Archives For April 2014

Currently

  Tiffany  April 29, 2014   1 Comment

Here’s a little of what we’ve been up to lately…

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Reading: Last week I ordered On Becoming Toddlerwise from Amazon and just started reading it this weekend. I’m only a couple of chapters in so far, but I’m hoping it’ll help me navigate this stage of Toddlerhood that we are in with Liam right now. I really want to make the most of this season and help him learn and grow as much as I can. So far I am loving this stage! It doesn’t come without it’s challenges of course (he has his own opinions now, and expresses them when he feels like it). But I seriously do feel so blessed to get to raise this kiddo of ours. Each week he is saying new words or phrases (last week he started saying “cereal” and it’s now his new favorite thing), and experiencing new things (this weekend we played with bubbles for the first time). Lots of fun!

Thinking about: Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about what life will be like with two little ones. Gideon’s due date is three months from yesterday, and I know these next few months will fly by as fast as the last few have, if not faster. A lot of my friends are having their second babies now, and it’s so fun to see them enter this new stage. I’m excited for it to be our turn! I know it will be life-changing, but I’m looking forward to this change. Liam really loves babies right now (he gets SO excited anytime we are out and he sees one. He will shout from across the store or restaurant, “BABY! BABY!!!” Haha.) His favorite book right now is I’m a Big Brother and he asks to read it every day (here is a super cute video Jonathan took of him when we read it the other night. I’m also thoroughly looking forward to getting to snuggle with a newborn again (and breathing in that newborn smell! Ah!). I often wake up at 3am these days, and I can’t help but think about how wonderful it will be to wake up in the middle of the night to take care of our little guy Gideon.

Listening: I can’t stop listening to the new Bethel album You Make Me Brave. It’s so good. And many of the songs speak so strongly to my soul. Ah! So good.

Working on: With being on modified bed rest many days the past few weeks (depending on how many contractions I’m having at the time), I’ve tried to keep myself occupied with projects I can do while laying down. One of those projects has been trying to finish up our 2013 Family Photo Album. This is one of my absolute favorite things to do! I love going through my favorite photos from the year, and writing out things I loved about those moments. Documenting memories makes me incredibly happy! In many ways, the past year or so has been extremely difficult for our family, but when I look through the memories we’ve created together it helps keep things in perspective and makes me focus on all the AMAZING things in our life. I am so thankful! God has really blessed us. Life is really really good.

Eating: I mentioned last week that I have recently acquired a serious sweet tooth. Although I do give in and eat a doughnut or some Ben & Jerry’s every once in a while, I do want to try and limit the sweets if I can (especially since I haven’t been able to be as active lately). I asked my friends on Facebook if they had any healthy snack recommendations, and I had a couple friends suggest dried (unsulphured) mango. New favorite snack! Oh my word! It tastes like candy, but is fruit. Genius! God knew what he was doing when he created mangoes. I love fresh mangoes too, but these are great because I don’t have to worry about them going back, and I can stick them in my purse for a snack on-the go. You can find them in the organic section at Kroger (but I’m sure lots of other grocery stores have them too). Yum yum yum! Hang on while I go grab some to munch on right now…okay, I’m back! Delicious, I tell ya!

Eagerly anticipating: In addition to seriously looking forward to Gideon’s arrival, I am SO excited that my family will be visiting a few times this summer. Their first visit is in just two and a half weeks! YAY! It’s been almost a whole year since I’ve seen most of them, so this is going to be one exciting time for sure. Liam will have so much fun seeing his Mimi and Poppa and uncle and aunts. Can’t wait!

So, that’s a little of what I’ve been up to lately. What are you currently up to? Feel free to share in the comments below, or write your own post and link to it!

Thanks to Danielle from Sometimes Sweet for inspiring this post. :)

Happy Friday!

This week I stumbled upon several great finds on the internet, and thought it would be fun to share them with you here. So, I’m starting a new blog series called “Friday Finds”. The title is kind of self-explanatory I think, but on Fridays I will be linking to different things I’ve found that week. It may be an interesting article, yummy recipe, funny picture, video, etc. And if you would like to join with me in this, feel free to share some of your fun finds in the comments below! :)

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  • 20 Habits to Quit Next Year -  This is a great article listing many habits that we should all be sure to break. I can personally relate to a few of these, specifically 1, 2, 7, and 15.
  • 5 Things Moms Should Never Wear (and Easy Alternatives) – This list of mommy fashion faux pas was really good. I especially loved how Summer gave alternatives that would help fix these no-no’s. (Of course, I think there are exceptions to many rules…so if you can pull off sweats in style, go for it! Be you!)
  • Now You Can Find Donuts Wherever You Are, Thanks To Doughbot – Oh boy…there is now an app to help you find the closest place to get donuts! Lately, donuts have been my weakness. They are one of the main pregnancy cravings I’ve been having recently. As amazing as this app looks, I have not downloaded it yet, because I’m trying not to give into this temptation too often.
  • Portland, Maine City Guide – I have loved Design Sponge’s City Guides for a quite a while now, so I was excited to see when they did one on the city I was born and raised in–Portland, Maine! There were many places on there that I’ve never been to before (and some that were familiar).
  • Skillet Cookie recipe – This skillet cookie recipe looks absolutely amazing!
  • Spectacular Moleskine Doodles – These doodles are incredible. Makes me want to pull out my sketchbook again.
  • Painted Bottle Vases DIY - I would love to make some of these for the center of our kitchen table in a variety of summery colors. It looks so easy to make too!
  • Book Seer – This is a website that will suggest what you should read next based off of any book you’ve read and loved. Amazing! I can’t wait to use this book generator more.
  • Good Films – Finding a great movie just got a whole lot easier.
  • A Lemon is the Secret to a Perfect Tan? This and Other Ingenious Tips – There were some great tips in this article that I’m going to have to try sometime.

There you have it! My Friday Finds for this week. What were your favorite finds this week? Feel free to share in the comments below!

Have a very happy weekend!

Pregnancy is amazing! But it does come with it’s own set of challenges as well. Thankfully, I have found quite a few things that have really helped with these challenges. I’m hesitant to call anything “must haves”, because I could probably survive without them if I had to. However, these are definitely some of my favorite things that have really helped me during pregnancy.

I always love hearing from others what items have helped them during pregnancy, so I thought I would share my list with you! Some of these items I’ve used during all of my pregnancies, and some are brand new. Hope you find this helpful!

Here are 8 of my Favorite Things for Pregnancy:

8-Favoorite-Things-for-Pregnancy

  1. Vitafusion Prenatal Gummy Vitamins - I wasn’t able to swallow pills until I was 15 years old…apparently I have a very good gag reflex. Even now, I have difficulty swallowing large pills (especially if they have DHA in them and taste like fish. Blech!). This is where the gummy vitamins come in! I love these things. I discovered them when I was pregnant with Liam, and I’ve never turned back since. (Note: they do not contain iron or calcium, so you will want to take a separate supplement for those).
  2. Blanqi Maternity Support - Oh my word, I love this thing! This is a new purchase and I’ve only had it a couple of weeks, but it has been a lifesaver. Since I have been having quite a few early contractions this pregnancy, my doctor suggested getting a maternity support belt. I did my research, and most of the maternity supports out there look like torture devices. Except for this one. It is so comfortable, and it helps in many ways! It lifts up my belly so that it doesn’t feel so heavy, eases back and hip pain, and minimizes round ligament pain as well. It is well worth the investment!
  3. Palmer’s Cocoa Butter - My skin tends to get really dry and itchy during pregnancy, and this lotion helps tremendously with this. It’s also supposed to help prevent stretch marks (and minimize the appearance of existing ones), so that’s cool too. Oh, and it smells yummy, which is a plus!
  4. My Pregnancy BabyCenter App - I’ve tried several pregnancy apps, and I keep going back to this one. It has lots of useful information in it, and it helps you track your baby’s weekly progress. And…it’s free! (They also have the app available for Android)
  5. Leachco Preggle Body Pillow - I am naturally a back sleeper, so when I first got pregnant and had to switch to sleeping on my side, it was troublesome indeed. My hips started hurting and I kept accidentally rolling over onto my back in the night. It was no bueno. But then I discovered this pregnancy body pillow, and it has helped so very much! There are several different kinds of pregnancy pillows out there, but I really like this one, especially since it allows me to use my normal pillow to lay my head on. So comfy!
  6. Giant Tumbler - I drink a lot of water. A lot. And whenever I’m pregnant, I drink even more. It is a hassle to refill a normal sized cup a gazillion times a day, so I prefer to have a large (or preferably, giant) tumbler with me wherever you go. Hydration during pregnancy is so important, and having a large tumbler around helps ensure that I get the water I need. I don’t have this venti Starbucks tumbler, but I would love to add it to my collection. (Sidenote: besides getting to bring our precious Gideon home from the hospital, I am also greatly looking forward to bringing home one of those awesome, very large, hospital cups! I used the one I got when I had Liam so much that it wore out. I’m pretty pumped to get a new one! Haha.)
  7. Vitamin Organizer - Have you ever heard of a thing called “pregnancy brain”? It’s a real thing, I promise. (For example, yesterday I almost put the glass cleaner in the fridge. Yikes.) To help with my pregnancy forgetfulness, I got this vitamin organizer. I felt old getting it, but it is very helpful indeed. I like this one specifically, because it has four different time slots in each day case. That way, if you have to take different supplements or medication at different times during the day (such as taking your calcium and iron at different times), you will remember when. Genius! I also really like the pretty colors this case comes in.
  8. Amazon Mom - Amazon is amazing! You can find pretty much anything on there, not just books! And when you sign up for Amazon Mom (it’s FREE!), you get a free 3-month trial of Amazon Prime that includes free 2-day shipping! You also get discounts off of diapers and other baby items. Plus, if you create a baby registry through them (which is what we’ve used), you receive a 15% discount off of anything in your registry the month before your baby is due. This was SO helpful when we had Liam, and I plan on getting a lot of the things we need for Gideon this way too. I highly recommend it!

So, there you have it…8 of my favorite things for pregnancy. If you’re a mom or mom-to-be…what are your favorites? Please share in the comments below!

26 Weeks! Only two weeks away from my third trimester. We are getting closer and closer to having our little guy with us, and we couldn’t be more excited! :)

26 Weeks copy

I mentioned in my last pregnancy update that I have been having a lot of contractions. Some days I will have more than others, but it’s been pretty common for me to have 30+ contractions in one day, often getting closer and closer together. Because of all of this, I went in two weeks ago for an ultrasound and testing. Everything looked good then, which was wonderful! But because the contractions have continued and even increased, I’m needing to go in again tomorrow for more testing (and may need to continue doing this as long as the contractions continue, just to monitor the chances of preterm labor).

While I’m having multiple contractions (which has been most days recently), I’m supposed to be off my feet and resting. This can be challenging when you have an almost two year old running around, but I’m thankful that Liam is pretty easy going and so far I’ve been able to get most of the rest I need. It is hard for me on those days where I’m not allowed to do much, because I really don’t like being unproductive or feeling lazy. Not a great feeling. But through this, God is teaching me to rest in Him, and to not find my worth and identity in what I do. I’m also super thankful that I have an amazing husband who takes care of me and Liam (and Gideon) and helps pick up the slack around the house.

Please continue to pray for me and Gideon and that he will stay put for as long as he needs to. As excited as we are to meet him, we want him to be able to grow as much as he can so he can be healthy and strong. I trust that God has our baby (and me) in His hands and that everything will be great!

It was so fun getting to see our little guy in the ultrasound a couple weeks ago. It was an unexpected surprise. I couldn’t believe how much he had grown since the last time we saw him. The ultrasound technician got some great photos of him, and this is my favorite. Melts my heart!

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Gideon is now nearing 2 lbs in weight and is about 14 inches long. It’s crazy how fast he is growing (keep it up, little man!).

Last week I went in for my Glucose Test, and thankfully I passed it! Yay! SO grateful that I don’t have to go in for the long test like I did for Liam…especially since I have a history of passing out sometimes when  my blood is drawn.

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For the first half of my pregnancy, I craved healthy food for the most part. And although I still crave the healthy stuff, starting a few weeks ago, I have begun craving sweets a LOT. Doughnuts have been my main craving (especially Ellie’s Old Fashioned Doughnuts from the Franklin Farmer’s Market!). I’ve also been craving key lime pie and lemon meringue pie. And ice cream. And Reese’s Peanut Butter Easter eggs. Yeah, not so healthy. This is new, because when I was pregnant with Liam, I didn’t really want many sweets. I don’t mind giving into these cravings every now and then, but I don’t want to overindulge and eat tooooo much sugar. So I’m looking for new healthy snacks to hopefully curb my cravings. And I’m trying to practice self control. :)

12-26 Weeks

If you’ve reached the end of this post, congratulations! Haha. Thanks for joining with us on this journey and double thanks to those of you who have been keeping us in your prayers. We appreciate it more than you know!

Be Brave!

  Tiffany  April 11, 2014   1 Comment

Naturally, I would say that I am not a very bold and courageous person. I crave safety and security, and I love to follow the rules. It took me years to overcome my shyness, and I often still have to work at being outgoing rather than reverting to my introverted and reserved ways. One of my favorite things to do is have a chill, relaxed night at home with my family. You could say that I am a homebody. Being around large crowds of people can make me nervous and stressed. The thought of the unknown can be terrifying–I love to plan and know what to expect, and prepare for it, and then decide if I want to step out into it. Criticism has been my worst enemy, and the thought of others disapproving of me has often left me paralyzed. And if someone had told me when I was in middle school that I would end up speaking in front of large groups of people, I would have laughed and run as fast as I could in the opposite direction (and sometimes that’s still my gut reaction if someone asks me to do just that).

“Brave” is not a word that I would use to describe myself.

But you know what, God is calling me to be just that. He is calling me to be brave. He is calling me to be bold, courageous, and confident. And I believe this call is not just for me…it is for all of us.

Be Brave!

I love this quote by Lara Casey, “Dear Self (and everyone everywhere!), your playing small is not serving the world!

I don’t want to live a small life. I don’t want to only accomplish small things. I want to accomplish BIG things that glorify God and change the world! But none of that will ever happen if I allow the things I listed in the paragraph above to restrict me and put me in a box. God wants to free me (and you) from the box!

If we keep our focus on ourselves and the circumstances that surround us, any ounce of courage that we do have will quickly disappear. But when we focus on God, and know that he is always with us and that he is for us, then we can have boldness like no other!

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“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” – Joshua 1:9

“Jesus looked at them and said to them, ‘With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.’” – Matthew 19:26

I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father.” – John 14:12

“What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” – Romans 8:31

Today, I want to tell you–God is FOR you! He will never leave you! Those dreams in your heart that he’s given you, they ARE possible. The negative comments that other people have said about you? They have no merit! The opinions and approval of other people? They don’t matter! The ways you have been mistreated, hurt, and abused? God will take the burden of those things and bring healing. The failures and mistakes of your past? They are forgotten, forgiven, wiped clean. Your fears, insecurities, and shortcomings are NOTHING compared to the strength and ability God gives you. He has a purpose and a plan for your life that is bigger and greater than anything you could ever imagine! Your best days? They are not behind you! They are yet to come!

Don’t we all want to see the impossible take place in our lives? I know I do! But in order to walk on water, we must take that first step. Step out, keep your eyes on Jesus, and don’t look back. Be brave!

What are some ways you need to courageously step out in? What has been holding you back?

(If you need some inspiration to be brave, bold, and courageous, listen to this song below! It is so good.)

You Make Me Brave by Amanda Cook, the title track off of Bethel Music‘s upcoming live album (releasing April 22nd, 2014).

LYRICS
I stand before You now
The greatness of Your renown
I’ve heard of the majesty and wonder of You
King of Heaven, in humility, I bow

As Your love, in wave after wave
Crashes over me, crashes over me
For You are for us, You are not against us
Champion of Heaven,
You made a way for all to enter in

I’ve heard You calling my name
I’ve heard the song of love that You sing
So I will let you draw me out beyond the shore
Into Your grace

You make me brave
You make me brave
You call me out beyond the shore into the waves

You make me brave
You make me brave
No fear can hinder now the Love that made a way

You make me brave
You make me brave
You call me out beyond the shore into the waves

You make me brave
You make me brave
No fear can hinder now the promises You’ve made

I can’t believe I only have a few weeks left until we are in the third trimester! Time is going by crazy fast with this pregnancy. I think I have said that in every update I’ve written about Gideon, but it is so true!

I’ve been trying to wrap my mind around the things we need to purchase and get ready in order to be prepared for our little guy’s arrival. (Side Note: Parents, if you can think of any “must haves” that I need to add to my list for our second baby, please do share!) It is slowly feeling more real and I can already imagine what life is going to be like with two precious boys in our home. We are so excited!!!

I had my 24-Week OB appointment on Friday, and everything is looking good. Thankful for a healthy baby and pregnancy!

24 Weeks

The only concern is that over the past month and a half, I have been having a lot of contractions. Some of these (if not all of them, we’re not sure) have been Braxton Hicks, but they have become so frequent that my doctor wants me to monitor and keep track of them.

Yesterday after church the contractions started again, got closer and closer together, and became more uncomfortable. I was in touch with the doctor and we were close to needing to go to the hospital, but then they started slowing down and became less frequent. I was able to get a good night’s sleep, which was a blessing. Jonathan has helped so much…he didn’t let me do anything yesterday, and this morning he turned off my alarms, made me breakfast in bed, and got Liam dressed and fed before he had to leave for the day. What a blessing he is to me!

I experienced this same type of thing when I was pregnant with Liam, only it was much later in my pregnancy. And it ended up being a blessing, because all of those contractions paved the way for a very easy labor and delivery.

We still have a few months to go before I’m really comfortable with having this many contractions. But I know that every pregnancy is different! It is encouraging that I went full-term with our first baby, so the chances of pre-term delivery this time around is much lower.

I share all of this not to worry you, but in hopes that you will continue praying with us for a healthy baby and full-term pregnancy. I see this as an opportunity to trust God even more. :) Choosing to trust and not worry is definitely a continual choice, rather than a one-time decision.

While I’m still experiencing some contractions, I am staying off my feet as much as possible, resting, and drinking water like it’s my full-time job. I am incredibly thankful that Liam is such a laid back, easy kid. Definitely makes this easier! :)

Cover Photo 18-24 weeks

Thanks again for the prayers and support during this journey. We are forever grateful for all of you!