A Taste of Fall

This weekend ended up being beautiful! The air is crisp and cool, reminding me that fall is just around the corner. I am so excited for Sunday afternoon football games, being able to turn off the AC let the fresh air spill inside, the leaves changing colors...fall is my favorite time of the year :)

We had a busy weekend: on Saturday we went up to Lake James with our doctor and his family. Blake and I photographed his entire family-8 adults and 8 children, including three sets of twins! While it was somewhat challenging working with toddler attention spans (of course I am referring to the children, not the adults :)), they are a beautiful family and we thoroughly enjoyed our time with them. When we got back from the lake, I found my knitting bag opened on the living room floor and balls of sock yarn strewn around. Oh, and there was a bite out of one of yarn bags I had from Knitting Off Broadway! Tanner was the obvious culprit...the bite gave it away. The minute I came in and spotted the bag, he flew onto the couch, ears back, and braced himself. I had to laugh...he didn't ruin anything in my bag. It seemed as though he was just letting me know, "Mom, I could have done it if I wanted to!"

Quick baby update! Today we are 14 weeks pregnant and have our next doctor appointment this Friday. The baby is 3 1/2 inches long and weighs 1.5 ounces, roughly the size of a lemon. Heartrate is still around 160 bpm. Knowing that at our upcoming ultrasounds we could find out whether we are having a boy or girl is tempting at times, but we are going to wait and find out once baby makes his/her debut! I'll update more after our appt. on Friday :)

End of the First Trimester

I am so glad to have made it to this point! It's so exciting to see my body changing and watch the baby growing. On Saturday we had another ultrasound. It was amazing as always...I could see the baby's tiny finger bones and his/her little legs and feet! We could even see the stomach and jaw bone. Baby was sucking his/her thumb...a habit I had forever :)

On Sunday afternoon my mom did a few pictures for Blake and I to mark the end of the first trimester...Here are a few of those along with some ultrasound pictures, I treasure these...

Tiny Toes

Blake and I have been so blessed to have a doctor who really cares about us. Our first OB appt. is on Thursday, but yesterday our doctor stopped by my office and asked if we would like another ultrasound. Of course I said yes! So he told us to come by the office later in the day. It has been so neat to see the way the baby is developing and how quickly things change!

While the pictures don't show it, as he moved the ultrasound probe over my stomach we could clearly see facial features like eyes and the little nose. We could also see the cutest tiny toes and the bottom of a foot. At the beginning of the scan, baby was just laying there, but all of a sudden he/she started jumping around! It was the coolest thing I've ever seen! Blake and I were both stunned and laughing out loud. I can't wait until we can feel those kicks and acrobatics.

The baby's heart rate was 160, which is very strong. It has gone up slightly from 157 last week. As far as size goes, baby is a little over 1 inch long and weight 1/4 oz. I think I had better go order some Pizza King to help baby grow! (Pizza King has been my craving for the past few weeks, I literally have them on speed dial...who would have thought!)

August Already?!

I can hardly believe today is August 1. This summer has gone by so fast and I know August will fly as well with all the birthdays and back to school for Blake and my brothers. We have so many August birthdays in our family...Gavin turns 3 today, Alex turns 11, Phil turns 23, Ryan turns 31, Aaron will be 19, Grandma Mary turns 79, Adam will be 29, and Emerson will celebrate her 1st birthday at the end of the month. That means lots of cake for me to eat :)

Blake and I did some work in the nursery this week. To utilize space, we purchased a closet system for the baby and Blake put the entire thing together himself. (I cheered him on and handed him parts!) We also took our first trip to Babies R Us together and decided that Blake will be responsible for selecting a girl's 'coming home' outfit and I will select a boy's outfit. We will bring both to the hospital and use whichever is appropriate. We enjoyed looking at the tiny clothes, but we will need to wait until the winter clothes come out to select our outfits.

Blake has been so supportive and kind to me (as he always is!) He does sweet things every day, but on two separate occasions this week he took me on a date and brought me home beautiful roses. I appreciate him so much. He puts such great effort into our marriage, school, and work...he really deserves praise for the amazing job that he does as a husband and provider.

The terrible nausea I was experiencing has decreased a lot this week. I'm still very uncomfortable and exhausted, but I began worrying when I wasn't feeling as terrible as I had been. (Crazy-I felt bad for feeling good...if that makes sense!) The girls in L&D were so sweet, they used a fetal doppler to find the baby's heartrate for me this morning. At first, we couldn't find it, all we could pick up was my slow heart rate. But then we heard it loud and clear, hiding under my pubic bone was the little peanut with the same heart rate as last week-157. Blake and I are ordering our doppler today and I think it will greatly help when I begin to worry. I know that I must have faith and trust God's timing, but it is a struggle for me. There are parts of my work that expose me to things that most women and certainly most pregnant women never see. There is no safe date, or point where I will feel like we are out of the woods. That won't happen until the baby is here and then I'm sure I'll have a whole new set of worries! However, I need to be reminded to enjoy every single moment and to be thankful for this amazing gift. As I begin to see visible changes in my body I am in awe, this is the greatest thing that has ever happened to us and I feel so fortunate.

Always

Music has always touched me deeply. It helps me cope, pray, worship...I could go on and on.

I usually listen to a song over and over again for a period of time. As it relates to where I am, I make it my prayer or find comfort in the words. For the past week or so I have been listening to "Always" by Building429 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6LTfueFPpM

The lyrics to the Chorus and the bridge go like this:

"I believe always, always our Savior never fails.

Even when all hope is gone, God knows our pain and His promise remains,

He will be with you ALWAYS.

Friend I don't know where you are, and I don't know where you've been

Maybe your fighting for your life, just about to throw the towel in.

But if you're crying our for mercy, if there's no hope left at all,

If you've given everything you've got and you're still about to fall,

Hold on, Hold on, Hold on

Because I believe always, always our Savior never fails.

Even when all faith is gone, God knows our pain and His promise remains ALWAYS."

The chorus to this song brings me great comfort. I am tired and I am weary. I am afraid. This is "the week" I have been anticipating and fearing. I don't want history to repeat itself, but I don't get to make that call. I know that no matter what happens, HE will be with us ALWAYS.

Here is our latest ultrasound pic from last week, baby's heart rate was between 155-160.

A weight lifted off our shoulders

Blake and I had our first ultrasound on Monday. We were both so anxious all day...time seemed to be passing so slowly. When we finally headed to see our doctor we were both pretty quiet in the car. Our past experiences with ultrasounds haven't been the joyous moments one might anticipate, and the anxiety of going through that again was hitting me. Blake is such a rock for me, he was positive the whole time. I often wish I had his optimism.

Our doctor performed the ultrasound himself and I held my breath as he went searching for the baby. Within moments, there he or she was! I could have stared at the screen for hours...

We were so excited to see a steady heartbeat and that the baby is measuring right on.

While he or she does not look quite human yet :) we think he/she is pretty cute and it was an amazing experience.

The doctor told us that he was extremely pleased with everything that he saw and would put our risk of loss at this point at 1-2%. While from a medical perspective our doctor can say that, I know that God's plans dont always align with statistics. He gives and takes away and so we try very hard to be thankful for each day. 7 weeks down, 33 to go!

Strawberry Cake

Yesterday we had a few friends over to celebrate Ryan Holden's birthday. While he specifically asked me to make chocolate truffles for dessert, it wouldn't have been a birthday celebration without a cake! My mom and I had gone out for lunch and she suggested trying a strawberry cake, so I did...

It was DELICIOUS and a fun summer dessert to make!

I thought I would share the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 box white cake mix

1 (6 oz) box of instant strawberry jello

1 (16 oz) package of frozen strawberries, thawed and pureed

4 eggs

1/2 c vegetable oil

1/4 c water

Ingredients for Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting:

1/4 c butter, softened

1 (8 oz) package of cream cheese, softened

1/4 c pureed strawberries

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 c powdered sugar

Fresh strawberries for garnish

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease two round cake pans.

In a large bowl, combine cake mix and 3 oz of jello mix. Add pureed strawberries, eggs, oil, and water. Beat at medium speed until smooth. Pour into prepared pans and bake for 20 minutes. Cool in pan 10 minutes, then remove and cool completely on a wire rack.

FROSTING:

Beat butter and cream cheese until creamy. Beat in 1/4 c pureed strawberries and vanilla extract. Gradually add powdered sugar and beat until smooth.

Spread frosting between layers and on top and sides of cake (frosting will be thin.) Garnish with fresh strawberries. Refridgerate.