New Recipes

Since my pregnancy cravings are quite random, it's always interesting trying to find food to cook that will still sound good four days after I go to the grocery store. Last week's craving was Indian food, so today we're finally getting around to making a chicken curry and some roasted potatoes to match. I wanted to make fresh naan, but I ran out of time, so later in the week I'll make naan and hummus. Yum!

Boredom

I'm thankful today for my job. Many days are very hard and long, but at the end of a hard day's work, I'm thankful for my husband who rubs my feet and puts my (large) pregnant self to bed. And I'm thankful that the day passed quickly. I have 4 days off in a row this week, which is an unexpected blessing, because I am in dire need of some quality R&R, particularly because I don't sleep well at night these days. However, despite being at home resting, I find that I'm quite bored here. People at work always ask how long I'm going to stick it out, because they see me growing bigger each week. They think I'm crazy for not sitting on my couch, eating bon-bons, as some have affectionately referred to the glorious life of the end of pregnancy. It's because I'd go out of my mind crazy with boredom! Work keeps me distracted, and I like my job. I can't imagine how painfully slow these last two months of pregnancy would be if I were at home all the time.

On another note - I've been catching up on Luke's blog. I've been a bad wife and haven't read much of it. I may be biased, but I think he's quite talented as a writer - he expressed himself well, in a style that I enjoy reading. My writing style is boring - I really need to get him to write on here and record our daily life, because it'd be much more entertaining. Or I should just change the title of this blog, since it's really just my blog, where you can read about our life from my perspective only. Anyways, I stray from my point. He's been trying to develop a new hobby, find new meaning and purpose in his life, and writing has become that. He always talks about doing something more creative with his life than working in grey-cubicle-land. I highly encourage this, but I also pray that he sticks with his day job until he writes a best-seller. I know this has become a struggle for him - he's not really happy with his role at work, and corporate America and Luke just don't seem to mix well, despite how well he does and how hard he works. It's not his passion...it's simply a means to an end. I wish I could see him happy in his work.

The Latest Doc Appointment

I'm going in this morning for my glucose test, bloodwork, my rhogam shot, and a check-up. Lots of needles. Ick. 28 weeks is not fun. Luke's cooking me breakfast right now, and then I have to drink this syrupy "fruit punch" drink - at least they let me take the stuff at home, instead of waiting in their office for an hour. Wish me luck!

The Nursery

Our nursery is coming along finally! The theme is birds (everyone knows my love for them), which will be so precious for a little girl.

Artwork from p.carter carpin on Etsy:



Bedding from JCPenney:
We also found a cute blue striped rug on sale at the Pottery Barn outlet (yay for bargains!!).

Here are three cribs we're trying to decide between:

JCPenney

AP Industries

Restoration Hardware

Fabric that I just found that I'm considering purchasing:

I can't wait to meet her and enjoy her room with her.

Merry Christmas!

This year has been so busy for us, especially in the past few months, so I have failed and didn't manage to get Christmas cards out this year. So, in lieu of them, Luke and I wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year via our blog. We wish we could celebrate the holidays with all of you and we miss you all dearly.

We had a fun visit into Houston the past two days to celebrate early with each side of the family. It was quiet at Mom's house, with only my sister Brittany there. Luke's parents' house was a little more lively, with his nieces and nephew there, but we missed seeing his older brother and his family. We visited my grandparents for a little while on Monday, but I wish we could have stayed longer - I don't get to see them enough.

Tonight Luke and I will exchange our annual Christmas Eve gift (new pjs) after I get home from work, and then tomorrow morning I'll continue the tradition that my grandma started, with a delicious Christmas morning brunch. We're inviting a friend over to celebrate with us, so it won't be quite so lonely. Then I'm off to serve hundreds of other people Christmas dinner/dessert at work!

And a pause for reflection - the state of the economy has helped refocus us on what's most important to remember over Christmas. Usually we get all hyped up on gifts, and though we are still exchanging them this year, it's become less about the items bought and money spent, and more about the spirit of giving. I won't be able to attend any church services this year due to my work schedule, but we'll take the time tonight and tomorrow morning to reflect on the greatest gift of all - Christ.

Luke 2:9-11
"And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them...Do not be afraid; for behold I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord."

2/3rds of the Way Through

I'm almost done with my second trimester. Things are getting harder, like breathing...I find it difficult to sit for long periods of time because everything in my abdomen and chest all squish together leaving no room for the lungs to expand. I'm thankful that I have a job where I can stand all day (what normal person is thankful for that?!), so that I don't have trouble breathing. Going upstairs at work is difficult. I can't take them as fast as I used to, or else I'm short of breath. Bending over - what a comic sight. I do this weird squatting thing, since I can't really bend at the waist anymore. Putting on socks - ha! I can still see my feet, but it's hard to reach them. I feel enormous - this extra weight really takes a toll on me. And I still have a long way to go in that department - yikes! I toss and turn all night because I can't ever get comfortable, but thankfully I'm still able to lie on my back for short periods of time to stretch out a bit.

It will be interesting to see how I do with work in the next 3 months - my goal is to work until the last possible day, since it keeps me busy and makes the time go by fast. The job is fun, and everyone has been very gracious and helpful as I've gotten bigger.

24 Weeks

I'm liking the Christmas tree as the backdrop for all of my belly pictures this month. Back to the plain boring wall next month.

23 Weeks

I'm actually at 24 1/2 weeks now, but this is a pic from last week.

It's the Holiday Season!

Luke and I finished setting up our Christmas tree last night. We put on the Christmas music and made hot chocolate. I love reminiscing over the ornaments - our tree may not be stylized where everything matches, but each ornament has a story. We purchased the tree Sunday night, but it was too wet to put lights on it, and I fell asleep around 9 pm, so we did all of our decorating yesterday. Trying to get the tree felt almost Griswold-like - I almost talked Luke into a tree that upon getting it home, we would have had to do a chop-job on it in order to get it to stand upright in our living room. Thankfully, he's so wise, and talked me into the shorter tree. Now, if we had only realized that skinnier would have been better too. It's quite fluffy!

The dog has been trying to eat the ornaments and lights, so she's spending time outside whenever we're not home.

Thanksgiving was wonderful, even though not quite on the right day. I had to work Thanksgiving day, so we went to see my family Wednesday, had a great dinner, stayed the night, and drove back to Austin Thursday morning. A whirlwind trip, but we were able to have a great meal with the whole family - all of the siblings were there. We're hoping that even though Christmas will be much of the same, we'll be able to catch all of Luke's family this time.

In baby news - I feel her moving around and kicking much more lately. Some mornings I wake up and it seems like she's doing somersaults in there. The roommate has moved out, so now I can start working on the nursery!! First step is to organize everything and get rid of all of the junk. I really don't know how we accumulate so much stuff. Also, they say that second trimester is when you have all of your energy back, plus some, but I'm not feeling it so much. It must be my work schedule and the type of work I do, because I'm exhausted most of the time. And as I get bigger, it's harder for me to move around quickly, and bending over is almost a no-go at this point. It's just too much effort. I know I have a long ways to go yet, but even this small amount of extra weight makes things difficult. What an incentive to stay in shape after the baby is born!

I'm thankful that I have the next couple of days off so I can finish decorating the house for Christmas and get some Christmas shopping done. I'm also fighting off a cold or sinus infection, so I plan on getting some rest as well.

Luke has been super busy with work - he's having to take over work for a gal that left, on top of his regular duties, so he's a little tired right now. Pray that he'll have the strength to get through the next few weeks, until Christmas when he'll have some much needed and much deserved time off.

Oh yes! I passed my 90-day review at work, which means I'm an official employee now. As a perk, we get a night at the hotel, which will be a nice little vacation for us. Not exactly going very far away, but it's a night out of the house!

Gingerbread Village

Our gingerbread houses are complete! We met back up late after work this evening, once the lobby was mostly clear, to set up our village. Our engineering guys are great and every year they build a fabulous table for the village and then drill and wire the houses so that we get lights in each one. Once all of the houses are placed, we start snowing them in with tons of royal icing. Tomorrow we add the trees and the village people, so more pics will come once the whole village is completely finished. Here are some highlights from the evening:

My house
I love the chimney on my house!

And...

Ultrasound from Luke Presley on Vimeo.

We're having a girl!! No doubt about it - the technician showed us exactly how it can't be anything but a girl in there. We are absolutely thrilled about having a daughter- we've had a feeling for awhile now that our baby was a girl, and it's fun knowing we were right. We're tossing around some names, although I think we've settled on one for now. The harder part is deciding the nursery....

We tried to get as many phone calls in to family this morning, but our family is so big!! We quickly ran out of time before we both had to be at work, so we'll try and finish the rounds tomorrow. And I hope everyone reads the blog - I tried to share the video via email, but I haven't gotten my copy of it yet, so I'm wondering if any of them went through.

Anyways, I'm headed to bed, hoping that insomnia doesn't strike again.

Oh My Gosh!

Tomorrow is the big day!!! We get to see our baby through the ultrasound, and we (hopefully) can find out the sex of the baby. I haven't been able to sleep the past two nights because I'm too excited thinking about Wednesday. I keep praying that the baby's legs won't be crossed. I don't work on Thursday and Friday, which means I get to play in the baby stores!

Gingerbread House

Front

Right Side

I finally got one bird done for the mobile for the nursery. I haven't had the time or motivation to be crafty lately, but today I was determined to finish this one bird. Isn't he cute?!

Now if only I could get the rest of the project done! After this I'll be working on reupholstering a rocker to give it an updated look. Look at me getting all domestic.

Gingerbread House

We have a huge project at work that comes around every Christmas season - the gingerbread village! The houses go up for auction, and there is a big party to reveal them the day after Thanksgiving. Here is the start of my house - I'll keep you posted on its progress. This is my first gingerbread house to construct from scratch, so we'll see what happens with it!

18 Weeks

Misunderstandings at Work

Apparently people around "the office" think I'm 18 and knocked up. I'm always dumbfounded initially at some of the comments, then they just strike me as funny.

The first one: "So, you decided to keep the baby." Um, duh.

Yesterday: "So, are you going to get married?" I gave him a quizzical look.

I know word gets around, faster than wildfire, because a new person every few days comes up and asks about the pregnancy. So how did they all miss the part that I'm married, have been for a few years, and this is a good thing?

Milestone

Tonight I felt the baby move for the first time. I was laying on the couch listening to my Ella Fitzgerald station on Pandora, with a little Edith Piaf and other fabulous French artists thrown in, when the baby started dancing. Or, at least that's what I'm calling it. It was the softest thump-thumping on my inside - not regular like my heartbeat, or like the beat of the music, but steady enough to know that it was the baby. I had a caramel tart in the oven that was about to burn, but I was so hesitant to get up for fear of not feeling the baby again for a few days. I know that I won't notice it most of the time for another few weeks, especially when I'm busy working, but tonight was such a special moment.

A Peek Into Our Home

So my Midwestern friend and my Northeastern friend were curious about our house. They probably think we're living in the middle of a cow field in a darling little ranch house. Kidding!

Here's just a peek at some of my favorite spots.







And finally, Luke, just home from work, explaining a funny story from the day. I was on the porch enjoying the nice weather when he surprised me by showing up from work early. I love when that happens!

Insomnia!

Can't sleep. So exhausted, but my mind won't turn off for the night. The day felt wasted. Woke up on the wrong side of the bed, wrestled with Molly at the vet and left there terribly embarrassed at her behavior and a couple hundred dollars poorer, and then was a lazy bum the rest of the day. Luke calls it my "recharge day", while I say I wasted it. Because I don't feel any more rested or recharged. So now I sit here lamenting over the fact that nothing got done and making a list mentally of all of the things I want to do during my insomniatic (new word?) hours. Luke will wake up to 1. a spotlessly clean house and/or 2. a tired and hormonal wife who still needs more sleep and has yet to clean the house. It could go either way at this point.

I keep waiting for the nesting tendencies to kick in. I guess mentally they have, but they aren't expressing themselves physically yet. My list of to-do grows longer by the minute, but my energy and desire to actually get started on the projects doesn't keep up. It's also hard because we have a roommate occupying what will be the nursery, so I can't do much until he moves out. We haven't started preparing for this baby at all. Luke is of the mindset that we should just wait to get everything after the baby is born. Panic! No way! He's right in that we don't have a space to put stuff for another 2 months, but it's killing me to sit around and do nothing. Part of it is time - which I have little of these days. Work has taken over my life...while I enjoy it very much, it leaves little room for getting stuff done around here. Also, we're headed into holiday season, which means overtime and gingerbread house construction off the clock. Sigh.

On a brighter note - Luke had a dream that our baby is a girl. Woke up absolutely convinced, and he is even saying "our daughter". I think it's the sweetest thing, and I really hope he is right. He used to lament that he was surrounded by too many women - he has two sisters, and me, and my two sisters, his two nieces, plus both of our moms, plus the dog. But after this dream of his, he's having the most fun trying to think of girl names, and saying how he can't wait to have all of his girls around him. Now what if we have a boy?! Watching his excitement over this baby makes me love him even more. He is going to be an amazing father. He's already the best husband, especially in dealing with my pregnancy moods.

Fun with Belly

Earlier today I learned that if I slouch just right, I can balance a yogurt cup on my belly now. I told Luke about it, and of course he thought it was the funniest thing ever. So he had a bit of fun at my expense, having me balance a plate of chocolate chip cookies on my belly.

Not quite big enough for that yet - it kept sliding off. Although from this angle, my stomach looks enormous!! It's really not that big yet. But it's funny to see how my body changes each week. We've been snapping pictures of me every week to put into a book later on. It'll be nice to look back on this during subsequent pregnancies and see how it differs.

Belly!

I take the worst pictures. I laugh, I smile, I grimace - doesn't matter - they all look dumb. But, Luke managed to catch a couple cute belly pictures. This is me at 16 weeks.


Had my latest doc appointment this morning - everything is coming along well. Next month we find out if it's a boy or girl! Everyone keeps saying that we shouldn't find out what we're having, because "it's the last great surprise in life". Though that may be true, I'm too much of a planner to not know what I'm having. At least the first time around. Perhaps we'll keep the gender of the second baby a surprise. Besides, if you're in the camp of "don't find out", then don't ask what we're having. I won't tell you. It'll be a surprise to you.

Also, my cousin Talia just had her first baby - a beauty of a girl named Aubrina.Congrats Tal and Mark! You're going to be great parents. Can't wait to meet Aubrina!

A Day Well Spent

I had a Saturday off of work for the first time in months, so Luke and I were able to spend the entire day together. I haven't really seen him for more than an hour or two most days since starting this job. I woke up feeling quite sick, which was a bummer, but by the end of the day whatever it was started to pass. We went grocery shopping, had lunch while watching The Office premiere online, read a little, cleaned the house a little, washed the dog, cooked a fabulous dinner, and then settled down for the evening with a movie and dessert. Nothing too exciting, you may think, but to us it was the perfect day.

Curried Pumpkin Soup

Grape, Rosemary, and Asiago focaccia

Chocolate and Cherry Bread Pudding

Parenting

Luke and I have started our parenting philosophy discussions - these will be ongoing until the day God calls us home to him, since we'll never be done with the parenting process, but it's exciting to start them up. Of course, we had small discussions about parenting during our dating/engagement period, because who enters into marriage without talking about big stuff (ok, some people do, but those aren't the smart ones)? Now that we have a baby on the way, it has become real to us, and we'll actually have to put into practice soon what we are just discussing today.

So, we ran through a couple topics tonight, like discussing how our parents raised us and what we liked and/or didn't like about their methods, and how we can merge those ideas and bring in our own. My biggest fear has been discipline - specifically, being consistent in it. Kids are cuties and they can easily manipulate. A friend of mine gave me a great example tonight. She told the story of a little girl she knows who, whenever she's in the midst of her punishment or is about to be punished, turns to her dad and says, "Daddy, can we go talk about Jesus now?" That girl must win EVERY SINGLE TIME! Who can say no to that? And girls are smart - they learn early on how to work the system, while I'm not sure that boys every really figure it out. Granted, there are exceptions. Since I think we're having a girl, we're in for a whole heap of trouble here! Luke especially, because even our dog Molly knows how to push his buttons.

Thankfully I was reminded tonight by the same friend that though we may not always see it, God is working in us and through us, and we are free to enjoy relationships. So I'm trusting Him to work through us and in us as we take on this new role of parents. There is much grace extended, and though we will definitely make mistakes with our children, God is still working in their lives. Praise God for that!

On another parenting note, I found this fun website. It's a guy who posts a new rule every day or so, to his unborn son. It'd be fun to start a list like that for my son or daughter, with things that I've learned over my lifetime.

Look!

Luke helped me put this cute little countdown ticker on our blog page. Now you can see how far along I am.

Today felt like fall. I'm sure it's just a passing thing, but I was so excited when I stepped out of the house this morning. I immediately wished I had grabbed a sweatshirt to bring with me, but I'm not even sure where they are at this point! The forecast says it'll warm up by the end of the week, but at least we have some cooler evenings ahead.

On another note - Hurricane Ike has made it quite difficult for us to communicate with the family. Both sides are without power, for probably the next 3 weeks or so. Which means limited phone calls to preserve battery power. It's so annoying, since I'm used to talking to the family a few times a week, especially now that I'm pregnant, because Dave calls with the countdown most mornings.

I'm ready for a couple days off, which will thankfully come around mid-week. I'll actually make it to Bible study, although the way my schedule works, it might be the only time this year that I get to go. Sigh. I'm bringing Luke with me to my doctor's appointment this week so he can hear the heartbeat for the first time.

And - I have a project that I'll be starting on this week: a mobile for the baby's room.
(photo courtesy of Spool via Ohdeedoh)

Baby, Baby

I had my doctor's appointment today! I'm officially at 10 weeks and 1 day, due March 29. Time has flown by since we found out about the baby, and we are so excited about meeting our first child. I was also relieved to see that I'm not ginormously huge either according to the scale. Everything has shifted, so I feel quite large since the pants are fitting differently. I was able to hear the heartbeat - fast and strong, and the nurse practitioner had no problem finding it. Our baby is hanging out near the surface, probably waving "Hi, Mom!"

Mom - that word has so much new meaning to me these days. It's very strange, because I've been using that word for 25 years (well, less than that, since I didn't come into this world speaking). I've always had a mom, but now I will be a mom. No, really I feel like I already am one, even though my baby has yet to grace this world. I smile when I think about the baby growing, knowing that even though I can't feel him or her yet, she's safe inside of me. I panic when I think about juggling work and a new baby. I pray constantly for the safety of our child and that Luke and I would be good, Godly parents to him.

I've been blessed so far with a morning-sickness-free 1st trimester. I had a couple weeks where it was a little rough, but thankfully it faded so that I was able to keep up with work, and apart from eating all of the time and not having much energy, I feel pretty good! A friend of mine sent me an article stating that the sicker you are during your pregnancy, the greater your chances of having a girl. So, we must be having a boy. But - my grandmother never had morning sickness, and she had 3 girls, so I'm holding out for a girl still. 

And yes, I did have a craving for pickles for about 4 days.