Wow how time flies!! Baby Kee is the size of a large lemon!! Wow!! I have definitely felt the baby grow this past week. I've been having a lot of growing pains but it's all worth it! I feel great other than being tired and the sinus issues still. Our next appointment is just 2 weeks away, Dec. 23rd, and my dr. is going to try to give us a 90% determination on Baby Kee's gender! Yeah! Right before Christmas!!! :)
*** UPDATE*** I had to add this new Faith Hill song and video to this posting. I am so in love with this new song. I love Christmas songs and this is now one of my new favorites. Pause my music player at the bottom of the page before starting the video.
Yesterday in my Ladies Sunday School class we were discussing what we knew about the wise men and kinda traced back to the thoughts that they all could have come from Babylon, been more than 3, were not kings but "wise men", etc... and we also discussed how commercialized Christmas has become. This has really been on my heart a lot lately. Yes, I love getting presents and as a child waiting to see what gifts we were going to get, but I never really bought the whole Santa thing and really wondered why a "man" could "see me when i'm sleeping, knows when i'm awake, he knows if i've been bad or good..." The only person I know that knows and sees all this is God and he doesn't ride in a sleigh pulled w/ reigndeer, wear a big red and white velvet suit w/ fur trim, or even yell, "Ho Ho Ho," which I still don't get what that has to do with anything. The more I thought about this the more I thought of our child. I don't want this baby to be so focused on what he/she is getting and forget why we celebrate Christmas. I also don't want to fill my child's head w/ lies and false teachings. Yes, the whole "santa" thing is fun and entertaining but that's just my point. Why does Christmas have to be entertaining or fun? It should already be! We should be highly excited to know that God sent His ONLY SON to this earth as a baby, born in a lowly manger, only to be spat upon, cursed, hung on a cross, die, and then raise from the dead 3 days later. That to me, is enough to be EXCITED AND ENTERTAINED ABOUT! I know a lot of people that are basically boycotting the Commercialized Christmas and not buying presents or talking about Santa but simply celebrating His birth and celebrating their families and the blessings God has given them. It's tough to do that because it's not "the norm" but really, God doesn't want us to be "the norm." What's the verse, "...you are to be a peculiar people...." I can't seem to find the exact scriptures but I KNOW it's there. I enjoy decorating the tree(s) (lol..not just one!) for Christmas, adorning the mantel w/ garland, lights and berries, illuminating the night w/ Christmas lights outside, hanging the stockings and wrapping gifts but the moment I let that become the Reason for The Season, that's the moment I need to stop, remember how God felt letting His only Son come to save me and take all of the beautiful decorations down and focus on God and not the glitz and glamour. God was not born in a palace, mansion, or home adorned w/ a million twinkling Christmas trees filled with ornaments. He was born in a stable, where animals slept, ate, used the bathroom, and lived. He was layed in a manger where animals eat and regurgitate in with no comfy, soft, warm blanket but wrapped in stiff, scratchy clothe that you and I would never dream of wearing must less wrap our child in from the cold. This Christmas my perspective is a lot different than it has been before. I don't know if this is because I have a living, breathing, miracle living inside me that God graciously blessed us with after many agonizing months of no hope or if it's because He's speaking to me to tell this lost world about Him. I think it's both. I think my life needs to be His story. My heart is so heavy... I pray each of you remember that Christmas is not Glitz & Glamour, but about a baby that was born in Bethlehem. ~Merry Christmas & God Bless
OMG, I think my sinuses are completely clogged up and I'm having a moment at work becuase I FORGOT MY NOSE SPRAY!! OMG! I really think I'm addicted but my Dr. said it's ok and basically the only thing I can take regularly since the Zyrtec is a oncea day thing. Oh, and I love Tums, always have, but am IN LOVE with them now. I carry a handful of them in my purse every day and just eat 2 every time I get done eating. Plus, it's got Calcium in it! Ugh, anything to be able to breathe out of my nose... haha
Oh, and I think Baby Kee is doing yoga stretches in there because I've had growing pains all last night and today; like my uterus is as stretched out as it can be! lol...I got hardly any sleep last night because I could not, for the life of me, get comfy. It's all worth it though! I feel bigger today! haha... ~God Bless
Tonight is the Celebration of Lights here on campus and also the Christmas Parade. I"m usually not a big fan of all this since it means being outside in the cold but this year, I feel different. I guess since I want the baby to experience all that he/she can with me right now is why my heart has changed. I love looking at Christmas lights and tonight they have added 100 extra little trees outside to celebrate SAU's Centennial (we're celebrating 100 years this coming new year). If I remember, I'm gonna bring my camera so I can get some of the beautiful decorations to share with you. I know I shared earlier this week that Josh and I were going away to celebrate our anniversary early but we decided to stay home and enjoy each other instead. We're going to put up our outside Christmas lights, paint the guest room, move the furniture out of the soon-to-be nursery and set up my sewing room again so I can begin on all the Christmas orders I have. Merry Christmas and May God bless you!!
I have been meaning to post this since I received this wonderful package in the mail the EXACT same day as our 2nd OB appointment but I have been so busy so I'm just now posting this wonderful feeling of thankfulness and gratitude I have for Kecia and her family. I met this dear friend online through blogger and I will never forget her sweet spirit and love for the Lord she continuously shows and emits from her being. She is usually the first person to comment on any post I have and usually does post on every single one. I have never seen or spoken w/ Kecia face to face or even heard her sweet voice but I have become friends with her even if she does live across the seas from me. She is from Rio grande do Norte, Brazil. She and her mother so kindly leave me the sweetest comments and words of encouragement and make me smile every time I receive a comment from them. Last week I received this slip in the mail saying I needed to go to the post office to pick up a package and immediately I thought, "Why didn't they just leave it? They always do??" Little could I remember, huge pregnancy side-effect is forgetfulness, that Kecia and her mom told me about a month ago that they would be sending me a relaxation package all the way from Brazil!! Even still when I was at the post office, I could not for the life of me think why I was here and what I was here for. I mean, I hadn't ordered anymore fabrics or ribbons or anything really so what could this be? Even once I got the package I was still confused and then I saw the word, "Brazil" on it and IMMEDIATELY KNEW WHO THIS WAS FROM! Kecia and her mom sent me the most wonderful smelling soaps all the way from Brazil that are great for relaxation as well as a sweet card, letter and these adorable comic strips. I LOVE IT ALL!! The funny this is that when I got the package, I could not open it immediately because I was driving Josh and myself to Texarkana for our appointment and so after the appointment and dinner I still had not opened it so I asked Josh to and he was in shock that I got something alllllll the way from Brazil and what's hilarious is that Kecia posted little translation post-its to the card and wrote them on the comic strips and we both got confused but after seeing it was not in English, we just laughed and it all made sense! haha... I cherish these things Kecia and mom and infact, I carry the card, letter and comic strips in my purse every day to remind me to pray for you and to remind me of my "family" in Brazil. Thank you Kecia and family for your generosity and wonderful light of God from Brazil! I don't have a picture of the soaps but just imagine clean laundry, lavendar, and your favorite fabric softener smell all made into one scent and THAT'S WHAT the soaps smell like... mmm... I have a bar on my soap dish by my sink and smell it every night before bed. NO ONE IS ALLOWED TO USE IT...hahah. it's for my smelling pleasure. :) haha... Below is the cute card: On the front it says, "everything will be upside down..." and on the inside it has the little cartoon guy crawling out of the crib and it says, "but you're gonna love it!" it is the sweetest baby card I've received!
Below are the adorable comic strips:
Thank you again Kecia and family for the wonderful relaxation package all the way from Brazil! Love you ~God Bless
Today marks our 13th week of being blessed w/ this tiny baby growing inside! It is so hard to believe how fast my 1st trimester went by. Baby Kee is now the size of a Peach! I love peaches!! :) The baby is forming teeth and vocal cords, & approaching normal proportions, with a head now only one third the size of the body. Wow!! That's a tid-bit of what The Bump says today. I'm going to try and take a baby bump picture today so you can all see how much Baby Kee has grown in the 2 weeks since my last picture. :) Josh is really enjoying seeing how much the baby has grown and how much I've grown. He loves to rub my belly. haha... Hope you all have a warm and happy day! ~God bless
Ok, so to prepare you, this is a LONNNGGGGG post w/ all our Christmas decorations we accomplished over the Thanksgiving holiday. We put up 3 full size trees (2 - 6.5' trees and one 7.5' tree) and one 3' tree. I hope you all had an enjoyable Thanksgiving holiday like we did. We had 10 guests in our home and it was great. We then drove to stay w/ my parents Thanksgiving night so Josh could participate in Black Friday and get all the sales! haha.. overall, it was a great holiday and we had a great time. I love Christmas because of the wonderful story of the birth of Jesus and the magic of that beautiful story. I also love this time of year because it's our anniversary month. We were married December 11, 2004 and it was the most beautiful ceremony I've ever seen, not just saying that b/c it was ours! haha... We will soon be celebrating our 4 year anniversary and it's soo hard to believe how fast these years have flown by. If you were to tell me 4 years ago that our lives would be as they are now, I would have never believed you. God has blessed us sooo much and to see the growth and journies He's lead us through in just 4 years is amazing! Christmas will be extra special as well as our anniversary this year because it's our last one as just "Josh and Bekah". We are thrilled and can't wait! I hope you all enjoy this Christmas season and reflect on the blessings He has given you. Below are all the pictures of our inside decorations. We haven't started decorating outside yet b/c it's been so cold and rainy off and on. Enjoy!!
Our main tree 7/5'all gold ornaments (every ornament on this tree was given to us at our wedding reception): The Wild Tree in our front guest bedroom (6.5' tree): Our Bedroom tree(no it's not leaning; all silver ornaments given to us also at our wedding reception): 3' Tree in the "soon-to-be" nursery (my very first tree as a child): Kitchen Village Collection: My Tree collection: Our stockings (velvet w/ rhinestone "K's" on them): Old World Christmas Wedding Ornament Collection (this was a wedding present from a dear friend): Nativity scene my mom gave me last year at Christmas: Guest Bathroom: Fireplace (the two 4' trees are new; Josh bought these for me this year): Entertainment center with my tiny village collection: End tables: Dining Room Table (I made the two tinsle trees): Coffee Table w/ my nativity snow globe and figurine collection: Chirio Cabinet w/ my Department 56 Village collection below: ~God Bless & Merry Christmas~
OMG, yesterday was soooo amazing!! Not only did we get to hear Baby Kee's amazingly strong and healthy heartbeat but we got to play around on the ultrasound machine! It was sooo cool. Our pinto bean does not look like a bean anymore but looks like a baby! He/she is the size of a large plum (exactly 5.76cm big)and at first, Baby Kee was real still and mellow but in a split second, Baby Kee started DANCING!! SERIOUSLY! ALL 4 LIMBS WERE MOVING AND DANCING AROUND! It was hilarious! My dr. got some great shots of Baby Kee on the Ultrasound machine but sorry the pics aren't too clear like they are in person. I took them w/ my phone so I could upload them before we get off work today at noon. In this one, you can actually see toes and one of his/her hands. Baby Kee immediately spread all 5 fingers out so we could take a picture of them. Almost like Baby Kee was saying, "See mom & dad, I grew fingers!!"
In this picture below, Baby Kee was turning completely away from us w/ his/her back to us and gave us the "talk to the hand" gesture as he/she was using his/her arm to manuvere around.
At this point, Baby Kee was irritated at dr. Tom so he/she gave a mean face (the picture itself vividly shows this aggravated expression; the face is on the right side).
And lastly, this is a picture of Baby Kee's back and tiny little booty (head to rump goes from right to left).
Aren't they cool?! It absolutely shocked us how our baby went from this tiny little baby at 8 weeks to this in only a month later!!!!
I just keep thinking how we actually SAW GOD YESTERDAY! There is a song that George Strait sings about his daughter that's called "I saw God today" and what's even cooler is that the song played on the radio while we were going around town after our appointment. It was amazing to hear and see this little life grow in such a short time and to see how it is a living baby and not just a little blob like some people say a "fetus" is. I hate that word...IT'S A BABY SO CALL IT THAT! I can't imagine life any sweeter than it is right now!!! Dr. Tom said by our next visit, which is Dec. 23rd right before Christmas, that I should have or will feel the baby by then! :) yeah! We won't find out what we're having until probably January. OH, and I've only gained 1 pound!! Course, I did lose 5 the first 8 weeks but I've only gained 1 pound from my original weight! He said everything is measuring fine, including my baby bump, which was comforting b/c I feel like a whale. lol..
It is sooo easy to know what I'm thankful for this Thanksgiving and I hope each of you know what you're thankful for and what you give God glory for! Enjoy time w/ your family and friends this Thanksgiving and have a happy one! ~God Bless
WE'RE 12 WEEKS ALONG TODAY AND HAVE AN APPOINTMENT!!! :) Baby Kee-Lime-Pinto-Monkey is now, Baby-Kee-Lime-PLUM-Pinto-Monkey! :) We go today for our 2nd OB appointment at 1:45pm. I'm soo excited b/c we will get to hear the heartbeat and HOPEFULLY get another ultrasound done. My dr. and his family are really close to me and my family and in fact, I grew up w/ his oldest daughter, his wife was my photographer for ALL my wedding pictures and one of my reception pictures, has my dr. IN HIS SCRUBS getting food from my table. LOL... everyone always asks who that is and I ALWAYS tell them, "Oh, that's my OB/GYN." haha... always a conversation piece. lol.. and his wife is supposed to come up to his office when I'm there and she wants to play around on the ultrasound machine b/c she wants to see the baby. She's a nurse so she can do that kind of thing! Anyhoo, another good thing, I get off at noon today! woo hooo! AND, tomorrow we only work till 12:30 and we're off for THANKSGIVING!! YEAH! Today is such a busy wonderful day!
Sewing So a friend of mine that I grew up with asked me to make a Sunday Diaper Bag (the first pic; the smaller bag w/o the brown border or monogramming) and the Standard Size Diaper bag w/ the soon-to-be baby's name, Ava on it. I love this print and is in fact, my most popular and my personal favorite! This is the first time I've used this print and color combo for a baby girl. I think they both turned out adorable. I added tiny bows on each side of the Standard Size Diaper bag to give it just a little touch or "girlyness."
I hope you all have a great day in the Lord and I will update ya tomorrow on how the appointment went and HOPEFULLY have more pic's of Baby Kee to show ya! ~God Bless
After Haircut: I went for a "minimal cut/trim" on Saturday to a random salon while we were shopping w/ mom and dad and came out with 7 INCHES gone! I ended up donating ALL 7 INCHES for it to be made into wigs or hair pieces for those suffering from cancer or other hair diminishing diseases, so I felt a lot better about having that much cut off. I had my hair cut like this a long time ago and just loved it. It's really choppy and textured, which the picture doesn't show :(.
Tomorrow is our 2nd doctors appointment and I'm so anxious and excited. I can't wait to see what we get to do tomorrow!
Christian, happily married woman of 13 years to my awesome husband, Josh, a mom to our beautiful first-born child, Shelby Lynne, as of June 12, 2009, and our little boy, Rhett Randall, born March 7, 2014. I love being originally creative and serving the Lord through my talents as ministries for Him. God has blessed us and we praise Him daily!
