Our First Sonogram

Today's appointment went well other than a few little minor things going wrong. I really felt awful when I got up. I started off my morning with several visits to the porcelain throne. It was really strange because I feel nauseous all the time, but I rarely throw up. However, today was a very different story. So, that made me late to my appointment. Then once I got there, the sonogram technician was a little bit rude and abrasive at the beginning of the sonogram. (You are right about her, Laura! ) And then I guess the other thing that kind of went wrong was my inability to go to the bathroom for my urine sample. How frustrating! I go to the bathroom 100 times a day. However, when I really need to go, I cannot. CRAZY! But, even though a lot of things went wrong, I was determined to not let anything ruin my day. Seeing the baby and hearing the heartbeat for the first time made me forget about everything else. What an awesome experience!

It was surreal seeing the baby for the first time! I didn't know whether to cry or laugh-I was pretty overwhelmed by the whole experience. It was almost like s/he was waving at us. His/her arm was moving around like crazy. Too cute! I did not want to leave the table. I just wanted to spend the entire day looking at my baby on the screen. I am really glad for the technology of today. How cool is it to be able to see the baby before it comes out-even as early on as 11 weeks along in a pregnancy?!? As you can tell from the picture, we are having ONE baby! Today we found out that I am 11 weeks and 6 days along. My doctor had originally given me Dec. 6th as my due date, but I thought the 15th was a more accurate guess. Today he gave me the due date of December 12th. The baby is doing well (besides kind of looking like a baby duck). Ha! We got to hear the hearbeat, and it is strong and normal. I will find out the sex of the baby at my July appointment. I made sure and asked about that! The doctor assures me that the nausea will be over in 1-2 weeks. Let's hope so! I cannot even tell you how much I am looking forward to my second trimester! Seeing the baby has made the discomfort and pain much more worth it, but it still would be nice to not feel sick ALL the time! Everything is going well, and I feel very grateful to the Lord for his provision and protection! Thank you for celebrating this special time with us! We appreciate all of the encouraging words and prayers. Keep praying! Our baby is blessed to have so many people that love and care! Baby Ludwig cannot wait to meet everybody!

Stay tuned for more baby news! :)

Nursery Plans

I spoke too soon! I was really bummed about them discontinuing the sleigh changing table that I wanted, but at the urging of my mother I checked their website. They have the same changing table on there as the one I wanted-it is just a different brand. YEAH! And it is also $10 cheaper than the one I picked out in the store. My only concern was that the shipping would be as much or almost as much as the actual item because that often is the case. However, to my surprise, the shipping is only like $19. So, I am really happy about that. All my stressing was for nothing! God once again provided for my every need! Now maybe you believe me about the power of prayer. I should have been a professional shopper! Ha!

I am also excited to report that I have found some boy crib bedding that I actually like. It is a miracle! So, I think we are going to do an old world theme with ships and sailboats. As you can see from the picture, the bedding has lots of neutral colors in it. It has a whale on it so I thought it might be cute to incorporate that into the room somehow-maybe the Bible story Jonah and the Whale. I have a picture that I bought for Scott for Father's Day that I think we are going to use as the big piece in the room-it will probably hang above the crib or changing table. I absolutely love it, and it has been my inspiration for this room. Below are a couple of pictures of the framed picture as well as a picture of the crib bedding I like. There are a few others I like also. I have not completely decided on the crib bedding, but at least I have some ideas of what I might like to do if we have a boy. I am sure that Tanner really will appreciate not having to have a pink room with pink crib bedding! Ha!

Now if it is a girl, we are all set! I am doing a shabby chic room with pink, white, and mint green. The crib bedding is a combination of stripes, polka dots, and flowers. I am accenting the room with bunnies. I also want to have a tea table in the room with a tea set on the table and bunnies seated at the table. This room is 100% girl; it is very soft and sweet.

Pregnancy Update

Okay, so the nausea has gotten a little better, but what happened to my memory?!?! Seriously!!!! I didn't think that the memory started to go until later on in the pregnancy! Well, my forgetfulness has kicked in, and I have not been too happy about it! I am usually the one who reminds everyone else about stuff, but now they are having to remind me! The good news is that this first trimester has equipped me to handle anything. I must admit that a little memory loss is WAY better than nausea!!!!!! Can I get an AMEN?!? Ha!

I am super excited about this Thursday's appointment. We get to see our baby and actually know that there is indeed something growing inside of me. I am really thrilled to hear the heartbeat for the first time! However, I have had some anxiety about finding out that there might be more than one baby in there. Actually, I go back and forth between being excited at the thought and being terrified at the thought of two babies growing inside of me. Chances are that it is just one baby, but I guess we will know for sure on Thursday! STAY TUNED!

I have to admit that lately I have been feeling more and more that the baby is a girl! I keep thinking that is because I want one so bad, but I am not sure. I just kind of sense that maybe it is a girl. I felt that way before we got pregnant also. I cannot tell you how many people have come up to me and said, "I hope you have a girl." I don't know if that is because they want me to have what I really want or if it is because that is what they want for me. Either way, I really appreciate people being excited for us! Thanks guys!

The suspense of not knowing what we are having is killing me! I am thinking that we will probably find out in July. That seems forever away! Oh well, this is a great lesson in discipline and patience. I have disciplined myself not to buy any more baby stuff until we find out the sex of the baby. I have been doing really good-pat on the back. :) However, I do fear that when I find out I will absolutely go crazy and buy up the town. My advice to you is do not ever pray for patience. It only takes asking for it once for the Lord to give you a lifetime to have to learn about it. I am convinced that my prayers for patience are what have led me to have to live a life where I feel like I am constantly having to wait and be patient! Ha! Ha! Just kidding! Thank you Lord for loving me too much to allow me to stay the same! I really am grateful for my lessons in patience! :)

The curtains for the playroom are all done! Thanks, Mom! I put them on the rods last night and am hoping that Scottie will put them up today. Scott also promised that we would go buy the caulk for the room and get started on the painting this weekend. YEAH!!!! I think once I find out the sex of the baby, I will buy the decoupage/paper mache letters for the name and make it for the playroom. I did my niece's name for her room and it turned out super cute. She has it displayed right above her bed. I thought the name would be cute to put on one of the shelves with all the vintage toys. I love working on the rooms for the baby! Life cannot get more fun than this!!!!!!

I am really proud of myself for being thrifty and saving us some big bucks yesterday! I had been wanting a pregnancy pillow. We went to Babies R Us and checked them out, but I couldn't decide which one I wanted. Plus, I really didn't think that I wanted to spend $60 for the pillow and then another $20 for the cover. So, I decided to be patient and wait and see what I could come up with instead. Some of you probably already know about my strategy for shopping-I always ask the Lord for awesome deals before I head out. You might think that is silly, but it really does work. Why wouldn't it? God wants to give us the desires of our hearts! Well, that is how I got a $300 designer purse for $20! It really does work! God is always faithful to help me find the best deals. Yesterday was no different! I had remembered a few of my friends saying that they used a body pillow while they were pregnant and it really helped them sleep at night. I wasn't even looking for anything at Target yesterday, but I stumbled across some huge body pillows. Guess what, they were on sale for $10! The covers were right next to them. They had many to choose from, and they all had zippers in them to hold them securely in place. They were also on sale for $10. So, I couldn't refuse this deal! I put it together last night and slept with it. It is so soft and comfy! It will really come in handy when my tummy gets big and I need lots of extra support! Thank you Jesus for awesome shopping experiences! Now stop laughing at me and start getting on your knees before you head out to shop! :)

I am really bummed that white baby furniture is going out! Months ago I picked out a white, sleigh changing table at Babies R Us. I went back a few days ago to look at it. They had it in black and brown but not in white. I thought I was going crazy because I couldn't find the white one. Scott kept trying to tell me that maybe I had never seen that one in white, but I knew that I had. I finally asked one of the employees about it and she told me that my changing table had been discontinued in white. SO DISAPPOINTED! I really wanted that changing table! It was the perfect one at the perfect price. I am not going to give up that easy, however. I think I will try another store. If I cannot find it, then I will purchase my second pick. Of course, I better act fast because the workers told me that they are phasing out all of their white furniture. Black and cherry wood are more popular now, I guess. I thought I was hip and cool with my white crib. Maybe not! Oh well, I love white and I love my crib. I have great plans for that hand-me-down crib of mine-just wait and see! Ha! :)

A Moving Experience, Forever Changed

After spending countless days here at the house, I decided to get out and get some exercise. For the last few weeks Scott has run all the errands because I have felt too bad, but this time I decided to do them. Something kind of funny about me is that I never run errands without letting myself go to at least one place fun while I am out. No matter how bad I feel, I am not going to run errands without at least making one fun stop! This stop is my reward for having to go and do things that I really do not want to go and do! So, this time I decided to go to Arlington Resale. (This resale shop is right up the road, and all of the proceeds benefit Arlington Pregnancy Centers.) While I was there, I saw many awesome things and had a good time digging for hidden treasures. But then all of the sudden even though I was happy, I started crying. CRAZY! I was just overcome with emotion as I looked at all the stuff that people had donated. It was very moving to me to see how people had given so many nice things to help out such a worthy cause! I started thinking about my own baby and how much I love him/her. I was overwhelmed with God's goodness and faithfulness to me. It rushed over me like a flood! At that moment I realized just how precious ALL life is-not just the baby that I am carrying. Standing in that store I felt great compassion for the girls/women who are helped each year by the pregnancy center. I wished in that moment that I could give them my same joy and passion for motherhood. While I stood looking at shoes at this shop, things starting making sense to me. A lot of the bitterness and heartache that I have felt for so long just seemed to disappear. God was doing a work in my heart! What started in that store has been unfolding over the last twenty-four hours. As I sit here at my kitchen table and type, I feel very different than I did a week ago. Sometimes God reveals to us why we go through things in life, but sometimes we never really know why we were allowed to go through such painful stuff. As I have thought about my experience at the resale shop, God has revealed so many things to me. Instead of feeling hurt and resentment towards the Lord and others because of the infertility issues, I have a heart of gratitude and a heart of forgiveness. I feel like the Lord is helping me release and let go of things. Why is this? Well it is not because I am a super forgiving person. Actually, that is one of the most difficult things I have had to learn to do! No, I can forgive because I know that what I went through was for a purpose way bigger than me or any of the plans I could have made for myself. When you are going through difficult stuff, it is tough to rejoice. However, when you can look back and see that it was for a purpose, your heart is given no other choice but to rejoice. God allowed me to go through all of this so that I could have His heart for others. Who better to empathize than someone who has been through the same things? Sometimes we as humans just cannot understand the importance or truly value something until we have had to do without it. I think that is why I had such a strong response while I was at the store. I know what it is like to want something so bad and not have it! God has given me an excitement about His creation that has come out my sadness and grief. Women who choose to abort their babies do not think about things like this. I pray that my story will not only be used to encourage women with infertility issues, but that it will also be used to reveal truth to women who have bought into lies. Every baby is a precious gift, and God has a plan for every child! God has showered me with his goodness so that nothing else really seems to matter! I have a story to share and an awesome testimony of God's faithfulness in my life! Most of all, I can look back and say that it was ALL worth it!

Make Room For Baby!

Life is turning upside down as we make room for baby. The room that was once an office/craft room is becoming a nursery. And the room that was once a weight/work-out room is becoming a playroom. I am super excited but a little overwhelmed. I cannot wait until I start feeling better so that I can actually get to work! I have all the plans in my mind but just have to make it happen!

I am super excited about the playroom! I am doing a nostalgic/vintage theme that will work well for either a boy or a girl. I am getting to start on that even before I know what we are having! I just got the material for the curtains and am thrilled about my plans for the room! We are painting the ugly brick walls and putting up curtains and shelves. On the shelves we are putting classic, vintage toys. I have it all pictured in my mind and cannot wait to see how it turns out. We decided to go with the Dick and Jane alphabet material, and I think it is going to be perfect!

Here are my ideas for vintage toys. Please let me know if you think of anything else that would be cute for the room!

I already have:

a sock monkey
a large spinning top
some old wooden blocks
my childhood rocking chair that my dad made
a wooden rocking horse with a mop tail-super cute!
a few old raggedy teddy bears

Things I still want to buy:

Raggedy Ann and Andy
Etch a Sketch
View Finder
Lite Brite
Mr. Potato Head
Slinky
Old Fashioned Snoopy Sno Cone Maker

I have found a really awesome site on the Internet where you can get all of these toys at a discounted price. Cracker Barrel also carries a lot of classic, vintage toys as well. I got a few things from Arlington Resale for practically nothing. I may also check out two antique stores in my area. One is kind of pricey but the other one has really neat things for way less than what they are worth! (Thanks for telling me about it, Di!) You gotta love antique stores!

I will post pictures to show our progress so keep checking back! Here is the material we are using for the curtains as well as a picture of my rocking chair. :)

Our Cats Are Being Replaced By A Baby!

The Ludwig family is expanding by one-maybe two but probably just one! After five years of marriage, it is finally happening and we are super excited! I have been buying baby items since I was 16-seriously! I have so many stuffed animals, toys, and books! Then several months ago I went crazy and bought/crafted a million things for a girl's nursery. Strange I know, but I just fell in love with the bedding and then from there just went CRAZY! I did all of this shopping and planning before I was pregnant. I was depressed about my infertility issues and really felt like I needed something to keep me hopeful about the future. Believe it or not, working on these projects really helped me feel better. Now did I buy girl stuff because I really feel like I am going to have a girl? No, I guess I just did it because I really want a girl! However, the last few weeks I have been thinking about and planning for a boy nursery. I guess we will just have to wait and see what is cooking in the oven!

Family, One of God's Greatest Gifts!

Before I got pregnant, I was advised against looking at baby stuff too much or planning for a baby before I was pregnant because it would make my heart hurt more. However, I found the opposite to be true! Additionally, I think it was good for me to be around people with children. I think that some people tried to protect my heart by not inviting me to be around them and their children, but that actually made things worse. I prefer hanging out with people with children because that is where my heart has been for a long time. While it was challenging at times because of the deep sadness in my own heart, I think that overall it was really good for me. By choosing to rejoice with others, my heart was given no other choice but to rejoice also. I greatly appreciate people like my sister who went out of her way to include me. She shared her children with me and always encouraged me that God would one day give me what it seemed like everyone else had. She was even okay when I sent out a Christmas card with a picture of me and Scott with Allison. It kind of looked like Allison was our daughter, but she was totally cool with it. Ha! Thanks, Laura! She never doubted that I too would one day be a mother! I know that the Lord used her to keep me hopeful and keep me trusting the Lord inspite of my circumstances. I am eternally grateful for my precious nieces as well! They kept me distracted and busy! Taking care of them taught me a lot of things about myself that I REALLY needed to learn. I always questioned what kind of mother I would be, but taking care of my nieces showed me that I could do anything! Thank the Lord for family! They truly are God's greatest gift!

The Details: All You Wanted To Know and Probably A Lot More!

We are due around December 15th-I wasn't too excited at first because of it being so close to Christmas. But once I realized that I am not going to be big and miserable this summer, I was okay with it! Scott is so funny, he is excited about us getting to claim the baby on this year's taxes! I think it will be really special to have a little baby here for Christmas. We get to do the whole Santa thing-this is SUPER EXCITING! :)

I have morning sickness like you would not believe! Who named it morning sickness anyway? Mine lasts all day! I wish I could just throw up and then feel better, but that never happens. It just lingers on and on! Poor Scott, I know he must get so tired of hearing me lay in the bed and moan and groan for hours at a time. Thank God this only lasts for the first trimester! I am counting down the weeks!!!!

All I have to say is that it was a good thing that we started working on names a long time ago! This was a big deal to us because we really feel like a child's name is chosen by the Lord and says a lot about the child and his/her destiny. After years of disagreeing and disputing over names, we have decided on one girl name and one boy name! YES! And we really feel like these are inspired by the Lord! So, here they are: Tanner David for a boy and Faith Noelle for a girl. Making a decision was such an ordeal! I guess I just assumed that my husband would let me name the kids, but I was wrong. The woman does most of the work so that is the way it should be, right? Ha! Well, we put a lot of thought into these names and they have special meaning to us. I am glad that we made the decision together! In case anyone wants to know why we chose these names, here are the reasons why.

Why we chose Tanner David:
We wanted a name that was not too common. We have always loved David but felt that it was pretty commonly used. When we were flipping through the name book we came across Tanner. We both fell in love with it! David has way too good of a meaning to not be used, so we decided to go ahead and use it as a middle name! Scott and I both really love the Biblical character David and his heart for the Lord. We pray that if we have a boy, he too will have a passionate love for the Lord! We also pray that he will be diligent at serving the Lord and live his life to bring glory to Him. Here are what the names mean:

Tanner
Cultural Origin: Old English
Inherent Meaning: Leather Worker
Spiritual Connotation: Diligent
Scripture: Colossians 3:23 Work hard and cheerfully at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.

David
Cultural Origin: Hebrew
Inherent Meaning: Beloved
Spiritual Connotation: Lover of All
Scripture: 1 John 4:16 And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.

Why we chose Faith Noelle:
Once again, we didn't want our child to be in a class with a bunch of other kids with the same name. We wanted something cute and unique but not too unusual. Back at Christmas we saw a Hallmark movie and the main character's name was Faith. We fell in love with the story and her character! It had special meaning to me because the man she fell in love with was a soldier-just like Scottie. The more I got to think about the name, the more I liked it. Plus, I really feel like the greatest lesson I have had to learn in life was about trusting the Lord and putting my faith in Him regarding us having children. So, this name is perfect! Why do we like Noelle? Well, my mom is actually the one who brought it up as an option. We love the way it sounds with Faith, but I also like it because of it is Christmas term. That is perfect especially since our baby will be born close to Christmas. I also like its meaning. Noelle means precious gift. This child is definitely that! Here are what the names mean:

Faith
Cultural Origin: English
Inherent Meaning: Firm Believer
Spiritual Connotation: Faith
Scripture: Mark 9:23 All things are possible for the one who believes.

Noelle
Cultural Origin: Latin
Inherent Meaning: Christmas Child
Spiritual Connotation: Precious Gift
Scripture: Isaiah 9:6 For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given...And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

On to other things...I am already wearing maternity clothes because they are more comfortable and also because I am in a weird stage of my pregnancy. I am kind of in the fat stage so in order to avoid people thinking that I have just porked up, I am going ahead and wearing maternity clothes. The interesting thing is that my maternity shirts are actually smaller than a lot of other baby doll shirts that I have or have bought recently. They are my regular size but for some reason are smaller. The neat thing about being pregnant right now is that baby doll shirts are really in! I am excited about that! I am also excited about Kohl's and Cato. Kohl's has some cute maternity stuff and I got a ton of stuff for 60 and 70 percent off the other day. The maternity pants are still way too big but I decided to go ahead and get them because they were so cheap! Normally, they are anything but cheap! Buying maternity clothes has also helped me get more excited about being pregnant! Another place I have discovered is Cato. A lot of their pants are blue jean but have a stretchy waist and feel good on. I can wear my regular size or just one size up and not feel ridiculously uncomfortable. Plus their size small shirts are like maternity shirts on me because they are so big. They have great prices and some really cute stuff. If anyone else has any suggestions for where to buy clothes, please pass them on. I am determined to look cute even though I feel like crap! :)

As far as food cravings go, I am really into oranges. I crave oranges and orange juice like crazy! I also have really been into Jello here lately. Scott was super sweet and ran to the store late the other night to get me some! I have been putting it away-eating three or more small containers a day. I am just glad that it isn't super fattening! It was a good thing that we stocked up! Maybe pregnancy isn't that bad; I sure am getting treated well! :) The funniest thing about all of this is that every night around 11:00 I start getting super hungry for enchiladas. Tonight, I had to just go get some. I coudn't handle it any longer! So, if anyone has any good suggestions for Mexican restaurants, please send them my way. Of course, next week I may hate enchiladas. This pregnancy thing does weird stuff to a woman! I was really into beef jerky and salad dressing a few weeks ago, and now I don't even want to look at those things! YUK!

Those are the details for now. Stay tuned for more exciting baby news! :)

If You Want To Get Pregnant, Go On Vacation!

Okay, so we had been trying to conceive for a while and were completely frustrated and depressed about the whole situation-me especially! We had tried just about everything! We were running out of options and were seriously looking at adoption as the route we might have to take. But then we decided to go on a 5 year anniversary trip to Colorado. Just like always, I went into it kicking and screaming, but now that I look back I am really glad that I went along! Shh, don't tell Scott! It was the most relaxing and fun time I have had in a long while. I was able to get my mind off of our problems and just enjoy myself. I had been told numerous times that stress does affect a woman's ability to get pregnant, but I just assumed that our inability to conceive was 100% linked to my health problems. However, I am now convinced that going on a vacation is the best possible thing you can do when you are wanting to get pregnant (second only to trusting God, of course)! When we came back I was so relaxed. I didn't worry one time about trying to make things happen. Even though I was faced with the horrible truth that I may have to endure 3 more months of fertility drugs, I was able to chill out. So, I am grateful to the Lord for creating beautiful vacation spots but also for teaching me about letting go and trusting Him! It has been a long journey, but this was one lesson that I needed to learn! Now I know what to do when we are planning for baby #2! I think we will go some place Tropical next time! :)