SMILE

Smile. Lately my darling husband has had to remind me to smile more often than I realized was necessary. What I mean is that I hadn't realized that I hadn't been smiling as much. During the first trimester I was feeling pretty miserable every day and so I know that I must not have been smiling as much. Sad to say, I think it started becoming a habit. When I'm looking at things in a store or just sitting around relaxing, I have not been smiling. The thing is, I have so many reasons to smile. My Husband, the Baby, family, how God is continuously showing Himself to me, good friends, and so many, many other things. So I asked myself, "why aren't I smiling?" Do you know what my answer was? "I don't know." I try to make some lame excuse only to realize that it isn't even valid.

I think that sometimes we get so caught up in all that is going on around us and where we are, thinking about what's going on now, what has happened in the past, the future, or whatever that we forget to smile and think about all that God is doing and be thankful. It takes such few muscles to smile and we never know how our smile may be blessing someone else.

So, just smile. Think of one thing you can smile about and let it radiate through you! :)

No, I'm Not Dead :)

I know, I know, there has not been a new post in over week! I am still alive, I just don't have wireless internet access and am not getting much computer access either. Sad to say, you may not get much of a real post for the next week or two.

Everything is going well. We are in North Carolina and enjoying visiting some of Scott's family in between book events. I am finally completely out of the first trimester sickness stuff and am just waiting to get home and go to my eye doctor to see about helping my headaches/migraines become less of an issue as currently they are a daily occurrence! :) (No, it is NOT fun!)

Baby seems to be doing well and I can't wait to here the heartbeat when I have my first prenatal visit! I must say, I am TOTALLY siked about this baby!!!!!!

That's about it for now. My eyes can't take much time on the computer without giving me a headache and my head is reminding me that I've been on here too long already.

9 Month Anniversary

9 months since I said "I do!" 9 months since my new husband carried me over the threshold into our first home. 9 months since my entire life changed. 9 months since my life became centered completely around my husband. 9 months.

As I look back over the past 9 months, I am just in awe as I see all that the Lord has done (knowing that there are things He's done that I can't see and may never see). I also feel strange thinking about how much I've grown in such a short time. I feel so much older and yet I find it hard to think that I'm old enough and mature enough to be a parent this year. That alone scares me. But God wouldn't give us this baby if He didn't think we were ready, and I rest in that knowledge.
So much has happened over the past 9 months and through it all I've grown in the Lord, grown in my relationship with my husband, grown in my relationships with my family, and grown in my roles as wife and homemaker. God is doing so much and sometimes I think I take too much of all that He's doing for granted.

It is so amazing to me how He has used the past 3+ months to teach and grow me in little things along the way. My routine is so different from what it would be if we were more stationary. It's more like I don't have a routine right now. :) One thing that I think has become part of my routine is that when we arrive at our next destination I "let things go" in a way. I know that once I need to start preparing for our next trip, I'll be packing things totally different, and I stress less over things by not worrying about keeping it all neat and organized for a week or two. Now that is NOT me! I am always so organized and keep everything so neat. But right now, until we get back to Connecticut, I am much more relaxed letting things just go until I need to prepare for the next trip. And, because of our consistent travelling and being on the go pretty much every day, that is what I need. When I was trying to keep it all together every day, I was stressing myself out and not getting much of a chance to relax. I've always been a perfectionist and although I thought I had been growing out of it, God has been working particularly on that area in my life. As I think about it, this is probably a good thing for me to be learning right at this time, because as our family starts growing, I am not going to be able to keep everything perfect every day. Now mind you, I'm not learning that it is okay to just leave everything here or there and not pick up after myself, I'm learning that everything doesn't have to be absolutely perfect all the time.

One thing is for sure, I'm always learning. There is always something new that the Lord is teaching me, and when it comes to marriage, that seems to be more true than ever! I know I will always be learning and growing in my marriage and I am just so thankful to have a Husband who is just as eager to learn and grow and is determined to keep our marriage focused on God. Marriage is not always easy because you have to communicate with someone else and you have to be willing to give up your selfish ways to include your spouse, but it is definitely the most wonderful thing in the world!

I am so excited to see all that the Lord has done just in the past 9 months and can't imagine all that he has in store for us in the next 9 months!

The above pictures were taken while we were waiting for some lunch after a signing last weekend.

14 Weeks and an Update

Today I am 14 weeks along in my pregnancy. The baby weighs approximately 1 ounce (depending on which source you are referring to) and is between 3 1/4 to 4 inches long. I wasn't planning on posting another "baby bump" picture so soon, but then I realized that because of Internet connections, if I can even post for the next 4 weeks, it most likely will not be with pictures. So, I figured "why not?" :)

Everything is going well. I seem to be poking out even more (I know, I shouldn't be surprised) and am just so excited about this little being part of our little family. Now, I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before or not, but we are NOT finding out what we're having. However, I'm really hoping it's a girl and actually bought a couple cute "girl" outfits last week for the baby. They were 80-90% off and I just couldn't resist! I saved $56! At the very least, I figure if we don't have a girl, I could always give them away as baby gifts. But that would have to mean that the first few aren't girls because I just LOVE these outfits! Okay, so maybe I love almost ALL outfits! :)

I am just about completely through being nauseous all the time and only feel sick when I've gone too long without eating. Praise the LORD! :) That is truly a blessing! I'm starting to feel more "funny" feelings in my lower abdomen although nothing I can attribute to the baby just yet. :) A few more weeks for that.

We are greatly enjoying our stay in Georgia! We have so much fun with our hosts and I must admit I'm sad that our time is almost over. Next Monday we head for North Carolina! 4 weeks there and then HOME!!!!! So, we are trying to take advantage of what time we do have left here. :)

Yesterday it was around 60 degrees here and just beautiful out! I got a good walk in and was hoping to walk today, but alas, Georgia thinks it's a part of New England. I woke up to a light covering of snow on the ground and now it is raining. Apparently by March Georgia is done with all this kind of weather so this is very abnormal for everyone in Georgia (what was that about global warming?????? Don't get me going on that.). Even though it is less out of the ordinary for us, I must admit that I was hoping for warmer weather by the time we left. Normally the flowers are coming out by now, but they're a little late this year. Hopefully Spring will at least be showing itself more by the time we get to CT. :)

I snapped this picture (below) of my darling Husband to check the lighting in the room and it came out so perfectly, I just had to keep it! :) Scott has been doing lots of writing the past few days on his 3rd novel as well as applying small edits here and there to Offspring. I can't wait to see Offspring printed and read it again in printed format!!!!


I think that's about it for updates. My sister turned 18 recently (which made me feel old for some reason, really weird!), and I am just so thankful for the technology that we have! I got to watch her open her gift from me and see her reaction and everything and it was just so much fun! Although the world we live in today is crazy and scary, there are definately some advantages!!!! :)

I know it's been awhile since I updated, so I hope this makes up for it! :) Stay tuned though for another post later this week......

Week 13

Today I am 13 weeks along in the pregnancy! I am just SOOOO excited! I'm really hoping that the baby is a girl (although I'll be happy either way). I have had 3 dreams so far about the baby being a girl or holding a newborn girl (didn't figure out who's baby it was before waking up). So, we'll see.... :) I am doing well. The past few days have been pretty rough with feeling very nauseous after eating anything. It is beautiful weather here in Georgia. Yesterday it was raining and it was still fifty degrees out. I just love when the sun is shining and I go outside and it actually feels like the sun is shining because it is so warm. :) Of course, have I taken advantage of this nice weather and gone for a walk? Not yet, but I'm planning to. :)

Here is my first "baby bump" picture. Not much yet, but I wanted to start when I am barely showing so I (and anyone else) can see the progression each week.

On Saturday Scott was doing a signing at a mall and I decided to walk through some stores (imagine my delight when I found a Motherhood Maternity store there). I found this jacket (I'm always wearing one of these, and 2 of mine don't fit anymore because they are too tight if I zip them up) and Scott said I could get it. I was so excited!!! :)


Then Scott was looking around at all their sale items (the jacket was on sale too, I was so happy) and found this outfit and told me to try it on because he really liked it. So I did, and he said we should get it. It's so nice when my husband is looking for things for me. :) I don't remember even seeing this outfit when I was looking around before.

So, it's official, I have bought my first maternity clothes. :) They are SOOOO comfortable! You can't see much of the pants in the above picture, but they are cotton and are so comfy! My husband has GREAT taste! :)

As you may notice in all of these pictures, I am now wearing only my glasses. I have a lovely tendency to get headaches that turn into migraines almost every day and my contacts do NOT help in that area. So for now I am just sticking to my glasses. I just hope I can wear my contacts again by the time the baby's born. I miss my contacts!!!! I forgot how quickly one's glasses get dirty! :)

I haven't been up to too much lately other than accompanying Scott on his book signings (which we had every day last week). We are enjoying a few days rest before it starts again. :) We can't wait to get home (to CT) and stay in the same place for more than 3 weeks! :)

Valentine's Day (a day late)

So, I meant to do this post yesterday, but my computer was acting up and had to settle for reading more of Scott's second book (which I'm loving, by the way). In past years, (once I was old enough to realize what Valentine's day was) my Valentine's day was spent corralling my siblings into planning surprises for Mom and Dad to make the day special, for them! :) It usually included serving them dinner (that we cooked) in another room of the house so they could eat by themselves. Last year was a little different. For the first time I had my very own Valentine, my Fiance! However, my Valentine was going to be working on V-day so we celebrated on February 11th which was his day off. He surprised me with a small red bear, flowers in a mug (with hearts on it, of course), Chocolates, and a very nice lunch! He had the whole day planned out for us! We decided that from that day on we should always celebrate Valentine's day on the 11th. (As you can tell, I will take any opportunity to show my husband he means the world to me, so even though Valentine's day is a "worldly thing" we can still take advantage of it!)

So this year, I made plans for us. I made sure I had the ingredients for a Chocolate cake (that ended up with a pink heart on the frosting thanks to sprinkles) and also bought the ingredients to make us a nice meal. I couldn't find a nice card, so I wrote him a love letter, which I knew he'd prefer anyway. Knowing my husband, as I looked at all the valentine candy (and the ridiculous prices) I finally decided to get him some ordinary Reeses Cups! They're his favorite and since I don't prefer them (although I don't mind them, but that means I always go for something else if we're deciding to get a little treat) I knew he'd love to have them!
Now, I will admit that I did constantly remind Scott that since he got me a bear (that was maybe 6 inches tall) last year, he had to get me one this year. I told him it could be really small, I didn't care, but he had started a tradition, and he should keep it! So, on February 10th, he went shopping and I made our cake (which he didn't know about). We ended up deciding to start our little celebration that night because we were going to get the house to ourselves. After he got back I had asked him to go get me something from the car and to just put it on our bed in the bedroom. Well, then he kept telling me that he had done that and that I should go make sure he got the right thing (or something like that). So I went into the bedroom and found this (see below) sitting on my pillow with a single Red Rose sticking out of the heart! It was so sweet (although a bit bigger than I had expected!!!! :) )

Scott wanted me to see it right away so the Rose could get into some water, and apparently the large bear (instead of a smaller one) was because he didn't like any of the smaller ones! That's okay, I love my bear! I especially like that it has the year right on it!!! :) I have the most wonderful husband!

So, what did you all do for Valentine's day?

As a side note, here is a picture from our stay with Bryan Davis and his family:

Clothes

So today I started going through my clothes and making 3 piles. Pile 1: "try on" Pile 2: "doesn't fit" Pile 3: "fits".

Pile 1 is very small, consisting of about 4 items that were getting tight the last time I wore them and I'm guessing will not make it into the "fits" pile. Piles 2 and 3 are about the same size except pile 3 has a decent number of shirts in it and pile 2 has all but 1 pair of my pants in it! Oh, and pile 2 also has all but 2 skirts in it (one of which is bordering on the edge of "not fitting") and I only have 2 dresses which thankfully fit right now, but one is a narrower dress and I don't think it will last too long. It is very interesting not fitting into half of my clothes. I have enough shirts to choose from still, but when it comes to what I'm going to wear with them, that has proven more difficult. Of course, I know that this is only the beginning and it won't be long until I don't fit into ANY of my current wardrobe, but I wasn't expecting it to start so soon. :)

I am doing better the last couple days eating well and trying to get more hoe-downs in. It is all due to a new pregnancy website that I joined (new to me, anyway) and it helps me keep track of what I'm eating and what I need for nutrition and fitness.

Anyway, there's another little update. :)