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Blogging Again!

I have been so negligent on blogging over the years!  I hate that I have missed recording so many wonderful moments for my children to look back on years down the road.  However I am attempting to start blogging again.  I currently have 2 blogs, this one that I started as a general blog about our family and life and another that I started for the express intent of sharing my cancer journey.  Really the 2 are so intertwinded as my cancer journey has defined my life and the life of my family in so many ways.  The address for that is radioactivemama.wordpress.com in case you want to check it out.  I hope to add more to that story but know there is much I have forgotten. I had hoped to blog on there more so I would not forget but the busyness of life and joys of caring for little ones overtook that initial good intent :)  You Moms out there understand. 
So here we go again...

Time...

I don't know where the time goes, really. I know there is a Scripture that says something about redeeming the time the locusts have eaten away. I will have to go find that.Our little bug is now 3 1/2 months old. The time has just flown by. Our lives have been so crazy hectic, but the Lord has been ultimately faithful, as only He can. I am determined to write the story of the last 4 months of our lives down. If for no one else, then at least for my children to know and see the provision of our God in big and small ways through our lives. This is my attempt to get back in to writing mode. Hopefully the rest will follow soon...

Blessed... so very blessed

So let me tell you the ways I have been blessed in the last few months...

About 7 1/2 weeks ago I fell and severely bruised my tail bone. Over the next couple weeks, not 1, but 2 friends sent meals for us... whole meals, side dishes, bread, one even sent desert! Then another amazing friend came and mopped my house for me! You have no idea the muscles you have to use to mop until you have a hurt back, bruised tail bone, and are pregnant! Another friend offered to come scrub my tub for me (another task that seems easy until you are in the predicament I was in!)

Then the beautiful (inside and out) women in my Base Camp (small-group Bible study) threw me a great baby shower. Today, a friend texted me and said she was going to Wal-mart, did I need anything. Turns out I did need a few things, and when she dropped them off later, she also brought several special treats for Julia! Now, on Thursday, at least 5 of the women from my Base Camp are coming and cleaning my house!!! I am so humbled by this. I have a small house, and if even if they only stay for 2 hours, I think the house will be the cleanest it has ever been.

It is so amazing, humbling, and exciting when the body of Christ functions like a body... hands scrubbing, feet going to Wal-mart, hearts reaching out with love and prayers.

It is SO hard for me to admit when I need help, let alone to ask for it. One friend told me, "Kaycie, you have to tell us what you need when. We aren't mind readers." Asking for help from someone to clean my house was my first attempt at taking her words to heart, and now I ended up with not just 1 person to help me, but at least 5 to do it for me!
One friend has already offered for Princess to come over and play for a few hours after the baby is born, pretty much anytime I need, and also to bring us meals.

I think I tend to think I like others more than they like me, and so even though I would do the same for these wonderful women, I am just in awe that they are doing these things for me. Go God!

"I thank my God every time I remember you. ⁴In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy ⁵because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, ⁶being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." - Philipians 3-6

Vacation

So I officially stink at blogging. I don't know how those people do it that write a new blog everyday. Maybe my life is too boring that I don't have enough to say. Although I suspect it's the fact that I rarely remember I have a blog to write in!

We just got back from a great, week-long vacation with my brother and his family. We stayed in a very nice townhouse right on the beach off the coast of North Carolina. We swam in the pool everyday, went down to the ocean several times, went to the North Carolina Aquarium, ate some really good pizza, and the most amazing bowl of she-crab soup (not in the same meal of course!) stayed up way too late, and had the most fun I have ever had playing "catch phrase." You know, that game is much funnier late at night when everyone is tired... I would tell you some of the funny things said, but I am sure they just wouldn't be funny if you weren't there. :) My brother and his wife cooked the most awesome NY strip I have probably ever had, his wife makes amazing redskin mashed potatoes, and I ate way too much and had too many sweets and too much junk. I rediscovered the joy of spray butter, and actually wore sunscreen everytime I went on the beach or in the pool! (Aren't you proud, Mom?!) I got to see what a wonderful Dad my brother is, and how much he loves his wife and daughter. I was reminded of how much I love my brother, and was thoroughly impressed that he now hangs up wet towels, stain treats his laundry, cleans up the kitchen when he cooks, and even changes diapers on a complete 50/50 basis with his wife. He's turned out to be a pretty great guy, despite what I thought for all those years growing up. (j/k of course:)I even got to sleep in until 9:30 one day while my brother watched Princess for me! I love my niece, LAMB, and was so happy to see what a bundle of joy she truly is. She wakes up smiling, and rarely fusses. She is a beautiful little girl, and we all enjoyed getting to know her.
I got to spend time walking with my husband on the beach, kick-his butt at catch phrase (the team I was on always won, no matter who my partner was,) and play and laugh with him and Princess in a way that we don't take the time to do often enough at home. I loved watching him swim with Princess and reassure her that the water was safe. I know how much his attention meant to her during our vacation, because ever since we have been home, she has been even more attached to him than before. He is the one that gives her magic healing kisses when she gets a boo-boo, and holds her close when something scares her, like a thunderstorm or the ocean. He really is an amazing husband and father. We are so blessed!
This vacation, more than a luxury, was a neccessity. As owners of our own business, that operates out of our home, we needed last week to renew, recharge, relax, and prepare us to face the hecticness of the next few months as we prepare to juggle our business, our home, Princess, and a new precious little girl!
Now, apart from all of that...
My pregnancy is progressing well. I now have 10 weeks and 5 days to go until we expect the little one to arrive. The time has gone amazingly fast and slow at the same time. I feel much more tired and achy than I remember feeling with Princess , but I assume that is due to all I have to take care of now that I didn't the first time around. Other than that, I feel pretty good. Josh has been finding new ways to help me and show me he loves me, and the times where he insists I stay off of my feet (which I am sure you know is VERY difficult for me) are so sweet and appreciated. (Sis-in-law was also very helpful and sweet on vacation, and would insist I sit down and let her do whatever it was I was trying to do.)
Princess is very excited about having a baby sister and regularly sings her songs (Twinkle, Twinkle is her favorite) gives my belly hugs and kisses, feels her move, and talks to her. She also tells others about her baby sister, and is always asking people if they want to feel the baby move.
I still can't believe that by Christmas we are going to have 2 girls! I am excited, but mostly just tired right now. :)

Pregnancy woes and other news

So I really don't remember feeling this awful on my first go-round at this pregnancy thing. Josh assures me that I did. I do remember that I felt nauseous for about 3 months straight, but even though I remember that intellectually, I don't remember what that really felt like. I feel awful pretty much from the time I wake up until the time I go to sleep. My stomach hurts and I feel like throwing up would be sweet relief (although unlike in the case of the flu or other stomach ailments, throwing up doesn't actually make you feel better in the case of pregnancy nausea.) I am hungry often, but 90% of food not only doesn't look appetizing, but repulses me. So far Golden Grahams, granola bars, and peanut butter crackers have been consistently non-repulsive, and thus are the foods I turn to most often. Bagels have been okay most of the time, and so has milk. All of these aversions have made cooking difficult to say the least, but fortunately I have had some help in this department from my wonderful husband, as well as my brother-in-law and sister-in-law. The worst is meat, especially raw or cooking meat. The other day we went to IHOP, and I had to ask them to move us to a different table almost immediately as we were right by the kitchen where they were apparently cooking a disgusting onion pot roast. Uck.. even now it makes my stomach churn. On Saturday night we grilled hamburgers, which I could not be anywhere near while they were cooking, and could barely sit at the same table with them while I ate my non-repulsive BBQ chicken. For those who really know me, you know that I am a die-hard steak and potatoes girl, so this new found disgust of all things beef is especially traumatic. With Princess, my nausea stopped promptly at the end of my first trimester, which means I have approximately 5 more weeks of this. Oh, on top of the nausea, I am SO tired. Again, I don't remember this with Princess. However, there are several major differences. The first and most obvious being that I have a 2 year old to care for. When I was pregnant with Princess, during my first trimester I worked a part time job, where I was actually able to nap during the day. Also, at the end of the day, I was able to come home and really rest. Now I have not only a 2 year old, but a dog, our own business, my 18 year old sister-in-law living with us, and we have had numerous other house guests in and out over the last several weeks. It's no wonder I am tired!
In other news, at my MOPS group last week (Mothers of Preschoolers), when I picked Princess up from childcare, her teacher told me that Princess was looking at the cross necklace the teacher was wearing and she said, "necklace, cross, Jesus dies on the cross." It almost made me cry. I don't really know how she knows this, as its not something you talk about much with a 2 year-old. I have mentioned it before, I know, when we have seen a cross, but I don't think it's even been recently. The most likely teacher of this particular fact is Princess' wonderful Sunday school teacher, Kellee. No matter how she knows, I am in awe at the goodness of the Lord, and what He teaches to our precious children. I know that my prayers for her little heart and soul are heard by the Father, and for that I am so grateful.
That's all my ramblings for now... :)

Deja Vu

So I feel like I am living in deja vu, being pregnant again... many things are different this time, but some are the same, of course. I have been wanting to be pregnant so badly, but when I finally found out I was, I was a little surprised and a little nervous... weird, right? Anyway, so far I feel a lot less nauseous than I did with Princess, but a lot more tired. I guess thats a fair trade in the Mommy-scheme of things. It is much easier to chase a 2-year old while tired than it would be nauseous, lol. At least I think so. Josh wonderfully let me sleep this morning for almost 2 hours! When I woke up I felt like I had been hit by a mac-truck, so I can only imagine how I would have felt if I had not slept. Anyway, my first mid-wife appointment is on Wednesday. I am trying, as always, to be better at blogging, and it has only been about 2 months since I blogged last time, haha! I am going to try and add that baby countdown thing Rachel had, and also the name voter. We'll see how that goes.