New facebook group for Baby Dean

I decided to create a group of facebook where Scott and I can share updates on Baby Dean without worrying that we might be hurting someone unintentionally. If you are interested, you can request to join at http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_168248199869525&ap=1

Moving and music

Moving while pregnant may not be the best idea in the world.  I was forced to give up some of my independence because I couldn't move the big stuff or heavy boxes, but with help from family and friends we have gotten moved into our new home.  I am still actively trying to get things put together but we are there and loving it.

Speaking of moving, I'm pretty sure that I feel the baby moving every once in a while.  Yesterday at our appointment the doctor said it is very possible because some people feel it as early as 13 weeks (we are 14) and he could hear the baby moving while listening to the heartbeat on the Doppler.  Before calling it a night we decided to try the Angel Sounds heart rate monitor again.  It didn't pick up the heartbeat the first time we tried but we found it almost instantly this time.  We listened for a while and then decided to record the heartbeat to share with our friends and family.  During the recording I'm pretty sure towards the end you can hear the baby move.  Regardless, hearing the heartbeat is awesome!   Enjoy!

Music to my ears!

Maternity clothes

This past weekend I was finally able to go get a few pieces of maternity clothes.  I found some really cute shirts, two pair of dress pants, and a pair of jeans.  My questions is, where are all of the winter maternity clothes?!?  I will definitely have to make another trip and possibly hit up the expensive maternity shops to get a few more things.  For now, I'm just happy to have a few things that I can wear comfortably.

A very nice surprise

When I checked my mail yesterday I had a very nice surprise waiting for me, an Angel Sounds fetal heart detector.  I am very excited and can't wait to be far enough along to use it!  The best part is I can record the sounds to share with family and friends.  How cool is that?  I had been back and forth about whether I should get one of these or not.  When we first found out we were pregnant I said with certainty that I would but then I wondered if it was really something I needed to get with everything else we had going on.  I'm so glad the decision doesn't have to be made any more.  After I got it in the mail I realized that I probably would have grabbed one off the shelf if I happened to be near one (which I know I will be soon).  I can't wait to share Baby Dean's heartbeat with the world!

Almost 12 weeks along!

2nd doctor's visit

We had our second doctor's visit yesterday.  Since they couldn't find a heartbeat using the Doppler we got put on the sonogram machine.  I was a little nervous that a heartbeat couldn't be heard but glad to be getting the sonogram.  I guess this baby already wants Momma and Daddy to be happy because the heartbeat on the sonogram machine was very strong.  Our first glimpse of baby showed him/her kicking and jerking, followed by him/her rolling over to display his/her backside to us.  Guess Baby Dean just wanted to be left alone.

Heartbeat: 159 bpm
Length:  3.29 cm (1.3 in)
Gestational Age:  10 weeks, 4 days measuring 10 weeks, 1 day

God's Miracles

Last week I was thinking about all of the blessings in my life and the miracles God has provided to me.  My life started out as a miracle (I know all lives are miracles).  Despite an IUD (which I believe is said to be 99% effective) being in place, God created me in my mother’s womb.  The doctor was unable to remove the IUD, although he tried.  I believe this was another work of God, as he protected me from the threat of miscarriage removal may have carried.  When I was 15 pure ignorance almost cost me my life.  Thankfully, He saved me from certain death that night so long ago.  I have no doubt there are miracles he performs in my life on a daily basis that I either ignore or that I'm not meant to know about.  He has blessed me with a great family, protected me throughout life, given me a wonderful husband (and in-laws), and blessed me with a little miracle in my own womb.  So many times we take things for granted.  I know I do. 

This past weekend I realized even more how much I take the little things for granted.  Freddy McCrory, a son, husband, and father, was taken away from this world in a tragic boating accident.  The last time his family and friends saw him or spoke to him, they had no idea it would be the last time.  My heart breaks for this family.  I so wish there was something I could do to help them with their pain.  All I can do is pray. Every moment they had together was a miracle.  A miracle that was taken away too soon.  God has a plan though, so somehow, somewhere there will be good come from this tragedy.  Maybe his accident is meant to make us all realize how much family means to us and how fragile life is.

Do you treat each moment you spend with your family as your last?  Do you take every opportunity to spend time with your loved ones?  Life is much too short, and, unfortunately, I have missed far too many opportunities to be with the ones I love.  I am going to do my best not to let those chances pass me by and to show my family and friends how important they are to me.  We never know when it will be our last time to see or speak to them.

On a happier note, my friend, Katrina, was blessed with a miracle yesterday.  Little Jenna Reese entered the world at 10:03 p.m.  How cool is it to have the birthday of 10-10-10?  I know she has enjoyed every moment with her new bundle of joy.  Let us all strive to enjoy our time together just as much.

Just for fun

 I found a site that will morph two pictures together and tell you what your child could look like.  I used a couple of pictures of Scott and me to see what would happen.  It was quite fun to see what the program generated.  Although I can't wait to see what our child will really look like I doubt this program is right.  These pictures would have turned out better if I had one of just me that was decent or just Scott that was decent.  Check them out.  :-) 



http://www.morphthing.com/showimage/5/f5d857da209970a0303ff6542ea0dfca/0/6482877/Baby-of-Mary-jpg-and-cruise-jpg.jpeg

http://www.morphthing.com/showimage/5/cdd830c0a31bccbb358d9c7e52f38bb3/0/6482928/Baby-of-Mary-jpg-and-Mary-jpg.jpeg

We're going to own a house

We should be closing on a house at the beginning of next week.  Although the house is smaller than our mobile home, I can't wait to get moved in and settled. 

Scott and I celebrated our wedding anniversary on September 23rd.  We have had ten wonderful years together.  I honestly can't complain about any of them but it is very nice for things to finally be falling into place for us.  This house will be perfect for our new family.

Our future home

Changes

In a previous post I mentioned one small thing making me reconsider everything and promised an update.  Obviously we know what the small change is (us expecting).  The person I was waiting to put into the equation was my doctor.  I was waiting for her to confirm the pregnancy before I took action on my decision.  With the positive result of our visit with her, I immediately knew I would withdraw from college.  That's right, I quit college.  It may sound bad to some of you right now, but trust me it is a really good thing.  I don't want to put any undue stress on my body and the baby.
 

 Tomorrow we will be 7 weeks.  There haven't been any huge changes that anyone else can notice, but Scott and I have both observed small changes as my body makes room for our little one.  The picture below is just the beginning.

6 weeks, 6 days

We got the sweetest note from Scott's boss's daughter.

He said YES!

September 7th

So many times Scott and I have had to change plans we make for one reason or another.  We have learned to adjust well to making those changes.  During our Celebration Cruise we began making plans for our 2011 Summer vacation.  We planned to go to Jamaica for a week.  I had even found some really cool places where we might stay.  Once again, we have to change our plans.  Our Jamaica trip will have to be postponed for the time being.  We are hoping that the friends we were going to go with have a wonderful time and bring back lots of stories and pictures for us.

Why do we have to change our plans?  Here's the story...

Earlier this year we decided it was time to do something about a house (buy or build).  We have simply outgrown our current place and quit frankly are just tired of the same old cramped space.  After some land we were looking at fell through we decided to put things off until we got back from vacation.  It wasn't until the end of August that we finally decided to put an offer in on a house.  We are still in the process of finalizing things on the house right now.  We have put in an offer, which was accepted and have been approved for financing.  Right now we're just waiting on all of the red tape to get out of the way.

We are both so very thankful that we decided to put an offer and the house.  We were excited before, but words can't express how excited we are now!  Most of our family and friends know that we went on vacation for Labor Day weekend.  What they don't know is that the morning before we left I took a home pregnancy test.  I thought I had a faulty test.  I just bought an el chepo test so I wouldn't feel bad about taking a test that was negative.  Anyway, when the result window came up there was a strong line running vertical next to the control line and a very faint line running horizontal.  According to the directions any plus sign means your pregnant, but a vertical line means the test was faulty.  The horizontal line was so light it was almost like I was just seeing it through the paper (or whatever the test is made of).  I felt like crying.  I still didn't know anything more than I did before.

Something kept telling me to buy another test, which I did.  I bought a digital test.  It seemed to be pretty dummy proof.  At the beach house that night I snuck the test into the bathroom with me and took it.  While I was in the shower Scott stuck his head in and said, "That thing says yes."  I was shocked and in disbelief.  I made him pass it into the shower for me to see. Sure enough a Yes+ was staring back at me.  You couldn't have slapped the smile off of my face that night.

This morning I scheduled an appointment to have my pregnancy verified.  They can't see us until September 13th.  We will be thrilled to give up Jamaica for this!

 September 14th
Obviously, almost everyone knows that the results from yesterday's doctor visit was positive.  We thank God for blessing us with this miracle.  After ten years of trying God said YES!  We are excited beyond words.  We hope that our blessing will demonstrate to people how truly amazing God is.

While we are excited for ourselves, we still feel the pain some of our friends are experiencing with starting a family.  We pray that they will never give up.  God loves you.  We will be praying for each of you.

Contemplating changes

Isn't it funny how one small thing can make you contemplate changing everything?  I have been doing a lot of thinking about what I need to do in several areas of my life.  I came to the realization that taking care of me is more important than anything.  That realization has brought me to a tough decision.  I know in my heart what my decision will be but first I need to talk to one important person in the equation.  I promise to have an update soon.

P90X - Second Round

Wow!  I had forgotten the difference P90X made the first go round until I was reviewing some stuff.

Top:  December 2009
Bottom: April 2010                                                                    


Right before our cruise and after the cruise we stopped eating as healthy and weren't working out.  We decided it was time to get back to it. We are 4 weeks into our second go at P90X.  The first week was TOUGH!!!  I think it was even tougher than the first time we started.  I still haven't been as dedicated as I need to be to eating healthy and working out every day I am suppose to but I plan to get better this week.  Things are finally slowing down at work and I'm getting into a groove with my school work.  Hopefully I can manage to juggle everything I have going on.

It is time for positive change in our lives.  We are going to take those changes one step at a time.

Celebrating Life

Scott and I have been very busy celebrating life.  June 19th - 28th we went on a celebration cruise to the Eastern Caribbean to celebrate him becoming a paramedic (May), me turning 30 (June), and 10 years of blissful marriage (September).  We saw many beautiful places and had the most relaxing vacation ever!  We are ready to go on another cruise!!!

One Chapter Almost Closed

I am so proud of Scott.  He has almost completed his goal of becoming a paramedic.  He graduated from ICC with honors (.02 away from special honors) May 14, 2010.  National Registry...here he comes!

Life

Life rarely works out like we expect or want it to.  Yet, it always seems to work out for the best.  You would think that knowing that would make life easier, but it doesn't.  There are so many decisions that I need to start making.  I don't even know where to begin, because there are so many alternatives to each situation.  I wish that someone could tell me, "Mary Ann, do this and it will work out this way."  If only things were that easy.

I've made many decisions in the past that have not worked out the way I expected.  I guess that is what makes it so hard to make the decisions I am faced with now.  I can't keep putting life off, because I am not getting any younger.  Next month I will hit the big 3-0.  I've done a good job of not thinking about it this year until a week or so ago.  Up to that point, the cruise I have been planning with some friends had been my focus for June instead of my looming birthday.  I stopped basing things on my age when I hit 25.  I use to have plans to have certain things accomplished by a certain age, and I would compare my life to my parents' lives at whatever age I was.  When I hit 25 I realized that by doing that I made 25 an awful age to hit.  Since then I haven't focused on things according to age.  Now that I am getting older though, I HAVE to start thinking about some things based on age.  Not necessarily accomplishing something by a certain age, but as I age the likelihood of some things decline.  Oh if only life were easy!

On a "lighter" note.  Scott has lost over 40 lbs on P90X.  He's looking good!

Life is good

Life is so good these days.  Scott will be graduating soon, which is wonderful!  The month of March was VERY busy for him, but he has completed all of the required clinicals.  So for April he can focus on finishing his classes, studying for the National Registry, and work.
 
Now that Scott's schedule is finally slowing down a little we can actually spend some time together.  Last Saturday night we went on a date after he got home.  He can be such a sweetheart.  He brought me flowers in from the pear tree in the front yard.  We were playing around before we left and he made it into a "corsage". lol  Of course, it ended up in water before we left.  The date was wonderful, although we didn't get to do everything we had planned.

Ethan Turns 2!!!

Ethan turned 2 last week.  What a difference two years makes.  Looking at this little boy you would never know that he had a tough beginning.  He's just like any other two year old little boy.  He is so cute and sweet.

Ethan driving his big green tractor.

Tractor envy.

What A Difference A Week Makes

Last week was not a good week.  I was stressed beyond belief at work and thing just were not good.  I only worked out one night (I didn't even realize that until this week).  I was draaaagging all week.  This week I'm back to my old self.  Work isn't getting me down, I'm in an extremely good mood, I'm not dragging, and I'm catching up on my missed workouts.  Life is good!

I'm still behind at work.  There is just no catching up when you are doing two very hectic full-time positions.  I do have help from one of the other ladies in the office, which is awesome.  But it is still a lot of work and I'm ready for a new person to come in and take over!

I'm still reading The Love Dare.  I admit that I do not have the opportunity to read it every day.  Yes, it is only a couple of pages a day, but it is hard to fit those few pages in.  I'm not very far into the book, but I can already tell a difference in the way I view not only Scott but all of my loved ones.  The book isn't telling me anything I didn't already know; it's just bringing it back front and center.  About three weeks ago in my Skills class (during a session with my "counselor") it was brought to my attention that my priorities and what takes most of my time don't line up.  I vowed then and there that I was going to do better with putting the things that matter most to me at the top of the list.  I'm going to MAKE time for them.  At the very top of my list is family and friends.  Those two things are the most important things in my life.  The Love Dare helps with that.

I've also started reading another book, Captivating.  It's about what it means to be a woman.  I just started it last night.  I read a little at lunch today.  I'm not sure if it is going to be a book I love, but I do think it will make me stop to examine what is important in my life as a woman and what I need to be doing to be whole and happy.  Yeah I know, I really don't have time for another book.  But I have this strong urge to dig deeper into self-discovery and to grow spiritually.  It may take me a year to finish these two books, but I really feel like they will benefit me.

A Movie with the Girls

There's something about going to the movies that I love.  It's an opportunity to just get away from it all.  Distractions and the world disappear for a couple of hours.  What makes a movie great?  Sharing them with someone you love.

Last Saturday I went to Madison to visit with Jeremy and his family.  When Lauren found out that I was planning to go to the movies she quickly asked to go.  I promised Jeremy that if he brought the girls up I would take them to the movies.  The next day, after inviting Gracie to tag along, us girls loaded up and headed to the theater to watch The Tooth Fairy.  Our movie going experience (Gracie's first) was made complete with popcorn, Jr. Mints, and Sour Punch Straws.

 L-r: Kendall (11), Gracie (4), Lauren (9)

God Knows Whats in My Heart

It is comforting to know that God knows what is in my heart.  As long as He knows, that's all that matters.  It took a minute for me to realize this.  I was honestly ready to just spend my days keeping to myself earlier this week, because people misinterpreted something I said.  By the next day I realized that just isn't something I can do, so I gave up that idea.  Then two wonderful people reminded me that God knows where my heart is.  With that reminder I decided that it doesn't matter what people think.  I'm no longer an emotional wreck.  I also no longer have to bite my tongue to keep the peace, because I honestly don't care if people understand me or not.  What a great feeling!!!

Note: As soon as it was brought to my attention how it was interpreted apologies were extended. I hope they were accepted, but I honestly do not think they were. I've done all I can do in that department.  Now all I can do is move on.