The Nursery is Finally Painted!!

THANK YOU NOLANS!!! I am so excited to have the nursery painted finally. The stripes on the wall are actually the same exact color, except one stripe is a semi-gloss, the other is a flat. We only placed the stripes on one wall...the wall that the crib is going to be on. The rest of the room is solid. There is still a lot to do...but the hardest part is over. What's next? We purchased a closet organizer at Lowes. I am hoping the Craig is in the mood to install that this weekend so that I can start hanging up clothes. We also need to convert the chandelier to electrical and then hang it up. Once those things are done...the only things left are the finishing touches, which we haven't quite decided on yet. I have a few ideas...but you will just have to wait until the I post the finished pictures and be surprised.

Emily's Chandelier

Here is my Mother's Day gift from Craig. I have always talked about how neat it would be to have a girly chandelier in Emily's nursery. The colors we have for the nursery are sage green and chocolate brown...very gender neutral because we started the nursery when we were moving forward with adoption. Now that we know we are having a girl...I wanted to somehow bring in items to make it more girly. We agreed that we would throw in hints of lavender through bed sheets, a quilt that Grandma "Queen" is making, and other accessories...but I just loved the idea of having a chandelier in the room. I found this one in Target...and Craig went out of his way to get it for Emily. I LOVE IT!!
It is made to be plugged into an outlet, so Craig will be converting it for electrical lighting, and then we are probably going to spray paint it all white...it has a hint of pink in each of the flowers.
The nursery is going to start coming together next weekend. I AM SO EXCITED!! We have a couple of friends coming over next weekend to give their painting expertise...it is going to be PERFECT!!! So after next weekend, I will probably be spending too much time playing around in the nursery as I go through Emily's clothes and hang them up in a beautifully organized closet!! I CAN'T WAIT!!

28 Week Appointment

I have officially had my last "monthly" appointment and have now graduated to the "every other week" appointments.
My 7 month appointment went well. This was the appointment where I had to drink a can of pure sugar...sit around for an hour and then return to get my blood drawn. By now...I am a pro at getting my blood drawn (considering all of the previous infertility treatments I have gone through)...I just wish I could say the same about the people actually drawing my blood. EVERY SINGLE TIME...I remind the techs that my veins are small and difficult to get. I remind them to use a "butterfly" needle (whatever that is...it just always seemed to work well when I was at the fertility clinic). So the tech proceeds to tie up my arm, and as she prepares her needles I am squeezing and pumping my fist to hopefully build up my vein. She kept telling me to "just relax...you don't need to do that". She then begins to examine my arm...flick at the veins, etc...trying to find the perfect one. Then...she goes in with a powerful *STAB*!!! With that much force you would think she made it in...NOPE...nothing. However, she does continue to dig around inside my arm to try and find the vein. NO LUCK!! To my own surprise, I was actually holding it together...no tears. (Just a side note...those of you who don't know...needles have always been a HUGE phobia of mine...which made those infertility treatments that much more fun) She finally pulled the needle out and decided to go for this itty bitty vein on the side of my arm...*STAB*. SON OF A BISCUIT!!!!! That one HURT!!!! Fortunately, she got what she needed, and the torture was over!! I should get my results back on Monday, but believe me...I will be indulging in sugary goodness this weekend...you know...just in case my results come back and say I can't have it anymore.

As for the part of the appointment with the doctor...I just LOVE my doctor. It was another quick visit. We got to listen to Emily's heartbeat...nice and strong, and then she measured my stomach. I measured at 30 centimeters. I guess your measurements are supposed to line up with how far along you are with your pregnancy, so I should be at 29 centimeters. OH NUTS!!! The doctor said, that it isn't a big deal. Emily could be stretching, or she could be a long baby (like her father). She said if the measurements are a 3-4 centimeter difference, then they do an ultrasound to determine if they need to change the due date. Other than that...that was pretty much it for the appointment. We talked about a few questions that I had...and then I went to schedule my next appointment...in two weeks. :)

I can't believe Emily will be here soon. I can't wait to hold her, and love her, and kiss her, and rock her, and on and on and on!! I just want to meet her so badly!!

The Ball Keeps Rolling...

I met with the Pastor T. who is heading up our new abortion recovery ministry. We met to go over some new details and to plan out some new ideas for "ZOE" (that's what we named the ministry...it means "life")

During the meeting, she shared with me an update related to the letter that I had originally wrote to Pastor Dean last summer regarding our IVF procedure. For those of you who don't know about that letter, check out the post titled: Listen to Parts of our Pastor's Message: When Does Life Begin. At my first meeting with Pastor T. she shared with me some of the results that came about as a result of Pastor Dean's message (mentioned in the post titled: Hindsight is 20/20). It was so great to hear...and it just amazes me as I CONTINUE to see God's hand work in this story.

So...like I started out with, I met again with Pastor T. to talk about our new ministry. During the meeting, she shared with me how "Care Net" was so excited to be partnering up with our church. Care Net shared with her how many churches donate to their cause but are not ready or are unsure of how to bring up the issue of abortion in their church...so they just stay silent to the subject. Well...when Care Net found out about our letter on infertility and how Pastor addressed the topic as a message, along with the response from the congregation, they had asked him to create a format that would be able to train and encourage other Pastors in helping them to be able to address such a tough topic in their own churches.

THAT'S HUGE!!! I just love hearing how our testimony continues to spread...it is just amazing to see God's hands continue to work. I know that He isn't done with this yet and I am so excited to see what He has in store for us around the corner.

Mother's Day Testimony

I received a call yesterday from the media guy at our church. He said that he had heard that I had quite the testimony on becoming a mother and wanted to know if I would be willing to have them record my story on video so that they could share it at each of the four services on MOTHER'S DAY!!! How cool is that?!?? I hope I get a copy to keep for myself!! If I do...I'll try to post it on my blog so you all can see, or...those of you in the area just might have to attend Life Center, in Tacoma, on Mother's Day to see it for yourself.
I am so excited...SO NERVOUS!! I have never done anything like this before, and when I am nervous...I turn beat red!!! I hate it!! I don't even know where to begin with my story, what points to include and what to leave out. I'm sure they don't have an hours worth of video time...I'm really going to have think about this. I am such a nerd, I just know that I am going to have to make a bulleted list of points that I want to make sure to hit. Don't worry, I won't put it on 3X5 cards to use as they are recording, that would be stupid. I will probably make myself cue cards...I'M KIDDING!! Once I figure out what I want to say and what is better left unsaid, I will be fine.
Craig will be in the video too. His job is to sit pretty on my side, with his arm around me...and to hand me tissue should I need it.
I am so excited about our story being shared on Mother's Day. I never thought, in a million years, that I would be excited for Mother's Day. This is just the coolest way to start off all of my Mother's Day celebrations.
I would love to see you there!! Mark your calendars.

8th Grade Story...

So, I'm 25 weeks pregnant now. In my eyes, I think I definitely "look" pregnant. I mean...if you stare at my belly long enough, you can actually see Emily kicking around in there. Well, one of my colleagues came into my classroom today to tell me this hilarious story. It turns out that one of my students was talking with her and shared with her how he thought I was really starting to get fat...YES...he said "fat". I just about fell out of my seat laughing. I mean, it's not like I have been trying to hide this from my students at all. I am pretty open with them about the pregnancy if they ask. Some students are curious about her size and development, so I am happy to share with them. We have had short discussions of what they think her name should be. I am always telling them that they need to watch what they say around me because Emily can hear them.
I just think it is crazy that after months of talking about my pregnancy...he was clueless. I don't even have to be "teaching" in my class, apparently this kid just automatically zones out. I must sound like the Charlie Brown teacher to him when I talk. :)

24 Week Appointment

Well...I had my 24 week appointment this past Tuesday. It was the first time that I actually met the doctor. She was AMAZING!!! I loved her...loved her to pieces!!! This was the first appointment where she measured my belly. Afterwards, she used the doppler to listen to Emily's heartbeat. As we were listening, Emily gave a number of strong kicks. The doctor starting laughing. She said, "Whoa, you have a mover and shaker here. This one is going to be a handful" I really need to start looking into dancing classes...I think tap would be AWESOME!!! Just kidding...kind of.
Anyways, I have one more "monthly" visit to the doctor before my appointments move up to every other week. At me next appointment I will have the blood sugar test. I wonder what the sugary liquid tastes like? Hmmm....?
This past week I told Craig that I am actually starting to "feel" pregnant. I'm getting a bit uncomfortable now. My lower back is getting stiff, my feet need a good rubbing (I don't know if that is really the pregnancy...or just me liking a good foot rub)I am finding it more difficult to get a good night's sleep, etc. Don't get me wrong...I really do love being pregnant. The last couple of days, when Emily is kicking...you can actually "see" it when you look at my big belly. Craig was laughing when I pointed it out to him.
I just cannot wait to meet this little girl!! I want to hold her and love her and kiss her all over!!

What should Emily's middle name be?

I started a poll at the top of my blog. Craig and I are so confused about what Emily's middle name should be. Our first choice was Elizabeth...we LOVE that for the middle name. It flows so nicely with Emily, and we just love the meaning behind it...considering all we have been through in trying to get pregnant. Unfortunately, as we shared with friends and family, we quickly found out that "Emily Elizabeth" is the name of the character with "the big red dog: Clifford". I don't want Emily to be made fun of during her childhood years because she has the same name as the "girl with the big red dog". To add insult to injury...we actually have a big red dog. His name isn't Clifford, it is actually Luke. I just don't want Emily growing up hating her name. Maybe she won't. On the other hand, how many kids go around saying their full name? (Maybe a lot more than I think) In addition to that...her initials would be EEW, as in "yuck". Am I looking too much into this, or is this good to catch now rather than after Emily is here? It just stinks because I TRULY love the name Emily Elizabeth, but not at the risk of her being made fun of.
So, my next option was Nicole. I think is goes well with Emily (not as well as Elizabeth, but it goes well). The meaning of the Nicole is not all that special. The only reason I thought of it is because it is my own middle name, but what if that is a bad thing? What if she doesn't want to have the same middle name as her mother? This is hard!!

Hmmm....what do you all think? If you have another suggestion, feel free to click on the comments link below this post and share it. Thanks for the input!!!

New York: FRIDAY

Craig and I slept in pretty late…it was much needed. I think the stress of Tuesday and trying to squeeze everything in really caught up with us. We knew that our check out time was at noon, so we were in no hurry. When we finally did get up, we packed our bags and checked them in so we could cross two more things off our list before heading home. Craig wanted me to see the entrance to the Natural History Museum and I wanted to walk through the St. Patrick’s Cathedral…which by the way was STUNNING!!! The detail in the building was insane beautiful. The statues…amazing!!! One thing that I found interesting was that there were only a few statues of Jesus, each one of them was of Him broken…from the death of the cross. There were more statues of Mary than of Jesus. Regardless…it was simply breath taking.
Back to the hotel…it was FINALLY time to head off to the airport to come home…HOME SWEET HOME!!! Don’t get me wrong…New York definitely has its amazing qualities, however with the whole hospital incident, it made it really hard for me to enjoy the rest of the trip. I was so stressed out and worried that I was going to over do it again that I couldn’t truly enjoy New York. It was hard being away from home, away from my doctors, away from family, when the incident happened. So, it goes without saying that I couldn’t wait to come home!!!

New York: THURSDAY

Finally, we were going to get to see the Statue of Liberty. It was breath taking!!! Honestly though, for some reason, I thought it was going to be bigger…but that didn’t take away from its awesomeness. Afterwards we visited the Financial District where we saw Ground Zero. There were a few memorials set up around the area, but most of the view for Ground Zero was blocked as they were doing construction work.
Due to the loss of one day of sight-seeing, we felt that we had to squeeze in a lot in one day…so it off to the subway to head to Rockefeller Center and then straight to the Empire State Building, while still having enough time to go to our Broadway show at 8…which by the way was the BEST!!! Even though the show was sold out, they managed to bring in two chairs for Craig and I and, believe it or not, the seats were great!!! Craig and I loved the show, WICKED, and so did Emily. No joke…during every single song, Emily danced through each one, from beginning to end. As soon as the song was over, so was her dancing. After THE BEST SHOW EVER, we walked back to the hotel, stopping at a diner across the street to share a dessert.