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My mean parents....

Nothing could be farther from the truth than the title of this post, but I can't tell you how many times I thought that growing up. The closer baby Sean's arrival comes the more I'm being taught about how much God's love surpasses even the deepest love of a parent, and yet in so many ways they are alike. I've also been thinking how much as a child of God we resemble children no matter how old we are. How often as God's child do I praise and thank God when He is showering me with blessings, but as soon as the trials come I question His understanding? Children do that. When their parents are loving on them and giving them good things they are happy and mom and dad love them, but as soon as they are told 'no' their parents supposedly no longer love them or know what's best for them from the child's perspective. How often does God, like my parents withhold something that may seem good in my eyes because He knows so much more than me and is willing to be 'unliked' for a time to protect me from consequences that I cannot fathom? God and a parent's love is so deep that it is wiling to do what's best for the child at the risk of being accused of not caring or loving. Another resemblance I have noticed in God's love and a parents love is that a child will sometimes misrepresent or change what his parents say for his convenience. How often as a child of God do I take His word out of context to find peace and to attempt to justify my selfish whims and agendas. A child says, "I know what I'm doing. You don't know what you're talking about. You've never been through what I'm going through" and we all know how foolish that is to say that to an adult who has already learned significantly more, but how often do I do that to God? I may think I know what I am doing, that I can simply "follow my heart" and I may read my Bible and pray but when I get my eyes focused on something I want, then suddenly I am the only ones who understand MY situation, I am the only one who has been through this and I am the only one that knows what I am talking about. Then to top it all off, I'm even willing to go as far as distance myself from the people who care enough to tell me the truth and surround myself with the people that will make me feel the way I want to feel. God says in Jeremiah 17:9, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?"
The truth is I will never be 'adult' enough to run my own life. I am still a child. I simply have gone from being directly under my parents care to being under my heavenly Father's care. I am humbled at the fact that my parents were willing to be misunderstood, misrepresented, and even have their love under estimated, but what humbles me even more is to have learned that God's love is infinitely greater than that. He loved me before I loved Him. He gave His life when it was my sins that put Him on the cross. And lives forever and cares for us in a way that no one else ever could.

Hello, Energy!!

I don't know what it is about the last two days, but I am full of energy. Or maybe it's been so long since I've had energy that it feels like I'm wired LOL. Either way, it's been amazing. I've been to the pool to swim for two days in a row. I actually COOKED dinner for myself the last two nights instead of dragging myself to the kitchen for a peanut butter sandwich that I normally barely manage to eat before I fall asleep on my plate. I've been doing tons of laundry, and I even got out before I had to go to work today to buy organizers to straighten out all the baby stuff that is beginning to accumulate. =) Big Lots has tons of organizers and bins on sale in the bright greens and blues that I am using for Sean's little corner. They were half the price they were at Walmart so I was very happy about that.
I am hoping that I have this much energy tomorrow, because I really want to get the crib skirt done. I have the fabric but this last month I was doing good to just get the minimal laundry, cooking, and dishes done.

The blue and green stackables were $3.50 a piece!

So I know this is really random, but we are doing disposable diapers anytime I am at work (save Scott some stress =) , when Sean is at the church nursery, or just when we are out in general. Since I will be home just about all the time with Sean, we decided to do cloth for those times just to save on a little money. I started searching for diaper pins. I knew that with everyone going green a lot of people are using the more updated versions of cloth diapers with their super easy to use diaper covers instead of the plastic pants, but you still have to have diaper pins at some point right? Well, to my surprise, diaper pins have not evolved much from when I was a bambino still crawling in my little cloth diapers. Everything I came across seemed to be the generic pastel blue, pink, yellow or white. Nothing wrong with that but I thought it would be fun to have something different. I made a trip to Babiesrus and found these little guys! =)

How could I go wrong with laughing monkeys and bananas?

One last thing before I head off to bed! Scott got to feel Sean's elbow sliding across my belly for the first time a few nights ago. He had the most horrified expression on his face as if he had just witnessed an alien invasion.  Poor thing.... but once he had a minute to take it in, he was pretty excited. hehehe

Earn your "mommy dollars" at the Hope Boutique!

For the last month I have been going once a week to a little baby/maternity boutique that is tucked away on the corner of West Washington St. in downtown Newnan, GA. From the outside it looks like a cute little consignment shop specializing in baby clothing, baby equipment and maternity wear, but for those who participate in the "earn while you learn" program it's so much more than just a consignment shop. The Hope Boutique is more than just a store. It's a ministry that is helping mommies and babies throughout this part of Georgia.
The "earn while you learn" program offered in the boutique is designed to educate women to become the best mommy they can be before and after having their baby. Each session is held once a week by appointment and usually doesn't last more than 20-30 min. There is an educational DVD that you sit down and watch while filling out a questionnaire sheet on that DVD to keep you alert through the whole thing. Afterward you are given homework that matches the lesson you just completed and a Bible homework booklet based off of the adult level "mailbox club" series. Each week you can earn up to 5 "mommy dollars". (1 for showing up, 1 for showing up on time, 1 for doing your homework, 1 for doing the lesson & 1 for bringing your spouse) These "mommy dollars" can be used toward anything in the store including a specialty section that is only offered to those participating in the "earn while you learn" program. This specialty section includes: a 12 pack of diapers in any size for $1, 1 pack of wipes for $2, a small can of formula for $2,  2 pack of cloth diapers for $1, baby food, baby cereal, and etc. A mommy dollar equates to = $1 cash when being used in the store. Since Scott is at work each week when I go I get 4 mommy dollars so I am able to get two $1 packs of diapers and a pack of wipes each week. Or sometimes I just get the diapers and save the other two for the following week if there is something bigger I want to purchase.
Not only has this program been a blessing to help with the material needs for baby Sean, it has helped me to feel more confident and prepared for when he is born. Each lesson covers a different topic and this week I learned about bonding with my baby before birth. I was amazed to learn just how much a baby can comprehend before birth. The ladies that work there are so sweet and very helpful. Well this is my mini review on the Hope Boutique and I hope you will check it out when you get the chance!

The Hope Boutique
13 West Washington St
Newnan, GA 30263
770-683-2699
* They are open Wed - Sat/10 - 4 pm

Baseball, hotdogs, apple pie and...... RAIN!!!!!!

So this is gonna sound crazy, but this was actually the first 4th of July that Scott and I have been able to enjoy together. The last two years we some how managed to end up either not feeling well or with some sort of stomach bug that lasted a couple of days. We both got to sleep in and I know for Scott it was some much needed rest. We had brunch at home, and then ate and early dinner. Our parade in Newnan started at 6 pm and I'm actually glad it wasn't a morning one that started at 9am like Peachtree City. It gave the weather a chance to cool down and gave us a chance to rest. Honestly, the parade wasn't the greatest, but it was just nice to get out and do something different with Scott than the normal daily routine in our life. =)

 The program leading up to the fireworks started at 8 and at that time it was just a little cloudy, but by the time they shot the fireworks for a grand total of 5min the sky fell in and we did not make it to our car dry.

Both of us we soaked to the bone and with hundreds of other people trying to get to their cars all at the same time it's a wonder we didn't get trampled on. We had a lady in front of us was taking her sweet time going up the stairs, and we asked to get by because seeing as how she had a massive umbrella and we did not, we were getting drowned just trying to go up the stairs. Well, Scott, very politely asked to get by and she LET US HAVE IT! Wow... note to self for next year... don't make any of the ladies with umbrellas mad, because it doesn't make any sense why they should let you by even if we don't have an umbrella and they do. LOL Anyways, we only got to see 5min of fireworks but it was so much fun. We sat in our car for about 30min trying to get out of the high school parking lot, and of course we just happened to be in front of the most impatient person on the earth who decided to blare the horn on his pickup at us for a good majority of the time, as if we could go anywhere.

Regardless of the impatient & rude people that were here and there, we had the best time ever!! We came home, curled up with a mug of hot chocolate and watched a movie together. I have to say, it was a very happy 4th of July. A day like this just makes me that much more thankful for those who sacrifice so that we can have the freedom to have days like these.

More baby pictures!!

Sean was a little wiggle worm today. It was like he knew he was having his pictures taken =)

Side Profile of Sean

 

 

 

 

 

 

He looks kinda confused. =P

"face palm" LOL his eyes are WIDE open!

"so sleepy"

   

Now I understand...

Do you remember the countless times that your mom was sooooo proud of you for accomplishing something and you'd say something to the effect of, "Mom, it really wasn't that great," or think, "Mom, I'm your kid. You're kinda obligated to say that." Maybe it was just me who did that when I was growing up. Sure, I was thankful that my mom was proud of me and my accomplishments, but I never understood why some things were such a BIG deal. And when you would ask your mom she would say, "One day you'll understand." Other times mom would pull out coloring pictures that we had mutilated as a little kid, and she would start crying and we couldn't understand why a piece of art that looked like a rendition of one of Picasso's paintings meant so much to her. And when we would ask she would say, "One day you'll understand." When we were younger the baby pictures would come out from time to time and there we were all red, wrinkly and not so cute just yet and she would smile. While we were thinking, "That is DEFINITELY a face only a mother could love," she would look at us and say, "One day you'll understand." Well, Mom,  you were right all along. Thank you for being sooooo incredibly proud of me for the little things in life, for treasuring my little pieces of art, and most of all for loving me just the way I am, because now I understand...

Book for Scott

It's just been one of those weeks where not a whole lot seems to be going right. So a couple of nights ago I made this as an early Father's Day gift and emailed it to Scott to brighten his day. I got to see him open it up on his laptop and the look on his face was definitely priceless!!

Click here to view this photo book larger

Unexpected blessings and miracles....

Well as some of you have already read on my Facebook status, I left my car in Neutral on a steep driveway resulting in me, my mom-in-law, and my sister-in-law getting a little bruised in attempts to stopping the runaway car. I had just stepped out and was bending over into the car on the driver's side when it started rolling pretty fast. My shoulders are a little sore, my legs hurt and my toe is a little sore from digging into my flip flop trying to gain support, but really nothing that bad. Scott's mom on the other hand got a pretty bad welt/bruise on her leg. I know that has to hurt today, but I am sooooo grateful that God protected us in spite of my stupidity! So many things could have gone horribly wrong. Mom could have ended up in the emergency room, the car door could have rammed into baby Sean and killed him at the speed the car was going, one of the tires could have run clear over Sharon's foot, and Seth who was in the back seat and unable to get out could have been killed had it run into the mailbox or tree if the car had not miraculously stopped. I'm just thanking God that none of those things happened and that we were able to walk away from it with the bruises and the aches that we got. So this was definitely a blessing and miracle.
Have you ever put a $10 bill in one of your coat pockets, and totally forget about it? Then a year later you go to put that coat on and find it? =) Well I didn't find a $10 bill but my unexpected blessing came in the form of a turkey. No, I did not find a turkey in my coat pocket. LOL. I had bought it 2 days after Christmas at $0.50 a lb, put in Scott's parent's freezer and had completely forgotten about till this week. This month and last month had been somewhat of a financially tight time, and we had chosen to go meatless [we were still doing eggs, dairy, and plenty of veggi protein. don't worry ya'll =) ] for two weeks to try to get a little ahead so that it wouldn't continue to be this way, but then I remembered the turkey in the freezer on Memorial day when we were over at the house =) Sure it's June but honestly the turkey tasted so much better in mid summer when I wasn't already sick of it from Thanksgiving and then having it again only a month later on Christmas! God chooses to bless in so many different ways. I think a lot of times He blesses us more than we realize, but we fail to take the time to see just how good He really is. My prayer is that I would take more time to see His goodness to us through every situation in life and never take it for granted. Oh, and I got the results back from my second glucose test, and these came back perfectly normal. I don't have gestational diabetes =)

A great Memorial Day weekend!

This was a much needed 3 day weekend!! It was really nice to be able to wake up Monday morning and just do nothing and have Scott there all day with me. It's so rare that we get a whole day together because I work all Saturday while he is visiting the bus route and on Sunday we cross paths from time to time between teaching Sundays school,  the bus route, church and Sundays school. We spent the first half of our day just chillin' and then we went over to his parents house for dinner. =) We got our washer and dryer hooked up on Sunday night and in my new over enthusiastic attitude towards doing laundry, I stayed up till midnight just doing load after load after load. LOL (Hey! don't judge me. You'd be excited too if you went for 3 months without your own washer and dryer. LOL) Needless to say, there is laundry eeeeeeeverywhere right now!! While we were over at his parents house, his mom, sister and I made a quick trip to Target where I found a really cute rug to put in front of the crib for $2.50! Gotta love Target's $1 & $2.50 corner.

P.S. Our registry is for the most part completed! Look at the top of the page for the "Baby Sean's Registry" link if you would like to take a peek =)

Makin' progress a little at a time.

Today went from a kinda scary day to super fun. I found out this morning that i may have gestational diabetes, and I have to go in this Friday to run tests for 3 hours straight. =( But after hearing about the experiences of my friends who have already had it, it made it a little easier to deal with. I went with my friend, Mellisa to Babies-r-us to go registry "shopping" and spent most of the afternoon doing that and that made the day so so so much better. THERE'S SOOOOOO MUCH BABY STUFF OUT THERE!!! I'm glad I didn't try to do it alone. That would have been way overwhelming.  While we were out, I was able to find a Noah's ark wall decal on clearance. Woohoo! And yesterday, I found giraffe print fabric on clearance for $2 a yard. =) Not so great things happen but good things happen too. My giraffe baby bumper isn't quite finished yet but I layed it along the inside of our crib just so you could get an idea of what it looks like. I'm thinking of using the leftover fabric to make a little cushion that looks like a side profile of a giraffe with its eyes closed. I'll pin the head on the outside of the bumper so the crib bumper looks like a sleeping giraffe all curled up around the baby. Have to play with it a little to figure it out but so far I'm really pleased with how it's coming. Well, here's a picture of Sean's baby corner!

The Baby Corner

Just wanted to take a minute to praise the Lord....

Well I have a lot to thank God for so let me see how quickly I can say this and see if I can do it in one breath. Ready? Here it goes. We needed a washer and dryer and God used my family to provide one. Scott was bummed about a design job he never got payed for, due to working with a dishonest person and the next week I found a $25 olive garden gift card that my mom gave us 2 years ago for valentine's day and I just found it. My car broke down but the washer and dryer was so inexpensive that the rest of the money from my parents covered the car repairs. We were short on funds last month because Scott wasn't ever payed for the work he had completed, but then my paycheck was about $150 more than what we had expected it to be. *gasp* There! Did it. Our Father is rich isn't He?

my family comes into town tomorrow =)

I am so excited!!!! I haven't seen my family tin 2 1/2 years! AAAHHH! So happy. We're all going to go to the world of coke on Friday and then Saturday is my mom's birthday, then mother's day! It'll be a lot of fun. I feel like I have been forever trying to declutter all of the papers and mail that are on my desk today. Really not motivated to do much of anything. Thankfully I have most of it done.  Scott has been a huge help too, I wouldn't have been able to get a lot of the stuff needed to be done around the house without him. Along with going through my mountain of papers I got my scrap book picture up in the baby corner. I keep finding all these adorable board books to fill his "bed time story basket" with. Scott and I take turns reading to Sean. He seems to really like it. He gets so excited when we do. LOL Doesn't the teddy bear look so cute just sitting there??? Here are some pics of my progress thus far:

On top of the mini dresser: Sean's teddy bear patiently awaits the arrival of his little buddy.

Scrapbook Picture: oh, and yes I did. hehehehe

The Baby Corner

Baby Sean: can't wait to put a "new" picture in the next frame =)

Our baby boy =)

So yesterday we finally found out that Scott and I are going to be proud parents of a precious little boy. Scott took off of work for the whole day so that we could be together and Scott's mom took part of the day off so she could be there too. =) My appointment was at 9am and I am not a morning person these days so I was already feeling a little woozy but the excitement seemed to add to that. I was really thankful that I could just enjoy the ride there and lay back in the seat instead of having to drive myself like I normally do for my appointments. There seemed to be a couple of other people at the OBGYN finding out what they were having that day so it was an exciting morning for all of us. I couldn't stop smiling from ear to ear the whole time and it must be contagious because even some of the nurses that never crack a smile smiled back yesterday. hehehe I enjoyed my first ultrasound when my baby was still the size of a Lima bean, but this one was really amazing. A baby is a miracle from God in itself but to get to see his tiny arms and legs moving and even see him suck his thumb?! Needless to say we are very excited and to see Scott thrilled and his mom touched at the ultrasound really made my entire day.

Sean Fuller

Tomorrow =)

So it's been a couple of months since I have blogged but now I just have that much more to tell you. =) We've had everything from earthquakes- tsunamis- radiation leakage in Japan near my family, a long and slow moving process to finally getting to find out if we are having a boy or a girl tomorrow!! So excited. Scott took off of work for the whole day so we will get to do some shopping while we are out after the ultra sound. Scott's mom will get to be in on this too.  I feel humongous right now but everyone has been encouraging me by telling me that I will only get bigger. LOL I have been trying to do some work on the baby corner and the progress is slow but well worth it. I just made a small plush ark that has a front door that opens up do put little animals in. I finished the ark and it turned out even better than I expected but I am still working on the animals to go inside.
My family is now in the US and will be here to visit us on Mother's day weekend. I haven't seen them in almost 2 1/2 years. It's been way too long.

My Great Aunt Jo's first day in heaven.

Aunt Jo was my great aunt and because I lost all of my grandparents at an early age in many ways she was a grandmother to me. She was a children's Sunday school teacher for years in her church an ran a day care out of her home single handedly.  If I had to sum her up in 3 words they would be "one tough cookie". I remember very well visiting her with my family and at lunch time she would have whipped up something like spaghetti or mashed 'taters and corn on the cob and maybe even a cobler. I remember getting to rowdy with my cousins and being chased around the house with the fly swat. =) And if I dared spill anything on her carpet she would have made me "clean it up with my eyeballs." These are all fond memories I have of Aunt Jo but I think more than anything I remember her talking about heaven and listening to her you couldn't help but know it was real. She missed my uncle "Paw" who had went to be with the Lord several years back, but she kept on going because she knew there were still things that had to be done. She had broken her back and was in a lot of pain. I called her the day before her surgery and the day after, and it seemed to have helped a lot, but today she went to be with Jesus and I know she is happier than ever now. I miss her so much but what a blessing to know she has finally reached her destination for which she had for so long waited. We all miss you, Aunt Jo. And we will definitely shed some tears, but know that we're so happy that you're with Jesus and that you are reunited with Paw and many others that we love and miss. Thanks for the impact you had on my life.

I love smoothies and I think you will too!

I'm sorry that this week is going to sound kinda blah so I figured I would just share it with you and then brighten it up with this amazing smoothie recipe so you  can make smoothies with the exact same texture as at a smoothie shop.
Last Saturday night I started to feel a little more tired than I normally do. So I went to bed at 8pm an only woke up once to use the restroom. I slept till 7:30 am and could barely lift my head without feeling like I was 'A' going to lose everything or 'B' going to keel over and die.  I went back to sleep for 30 more minutes hoping it would go away but it definitely stuck around. So I texted the Sunday School supervisor and explained my situation and that I would not be able to make it that morning to teach the first graders. I felt so bad about doing that but it was probably best because I seriously had issues sitting up the entire rest of the day. Poor Scott. He usually goes without me if I'm just sick but he was worried that I wouldn't even be able to get a drink of water. I know I know I was pretty pathetic looking that day. The next day I had to go into work at 8 and even though I was feeling a little better I knew that this was going to be a rough day. I managed to get there but I almost lost everything 3 times and I seriously think the only thing that kept me from actually doing it was the bottle of sprite that I had been sipping down all morning. I called just about every single person that could take my place and of all days no one could do it. *sigh* So somehow I made it till 4pm and I cannot tell you how happy I was to get home. By yesterday I felt amazing and got a ton of packing done. It's so crazy how this all works. Feeling terrible one day and then amazing the next. I don't get it but I'm just glad to be my old self.  Like I said; kinda a blah week so here's the smoothie recipe to sweeten your day! =)

SMOOTHIE!
This recipe is more to get the consistency of a smoothie shop smoothie so experiment with different kinds of fruit to create your favorite.

I like a lot of berry smoothies so that's what I usually do but this will work with just about anything. To start out with you are going to want to liquefy all of your fruit in the blender with anything else you might add such as yogurt. I did mine with just fruit so you don't have to add yogurt if you don't want to. After you have liquefied everything you are going to want your liquefied fruit to measure half the measurement of the glass you are going to use. I used a 16 oz glass so after liquefying my berries I needed it to be 8 oz worth berries. You get better at guessing the more you do it but for starters just add a little fruit at a time as you liquefy it so you can get it just right. Now you are going to want to use the same glass you are going to serve it in and fill that glass up with ice. Put the ice in the blender with your liquefied fruit and mix until all of the ice is thoroughly blended. Remember that in a smoothie shop their blenders are commercial grade so they are very powerful. It may take a little longer for your at home blender to get all of the ice crushed. You may have to stop it once and take a long spoon to stir up the contents once and re blend it, Pour it in your glass and enjoy!

This smoothie recipe is sure to make your blah week a little brighter. It did for me! =)

So it finally happened....

Yup, morning sickness hit me full blast this morning just as I was walking out the door to go to work. Not fun at all. *BLEH* This is the first time it's ever happened too.

Happy Valentine's day, Munchkin!

So I pretty much had the most amazing Valentine's day ever. I had the day off and Scott got half a day so that he could be with me and see the baby for the first time. He came home from work with flowers and a single red rose. We had a really quick late lunch before we headed off to have the ultrasound. We found out we are having one baby. (sorry no twins. LOL)  Baby Munchkin had a heart rate of 154, and was all comfortable curled up today so we had a hard time determining the actual size. The look on Scott's face was priceless. It was the coolest thing to see the little heart flutter. We spent some time in down town and just took a walk together because the weather was so beautiful today. We were going to go to an Italian restaurant in town, but we found it so much more fun just to ditch our plans and play it by ear. We ended up walking by a cafeteria style restaurant and ate there. I know that catfish, green beans and beets might not sound like your typical Valentine's day dinner but to me it was better than any else we could have done. It was so wonderful just to set aside the normal hectic life we both have just to celebrate. To celebrate our love for each other and for the beginning of our little family. We just walked for a little while more and then spent the rest of our night watching a movie together. It was fun and relaxing. Well here are the pictures of baby Munchkin that I have promised everyone so enjoy!

Scott looks so proud!

Munchkin was comfy all curled up and it was hilarious listening to the nurse trying to talk the baby into stretching out for us. LOL

I honestly feel just about as tired as I look in this picture.

Happy Valentine's Day!!!!!!

I don't like being sick....

I really don't and I don't think the baby likes it either 'cause I can't seem to get comfortable when I lay down, sit down or anything!! *sigh* hopefully I feel better for the ultrasound tomorrow. Goodnight for now.