15 weeks

So I switched to a new prenatal vitamin this week after having headaches almost every day, a few different episodes of dizziness, and feeling very tired overall. I knew my prenatal didn't have iron, but I'm not anemic, so I didn't think it was a big deal. But after calling my doctor and talking to him about my headaches & dizziness, he pointed out that since my body is producing 50% more blood I really do need that extra iron! Since I've taken the new prenatal, I haven't had as many headaches, and if I get them they aren't as bad. Woohoo! :) 

How far along: 15 weeks :) 

Fruit comparison: an orange 

Total weight gain: I still haven't bought a new scale . . . but I would guess I'm at 6 or 7 pounds gained now? 

Maternity clothes: belly band with my jeans, leggings, and maternity shirts. All day. Every day. 

Sleep: I feel like I toss and turn a lot while I sleep. Plus, I constantly wake up realizing I'm sleeping on my back and have to roll over to my side. I've been told I'm not supposed to sleep on my back, but I can't remember why, haha! 

Best moment of the week: I finally made it through getting my hair done!! Thanks to my girl Barbara, snacks, fresh air while the color was setting, and a full meal before my appointment, this attempt went much better than last weeks. Now I have new color I LOVE and a haircut I feel the same way about. Barb always makes me look way better than I ever do! Plus, I ADORE getting my hair shampoo'ed by Barb. She always gives the best scalp massage ;) 

Miss anything?: I miss wearing some of my favorite blouses haha! And my skinny jeans . . . 

Movement: Nothing yet! 

Food cravings: Apples and oranges! One of my small group girls brought me some oranges from her orange tree and I've probably had two of those a day. They are delicious!! (Thanks Felicity!) 

Symptoms: occasional nausea still (rarely though), and mostly I just feel like I'm boring because most days I want to go to bed at 8:30 lately! 

Looking forward to: I get the next two weeks off work, thanks to my awesome boss at Cornerstone!! I'm excited to have that time off so I can enjoy Christmas and my family coming to visit!

14 weeks

This week has been full of showing off my baby bump. Not that I can help it anymore, baby C just likes to be obvious apparently! I get all kinds of comments, from "I can't believe you're already showing!", to "It's pretty early, you must just be bloated still" (who thinks this is ok to say to a pregnant lady?!) and my favorite, "you're baby bump is so adorable!". Thank you to my friends who know that as much as I love having this baby making an appearance already, this is still a completely new experience for me and it's easy to feel self conscious about these changes. I'm trying to remember to embrace the bump (my baby is in there! woohoo!) and not take to heart the comments that are not so kind. My prayer on the days I have a hard time with these changes has been that I would remember that we asked God for this and He answered! That my body is going to change, my belly is going to look like a watermelon, and that just means there is a sweet little baby continuing to grow in there. I can't wait to meet our little love bug. June can't come fast enough!

How far along: 14 weeks!
Fruit comparison: a lemon
Total weight gain: I think I need to buy a new scale. Ours at home says I weigh 2 pounds less than the one I weighed in at my doctor's office.
Maternity Clothes: I still wear a lot of my other shirts, but I only like one pair of my own jeans right now, and I wear those with a belly band. Time to go buy some maternity pants!
Sleep: Still trying to go to bed early, so I can get a full 8 hours in. Other than that, nothing abnormal.
Best moment of the week: Well, I would have said getting my hair colored, since I have been waiting for this day for what feels like forever, but baby C had other plans! I made it through half of my hair coloring appointment before I got really lightheaded and decided to continue at another time. Not sure if it was low blood sugar, the fumes, or a combination of the two, but it's pretty funny to me now. At the time, I was pretty annoyed and felt bad to have to ask Barbara to stop and continue later. But not only is she my hair dresser, she's my best friend. So she was pretty forgiving ;)
Miss anything?: Nope. The typical things everyone misses I didn't like before anyway (sushi, rare steaks, etc.), except for coffee.
Movement: Not yet. I read that if I poke my belly, baby will wiggle. So sometimes I will do that and wonder if it's moving around, haha! Writing that down just shows how weird I am.
Food cravings: Still breakfast smoothies. I've also probably had 3 green apples a day this week, but I'm not so sure if I've craved them. They've just always been delicious.
Symptoms: Occassional headaches (I've been using peppermint oil when I start to get them, thanks for the suggestion everyone!) and major pregnancy brain! I feel so incredibly forgetful, it's annoying!
Looking forward to: My family is coming to visit right after Christmas, and I can't wait to see all of them!

13 Weeks

This last week we had our second ultrasound, and it was great! We got to see our little baby wiggling around, hear the heartbeat, and were told everything is progressing perfectly, which is always great to hear. It was so fun to see the baby moving around since I can't feel it yet, and to be reminded that there really is a baby in there! Our doctor said at our next ultrasound (17 weeks) we may be able to find out the gender, depending on how obvious the baby is ;) So we may find out if baby C is a girl or boy sometime next month!

How far along: 13 weeks 

Fruit comparison: a peach 

Total weight gain: 5 pounds 

Maternity Clothes: I've worn the belly band every time I had my jeans on, but I also have been loving leggings. I got some great hand-me-down maternity clothes from my friend Caitlin, and I have worn a couple of the shirts and love how those show my little bump :) 

Sleep: I've been sleeping pretty well through the night, with just a little tossing and turning. 

Best moment of the week: Definitely our ultrasound! That was so fun to see and great to hear that baby is doing well! 

Miss anything?: Not that I can think of, since I started having coffee again, haha.

Movement: Still can't feel anything just yet.

Food cravings: This week it has definitely been red meat. Carne Asada, roast beef sandwiches, just gimme dat beef! 

Symptoms: Occasional headaches, but my energy is coming back so I'm not as fatigued. 

Looking forward to: This weekend we have our Christmas party with my small group girls, and I love this time with them. They are all so excited about our little one and we already have them scheduled for babysitting different days of each week ;) 

12 Weeks - First Pregnancy Post!

Hi friends!
Now that the news is officially out there, I wanted to keep a blog to share weekly updates on how crazy and surreal it is to have a little person growing inside of me, haha! My friend Kristin kept a weekly blog during her pregnancy, and since she lives in Philadelphia now, I loved getting to see her weekly updates on how she was doing and how baby Cal was growing. So that inspired me to do the same throughout my pregnancy.
The last couple of months since we found out the good news have seemed to go by incredibly slowly! It was so hard to "keep it a secret" from everyone. Of course we told our close friends and family and it was such a blessing to me to receive words of encouragement and prayer support, especially during those early weeks when it was all so new and foreign. I really needed the reminders to trust in God's faithfulness and sovereignty in forming this little one.
The best part of sharing the news has been the overwhelming enthusiasm and excitement our friends and family have shared with us. Nothing feels better than having those you love share in your joy! So thank you, for rejoicing along with us! Check out my sweet little bump in the photo below, and the section below I will be updating weekly!

 

How far along: 12 weeks!

Fruit comparison: a plum 

Total weight gain: I think 4-5 pounds? I'll have to start weighing myself, haha

Maternity Clothes: I got a belly band this weekend and that's been pretty nice since I can't button my pants anymore! But now I want to show off my little bump, so I'm not wearing as loose fitting shirts as I was the last two weeks. 

Sleep: I try to go to bed early, and most nights I wake up to use the bathroom. 

Best moment of the week: Sharing the big news with the rest of the world! It was so fun to get all the phone calls, texts, and comments of congratulations and excitement. 

Miss anything?: Coffee! I have avoided it for the first trimester, but I'm going to ask our doctor at our appointment this wednesday if it's ok to start drinking it again. 

Movement: Not that I can feel yet!

Food cravings: This one has been different every week! This week, I'm loving breakfast smoothies. My nutri bullet is once again my best friend ;) 

Symptoms: A little nausea, but nothing too bad. I'm not as tired as I was for the last few months. I have had a little dizzy episodes once or twice, but mostly I've been getting the pregnancy headaches. 

Looking forward to: Our 12 week ultrasound! It's this wednesday!! 

Intentions

I had intentions to post much more on this blog. I was hoping to write about our preparations for the trip, give details about the locations we are visiting, and just general updates each week before the trip. However, as many of you know, those plans were cut short last week when Martin had his motorcycle accident. Thankfully, God protected him from major injuries, and Martin is healing very well. He had surgery on his left wrist last week, and his abrasions are becoming less and less painful as they continue to heal quickly. As a result of Martin's accident, he has been unable to work, and my days have consisted of changing his gauze and cleaning his wounds, calling health insurance and trying to understand medical bills, calling his motorcycle insurance and dealing with selling the bike to Progressive, and many other little errands and chores. Because of this, my intentions to keep up with the blog have been put on hold. And it hit me today that we have only a week and two days before we leave for Argentina.
And yes, we are still able to go to Argentina. That has been one of the biggest questions when we explain Martin's accident: "are you still going on your trip?" Along with the question, "are you keeping the bike?!" which we laugh at, because that was the first thing Martin said he was getting rid of when I visited him in the Emergency Room. God has been gracious towards us in that while we have dealt with the incredible stress of the repercussions from Martin's accident, we have been surrounded by incredible support and love from all of our family and friends. Visits from friends bringing Subway sandwiches and Red's barbecue dinner, grocery shopping trips when I've been caught up at home, and keeping Martin company while I'm off at work. God has been rapidly healing Martin's body, and we were blessed by Dr.Raven's surgical skills and being able to get surgery in so quickly. It has been a test of our trust in God in so many ways, but I believe that this has strengthened our trust in ways that we did not anticipate. He is faithful to continue to draw us closer to Himself, and refine us as we become more and more like Him.

Only one more week! Can you believe it?!

Blessings,

Ali

Give thanks to the LORD

The Psalms are FULL of lyrics speaking of giving thanks to God! Over and over again, you will see the words "give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!" and, "Give thanks to His Lord, praise His holy name!", and "His steadfast love endures forever!" We have so many reasons to praise God, and it is so important that we remember to do so. When we thank Him, not only are we praising Him for His good works, but we are reminding OURSELVES that He cares for us, provides for us, and loves us!
Today we are doing just that since earlier today we got the email from Encompass that we are FULLY FUNDED for our trip to Argentina!! It has been so incredibly exciting to see who God used to support us, and how quickly this came to pass! We had anticipated a deficit in our expenses upon our return (that was when the trip needed to be paid for fully), and God chose instead to provide fully for us in just one month!! 


To end this post, I want to leave some verses from one of my favorite Psalms that speaks of thanksgiving to God:


"I will extol you, my God and King, and bless your name forever and ever. Every day I will bless you and praise your name forever and ever. Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts. On the glorious splendor of your majesty, and on your wondrous works, I will meditate. . . All your works shall give thanks to you, O LORD, and all your saints shall bless you! They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom and tell of your power, to make known to the children of man your mighty deeds, and the glorious splendor of your kingdom."  - Psalm 145:1-5, 10-12

Yard Sale Success!

Happy Sunday everyone! I am currently nursing a pretty bad sunburn on my neck and shoulders from my time in the sun yesterday, but other than that, I am ECSTATIC to share with you about our yard sale the other day!
Martin's mom, Brenda, offered to host a yard sale for us a few weeks back to raise money for our trip. We were both thankful for her offer and excited to see how God would provide. I was praying that we would make $100, maybe $200 from this yard sale. I had even shared with some friends a few days before the yard sale that I was just hoping for a small success, and my friend Karrah had prayed that God would provide in a major way through the sale. From that, I was thinking, maybe we could get to $500. And even that seemed like a long shot to me!
We had so many wonderful friends and neighbors donate items to the yard sale, so much that when I showed up Saturday morning, I didn't recognize about 85% of the stuff that was in Brenda's front yard! We were beyond blessed by the amount of furniture, brand-new, and gently-used items that were donated.  We were told by many of the people who came by that ours was the best yard sale in town that day!
And now, the most exciting part of this update: God took my meager request for a couple hundred, and blessed us immensely by bringing in $1,640!!!! That's more than 1/4 of our total expenses for our trip! God really likes to take our simple requests of trust and provision and show up in BIG ways!!
The majority of our total amount came from Brenda selling her hardwood flooring. I was skeptical at first that anyone would be coming to a garage sale looking for hardwood flooring, but one of Brenda's neighbors knew of a friend who was looking for some, and called up his buddy to come over and check it out. Since it was brand-new, still in the box, and we were selling it for less than half the price of what you would buy at Home Depot, we sold $930 worth to the guy!! And it was a blessing to him in return, as he was originally unable to afford hardwood flooring. His wife was so happy, she cried when he brought it home. Isn't it exciting how God works?!
We are so thankful to everyone who donated items, prayed for our yard sale, and came by! God took the biggest amount I envisioned possible from the yard sale and TRIPLED IT. And I am convinced that this is a direct result of so many of you praying for a succesful sale. Thank you all! We are thrilled to say that after this yard sale, we will be at 75% of our funding!! God is good!

Blessings,

Ali