Monday, April 23, 2012

30 weeks...wow!

THE WEEK
30 weeks
I know it is still far away but close at the same time.
I just primed Norah's new room over the weekend.
{with a huge help from my mom and my sister}
Not too many more weeks to get both rooms finished.
 
THE GENDER
girl.
name...unknown. still.
 
WHAT'S GOING ON WITH HER/SYMPTOMS
She is almost 3 lbs. and moving all the time.
She must have just gone through a growth spurt because my belly is a lot bigger and more prominent.
I think it happened overnight.
I am serious...I woke up one day and my belly was noticeably bigger.
Trying not to complain, just uncomfortable.
Maxi dresses are my new best friend.

CRAVINGS
sweets and soda.
The two things I did not eat for over a year I crave...go figure.
I eat them now.
 
WHAT NORAH IS SAYING
She is not saying much.
Because of what I talked about last week I decided to make them matching shirts.
{I will NOT be that mom who dresses them alike...often}
I just thought she would like the idea of them having a matching shirt.
So I made these out of freezer paper stencils.
They turned out cute and she liked them.
win.win.
 
PRAYERS
Still praying for Norah and the new ones relationship.  
Joe and I have been taking a parenting class and last night we learned about tattling.
whew...it was some good stuff.
I pray they are friends and are "for" each other. 
Excited to see each other succeed and cheer each other on.

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Week 29

THE WEEK
29th week...approximately 10 more weeks depending on when the c-section will be planned.
 
THE GENDER
girl
 
CRAVINGS
cheese and crackers
pretzels and homemade ranch dip
Sprite
 
SYMPTOMS
She has been trying to make more room this week.
She has been nestling herself on the upper right side of my body and it is sooo uncomfortable when I am sitting for a long time and she does not move.  
She also moves sooo much at night.
It is a little exhausting.
She seems to wait until around 9:00 and does flips for like an hour.
I love staring at my stomach and watching it rumble.

WHAT NORAH IS SAYING
Well...right now I think she is realizing how her life will change.
We were eating lunch the other day and she said,
"hey mom...the next time we go to Disney World can just you, me, and daddy go?"
oops.
 
PRAYERS
After hearing that comment from Norah that has provoked some serious conversations between Joe and I.
We are excited that Norah will have a sister but we are well aware of the fact that Norah has lived the last 4 years of her life siblingless.
We do not think we have a child focused family and we work hard on not basing our lives completely around her...but she still has been the only child around for a while.
She has grown accustomed to that lifestyle and we are praying for wisdom and guidance on how to love Norah well in the midst of this huge transition.
God is a big God and I am so glad he loves us and has placed people in our lives that will speak truth to us.

Saturday, April 7, 2012

The BEST week of the YEAR!

This week has been crazy..., let me say that again...crazy!

On Tuesday it was Norah's 4th birthday.
I cannot believe she is 4.

On Sunday we went to breakfast, just Norah, Joe and I to First Watch.
It was fun to get to tell Norah how much we love her and ALL of the qualities we love about her.
Then we took her to Build a Bear.
{She has always wanted to go}
I had a coupon...so we went!
This picture is of her washing her monkey.
She bought scrubs for the monkey to match her Nurse scrubs she has at home.
She named it Elephant Reindeer
...so we shorted it to Ellie Reign.

On Tuesday
We went to the park downtown at Sawyer Point and ate lunch outside at Montgomery Inn Boathouse.
It felt like vacation.
Then we had dinner outside at Andrea and Dave's house.
It was just a fun day to spend with her.

On Wednesday I took my huge NCLEX exam!
I was a nervous wreck.
I sped through the exam, had 75 questions and finished in under an hour.
Then you wait for the results.
It was sooo hard.
We went to dinner with Andrea and Dave to Teak in Mt. Adams and I cannot believe I was even focused enough to have conversation because I just wanted so badly to know the results!
Well...early Thursday morning I woke up, looked at the Kentucky Board of Nursing website and they had issued me an RN license!!  Such a relief!  I AM DONE!

So...even though we had full plates this entire week...I tried to keep my mind of the main thing!
IT IS EASTER!

On Friday Norah and I were able to spend some good time talking about the Cross.
Why Jesus had to die on the cross.
Who he died for.
Then that evening Joe and I took her to The Garden of Hope in Covington.
There they have a replica of what the tomb looks like where Jesus died.
It was cool for her to talk through why Jesus' body is not in the tomb and she loves to yell,
"because He's ALIVE!"

Then today we took Norah to a nature park where we hung out, explored, and had her picture taken.

Today I found myself being in a state of constant anticipation of tomorrow.
 I am so excited that Jesus is who he said he was!!!
I am so excited that I have a God who wanted to make A WAY for us to come to Him and be with Him!
OH PRAISE HIM!!!

I look forward to sharing in the excitement with Norah as well tomorrow!!

 It is a total side bar...but for Easter Joe and I wanted to get Norah a sandbox.
I think playing in the sand is something Norah loves to do more than anything else is the entire world!
So...I went to Toys R Us last night as well as researched on Amazon and I soon discovered that sandboxes are really expensive.
So...I decided we were going to make our own.
I knew I wanted a sandbox that she could not climb into...because those are gross.
So...I took an old outdoor firepit that we had...Joe cleaned it out, and we made our own!
It is not perfect...but she will love it!
 We are going to put it on wheels to easily move it in and out of the garage.  
{it is actually bigger than this picture makes it look}

Have a Happy Easter!
HE IS ALIVE!

Hello Third Trimester!

THE WEEK
28th week
1st week of the last trimester!
 
THE GENDER
little girl
 
CRAVINGS
homemade pizza with olive oil {no sauce}, green peppers, feta cheese, and olives.
The Socrates from Dewey's would satisfy as well!
 
SYMPTOMS
no swelling yet...for that I am praising the Lord!
The belly is growing.
Still wearing normal shirts but all pants officially do not button.
I ordered one of these belly bands from Amazon...it is awesome to wear.
It is even allowing me to wear some shorts that would not otherwise fit.
I am really trying not to spend a lot of money on maternity clothes because I feel as though they are WAY overpriced for the amount of time you wear them so this belly band is making clothes go farther.
I hope to not have to buy too many maternity summer clothes...
{besides the bathing suit I already purchased for vacation!}

WHAT NORAH IS SAYING
She loves to play Star Wars with a boy in the neighborhood and last night she found out the girl on Star Wars is called Princess Leia so she wants to call her sister Leia!

PRAYERS
Praying for the relationship between Norah and her.
I pray they can be close and share life together.
I have a great relationship with both of my sisters and I pray the same for them.