A Bad Day for the Better

First off, let me say so sorry I haven't posted in so long.  I was constantly thinking, "I should blog about this," but never getting around to it.  My plan is to make it a habit again.  Like I said, my PLAN. :)

There have been a lot of changes around our house in a short time.  6 weeks ago Harrison was born.  2 weeks ago we did a MAJOR overhaul of our eating habits.  And, as of yesterday, we have drastically cut tv time.

For the most part, Reagan has done really well adjusting to her new little brother.  But there has been an increase in the whining and crying when she doesn't get her way.  We had finally gotten it under control and now I feel like we're staring all over again.

We now eat mostly non-processed, whole foods.  I've even been buying organic when possible.  This isn't a diet, it's a life-style change.  No more fast food 4 times a week (or any times a week for that matter), junk food, or frozen meals.  Now we eat lots of fresh veggies and fruits as well as lean proteins and a few whole grain carbs.  Justin has also started the Focus T25 workouts.  He lost over 10 pounds in just 2 weeks as well as several inches.  I lost about 3 pounds while still drinking lots of Dr. Pepper (which I will be weaning off of).  We want to be healthy and we want our kids to be healthy.  As you can imagine, it's hard taking an almost 4 year old from chicken nuggets, twinkies, and cheese-its to baked chicken with onions and red peppers.  So hard, in fact, that Reagan will be eating said baked chicken for her 5th meal in a row for breakfast.  She refused to eat at all Sunday night and has been getting the same plate of food at every meal since then.  She is one stubborn girl, choosing to take punishments rather than eat the food she doesn't want.  I'm really hoping she will finish it in the morning.  Every meal time she cries and whines about it and takes at least an hour to eat three bites.

Yesterday we implemented a rule of one hour of tv or computer time during the day. It's for myself as well as Reagan.  I want to make an effort to be more present, stay on top of household duties, and spend more time actually doing things with her.  I don't want her spending all day staring at a screen.  We need to be learning about God more.  Learning in general more.  We are going to homeschool so we need to get into the habit of doing some activities related to that.  After a few activities Reagan spent the entire day asking what we can do while we take a break from the tv.  All my suggestions were followed by, "I don't want to."  Even my suggestion to go play outside which she normally loves.  She moped on the couch and whined and cried about it.

Oh yeah, and during all this I was tending to a 6 week old who was screaming if he wasn't being held while cooking and attempting to work on a few other things.

I don't say all this to say "poor me."  I say all this because even though it was a REALLY hard day, I know we are doing what's best for our family.
We want to take care of the bodies God gave us.
We want to grow closer together.
We want our focus to be on God, not this world.
"Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For all that is in the world--the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life--is not of the Father but is of the world.  And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever." 1 John 2:15-17 
We are trying to remember what things actually matter, and what things don't.  We want Reagan to grow up knowing that God is first.
" But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you."  Matthew 6:33 (NKJV) 
We need to show her that example of spending time in the Word of God, in prayer, in teaching her about Him.
"Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one!  You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.  And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates."  Deuteronomy 6:4-9 (NKJV) 
It has eternal importance not only for us, but also for Reagan and Harrison.

 So while this day was a bad day, it was for the better.

Explanation

I didn't want to write a book in my facebook status so I figured I'd put it in a blog post. :)

Most of you know that we had our 20 week ultrasound last week and they found a couple of areas of concern.  Harrison has a fluid cyst on his brain and a "bright spot" on his heart.  These are both relatively common, but because two things were present we needed to go have a more in depth appointment at the perinatal clinic.  At our initial ultrasound they told us the cyst is very common and can go away on it's own.  It's likely spinal fluid that just isn't down in the spine yet.  They also said the spot on his heart is likely a calcification where an extra valve started to form and then stopped.  It will always be there, but won't grow as the heart does so it will be smaller in relation to the size of the heart as Harrison ages and won't cause any issues.
 We went today to the perinatal clinic and the doctor said everything else looks great!  The cyst can be a marker of Trisomy 18 and the bright spot can be a marker of Down's Syndrome, but in our case none of the other signs are there so the chances of him having either is something like 1 in 376 and 1 in 500.  Obviously the doctor can't say absolutely for certain nothing will be wrong, but in our case the chances are tiny.  We could have an amnio to know for sure, but with chances so small he said he definitely wouldn't recommend it and we didn't want to have one because of the chance that you could actually cause a miscarriage.  He said the cyst and the bright spot won't be detrimental to Harrison in any way.  We will stick with my normal prenatal care and won't have to come to him anymore.  During the ultrasound he kept saying Harrison's heart was beautiful. :)  We are so relieved and thankful for everyone who has been praying for us!

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!