nursejewellz's Xanga

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 15:20:45 GMT

IT'S A GIRL!!!!!
We had our ultrasound a couple of weeks ago and our little one cooperated. We definitely are having a little girl! Her name is Julia Christine. I am now 23 weeks and we can hardly believe that she weighs a little over a pound now and looks fantastic. I feel her more and more often now. She likes to scare me once in a while by flipping or jumping in there which makes me startle a little. The funniest thing to me is how much she is bothered by anyone being in her space. The second I lean up against a counter, sit in the car with my seat belt on, or Andy or my hand or arm lays on my belly she starts immediately kicking and moving around until the object is moved. I wonder if she is going to be a feisty little girl. I can hardly believe that I am almost six months along! As much as being pregnant and feeling her moving around in there is real to me every day I still can't quite believe that we are going to have a little baby in our arms in a few months that is all ours. I can't wait to see what she looks like and what her little personality is like. I can't wait to snuggle up with her and play with her. Andy and I have only been married for a year, but it still seems strange that it won't be just the two of us any more. It's going to take getting used to, but it's a change that I know will be worth it for our little Julia.
This week has been a very hectic and stressful one for Andy and I. We have been moving into our new home this whole last week little by little. This last Sunday we got all the furniture moved and we officially are living in our new place. There are still many boxes to unpack and plenty of clean up to do at the old apartment, but we are getting there. What has added to the stress is that Andy is leaving on a deployment this Friday. He will be gone for two months. I have gotten so used to him being around here to help me out and having him here to do things with that it is going to be really hard not having him here. I'm going to miss him tons, but I'm going to make the most of it. I'm going to spend the next couple of months doing a lot of prepping for this new baby and hopefully I'll have the nursery looking ready or close to it before he comes home.
Please be praying for Andy and I this week as we have TONS left to do before he leaves on Friday. Also keep praying for my family. This has been a hard few months for us, but we keep trusting that God is in control and he is going to take care of us.

Monday, July 07, 2008

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 18:14:44 GMT

Pregnancy Pics!

Well, Andy and I just got back a few days ago from our trip up to Indiana. We were up there for Erica's wedding on the 28th and then went up to see my grandparents for a couple of days in Michigan. We then drove down to Indi to visit Andy's grandparents and extended family before heading back to Florida on the 2nd. Erica's wedding went off without any problems...if you don't count my dad getting in a car accident a few days before. He's ok by the way. Just another part of the last couple of months of stress going on in our family. We are all doing well though and hanging in there in spite of all that's been happening. Just keep my family in your prayers over the next several months. For Andy and I there are a couple of new things going on. We just signed a lease on a townhome that we will be moving into in just a week! I'm excited about it. The place has three bedrooms and a garage and a very nice sized kitchen. It will give us the extra storage that we need for our new baby. Andy is all set to leave for his next deployment on July 25th. He will be gone for a couple of months and back in time for the little one to be born. It will be hard having him gone, but also I am proud of the fact that he is going overseas to serve our country. It is a sacrifice that I am proud to make by my husband's side. I will miss him tons of course and it will be lonely in our new townhouse without him! Our one year wedding anniversary is tomorrow! This year has gone by so quickly and so much has gone on in a short time. In some ways it feels like we've always been married. It is hard to imagine life without him now. This has been an incredible first year of marriage. I look back and can honestly say that I love and appreciate Andy more now than the day we got married. He has been so good to me. I couldn't have asked for a better husband. I feel very blessed. As to my pregnancy...we find out what we are having on Wednesday! Hopefully the baby will cooperate and we will be able to see what it is. I am convinced this is a little girl in here kicking around, but we'll see. I honestly will be excited either way. I am so happy to be having a baby that I really don't mind if it is a boy or a girl. I am just excited to see the little one in a few months! Here are some of the latest pregnancy pictures. Enjoy!

Who's belly is bigger?

Natalie and I comparing bellies. We are 11 weeks apart. Aren't we cute?

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 17:46:20 GMT

This has been one of the most difficult and emotional weeks of my life. My family has had so many things go on this week that I hardly know where to start to process it all. A big part of what is going on with my family I cannot share online, but I can say that my family needs so much prayer right now. A week ago Monday the nightmare started with the first problem and the whole week I seemed to be in a fog trying to figure out what was going on and dealing with emotions for my family. Then Saturday night my whole world seemed to fall into pieces when I got a phone call at almost midnight from my sister saying that they were in the ER with my mom. She had had a stroke right in front of there eyes and they rushed her to the hospital. The whole night they ran tests on her and stabilized her and sent her to a specialty hospital in Ft. Wayne. She was conscious but was severely slurring her speech and was unable to write or walk normally. Praise the Lord that within about 12 hours my mom had all of her function back. I flew up to IN Sunday afternoon and I'm here until tomorrow. My mom was able to come back home this afternoon since they were finally able to figure out what caused the stroke. She has a small hole between her left and right atrium in her heart that is supposed to close when you are a baby. Hers didn't and it allowed a small blood clot to get through and up to her brain to cause the stroke. She is able to do all the things she did before and only has to take an aspirin a day to prevent it from happening again. I am so thankful that she is ok. It was the biggest scare of my life thinking I could lose my mother. I love my mom so much and it has never felt so good to hear her laugh and talk. Please keep praying for the other situation though as it will be an ongoing problem for several weeks and possibly months.
As to my pregnancy. things are going very well. I am now 17 weeks and I felt the baby for the first time this week! I was on the plane on the way up to IN when I suddenly started feeling a bop bop bop in my lower abdomen. It is such a wonderful feeling and something I definitely needed this week. Ever since then when I'm sitting still I will feel an occasional kick or punch. I have a feeling this baby is going to be feisty. It kicked me so hard last night that I jumped. Hard to believe a little five inch long baby can do that already. I'm wondering what it will feel like when it is over a foot long! Anyways, things are good with me and I'm already so in love with my little baby. I can't wait for my ultrasound when I can see him or her kicking around in there.

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Tue, 27 May 2008 13:03:35 GMT

On a good note:
I'm now 15 weeks pregnant and everything is going well. My belly is still small, but growing a little bit each week. I'm looking forward to a month from now when we will hopefully know if we are having a boy or a girl and also I should be able to start to feel the baby moving. I have been feeling really good lately. No more morning sickness since about 10 weeks and I'm not big enough to be uncomfortable yet. I still get tired more easily, but nothing that is that big of a deal. It's hard to believe sometimes that there is a little baby growing inside me. It seems like I've been pregnant forever, and yet I know that before I am ready I'll be nine months along and about ready to be a mom.
Andy and I have been looking for a new place to live lately. We are trying to find a house or townhouse that has an extra bedroom for our little one. Right now we are maxed out in our apartment and there is no way we can fit a crib and everything else we would need for a baby in here. We found a townhouse that we love and hopefully everything will go well and we'll be able to get the paperwork and everything done soon to finalize our plans. We should be moving in July.
On a sad note:
The last couple of weeks have been hard for our church family. Two weeks ago yesterday we found out that our senior pastor and his son died in a plane crash. He was an incredible man and with over 3,000 people attending our church each week, you can imagine how many people were effected by this happening. We did not know Pastor Pollock or his son personally, but we have been listening to him each Sunday since we got married back in July. He will be greatly missed. Please be praying for his family. He leaves behind a wife and five children, all of whom are under 18 years old. I can't imagine their loss. I am so thankful each and every day for my husband and my future child as well as for my siblings and parents. Please pray also for our church as many many people are grieving the loss of such a godly man. Pray for our pastoral staff who are having to deal with grief as well as look ahead to help make decisions about where our church will go from here.

Monday, April 28, 2008

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 00:32:19 GMT

We're Pregnant!!!!

Most of you have probably already heard, but for those of you that haven't...I'm going to be a mom in about 6 months! We are now 11 weeks into our pregnancy and I'm very excited. I'll write more about all of it soon, but for now I just wanted to post a couple of pictures for you! The first is of our ultrasound that was at 9 weeks. The next picture is from today. I'm officially showing a little baby bump! People are starting to notice that I'm pregnant and it's very fun to show off my little belly. I can't wait to meet my little one. More to come later!

Friday, March 14, 2008

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 22:03:56 GMT

We're back from our cruise!

We had a great time on our cruise on Feb. 28-March 3! We went on a four day cruise to the Bahamas with Royal Caribbean. We loved it! We went to Cococay, Bahamas the first day which is Royal Caribbean's private island. It was so beautiful! There are palm trees all over the island with hammocks attached to them. There are beach chairs all over the island as well as yummy food. We went kayaking for a little while...the water was crystal clear and beautiful. The next day we went to Key West. That day we went dolphin watching, snorkeling, and kayaking as well as walked up the main street in Key West and looked in a lot of the little shops. The last day on the cruise we slept in late and lounged around most of the day. We loved the boat and enjoyed every bit of the cruise. There was tons of great food, music, and shows. We would definitely do it again sometime! Here's some pictures of our adventures. Enjoy!

This is right after we found out the boat was sinking...nah...we are too happy for that. We did the little drill on the top deck of the boat...just in case.

This is a snazzy view from the lounge on the forth floor of our ship.

Andy and I taking the ferry over to Cococay, Bahamas.

The view of the ship from Cococay.

Oh, my word...is this place gorgeous or what?!

Lounging in a hammock...

The Dining room where we ate dinner each night. Pool deck of the ship. There were six hot tubs!

A view of Key West from the ship.

Sunset over Key West.

Andy and I about to climb the rock wall...pretty intense...but fun!

Andy and I at dinner the last night of the cruise...aww....

Friday, February 22, 2008

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 16:57:05 GMT

My family loved the video of Emma so I decided to post a couple more. Here you go for all you Emma fans out there:
The first video is near the end of our day at Disney when Alex is entertaining Emma with her new stuffed animal Flounder. The next video is from our day at the park. Emma was loving going up and down the slide all by herself! She would get to the bottom of the slide and say, "Good job, Emma". She was trying to say that in the video but it sounds more like stop it...I think she got her words mixed up...lol.

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Thu, 21 Feb 2008 18:39:28 GMT

This video is of Emma singing to The Little Mermaid. Keep in mind she is not quite 2 years old yet.

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Thu, 21 Feb 2008 11:28:48 GMT

Ok...so I got through updating on the first week of January...now for the last month. The last weekend in January Andy's mom came down from snowy NY to stay with us for a week. That weekend we attended a women's conference at Idlewild Baptist Church (the church I met Andy at and attended for about a year), and were able to hear Nancy Lee DeMoss speak for a Revive Our Hearts conference Friday and Saturday. It was an awesome conference and was very challenging. Nancy spoke on topics such as filling our thirst with the Lord, having a heart of brokenness with others verses a heart of pride, and being a forgiving woman. All of the sessions were great...I highly recommend any of her conferences if you ever get a chance to attend one. On that following Monday Andy, Mom, and I went to MGM at Disney World (now known as Hollywood Studios). I had never been there before so it was exciting getting to see a new park. Andy and I also purchased our season passes that day so that we can go back to Disney as much as we want all year! I'm very excited about that. I also went to the spa with Mom on that Tuesday before she left and Mom thoroughly enjoyed getting a pedicure and manicure...she was definitely falling asleep in the chair! We had a very good time. Here are some pictures from that week:

Revive Our Hearts Conference at Idlewild Baptist Church

Mom and I at the 3-D movie at Hollywood Studios

Andy and I outside of Rockin' Roller Coaster at Hollywood Studios

Andy with his twin manikin at Hollywood Studios...strange, huh?

Next comes Valentines Day! Andy and I celebrated on the 13th instead of the 14th this year...will explain soon. We went out to eat at Melting Pot...which is by far the most fun and yummy restaurant I've been to. It is my new favorite...although it's a bit pricey so we'll have to save it for special occasions. Andy also had sent to me a dozen pink and red roses with huge white lilies intermixed in them...they are so pretty. We also went shopping at the mall and Andy got me the foot spa from Brookstone that I have been wanting. I definitely got spoiled. It was really nice having my first Valentines Day with Andy. Last year he was overseas!

Then, last week we took care of Emma, my niece, for four days...from Valentines Day until that Monday. Andy and I got in some really good practice for parenting. Especially on Saturday when we took her to Magic Kingdom for the day! We bought her a Minnie Mouse dress when we were there the week before and couldn't wait to take her to Disney all dressed up. She loved going on all the rides, but especially loved meeting her twin, Minnie Mouse...she was so excited when she realized that she matched Minnie...it was so cute. We also took her to meet the Little Mermaid, which is her favorite Disney character by far. She has a little stuffed Little Mermaid that I got her back in November which has been her constant companion ever since. She will sing parts of the songs from Little Mermaid while pretending her mermaid is swimming. She's the cutest thing ever! Here are some pictures of our four days with Emma:

Andy, Emma, and I on the Dumbo Ride

Emma loved going up in the air for the Dumbo ride!

Emma with her sidekick, Minnie Mouse. She was so excited to meet her!

Emma was a little star-struck when she met Ariel. Note the stuffed little mermaid she is holding.

Uncle Alex is playing with Emma's new Flounder stuffed animal and getting Emma to crack up laughing.

So...I'm almost caught up! The only thing left is last Monday. Andy and I decided to go back to Magic Kingdom to ride the adult rides! Andy was off work for presidents day and didn't have to do any homework...so we took advantage of the opportunity to have a day to ourselves to go out and have fun. We ended up having a blast....aside from me getting drenched on the log ride and having to buy new clothes to prevent getting pneumonia. It also rained a little for about an hour...we got smarter though and bought ponchos so I wouldn't get wet again. Here are some pictures from our trip to Magic Kingdom:

Me on Thunder Mountain Railroad...note the poncho and new shirt.

The fireworks were pretty!

Well...that catches everyone up! Next week Andy and I are going on a cruise to the Bahamas together! We are enjoying as many small trips as we can before we decide to have kids. I'll be sure to post some pictures from our cruise soon after we get back.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Tue, 19 Feb 2008 13:35:04 GMT

Wow...I've been really bad at updating my xanga lately! This has been a busy month. This is probably going to be a long entry, but I'll try to intermix pictures throughout to make it more fun. Well, our January started with Andy's Birthday on the 8th and then a trip to NY to visit his parents on the 9th. We celebrated a late Christmas with them and enjoyed the cold, snowy weather up in Schroon lake for a week. His parents got a WE for Christmas so we played that quite a bit that week. I also went snow tubing with his parents one day while Andy and his siblings went snowboarding and skiing (I'm not the greatest skier and get a little nervous that I will break something and not be able to work). We also got to see Elissa chearleading at a couple of games at the school...it brought back all sorts of memories of my chearleading days! And Andy's parents also surprised us one day by driving us way up north to the middle of nowhere (or so I thought) to a park where we did snowshoeing! It was pretty cool actually. We hiked one mile through the snow in the middle of the woods with our snowshoes on. There was quite a bit of snow...I would say a couple of feet through different parts of the path, but none of us slipped or anything since the shoes kept us firmly planted on the top of the snow. Here are some pics of the week with his family:

Here is all of us after a day of skiing, snowboarding, and tubing.

Andy and I snowshoeing.

Elissa and I snuggling on the couch.

After our week at Andy's parents house, we hopped on a train and headed to NYC! We took a cab from the train station to our hotel...we stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn, which was really nice. We then got ready for our big night at Phantom of the Opera!!! We went to a restaurant close by for dinner called Thalias or something like that and experienced how different it is eating in NYC. The tables are like two inches apart so you feel like you are eating with the couple next to you...they just cram all the tables in so they can seat as many people as possible. It was definitely different eating at a place like that, but we had a good time. We then headed over to the broadway show I've wanted to see since I was in 8th grade...Phantom of the Opera! I was so excited. We walked all around the theater and I got my souvenir program and we went and sat down in the second row from the front almost directly in the center! Andy did a great job getting or tickets and I was so excited. Phantom was amazing. Because we were sitting so close I was able to see all of the actors facial expressions and everything. We could also slightly stand up and see the orchestra in the pit directly in front of us...it was really neat. We stayed a couple of blocks away from Time's Square for the night and then headed home in the morning. Here are some pictures from Phantom:

Here is me standing outside of the theater...I'm the one facing the camera and wearing almost all black.

Andy and I in Time's Square after seeing Phatom...I was pretty much freezing cold.