Counting down the Days!

I am trying to blog once a week about my pregnancy. This week I have not felt as good. A lot more tired and starting to feel sick at my stomach. (ahh, the familiar first trimester) But I am hanging in there. I am anxiously counting down the days till my doctors appointment. I am VERY anxious to tell someone we are pregnant! I can't believe we have only known for 2 1/2 weeks. It kind of seems like forever. I guess I'm not a very good secret keeper. But Jeremy and I are both holding to our original thought that we would like to tell Grace & Faith first so they can share the news with their grandparents. We will see if I make it...its really hard not to tell my mom! 

Garth Woodside Mansion

On Sunday night Jeremy and I took the opportunity to get away for the night. (for Jeremy's Birthday/Valentine's Day) Jeremy had the day off on Monday for President's Day. It was lovely! We stayed at one of the cottages at Garth Woodside Mansion. It is a bed & breakfast. Our cottage had a hot tub, fireplace, and super comfy bed. One of my favorite parts was the amazing food! As part of a special they were running dinner was also included in our stay. The food was SO good. The girls had a night at Gramy & Papa's house. I love spending time with Jeremy, and I always miss him when he has to go back to work! We are hoping to take the girls out sometime to see their pet Lamas. Even though the bed & breakfast was located right here in Hannibal it was a total getaway!

Making Valentine Cupcakes

(So i hate how I always forget if I upload pictures in the order they happened then they are backwards when you scroll down.) This year for Valentine's day my mom sent the girls a package of stuff to make Valentine's cupcakes. So on Thursday night for family night we made cupcakes. The girls did really great taking turns and wanted to help with each step. I don't think you can see it in any of the pictures but Nana gave them coordinating purple aprons for Christmas and they look so adorable when they wear them. They also LOVED eating them. We made chocolate cupcakes with pink icing. Then the girls added the pink, white, and red sprinkles. Faith wasn't so interested in the sprinkles at that point she could see an iced cupcake and she was ready to dig in! We shared our cupcakes with some of the single gals in our small group (there are 5!) Grace always enjoys helping make deliveries.

Jennifer and the Terrible, Horrible, Some Good, Very Great Day

I don't know how many of you are familiar with this children's book (Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day) but the title came to mind. We had a bad start to our day yesterday. Things started out like a fairly normal Sunday morning. Grace and I had a "chat" about how we would do her hair. I really wanted to twist it up in a clip. I thought it looked super cute. She however was not so sure. I tried convincing her with no success until I had a great idea. I told her that Grammy would love it. She wasn't sure. So I suggested we call her. She said I will have to see it & so we got on Skype and my mother assured Grace how grown up and cute her hair looked. And she was perfectly happy from then on (thank goodness for Skype). I hope this continues to work through her prom hair-do days. You can see her happily modeling her updo in the above picture. 

Sounds like a great solution, so what made the morning horrible? Well, that would involve our accident prone child Faith. While I was getting ready Faith was carrying around a glass container with those decorative glass stones in it. She was sitting on the carpet having a great time dumping them out and filling it back up. I was wanting to finish getting ready and thought it wasn't a big deal. Than 10 minutes later I hear a crash & screaming. Apparently she decided to walk around with said glass container, tripped, and it shattered into a million pieces. Her hands were bleeding with 4 or 5 cuts. She wasn't really hurt just stinking mad she needed to hold still so I could clean her up. So we had a wrestling match that resulted in 4 tiny band-aids being wrapped around her little fingers. She wasn't happy to say the least and repeatedly tried taking them off with her teeth. And when we put on her coat on they started bleeding again and got blood all over her hands and coat. Lovely! Needless to say by the time I got to church I was completely and utterly frazzled. (with a side of mommy guilt!)

But as you can tell by the title of this blog the entire day wasn't terrible. Last night I was super tired and not feeling real motivated to cook dinner. So my husband volunteered and made dinner for us. While I was enjoying playing with the girls he called down the stairs to ask where the cookie cutters were. When we came up for dinner he had made the girls hamburgers in the shape of a flower and butterfly. And I was overwhelmed with gratitude for his thoughtfulness for both I and the girls.  I am so blessed.

As I looked back over my day it made me think about how often when things aren't going smoothly I can write off the entire day. This is not a good day! But when I look at my days as a stay at home mom I realize few of them can be strictly categorized as good or bad. Even the rough days involve precious hugs and kisses from my kids. And I can't think of a single good day that was completely tear or tantrum free. And so God is showing me how to let go of a piece of my perfectionism...a day doesn't have to be perfect to be good, or even great.

I HEART the four seasons!

We have had a wave of spring like weather. It has been awesome! Yesterday the girls and I went for a walk and then went to the park near our house. I love being able to walk to a "park" (its actually the playground of the local elementary school) This was one of the first times Faith has really played at the park. She had so much fun. She was very brave and went down the big slide countless times. Each time she would smile and sign more over and over. 

Today we are planning on going back outside again after the girls wake up from their nap. Jeremy and I are already dreaming of going places without hats, coats, and gloves in tow. Although I'm sure this warm streak will be short lived it has put me in such a great mood and left me hoping Spring will come soon. 

As we were playing at the park yesterday it got me thinking about how much I love the four seasons. There is something I love about all of them. Most of all I really enjoy the change. Which is amazing in itself since I'm not big on change. Most people think the Midwest is kind of boring. There are no mountains, oceans, etc. But I think if I moved out of the midwest I would miss the way we fully experience all four seasons. Here are some of the things I love about each season and am praising God for today:

Winter:

watching it snow (I can't imagine Christmas without snow)

icicles

hot chocolate & soup (you can only truly enjoy these when its really cold)

snow days

fireplaces & warm blankets

Spring:

the joy of being outside again

warmer weather

rainstorms (jeremy taught me to enjoy rainy days)

flowers (my two favorites lilacs & lily of the valley!)

walking outside

Summer:

BBQ's & picnics

swimming

hot weather/sun

ice cream

going to the park

Fall:

beautiful leaves

pumpkins

cooler walks

jeans & jacket weather

yummy fall foods like pumpkin bars

Lord thank you for showing me I actually do enjoy change! Thank you for the special joys of each season. May it remind me of the specialness of other seasons. Like this season of being a mom of young children. What a blessing!

Doctor, Doctor!

I want to keep blogging about my pregnancy even though I won't publish any of them until we reveal our big news. So far I have felt pretty good, just tired. But a daily nap & earlier bed time is not that bad! I just keep waiting to feel like junk... I am celebrating each day and enjoying it while it lasts. I have had quite the frustration with getting my first doctor's appointment scheduled. I called on Monday and they told me Patient Accounts would have to call and confirm my insurance/explain charges before an appointment could be made. The nurse also told me if I hadn't heard back by Friday to call back again. (Doesn't make you optimistic!) So big surprise, I had to call back on Friday. The nurse said, "Hold on, let me put you through to patient accounts." (a.k.a  bump you to voicemail) So I ended up having to call AGAIN in the afternoon! This time the nurse said, "Well, they are really busy, if you haven't heard back by next Wednesday call again." Have mercy!! I am so glad this is our third child. I was seriously spoiled with Grace I had a family doctor who also delivered babies. I got in to see her within like 2 weeks of calling! Here you don't even see a doctor until you are 10 weeks along. But, I have had victory! Later in the afternoon Patient Accounts finally called  and I go to the doctor on March 2nd. I am counting down the days. One of the rewards of waiting until 10 weeks is I will have an ulrasound and hopefully get to hear the baby's heartbeat. 

Usually we tell our parents within a week or so of finding out and then wait to tell most everyone else until we make it through the first trimester. We have decided this time not to tell anyone until we go for our 10 week appointment. If that goes well we will go ahead and tell Grace & let her share the happy news. I am enjoying having a special secret just Jeremy and I share. So we will see if I can actually make it that long without telling my mom. This pregnancy is different because we have to be careful what we say in front of Grace.  She is VERY perceptive. Before when I was pregnant with Faith she was so little we were able to talk about things in front of her. I can't wait to see her reaction!

Happy Birthday, Jeremy!

Today is Jeremy's birthday. I love celebrating his birthday each year and trying to think of creative and fun ideas to make it special. This year for his birthday lunch we are having the local youth ministers he meets with monthly to our house for lunch. I am making one of his favorites, homemade fettuccine alfredo. While I didn't buy Jeremy a gift (I might have splurged at Christmas) I still wanted him to know how much I love him! Since his love language is words of affirmation here goes:

This weekend we went to our church's volunteer retreat at Lamoine Christian Camp. Every year I love going back and enjoying the memories this place holds. This year Jeremy told Grace that this is where Mommy and I "fell" in love. How fun! That was such a fun summer. I still remember thinking, "Would I really still want this guy around when I'm like 40?" And I realized the answer was yes! And the good news is the answer is still-YES! On Friday night Jeremy was facilitating team building activities. I love watching him do this because it is something he is passionate about and amazing at. Its wonderful to sit back and admire my husband as he works. I still am so thankful he is my husband. He still makes me catch my breath and feel so in love. Happy Birthday!

Fun "Firsts" for Faith

Grace wasn't sure about the strap around her neck!

Faith proudly models her new swimsuit.

Sampling her cookie dough.

Faith & Grace work together.

Faith shows off her pink painted toes!

Well, I have to admit I haven't always done the best at recording Faith's "firsts." Although I have blogged as much as possible, so I count that. Lately we have done some activities for the first time. On Thursday night we went to the YMCA to take the girls swimming for our family night. They had a great time. It was really fun. Above they are modeling their new swimsuits they got from Gramy for Christmas. I thought they looked SO adorable. 

We also made cookies for our Super Bowl party. It was the first time I have let Faith truly help with cooking. She has "helped" with her own bowls and spoons before but this time she actually got in on the dumping and pouring action. She did great! At the end I let her and Grace lick there spoons a a reward for a job well done. The next day I went to bake the cookies and she wanted to climb up on the step stool and check out what I was doing. I was putting a second set in the oven when I heard Grace say, "We lost some cookies." I was so confused! Then I saw Faith had reached over and managed to grab the cooling rack. Six jumbo cookies were now on the floor. Faith was screeching, she was mad she didn't get ahold of one before they fell on the floor. I couldn't really get mad though because I decided it was probably too much temptation to put freshly baked cookies within the reach of a one year old!

We also painted Faith's toes for the first time. When I was painting Grace's toes recently she expressed interest in having hers painted as well. She held really still and was so excited! It was great to include her in the fun.

I'm pregnant!

Well, it is Super Bowl Sunday. I am watching a little HGTV and trying to relax. While I won't post this blog entry for awhile I wanted to blog so I didn't forget how I feel today. All weekend I had started to suspicion that I might be pregnant. I wasn't super late I just had a "feeling." I felt car sick on the way to our weekend retreat, I cried in church, I have felt tired. Nothing big. Honestly I thought I might just be convincing myself since I am SO familiar with pregnancy symptoms. But the inner debate was starting to consume my thoughts. So when I came home from church I took a left over pregnancy test from when I redid the test with Faith several times. :) And it confirmed that I am pregnant! Even though I've done this before I had to break out my pregnancy book to try and calculate my due date. I looks like Baby #3 will arrive right around Faith's 2nd birthday. The book calculates my due date as October 7th.

Now I am dying to tell someone. But I am not going to tell Jeremy right now since he is at the church preparing for our youth Super Bowl party. Tomorrow is his birthday so I am going to make him a card. I took a picture of me with the positive test since he isn't here to see it in person. I know he will think it is a wonderful birthday present. Kind of ironic to me since I first seriously suspicioned my pregnancy with Grace on Father's day. 

I am excited and nervous all at the same time. So many moms have been telling me how hard the transition from two to three is. But, I find comfort in knowing how many people said two so close together would  be a challenge and I have survived! I am thankful God has blessed us with another member to our family. A baby is the most incredible blessing. 

Baby,

I already love you. I am praying God will protect you as he knits you together. Already you have a family who loves you and will eagerly anticipate your birth. You are loved. I pray even now God will plant the beginnings of a heart that longs to know Him. 

Your Mama