Trying

Well it has been almost 8 months since my last post! I am trying to figure all this stuff out. Balancing a baby and a 1 year old is hard constant work, caring for our home, taking care of the dogs, and staying on top of bills/finances is ALOT!

I am in the process of combining our blogs so you only have to go to one dot to get updates on our life and ministry. So hang in there and it will happen! And my goal is that it will not take 8 more months to get it together :).

While you wait check out Grace's food face :)

La La Lu Designs: The Beginning

La La Lu Designs: The Beginning: "I'm so excited for this little shop! La La Lu is really a huge answer to a long awaited prayer. Year's ago, right after I meet my hubby, I ..."

Blessings

This time last year I was laying on the couch with my feet propped up praying earnestly to God. I was 7 weeks pregnant and Luke and I had returned the weekend before from New Hampshire where we announced that we were expecting! The weekend was filled with tears of joy, baby shower planning, and great times with family and friends. Luke had just returned from spending two months in Haiti serving those who had been effected by the earthquake. We were so excited to finally be at a point in life where we could start trying for a baby, and it only took one time :). We were THRILLED! I had my first doctors appointment the Thursday before mother's day and got this sweet picture.....
We were told the baby had a strong heartbeat and looked great! Luke and I met with everyone at the doctor's office, signed all the paper work for the hospital when the time came, or if there was an emergency along the way, and even signed for our little boy (if that was the sex) to be circumcised. We laughed at how we were already making life changing decisions. We were in total bliss! I had my regular exam and was told that I may spot a little and not to worry.....well that spotting turned out to be A LOT to worry about. That night I was a mess because I knew something was not right. Friday things were the same, I worked but came home right after school instead of working the after school program that I ran. Luke told me to lay down and take a nap.... three hours later I woke up knowing that things were not ok. I blogged about the rest of the happenings from that night.... it was one of the worst things I had ever been through. That night (or early morning I should say) Luke and I found ourselves in the hospital ER room talking and crying when it was a little after midnight on Mother's Day the doctor came in and told us that we lost our baby. That I had already passed it and that I just needed to rest for the next couple days.

That Mother's Day was not the best, but I knew that it would not be my last. As I sit here reflecting on that sweet baby and the horrible heart ache it was to lose it, I look at what we have now. A year later I am snuggling a sweet baby girl who will be exactly one month old on Mother's Day :) How awesome to see where we were just one year ago, and where we are now! We serve an awesome merciful God, who answers prayers, listens to our cries, and blesses us beyond our understanding.

I hope those mommy's out there really understand the meaning and blessing of Mother's Day! I know that I do!

Good Day

I have been trying to get a handle on Grace's feeding schedule and I think we may have it down! I am enjoying her so much, and I think only another mother can understand the joy and love one has in their heart for their child. I just cannot put it into words. We had a great feeding and sleeping night last night, and started today off with a great nap :). Grace woke up with such energy that she was looking all around , making noises, and really enjoying some good daddy time. After her afternoon nap we had a great time playing on the floor, having tummy time, and reading lots of books. When we read books Grace looks right at the pictures like she is following along with me. It is precious! A couple times between yesterday and today I have been talking to her and it seems like she wants to smile. It is just a matter of time before she figures that out, and I cannot wait! Well, I kinda can, because that means she is growing up, and I want to just treasure every moment with her. What a blessing to have a child!

Make Way For Ducklings

Thursday Luke called me from work telling about all the fun creatures he was finding in his pools. At one of his pools he found two little ducklings swimming around. There was a third one, but it was sucked into the skimmer basket and died. It was really sad. The other two were swimming around, but Luke noticed that they couldn't get out of the pool. He sent me a picture of them and there looked so cute! I wanted him to bring them home so I could keep them, but he said he was going to check and make sure that they were not the owner's pets. He spoke to the lady who owned the house and she said they were not her pets, and that they have been in the pool for the last few days. Luke called me and I immediately began researching for a wildlife rehabilitation person in the area to tell us what we should do with them. While researching I found a wildlife rescue website and it gave me tons of info on what to do. Ducks are the only birds that can be handle by humans and still be accepted by their momma, and if they are orphaned (which in this case the momma duck could not get them out of the pool, so she left them there) you can put them with other ducks and they will adopt them and take care of them.

I called Luke and told him the info that I found and he decided that he would take them home, not for me to keep :(, but to put in a pond that is in a park near our house. The pond is home to a bagillion ducks...seriously, there are thousands of ducks there. He came home and after showing the cute little guys off to the neighbor kids we went to the park and let them run around to find a momma. At first they stood by Luke's feet, it was so cute!

They did not want to leave Luke. He was their hero!

They did eventually wonder around, but the other ducks pecked them to get them out of the way. It was really sad, but they did not seem to be bothered.

We waited for a while and fed the ducks to see if one of them would help these poor little ducklings, but no luck. I was starting to feel really sad (I think motherly hormones were taking over), I was ready to have Luke go buy a kiddie pool so I could keep them, take care of them, and be their momma. I was just about to talk (beg) Luke to take them home when two boys came over and asked us if we had any more bread. I told them we didn't and talked to them about the ducks when they pointed out the group of ducklings swimming down the pond. I was so excited to see them because they looked exactly like our little ducklings and that meant that there was a momma around! One of the ducklings jumped right into the pond and swam to the group, the other one was not sure what to do and ran the other way. Luke caught him and put him in the water. He swam to the group and then we couldn't tell which one was ours. It was neat to see them fit right in.

Luke went back yesterday to see if they were still ok, and it seemed that they were :) Yay, for being adopted!! Luke is a true hero :)

Happy Easter

Happy First Easter Grace!

Belly

I am not sure about pregnancy (as this is our first one), but life these past 8 months has been super busy and going by super fast! I had so many plans as far as exercising, reading tons of books, organizing life, and enjoying time with Luke before it's the three of us. So far only a few of those have happened. School for Luke is busy, school for me is crazy and sometimes I feel like I am doing all I can to stay on top of that never mind preparing for maternity leave. We moved to a house, and going through the whole packing all your stuff up and unpacking doesn't help too much in the organizing department. I feel like we are finally settled into our new home; the dogs are loving the big fenced in backyard, we have too much room, and even have an extra room for our baby girl! What a blessing! Luke is working and going to school, I am working, testing, baby sitting whenever I can, and so we are staying insanely busy!

All that to say, we have had four days off of school so far because of the freezing temps and ice here in TX. It has been wonderful to rest and get over this cold thing that I have and not have to call out of work! All that to say I am sitting here ordering wall decals for our sweet baby's room when I looked at my email and received the confirmation of our registration for the hospital when she is ready to make her appearance, and I look down at my belly and just sit quite for a moment. Soaking up the reality that I am pregnant and can feel as well as see the movement of our daughter inside me. I am almost 8 months pregnant!!!!! A dream since I was two to have a baby is happening right in front of me! I cannot believe how fast time is going, and I know she will be here before Luke and I know it. He is going to be an amazing dad, and sometimes I don't know what I am more excited for; to see her or see him seeing her for the first time!

I cannot wait!

Mental notes and meat loaf

I had the day off yesterday which was spent on curriculum work and washing the floors in our house. In our apartment I had to wash a little kitchen floor and a couple steps wide hallway. The rest of the apartment was carpet. In our house everything is hardwood floors, or tile except for the bedrooms. This makes for a lot of washing! It took me forever to wash the floors, but after they looked amazing and I was exhausted! Today we went back to school and it was nonstop. When I got home I was so tired I was starting to feel sick, so I chilled in bed for 20 minutes or so. I felt better and had to get going on dinner and making sure the dogs were fed because we had small group tonight. I started making hamburgers and realized that I had a ton of ground beef for hamburgers. I decided that I would make hamburgers for tonight's dinner and then make a meat loaf for tomorrow's dinner. I was excited because that means I didn't have to cook tomorrow (for the record Luke would do all of this if I wanted him to. I am not helpless yet..). :)

I don't know where my energy came from, but by the time I was done cooking I had made a meat loaf, hamburgers, egg salad, potatoes, and even fed the dogs! I was pretty proud of myself. After we got done eating I cleaned up and made a mental note to put the cooling meat loaf pan in the fridge before we left for small group. That was my mental note...ok side note here.... Pregnancy has been a blast! Being sick and throwing up the first 21 weeks was not my favorite, but it was so worth it to know things are going well. I love feeling our little one moving around and cannot wait for her to get here. The part that is really bugging me is the lack of being able to remember mental notes! It is horrible! I can walk into a room and totally forget why I am there. I forget everything! Ok, done with my side note... back to my mental note; after I got everything cleaned up I went to the office and sat with Luke talking about what time we were leaving. We decided to leave then so that we could make a stop before going to small group. We left the house and started on our way.....Did you catch it?!?!? I totally forgot about the meat loaf cooling on the stove!!!

We have a 100 (or so) pound Golden and a 55 pound mutt that LOVES food. They were very excited over the fact that I left them a wonderful snack! That is right, when we got home the meat loaf pan was upside down on the floor completely empty :( I was so upset, because I worked hard at that, yet couldn't blame the dogs for leaving the food out in their reach...My awesome hormones made me cry, and then I realized that there is no use crying over spilled and eaten meat loaf.

So much for mental notes for now :) Maybe after I give birth I will get my mental ability back?!?!?

Almost there

In a couple weeks (less then that actually) I will be in my last trimester!! How did that happen?!?! I cannot believe she will be here soon, and Luke and I could not be more excited. We had a surprise baby shower over Christmas break while we were in NH. It was so sweet to get together with our church friends and family and celebrate my sweet little girl. I am proud to say that we got LOTS of clothes so my fear of this baby being naked for the first few months of her life are gone. Although we live in Texas where is gets to a bagillion degrees in the summer so she very well may spend the first few months of her life in just a diaper.

The day that I hit 5 weeks I started feeling incredibly nauseous and it was pretty much that feeling all the time. I didn't actually start getting sick until a few days after that. It was pretty rough at first, but then you just know what is going to set you off and you just stay home and get ready for it. My amazing, wonderful husband would run to the bathroom with me and hold my hair back and rub my back as I threw up the contents of my stomach (sometimes it felt like much more), and as I was about done getting sick he would ask me if it is still worth it.....ABSOLUTELY!! It took some getting use to getting sick so often, but it was so comforting to know that everything was going ok.

It took me 21 weeks to get over the whole "morning" sickness thing, but once I did I started to get nervous about the well being of our little girl. I couldn't feel her kicking or moving yet, and just prayed everything was ok. With each doctor's appointment we were comforted to know that things we going great and the risk of another miscarriage (or still born when you are that far along) had drastically decreased.

Christmas Eve Luke and I were standing in church singing when I felt the biggest movement ever from our little girl! I knew that if I was looking at my stomach I would have seen it move. I told Luke who immediately put his hand on my belly and kept it there. I wasn't sure she would move again, but she did! She did it again a couple times and Luke could feel it too! It was so neat! That following Sunday I was sitting in church and felt her move again where I looked down and could actually see my belly move where she was kicking! I poked Luke who actually saw it too! It was awesome. So now that I can feel and see her moving I am a little bit more comforted that our sweet girl is doing fine and getting stronger so that in three months and two weeks we can kiss her sweet little face :)