Menard's

It ends up that you can spend the vast majority of your time at a place that you never even set foot in just a few years ago. Here we are at Menard's for the 100th billionth time I think to myself as Derek and I both push squeaky carts down an isle with pipes. Derek examines each piece of pipe and I wonder how they can be any different when they all look the same. Derek makes a phone call to my uncle who is a plumber to confirm that he has in fact found the right piping. Country music continues to play over the loud speakers as we move on from the pipe isle with Derek's indecipherable shopping list. He fills our carts and I keep pushing mine along. It's 9:40pm and the sun has long been down....why does Menard's stay open till 10pm I wonder. Derek pauses again and I see a lawn chair display that I happily seat myself on. I don't care how ridiculous I look among the lawn chairs...I am clearly pregnant, which means I am also clearly tired. It takes us two trips to empty our carts and the cashier chipperly notes how often she sees Derek there. I mentally note how often our bank account "sees" Menard's. We drive and unload everything at the house in the dark, then drive home. I am officially tired and we fall asleep instantly when we go to bed.
Such is a glimpse of the exciting novelty of building a home;) That was just a bit of real life for you....but truly it has been so fun to see everything come together. This past weekend we painted the inside of our house and I am slowly catching glimmers of the end being in sight :) I'm thankful for the all the helping hands that have shown up to our house as well. We won't hesitate to put ya to work if you stop in for a tour :P

July to November....what a difference 5 months can make!

Those Bump Pics

Pre pregnancy I was one of those who was like I am not posting a bunch of pictures of my belly in pregnancy. I don't mind when other people do, but it's just not me. Fast forward and here I am 21 weeks pregnant with a conglomeration of belly bump pictures. Truth is the pictures show that progress is being made and that baby is growing, growing, growing and bringing me closer to meeting he or she:) Also when you don't feel good, which unfortunately I still feel nauseous about every evening, you learn to love knowing that progress is being made, subtle though it may be. We found out what baby is at our 20 week sonogram.....anddd it's a secret for Derek and I to know and you all to find out in February :) We're difficult like that ;)

Baby on board

Haley's wedding! 14 weeks pregnant

Halfway mark- 20 weeks!

Derek is going to be a great dad!

The back view of our house from a few weeks ago- next up shingles, siding and windows!

Welcome to: The first trimester

I have dubbed the first trimester of pregnancy the praying trimester. Why you may ask? Well that is an easy answer for me since I spent what seemed like the vast majority of the trimester praying (ehh begging?) God to sustain me long enough to live through the first trimester. Now I know I seem dramatic, but when I say I was naive about this whole pregnancy thing, I'm not kidding. Of course in nursing school I took the Obstetrics class and our textbooks started at conception and went to newborn. I learned about everything from ectopic pregnancies to placenta previa to oligohydramnios. We covered the symptoms of a newly pregnant women, but somehow feeling nauseated, tired, headaches, food aversions etc sounded not so bad on a Powerpoint presentation. Besides there are remedies for these things right....eat some crackers when you wake up, take it slow you pregnant women and you'll be fine. Not so much.
Derek and I found out I was pregnant on a beautiful summer day in June- one of the few non raining days. I was excited...so excited! I took 3 pregnancy tests and they all lit up with pink lines. I even held them up to the sunlight to make sure it was real:) We were pumped, it was our little secret and we were and are so thankful to God. The first week was a breeze, I felt normal. I ran, went to work feeling fine, ate normally and cooked food. I put my name on the "lucky pregnant women" list and bought myself a maternity shirt for further down the road. The 6 week mark came and like a ton of bricks I woke up for work in a cloud of nausea I didn't know existed. I hoped it was a fluke, but no every day thereafter was the same and the nausea stretched from morning till night. Everything looked gross, nothing sounded good, dried cereal was about all I could stomach and being at work seemed to triple my nausea. I counseled myself that others had it far worse and that I should be grateful, but grateful is hard to be when you're leaning over a toilet. I cried because I didn't feel so excited anymore and I cried for all the women who have had morning sickness and I prayed for them a whole lot too, especially the ones who already have little kiddos to take care of (yes I was rather emotional).
 As time went on though I learned how to cope a little better with it...It is actually possible to puke multiple times and still go to a Chiefs game and sip your ginger ale and converse with other people. It might feel better to be in bed, but sometimes I just felt like to sustain my sanity I had to get out sick or not. I'm 20 weeks now and Im starting to feel a Whole lot better. I am so grateful, God did not have to allow me to feel well at this point, but He has allowed it and I am ever so thankful for feeling well. Until this point I hadn't got into the full realm of "Baby", but now I've been looking at all the fun baby stuff there is.....So. Much. Cuteness! I wonder if we will have a boy or girl....I wonder who baby will look like and what baby will be like. It really is an exciting time that we are eager to enjoy. For now I am not wishing the months away, but rather savoring this season in life.....where it's still just Derek and I, but yet we are sitting on the brink of parenthood:) We are excited.

 

Rain, rain

A mailbox in place and our 4 acres of land in the background before we broke ground.

It so happens that rain does not make for the best building-your-house-weather. It also so happens that we are building a house during a summer that is producing a record amount of June rainfall. That was not exactly in the plans when we dug the hole for our house the end of May;) Nevertheless we are starting to make progress again after not much getting done in June. On the 3rd Derek, his dad and friends (who graciously sacrificed their day off) poured the footings for our house. Next on the agenda is the basement walls and from there hopefully things will start to move right along! We are hopeful to be in the house by this winter. Now whether that means Christmas or Valentine's Day or St. Patty's depends on a variety of factors that I probably don't even understand. Prayers are appreciated as we continue on this little adventure!

To the Dells..

Because Derek and I like to travel and make memories we headed up to Wisconsin Dells mid January for a three day trip. My Grandpa has a time share at Christmas mountain village that we were able to enjoy and I was excited for the time away from work. I still love being a nurse, but it is good to have some time away too. Christmas Mountain Village is beautiful...in the winter especially because of all the lights, decorations, pine trees, snow and cozy cabins. I told Derek I wouldn't mind trading our duplex for one of the little cabins...then again the kitchen wasn't very conducive to real life....(counter space anyone?), but the fireplace sure was cozy!

So we went to Kalahari's indoor waterpark (Derek's pick) and had a great time...the only thing that would've  been better is if it was summer so we could be outside in the sun. We tried all the rides, well Derek tried all the rides and I refused to go on the slide that is basically a huge drop off that ends in a wedgie. There was a surfing pool where you could attempt to surf. It was actually really fun until you wiped out on your board and got washed/drug away by the wave....by the way there is a reason that people wear a wetsuit while surfing.

We also got to do a little skiing at the resort on Tuesday which was their free lift ticket day. It was ok, but we have realized it's not our favorite thing to do anymore;) Hot chocolate and popcorn afterwards made up for the cold afternoon on the slopes. That night we went into town and went to a soup and sandwich cafe and then enjoyed the hot tub back at the resort. We had a nice time away from everyday life and had a great time together:) I'll have to upload the pictures sometime, but for now you just get the narrative version.

A Letter to our nieces

 

On January 13th I became an aunt to you sweet little twin girls. I remember when your mama called and said she was expecting and that it was Twins! I was so excited! You see your Mom and Dad had been in and out of doctors offices, hoping and praying for your conception. Every month we prayed that she could have a baby. You have a strong mama the way she waited and kept hoping. Sometimes I would doubt or wonder when the time would come, but the hot summer day she let us know we were so full of hope and joy! The due date was April the 18th. In the heat of the summer it felt like springtime would never come and so the waiting began. In November we were invited to your gender reveal party. I was sure it was going to be a little boy and girl, but when the balloons popped there was pink everywhere which meant two girls! The weekend after Christmas your mom, dad and uncle Derek and I headed to Indiana for the Frank Christmas. We had a good time with family and threw your Mom a baby shower complete with cupcakes, a diaper cake and all things pink and little. For one of the games we had to race to see how fast we could diaper a baby. Little did we know you two would be in diapers in just a few short weeks. The next day (Dec 28th) we left Indiana and piled the back of the car full of baby gifts. There almost wasn't room for Aunt Emily and Uncle Derek ;) Your mom was good about putting her feet up and resting in the car. She had mentioned that she had an appointment in the morning before work. I think I told her to let me know how it went, but I didn't think too much about it since it was routine. The next day at her appointment they decided your mom needed to be admitted for full bedrest with monitoring since her cervix was shortened to a .4 (not sure what all that means, but it wasn't good). That was a very scary thing for us to hear. I think your mom was around 24 weeks, that was too soon for you peanuts to be born. I barely slept that night. It seemed we had come so far yet here we were teetering on the edge of the unknown. This was a great test in faith in God and caused us to run to Him in prayer. I imagined that there would be at least a couple months ahead of us to hang out with your Mom and Dad in the hospital trying to pass the time, but you surprised us yet again when a couple weeks later your mom's water broke signaling to the world that you were on your way! Derek called me at work to tell me that your mom was going in for a Cesarean and that you would be born within the hour. I looked at the calendar....January 13th it said...this will be their birthday I thought to myself. It was all I could do to focus the rest of my shift. I was praying to God that you would be born full of life and he has answered our prayers. It's true you two are SO full of life, kicking, scrunching up your faces, making diaper changes difficult with your squirming and letting out little cries if your sleep is disturbed. Now your living with only the assistance of a feeding tube, a little oxygen and of course lots of love from your parents and family. We love you Addison and Natalie you are a sweet reminder of God's faithfulness.

Christmas catch-up

Christmas has obviously come and gone and I'm still here trying to figure out if we're really halfway through January and if I should take down the Christmas cards that are taped to our door. My family Christmas was a few days before Christmas and the kids actually went outside to play. It was a very weird thing after opening gifts and watching the kids out on the driveway riding bikes and pushing around toy mowers, but I was so glad they could since it turned icey cold soon after. We played games, ate lots of food and exchanged gifts. Every year we draw names among the siblings and try to keep it a secret. I drew Tiffany's name and she guessed that I had her right away. It must not have been very inconspicuous of me to text her a picture and ask her if she liked a certain item.......and then follow it up with "I'm asking for someone else". Yeah, I'll have to work on that for next years drawing.

 On Christmas morning Derek and I went to church with my parents and then we came home and he made a delicious brunch for us. We both remembered that last year we had picked something to make a Christmas tradition.....but neither of us could remember what it was...it must not have been a very good idea ;) We didn't exchange gifts between ourselves since we chose to go to Wisconsin for a few days and ski for our gift to each other. We are definitely a couple who prefers "experiences" over a material item. 

Little Jesse got Fritz a bathrobe that matches his:)

In other news Tiffany is engaged and I'm so excited for her and Jesse. They make a darling couple and I'm sure their May wedding will be here before we know it.....but until then January it is:)