Hmmm - what has week 17 brought! Well our playpen has arrived for our little Joy Bug!!! I love getting all this new stuff. We also decided to by a Doppler for at home from a place called Tummy Tickles. We actually could have rented one from them, however we would have spent just as much money renting one as we did with buying the one we bought. So the one we bought came in the mail yesterday. I was not too sure if it would work, however it works. I am so excited to get to hear the babies heart beat whenever I want to now. Last night as Jeral and I were going to bed he asked if I was going to listen to the heart beat before going to bed. Really he just wanted to hear again. So we listened to the most amazing sound in the world one last time before drifting off to sleep.
Jeral is almost finished with the reno's to the new guest room and then we will begin painting the nursery sometime in November, and get things set up in there! The guest room seriously looks awesome. Once it is complete I will post pictures of the before and after!
I have begun to gradually set up things for Christmas! Well for now just the nativity sets. I am thinking I will get the trees up in one room sometime this week. I love decorating for Christmas!
Life is good - not perfect, however it is good. And we feel very blessed!
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Rambling
Just some ramblings today! This weekend Jeral set up our new entertainment unit, and our new leather ottoman that also functions as a coffee table. Love it, love it, love it! And the TV was delivered yesterday, as well as the new satellite dish got set up. So that meant we could watch Monday Night Football on the new TV. So fun! I will post pictures of how everything looks once the new chair comes in and we have it here.
Jeral is also finishing off the reno's to the new guest room upstairs. The room looks amazing and i am stoked for the finished product. I will also post before and after pictures once it is complete. With a baby on the way we decided to move Jeral's office out of the room next to our bedroom, so we can put the nursery in the room closest to ours. The reality is that for the first little while we will not need the nursery as the plan is to have the baby sleep in our room in a bassinet/play pen.
So I am an all or nothing kind of personality. Basically I am all in or I am out. If I am going to do something I go big or I go home. Actually back in my camp days whenever anyone would build the campfire instead of me, the comment would be made to them "Go big or go home!" Because I always went big. Well as much as that used to be fun to say, I am realizing that often this mentality holds me back. When I set out to do something it is all or nothing, and yet sometimes the reality is that there are many little steps along the way that I could accomplish, and see as achievements if I was able to get past the all or nothing mentality. Yet I often miss out on the accomplishments in between because I see it as a failure for me personally if I do not reach the ultimate goal right away, the first time. Jesus lovingly and gently pointed this out to me yesterday. I had been wanting to reach the big goal right now right away, and when I did not accomplish that I got ticked with myself. I was unable to see that actually what we had accomplished was pretty amazing, despite it not being my big all or nothing goal. If that makes sense. Anyways this is just my rambling for today. I have a lot of work and practice at being patient as I begin to choose to look at all the small steps that are pretty amazing in their own right! It will take time to change a mentality that has been so ingrained for 30 years. However it is worth it so I do not pass this on to my children!
Jeral is also finishing off the reno's to the new guest room upstairs. The room looks amazing and i am stoked for the finished product. I will also post before and after pictures once it is complete. With a baby on the way we decided to move Jeral's office out of the room next to our bedroom, so we can put the nursery in the room closest to ours. The reality is that for the first little while we will not need the nursery as the plan is to have the baby sleep in our room in a bassinet/play pen.
So I am an all or nothing kind of personality. Basically I am all in or I am out. If I am going to do something I go big or I go home. Actually back in my camp days whenever anyone would build the campfire instead of me, the comment would be made to them "Go big or go home!" Because I always went big. Well as much as that used to be fun to say, I am realizing that often this mentality holds me back. When I set out to do something it is all or nothing, and yet sometimes the reality is that there are many little steps along the way that I could accomplish, and see as achievements if I was able to get past the all or nothing mentality. Yet I often miss out on the accomplishments in between because I see it as a failure for me personally if I do not reach the ultimate goal right away, the first time. Jesus lovingly and gently pointed this out to me yesterday. I had been wanting to reach the big goal right now right away, and when I did not accomplish that I got ticked with myself. I was unable to see that actually what we had accomplished was pretty amazing, despite it not being my big all or nothing goal. If that makes sense. Anyways this is just my rambling for today. I have a lot of work and practice at being patient as I begin to choose to look at all the small steps that are pretty amazing in their own right! It will take time to change a mentality that has been so ingrained for 30 years. However it is worth it so I do not pass this on to my children!
Friday, October 23, 2009
Pictures Of New Stuff
This is the wardrobe that Jeral's dad is building for the nursery. We changed the dimensions a little bit to give more hanging room, so the wardrobe will be a good amount wider than in this picture!
So after spend the last few days going to various stores and checking out their prices we bought a LG 42" LDC HDTV. We are stoked to watch Football on this lovely new addition to our home!
This is will be wonderful to rock our little one to sleep with, or to breast feed him or her during the day. We have decided to put a different rocker in the nursery so this one can stay down stairs for day time use! Love it!
New ottoman that will double as a coffee table. After watching our God-Daughters we realized that a softer coffee table would prevent a few injuries to our little one!
The new entertainment unit! We got it at a great discount because we took the floor model! I love the look of this one. Not to big, just the right size for our living room, and all the cords can be kept hidden behind the unit! Seriously I love spending money!
I also love nesting and making our home even more our home. Until this past March we still had a lot of Jeral's parents stuff in our home, so when they took their stuff we sort of got an idea of what we had to work with. It took a long time for our house to feel like it was my home. I guess that is the down fall of moving into the home that was once your in laws home. However I am blessed to have the home we have, and I am enjoying every moment of making this house our home!
I also love nesting and making our home even more our home. Until this past March we still had a lot of Jeral's parents stuff in our home, so when they took their stuff we sort of got an idea of what we had to work with. It took a long time for our house to feel like it was my home. I guess that is the down fall of moving into the home that was once your in laws home. However I am blessed to have the home we have, and I am enjoying every moment of making this house our home!
Week 16
So week 16 - We had another prenatal visit yesterday and we got to hear the babies heart beat again. I seriously do not think I will ever tire of hearing that amazing sound. Did you know that by 16 weeks gestation the baby can recognize the voices of mommy and daddy! For the past couple of days Jeral has spent time talking to my the baby. I must admit it is a little strange having Jeral talk to my tummy and yet I also love listening to his soft, gentle voice talk to our little Joy Bug.
I feel as though every day my amazing and glorious tummy is getting larger and larger. For once I have an excuse to have a large and glorious tummy. Not that I need and excuse to love my tummy, is is just nice having a baby in there. I also have other body parts getting larger! However for the possible male population I will refrain from naming those body parts!
As I was driving home for my bi-weekly trip to Abbotsford I felt convicted that I had reneged on my agreement with Jeral that after our 12 week visit if everything went well then we could spend some of the adoption money on some new furniture for the house and a new TV. So when I got home I told Jeral that if he still wanted to go a head and get some things that after the 16 check up then we could go and look at stuff and even purchase it. So that is what we did today. We bought and entertainment unit for the new TV. I absolutely love the entertainment unit and was stoked when we got it for $500 off if we took the floor model. We also got a leather ottoman that will double as coffee table with the flip over lids. This way our little Joy Bug will not crank or crack open his or her head on the coffee table. We also bought a lovely big comfy rocking recliner.
I will post pictures of the new purchases later!
I feel as though every day my amazing and glorious tummy is getting larger and larger. For once I have an excuse to have a large and glorious tummy. Not that I need and excuse to love my tummy, is is just nice having a baby in there. I also have other body parts getting larger! However for the possible male population I will refrain from naming those body parts!
As I was driving home for my bi-weekly trip to Abbotsford I felt convicted that I had reneged on my agreement with Jeral that after our 12 week visit if everything went well then we could spend some of the adoption money on some new furniture for the house and a new TV. So when I got home I told Jeral that if he still wanted to go a head and get some things that after the 16 check up then we could go and look at stuff and even purchase it. So that is what we did today. We bought and entertainment unit for the new TV. I absolutely love the entertainment unit and was stoked when we got it for $500 off if we took the floor model. We also got a leather ottoman that will double as coffee table with the flip over lids. This way our little Joy Bug will not crank or crack open his or her head on the coffee table. We also bought a lovely big comfy rocking recliner.
I will post pictures of the new purchases later!
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Baby Stuff
So this is the playpen that Jeral and I have been looking at buying so imagine our delight when we took a look at the airmiles rewards site tonight and found that in the past four weeks they have added this as something we could get with our airmiles! So we ordered it tonight!The plan is that for the first few months our little one will sleep in the playpen in our room.
So this is the change table that matches the crib. We ordered it with our airmiles once again 3 and a half weeks ago. So far it still has not been shipped to us. If it is not here in the next few days we will be emailing to find out what is going on!
And this is the lovely crib that we ordered and it is sitting in our exercise room waiting for us to get the nursery done so we can put it up!Friday, October 16, 2009
Week 15
I am just enjoying the life of no more morning sickness! I still have food aversions, however at least I am able to eat more healthy than I was able to in the first trimester. We are chicken farmers and well the worst possible food to put in front of me would have to be chicken, oh well our groceries will cost us a little more as we will have to buy other meat for a bit here!
I am still sleeping a lot, however for the most part I try not to have an afternoon nap, so I will sleep longer at night before my bladder wakes me up screaming LET ME PEE!!!!!!!!!!
I also am still enjoying the little flutters that I am feeling, and still loving that right now I am the only one who gets to experience the baby moving a bit. Jeral still has a few weeks to go before he will get to feel the baby moving!
I love pretty much getting back massages when ever I want them. Actually I probably could have been asking for them when ever I wanted them before however I didn't, so now I am making up for lost time!
This afternoon we get to hang out with our amazing God-Daughters. Something we both look forward to so very much. They are the reason that not being able to have children for as long as we waited, was manageable. And with the birth of our little one we know that he or she will have amazing older kids to play with, because those little girls are so amazing!
I am still sleeping a lot, however for the most part I try not to have an afternoon nap, so I will sleep longer at night before my bladder wakes me up screaming LET ME PEE!!!!!!!!!!
I also am still enjoying the little flutters that I am feeling, and still loving that right now I am the only one who gets to experience the baby moving a bit. Jeral still has a few weeks to go before he will get to feel the baby moving!
I love pretty much getting back massages when ever I want them. Actually I probably could have been asking for them when ever I wanted them before however I didn't, so now I am making up for lost time!
This afternoon we get to hang out with our amazing God-Daughters. Something we both look forward to so very much. They are the reason that not being able to have children for as long as we waited, was manageable. And with the birth of our little one we know that he or she will have amazing older kids to play with, because those little girls are so amazing!
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Grandpa
As I sit here today I am thinking about my grandpa. Tomorrow is his memorial, so we will be leaving here in early in the morning to get there on time.
Just after we got the call saying he had passed away, I sat down and spent some time remembering things about grandpa. You might be surprised to hear that he was the first person that ever taught me it was possible to love someone who was not "biologically" related to you. So in many ways my relationship with grandpa lay the ground work for me to one day be prepared to adopt children of my own. I was my grandpa's grand daughter despite no biological connection. I seriously was his favorite! Anything I wanted I got. I remember once his my cousin Michelle (biological grand-daughter) was coming to visit and grandpa had bought her some gifts. Now first off never show a 4 year old what you have bought another grandchild, however for some reason grandpa did show me, and I said I liked it and wanted it, so I got! Grandpa went out and bought other stuff for Michelle.
Anyways tomorrow will be a hard day emotionally. I am very hormonal on top of that, so bring on the Kleenex box. Last as Jeral and I lay in bed we were talking about which had happened more since we got married weddings, or funerals? The count for weddings we have have attended since we got married is 3, the deaths/funerals is 8 and of those 8 deaths 6 have been in the last year, and in the past 3 months we have had 4 loved ones pass away. So much death, too much death. Yet we have the amazing hope of eternal life after we are done in this world, thanks to Jesus! On the upside now I have all of my grandparents up there telling Jesus to make sure my baby stays safely inside until April when he or she is born!!!!!!!
Well I have stuff to do yet today! So bye for now!
Just after we got the call saying he had passed away, I sat down and spent some time remembering things about grandpa. You might be surprised to hear that he was the first person that ever taught me it was possible to love someone who was not "biologically" related to you. So in many ways my relationship with grandpa lay the ground work for me to one day be prepared to adopt children of my own. I was my grandpa's grand daughter despite no biological connection. I seriously was his favorite! Anything I wanted I got. I remember once his my cousin Michelle (biological grand-daughter) was coming to visit and grandpa had bought her some gifts. Now first off never show a 4 year old what you have bought another grandchild, however for some reason grandpa did show me, and I said I liked it and wanted it, so I got! Grandpa went out and bought other stuff for Michelle.
Anyways tomorrow will be a hard day emotionally. I am very hormonal on top of that, so bring on the Kleenex box. Last as Jeral and I lay in bed we were talking about which had happened more since we got married weddings, or funerals? The count for weddings we have have attended since we got married is 3, the deaths/funerals is 8 and of those 8 deaths 6 have been in the last year, and in the past 3 months we have had 4 loved ones pass away. So much death, too much death. Yet we have the amazing hope of eternal life after we are done in this world, thanks to Jesus! On the upside now I have all of my grandparents up there telling Jesus to make sure my baby stays safely inside until April when he or she is born!!!!!!!
Well I have stuff to do yet today! So bye for now!
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Week 14
Week 14 has been a good week pregnancy wise! I am definitely feeling better every day. Still tired and yet that is life, and I will glad take the rest when I can get it.
One thing is that I can no longer sleep on my back, or left side. Which were the two positions I generally slept in. When I do try to sleep that way my left leg goes numb on me. So now I am having to sleep on my right side which I am finding hard. In part because I like sleeping facing the door so then i have to be on my left side. With sleeping on my right side I am facing the window. Oh well as Joy said, "Leanne how else would you grow unless you were presented with these opportunities to grow, and learn you are able to sleep with your back to the door and still be safe!"
Today I have an appointment at the Diabetes Center. I am going to not have to keep a daily food journal anymore at this point. If my blood sugar levels go crazy then I will start keeping a food log, or if I keep loosing weight then I will keep a food log again to make sure I am taking in enough for me and baby. However right now sitting down and recording every meal and every snack is getting tiresome!
In other news - I got a phone call early this morning from my Aunt Cindy telling me that early this morning my grandpa passed away. Yesterday he was in town when he fell and broke his hip. He was taken to the hospital in Oliver for the night and then today he was supposed to go to Penticton for surgery, however at 4 am he passed away. The last time we saw him was at the end of July when I told him I was pregnant. I had hoped he would live long enough to meet his great grandchild. We knew eventually he would die because he has been fighting cancer for the past 15 years, however our hope was that he would hold on long enough to meet our little "Joy Bug" in person. When I told him I was pregnant he made me promise I would bring the baby down so he could hold him or her, and I promised I would. Also while we were visiting with them, my grandpa gave me my grandma's wedding rings. My Aunt Cindy has one of the wedding bands and I have the wedding set.
In all honesty I am tired of death. I know that death is a part of living here on the earth, and yet in the past 3 months we have had mourned the loss of three important people to us. Oh well I need to get ready to go to Vernon!
One thing is that I can no longer sleep on my back, or left side. Which were the two positions I generally slept in. When I do try to sleep that way my left leg goes numb on me. So now I am having to sleep on my right side which I am finding hard. In part because I like sleeping facing the door so then i have to be on my left side. With sleeping on my right side I am facing the window. Oh well as Joy said, "Leanne how else would you grow unless you were presented with these opportunities to grow, and learn you are able to sleep with your back to the door and still be safe!"
Today I have an appointment at the Diabetes Center. I am going to not have to keep a daily food journal anymore at this point. If my blood sugar levels go crazy then I will start keeping a food log, or if I keep loosing weight then I will keep a food log again to make sure I am taking in enough for me and baby. However right now sitting down and recording every meal and every snack is getting tiresome!
In other news - I got a phone call early this morning from my Aunt Cindy telling me that early this morning my grandpa passed away. Yesterday he was in town when he fell and broke his hip. He was taken to the hospital in Oliver for the night and then today he was supposed to go to Penticton for surgery, however at 4 am he passed away. The last time we saw him was at the end of July when I told him I was pregnant. I had hoped he would live long enough to meet his great grandchild. We knew eventually he would die because he has been fighting cancer for the past 15 years, however our hope was that he would hold on long enough to meet our little "Joy Bug" in person. When I told him I was pregnant he made me promise I would bring the baby down so he could hold him or her, and I promised I would. Also while we were visiting with them, my grandpa gave me my grandma's wedding rings. My Aunt Cindy has one of the wedding bands and I have the wedding set.
In all honesty I am tired of death. I know that death is a part of living here on the earth, and yet in the past 3 months we have had mourned the loss of three important people to us. Oh well I need to get ready to go to Vernon!
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Hope and Grief
Nothing to spectacular, just a finger painting of our amazing hope in the midst of our grief! Over the course of our adoption journey we have had two possible children, and yet for various reason both have not ended up with us, and yet with all of this going on we have the amazing blessing of our little "Joy Bug"!
By the way finger painting is totally the best! I love how it is messy. Your hands get covered in paint, you feel it mushing between your fingers. Sometimes you forget that your hands are covered in it and you touch your hair or face and oops, paint all over! I think it is metaphoric or our lives and the the healing process, or the grieving process. It is not all neat and tidy. It is messy at times!
By the way finger painting is totally the best! I love how it is messy. Your hands get covered in paint, you feel it mushing between your fingers. Sometimes you forget that your hands are covered in it and you touch your hair or face and oops, paint all over! I think it is metaphoric or our lives and the the healing process, or the grieving process. It is not all neat and tidy. It is messy at times!
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Week 13
Well week thirteen has brought some blessings my way. Number one it appears that the yucks as I call them have finally passed! Yeah for that. When I was talking to my sister and told her that she respond with a "You Cow!" She was joking around, however she was sick all nine months of her pregnancy. I reminded her she is built more like mom and the Pauls' side of the family, while I am built more like our dad's side of the family. Thus I may not be a sick as her and our mother were! So nice.
Number 2 is that I am starting to sleep better through the night! Yeah for that, after not sleeping well for the past three months! The past five nights have been wonderful, so I intend to get as much sleep as I am able to now, because I hear that the last trimester it is hard to sleep again.
Number 3 - I have started to feel the flutters of the baby moving around! So amazing and wonderful. I love how when the morning sickness ends which is a sign that the pregnancy is still there, the flutters start so I know our baby is still there growing everyday! I also love that while it is still weeks away before Jeral will actually get to feel the baby moving I get to savor and cherish the times our "Joy Bug" moves around just between baby and me! So wonderful! I am looking forward to our little one kicking me and Jeral being able to feel it also!
We also ordered the crib and change table for our little one last week, and we should be getting them late this week or early next week! We are looking forward to getting the nursery all set up!
Number 2 is that I am starting to sleep better through the night! Yeah for that, after not sleeping well for the past three months! The past five nights have been wonderful, so I intend to get as much sleep as I am able to now, because I hear that the last trimester it is hard to sleep again.
Number 3 - I have started to feel the flutters of the baby moving around! So amazing and wonderful. I love how when the morning sickness ends which is a sign that the pregnancy is still there, the flutters start so I know our baby is still there growing everyday! I also love that while it is still weeks away before Jeral will actually get to feel the baby moving I get to savor and cherish the times our "Joy Bug" moves around just between baby and me! So wonderful! I am looking forward to our little one kicking me and Jeral being able to feel it also!
We also ordered the crib and change table for our little one last week, and we should be getting them late this week or early next week! We are looking forward to getting the nursery all set up!
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