Another update: 24-27 Weeks!

Here's how Baby Girl and I have been progressing in the last few weeks.

Pregnancy Highlights:

(Please ignore my crazy hair in this picture. I'm not sure what that was all about).

How Far Along: 24 Weeks!

Size of baby: The size of an ear of corn.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gained 15 lbs

Maternity Clothes: I wear maternity jeans and pants, but I can still wear a few regular shirts depending on how long they are, and I also have some maternity shirts.

Gender: It’s a GIRL!!!

Movement: Her movements are definitely getting more and more noticeable. I can watch my belly move when she kicks now!

Sleep: Every now and then I have a night where I have to get up to go to the bathroom, but that’s about it. Occasionally, I have crazy dreams that wake me up.

What I miss: Nothing really.

Cravings: I'm just hungry - I don't have specific cravings.

Symptoms: I’ve started feeling a little more uncomfortable every now and then.

Best Moment this week: Watching my belly move when she kicks hard enough!

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 25 Weeks!

Size of baby: The length of a recorder that you played in elementary school…or a rutabaga (but I have no idea how big those are).

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gained 16 lbs

Maternity Clothes: I wear maternity jeans and pants, but I can still wear a few regular shirts depending on how long they are, and I also have some maternity shirts.

Gender: It’s a GIRL!!!

Movement: I absolutely love feeling her kick me. I don’t think I’ve noticed her doing somersaults or anything crazy, but maybe I have and didn’t know.

Sleep: Every now and then I have a night where I have to get up to go to the bathroom, but that’s about it. Occasionally, I have crazy dreams that wake me up.

What I miss: Nothing really.

Cravings: I'm just hungry - I don't have specific cravings.

Symptoms: I’ve started feeling a little more uncomfortable every now and then, but nothing too bad.

Best Moment this week: Painting the nursery, and having another good doctor’s appointment! I haven’t heard anything negative about my glucose test…so hopefully I passed!

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 26 Weeks!

Size of baby: The length of a burp cloth…or the length of an English cucumber.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gained 17 lbs – I thought for sure I would have gained 5 lbs last week because of Thanksgiving, but I didn’t. I am still on the 1 lb per week track, which is where I am supposed to be. Yay!

Maternity Clothes: I wear maternity jeans and pants, but I can still wear a few regular shirts depending on how long they are, and I also have some maternity shirts.

Gender: It’s a GIRL!!!

Movement: Sometimes I think she likes messing with her Daddy. Sometimes when Tanner wants to feel her kick, she stops, even if she has been kicking like crazy. However, one night this week he had his arm around my belly and she immediately started kicking him repeatedly. Apparently, she was not a fan of his arm being there.

Sleep: Every now and then I have a night where I have to get up to go to the bathroom, but that’s about it. Occasionally, I have crazy dreams that wake me up.

What I miss: Nothing really.

Cravings: I'm just hungry - I don't have specific cravings.

Symptoms: I’ve started feeling a little more uncomfortable every now and then, but nothing too bad.

Best Moment this week: Thanksgiving and her being very active throughout this week!

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 27 Weeks! Time is flying by!!!

Size of baby: She is probably close to 2 lbs and 15 inches or so. Apparently, that is about the size of a head of cauliflower.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gained 18 or 19 lbs

Maternity Clothes: I wear maternity jeans and pants, but I can still wear a few regular shirts depending on how long they are, and I also have some maternity shirts.

Gender: It’s a GIRL!!!

Movement: She is very active. Her most active times are mid-afternoon and at night when we are watching tv.

Sleep: Every now and then I have a night where I have to get up to go to the bathroom, but that’s about it. Occasionally, I have crazy dreams that wake me up.

What I miss: Nothing really.

Cravings: I'm just hungry - I don't have specific cravings.

Symptoms: I’ve started feeling a little more uncomfortable every now and then, but nothing too bad.

Best Moment this week: Continuing to work on the nursery and continuing to feel my baby girl moving inside of me!

19-23 Weeks!!!

I know, I know... I haven't updated since I was 18 weeks pregnant, and I'm now over 23 weeks pregnant. Something about taking pictures off of the camera, and loading them onto the computer drives me crazy...lazy, I know. Anyway, I have at least been keeping up with the posts I said I would write, and we have taken pictures each week. So you should have plenty of reading material in this post. The biggest news is that we found out the gender of our baby! It's a girl!!! We are so excited! Tanner and I agreed when I got pregnant that neither of us would say what gender we thought the baby was. He was afraid that would somehow equal what gender we wanted the baby to be, and we really just wanted a healthy baby. I know, that sounds cliche, but it's true. Anyway, after my ultrasound where we found out that she's a girl, we both admitted to each other that we really thought that was the gender. There were a lot of reasons for this, but needless to say, it was fun for us to both be right! We have known the gender for about a month now, and we have been busy picking out items for our registry, planning her nursery, and buying cute little baby girl clothes! Can you tell we're excited???

Anyway, here are the weekly posts. Some of the answers are the same from week-to-week, because it doesn't always change:

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 19 Weeks

Size of baby: The size of an heirloom tomato

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gained 10 lbs

Maternity Clothes: I wear maternity jeans and pants, but I can still wear some regular shirts, and I also have some maternity shirts.

Gender: We don’t know yet! 2 more days!

Movement: I’m pretty sure I’ve felt the baby move at this point, but I'm still not sure I can say for sure.

Sleep: Every now and then I have a night where I have to get up to go to the bathroom, but that’s about it. Sometimes I have crazy dreams that wake me up.

What I miss: Nothing really.

Cravings: I'm just hungry - I don't have specific cravings.

Symptoms: I am not having too many symptoms right now.

Best Moment this week: Possibly feeling the baby move!

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 20 Weeks – HALFWAY THERE!!!

Size of baby: The length of a banana

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gained 10 lbs according to my scale – but according to my doctor’s appointment last week it is a lot more than that. I blame it on the cowboy boots and several layers of tops that I was wearing.

Maternity Clothes: I wear maternity jeans and pants, but I can still wear some regular shirts, and I also have some maternity shirts.

Gender: It’s a GIRL!!! We found out last Thursday (October 13, 2011). We are so excited! Neither of us told the other what we thought the gender was before we had the ultrasound. After the ultrasound, we both came out and said, “I knew it was a girl.”

Movement: Her movements are getting more noticeable.

Sleep: Every now and then I have a night where I have to get up to go to the bathroom, but that’s about it. Sometimes I have crazy dreams that wake me up.

What I miss: Nothing really.

Cravings: I'm just hungry - I don't have specific cravings.

Symptoms: I am not having too many symptoms right now.

Best Moment this week: Finding out the gender and that Baby Girl is healthy!!!

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 21 Weeks!

Size of baby: The length of a carrot

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gained 11 lbs

Maternity Clothes: I wear maternity jeans and pants, but I can still wear some regular shirts, and I also have some maternity shirts.

Gender: It’s a GIRL!!!

Movement: Her movements are definitely noticeable now. Every time I eat Chick-fil-a she moves more. Tanner even got to feel her kick last weekend.

Sleep: Every now and then I have a night where I have to get up to go to the bathroom, but that’s about it. Sometimes I have crazy dreams that wake me up.

What I miss: Nothing really.

Cravings: I'm just hungry - I don't have specific cravings.

Symptoms: I am not having too many symptoms right now. Sometimes my belly feels sore (for lack of a better word).

Best Moment this week: Tanner getting to feel her kick!

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 22 Weeks!

Size of baby: About the length of a spaghetti squash

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gained 12 lbs

Maternity Clothes: I wear maternity jeans and pants, but I can still wear a few regular shirts depending on how long they are, and I also have some maternity shirts.

Gender: It’s a GIRL!!!

Movement: Her movements are definitely noticeable now. She seems to be most active at night when we are watching tv.

Sleep: Every now and then I have a night where I have to get up to go to the bathroom, but that’s about it. Sometimes I have crazy dreams that wake me up.

What I miss: Nothing really.

Cravings: I'm just hungry - I don't have specific cravings. Although, it was quite difficulty having so much Halloween candy in the house. I wanted to eat it all.

Symptoms: I am not having too many symptoms right now.

Best Moment this week: Picking out material for my mom to make her bedding and curtains!

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 23 Weeks!

Size of baby: About the size of a large mango

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gained 14 lbs

Maternity Clothes: I wear maternity jeans and pants, but I can still wear a few regular shirts depending on how long they are, and I also have some maternity shirts. As the weather is getting colder, I am realizing that I don't have enough sweaters that fit.

Gender: It’s a GIRL!!!

Movement: Her movements are definitely noticeable, but I still can’t tell what is a kick and what is a punch. She has kicked me hard enough a few times that my hand moves off of my stomach if I had it resting there.

Sleep: Every now and then I have a night where I have to get up to go to the bathroom, but that’s about it. Sometimes I have crazy dreams that wake me up.

What I miss: Nothing really.

Cravings: I'm just hungry - I don't have specific cravings. I am having a hard time not eating too many sweets because our house is full of them right now.

Symptoms: I am not having too many symptoms.

Best Moment this week: Starting our baby registry!

18 Weeks!!!

I'm 18 weeks!

Technically, 18 weeks and 2 days, but who's counting?

I stole this idea from one of my favorite blogs: kellyskornerblog.com

I have been meaning to do this for several weeks now, and I just haven't gotten around to it. We have at least been taking pictures of my baby bump each week.

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 18 Weeks

Size of baby: The length of a bell pepper

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gained 9ish lbs

Maternity Clothes: I wear maternity jeans and pants, but I can still wear regular shirts, and I also have some maternity shirts.

Gender: We don’t know yet! 1 week from today!!!

Movement: I’m not sure if I have felt the baby move yet or not. There have been times that I think I have, but I’m still not positive. I can't wait until I know for sure!

Sleep: I’m not having any trouble sleeping so far! I know that will change.

What I miss: Nothing really – sometimes I want some of the foods I can't have.

Cravings: I'm just hungry - I don't have specific cravings.

Symptoms: I am not having too many symptoms right now. I definitely have to make more trips to the bathroom than ever before.

Best Moment this week: Going to the UT/Buffalo game and possibly feeling the baby move during it.

Big News!!!

Wow. I’m not even sure where to start on this blog. I have a feeling this will be long…so bear with me.

Let me begin this by saying that God is good. Even when we in our finite minds don’t understand Him, He is good. He knows best. His timing is best. He loves us more than we can ever comprehend. This is some of what I have learned in the journey that I am about to describe. I pray that God will continue to use this experience to mold me into the person He wants me to be, as well as to allow me to use this to help others who are in the same situation.

In October 2009, Tanner and I decided that we would love to have a child. Since then, I have realized how silly we were in thinking we had control over this, but at the time, we decided that we were ready. Needless to say, it didn’t happen right away. The problem was obviously with me. I will spare the readers of this blog from specific details, but you are more than welcome to talk to me about it if you are interested. I will be happy to discuss it especially if you are experiencing similar issues.

During this time, we chose not to say anything to anyone. At first, this was mainly because my husband hates it when people announce that they are “trying to conceive.” You will have to ask him about his reasoning behind this, but needless to say, we kept this all to ourselves. The first few months were sad, but not terrible. I thought that surely it would happen the next month, and I continued thinking that for a while. 6 months later, I started getting worried. During this time, my best friend had a baby, and this only increased my maternal desires. Eventually I stopped wanting to tell people because I didn't want to get the "pity look." If you have ever been in a similar situation, you know what I'm talking about.

After about 8 months, my doctor decided to try a few medications. Some of the medicine (Clomid) is not safe to take for an extended amount of time. It may cause cancer, but at the same time, the percentage is almost equal for people who never have kids. If you are reading this, and you ever decide to take Clomid, let me warn you. You may or may not feel terrible. It really messed with my emotions, but other than that it was ok. Anyway, I took Clomid for 4 months, with no pregnancy. At the end of 4 months, my doctor was not comfortable keeping me on it, so he switched to a different medicine (Metformin). The odd thing about this medicine is that it is mainly used for diabetes. It is also used for polycystic ovarian syndrome, but I had not been diagnosed with that. I took Metformin for 5 months.

Tanner and I left for a vacation in Jamaica on June 22, 2011. I have to admit looking back on it, that I felt a little different while I was there. However, I had been disappointed several times before, and I tried not to even allow myself to think that being pregnant may be a possibility. We came home on June 29, 2011, and I was still feeling a little off. I did not want to take a test until I was absolutely sure that if I was pregnant it would come back positive.

We had plans to go to the lake on the 4th of July, and I knew I wanted to know by then so I wouldn’t ride the jet ski or the intertube if I really was pregnant. We decided that I would take a test that morning. I woke up before Tanner and decided I would go ahead and get it over with. I took the test, and it turned positive immediately!!! I woke Tanner to tell him, but we had to keep our excitement quiet because my mom was in town and staying at our house. We already knew that we didn’t want to tell anyone until I had my first doctor’s appointment, so somehow we managed to keep quiet.

I have never been so happy, amazed, in awe of God, etc. in all of my life. God did this. God knew that for some reason the timing was right now. God is developing the baby that I am carrying. He is using this trial in mine and my husband’s lives for His glory.

I wanted to write this for several reasons. The first being to give glory to God for the work that He has done in me. I have never been a patient person, and though I still cannot claim to be one, I have learned some patience over the last 2 years. He knew best. I also understand now more than ever how much He is in control, and I am not. The second reason is that I want people going through the same situation to know that they are not alone. I know how it feels. I even know what it feels like to find out that someone else around you is pregnant, and believe me I do not want to rub that in your face. I want to encourage you by saying, don’t give up and trust in God’s goodness and perfect timing. I know you have probably heard that God’s timing is best a thousand times, and it may even be one of your least favorite phrases at the moment. However, it is true. Even when we don’t understand and we are in pain, it is still true.

So with that, I leave you with a picture of my baby who is due to make his/her entrance into this crazy world on March 6, 2012.

A Brief Update

In my last post I talked about my goal to start menu planning and couponing. Well, I am happy to say that almost 3 weeks later, we have stuck to it. The first week I made apple dijon pork loin, hamburgers, and tomato basil soup. We ended up having leftovers from all of those. The second week I made ranch chicken and salisbury steak. We were supposed to have spaghetti that week, but our church ended up having a spaghetti dinner for a fundraiser on Wednesday, so we moved it to next week. So far this week we have had shepherd's pie and tilapia. I am actually quite excited that this has worked. I hope to post some pictures and recipes soon, but most of the pictures aren't on my computer yet, and I only have a few minutes.

As far as couponing is concerned, I am quite pleased with how this is going, also. I went to Kroger the other day and saved 41% plus got a $5.00 gift card. This ended up making it closer to 46%. I feel like I am slowly learning the tricks of the trade. It takes quite a bit of time, but I think it will become quicker now that I have everything organized.

I hope to figure out whether the menu planning actually saved us money at the end of the month. Our problem right now is that we are still eating out quite a bit, and we aren't always cheap when we do. The other problem is that when you first start couponing, you have to build-up your supply of staple items when they go on sale. This adds extra costs at first. It will be interesting to see what happens. I was telling a friend the other day that I have really made it a game (I know I'm weird). If you know me, you know that I am very competitive. It helps make it fun, and I think it also helps me stick with it.

Couponing and Menu Planning?

So, I may be late getting on board the couponing and menu planning train, but I've finally decided to try it. If you know me and my husband, you know that we LOVE eating out. I can't really explain this love, because I also LOVE to cook, and my husband likes to help me in the kitchen. Perhaps it's the fact that I hate cleaning up after cooking.

Anyway, over the last few months we have decided to cut back on our food budget. This equals less eating out (which can prove to be very difficult when working with a bunch of college kids at church). However, I am also guilty of cooking fancy meals that end up costing as much as it would if we had eaten out. In an effort to combat these problems, I contacted a friend of mine that is amazing at couponing. She sent me a powerpoint that she has used to teach people at her church how to coupon effectively, and I am slowly learning the tricks. Let me just say, it is not easy! It takes a lot of diligence and time. However, if you know me, you also know that I love solving puzzles. To me, this is all a big puzzle to solve each month!

Another method that I am now trying in order to save money in our food budget is menu planning. This is completely new to me. Honestly, I am starting off easy. I am only planning 3 meals per week. The other nights we can either eat leftovers, find something else around the house to cook, or those will be the times that we eat out. Also, I am not being super strict about which nights we eat those 3 meals. I think the key to me sticking to the menu plan is going to be allowing it to be flexible. If I am successful with 3 nights per week, perhaps we will increase it next month. The advantage that this is giving me is that I can make less trips to the grocery store which equals less impulse buys, and I can plan ahead for using the coupons that I discussed above. I can also plan ahead meals that don't cost an arm and a leg to make but are still good and maybe even healthy.

So...all of this will start on Monday with Apple Dijon Pork Roast...which though it sounds expensive, it really isn't. Feel free to ask me how this is going. I'm looking forward to it, and hopefully I will blog more often to tell some of the recipes I use, and how it is going.

Nothing...

I really feel like I have nothing to blog about. This is a problem, I know. I promise I will blog again soon. Hopefully with something more interesting to say.

Pure Joy...

James 1: 2- 4 (NIV)

2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

Wow. Those verses are so powerful. How hard is it to consider your trials pure joy? I know that this is something that I struggle with. No matter how big or small the trial is, it is not always easy to be joyful. I tend to complain or whine about whatever it is to my poor husband. However, I know that God is using trials in my life to draw me closer to Him, and this my friends, is joyful. God is using trials in my life to show me that I am in no way in control. As a control freak, this can also be scary at times, but in my heart I know that this is the best way. God is God, and I am not. He knows what is best for me. His timing is perfect. He knows His plans for me. It doesn't matter what I want (although sometimes I have a hard time remembering that).

The Snow Continues...So I'm Going to my Happy Place

It has snowed for several days in a row here, so I thought I would post some pictures of our cruise in August 2010 to remind me of warmer weather. We finally got to go to the Western Caribbean without a hurricane rerouting us. Our stops were Labadee, Haiti; Ocho Rios, Jamaica; Georgetown, Grand Cayman; and Cozumel, Mexico.

We didn't have an excursion in Labadee. We just enjoyed the beach and walked around the market area. This was quite an experience. One guy told us to make him any offer on a souvenir, and he would accept it. When we did, he laughed at us and told us that he had a family to support. He was quite persistent, and we did end up buying some things from him.

In Ocho Rios we took a river tubing excursion. The water was soooo cold!!! This idea had never even entered into my brain. I thought, "Water in Jamaica, it must be warm." HA! The ride down the river was beautiful! After we finished, we enjoyed some Jamaican jerk chicken and some shopping.

In Georgetown we took a beach excursion. It was wonderful! I love going to the beach, and I particularly love it when it is in the Caribbean. The water there is so clear and beautiful! God really is an awesome Creator! Grand Cayman is a neat place. They have no unemployment because everyone there believes that they should work, and they are determined to find some sort of work. There are other neat things about living there, but I forget what they are right now. :0(

Finally, we went to Cozumel! This was our favorite stop on this cruise. I absolutely loved Cozumel, and I definitely would have liked to have had more time there. The excursion we went on there was also our favorite excursion (quite possibly of all time). We went to a beach resort area and took a traditional Mexican food cooking class. We made an appetizer (it is hard to explain what it was), fish wrapped in banana leaves, and rice pudding for dessert. It was all delicious!!! We got the recipes, and we have since made the rice pudding at home. If you know me, you know that I love to cook. This was my kind of excursion! What you may not know is that my husband also enjoys cooking. He typically wants to help me anytime I am in the kitchen. I love it!!!

We also enjoyed our days at sea when we just got to spend time on the cruise. Our cruise director, Graham, was awesome! This time we tried a balcony room. Oh my! I don't know if we can ever go back to any other room now. Royal Caribbean did a great job again of providing us with an excellent vacation!!!

Now my only question is, when is our next one???

Thanks, God for allowing us to have this opportunity and for giving me a fantastic husband that I love spending time with!