Letter to my daughter...

Though you haven't yet a name, my love for you is more than I could ever have imagined. Though I haven't seen your face, or felt your soft skin, my heart swells and my face smiles at the thought of you. I feel you moving, dancing I like to imagine, in my belly as I sit down to write this. You are with me always and I thank God everyday for the miracle that is you.

Your daddy and I are smitten. We love to feel you move inside me. Your dad likes to talk to you and always wants to know how you are doing. We have your pictures on the refrigerator. I thumb through them often, staring in awe and wonder, anxious for the day we get to meet you.

I pray for you. So many dreams I have for you, I pray for God's guidance and strength. For you and for me. I've wanted my whole life to be a mommy. Throughout my years, I know this feeling of happiness and love is undeserved. But we have a Gracious God, who has allowed us to share this love. A love that He first showed us.

So many thoughts run through my head through my days and nights. Wondering. Overjoyed. Awed. I'm not worried or scared. God is with me and I am trusting Him to help me be the best mom I can. I know it won't be easy. I ask for your patience with me. I've played out in my head so many things. Giving you a bath. Changing your diaper. Nursing you. Laughing with you. Rocking and singing you to sleep. Oh, how I can't wait to hold you and sing you to sleep. To smell you.

Your room is getting ready for you. I hope you like it. Your daddy has worked hard getting it just the way I want it. : )  I stop by the doorway many times everyday and just stare. Daydreaming of what life will be like with you here. 

I need you to know how much your daddy and I love you. You are an answer to our prayers. We are so excited for the amazing change that is about to take place in our lives in the next months. We are proud, blessed, overjoyed to call you ours. We love you more than we can even understand.

Love...Your Mommy

It's a......

Wow, what a long and busy day! Work was full of meetings and deadlines, had to grab dinner on the run, did some consignment shopping, and went to Bible study. Seems like there was something I was going to tell you all today, but I can't put my finger on it...; )

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Ok, ok. I have a confession to make. We actually had our ultrasound yesterday morning but had to wait to spill the beans till tonight because I had to wait until Grandma and Grandpa Holgate received these in the mail today...

Yes that's pink folks. Baby Klemsz is a girl! The ultrasound went great. I can't even describe how amazing it was to see every little part of her on that screen. I didn't want it to end. It's hard to believe as long as all continues to go well, I won't "see" her again till she's really her, in our arms. The doctor got some great shots that I just can't stop oooing and ahhhing over.

 

Baby girl

Kinda freaky, but you can see her face on the right looking right at you.

She cooperated very well for us to see that she was all gir!

Baby foot (measures in right now at about an inch and a half)

Leg

Arm

Spine

I'm so amazed at the detail on these ones. 

We did get to share the news with Justin's family in person last night. We all enjoyed biting into some cupcakes to see what color (pink or blue) was inside!

Needless to say, the past couple days have been very exciting! Justin and I are so extremely relieved that everything looks healthy and to top it off, we are having a baby girl. Absolutely precious. God will never cease to amaze me by His creation. As each milestone comes, everything is becoming more and more real to us and we could not be more happy, excited, blessed, to be having this experience and to be able to have so much family and friends to share in it with us. We love you all.

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.