January Review

Sorry that the blogging thing didn't really happen for me this week. To be completely honset with you, I was a bit preoccupied with reading book 5 of the Harry Potter series. I had started book 5 before I found out I was pregnant but with that news I became more interested in reading pregnancy books. And when I got really sick it became difficult to read when I was so nauseated. Now that I have been feeling better I was determined to finish HP this week and I did just yesterday. Soooo good! And I'm super exciting to read book 6. This will be the first book of this series that I have no idea what is going to happen since they haven't released the 6th movie yet. Actually, the release date of "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" is due to be released the day before my due date, July 17!. Josh is super hoping we'll be able to see the movie before the baby comes and I guess I secretly am also. But if it doesn't work out that way, I don't think I'll be too disappointed cuz I'll probably be a little preoccupied.

Now time for a quick review of what my January looked like:

1. Babies!  I attended a baby shower for my girlfriend Lauren (far right) who gave birth to her little baby this Tuesday!

.....the pregnant girls and used to be pregnant girl....

I really don't know why my hair does that thing it's doing. It usually happens when someone takes out a camera. In the pink is my friend Becky who is 4 weeks ahead of me, Camille who is due in April, and Lauren who just had little William Marc! They call him peanut and he was so cute!

Camille getting in a little practice. His poor little cheeks were so read due to a reaction he had with the hospitals blankets. Poor little guy.

2. Snow snow snow. We had a pretty big snow storm this week. Apparently, Erie is close to the 10th snowiest winter in history. Last year at this time we had a total of 56" of snow, and this year we are just about at 112" of snow.  And I'm gonna guess that we'll probably reach over 112" today as it is snowing again right now, snowing horizontally to be exact.
3. Family weekend. My parents, Marc, Michael, and Nola came up to visit us at the beginning of the month when the temperatures were in the negatives and it snowed all weekend long. It was tough finding a spot outside for her to take care of business cuz the snow was so deep. But she loved the snow and loved sticking her face in it.

 

 

I think those were most of my highlights this month. Josh has been pretty busy studying. Thankfully my love for reading allows me to hang out with him while he's studying. Tomorrow he has his SPEC exam for most of the day. This is where he learns how to give sensative exams to both men and women. I'm sure it will be kind of a weird day for the med-students and for the people who volunteer. Which blows my mind that people volunteer for this. I know they are compensated but I'm not sure there is enough compensation out there for me to want to volunteer to have a bunch of med-students poke and prod me. Just my opinion. I suppose we should be thankful for those who volunteer to help further the education of my husband and for all med-students.
Sorry to no belly picture. I know, shame on me. I don't have an updated one from this week yet. I promise I will post one this weekend (sorry BrittanyAnya).

Peace out and have a great weekend!

A little too PG-13

This morning Josh asked me if I had read this week's description of what is going on with our little baby on our pregnancy ticker. I hadn't yet and he told me what it said and suggested we remove that particular ticker to something a little more appropriate. It wasn't terrible but I was a little inappropriate for my taste, and I do try to keep my blog family friendly. And let's just say if any of my mother's would have read it I might have been a little embarrassed. So sorry for those of you who did catch it, I guess I would have never thought a pregnancy ticker needed to be screened for content prior to use.

Sharing the news with our parents

Josh and I really wanted to do something special for our parents to announce our pregnancy, especially since we knew it would be a total surprise for them. I randomly came across this website at work (while I should have been working) and we decided to have onesies made for our parents. The website is http://www.makeaonesie.com/. The website is super cute and very easy to make a custom onesie or even make a custom t-shirt for very reasonable prices.

I was really excited we learned we were pregnant right around Christmas time so we could give these onesies to our parents as part of their gifts. We rolled the oneseie up and put in a cute, fuzzy, red Christmas stocking and then wrapped them for our parents. At first, my mother thought it was a pair of underware rolled up. Easy mistake, but you can imagine her surprise when she discovered what it really was. Now my mother carries this around with her so she can show people she hasn't told we are pregnant yet.

4 Pregnancy Tests Later

 

*picture of the fourth pregnancy test*

I'm not really sure how else to explain myself for taking four pregnancy tests, other than the crazy pregnancy hormones kicked in early and I was acting crazy. You can even ask Josh. I know my husband loves me and cares deeply for me and would never want to hurt my feelings, but I'm sure crazy woud be the exact word he would use to describe my need to take four pregnancy tests.

Let me explain how I came about to taking four tests.

We of course have the first test (the totally legitimate test). This was taken early one Saturday morning in November, and it was positive! Josh and I of course were very excited, we celebrated, and went to a bookstore to pick up a few pregnancy books. The entire day I was on cloud nine and I couldn't believe I was pregnant. As I was getting ready for bed that night, I saw the other pregnancy tests in the box (it was a two pack) and thought to myself, I'll just take another one just to be sure. Of course I take the test and it's positive again! I went to bed resting assured I was indeed pregnant.

Now the third test is where the crazy comes in. Josh and I were grocery shopping one evening together (I think this was later in the week of us finding out we were pregnant). I went past the "family planning" isle and got the crazy thought in my head that I might not really be pregnant because the thought of me being pregnant was very surreal to me and I was having a hard time getting a grip on reality at the moment. Josh, being the loving husband that he is, said yes to my craziness but said I have to purchase the least expensive test. Right before bed I took the cheap pregnancy test and it was negative. I did not freak out and I did not panic. Josh just looked at me and said, "You're gonna take another one aren't you?" I quickly respond with a "Yep."

Reasons I think the pregnancy test was negative:

a) it was cheap

b) I think I took it wrong

c) I took it at night (they recommend testing first thing in the morning)

So because my third pregnancy test was negative, I am totally justified in taking a fourth, which of course was positive.

Life Changing Events

Well, I suppose it's about that time where Josh and I share with the world wide web what exactly has been going on in our lives these past couple of months. There actually has been quite a bit going on with us. Some might even dare say life changing, and we would most definitely agree, they are life changing indeed.

We are pleased to be announcing the birth of our first baby! (insert jumping for joy here) Baby G will be making their debut this July (July 18 due date). Words cannot begin to express how excited we are to be expecting our first child. We truly want to give thanks and praise to our Lord for everything He has done and is doing in our lives. We have truly been experiencing the fruits of His blessing. He has been so good to us, and we are honored He has entrusted us with such an amazing gift.

If you look back at my posting history, I was pretty absent towards the end of November and December. Let's just say the first trimester really kicked my butt. It was much harder than anticipated, and the morning sickness I experienced started in the morning, carried into the afternoon, and followed me all the way until I went to bed at night (all to repeat again the very next day). It was rough but I am definitely starting to feel much better and am looking forward to having my energy return to me in the second trimester (at least that's what all the pregnancy books say and also my go-to pregnant friend Camille).

If you do think of Josh, me, and baby G please lift us up in your prayers for the continued development of our little one and also as God prepares Josh and I to be parents. Here is a picture of the little miracle growing inside my belly (taken last Friday at the beginning of my 13th week).

More updates to come on pregnant belly at 5 weeks and pregnancy belly now at 13 weeks, why I took 4 pregnancy tests, and how we told our parents!

First time GPSer

Josh and I received a GPS for Christmas from my parents and I was able to use it for the first time last night. I went over to my friend Brooke's house last night for our girls' group. I had never driven from our house over to her house before, and knowing my track record with getting lost, combined with it being dark out, and the roads a bit icy, I was really looking forward to using the GPS to help get me there in one piece and without a phone call to Brooke for help.

The first time you turn the GPS on, you need to be standing outside with a clear shot of the sky so the GPS can connect and callibrate with its various satelites, only taking a couple of minuets. This in itself was a sight to see. There I am, standing in front of our townhouse at 6pm last night holding the GPS up to the sky waiting for it to callibrate and praying none of my neighbors come out and see me. And of course who is to come home at the exact moment I am standing outside in the cold? One of my neighbors. Thankfully, he kind of just ignored me.

Once everything was all set up, I punched in Brooke's address and proceeded towards her house. I forgot to mention that Brooke emailed all of us girls incredible directions to her house that I printed off just in case. Even as I was following the directions of the GPS, I was double checking them with Brooke's directions and they were exact! I was so impressed with my little GPS. Until I would be approaching my turn and I felt like my GPS was yelling at me, "Turn left on Pine! Turn left on Pine!" I was trying to talk back to it but of course that was futile.

My GPS did get me to Brookes townhouse community but it didn't get me exactly to her address. I did have to call Brooke for a little assistance but for the most part I was very pleased with my GPS and am looking forward to using it again.

Christmas Picture Highlights

Josh and I were able to spend a lot of quality time with both of our families this holiday season. We cherished every moment of being with them since our visits with them aren't as frequent as we would like. Here are some pictures highlighting some of my favorite moments with both of our families. Enjoy!

Poor Nola never gets any attention or lovin' on. Just kidding, that's not true at all. She is terribly spoiled by my parents. I think Josh was a bit jealous of the snuggle time I spent with her.

I got my three neices tu-tus for Christmas. They were so adorable!

(Addie 3 1/2...Olivia 2 1/2.....Audrey (in the back) 14 months)

                                                                              I couldn't find a purple tu-tu in Audrey's size, so I had to find her a pink one. But she loved wearing her sisters.

Our newest nephew, Weston Henry.He is such a cuddle bug and so tiny. He is one month old today!

Best buds. I love this picture.

Our crew from left to right...

Olivia, Holden (2), Weston, Addie, & Audrey.

It was a nice attempt to get a picture of all of our neices and nephews. We knew it wouldn't be easy, but it certainly was hilarious. I honestly think this was the best one.

Almost back to normal...

Happy 2009

Things are almost back to normal around here. Or at least what we like to call normal. We returned to Erie last Tuesday evening from all of our holiday travels (Erie to Dayton, OH to Grand Rapids, MI, and back to Erie = approx. 16hrs. of traveling in our car). Even though the traveling is a bit tiring, we were really blessed this year for me to take quite a bit of time off from work so we could spend a lot of time with my family and Josh's family. We definitely miss seeing our families. (Pictures to come soon.)

We also had a few visitors arrive on Wednesday to ring in the new year with us. My brother Marc, our friend Shelly, and Nola came up for a few days to celebrate 2009. It was great having them here and introducing us to Guitar Hero. Let's just hope Guitar Hero isn't too much of a distraction for Josh when school starts back up again. 

So today my day is filled with getting organized, lots of laundry, and hopefully a movie date with my favorite husband. I definitely want to enjoy today and tomorrow as Josh will never have a Christmas break again. And with things getting back to normal, I'll try my hardest to be a better blogger. 

Happy Saturday and Happy 2009!