Details

I'm about 13 weeks along now, just entering the 2nd trimester. The baby is officially due Dec. 15, but both my boys were born 2 weeks early so we'll be ready for it to come by the end of Nov. That's three Dec. birthdays! (I think we're going to start celebrating half-birthdays instead.) I've been feeling pretty sick, but it seems to have subsided a little so I'm hopeful that stage will be over soon! The ultrasound picture is from 11 weeks. I was having a hard time really 'connecting' with this pregnancy. My last pregnancy ended in miscarriage at 11 weeks (the baby had died at 6 weeks) and I just couldn't get over the fear that this one would end the same way. So the ultrasound was purely for my reassurance that everything was okay. I can't tell you the relief I felt when I first saw the baby on the screen and it was moving! The heartbeat was strong and it's growth on target, even a little big (this is my family after all.) After that I felt confident enough to tell the boys. They were/are soooo excited! They immediately told everyone. My older ds keeps saying "I can't believe it's not a dream!" I think he's more excited about the baby than about Christmas. It's really cute.

This next part may be TMI, if you're not into NFP or other fertility stuff. You've been warned!

This baby is actually sort of a surprise. I say sort of because we've been trying for another child for over a year now, though without much hope. I use NFP and my charts were showing that my pre-peak cervical fluid was not of the quality or quantity so important to fertilization. We finally went to see a fertility specialist who uses the same NFP system in her practice that we use to see what our options were. The first step was to do several blood draws at different times in my cycle to determine what my hormone levels were. After some thought (and prayer) we decided that it was too much to undertake right now and that maybe adoption would be the best option for us. So that's where we were when, to my amazement, we were pregnant! My cervical fluid hadn't changed at all, and according to our "timing" I really shouldn't have been pregnant. So this is our miracle baby, there's really no other explanation!

I'll let you know in 8 weeks if it's a boy or a girl

Guess What!?

Mothers

Ladybug
Originally uploaded by awsyoung

Isaiah 40:11
He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.

Happy Mother's Day

This photo was taken in my mother's garden last year. I'd love to have a garden like her's someday.

Breastfeeding in the news

New study results!

Breast-feeding boosts a child's IQ, says study
By Roger Highfield, Science Editor

"Researchers looked at almost 14,000 children over a period of more than six years and found that those who had been breast-fed performed far better in IQ tests."
Click here for the full article.

Breastfeeding makes children smarter
By Roger Highfield, Science Editor

A more detailed article about the same study.

Resolutions continued...

Time to bore you again with my resolutions update!

1. Keep up my exercise routine.
I'm changing this one to 'establish a new excercise routine'. My knee is finally better and I have been out walking a few times, but now I'm having difficulty finding a consistant time. My dh's schedule isn't condusive to walking it seems. Maybe I can find a good DVD.

2. Eat more.
Good. I can't wait for the local farms to open so I can get really fresh fruits and veggies!

3. Write in my journal once a week.
Still good.

4. Write in my blog once a month and once a day for one month.
Not bad for my first 30 days attempt; I only missed one day. It was fun and I hope my posts were interesting enough! I didn't do so well in my additions of blogging once a month on the family blog and posting on the LDS homeschooling Yahoo! group. Time to regroup for this month!

5. De-clutter one room a month.
I managed to finish organizing the choir music, but I still have a pile of stuff to get rid of. I had bad luck getting anyone from Freecycle to pick any of it up. :P I'll try Craigslisting it all next. Once it's gone, I'll choose a new room to declutter!

6. Find some service to do.
The best think I can come up with is crocheting leper bandages, so that's what I'll do. I'll work on it at least one night a week.

7. Say "I love you" to my children and husband every day.
Good!

Thanks for listening!

Let's go to B&D's

Today has been a rather lazy day. I just didn't have the energy to follow our usual schedule, so we spent most of the afternoon watching "Life in the Undergrowth", another installment in one of my favorite nature series, the Life Collection, from the BBC of course. We haven't seen them all, but the ones we have seen are excellent! And I just love David Attenborough. The Blue Planet is another nature series favorite, but I digress. Anyway, when dinnertime came around, I didn't want to fix anything so we ordered pizza and finished watching "Life in the Undergrowth". I'd say it was a good day. It wouldn't be good to do that sort of thing everyday, but once in a while it's fun (and necessary) to have a "B&D's" day. For those of you who don't know, B&D's was a burger joint within walking distance of the music building on the U campus. Whenever we needed a break from the stress of college life, someone would say, "Let's go to B&D's" and we'd go. Gradually a B&D's day came to mean a day where you just say to heck with life/responsibility and go have fun and relax. I don't know if anyone from that group still uses the term, but I do because it perfectly captures the feeling, in just a few words, of days like today.

Long live B&D's.

House Shopping

We had made of offer on a house. Sadly, there was another offer to compete with. The offers were equal, but the other offer had a contingency. They had to sell their house before they could buy, so our offer looked like the better one. Since their offer was technically first, we had to give them a chance to remove the contingency. Well, they did and we lost the house. Oh well! The market is still coming down, so I have high hopes that we can find another house without too much trouble. I'm excited because some 4 bedroom houses are coming into our price range. The top of our range, granted, but we're within striking distance now! When we first started looking, I couldn't believe the junky houses that people were trying to sell, and for how much! I'm so glad we didn't try to buy a house when we first moved here. The market is in a free fall and we would have lost a lot of money between then and now. When we were in grad school, I was very concerned about our being able to afford a house when we finished because prices were rising so fast, so I feel really blessed to be looking for a home in such a buyer favorable market. To tell you the truth, I don't really like home shopping. You have to shift through a lot of 'crap' to find something good and it takes a lot of research time and legwork to say nothing of the legal hoops once your offer is accepted. But it will all be worth it in the end if I can finally have a space for my garden and the kids can have a yard to play in!