27 weeks

I seriously cannot believe that I am 27 weeks pregnant. it seems like yesterday i was finding out i was pregnant with judah..time flies i guess. but nowe we are on to baby numero dos. this time it's a girl (as you know already), and boy, have the pregnancies been different!

with judah, allen made me take a test b/c he knew i was late, and we went to the doctor to make sure everything was okay, and then we told our parents. we had lost our very first baby, so it was one of those things where we just wanted to make sure all was okay before we announced the good news. everyone reacted differently--some wondered why we waited so long to tell people and of course no one actually expected us to be pregnant so soon after a loss, but we were. i got sick starting at about 8 weeks and thank goodness it only lasted for about a month and a half. i felt pretty good for the most part. At 20 weeks we got our ultrasound to find out we were indeed having a Judah--I'm glad he was a Judah b/c we'd kinda been stuck on that name for years..if it was a girl, she'd have been Peyton...let's just say i'm glad it was a boy :) the whole pregnancy went pretty well. i was probably the most laid back first time mom ever. I didn't care what the nursery looked like, didn't care about registering, whatever happened would happen kinda attitude. I guess we were in the middle of traveling back and forth to Kentucky with church, so my mind really wasn't focused on baby stuff per se. But it was so much fun getting to meet our judah for the first time. we went into the hospital to be induced the week after i was due, and a long day of not barely progressing made them come to the decision to do a c section. Of course i was scared to death. the thought of having surgery hadn't even crossed my mind at all! i just remember that the epidural made my spine feel like it was burning, and then once i was in the operating room, i was just ready to be done. I wanted a donut (meanwhile feeling like i was going to puke everywhere!), and then they told me i would feel alot of pressure. Definitely an understatement....i felt like my ribs were going to break! but soon after that, we got to meet judah and he was everything we had ever hoped for. HUGE baby--8 lbs 15 oz..took after his mom i guess ;) But he was something. All i wanted to do was look at him all the time. I still find myself going into his room to tuck him in again before i go to bed, and i'm just amazed at what a blessing he is to allen and I. Of course, we have our moments (he IS two and all!!), but i would never trade that kid for anything!

As far as this pregnancy has gone, all I have wanted to do is EAT! well, at least lately. We found out we were pregnant in December, the same day I changed my major (for the last time). it was quite a day! I was instantly hungry and couldn't eat enough!! we went in for our 8 week ultrasound, and of course i was nervous b/c between having judah and being pregnant this time, we had lost another baby, so i was not thinking there would be a great outcome to the ultrasound. yes, i know..i'm pessimistic..but we saw our baby up there on the screen, heart pounding away. i had wished they would do a 12 week ultrasound, but in Kentucky they only do 8 week and 20 week ultrasounds. so the whole waiting period between 8 and 20 weeks consisted of me being VERY moody, VERY sick, and VERY tired. all the time!! i know allen probably wanted to kill me because i was always puking or biting his head off..now i am normally a moody person (yes, i need to work on this!), but it was just insane...i really think allen should have moved out for 3 months just for his own sanity. we told our parents about this baby at christmas--i think we were 7 or 8 weeks along. of course i was terrified to tell them all this time too because i wanted everyone to be excited, not like "oh well you're not done with school..you suck at life"...but fortunately, they were very excited...they (allen's mom in particular) insisted that it be a girl, and honestly i was convinced it was a boy just because i hadn't gotten big all over and stuff. BUT come to find out, we were having a girl!! i think we both jumped out of our seats when she told us that it was a little girl. we were so excited...that is, until the doctor told us that there could could be some issues. her neck fold was measuring just a little bit high, and although this test is normally done between 11 and 14 weeks, they did it at 20 weeks. doesn't make sense to me, but the doctor told us not to worry and that everything else looked normal--nose plate, arms and legs, heart size, etc. But the fact that the neck fold was a little bit higher could mean that our baby girl would/could have Down syndrome. i guess because i'm a momma and i tend to prepare myself for the worst anyway, it didn't hit me as hard, but i think allen was just a little stunned. More because the test was late and that it might be completely irrelavent because it may have just been a growth spurt. But yes, we go in on monday to get another ultrasound just to double check things...i'm just excited b/c we'll get to see our girl again! and yes, i WILL be having them double check that it's a girl just in case :) i have about 13ish weeks left to carry this baby and since it'll (most likely) be our last, i'm trying to cherish every moment. i've been excited about doing the nursery, i think mainly because we have a house now that we can kind of do what we want with for the most part, so i'm going to redo judah's room also! but honestly, i am ready to see her! i have a feeling she is going to be a big girl. i feel huge right now, and i'm not even to the "pound a week" stage....yikes!! i'm just excited to see her, to see how judah does with her (right now he's not too thrilled), and to have another person to love.

i have been truly blessed with my wonderfully awesome hubby, crazy son, and this baby who is coming soon! i can hardly wait to see what road our lives are going to take in the near future because for our family, it never really has a chance to settle down..and i think that's a good thing!! ;)

until next time...

rain..rain....RAINNNNNNN...

i have never seen so much rain in my entire life!!! i know..i said that about snow a couple of months ago, but seriously....we are having some serious seasons up here in Kentucky! for the whole month of April it has rained non stop...literally...i thought our house was going to blow away last week--we were up at 2:30 in the morning trying to find our flashlights and make sure we didn't get sucked up by a tornado! our road gets flooded every time it rains really hard, really fast..the week before that it had been raining all night, and i tried to get to school, and once i got to the end of our road, a cop was stopping traffic and basically told me to go home for a few hours because there would be no way i was getting to lexington. it was awful outside once i actually did get on the road. the golf course looked like a lake and so did all of the soccer fields! it was crazy! there is NO drainage system at all..but i guess at least now we aren't lacking in rain..no drought for kentucky!!

all that to say that.........guess what??? we are getting MORE rain tonight....severe thunderstorms (and wind-----i HATE the wind!!) through the night and all day tomorrow!!! i am in serious need of May and pretty flowers and sunshine and going to the park with my little family........

i'm addicted to..

these..Sonic slushes..

i literally cannot get enough. i could eat one every single day of my life. well, at least until mikaela gets here. i've never really wanted them often, but for about 3ish weeks, that is ALL i have wanted! i'm so ready for summer and snowcones. those are my absolute favorite in the universe!

i don't think i eat real food lately. i try...really i do...but if i could live off of slushes, snowcones, and (when june comes) bubble tea, i would be one happy lady!

busy weekend!

we had such a busy weekend! we had already known/planned for servant saturday, so that was enough in and of itself, but we also had allen's parents in town. allen and i were definitely stressed about how everything was gonna go for servant saturday. especially allen. it went very well--we had 45 people from church show up to help with the Chrysalis house, and then we also had a bunch of families show up for the actual event. I had to take care of the kids. we had a carnival that ended up going pretty well! i know allen was happy with the turnout and i'm excited about the next servant saturday. allen's parents came into town to bring TONS of baby stuff to us--old judah stuff and new stuff. we got clothes and a bassinet and a glider chair, just to name a few. I felt bad because we ended up moving our rooms around this weekend too and they helped us with everything! we were so incredibly tired lastnight...i slept like a baby! we did get to try out this restaurant in paris called clay's...it is so good! i tried some of allen's steak and it was amazing...and judah liked the guy playing the banjo up front. we went back to his parents hotel for a little while so the boys could sit in the hot tub for a few minutes, but by the time we got there, i couldn't keep my eyes open. i was in the tot's room today at church and they were nuts! judah and christopher and jojo kept chasing each other around the room and wrestling and just being crazy boys. i wish i had that much energy. (ha...pregnant lady talking--i'm like a whale..wouldn't be able to chase them if i tried!). after lunch judah and i went home and slept in the car for like 2 hours. it was nice outside and i knew if i tried to get judah out of the car, he'd wake up and be a grouch for the rest of the day, so i just napped with him on this one single nice day out of all the rainy ones we've had. which reminds me...this week is supposed to be rainy too. REALLY?!??! it's kinda depressing. i guess i'll just take the nice days while i can get them and try to avoid the floods when i can..i'm ready for May! :)

redecorating

so. right now i am busier than i have ever been with school, church, home, judah, allen, baby showers, wedding showers, pregnant people, event planning, and life in general. i have 2 hours to get some stuff done...but what am i doing instead???

looking at baby bedding...

that's all i can do. i am so excited about bedding and decorating mikaela's room. and judah's. and ours. we are doing an all around bedroom shift, so pretty much everything has to be moved and reorganized. and we haven't even started! yikes. but yes, for the past week, i've consumed all of my time looking at cribs, dressers, baby bedding, decorations, decorating tips, etc online.

i really need to just pick something so i can get back to my life!!!

since judah already has his toddler bed, we are going to probably do his room with some basic colors (navy, red) and accessorize with cars or boats or whatever we decide on (probably trucks b/c thats his FAV right now!)..i really need to get him a new dresser, or let him have mine, and i can get another dresser--won't happen anytime soon, but hey, i can dream. we need to paint the walls and find a valance for the windows, and just a bunch of little stuff. but hey, at least he has a bed. his poor sister has NOTHING to her name right now!! (except an elephant blanket and a couple of outfits!!)

maybe something like this...minus those HIDEOUS curtains..i can handle the valances, but NOT the curtains..

or this...

as far as mikaela's room goes, i don't know what in the world i want to do. at first i wanted this wildly flower printed set that was aqua blue, reddish orange, and green, but it's really expensive so i nixed that right away. and plus, she's a little girl. i want there to be PINK!! and so does allen. so we're probably going to go the completely opposite route and do frilly pinkness everywhere..which is fine with me. most of the stuff people give you for a baby shower is pastel pink or blue anyways, so it'll match. her crib will most likely be a dark espresso color (i wanted white, but...thinking about judah and his level of hyperactivity, i decided against that too. i would like for her crib/toddler bed/full size bed to last as long as its made for, with as little scratching as possible. we'll see how long it really lasts...

i like the soft colors of this room..i think it would go well in our "country" house..

but i like the modern-ness of this one..and the cool ruffle at the bottom of the crib...i'm just not sure about the shade of pink...it could look too bluish/purplish..

..and this one..i just like birds...i think they can make a girl's room look cute...and there's still some pink in there, just not too overpowering..

our room..well, i don't know what to do. we have paneling in what will be our new master bedroom, and i don't know how to make it look good. i've been looking online for different ideas, and there is some promise in what i can do (without painting the walls)..so we'll see...it's definitely last on my priority list.

so yeah..this is what i've been doing ALL afternoon..i really need to find something better to do with my time!! or at least just pick out a bedding set already so that i won't have to think about it anymore!! ( i never EVER fretted this much about judah's bedding...)

now..to get something real accomplished for the day...

part 2

on March 11th we got to see our baby for our 20 week ultrasound...we found out that we are having a GIRL!! both of us were totally stunned, but thrilled. we didn't really get good pictures of her, so here's the best one I have.. :)

 

Then we got to go back down to SC for my spring break, and allen and i got a mini break during that week down in Myrtle Beach. It was WONDERFUL! here's allen at Broadway at the beach..

here's the actual beach..we didn't spend a whole lot of time there because it was freezing cold!

On St. Patty's day, we went to Senor Frogs for dinner..and they had a balloon man there who was making everyone lovely hats..i especially like allen's

i don't really know what this face is from...but it makes for a hilarious picture!!

my hat wasn't much better..

beautiful sunset at Broadway.

we went to go see Tron at the IMAX theater one night..it was so much fun (and such a good movie!!)

this was our view from our room (with me posing of course..)..it was so pretty!!

we really did have a nice break from the routine...very short lived, but enjoyable. i can't believe it's april already...which is great..it's my BIRTHDAY month!! not that i'm super excited because i'm going to be 25~~not old by any means, but just a number i'm not ready for yet.. :) i have more doctor appointments coming up because this week i'll be 24 weeks pregnant with our girl. crazy, huh? lemme tell ya, i definitely feel like a whale this time. i don't remember when i started "feeling" big with judah, but there was no way it was this early! they say you show early with girls, and i guess that's true. i just don't wanna see how big that ends up being..yikes!! but as long as she's healthy..which..so far, so good..i've just been extra extra moody and hungry for sweet stuff. i hope i go back to normal after july when she's due to arrive!! oh and yes, i'm excited because allen's mom is throwing me a shower at the beginning of May! i swear all i'm gonna ask for is diapers. she's good on clothes (thanks to allen's parents), so yep, diapers is what i want...

until next time...(which will hopefully not be in a month!!) 

part 1 of catching up

can't believe i'm so behind on life....

first i'll start off with playing "picture catch up":

starting off with the ENDLESS winter we've come to know in Kentucky..this picture is from January, but we did have our last little hurrah with snow last saturday..yikes!

Then in February, we went down to South Carolina to have Judah's birthday party....he was kinda moody to say the least...

 yep, this describes it a little bit better....he cried the WHOLE TIME!!!! but he did manage to crack a smile by the end of it

Then Allen's parents, my parents, and us went to the circus...

 On Judah's real birthday, i managed to make him a cake (that was actually edible for once!! last year's cake was a major FLOP!)..

what can i say? he loves chocolate..and he loved my cooking/baking...which is a plus!! :)

 at the beginning of march, my bestest friend from 5th grade decided to get hitched....and i got away from my two men for a couple days..

 this is laura and chris at the wedding reception...he is so sweet to her!! i'm glad she found such a great guy!! and i'm glad i got to be part of their special day!

i will be putting up more pictures next time of our vacation and our little girl :) i just need to upload them now...