Making Way for the Baby

Matthew and I have been working hard (actually, Matt working hard and me "supervising") on trying to get things ready for Cadence. I know we have 3 1/2 more months to work on things, but I like to get things done early so I can enjoy it and not stress (plus the fact that I'm OCD and it will drive me crazy if I don't do something that I set my mind to). Anyhoo-last weekend Matt and I did a huge clean out in our house. We cleaned out bedroom closests, bedrooms, our bonus room, etc. It wore me out, but it felt so good to get it all done. I really did ache for a couple of days afterwards-and let me tell you, going up and down stairs REALLY wears me out these days...it's sad but oh well. So, that was last weekend's chore.

This weekend was the fun part: painting the nursery! :) I say fun b/c all I did was lay in the bonus room, watch King of Queens, and run and check on Matt every half hour. Bless his heart- he worked his butt off (until about midnight or after) to get that room done for me. It is soooo pretty. Matt's parents gave us the bedding for the nursery on Saturday, so we took a trip to Home Depot and matched the paint. I don't know what you'd call the color but I'd say its something like, "Cotton Candy." It is PINK!! For those of you who really know me, you know pink is my favorite color, so I am one happy camper. Cadence will like pink if it kills her. :) It really does look a lot like the color of my room when I was a little girl (thanks mom for introducing me to the best color ever when I was a baby)! When I figure out how to post pics within a blog entry, I will be sure to show you this pink nursery...or maybe I'll wait until the nursery is finished. We will see. :)

I am excited to get the furniture in now! It should be in by the end of August. And unfortunately, I am not good at putting things together so Matt will be working hard yet again. Oh and did I mention that in the nursery there is no overhead light/fan (not even the wires to have one installed)?! Yea-Matt is going to have to put one of those up and do the wiring too. :) I can't tell you how thankful I am to have a husband who is such a handyman! Really-he can do anything as far as I am concerned. I would go into detail and brag about him, but then I'd have to change the title of this entry to, "My husband is the best and can fix/do anything- no doubt!" :) I love you, Matty!

Alright, I am going to try and get some work done now. Monday mornings are always fun-especially when our cleaning ladies use this time to clean my office (dust and vaccuum) all around me as I am trying to work...seriously-one is standing right behind me, dusting my desk and not putting the items back where they were originally. ugh! Okay, that is another post in itself. :)

*Update: here are some pics I just uploaded of the nursery-in-progress! :)

*The before picture*



*Matt showing off the paint!*


*The first coat of paint*




*So pretty!*


*I love it!*


More pics will come as we continue to work on the nursery! Stay tuned. :)

Crazy Hormones

Oh golly are my hormones going crazy lately!! I'd say that for the most of my first trimester, it was filled with unpredicatable moods-I'd cry for no reason, get mad for no reason, etc. I absoutely hate being out of control of my emotions! Thankfully, this second trimester has been great (sure I cry occasionally, but I'd do that even if I wasn't pregnant). I hear that once you hit the third trimester your hormones start going crazy again. Well, I'm not in the third quite yet, but things are changing I believe. Or, maybe I just had a crazy night last night-who knows?! Let me give you a glimpse into our evening last night...

I had an overall good day. I've had a bad cold this whole week, but it hasn't caused me to be in a bad mood or anything, so I don't know where this "swing" came from last night. When I got in from work yesterday, my sweet husband was working on my new phone-adding songs, making sure it was all set up for me, etc. I decided to go crash on the couch for a few before I started supper. I ended up drifting off for about 30 minutes and it felt great! Well, my sweet husband came over to lay on the couch with me and cuddle. After he came over, here came Riley (our 60+ pound Beagle/Rottweiler mix). Then, Maggie (our little runt that we don't know what she is) decides to come on the couch too. She proceeds to jump on my stomach-which I HATE and I had a little fit about that. Overall, though, it was good cuddle time. As I was about to get up to cook our supper I noticed Riley had been chewing on himself (he had jumped off the couch onto the floor which was covered with our couch pillows)...his nasty slobber was all over our good couch pillows. That made me mad. Then, as I was getting up, Riley apparently got excited, jumped up and crushed my toe. That made me mad. So, I jumped off the couch threw (well, slammed) all the couch pillows onto the couch (where Matt still was) and screamed at the top of my lungs (it sounded demonic), "All of you are getting on my nerves!!!!!!!!!" I then stomped off into the kitchen to start supper. I managed to calm down and prepare supper (which went well). When I called Matt to come into eat he noticed that my mashed potatoes were a tad gooey. When I say, "tad gooey" I mean that when he tried to scoop them out they all just stuck to the spoon as if it was glue. Well, this made me mad and I then slammed the serving spoon into the mashed potato bowl and let out some kind of scream, noise, or cuss word-I really don't remember. I sat in my seat and then started to tear up as Matt tried to cheer me up. It didn't work though because everytime I saw Matt try to spoon nasty, glue-like potatoes onto his plate (bless his heart for eating them anyway) I would get all mad again. So what did I do? I burst into tears and ran into the bathroom, locked myself in there, and sat on the toilet and cried. After a few minutes, I composed myself and went back to join my husband for supper. What was Matt doing? Just sitting there, precious, eating his supper and nasty glue potatoes. Have I mentioned how much I love him? Seriously-he handles me better than ANYONE!! He didn't make me feel bad for yelling at our dogs, for screwing up the potatoes, or for being a complete MANIAC! He just smiled at me and said, "Do you want me to say the blessing?" haha. I thank God for blessing me with a patient husband. I owe him big. I really hate being so unpredictable...I hate it more for Matt. But, it does give us something to look back on and laugh at, right?! Matt-I do love you and thank you for loving me despite my crazy hormones! :)

Becoming a Chunky Monkey

I went to the doc today for my 23 week checkup and everything was great. I am very thankful that Cady is measuring where she is suppose to be, her heartbeat is strong, I am healthy, etc. God is good! I wasnt too happy about going to the doc today because I thought he would say I have gained too much weight (no, I will not disclose to you how much I've gained...only Lauren gets that privilege). :) But, to my surprise he did not comment on it. I, however, brought it up. I really am not pigging out/eating like people think most pregnant women eat. I am eating salads and drinking water (with of course the occasional sweet) but yet this weight is just piling on and on-making me into a chunky monkey. I asked the doc what he thought and he completely made my day. Before I tell you his response let me tell you that there are about 8 different doctors at my OB. I have my regular doctor whom I ADORE, I have one doctor that I already know I don't like because I used to see her, and the rest I have never seen before. So, I get pretty anxious before each visit because I really want to like the doctor that delivers my child. I am happy to say that every single doctor I have seen I have absolutely LOVED (despite the one I know I do not like and I can deal with that). So, I get nervous thinking that these doctors I have never seen will think I'm a huge pregnant failure who is turning into a cow! Anyways, back to my story of gaining weight...when I expressed my concern he looked at me and said, "Abby-if you came in here and had gained 40 pounds already I would be concerned and I would sit you down and politely tell you something was wrong. But, you are doing great! Do not listen to people/websites/books that tell you that you should have only gained about ____pounds by now. So what if you've gained more than that-does that mean you'll be an unfit mother? Of course not! So do not worry about it at all!" WOW-I love this doctor. :) Now, that doesn't mean I ran out the door and went to McDonald's to get me an M&M mcflurry (which I love by the way). It just really made me feel so much better that: I am doing the BEST I can, the best I know how and that a qualifed doctor told me I was doing great. Weight gain (that I can't help) is not going to affect the type of mother I will be and my little girl will love me even if I am a house when she sees me for the first time. haha! So, I am gonna try to chill out and not freak out when I see the numbers on the scales creep up. I say this, but I know come my next doctor's visit I will be all stressed out again haha. Such is life, I suppose!

Movin' and a Shakin'

I have been feeling our little girl, Cadence, move around for the past few weeks. It has felt like weird gas bumbles rumbling through my stomach. Last night, for the first time, I finally felt her kick or jab me (not sure which one it was). I was laying on the couch downstairs and all of a sudden I felt like someone was punching/kicking me from the inside. It shocked me at first and then I got really excited, so I lifted up my shirt and started pressing on the area where the movement happened to see if she would do it again. A few minutes later she kicked in the same spot and I could actually see my hand move up and down on my stomach where she kicked. It was absolutely amazing!! I ran upstairs to tell Matt and we tried to get her to do it again but she wouldn't. She is, however, moving and shaking like crazy as I type this. She is going to be active I do believe. :) I have heard lots of women say, "Oh it feels wonderful feeling the baby move. It is the most amazing thing ever." Not to call them liars or anything, but it doesn't exactly feel good. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely LOVE knowing that my child is moving and is healthy, but the word "good" just doesn't come to mind when I describe how it feels. It's just plain weird. I guess I'm just not one of those super pregnant women who embraces and completely loves every little thing about being pregnant. I am, however, so thankful for being able to experience this and glad that I can feel my little girl move around inside of me. Hopefully her daddy will feel her soon. He told me I'd better not let anyone else feel her move before he gets to. :) Matt, if you're reading this, I promise I won't let anyone else feel until her daddy gets to feel. I'll save that for you. :)

Before I end this post I wanted to "announce" our little girl's full name... Cadence Grace Ivester
Ahhh I love just typing it b/c I love it so much! All credit goes to my dear husband b/c it's all him. A few months ago we were at the lake with my family and were looking through a baby name book. We each wrote down some names we liked and Matt wrote down "Cadence." I liked it, but I really wasn't sold on the name. When we went for our ultrasound and found out we were having a girl, during the ultrasound I felt this huge urge to pee (surprise! surprise!). The ultrasound tech lady (whatever you call those people) told me to look and our little girl was tapping her foot like crazy on my bladder...it was the coolest thing I've ever seen! After that ultrasound we really started to talk about baby names and I was thinking we'd never have a girls name. However, my creative husband reminded me of the name Cadence and how it means "rhythm." After talking about it, we both knew this was her name because she was obviously jamming to some kind of sound when she was tapping her foot on my bladder. Also, Matthew and I are both musical and would love for her to be musical too. So, Cadence it is. As far as her middle name, that comes from my grandmother (the one I posted about yesterday). No, her name is not Grace, but she was the most graceful, godly woman I have ever known. She played such a huge role in my life (still does even though she has passed away) and I really want her to be apart of my girl's name. Me and Mimi's all time favorite song is "Amazing Grace" and I grew up singing it as she played the piano. So, Grace just fits. Cadence Grace Ivester. Gosh I love it! I'm sure we'll call her "Cady" for short some, which I love too. I'm just ready to meet this little gal who seems to be enjoying tapping on my bladder and jabbing me. :)

Faithful and Thankful

I am learning more and more about God's faithfulness, and every day I am more thankful! This weekend was extremely busy, but God allowed me to have several moments of reflection (over various things). All of this probably won't mean anything to you, but I am going to write it just to remind myself of how good God is.

The fact that I am actually pregnant completely blows my mind. I know I complain of the aches and pains, mood swings and so on, but honestly this is such an amazing time in my life. It seems like just yesterday I was complaining about how I'd never get married and blah blah blah. I was reminded of this yesterday at my sister-in-law's baby shower. My grandmother, Mimi (she passed away a couple of years ago and was the most important person in my life) was the person I told everything to. It makes me sad when I think that she couldn't be at my wedding and won't get to meet our daughter, but God reminded me of how blessed I truly am. At the shower, Mimi's best friend, Grace showed up-which is always a blessing. I love talking to her because I feel like a part of my grandmother is there. Grace was telling me how much I meant to my Mimi and how they would talk at least once a day (sometimes for hours) about what God was doing in my life and different things I was experiencing. She reminded me of how in October of 2004, I had called Mimi to cry to her and to tell her I thought I'd never get married (sob story, I know). Grace informed me that after that conversation Mimi called her and said, "We need to pray for Abby. I know God has a husband out there for her and I've been praying for him since the day she was born. Let's just pray that he comes soon because Abby is so discouraged." In November of 2004 (less than a month after that conversation) I was introduced to Matt and of course we later married and now I'm pregnant! :) Grace also reminded me that Mimi had the chance to meet Matt before she passed away. This is absolutely huge to me because Matthew knows how much Mimi means to me and he was able to see why I loved her so much and vice versa. Also I had forgotten (and Grace reminded me), but when we got my wedding dress I was able to model it for Mimi a few months before she passed away, so she was able to see me in my dress even though she passed away before the wedding. I know God placed Grace in my presence yesterday to remind me of how faithful God is and how he orchestrates every little details in our lives. I am thankful that I had an amazing grandmother to pray for me since the day I was born and who loved me enough to ask her friends to pray for me. God knew she wouldn't be alive to be at my wedding, but He allowed us to have a special day to where I could model my dress for her. I really wish she could meet Cadence, but I have faith God has told her all about her. I will definitely tell Cadence all about Mimi.

I am also reminded and blown away at how God has blessed Matthew and I with our family, friends, church, home group, house, jobs, this pregnacy, etc. It is hard to believe that we are 25, own a house, and have a baby on the way. I would have never thought that I would be where I am now. God is continuing to bless us tremendously in ways that we do not deserve. He is giving us the desires of our hearts and I am so thankful!! I am overwhelmed, actually. I am thankful that God got ahold of my heart this weekend, reminded me and showed me just how much He has given me and blessed me with. There are so many other examples that I could give to show God's faithfulness, but it would take about 3 million posts. I am just glad that I serve a God who is concerned about my heart and who loves to bless me.

i think i'm an 80 yr. old woman

with pregnancy comes the urge to pee a lot, so i've learned. and let me tell you, i run (well, i walk briskly) to the restroom about every 30 min. or so to pee. the problem is, when i actually get in there it's rarely a gush of pee, which is what i feel needs to occur. it's almost always a *drip* and it really gets on my nerves (though it does make me feel much better). i am really beginning to feel like an 80 yr. old woman who needs to just put on a depends undergarment and get on with my day. it would be much easier to just *drip* whenever i pleased onto a depends, instead of get up from my desk -or wherever i happen to be at the moment. i know some of you may think this is gross, but you try being pregnant...nothing will gross you out anymore. :)

since i do work at an assisted living facility i am around a lot of 80+ yr. old women and i really do think they are rubbing off on me (or either this pregnancy is). let me do some comparisons for you:

*they have trouble remembering certain things/telling stories~~~~i have trouble remembering things/telling stories.

*they can get a tad grumpy and snap at the drop of a hat~~~~yea me too.

*they walk a little slow, hunched over and plop on a couch whenever they can~~~~i am now walking slower, hunching a little bit b/c my back hurts, and i would plop on a couch if ever near one.

*they frequently run to the bathroom or just go in their pants~~~~i freqently run to the bathroom and i would like to go in my pants.

i am sure there are some more comparisons but i can't really remember them right now. :) i do love my elderly that i work with. working here really is like the movie ground hog day. every morning when i come in i see the same people, answer the same questions, hear them talk about me behind my back about the same things: (yes, i used to be the activity director and drive the bus. yes i am pregnant. yes i now work in front office, etc. etc.), and every day i redirect the same people to the bathroom, to their room or to a couch. i do love them and it does make me thankful that i am young and pregnant, instead of old and forgetful. :) okay, im done for now. i need to go take Mrs. _____ to the bathroom before she wets herself!

i know i am pregnant, people!!

so, i love reading other people's blogs and i thought i would try starting one. i'm not sure how long this will last because i get tired of things really quickly and i will probably get tired of this. but, i will give it a try. i gotta admit, i am not the best at getting my thoughts out-my husband will tell you this. :) i can't tell stories good, and i do not remember details very well either. but, if you are my friend and are reading this, you will be used to the way that i talk/type, so bless your heart for hanging in there with me and reading this amazing blog!! because my life is so fascinating, i figured i would share it with everyone (ha.). actually, i just have a lot of time on my hands right now and i figured i would join the bandwagon and share my life with the internet world.

i need to apologize before i continue because i am going to use this post as a time to vent. most of you know that i am 22 weeks pregnant and yes, i am showing. i don't mind it all that much because i've never been pregnant before so all of this newness and attention is pretty fun. MOST of the attention, that is. i gotta say that i am sick and tired of people (mainly people at work) coming up to me and making comments such as, "Wow you are getting big." "Gosh your belly sure is growing!" "Are you sure you're not having twins because you look big!" i mean, really people!!! do you not think that i know my body is changing? i haven't been able to get in my normal clothes in weeks, my face has broken out like a girl going through puberty, my body aches, i am tired, and YES MY STOMACH IS GETTING BIG!! i snapped at a coworker yesterday b/c i believe i am at the end of my rope with people's ignorant comments. after she came into my office and said, "oh my gosh you are getting big", i took it upon myself to say, "yea that is what usually happens when someone is pregnant. i am pregnant!" i went home last night and started thinking about all of this. for one, i am really annoyed with people making ignorant comments about things that i know are happening with my body. on the other hand, i felt really bad for snapping at this poor girl who can barely speak any english...okay, so that has nothing to do with anything, but for some reason it does make me feel extra bad! maybe i need to be more patient and just take the good comments with the bad. OR maybe these people can just stop being so stupid and learn to shut their mouths...i dunno, i'm trying to figure this out because i really don't want to be mean.

well, this post was short, but its 4:30 and time for me to leave work-i don't stay one minute past unless it is absolutely necessary. maybe i'll write again tomorrow. or maybe i'll never write again. we will see what happens. :)