She's perfection!

It's amazing that I never imagined that I could have so much love in my heart for this little girl. I have an amazing (perfect) family and so thankful for the husband and child that God has blessed me with. I pretty much smile all day long. Even if she is having a tough, fussy day I can still smile through it because she is one of the most happy babies.

She turned 12 weeks old yesterday. Man oh man, how time flies! The past week I've been trying to remember everything that happened the first week of her life. Especially while I was in the hospital on the pain medication, it is hard to remember what happened there. But I have been looking at pictures of when she was born and while we were still in the hospital. She was so the cutest baby (right out of the womb) that I have truly ever seen. I may be biased since she's mine, but I seriously think, or know, that is absolutely the truth. She gets more adorable every single day. I think she looks like a doll because she is so perfect!

She has developed such a cute personality. For some reason she is in love with ceiling fans. They don't have to be moving, she prefers them to be still actually. But as soon as she see's one she smiles and laughs and carries on a conversation with them. We have a lot of fun play time through out the day now. She loves her play gym. She will lay under there for 30 minutes by herself and bat at all the toys and listen to the music. She is full of smiles all day long. No longer does she like to be held facing your chest unless she is tired. She wants to be facing out to see the world! She is so curious!

I love to see Matt with Gwendolyn. I'm pretty sure she gets excited when he gets home. I can tell the change in her behavior. She talks to him for a long time and just smiles and mimics him for quite a while until it is time to take a bath and go to bed. Matt is an amazing daddy to her. It still makes me tear up when I see her with him.

9 weeks old!

I cannot believe she is 9 weeks old already. Time has flown by and I have enjoyed every second of being mommy to Gwendolyn. She truly is a blessing to Matt and I from God and we thank Him every day for her. I am also so thankful that I have been given the opportunity to be a stay at home mom and see her grow each and every day and be able to have that special bond with her.

Gwen had her 2 month check up today and she did wonderful. She was all smiles and talking to Dr. Amy. Dr. Amy said that she looks perfect and said we are doing a wonderful job with her! Music to my ears, that is exactly what every first time mom wants to hear! She weighed in at 11 lb and 11 oz (70th percentile), 24 inches long (95th percentile) and her head is 38 cm (25th percentile). I have a very tall little girl with a small head. But I can tell you that no matter how small, it is full of smartness! She is amazingly smart! Once Dr. Amy did her exam and talked to us for a bit, the nurse came in to administer her vaccines. She got 2 shots and 1 oral medication. She did so good, swallowed down her oral meds and only cried for about a minute with the shots until Matt was able to pick her up, then she calmed down. I stayed strong this time too, no tears for me! I can tell you that I was definitely holding them back!

Gwen is doing absolutely amazing. Since receiving amazing advise from Dr. Amy a few weeks ago, Matt and I have been starting a routine with Gwen at night to try to get her into a schedule. Around 8:00 we give her a bath, take her into her bedroom and feed her, read her a story and then hold on to her as she is just starting to doze off, then put her into her bed. She then grunts for about 5 minutes or so, then off to sleep she goes. She is sleeping now from about 8:45pm until 4 or 5 am!! Then all she needs is a quick diaper change, a feeding, then off to sleep she goes again! Praise the Lord. I am so grateful for her sleeping so long! During her tummy time she is starting to lift herself up every once in a while with her arms. I assembled her Baby Einstein play gym (the thing that she lays under and looks at all the toys hanging down) and she absolutely loves it. She talks to the toys and today she even started batting at one of the toys. I love listening to her sweet little voice. She will carry on a conversation with Matt and I and it will just melt our hearts.

Matt and I finally went on our first date night since having Gwen a few weeks ago. It was hard to leave her and we were only gone for about an hour and a half (maybe). I feel bad leaving her because I know she gets fussy at nights and I don't want other people to have to deal with that. I do, however, need to spend time with Matt so I need to figure this out soon!

Matt is still working at both Neilsen and Westcoast Awnings. His last day at Nielsen will hopefully be December 17th. Westcoast closes down the week between Christmas and New Years and I cannot wait to spend some quality time with the hubby and as our little family! I love that it is the 3 of us now, it seems to be so natural!

I am doing my best to keep in contact with friends and spend some time with them when I can. I know I cannot push my friendships to the wayside. I need them and I need to be there for them as well.

I have not colored my hair yet, but it will be coming soon. I am finally going to get it cut on Saturday, so the brown should come soon after that (if I can get up the nerve!).

Other than that, nothing too exciting. Just remember to keep us in your prayers as Gwen continues to grow so we have the wisdom to raise her the way God intends and that Matt and I can continue to grow in our relationship as well.

Time for a change!

Since becoming a mom (and for a while before) I have wanted a change. Not in my lifestyle or anything huge like that but with my wardrobe. Now that I am a mom I am pretty done with dressing like I am 16 still. I pretty much dress like this out of ease. I know I like the clothes at American Eagle, so that is where I shop. I am ready to look like I am 26 years old though. However, I have no idea where to shop, what to buy nor do I want to spend a ton of money. So, to all my fashion forward friends, I need help!

I have also considered becoming a brunette but that one is scary. I could always try out the non-permanent color and see if I like it and if so go ahead with the permanent. If not, it washes out, right?

I feel bad for Gwen because I am not very into fashion. I care what I look like, I just don't stay up with what is "in". Hopefully she will be pretty easy going.

Update on Gwen.... She's amazing! I love our little girl! I do have to brag on her pediatrician for a second. I had some questions about Gwen's feeding and sleeping schedule and what I may or may not be doing right. So, I e-mailed her (Dr. Amy at Eastlake Pediatrics) last night around 8:00 and got a very detailed response back from her with advice on what to do this morning by 9:30! She has a 9 month old so it is great that she has just gone through what I am going through now so she can give me personal advice. I was truly shocked at how quickly she got back to me and how detailed her information for me was. I just love her! Now I just have to be a good mom and do what is best for my little Gwen!

One month check up

This morning our little Gwenny Bug had her 1 month check up (she is 5 weeks and 1 day today). She did amazing! She weighed in at 9 lb and 6 oz and was 22 and 1/4 inches. It is truly amazing to me how quickly they grow. At times I wish she would slow down so I can keep her small and squishy, but I love to see how she is developing and her little personality shining through. She also got her 2nd Hepatitis B vaccine today. She did much better then I did. She only cried for about a minute then she was okay again. I, of course, cried and was so nervous. I think it was mainly because I absolutely hate shots!

I love waking up to my little girl every morning. I cannot help but smile every time I look at her. Yesterday, I went into her room to get her up and I leaned down by her ear and said "good morning Gwenny" and she had such a huge smile on her face, my heart melted! She also loves it when I run my fingers through her hair. It seems to calm her down and sometimes even put her to sleep. She just started sucking on her pacifier about a week ago and pretty much only takes it when it is getting close to time to eat or when she is awake for a couple of hours.

She is pretty much on a eating schedule now. She eats about every 3 hours and only gets up one time at night to eat! I would love to start putting her to bed a little earlier, even if that means I have to get up 2 times at night. My only problem with that is that night time is her time to spend with daddy since he is gone at work all day. So I do not want to deprive either of them their time they actually get to spend together.

I do have to say that I have been struggling a bit lately being a mom and a wife. I definitely don't get to give the amount of time and attention that I used to give to Matt any more. When Gwen is asleep I am usually so tired that I just kind of zone out. I have also been kind of emotional and snappy. I know with time I will get used to it all and be able to devote enough time to both Matt and Gwen, I just wish that time would come soon. I need to be able to spend quality time with the hubby!

Here are some pictures from the past month of our little one getting so big...

Gwendolyn Mae right after she was born

All the kiddos

Gwenny in her first outfit we ever bought for her (before we knew if she was a boy or a girl) supporting her Rays.

Our little Gwen was a monkey for Halloween

Change in Plans

Just to share... I have decided to follow my motherly instincts and some advice I received from a friend, Janell, and my wonderful mother. Gwen will eat at night, hopefully just once, when she wakes up for it, if she sleeps through the night, thats great, if not, thats okay. I love my baby girl and cannot starve her! If she is hungry, she needs to eat. When she is ready to sleep through the night she will do so. I definitely feel better about this decision than the previous of making her cry through the night! She did wonderful last night. I fed her at 10:30 and she slept until 4:00am, I fed her and changed her and put her back to bed, then we woke up at 7:30! Every baby is different and I will not try to force my baby to sleep through the night for selfish reasons or because her doctor says to do it!

Roller Coaster Ride

I can't even begin to tell you how much I love being a mom to our precious little girl Gwendolyn. It is one of the most amazing feelings to know that we have been blessed and entrusted by God with an amazing little girl to raise. But I do have to say that the emotions that come along with knowing whether or not I am doing things right are crazy.

I have basically been feeding Gwen whenever she shows signs of wanting to eat, not knowing that really she just wanted to pacify on something to relax her. I just figured that out yesterday while Matt and I were sitting in the exam room at the pediatrician with Gwen. So, I thought I was doing great because she was only waking up 2 times at night to eat. Apparently she should have only been waking up one time at night to eat. Now, the doctor told us yesterday that she can go through the night without a feeding, so from 11 p.m. till 7 a.m. she should sleep without eating. I am freaking out! How am I supposed to all of the sudden go from 2 feedings in the night to none. The doctor said it is time to just let her cry it out. She will eventually go back to sleep. The last thing any mother wants in the world is to sit here and listen to her beautiful little baby cry. I know it is for the best because a well rested baby is a happy baby. Plus, she needs to be able to find a way to relax herself rather then me getting her to sleep then putting her in her bed. Trust me, I've seen kids that are 2 years old and still have to be rocked and tip toed around in order to fall asleep and stay asleep and that is not what we want.

It is going to be a struggle, but I am told that it only takes them a few days to get into the new routine and when you let them cry it out, they figure out how to relax themselves. I do have to say that right before I started typing this I went and set Gwen in her crib because she was looking rather sleepy and knew she was going to scream but I did it any way. She cried for about 15 minutes and fell asleep on her own. Praise the Lord. It is hard to sit here and listen to my poor baby cry though. Pray for strength for me!

Walk by Faith

So many things are changing in my and Matt's life rapidly. The obvious being that we are now parents to our beautiful daughter, Gwendolyn. Second, I am a stay at home mom which is such a huge change for me. I have been working since I was 15 years old and now, 11 years later, I no longer work, I have the pleasure of raising our daughter. The most recent change that is happening on our lives, which has made the first 2 even more scary, is that Matt is resigning from Nielsen and will be going over to Westcoast Awnings full time, the business that he and his brother, Rick, purchased together a year ago.

The thought of Matt going over there full time to run the business with Rick has been scary to me from the very beginning. Having an income to support our family that solely depends on how the business is doing now that we have a family and I am no longer working is scary. Finding private insurance that isn't going to cost us an arm and a leg. I did not want an absent husband or father to our children because he would be working so much as a business owner.

Even though they have owned the business for a year, I was pretty set on Matt not going over there at all, basically out of my own selfishness and fears. I never prayed about it and I definitely didn't have faith that God was going to take care of us in this situation. Matt's job situation at Nielsen was getting very stressful and Matt was presented with the opportunity from his brother, who seemed desperate to have him come over to Westcoast. Matt asked me to think about it and so I decided that I should probably pray about it. That night Matt and I talked about it and we both felt as though God was telling us to have faith and to walk with Him through this journey and everything will be good. So, Matt has put in his notice at work and will slowly be phasing himself out of Nielsen and over to Westcoast full time.

God continues to remind me, it seems like in a whole lot of situations through out the past year, that if I just Walk by Faith and trust completely in Him, His will will prevail. It is crazy how many times I "forget" to trust in him and try to do it all on my own. Then I get smacked in the face by the situation and realize that He is in control, not me! So, Pray for us as we trust in God and follow the path we feel He is leading us to follow. God is Good!

Cherish those you love!

I know I have said it before, but I have an amazing husband. He has taken care of me the past week like no one has ever been taken care of before. Because of my c-section it was hard for me to get out of bed, so anytime Gwen needed changed or fed during the day or in the middle of the night, he was right there. There was also a lot of not so glamorous things that occurred at the hospital that he did not hesitate to help me with at all.

When we got home I had none of the clothes that I needed that would be okay with my incision. So my amazing husband went to Target and bought me "granny panties", high waisted pants, nursing bras and much more! He is by my side constantly making sure I am not in need of anything, making a schedule for my medications.

All of this may seem little to some of you, but there are a lot of husbands out there that would not even think of doing things like this for their wives. I love him with everything that I have within me and I truly thank the Lord every day for the amazing husband that He has given me. (He is also a wonderful father to our beautiful little girl and just stares in awe at her and what God has given to us).

Our new little blessing!

On September 28, 2010 at 4:27 pm, we welcomed our beautiful little Gwendolyn Mae Kalil into this world. It was definitely not as we planned it though. Here is brief summary of what happened.

I was scheduled to go into the hospital on the 27th for an induction. The first part of the induction that was supposed to happen over night was to soften my cervix in order for the next step of the induction (pitocin). That began around 6:00pm or so and around 6:20pm about 4 nurses came running into our room because our beautiful little girl was not such a huge fan of that medication and her heart rate dropped rapidly and continued to stay down for about 9 minutes I believe. So, needless to say, the doctor removed that medication and started me on a slow dose of pitocin. The next morning, they sped up the drip on the pitocin to get things started. I was progressing nicely, and the doctor broke my water and progressed even quicker. All this time, her heart rate would drop just for a few seconds, I would flip to lay in a new position and she would come back to a normal rate.

I was having very consistant, painful contractions so I decided it was time to get an epidural to relieve some of the pain. A few minutes later, in walks a doctor and a grad student to administer my epidural. Little did I know the grad student basically had no idea how to administer an epidural. After sitting on the hospital bed, having mulitple contractions for 30 minutes the grad student thinks she is done. Little did I know the only relief I was going to have was that I was not going to be able to feel my legs! After trying to let it work for quite a while my amazing nurse, Kaitlin, convinced me to have them come back in and re-do my epidural. Immediately I said I want a real doctor, not a student! The doctor came in, completely replaced my epidural and I was pain free in a matter on 2 minutes! Amazing what and epidural can do when it is actually placed properly!

As the contractions kept coming Gwendolyn was under a considerable amount of stress and her heart rate was decreasing. My doctor, Dr. Kant (amazing), couldn't figure out what it was, the first thought was that it was an umbilical cord issue. There came a point when my nurse called Dr. Kant, who was at her office, and within minutes Dr. Kant was in my room doing all she could to figure out what was going on. She said she was going to give her a little while longer to see if she became more comfortable, minutes later she came into the room saying we needed to a c-section, now!

Matt and I were in shock and scared. The last thing on our mind was getting a c-section, but the first thing on our mind was having our little baby safe and healthy. Ten minutes later Matt and are find ourselves in the operating room just a matter of minutes away from meeting Gwendolyn.

We immediately fell in love when they showed us our beautiful little girl that had a head full of black hair!

C-section was the furthest thing from our mind, but God was sovereign through it all. We knew all we needed to do was rely on Him and everything would work out as it is supposed to.

We now have a beautiful little blessing, Gwendolyn Mae, who is our true pride and joy. Matt and I have discussed how crazy it is that as soon as we met our little girl we immediately fell in love with her and would do anything for her.

Here is our little "bug."

At the hospital:

Tomorrow is the due date!

Will she ever come out!?! I can say that I honestly did not think that I was going to make it this long. I thought she was going to come about 2 weeks early, but man was I wrong! She is hanging on tight in there. I honestly cannot believe that tomorrow I will be 40 weeks along. It blows my mind to think how fast this pregnancy has gone, that soon I will be in the hospital, soon I will meet this beautiful little girl God has blessed us with, and soon I will be a mommy forever! I am ecstatic but nervous as all get out as well. I know I will do fine in the delivery, I think it just may be the fear of the unknown. I have no idea what to expect. I hear so many different birth stories, people trying to scare me and people saying it wasn't bad at all. I know that every experience is different and I have to keep reminding myself of that. I am also nervous about raising a little girl. I want to raise her right, with good morals and her loving God. When I hear stories of kids these days and how young they are when they start getting into some pretty serious things, I get scared out of my mind. How in the world am I going to raise her so that she knows right from wrong and makes the right, Godly, decisions. I know this is something Matt and I will both have to lean on each other for and completely put our trust in God. Start praying now!

So, tomorrow I have an appointment in the morning and they will be doing a non-stress test on Gwendolyn to see how she is doing because of our last adventure we had. Then, we will be scheduling my induction. The doctors have decided they do not want me to go too far past my due date, so sometime soon after that we will be welcoming little Gwendolyn into this world. Induction wasn't our first option, and still may not be the way we will be going (depending on if she decides to let go and come on out on her own!) but we know it is all in God's timing. He knows what her birthday is, whether it be through induction or me going into labor without the induction.

Keep us in your prayers as we are very close to embarking on this new adventure in our lives. Hopefully next time I post, we will have pictures of our new little addition!

God is in Control

It is so crazy how we can say how much God is in control of everything until we are blue in the face until we are faced with a tough and stressful situation. What better time is there to fully put our trust in Him and understand that He truly is in control? What an amazing witness we would be to the world if we actually relied on God through everything, thank Him for the good and the bad and not freaked out about everything and try to fix it on our own. I am just as guilty as the rest when it comes to this but this is something that I am working on. I have to constantly put myself into check and realize that God is so much bigger and more powerful than any of us are, how could I not trust such an amazing God. Yes, I still worry, especially when faced with scary situation when I don't know what the outcome will be. But I always know that God is in control (whether I like the outcome or not).

So Close!!

I can't believe how close we are to meeting our precious little girl! For all of you that don't know, her name will be Gwendolyn Mae Kalil. Gwendolyn is just a name that Matt and I both absolutely loved and Mae is Matt's paternal grandma's middle name. We are so excited to meet this beautiful bundle of joy that God has blessed us with. Please pray for us as we are about to embark on the most precious journey that God has given to us and that God will guide us in being the best parents for Gwen.

So, I have been off work for a few weeks now and I can tell you that it is driving me crazy! I am doing my best to keep myself busy, but there is only so much cleaning a girl can do in one house! (plus, I get in "trouble" if I don't relax each day) I assume that once we bring Gwendolyn home my time will be occupied and I won't be as bored. But the good news is that her room is pretty much ready to welcome her home. We had a wonderful baby shower last weekend and were showered with so much love and amazing gifts from so many of our friends and family. This past weekend Matt and I finished up our shopping needs for her, so I can now walk into her room and breathe a sigh of relief knowing that we are ready for her to come home.

An update of where we are in the pregnancy: as of today I am 38 weeks and 4 days! I cannot believe it! At my 37 week doctor appointment, I was 1/2cm dilated and they said that her head was putting a lot of pressure on (maybe my cervix, not sure what they put pressure on)! I was so excited and thought that maybe it was coming soon. Then we went to my 38 week doctor appointment and there was no more progress. Bummed! After being upset for a little while I realized that God has a perfect time for this. He has been in complete control this entire time, why should I start doubting Him now! The doctor said that she is probably about 6 lbs (were praying for a little one!) so we were excited to hear that. I am feeling pretty good at most times. I have Braxton Hicks quite frequently, some back pain and some nausea but nothing that I can't handle. Okay, I won't lie, sometimes I think it is more than I can handle but God quickly assures me that I can do it with His help.

We had some maternity photos done. Actually two different sessions. One with Anne who works at Limelight Photography and one with Lacy(my sister). I got the CD from Anne and there are some cute ones. I can say that I was dying outside from the heat and my hair quickly died as well! But it was fun. I am super excited to see the pictures Lacy took. She is in the process of editing them now and I have only seen one picture and want to see them all!!

Here are a few of our favorites from Limelight. I will post Lacy's as soon as I get them!

As one chapter ends....

My life is changing so fast, sometimes I get overwhelmed! As of Friday, I am a housewife and a stay at home mom (one the little one arrives). This is such a huge change for me. I have been working since I was 15 years old. Don't get me wrong, this has been my dream, to be able to stay at home and take care of the housework and raise our children. God has blessed me with the most amazing husband who is allowing me to stay at home and raise our children. I thank God for Matt every day!

So, the next stage in my life began today... I woke up this morning with Matt ready to start the day. I ate some Cheerios and went for a mile walk with Mily to start our day off right with some exercise. Then I came home started some laundry, started taping the trim in the kitchen to paint it (which I am dreading, help is needed!), dropped off our voting ballots, and worked on the baby room some more! This is the first time I have sat down all day. Matt keeps telling me to take it easy but I have a lot I feel like I need to accomplish before the baby comes, I am 35 weeks along already! But like he said, we don't want this little girl to come into our lives before she is ready because I am working too hard.

Life has been pretty busy lately. We have been working quite a bit on getting the house ready. In between doing that and normal life stuff, we have been taking all of our classes we probably should have started a long time ago! This past weekend we attended the Breast feeding class and took our hospital tour. Thursday we will be attending Newborn Care and Sunday is Childbirth Prep! Lacy is taking maternity pictures for us on Saturday and I am so excited! She has some great ideas and the should come out amazing!

So as one chapter of my life has closed another new and very exciting one is opening and soon will give our lives a whole new meaning. We are so excited to meet our little bean (who is not so much a bean anymore). Pray for us as the day approaches and that God will guide us during our new journey and so that He will show us how to be the best parents for our little girl.

Here are some pictures of my belly at 34 weeks.

Great weekend!

It was a great weekend. Started off on Saturday by going to Matt's parent's house to relax in the pool. I have been wanting to go to the pool for months but haven't been able to find the time, so we actually had to schedule time to go. After that, we went to my mom's house to celebrate Lacy's graduation! Yay! So excited for her! Then we went and got pedicures. Came home to find that my amazing husband put together our new shelving unit that you put the baskets in for the babies room! I was so excited to see that. Then Matt and I had a wonderful date night, which we had to make a point to schedule because life has gotten so crazy, and I am sure will only get more crazy. We went to Roy's in Tampa, which is our all time favorite restaurant. It is a once a year, spoil ourselves kind of date, but it was necessary. I loved being able to finally sit down with Matt and relax and talk. I love my hubby and am so grateful for all of the time we get to spend together. On Sunday, my amazing church family threw me a baby shower, hosted by Brooke and Katie (2 ladies I loved very much!) I was definitely showered with wonderful gifts for our little girl. We definitely won't have a shortage of clothes!

The rest of this month is going to be absolutely crazy! I have tons of doctors appointments, we have to start taking all of our childbirth prep/ newborn care/ breast feeding classes as well as doing the hospital tour. We also have to start interviewing pediatricians! Man oh man, its a good thing we did date night when we did! It's a bit overwhelming to look at my calendar, but I am so incredibly excited. It is getting to real and so close it is unbelievable. On Thursday, I will be 34 weeks! How time flies!! My last day of work in on Friday August 20th. That is bittersweet. I will definitely miss most of those I work with, but I am so excited to be given the opportunity to be a stay at home mom!

I know I have been bad with the pictures lately, but I will make sure Matt takes some belly pictures this weekend.

31 weeks

Last week Matt and I got to see our baby again! She is absolutely beautiful and seeing her made me love her even more. We were able to do the 3D ultrasound at our doctors office last Wednesday. For about the first 7 minutes out of 40, we were able to see her face. She smiled at us and even gave us a precious little kissy face. After that, she decided she was done! Her face went towards my back for pretty much the rest of the time. We did everything we could to get her to turn back around, jiggling her around in there and I even jumped around the room for about a minute, but she was done!! In about the last 2 minutes we were able to see her profile again and she gave us a precious little yawn. She was so tired! Matt and I loved seeing our little girl and cannot wait to meet her in person and get to hold her.

Her nursery has been painted!! I am so excited that we have finished that. Now we can start setting everything up and make it look like our little girls nursery finally. It all gets a little more real every day but like Matt and I have discussed, it won't actually feel real until we have her and are holding her in our arms.

Everyone always asks me if I have any cravings. I don't have any specific cravings that stick. Every one in a while I have random cravings but they are gone by the next day. For instance, the other day I really wanted a Nutter Butter but I didn't want to buy a whole box, and my amazing husband who is keeping his promise he made to me of not letting me eat what I am craving all the time. I woke up the next day and the craving was gine. That doesn't mean I couldn't house one of those if someone gave one to me, but I sure wan't go buy one myself.

Other than that, everything is going pretty smooth. I love being pregnant. There are definitely tough and uncomfortable times, but all I have to do is remember what God has blessed me with and what Matt and I will be getting at the end of all of this!

Here are a few pictures of our beautiful little girl:

Smiles for mommy and daddy

Kisses! (who's lips are those?)

They say the darndest things!

You'd think I was talking about kids right? Wrong!!! Some people just don't think before they decide to talk.

A neighbor of mine is the perfect example. We call her "puppy mill lady" (everyone in the hood has nicknames) because the first time we ever spoke to her was when we first got Mily. The first thing that comes out of her mouth was "did you get her from a puppy mill?" Wow! That was a tip off right there on who this lady really is.

About a month and a half ago when you could really tell I was pregnant, Matt and I were walking Mily, as always (she sits outside of her house day and night waiting for people to talk to, she doesn't own a dog), and she decides to yell from across the street to me "You're not pregnant, you're fat!" I mean, seriously!?! If I was one of those crazy pregnant women I would have walked across the street and decked her!

Yesterday, while walking Mily, she ran inside her house grabbed a bag of treats, came back outside, shook them as hard as she could to get Mily's attention. We had to go over there because my sweet, little Mily can't resist a treat and doesn't realize that we were trying to avoid her! She says "Let me guess what you're having." ok...."A girl" yep...." I can tell because you are filling out, especially in your face". She was seriously telling me I was fat again. This lady has some nerve. I can honestly say that God knows when to protect my emotions, because I was face to face with this lady so it would have been extremely easy for me to say or do whatever I wanted to.

Goodness gracious! I had to get that off my chest. I know I am not fat so I am not letting that part get to me, it is just the fact that she had the nerve to say those things to me! People!!!

29 Weeks

I can't believe how fast time has flown by! I am already 29 weeks along, unbelievable!

Not a whole lot has changed, other than the fact that I feel huge! Things are getting harder to do, simple things such as bending over or vacuuming the house. I also bump into things a lot with my belly because I forget it is there! My little munchkin is getting so big in there we can see her moving around rather than just feeling little kicks! It is amazing. I always sit there and wonder if that is her head or her but or a leg or an arm.

Housework is coming along. We are pretty much in the final stages of the improvements before we can start actually working on her room. Matt is beginning the painting process of his new office today and soon we will paint the kitchen, then upstairs to paint her room. We are finally making progress but I am still freaking out looking at the nursery that looks nothing like a nursery right now, thinking that in no time at all we need that room to bring our baby home to! It will all be fine though and everything will be done before she comes home.

This past week I have been sick and it seems like every day I wake up I have gotten worse. I have the whole head cold, stuffy nose,clogged sinuses that has now moved into my chest. No fun at all wile being pregnant and only being able to take a select few medications! Matt was in Chicago on a business trip until Friday and came straight home to begin taking care of me. I missed him so much while he was gone, last thing I wanted was to be sick have to have him take care of me when he got home. He is amazing!

Lana graduates from school this Tuesday. She is graduating with her certification in Medical Assisting. She loves her new field and I am so proud of her! She has come so far and I am excited to see her continue to grow. Lacy is graduating from USF next month. I am so proud of her as well. She has worked so hard to get to this point. The whole family is excited to be able to celebrate with them.

A pet peeve I have realized of mine.... when people ask me how much weight I have gained. Why does it matter and why does me being pregnant make it okay to ask me how much weight I have gained? It's not okay any other time in a person's life, why now? I will do my best to never ask someone how much weight they have gained while pregnant!

*Thank you for letting me vent about that*

Sorry no pictures this time, I completely forgot. I will definitely get one up next week when I am 30 weeks!!!

God is Good!

I can tell you that trying to get pregnant and being pregnant has taught me so much about life, but the most important lesson it has taught me is to trust in the Lord. No matter what we do or don't want to do or go through, He has His hand in everything and will guide us through it. This of course was made evident to me again just this week when I was worried about my second gestational diabetes test I had to take. Of course, He is always looking after me and promises that He will never give us more than we can handle. That's right, my test came back normal! I passed! I do not have gestational diabetes. God is Good!

Here is a brief little synopsis of how my morning went while taking my test on Thursday....

I didn't sleep very well the night before, I think it is because I was so nervous that I wasn't going to make it to the lab on time or I was nervous that I was going to be hungry. I don't know! Anyway, I wake up and I go through my normal routine of getting ready for work (I had to go into work after my test) minus the whole eating breakfast thing that is crucial for any pregnant woman! So, of course I am already feeling hungry and light-headed but I push through it. Matt is getting ready to come with me as well but I leave before him because he doesn't have to be there until 7:30 ( I had to be there at 7... yesy, he had lab work too). So, I get to the lab and there are tons of people there already and my first thought is that I am going to be waiting forever until they call me back to even start this whole process. I was wrong, I guess they have some sympathy for us preggo's! I go back the wonderful woman, Cindy, who was taking my blood each time explained the whole process to me and took the first sample. Then asked me the dreaded question... which flavor would you like? My first thought was "I would like my Cheerios please!" but I was nice and just said that I would take the lemon-lime flavor. I have 5 minutes to drink the whole bottle and I got it down in about 30 seconds. I figured the faster I drank it the least I would be able to taste. Now, begins the waiting. I get out into the waiting room and enters my wonderful hubby who not only had to get his blood work done but was also coming to wait this out with me. About 5 minutes later, I almost lost it. I got so incredibly hot and felt so sick to my stomach, my first thought was, where is the nearest trash can incase I can't hold this in. Matt was able to talk to me and I was able to relax but I didn't feel well the whole rest of the day. Mean while, the waiting room just keeps getting progressively hotter. I told Matt that he doesn't have to wait with me, seeming as though it is so boring, I didn't feel well enough to carry on a conversation and it was hot. So, he left and went to work. I continue to get my blood drawn every hour for 3 hours. I was sitting in the waiting room fanning myself because I am sweating so bad and I hear one of the ladies behind the counter say that they need to call the maintenance company because the air conditioning is broken! What!?! No wonder I feel like death. I think they said it was 85 degrees in that place!

So anyway, I got the call Friday late afternoon with the results saying that everything is normal. All I could say to her was "Praise the Lord." I was ecstatic! God is good!

Life has been non-stop lately. We got our windows installed, passed our inspection for them (another praise the Lord moment). We have had a few overpriced flooring companies come out and give us quotes on putting tile in our back porch, soon to be Matt's office. Monday we are having a guy come over and do the floors, so last night Matt and I went and picked up the tiles and everything that goes along with that. Matt and his brother Rick are going to pick up the babies crib and dresser today. We ordered it last weekend because it was 30% off, so why not just go ahead and get it now! We are trying to find time to pain our kitchen and the baby room. I hate painting! But I am definitely not paying anyone to do that! Wednesday we leave to go to Georgia to spend time with Matt's sister, Jenni and her family and to go to a wedding for a friend that I used to work with. The day after we get home from Georgia Matt leaves to go to Chicago with work. We need a break! Pretty soon all of the house stuff should be done and we will be able to relax and enjoy the rest of the pregnancy.

As of Thursday, I am 27 weeks along! Entering my third trimester! Can you believe it? Time is flying and pretty soon I will be holding our little one! Here is a 27 week belly shot.

I took some pictures with Mily for Father's day for Matt and had a daddy's girls theme going with the photos. Here is one of them

Big Fat Fail!!!

I was having a wonderful day today. I was crying on my way to work because I was so over joyed with the thought that soon I will get to hold my precious little girl in my arms. I was listening to some good old Boys 2 Men and NSYNC bringing back great memories. Then came the doctors appointment I have been dreading since before I was even pregnant.... the glucose test. That's right, I failed it! It had to be 139 or less to pass and mine was 166! Yikes! So, now I have to go do the 3 hour fasting test! Don't they know how difficult it is for pregnant women to fast. We need to eat when we are hungry. So, I will try the test again, hopefully passing this time since I will be fasted on June 24th. Keep me in your prayers. I know that God has me in His hands and whatever is supposed to happen will happen. He has brought me this far, I know He will continue to protect me and the baby.

I finally took some belly pictures this weekend. These are my 25 week belly pictures. As of tomorrow I am 26 weeks along! I cannot believe it! Time is flying.

They have arrived!

The long and much anticipated windows are here and installed! We are so excited. They look amazing. We can definitely tell a difference in the amount of heat coming through the windows from the oh so brutal sun and the noise level is lower as well. Now comes time to get some flooring put on our new enclosed back porch. Starting this evening, we have 3 different companies coming to give us quotes on putting tile back there. Pray we can get a good price! It is so nice to see the progress and know that everything will hopefully be done by the time our little one comes home!

Anyway, everything else is going great. My job is well, my job! Same old same old there. I have decided to stay on as an employee at the Animal Hospital but for only one task. I have taken it on and made it my baby so it is hard for me to let go. It will only take me into the office 2 times a month and I am allowed to bring along the baby. I think that will be good for me though. It will get me out of the house and also allow me to see everyone at work every once in a while. Even though it is a crazy place to work, I love a lot of those people. The baby, still unnamed, is doing great. Moving around more and more every day. She is letting her daddy feel her move every once in a while now, where as before every time he would try to feel her move, she would stop.

Matt is doing good. His job is driving him a bit crazy, but he works hard for our little family. I am very proud of him for sticking with it and remaining sane through it all. He has been coordinating all of the stuff going on around the house, which is going very smoothly. One big thing he is doing is keeping me sane through all of my craziness. I am definitely having quite a few stress days and he always seems to bring me back to reality and assure me that everything is just fine. That is hard to do for a crazy preggo!

Keep us in your prayers as we continue through this journey. Also pray for my health and the health of the baby and that God will keep us all safe in His hands.

It's been crazy!

Sorry it has been so long since I've updated what has been going on. Let me just say that things have been crazy busy!

Since last post, I turned 26!!! Matt and my family (mom, sisters and nephews and niece) had a picnic in the park and played games. So much fun and exactly what I was wanting to do this birthday, just spend time with the family!

The next day, Matt's sister Jenni and her little one came down from Georgia to visit. It is great to see them since we only get to see them a couple of times a year. They were here from May 23rd- 31st. Matt and I spent all the time we could with them, excluding the time we had to be at work. Having them here and us all being on a mini-vacation minus the working portion, did not fair well for me and Matt's good eating. It was every night of large meals and dessert! By the end we were dreading eating dessert but it looks so good, it was hard to say no. We are now back on our normal eating habits with dessert only on occasion. Thank goodness because with an already expanding waist, I do not think the desserts were helping that! Anyway, we had tons of fun with the family and Matt and I are going up July 4th weekend to spend some more time with Jenni and her family.

Update on our baby girl: It amazes me more and more every day that there is a living human being inside of me, growing big and strong. God is amazing! As I feel her move around every day it reiterates my thought of not knowing how women that have gone through pregnancy do not believe in God and His amazing miracles. Even though you see pregnant women all the time, every single one of them is carrying God's own miracle inside her belly.

She is a mover and a shaker. I like to say she's dancing in my belly and she's gonna come out knowing how to dance! On Tuesday (June 1st) we got to see our little one move in my belly for the first time. Matt and I have been going to the park a few times a week to walk and get some exercise, taking Mily along with us as well since she needs the exercise as well! We came home after walking and I was sitting on the couch relaxing and winding down for the night when she started to wiggle and kick. I usually put my hand on my stomach to I can feel it but this time I decided to just sit back and watch the action. It was probably a full 2 minutes of pure action from her. It was truly amazing to see. My belly is definitely getting bigger every day! It is definitely strange to see myself pregnant. I love it though!

I went to the doctors today for my check up. As of today, I am 24 weeks and 1 day and measured that way as well. The doctor says everything looks great and I am right on track with everything. My next appointment is in 2 weeks and I will be getting the gestational diabetes testing done. Pray for me because this is the only test I have been worried about the entire pregnancy. After that all of my appointments start to be every 2 weeks rather than every 4 weeks. I cannot believe I am already 24 weeks along! Time is flying by and soon we will get to meet our little girl. We think we have a name picked out but it is not a definite right now, so I will not post it until we are sure.

Our new windows and back porch enclosure are getting done on Monday! I am so excited. I will finally be able to start moving on the babies room! It is going to be so cute, I can't wait!

So, I think that is it in a nutshell on what's happened in the past 2 or 3 weeks. I will get up some pictures of the belly so you can all see how she's growing!

Did you feel that?

So, I'm sure as you've read, you know how much I have wanted Matt to feel our little girl moving around in my belly. Last night, he finally felt his little baby girl kicking around in there!

We were laying in bed watching the season finally of Grey's Anatomy (wow is all I have to say about that show!). She was moving around a whole lot so I just had Matt lay his hand on my stomach and wait it out. She had one big kick and I looked at him and said "did you feel that?" He had a huge smile on his face.

Every day this whole pregnancy is becoming more and more real to us and I think since Matt can feel her moving in there it's becoming more real to him as well.

22 weeks!

As of today I am 22 weeks along! I cannot believe I am more than half way through this pregnancy. It is going way too fast. I am cherishing every moment of it though. I do have to say that since being out of the 1st trimester, I absolutely love being pregnant! The 1st trimester was pretty rough, but I feel amazing every day and knowing what's going on inside my body brings me such joy.

My stomach is pretty hilarious. It starts off each day as a cute little baby bump and then as I go through out the day it seriously doubles in size. It makes me laugh quite a bit. I get so bloated, I don't feel sick or anything, I just gets big with my food then I sleep and it gets smaller again.

I have to say that this past week my stomach has just popped! It is definitely growing and I love seeing it. I was worried that I wasn't going to be okay with getting bigger at the beginning of the pregnancy, but now I love looking pregnant.

This little girl of ours is a mover! She is so active. It is so amazing sitting here and just feeling her move around in my belly. I love it. It is truly one of coolest, kind of strangest, feeling I have ever felt. I cannot wait until Matt can feel her move. I have a feeling it will be soon. One of the most precious things to me is when Matt and I will be hanging out and he just lays his hand on my belly. He is going to be an amazing daddy. I cannot wait to see him with our little girl. He is definitely going to be wrapped around her finger. I have a feeling I will cry every time I see him with her for the first little while.

This next week is going to be a bit crazy, hopefully I can keep up. This weekend is my birthday so we have a couple of family celebrations to go to. My sister-in-law and her son will be coming down on Sunday for a week so we will be hanging out with them every night taking in as much of them as we can in a week. Matt and I will be going to register some time this week, taking Jenni (sister-in-law) so we make sure we register for only the necessary. We are so excited to be able to see her and be able to spend time with them.

Here are a couple pictures from 21 weeks:

Take a look at our little girl!

19 week ultrasound

Waving hi to her mommy and daddy!

Her cute little feet

Our little bean at about 8 or 9 weeks

It's a....

GIRL!!! We're having a beautiful, very active baby girl! The ultrasound was the most amazing thing I have ever seen. To see God's work that He is still perfecting every day on a screen right in front of me was breath-taking!

The ultrasound technician said she hadn't seen a baby that active in a long time! Apparently we're going to need help keeping up with this little one! So, everyone keeps asking us if we have though of names yet. We decided that because we found out that we were having a girl on Cinco de Mayo that we would give her a Mexican name in honor of the holiday. Guadeloupe it is!! It is just a joke but we had the technician laughing pretty hard when we told her that. We are very excited to be expecting a precious baby girl. I think I mentally had myself prepared for a little boy and all the sporting activities that went along with a boy, but I keep telling myself that we can have a very athletic little girl, if she so chooses that. Right now I am trying to decide what theme I want to go with in her room now that I can actually start thinking about that. It is a tough decision! I have looked at tons of different ideas and everything is just so darn cute!

Anyway, have I said how amazing my husband is before? Because he is pretty darn amazing. This past weekend was our 5 year anniversary and he surprised me with a trip back to Islamorada (an island in the Keys). We went back to the same resort we went to for our honeymoon. It was such a relaxing and much needed trip. I was so thankful to get to spend time with my hubby and only my hubby. We limited our cell phone usage, except for emergencies, so that we could truly focus on each other. We had a blast.. Matt got to go fishing while I spend some time at the spa and relaxed by the pool. We also went kayaking and bike riding and laid out on the beach. I was so incredibly sad to come back and have to get back into the grind of life but I certainly do cherish the times we get to spend together.

Just a thought... Just when you start to get into the grind of life and the mundane routine of it all, we get comfortable and sometimes forget to thank God for His awesome works. Then He makes Himself so incredibly clear with his day to day miracles. Don't forget to thank God every day for what you have and what you don't. He is amazing and will reveal Himself to you when you least expect it!

I will post pictures of the ultrasound later when Matt can show me how. I am sure I could figure it out but I would prefer not to break anything!

Tomorrow is the big day!

So, tomorrow is the big day! We hopefully find out the sex of our little baby! We are so stinkin' excited. I'm a little nervous and trying to guess what we are having. Everyone keeps asking me what I think it is...I have no idea! How am I supposed to know! Either way, boy or girl we are so excited and can't wait to find out.

Up to this point

So just a quick synopsis of what has happened in the past few months so I can start focusing on now...

I went to my specialist the day that we found out to get a blood test to confirm the pregnancy. We had a bit of a scare with that...the levels were very low so they were scared that I had miscarried. My heart was broken. I went in a few days later for more blood work to see if the levels were any higher and they were through the roof...Thank the Lord! I had blood work a few more times, and for a girl who has always had a huge fear of needles , you would have thought this was torture. At this point I didn't care anymore, I just closed my eyes and waited until they were done and went on my merry way. I had an ultrasound done at 6 weeks, nothing on the ultrasound! Man, this whole thing was going to be a roller coaster ride for me apparently! All I could do was pray. I knew God was in complete control of the situation. I went back at 9 weeks and had another ultrasound. And there our precious little baby was, heartbeat strong as ever! We were so excited to see our little one! This was a bitter sweet day for me though. I got to see my little bean but I also got released from the specialist which was a very sad day for me because I actually started to form a bond with a few of the staff members there.

The first trimester was pretty rough for me. I felt sick all of the time and was exhausted no matter how many hours I slept the night before.

So, I ventured out to find my own OB. With little luck at the first office I went to, I chose another office that my pastor's wife and good friend of ours had both of her 2 little ones with. I loved the office! Matt loved it too because there was a gadget, kind of like the iPad for him to play with in the waiting room, so he was able to watch the Rays game online while we waited.

Funny little fact about the doctors office we are at now...the doctor the started this practice, Dr. Rosewater (who is since retired), delivered Matt and his siblings... and it is the doctor my mother-in-law still goes to. It touched my heart a bit when I found that out. i felt so comfortable at this office,, I am glad I switched there.

Anyway, as of tomorrow I will be 18 weeks along. I cannot believe that in 2 weeks I will be half way through my pregnancy. Since my 13th or 14th week the sickness has gone away. I am loving pregnancy and feel amazing. I am trying my best to resist the bad cravings that I have so I can remain healthy and so my baby is healthy as well. Of course I give in every once in a while to a Root Beer Float but its just on rare occasion!

We are getting some work done on the house so that we will have room for our little bean. Hopefully in about a month or so it will all be done and we can actually start to decorate.

We find out next Wednesday, May 5th, the gender of the baby! We cannot wait.

Here are some belly pictures so we can see how big my belly gets through the pregnancy.

About 6 weeks along....

16 weeks along....

The big Surprise!

I woke up Monday, January 25th feeling a little weird but thinking that it was just my "monthly visitor" about to come so I just brushed it off and waited in anticipation for my "visitor" all day. I woke up on Tuesday, January 26th and said that if she still hadn't come I would take a pregnancy test on Wednesday. I wanted to wait until Wednesday because that was Matt's birthday and I thought what better of a gift could I give my husband than telling him I am pregnant. Tuesday morning, lying in bed thinking about this (all in a 15 second time period) I decided I couldn't wait and I must take a pregnancy test that morning. Matt had already woken up, eaten breakfast and was out on a long morning walk with Mily (our beautiful puggle). I decided what better time, he will have no idea I have taken a test whether it is positive or negative. I decided earlier in our trying to conceive process that I was no longer going to tell Matt when I took pregnancy tests because I didn't want him to get upset or discouraged because he was my rock!

So, I rolled out of bed in high spirits, walked right into the bathroom and found one of my many pregnancy tests. I took the test and maybe 15 seconds later, that little digital screen might as well have screamed in my face that I WAS PREGNANT!! I had to close my eyes, blink a few time, wipe the sleep from my eyes and look at that test again. I couldn't believe it! First thing that came to my mind was "Holy manoly Matt's going to be back any time now. Get the surprise ready for him!" Many months ago I decided that I was going to order customized M&M's. I ordered them so when the time came I had them ready. They were pink and blue and said It's Baby Time and I'm Preggers! I had them in a nice box and on top of some tissue paper I laid the pregnancy test. I ran downstairs and began my normal morning routine so Matt didn't suspect anything when he walked in the door. I was sitting on the couch eating my Cheerios when he came in. He was in the door for approximately 5.2 seconds before I said "I know I enever give you any gifts early for your birthday or anything but I have something for you that I just can't wait until tomorrow to give you." He looked at me like I was crazy. He knew something was up because that is so unlike me to give him anything early! I handed him the nice box with the wonderful present inside and boy oh boy I have never seen anyone open a gift any slower. He finally got it open and there sat my pregnancy test. He just looked at it and I couldn't hold it in any longer! I picked it up and said that's my pregnancy test! I am pregnant. Of course, we were so extremely excited and just held each other.

Here are some photos from that morning:

I look rough but so excited! (don't forget I just rolled out of bed)

Welcome to our world!

What an amazing ride this has been for us. Matt and I have been married for 5 years on May 7th. We have an amazing relationship and I can honestly say that I have the best husband ever!!!

Here is a brief update on how we got to this point:

Matt and I decided that in December of 2008 we were going to start trying for a baby. I was so excited! I used to ask him all the time if we could start trying, and of course the answer was "no" which was a good thing looking back on the different situations that we endured. For the first few months I would get excited and take a pregnancy test each month, and each month the same result: negative! As the months went on I got very discouraged and began to think there was something wrong with me. So, like any sane woman, I decided to take matters into my own hands! I began taking my basil body temperatures each morning and tracking my cycles to see if everything was normal. Come to find out, things were a little off. So, I went to my doctors and she ran a few tests and found something wrong. Then, she told me that I had to go to a fertility specialist. WHAT?!?! My thought was that I was 25 years old, how could anything be wrong with me? So, I guess I should go to the specialist and see what he had to say. I called and made my appointment. In the mean time, Matt and I went on a dream vacation to Hawaii. What an amazing piece of paradise to go to get my mind off of all of the craziness.

When we came back we went to my appointment. Thank the Lord for Matt, he came to every single appointment with me (he knew mentally I could not do this on my own). Needless to say, I had to go through a whole bunch of testing and in the end was put on some medication. Again, this is how I know I am married to the most amazing man in the world! The medication made me CRAZY! I had multiple personalities, one second I was trying to be lovey, they next I would yell at him and seem like I hated him. Boy, am I glad I don't have to take those medications any longer!

As soon as I put was on this medication I was so excited. I thought I would get pregnant the first month. All I could think about at any moment of the day was being pregnant. The thought of being pregnant consumed my every thought and action from the time we started to try. I wanted it when I was ready and I wasn't going to allow anything to get in my way. I was on the medication for 3 months.

My testimony part (in short) of this trial: Like I just said my entire life was consumed with the thought of being pregnant. It wasn't what was in God's plan, it was what was in my plan, and obviously God was not a fan of that! I would say the right words all the time to any one who asked... I always said "it's in God's hands not mine." But I didn't truly believe that or live that. Like I said I wanted it and wasn't going to let anything stand in my way. It wasn't until December of 2009 (a full year after beginning to try to conceive) that I finally lifted my eyes to the Lord and actually asked Him to take control of the situation and let me truly let go. I finally had peace about the situation for the first time in a whole year. I can't even express to you the weight that was lifted from my shoulders and how different I viewed everything from that point forward. And what do you know, that very month God blessed us with me becoming pregnant. He was waiting for me to realize that I am not in control of my life and that He is in complete control. It was kind of like He said "Finally! Thank you for trusting me and believing I am in control. Here is a blessing for you."

It is amazing that this baby whom I haven't even met yet has been able to be used as such an amazing witnessing tool to my unbelieving friends. God is awesome! It is so great to see Him work in so many different ways!