Week 7

This week has been filled with emotions.  Sometimes I feel like I am on an emotional roller coaster.  I cannot control my tears anymore.  They come and go as they please.  

I still feel tired and nauseous a lot.  Thank God this past week was a 3 day weekend so I got a lot of extra rest.  

I had my first craving.  It was for a big slice of veggie pizza.  I emailed Darrell and told him.  The next day was Valentine’s Day and he brought me home a big veggie pizza from Papa Johns.  I thought I could eat the whole thing....but  I was stuffed after 2 slices!  I feel hungry enough to eat everything in sight, but get full quicker than I expect.  At least I had leftovers for the next day.  =)

A friend of ours was out of town and his little girl was staying with her Grandma and Grandma.  Her name is Emory.  She came to church and sat with me and she was so excited that I was having a baby.  She asked me as soon as she seen me, “What are you going to call its name?”  I said “I don’t know yet, what do you think?”  Without hesitation, she replied, “Snowflake!”  So funny!!!  She then told me, not to tell Darrell because he will freak out!

Later during church Emory was playing with my hair and she said “Jamie, I don’t want you to be a Mommy!” I said “Why not?!” She said, “Because you won’t be Jamie anymore and you won’t come and see me anymore!”  I explained to her I will always be Jamie, I will just additionally be “Mommy” now too.  That seemed to please her and me too. 

Truth is, I don’t feel like Jamie much anymore.  I feel like a cautious bubble.  Everything I do and eat and say and think must be thought about twice to make sure it is okay for our child.  Can I eat this?  Does this really contain raw eggs?  What kind of lotion should I start buying?  Am I getting enough vegetables?  How many potato chips are too many? 

A million questions every day, all day.  I know though, that somewhere deep inside is Jamie, and once she gets used to this being pregnant thing, she will be back!  =)

Happy Valentines Day!!!!

 Around October 10th, a day before my own birthday, I will officially have a new tag to add to my list of names.  This tag will be "Mommy."  I have to say, as much as I enjoy being the Preachers' Daughter, Wife,  Sister, Friend and many more, "Mommy" is the one I have waited my whole life to enjoy.

This Valentine's Day will be a holiday I will remember for the rest of my life... Just last week, Darrell and I found out that we are having a baby!  Words cannot even describe how excited we are!! Excited, scared, anxious, impatient, all at the same time, while feeling we only have a limited amount of time to get everything we need to be prepared.

Call me naive, but I always assumed the pregnancy side effects would hit later in the pregnancy...you know, like for the first 4 months I would be in a joyous bliss planning for our baby's arrival, and after that, the going would get tough. 

HA!  While I am ecstatic, I am also tired beyond measure and find it hard to hold my eyes open after 8:30pm...I also cannot sleep through the night now without getting up multiple times to use the restroom...Taking the stairs in my condo building suddenly wears me out...Food that I normally LOVE, I can't stand to look at.  Food I wouldn't think of touching, suddenly seems appetizing...and don't let a Disney movie come on...I will cry for hours!

I want to be jumping around with excitement, but instead I lay and rest, hoping that whatever I just ate won't make me feel nauseous, while carrying a roll of Tums with me everywhere. 

Did I mention that today, I put on my first pair of pants that were "snug"?  I thought, "eh, I can wear these a little while longer, you aren't supposed to be showing until a little farther along."  After about 2 hours at work with my pants feeling like they were cutting the circulation off to my stomach, the buttons were undone for the rest of the day. 
Those pants went to the very back of my closet... 

And the best part?  I wouldn't change a bit of it for the world.  I want to experience every single moment of this pregnancy.  What a small sacrifice for a precious child that we will one day, call our very own.

In the words of Winnie the Pooh, "A grand adventure is about to begin.."
...An adventure that I couldn't love anymore this Valentines Day.

~Love~

There's a new little girl that has been coming to our church and I think she is sweetest thing!
Before service started on Sunday I told her she could come and sit with me if she wanted, so she came on over and plopped down right beside me.
I had already asked her in small talk if she had any boyfriends.  She is in the 3rd grade, and I think that is when I developed my first "crush."  Most of the time, kids won't tell you, but she proudly stated she had 3!  I couldn't help but laugh. 

She pulled out her little purse that carried a few blank sheets of paper and a pen in it.  She began drawing and I was showing her how to draw about the only things I know how to draw...hearts, a butterfly, a caterpillar, you know...the easy stuff. 
As soon as I would draw something, she would take the page from me and write "I love you" on whatever I had just drawn. Then she starting writing "I love you" all over the page. 

I was flattered!  I thought, "I haven't known this kid long, but she loves me!"
Then she told me it was for her boyfriend(s)....ha!

After that she started writing things like "you are cute as can be!"
This literally made me giggle and I knew this little girl is going to be holding a very special place in my heart.

It also made me start to think...
Sometimes as adults, we forget some of the most basic concepts in life...Like how to "love" so easily!  This little girl had a lot of love and wanted to give it to everyone!

As we grow older, and people hurt us, we tend to inadvertently take it out on all the new folks we may meet in this journey.  We slowly let people into our lives, and even more slowly allow them to come close enough to hurt us, but trust that they won't.  How many times have you trusted someone to be a part of your life and they hurt you?  I think each of us can say that we have...so we're obviously not very good at picking these "safe to love" people.

In reality, we should "love" everyone and know that God has a purpose for this person to be in your life, good or bad.

I hope to have as much love to give, as this little girl showed me on Sunday.
xoxo

Home is where the Heart is...

Finally!  It's been a while since I've posted, and I've had 1,000 topics to write about and I've had 1,000 things to do that seem like they keep me from having the time to post.  I'll write more about those later...

The other day, I was driving down the road when my cell phone rang.  When I looked at the caller ID it said "Home."  I knew then it was my Mom or Dad.  Then it dawned on me...I still have my parents in my phone as "Home," even though I've been married for almost a year. 

I guess I haven't changed it because Darrell and I don't have a home phone.  We use our cell phones.  I was just thinking about how ironic it was as I drove.  Then I thought, if I were to change it, what would I call them?  I have each of their cell phone numbers saved in my phone as "Mom" and "Dad", and then their house number.  I couldn't think of any other name I would call them. 

I decided then that I would keep them in my phone as "Home" because that has always been my home.  Of course, my home with Darrell is MY home.  Now, I am lucky enough to have more than one home.  Darrell and I are blessed to be close with all of our family, and we consider all of their houses to be just another one of our homes. 

No matter where I am, I always have a home. 
After all, home is where the heart is...<3

Meet Cameron

I told ya, he's the cutest dog EVER!

It's funny how things work out: 

My husband works a LOT of hours with his job at the Winston Salem Dash.  That tends to get a little lonely for me...so before the baseball season started I begged for a puppy.  I wanted a teeny-weeny puppy that I could raise on my own!  Darrell however, wanted to adopt a puppy.  I have never adopted a puppy, but really liked the fact that you were essentially, saving a dogs life, so I agreed.  My only compromise was that it had to be a dog that didn't shed.  If there is one thing that I can't deal with, it is cleaning up dog hair.  It makes me gag!

If you have ever tried to adopt a dog, you know that finding one that doesn't shed is like finding a needle in a haystack.  Darrell and I had searched for weeks and baseball season was right around the corner, so we were running out of time.

One Saturday my Mom called and someone had dropped a little dog off by my parents' house.  Just set it out with a pillow!  I was heartbroken!!!  It was some sort of terrier mix.  My Mom sent me a picture of it and I fell in love!  On top of that, we would be saving a dogs life too!!! 

That weekend, we went to pick the dog up and see it & BOY, were we excited!  We even named him Hurley! 

As soon as we got there, we brought him inside to give him a bath and clean him up.  Except, when Hurley got wet, all of his hair fell out!  I was devastated...there was HAIR EVERYWHERE!!!  Something was obviously wrong with this dog and someone had dropped him off because of that.  We had no idea what to do, so my Dad took care of getting Hurley where he needed to be to get medical attention.  From there, I am not sure where Hurley's life took him...

Devastated is an understatement.  I was SO excited about a puppy and couldnt understand why this would happen!  I remember even saying to Darrell "I don't want a mutt!  I want a puppy!  MY OWN PUPPY!" 

My Dad though, knowing how upset I was, proceeds to mention that he had seen an ad in the paper for some poodles for sale nearby. 

Poodles?  They don't shed and they are hypoallergenic!  Reluctantly, Darrell agreed to give them a call and they had ONE poodle left!  I convinced Darrell to just "go look" with me. 

We immediately fell in love and the rest is history! (How could you not!) Cameron came home with us right then and there!

I wouldn't give anything for my lil Cameron now!  He has brought so much joy to my life & is truly a part of our family! 

Sometimes things fall apart so that better things can fall together. 

Cameron's 1st picture! 9 weeks old!  He's so tiny!

Cameron right before his first haircut!

His favorite place to hide: under our bed!

Playing with Mommy!

xoxoxo

Favorite Friday

I've decided every Friday will be "Favorite Friday" & I can introduce you to something that is currently my favorite.  This week's grand winner is:

Blue Bunny Birthday Party Ice Cream Sandwiches!

THEY ARE SINFUL!!!

Okay okay...There is a funny story behind this, kind of.  Darrell hardly ever has the opportunity to join me for grocery shopping.  This week though, he had a week off from games so he was available.  After much begging he agreed to go with me.

B.I.G. mistake.

I honestly try to always shop "healthy."  I try to do one big grocery run for the month, and every Monday I go to the grocery store and get fresh fruit and fresh salad materials, since they won't last an entire month. 

This time was no different than every other Monday...just a quick run in and quick run back out.  Except, Darrell was with me.

If you know my husband, you know he has a weakness for ice cream.  He would eat it every night, and some weeks, he does!

So we get to the ice cream aisle, and we attempt picking out which new ice cream we want.  Keep in mind, ice cream is not on my fresh fruit and fresh salad materials list.  But, if ice cream keeps my hubby happy, he can surely have it!

I am not joking when I say we spent almost 10 minutes debating what kind of ice cream to buy!  Initially, Darrell picked these birthday party ice cream sandwiches out.  Our only drawback was they were $4.99.  Since we are trying to save as much money as we can, we seriously debated on whether or not it was worth it to buy $5 ice cream.  I tried to convince him that we should buy some Minute Maid Fruit Juice Bars, since they were healthier.  After much deliberation, I finally said "just get whatever you want, you are the one that eats it anyway."

Bad idea.  That evening after dinner, Darrell couldn't wait to try his new ice cream.  He even shared a bite with me.  Now, if you know anything about me, you know I love cake!!!!  So cake flavored ice cream, is a dream! 

I have ate one ice cream bar every night & I am not even an ice cream person! 

My hope is that they will be gone more quickly if I help him eat them, we will NEVER buy these again, & I can be back to my salad eating habits sooner than later!

Lesson learned: It's probably okay if you're husband doesn't go grocery shopping with you...

BUT, if you want to splurge - I highly recommend this delightful little sandwiches!  :)

They are definitely a "favorite"!

Did You Know?

That "be not afraid" is in the Bible 365 times?

...One for every day

 

I learned this in school, but I can't remember if this means the exact words "be not afraid" or if it means referencing that we should not be afraid.  Either way, how comforting is that?