I Love Little Old Ladies!

My grandmother ("Memaw" as she is called by just about everyone who knows her), just recently hosted a Home Interiors party for me. We had a blast! I really didn't know if anyone would come or buy anything, but I decided to do the party anyway. You just never know. God has been teaching me not to limit myself to my own understanding of things but rather to trust Him in all things. This was one of those times that I actually let faith lead the way and cast fear aside. Boy am I glad that I did!

There were 12 people in attendance at this party. That was a good turn out, and I was pleasantly surprised especially since no one RSVP'd to my grandmother. We all met at their apartment meeting hall. I did an auction of prizes that required everyone to either do something or wear something special in order to get bucks to bid on prizes. It was so cute to see all these ladies in their crazy hats and house shoes. Almost everyone participated. I put my grandmother in charge of passing out the bucks. Those ladies were serious about getting the right amount of play money. I should have known! My grandmother is one of the most competitive Domino players I have ever met! Anyway, they loved the game and many of them went home with nice Home Interior prizes. I took Hannah with me because I was babysitting her for the day. Everyone went crazy over her. I think my pregnancy and the cute baby definitely won me some sympathy! All but three people bought something at my grandmother's party. Even though a lot of items were backordered or sold out, all the ladies were so sweet and accommodating. No one cancelled an order or got upset about anything. That is so refreshing especially after some of my past experiences. These party guests genuinely just wanted to help me out and also help my grandmother get free stuff. I was really blessed by their attitudes. A lot of times people get grumpy and impatient as they get older. It is somewhat understandable but still not fun to be around. All of these ladies were encouraging and positive. We can all learn so much from them! They have such great stories to share and wisdom as well. I guess what impressed me most was that even though many of these ladies are on a fixed income, they still bought something. They loved the products and really made me feel good about myself and my business. I get told "no" so often that it is refreshing to be around people like this. This of course is true for any sales person, but still at times it has been tough for me to hear "no". God has taught me a lot, and I have definitely been challenged to not take a "no" as personal rejection. Still I am grateful to the Lord for sweet customers like the little old ladies of The Chandler Place Apartments. It is people like this that keep me motivated and inspired to do my job. Just when I want to give up the Lord sends people across my path to love and encourage me. I am not a natural at sales, but God equips me for everything that he calls me to in life. May God bless each one of these sweet old ladies for their kindness and generosity, and may they have good health and be blessed with many more years of life!

Here is "Memaw". She is 93 years old and is truly an inspiration!

It's Confirmed-We Are Having A Girl!

Today's appointment confirmed that the baby is in fact a girl! What a relief! I started worrying about it last night. I just almost have Faith's nursery completed. I really didn't want to have to take everything down and start all over again.

The baby has gotten quite a bit bigger and is doing well. I love hearing her heartbeat. My doctor was pleased to hear that I am feeling better. He always gets a big smile on his face when he hears the baby's heartbeat. I took my niece with me today and the whole office just went bananas over her. Dr. McAlpine's wife and daughter both work at the office and they both held her and went on and on about how pretty and sweet she is. They were not just saying that either because there were other babies there as well. They didn't tell anyone else that but Hannah. Any of you who have seen her know what I am talking about. She looks like the Gerber baby! If my baby is half as sweet and pretty as little Hannah, we will be extremely blessed!

This time I got sonogram pictures of Faith's bottom and her head. She is looking more and more human every day and is quite cute if I do say so myself! The sonogram lady was really nice and actually spent more time with us than she had originally said she would spend. I am glad that Scott got to go this time around. This month's sonogram was much better because Faith is bigger and she was face up as opposed to face down like last time. :)

The nurse is on vacation this week, but I did get to talk to my doctor about pediatricians in the area. However, he did not recognize anyone from the list. :( I left the list for the secretary to put in my file. She will have the nurse look it over when she comes back. Maybe I will have more luck with her. But if not, then Dr. McAlpine told me to take my list up to the maternity ward and ask them about it. I didn't get to take my hospital tour today, but I will definitely be taking the list with me when I go in the next week or so. I am not giving up, but boy this is a little discouraging!

I also found out today that I am 23 weeks along rather than 22 weeks along. I lost track of a week somewhere along the way! Saturday, August 16th will start week 24 of my pregnancy. I cannot believe how much bigger I am getting. The baby is growing like a weed!

I hope to post some pictures of the nursery and playroom soon. I am pretty proud of both of them. However, I must admit that the camera does not do them justice. I hate to brag, but they are way cuter in person. Faith's nursery is now my favorite room in the house! For those who haven't seen it yet, you will definitely have to swing by and take a peak! :)

23 Weeks Pregnant!

I am now 23 weeks pregnant! The baby is getting bigger and I feel more and more pregnant every day. She moves around like crazy. I am convinced that she is going to either be a soccer player or a karate kid! She especially likes to move around when music is playing or when I am laying down. The little stinker loves to wake me up at night or wake me up just as I am drifting off to sleep. Scott has been able to feel her move around. I love feeling her kick because it helps me feel like she is okay in there. It also makes everything a lot more real to me and to Scott. It has been a great bonding experience for us. We are having a baby!!!! All of our patience finally paid off! Big changes are coming and we are really excited!

I had my Gestational Diabetes test last week and everything was fine. However, my Iron level is lower than ever even though I have been taking my meds. I am feeling better but they are still really concerned about my levels because they are way lower than they should be. Please pray that I am able to get that up soon. I notice it the most when I go to bed. I have trouble breathing and feel so fatigued that I have trouble falling asleep. I am still battling fatigue during the day, but it seems to be better than initially. I just couldn't understand how my level would be lower after taking medication. As the baby grows, she requires more and more from me. So, my level probably has increased but the baby is also using more. Anyway, they are going to test me again in a couple of months. I am going to try doubling my Vitamin C intake in order to help my body better absorb the Iron. I think that I have had this problem for most of my life but am just now discovering it. I think it is a hereditary thing because my sister had the same problem for both of her pregnancies. I am determined to get it under control. I think it will really make a difference in how I feel! If anyone has any suggestions, please send them my way!!!!

I have another appt. tomorrow morning. They are going to do another sonogram to check the sex of the baby again. Fortunately, there is not going to be any charge for this one. :) It will nice to be able to see little Faith again! There will be another one at the end, but I have heard that by that time the baby is usually so big that you only get a portion of the baby on the picture. I love sonograms and am so grateful for today's technology! I just cannot wait to see little Faith in real life!

Well, we are back to the drawing boards. Scott isn't sure that he wants to use Noelle as the middle name. He is pushing for McKenna, but I really want Noelle. At least we came to agreement on Faith-that was a miracle! I would love to know what you think! Which name do you like better-Noelle or McKenna?

I still have not been able to find a Tricare approved pediatrician. It is really discouraging, but I am hoping that the nurse at my doctor's office will be able to recommend someone from my list of 125 names. There are a lot of doctors who take our insurance-just not any of the 20 or so that have been recommended to me. :( I really want a good doctor for our little sweetie! There are so many bad ones out there; it makes me nervous. I am just praying that God will open a door and give me some direction.

I am hoping to take a tour of the hospital tomorrow after my appointment. Since Scott is leaving in September, I am really wanting to squeeze everything in before he leaves. Hopefully, tomorrow I will get a schedule of all the classes that they offer so I can start planning out the last few months of my pregnancy. I am excited about that! It will be really good to learn some things from the pros! I know that if I am going to have any chances at succeeding at this breastfeeding thing, then I am going to have to take a class. I have a friend who recently had a baby. She swelled up like crazy and the baby would not latch on. I cannot help but wonder if things would have gone better had she taken some classes and gotten some advice about breastfeeding. She went into it completely blind and unprepared. Her experience was bad for both her and the baby. Now she is strictly formula feeding him. There is nothing wrong with that, but I at least want to give breastfeeding a try. I want to be as prepared as I can be for Faith's arrival! She deserves that!

I will post pictures soon. Hopefully, I can find my charger so that I can actually get my camera charged up again and take some pictures! I know you are just dying to see my expanding waist line! Ha! :)

It Is Nice To Take A Break Every Now And Again!

As many of you know, there are still lots of problems with Scott's orders. It is so frustrating and heart-breaking at the same time. It has definitely been a test in trusting the Lord. God has been faithful in sustaining us but still it has been an emotional roller coaster! Because of all of this, I must admit my excitement over the thought of having a night free from worry and stress. I think more than anything, that was my main reason for wanting to go to the John Mayer concert. Now don't get me wrong, I am a HUGE Mayer fan.(I am even a part of his fan club! Ha!) But in addition to my love for this awesome performer, I also was really feeling like I needed an escape. Sure we can go to a movie or do something else, but I never can really enjoy it because I spend a majority of my time thinking about how we don't have money coming in and we really shouldn't be spending any money right now. But this was totally different because we already had our tickets. We bought them months ago while Scott was still working. All we had to do was go and chill out and have fun.

For this concert we got to sit up front with all of the other crazy Mayer fans. They reserve a large section just for us. It was actually a really sweet deal because our tickets were the same price as everyone else but we got to go in early and purchase them before everyone else could. We were like on row 15 or something. We had a great view of the stage. It was wonderful! Our seats were good and so was the entertainment. However, I must admit that it was hot-way too hot! It was dark and yet it was still over 100 outside! We got out there around 7:30 and John took the stage around 9:30. I have never seen so many scantily dressed women and people with a beer in one hand and a cigarette in the other hand! That must have made a ton of money on alcoholic beverages because everyone had one-many of them two or more! I guess I am pretty sheltered even though I have been on my own for a while now. The girl next to us took X and as we drove into the parking lot, there was a girl stumbling in. Apparently, she had gotten the party started early! You hear about this kind of stuff, but I hadn't really been around it too much. I think it is a shame that people have to do drugs and get drunk in order to have a good time! I am not saying that I am against drinking. I am not. However, I just don't see the point in using alcohol to enhance an experience.

Colbie Caillat performed first and did a good job! It was impossible to completely enjoy because of the heat, but I still liked seeing her. She is a cute girl with a cute personality and a beautiful voice. Of course, she performed her two most famous songs-one of which Scott really hates. But fortunately he happened to be in the bathroom when she performed it. Ha! I enjoyed hearing her but wish she hadn't taken so much time from John Mayer. By the time John took the stage my back was killing me and I was sweating like you wouldn't believe. I had to sit for a lot of the performance, but I still enjoyed hearing him play. Scott spent most of the time fanning me. I really thought we were going to have to leave early because I was so hot and feeling so bad. You really do feel the heat a lot more when you are pregnant! I had a tank top on under my shirt and seriously considered taking my top shirt off because I was so hot. The tank was not a pregnancy shirt and would have revealed a little bit of my tummy. Looking back, I should have taken the top shirt off-I would have fit in well with all the other girls who were there! Ha! I also would have been a lot cooler. It really reminded me of the Dave Matthew's concert I went to a few years ago. There is something about a young, talented, attractive musician that draws in the ladies! You just wouldn't even believe all the short skirts and high heels we saw. Those girls were all dolled up as if they were there to impress! I dressed for comfort and was one of the only pregnant girls I saw there. I didn't mind and little Faith seemed to love the music. She was moving all around and Scott got to feel her for the first time! It appears as though she is going to be a music lover-hopefully a fan of John Mayer also! :)

John Mayer is incredibly talented; what a truly gifted performer! His heart really is in what he does, and he loves his fans and his job. He seems to be grateful for the opportunities his career has afforded him. I was actually impressed with his attitude. I do not think that I will be going to another concert while I am pregnant, but John Mayer was definitely worth all of the discomfort I had to endure. Years from now I will look back over the trials and tribulations of this time in my life and remember this night. Thank the Lord for fun activities and distractions from the woes of life! JOHN MAYER-YOU ROCK!

Here are a few pictures from the concert. I am still upset about misplacing my battery charger. I wasn't able to take my good digital camera. :( I had to take a disposable one instead. I couldn't zoom in so none of the pictures of John on the stage came out very good.