Half Way Mark!

Here I am this morning - 20 weeks Baby! We get to find out what we are having on Saturday! Cannot wait!!!

Baby #2

I knew I was growing but I really just thought I still looked fat.....here I am today!

Heartbeat!!!

I went to my first Midwife appointment on Tuesday, among many things that I am so happy with going to a Midwife instead of an OBGYN, they were able to find our baby's heartbeat! It was such a joyful time...not that my face reflects that, but she was pushing on my stomach pretty hard, so I was trying to deal with that. Below is the video, enjoy!

Oh the Excitement!

I know it's only been what....3 years since I was pregnant with Lindsay, but once you give birth you almost forget about all the waiting and excitement that comes with expecting! This time around I found out really early, well for me really early. I didn't find out I was pregnant with my first until I was almost 7 weeks pregnant, and same thing with Lindsay, so 5 weeks 3 days is really early for me! Which is cool, but it's also made the first trimester feel like it's taking FOREVER to get through! I've known I'm pregnant for 5 weeks, and in my previous pregnancies that meant I was done with the first trimester....but I still have 2 weeks left! Oh well, I just have to enjoy each stage as it comes.

There are so many things to be excited about right now.

1. My first real doctor's appointment is on Tuesday! Hopefully we'll be able to hear little baby's heartbeat :) Unfortunately Jimmy will be out of town :( So I'm having my dear friend Meghan Esau come with me to record the heart beat for him.

2. We are moving! Although this is really exciting for all the possibilities that come with moving, it's also a little stressful. We are substantially down grading (4 bedroom 2 bath to a 2 bedroom 1 bath)! But that's good because we have too much junk just laying around. So it'll give us a chance to detox before the baby arrives and adds to the mess!

3. Jimmy starts school this next week! He leaves for Freshman Orientation as an instructor for ND ROTC on Sunday - hence why he'll be out of town for the Dr. Appointment. He is so excited to get back to school and ROTC, he's been cooped up because of his surgery almost all summer.

4. We got a really adorable "princess" bed for Lindsay - for free! And we are so excited to set it up in her new room and see how she enjoys it. It's got the four posts and the canopy over top!

5. My Mom and Chuck are moving here in a few months (hopefully)! I cannot be more excited about this. I know they are making great sacrifices to do it, but I think (or I hope) they will say it was all worth it! I cannot wait for Lindsay to have more Grandma and PopPop time and for them to be here for the birth of their 5th grandchild! Not to mention I'll get more time with Mom :) which I'm always grateful for!

6. Lindsay is using more and more words, which is great, but can also be a lot of discipline too because she is lying or talking back. I just pray everyday that God will give me the wisdom to deal with it correctly and to find a good balance.

7. I have joined this amazing support group on BabyZone.com. I am having so much fun measuring my belly every week with TP and seeing how much each of us have grown. And I'm enjoying being able to pray for other women due at the same time I am. What an amazing opportunity.

I just can't be more excited about God's timing! Although having two children under the age of 5 while Jimmy is trying to finish up college is going to be challenging, it will be a fun ride! And we'll always look back at this time and say, "If we could do it then...." We are creating memories everyday and I'm so thankful for that.

So thanks for reading, I hope you have a wonderful Friday the 13th! And that you have some excitement and joy in your life too!

It's Happening Again!

I love how God operates.

It wasn't even 2 months ago that Jimmy and I totally came to grips with Lindsay as our only child and here we are starting another journey of pregnancy! I am just so full of joy, shock, and amazement.

We went on a family vacation to see family! It was a great week and half of relaxation, lots of driving, and hours of memories with family we don't see. I am so grateful for the week we were able to spend with the Ridgleys, meeting my niece for the first time, and being able to feel my nephew move! What a great great time! Then we drove up to Port Huron, Michigan to see Jimmy's extended family. We had a great time visiting with them, sinking the paddle boat, and buying cute stuff at the flea market. By the time we came home I was exhausted!

On Thursday, July 8th, we were in Dollar General getting some more wipes for Lindsay and my stomach started to turn. Just for the heck of it we purchased a home pregnancy test and went home. Well I went to the bathroom and did my thing and it showed positive! Holy Cow! I was beaming, all I could muster out was, "Jimmy! You better come here!" We went to Women's Care Center on Friday, 7/9 and had them medically test for pregnancy and it came back POSITIVE! Yahoo!

We are totally beside ourselves, over joyed, and extremely happy! The Women's Care Center gave me a due date of March 10, 2011, which makes me 5 weeks 4 days pregnant! We are planning on having a Midwife for this pregnancy and are attending a "Meet and Greet" for the Midwives of Michiana tomorrow! I really want a water birth for this baby and am excited to find out more about it.

Lindsay is so excited to be a big sister. She says hi to the baby everyday and kisses it Good Morning and Good Night! She thinks now that everyone in our family has a baby in their belly, so she tries to kiss Daddy's baby and her baby night night too! It's too cute.

Jimmy is excited beyond words. He can't wait for March to get here already! However, he thinks that going to school will make the time fly by.

I'm only have nausea right now, and very tired spells. So I think I've been pretty lucky so far, Jimmy thinks that means it's a boy! Oh boy! haha I'm just waiting until next week, then I'll probably be sick!

The songs that are constantly in my head right now are:

Oh Happy Day!
Our God

Enjoy your day, I know I am!

Listening....

This week I've been amazed at how God has been talking to me. Okay so I have to be honest, I feel like my life is a never ending cycle of disappointment and busy-ness, therefore I don't take the time to sit down and read my Bible like I was so determined to do this year. So I've been surrounding myself with other medias to receive God's Word during the day.

I started to listen to Smart Talk 1270 about 3 weeks ago, just strictly for the Dave Ramsey Show but I've started to keep it on in the mornings before he comes on. During the 9:00 hour they play a program called Revive our Hearts, it's been very insightful this week. They've been running a series called What Your Husband Wishes You Knew About Being His Wife by Bob Lepine. I've really been convicted by the messages this week. The one they played on Tuesday was all about being your husband's cheerleader. That you should always encourage and uplift your husband....which I have not done over the last 2 years. I've been very close minded and selfish. Lately I've been comparing our current relationship to how it was in California, specifically when we lived in our second apartment for the year after Jimmy came back from deployment. I realized yesterday that I look back at that year as our "wonder year" because it was the year we both were excited about what we were doing outside the home, therefore we were excited to come home and share what happened. We were pretty financially set so we could just leave for the weekend and go to Vegas or San Diego if we wanted to, we were happy. And I think I didn't have to work to be a cheerleader, it was just natural. However, marriage isn't all just "happy" moments, it's not full of "wonder years" and I need to appreciate the hard times just as much as the "easy" times because it's during the hard times we learn to lean on each other and God more.

So I've decided to take the 30-day True Woman make over to better my relationship with God and my husband. I'm also hoping that it will help me appreciate my life, my family, and my circumstances more.

So Yes God I am listening.....and now I'm acting!

Lindsay Saying

I love that Lindsay is starting to talk and say things without being prompted. Here is a recent tale!

We got a puppy from the pound back in December. We thought he was a Golden Retriever, he was very pretty....

however, now that he's grown a little (okay A LOT) he's started to push Lindsay around.

We've been telling Lindsay she needs to stand up to Champ and show him who is boss! Here is the conversation she had with him the other day.....

I brought home a hat from work for Lindsay to play with. She took it outside in the backyard to play. A few minutes later she came inside without the hat to see what I was up to. I was doing the dishes and not paying attention to what was happening outside.

Lindsay yells, "Mommie, my haaaat, Mommie my haaat!"

Thinking the hat was just outside the door I gave her permission to go get the hat. I looked up to see her running across the yard to Champ, then I saw her hat was in his mouth! Lindsay was almost to Champ when I stepped out the back door and yelled at Champ, "Leave it!" Lindsay bent down and took the hat out of Champ's mouth....put it on her head....took two steps back. With one hand on her hip and the other pointed to her hat this is what she said:

"Puppy, No no no no, my hat, bad Puppy, bad Puppy. It's no no, my hat!"

And with that she was off! :)

Learning Moments

Have you ever had a moment when you realized that you weren't doing as great of a job at something as you thought you were? I'm stumbling upon that right now. I thought I was doing such a good job of teaching and guiding my daughter, and I've realized lately (really the last two days) that I've just been coasting through her life. I haven't been spending the time teaching her life lessons or how to act in situations. I've been lucky that she is naturally well-behaved, well I guess I've trained her a little in that area, but I haven't spent the time I should teaching her.

It's just been laying heavy on my heart lately. I've been spending so much time worrying about "me time" that I haven't been taking advantage of the "mommy/daughter" time that I so cherish. My new To-Do list:

1. Spend Quality Time with God.
2. Spend Quality Time with Lindsay, teaching her "life lessons" instead of putting on Puppies!
3. Re-enforce the good that my husband does, remind him that he is a crucial part to this family and that we appreciate everything that he does.
4. Have Lindsay help me outside....there's two reasons for that:
1) The yard needs picking up and flowers need to be planted.
2) Lindsay LOVES to be outside and run around (and it makes for pretty good nap times!)
5. Make Dinner :)

I hope you have a blessed day.
~Lauren