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

This could be TROUBLE!!!

Are these not the cutest little boy shoes ever??!!

Oh my gosh...I'm in love!!

This is so sweet, I want to buy it even if I don't have a little girl!

Are you seeing the butterfly hair clips??  I could just eat them up!

Tulip Festival & Other Fun Stuff

I love birthdays!  It really doesn't matter who's having the birthday, as long as I can celebrate with them, I'm happy!  My family lovingly refers to March as my birthday month.  Something about the fact that when I was MUCH younger (at least 2 years ago!), I'd try to drag my birthday out for as long as possible.  I'd partake in as many birthday lunches/dinners/desserts as possible, and I'd jump at the chance of going bowling, to the movies, or to any other fun birthday celebration place.  And let's not forget the presents!!   But now that I'm older, and much wiser, I realize that birthdays really aren't all about the celebrations (well, maybe they are a little!), they're more about spending time with the people that you love.  

This year, for my birthday weekend, I was fortunate enough to get to visit Holland for the annual Tulip Festival.  We went w/ some of our wonderful friends, the Hilburns, and had a great time exploring Amsterdam, and enjoying the beautiful flowers at Keukenhof (the festival).  It was a wonderful way to celebrate my birthday...we even had pancakes for dinner at a famous Pancake House!  

We arrived back in England on Sunday night, and I promptly started all the paperwork for our upcoming move.  Apparently, since I have asthma, I am a "special needs" spouse.  The only thing that this label gets me, in my opinion, is a bunch of excess stress!  But, I'm trying to tackle it one day at a time, and I'm hoping that surely I'll be deemed "fit to travel" sometime between now and July!

In baby news (I know you were waiting for it!!), I had another OB appt. today!!  As I said before, I wasn't able to get another sonogram; however, I did get to hear the tiny heartbeat!  It's a steady 140 BPM, and the tech said that it sounds healthy!  Since we live in England (have I mentioned lately that I'm ready to leave??!) we won't be able to find out the sex until the end of April.  It seems like such a long time from now!  And, even at that, it looks like Chris will be gone when I have the sono, so the Dr. has agreed to put the results in a sealed envelope for us to open when Chris returns.  Though it's not an ideal situation, I am really looking forward to opening the envelope w/ Chris and sharing our excitement together privately.  I can't wait for that day!!  

If you'll notice, I've added a few things to my blog!  I stole the idea of a poll from my friend Taylor (I hope you don't mind!).  Feel free to take it, and we'll see if you think that we'll be adding a girl or a boy to our family in September!!   

Enjoy some pics of the our weekend in Holland below!

I love this picture...I think it looks like they're friends!  (Yes, I'm a geek!)

Wendy & I

New Home (well, for now!), & Baby Stuff

Shockingly, this amount of food took up our entire refrigerator at our old house!  Look at the room that we have in there...how in the world will I fill it all up??!!

My two new loves!!

I just realized that I had yet to post any pictures of our new house!  Of course, I must start off with the two things that made me fall in love with it in the first place...the washer/dryer, and the refrigerator!  Our old refrigerator was quite small, and the freezer was even smaller.  I actually think that having it taught me to really appreciate fresh food (and smaller portions, if we're being honest!).  Since moving to England I have cooked more than I ever thought I would, and it turns out that I LOVE it!  Having a small refrigerator forced me to buy really fresh products, and to use them all within the week so that none would go to waste.  That being said, I'm loving the fact that I can actually fit a frozen pizza in my freezer now...so much for being healthy!!

In other news, I'm almost to my 16th week of pregnancy!  I wish that I could say that I'm feeling great, but ummm...not so much!  The funny thing is that I didn't really start feeling sick until the end of my first trimester.  Hmm, leave it to me to get things backwards!  But, I can tell that our sweet little D is growing, which is all I really care about.  I have my 16th week appt. next week, but sadly I won't get another ultrasound.  I really love those things; it's so fun to see our precious child, and be reminded that there really is a miracle growing inside of my belly!  I wish an ultrasound came w/ every appointment...I'd LOVE it!  I've heard that I might start feeling him/her kick in the next few weeks, and I'm so looking forward to those little "bubbles" (as I've been told it feels like).  I've already bought some maternity clothes as my jeans don't quite fit the same anymore.  I think I might be the only girl in the world who actually liked maternity clothes shopping!   It was so fun to try on all of the cute clothes (minus the hideous jeans & shorts) w/ that little mock bump strapped around my waist.  I laughed so hard the first time I saw myself...so did my mom & sis-in-law!  

Well, I guess that's all I have for now.  We're going to Holland this weekend for the Tulip Festival w/ some awesome friends!  My birthday is Saturday, so this trip will be extra special!  Hope you are all having a great week!

Blessings, Amy

Updates & More Great News!

Wow, it's been a really long time since I've written!  Sorry about that...life has just been crazy lately!  Let's see, where do I even begin??

Shortly after I wrote my last post, I traveled back to Texas for a fun-filled 2.5 weeks!  My little brother got married last year, and my mom planned a gorgeous reception at her house to celebrate while I was home this time.  Our entire family came to shower the happy couple with love.  We all enjoyed the beautiful Texas weather, and we even had some swimmers!  Well, one intentional swimmer, and one quite unintentional one...but that's another story!

My friend Kelly stayed with me for a night, and (like always) we got into lots of trouble the next day!  Leave it to us to wind up in the WORST part of Dallas, lost, with no phone!  Oh, the memories of Italy came flying back to me that day!  But alas, we finally found our way to her friends apartment and all was well.  

I enjoyed LOTS of Chick-fil-a; perhaps too much, but who's really keeping tabs?  And, I got to attend a Bachelorette Party, and Wedding Shower for my cousin as well!  Chris and I celebrated our 3 year anniversary w/ a date to Pappadeaux (oh, the Shrimp Embrochette!), and a movie.  If you're looking for a good one, I highly recommend Taken...it was awesome!  We also made plenty of trips to all of the local baby stores.  It was fun and overwhelming at the same time.  In fact, there were a couple of rows that we just decided to skip at Babies R Us because we were literally worn out!  Who knew that shopping for a baby could be so tiring...don't even start w/ the jokes about waiting until the baby actually comes!  I know, I know...I'm in for a big surprise!

Our other wonderful news comes in the form of another move.  Chris got accepted to a training program in Mississippi, and it is an absolute dream come true for him.  I have always believed that God has a special plan for every person's life, and I am truly convinced that God molded Chris to fly.  This opportunity was such an answered prayer, one of many that we have received this year.  So, we're packing up again shortly and heading back to America for good!  We've already begun the house-hunting, and researching our new home...I can't even tell you how excited I am!!  I'll definitely fill you all in with more details later, but for now just please continue to pray for our family & the transitions that we will soon be making.

Below is our 2nd ultrasound pic of Baby D :)  It was taken at just over 10 weeks, and I'm almost at 16 already.  Time is just flying by!  In just a few short weeks we will learn if our sweet little baby is a boy or a girl...oh what fun!!