Motherhood and Jesus

Motherhood is filled with lots of happy, wonderful times, and also very tired and irritable times. Not irritable in that my daughter is irritating, but in that my house is a mess, dinner rarely makes it on the table, and I hate going to work because I want to spend every moment with my little girl. I am trying to find that balance of Mom, wife, empolyee, daughter, and sister. I know it will come eventually, but it is frusterating right now that things aren't organized. Not that they were perfect before, but you know what I mean. I am also really trying to read my Bible more, and I listen to Christian radio the majority of the time now. I suddenly have this hunger for God's word, and I am learning so much right now. My Mom was telling me that God created marriage to give us an idea of the kind of relationship God wants to have with us. That really struck me in that I don't do that at all. I pray when I feel I need to, and i would occasionally read my Bible. I think I am doing much better, and I hope that I will continue with all this. Reading the Bible in chronological order has helped a lot too, it makes more sense to me in a way. Before, I would get distracted thinking, "I wonder when this happened?", and my mind would wander. I really want to learn as much as I can, so I can teach my little girl all about Jesus. I want to be able to answer her questions, as well as anyone elses questions accurately. I guess these are my thoughts for the day...

Stole it from Briana!

1. When is your engagement anniversary?
Sometime in late March, I can't remember the exact date! Thats horrible!
2. When is your marriage anniversary?
March 18, 2003
3. How long have you known your spouse?
about 8 years give or take a few months. We kind of knew each other in highschool, but we
never talked.
4. How long did you date before you were engaged?
Almost a year through the mail/email, but only 2 weeks in person.
5. Where did you meet your spouse for the first time?
At a friends house.
6. Do you have any children?
YES!
7. How many?
1 beautiful baby girl :)
8. Do you have any house pets?
3 dumb dogs :)
9. Do you own a house or rent?
own
10. Do you live in the city or the country?
Country
11. What is one of your favorite activities together?
Watching movies, camping
12. When did you first kiss?
I don't really remember the day or anything, I think it was when he dropped me off at my house
13. Is this the church you were married in?
We got married outside at a place in gilbert, but one of the pastors at my old church married us there.
14. Do you work or stay at home?
I have to work :( But I am thankful for my job and the money that comes with it!
15. Where did you go on your honeymoon?
We didn't go anywhere, he had to go right back to North Carolina to get ready to deploy to Iraq.
16. What was the funniest gift you gave when dating?
Gosh I have no idea...
17. How long did you know each other before you started dating?
About a month
18. Who asked who out?
I don't really think either of us did. We were asked to go on a double with some friends.
19. Where do each of you go to school?
We don't
20. Which situation is hardest on you as a couple?
Probably that we are always broke!
21. Are you from the same hometown?
Yes
22. Did you go to the same school?
Highschool yes
23. Who is smarter?
I think both of us are smart in different ways. We each have our strengths and weaknesses
24. Who is more sensitive?
Oh definitley me!
25. Where do you eat out most as a couple?
Hmmm.... probably Ralbertos or Chubby Chucks
26. Who has the craziest exes?
Definitley him, I don't have any crazy exes.
27. Who has the worst temper?
Him
28. Who does the cooking?
Me, I love to cook!
29. Who is more social?
Me again
30. Who is the neat freak?
Neither of us lol
31. Who is more stubborn?
Him
32. Who hogs the bed?
Neither of us, we both like to hog te covers though!
33. Who wakes up earlier?
Probably me
34. Where was your first date?
Some movie, I think it was a comedy
35. Who had more boyfriends/girlfriends?
Not sure
36. Do you get flowers often?
No, he knows not to get me flowers. They just die, and to me they are a waste of money lol I'd rather get my toes done!
37. How do you spend the holidays?
Usually we all get together at my aunts, it ought to be interesting this year though with our new addition!
38. Who is more jealous?
Him, I'm not a jealous person
39. How long did it take to get serious?
Not long, his first letter to me started out "To my future wife" haha
40. Who eats more?
Hmmm, probably him.
41. Who does the laundry?
We both do it
42. Who's better with th computer?
Me
43. Leave a piece of advice to other couples: Do things that the other likes to do sometimes, even if you don't like to do it.

Catching up

I was writing in my the journal that I am keeping for Brooke last night, and I started thinking about the crazy things I remember doing when I was a kid. I remember trying to figure out how to make the trampoline more fun, by smearing peanut butter on it... I recall that I wanted to "jump and slide" at the same time haha. Thinking about this one incident makes me wonder what kind of trouble Brooke will get herself into, and how I will handle it when things happen.
Eli and I are starting a Bible study soon, and we are really excited about it. We have been wanting to get into a study, but just never did because of work schedules and such. This one will work out really well for us though, and I can't wait to start digging in to God's word. I want to raise our daughter in the way that God wants us to, and the more we know about Him, the more we can teach her about Him. I pray that He gives us all the tools and wisdom we need to raise her through Him.
She is getting so big! She has hit the 11 lb mark, and she has really filled out since birth. She is smiling so much now, and she has started to squeal when she's excited. I bought some of the Bumgenius diapers today, and I am excited to try them out, and hopefully save some money on disposables. Me being back to work still means we are broke :(. I never thought I wouldn't like being at work, but now that it means being away from her, I hate being at work. I've never wanted to be a stay at home mom so bad. She is such a sweet gift from God!
My brother was married a few weeks ago, in Hawaii. I was disappointed that none of us could be there, but thats how they wanted things. He and I have always been very different, and I can't imagine my family not being at my wedding :(
On another note, reading other's blogs inspires me to start keeping up with this blog, and also to find something in my life that I need to give up. I think in my case, its going to have to be sweets (unless they are sugare free/fat free). I have gained weight since having Brooke, and I need to lose it! We have family pictures coming up soon, so hopefully I can lose some before then. I have such a terrible sweet tooth!
I am also starting to read "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins, I got it in the mail today. Other than that I think thats it in my exciting little life!

She's here!

Well Miss Brooke Addyson is finally here and I have taken wayyyy too long to write this. The labor and delivery wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be, although the most emotional thing I have ever been through. You don't realize how much you can love someone until you have a child! She is beautiful and very sweet. She is now 2 months old and she is starting to smile a lot. She is getting to be a lot of fun! God has blessed us so immensley! Here are some pictures, hopefully I can write more soon, getting on the computer is harder now with a baby!

It has been a few weeks since I have gotten on here, so I will try and catch you up to speed. I have grown quite large in the past few weeks and have gotten the first of what I am sure will be many stretch marks... yay... I ended up with salmonella 2 weeks ago and it was HORRIBLE. I am glad to be over that ordeal. My friend Jenni threw me a beautiful baby shower this past weekend, and we had a lot of fun, and got a lot of great stuff for baby Lincoln. I had fun staying at my aunt's house for the weekend, it was great to cathc up and hang out.

I don't think that I have ever been as itchy as I am now! My belly has to constantly be scratched and I hate it! We have pretty much finished the nursery, we painted it yellow and got the crib and dresser/changer set up. We also found a glider with an ottoman, which was at the top of my list to get so I am a happy momma :) Amber gave us a carseat that is going to work perfectly for us also, it's neatral in color so we have the one thing we need to bring baby home now! Before the baby shower Jenni came up and took some preggo pics, so I will post them with this. They came out great, we were really happy with them.

I am starting to get a little freaked out now that I am in my thrid trimester. At first it seemed like it was taking forever to feel the baby kick and to get a preggo belly, but now that I am there I am starting to get a little nervous for the delivery part. I know that God will take care of us, but the unknown can be a little scary! Keep us in your prayers please! Anyway, I think thats all for now!

Ultrasound and kicks

Well I finally had my 20 week ultrasound, and it was really really neat. My parents were able to come with Eli and I, and they enjoyed it too. Everything was perfect! It made everything that much more real, the first ultrasound the baby looked like a pea so it was hard to imagine a baby inside me. The ultrasound tech kept saying "its" hands and "its" feet, and Eli thinks she slipped and said "his" thigh... She looked at us and said "no, I said "its", pretty adamantly. I guess we will find out in a few months for sure! The baby is kicking all the time now, on a daily basis. At first it used to freak me out, but now I put my hand on my tummy and wait for more. In a way being a girl can really suck sometimes but men can't experience this. Even though I am scared out of my mind, I know I will be able to get through this one way or another. Here are some ultrasound pics :)

Scary Discovery channel

So we are now starting to get the nursery room cleaned out, and what a mess of clutter we have accumulated! I think i spent 2 hours just throwing stuff away, but also going through old pictures that I found that were fun to see again. I can't decide whether to do the nursery in Noah's Ark or in Ducks. I really like them both, and they can both be for a girl or a boy.

I took a lunch break and decided to watch "A Baby Story". I have watched it before, and it usually makes my stomach turn when momma is in labor. Well it did the same thing today, and I had to change the channel, I hate how queasy my stomach is! I am terrified enough to go through labor, so I should probably just not watch these shows lol.

I started reading Nicholas Sparks' "Dear John". So far it's really good, and I am looking forward to the movie. I always like reading the book first, or else I won't read it if I saw the movie and I know what is going to happen.

We were able to fix our water leak at the house, fairly cheap thank God. We were a little worried about having to spend a lot of money, especially with a baby coming. We went down and looked at a crib yesterday, and we are going to go ahead and get it. It's in pristine condition and its exactly what I want. A little more than we wanted to spend, but I think thats inevitable when its something that you REALLY want!

I am stuck back on shiftwork again, and it does crazy things to my pregnant body. Its a lot harder to switch back and forth from nights to days now that my body is supporting another. Its hard, but i have a great job that I enjoy 99% of the time.

Anyway, enough for now...