It's HOT!

I am very aware that I have a long way to go in this pregnancy.  I am also aware that I am hugely blessed to be getting fat in the fall and not this heat.  But seeing as I now have a blood pressure and circulation and no telling how many hormones circling around, I am perpetually hot even without 100 degree weather.  Prime example of my hotness and swelling.  My beautiful rings won't fit on my sausage like fingers today.  They even sort of fit on my pinky finger.

I had an unexpected day off today, so I spent it with the BFF and Godson. And I did tons of party planning. I thought about giving you some sneak peak pictures of the DIY, but then I decided that I wanted everyone able to come to be completely surprised by everything.  So after the party I will post everything.  Promise!  I really only have one thing to finish up, grocery shopping left, and the day of preparations, I believe.  Banner, done. Favors, done. Voting method, done.  Very productive day.  So glad to have some energy back.  I will give you this picture because it will peak your interest and plus it also shows that pregnant brain exist.  

Yes it is as big as it looks.  I got a little over zealous.  But I will use it because I have become the cheapest person alive.  Some of you may have thought I was impressively frugal beforehand, it has no comparisons to the present.  

"Sovereign lord, you are God!  Your covenant is trustworthy, and you have promised these good things to your servant."  2 Samuel 7: 28

10 MORE DAYS!!!

Counting Down!

11 DAYS!!!  AHHHHHHH!!! I can't believe it is getting so close yet feel so far away.  The gender reveal party planning is well underway.  We are having amazing feed back from friends and family who will be attending.  It makes me feel so blessed that we have so many people waiting to welcome our little nugget into this world.  I believe all of Sulphur Springs may be attending!  I don't know if the party will be Pinterest worthy but I am sure going to put forth a good effort!  My cricut and I may be very busy the next 11 days.

We are 16 weeks and 3 days today. And I feel like the bump is growing daily.  I also have an observance and question to ask you.  My belly when first waking up in the morning seems a tolerable not scary size, but as the day goes on I promise you it grows by inches!  Is this normal?!?!  What causes me to not be able to see my feet by night fall?  I must preface this is me after taking a nap after church and delicious brunch at Copeland's.  No body is at the house with me on Sundays, so y'all have to get weird bathroom mirror pictures.
I also have been asked about which room with will be changing into the nursery.

This is what we call the yellow room!  It actually has a very cool texture and hand painted pattern the previous owners had ton, but I feel the color to be a little in your face for a sweet baby.  So needless to say we will definitely be doing some painting.  It is the smallest bedroom in the house and is upstairs.  The baby will probably be sleeping in our room into they are in kindergarten.  But of course not in our bed!

I am so ready to start putting all my ideas together.  I am also preparing myself for many DIYs that I plan on sharing with you guys.  I made these a few months ago and they would totally match my idea for a girls nursery. (If its a boy feel free to ask for these for your sweet little ones room).

  I made them from this Martha Stewart how to.  It was super easy and may re-create them in a different color scheme for a boy.

We went over the Parable of the Prodigal Son today in church. Luke 15 11-32.  I always get something different out of this story.  This time I want to challenge you to look at every person in your life as someone with a story.  Maybe they have a bad attitude on Monday but maybe they do because they are having money issues, or a child is sick.  We never know someone else circumstances, so maybe don't be so quick to judge.

16 weeks!

I have to admit something.  I am a little bitter that most women in this part of their pregnancies get to find out what they are having, and I have to wait 2 more weeks! But then I remember all of my blessings so far, and I enjoy the process.  I remember that some babies never make it to 16 weeks, and then I don't know care what the heck he/she is as long as we still are trucking along.  So thank you Lord for this sweet lil nugget that I promise to raise in your image!  I am also in love (not in a romantic way, that would be weird) with my OB.  He may be the only doc that could put up with my crazy pants ways.
At 16 weeks, I have already discussed with him no c-sections, no inductions, and hopefully no epidural, and no quad screen, and delivering at a hospital with an NICU.  I chose my OB after having seen him in action while I was an NICU nurse (which I still am at heart).  He was one of the only docs that came and checked on a baby after being admitted to the NICU.  And I almost never saw him do a c-section.  If you know anything about NICU nurses, you know we make the worse OB patients.  We know way too much stuff!  The crazy bad stuff is our normal, so we forget that normal healthy babies do happen and happen way more often then sick ones.  So pray for Dr. K, to have patience to put up with me!

So update on me and the nugget during our 16th week:
Food: pretty much anything.  No diversions.  I still love a pickle!
Weight: It looks like I have put on more but its only been about 5 pounds so far.
Blood Pressure:  Is actually normal! 128/70.  Which means I actually have circulation now.  No wonder I am actually hot most of the time.
Clothes: almost no pre-pregnancy pants fit anymore.  All I want are stretchy elastic pants anyway. 
I am starting to swell!  Anytime I stand for an extended period of time or I am out in the humidity a little too long. My toes become sausages.  I also learned last night after watching Batman, that sitting in a chair for 3 hours is uncomfortable! Not one part of my body was enjoying it.
I also could not help myself, I finally bought a baby item! EEEK!  Isn't it too sweet!

We have also been given this sweet little booger!  Giraffe are my favorite, and I just could eat him up!
I also ran into this jewel in Sam's Club today.  I am possibly heaven.

"Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken." Psalm 55:22
Have a blessed day!

We have a DATE!!!

We finally have a the date so we can plan the gender reveal party!!!  The magical day is August 9th!!!  But unfortunately all you guys will have to wait for August 10th.  The Lord definitely showed some favor in this because my mom and dad and sister (and hopfully grandmother and some more family) will be able to come!

This is such a blessing because I did not want to do it without them.  I am not excited about holding a secret for a day and a half but shoot, I figure if I can hold a secret for 8 weeks than I can do this for 36 hours.  So let the party planning begin!  Here are some sneak peaks from what's to come for the party.  

 I have mentioned Sour a couple of times, but I have yet to mention what a gift of God he has been in my life.  He really does make me a better person and completes that one little piece that was missing.  I am more carefree, and honestly, more myself when I am around him.  I am so excited to bring a child in this world that will be a crazy mixture of us both.  I am feeling overwhelmingly blessed to be able to raise a child with him.  Today he reminded my all over again why I am the Lucky One.  I got home and he had cleaned and repainted the bassinet.  And yes he even researched for infant friendly paint.  So it is almost baby ready!

Today is just a day of being able to recognize God's hand in my life without a question in mind.  We heard that sweet little heart beat today, I am blessed with best friend/cousin who went me today, and just knowing that I am living in HIS mercy and grace.

Have a blessed day!

Chocolate?

I am not a vain person.  I am probably one of the least high maintenance girls you will have find.  Saying all that, I am quite nervous about gaining weight and getting stretch marks.  I gained the double amount of the normal Freshman 15 my Freshman year of college, and was a fatty boom batty.  If I learned one thing from my 5th level clinical instructor in nursing school, was to use cocoa butter early and often through your pregnancy.

This particular lotion makes me smell like a big Hershey bar after applying it.  And I don't mean just for a couple of minutes, I mean for hours I smell like hot chocolate!  As someone who is trying to watch caffeine intake and trying to not become Obese Olivia, this seems counter productive.  Someone else please try this kind and comment on whether or not you smell like a chocolate milk shake.

Let me introduce you to my dinner.

And yes I did eat the whole burrito.  We walked into a lovely surprise for supper this evening.  It was Moe's Mondays, which means all burritos are $5!  And it was delicious!

"The Lord has done it this very day; let us rejoice today and be glad." Psalm 118:24

A Weekend Home!

I am finally back home in good ol' Louisiana. Even though home I think home will always be Sulphur Springs.
So my sweet niece turned the big 8 years old on Monday,

She is super excited about having a baby cousin!

But we had her birthday party on Saturday, thus the trip home.  She wanted to invite stinky boys to her party this year so we had a bowling party for her. So here is some picture overload of the fun day.

This is my Nanny with her 20th great grand-child Marley (isn't she a cutie (both of them))

In baby news, I am finally really starting to feel like myself again.  I have almost no nausea except for in the mornings before I eat, and if I wait too long to eat.  My energy is finally getting back to normal, Praise the Lord, because here shortly I am going to really start doing some work on the nursery! I feel like the belly is growing by the second.  I am patiently waiting to start feeling those sweet butterfly feelings of he/she moving. Sometimes I just sit and concentrate real hard trying to feel something!  I am so excited for Wednesday!  I will have an exact date to look forward to, the day we find out what we are growing!

Hope every one has a blessed week!

Road Trip

The nugget, Willard, and I are in Texas.
We had a lovely drive with some snacks.
And we were greeted at home with a rainbow.
I will have fun birthday party pics tomorrow. My niece turned 8 years old!

Baby Bump!

I talked the hubs in to taking some pictures this afternoon.  Please feel free to not look at my face in any of these photos.  I promise I look much fresher in the mornings than after 8 hours of working.  So here is a semi outfit post, meaning I threw this on after work to go out to eat dinner with family.

The dress and cardigan are both from Old Navy (although the cardigan is a couple of years old).

We are 15 weeks exactly today!  Woohoo!!! And sweet lil nugget is the size of an apple!  And my pants don't fit any more.  I highly recommend the BeBand, they are quite comfortable and let you wear oh so tight pants a little while longer.

So, we have had quite a bit of rain over the past couple of weeks.  Evidently when rain comes, mushrooms come.

Have a blessed day!  We are about to go eat a buffet! A buffet is like Heaven to a prego girl!

Baby Room Thoughts?

Of course we don't know what we are having yet (yes we do know it is a baby), but what else am I supposed to do while I twiddle my thumbs and wait for the gender?  Plan the nursery for a girl or a boy!  I am a planner. I feel better when there is a plan, and I feel better when I am planning.  Sour thinks I am silly, but Sour also thinks it is silly to think of names before you know the gender.  So in general, I think Sour is silly! I thought I would show some inspiration ideas that I have been playing with.

Love embroidery hoops with fabric!

Alphabet wall, adore!

Handy storage

Favorite girls room color combination.

Love the grey and primary color combo.

So these are some of room ideas that are floating around in this big ole head of mind.  These are just teasers for you!  I can't give it all away this early or what the heck would we talk about for the next 6 months!  We are just a week away from the next appointment!  And one more week till we have an exact day that we get to find out what this little love bug is!  By the way, yes there our pictures of the belly coming soon (because I am pretty sure it grew over the weekend).  

"For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience with him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your Gpd will bless you in the land..."  Deuteronomy 30:16

All images viaPinterest

So blessed!

I feel like having the responsibility to grow this little one has been blessing enough, but the blessing just keep coming!  Thank you, Lord Jesus!  Sour and I have been blessed with amazing family.  I, of course, you have heard and seen, have a ginourmous family.  And believe me if we lived in Texas, this sweet little baby would never see the floor or a bed (because they would be holding he/she all the time).  But we have been equally blessed with Sour's family. And now I must share a picture of them.

 This is MIL's (mother-in-law)side of the family (notice the size different).  They all live here in town (which is a huge blessing with in itself), but they all (both sides) have been so welcoming to be in their lives. And they are so excited to meet this little one.

We are also being blessed with a CRIB, yes one we do not have to pay for!  And it is gorgeous!  Sour's second cousin is letting us have their crib. And luckily my mom and dad are a geniuses, and kept the bassinet my sister used for my niece and nephew.  I LOVE FREE STUFF!  But I love people who are willing to give FREE stuff even more.  I am a known worry wart, so I just feel God giving us little presents along the way to help me not stress completely out.

One last thing, I am a horrible doggy mommy!  I can't believe I have yet to show you guys a pictures of our sweet Willard!  And sweet can be debatable among some, he is a bit of a snot and thinks he is a toddler.

Yes you are allowed to oooh and aww over him.  We do, which is probably why he is so spoiled rotten!

Have a blessed day!

Sonic Stop!

I feel like it's a little early to have crazy cravings or anything, but there are definitely a couple of things that I could eat my weight in.  The top thing that I pretty much want every day is a Sonic Ocean Water.

I am very aware that is full of empty calories but I also know that it is delicious in this ridiculous Louisiana summer heat.  And I also know that thanks to Happy Hour it is very light on my pocket to get a gigantic one! I am not sure exactly how a Ocean Water is made, and if you do know, please do not share your knowledge with me.  I want to continue going on in life thinking that it is magically made just for me and the Sour patch kid (although I am pretty sure it is just sprite and coconut flavor).

The other thing I could eat constantly is pickles!

This isn't a really new thing for me.  I have always been a fan of pickles (really anything pickled), specifically DILL, but now I seriously have gone through a jar a week the past of weeks.  As a nurse, I am quite aware of the large amount of sodium I am intaking.  But I have not been restricted by the Doc yet, so I am not about to restrict myself from such a lovely pleasure!  And my new SIL's (sister-in-law) mother gave me some delicious pickled peppers I have basically eaten all of as well.

Why yes I did just right a whole post on Ocean Water's and pickles!  Like I said I don't want my family to miss out on any of the details!  Next baby appointment is July 25th, I am so ready to hear that little miracle of a heart beat again!  

Just wanted to share a little prayer with you,

Dear Heavenly Father, 

I thank you for just the blesssing of this day, Father God.  I pray that today and every day that the world may see you before me, God.  That I may be so heavily buried in your love, Jesus, that I am invisible beyond Your light.  I pray that I may just living so openly and strongly in your will, Father.  Open my ears to hear Your words, Father God.  In your Heavenly Name I pray.  Amen

Catching you UP!

So lets give you a little bit of background.  My husband and I have been married 2 years and 4 months and some days.  We have been together for about 5 years or so.  Basically we are an old married couple.

And NOW we are expecting our first little one.  We are 14 weeks and 3 days as of today.  We have not seen the little munchkin since our very first appointment at 7 weeks, so needless to say we are dying to see our nugget and its gender! And the answer is YES to your (I can imagine) burning question, we are having a gender reveal party.  DUH!  And YES to your 2nd burning question, I am on Pinterest.  So I have tons of ideas!

Including this one!

But we are hitting some snags in the planning, because my sweet family lives in Texas.  And I so want/need them to be there for the big reveal, but how do you get people to you in the middle of the week knowing that they still have to go back for work the next day.  The Lord knows my heart and that I could not keep the gender a secret once we find out!  The 8 weeks we held the pregnancy a secret were TORTURE!  (that's a whole other story of my nurse husband and I knowing way too many things that can go wrong).  So I am praying for a Friday appointment or for just simply favor that my family can make it in for the big day (well the reveal).

My mom and dad and sister making it in for the BIG DAY is another little worry on this worry warts mind. Let me show you a picture of my sweet (huge family).  And this is just my mom's side!

Seriously this is just some of my mom's brothers and sisters and their families.  So you can imagine holidays with this bunch.  Our sweet little nugget is going to be my Nanny's (my grandmother who is one of my best friends) 22nd great grandchild.  That's right people 22!  She is a busy lady.  She is one of the many reasons my love and faith for God is so strong.  

Okay SO hopefully by now you have a little more background about us and where we are!  I asked the hubs last night if he minded taking pictures of me from time to time for outfit posts (I believe it will be awkward for us both equally), and he said he was game but he must be referred to Sour in upcoming post if I must talk about him.  

Getting Started!

Hello friends, family, and hope soon-to-be friends! So this is the FIRST post! 
Sorry, I will not continue to over use exclamation points.  I have been wanting to start blogging for awhile, but just haven't gotten up the nerve before now. I can give a good bit of credit to Megan, who badgered me to start one. So the hubs and I

This is us on our Wedding Day over 2 years ago!

 are adding a sour patch kid to our family, 

This is the lil nugget at 7 weeks.  Just a tiny spot.

 what a better time to start a blog to let everybody in on the fun and craziness! I am hoping to show how we plan and do our gender reveal party (which is getting so close), planning the nursery, how I dress the growing by the day belly, and how God leads us down this path called love!