Brielle and An Announcement

April 5th, 2013 Posted in baby, Being a Wife, Brielle, Home, Marriage, Owl City/Adam Young, Pictures
Apr, 05 2013
6 Comments »

I am back! I took a little hiatus for awhile, not really intentionally, but I’m ready to post more and keep you all in the know about this little family! I’m not promising anything regular, but I am going to actually post! There’s so much that has happened and that we’ve done, so it’s difficult to know where exactly to start. I know my previous post said “to be continued”, and I do have a partial post written to continue what I was sharing. Hopefully, I will be finishing that soon and posting that for all of you. Today we’re just going to start in the here and now.

Brielle Madelyn is turning 10 months old tomorrow. It’s hard to believe that she’s nearly a year! She is still a baby, but when I think of Brielle as a 1 month old and Brielle as a 10 month old, I feel like she’s practically a toddler! She’s definitely her own little person at this point. She has continued to be a very happy and content child, to the happiness of her parents. We feel very spoiled with such an easy baby. This is what our days tend to look like:

8am – 9:30am: Brielle wakes up with a smile on her face and enjoys her first bottle. We look at books together, read some Winnie the Pooh and The Jesus Storybook Bible.

11am or so: Brielle goes down for her first nap. She tends to talk happily to herself for twenty minutes and then falls asleep.

1pm or so: Brielle gets up and eat some finger foods and then enjoys her second bottle.

Each afternoon tends to be different, in fact, this model is pretty loose, but it helps you all get the idea of what we’re doing each day. When we’re home, she will play on the bed while I fold laundry, or sit in her high chair and play while I work in the kitchen. Other days, we spend the afternoon with her Nana, Nanny (great grandma) and Auntie Amber. She also enjoys riding in the front of a cart at the store and taking in all the sights and smells wherever we are.

Late afternoon, Brielle has her second nap. When she wakes up, she generally sits with us at dinner and eats some sort of finger food, then Aaron gives her her bottle and plays with her until bedtime. Brielle absolutely loves her Daddy. Her face just lights up when he comes into the room, comes home, or interacts with her. Then between 7pm and 8pm Brielle goes to bed.

Some other things Brielle is doing: She loves to stand, but can’t yet stand up by herself. From the very beginning, she has loved to stand in our laps. Lately, I’ve been taking her and standing her up against the couch or the coffee table. She likes doing that, but can’t quite figure out how to maneuver around. She smiles nearly all the time and makes some pretty hilarious facial expressions. Her Nana gave her a dolly, and she loves to hug her and “kiss” her face (which is more like licking her face). She has a yellow giraffe and a pink giraffe and she loves both of them, but the pink one is her favourite. Aaron named it Raffy and she sleeps with it. It is so sweet when you bring Raffy to her because she will grin and reach her arms out to it.

Brielle loves to look at board books. She holds them exactly like she is reading it, and will stroke certain pictures. She likes the picture of the dog in the animal book, and will stroke the puppy and talk to it. We have two board books with pictures of babies in it, and she recognizes that they are babies and will just talk and talk to them.

Brielle also absolutely loves music. She has a little baby radio, with buttons that play different sounds and music, and when you hand that to her she laughs! When music is playing, she rocks her body back and forth like she’s dancing. She definitely has music in her soul! At the moment, her favourite music is Owl City and Beethoven. (Quite the combination eh?)

We love our sweetie so very much. I absolutely love, love, love being at home with Brielle all the time. She changes so much all the time, I wouldn’t want to miss any moment for the world. She is just so much fun to be with.

And now it’s time for the announcement part of this post. We are expecting another little one! We found out just before Christmas, which provided an opportune time to give the news to our respective families. This pregnancy has been smoother than the previous one, which is nice since I already have a baby to take care of! I had a little morning sickness during the first trimester, but it only popped up when I ate something unusual and my stomach was not a fan. Now, the only symptoms I really have would be backaches toward the end of the day. We’re also hoping that preeclampsia would not rear it’s ugly head this time. I am 19 weeks along right now, and we’re scheduled to have an ultrasound next week to find out baby’s gender. We’re pretty excited to find out if we’re going to have another daughter, or our first son. We would love either! Sometimes it seems strange that we’re going to be parents of TWO children!!

Now, this post has simply gotten long enough, so I shall sign off for now, but more to come soon!

~ Anna

 

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Reflection

January 7th, 2013 Posted in Apartment, baby, Being a Wife, Brielle, God, Home, Mess, Pictures, Praise, Purpose, Unboxing
Jan, 07 2013
2 Comments »

Picture credit goes to my mom. Photo was taken over Thanksgiving week while visiting with my family.

When I think over this past year and the ups and downs that Aaron and I have been through, there is a mixture of peace and joy that washes through me. I think the biggest lesson that I’ve had to learn this year was trusting God. In both the little things and the big things, trusting Him that He knows best, He’ll carry us through no matter what. It doesn’t mean He’s necessarily going to fix the source of the worry, but that He is always there for us through the tough circumstances.

January

We began the year at a loss for where we were going to live. Our lease at the apartment was going to run out at the end of February and we had nothing new lined up. Knowing we couldn’t live there because little Pixie was on the way, we either had to find a new bigger apartment or buy a house. We couldn’t rent a bigger place at the apartment complex where we lived currently because we could barely afford the rent as it was. We also had to find an apartment that allowed “big” animals because of our precious Mocha who is not considered “small” since she’s part German Shepherd. We really wanted a house but we just weren’t sure with finances being tight already. Plus, we needed a credit score to get a loan. Last Aaron had checked, he had no credit score which was just as bad as bad credit in the bank’s eyes. So we set aside our desire for a house and started looking at apartments. For me, that was an instance of really trusting God and laying aside my own desires. I really wanted a house of our own. Someplace I could make mine, someplace I could decorate and add my own touches to. So I had to place my precious little dream in God’s hands and trust that He knew best for our little growing family.

Not even a week later, through some unexpected blessings and the kindness of beloved people, we could begin considering a house again. Aaron called about his credit score and what do you know? He had a  credit score! And it was a good one too. So as we gave thanks to God for this precious unexpected gift, we called up a realtor to begin the process of looking at houses. Another blessing in this process was that our realtor was a Christian! He was also a homeschool dad which was an added bonus. Aaron and I spent our nights looking online at houses, discussing things we liked or didn’t like. We found a house online that looked perfect (to us anyway) so we told our realtor we definitely wanted to look at that one. It was at the very top of our price range but we thought it was perfect. The first night we went out to look at houses, we had three lined up. The first one was our “perfect” house. The other two were houses the realtor had picked out. When we walked into the first house, our hearts began to sink. The wood floor throughout the entire house was scratched and definitely would need to be redone. The kitchen, which had looked lovely in the pictures, was actually a little galley kitchen. We walked out of that house pretty discouraged. The next house was one that our realtor had remodeled himself. It had been a foreclosure that he had purchased and fixed up. He had painted the entire house, laid new carpet and new flooring, installed new cabinets in the kitchen, new windows throughout most of the house, and a new toilet in one of the bathrooms. The refrigerator was new, the air conditioner was new, the furnace was new, the water heater was new. We walked in and were blown away. This was a nice house! It had three bedrooms, one and a half baths, and half the basement was finished. It had a large deck out back and the yard was the perfect size. I remember looking at each other, scared to ask what the price was since our previous “perfect” house had been at the top of our price range. But we had to ask before we fell more in love with it. And when we did, I’m sure our faces registered our shock. It was actually quite a bit less than the other house! And so, not even a week later, we decided that house would be ours.

To be continued….

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The Right Kind of Damages

May 31st, 2012 Posted in baby, Being a Wife, God, Home, Marriage, What is love
May, 31 2012
8 Comments »

 

Source: flickr.com via Anna on Pinterest

 

“First of all, our bodies are tools, not treasures. You should not spend your days trying to preserve your body in its eighteen-year-old form. Let it be used. By the time you die, you want to have a very dinged and dented body. Motherhood uses your body in the way God designed it to be used. Those are the right kind of damages.

“There are of course ways to hurt your body that are outside of God’s design for it and disobedient. But motherhood is what your stomach was made for – and any wear and tear that it shows is simply the sign of a well-used tool.  We are not to treat our bodies like museum pieces. They were not given to us to preserve, they were given to us to use. So use it cheerfully and maintain it cheerfully. When you are working hard to lose the baby weight (as you may need to), think of it as tool maintenance. You want to fix your body up in order to be able to use it some more. It might be used for more children, or it might be used to take care of the children you have. We should not be trying to fix it up to put it back on the shelf out of harm’s way or to try and make ourselves look like nothing ever happened. Your body is a tool. Use it.

“Also, your body is a tool – maintain it. Having sacrificed your body for your children is no excuse for schlepping around in sweatpants for the rest of their childhood. When you were eighteen, you might have been skinny without trying. In your thirties, after having had a pile of kids, the chances are good that that you will need to try. And in case you care, this word is not coming from one of those miracle mothers who comes out of the hospital more svelte than she went in! My children, bless them, have left their mark!

“Scars and stretch marks and muffin tops are all part of your kingdom work. One of the greatest testimonies Christian women can have in our world today is the testimony of joyfully giving your body to another. While so many women choose to not have children or abort the children that they were given, the testimony of women who know the cost and joyfully pay it is profound. So make sure that you aren’t buying into the world’s propaganda. While there are a great many rewards, the sacrifice is very real. The reason so many women don’t want to do it is because it is very hard and has very real costs. But the answer to these obstacles is not to run away in fear as the world does, but to meet it with joy and in faith….

“So realize that your body is a testimony to the world of God’s design. Carry the extra weight joyfully until you can lose it joyfully. Carry the extra scars joyfully as you carry the fruit of them. Do not resent the damages that your children left on your body. Just like a guitar mellows and sounds better with age and scratches, so your body can more fully praise God having been used for His purposes. So don’t resent it, enjoy it.”

~ Loving The Little Years by Rachel Jankovic

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Selfless Marriage

May 8th, 2012 Posted in Being a Wife, God, Marriage, Praise, Videos, Wedding, What is love
May, 08 2012
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Oh how I long to be this selfless in my marriage! Ian and Larissa’s story was a blessing to me this morning and I pray it is to you as well. I’ll even give you some fair warning: you might want to grab the tissue box!

~ Anna

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The Fluff!

April 10th, 2012 Posted in baby, Being a Wife, Fun, Home, Marriage, Pictures
Apr, 10 2012
6 Comments »

Here is our cloth diaper stash! I washed our Charlie Banana 2-in-1′s today and hung them on our handy-dandy clothesline that my macho husband put up for me this weekend. I couldn’t resist taking a few pictures of the cute diapers all hanging out to dry. I can’t wait to put them on Pixie’s bottom! I also washed our newborn covers. We have 2 Bummis Whisper Wraps, a Bummis Super Brite and a Thirsties Duo Wrap.

 

 

 

 

 

 

- Anna

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One Year Ago Today….

March 19th, 2012 Posted in Being a Wife, God, Marriage, Pictures, Praise, Wedding, What is love
Mar, 19 2012
11 Comments »

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All photo credit goes to Lauren LaPlante and Therese Miller.

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New House! {Part One}

March 15th, 2012 Posted in Apartment, baby, Being a Wife, Friends, Furniture, Home, Mocha, Pictures, Unboxing
Mar, 15 2012
2 Comments »

Here I am finally with pictures of the new house! Moving day on Saturday went so far above and beyond what I imagined it would! We had nearly twenty people here helping us. We were scheduled to start at 8 am, and everything was out of the apartment before 10 am! Everyone drove over to the new house. We had filled a Uhaul van with the boxes and furniture, but the smaller things we put into two different vans. The dog rode in her crate in one of them. She was so confused! Poor honey! We immediately started unloading everything into the house. Everything was in the house before noon! The furniture got put into it’s proper places and things even started to be unpacked like books and clothes. Aaron’s mom graciously provided lunch for everyone and it sure was delicious! A team of guys drove up to Aaron’s parent’s house because we had some furniture stored there and they brought it to the house as well. That afternoon, with the help of a few people, we got the kitchen items all put away. I was so amazed at everything that was accomplished on Saturday! We definitely couldn’t have done it alone.

Now for some pictures! I’ll share the empty house pictures first and then give you the pictures that I took today in part 2 so you can see what it looks like with everything in it’s proper place!

The living room.

 

The kitchen, with all the painting and cleaning stuff!

 

The bathroom. The shower is behind the door.

 

The back bedroom. This will be used as an office/studio for now. Eventually it will be a child’s bedroom.

 

Our bedroom.

 

The front door.

It looks like I missed the nursery, but it was probably because the guys were prepping it for paint. So sorry!

 

The back yard, which Mocha absolutely loves. She spends a lot of the day out there.

 

Keep an eye out for part 2 with the second set of pictures!

~ Anna

 

 

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Predestined for Adoption to the Praise of His Glory

March 8th, 2012 Posted in Apartment, baby, Being a Wife, God, Heaven, Home, Marriage, Mocha, Orphans, Praise
Mar, 08 2012
3 Comments »

Hi everyone! I listened to this sermon yesterday and thought it was great. Everyone should listen to it and examine adoption. John Piper takes what Ephesians says about our adoption in Christ and then applies it on a horizontal level to adoption of orphans on this earth. It’s simply beautiful. I found it off of this guest post: Receiving the Call. What a blessing that God adopted us when we were His enemies, unlovable and haters of Him. I pray that every one of you who reads this blog post listens with an open heart to what John Piper has to say!

A little update on our situation: We closed on our house yesterday! It was very exciting to walk into that house last night and know it was ours. There was certainly a lot of paperwork to sign, but the whole process didn’t even take an hour! We went straight over to the house and got to work. Aaron’s dad had graciously agreed to help us paint that night and Aaron’s mom offered to bring us all dinner so we wouldn’t have to get something in the drive-thru. I’m sure we couldn’t have gotten the painting done without Aaron’s dad’s help, and the delicious dinner helped us to keep going until 10:15! For Pixie’s room, we had picked a pale pink so they painted that whole room a light fluffy pink. In our bedroom, I wanted to do something dramatic, like a deep red but the room is pretty small and the window is high and wide so I was worried it might be too dark if we painted everything red. So we picked “Antique ruby” and painted an accent wall to solve the dilemma! While they were painting away, I was vacuuming floors, scrubbing toilets and bathtubs and mopping floors. It felt good to have the house feel clean and also smell clean with the mixed smells of bleach and vinegar. By the time we were finished with both tasks, we were exhausted, but it was a very happy exhaustion!

As for the car, the insurance company ended up totaling it. So we’re still driving around the red Camaro. Aaron went by the collision place on Tuesday and picked up all of our belongings from our trusty ol’ Acura TL. We’ve had it for about a year and except for a few times here and there when it wouldn’t start for some unexplained reason, it’s been a great car for us. I’m sure it would have lasted us a lot longer had we not been in an accident. After shedding a quiet tear of goodbye, we have begun looking at cars online. It’s been nice to have a rental car, but only Aaron can drive it, so I’m stuck at home all day. I can’t teach violin lessons out, run errands, or just run to the new house to get some more cleaning done or run some things over. Thankfully, our friend Marie is coming down tomorrow and she’s going to help me cart some of the smaller things over to the house. Saturday is the big moving day. We have had so many offers for help from friends to help us move whenever we need it, so we have about 15 people or so coming over to help us move. The apartment is full of boxes everywhere, stacked three high! The cupboards and closets are empty. Our dishes are wrapped in paper. Even our pantry is nearly empty! I think Mocha is pretty confused because she has followed me around much more attentively than usual these past few days. She senses that something very unusual is about to happen and she doesn’t want to miss anything! I think she’ll be happy to find out she has a yard to run and play in, but we have no way to tell her that, she just has to wait and see.

One last thing: I did take pictures of the house last night, but I realized that the camera is in the car still. So when Aaron gets home, I’ll upload pictures so you can see what our empty house looks like!

Love

Anna

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Car Accident

March 1st, 2012 Posted in baby, Being a Wife, God, Home, Marriage, Mess, Praise
Mar, 01 2012
5 Comments »

Time for another update on our life around here!

Regarding the baby: We had another doctor’s appointment last week. It was a quick in-and-out dealio, but we heard precious Pixie’s heartbeat and the doctor measured my uterus and we’re right where we should be! My back has been hurting a bunch for the past week and half. Both sitting and standing cause it to hurt. I’ve been working on standing and sitting very straight, but it still hurts! If anyone has any tips, I would definitely appreciate them. I have been using this exercise DVD for pregnant women and boy does it help! It’s low impact but I can still feel that I’m working out. There is a section of just stretching at the end that really helps my back as well. I told Aaron that I didn’t know I could bend into some of those shapes with a non-pregnant body, and here I am doing them with a large belly! Pixie kicks me all the time and I love each and every time, even when it wakes me up. Oh that’s another thing! Sleep has become a pretty much hit or miss event lately. Some nights I can sleep like a rock. Other nights sleep eludes me. But my mom has been my inspiration in this area. My mom struggles with insomnia all the time, she has all of my life. But instead of getting frustrated that she wasn’t sleeping (like I do would), she would turn the lamp on beside her bed and read the Bible or some other book that would point her to Christ. When she felt sleepy, she would lay down and try again. But she would never get angry, complain or be frustrated. So I’ve been striving to react in that way as well. When I can’t sleep, I reach over for my Android phone and read the Bible on there. It has resulted in some sweet times with my Saviour! Time that otherwise would have been spent in angry, frustrated tossing and turning.

Regarding the new house: We thought we would be closing a couple weeks ago, but alas we were told we needed two other lines of credit for the loan. Anything would work, we were told, even a Netflix account. We have plenty of credit lines that we could give them! We never miss payments so anything we had would work. One catch: they have to be at least a year old. Aaron and I have not been married or lived on our own for a year yet! The only thing we had was our cell phone bill. We didn’t know what we would do! Thankfully, Aaron remembered he had and Audible account. It wasn’t quite a year, but it would hit a year last Friday, so Aaron sent them that information and told them to wait for a few days until that account hit a year. We found out yesterday that the Audible account worked and we are going to close the end of this week! We are very excited. It was definitely a lesson in patience for me because I wanted the house now! I wanted to begin making it ours. I mean, it was just sitting there, empty! Why couldn’t we start moving in and painting etc? I was tired of the boxes and baby stuff piled up in odd corners all around our apartment. But God’s timing is the very best of course! Hopefully we’ll have pictures up of the new house soon. We haven’t been over there in quite awhile which is why you haven’t see any!

Regarding the title (the car accident): Last night, Aaron and I were driving to our Wednesday night church service. We didn’t see the car in front of us braking in time and so slammed into their rear bumper. No one was hurt because we were only going about 15 miles per hour because we had just turned, but our car didn’t fare so well. The front is all crumpled like an accordion. The other car has not a scratch because we hit the tire they were carrying on the back. In human terms, this is not at all a convenient time for us to be in a car accident. We are spending a lot of our savings on our new house, baby things, doctor’s appointments and new brake pads. We only have one car. But the blessings far outweigh the curses. The damage looks like it’s only body damage not internal. Our insurance is paying for us to have a rental car even though both Aaron and I are under 25. The woman who owns the car we hit was very gracious and a Christian. She was more concerned about me and the baby than she was about herself or her car. I could go on and on. God has been very good to us. This was something He put into His plan for us. He wanted us to be in an accident last night, right before we close on our new house, right when we don’t have a lot of extra money. God is good and gracious to us and knows what we need, right when we need it.

I’m off to pack some more boxes! Have a great day and don’t forget that God is in control so we can trust Him implicitly.

~ Anna

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Out of It I Will Not Go

February 22nd, 2012 Posted in Being a Wife, God, Heaven, Marriage
Feb, 22 2012
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Once Upon a Time

February 17th, 2012 Posted in Being a Wife, God, Marriage, Purpose, Wedding, What is love
Feb, 17 2012
No Comments »

Today I’m featured over at Scribbles n\’Things with our love story. Be sure to check it out!

~Anna

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Cloth Diapering

February 16th, 2012 Posted in baby, Being a Wife, Home
Feb, 16 2012
7 Comments »

So I know that Pixie isn’t here yet, but I thought I’d share some of the blog posts that were super informative and helpful in convincing Aaron and I that cloth diapers was a good, cost-effective way to go. When the baby arrives and we’re a few months in, maybe I’ll hop on and share my experience with cloth diapers too, just so you can have my perspective. But for now, here are all the insanely helpful posts I have read and reread!

This first blog/site was probably the first one that piqued my interest in cloth diapers. (As my sister Lissie can tell you, I was vehemently against cloth diapers before I got married. I told her many times that I only wanted to deal with poop once. Ha! Now look at me! It was only because I didn’t understand cloth diapers though.) Lindsay had several posts that I read many times before I even brought up cloth diapering with Aaron. Since then I branched out to get other opinions, but I have kept these posts for reference. The following six links are to Passionate Homemaking

Amelia from Musings of a Homemaker did a series on cloth diapering, beginning with a very helpful cost breakdown of the different kinds and styles of cloth diapers as compared to disposable. I definitely bookmarked her first post for reference.

And on another blog I enjoy reading, Through Clouded Glass, Callie put together some posts about cloth diapering.

Some other posts I found helpful:

I hope that is informative to any of you who are thinking, “What? Are you crazy??” or “That sounds interesting! What is cloth diapering like?” I’ll share with you all what our experience with cloth diapering is when our Pixie arrives too so you can have our perspective on brands/styles/laundering/life with cloth diapers etc.

~ Anna

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Snapshots of our Life

February 10th, 2012 Posted in Apartment, baby, Being a Wife, God, Home, Marriage, Pictures
Feb, 10 2012
7 Comments »

We have a recharged camera battery! So now you can see bits and pieces of our life. I’ll share pictures of the new house when I can too.

Our house has been filling up with lots of pink things like the onesie above. My sister Lissie sent that to me. We don’t have a lot of room in our small apartment to just store these things so the next picture shows where our pink stash has been stockpiling.

 

In the corner of our bedroom! Aaron and I have been so blessed by the generosity of friends and family in making sure our little Pixie-girl has everything she needs to look the part of a girly girl. Some friends of mine gave me the items in one of the large gift bags. While I was unwrapping it, the nine-year-old girl was just as excited as I was – she was bouncing up and down the entire time I was looking through all the precious things.

Literally two minutes from the apartment where Aaron and I live now is a Once Upon a Child and I cannot stay out of that place! They sell gently used baby clothes and items. We found our pack and play there for much less than we would have had to get it new. It’s even Pooh Bear like I wanted too! The day after we found out Pixie was a girl, I went and picked out a bunch of cute pink things that I liked. It was so exciting to be picking out pink things for my own little precious daughter!! I can’t tell you how thrilling it is to say daughter and realize that I have one!

 

Today I purchased the bedding we’re using. I had a great coupon for Buy Buy Baby and I thought it would be good to take advantage of it! Aaron and I have been prioritizing things we still need to get for our pink girlie. Sometimes it’s hard to put something on the “nice to have” list when you really want it on the “must have” list! I think sometimes stores charge an arm and a leg for baby items because they know first time parents (or maybe not just first time?) are big suckers for the cute stuff and will shell out any amount  for their new little one.

I didn’t get a picture of this, but we were able to purchase Pixie’s carseat! I have been rolling around all the different options in my head with all the pros and cons between infant only, convertible and others. It’s quite a relief to have that decision made and the large box sitting in our living room!

 

We had snow for the third (I think?) time this season. Around 11 AM the big fluffy flakes started coming down and it didn’t stop until about 5:00. The temperature is hovering right around freezing so not much of it stayed on the ground but it certainly makes everything just a little more magical around here. A few weeks ago, we had a big ice storm overnight. The next morning was a Saturday and Aaron and I needed to go somewhere. Our car sits outside in a parking lot and it was covered in about 3/4 of an inch of ice. Boy, it was tough to get inside, let alone get enough off so we could drive! The roads were pretty clear, but inside the apartment complex it was an ice skating rink so we had to be insanely careful. That was definitely interesting!

Last year when Aaron and I were trying to get pregnant, we were walking through some store and this onesie caught my eye. We purchased it, in hopes that we would get pregnant and that we’d have at least one daughter. Whenever I see this little onesie, it reminds me every time of God’s faithfulness and goodness to His children.

And here’s our puppy. Somehow she gets cuter every day. She is very intelligent and pretty obedient. We are wondering how she’ll do welcoming a pink bundle called a baby into her world. She loves kids but Pixie won’t be a “kid” for several years. Thankfully Mocha is gentle around kids and will tolerate pretty much anything when it comes to rambunctiousness so we’re not worried on that account!

 

A baby bump picture! I’m completely into maternity clothes now and boy are they comfortable. I feel like a grow rounder every single day. It will be interesting to see how big I am around Pixie’s due date.

And last but not least, an ultrasound picture of our precious girl’s foot, which she likes to use to remind me that she’s awake and alive in there. I love when she kicks me. Feeling her move is always amazing, realizing this living being is inside me, growing more and more every day. It always makes me praise and glorify God for His mysterious workings.

~ Anna

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It’s a……

February 1st, 2012 Posted in Apartment, baby, Being a Wife, Friends, Fun, God, Home, Marriage, Praise
Feb, 01 2012
7 Comments »

Well, before I share that news, I’ll catch you all up on what’s been going on in the past month of our lives.

  • The beginning of January we went to see our friend’s the K’s who live in southern Michigan. It was great to get away for a few days and see all of them. Mr. K preached a great sermon on 1st Thessalonians 4:3. Their oldest, Megan, had gotten engaged not even a week before we arrived and we were able to meet her fiance which was great. I’m excited for both Megan and Elijah as they embark on this wonderful journey called marriage! They’re planning on getting married mid-March. Also while we were there, Aaron and I got to have a good discussion with Robbie.
  • The second week in January we were schedule for a doctor’s appointment and while we were there, we requested to find out the baby’s gender. The ultrasound tech had just walked out the door, but the nurse practitioner agreed to do an unofficial ultrasound to see if we could find out. Pixie would not cooperate! Pixie was moving all over the place but just not in such a place to see the plumbing! It was pretty cool to see our precious little one though. It makes having a baby seem even more real.
  • Now, the whole reason we wanted to find out the baby’s gender then, was because Aaron and I were flying out to see my family and while I was there, my family’s church was throwing me a baby shower. So we had to tell everyone to get green and yellow items since Pixie wouldn’t cooperate! The baby shower was such a blessing and we got quite a few very useful items. Thank you so much Morningside Baptist!
  • But the main reason for seeing my family was my mom’s birthday. Both sets of my grandparents were out there and it was a full house! We certainly had a blast though. It was wonderful to spend my mom’s birthday with her, rather than 14 hours away. We went out to breakfast together and then one of mom’s friends threw her a little party at Olive Garden. Let me tell you, that group of women is just a huge blessing. It was great to be with all of them! That night we watched a funny cartoon/kids movie together as a family.
  • While we were there, I felt the baby move for the first time! It was just a little tiny fluttering kick, but I knew the baby moved. I’ve been feeling the baby a lot now. I think I can pick up when Pixie is asleep or awake.
  • Our official ultrasound was last week on the 25th. We were praying so hard that little Pixie would cooperate! We waited in the waiting room for about 25 minutes and then they finally called us back. I felt like there should’ve been movie music or some kind of ceremony as we found out the gender of our precious little one. But nope, I just lay down and the ultrasound tech spread the hot clear stuff on my abdomen, and declared, “Well, it looks like you’re having a girl!” Just like that. (I know, I did it to you too! It’s frustrating when you want it to be special and they declare it like they’re just telling you what they had for lunch.) The rest of the visit went well, everything looks great! All the way home, I kept grabbing Aaron’s arm and saying, “We’re having a girl!” And Aaron would say, “No, really?” I was just so happy to finally know whether it was a girl or a boy. I would have had the exact same reaction if we found out it was a boy.
  • The very next day, I went out and bought a bunch of pink clothes from Once Upon A Child for our Pixie. (Now we can really call her that, since she’s a girl!) I was so happy. I’m in girl heaven.
  • The other “big thing” that’s been taking up a lot of our time is that we are buying a house! We went and looked at houses on the 12th and found one that we simply fell in love with. We made an offer not even a week later and since then it’s been excepted, we’ve signed the contract, we’ve had the inspection, Aaron’s signed loan papers, etc! The only thing we’re waiting on now is getting the final approval for the loan. We love the house! I will put up pictures as soon as I possibly can.

I think that’s about it in terms of updating everyone. I will get pictures up as soon as I possibly can. Our camera battery finally died and we have lost our recharger. I ordered a new one this week, so as soon as that arrive you can expect to see many pictures!  I will also try to get a Week 21 update up this week.

Anna

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17 Weeks

January 5th, 2012 Posted in baby, Being a Wife, God, Home, Marriage
Jan, 05 2012
4 Comments »

How far along are you? 17 weeks! Time for my next doctor appointment. We go in tomorrow morning. I will be having a blood test tomorrow and this is also the last appointment before we go visit my family so I’m hoping we can have an ultrasound to find out the baby’s gender tomorrow. We’ll see. It would be great to have something to look forward to, rather than just dreading the blood test. If we do find out the baby’s gender, I’ll be sure and announce it to all of you!

How big is baby? Pixie is the size of an onion. Some of the items people use for comparison are rather odd. I never think of my baby like a vegetable! Oh well. The baby also weighs about as much as a turnip now. The baby can hear our voices and will recognize both mommy and daddy’s voices when he/she arrives. Pixie’s cartilage is hardening into bone this week and he/she’s gaining some fat.

Maternity clothes? Most definitely! Aaron and I went to the mall the day after Christmas and I purchased a pair of maternity dress pants, a black maternity skirt and a black and white polka dot maternity dress. I wore a pair of maternity jeans borrowed from a dear friend on Christmas day and it fit pretty well. Some of my jackets and sweatshirts won’t zip over the top of my belly anymore.

Symptoms? The second trimester has certainly been treating me well! My symptoms aren’t really worth mentioning, just some minor acid reflux and sciatic nerve pain. Sleeping has been glorious. For Christmas, Aaron’s sister and her husband gave me a body pillow and that extra support really makes a difference. It feels like there are three people in our bed though because the pillow is so big! Aaron’s been so sweet though.

Changes to mom? I can tell my body needs more oxygen because I’ve been breathing harder and deeper, as I’m at a higher altitude or as if I just climbed some stairs. Other than that, I’m just growing bigger and bigger all the time!

Sleep? I kind of covered that under symptoms.

Food cravings? Food is wonderful. So far, I consistently crave steak, potatoes (in any form) and eggs. And every once in awhile, I do crave pickles, so there is a jar in our fridge for just those times. Thankfully, sweets have really become distasteful to me and I want fruit and veggies most of the time, so that’s pretty great. Just so you don’t have to wonder anymore, Aaron has not run to the store at midnight to get me something I’m craving. At least not yet.

Milestones? This was very exciting to both Aaron and I, but to others it probably isn’t that exciting. When we found out the baby could hear us, we started talking and singing to Pixie. That’s been something I was greatly looking forward to and I’m glad our little one can hear us. I love when Aaron sings and so I ask him to sing to Pixie all the time.

~ Anna

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