Some of my favorite moments over the last several weeks.

Sitting in Grandma Sue-sue's pot.

Playing at Levi's siblings birthday party on the big indoor soccer field!
(Elijah was 6 and Stella 4)

She grabbed this off the shelf at the aquarium. We got her one, but the next size down. We are suckers for really good stuffed animals. We got her a great buffalo out west this summer.

And this is our family Friday a few weeks ago. Apparently shopping wears her out. She slept on both of our shoulders throughout TJ Maxx when Mike asked if she wanted a cheeseburger and french fries, she woke up and said "Yeah, uh huh, yeah".

Tera tagged me...I was supposed to go to my 6th folder and get my 6th picture, but I just picked the 6th picture on my desktop. This is Miss D at the 930 this month. I would like this piece of art, from Lost Love in D's room.

Update:

• I have a tentative c-section date of April 21st!
• That is 10 weeks away!
• Mike,Neil, and the Sojourn worship team have almost finished their next CD!
• Mike is the co-founder of the Open Sourcebook, an free online liturgical resource for churches. It just launched this month.
• Sojourn has some GREAT new web blogs and resources. Check out TravelBlog. (SO THANKFUL FOR BOBBY GILLES WHO MAINTAINS THIS)
  
• Dorothy had her half birthday this week, that means she is 1 1/2!
• D talks in sentences as of this week. Some of them make NO sense and the other half are clear as day "I don't want noodles mama." "Read stories mama?" "Thank Jesus for cheeseburgers" Mike and I just look at each other shocked. I prompted her to thank to say thank you and she said "Thank you Mike" then started laughing, because she used his first name. She continues to call Mike's parents "Nana and Papa" And has labeled my mother "Sue-sue" and my dad..."Gamp-pa Sue-sue". I am not sure how he feels about that.
  
• We are sill dealing with so much crappy health...We all had colds and for Mike and Dorothy it developed into bronchitis...Mike's back, my arthritis. We just continually have to do life our own way. I have had to step back from a lot of expectations that others have on me and that I have put on myself. It is hard, but it is so nice to remind myself I am putting God first and then my family. And that is all that matters right now.
  

We got to go the Newport Aquarium just before New Years. This is in one other tunnels where the fish and sharks swim over you. It makes me so happy and sleepy.

Later in the day we went to the Gap Clearance Center and I stocked up on maternity clothes. Mike paid for all our clothes while Dorothy and I had a snack in the car. I forgot and left this brown sweater in the cart, he asked the cashier if it was theirs and then he said, "Oh no, that's already my wife's. She wears that everyday". After he told me that story I vowed not to wear that sweater anymore...because it's basically true. I mean it's not a maternity sweater, but that one button makes it work well as one. I am just 6 months in that picture, and at this point I can't find many/any sweaters that don't look a like a jumbo woolen tent on me. Then I realized just as I was writing this, I think I wore it three times in the last week. Oh well... If you see me in this sweater just smile and know I'm warm.

Peaceful moments in our day...

...moments later Ginger skipped up to Dorothy accidentally knocking her over, I went to sweep Dorothy into my arms only to have the camera around my neck swing and smack her in the forehead... like I said peaceful moments...

Things I need to remind myself:

• Doing the laundry EVERY week is a lot easier than once a month. Going to the grocery store once a week is easier than going when the groceries run out. Just got out of the habit of these in December.
  
• A one year old doesn't always mean what she says, or say what she means. And she is a little sweet ball of emotions and you will miss this so much when she is older.
  
• Watching E news and The Soup are not sufficient ways to know whats going on in the world. I need to read the newspaper and watch the nightly news more and E less.
  
• I am me, and we have health issues and life circumstances that others don't, and that means we can't do it all and that is fine. We are living our story our way.

Happy New Year! I am horribly behind on so many things and I have to be OK with it. Christmas was beautiful and we had a bit of rest. Mike is healing slowly, Dorothy talks ALL DAY, I am well (a little arthritis), baby Maggie is moving and heartbeat is always strong during Docs visits. Just going to catch up on life the next few weeks...Keep checking in!

Tomorrow I will be 22 weeks out of 40. Here is a picture of me this week, I don't like my hair or smile but oh well. They were a little concerned early on because I was so sick and not gaining but let's just say the last day I threw up was Thanksgiving and I have a healthy appitite back and my parents put SO MANY candy bars in my stocking. Again let's just say that low weight is no longer a concern.

Mike and I look forward to a new resolution for the new year...WE LOVE RESOLUTIONS. Like our good friend Rob, said in his sermon this week... we categorize and type out our goals.

Anyway our biggest health resolution: Lay off the fructose corn syrup. I know it is impossible to never have any, but we both have so many health issues that are proven or suspected to be caused by sugar that it is a logical step towards health for us. We are not eating fast food as much lately and that has made us feel better too. My mom and dad were pretty good about not letting us have junk all the time growing up that I think I need to be an example in that with our kids. Depriving them is not cool I don't think but, having junk food all the time is not cool either.

And you know what else is not cool, I think...the fact that I still say "cool". Sheesh, I am nerd.

Good thing we don't plan on teaching Dorothy that Santa is the reason for Christmas :)

May Christ's birth be on your mind as you celebrate with family and friends. I am looking forward to it and wish you all a very blessed day. Love to all.

I love this recipe: Creamy Chicken Lasagna. Even more than that, I have been making the creamy sauce and using it for spaghetti. D loves tomato sauce, but she still has a hard time eating really acidic foods so adding the cream cheese helps.

So my dear auntie Jane reminded me that I forgot to post what we are having this second time around! It's another girl. We are very excited. We have decided on a first name, Margaret. We will probably call her "Maggie". This week marks the halfway point to this pregnancy. And I love eating. I can still hurl at the right smell, but food is more of a friend than an enemy.

So waaay back in the middle of October I was in my second art show. Our church has this really wonderful "Affordable art show" during the neighborhood fall festival. Also notice the two art pieces behind me, my nieghbor and friend Elizabeth did those and Mike and I got the green one for each other for our anniversary last week. I kind of love that tradition, buying each other a piece of our friends art for hoildays. He got me two pieces last year from our dearest Michael Winters friend.

It is great because the art show has very established/formally trained artists and crafters as well as newbie self trained ones like me. I made purses and onesies just like last year...and sold well (about 90% of my stuff sold!). I have barely sewn since then until this past weekend, when I made my 8 gifts for our churches gift exchange (tell you about that later). I hade a lot of people ask about my cowl (the tube scarf around my neck in the first picture, so I'll probably make some of those to sell next year).
I have got to make more girly onesies and more owls. I am also planning on making toddler shirts...but not until at least after Christmas!

(Thanks to my friend Ashley L. who took these pictures for me!)

Nine years of marriage!

Today Mike and are celebrating our nine year wedding anniversary. We were 19, in love, and never looked back. One of the best decisions I've ever made. Here are the flowers that Mike sent me today. I took these photos with Mike's phone so they aren't as clear as normal.

It is a combo of roses, daises, orchids, and gladiolas.

Here is the meal we made together. Lucky Dorothy got to share in the fun, we have a dinner date this weekend too!

Fillet Mignon, portabello risotto, and the best stinking salad I ever had
(spring greens, pomegranate seeds, garlic and herb boursin cheese, and blush wine vinaigrette) .

Happy December! Thank you so much for all the love again. Our life is taking on a bit of normalcy. Mike is still in major back pain but we see a specialist this week. We have our 9th wedding anniversary on Thursday and we find out the gender of the baby on Monday! Here is a picture of Dorothy's first corndog. About 2 minutes later she had taken the "corn" off the "dog" and inhaled them both.

Well, you are all so loving. I have received many emails and facebook messages asking how we are and the truth is we have been better. You probably remember that I am now 16 weeks along. Since about week 7 I have been extremely nauseous and throwing up on an almost daily basis, with a few needed days off here and there (yes it's still happening...just this morning). I traced my previously mentioned RA flair up to the same exact day that I started drinking regular coffee! Seriously, the day I had this amazing cup of Guatemalan and that was the day before my shoulder went crazy. ANYWAY. Dorothy has been battling a stomach bug and dehydration since Saturday. She didn't eat more than a few bites for 4 days. On Monday as we were feeling out of the woods with D, Mike called on his way to the ER. His back injury was aggravated, possibly the worse I have ever seen him in the 7 years of this injury. This entire week was very hard because of back spasms,pain, and such...Well Mike likes is privacy and I probably shared too much. But please keep us in your prayers. We have more doctors visits coming up, some for Mike and some for the second baby (heartbeat and ultrasound!).

Oh, but despite all this. We have had some quality family time together and Dorothy is adding new words and funny habits every day. Just as she turned 15 months she started calling me "Mama". She has been saying "Dada" since she was 9 months and calling me "Sarah" randomly since July.

We have also been talking a lot about babies and looking at pictures of babies and her doll. I am slowly getting her to be gentle with the doll and the baby Jesus from her nativity. She chucked baby Jesus the first time she had him, but this morning she picked him up and kissed him. Progress!

I am still here!

Hello! I hope you still check this blog! I am back. Probably not every day, but I hopefully can post a bit more than I have been.

I haven't had morning sickness in three days! I am 14 and 1/2 weeks along I have been sick for almost 8 1/2 weeks. I am hopefully on the mend. A lot of you have asked and I was not this sick with my first pregnancy. Maybe 3 times total that time. I have lost count this time. No two pregnancies are alike, I hear.

We took Dorothy to hear the heartbeat of her baby brother or sister last week. She charmed all the nurses and doctors and played with all the things she shouldn't and had no idea why we were even there. BUT! I think we got through the appointment much quicker than normal because of her presence. Not that I am ever taking a one year old to the doctor again, unless it's for her. The above picture is her running the hallway as I made the first payment on our second kid :) Just as we pay off the first kid we start paying for another- It is certainly worth it though!


Oh and I found this funny picture of D. This was on her way to meet Ruby Laffin for the first time. I love that she is waving at 6 weeks (well accidentally waving) and that she still is working on the eye control, and she is so rolly-polly.

Please pray for me if you can. Just as I am doing better with the morning sickness I have had two flair ups with my RA. I pulled my shoulder last week, the worst it been in about about two years. Then this weekend as I geared up to sew, I had a flair up in both wrists, again something I haven't had happen since before Dorothy. Not exactly a good thing for a lady trying to sew for a little business. Well enough typing on these hands for now. Love to all, near and far.

Happy October! We went to the Zoo for the big Halloween party tonight.
I'll go on the record and say Mike and I are not obsessed Wizard of OZ fans. D was named after my Grandmother and Mike's aunt. BUT! we wanted to have her dress from the movie at least once. We figure it will be all too soon before she has strong opinions on who she wants to be.

Hello again. I miss you friends. I am still getting sick quite often, probably ever other day. I have been devoting most of my internet time to tetris and facebook. Because it is more mindless than blogging. I am encouraged by so many of that have checked in on me. Thank you and God bless you. I have the afternoon to myself now to sew for Sojourn's Affordable Art Sale. My mom and D are hanging out today. I'll post pictures of our fall happenings soon. All energy has gone to loving my Mike and Dorothy and sewing pretty things for this Saturday's show. Love.love.

On the mend...

Warning! Terra and other queasy friends DO NOT READ FURTHER, this is a gross little story:




I have been feeling better...until my dog ate a bird and then well lost the contents of her stomach. BUT, I still kept breakfast down. Mike had just left for work and I ran from the scene of the crime and called him. My man turned around and came back to clean it all up. He is such a good man. BUT, praise God, I DID NOT get sick! Because when I start I can't stop. So, thank you for the many prayers and maybe, just maybe I am on the mend. And if not then I am at least so blessed by the last 5 days that have been puke free and the last 2 days that have been (almost) nausea free!

I miss you all!

Hello friends and family, near and far. It's been 14 days since I posted! Well 7 days in the middle of that 14 we had no power because of the hurricane winds that hit our region. During that time my 1st trimester nausea hit it's peak and Mike's back injury added some extra interesting juggling. But praise God we had friends and family host us. 2 nights with our dear friends, Daniel and Mandy; 3 nights with Mike's parents; and 2 nights with my parents. So I have put sewing and blogging on the back burner as I put the my time with God and caring for my Mike and Dorothy. So much easier said than done. Love to all.

This free offer says there are no strings attached. I gave it a try. 2 free years of Parents magazine.
Happy Wednesday dear friends.

I suppose I could go ahead and say it. We are having another baby. In the spring.

That is why, you might notice that I have not been so up on posting or crafting these last few weeks. So, please pray for me and our safety and health for all of us. I'll still be posting at least a few times a week and I have a few projects I hope to be working on so I'll share those soon. I also need to draw a name for that give-away. Sorry that was put on hold.

I am blessed to already know of a few ladies that I have very close due dates with. Terra, Courtney, and Maggie I look forward to this journey with you! Please lift each one of us up in prayer over these next few weeks of queasiness.