Friday, February 26, 2010

consignment #1

It's Friday once again and I'm grateful for the close to another week. Last night Jonah and I went to a baby consignment sale we had signed up for months ago. It arrived so quickly it made us realize how quickly time is going by- our baby will be here before we know it. But we had signed up early so we could go to the special- New moms shop early day, that is open the night before the regular sale. It was so much fun, and we walked away with some great deals! I found some sleepers, onesies, a pair of shoes, a couple of older age outfits (too cute, who can beat a three piece outfit for $3?), some hooded towels, a really nice receiving blanket, socks, a brand new breast pump (the brand I had wanted in my BB book! retails for $40, I got for $10), a couple of maternity clothes for cheap- great for spring, a collection of 3 brand new 'baby' cd's that have classical music, Babywise($1), and Jonah also found a tool set by Melissa and Doug, and a nice french easle w/ folded stool for $9- can't beat that, random too! He's convinced our son will be an artist :) I will have to post some pictures of the adorable things we found. I loved looking through the clothes, and thought about our little tiny baby in them. We tried to look for some bigger things like a dresser, but my goodness you have to get their early and quickly scope out your finds before they are taken away. Those ladies are fast at those sales!!! We are fortunate to live in such a metropolitan area where there a quite a few baby consignment sales around here. I am signed up for 2 more, one being next Thursday another in the spring. There's yet another one near our home on Saturday. I know we won't have a problem getting what we need. Which is the important part what we need and not all the wants. We have friends that have been so generous with their own supplies- we now have 3 bouncy seats, two bathtubs, a bassinet, 2 pack and plays (we bought our own off Craigslist) and many more things acquired by the generosity of others. One of our friends just drove over with a carload of stuff ready to give away to us!
I truly am thankful for friends and families generosity and how much God continues to provide for us. It's so much fun to shop consignment though, it's like finding hidden treasures and the feeling of getting such a bargain is worth it.
Hopefully I can post some pics soon...but we'll see! Busy weekend ahead working with our youth group.
Happy Friday!

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Classes

It's been a busy couple of weeks for us. Our Bradley (birthing) class we've been taking has been on an accelerated schedule because our instructor has an unplanned surgery on March 1. The good news is we get all 12 sessions of our class done earlier, the bad news is we've been busy at class 3 times a week. But it's not really bad news, just keepin' us busy. We have really really enjoyed them too. I don't know why more couples don't take Bradley. I know having a natural birth is like a bad word to some people, but the classes have been the most informative and interesting thing....I couldn't possibly have learned all of it by reading a few books or talking with friends. I think just knowing about the pros and cons to all the procedures and things that happen in labor and at the hospital has given us a peace about everything. Giving birth is no small task and it's such a fearful thing to a lot of women, which is why they schedule a c-section automatically or don't even consider going drugless.
I'm not closing my mind to natural vs. medicated, I understand that circumstances arise that may require an epidural or a c-section. But my own personal decision leaves me with a peace. I think the greatest mistake we make going into the hospital is not being informed and just leaving it up to the medical staff to make the best decision. When it comes to your own family I think you should try to learn as much as you can.
Granted this comes with prayer and careful consideration, since some people get so overwhelmed at all the info out there. This class helped us narrow down and focus on what we needed to. It's amazing how many websites, magazines, books- and advice from other moms can make your head spin.
So we are on our last classes now and it's kind of sad. It's been fun getting to know the other couples that are going through the same experience and talking with them and sharing the same fears or doubts.
I do hope to stay in touch with them as they go through their own birth stories. I think we have found some new friends.
It's a journey, going through a pregnancy. Our vocabulary has already changed, and we are familiar with things we never talked about before- like onesies, safety ratings on carseats, latching on, first stage, transition, second stage, hep-lock, intermittent monitoring, boppies, slings, ultimate crib sheet, receiving blankets...and the list goes on.
I can look back and see how much we've learned in these 6 months, and we've 3 more to go! I am so thankful God allows us this time period to learn and grow together and that we don't just have a baby in a week's time. I'm having so much fun learning about things, and it only makes me more excited to meet this little boy who's been kicking and twisting around. I just want to say- "We are learning these things for you little guy!"

Monday, February 22, 2010

Registering

I didn't realize it would take so long. It was fun though. Baby registering. I am not sure what the time frame is for when you are supposed to register but I'm so glad we did at this point in the pregnancy. I am at 6 months now and my energy lately has been in leaps and bounds. I get what I think is little sleep in the night but still wake up early ready to go! Jonah mentioned to me as we were out trekking through the stores- you are definitely in your second trimester!
But we got up early Saturday- well I did anyways. And we got to Babies R us at around 10 or so. I thought we'd be done in a couple hours....well three hours later we finished. Then we headed to Target to register for a few things there too.
It was fun though! My poor hubby did an intense leg workout the day before though, so he suffered through sore stiff legs with all the walking we did. But he got to 'shoot' the items with the little gun, so I know he had fun- and even surprised me with some interesting items on our registry (we deleted later).
It helped that we did have a pretty good list of things we needed as opposed to just randomly wandering around all the millions of baby items and scanning anything and everything. We tried to pick things we really needed but we did do a few fun items, like little teeny infant booties with rattles on them, too cute.
Overall it was a lot of fun, regardless of how long it took. And we were so glad we went early, by the time we were leaving it was hopping with screaming kids and pregnant moms- the reason I don't really like to go there usually ever.
So it's nice to have that done, and as I was saying I'm glad we did it at this point in the pregancy because of my energy- I can't imagine being huge and getting swollen feet and walking around for hours in the store, I can imagine that would be exhausting.
Now onto everything else that needs to be done....no problem. I can hardly believe it's already the end of February!

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Bedding

I have been looking up various bedding options for our little boy and granted we don't have a crib yet, it never hurts to look! I had an idea of what I'd like and of course it would come from an expensive boutique, with high end fabrics. I'm not a big puppy dog, Disney character, animation and choo choo train kinda gal, I don't like 'themes' really at all. I guess it's the designer in me, I like a more versatile grown up style overall. So when I found this bedding I realize it is a theme. I'm still not going for a theme, but I love the colors in this bedding, and I love the mobile, because it's all whales-one of my favorite things.
So here are some photos of it- I think we will add it to our registry for now since we don't have our crib yet!


Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Thanks

I had a funny thing happen to me this morning. As I was leaving the bathroom I glanced in the mirror and to my horror my skirt was tucked up behind me. Did you ever have the humiliation of walking around with your skirt tucked in? I don't think I've ever actually left the bathroom like that, so I was very grateful indeed that I caught it in the nick of time. Thanks Lord, for sparing me the humiliation of walking around campus like that!

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Happy VDay

Well today was an interesting Saturday. I was so excited to go out clothes shopping for some necessary items. But instead I was slowed down a bit by a harsh pain on my back. I'm okay now, but I think it was the position of our little boy, I think he was laying on my spine. It was pretty painful and uncomfortable, but I'm thankful he's moved over now!
I did get to make the trip out to the mall and ended up shopping at Motherhood Maternity. I've had friends tell me to go with more generic items, but in the end it came down to shopping there or ordering online. Boo, who wants to wait and pay shipping?
I'm at 24 weeks now too, and feeling more and more moving around with this little one. I think it's the most reassuring thing to feel him kicking when my mind is elsewhere.
We also made it out to visit our friends whose little boy had the surgery I mentioned earlier. They are doing okay considering the week it's' been, and their little boy is quite a trooper. Hopefully they can come home in the next couple days.
As for Valentines, we are going to just enjoy some quality time together with dinner and probably a movie. Guess where we're eating? Cracker Barrel! I'm such an old fogey for liking it there, but it's really very cozy, and they have a fireplace. I do enjoy the food too, very home style.
So we are going out tonight to avoid all those couples that will be out tomorrow- I'm not a big crowds person. I'm just thankful to go on a date with my sweet love, and I'm looking forward to a nice relaxing evening!
Have a very special valentines day with your sweetheart!

Friday, February 12, 2010

snow

We had a treat today in Ga, snow! Jonah and I even ventured out to buy groceries, which was pretty funny considering how many people were there 'stocking up'. You'd think we were having a foot of snow, but it was really only a few inches. Just enough to be pretty :) It's still snowing a little out there, gentle little flakes. It's so nice to be home and cozy and warm. Looking forward to a relaxing long weekend together.

Monday, February 8, 2010

Blessed

Here we are at the start of another week. It's sure to be a busy one with funeral details and such. But we do have a short week- with Friday and Monday off, it will be nice to have a long weekend. This past weekend we also made another Craigslist purchase. It was for a brand new, still in the box Graco pack 'n play with bassinet and changing station on it. I had researched which brand I wanted in our handy little Baby Bargains book and decided on this brand. It's really nice and we got it for less than half the retail price. A blessing too since we wanted one that would be a good fit for our apartment, and it's small enough to fit in our room. This time I can say the trip was worth it to pick it up!
I posted pics of it on Facebook for my friends on there.
But it's nice to get another item off the list. Little by little things are accumulating for the baby and it makes me excited to meet this little guy and to see him in his bed, and with his clothes on. Then again, I can wait until then since I don't think I'm really ready yet! All in time, yes all in time. I'm glad God times these things out and not me! I don't know if I can ever say I'm ready for a baby, but who can?
Life will be busy busy this week, so I wanted to drop a post before it gets to be another week.
Also for any praying warrior out there, please pray for Nic. He is the son of our youth pastor and he is scheduled for surgery tomorrow to remove his large intestine. He's suffered from intestinal colitis for the past year and it's gotten to the point of no other option but surgery. He is only 9 and I know it was with much prayer and thought that his parents had to make this decision. Please lift them up if you think of them.
Have a blessed and wonderful week.

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Grandpa




















Yesterday we made a trip up to visit Jonah's family. We had heard his Grandpa wasn't doing well, and after debating about making the trip next weekend, we decided to go this weekend and stay for the day. Due to his age (90), Jonah's Grandpa has had many times where his health has gone downhill, but he's always recovered. This time he had fallen into a deep sleep, and they were saying he probably wouldn't wake up. On our drive down there, we talked about how we hoped he would pull out of it, half way thinking he would given his history. We would love for our son to meet his great Grandpa.
We arrived there in the late afternoon and it was a big group of us that gathered at his Grandparents house, all family, including a new girlfriend of Jonah's younger brother. After several hours, we decided to run out for some food at a nearby restaurant- to pick it up and bring it back. It took a long time to nail down everyones order, and a few of us were going to go pick it up. Right when we were stepping into the van to leave, we were called back to the house- Grandpa wasn't doing well.
It was within moments that he passed away. And we were all there.
Grandpa lived at home with his wife right until his last day. She took care of him with so much love and attention, it was wonderful he never had to be admitted to a nursing home. It was a peaceful way to meet Jesus, passing in his sleep like he did.
With sadness we say goodbye to a wonderful loving man, full of spunk, and now we face the emptiness that his life leaves behind. It's always sad to say goodbye, but yet joyful to know he is in heaven with Jesus now. Please pray for the family as they are all close, and it's never easy to go through the grieving process.
We will miss you Grandpa Great! But we are also jealous of your life now- rejoicing with Jesus!!

Thursday, February 4, 2010

baby things

Tiny little hands tiny little feet, my oh my to think how you will fill these little things.






God is Awesome

I may have mentioned this a while ago, but before work in the mornings (twice a week), Jonah and I have been viewing a series called True U by Focus on the Family- a 19 week series that proves the existence of God in science. It's hosted by one of the science teachers at work and so interesting. Packed with so much knowledge it can sometimes be hard to follow along, but I seem to walk away each time with some new understanding. This morning we learned about cells, and dna and how they are so intricately woven and formed. It's AMAZING to say the least. At the end of the series we watched a small video that is on Youtube that is a digital rendering of what it takes to make one cell. One cell.
Did you know our bodies are made up of trillions of cells? Watching this video and the intricacy of the formation of one teeny tiny cell is mind blowing.
Here is the video link if you are interested in seeing it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOnMU2bAbJI
I am amazed that God can make something so small soooo intricate and mind boggling. Scientists are not able to understand the 'blueprints' to recreate these on their own. I wonder why? Ha, that makes me laugh a little. I fully believe God created us, right down to the tiniest of cells. I don't know why some scientists still seek to prove another way as to how we were created.
I wonder why God did create us with sooo much intricacy. Just like I wonder why He created many many many galaxies. Not just the one little one we live in, but multiple upon multiple ones. He must really enjoy details and beauty. It kind of makes me think about my own life and how much attention I pay to details.
How awesome is our God?