Unanswered Prayers

If I could be on the other end of my prayers, I would probably roll my eyes. There were a few years in my life that a handful of prayers were on shuffle. There were answers that I wanted, and I was impatient and sick of dating.

There are a few memories throughout my single life that stand out to me, some of which were more painful to go through than I thought. I remember begging to know that I would have a chance to be a wife and mother. I remember going to each sibling, cousin, roommate, co-worker, and friends' weddings. I remember feeling excited for each one of them. I also remember the ride home and laying in bed each night after a bridal shower or wedding. I remember feeling like it was never going to be my turn. I remember feeling as if all of my prayers went unanswered.

All I wanted was to see a little flash of my future. I wanted to see a ring on my finger and a crib in my future bedroom.

Last week Sean and I were able to celebrate 365 days of being married. I was driving home and emotion flooded over me when I looked down and saw my wedding ring resting on my swelling belly. I realized that my prayers didn't go unanswered, they were answered in a way that I couldn't have dreamed up on my own.

This past year Sean and I have done a LOT of growing in areas such as communication, patience, understanding, humility, compromise, financial planning, and unconditional love. I have also learned that I love having him next to me in bed, the grocery store, at church, in the car, in the kitchen, here, there, and everywhere. When I was single I couldn't have imagined, or prayed for, a more perfect fit.

I am one lucky girl. I love my husband, he loves me, and together we love this growing baby.

26 weeks- working at a military event

27 weeks

Week 25 (and other random fun)

Week 25 has come, and so have some very entertaining moments. Who thought you really could get 'pregnancy brain'? I sure didn't. I have been humbled.......over and over.

Moment #1- I was rushing to work and was late, as usual. I pulled up to an intersection that I stop at daily. I sat there waiting for a green light, and while doing so decided to play around with the radio. It must have been a minute and a half that went by while I was station hopping. I received a very nice Pittsburgh honk from the car that had just pulled up behind me. I looked up and realized that I had been sitting at a STOP SIGN for that minute and a half, waiting for it to turn green.

Moment #2- Sean and I had some tapioca pudding sitting in our cupboard for about a year. We decided that we should make some. I read the directions and proceeded to start adding the ingredients to the pot. Sean caught me right after I had dumped the entire tapioca box into the pan. He looked at me with a puzzled look, and then asked if he could read the directions. (at this point he had no idea that I'd sat at a stop sign waiting for it to turn green) He looked up from the box and started laughing. I was puzzled. He then pointed out that I was only supposed to add 3 tablespoons of tapioca to make the eight servings we were trying to make. He had to help me quadruple the other ingredients. Yes, I stood there in shame stirring tapioca for 32+ for half an hour. It was while I was stirring the pudding that I admitted to my other ditsy act. He and I laughed pretty hard. I ended up standing over a large pot of tapioca with tears streaming down my cheeks and the hiccups from laughing so hard at what I had shamefully done.

Moment #3- Sean had an early meeting on a Saturday, so I decided to make him some German pancakes. I kept checking on them and they weren't rising. I kept cooking them longer, cause Sean told me that in order for them to rise they need to be fully cooked. I realized that they had been in for quite some time and hadn't risen. I took them out right as Sean was getting home. He stood in the doorway and laughed when he saw my look of disappointment at the ugly German pancakes. He first asked if I followed the directions carefully. I told him I read them thoroughly, and then we went through the ingredients together. I again, very shamefully, didn't follow the directions as I thought I had. I completely forgot the milk. We sat down and ate our chewy flour-egg-cinnamon/nutmeg-butter pancakes and again did some laughing.

I am now banned from cooking until I can think clearly again.

Other updates:

-I LOVE the new group of doctors that we are with. I was very impressed after the first visit!
-I have very vivid and bizarre dreams (the baby kicking so hard he kicked right through my stomach and the doctors told me that his little foot would have to remain outside of my stomach for the duration of the pregnancy)
-I cry in the grocery store lines as I read about missing children.
-I recently joined netflix and am happily watching Lost to distract me from wanting to distract Sean from his studying.
-My legs and feet hurt from working on hard wood floors all day, and I am wearing flats each day.
-I only have 24 more days as an employee!!!!
-I have to hand Sean the money when we step into Babies R US or any other baby store.
-I am terribly anxious about my next doctors visit because I have to have my blood drawn.
-I am amazed at how perfectly our bodies work and how perfectly this little body is developing inside of me.

Sean's updates:
-He is spending his days looking into mouths. He enjoys looking into them all: old, young, clean, dirty, empty, smelly, discolored and diseased.
-He is spending his evenings studying for his boards and final exams.
-He is appreciating netflix more and more, as his wife is silent these days and he can finally study in peace.
-He is doing some more cooking, since his wife is banished from the kitchen, and is loving creating meals with whatever ingredients we have lying around.
-He is craving a good hike into the mountains (not the Pittsburgh hills), and is counting down the days until he can see a mountain again.
-He thinks it's fun going to Babies R Us and guessing how old the babies are that are all over the store.
-He enjoys being woken up in the middle of the night by his wife's tossing and turning or by the little punches he can feel when her stomach is against his back or side.
-He is super patient and understanding.
-He can't wait to be a dad!

I was a black widow and Sean was a soccer player for Halloween this year. (wishing I stuffed my tights with black toilet paper)

Dr. Nelson assured me that, through her loops, I still had all of my teeth

Carving pumpkins with our Pittsburgh family-- Batemans and Nelsons.

Finished products