Tuesday, May 10

Last weekend I got to tell my family about the new baby that's on their way. This time I told them all differently as apposed to the first time when I was pregnant with A. Then, it was my Gramma's birthday, so I wrapped up my pee stick. She screamed a very loud, albeit, happy scream. It was fun. But this time, being mother's day, I figured I'd just tell them each.
I started with my sisters on Friday(?) night. I still had the picture on my phone of the digital Pregnant, so I told them that I wanted them to look at some pictures. I did have some cute ones of A running and playing with bubbles so I had them start with that and work backward. When they got to the picture of the test, they had to do a double take. They seemed pretty excited.
Saturday, my mom, sister, A and I got together with my aunt Kimmy and my gramma for Spaghetti Works. my mom was giving me the look to tell them then so I figured why not. I guess Kimmy wasn't paying attention as I was starting the whole "We have a problem with Christmas plans" so my mom was like, "Kim! September's trying to tell you something!" with a huge grin on her face. So, I barely get into it and both of them figure it out. They ask me, "Why?? Because you're pregnant!?!" as they can't control their grins. So much for surprising them, haha.
On Sunday I had my grampa and uncle Jon left. After church I hugged my grampa multiple times and told him to guess what. He guessed once about something else and when I said no, he had a twinkle in his eye that he knew but he wasn't going to take the surprise from me so he let me tell him. He was elated!
Then last but not least was my uncle Jon. I gave him a big hug and told him I had an early birthday surprise for him. He said, with a twinkle in his eye,, "It's not a photography package that I'll never use, is it?" Haha, no! I said, it'll come it the form of a 7 ounce... He got it right away with an Ah-ha!! Poopr guy, his birthday is Dec 22, right next to Christmas, and we think that's when this kiddo's due date is. So another December baby in the family.

So, now that all my family knows we can start telling friends. Since our besties already know the next up is my Thursday Morning Momma's group...

Monday, May 2

So first of all, I'm pregnant with baby #2!! We can finally share it with the world.

(I am starting to type this all out way before we do actually share it but I don't want to forget anything :)

We found out (officially with a pee test) on Thursday, April 28th. I had a good feeling something was up but wasn't quite ready to take the test. Not that I wasn't ready for a positive but that I wasn't ready for a negative. Then I'd have to wonder what the heck was up with my body if I wasn't pregnant after all?

So wednesday night, after feeling super weird (insert Pregnant here) I grabbed a pee test and placed it by the toilet for the next morning.
I slept oddly all night because, and I'm sure, of the anticipation for the next morning. I think I woke at 6 but wouldn't let myself get out of bed yet knowing that if it really was a positive I wouldn't be able to go back to sleep and would have to wait forever for Bryan to wake so I could let him know.

I slept until 7 and just couldn't wait anymore. I got up, did the test, and kept glancing at the test. It went quick and before I knew it there was a digital Positive staring at me from the screen that was sticking out of the wrapper.

I was beyond excited. Oh my word. I tried to get ready but kept anxiously glancing at Bryan to see if he was awake yet. I was just going to let him wander into the bathroom and find the pee stick on his own but realized after a while that he'd never see it.
Then God gave me an idea. Knowing that the first two things he does when he wakes is he grabs his glasses and then his iphone. I grabbed his iphone and snapped a photo of the digital Positive and set it to his lock screen. This way he wouldn't miss it. And sure enough he didn't.

I saw him look at his phone. Then a double take. Then study his phone. He finally looked at me with a smirk and a Really? Well, yeah! I wouldn't make up a positive you goober, haha.

I finished getting ready and then A and I headed off to Thursday Morning Momma's. Bryan and I weren't going to say anything at this point so I just had to keep my mouth shut. But boy was it hard. I was nauseous and had a headache but couldn't say why.

After TMM, we headed home and I made an appointment for a blood test to confirm our at home test. This is just what I did when I found out I was pregnant with A. Then, I found out the next day but this time I had to wait until monday. So I did. It was hard, let me tell you.

Friday we decided we wanted to at least tell our parents. So Bryan called his mom and I called mine. This Christmas is my family's turn so I started off with that. I said that we may need to switch Christmas plans around because that's when my due date is. I said it so casually that she had to do a double. She was like Wait? What?? That's when she started hollering in excitement that I could hold my phone from my ear and still hear her!

Then that night we went to an open house for a friend's grand opening of her new studio. As it turned out, Bryan's sis-in-law, Alyssa, knows our friend's brother, so she was there too.

Surprise!

At this point we weren't going to tell family members but Bryan basically gave it away so I told him to go ahead since he practically already did! It was nice to finally be able to talk about it to someone else! We told her not to tell anyone, especially her hubby (my hubby's brother) because we wanted to be able to do it.

That night when we left I felt a bug coming on. At first I thought it was just allergies because it hit me all of a sudden. It was really strange.

So Saturday Alyssa asked if Bryan and I would like to join her and Brent for a hockey game if I was feeling up to it. I had been super nauseated and then with the bug I was feeling pretty yucky. I was still hoping it was allergies at this point but was starting to wonder if I could be wrong. We felt bad but ended up opting out and instead made a more definitive plan for two weeks from now.

Sunday, I felt bloated and like I was barely hiding anything. Luckily I still have some tummy left over from my pregnancy with A so I just blamed it on that ;) Especially when an older lady in the church decided to ask me if I was pregnant! I couldn't believe it. Of course I was but I sure wasn't going to announce it right then and there!

And then this morning I just couldn't wait for the results any longer. I had to call. I already knew what the answer was but I wanted one more solidifier. So when I got the nurse on the phone and she told me I was most definitely pregnant, I cried because I was so happy.

I finally went and told Emily and she was so excited to hugged me three times. The goober, every time I would say to her "Guess what?" She would respond with a "You're pregnant!?" Well, this time she received a "Yup!" and she was stunned and then she squealed. It was fun.

I'm already noticing my change in appetite. Food doesn't sound appealing and then when it does it doesn't taste as good as I know it really does. It's all a big let down. And cheese! Cheese is a gag this time around and I like cheese! At least I'm pretty sure that I do, but every time I try to remember if I like it or not the thought of it just makes me want to Gag.

It still seems a bit unreal. We were planning to get pregnant, we just didn't think it would happen so quickly. With A, it took a year. With this one, first time around. We're happy but nervous. So now we wait anxiously for an ultrasound to determine how far along we are as well as the doctor appointments. But first I have to tell my family!! This weekend I sure will :)

Praying for our new baby!!

Survivor(wo)man

Survivorman is a yearly thing that our youth pastor puts on in the spring for all the guys in our youth group to attend with their dads. It's a right of passage into manhood- they go and rough it in the woods, living off the land and learn how to survive.
Last year there were some girls who spoke up about wanting to go, and since I was jealous of Bryan every year prior, I was definitely in as one of the leaders. I'd be a surrogate mom since my kiddo is too young but I knew I would be.

We headed out on Friday, us girls joining the boys. We had 6(?) boys and only two girls but it was a start! Especially considering it was the first year. It was starting to lightly rain on us before we even got out to the sight. But once we got there we found that the rain missed it completely and we were able to set up camp before any rain got to us.
The boys were learning chivalry this weekend so they came to help us learn how to start a fire with a fire starter (after our first two failed attempts) as well as learn how to set up our sleeping area with tarps. Then the girls learned what stick to use to roast and we ate our one hotdog with bun. Dry. But it wasn't bad considering.
After we did our lesson on becoming a Proverbs 31 Woman we called it a night. At 9:30pm. We're lame, haha! Then we all slept miserably. I swear I woke every hour thinking it was morning. Once it finally was, we all got up and started getting ready. Then we learned it was 10 til 6! Guess we were all anxious to get going.
So then we had to wait on the boys. They took forever to get up and around but I guess they stayed up late playing flashlight tag. Soon we had our first challenge to earn our breakfast. The youth had to learn to use a compass and read the instructions to find the ammo boxes. As soon as they did we earned our eggs. The girls did awesome and were the first ones done. Jon was nice enough and brought us extra eggs (shh). We also got cheese and fully cooked turkey sausage. Then we made our eggs in a bag. It was yummy.

Second challenge was for our lunch. Everyone had to make survival bracelets. Very cool things. They took rope and cobra knotted them. Then they had rope in case of emergency, they only had to take out the knots. And, actually, those hemp bracelets that you see in the summer, that I've been making since Jr. High, it's the exact same thing but with rope! So it was fun helping everyone get the hang of it.
So after our challenge we all had free time and with it we all decided to go fishing. I think everyone but one person caught at least one fish. I had a bass but lost it. However I still managed to catch two croppies(?). I even took them off the line and unhooked them thanks to Pastor Phil and his handy gloves.
We took our catches and went back to the boys camp. We had exotic fruit (I.e. Mango, papaya and coconut) and we cleaned and cooked the fish. One fish had a title head/neck in it's gut (gross) and another was a female full of eggs. Yum.. We all tried the fish but us girls didn't care for it. We thanked the men, however, for making it for us and headed off to do our next lesson.

For our third challenge we got to shoot rifles. This time it was for our supper and if they hit the farthest target they got a whole Cornish game hen. Everyone hit it, even me! I went last and Jon talked me through it and i hit the first target on the first try. The second target, the farthest, took me three times but I got it!
Keith had his pistol and offered that for everyone to shoot. I passed because of how loud and how major the kick was. But Jon had his of a smaller caliber and let me try that one. Too much fun. I hit my target 5 out of 8 times. First three I missed because I was getting used to it but it was such a cool thing.
We went back to the boys camp to cook our hens. Keith had some rub that made it really good but I was so sick of meat at this point that I couldn't finish it :-/ We again thanked the guys and headed off to our camp to finish up our lessons. Since there were only two girls it made it easy to get personal with them.

Soon Keith came by to start the ceremony. He asked that the girls follow suit with the guys and remained in silence until we started the ceremony. Us adults got together to pray and to chart out our positions. As soon as it was dark, Keith had the youth start out one by one with a five minute gap in between each youth. I was the third stop so I had a bit to wait. Besides, the kids had to find us, in the dark, with no light, only our tiki torches to guide their way.
For the guys I talked to them about chivalry from a woman's perspective. How we're sensitive, and carry things with us for our lives, that we're not always right but we always want to be heard, and how everything they do affects us for good or bad, and if it's bad, someone else will have to pay for it. I cried a few times.
With the girls I talked about beauty and how we need Christ before we can ever have a relationship with a guy. This time they cried. I love these kids.
We had started at 9 and ended at 11. We all crashed and this time I was so tired that I slept right through all the storms that hit us that night. I still woke up at 7:30 but this time I was ready to be home instead of my next challenge. Not that there was any, just food and cleaning up to leave.

All in all it was an awesome weekend. I had a blast and I know the other female leader and the two girls did. The boys were awesome in welcoming us into their yearly passage (thanks guys!!). And I will absolutely do it again. I hope other girls will want to as well. Even when sleeping on wooden planks, it was so worth it.

(Hope this helps, Haley!!)

Announcement for anyone who doesn't already know:

We're going to Ecuador! We've been invited to join a missions trip at the end of this June to travel to Ecuador, visiting orphanages and caring for their needs.
Bryan and I are so excited, a little nervous, and praying a lot that God will provide. We're waiting on his passport and my info to go get my passport. We'll have to expedite it so we're praying God steps in.
We also need to raise $5500 to go. $2000 of the money we raise will go into a larger pot with everyone else's and we'll decide together what to do for each orphanage we visit. On previous trips they have bought brand new mattresses for the kids because they were sleeping on practically nothing. Another time, $1000 in food. Another time they fixed a leaky roof above the computer room and another hired a tutor for a year to teach the kids English.
Because the children are left with very little chance of hope of surviving in the world after leaving the orphanage, their chances increase dramatically if they have computer skills and/or can speak English. This organization helps those children have a better chance of succeeding and survival when they have to leave the orphanage.
If you would like to donate to our trip and help send us to help these sweet kiddos, please contact me through the comments, or if you know me personally you can contact me via phone, email, or in person!
We need all the financial and prayer support we can get.