13 weeks!

I've been battling a head cold all weekend on top of traveling to Oklahoma to watch my brother's conference tournament. So don't mind the no make up and looking like a hot mess look. I'm a little late on this post since we were gone half of last week. I'll be 14 weeks tomorrow :) I'm still just looking bloated right now and don't have much of a baby bump. Some of the blogs I follow do these really neat bump date posts with the memories about pregnancy that I know I'll want to remember so I'm going to try them out too.

How far along: 13 weeks

Total weight gain: 2 ounces

Maternity clothes: I've bought a belly band and maternity leggings but that's all so far. I can't button my pants anymore but just use the belly band and it works like a charm.

Best Moment This Week: Even though we were at basketball games the majority of the time, spending time away with my husband was great!

Gender: We don't know yet, hopefully at our next ultrasound.

Movement: I haven't felt anything yet, but he/she was really jumping and kicking during our last ultrasound :)

Food Cravings: None really. I really like spicy foods (which I normally HATE) and ice cream in particular right now. 

Food aversions: It's been shrimp/seafood the whole time that's kind of subsided and I don't have any right now. 

What I Miss: Nothing, I've loved this journey so far!

Sleep: I have my nights. Now that I'm not supposed to sleep on my belly or my back, it's been hard to get comfortable. My body pillow has helped out tremendously though.

What I'm Looking Forward To: Finding out the gender! 

Belly Button: In

New Years Surprise

So our big New Years surprise that I mentioned a couple of posts ago is....I'm pregnant!!!! We had been trying to conceive for 5 months and finally on January 1st, 2015 I took a pregnancy test after I was 4 days late and BAM! A little pink positive line. My cycles had been different every month since I got off birth control back in August. So it was tough tracking my ovulation schedule. Anyway back to the little pink line, I immediately began to cry and laugh at the same time. I called my Nanny, my grandma, who is also my best friend and told her first. She also began to cry. She had been really stressed out with her health and her brother's battle with cancer at the time so she really needed to hear some good news. My husband was over at his Aunt's when I took the test and it was a struggle to not call and tell him immediately. I wanted to surprise him. So after I called my grandma, I called my mom. She was excited but wanted me to go get some more pregnancy tests just to make sure. I had to go get groceries anyway so I picked up a box of the digital tests while I was out. I was out a little longer than my dad thought I should be so he called to hurry me up and take those tests. I took one and sure enough it popped up pregnant 2-3 weeks. I sent a picture of the test to my parents and then they really got excited. When I knew that my husband was on his way home I set up a little card written from the baby, the pregnancy tests, a Spurs onesie (since hubby is a HUGE Spurs fan), and a book for first time dad's. I recorded his reaction when he walked through the door and it was priceless. He was so excited he was jumping and yelling. It was perfect.

I'm due September 8th, three days before Bradley's and a week before my Nanny's. To make it even more exciting, my best friend who I grew up with is also pregnant and she is due September 20th. We are so excited for this journey and I can't wait to document it.

I was so exhausted and busy at work weeks 8 and 9 that I didn't get to take pictures. My hair looks awful too. I've been waiting to get out of the first trimester to get it highlighted.

Again, we are so excited! I go back to the doctor on Monday. Hopefully we can hear the heartbeat then. :)

Happy Valentine's Day

Well our Valentine's Day was totally uneventful. My brother plays college basketball and he plays every Saturday until the second week in March every year. Valentine's Day always seems to fall on days that he plays or that Bradley played so we've never really been able to do much. I also better add that I could not have married anyone as identical to my dad than my husband. My dad is a great man, but when it comes to romance with my mom he needs a little work. Same as Bradley. He rarely ever gets my mom anything or does anything sweet for holidays or special occasions simply because he just doesn't think about it. Typical man, right? Well a week before Valentine's day, Bradley took me to our little Commons shopping area. He let me buy a pair of Nike's for work which were super nice and needed, but I automatically thought something was weird because he literally never lets me just buy things or shops without a conversation about it first. Sure enough whenever we got home he said "Happy Valentine's Day." I get that I should be grateful which I was, it just caught me off guard because I wasn't expecting him to say that. So fast forward to Friday before V-day. He wanted to go to a high school game in Little Rock that night. Which was fine because he had asked me months before if he could go. Well I didn't actually think that he was going to go. I thought he was just telling me that and really actually had something special planned for us. Nope, of course he didn't. So I got my hopes up for nothing and we literally didn't do anything for V-day, awesome. I got him some Mont Black Legend cologne which smells so good and a sweet card explaining how great of a husband he was. I thought that I would at least get a card on the actual day because he is usually pretty good at getting cards, but nope. Granted I have been super emotional lately and I probably over reacted a bit, but I've always wanted a man that just did sweet things for me without me having to ask. I definitely didn't get that marrying Bradley but he does so much more for us. So with that debbie downer post, we are iced in today and just being lazy. Which feels awesome.

Sweet Nova girl

2015 has been so exciting so far. We found out some really great news New Years Day, but I can't tell what it is just yet. All I can say is that we are sooooooo excited. I don't know about you, but last Monday morning was just such as drag at work. Being off for the holidays had really spoiled me. I'm still not completely adjusted back to work yet. Last Wednesday, our sweet Nova girl had to get spayed and had a hernia repaired. When I picked her up Thursday it was seriously the saddest thing. She had a cone on and she couldn't jump in my arms fast enough. Now the rules were pretty strict; she is wear the cone at all times unless she is right beside us and we do not let her lick her sutures. She is not allowed to jump, run or climb stairs. Um, seriously? She is a puppy who literally just learned how to jump on/off the couch a week ago. All she wants to do is run and play. She is terrified of the cone every time she runs into the wall or it hits her bowl when she tries to eat. We've been having to give her water through a water bottle because she just won't drink from her bowl. I think its affecting me way more than it is her though. It makes me so sad to see her so limited. She's lost weight too. I'm sure this post sounds so weird and believe me I was totally one of those people who never understood how someone could love an animal so much. But I'm definitely that person now. I love her so much and I don't know what I would do if something happened to her. She is our first baby and has been a great companion for me as we've been trying to conceive for the past 5 months. When I would have my down days and feelings of despair and doubt she always knew. She would just lay beside me and be my little cuddle bug because it was what I needed most. Bradley just don't understand it all so Nova has been my only companion through it all. Dogs really are a man's best friend. Oh and last night we went to the hospital to see precious baby Kyree. Bradley's aunt and uncle just had their second little boy on Thursday and we were so stoked to him. Bradley is terrified of little babies. He didn't even want to hold him because he was afraid he would hurt him. He has really big hands and he always thinks he's going to drop them. He did great though. He always says he's not ready for kids but he will be when they get here. Kyree will be some great practice for when that day comes for us. :) 

Poor baby girl!

She just cuddled with me all day after I picked her up!

Hello, again!

Wow, has is seriously been almost a whole year since I have written on here?? I guess life really has been as crazy as it seemed. When I started this blog, I had the intention to only write for our first year of marriage and document our different journeys we found ourselves on. Now, I've realized that I want to document as much as I can while I can. So let's play catch up a little bit. Since last January, I graduated with my Master's in Speech-Language Pathology, went on a family vacation to Florida, got a big girl job, we bought a house, remodeled the majority of the house, went to a Bruno Mars concert, attended a dozen weddings, celebrated our one year anniversary, and got a precious little pup (who now rules the roost and is our baby). So much good has happened in the past year for us and I'm so blessed that God chose me to live this life with hubby. So goodbye 2014. You were definitely a year full of stress, but we made it out alive and with some really great memories. Here's to a new year, full of endless possibilities. 

Day Date

On Saturday, Bradley wanted to take me to this new place in Little Rock called Altitude. It's a huge building with tons of trampolines in it. Now, when I was a kid I used to love jumping on trampolines and I was quite the little dare devil. Now that I'm older, I'm just not as brave as I used to be. Randall, Jolyn, and Kyler went with us so at least Bradley had someone to play with. I spent most of the time taking pictures with my new camera the hubs got me for Christmas. This place was awesome!! It had different areas; a kid zone, dodge ball zone, free jump zone, a jump pit, and they were in the process of putting in a basketball court. We will definitely go back when they get that in, of course.

After we finished jumping we headed over to the Promenade because Bradley has been wanting to try this hamburger place they have called Big Orange. While we waited we went over to the Nike outlet where we had just been that previous Wednesday, and they had some awesome deals. B got two pairs of shoes finally. He has been complaining about not having any tennis shoes and we have been looking for him some for what seems like a long time now. It's weird how you can go to a store one day and they not have much or any good deals and then you back a few days later and it's like a jackpot. I seriously had one of the best hamburgers I have ever eaten at Big Orange. They had such a wide variety and you could even get a turkey or veggie burger if you are trying to eat healthy.

I just love dates and it seems like we never get to go on many anymore, and that makes me sad. We've almost turned in to an old married couple already because we would rather sit at home and watch TV while cuddling on the couch. Don't get me wrong I love that too, but sometimes I like to go out. I have to write about our wonderful experience we have been having at the Robinson and Center Church of Christ here in Conway. We have been looking for a church where we believe they teach the right things and where we feel comfortable. We have attended the past 2 Sundays and we have met some truly amazing people. It's such a small world because we have met so many people that have connections with some of our good friends and people we know. We have been looking for a congregation to where we feel like we can truly be a part of and start ministering in the community. They have this program called Night Owls that we both really want to participate in. It's where the families of special needs children get a free babysitter at the church so they can go on a date. Of course that sparked my interest, but I never thought B would want to do it. While we were sitting in church on Sunday, they were making an announcement about it and I turned to him and said "I really want to do that" and he said "I'll do it too." He's always been a little skiddish around children with special needs because he never really knows how to act or talk to them. I was so pleased that he said he would do it too. I feel like we are finally learning and growing with our saving grace, Jesus, together. That makes me so happy that I could cry. It is something I have always treasured and wanted in the man I married and I obviously married a great Christian man.

A Whole New Year

I can not believe it is 2014 already. Where did last year go? It's easy to say that marrying my best friend and becoming a wife was the best part of 2013. We've officially been married for 5 months today, I know, that's a really long time. Before we got married we participated in marriage counseling with some of the finest and most experienced Christian husbands and wives that we know. During that process were warned about the troubles that might arise in the first year of marriage and the different responsibilities we would each have. I was still too excited about the fact that we were getting married to actually pay attention at the best of my ability. We have encountered numerous times from random people that ask how long we have been married with this response "Ohhh how's it going? The first year is always the hardest." It might be too soon to say since we still have 7 months to go before we jump over that hurdle of being married for an entire year, but we have been doing great. Better than we ever did while we were dating. Sure we have had the occasional arguments but nothing serious. Hearing this from people who have been married for many years makes us wonder why exactly we're not having a lot of trouble this first year. The only thing I can think of that could be the answer to that, is our Heavenly Father and the comfort we have by knowing that he leads our marriage.

During our dating years, I had a tendency to try to lead our relationship and always make things based on me because 1. I was young, 2. It had always been that way in my previous relationships, and 3. I didn't know what it actually meant to be submissive. We went through some real difficult times while we were dating and I know that we wouldn't be as strong as we are today if it wasn't for those troubled times. The thoughts of those times still pop in both of our minds on different occasions but we both know that it is just the Devil trying to stir up heartache again. In all honesty I am still learning how to be submissive and a good help meet to my hubby. I had a vague idea of what being a help meet actually meant when we said "I do" but with the help of "Created to be His Help Meet" by Debi Pearl and God's Word I feel as if I am finally starting to understand what it means.

I have some big things coming up this year and I don't know what I would do if Bradley wasn't by my side every day, encouraging me to keep pushing. I have been struggling with "contentment" for what seems like a long time now. I constantly think about the future and that's all that consumes my mind. "I can't wait to have babies", "I can't wait to have our own home", "I can't wait to be finished with school so I can help my husband out", "What if I chose the wrong profession? Sure, I love it enough to be content with it every day, but what if I was meant to do something else?" These types of thoughts lurk in my mind and heart. I keep saying to myself "Not my will, but thine be done." I just have to start believing it with every inch of my body and soul.

Now that all of that is out on the table I wanted to announce my verse for the year of 2014. I didn't want to pick just one word to define or strive for this coming year, but a verse to help me live by. My verses I chose are James 1:5-8- If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given unto him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does. 

I chose these verses because I am striving for wisdom this year. Wisdom in my marriage, wisdom in school, wisdom in my faith, and wisdom in my Jesus.