think i'm going to wait until next weekend.

Yesterday Chad started working on our deck. It started as a project to stain our deck but then turned into tearing down the railing we had, building a new one, sanding, power washing the old deck etc. He spent most of the day cutting wood and getting the posts started yesterday and I helped where I could which wasn't much. I took two naps yesterday and managed to through some mac and cheese together for dinner. Thankfully I woke up at 6 with energy and took advantage of it starting on laundry and cleaning the family room. I gave the boys 30 minutes to play when they woke up then it was time to attack their playroom and move their toys that had migrated upstairs back to their homes. I still think I should take a couple of garbage cans down stairs and through many of their toys away or donate them because they have so many, but that will wait for another weekend. The house is almost clean...I need to finish vaccumming, clean the bathrooms and put dishes and laundry away but it looks a lot better than it did 24 hours ago so i'll take it. Now if i could get a second wind to crank some more out that would be awesome. I think we are going to take a trip to the library this afternoon and I need to pick up a few things from the grocery store. Nothing too exciting but i'm ok with that. :)

Family Dinner

There is something about family dinners that I just love! The craziness of getting the meal ready, table set, and of course having everyone gather around the table to make memories. That is exactly what we did last night. During the week we always eat dinner at the table...it's something that Chad and I feel is very important. Occasionally we will eat in the media room with TV trays and watch a movie but normally we all meet at the table.  This Friday was no exception however I invited my sister Nena over and my sister Ash offered to make family dinner. I was so excited! Chad made sure we had enough firewood for a good fire once is got dark, nena brought chocolate for the smores, and Ash made this amazing spread of lasagna, salad, and garlic bread...It was amazing! As Ash was preparing the meal the rest of sat at the table playing uno. The boys had a blast and the giggles we many.  Once it got close we all helped getting the table set and serving the plates. All week I have looked forward to having two of my sisters over, making some memories, and having many laughs. And boy did we! After dinner we rested for a bit because I think all of our stomachs were ready to explode, and then we piled outside to the fire pit. I gave Chad the fire pit for Father's Day last week and it's been a huge hit. Chairs around and the smores station ready we all took turns making our smores and enjoying them. Then came story time....the flashlight was passed and we all took turns telling funny stories and continued to laugh as the evening continued. The boys went in with Ash and Nen around 10:00 and Chad and enjoyed some time outside just talking.  It was the perfect end to a really long week and I'm already thinking about our next family dinner and who to invite. I have a feeling it's going to be a really great weekend!

Thankful

I am normally a morning person. I typically start my day between 4:30-5:00 am cleaning around the house, throwing in a couple of loads of laundry, getting ready for the day, making lunch, and enjoying my quiet time before the rest of the crew get up.  As of late this hasn't been the case. I'm falling asleep really early..and I mean like ten minutes after I put the boys down at 8:30 and some days falling asleep before they do. As I rolled out of bed today a little grumpy and made it to the office a smile came across my face as I remembered just how thankful I am for Chad.  There have been more nights then not in the last few weeks that i've fallen asleep in a pile of books, magazines, laptop, notebooks, only to wake up and have them neatly organized with my glasses on top. He's very aware of my food aversions right now and continues to volunteer to make dinner. As I walked into our home today after work he was washing the dishes and asked if i wanted rice for dinner.  :) I'm just so humbled and thankful that I married a man who notices the little things. I'm thankful that he partners with me to raise our kids and help out around the house with a joyful heart and doesn't hold it against me when I can't seem to get a whole lot done.

Father's Day and a few updates

I don't have many memories of celebrating Father's Day with my dad as a child....he was usually overseas or deployed. And I think that as I got older and things got worse I blocked out many holidays, father's day included.  Being married to Chad and watching him as a father has been a life changing experience. It's not because of one huge thing he's done but rather all of the small every day things he does as father.  I remember the day Noah was born and Chad helped him..one of the few times I've seen Chad cry in my life.  It was profound.  And as Chad's journey of being a father began I've had the privilege to stand by his side, be his wife, and mother to our children. But I can tell you that I love nothing more than to listen to him with the boys....the giggles in the bath, or the stories he tells the boys followed by his special prayer with them every night before they go to bed. I love watching him teach them how to fish, or discover bugs, or gather sticks, or play games.  I love to seem him love our boys and watch them look at him with awe and love.  There are many days that I cry tears of happiness because I know just how blessed we are to have him in our lives and to lead our family.  My children don't know any different and for that I'm truly thankful, but not having a father like Chad only makes me cherish these special moments my children experience in their every day lives. 

This father's day has been relaxing and fun. I got up early and went grocery shopping, home by 7:00 and made Chad's favorite breakfast. The boys each picked out a card for Chad at Target and were in giggles this morning signing the cards getting them ready for daddy to read. After we finished breakfast he opened then and we all ended up laughing and the fun stories the boys shared about their cards.  Ky's card was a musical one that played the theme song from rocky..which lead to a boxing competition in our living room. I surprised Chad with a fire pit for Father's Day and enjoyed helping him put it together...well at least help hold ends while he used his tools and did his magic. The boys helped get branches together and we are anticipating our first fire tonight after it gets late. the boys spent the afternoon outside playing a game of soccer and I attempted to make a dent in my 30 magazines that have taken up my end table for way to long.

I like to go through them all and take out the pages/articles I want to keep. Call me crazy but I love to buy page protectors and organize them by category in binders. Unfortunately I'm three magazines down and about 27 to go. Ugh...but I so want to get caught up and mark it off of my list. For dinner I'm making a new pasta dish with fresh corn on the cob. I took a chance and grabbed a few ears at the store this morning and hope they are good...We just love corn and I for one could eat it every day! I made Chad's favorite brownies for dessert and have enjoyed being home as a family. We spent all day yesterday out and about going out for lunch, visiting a car museum, and a round of go cart fun (Chad, his dad, and the boys) so a relaxing Sunday has been welcomed by all. We might make a stop at the video store to pick out a movie but we'll see.

On the baby front things with Baby Bean are going well.  We had out first ultrasound a week ago on Friday and the baby's heartbeat looks great as does the baby. This past Wednesday i started to have cramping followed by more blood than I'm comfortable with on Thursday and ended up racing to the hospital for an ultrasound, sure that I was losing the baby. When the tech showed me the baby and it's heartbeat and everything looked ok I couldn't stop the tears of happiness, and while the doctor reported back that everything looked fine I've felt off since then. I don't know if it's the heat or just this pregnancy but it was a rough end to the week. I started to question everything again on Thursday, did we tell the boys too soon, should I not have gone to the chiropractor....anything and everything crossed my mind. And slowly the peace came...after many prayers and tears I rested. And today is my ten week mark. I'm excited to be two weeks from getting through my first trimester but honestly am having a hard time enjoying the moment. I continue to think ahead and want to fly by each milestone and get to the point where the baby can deliver safely. I've been told what I'm feeling is "normal" for someone who has miscarried before and experienced a son being stillborn...however nothing about this pregnancy feels normal besides the morning sickness.  Thankfully I am surrounded by amazing friends, sisters, and a husband who are nothing short of amazing.  So with that I'm headed back to my stack of magazines while the boys watch a duck show on A&E with Chad and then getting ready for family dinner and enjoying some more memories.

The Waiting Game

This morning I got up early and headed to the grocery store for my bi-monthly big grocery shopping. I made it home by 6, baked breakfast, and we got the boys ready for their last soccer game. It's amazing how fast their season has gone! I've enjoyed spending my Saturday mornings watching them run around and start to learn the skills that go along with the game. Unfortunately I started spotting a bit this morning also. My ob says it's normal but my heart sunk right away and now i'm just waiting. Our ultra sound is this coming Friday bright and early and i'm praying that everything goes ok between now and then, but I nervous and anxiously waiting. I've been in prayer off an on all day and know that Lord has His hand on my pregnancy and while I trust Him my heart is heavy as I don't want to lose this baby. After the boys soccer games we met us with our friends Natalie and Louis at the park with their two kids for a play date. I welcomed the distraction and enjoyed watching our kids play together. Natalie was by my side when Mason died and I reached out to almost immediatley with our good news with baby bean. She was a great listener today and I know that I need to just rest in Him but at this moment I am having a hard time resting period. We've spent the rest of the day outside relaxing..minus Chad. We are redoing our deck (ie Chad is) and he removed our old railing and is pressure washing the deck, prepping it for staining tomorrow. I took my stack of Food and Wine and Shape magazines outside and went through all of them pulling out the articles/recipes I wanted to keep. Now i'm debating what cleaning I should work on, baths for the boys and maybe a run to pick up some movies. I love movie night and think it might do me some good to keep my mind busy. If only tomorrow was Friday....