It came and went

Saturday came and went, with no baby.  La sigh.  Unfortunately, it also came with another gall bladder attack. . . at 3 in the morning.  And it was accompanied with nausea and Braxton Hicks contractions.  So unfortunately we didn't make it to church this morning because instead I was trying to catch up on some sleep since I had missed out on a few hours during the night.  Aaron stayed up with me during the first hour or so and I know that God has provided my wonderful husband for me on purpose.  He's so wonderful to me!  He comforts me like nothing else.

I also found that drinking water helped out a TON this time.  It was painful but not unbearable.  Unfortunately though I drank a TON of water (not kidding, I drank nearly half a gallon in 2 hours), which lead to me constantly in the bathroom.  I finally realized I could go to bed when I was falling asleep in the bathroom. I realized the pain was gone and it was ok to return to bed.  Praise God.

Although that was not very fun, Aaron and I had a very nice Saturday.  We visited his momma and sister Courtney because we needed to do some laundry and we just miss them.  So we did laundry throughout the day, watched some tv, played Settlers of Catan with Court (she loves it as much as we do), and Aaron and I had a great time of prayer and Bible study.  Oh and of course there was doggie and kitty snuggles in there.  =D

Today we spent some more time with Aaron's family before returning home.  They are so cute together. All three of them were snuggling on the bed together when Aaron woke up.  And of course some of the doggies had to join in the snuggles.  I wish I would have had my camera.  Too precious!  I'm thankful for the sleep I was able to get and the restful day today after a somewhat stressful night.  I was so afraid the GB attack would send me into labor.  Perhaps that's silly but I was a bit worried.  Thankfully it did not.  As much as I'd love to meet our little one, I'm glad our meeting wasn't the result of my attack.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
I wasn't home yesterday to mention this, but head on over to my friend Jana's blog to see her adorable little one Emily modeling the headbands I sent her! :)

1 Day (but probably not)

I love looking at our Target Baby Registry just for the sheer fact that it says how many days until our due date.  It's been so fun watching the numbers roll down.  Today it says we have 1 days left. (Yes, it says days).  I know that our little one may not be here tomorrow, but it's still so exciting to know that we've made it to our due date. Our little one has survived 40 weeks in mommy's belly and is doing well!

Some things we've been experiencing lately:
1. Lots of hiccups.  Poor little one hiccups quite often.  I feel so bad for him/her.  Hopefully when our baby decides to arrive he/she will not have them nearly as often.
2. Nesting.  I've been nesting a lot lately.  It's great because it's helping me to keep the house cleaned up!
3. Random hip spasms.  I don't know what else to call them.  They started yesterday.  My inner hip gets a sharp pain in it and then gives out and I have to grab onto something to stay upright.  It happened roughly 6 times yesterday and twice so far today.  Not sure what that's about.  Hopefully that means baby is fully engaged and pinching a nerve?
4. Having a little one soon makes me want to do more natural cleaning products.  I have many things I want to make.  Like this recipe for liquid handsoap from a bar of soap.  I was going to do it today but we don't have any liquid glycerin and Aaron works all day, although I suppose I could drive him to work tonight if I wanted the car.  hmmmmmm

Source

5.  My belly button wasn't popped at our appointment on Wednesday and it popped that night.  It looks so funny!

6.  Valerie told us that it could be another week or two and not to be anxious. 

7.  We have our bags packed and ready to go including candles and worship music.  (Yup, I sing a lot so I'm thinking that will help and if it doesn't, we just turn it off). 

8.  I can't stop thinking about our little one and wanting to hold him/her.  The hardest part right now is that we're so close and I just want to know if we have a son or daughter.  

9.  I made some headbands in the event we have a little girl since most of our clothing leans more towards boy. 

10.  I'm still obsessed with coconut :)

What's going on in your lives?  

Any one have a guess as to when baby's birthday will actually be??? 

1.5 weeks left

How did the time go by so quickly???

Our little one should be here any day now up til about 4 weeks from now (Dear Lord, please let our little one be healthy and come early, please).  

We have a meeting with our midwife on Wednesday.  I'm trying to think of any last minute questions I should ask her.  Do you have any suggestions? 

 I was rather tired today and didn't get as much cleaning done as I'd like to have gotten done, however, I did watch some videos on tips with newborns.  I watched an excellent one on breastfeeding your newborn from babycenter.com.  There was also a good one on bathing your newborn which I will share with Aaron tonight when he gets home.  

I've been watching little ones probably since around 8 years old although not by myself until 12.  I feel like I'm prepared for most things, but I've never been a *parent* before.  I've never had a little one that I didn't get to send home in the evenings, or that I would hug and say goodbye.  I know it's going to be a huge change and as much as I'm excited I'm also starting to get nervous.  

I feel like that's weird, but I'm all of a sudden realizing how much I don't have it all together.  What if our baby won't sleep in the bassinet?  Will we cosleep?  What will I do with a newborn all day (other than snuggle him/her of course)?  How will I ever get any cleaning done, meaning I already dislike cleaning, how am I going to want to clean when I have a little one that needs my care?  Please tell me I'm not alone in my concerns in becoming a new mom.

Oh and there are things like, well, I've never done this before, how will I know if my water breaks??? How will I know if those are real contractions? What if baby has decided to flip around (I've been getting a lot more knee or elbows to my side lately)?  How will we get baby to get back into position?  

I know that some of my concerns are rational and some probably aren't.  But even with all of these new concerns that have come up, I'm still super excited to hold our little one in our arms.  I can't imagine how overwhelming that will be.  More than anything I'm looking forward to becoming a family of three.  Aaron already cares very much for our baby and I can't wait to see him when baby comes.  He is going to just be so excited.  It'll be better than seeing his face when he heard baby's heartbeat for the first time and that was pretty incredible. 

We are praying for a healthy and safe delivery.  

Anyway, any last minute questions I should ask??? Thanks for you help!

Eviction Notice

Dear baby, 

I'd love to keep you inside longer so you can "cook up right" as daddy always says.  However, my ribs would like to issue you an eviction notice.  They say they hurt and would like to be able to cough and sneeze without pain.  

Sincerely, 

Mommy & her ribs

P.S. If you would even just like to move on down a little more I'm sure they might be ok with that. 

P.P.S. BTW daddy has off from work next Wednesday, just something to keep in mind.  You know and it's daddy's half-birthday and he'd be thrilled if it'd be your birthday too.  

Ok, all done! Love you baby!

When you get four pregnant ladies together

You get a line-up:

 Sky (16 weeks), Phanango (22 weeks), Sandy (24 weeks) and me (30 weeks)

Phanango and Sandy were both visiting with their husbands.  It was so nice to just take a walk with everyone and then chat with the girls. 

Hehe and our friends Sally and Justin came over with their little one (who's not so little any more!!! He's a big 2 year old).  After we got done taking all of these photos.  The little man decided to use our friend's phone to take photos of me, but I had to be standing against the wall.  I played a long for a little while but then was just too tired of standing. 

What a fun weekend! :) 

Love, 
Amanda

P.S. Did you check out these new clutches? Elegant Pine and Classy Pine

They are one of a kind (and aren't made yet so can be changed slightly if needed).  I mailed some out for a charity raffle and really liked them so decided I'd be able to make one of each for the shop if anyone is interested. 

P.P.S. I still need to right a Duggar post.  I've been so encouraged by them lately!

P.P.P.S.  We start up youth group tomorrow.  If you could be praying God would have His way there we'd GREATLY appreciate it! 

Our third Trimester! WHAT?

That's right.  As of Saturday we've entered our third trimester!  Woohoo!!! We are officially 28 weeks and in the last third of our pregnancy.  It goes by so quickly!  Even though pregnancy has not been super easy for me (between morning sickness and gall bladder attacks), I'm so thankful to be pregnant and really it's a great experience period.  I just enjoy having this little one growing inside of me.  However I can't wait to meet our little one. 

This morning, hubby had tutoring from 7:30-8:30 so I got up and had a quite time and got ready. When he got back we went outside to shoot a few baby bump pictures.  Unfortunately it was pretty cold so we stayed outside for all of oh, 5 minutes =P.  I still love our pictures anyway! And hubby was so sweet to take some time out of his day to do something special for me.  He had tutoring this morning, is now subbing for the afternoon until 3, and then he has an interview for more subbing opportunities at 4, and work at the dollar store at 5.  He'll be home around 11.  Yes, I am so super blessed to have this man as my husband.  I love him very much.  He's trying to work so hard so that I can stay home with our little one.  Praise God.

It is fall in Erie!  And this is the only tree we have left in our "yard" (it's technically beside our driveway, but we went from 5 to 1 recently).  We rent so it wasn't really our choice, but it looks nice in our backyard and they're doing it to add more parking. YAY!

Everyone say hello to our little one!

My husband kept saying goofy things to make me laugh. This was one of those times. (I should totally start a series called, things Aaron says.)

Our pretty little lonely tree! 

How was your weekend?  Aaron and I did a lot of laundry yesterday and I got to watch the Steelers win WOOT!  Saturday I crafted much of the day as Aaron had a lot of tutoring.  We're keeping busy!

Oh and happy reformation day! :) 

Reaching a decision

Today I experienced my third gall bladder attach during this pregnancy.  Am I happy that it occurred? Absolutely not.  They are ridiculously painful.  However, I am thankful that our midwife provided us a method of treatment.  

I tried finding a comfortable position. Yah, no, I couldn't sit, stand, or lay without crying.  And crying only made it worse as it made it difficult to breathe. 

Up next, Cold compress on the area of pain.  Er, yeah still not working.  Trying very hard not to sob as husband is on the phone with midwife. 

Try taking a hot bath.  

Ok, so at first all it did was make me stop crying, THIS IS HUGE.  

Praise God. 

I was still having trouble getting comfortable, but finally I was able to find out what didn't work (lying on my side was the worst).  Then I discovered what did work, and I didn't move.  I sat in the tub for about 45 minutes.  

After about 15 minutes, I looked at Aaron and said, "we're having a water birth."  He concurred.  We had also learned at our appointment today that tearing is less common with a water birth. 

So thank you gall bladder attack for helping us make that decision! :) 

However, please don't return anymore.  K?  Alright great! Thanks!

Oh and can I say how much I love this man??? He's just the best.  He took such great care of me today! I loff him. He worked very hard to calm me and to try to make me laugh once I calmed down. He's the best. 

Photo used courtesy of Kat Ritenour Photography

Gall Bladder Attacks

stink almost as much as a toothache right before you need a root canal.  Thankfully they don't last as long. 

Well how would you know this, Amanda, you ask.  Well last spring I had to have a root canal done because of a terrible toothache.  That was just awful.  The night before they put in temporary filling I literally cried all but 1.5 hours of that night (when I finally got some sleep).  I went to work and the sweet little girl I watch kept saying, "Madda, oo cying! What wong Madda?"  (Manda, you're crying! What's wrong Manda?) Sweetest little girl ever. 

Source

Anyway that was the most painful thing I've ever gone through, yet.  Not very much fun! That's how I felt, only imagine tears and red blotchy eyes.

Anyway, all that to say that today, I had a similar experience on the pain scale.  I was feeling super hunger and thought, hmmmm if I don't eat I'm going to be sick. So I made a baked potato (or 2. . . What? I'm pregnant and they were fast and I needed fast or so I thought.)  So I ate my baked potato and still felt "yucky".  

Then the pain started. 

 I tried going to the bathroom to see if that was it.  Nope, no dice.  

I tried laying down to see if that would help.  Would screaming count as helping?  Probably not. 

Then of course the tears started coming.  I was in agony.  The pain is right under your ribs and then spreads to your back in the same area.  

After 20 minutes, it still hadn't gone away, so I had Aaron call our midwife.  The 4-year-old adorable little girl picked up. "Can I talk to your mommy?" No response.  "Can I talk to your daddy?" Yeah, nothing.  

Apparently our midwife was actually at another appointment and had no reception.  Finally we were able to reach her husband who said as soon as he reached her, he would have her call us and took notes on all my symptoms.  

By the time she called back, I had finally been able to lay on my side enough to get some relief.  And fell asleep.  But when she called I woke up.  I told her my symptoms and she said, "Yep, I thought you were having a gall bladder attack based on what my husband said.  Did the pain come very suddenly, knock you to your knees and make you cry?" HMMMMMMM YES!!!

She sympathized with me, asked if I had any contractions or spotting (just to make sure baby is ok) and then told me some things I can do to prevent future attacks.  Apple Cider vinegar is good for my diet apparently and will help.  So will Olive Oil and some of the B Vitamins.  Then she gave me a list of things to avoid.  Uh oh.  I'm pregnant.  Things to avoid??? 

Black Pepper, ok, not so bad.  Apparently I can have cayenne. 

Coffee, no big deal don't like it.

Tea, that might be harder when it starts getting colder or I go to Chick-Fil-A.  Who doesn't love their sweet tea? 

Chocolate? JAW INSTANTLY DROPS!!! WHAT???? YOU CAN'T SAY THAT TO A PREGNANT LADY!!! You mean no more mint chocolate chip ice cream? brownies? nutella? wafernusse? NOTHING???? ***wail cry flail*** (No, I actually calmly said, OK, however, I did feel all those things).

Ok, after my heart attack, I convince myself it won't be terrible. 

Oh and avoid fried foods.  Not so bad. Trying to eat better anyway. 

Source

So that has pretty much been my Thursday.  I had an attack previously and then forgot to mention it during my appointments.  Now I know though which is great!  

Wonderful, now I want a sweet tea. . . ugh!

Who am I kidding, I need to just be praising God that all that happened was me having a gall bladder attack, it was pre-term labor, not a panic attack of baby, nothing truly wrong.  Praise God for that.

I hope your Thursday was better than mine!  I'd love to hear about it. 

Why I've been absent lately

There are three main reasons I have been absent lately from this blog.  

1.  As you well know, I am pregnant and unfortunately morning sickness isn't quite accurate.  For me it had been almost 24/7 sickness.  When at home I'd live on the couch for a while.  

Well, I'm glad to say that we are 16 weeks pregnant now and I am feeling sooooo much better!

 Although it's small, there is definitely the beginnings of a baby bump there.  I've realized that this pregnancy I've lost weight (probably from the morning sickness) and all the weight I've gained has to have been related to the baby.  I'm the same weight I was when I got pregnant.  Hoping that will change as I can now start to eat more (hopefully).  Who knows, maybe one day I'll want Italian food again (gosh I hope so).

2. We've been spending a lot of time with friends lately.  While Aaron and I are waiting to find employment we have our summers free.  Also, our friends, Andrew and Sky, have moved just a few blocks from us.  Our friend, Brandon's car broke down and has been spending the nights here because it's closer to work for him.  We don't mind at all. We love spending time with our friends. 

 For his birthday, I got Aaron Settlers of Catan.  Best.purchase.EVER.  We have played a lot.  Not kidding, probably at least 6 times a week (we play multiple games per night).

 Andrew and Sky very graciously host us in their home!

 Robber, Robber, go away, come again, NEVER!  No one likes the robber.  He stops your production and allows the person who placed him there to steal one of your cards.  Boo to the robber!

Did I mention we live just a few blocks from the beach??? We have gone to Presque Isle on Lake Erie a few times this summer also with Sky and Andrew and our friend Brandon.  It has been so much fun to be out in the sun and to get some great exercise for baby.  The picture above was taken on the day we had 4-5' waves.  It was the most intense swim I've ever had at Lake Erie. 

3. Uncooperative weather and schedules. 

I've made a lot of new products lately, but unfortunately, I haven't been able to take many pictures of the new products.  We've had very weird weather as of late, super hot and bright and sunny but then days where it just is super cloudy, threatening to rain.  I've also been wanting to take pictures of people wearing the products I make to hopefully help promote them better, but we just haven't been able to coordinate our schedules yet.  Hopefully sometime this week everything will work out. 

Those are the main reasons why I've been absent from blogging.  How do you deal with a lack of blogging?  Do you ever get in a rut where you just don't feel like blogging?  What motivates you to blog?

Finding God in the Little Things

Today I will be linking up with my friend, Laura from, Along for the Ride.  She has started a new series on Tuesdays called Finding God.

Lately I have been finding God in the Little things:

 like two little pink lines: 

Yep, that's correct, Aaron and I are expecting our first child.  We are ten weeks along right now.  We will be due in mid-late January. 

That following Saturday we went yard-saling, our friend James was in town and helped us to find a terrific crib, mattress, bedding set, and additional nursery items for $170.  That's a fantastic deal friends.  Do I think this was God's providence?  Absolutely!!! Neither of us have jobs right now (although I am still paid through August, praise God), so we can't really afford a lot of things for baby.  Our friend James helped us buy our crib set.  We are so thankful that he was here, that day, when we found that remarkable deal.  We also found some other great deals too! God is in the little things, like having friends visit at the exact right time. 

We came home from the yard sale to find this lovely package for me.

My awesome friend, Laura, sent me these earrings as an anniversary gift.  I absolutely love them.  You should totally visit her shop.  She has soooooo many wonderful things for sale.

I wear these earrings all the time.  I especially love the mum earrings in Green Tea.  I unfortunately have been terrible about taking pictures in them though.  :/  

So what Laura didn't know is she sent me a Happy Anniversary, Happy Pregnancy gift.  A small little blessing from God?  Absolutely!!!

Lately, I have been hit by morning sickness, oh wait, no not morning, all day sickness.  I don't vomit too often, but I'm nauseous almost all day, everyday.  Hopefully this will clear up in the next few weeks, but even still, I praise God for this sickness, because He is allowing us to bring a little child into this world that we love very much already.  Not every woman will be blessed to go through morning sickness, because not every woman can have children.  So I keep reminding myself to be thankful even for this time. 

I praise God that telling our families went better than we had expected.  We knew Aaron's family would be excited.  And they were, his mom jumped up and down and was super cute :).  

My family is full of worriers, so we were a bit nervous about telling them.  While my family is nervous, they did also seem happy for us and for that I'm so thankful.  I found God in my dad's smile when we told him he was going to be "pap" again.   This will be number 4.  My younger sister is really hoping for a niece this time.  We'll find out in January. 

So that's how I've been finding God in the little things lately.  How about you?