Voodoo Magic

So a week long vacation to Atlanta and Savannah Georgia was a fantastic idea and a success! My lovely sisters live way down south so it is always a treat to get to spend time with them. I flew down with my Mom (thanks for the first class seats, Tami!) and we had a fun (exhausting) time with the girls and of course with my almost-three-year-old nephew, London. What. A. Hoot.

Lovely ladies at the beach (Tybee Island)

 

Baby belly at the ocean.

London as "Buzz Lightyear" for trick or treating.

 

My sister, Jessica, is known to have some kind of voodoo magic/gypsy power to determine the sex of a baby while still in the womb. She has a near perfect record; don't ask me how (don't even ask her how, she doesn't know) but she did try it on my belly last week while I was staying with her. We'll see if she is right or not, but here's video of the result she came up with...

Check back tomorrow for the actual results...

Coming out...

It's official. 

I'm an outie. 

Exciting stuff around here these days! We've got belly buttons popping out, baby moving around in there and Justin trying on a sling (I wish I had a picture to prove it!). Oh, and today is the official "half-way" mark. Whew! I really can't believe how fast this is all moving.

My grand to-do list is coming along nicely. We've registered for several baby prepping classes (it's starting to really hit us that we have so much to learn still). We attended "Baby Wearing 101" last week, where Justin tried on a Maya Sling. If any of you readers out there have any advice/recommendations, I welcome them. I'm pretty sure on a Moby Wrap, but the ring sling was great, too. (And Justin looked so great wearing that thing!) I'm so excited about "wearing my baby". So many wonderful benefits I've read and heard about I just can't wait to try it out and get to have my baby close by me for much of the day. "Diaper Up!" is up this weekend. I'm really excited (yes, folks, EXCITED) to try out cloth diapers. Don't even think about trying to talk me out of it either. I'm going to give it my best and have a really great feeling about it. (Margie - I found a great online deal earlier this week that was buy one get one free for some FuzziBunz cloth diapers, so I ordered a couple with your shower gift money. I have plenty leftover too, so I'll keep you posted on what else I find!)

We had a check up earlier this week. It was fun to have a Grandma there to hear her Grand-baby's heartbeat for the first time. Other Grandmas (and Grandpas), see video below. (Note: you might have to turn up the volume a little more.)

Watching and listening to this makes me so incredibly happy. Each time I am reminded of how absolutely awesome God has made this process of creation. It gets me so excited for when I get to hold that soul in my arms for the first time. Speaking of excitement, in two weeks we go in for our next ultrasound and hopefully get to find out whether we have a boy or girl bouncing around in there. So. Freakin. Excited!

Just call me the "Queen of the Deals"

Ok, ok. I've been a horrible blogger lately. I'm sorry. All my shows started last month and I somehow have accumulated one pretty much every weekday. House, Glee, Modern Family and Fringe. I recommend them all!  And I don't know if I've mentioned it yet, but we got this new glider/recliner chair and I'm in love with it! The minute I sit down, I'm not moving till it's time for bed, or when I have to go to the bathroom ; )

Anywho, so week 18 is coming to an end. I'm sorry, what? That's like almost half way! Yippee! As well as my second trimester has been treating me, I'm just so darn excited to meet the little one. Belly is continuing to expand and I couldn't be happier. My appointment a couple weeks back went well. Baby's heartbeat was 153. I'm now anxiously waiting for the next milestone...feeling the baby move. I don't know what to expect at all but they tell me I'll know when it starts. Also, about a month from now we'll have our ultrasound to see what flavor we are having. Definitely excited for that!

So, the past few weeks I've also been busy finding some sweeeeet deals! Neat Repeatz is this awesome consignment sale I heard about from a friend at church. Basically, a couple times a year, they set up this store of used baby and children's stuff to buy. It was amazing! I bought some maternity cloths for myself for pennies on the dollar of what I would have had to spend brand new. I was most excited about finding the bedding for the nursery! I came across a great pattern with colors that will work for a girl or a boy and it will match perfectly with the color the nursery is already painted! AND it was still in the packaging, AND guess how great of a deal I got on it??  Well, I found the exact bedding still available to purchase online and it was $200 plus the set I found at Neat Repeatz came with the matching mobile which sells for $40. I got both for $80.00!!!  Seriously, I have a gift people. Check out what it looks like here! I put together this gigantic "to do" list that I'd like to have done b.b.a. (before baby arrives!) Carpet cleaning is one of those and I get to check it off tomorrow! Then we'll be ready to start putting the nursery together! So excited! 

Wait, there's more. Quite possibly THE BEST deal I'll come across in my preparing for baby journey! Circle ME is another great little baby boutique that I came across. They offer FREE educational classes, a couple I attended were "Cloth Diapering 101" and "Baby Wearing 101". They too had a consignment sale last weekend that Justin and I took advantage of. We picked up, get this, a bulk package, 288 to be exact, of nursing pads for, wait for it....$5.00!  Can you believe it! I had to see for myself what and incredible deal this was so when we were at Target, we stopped by the baby section and saw you could by a box of 36 for over $5. Sweet deal...confirmed. Justin was such a trooper. I made him carry the box around for me while I continued to shop.

So that's what we've been up to! I want to send a shout out to all the wonderful friends and family who read this blog. It's so encouraging to hear your comments and your own stories. Many of you have been in our prayers. God continues to reveal to me how He's been working in our lives. We love you!

Bumps and Deals

Sorry it's been so long friends. I've had a busy couple weeks at work and September (half over already?) has been a busy month. But here I am. 15 weeks pregnant at that! Time is flying by and baby is growing (he/she better be anyway, my tummy sure is making room I'll tell ya that right now). What do you think?

I seriously can't believe how quickly the weeks are going by now. Six months from now I'm going to be holding our precious baby in my arms. I really can't believe it. I'm looking forward to my doctors appointment next week; I've been waiting to get to hear that awesome heartbeat again. I'm slowing getting anxious to be able to find out if it's a bouncing baby boy or precious baby girl growing in my belly. Many predictions are girl; Justin and I both have had dreams that it's a girl. Grandmas all say girl. In my head it's been a girl, but I've been trying to not let that get to me. Names continue to be discussed. We'll see in about seven more weeks. What a fun and exciting process!

I continue to feel better as well. I've been back to my old self in getting the house cleaned on the weekends (again, my perfect way to de-stress). Though I burned most my energy doing it, I had a chance to get some yard work done that was way over due. (Pray that all my hostas make it through the transplant!)

I was driving in an area of Lincoln the other evening that I'm never in and came by a garage sale with tons of baby stuff on the lawn. I have this dream that all of my baby gear and cloths will be used and bought (or given to me) at bargain prices. Now this is my personal opinion, wait, I don't need to defend myself, this is my blog! I'm going to go ahead and say that I think the majority of baby gear and clothes you find in the name brand stores are a huge waste of money. I mean you walk the halls and scroll the websites and see the ridiculously cute onesies and oooo and ahhh over the latest gadget that you can buy that you being a new mom just can't live without. Well folks, I'm up for the challenge. Don't get me wrong, I think they have made gigantic headway in what we know about babies and mothers these days compared to generations ago, but if you ask me, I think I turned out pretty good, and my mom, she turned out pretty fantastic as well. And you wonder not only how did my  mom do it, but how did my grandma do it? So back to my garage sale shopping...I found a what looked like a brand new pack and play (that had all the fancy gadgets even) for over $100 less than what it would of cost in the store. I mean, come on? (Charley would be proud don't you think, Margie?)

So I'm on a mission. I'm not sure where it will take me, but I'm excited to see how far I can get and how much money I can save. I'm excited to have a living, breathing, crying, pooping, baby to love and hold and hug and smell. I could care less about the $200 stroller that could walk itself and change your child's diapers for you.

Ordinary miracle...

...to God maybe.


We had our second ultra sound last week. Amazing. Beautiful. Breath-taking. Awesome. The hands of my Creator continue to amaze my mind and my soul. Take a look for yourselves...

Baby's little legs and bottom.

Baby's head and body.

Baby Klemsz. I think his/her little hand is waving 'Hi!'

I love how you can see the spine in this one.

See what I mean? It is just beyond my comprehension the amazing miracle growing and changing inside me. To God it's just an ordinary miracle. To me, so much more than that. More than I think I may even know right now. We had a chance to listen to the heart beat, too. So amazing! Brings a smile to my face every time I think of it.



Everything looked great at our check-up. I'm even a bit farther along than had first thought. Well into the 12th week, I'm beginning to feel much better (Thank you, God!). Our little bundle is due to be here on March 10, 2011. It has been great to finally get to tell people our wonderful news. I surprised my co-workers with a happy and delicious message...

I've never been one to enjoy the spotlight, but it's fun to see how excited people close to you get at a time like this. I've already enjoyed some of the best conversations with people.
My mother came to visit me last weekend to celebrate my birthday and to take me on a maternity clothes shopping spree! We had so much fun and found some super cute stuff (and some sweet deals! Cardigans $2.99, I think I'll take one in each color!) My belly can no longer be hidden!


We are excited for Husker football to start next week and the beautiful fall weather is getting closer. I love this time of year and look forward to the weeks ahead. Thank you all for the continued prayers. They have worked! I want to close this post by sharing a song that touched me the first time hearing it. The lyrics speak so much about every day occurrences that we don't ever think twice about, but how truly awesome they really are. Having a baby used to kind of be like that for me. When you wanted to start a family you did. No big deal, babies are born every day. So much I have learned and how wrong I was. Having a family is far from ordinary. I've learned this in my own life after losing our first baby and have had so many conversations with women who have struggled and continue to struggle with what may seem like a natural and easy thing to do. Yes, creating a human is just another miracle God chooses to do, but to many women, having a baby is supernatural. God created each and every one of us for a purpose. He created us to be extraordinary.


 

My little kumquat.

I have no idea what a kumquat is, but the pregnancy books and websites I read, say that my baby is now the size of a kumquat.

The 10th week begins today and I don't know if it's the beautiful weather we've had the past couple days or what, but I feel great! Today was the first day in a month that I haven't had to take medicine to make it through the day! And the past two days I've also 1) worked out and 2) made the bed! Two additional things I haven't done the past month! Could this be the beginning of a new chapter in the pregnancy? I hope so! (Gran, I think that three and a half hour nap I took on Sunday instead of going miniature golfing paid off!)

The past few days, my belly sure has made an entrance. I thought I'd better start on the belly bump pictures so in 7 more months I can see how far I've come.

A week from today we have our next ultrasound. We'll be able to see our growing baby and hear the heart beat for the first time. I'm excited and anxious. And a little nervous, hoping and praying that everything is still going well.

A song very dear to my (and Justin's) heart is "Blessed Be Your Name". It's a song that many of us connected to in college during our "Challenge Band Years". Justin and I sang it together at our wedding and we actually sang it this last Sunday while leading worship at church. So much can be learned and breathed into your life through the lyrics. I, as any of us have, have known what is it like for God to bless our lives with good things and we can praise Him and live thankfully and happily. But there are times that God may take away something from us that we just don't understand and we get angry or even turn away from Him. Though there are many aspects of my life that these ideas pertain to, none have touched me more than the hope of becoming a mom. God gave me a gift almost a year ago to date, but it wasn't long before He took that gift from me. The pain was more than anything I've ever had to bear. But I knew God was still with me. As mad as I was at Him for taking my first baby away from me, I clung close to His word and His promise that He loved me. I learned much about life and about myself that I know I would never have learned had I not have had to bear that load. I will praise Him all my days for His love and mercy for me. Now, I've been given a new gift. And as happy and thankful I am for this gift, I know that God has His hands on my life and life growing inside me. I don't take one moment of this time for granted and continue to want to know and learn what His plan is for me in all this. "God gives and takes away, He gives and takes away, but my heart will choose to say, Lord blessed be Your Name!"

Pro.duc.tive.

What a fabulous day today! Last week was a stressful one at work and with a nervous breakdown waiting to happen, I decided to take today off.  Best. Idea. Ever.

The past few weeks, with "all-day" sickness getting worse and worse, I have had no energy or motivation to do any of my usual "around the house duties". People close to me know how much I enjoy cleaning and organizing and just tiding up around the house. It's really my way of de-stressing. Well today I got a long list of things done that I've been waiting three weeks to do. And it feels great! It took 2 nausea pills, a huge bowl of cucumbers and a big wedge of pumpkin bars to get me through, but I survived. (Yes Margie, I ate every last one of those cucumbers and every last crumb of the pumpkin bars, in one day!)

One thing in particular that I have been excited to tackle, was to go through the closet full of baby items we bought about a year ago. Shortly after discovering our pregnancy about a year ago, we came across some items for sale from a co-worker of mine. At the same time, Justin and I were in the middle of our finance study with Dave Ramsey, so the opportunity to buy some gently used baby furniture at a fraction of what it would have cost for new, was a huge blessing. Even though our first pregnancy didn't turn out how we had planned, we were still so thankful that we took advantage. For $500 we received a crib and mattress, dresser and 2 night stands (from Pottery Barn!), infant carrier and stroller, and high chair. When the lady delivered the stuff, she also brought along with her tubs of other items that she found during their move to a new home and threw all of it in at no extra cost! We got baby bottles, a mobile for the crib, sheets, Baby Bjorn carrier, Boppy pillow and Bumbo chair. I can't even tell you the amount of money that was saved and how thankful we are for such a wonderful blessing!

So anyway, today I took apart the carseat, stroller and high chair and got everything cleaned up for the new little one. Everything is a green color (my co-worker didn't know what she was having) which works out great for us! It was nice to have the motivation to dig into the exciting stuff. I can't wait to put the crib together!

 I know I love seeing baby stuff, so I thought I'd share some pictures of some of the items we have ready to go!