So cute!

I have said before that some of our favorite times with Ethan is snuggling in bed together before he goes to sleep. Tonight I decided to talk to him about baby brother coming. Here is a bit of the conversation that took place, and it is up there as one of my favorites so far:

ME: "Ethan, when mommy has baby brother, she is going to have to be in the hospital. I'm ok, and baby brother is ok, but I have to stay there for a few days."

ETHAN: "uh huh."

ME: "When I go to the hospital to have baby brother, do you want to come see me?"

ETHAN: "Yes, and I take baby brother, wrap him in cloth and lay him in a manger!"

You have to read this article

Lately I have been very sensitive to stories about pregnant women and babies. Of course because I am expecting my own little one in a little over a month stories just hit home. Some don't have happy outcomes and some do. I was amazed to read this story about a mother and baby. You have to read it!
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,581444,00.html

Mom's Christmas poem

This is a cute poem my mom wrote. Check out her blog to read it: http://grammysblog-grammy.blogspot.com/2009/12/2-days-after-christmas.html

Reason 1,345,390,998 I love my husband

http://becominglast.wordpress.com/2009/12/17/christmas-challenge/

Baby things

Today I started pulling out baby clothes and things to prepare for this new wee one's arrival! I only have 8 weeks to go (or less!)! I was so blessed with Ethan by other's that I didn't need to buy hardly anything! But I am also realizing that some things I borrowed, I have had to give back and now I need some things again! My list of "needs" is growing longer and longer. Although really, so many gadgets and gizmos have been created and most moms think they need a lot...but we really don't. So I would say that my list is made up of a few needs, but mostly wants. I am having to trust in God that the baby things we need will be provided in some way. I am realizing a trend already developing that I want to nip in the bud. Whenever something comes up, financial or not, I immediately start stressing instead of trusting in a God who has met EVERY SINGLE need we have ever had! So I am going to lay these baby things, both big and small, at His feet and trust that he cares and knows about them and our needs will be met!
I do want some mom's opinions out there... so you moms that have had more than one baby please speak up. Tell me your preference of a "carrier" for your second child. Do you prefer a baby sling, baby bjorn, etc. What is your method of carrying your infant, while being hands free to run after your toddler or older child?! Thanks!!!

Mr. Charmer

Ethan is at that age where almost everything out of his mouth makes us laugh. Toddler hood is a rough age, but I believe God gives them a little sense of humor and makes them say the CUTEST things to make up for all the time-outs, ha ha! Lately my husband has told me, "you're beautiful"! He is going out of his way to make me feel attractive during these very unattractive last months of pregnancy. Hee hee! Well apparently Ethan has picked up on this. The past two days when Ethan has gotten in trouble and we've been sitting together talking about behavior, he has paused... looked up into my eyes and said, "you're beautiful"! What a little stink bug! It has made me laugh, melted my heart, and made me realize that we have a little charmer on our hands. I adore my boys and can't wait to meet our next one in 8 weeks!

Mr. Manners

After we ate lunch, Matt got up from the table and walked into the living room:

Matt: (burp)

Ethan: "Daddy, say excuse me!"

Matt: "Excuse me."

Ethan: "Good boy, daddy!"

The schedule c-section will be...

...Friday, February 19th! The dr. office just called me with the planned date. The doctor that delivered Ethan will be the one to perform this c-section as well. The funny thing is that Ethan was scheduled nearly 3 years ago on that very same date. He decided to come 3 days early though. I also don't think this baby is going to wait until then, but you never know! So it looks like my boys will be 3 years and 3 days apart! We are planning an early birthday party for Ethan just in case little brother decides to come earlier. I know it will be here before I know it! It makes me more excited to have a perspective date! I don't know why they tell you that you can pick the date because with both of my boys now they have called with a date and time already established. That makes for deciding a birthday a little easier on us though. It is out of our hands and truly in our God's hands. Please be praying for a safe and healthy delivery and adjustment as we go from a family of 3 to a family of 4! I'm excited and ready!! (Please remind me that I said that when I question my sanity after he is born... ha ha!!!)

Santa baby

Ethan sat on Santa's lap the other night for our apartments' Christmas party. I was shocked! Of course Santa bribed him with some candy, but hey... got a cute picture out of it!

180 degrees (second post of the day)

And I am not talking about temperature. Ethan did a 180 from this afternoon to this evening. As much as I lose my patience with him, become frustrated, doubt my parenting, etc. we have the moments where he acts like a perfect child. Tonight was one of them. He was glorious. I cooked an early dinner and Matt and I decided to take a trip to Lifeway Christian Bookstores. While there Ethan listened extremely well. He was delightful.... thoroughly enjoying the trip as much as we were. Then as we were walking out we told the clerk "Thank You" and when Ethan heard us he turned to the guy and said, "Thank You, Merry Christmas"! It just made Matt and I beam with pride and adoration for our sweet little guy. Then on our venture make home we decided to look at Christmas lights on various houses that we could come across. We had a blast. Ethan enjoyed it too. To top off the evening Matt picked us up 2 small chocolate frosty's from Wendy's... I hopped into the back seat and shared mine with Ethan. Ethan and Matt were being silly in the car and bantering back and forth. It was just one of those fun nights where everything went right. So Matt encouraged me to post about it as well. Not just remembering the "bad" times in parenting, but reflecting and recalling the good times. We love Ethan so much and we know he is human and will mess up. But we also know that he really is a good boy. Stubborn and strong willed, but good. He is sweet, has great manners and tender hearted. My goal is to remember THESE times when he acts out. Sometimes we have to remind ourselves that he's not even 3 yet. But because he is a big boy and talks well we sometimes treat him like he's a 5 year old. I love my sweet boy... and I love these times of 180 degrees!!

Confession time

I just completely lost my patience with Ethan. He isn't napping well. It goes in cycles which I know is leading to a dropped nap. I just went in there to tell him to settle down and I don't even know what really happened, I just know it ended up with both of us in tears. He tried to hit me repeatedly and was screaming at the top of his lungs. I disciplined him firmly yet walked out of the room enraged because I lost my temper and I hate this screaming that he's been doing. I love being a mom and would not trade it for the world... but sometimes I just wish he was perfect. HA. The neighbors must think we beat our child. For the record: WE DO NOT BEAT OUR CHILD. He has learned to scream real loud when he is upset or angry. Which makes for some fun times at school, church, the grocery store, etc. He has never been one to throw temper tantrums and lay out on the ground. But this screaming thing has to be the worse. Because everyone looks at you (the adult) and assumes your the one doing something wrong. Not that I care what people think, but it's frustrating. I know i'm far from perfect, he is far from perfect, yet why do I expect perfection?! Life is messy, we all throw fits about stuff... even adults. Bottom line: I love him so much and I wish I never lost my patience with him or anyone. It stinks to feel guilty about the way you handled a situation. But all you can do is say you're sorry, you love them, and try not to do it again.
Thankfully I think he just fell asleep and I am praying he wakes up a happy child.

If my dad even notices....

Today my dad mentioned that he noticed people haven't commented on my blog in a long time. I know people are reading because I have a hidden site tracker (insert evil laugh here, ha ha). So it is sad to me that my dad, who doesn't have a blog- just reads mine, notices that people aren't commenting. You don't want to make a pregnant woman cry, so stop being shy and leave me some love!

Christmas tree lighting

As I mentioned in a post before we went to our town's Christmas tree lighting. Ethan had a wonderful night of eating cookies, watching the tree light up, a firetruck bringing Santa, and running around playing with other kids. I was shocked that Ethan wanted to go up and see Santa. He had no fear and went up and said, "Hi Santa, Hi!" and gave him a high-five and fist bumps. We had a great time as a family and Ethan was so well behaved the whole night. I have to admit I was a bit nervous because there were so many people and it was dark out. But he stayed near us and obeyed and had a blast. Anyhow, here are a few pictures.

The firetruck that brought Santa, and the "Christmas" tree lit up behind it!

Ethan with Santa

"It's toothpaste!"

Funny story. This morning Matt and I got ready to go eat lunch with the church staff for our Christmas lunch at Mimi's Cafe. In the car on the way there, Matt had his hand on my stomach and was talking to his baby boy. (So sweet!) I glance down and notice something white on his finger. I say, "hey honey, what's that?" Matt looks at his finger and says, "oh, it's toothpaste" and quickly licks it off. The moment his face made an awful that-is-disgusting grimace, we both realized it wasn't toothpaste. He then yelled, "UGH, that's my deodorant!" Matt put down the window and was spitting and sputtering the next 5 minutes. I was cracking up so hard that I started contracting. It was SO hilarious. Poor guy. We had to stop at McDonalds and grab a coke so he could get the taste out of his mouth. We laughed the whole way to lunch and kept reliving the moment.
It reminded me of a story in college. My roommate and I went to the beach with her family and we were laying out at the pool. I got up to get something and noticed some white stuff on my arm. I thought, "oh, I must not have rubbed my sunscreen in good". Well as soon as I rubbed the "sunscreen" in I realized from an awful smell, that it wasn't sunscreen. It was seagull poop. It smelled so bad I had to go wash off and my roommate and I just laughed and laughed. We experienced a fly-by pooping.
Moral of these stories: If you see some unknown substance on you, don't assume: just wash it off!

Ethan's Santa Story

Tonight as I was putting Ethan into bed, he just started talking and telling me this whole elaborate story about Santa. It was cute to see his little mind go. I interjected every now and then, but for most part it was a steady conversation between him and himself. Ha! Here is some of what I recall him saying.

Ethan: Santa's at home going night night. He put his jammies on and brush his teeth. I help him get the back ones.

Me: Oh, you want to help him brush his back teeth?

Ethan: Yeah. Where's his brother? His daddy lives really far long ago. Really far. Where's Santa's mouth? He has a boo boo. It hurts. It's not all better.

Me: Should we make him a card or write a letter to make it feel better?

Ethan: No, it's not all better. It hurts. Maybe we send him Bert and Ernie stickers.

What a goober. This all stemmed from seeing Santa tonight at our town's Christmas tree lighting. I am going to write a separate post about it with some pictures probably tomorrow, so stay tuned.

Ethan's first ornament

I picked Ethan up from his class at "school" and he had made this ornament. Of course I think the teacher did most of the work, but it was so stinkin' cute! In case you can't see, it is a white bell that is a snowman head with ear muffs. He was so proud of it and I was so proud of him! I know I won't keep every single thing he ever makes, but I cherish what he does and I love that he is at the age where he enjoys making things. Melted my heart.

Please pray

Please pray for this young family that has been attending our church. Their 4 month old daughter, Madison has 2 tumors along her spine and possibly one on her brainstem. Check out their website and feel free to leave encouraging words, pray for them, and consider giving financially! Thank you!

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/madisonjoychirino

Winter Portraits

As you may have noticed, I added a new family picture on my sidebar of the blog. Here is an adorable picture of Ethan they took. He had his arm propped up on his knee, but they zoomed in the picture. This past Saturday we went with my parents and my brother's family to the mall to get family portraits done. Ethan did really well. At first he was a bit shy, but then he came out of his shell. I have some other cute shots too, but want to respect my brother's wishes and not post them on the internet. What a cutie! In just a few short months we will need to get his 3 year pictures done. But i'm thinking of using my friend Amanda, at Mishmash photography to capture my cutie! Check out her site: http://mymishmash.tumblr.com/

Preparing for a new week

Well the Thanksgiving break is drawing to a close these next few hours. It has been so nice taking a break from work and school to spend time with our families and each other! It has been a busy few days filled with food, family, friends, relaxation, and shopping! It is so hard preparing for the week after any break or vacation. Thankfully for us we have a packed next few months. With Christmas coming, Ethan's 3rd birthday and baby boy #2 making his entry into the world. I know before I have a chance to think about it we will be half way through 2010! Sometimes I feel like time creeps by, but more often I feel like it is flying by. I guess it is true that time flies by faster the older you get.
I am just so thankful for so much! Sometimes it is easy to complain about circumstances or things. But I really pray that I always have a heart that is grateful! We really are blessed in so many ways! My heart aches for those who have lost loved ones or are experiencing major medical issues. It is a huge reminder to not let life pass me by and to really be thankful for every day that I have with my family and friends. So as you prepare to return to "life" this next week, and you look forward to the future...I just pray you open your eyes to the people and things around you that God has blessed you with now! Because the saying, "you never know what you have until it's gone" is a scary thing to bring to fruition.
That is a challenge to myself as well.

Black Friday

This morning I did my traditional Black Friday shopping with my mom, sister-in-law, and friend Brooks. We decided it wasn't worth it to wake up before 4:00a.m. to get to Kohl's when it opened, so we decided to get there around 5:00a.m. If you don't have a particular "door buster" item you want to get, it is well worth waiting and going a little later. We actually found parking spots and got each of us were able to get a cart to hold our merchandise. This never would have happened if we got there when it opened. Plus, we didn't have to wait in much of a check out line either. Kohl's ended up taking longer than we had anticipated, so poor Brooks actually had to leave us and head over to Target so she could make it back home to feed her little girl when she woke up. After Kohl's we headed to Target, then Dicks, and last the Dollar Tree...well and a few places in between (cough *Starbucks*cough). The Dollar Tree is a great place to buy good gift bags and sticky name tags that go on your presents. I got CUTE name tags, 100 in a pack for $1.00! We had a great time and ended up shopping longer than we expected. We were out a total of 4 hours! Me and my preggo self was tuckered out by the time we finished. I got some amazing deals and even came home under budget!! I am completely done with all my Christmas shopping. I even bought Matt a new wedding ring!!!!! It definitely is a cheap replacement, but it looks good and i'm glad he has one! I of course couldn't wait until Christmas to give it to him, so I pulled it out and said, "with this ring, I thee wed" and slid it on his finger when I got home! I love my man!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Because Thanksgiving is on the 26th this year, I thought I would post 26 things I am thankful for. Some are serious, some are not... enjoy. Obviously not in any particular order. I could have expanded on every point, but then this post would be FOREVER long!

1. Mocha Frappuchino's from Starbucks
2. My husband and our relationship
3. My firstborn, Ethan
4. Baby boy #2 on the way
5. Hot water
6. Our church
7. Working cars
8. Our jobs
9. Having family close by
10. Target
11. AC/Heat
12. Our freedom
13. Jesus Christ
14. My body pillow
15. Generous people
16. Our apartment
17. Good friends
18. My relationship with my parents
19. Orange juice
20. Creation: beautiful scenery
21. A level headed husband to balance out my hormones these 9 months and longer...
22. Internet access
23. Easy medical access
24. Appliances that make life "easier"
25. My family & I's health
26. Financial class we are currently taking

I pray we can all stop in this busy holiday season and reflect on our blessings and that God loves you!

2nd post of the day- WHOA!

Ok, so I couldn't wait to change the background of my blog to a Christmas one! But I promised my dear friend Shannon that I would wait until AFTER Thanksgiving to post a custom made banner she made me. So stay tuned, and check me out on Friday with another new look. Swing on over to Shannon's blog and check out her way cute header and fun stories of her family!!

3rd trimester

I am officially in my 3rd trimester. Although for my own sake, i've been there for over a week now because I know I am having a c-section early. Hard to believe that our second little man will be here in 12 weeks or less! For some reason I am ready for him to be here! I don't think I was quite this anxious with Ethan. I know I am measuring smaller with this baby than with Ethan, but for some reason I feel like he is gargantuan! I feel like I have no room in my belly. I am more out of breath with this pregnancy than with Ethan. I have really hit the stage where I feel him move every single time he rolls over, etc. Before it was miscellaneous kicks and movements, but now I feel the whole body roll. He is way more active at night, waking me up in the middle of the night doing flips.
I can't believe how excited Ethan has been about being a big brother. He talks about it every day. "I share my cars with baby brudder. He push the wagon with me. I share the window with baby brudder. I color with baby brudder." Every thing he does he is considerate of doing it with baby brother. When we put him to bed at night we always lay and snuggle, talk, sing, and whatnot. It melted my heart the other night when he said, "baby brudder lay in bed with me!". I just pictured us as a family of 4 squishing in his little twin bed having some awesome times together before bedtime. Right now i'm amazed we can fit with my belly, but we do! Like i've said before, I know it will be an adjustment and i'm prepared for him to not be so excited when Caleb actually gets here, but I am praying he loves him as much outside of the womb than he does inside right now!!!
Other news, we put our Christmas tree up last night. It is really pretty. This is our second year as a family with a real tree. Other than some mishaps like putting four strands of lights on the tree and getting to the bottom and realizing the plug was the wrong end to go into the outlet. Ethan breaking an ornament. Re-wrapping the tree with lights and decorating with an excited 2 year old. It went well. Ethan was very into it this year. This first thing he said this morning when he woke up was, "where is my Christmas tree?!". We also put up my Willow Tree nativity that my parents have bought me over the past few years. We talked about each piece and he LOVED unwrapping them from the newspaper and pulling them out one at a time. I know it isn't Thanksgiving yet, but i've been excited and ready for Christmas to be here. I love Thanksgiving and I know it is important to stop and really be grateful for all that we have. But i'm ready for snow (HA), lights, trees, presents, family pictures, family get togethers, parties, celebrating the birth of Jesus, potlucks, music, and everything that this season entails. I know the holidays will make the last part of my pregnancy fly by! Happy Thanksgiving, safe travels to everyone. Look for a special Thanksgiving post tomorrow!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Because Thanksgiving is on the 26th this year, I thought I would post 26 things I am thankful for. Some are serious, some are not... enjoy. Obviously not in any particular order. I could have expanded on every point, but then this post would be FOREVER long!

1. Mocha Frappuchino's from Starbucks
2. My husband and our relationship
3. My firstborn, Ethan
4. Baby boy #2 on the way
5. Hot water
6. Our church
7. Working cars
8. Our jobs
9. Having family close by
10. Target
11. AC/Heat
12. Our freedom
13. Jesus Christ
14. My body pillow
15. Generous people
16. Our apartment
17. Good friends
18. My relationship with my parents
19. Orange juice
20. Creation: beautiful scenery
21. A level headed husband to balance out my hormones these 9 months and longer...
22. Internet access
23. Easy medical access
24. Appliances that make life "easier"
25. My family & I's health
26. Financial class we are currently taking

I pray we can all stop in this busy holiday season and reflect on our blessings and that God loves you!

Thanksgiving plans & Black Friday shopping

This year we are having Thanksgiving with my parents. My brother's family is coming as well. I am excited to spend this time together. My dad spends many hours preparing a wonderful dinner. Our family's typical Thanksgiving menu consists of: Turkey, stuffing, sweet potato casserole, macaroni & cheese, cranberry sauce, and other various foods and snack foods. Dad keeps us WELL FED and it is SO yummy. The girls of the family usually at some point during the day discuss our Black Friday shopping strategy which consists of: what time to get up, what stores to go to, and searching through the sales fliers for deals and coupons to use. This is one of my most favorite parts of Thanksgiving. I love having this tradition with my mom, and this year my sister-in-law is planning on coming as well. We love waking up early and getting out there before the sun is up with all the other crazies! We know to steer clear of places like Best Buy, Radio Shack, and Toys R Us. Those are the places that you might get trampled or in a fight over things. (It is pretty sad the way some people act on what is supposed to be a fun and festive day...but that topic is for another post.) I already have my shopping list ready and categorized into what I need to get from what stores. I LOVE giving gifts to people. It is going to be especially hard this year as we are trying to budget wisely and be good stewards of our money. Christmas is not about things, but it is nice to show people you love them by picking out things that you know they will like. This year I am going to attempt to remember my camera and take pictures of our Black Friday experience. Although we do have to be careful. A few years ago when we were up in Illinois with my dad's extended family, all the girls went shopping and took a picture of us and all our loot after. Well my sneaky DAD got a hold of the camera and zoomed and cropped the picture and discovered some of the gifts that my mom had gotten him. What a sneak. If you think your kids are bad about sneaking and trying to figure out what they got... you need to meet my dad! :) And he has a knack for guessing exactly what you got him... he is right 99% of the time. Even if it is something random and you think you got him fooled, he's not. One year my mom packed his gift in a box, wrapped that box in another box, and that box in another box... repeated that several times and HE STILL GUESSED WHAT IT WAS! Goober.
I LOVE THIS TIME OF YEAR! Feel free to share your stories and traditions, I would love to hear!

My boy

There are so many things as a first time mom that I question myself on. One of which is discipline and behavior for Ethan. He is in the thick of toddlerhood and all that it encompasses: seeking independence, phases like hitting and kicking, talking back, etc. There are moments that I question myself, "am I doing the right thing by (fill in the blank)"... I know that we have a strong willed child. He sadly takes after me in that regard. But right now my biggest prayer is that God will use that strong will later in life to bring Him glory. That having a strong will in itself is not a bad thing when used for "good". So while my son is well,...being a toddler. I need to remind myself that most of it is just a phase, that he is genuinely a good kid with a sweet demeanor and tender heart like his daddy. So my reason for this post is to highlight something we love about him. He loves to serve. A toddler who loves to serve?! YES! He loves to be a helper! Whenever I am doing laundry he is constantly at my feet trying to help. He likes putting the clothes in the washing machine, dumping the detergent, turning it on, closing the door, putting the wet clothes into the dryer, and especially LOVES putting the laundry away. Another thing he loves is "helping" with the dishwasher. Mainly putting it away. He thrives on being a "helper" and i'm really counting on using this when our next little one comes. Not in the way you imagine: child labor, ha ha, but I am really going to use this sweet part of my son to help him transition into life with another child in the household besides him. He is already talking about sharing his room, toys, getting to hold, and play with his "wittle brudder"! Now i'm not going to be naive and assume life will be a bed of roses when the new one arrives, I know transition time will be hard. But I am hoping the more we talk about it with him, prepare him, and use his strengths then the adjustment will hopefully go somewhat smoothly.
I pray that this tender heart and serving that Ethan loves now will remain within him forever. He is such a sweet little guy. It made my heart melt when I went to pick him up from his class this morning at church and one of his teachers seemed so pleased that he loved to clean up and be a helper. I definitely had a proud mom moment. Sometimes I just wish there was so much more we could to do help him understand that we love him and are proud of him. I thank God for my son, and I feel privileged that we have the opportunity to add another precious boy to our family in just a few short months!

Stomach Flu

The Flu bug has bitten our house again, but this time in a different form. Wednesday night I got a call from my sweet husband while I was at bible study. In a very sad and quiet voice I heard, "can you come home, I just threw up". So I quickly exited my beloved bible study and came home to my sickie. He had the whole 9 yards... fever, chills, vomiting, etc. Thursday he spent the WHOLE day in bed. Literally came out for 20 minutes to eat lunch with us (grilled cheese and chicken noodle soup) and for about 10 minutes later in the day to check his e-mail on his laptop. He was wiped out. Finally late afternoon/evening his fever broke. Today has been much better, but he is still weak and tired. My parents graciously kept Ethan over night last night and then Matt's parents offered to take Ethan this afternoon and for the night. I have cleaned and disinfected everything. We rented a few movies from the redbox and just had a relaxing day. My sweetie pie of a husband looked at me during one of the movies and said, "it's like a date night!" I love him so much. But I told him my idea of a date night is less fever, chills, and vomiting! ;) ha ha. Matt was so completely bummed that he missed out on a staff retreat. He was very excited to go. I had to convince him that throwing up and fevering wouldn't be that much fun way down in Myrtle Beach, let alone it wouldn't be fun for others attending. It was a blessing in disguise though because he had already taken off work and switched days, so he was able to really rest, sleep, and relax the past 2 days. So far Ethan and I have been fine and i'm praying it stays that way!

"Q is for chicken"

Ethan was sitting down doing an ABC puzzle that has different pictures where you are supposed to put the letters...

Ethan: "Q is for chicken."

(Me looking down puzzled from the couch)
Me: "O, That is a quail... Q is for quail."

Ethan: "That sounds good."

He makes me smile!
p.s. Watch out now, this is the second post of the day... have I hit a blogging streak?!

Doctor appointment & such

Today I had another dr. appointment. I am absolutely thrilled with my weight gain. I have only gained 15 pounds so far and I only have about 14 weeks to go. With Ethan I gained a total of 38 pounds, so it doesn't look like i'll be catching him. Thank GOD! However, after the doctor measured me he said, "my, you have a generous abdomen!" HA! He then told me that I would probably have another 9 or 10 pound baby. I discussed the potential for a VBAC (Vaginal Birth After Cesarean) and he pretty much told me that with the size that this baby will probably be, that he wouldn't recommend it. I am fine with a c-section, I was just making sure that all my options were explored. My c-section experience with Ethan was wonderful, so i'm hoping this one is as well. I really love this doctor. At the end of our discussion I asked him if he would mind being the one to do my c-section, that I was very happy with him and his thoroughness. He seemed generally happy and honored. (I am sure the extra money he will personally get made him a bit giddy inside!) So I am very excited for February to get here! Everything seems to be going well. Well, almost everything. My sugar has been a bit high the past 2 mornings after breakfast. I e-mailed my numbers to my gestational diabetes doctor and she said that if things don't improve soon that I will probably be put on medication. I was fully prepared to hear this because she told me to expect a boost in numbers around my 3rd trimester. Well they have definitely "boosted". Just keep praying that I will disciplined to do everything possible myself to stay healthy. Sometimes you just need the help of medicine. Oh, and i'll probably have a few more ultrasounds before he comes, so that is always fun!
p.s. Unless something changes, our precious little boy's name will probably be Caleb Thomas! :)

Dramatic change in emotions

I woke up this morning and decided that mourning the loss of my husband's wedding ring was over. After crying for over an hour straight yesterday when he told me of the incident... and after getting out of bed last night and crying some more. I realized, wow... PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER! Yes the ring means a lot and has huge sentimental value, but I also know that if a lost ring is the worst thing we are experiencing right now... then we are far more blessed than many people. After hearing about Matt's ring we heard of a couple friend of ours that suddenly lost their dad this past weekend. Just on our local news website the first 2 stories are of a lost child and 2 children that died in a house fire. When looking at things in the "big picture" you come to be grateful and understand that life can be so short and full of "losses". While I am sad that his ring is gone, I realize that it can be replaced. But there are some things that can never be replaced and lives will never be the same.
I thank God for this dramatic change in emotions, and I know Matt thanks him as well... ha ha! Cherish the moments you have with things that are irreplaceable!

Lost

Today I got a call from my beloved husband that he lost his wedding ring. While I know there are far worse things in life, this tore me up. I cried well over an hour about it initially... and now I am up after we already went to bed and crying again because I can't stop thinking about it. I know it seems so silly to me that I can't pull myself together over it. Yes I know the ring can be replaced, that it is just a symbol, but it is something special and something I cherish. He has worn it for over 5 years now and it hurts me to know that it is gone. We had it specially engraved with our wedding date and a verse that we claimed over our relationship when we first started dating- Psalm 115:1.
I know Matt feels terrible. I am not upset with him at all. He was in his class at Seminary. Each week they take a break in the middle of class to go use the restroom, etc. Well every week he takes his ring off and sets it near his laptop because the bathroom sink drain doesn't have a stopper in it and he didn't want to lose it down the drain. Today he comes back from his break and it's gone. After searching around where he was sitting and all through his things, we can only draw one conclusion, that someone took it.
I pray that it shows up. That if someone took it they would feel remorse and return it. Even if we wanted to replace it right now, we don't really have the money to. Of course we could tap into our emergency fund that we worked so hard to build up and replace it. But the whole situation just makes me sad. I really haven't cried this much in a long long time. Of course being pregnant does not help the emotional situation at all. So if you think about it just say a prayer for us. Like I said, I know there are worse things but it still means a lot to me.

Daddy's boy

Lately Ethan has been a real big daddy's boy. Whatever Matt is doing, Ethan has to do. Matt LOVES to read and reads for pleasure and for his Master's classes at Seminary. Recently when Matt has been perched with a book, Ethan has gone and grabbed a book off of Matt's shelf, squeezes next to him and "reads". It is so stinkin' cute! You can see in the first picture that Ethan has chosen Crazy Love, which I have blogged recently about. In the second picture Ethan grabbed Send the Light which is a biography type about Lottie Moon. Neither of them are children's books... just what he happened to grab of daddy's. He sat there perfectly still, just "reading" with his daddy! I love my boys and I love watching them interact. I pray that their relationship only deepens as he gets older. Ethan has some big shoes to fill and an awesome daddy who is a wonderful example to him. Anxious to see what our next boy is like!!!

'Tis The Season: A Holiday Gift Idea Exchange, Day 5

GIFT IDEAS: SOMETHING DIFFERENT

1. You can ask parents and/or grandparents to help go in together and start a money market account at the bank. For our bank you had to have a minimum of $250 to put in there. It has one of the highest interest rates, so if you put it in for your child and leave it a lone until they are college age...only adding to it when they get money for birthdays/holidays etc. Then they will have a nice "savings account" set up to help fund college, get married, etc. It is a great gift to help someone save for their future. We are going to take all the money Ethan got so far and set it up in a similar account that doesn't require such a hefty minimum and start saving for our little guy. Another idea that is similar to this is to buy a child a savings bond.

2. Donate to a favorite charity in the person's name. I admire my brother and sister-in-law because they know that they don't really "need" anything for Christmas, so they have asked several times to donate to great causes on their behalf. This is a wonderful way to be selfless and give to people that are in need. We as Americans are extremely blessed and have SO much materialistic wise. It is a great way to show love during this holiday season. And isn't that what Christmas is all about?! God showed us His love by sending Jesus Christ to us as a sacrifice for our sins. All we need to do is accept that we've "messed up" and need Him! That's it. Now that is a great example of love!

3. Gas or grocery gift card. You may have noticed a huge theme this week and that is MONEY. So many people are hurting in this economic time, and it may mean more to have something practical than buying a candle, picture frame, or random gift. Find out where the person you want to give to grocery shops or gets gas from and buy a gift card for them. I know that will mean a lot more to them in the long run than something they may never use. Money and budgeting is so prevalent on our minds because we are taking a financial class and trying to be good stewards of what we have. So we are all about the practical right now.

I hope you have enjoyed my entries this week. I have had a fun time blogging and joining my friend Sheila and others in this blogging carnival. If you've missed it, check out www.momfessions.blogspot.com for other great gift ideas.

Caught red handed

Ethan just had an "accident" in his big boy underwear. He was standing in the corner in "time-out" and turned around and said, "uh oh mommy, I need to go pee pee"! When I looked down I saw that he had already went. Well as Matt was taking him in his room to change him, a thought came into my mind: "I wonder if he did this on purpose to get out of time-out". (He has never done anything ever to get out of time-out) As I am pondering this thought, I hear him in his room with Matt saying, "no go back in time out". Then the idea was confirmed in my head. As soon as Matt got back out in the living room I told him of my suspicion. So we decided to question our adorable innocent toddler (HA!). As clear as day, with no question of misunderstanding, Ethan admitted to going on purpose.
Matt: "Ethan, when you were in time out, did you go pee pee on purpose or was it an accident."
Ethan: "On purpose."
Matt: "So it wasn't an accident?"
Ethan: "No."
BAD BOYS, BAD BOYS, WHATCHA GONNA DO? WHATCHA GONNA DO WHEN THEY COME FOR YOU?????
I can't believe it. My son is smart enough to know that if he goes pee pee in his pants while he's in time-out, then he gets out of time-out because we need to go change him. He knew as clear as day what he was doing and why. We further explained to him that that behavior is NOT ok. Then Ethan told us, "no go pee pee in time out, I supposed to go in toilet". Further confirming that he knew exactly what he was doing. So he now knows that if he EVER does that again then there are HUGE repercussions!
I KNEW he was guilty. Because he didn't pee in his underwear at all for the full 4 hours we were at the fair, but he just went about 15 minutes ago and had an "accident" in time-out. Oh, I don't think so.
Very funny, very cute, and very sneaky! What a little stinker!

'Tis The Season: A Holiday Gift Idea Exchange, Day 4

GIFT IDEAS FOR THE BOOK LOVER: (This was a hard one, so here are the few ideas I have)

1. A tote bag for your book lover to take the library for borrowing and returning books, as well as a reusable shopping bag for when they hit up their favorite bookstore! You can find great totes at Target and on websites like http://www.etsy.com/

2. Here are a few books I recommend: Pursuit of Holiness, by Jerry Bridges. Crazy Love, by Francis Chan. If you are a woman and like mystery novels. Terry Blackstock is a great author and I love her series called Cape Refuge. I read the whole series in just a few days. (It's like 6 books!) All of these books are "Christian".

3. Bookmarks! A great way to incorporate your kids in the gift giving is to make homemade bookmarks. You can use stamping, markers, paint, glitter, ribbons, stickers and whatever their little heart desires! These are great for your avid readers! Your kids and grand kids will enjoy making the bookmarks, and who doesn't love receiving something homemade??

'Tis the Season: A Holiday Gift Idea Exchange, Day 3

GIFT IDEAS FOR KIDS:

I love shopping for my boy! But sometimes it is hard to shop for other kids because you don't know what they are "in to". So here are a few of my favorites.

1. Kids Books. A great way to get a good deal on kids books it to order through Scholastic. I am sure you have a neighbor, coworker, or know someone who's child is in school. Pick up an order form from them and buy some great books at a great cost. The book I want to endorse is one of my favorites. It is called Babycakes. It is a cute interactive book that you can do with a young baby and toddler, like kissing their toes, playing peek-a-boo, tickling, etc .

2. Diapers, wipes, or pull-ups. No matter how great the gift is, sometimes for the parent it is nice to get something practical. Since most young kids just love opening the gift, you can wrap these items in bright paper, lots of bows, or pretty bags. That way it is fun for them but practical for the child. Also, if your child is potty training, a great gift I know they will love is a package or two of cute little underwear. Find out their favorite cartoon or theme and try to find pairs that have them on it. My little one loves Thomas so his first package were Thomas themed underwear. So I guess the theme of this idea is stuff for POTTY use!

3. Art supplies. A great gift to get are the basics: crayons, markers, and paints. Kids loves these and they are relatively inexpensive. Especially if you shop early for Christmas and pick them up when all the "back to school" specials are going on. You can get some great deals on art supplies. I recently introduced water color painting to my 2.5 year old and he LOVED it. He loved dipping the brush in the water and then choosing the different colors. He did way better than I thought about not mixing colors and making sure to dip your brush in the water in between. At the low cost of art supplies you can fill up a whole gift bag and get a lot for your money. Also a hint for this: try the Dollar Tree for these supplies!

'Tis the Season: A Holiday Gift Idea Exchange, Day 2

GIFT IDEAS FOR HIM:

I channelled my husband for ideas in this entry. So here are a few.

1. MONEY- can you sense a theme in our family? Matt and I both are into saving money and trying to get out of debt. So he said money is a practical way to show someone you care. He said he would use money to pay off debt because there are so many gifts that are great, but this one would mean the most for our season in life right now. So straight from the horses mouth. And my horse is a STUD ;)

2. Books or giftcards for a bookstore. I know one of my husbands' recent favorite books is called Crazy Love, by Francis Chan. It has challenged his way of thinking and priorities that we as Christians, and a church have. I have read this book as well and love it. My husband is also in Seminary so our bookshelves have been filling up with great books. So if the "man" in your life is in school, loves reading, or just has a book addiction, then try a book or giftcard to Barnes and Noble, Lifeway Christian Bookstores or any great book store!

3. One of my husbands favorite gifts that my parents have given us is a year subscription to the Newspaper. We get the Sunday only edition which is full of sales adds as well as coupon books. Because we are trying to be good stewards of our money it is so nice to have the subscription because it is paid for as a gift, and we are crazy couponers. So if you know someone who is trying to budget wisely, bless them with a subscription to the Sunday only paper.

'Tis the Season: A Holiday Gift Idea Exchange

My great friend Sheila over at http://momfessions.blogspot.com/ is hosting this carnival. Please check it out.

GIFT IDEAS FOR HER:

1. Nothing says love like the green stuff! I know some people might think the gift of money is "impersonal" however, you are guaranteed not to fail. I love receiving money or giftcards for presents. Then I get to go out and choose the thing I want most. Especially since taste in clothing, scents, etc. may be different from those of the person giving the gift. I have used money for some much needed clothing, jewelry, to put in savings, and sometimes to fund those little emergencies that come up that you really just needed some money for. Also, it is so nice to have some money that you can hit up the after Christmas sales on. It's a win-win situation.

2. Giftcards. I LOVE giftcards, but the one I am going to reference here is STARBUCKS! They even have cute little giftcard holders that you can use to make it a little more attractive. In this day and age where money is tight, those coffee lovers, i'm sure, wouldn't mind loving a little help to fund their caffeine addiction. You could also buy a personal mug and stick the giftcard in it. Or buy a 1 pound bag of coffee and open it, stick the giftcard way down in there, and let it be a surprise when a week or sooner (depending on your addiction) the person receiving the gift reaches the GIFTCARD in their coffee at home. What a fun surprise!

3. JEWELRY. No matter how prissy or tom-boyish you are, girls love some jewelry. I am more along the tom-boy lines but every now and then I love to put on some dangly earrings and feel a little "stylish". Well Kohl's has some GREAT jewelry and some pretty amazing sales going on during the holiday season. My person favorite brands are Apt.9 and Sanoma. They have up-to-date fashionable and inexpensive jewelry. I recommend buying a pair or 2 of earrings... keeping one for yourself and giving one to a friend, girlfriend, grandmother, mother, or sister! Kohls also has great coupons to go along with their amazing sales.

Happy Halloween

"CANDY!"
Getting ready to leave, because I have the flu I didn't go with them, but they had a blast and Matt said he did great! This is the first year he actually understood it all.

Superman (cousin Jackson) and Spiderman (Ethan)- I drew a spider on his forehead because we didn't have a mask, he held perfectly still while I did it. I was shocked!

Raise your hand if you like CANDY!!

FLU

Well I unofficially have the flu. I haven't been feeling well and yesterday I went to the urgent care because I just felt achy and exhausted. I have several flu symptoms and although my in-office flu test came back negative, they decided to go ahead and put me on Tamiflu because I am pregnant and in a huge "at risk" category. I started taking my pills yesterday and I do feel better as far as the flu goes, but the medicine has made me extremely dizzy. I basically have vertigo- where I can't walk without running into things and rolling over in bed makes me feel like i'm on a roller coaster. I am hoping these side affects go away soon because I already want to stop the med's and i'm only on day 2 of a 5 day cycle. I know people have it way worse and there are many people dying from this, so I am trying not to whine, but don't you know that being pregnant and your emotions amplify everything and I just can't wait to be over it all. There is a poor lady at my church who has had it real bad and it actually has turned into pneumonia. I just pray for her and her twin girls that they would get healthy and stay that way! She has already missed a week of work and her mom is flying in today to help this next week. The hardest part of my "experience" so far is that my medicine cost me $85! That is an average of $8.50 per pill. UGH, sometimes I just feel like we can't catch a break. We are extremely blessed and I need to remind myself of that and God's faithfulness when we tend to feel overwhelmed. The $85 is do-able but of course Matt went to leave to go somewhere a few hours ago and my Toyota won't start. So it's true when they say, "when it rains, it pours". Between being sick, dizzy, paying a lot for med's, and potential car problems.... I am done! Ha ha! Which is why I just grabbed my bible study book to spend some time in God's word. There is no better place to be when you are surrounded with life's problems!
p.s. HAPPY HALLOWEEN! I have to say that I am one of those people that is already ready for Thanksgiving and Christmas. I LOVE the months of November & December. So much going on with family and friends and a lot of reflection time as you think about the reason we celebrate both holidays. I decided to change up my blog background to reflect this season. Be safe tonight as you trick-or-treat! Pictures to come of my little goblin and his fun tonight...

Potty training success

Well Ethan is officially in big boy underwear all the time except for sleeping. We started this Monday and he hasn't had an accident yet. I realized that I had a harder time letting go and trusting in his ability and that is why I prolonged it by using pull-ups and diapers when we were out places. I finally just sucked it up, packed a few changes of clothes in his bag and now we are exclusively using big boy underwear. I noticed as soon as he went to "school" in the mornings in big boy underwear he never had an accident, whereas last week when I had him in a pull up he would occasionally wet it. I should have taken my cousin Erin's advice from the get go, "Forget the pull-ups and go straight to big underwear." But my fear of an accident overshadowed. It is hard to "let go" and realize that yes he will have an accident and it isn't the end of the world.

When it comes to poo poo on the potty he is the exact opposite of "most kids". He has been pooping on the potty for almost 2 months now, it is the pee pee that he had to master. All the times I complained about my poor boy being constipated actually worked in our advantage because we knew he had to go before he had to go if you know what i'm saying. He has a classic sign: grabbing his little tushie and walking on tippie toes. That is the, "mom, i've got to go now" sign!! So thankfully as he has potty trained his body has gotten on a little schedule and he is more regular now and that has helped tremendously with going on the potty. Anyhow, I think you know way more than you wanted to know about Ethan's potty habits now, but I am just so proud of him. I should know this by now that he is a quick learner and masters things sooner than I give him credit for. Now if we can just get him to drink out of a "big boy" cup instead of a sippy cup we will be golden. That is the 1 thing he hasn't mastered quickly but he honestly has no desire to learn, so I think that is the culprit. If he could care-less then why in the world try?!

You just don't know how happy I am that we will only have 1 in diapers come February instead of 2!!!

Boston Market

Boston Market is currently running a few deals on their website. Please check it out. I got a 3 piece chicken meal with mashed potatoes and gravy and a corn muffin for $1.09 total!!! Matt, Ethan, and I all went there for lunch. So we spent a total of $3.27 on our lunch today for all of us! Of course it didn't come without hassle. It's a shame that places run deals or coupons then give you grief when you try to use them. First of all Matt printed out a coupon for each of us. Nowhere on the coupon does it say limit 1 per order. But we were prepared to pay separately to prevent any issues. When we arrived I took Ethan into the bathroom so Matt went to place our order. He told the lady that his wife and son were in the restroom. Of course with attitude she says, "I need to physically see them!". So he waited until we got out so she could see us. (Strike 1) Then when she saw that Ethan was a toddler she hesitated and made it seem like we were trying to rip them off by ordering a meal for him. She went to talk to her supervisor and said to us, "Um, he's a kid". Why yes he is. She basically made it sound like she didn't want to give him the order because he wasn't a "person". I can't remember exactly what she said, but we told her, "yes he is a person, this is his meal and he will eat it". So definitely with attitude they fulfilled our order and let us buy the meal. (Strike 2) Then comes the fun part... I get to the counter to pay and we decided to use cash. Matt was standing next to me and trying to keep Ethan waiting in line patiently, so I deemed myself the one that would hand the employee our money for each meal. Well not only did we ring everything up individually which was fine... but when I went to hand the man checking us out the money for Matt's meal, he looked at me and said, "He physically has to pay." ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? (Strike 3, 4 and 5!) They were making me pass the money to my husband who then in turn will hold out his hand and pass the money back to the cashier. Matt had to do it himself. It's not that paying separately was good enough, but they literally wanted us to pay separately. I almost sarcastically asked if they needed my 2.5 year old to PHYSICALLY HAND THEM THE MONEY. I mean is Boston Market not prepared to have people utilize their coupons?! And if they have restrictions they need to publicise them. I mean to debate not giving us a meal for my son because they weren't sure if he qualified as a "person"?! You have got to be kidding me. And all this added in the fact that they definitely treated us like we were horrible people and with attitude. In no way, shape, or form were we trying to do something that cheated them. We were using the coupon like it said and in the fashion that it said. It was quite ridiculous. But all in all, we got our meals which were a GREAT deal. The normal meals we got were $6.29 each, and instead we got to pay a $1.00! We tried to maintain dignity and a positive attitude to stay above reproach. So anyhow.
Check out their website, go and get your meals, but be prepared for confrontation. You just never know. Let me know how it goes if you end up going, I would love to hear!

NC State Fair fun

If there is a tractor around, Ethan is on it!

Riding a kiddie ride at the fair.

MONSTER TRUCK! Ethan's latest obsession!

Ethan & Daddy petting a mule

Our little family of 3.5 had a great time at the fair today. If you brought in 4 canned foods then you got in "free" instead of the $7.00 a person entrance price. I had just reorganized our kitchen pantry (nesting much??) and knew we had an abundance of canned foods that we could donate. So we decided to venture out to the fair because combine that and we know a great close place to park, we knew we couldn't do any better! We also brought $20.00 and agreed that that was our budget for the day. Ethan was able to ride 1 ride and we bought some snack foods and still made it out under budget! The weather was absolutely gorgeous... a high of 79, sunny and breezy! We had a blast! Walking around, people watching, looking at all the animals, getting freebies and just being together. We went during Ethan's nap time which was a gamble, but he was GREAT! I am so glad that we ended up going this year and that we did it as budget friendly as possible!

Craigslist sale!

Well we have sold our first item online. I had a great china cabinet that I put up for sale because it has been sitting in my parent's garage for the past 2 years. I had several e-mails about it when I first listed it on Craiglist a few weeks ago, but none that really showed further interest. Well a sweet lady e-mailed me about the cabinet and we were supposed to meet Friday night so she could look at it. I drove to my parent's house to meet her and 15 minutes after she was supposed to be there she called me and said she wasn't going to make it. I was a bit frustrated but she still seemed so interested. Well long story short, she ended up going by my parent's house and bought it for the price we asked today! So there goes more money into our emergency fund that we are trying to build. We have learned a ton in our Financial Peace University course by Dave Ramsey. The first step to financial freedom is to build $1,000 emergency fund because a lot of debt and what instantly hurts families are the unexpected emergencies that come up... your car gets a flat and you have to buy a tire, unexpected medical issues, etc. Thankfully we had our first half of the fund within the first week of starting the class, but we haven't added anything to it. Now we are about to add the $150 I got for the china cabinet. Hopefully we can sell some more unwanted/unused items to help finish our emergency fund then we can start tackling debt. I never thought I would enjoy this class like I have... after all who enjoys budgeting and talking about money?! But we have learned a ton, have become better stewards of what we have, and are trying to manage our finances in the best way possible. So yay to great resources like Craiglist that enable you to sell items for the price you want in your location! You should check outline and see if you have a Craiglist near you. www.craigslist.com

Raise your hand if you're sleepy....

Blown away by blessings

I just finished doing a personal bible study and I am thankful for the place my heart is in right now. I am just so thankful. The study I am doing is on the life of David in the bible. It has made me realize a ton of stuff, but one of which is God's blessings. As I sit here and think about all of our blessings I am just blown away. And so many times I forget to say thank you. Thank you to God, and thank you to the people He has used to bless us! For example: the laptop I am typing on was given to us by a family at church. The laptop Matt uses was bought new by a family at church when they found out his new one died on us. The armoire tv cabinet I have always wanted was one day on sale at Walmart for cheap because it was a floor model that they did away with. Our old tv stand had sharp pointed edges and glass and I was so worried when we had Ethan that he would poke his eye out. Now everything is hidden away in this beautiful armoire. We are currently buying a car from a family at church who just bought a new car themselves and wanted to bless us by giving it to us for dirt cheap, I am talking pennies! The car is going to be such a huge blessing in so many ways. Not only have Matt and I been sharing a car for the past year or so, but this new car has everything i've always wanted: electric windows/doors, tinted windows for my kiddos, and a huge trunk for space. These are just a few material possessions that God has blessed us with that I hope I never take for granted.
There was a time not too long ago where I had become ungrateful. My heart had hardened and I got in a "woe is me" stage, looking at what everyone else seemed to have and comparing myself. I wanted a house. I wanted a mini-van, I wanted more money, I wanted this and that. I began to whine and complain in my heart and really became envious. But then one day, thankfully, God hit my spiritual head with a two by four. He knocked some real sense into me and I am SO glad he did. While it would be nice to be in a house, have a new car, etc... I realized that if we did indeed have these things, I wouldn't be able to stay home with my son. I would have to work full time and he would be in daycare. We wouldn't have the flexible schedules and lifestyles. We wouldn't have been able to survive with just 1 car for so long. There were SOOOO many blessings that I was missing out on and taking for granted all because I got in a greedy stage. I am just filled with joy now. I truly am happy and grateful for what we have. I am so sorry and never ever want to be in the place that I was. I wouldn't trade what we are doing, working for an awesome church, with great people, getting to stay at home with my son, living the way we are now just to have more square footage and a new mini van. No way. I can't believe I ever thought those things would make me happy. You see the advantage of not "having a lot" is really a blessing. (Although we truly have a lot compared to most of the world) Because we don't "have a lot" we don't have a huge house payment and no car payments. GOD has provided for our needs and way much more. We have shelter, food, clothing, and material possessions. We have family nearby and friends who loves us and care for us. I am so thankful that God has used people, some that I never would have expected, to bless us. Because of their generosity, love, and giving nature WE are being blessed. My biggest prayer now is that we can turn around and bless others when given the opportunity. That we point others to God and give HIM the credit He deserves. My challenge to you is to look around and see what and who you have in your life and be thankful/grateful. I pray that my heart will always be in this state and never again go back to where it was.

G.D. update (Gestational Diabetes)

Well I have great news. This past week when I monitored my sugar my numbers were great. So I e-mailed my dietitian and she said that I can start checking my sugar just 2 times a day instead of 4! I am thankful that it isn't getting high for now. She did say when you enter your 3rd trimester than you can see a boost in numbers. But for now I am very grateful. I have been watching what i've been eating and trying to make good decisions. I mainly changed my breakfast that I was eating. I eat breakfast every single morning and I would say 99.9% of the time it is cereal... Trix, Cheerios, Frosted Shredded Wheat, and whatever else. I have started eating cheese toast on wheat bread and a very small amount of orange juice OR cottage cheese with some fruit. So I have a bit more fiber and less sugar. I am actually eating more frequently than I was. I have added an afternoon snack and a snack before bed (sometimes). These all of course were recommended by my doctor.
I have also been proud of my weight gain so far, although before both of my pregnancies I had pretty much gotten my heaviest. (Didn't do myself justice there.) So far this pregnancy I have only gained 11 pounds total. With Ethan I was bigger by now. I gained 38 pounds total with him. So unless I gain 27 in the last half of this pregnancy, then I should not get as big. But we'll see. Since G.D. causes larger babies I am not putting any weight on my weight. (hardy har har) Ethan was a 9.5 pounder and a little over a week early, I am anxious to see what this little boy will be and when he'll be born!

Finger prick

So I think I mentioned before that I definitely have gestational diabetes. I met with a specialist this past Monday to discuss the diabetes, diet, and learn how to use my new meter. I have to check my blood sugar 4 times a day. That is loads of fun. So far my numbers have been pretty good, so diet control seems to be working for now. I learned that gestational diabetes is all caused by hormones. There are placental hormones that block the insulin or "eat it" so that it's not used properly. Therefore my sugar isn't getting broken down sufficiently. This explains why as soon as I delivered Ethan my sugar went back to normal. Because you deliver your placenta as well and it's not there to block the insulin. Usually in your 3rd trimester you get another boost of hormones so if I have to take medication it probably won't be until then. Hopefully I will e-mail my dr. my numbers tomorrow and I can back off of checking it so much. I flinch every time I hear the needle click and go into my finger. I know it's coming and yet it still catches me off guard. Even though it isn't too painful and isn't long lasting, it definitely hurts and is annoying to have to do. But oh well, I will do what I can for the best of my babies health as well as mine! Speaking of which I just looked at the time and realized I have to go check it now. Ugh. Here's hoping for another good number!

Barbies

Matt and I have learned a ton at this financial course we are taking through our church. It is awesome. Financial Peace University by Dave Ramsey. What does this have to do with Barbies, you ask?! Well when I was a little girl I collected special edition holiday barbies every year for Christmas. I would receive them as gifts and mom used to tell me, "You can look at it, but DO NOT OPEN THE BOX!" Can you imagine? A young girl getting a Barbie for Christmas and not allowed to open it?! Well while I didn't understand it when I was younger, I do now and I THANK YOU MOM! I am now trying to sell my collection. Some are worth several hundred dollars. They are in mint condition. I have done some research online and am beginning to start the process of selling them. Because I am no longer adding to the collection and they are sitting up in boxes in my parents' house I feel perfectly content selling them. The fact is, it is smarter for us to sell them and use that money for our financial purposes such as saving for our family and getting out of debt, than let them sit in a closet. So if you know anyone that is wanting to purchase collector barbies, then PLEASE let me know. Otherwise I will start getting them on E-bay and other places. I inventoried the ones I have and took pictures of them to prepare for selling. I actually look forward to seeing how they sell and for how much. We are definitely looking to make money off them, so you won't see them on Craigslist for $5.00 or anything. We are also selling a dining set and a china cabinet if you are interested. Those are posted on Craigslist. We aren't selling off our entire life or anything, just certain objects that we can live without that would enable us to live smartly and pay off school loans and save money. To us, having financial peace means more to us that "stuff". God has blessed us so much, but in turn we need to be good stewards of all we have.
With that being said, anyone want to buy a husband?? ;) Just kidding, sorry, he's priceless!!!

Teachable moment

This afternoon as my husband was leaving for work, Ethan and I were sitting on the front steps watching him leave. Ethan looked down to the ground below us and saw a piece of trash. He said, "mommy, what's that?" I said it was trash and he said, "I want to go get it" in which I proceeded to tell him no he wasn't going to go get it, that it was yucky. Then Ethan looked up at me and said, "I want to go get the trash and put it in the trash can". Here I was too worried that my toddler was going to touch a yucky piece of trash, and yet my 2.5 year old wanted to pick up litter and put it in it's rightful place. So I said, of course you can get it and he went down and picked it up and came inside and threw it away. I was so proud of him and glad I stopped to allow him to have this teachable moment with ME! (For those of you who care, he did go wash his hands right after he threw it away!) I hope our family always makes efforts to BECOME LAST. Check out my husbands blog to learn all about what this means for us.
www.becominglast.wordpress.com

Small Victory!

I had a victory today.... a small one, but a victory none the less. I cleaned up after lunch AND dinner. My kitchen is spotless and the dishes are running in the dishwasher. Oh yeah! My kitchen has been clean for the past few days and I do feel good. Thanks for all the comments on here and my facebook about personal stories as well. It is comforting to know I am not the only slacker.. ha ha!

Gestational Diabetes

Well I just received a call from my doctor that I failed the 3 hour glucose tolerance test. Which means I do have Gestational Diabetes. They are referring me to a Prenatal specialist to start the diabetic care plans. I start out trying to do a diet controlled plan and if my sugar is still high I will have to be put on medication (which is what happened with my pregnancy with Ethan), and if it STILL is high on medication then I have to do insulin shots. So needless to say I am not excited, but it was to be expected. I had a crazy 90% chance that I would have it again in this pregnancy, so the odds were against me. The part that is hard is there is NOTHING I can do. My body doesn't produce enough insulin to support me and the baby. I just pray that after I have this precious boy that I will be able to maintain a healthy weight and watch what I eat so that I do not have Diabetes. While this will be no fun, I am glad there is something that can be done and other than it causing a large baby, we both should be fine if the medication helps. Off to go chew on a celery stick... I guess I shouldn't drink the Sunkist I was planning on drinking. Hee hee!

I need a support group

This picture is pretty much the norm in our kitchen. I have a horrible habit of letting the house get horribly bad before I clean it. Especially when it comes to the kitchen. We have a working dishwasher and everything, but I can't seem to conquer this issue in my life. I need help. The bad thing is it usually takes someone coming over to kick our butts into gear with the cleaning. Matt doesn't seem to mind, and I don't really mind unless we get to a point where we have no clean dishes (this happens frequently) or fruit flies start invading.
I haven't always been this way. I used to be an extreme neat freak. Getting married and having a child has completely done me in. I now toss things on the counter with the thought of, "i'll get to it later"... in my mind I mean like later in the day, however truthfully it usually isn't until a week later! When I do clean it, I usually keep it spotless for a few days, then it only takes one or two things to get sat on the counter before the build up begins. I have really wanted this bad habit to be demolished, but now that I know in just a few months we'll be adding another child into the mix, I know I have to get on top of this. It will only get worse. My mom always tells me, "just clean up at the end of each day and it won't get this bad"! I started doing that and that lasted well... one day. I glance at the kitchen before heading to bed and say, "oh, i'll just get to it tomorrow!"
So i'm confessing this to the world out there so that hopefully i'm embarrassed enough to actually change my habit! I need to take the wonderful advice of my mom and just DO IT at the end of every day, or I need to have people come over everyday so we are forced to clean. Anyone want to come over?

It's a....

BOY! Just wanted to let my few readers out there know that we are expecting another boy! While at first I was a bit disappointed, I am very happy! In the words of my dad: "just another one to add to your team!" Matt already has talked about putting both our boys in baseball training. What have we gotten ourselves into?? The name hunt begins, we currently have NONE that we like. HA! Now taking suggestions.

Make your own coloring pages!

This is so cool! A friend had this on her facebook, she got it from Parents magazine, and I just did it and it works! You upload your own pictures of friends, family, pets and it makes them into coloring pages and you just print them out. This is awesome if you're a teacher, babysit, have grandkids, kids, or just enjoy coloring yourself. Ha! Follow these directions:

Go to this site:

crayola.com/colorme

Enter in this promotion code:

PR24QCHT

You can only use it 24 hours after you register. To register you just enter in your name and e-mail address. It is completely free. I just printed out 6 different pictures from our family vacations and such and printed them out as coloring pages. I am raiding all my folders in my computer for any possible pictures I want to use. I am thinking I will make 2 copies of each and keep one as a master copy and just use them over and over again. I only have like 23 hours left, so I better get to it! If you end up doing this, leave me a comment and let me know your thoughts and how you used it!

Pregnancy updates

I realized that my blogging has really slacked off. By slacking off I mean I have gone from blogging every day, sometimes multiple times a day to once a week or less. I think it's a good thing because I had become addicted to blogging and facebook. It is very easy to get sucked in and spend so much time on the internet. With that being said, I realized today after receiving some news that I haven't blogged much about my pregnancy. I cannot believe I am almost halfway through already! We find out the gender next week. I am very excited. This pregnancy has been different than with Ethan's. I haven't been near as emotional as I was with Ethan. Although i've had my moments: like almost bawling in Wal-mart because Matt told me I couldn't buy Ethan a Halloween costume. Ha ha, I laugh about it now but I was distraught then. I haven't gained as much weight this pregnancy so far. However, today I learned that I have failed an early 1 hour glucose test. So next week I have to go back and have the 3 hour test. For those of you who don't know me I had gestational diabetes with Ethan and required medication. So they decided to do an early test this time and lo' and behold my sugar is reading high. Oh joy. I am praying that I don't have it or if I do that it isn't near as bad! I think I had convinced myself that for some miracle reason I wouldn't have it this time, so I was upset to receive the call today about it. So i'll probably have another beast of a baby. Ha ha. Ethan was 9.5 lbs and over a week early. I wouldn't know what to do with a dainty baby. Ethan was never in newborn clothes or newborn diapers. But if it's a girl I hope she isn't a hoss.
Anyhow, i'm feeling good and doing well. I am one of those few people that LOVES being pregnant. I dress better pregnant than not. I am not a very fashionable person but I have some cute maternity clothes. I am very excited that Ethan loves the baby and talks to it. I know he will be a great big brother! Well that is it for now. Glad I got through the first trimester sickness, I definitely was way more nauseous with this baby than Ethan. It last about 14 weeks too. Woo hoo for 2nd trimester energy boost!

The best birthday gift ever

Potty training update

We have officially been potty training for 6 days now. On day 1 he was perfect...not a single wet diaper or underwear. He even went poo poo on the potty that night. The next few days were a bit of a struggle, but not too bad. I knew I shouldn't expect perfection but I got a little frustrated. I wanted to give up. But the past few days he has done really well. (Despite being constipated and having to sit on the potty for almost 2 hours this morning to work it out) He has even woke up a couple of mornings with a completely dry diaper/pull-up. I know we are far from being over, but I have to say I am really proud of him and he is doing very well. It is true what they say... the kid is not being potty trained, the parents are. Because right now most of the time it is me remembering to take him and reminding him to potty, he isn't voluntarily offering me that information. Although, he is sorta telling me when he has to go poo poo. We occasionally offer M&M's, but generally he isn't expecting any kind of treat for going. I never wanted him to be dependent on that. We did however, buy him a monster truck toy and when he went poo poo a few times in the potty we gave it to him. He knows that when he goes in his diaper that we have to put it up until the next time he goes in the potty. So far we haven't had to do that. It is definitely easier to just let your child be in diapers. But I keep reminding myself that i'd rather be training him now while i'm pregnant, than with a newborn who i'm going to be consumed with. Have hope mommy's, it can be done! It may take some time, but potty training will be a good thing. Share your tips with each other and know that what works for some children, may not work for others.
p.s. I'm not looking forward to the first stomach bug he has...I have heard far too many stories about kiddos who are potty training, or just out of diapers and then the wonderful stomach bug hits the household. Joy.

sweet story

This conversation took place between Ethan and I when I was driving him to Matt's office so that I could go to a dr. appointment.

Me: "Mommy is taking you to daddy's office."

Ethan: "Mommy go to work?"

Me: "No, Mommy is going to the doctor."

Ethan: "Mommy doesn't feel good?"

Me: "No, i'm not sick... this is to check on the baby in mommy's belly."

Ethan: "My baby sister is hurt?"

How precious is that??!!!!! Not only was he concerned because he thought I might be sick, but then he thought his baby sister might be hurt. I love his sweet little heart. His poor little heart will be broken if this ends up being a boy, because he is set on it being a sister. Anyhow, he melted my heart this morning in the car.
My dr. appointment went well, I actually have to go back next week and they are going to do a 1 hour glucose test to check for gestational diabetes. Not fun. I am only 15 weeks, but they want to keep tabs on me since I required medication with Ethan. Then my dr. said that they will schedule an ultrasound in 3 to 4 weeks so we can find out the gender, yeee haaw!

eXtreme potty training

So today is our first official day of potty training boot camp! We are armed with M&M's, Thomas the train big boy underwear, and pull ups! Ethan is willing and able to go potty, we have just not been consistent. He loves going pee pee standing up, and is getting better about going #2. However he just isn't telling us when he has to go. So we are hitting it hard starting today. Hopefully he will be potty trained or at least MOSTLY potty trained by the time the new baby gets here in February.

"Watch this, baby"

This afternoon Ethan talked to the baby for the first time. I was laying on the couch and he was standing next to me playing with his mega blocks. He discovered that when he pulled the blocks apart real quickly that it made a suction pop sound. He kept doing it and laughing. Then he looked at my stomach and said, "watch this, baby", as he made the noise. He laughed and said, "do you like that?". I just laughed watching him interacting with his brother/sister already. Then just a few minutes later he said, "huggy baby" and laid on my stomach. How stinkin' cute is that?! Let's hope he has this same love and infatuation when he/she actually arrives!