Keeping Track of my Water Intake

On Christmas day we decided to go to the movies. While in the movie, I had to take a restroom brake (no surprise there). On my way to the restroom, I was playing with my rings as usually, when i noticed that they were not budging, not at all. Backtrack to Christmas morning, my Mom and Dad got me a pair of Uggs. When I put them on they seemed a bit tight. My thought was I just need to brake them in. Well, when my rings wouldn't come off, I knew exactly what was going on. I did get my rings off by running them under cold water, but I was a little bit panicked to say the least.
I did some reading about the whole water retention thing and turns out I need to drink more water. Which makes complete seance because I am not a big water drinker, and I had soda all day. I was trying to get my fix of Cranberry Sierra Mist for the rest of the year.
Jon got me a Nalgene water bottle last summer for our camping trip. I love it and try to take it everywhere. The reason I love it is I can keep track of how much water I drink, to make sure I am getting enough, because I honestly, I never get enough.
I am taking this more seriously, I don't want to puff up like a balloon, and I don't want to have to cut off my rings.

10 of My Observations While being Pregnant...

1. Back pain can be ignored
2. You must always be aware of how your wedding ring(s) fit. You never want to be in a position to have to cut them off because of swelling.
3. Use the restroom anytime you have a chance. You never know when you have to sneeze. :0(
4. As big as you think your clothes are in the beginning, them seem really tiny later on.
5. Boots feel tighter around your legs because of swelling.
6. At night, you can never have too many pillows.
7. You always feel hungry, especially when cookies are involved.
8. You are not so worried about how your pedicure looks considering half the time you cant see your toes.
9. In the laying position you feel like a beached whale.
10. The bigger you get, the more you cant wait to actually hold you baby!

Merry Christmas

 Well, I got a pair of Jammies, and a kitchen grill from Jon, and a pair of Uggs from Mom and Dad. Jon got new clothes, and a new laptop bag from me, and Apple TV from my Mom and Dad!

 It's been a productive, relaxing morning for us.

What did you get?

Christmas Eve

 Tonight we are going to church to the Christmas Eve service. It is going to be really cool, like nothing we have ever done at a Christmas Eve service. You can watch it Live at 4pm, and at 6pm.

Harvest Christmas Eve

Click on the Live Now link!

Poor Chloee

This morning Chloee was acting really weird. She was acting high strung, yappy, and neurotic (more than usual). I think I know what the problem is. I think she is noticing the absence of George. While she was acting like this, she was running in and out of all the rooms in the house like she was looking for him.
Chloee has a really mothering nature about her, she would always take care of George by cleaning him all the time, just as if he were her puppy. Now she is acting like she lost him or something. I felt really sad for her.

Baby Room Option

I am now just about 24 weeks, and I am stressing about the baby's room, and how I am going to decorate it. I want to get it planned out so I can register for the things I need. No baby shower has been planned yet but I know once the 1st comes, we are going to blink, and the baby will be ready to come.
I have been looking at HGTV's rate my space. and I found this design that I LOVE! Like I have said before I am not into the really girly rooms. I like when they are stylish with a hint girliness. When I found this one I fell in love with the curtains. The user did not say where she got them from, but judging from the pictures I saw from the rest of her house, she probably had them made when she saw the fabric. I have seen similar curtains from anthropology (which I LOVE), and Ikea, but nothing that matches exact.
The other thing I love about it is, in so many baby rooms, the design just screams from the bedding in the crib, overpowering the rest of the room. In this room the user said she got inspiration for the room from the curtains. But if you notice the bedding is really neutral. I have found this organic bedding I really like at babies r us. It is neutral, and at the store, it felt really nice.

I love the

I love the red accents.

Cold, Cold, Cold!

I have been consistently cold for the past week! My feet mostly but last night when Jon was at church I was so cold that I put on my pea coat, and sat and watched TV. The heat was on I had blankets, but nothing was doing the trick.

Jon, who is always hot blooded, asked if I would get us some flannel sheets for our bed. I was shocked! I said could you please record that for me. Every winter season I ask Jon if I could get flannel sheets, and he ALWAYS says, NO! So I'm jumping on this one.

It is so cold that I lit one of my jar candles this afternoon, and the glass cracked because it was so cold.

How are all of you keeping warm?

Our George

 It is with great sadness that our beloved cat George, passed away on Saturday night. Jon was really sick last week, and we combined has a rough week, due to me being really busy, and Jon being sick. 

 On Friday he started acting weird, but he was still in that weird kitten/ cat stage, so I thought nothing of it. On Saturday he was really slow, and was acting like he had to go to the bathroom and couldn't. We had a full Saturday due to work and a Christmas dinner that night. When we came home he was laying down and wouldn't move, though still alive looking at us as we were trying to figure out what to do. It was late at that point, so there was not much we could do. So we made him comfortable and went to bed. Jon woke up early as he always does on Sundays for church. He went to check on him, and came back and told me he had died during the night. I am 90% sure he may have eaten a plant in the back yard that may have been poisonous. 

 We are very sad. He had such a fun personality that we both loved.  As I was folding laundry this morning, I was noticing the absence of George. That was the time he would sit next to me and pounce on any of the laundry I had folded. We know the Lord has a purpose, but it is sad.

Oh So Good

With the anticipation of everything Christmas, I especially love Sierra Mist's Cranberry splash soda that is only available during the Christmas season. It usually comes out in September. Jon and I had to pick up some drinks for a party we were going to in September, and when i saw them in the soda section I was so excited! So, Jon being the wonderful husband he is, did what any husband of a craving pregnant woman would do. Buy as many as he could.

Being pregnant this year, I especially love it because it is caffeine free. I have had my coffee in the mornings and such, but I have cut down quite a bit on the caffeine intake. The whole idea that I love this soda is so funny considering I NEVER drink soda. I prefer water or tea.

The saddest part about this obsession is how it comes to an end. It is rare that i find this soda in stores this close to Christmas. I have found a couple of 12 packs at target and staters, but I CANNOT find the 2 litter bottles. I think the sad aspect of this is that I want it for Christmas day. I have a 12 pack that I am storing for Christmas day. but I don't think that is enough. :o(

Our Chrsitmas Tree

 Shortly after Thanksgiving, we (I) put our tree up. I had my brother re-arrange the furniture in order for our tree to be in the front window. I have been visualizing this since we bought our house. 

 One of the great aspects of our tree, like every tree is the ornaments. Every year I think that I am going to do a themed tree, but then I get out the ornaments, and they are just so special to me. Here's why... For our wedding, it was in October and it was close enough to Christmas that I thought that it would be great if we had people bring an ornament. So we put little cards in the invitation requesting if they would like to help our Christmas tree ornament collection to bring an ornament with them. At the reception, we had a Christmas tree set up for the guests to put the ornaments on.

 The reason I love our ornaments is, every time I decorate the tree is brings be back to our first Christmas together with our first tree. 

 I know I have a picture of the tree we had at our reception, but I can't find it. Another reason why I am organizing my pictures. 

These are some of our favorites. Sorry most of them are blurry.

This is Jon's fave, because his best friend when he was a kid gave this one to him. I try to move it to the bottom every year but he finds it and outs it front and center for all to see.

I love these ones because they are so cute!

This is Jon's, you can't see it but it says 95' on it.

I like this one, again, because it's cute!

On the other side of this one it says 93' on the back.

For obvious reasons this is my fave!

And here we have George shortly after discovering the tree.

Office Pictures

 As most of you know we recently worked on our home office. We have been planning on doing this for a while and finally got it done as I posted before. Well, I have been trying to get some pictures organized on my computer and thought I would post the office project process.

I was taking a nap on one of Jon's days off, and heard him doing something in the office, and when I came to look he had the whole room empty. I was shocked because there was a lot of stuff in there as it was our storage room for a while.

Then he started to paint

George had a good time "helping" Jon, and exploring.

We knew there were hardwood floors as there is in the whole house, so Jon decided to refinish them. He hated the carpet in that room.

He stained it an ebony stain. We wanted it to look distressed.

Then we got the furniture from Ikea. I have to say, I think Ikea had couples in mind when they designed their furniture assembly, because we didn't get in a fight. It was so easy!

This is my desk. I need to get some more current pictures of all the stuff in there.

For some reason Chloe won't walk on the floors. I think she has undiagnosed OCD. She is so weird about surfaces.

God With Us

 I have had a really hard time getting into the "Christmas spirit" this year. Usually, I am annoyingly into the Christmas spirit by now, but for a couple reasons I am not that way this year. All I have done to the house thus far is put up our tree. I haven't even taken down my autumn decor yet, which internally is driving me nuts, but I have been too lazy to take it down.

 I think this year, because I am pregnant, I am almost looking at Christmas this year as an obstacle. I am tired regularly, I have days that I have a ton of energy, but for the most part I have been tired. Because of that I have no energy to start the task of getting the stuff out from the garage, sorting through it and putting it up. 

 While I was decorating the tree, I was starting to get a little bit sad. I am supper excited about the baby and what she is going to bring to our lives, but I starting thinking that this was going to be our last Christmas that is just the two of us. I have LOVED married life with Jon and love that we are starting a new chapter in our lives, but it was just making me sad that things are going to change. Then Jon reminded me about how much fun Christmas is going to be with kids.

 Which is, I think the main reason I am having a hard time getting into Christmas. I cant wait for time to fly by and for us to have our baby girl! When we first found out we were pregnant, I had a really hard time visualizing us as parents, and having a baby of our own. Now it's all I can think about. I think about how we are going to raise her and what kind of schedule we are going to have (or lack there of). I know in due time she will come. No pun intended.

 While having this difficult time getting into the Christmas spirit, I had a great opportunity to participate in a Christmas concert at church. During the rehearsals, I will be honest, I was thinking that this is just another thing to fill our already full calendar in December. But, I could have NEVER imagined what an AMAZING night this was going to be. Yes, it was a great night of Christmas carols, and all that, but the ultimate message screamed though. We have been given this amazing gift, and those of us who have chosen to receive it have something that they can cherish, and share for forever. 

 Tonight really put Christmas in perspective for me and I am feeling refreshed and renewed. As we continue to press on though this Christmas season, I hope we remember that gift and how it has changed us.

If you want to watch the service click here, and look under 12/10/08

Mentoring Matters

While at work I decided to explore the Harvest.Org site. I was exploring, specifically, the women's ministry site. I was checking out the mentoring matters, because I wanted to see what was new with that. I did it last summer, and LOVED it.
The basis of it was a small group of women, that have a leader that is an older women, and you meet weekly. Along with that there is a curriculum that you follow, and the topics very from week to week. Some of the topics they go over are, Honoring Gods word, Loving your husband, Loving your children, Keepers of the home (cooking, housecleaning, laundry, etc.), Stewardship (Time, own health), and Godly attributes. Just to name a few.
When I was checking this out, I found that they are also posting recipes. I am always one that loves to get recipes, so I enjoyed it!
I am not sure when sign-ups start again for the next rotation (which, by the way is only 8 weeks, you don't have to commit you whole life!) but I totally recommend it to any young married (or not married, you really can glean from this) women.

Anyway, you can get the recipes here.

Cookies, Cakes, and Pies

 Someone sent me this via email, and if you have a desire to bake this Christmas season, you should seriously check this out. It has just about any, and every recipe you can think of. I am going to a cookie exchange soon, and I am steeling a recipe off this site. Simply amazing!

North pole Kitchen

Tis the Season!

 Well, today is December 1st and we can officially say that the Christmas season is upon us. I was really hoping to put up our tree on Saturday after I got off work, but I got caught up doing other things around the house, and next thing I knew, it was 9 o'clock. I would have stayed up later, but I had to sing the next morning at 6:30AM! So I have been thinking about when I am going to get all the stuff out of the garage, and let Christmas vomit all over the house. I have all the furniture arranged for the tree, but no energy left after Thanksgiving to get it out. 

 

 I was really hoping to have a picture of our decorated tree to post, but what can I say, I'm pregnant. All I have gotten done today is the bed sheets washed. The bed is not even made, they are just laying in a pile on the bed. Like I said I have NO energy to do anything. I start doing house work and my body just says no. Tomorrow is Jon's day off so I know things will get done, being the task master he is ( I mean that in the best possible way!).  He is so motivated to get things done. I, on the other hand, have the attitude that it will get done eventually. 

 Well, it's not time to make dinner, that I will get done because I am hungry! I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Here's hoping I will get the decor out tomorrow!