22 Weeks and Feeling Great....FINALLY!

I'm getting REALLY excited about Baby Lucy.  I'm pretty sure I'm already nesting and I'm only half-way there.  It took me 20 weeks this time to really start feeling "myself", so once I did I got to work!

I remembered really loving being pregnant, but for a long while I've been asking JB, "WHEN did I start really loving being pregnant?"...Of course his response was, "Never?  I don't remember loving it?!  First you're sick and SO tired, then the heartburn starts and stays the whole time, you have to worry with what you eat so you don't feel "too full" or "on the verge of vomiting", then you are up and down all night peeing, then you get to where the heartburn is so bad, sleeping is impossible...you can't get comfortable so you move from room to room trying to find a comfortable way to sleep sitting up..."

It's funny how us mommas remember only the good when it comes to pregnancy...and labor for that matter...and our husbands remember the bad, ALL the bad.  He rattled off that list MUCH faster than I expected him to.

Well, even though all the above is true, just recently I HAVE been loving being pregnant!  And I finally remembered at least some reasons why (JB-Read this post! :))...

• I'm OUT of the "Is she fat or pregnant?" part.  Thank goodness!  That is such an awkward phase.
• I finally have my energy back!!!
• I LOVE maternity clothes!  PLEASE can I always wear pants and skirts with an elastic waistband?!
• My absolute favorite part. - I feel Baby Lucy in my belly a lot more than a flutter.  I LOVE this!  Between Betsy and being pregnant this time I would lay in bed and have phantom feelings of a baby rolling around in my tummy.  Is that weird?  Has anyone else ever had that feeling?  Needless to say, it is much more satisfactory (and much less creepy) feeling a baby rolling around in there when you know that there actually is one! :)
• Baby Clothes!  Now that my energy is back, Mom and I pulled boxes from the attic.  I purged my boy clothes to Missy and started stacking up my boxes of girl clothes to see what I'm missing.  I've washed up all my newborn and 0-3.  Doing that is so much FUN and it took me right back to our old house when I was pregnant with Jay and folding all those sweet LITTLE clothes.

• I love that Every. Single. Time. I walk into Target I get popcorn...without the guilt!

•  I love how excited my kids are about their new sibling!  Jay was so bummed that he wouldn't be sharing a room with a little brother that BIG tears welled up in his eyes at the ultrasound.  Thankfully my mom let us use Bart's old bunkbeds anyway and both kids are BEYOND excited about that!  (Bet's been sleeping on the top bunk while Jay has been at my parent's this week.)

• I love that I know that I'm having a girl. So when Bet and I see matching dresses in a 9 mo. and 5T for next summer at TJMaxx we can both get REALLY excited!  Are these cute or what?!

• I love wondering what she'll be like.  Jay and Bet look so similar to me...Will she look like them?  Will she have curls like Bet, or straight hair like Jay?  Will she talk as much as they do, or will they never let her get a word in?  Will her infant personality be easy-going like Jay, or exhausting like Bet?  Will she play princess and "mommie" with her babies like Bet, or will she be a tom-boy?
• I love when we are out and Betsy wants to buy things for Lucy.  She has two very soft blankets that she adores..."soft-soft" and "so-soft".  She insisted when we were out the other day that she buy Lucy her first soft blanket.  So, I let her feel them all for appropriate softness and she picked out a really sweet one.  (Now I'll just have to watch close so she doesn't smother her when she tries to wrap Lucy up in it like she does her baby dolls.)

I'm sure I could keep going...I'm just so happy that I can finally come up with a list of "loves"...even though it did take 20 weeks! :)

What are some things y'all loved about being pregnant?

A few pics from our Easter weekend...

THURSDAY

Ready for the Egg Hunt at Bet's School



A zoo trip with friends...This "photo session" was a DISASTER.  Funny thing about it...while all the "big kids" were being wiggly, Sweet Tripp is patiently posing and smiling in ALL of my shots!  What a sweet boy!

Mason and Jay on the rock wall.

Tara was really proud of Jay for choosing to ride on the tiger!



Sweet Duncan's first zoo trip!

 

FRIDAY



Easter egg hunt at the McCarty's.  No time to be still for pics...These kids were on a HUNT!

 

Best I could get of the girls...Pretty sure they had mouthfuls of candy!

 SATURDAY

Games at our church's Easter Party.

More games!

Another hunt!

The bounce house was a nice surprise!

Picnic-in'.

An amazingly GREAT group shot (considering there were +/- 40 kids)!  The hunt was at a parishioner's house that just turned 99!  It was SO sweet of her, and her family, to have us all over for festivities and picnic-in'!  It was a FUN event!

Easter egg decorating...

...with Cookie!

 SUNDAY

The release of the butterflies!  The kids have watched caterpillars grow into butterflies at our Wednesday night program.  Like the tomb, the cocoon is now EMPTY!

We added some flowers from our yard to the cross.

The family in our Easter best...Isn't that cross just gorgeous?!

Uncle Bart with me and the kids.  (The Easter Bunny brought both kids their very own devotional Bibles.  (Click on link:  These devotionals are so sweet!  I highly recommend them!  AND the whole "God's Little Princess" book series.)  I was so pleased with how excited and proud they were of them!) 

Cookie and Bet with their matching Easter head flair!  Betsy's little squinty face here is too funny.  I love that little girl SO much!





Citiblocs...

I've seen on several blogs how much fun Citiblocs (other brands:  Kapla, Keva Planks) are...so when they were on Zulily a few weeks ago I bought the 200 piece set of "warm" colors for Bet and the 200 piece set of "cool" colors for Jay.


We had SO much FUN with them last Sunday evening!

Betsy worked on a "T" tower...

She also liked making long rainbow lines...

JB went with a spiral staircase creation...

Jay mimicked the tower I was working on...

As I was working on mine...JB said,
"What if you could make it all the way to the ceiling?!"

I had to break out the step ladder...but in true Barney Stinson fashion..."Challenge Accepted!!!"

If I live to be 100...

I've been on a reading spree lately.  I've discovered that my church has an amazing library filled with "purposeful" books that I just can't get enough of. 

I just started this book yesterday and from the intro I can tell it is going to be good!  From the cover I knew it would make me cry, part of the reason I picked it.  I love a good book cry.

From a Clover Lane recommendation, I also just finished A Lantern in Her Hand, which is another book about ageing.  I love books like these because even though they make me sob, they give me an appreciation for my youth BEFORE it has passed me by.

One quote from A Lantern in Her Hand was something like:  When you are young, you have your health, but no time...When you are old, you have time, but lack health.  Moral to me:  Make TIME now!!! 

At the end of the book she reflects on her whole life and everything she has done.  Of it all, her favorite memory is supper time:  As she's setting the table...hearing her children playing together in the yard...and waiting for her whole family to come in to sit and eat together.

She talks about setting the table as a passage of time and as each plate was removed a piece of her was gone...until she was just setting the table for one.  It was so sad, but so true.  I can just see myself as a little old lady at my kitchen table set with one plate...looking back at this time I'm in RIGHT now and missing it SO much.

That's why I like this type of book so much...It helps you to be an "old soul" before your time and appreciate the life you have right NOW as you are living it.  I think it makes me a better wife, a better mother, a better person.

"I like it when they want to hold my hand and sit close because they can't hear or see.  I like the cool, slippery skin on their hands and the way their eyes light up.  I love to see a hundred-year-old woman wearing lipstick."
-If I Live to Be 100

Happy Valentine's Day!

Bell Ringers...

This past fall our church made the decision to hire one of our own as a full time children's minister.  I'm thrilled about the decision since my two are at the magical age where they are EXCITED to learn about God's love.

Along with her main goal of teaching about The Fruits of the Spirit, one goal she has had is to really make the children comfortable with the church service.  Right off the bat each Sunday school class learned The Lord's Prayer and I just LOVE how each week Jay peeps up and me and grins because when we say it he can join in.  I'm sure memorization of the Apostle's Creed and some of the short songs within the service will be coming up next.

I say all of this to share another new way she has incorporated the children...the ringing of the bell to start service.

This past Sunday was Jay and Betsy's turn and let me tell you they were EXCITED.  They talked about it ALL week!  Typically when the bell rings it is a background noise.  It is rang by one of the ushers...methodically and seriously.  I'm usually talking to someone when it rings and I hear it, but it doesn't typically GRAB me.

When the kids ring it the TONE of the service is different.  The doors to outside are swung open wide and the bell rings fervently, unabashedly.  You hear giggling and you can FEEL the excitement.  It's almost as the tone/voice of the bell is different...like she is crying out how HAPPY she is to be rung by children.

It reminds me of Luke 18:17  Remember this!  Whoever does not receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.

After the service several people came up to me and said, "We could hear your two giggling as they rang the bell.  It was a beautiful sound, so joyous!"  The bell made this so clear to me:  Aren't we reminded in Luke to approach God's house...and God's kingdom...as a child?...  Giggling...Fervently...Unabashedly...with JOY!



It's a "sunroof day"!

After 4 days of DRAB...today is gorgeous!!! 


My sunroof broke a couple weeks ago.  I had left it on "tilt" in the garage and one of my little monkeys climbed up and sat on it. 

"Why was your child climbing on your car?" you may ask.

I asked the same question.

While my car was in the shop I found out that use of the sunroof is not common.  Justin's boss asked him, "She uses her sunroof?...You are actually paying to repair it?"...A coworker said, "I opened mine when I bought my car to see if it worked, but not since."...My dad said "I don't think I've ever opened my sunroof.  I wouldn't even know if it worked."

WHAT??!!

One of my simple JOYs in life is riding around on a pretty day with my music up, my windows down and my sunroof OPEN!

It takes me back to when I first started driving...wind in my hair...back roads...singing "One Week" with friends at the top of my lungs...not a worry in my head!

Today it is the same effect.  A calming, FREE, feeling.  The only difference is that instead of a car full of friends...I'm singing "Colder Weather" with a 3 year old...her curls blowing in the wind...not a worry in our heads!

I pick her up from school and she says, "Let's open the windows Mommy.  It's a sunroof day!"

That's my girl!

Happy Chinese New Year!

Today is the Chinese New Year, China's biggest holiday.  This is an especially exciting year because it is the year of the DRAGON!

Occupying the 5th position in the Chinese Zodiac, the Dragon is the mightiest of the signs. Dragons symbolize such character traits as dominance and ambition. Dragons prefer to live by their own rules and if left on their own, are usually successful. They’re driven, unafraid of challenges, and willing to take risks. They’re passionate in all they do and they do things in grand fashion. Unfortunately, this passion and enthusiasm can leave Dragons feeling exhausted and interestingly, unfulfilled.


Chinese Zodiac paper cuts framed in my guest room.

Hospitals across Asia are bracing for the baby boom that comes every 12 years.  Hospitals are booked and nannies hike up their rates.  Women are known to even freeze their eggs to attempt to conceive in the Year of the Dragon.

Of the twelve zodiac animals, the dragon is the only one that is a mythical character.  It is a symbol of royalty and, of all the zodiac animals, it is the mightiest...thought to be a bringer of wealth, wisdom, courage and power.

In the Chinese culture, it is a great honor to have a baby in the Year of the Dragon...which I'm excited about since these two will have a baby brother or sister in August!!!


Jay and Betsy this morning eating with chopsticks at Jay's Chinese New Year celebration.



Big Brother...

Betsy is enthralled with babies.  She is SO sweet and helpful with them.

But she's not the only one!

Whether it be with friends or siblings, one of my top 10 simple JOYS in life is to see children interact sweetly with each other.  Don't you agree?

Christmas Movies...

What Christmas movie stands out from your childhood?  JB's is A Christmas Story.  Mine was Ernest Saves Christmas...my brother and I must have watched it 1,000 times!  We still know EVERY line!