14 Weeks

Seems like the first trimester went by super slow, but I have a feeling things are about to speed up now that I'm mostly feeling better. I'm still waiting for the energy boost that all the books mention, but at least I can eat normal food again! I still can't believe this is for real! We had our second doctor's appointment yesterday and I am pretty sure hearing this little one's heartbeat will never get old. Apparently we have a little mover because when the nurse placed the doppler on my stomach, she got the heartbeat right away, but then it was gone and she had to search quite a bit to find it again. In the midst of her searching though, we got to hear a kick. It was amazing! Can't wait for our next appointment when we will get to see this little person on an ultrasound!!!

I never took any belly pictures before now, and I kind of wish I had just for the fun of comparison, but I'm finally starting to get a little bit of a belly, so I thought it was time to start taking belly pictures!



Ben's Take on the Baby in my Belly

This morning Ben was perusing through a week by week pregnancy book I have from the library. It's complete with illustrations and his analysis was quite entertaining.

When he came to a picture of the cells dividing, he said "mommy, do you have pancakes in your belly?"

When he came to a picture of a tiny tiny baby inside the womb, he said "Oh mommy, look at the little baaaaaby inside of you. (said in baby voice) How tiny is he? He's like a booger!"

After that, Ben asked me how big the baby is in my belly right now. I tried to explain that it's about the size of a large lemon (at least that's what the internet says) :-). He insisted that no, our baby was not a lemon. I then explained that it was about the size of my fist (this is how my pregnancy book describes 14 weeks). He then grew adamant and said "No mommy, the baby is not a lemon and it's not a fish! It's just a baby!) So there you have it!

Looks

A strange thing hit me this week. This child is going to look like me and Matt. Would this be a strange thought to most people? Probably not. But seven years ago when doctors told us our chance of getting pregnant was less than 1%, whether or not our child looked like us was the farthest thing from my mind. I just wanted to be a mom. As we grieved through infertility and God moved our hearts toward adoption, the thought that our child would not look like us did cross my mind, but it just didn't really matter. I wanted a baby to hold and love and I wanted to see Matt be a daddy. And then God blessed us like crazy by bringing Ben into our lives and people began to comment about how he must take after Matt, or me. I would laugh because I knew his adorable looks came straight from his birth families. And I love that. In fact, sometimes it rubs me the wrong way when people know we adopted Ben and they still insist that he looks like us, as if looking like your parents truly is the only way you know you belong.

And so, the idea of our child looking like us almost surprised me when it came to mind this week. I'm so excited about it! But I'm also so glad for the perspective adoption has given me. Families are put together by God. Sometimes they all look like each other, and sometimes He likes to change things up. I can't believe I'm getting to experience both! And in the end, I hope we all look most like Him!

For Nothing is Impossible with God!!

I love a good secret, but I hate keeping secrets when it means keeping good news to myself. And this is the reason that it's been over a month since I updated our blog. This secret has consumed my mind and well, my body and I felt like I had nothing else to talk about. But now it's out!!! God has worked a miracle and let us see in a very tangible way that He is the God of the impossible. I am pregnant!!! Totally unexpected, totally out of the blue, but totally in His timing.

Our church had VBS at the end of June and I was in charge of a Bible times bakery. Ben turned four at the end of June and I was attempting to plan his little family party. And the timing just so happened to work out that all that fell during my dreaded monthly misery. VBS was in the evening at our church this year and I was TIRED!!! Tiredness around this time is not that unusual for me, so I didn't think anything about it, until my regular monthly friend wasn't quite as regular as normal. After seven years though, I didn't get my hopes up. I was just frustrated because I didn't want to feel yucky for Ben's party. So I woke up early on Thursday June 23rd and my mind just wouldn't let it go. I felt kind of silly because, after all, this had happened MANY times before and been nothing. But I knew we had a pregnancy test in the closet that we had purchased many many months before and I thought I would take it and at least that way, I could put the thought out of my mind and move on with getting ready for VBS that night and preparing for Ben's party. Matt works out at a gym and leaves really early on Thursday mornings, so I waited for him to leave before taking the test. I honestly just felt silly for even deciding to take it. I figured I would tell him later that I had taken it and that it was negative, but we've done this so many times, that when one of us has a hopeful month, we rarely say anything to the other because it's just not worth the emotional drama.

So at 6:07am or so, I took the test and within seconds there were two pink lines. I was stunned! Honestly I had no idea what to do. I walked out of the bathroom and then walked back in 20 times just to look at it again because I just didn't believe it. And Matt wasn't even home. I knew there was no way he would hear his phone while he was working out, so I waited a little while before calling him. You can imagine that I spent those few minutes just praising God and asking Him if this could possibly be for real. The passage in Luke came to mind where Mary has just been told that she is going to have a son and then when the angel tells her that her cousin Elizabeth is also with child he says "For nothing is impossible with God." I felt so amazed in that moment to be offered such a tangible way to knowing that to be true.

I finally got a hold of Matt and told him that I had taken the test and that it was positive. He was completely speechless. Then he told me he was coming home and we spent the next several minutes before he had to go to work asking each other if this could possibly be for real. I still didn't completely believe the test, so after he left for work, I called my doctor and asked if I could come in for a blood test. Then I went and bought a second test, which was also positive. Waiting for the call back from the doctor with the results of my blood work seemed to take forever! But when they finally called, I let myself believe that this was actually happening. What an amazing day!

So I feel like I've spent the summer sleeping and trying to figure out what to eat that doesn't sound completely disgusting. I have been blessed not to be super sick, but I definitely haven't felt great. I've struggled with worry and fear that this pregnancy won't last and that this will just be another disappointment, but even that God is using to teach and refine me as he shows me more of His character and calls me to trust Him with the unknowns and what-ifs. I'm learning to leave tomorrow for tomorrow and praise God for each day I get with this precious little life inside me.

I am 10 weeks this week and yesterday I had my first appointment. I knew it was early, but I was so hopeful to get to hear the heartbeat and we got to! What an amazing blessing! Now I'm addicted and can't wait until my next appointment so I can hear it again. :-)

So, Lord willing, we will be welcoming this little miracle into our lives on or around February 28th. I'm SOOO excited!!!

Little Super Heroes

A few weeks ago my little brother came over for the afternoon to play with Ben. I had this idea I found for making super hero capes and decided to give it a try for both boys. It was a total success! Both boys were running around the house pretending the fly and chase villains for the rest of the afternoon.

I found the idea for these here.

Benjamin Funnies

Benjamin was just eating his breakfast and showed me his tongue covered with toast crumbs. I made an "eeewww" sound and told him to put his tongue back in his mouth. He swallowed and said the toast was in his tummy, so I told him maybe he should drink some water to flush it down. He filled his mouth with water, ran to the bathroom, spit it in the toilet, flushed, and said "I did it mommy! I flushed it down." I love the literal thinking of an almost four year old.

Where Has the Time Gone?

I think my brain still thinks it's April and so when I stop and realize we are almost a third of the way through June, I'm a little bit in shock. It's amazing how being busy can make the time pass so much more quickly. So what have we been up to? Well, attending my sister's high school graduation, traveling to Matt's sister's wedding, getting away for an anniversary weekend combined with attending a homeschool conference, and now I'm preparing for next year's MOPS. Oh yes, and while this doesn't take up any of our time, we are active with our adoption agency and I'm truly having to practice patience as we wait to get "the call." Some days I don't actually think about it much, but other days I feel this constant need to keep the phone by my side just in case. It's so exciting, but waiting can be so hard.

Matt and I celebrated 9 years of marriage this past week. My parents were amazing and kept Ben from Thursday night through Sunday morning (they were going out of town and brought Ben to us on their way). It was the first time we'd been away from Ben for that long and we were very ready to see him by Sunday. But it was super refreshing to get away. We stayed in downtown Indianapolis in a hotel we got for a steal on Hotwire. We walked to almost everything and never ate dinner before 8pm. Not sure why that was so much fun, but it just felt so carefree and unconstrained by bedtime schedules. I'm married to such a great man and it was amazing to have that time to talk uninterrupted, take lots of walks, eat out at some of our favorite restaurants, and just kind of feel like we were newlyweds again.

In addition to celebrating our anniversary, we also attended a few sessions at the homeschool convention. Honestly most of them were not all that helpful to us in making a decision as to whether or not to homeschool. Some of them were even enough to make me say "no way!" But we went to one that inspired us and after spending a couple hours looking through curriculum and asking tons of questions, I think we are going to give it a try for kindergarten. I'm pretty excited about the curriculum we will be using.

So this week has been the start to preparing to be in leadership for MOPS next year. I'm really excited to be a part of his great ministry. There is just something so freeing about being able to share mommy stories with other women who are going through the same thing and I feel like I've gotten so many great parenting ideas from some of the speakers I've heard over the past few years. I think MOPS was one of the things I missed the most when we moved away from San Antonio. I always felt so inspired by the group of women in my group. So now it's my turn to be in leadership here and sometimes I think maybe I'm in over my head, but I'm excited to see what God does with our group next year.

Here are a few pictures of our time at Matt's sister's wedding.

 Ben enjoyed hanging out with his cousins.

 Ben and the other kids were tearing up the dance floor!

I know I'm biased, but I don't care. He is just the cutest little ring bearer ever!!