The last two weeks of July were super busy for me. I was so excited that my sister, Amy, was able to visit from Germany with my two nieces. (Last summer she tried to fly military space available, going to the airport every day with the two girls, but she was not able to get a flight. She finally got here with her husband, although it was two days before they needed to fly to Texas for a wedding.) This year, they bought tickets so that she could be sure to get here, and she was here for two weeks. It was so great to hang out with her, to see how grown up my 6-year-old niece, Jordan, is getting, and to see my 21-month-old niece, Ava, and how her personality is developing.

In addition to Amy and the girls being here, I also had my 4-D sonogram, my maternity photo shoot, and a baby shower, all back-to-back. I was absolutely exhausted after that weekend, but it was such a great time! Here are some of my favorite pictures of each of these.

When these ultrasound pictures were taken, I was 30 weeks. We had both of our moms there, and Amy got to come, too. It's so cool to get this glimpse of what the baby looks like. So much better than the traditional sonogram (although those are exciting, too). We thought that Emery is going to look a lot like Ava. But I am starting to see a combination of the two of us, which is what I would want, anyway. Of course, until we see her in person, I guess we still won't know for sure. I love this last picture, where she's smiling. Jason is hoping that means that she will be lighthearted. I guess we'll see.

My maternity photos were taken by Jason's brother, Justin. I think they're awesome. I wanted to go to University of Tampa to take them, because it has such a great building. He also suggested taking some in Emery's room with his backdrop. I'm glad we were able to do both. As you can see, it was raining when we were at UT, but it really didn't affect our pictures at all. This last one is one of my favorites, and we were pretty much finished. Justin asked me was there anything else that I wanted. The only thing we hadn't taken a picture of was the minarets in the background. When I told Justin that was the only other thing I really wanted, he walked out into the park to find a good shot. I think this was perfect! Here is a link to Justin's website (he lives in Orlando). www.jmikl.com

The next day was my family baby shower at my in-laws' house. It was great, and we got a lot of stuff. I was absolutely exhausted after that, though. I was trying to get more pictures of that shower up, but at the rate I'm going, I'm afraid I'll have the baby before I post my next entry, so I'm going to have to wait. At least here are some of the family from that day.

This Old House

I'm going to brag about my husband a little bit. My last post touched on this. He is very handy, and I really don't think I knew this when we got married. It didn't take that long for me to find out, though. A few months after we got married, we bought my grandparents' house, where they had lived since my dad was first born. From the day they moved out, Jason started renovations. Three weeks later we moved in.

Kitchen before

This was back in December 2006 and January 2007. Here are some before, during, and after pictures. In the kitchen, Jason tore out the cabinets and hung the replacements. We took up the linoleum flooring (I helped with this, and so did my mom), and then hired someone to do the counter tops and the tile floor. Also, Jason redid the plumbing (with some guidance from his dad, but he did it all on his own). My uncle also painted the entire interior.

Kitchen before

Old Kitchen Cabinets

Cabinets are gone, sink removed

Working on getting the old flooring up

New tile floor

New cabinets with counter top

Old bathroom

In the bathroom, Jason took out that old flooring and the old tile walls. The same new tile for the kitchen was also used for the bathroom floor and shower walls. We also replaced the sink.

Jason is standing on the ground underneath our house. This was after taking all of the old flooring out.

New tile wall (and new window, because Jason accidentally busted it when he was chipping out the tile)

New sink and painted walls

Living room before

In the living room, Jason took up the old carpet, and we had our flooring guys put down wood flooring instead. (There was wood underneath the old carpet, but there had been some termite damage, so it ended up being less expensive to replace it.)

Living room before

New wood floor in living room

Living room with the furniture

Master bedroom before

 In the bedrooms we put carpet in, and we replaced the carpet that was in the Florida room.

Master bedroom with carpet

Master bedroom with furniture

Back bedroom before (my grandfather made that wardrobe)\

Back bedroom with carpet

Florida room before

Florida room with carpet and painted walls

Florida room with furniture

Florida room with furniture

Old awnings, windows, and door

So, that was all a few years ago, like I said. The furniture or arrangement of the rooms have changed a bit, but it's been the same basic idea. The only thing we hadn't done anything to, was the outside of the house. Jason had done some landscaping, some of which lasted, and some didn't, due to drought or freezing temps. But, once we knew we were having a baby, Jason was ready to replace all of the windows, paint the house, and replace our door. So, he and his dad have been doing a lot of work in the last three months. They are through with most of it, so I'm posting some more of those pictures.

Old awnings, windows, and door

Finished exterior renovations (we've had bad luck with our grass)

So lots of pictures in this post, but I so appreciate how handy my husband is, and his willingness to work in the evenings and weekends to have finished this project after his long, tiring days of work.

I can't forget to mention that one day a few weeks ago, he was home sick from work. When I came home, the baby's room was painted. We rented a carpet cleaner and cleaned our carpets a couple of weeks ago. Then Jason and I put together the crib. The next day, while we were at our childbirth prep class, Jason's parents had put all of the bedding on, and hung the curtains. (His mom made the curtain part to help block the sunlight.) Then, last weekend, my parents bought our glider, and we were able to pick it up and get that set up. It is so comfortable! So Emery's room isn't finished yet, but we've got a good start on it.

And just an update...at my 20 week sonogram they said that my placenta was positioned low, which would have meant a C-section if it didn't correct itself (which it often does). So I had another sonogram at 28 weeks, and they said that everything looked good, and the placenta was no longer low. So, that's good. Here's a sweet picture of Emery.

26 weeks

So today I'm at 26 weeks, and I can tell I'll be getting into the 3rd trimester soon. All of the things I've read refer to the 2nd trimester as the golden age of pregnancy. You typically are over the "morning" sickness and you aren't so big that you're uncomfortable. For the last few weeks, off and on, I've noticed some swelling in my feet. I thought maybe I needed to limit my sodium, because I realized I was eating things with quite a bit of sodium, so I thought maybe that was causing me to retain more water. But even today, my feet were swollen. I know it's normal, but now I'm starting to get nervous about just how big I'll end up getting. Most people say with a girl you gain all over. Great. I've also been hearing from more people lately that they think I am pretty big for how far along I am. This was all of a sudden, as for a while I was hearing how small I looked. I know everyone's pregnancy is different, but I do try to compare when I see others' pictures. But I guess all that matters is whether the baby is healthy, right? But I'm also starting to feel just slight discomforts. I feel like it's the beginning of all that you hear, and everyone's ready to get the baby out of them. Well, we'll just see what happens.

I'm almost finished with work for the summer. I go in on Monday, which is my last day. Then I'll be able to focus more on preparing for Emery. I have a lot to look forward to in the summer. There are a couple of showers planned, I'll be having a couple more sonograms, I've scheduled a maternity shoot with my brother-in-law, and we'll be going to the beach for a weekend with Jason's family. But best of all, my sister and nieces are visiting from Germany. She'll be here for one of my showers, and I just can't wait. Last summer she was trying to get here, but ended up only in town for a couple of days before she had to go to Texas for a wedding. But this time, they've bought a ticket rather than fly space available, so it's pretty much certain. So that will be nice to be out of school and get to hang out with them while they're here.

I'm also hoping to get a little more exercise in over the summer. I keep saying I plan to live in my parents' pool. It just sounds so refreshing, especially considering how hot it will be this summer. I keep hoping I can keep my weight gain to a reasonable amount. So far I have, but this week, I've noticed the numbers are starting to creep up a little higher than I'd like. Here is my 26 week belly.

26 weeks

I guess it really isn't that big after all. I have been getting on the elliptical, but not as much as I probably should. It's just when my feet swell, my shoes hurt them, and it's not that comfortable. That's another thing about the pool. I keep reading that swimming is a good exercise when you're pregnant, so I'm looking forward to that.

I'm still enjoying feeling Emery move. I usually feel her the most when I'm laying in bed, but lately I've been feeling her at other times, too. Jason finally felt her, too. Well, when I pointed it out, he said he'd been feeling that for a while now, so I guess he just didn't realize it was her when I asked if he had felt her.

So we have been doing more house renovations. Well, really, Jason and his dad have. They painted the house, put in a new door, and are putting in new windows. They've done most of the rooms' windows, the last one is our Florida room, which has 9 windows. But it looks really good. I'll have to post more when all of the windows are in, but this is the idea.

I am thankful for a handy husband and the help of his dad. They've done a good job!

Oh-one more baby-related thing. We take our childbirth prep class on Saturday. I'm kind of looking forward to it, just to know more about what to expect when the baby is born. So that's where things are right now. All in all, pretty good!

This year so far...

Most of the people who actually read this blog are my friends in real life and/or on facebook, so this shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone, but I'm pregnant. I wanted to capture more of my thoughts about this then I'm able to on facebook. I also figure I'll have more to write about now that I'm having a baby, so that may be good for keeping up with this blog. (I feel like all of my posts lately have been talking about how long it's been since I last blogged.) Needless to say, that is what most of my year has consisted of, so here's the scoop:

Jason and I were finally comfortable with the idea of trying to have a child. We wanted to try to time it as close to the end of the school year as possible (as if we're in control of that), so I would have the summer break as a built-in maternity leave. Once we passed that, I knew that we would conceive whenever God wanted us to, so I was just excited to see when it would happen. There is this song that Prestonwood Choir sings, which I love ("God (You Are My God)"). The words start, "Oh, Thou who knowest my beginning, Thou who created the plan. Who orchestrated my life's journey, God, you are my God." (I love the concept of God orchestrating things in my life, hence the title of this blog.) Anyway, I kept thinking about how God would know my baby's beginning, even before I knew of it. How cool is that?

In the middle of January, I started to suspect that I may be pregnant. I had been tracking my temperature, and based on that, I was thinking that I may be. I told Jason that I was planning to take a pregnancy test the next day. So on the morning of January 16, I got up and took the test. It immediately flashed the word "pregnant." Gulp. Now, even though I had been wanting this for a few months now, I think I sort of felt like, "Oh, no, it really happened." Not that I didn't want it or anything, I think all of a sudden all of these nerves and fears shot through me. I went back to bed, where Jason was, and I just said, "I am." All he said was, "You are?" It was surreal. Of course, once we got up, he immediately modified the budget for this year. We also moved some of the furniture out of the baby's room. (That is definitely one of Jason's strengths--he gets things done right away.)

My original plan was that I didn't want to tell anyone, not even our parents, that we were pregnant until I was 12 weeks. Partly to make it to the "safer" time, and partly to do something creative to tell them. Well, the more the day went on, I just wanted to be able to share the news with them. So we decided to call our parents and tell them our news. Of course, they were so excited. And I probably wouldn't have been able to get done the creative way of letting them know anyway.

One of the main things that I remember thinking at that point was that I knew things were going to totally change, even though I didn't fully comprehend how. Also, I knew my body was going to totally transform, in a way I couldn't imagine. It was weird knowing that something was in there and not coming out until after all these huge changes occurred. And even then, things would never be like they were before. From what I've read, that's totally a normal feeling. Of course, there's excitement, but there's a lot of fear of the unknown, too.

Soon after I found out I was pregnant, I already started to feel queasy. That is definitely not the fun part of being pregnant. I'd say my "morning" sickness (which was pretty constant) lasted for about 6 to 8 weeks. Thankfully, I was not one of the minority who are sick throughout their whole pregnancy.

It didn't fully hit me, though, until my 8-week sonogram, the first peek we had at our baby. As soon as I saw that picture and realized that that was inside me, it was just a weird feeling. I did tear up, especially knowing that the baby was measuring at the appropriate size. It was at that point that I let my friends know and announced it on facebook. Before that point, I had figured we were having a boy, but after seeing the little peanut picture, I started thinking of the baby more as a girl. By the time we found out, I was pretty sure it was a girl.

First photo of the baby

I was so excited for my mother-in-law to find out, because since she has 2 sons and a grandson, she was itching to have a granddaughter. We had had an early peek from my friend and former roommate, and although she didn't give us a definitive, she was pretty sure that it was a girl. We didn't tell people at that point, but waited until my 16-week sonogram. My mother-in-law, Barbara, was there for that. It was funny, because when the scan first started, she was referring to the baby as "he." She told Jason, "I think he has your foot." Then, when the tech said she was leaning toward a girl, Barbara said, "What?!" She asked us if that's what Debra told us. When we said it was, she gave out a little scream. Jason joked that everyone at the doctor's office knew what we were having. It was so fun to see, though!

It's a girl! (16 weeks)

 

We've decided on the name Emery Elizabeth. We've actually had the name for about 4 and a half years. Jason's grandfather was named Emory. It's also Jason's middle name. He told me about 6 months after we were married that he wanted to use the name Emory for either a boy or a girl. I've always wanted to use Elizabeth for a middle name, since that's my grandmother's first name (she goes by her middle name, though.) So when he said that, I immediately thought Emery Elizabeth would be such a pretty name. So I've been hoping for over 4 years that we would have a girl so that I could use this name. And sure enough, that's what we're getting!

16 week profile. Isn't she cute?

As we get our nursery together more, I'll update and post more pictures on here. I'm now at 23 weeks, and I'm definitely a lot more ready for these changes. I know I'm not fully prepared. I hear you never really are, though. But I can't wait to see what she looks like, which of us she favors, what her personality is going to be, and all of that. Within the last week I've been feeling her move a lot more, which is really cool, as everyone has told me. Then last week, I read these verses from Psalm 139:13-16. I've heard them for years, but they definitely take on a different meaning now. "You made my whole being; you formed me in my mother's body. I praise you because you made me in an amazing and wonderful way. What you have done is wonderful. I know this very well. You saw my bones being formed as I took shape in my mother's body. When I was put together there, you saw my body as it was formed. All the days planned for me were written in your book before I was one day old." Again, knowing that God knows all of the days of Emery's life, already, even as she is still being formed inside of me, it's just really comforting. And amazing!