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! 

Don't even say the word 'bacon'!

Progressing through this sixth week, I've experienced many changes. For the first couple weeks I was only getting a little queasy at night, just before bed. Which was pretty easy to tolerate since I could just go to sleep. Monday was the first wave of actual "morning sickness". Eww. I am one of those people who always eats breakfast. My favorite meal of the day. I couldn't even get my favorite Cinnamon Life cereal down.

If you know me pretty well, you know that I am a pretty healthy eater. I try to get all my servings of fruits and veggies in and I drink milk with my supper. That has gone to crap. Everything I crave is not good for me. For example the other night I had the option to eat whatever I wanted. Fast food included. What was my decision? Stopping by Russ's Market on the way home to pick up a box of Velveeta Shells and Cheese and a can of pork n' beans to put on top! I know right! It was so delicious. Justin could barely watch the madness.

We made BLTs the other night. It was our own "market meal" type dinner. We picked up our favorite bacon at Frank's stand at the farmers market and a fresh tomato. The sandwich was delicious. The lingering bacon grease smell in the house? Not so much. Ugh. I had to take the trash out immediately and Clorox the kitchen sink! It wouldn't go away. I had candles and air fresheners going. I could still smell it the next day coming home from work. I couldn't even eat the leftovers the next day. It was awful! There is a small breakfast shop on my walk to work that I have to totally avoid now because of the aroma of bacon. Which is so sad because it always reminded me of waking up to that smell when I stayed at Grandma and Grandpa's house on the farm. I hope that will come back someday.

The other thing that is a HUGE change for me, that has really surprised me is my realization of how tired I really must be. Now, if you've ever lived with me for any amount of time, you know that I make my bed every morning. I mean EVERY morning. I can't leave the house without knowing it's been done. Well, I'm ashamed to tell you the past week or more, the bed...has...not...been...made. Gasp!!! I'm just too tired okay? Don't judge me. It was so funny the first day this happened, Justin came to tuck me in bed and he gasped at the fact that the blankets were all messed up. He hugged me and said, "Honey, I'm so proud of you!". See, I'm telling you. This. Is. Not. Normal. This baby is preparing me for what it will be like when he/she arrives. I'll have much more important things to do than make the bed!

One last thing that changed just this morning. I had to pull out my fat jeans. 'Nuff said.

A beautiful sight...

Yesterday I witnessed one of the most amazing things I've ever seen.

It didn't take long for them to confirm that baby had reached my uterus and attached successfully!! What a huge answer to prayer this was for us. I was so happy to have Justin by my side to experience our first look at the tiny being inside of me. How delicate the tiny 2 millimeter poppy seed looked. We lucked out to even get to see the tiny flash of the beating heart. The nurse said this was probably the earliest it would have been able to be seen. I stare at the sonograms in complete awe and wonder of what God is creating and I feel so blessed that He has given me the pleasure to help with the job. Justin and I can't keep the smile off our faces. After leaving the doctor's office it seemed even more real to me that this is really happening. I'll admit, I was nervous for the appointment, remembering what my very first ultra sounds were like when the outcome was not a happy one. But God gave me strength and I've been given a new energy to take on these next 8 months. We'll continue to pray for these delicate weeks ahead. Thank you for all of the prayers. You are all truly a huge part of this for us. Prayer is a powerful thing.

Keep calm and carry on

Week four is coming to an end and the start of week five is right around the corner.

I've felt pretty good this first week. Tired, but that's not really unusual for the girl who is ready to call it a day by 9:30 in the evening. I've had a gradual increase of queasiness the past few days, usually early in the morning and later in the evening, but nothing too bad. I'm sure there will be more to come, and like I've said before, I gladly welcome it!

I'm surprised at how peaceful my heart and mind has been this last week. God has truly set a calmness in my spirit that I am so thankful for. There were a couple situations this week that I wanted so badly to share our big news, but knew it was not the right time yet.

Much of my calmness is thanks to a wonderful husband. I can't thank God enough for blessing my life with someone who I know loves me more each day. We continue to learn a lot about ourselves on this newest journey our life has set upon. I can't wait for the weeks and months ahead for him to be by my side learning about what is happening to my body and the babe inside. We are getting ready in a couple weeks to celebrate our five year wedding anniversary. Say what? Five years? Already? It truly seems impossible until I really start thinking and remembering all that we've done these past five years. What an amazing story God has and continues to write for us. We are excited to see where the next five take us. 

Looking forward to the early ultrasound on Friday. We are praying that the baby made it's way safely to my uterus and that my hormone levels continue to look good. Thanks to all the many  prayers that have already been said for us. We are blessed to have you all with us on this journey.