All is calm, all is bright

First off... Merry Christmas y'all! Hopefully I still have some blog readers after a few month hiatus from the blog world. Between school, getting ready for the holiday (and let's be honest) pinterest ... I have been quite busy.

This holiday season has been very different for me. After passing Baby H's due date in the middle of November Thanksgiving was a difficult time but I don't think I was prepared for the emotions that emerged during Christmas. This would be baby's first Christmas... There would be 3 Hruskocys... Our son would be in the annual Hruskocy cousin picture... There were a handful of moments where my heart sunk and I couldn't force a smile thinking about what we are missing without our baby.

Earlier this season during one of the Hopeful Hearts meetings the discussion turned to "joyrobbers." During a time of loss or suffering they run wild during holiday seasons. Anger, bitterness, envy and jealousy... I would be lying if I said I was not feeling these, infact every one of these joyrobbers have resided in my heart at one time this Christmas.

My heart is sad and envious of mothers who are kissing their babies goodnight and are starting new Christmas traditions with their families. Joy has been absent from my heart.... for months really. True joy, not a smile or a laugh, but I have not felt true joy for months now. It makes me really sad, I consider myself to be a very happy person.

So I have decided that now and definitely in the New Year, to choose Joy. I believe that choosing Joy is a choice. And even though I have been craving that happiness as it has been absent from daily life, I have not made that consious choice to choose joy. Although my heart is aching to hold our baby boy I am blessed beyond measure here on this earth. This past year has been a year of suffering and struggle for our family, there is no ignoring that, but I am choosing to find the joy. We were able to buy our first home, and I have fallen in love all over again with my husband through our hardship.

I have found great comfort in the story of Job. A faithful man who never sinned against God was struck with every hardship and yet he rejoiced and praised the Lord. He showed his faithfulness to God and God blessed him...

God will let you laugh again; you'll raise the roof with shouts of joy. Job 8

God is faithful and I choose joy.

When these "joyrobbers" put a feeling of sadness in my heart I rejoice in the fact that our God's love for me is bigger. Instead of our baby celebrating his first Christmas with us, our baby boy is celebrating Jesus' birth in Heaven! Can you imagine that birthday party?!?!

And that vision, will put Joy in anyones heart... especially mine.

31 Heroes

"On August 6th 2011, 31 of America's bravest warriors gave their lives in defense of our freedom. While we'd like to leave the responsibility of announcing their names to their families & the DoD, for now we will honor them by mentioning their roles in our military. They were 17 Navy SEALs, two Navy EOD Technicians, three Naval Special Warfare Combat Support Sailors, two Army Avaitors, three Army Aircrew, three Air Special Tactics Operators, and one Military Working Dog."

Grapevine Crossfit, along with hundreds of other Crossfit gyms across the US honored these fallen soldiers and their families with a Hero Workout. It is just a small sacrifice we can make for 31 minutes of our weekend to show our appreciation for their service.

"31 Heroes WOD"

AMRAP 31 Min- Partner WOD

8 thrusters 155M/105W

6 Rope climbs or Pullups

11 Box Jumps

While one partner completes above, the other runs a 400m run with a Weight Vest

I am proud to be a member of the Crossfit community that honors soldiers, fallen and currently serving, like my cousin Chip. Sporting his Grapevine Crossfit tshirt while serving overseas. Love you Cuz! :) God Bless our Troops!

30 Days

One month. The days have truly crept by but it feels like yesterday when our world was rocked. A "normal" month has a certain flow and steady pace as we go about our routine, but this past month has been nothing normal.

As the days pass the routine starts to fall back into place and am beginning to feel a little more like myself again. Laughing and smiling but then a feeling of guilt creeps in and I catch myself thinking about that day and worried that I may be forgetting. Then there are mornings when I wake up filled with sadness and I wish that those smiles were anywhere in sight and I am reminded that I will never be able to forget. I am still on that hormonal, emotional rollercoaster but the healing continues and each day gets easier.

On Friday we had our post op appointment with our doctor. The results from the first half of the autopsy came back and a huge prayer was answered. After the diagnosis of multi cystic kidney disease, we were told it could either be a closed case which would not effect future pregnacies or it may be a reoccuring concern in the future and could be related to our genetics. After 30 days of praying, and trusting in God's plan our doctor told us that everything came back normal and it looked as if the cysts were due to complications with the baby's development, and just a fluke which have nothing to due with the combination of our genes. A huge weight was lifted when she spoke those words. We are looking forward to becoming parents again sometime soon and it is nice to have that stress taken from us.

At the appointment we found out that sweet Baby H was a boy. The news has made the past few days a bit more difficult thinking about the plans we had made for our baby. Thinking about the plans that will never be... but I have a peace and smile thinking about our baby boy up in heaven.

Our plans have changed but I am anxious to see the plans that are in store for me and Mr. H in the next few months as each 30 days will get a bit easier.

Hopeful Hearts

Since Mr. H and I have moved into our new house we have been most excited about finally attending the Village church on a consistant basis. We didn't make the Saturday night service which meant Sunday morning I woke up, fighting the urge to stay in bed and snuggle with Mr. H, and headed to chuch on my own. I really wanted to stay under the covers but I am so glad I went with a detour to stop for my new fav. drink {iced coffee, coconut sweetner with heavy whipping cream}.

I was nervous as ever to go to church with all these crazy hormones and all. I thought I would be a blubbering mess. And I was going to have to sit by myself. Instant hormone booster: Alone and a blubbering mess.... not good. In my last blog I talked about God's perfect timing and Sunday morning I experienced this as soon as I walked through the Village doors. The power point that plays before the sermon begins showed a slide about the Hopeful Hearts Ministry. This ministry provides support for women who have either lost a child or are suffering from infertility. {God has perfect timing.} I sat there by myself thinking how wonderful it is that there is a ministry that provides this kind of support. I consider myself kind of outgoing, more so a joiner when I have a friend to go with, so I didn't know how I felt about attending yet. Seconds later I found out that my parents were at the same church service so I no longer had to sit by myself. {Perfect timing x 2.}

I made it through the service without blubbering too loud :) Sunday and all day Monday my mind kept returning to the Hopeful Hearts meeting that night. I wanted to go and decided to tell Mr. H and my mom about it so they could keep me accountable for going. Mr. H incouraged me to go and my mom felt the same way. That evening arrived and with nerves and sweaty palms I pulled into the parking lot. Wonderful... only two cars were in the parking lot. My natural instinct was to turn right around and go home. Especially since it was Mr. H's night off. I fought the urge and opened the door, I mean I had already drove all the way there. As I walked in I was instantly so glad I stayed.

Within ten minutes the room began to fill and I was surrounded by 15 women, some in the same circumstances having lost a child but some suffering with infertility. I felt so comforted to be surrounded by women who, without even knowing my name, were so kind because me being there meant I was grieving in a similar way as they were. When the meeting began we shared our stories, some full of sorrow and tears but others were celebrating because they had overcome the battle of infertility. As the meeting ended I felt like I had gained 15 new friends, women who would be praying for our family and for our healing. I think I was nervous to go to the meeting because I thought I would feel sad when I left, but I left with a feeling I had not felt this far. I felt thankful.

Many women there were battling infertility and spending thousands of dollars on fertility shots that in turn were only causing more pain; physically and emotionally. I felt thankful that we are able to get pregnant. And even though that joy was taken we will be able to have a baby one day.
Just not now.

Like I said, God's timing is perfect. Even if His timing is not my own. With Hopeful Hearts, His timing was my own and I am so happy I listened.

"God is near to the brokenhearted, He will rescue those crushed in spirit." Psalms 34:18

I have been trying to decide if I was going to create a post or just let it be... moving on from the past week and a half. I'm working through the emotions and feel like each time I talk and let it out it makes it a bit easier to feel these feelings. I think I've started and stopped this post multiple times... anyway here it goes.

In the last post I told you we had our doctor's appointment to reveal the sex of Baby H. During the sonogram the ultra sound technician discovered that our sweet baby had cysts on one of it's little kidneys. At 16 weeks the baby's kidneys begin to function on their own and due to the cysts, Baby H's kidneys were not functioning or producing any fluid around it's body. She told us the baby had Poly Cystic Kidney Disease. The news crushed my soul. And I felt my heart sink. Our doctor had scheduled us to see a prenatal specialists the next morning and the 15 hour waiting game until our appointment seemed to creep by.

The next morning my sweet husband, my mom and I went to the appointment. That morning, has been the hardest, emotionally draining day in my life thus far. The appointment revealed that our baby had cysts on both kidneys; it was infact Multi Cystic Kidney Disease. Because the cysts were on both kindeys and no fluid was being produced, there would be no lung development which is fatal. Fatal- the hardest, heart peircing word. I crumbled. The hardest news was still to come.

While dealing with the news that my dream of becoming a mother and starting a family with Mr. H were no more, we had to decide which path we would take. In order to recieve the most information and know if this was something genetic between us or just some 1 in a 1,000 bad luck we were checked in to the hospital 2 days later and I delivered Baby H at 18 weeks on Friday June 17th, 2010. I will keep the events of that day private and close to my heart. It was the most heart breaking, life changing but spiritual experience.

Ok... phew the hard facts are out.

So here we are in the aftermath, working through the emotions and feelings that come with losing a child. I am unsure about a lot of things and I know I may be for a while but there are a lot of things that were made clear to me that I discovered in the loss.

I married the most caring man in the world. He is truly tailor made for me. Through the heartache and mountains of tissues. I have fallen head over heals in love with Mr. H again. He has surprised me with his tenderness and selflessness over the past week and been there for me in ways that have left me speechless. God gave me this man knowing that we would face this heartache together and he would be just what I needed in every single way.

God's timing is perfect. In a situation like this I have to rely on my faith and believe that this is in Gods hands and His timing is perfect. His timing may not agree with my own desires but I am trying with all my might to trust in this truth. We may not understand now, or in a few years. But through other struggles that have passed I believe that one day, one small thing will happen and we will see that God's timing was in fact perfect.

We have some of the most loyal and loving family and friends. We have been wrapped in the prayers and love of our sweet friends and family near and far. It's so encouraging to know that we have people in our lives that will pick us up when times are hard and provide us with anything we need. We have been living off meals from family and friends since last Thursday, we are full of good food and the love they have given us. Thank you so much!

I am trusting in those 3 truths and relying on those when the days get hard. There are good days when I can laugh and feel like myself but of course the times are hard when I remember the heartache or can start crying over the silliest thing. I am hoping some of this may even out when the hormones balance out. Let the healing begin...

Noooo I am not completely ignoring the fact that I am in love with our new house, and everything house-like.... but I have even better news. We get to find out the gender of Baby H on Monday! Like, not tomorrow, but the day after-that Monday!

It seems like so long ago when we had our first doctors visit and they handed our sweet sonogram picture to us. It will be amazing to see how much this bean has developed since the Week 8 picture which was head, body and arm buds. I am dying for the next 48 hours to fly by!

People kept asking are we going to find out? Are you going to wait? Well if you know me... and especially if you know my husband you know that a surprise baby gender is not in the cards.

So far one of my favorite pregnancy memories has been when I told my Kindergarten class I was having a baby. Each morning at carpet time I write them a morning message to work on our writing skills and this message contained the surprise. I told them they had to read it by themselves and their faces were priceless. In their morning message I had them write to me telling me if they wanted the baby to be a boy or girl. The overwhelming majority picked girls... a premonition?!? :) I am so happy to have these messages and to be able to share them with Mr H.

" I want the baby to be a boy because so I can play with me" So sweet!

Look closely and you can see the baby sticking out of my belly :)

As the countdown has come to a close, baby names have been the topic of many discussions. Mind you, before our pregnancy anytime baby names came up in a random conversation Girl Names were hardly ever discussed, he was just certain it would be a boy. But now the reality has sunk in that chances are 50-50 baby! :) Funny but I have had no trouble thinking of boy names, even though we had previously agreed on one. But girl names are much much harder.

We joke and kid about wanting and "knowing" Baby H is a girl or a boy, but either way we feel blessed to be growing a healthy, large baby and cannot wait to share our exciting news with friends and family.

Only 48 hours to go...

Reason #2 I am stoked to move: (Sorry I missed 2 days till moving)

Location, Location, Location

When we decided we were going to start saving to buy a house there was some debate on where to look. We knew we were going to be in this house for a while, so this was a big decision for us to make together. We liked living in the midcities area because it was in the middle for both of our jobs. Yes, the traffic sometimes stinks but it was meeting in the middle for both of us. We started conversing trying to decide between the midcities or moving back to our hometown. My family and all of the hub's family lives within 10 miles of each other. So we decided we wanted to be close to family. Very soon after, we found out that we were expecting we knew we needed to stay close.

I am so happy that our child will be growing up and seeing their extended family. It is so special to me. So our new home is 3 miles away from my family's abode! I am so excited to be close again!

Reason #1 I am so excited to move:

Tomorrow is moving day!!!

While I am working the movers will be coming! I feel like the time was going by so fast trying to pack, but this week has gone by slower than ever with the last packing I needed to do. But tomorrow we will get to unlock our new home! :)

On the Hunt

3 Days until the Big Move: #3 Reason I Can't Wait to Move

Hunting for a Kitchen Table

The move into our house has sent me on a hunt for a kitchen table. Our current table matches our china hutch and will be used in the formal dining room which leaves us without a table for the breakfast area.

I had a monster of a TV line up for tonight but the weather had other plans.. in the form of tornadoes, rain and golf ball sized hail. The Biggest Loser, Glee and The Voice was replaced by our meteorologist David Frinfrock and his goofy self. So instead of crying during the BL season finale, I was on the hunt for kitchen table ideas. Here is some of the inspiration I found...

Love these 2 farm table beauties.

The Nester. I love her...

Obviously I am drawn to the white tables.

This is similar to the table the current owners have in the breakfast area. Love the pedestal base! I could use a little black furniture in my life.

I cannot wait to find the perfect table to occupy our new home. I sense a Canton trip in the near future. :)

I am going to count yesterdays accomplishment of tackling the mountain of my husband's closet as two spots on the moving count down. I cannot believe that moving day is quickly approaching... the packing has continued and we are getting down to the silly do dads that are a pain to pack. No matter which box you put those pesky pieces in there is no method to packing the random stuff.

So here we go...

4 Days Until Moving Day: Reason #4 Moving Day will be the Best Day EVER!

The Backyard

One of the amazing parts of our new home is the backyard. Now compared to the monster of a yard we have right now it is a definite downgrade size wise but an upgrade when it comes to shaded space. There are a lot of trees covering the backyard which will provide shade and hours of exploring nature with our little nugget. I cannot wait to show our child everything that I love about nature. The previous owners have a cute little picnic table under the shade of the tree with an adorable swing hanging from the branch. LOVE IT! I think I may just recreate this little oasis. I cannot wait. Only 4 more days baby.

I'm off to convince my sweet stubborn husband that movers are the way to go... because this preggo lady will be useless on moving day :)

T Minus 5 Days

6 Days until Moving Day: Reason #6 I'm Ecstatic to Move

The Ultimate Purge

When I married Tom I also married his clothes. He has an award winning collection of T-shirts. Now I admit I have some sentimental attachments to some odd things but when I was doing multiple loads of laundry during the week I quickly downsized my T-shirt pile. Now I now with the husband's line of work he wears a uniform, but in his spare time he is wearing T-shirts for Crossfit and going out so the laundry basket is full of Ts but with his stack he could fill 3 baskets.

After a week of begging, the hubs must have woke up on the RIGHT side of the bed because he walked out of the bedroom saying, "What can I do to help?" Well right this way sir... we went straight to the closet. I don't think he knew what I had in mind. He sat there and I did the rest. By the end two huge stacks of clothes are on their way to be donated and the boy looked like a battered puppy. Poor guy...

It's going to be so nice to move into our new home with ALOT less clothes. Hallelujah! :)

8 Days Until Moving: Reason #8 I'm Stoked to Move

Construction Sucks!

The above picture is only a portion of the construction that has haunted my drive to and from work. Highway 121 has been under construction since the day we moved into our home. I sometimes did enjoy my drive with my starbucks in hand before taking on my Kinderbabies. But the days when the highway was shut down completely forcing me on a round a bout detour I hated life. Moving back to our hometown we won't need to pass through this construction on a daily basis. The last day I drive this drive will be the 3rd happiest day of my life.

Reason #7 I'm Stoked to Move: 7 Days until Moving Day

We are HOMEOWNERS (for real) Oh yeah baby! We closed on our house yesterday afternoon and we have the keys in our possession! :) I swear I signed my name 1,000 times yesterday and may have signed my life away. That was one of the most stressful processes, and from my fatigue today I had been stressed to the max. I feel like a huge weight has lifted off my shoulders. We gave the current owners a leaseback until this Friday so the waiting continues. Until then... I have been staring at the key all weekend and I will be cuddling with it tonight!

I can't believe it is all happening.

9 Days Until Moving Day: Reason #9 Why moving will be the best day ever...

The Commute

I was a few minutes early on my way to work this morning so I drove past our new home. I was hoping to see a SOLD sign plastered across the realtor sign but no such luck. I decided to time my new commute from the new place to school. It's a WHOPPING 5 MINUTES! :) What a sweet, sweet sound! I have been driving through construction zones, and detours galore so far this school year so a few left turns will be nothing.

My sweet husband's commute will be a bit different. I am so thankful that he was willing to sacrifice his 10 minute drive for almost 40 miles one way. We decided if we were going to buy a house we wanted to be close to family. Then when we found out we were expecting it only confirmed out decision to move close to family.

So nine more days of driving the drive. I may miss my "me" time each morning but the extra 45 minutes I will be able to enjoy my bed sounds so much sweeter! :)

Baby H News: We got to hear Baby H's sweet heartbeat this afternoon. No sonogram... no gender news but we will know for sure in 4 weeks at our next appointment. What is crazy is that in 4 weeks, school will be over and we will be in the new house. How wonderful :)

The doctor was doing her thing and she was pressing on my stomach checking the baby and her exact words were, "Whoa that's a big baby. More like 16 weeks along..then again look at the daddy!" Remember I'm only 14 weeks. Good grief... big baby... delivery... ouch! Thanks husband. I can't wait until our next appointment.

10 Days Until Move In: Reason #10 I'm stoked to move

The WALK IN Closet

Me and the mister have been sharing a miniature closet in our current love nest. So I feel like anything bigger by merely inches would be a huge upgrade. Our closet is no walk in but only opens with accordion doors and me and the hubs worked out a system but we are pumped for our new closet.

When we toured our new home I felt like Carrie Bradshaw walking into her new apartment closet. Heavenly....

Maybe it's not as big, and I definitely won't have the shoes like she did. But I will be in heaven when each piece of clothing will have a place of its own.

On a complete opposite note... we have our 14 week check up appointment tomorrow! We will get to hear and see out sweet Baby H. The husband is determined to find out if it is a boy or girl! He is not above begging... We are so blessed! :)

Hallelujah and Pass the Spoon

I got the best email tonight on our my home from Crossfit tonight! We are FULLY APPROVED for our loan to purchase our first home! This was such a huge weight lifted off our shoulders. We have spent the past few weeks sending document after document to our lender. I mean everything you can think of. I really wouldn't have been surprised if they asked for a pee sample from the both of us.. TMI? But no more. We are literally just "twiddling our thumbs" until Friday, our closing day as our realtor told us. And I can think of nothing I would rather be doing.

I stopped at the store on the way home and then rushed home and impatiently waited for my husband to come home so I could tell him the news. I looked like Kali's twin waiting by the glass door, wagging my tail in anticipation. I barely waited for him to walk in the door before jumping up and down sharing our news!

Let the celebration begin...

Yes we celebrate big in our home... coconut milk ice cream out of a plastic gladware with plastic spoons. (My mom and I got overzealous and packed away the entire kitchen so we are left eating off paper plates with plastic utensils).

This is what Pure Joy looks like. (Well and weeks of stress, packing and pregnancy at 8 pm) It was the perfect way to celebrate! :)

I dislike the above picture for two reasons: 1. You can see the abscence of my widows peak where my hair never grew back after a freak accident in 5th grade. (We can save that story for another day) and 2. You can see our hideous cabinets of our current residence. Which leads me to my next reason...

11 Days until we Move: Reason 11 Why I am Stoked to Move

The Kitchen

If you look closely you are able to see kitchen cabinets in our current rental house. These babies were my nemesis upon our move in. Our landlord did a quick once over cleaning for our debut and obviously neglected the cabinets and the previous tenants must have fried everything because I was left with off white cabinets from the 70s Brady House covered in a yellow grease/ grime. My sister was a saint those first two nights painting cabinet door after door with new white paint. Don't worry she left me to do the dirty scrubbing and I treated her to a chick flick teeny bopper marathon. Even after their extreme maker the kitchen was never what I wanted it to be. So I am very excited to move into a home with this gorgeous heart.

Welcome to our new kitchen...
Sure the kitchen may need some TLC and a few modern updates but the abscence of grease stains and Brady-licious cabinets fire me up! Carol Brady eat your heart out. 11 more days; so close but still so far.

Let the Countdown Begin

If everything goes smooth and according to plan we will be moving into the new and improved Love Nest in 12 days! And we are closing this Friday... geez louise! I have been busy this weekend packing up box upon box. It makes it seem real though.

Pregnancy hormones and packing make for an interesting combination. I feel like I am on a roller coaster of emotion. I am trying not to stress so in order to distract myself I have been staring at pictures of our new home. Here is a special kind of countdown expressing how excited I am about moving.

12 Days: 12 Reasons I am stoked to move....

Reason #12: Split Sinks in the Master Bathroom

I do love my husband, but the living here in the current home we share a small bathroom with only one sink and share the cabinets. I am not an anal clean freak by any means but I have an organization to my madness. So the thought of having my own vanity, sink, cabinets and drawers makes my heart pitter patter!

You can barely see my sink in the picture above, but her is the Hubs on the opposite wall :)

I am so excited!!! 5 days until closing... 12 more days to pack! Let the countdown begin.

Sayonara First Trimester

I have been very lucky thus far in my pregnancy. Throughout the first trimester I never got sick. I did feel nauseous at times but never any vomiting... like I said quite lucky. There have been a lot of changes, some I was not ready for.

I have never been a napper but now I find my peepers closing in the afternoon when the Kinderbabies are at specials. I am not above curling up in the corner of my classroom behind my home center on the floor for a few minutes. Classroom carpet in not comfortable.

This week the Bella Baby Band made its first appearance. After joining Crossfit and the Paleo lifestyle I got some new jeans and after my belly started growing those jeans are just a little snug, Belly Band to the rescue! I feel like we may be best friends by November. Getting dressed for work every morning has become the worst part of my day. I am in between sizes and I don't fit into any of my BC clothes (Before Crossfit clothes). I am so looking forward to the summer where I don't have to get dressed for work every morning. Only 18 more days... Hallelujah!

Now that the first trimester is over I am feeling great. My appetite and energy are coming back. The second trimester I am trying to focus on eating as Paleo as possible and geting through my workouts. I am still doing crossfit, with a few modifications and listening to my body. I found a blog that is encouraging and inspiring its called Pregnancy, Crossfit and The Paleo Diet. My 3 loves.

This week starts the 14th Week! I realize I am a bit behind but we documented the 12th week with these cute stickers my sister bought me from Etsy. The first 3rd of my pregnancy has flown by I cannot believe that in 6 months we will meet Baby H!

The bump may have been a little enlarged after my mom's Mother's Day celebration dinner, but here is the Baby Bump at 12 Weeks in all its glory.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to my sweet mom. She is my best friend. I feel so blessed to be raised in here love, her kindness and unconditional support. I was lucky enough to be with her and help her celebrate on her special day.

I remember so many memories of my mom growing up. She always encouraged the sister and I's creativity. For hours upon hours we would play Barbie's creating these fantasy worlds for those plastic beauties. We would use the stairs in our house to create multilevel mansions for our dolls and even when the time came to shut the night down, my mom would not make us clean up the 14 story houses...even if it meant stepping on a few pointy stilettos while walking down the stairs in the morning.

There were a few questionable moments too. Like when days before moving to the great state of Texas my mom took me to the salon to get an early 90's Dorthy Hammel chili bowl/bob hair cut. After moving to Texas and being excepted in all my hair glory I attended my first birthday party and the grandmother there said, "Aw what a cute little boy..." To this day she tells me I asked for that cut. Sure....

Chili bowl and all- my mom is the best and I will consider myself lucky if Baby H one day looks at me like the way I look at my mom. She is my world. I love you mom! :) Happy Mother's Day.

P.S. Baby H- I will never give you a chili bowl! Just kidding mom.

A Blessing in Disguise

Here is a picture of the room that will be Baby H's nursery in our new home. When I walked into this room during our viewing, that is when I KNEW we had to have this house. I mean... How perfect could this be!??! I love it!
We found out that this room has a blessing in disguise. If you look closely you can see that they installed white wainscoting on the bottom half of the room. Before the current owners applied the wood they covered the walls in bible verses as a blessing for the room and their baby girl.
I just got the chills again, like the first time I heard this.

I love that our Baby H will be sleeping in this room and will have this blessing over him or her. This is something that makes our new home so special to us.

I heard from our lender today and she said everything is going well with our financing, so we are just in the waiting period now. Its so hard to be patient... Be patient, be patient, don't be in such a hurry! :)

P.S. I mean how perfect would that room be for a little baby girl?!?!? :) Just kidding. (Not really)

Jinxed it.

I always love a good bargain, but this time I hit the jackpot! I was actually looking to spend my birthday Old Navy giftcard on myself, but I ended up with other plans. When I was walking to front to check out feeling sorry for myself and my expanding midsection, I saw the mother load. A extra extra clearance rack full of baby clothes. The only problem was there was only girl clothes. But everything was marked $.97! I almost talked myself out of it but I confirmed the return policy with the salesman and went to town. I mean $.97.... who could pass up that kind of deal.

Be still little white hearts...

Nothing is sweeter than a baby in jeans.
Unless there are heart pockets on the hiney.

Precious rosette hoodie.

This is my favorite steal.

Winter jacket for $.97! Maybe they can wear it on May 1st next year with a cold front like the one that is hitting us currently.

I think I scored big! Everything for less than a dollar. I love great bargains!

My sweet husband thought I was crazy when I showed him all of the pink. But I think after two years of marraige he has learned to embrace my craziness.

Of course, now that I bought something, well a lot, of things pink. We will definitely be having a boy. I probably just jinxed it :)

Moving on Up... Moving on Up

That's right folks...we are moving on to bigger and better things and becoming First Time Homeowners. There are some big changes happening in our little family and we could not be more excited. Me and Mr H started decided to start looking for houses before we found out we were expecting. And when we found out about the little bean it only confirmed that we wanted to find a home of our own. We both agreed that we did not want to raise a baby in a rental house.

The search began. We saw alot of houses, most of the houses showed us what we didn't want. Then we found this beauty, only a day old on the market. We were the first to see her, love her and we knew we needed to make an offer before anyone one else stole her away. After a few negotiations we are proud to say that we are...

UNDER CONTRACT!

We are praying that everything goes smooth from here on out with the financing. If so, we will own our first home and be moving on May 27th. Holy moly that is soon! Almost one month away... let the packing begin!

Next blog on the agenda- Pregnant, Packing & Hormones! Stay tuned...

Miracle

Mr. H and I had our second doctor's appointment yesterday to actually meet the doctor who will be delivering Baby H. During the appointment we were able to see that sweet little nugget and hear the heart beat again! :) This time the sonogram was a little less invasive with an over the tummy check... hallelujah.

I cannot express how happy it makes me to hear that sweet thumping heartbeat. It's so unexplainable... I have never heard anything sweeter. So much quicker than my own beat, reminding me that, that little pitter patter is depending on me alone. It is truly a miracle to watch my sweet baby on the monitor. No bigger than a lima bean at 10 weeks I could sit there all day and watch that little flicker.

The joy I have knowing that I am growing life inside is nothing I have ever felt. It is truly an amazing experience and what I always imagined it would be...

I don't know if it's the rollercoaster hormones that have taken residency or my weekly Biggest Loser cry but something has me feeling all sentimental.

Tom & Kate + Baby H :)

Last weekend Mr. H and I hosted my birthday celebration BBQ for the inlaws and my family. It was the perfect opportunity with the entire family together to announce that.......

We are expecting!!!! Our first little bean will be making his/her debut in November 2011.

We could not be more surprised and excited! Mommy and Daddy to be...

It was so fun to see our families' reactions when we pulled out a clothesline of onsies from a Victoria's Secret bag. Not quite what they expected... eh?!? :)

Here is the Auntie to Be :) She had kept this big secret for 3 long weeks before we told the rest of the family. I cannot wait to add one more little nugget to our girls nights on Fridays!

Needless to say there has been a lot going on.. We are so excited about the changes and looking forward to the next 7 months full of hormone rollercoasters and bulging bellies... I cannot wait!

I guess I will have a lot more to blog about. Love our Little Baby H! :)

The Thrill of the Hunt

Tomorrow we will start looking for our very first home. I am so very excited! We have been looking through many listings and may be a little overwhelmed but we are ready to jump right in. We are meeting with our realtor and going to look at a few homes!!!!! I feel so anxious. It's like the first day of school. What do I wear?!? I'm not going to be able to sleep tonight.

Hopefully we don't look this distraught...

I told you... there are BIG things in store for our little family! 2011 is off to a great start! :)

Popcorn Trees & Spring Break

Spring has Sprung in Texas! The weather isn't quite warm enough for me yet but the temperatures keep climbing higher and higher. The sunshine is also blooming some of my favorite trees, Bradford Pears. I love the white blossoms and trees that look like clouds which line the streets.


Walking out to recess one day we passed a Bradford Pear tree and one of my sweet Kinder babies yelled out, "Look! A popcorn tree!" How perfect.... my heart was happy and from now on I will call them Popcorn Trees.

Spring has also spring in our backyard. Mr. H may feel the opposite of me because it means edging and mowing the lawn now that the grass is no longer dormant. I am loving all of the blooms which reminds me daily of God's creation and beauty.

Here are some of the pansies my mom and I planted this fall. I thought they had died with the snow storms we had this winter, but they are more perky than ever!

We have a real Pear Tree in our backyard. It just started blooming this week! I cannot wait for some juicy pears to appear. Bring on the Pear Crumbles....


These crazy looking blooms intrigue me. I am curious to see what they turn into. Right now they look like crazy green caterpillars crawling out of the branches.


School is out and Spring Break has started. This is just one of the million reasons I love being a teacher, we still get Spring Break! :) My beautiful college roommate, Jenna, came to visit us. I finally got to meet her adorable baby girl, Anleigh Jo. I had so much fun catching up with these girls and Jenna's mom and sister.

Ready to shop the Allen Outlet Mall... what a sweet girl!

And why in the world are there no pictures of me and Jenna?!? I don't have an answer, we will just have to get together sooner than later. I feel so blessed to call her my friend. She is the best mother and I am so grateful for a friendship like hers.

Spring Break is off to a great start and it will only get better! :) I wish you love, sunshine and a whole lotta "Popcorn Trees!"