That's Our Girl!!

Here's my favorite picture from the Ultrasound on Monday...she's just chillin' out, sucking on her thumb :)

How far along:  21 (almost 22!!) weeks

Total weight gain/loss:  Up 5 lbs total

Maternity clothes?  Oh yeah!  I keep trying to sport my old shirts, but they keep creeping up my belly...nice!

Stretch marks?  Nope.  Gotta love Cocoa Butter :)

Sleep:  Not so great lately.  The other night I had a pain in my side so bad that I thought I was dying!  Oh, I'm dreading labor!!

Best moment this week:  Having our ultrasound, and learning that we're having a GIRL!!!

Movement:  Oh, she's a mover!!

Food cravings:  If it has sugar in it, I crave it!

Gender:  She's wearing a tiara!

Labor Signs:  None

Belly Button in or out:  In

What I miss:  Cold sandwiches from the Commissary, oddly enough.

What I'm looking forward to:  My appt. on Monday.  The Dr. will go over the results of the ultrasound.

Weekly Wisdom:  Patience is a virtue (I'm obviously not very virtuous in that area!)

Milestones:  1st Profile Pictures, and finding out the gender!!

Happy Spring!!

The Wait is OVER!!!

We're having a GIRL!!!!

Yesterday was the "big" ultrasound, and I can't tell you how excited I was to find out whether we were going to have a little prince, or a little princess!!  I barely slept on Sunday night, and I woke up yesterday morning absolutely giddy with excitement.  I kept myself busy doing laundry and cleaning up the house, and I even got to have lunch w/ Chris before the appointment (a rare occurrence!).  We got to the Dr's office about 10 minutes early, and we were quickly escorted in to start the sonogram.  I was lying down, so I couldn't see the screen, but since Chris was at my feet, he had a perfect view.  It was so sweet to see his face light up every time he caught a glimpse of our little one.  Though I was disappointed that I had to miss most of the show, it was really fun to get to watch him experience it for himself!  

Finally, after about 30 minutes of pictures and screening the technician turned the screen around so that I could see.  She said that she couldn't see any abnormalities in the facial features, and that as far as she could tell our baby was "right on schedule", and "doing perfectly".  I breathed a HUGE sigh of relief when I heard that.  More than anything else, I just wanted to know that our baby was healthy.  Since we opted out of all of the pre-natal testing, this was the first time that we actually got to hear that everything was okay...I don't think I realized how much I needed to hear those words. 

We have a feisty one on our hands, let me tell you!  So much so that the tech said that ours was one of the most active babies she had ever seen!!  She finally got a good picture of the lower half of the body, and let us guess whether we thought it was a boy or a girl.  We both guessed girl, and we were right!!  Just about that time though, she crossed her little legs...she's a lady, after all!!  As we were finishing up, we got to see her start sucking her thumb.  I think we made her tired w/ all that poking and prodding.  It was the sweetest thing I've ever seen...I am so in love with her already.

After the appointment, Chris and I spent at least 5 minutes standing in the hallway staring at the new sonogram pictures.  He's just as smitten as I am!  To celebrate, we went straight out and bought her first little outfit.  The picture isn't very clear, but it says: 

"I can make you smile." 

And, she already does!!

Great Finds!

As Chris and I prepare for our upcoming move, and the prospect of having a bigger house (hopefully one with walk-in closets!), I've been happily researching furniture and other fun tidbits on the internet.  I'm not gonna lie...I LOVE Pottery Barn.  I could go crazy in that store, and I frequently visit their website just to get decorating ideas.  Recently, we've been looking into purchasing a new entertainment center, and we simply fell in love with Pottery Barn's Logan Media Collection.  Of course, with a $2800 price tag we pretty much just dreamed of what it would look like in our house if we ever won the lottery!  Well, just a few short clicks away at jcpenny.com, we found almost the EXACT same entertainment center for over $2000 less.  Yes, you just read that correctly!  And, I'm talking almost identical here ~ even the reviewers were shocked!  With our handy-dandy coupon from retailmenot.com, we saved an additional 20%!!  Though it will have to reside in Chris's mom's garage for the next few months, I am SO excited to get it into our new (yet to be found) home!!

I have also recently discovered the BabyLegs phenomenon.  They are super cute little leg-warmers for babies, and they come in a huge assortment of colors.  You can find them here, or on Etsy.com.  MckMama's son Stellan wears them everyday!

And though you've probably seen the button on the right hand side of the page, I thought I'd go ahead and put a plug in for Wild Olive Tee's.  They offer the coolest t-shirts with great designs, and verses on them.  The best part??  They're military wives!!  Hop on over and check 'em out!

Control, or lack thereof!

If I were to pick one thing about myself that I wish like everything that I could change, it would most definitely be the small issue that I have with control.  By small, I actually mean ginormously (how do you spell that again??) large, but I thought that might sound a little too self-deprecating!  You see, it's not that I don't know in my heart that the Lord's plans are far better than mine could ever be.  It's not even that I don't know that my constant planning really does nothing but drive me (and maybe my husband, though he's pretty good about just smiling at me when I start w/ the flow charts!) crazy.  I really think that the root of my need for control stems from the fact that in the military we just plain don't have any!!

We're in the midst of 3 BIG life changes (Chris's training, moving back to America, and having a baby), and lately my head just seems to be spinning and swirling in a million different directions. I'm constantly questioning where we are going to live, whether we should rent or buy,  and will our furniture get there in time??  I'm nervous about spending 9+ hours on an airplane when I'm 7+ months pregnant!  I'm worried that our parents won't make it to Mississippi in time to see our baby being born.  And while I'm caught up in all these seemingly important questions & concerns, I sometimes overlook the fact that ultimately my sense of control over all of these things is fruitless.  Everything will be okay, even if things don't work out quite the way we had planned.  God promises us that.  

Trust in the Lord with all your heart;

do not depend on your own understanding.

Seek his will in all you do,

and he will show you which path to take.

Proverbs 3:5-6

My prayer is that we (I) remember those words, and try to imprint them onto my heart.  It will not only make our upcoming transitions easier, but it will make Him happy as well.  Subsequently, I found another verse that gave me a moments pause...

An anxious heart weighs a man down.

Proverbs 12:25

Such an honest verse, and yet quite humorous in my case as well!

Blessings, 

Amy

How was your Easter?

So, how was your Easter?  Did you have wonderful weather?  Were you surrounded by friends and family?  Did the Easter Bunny stop by for a visit?  Did you remember the reason for the celebration?    

Holidays seem to sneak up on my lately.  I get to truckin' along, and I completely forget that there is supposed to be a celebration going on!  Last week I just happened to be looking through my stash of books and came across one that I read every Easter called "Six Hours One Friday" by Max Lucado.  If you've never read it, I highly recommend trying to get your hands on it.  Once I ran across it, I promptly sat down and started reading the familiar pages.

On one hand, I'm glad that I am so sure that I have been saved by God's grace & covered in His forgiveness that I don't think about the "why" all the time.  On the other hand, I am ashamed that the "why" isn't more present in my thoughts.  I love chapter 11 in this book because it is filled with the "why".  In this chapter, Lucado retells the story of the prodigal son.  You know, the parable that Jesus tells in Luke about the son who leaves his father, wastes his inheritance, and ends up tending to the pigs in a distant land.  Do you remember how it ends?  The son comes back to the father, thinking that he will be angry & ashamed.  But, the father surprises his son by welcoming him home with open arms.  Lucado puts a wonderful spin on the last part of the story.   He asks the reader to imagine Jesus telling this parable to his people.  Did he use his hands while telling it?  Did he outstretch his arms to demonstrate the father's acceptance?  The author admits that he doesn't know what Jesus did that particular day, but he paints a very clear picture of what he did just a little while later.

"He later stretched his hands as open as he could.  He forced his arms so wide apart that it hurt.  And to prove that those arms would never fold and those hands would never close, he had them nailed open.  They still are."  (Six Hours One Friday pg. 85)

I hope that your Easter was filled with plenty of food & lots of laughter.  I hope that you were able to spend it with the ones that you love the most in this world.  And, I hope that you remembered the reason for the celebration..."That God so loved the world that he gave His only Son" John. 3:16.

Blessings, 

Amy 

And now for the Girly-Stuff!

Some of you might have been wondering if I've only picked out little boy bedding...oh no, don't worry!  I've definitely picked out stuff for a sweet little girl as well!  Can you tell that I have too much time on my hands...or, that I'm just really, really excited to find out if we're having a boy or a girl (I'll go with the 2nd option!).

Here is some precious girly stuff that I found this week.  I've ("we've"...gotta include the hubs!) definitely settled on this Maggie Bedding from Pinecreek.  I just LOVE the colors and textures!

I cannot get over these shoes...too cute!!

Is this not the sweetest little hat you've ever seen?  I'm buying it immediately if we find out we're having a girl!

**This pic is from Etsy.com, and TFJ Photography took the picture.  Just wanted to cover my bases :)**

The Joys of Pregnancy

I know that the title of this post sounds a little bit sarcastic, but I'm actually being quite serious. Despite the few, pretty-darn-terrible weeks at the beginning of my 2nd trimester, I've been really enjoying the whole "being pregnant" thing! I mean, if I want to eat Whoppers (well, Malteasers here in England, but they're practically the same thing!) while cooking dinner, I can...I'm pregnant! If I want to take 2 naps during the day, and still go to bed at 9pm, I can...I'm pregnant! If I want to put off cleaning b/c the smells make me want to gag, I can...I'm pregnant! Well, in all fairness, I wasn't so big on the whole cleaning thing before I was pregnant, so that last one may be a bit of a stretch!

The headaches that I had been waking up to every morning have miraculously disappeared thanks to my genius husband who suggested that I might try a different pillow.  I have less of an aversion to meat & eggs now that I'm rounding out my 18th week, and I've started craving sweets like it's nobody's business!  I guess I must mention that Chris doesn't really agree with the word "craving" since I've always been a sweets-girl, even though I add the whole "because I'm pregnant" phrase on the end of my desire!  

I had another appt. yesterday, and was able to hear the heartbeat again (147 BPM for those of you who are curious).  It never fails to bring tears to my eyes when I hear that little heartbeat.  It still amazes me that Chris & I (& God, of course), created this tiny life inside of me.  The more I read about it, and pour over pictures of what is happening this week, the more miraculous it all seems.  It really is an amazing feeling.

If you know me well, you'll know that even though we don't currently have one, I am a HUGE dog lover!  We've decided that if we have a little boy, the room will have a puppy theme (yep, we've already picked it out!!), and oh-my-gosh, it is just the cutest!  In my free time this week, since Chris has been gone, I found some really sweet doggy stuff....just thought I would share!

Where the Wild Things Are

"Where the Wild Things Are" by Maurice Sendak is one of my most favorite children's books. I'm so excited that they are finally making it into a movie! It looks awesome...check out the trailer below. **Make sure to turn off the music at the bottom of the page before you view it :)**

Just a few things...

Do you remember MckMama, and her sweet little miracle baby, Stellan?  Well, once again, they are in desperate need of some prayers.  Little Stellan, if you remember, was diagnosed w/ SVT while he was still in his mother's womb.  Thankfully, he was born whole & perfect despite the grim diagnosis.  Now, at 5 months old, he has lapsed back into the dangerous SVT pattern, and has been in the hospital for over a week now desperately fighting for his life.  If you have a second, take a look at MckMama's blog (Just click on the Praying for Stellan button on the right) and take a moment to get on your knees in prayer for this precious child.  The amount of people that baby Stellan has touched is astounding, and even through this darkness, God's light is being shown through him. 

As most of you know, I'm an avid reader.  When my book stash starts dwindling, I start to panic!  Thankfully, my Amazon order came in this week and I'm so excited to start reading all of my beautiful new books.  Actually, I already finished the first one, Jodi Piccoult's "Handle with Care" (would not recommend it for women who are pregnant!  Maybe I should have listened to my mom on that one!).

It looks like Chris won't be out of town for our sonogram on the 27th after all!!   Yay!  I was thinking that I might have to give my "results" envelope to Wendy for safe keeping!  I'm not sure that I could have it in my house and not peek!

AND, for those of you who were wondering...the clothes from the last post were from Gymboree.  And no, unfortunately I couldn't bring myself to buy even one thing...this being practical stuff really doesn't work for me!!

Hope you are all having a great week!

~Amy