Surprise Presents from My Daughter

You know that Ross likes to leave me little presents and surprises here and there. Like this time, this time, and this time. Theses surprises aren't big, but they are things I like - cards, Hershey's bars, Sweetarts, flowers, just all those little things that make life fun.

Well last week was a slightly rough pregnancy week. My morning sickness was back most all week and I just did not feel good in the mornings. I can home Thursday afternoon to find this waiting for me on our bed:

I thought for sure it was from my husband, but it turns out, it was really from my daughter! :) Ross was so good to help Lucy get me my favorite candy and a card thanking me for carrying her all these months, even when it makes me sick. It was such a nice surprise!

I'm so glad Lucy has received this trait from her Daddy!

The Bump Part 4 . . . Weeks 22-26

Lucy is really starting to grow as you can see from these pictures!

22 weeks

23 weeks

23 weeks

24 weeks. Like the sticker?!

25 weeks...love this shirt!

26 weeks...holy cow, there's a baby in there!

Pregnancy Perks

Need I say more?

Hungry Much?

I have been SO hungry and eating a lot this week. I am actually quite happy about this because for a while I thought I'd never really be able to eat. Feeling sick and eating just did not go together well.

I work Monday-Frday, 8am-4:30pm, so have to plan ahead for snacking. Before I was pregnant I'd have a few snacks at my desk, but not many. Each day I'd bring a bag with my lunch and usually an apple to have as an afternoon snack. Well, that bag started getting loaded up with more food when I got pregnant...crackers, cheese, peanuts. I started snacking more during the day and this week and started snacking even more during the day. So much so that a Walmart bag just wouldn't cut it for all of my snacks this week. I had to get out my reusable shopping bag to bring all of my snacks to work this week:

Milk and cereal (much easier to just bring a half a gallon of milk instead of a little bowl of it each day), crackers, an apple, candy (gotta have candy, especially Brachs cherry jube jel hearts now that it's Valentine's season!), coke, cheese, toaster strudel, hot chocolate, cookies...I think that about covers it all!

You know the old saying, "If mom ain't happy, ain't nobody happy," well for me right now that saying should really be, "If Lucy ain't happy, Libby's tummy ain't happy," and I want to do everything possible to avoid that scenario!

Cleaning The Inside of My Pot

I heard a kind of unusual sermon for the Christmas season on the Sunday before Christmas that I really liked and wanted to share. I heard this almost three weeks ago now, so I hope I remember all of my thoughts correctly.

The sermon was over the following passage, Luke 11:37-41, NIV.

Woes on the Pharisees and the Experts in the Law

When Jesus had finished speaking, a Pharisee invited him to eat with him; so he went in and reclined at the table. But the Pharisee was surprised when he noticed that Jesus did not first wash before the meal.

Then the Lord said to him, “Now then, you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You foolish people! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? But now as for what is inside you—be generous to the poor, and everything will be clean for you. 

This is the sermon we heard on December 23, just two days before Christmas. If you are like me, on that day you would have expected to hear a message about Mary, the baby Jesus, the Angel, the shepherds keeping watch, or any other typical Christmas passage in the Bible. The pastor even admitted at the beginning of the sermon that this wasn't a typical Christmas message. As much as I love a traditional Christmas message, I am very thankful to have heard this message as it has inspired me for this new year.

In the story, the Pharisees were upset that Jesus did not wash before the meal. They were just too concerned with his outward appearance that they didn't realize there's more to him than just washing before a meal. Jesus was by far much more cleaner on the inside than they were, but they didn't see that. They just couldn't look past his outward appearance.

The pastor used the example of a baking pot that was shined and spotless on the outside. It was a beautiful pot on the outside, but the inside was a different story. Cleaning the inside had been neglected and it was dirty, rusty, and just plain nasty looking. You would definitely not want to cook anything in it again unless it was thoroughly cleaned.

I wonder how many of us are like this pot? Everything on our outside looks shiny and clean. We wear the right clothes, say the right things, go to the right places, etc. We just all around look good. If our insides were turned outside, would that shininess disappear?

Sadly, I have to admit that my insides are probably not as pretty looking and shiny as I would like and here's why: As I was sitting in church listening to this sermon, I was thinking that I'm pretty clean on the outside and inside, so naturally I started making a mental list of all the people who I thought greatly needed to hear this message, much more than I did, so they could focus on cleaning the inside of their pot! Then it dawned on me, that I probably needed a good inside cleaning just as much, if not more, than those people on my list!

That sermon has stuck with me and this year I plan on giving the inside of my pot a thorough, deep clean. What about you? Does the inside of your pot need cleaning?

24 Weeks And Counting!

I am now 24 weeks and 5 days along with my pregnancy. We had a doctor's visit last Friday and everything with me and the baby checked out okay. The appointment didn't take very long at all. The doctor said the baby's heart rate and measurements are right on where they should be for 24 weeks, so that is good!

I also had to do a blood glucose test last Friday to determine if I have gestational diabetes. For this test I had to drink 12 ounces of a highly sugared drink. An hour after drinking it my blood was drawn to see how my body processed all of the sugar in the drink. If I did not pass this test, I would need to go back in for a longer, 3-hour test. The doctor said they would call me if I needed to come back in for the longer test, and so far I haven't heard anything from the doctor's office so hopefully I passed it!

I have been feeling m-u-c-h- better lately and I haven't tossed anything back up since December 22. I am very proud of this! Going from throwing up 2-3 times a week and not feeling good most mornings to not throwing up at all and waking up feeling "normal" is such a welcome change!

Ross and I registered for all sorts of fun items for Lucy on New Year's Day. This started out as an overwhelming task, but we got the hang of it and I think have everything we'll need on the registry. We registered at Babies R Us and Target, with the majority of items being from Babies R Us.

My sister gave me the bassinet and swing she used for her kids and I put the bassinet together yesterday. I dressed up Lucy's teddy bear in one of the little dresses we bought her and put the bear in the bassinet, right next to my bed as a "surprise" for Ross.

The next few months will be filled with getting things ready at our house and getting Lucy's room ready, along with showers and baby classes. Hopefully that will pass the time quickly, as I'm really looking forward to meeting this little girl and seeing who she looks like! If wives tales are true, she should have LOTS of hair based on all the heartburn I have!