So, in case you haven't heard yet...

We're having another baby!

We are so thankful and Reagan is excited for her sister(so she says) to come.  We won't know if it's a boy or girl until the end of January, but Reagan's vote is girl. :)

I know many people have been waiting for/wondering when this would happen.  I decided to share with you our journey for a second child.  Let me say, it has not been easy.  With Reagan we got pregnant quickly and everything went very well.  I've shared this with some, but not this openly or publicly.  We planned to have already had a second child by now.  We found out we were pregnant again this past February.  Less than a week later I miscarried.  Technically it was an ectopic pregnancy that resolved itself.  It took eight weeks for my pregnancy hormones to drop back to normal levels and then several more months for everything to get back on track.  There were lots of issues we dealt with that I won't go into detail about on here.  But some of you know them and I want to say thank you for your prayers and support.  They meant the world to me and helped me so much.  I have to stop writing about this now before I lose it.  Deep breath. 

I wanted to address a couple of things people just don't think about.  Be careful about the questions you ask people about having more children.  Better yet, just don't ask.  We didn't tell a lot of people because I needed to get through it before I could handle all the people coming up and talking about their miscarriages and how it would all be ok and feeling sorry for me.  I needed to deal with it first.  Well meaning people, not knowing what we were going through, would ask, "When are you going to have another baby?!"  "Isn't it about time Reagan had a little brother?"  Ouch.  I don't know when we'll be able to, yes it is.  Of course I didn't say those things, I just smiled and nodded.  I don't write this to make anyone feel bad, I just want people to be aware of how these questions can hurt.  Some people, friends of mine included, have been trying for years with no success.  Imagine how it would make them feel. The statistics today are something like 1 in 4 couples have problems with fertility.  That's a lot of people.  I'm very thankful that this is the only trouble we've had.

Thankfully, conception isn't an issue and the first month it was possible we found out we were pregnant again! Yay!

I am 9 weeks pregnant right now.  I have all day sickness most days.  Blech.  Haven't gained any weight yet because I can't eat much.  I also have bad sinus drainage.  Brushing my teeth normally ends in heaving.  Blech, again.  Definitely getting bigger faster this time around.  Already in maternety jeans.  Tired, sore, all the normal symptoms.  I just feel a lot worse than I did with Reagan.  The good part is, my Certified Nurse Midwife (instead of an OB) says everything looks great and in her words, "We know it's in the uterus this time!" lol

So far, so good!  Keep us in your prayers that everything will continue to go well and hopefully I'll start to feel better soon!

Pinterest Project: Cilantro Lime Shrimp

Warning:  This Pinterest Project post WILL make you hungry.

Source: skinnytaste.com via Micah on Pinterest

Cilantro Lime Shrimp.  MMMMMMmmmmmmmm.  My mouth is watering just thinking about it.  Definitely Pinworthy!  This was so good and so easy.  It is honestly some of the best shrimp I've ever had.  This is really making me want to make some more. lol  This one is also approved by Justin and Reagan.  If my 3 year-old will eat it, it has to be good.  Here's how mine looked when I finished.

While I was on the Skinny Taste website I also looked at some rice recipes to go with it and found this.

Fiesta Lime Rice

Source: skinnytaste.com via Micah on Pinterest

It too, was yummy and Pinworthy.  I even got Justin to eat the tomatoes!  Victory!!!!!!!  :)

Here's how mine looked.

Oh, and it's healthy too!

Okay, seriously.  After looking at these I'm going to have to make this meal again soon.  I think I could eat this every week...if only shrimp were cheaper. :)

Happy cooking and happy pinning!

Allow Me to Shed a Little Light...

So, last night we went to Lowe's in search of a piece for our light fixtures over one half of our living room.  Our house was built in 1971 and I'm pretty sure the fixtures were put in then.  They were recessed lights.  The glass and metal part on the ceiling were held up by these little springs.  They keep breaking...  We searched all over with the help of an associate and couldn't find any.  He tried to contact a company that carries them for us, but it was past the end of the work day so he would have to wait until Monday and then give us a call to let us know if they could order them for us.  Well, a midst all this looking and calling I was perusing the ceiling mounted fixtures near by.  Justin started looking with me too and finally decided maybe we should just change them out.  The problem was there would be gigantic holes in the ceiling where they were recessed.  There weren't any fixtures we liked that would cover the holes, but we noticed the medallions normally used around fans and chandeliers.  They were big enough to completely cover the holes so we wouldn't have to do any patch work on the ceiling.  One of the fixtures I liked worked perfectly with the medallions  Yippee!  Justin spent half the day today crawling around the attic and installing the lights.  

I love him. :)  

So on to the fun part.  Here is the before with circa 1971 recessed lighting.

The bottom one shows the big hole with the cover off.

And here is what we have now!

I LOVE THEM!!!!!

They are perfect for this house.  They kind of look like they could have come from the 70's but they are still modern.  Bonus:  The drum shades very closely match the shades I have on my lamps.  I love the medallions too.  They are kind of an update on the traditional look they usually have.  Every time I walk into the living room I stop and stare at them.  

Again, I LOVE THEM!!!

And I love my wonderful husband for all his hard work to install them for me.  He'd have been just fine keeping the old ones forever.  But he loves me, so he changed them. :)

What do you think of them?

Pinterest Project: Patriotic Wreath

I love holidays and decorating for them. I don't really have anything for the 4th of July so I checked on Pinterest to see what I could find and I came upon this pin.

                                                               Source: naptimecrafting.blogspot.com via Micah on Pinterest

As you know, I love to crochet, so I always have plenty of yarn around the house.  I got the wreath form at Hobby Lobby and used a 40% off coupon and bought a sheet of sparkly white felt for the stars.  I used a stencil I had to trace the stars onto the felt and then used fabric glue to attach them to the wreath.

The Verdict:  Pin-Worthy

It's as easy as wrapping the yarn around the form!  There's really no specific skill involved.  If you're a little scared of crafting this would be a great one to try out.

Here's how mine turned out!

I liked the bigger stars better than the smaller ones.  I even gave a couple as gifts and they loved them!

Happy Crafting and Happy Pinning!

P.S.-See Kristen, a non-food  post! :)

Crochet Super-hero, To The Rescue!

This HAS to be one of my FAVORITE designs ever!  I came up with this crocheted super-hero doll when some friends were having a baby boy and decorating his room with a super-hero theme.  Once I started work on it my little girl was begging for one of her own. :)  One thing I love the most is that you can customize it to match your child.  Hair color and style, letter on the chest, and the child's favorite colors make it extra-special.  If you like it you can check it out over at Dani Girls Designs.  Let me know what you think of it!

Crochet Bow Ties and Headbands

Hello, friends!  I recently added a new item in my crochet shop that I LOVE!  It's a crochet bow tie/headband.  It works either way!  Check it out over at Dani Girls Designs!

Pinterest Project: Twinkie Cupcakes

Hello friends!  I know it's been so long since I blogged and I do apologize, but I plan to keep it up now.  I've missed it!  I enjoy sharing a little bit of my world.  :)

For my first post back.  I decided to start a series I had an idea for.  I LOVE Pinterest!  I find so many ideas on there.  Sometimes I see something and wonder if it actually works, or if it doesn't.  Do you say, "That was awesome!  I'm so glad I pinned that!" or do you shrug you shoulders and say, "...meh."  I've done many projects from Pinterest.  Some were pin-worthy some were meh.  I figured I could share my experiences so you could try the pin-worthy and save yourself the trouble of a meh. :)

First up:  Twinkie Cupcakes

Source: thedomesticrebel.com via Micah on Pinterest

My wonderful friend Kristen pinned this one and I thought, "Uh-oh, I'm in trouble."  I really like Twinkies.  So much so that I don't keep them in the house because a whole box would disappear within a couple of days.  :)  I tried this one out just yesterday.  We were hosting the Summer Youth Series at church last night and had lots of hungry adolescents (and adults) to feed.  I'd been looking for an excuse to try these out and this seemed like the perfect time.

The Verdict:  Pin-Worthy

The cake tastes just like the cake from a Twinkie.  The filling...ditto.  The icing was good too, but I'm not that much of an icing person.  I'd have been fine without it.  I'm so glad there were only a couple left to bring home.  I'd have been in trouble otherwise.

Here's how they turned out!  Not too shabby for my first experience with piping on icing!

One thing I wasn't sure about was the size of the hole to cut in the middle.  This is how I did mine.  It turned out fine.

I will definitely be using this recipe again.  So yummy!  If you've made this recipe before or give it a try let me know if you think it's Pin-Worthy as well!  Happy Baking and Happy Pinning!

It's Not a Luxury

I try not to get all caught up in political arguments. Rarely do they stay civil or is anyone influenced to change by them. But there has been a lot of talk recently that has gotten me "worked up." I'm referring to the talk about stay-at-home moms (SAHMs). I don't want to get into all the gory details of who said what and my party is better than your party. There are two things I want to address.

1. Being a SAHM is work.

2. It's not a luxury, it's a choice.

People who think being a SAHM is not work have obviously never tried it. Sure it's fun to be home with your kids on your days off work. Sure it's fun to be together on vacations. Try being home with them every single day of every single week of every single month of the year. I'm not saying it's not fun. On the contrary it can be the most precious moments of your life. But it is not ALL fun and games. When you are the one home with your child all day you are the one who deals with every request, whine, fit, grumpy moment, dirty diaper, attempting to potty train, cleaning up the accidents, cleaning bubbles off the floor, fighting with them to eat their lunch, on and on it goes. Of course, you do get the flip side of that as well. My point is, though, you are the one there for every single thing. After a while it can wear you out. You also play, draw, color, teach, snuggle, etc. while also trying to keep a house, cook dinner, shop for groceries, study for Bible class, oh, and be a wife as well. I know women who work outside the home do many of these things also. But think about it this way, if taking care of children is not work, why do people get paid to keep other people's kids?

Staying home with my child is not a luxury, it is a choice. In fact, it is sometimes a sacrifice. My husband makes much less than $162,000 a year, but we make it just fine on one salary. How? We have one nice car instead of two. We have a house that is nice, but not more than we can afford. It is not new. It is not perfect. But it had enough rooms for us to sleep in our own rooms (plus one for future growth) and spend time together, which is the point of all this anyhow. Right? We don't go on lots of vacations (some years we don't go anywhere unless it's to stay with friends). We don't go to the movies every weekend or out to eat every night. We don't have all the gadgets and toys that we'd like to have. We don't get new clothes as often as we'd like. We don't eat steak every night (or every week for that matter). We don't belong to any country club. We don't have fancy jewelry. Reagan doesn't have every toy under the sun (just half of them it seems. :) ) At Christmas we spend less than we'd like. But you know what? We have everything we NEED and more. All of that extra stuff is not worth me not spending the precious time I have with my daughter. We give up the extras for what we feel is more important. Me being home with our child.

Here are a couple of quotes from Dr. Laura Schlessinger's "In Praise of Stay-at-Home Moms."

"SAHMs are not SAHMs because they're lucky, stupid, lazy, weak, scared, useless, spoiled, frightened, or any other condescending description. SAHMs are SAHMs because they realize the blessing of the opportunity to make a profound difference in their own lives, their families, their communtiy, and ultimately the world as they coordinate the lives of their family members so that no one feels neglected, unimportant, or unloved because of the limited commitment of their parents."

"Frankly, one of the greatest blessings in life is to learn to be content with and fulfilled by the small, simple things in life; after all, these make up the majority of the human experience."

I don't stay home because I'm too dumb to do anything else. I had a 9.975 gpa in high school. I graduated in the top 10 percent of my class. I made a 28 on my ACT. I have a BS in Family and Consumer Science with an emphasis in Interior Design. I graduated college Cum Laude. Like I said, I'm not too dumb, maybe I'm just too smart. :)

I'm not trying to give myself or my child every thing this life has to offer. I don't want her to think the big house and expensive things are what are important.

I stay home because I want to be there for every important moment in my child's life. I want to be the one who teaches her what's right and what's wrong. I'm trying to raise my daughter in the "nuture and admontion of the Lord." (Ephesians 6:4) One day I want it to be said that my children "rise up and call her blessed."(Proverbs 31:28) One day I want to be one of the older women that can "admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God my not be blasphemed." (Titus 2:4,5)

To me, being a stay at home mom isn't a luxury. In truth, it's not even a choice. It's a necessity.