A Great Expectation Wedding

I found pictures of this beautiful Great Expectation Wedding

on the talented Ginny Branch's Blog and completely fell in love.

And here is a magical 8mm video of the amazing wedding photo shoot.

Great Expectations | Super 8 Film from Chris Dekmar on Vimeo.

Before Midnight

If you grew up as a teen in the 90's, like me,

then you no doubt remember this movie...

Who could forget Jesse and Celine

and their one day romance that made every teenage girl

dream of one day being stuck in a record closet with Ethan Hawk.

 Am I right Ladies??

And then there was this sequel 9 years later,

where they spontaneously meet again.

Well, guess what...

they're back with their third film, Before Midnight.

Here is my dilemma...

I loved the first film, but I hated the second!

 So I'm plagued with the questions...

1. Will I even like the new movie?

2. Are the heavily wordy philosophical debates,

that are the signature behind this movie franchise,

even appealing outside of the 1990's.

3. Has my age and life experiences caused me to respond

to these "heavily wordy philosophical debates" with:

"No ones got time for that. I have dishes to do."

These are the questions I ask myself while I'm on "pregnancy rest".

I know, quite sad, but I've clearly ran out of things to do.

Winter

Isn't it true?
Watching the snow fall softly to the ground
is always so calming. 


Image Via: Tumblr

16 Weeks Pregnant

How Far Along:
16 Weeks

Size of the Baby:
Baby is the size of an Avocado!

Maternity Clothes:
Bought a few comfortable items from Old Navy:

Maternity yoga pants (such a comfort saver!)

Two cardigans (one shown in the pic above)

Weight gain:
Still at the 5lb marker.

Sleep:
Waking up at 3am to snack has began to be pattern.
And my dreams have been getting crazier...
no joke, I had a dream that I gave birth to a cat last night.
Not a cool dream at all.

Best Moment of the Week:
Micah and I went to a movie!

We saw "Silver Linings Playbook"... it was great by the way.

Movement:
Still not yet, but I am constantly waiting and hoping that it will be soon.

Food Cravings:
Fruit Leathers (in all flavors)

Pop Tarts (I finally caved and bought the real ones)

Fish Tacos (On the way to the movie

I made Micah stop and buy some at Taco del Sol

and they were amazing!)

Gender:
November 20th!

And, as of this week, we want to find out!

Belly Button in or out:
In

Wedding ring on or off:
On

Anything making you queasy or sick:
Chicken and Eggs are still out.

And now Bacon has started to taste sour to me.

What I miss:
To be honest, I would really love a glass of wine.

What I am looking forward to:
Feeling movement is still #1 on the list,

but I am also dying to know if it's a boy or girl!

Nursery:
Made some progress on removing all the xmas deco,

but we still have one more load to put in storage.

As soon as that is done I have a few "projects" for Micah to do on the Nursery.

Bed Rest Update:
Now that I'm feeling better, I've been able to enjoy reading again.

So far I finished "Between Shades of Gray" and I've started on "Rebecca".

My Week in Instagrams

It feels so good to be Instagraming again.

Or maybe I should say, it feels so good

to be feeling good enough to Instagram again.

And do you see that I'm posting food!

Yep, I've been cooking and slowly getting my appetite back.

Maybe one of these days I'll get enough energy to blog a yummy new recipe.

This week I was able to cook a two things...

Bean Stew with Fried Potatoes.

My mom use to cook this for our family when I was younger, 

and my grandma cooked it for my mom,

and my great grandma cooked it for my grandma... and so on and so on.

So, I think it's safe to say it's a family recipe and super delicious.

Cinnamon Pork.

My favorite Indonesian dish.

Well, let's be honest... it's the only Indonesian dish I have tasted,

but it's delicious none-the-less.

And it makes your house smell amazing when your cooking it.

 

 Have a great weekend!

Peter Rabbit for Gap

 From the moment Micah and I decided that we wanted a baby,

I knew that the Nursery had to have a Peter Rabbit Theme. 

I love Peter Rabbit... I love any Beatrix Potter Character.

And when I saw that Baby Gap has recently released

a Peter Rabbit inspired baby clothing line,

I knew I was in trouble. Like, serious financial trouble.

If we decide to find out early if our baby is a boy or girl, it's gonna be bad.

Because I already know what my first purchases will be...

Week 15

 
How Far Along:
15 Weeks

Size of the Baby:
Apx. 4 1/2 inches. The size of an orange!

Maternity Clothes:
I attempted to by some maternity clothing at Target on Sunday...
then I realized that their maternity section sucked!
So I bought a dress and a sweater two sizes too big from the "normal" section
and they are working out great so far.
I also bought two belly bands which are a life saver
since I can officially not even begin to zip my pants up anymore.

Weight gain:
5 lbs since my starting weight.

Sleep:
Becoming more uncomfortable.
I'm suppose to be sleeping on my sides as much as possible.
But half way through the night my hips are so achy
that I'm just dying to sleep on my back.

Best Moment of the Week:
Getting out of the house to go to the grocery store by myself
(it's been since before Thanksgiving since I've done that).

Movement:
Not yet. Maybe in a couple weeks.

Food Cravings:
I have finally been able to eat a bit more!
My "go-to" snacks are:
Dubliner Cheese
Dried Mangos
Celery & Peanut Butter
Raw Almonds
Peach Yogurt
Nacho Cheese Doritos
(guilty confession...
I ate a whole bag of Doritos by myself in two days...
and I don't regret it at all).

Gender:
Not till February 20th...
if we even decided to find out. 

Belly Button in or out:
In

Wedding ring on or off:
On

Anything making you queasy or sick:
Yeah, me and chicken are still not on good terms.
Eggs are now officially on my bad side too,
after indulging in way to many deviled eggs the other day.

What I miss:
I miss being able to go out and about during the day,
not being able to casually shop is killing me.
And I would love to be able to take Silas for a walk again.

What I am looking forward to:
Feeling the baby move.
I'm constantly trying to see if I feel anything. 

Nursery:
Finally got cleaned of the Xmas decoration explosion.

Bed Rest Update:
Found a new TV show obsession that kept me busy for 8 hours...
Sherlock (the BBC version), so addicting.
Thanks Jill for the recommendation!

Current Crush - Loafers

I'm totally crushing on these loafers...
or any loafers for that matter.
I can't wait till Spring and the snow melts
so I can go out and get some!

These are created by
Ele Unique & Handmade Leather Accessories

A Downton Wedding

I think it's pretty safe to say that we all are unashamedly obsessed with Downton Abbey.

And didn't you jump for joy when these two finally got married!
I expect to see many weddings with Downton themes this year
and many dresses just like Mary's.

 

Beginnings

I always imagined myself to be the type of pregnant lady who would not let things hold me back.
I would be the person who just kept going on with my normal life and enjoy every moments of it.
 This was what I had wanted for so long, why would I start to complain about it?
And don't worry, this is not going to be a complaining post about the woe's of being pregnant...
But when life happens in unexpected ways, you have to start throwing your "ideals" out the window.

We found out we were pregnant when I was 4 weeks along and at 7 weeks the complications began.
Nothing is more horrifying than hearing the doctor tell you that you could loose your baby.
Your miracle baby that you thought you would never have.
And to top that off, the doctors said that there was nothing that could be done to fix the complication.
 We were just left with the instructions to wait, rest, and pray.
Time would only tell if things would get better or worse.

So that is what I have been doing for the past 8 weeks. Yeah, that's almost 2 month.
I've practically been on bed/couch rest, unable to do not much more than read
or watch endless hours of Four Weddings and What Not To Wear (two highly addictive shows).
Emotions swaying from happy to sad, from hope to despair at any given moment of the day.

Not really what I had "planned" my pregnancy to be like.
But everyday that I wake up still pregnant, and as those days turn into weeks,
I praise the Lord that he has given me one more day.
And I pray that these weeks will turn into 40 weeks
and in July the Lord will bless us with a perfect healthy baby.

 I ask that you too stand in prayer with us.
That the Lord will heal the complications and in His perfect timing
give us the baby we truly hope for.

My Obsession with Gems

Over Christmas my family and I had a brief and very random conversation about gem stones.
We were trying to figure out all birthstones in the family,
which then lead to probably too much time
spent googling gemstones and ohhh-ing and awe-ing over their beauty.

One of my gem obsession right now is Green Onyx.
I had never even heard of this gem until a few days ago and now I am just in love!
Wouldn't you just love to be wearing one of those rings created by Delezhen.
Actually, I would probably wear any piece of jewelry at Delezhen.
Every item is seriously gorgeous. 

My Week in Instagrams

I feel like this week I finally had
a bit more energy to actually Instagram!
Hopefully I can keep it up.

Week 14

Size of the Baby:

Apx. 3 1/2 inches. The size of a Kiwi!

Maternity Clothes:

I'm living in my yoga pants right now but even they are getting too small.

I'm pretty sure my next purchase will be a belly band and bigger yoga pants.

Weight gain:

Well, I lost 5lbs at the beginning due to major food aversions.

But as of right now, I'm up about 4lbs from my pre-baby weight.

Sleep:

Getting somewhat better.

 I don't wake up 100x's in the middle of the night to pee anymore.

Best Moment of the Week:

Actually being able to cook dinner for the first time in almost 2 months.

Nothing fancy... I made a burrito... ha!

Movement:

Not yet.

Food Cravings:

I wouldn't call them cravings, they are more like

"food I can actually stomach".

Here's the list:

Smoothies

Mint Ice Cream

Steak

Apples & PB

Belly Button in or out:

In

Wedding ring on or off:

On

Anything making you queasy or sick:

Chicken (even just looking at raw chicken).

Just the smell of Wheat Thins makes me gag.

What I miss:

Loving and craving food.

Nursery:

At the moment, it is the storage room for all our xmas decorations

that are still waiting to be boxed and stored away.

Emotions:

This whole experience is very surreal.

I can't wait until I can go to Target and buy something for the baby!

2012's Best Recipes

Oh the recipes.

Always the best part!

Here are a few of my favorite recipe posts

from this past year...

January's Peanut Butter Toffee Cookies

February's Semi-Homemade Doughnuts

March's Pork Lo Mein

April's Easter Smoked Lamb

May's Carne Asada

June's Rhubarb Berry Pie

July's Bavarian Raspberry Tart

August's Homemade Huckleberry Ice Cream

September's Peach Butter

October's Cinnamon-Sugar Biscotti

November's Maple Walnut Brown Sugar Cake

I'm so excited to see what my appetite will crave in 2013!

2012 Recap

2012 has been a big year.
Definitely full of its highs and lows...

but isn't every year like that?

Here is a little recap of a few of my favorite 2012 moments!

To kick the year off, I was able to meet up with two dear friends in Salt Lake City

for the 2012 Alt Summit Blogging Convention.

I will always remember that trip as one of the best experiences I have had.

Not only because I learned a ton about blogging,

but because I was able to spend an amazing 3 days with these ladies.

Wish we could all join up again for the 2013 Alt.

In February, I had a bunch of DIY's.

One of my favorites and most practical being this Vanilla Extract DIY!

March was a St. Patrick's Day celebration spent with Family.

And April was a quiet Easter at home.

In May, I was back to DIY-ing.

And these awesome Jute Bottles

are still being used in my house to this day!

I was honored to be able to throw my dear friend Ruthie a baby shower at the beginning of June.

And even thought it was suppose to be a summer backyard party, the weather had other plans.

No worries, we just moved everything inside at the very last minute and improvised!

Micah and I were also able to go to Nebraska to visit family for a week.

So much sun, BBQ-ing, and fun!

July always kicks off summer here in Montana
and my July was full of Summer gardening and BBQ's.

I was also able to make a quick trip to California to visit friends and family.
Woohoo for back to back vacations!

In August, Micah and I celebrated our 6 year anniversary!
So we decided to take a quick little mini-vaca up to Whitefish Mountain Resort.
(Oh, and Silas had a little boo-boo)

October was when things began to get really busy.
It was during this month that we began the IVF process and traveled to Seattle for two weeks.
But we did some fun things during our off-time (aka when we weren't in the doctors office).

In November I started a book club!
For the month of January we are reading "Between Shades of Grey"...
NOT to be mistook for the other "Shades of Grey" series.

And, of course, in December we made the best announcement ever!...

A Huge Announcement!

I'm pregnant!

God works in such mysterious ways sometimes.
Here's our story...

Micah and I have been married for 6 years now (wow! time flies by so quickly),
and of those 6 years we have been wanting to start a family for 5 of those years.
But after many MANY doctor appointments and a few invasive surgeries,
the only answer we kept hearing was, "It's never going to happen".
We were devastated, to say the least. So we decided to take a year off,
to re-group and re-focus on what we really wanted out of life.
No more doctor appointments, no more baby talk, nada... just rest.
Towards the end of that year we came to the realization that if we knew one thing about our life,
 it was that we wanted to be a family, we wanted children. So we began the road to adoption.
Year one of the adoption road was the paperwork, so much paperwork.
Year two of the adoption road was the waiting, the long hard waiting.
The seemingly never ending waiting. That's when the confusion set in.
Was this the road we were to take? Why has it not happened yet?
If God wanted us to adopt, surely he would have given us a baby by now, right?
I know many people who adopted so quickly, why was that not happening to us?
I began to pray, "God please let us know what to do!".
That's when one day, Micah says he thinks we should re-open the
"trying to get pregnant" door and see a new fertility doctor.
And to our amazement, utter amazement and God's gracious hand,
the only way I can explain it is that, EVERY DOOR OPENED FOR US.
The new doctor said, yes it was still a possibility. IVF was definitely a possibility.
So we started the process right away. I was not gonna waist anymore time.
I'm ummm... lets just say I'm getting up there in age, if this was going to happen,
it needed to happen now. And, like I said, every door opened.
Every testing result came back great. Every medicine reacted perfectly with my body.
And after a month and a half of all that and a two week trip to Seattle for the actual procedure,
we got the answer we had been waiting for. On November 1st we got the call that I was pregnant!
We were overjoyed and a little shocked. We thought this day would never come, yet here it was.
And sometime in the middle of July we will be adding to our family.

So my lack of blogging as of recently...
I fully blame it on the 1st trimester.
Oh that nasty 1st trimester. 
And my New Years Resolution is to start back up with blogging.

Happy New Years Eve!