Our First 4 Weeks of Kindergarten!

We've been cruising right along the last 4 weeks with Kindergarten and now that we are officially one month in I feel like we've really hit our stride! The girls are settling nicely into their routines {some days are still a learning curve with Lilly!} and *I* am learning how to be flexible and still get all of our work and goals accomplished for the week.

I thrive on schedules. I like to know what to do and when to do it. Sometimes if our morning is going a little slower then planned I can feel the need to rush things to get back on track, but I've been trying to consistently remind myself that the slow, unhurried mornings are a huge perk to homeschooling. For instance, this morning after breakfast and chores the girls settled in to playing "house" together and I couldn't bring myself to interrupt that! A little voice on one shoulder was telling me to get them going and at the table for school but another voice was shouting "NO! Let them play!" And not because I'm being lazy and not taking her schooling seriously {the lies the enemy tries to tell me} but because play is so important for them at this age! If it happens naturally at 9am instead of during the scheduled "playtime" later at 11 then we'll adjust... Even though I know this is good and one reason for our homeschooling, it goes against my personality. But I'm learning to embrace the beauty and freedom that this flexibility can give for their little developing brains and personalities.

With that being said, I thought it would be fun to share a little bit of what we have set in place for our school day.

We get our school day started in the living room, sitting on the floor together to do our "Morning Time." I read a lot about Morning Baskets as I was planning our schedule and liked the idea of it, so while we don't technically have things in a basket, its sort of the same idea. 

We sit together and read our devotion book. Right now we're doing "Leading Little One's to God" and I love it so far. We pray, read a poem or sing a Hymn from the book, and then recite our memory verse for the week. We go over our rules of the house with the preschool version of "The 21 Rules of This House" and focus on one rule a week with a coloring page. We also talk about the little girl in Uganda that we sponsor through Africa Renewal Ministries. Mark and I have been sponsoring her since before we were married and I just introduced her to the girls this year! I'm hoping to expound on it more as the year goes on.

During our morning time we also do our calendar, pledge of allegiance, weather, and sing our ABC's and number songs. The ABC's and 123's are more for Lilly's sake at this point and I also put some shapes and colors on one of our boards that Lilly likes to practice during this time.

Our last part of Morning Time is going over a character trait from a big book called "Character Sketches from the Pages of Scripture". Its an old book that my mom used when I was growing up and its been fun to introduce it to my girls. It uses nature and scripture to illustrate christian character traits. The biblical stories included are a little too advanced for the girls right now so we've mostly been focusing on the nature aspect and learning about different animals while I try to give practical applications for the character traits and why its important to have them. They love this part of morning time and look forward to learning more about the animals!

After morning time, which usually only takes about 30-45 minutes to do everything I mentioned above, we take a break. The girls get a little snack and some free time while I finish my tea and get ready for what we've dubbed "Table School."

I move our morning time boards into the dining room in case we need them for reference and also to help keep the exciting school atmosphere for Reaghan. When I was young we had a special school room for school that my mom had decorated with posters and desks and I remember loving it! I want to try to give those same memories to my kids.

At the table we do our Phonics, Handwriting, and Math lessons. We are using the Abeka curriculum this year and so far I've enjoyed it. I'm using the teacher guide to help plan our lessons because I felt like that would help me get my footing this first year and make sure we reach our goals and I have appreciated the guidance and resources that are in the book. I also like that it doesn't require book work every day! There is a lesson for each subject I mentioned but it doesn't always mean writing on paper; which gives me the freedom to pull in any other kind of hands on learning ideas I've found to help reinforce what we've been learning.

Learning concepts like "Less than" and "Greater than" with counting bears.

Lilly comes to the table during this time because she wants to. She gets the option to go play or sit nicely at the table, but it hasn't been perfect having a two year old at the table with us! She is not great at independent play or staying with one task/play idea for very long yet so it's been a little challenging. I think I'll write a different post on how I've been trying to address this issue with her later!

After those 3 subject are completed the girls get another little break and then we have a special subject that we do depending on the day. Monday/Wednesdays we do a very short science lesson. Tues/Thursdays we do a short Social Studies lesson and Fridays we catch up if we weren't able to fit something in on one of those days. This month we've been learning about our 5 senses and people in our community. This took me a couple of weeks to figure out how often to fit these subjects in and we're still working on it. If the girls are feeling up for it we do an arts and crafts time with painting, scissors, gluing etc. Some days we do this instead of science or social studies and I'm totally fine with that! I feel like science and social studies are enrichment subjects at the Kindergarten level the same way that arts and crafts are, so I'm fine mixing it up during the week! Everything we do at the table is usually done in an hour.

Usually by this time its between 11 and 11:30. We start morning time at 9, so all together, including little breaks, we only spend 2 1/2 hours doing school! After we're done at the table we head outside or the girls run off to play inside somewhere until lunch time.

When nap time rolls around, I put Lilly down and Reaghan stays up with me for reading time. We have a little Reading Handbook from Abeka for learning blends and words and we usually do 1 page of that a day. I'll then read one chapter from our read aloud book with her. We just finished Stuart Little last week and  she was so excited to watch the movie after we finished the book. The movie wasn't in my original plans, but when I remembered there was a movie based on the book I thought it would make for a fun movie night! She loved it and we pointed out all the differences in the movie compared to the book while we watched. <3

We started on The Mouse and the Motorcycle this week. 

I plan to do Charlotte's Web with her after that, but I'm open to more suggestions for chapter read aloud's that are good for Kindergarten!

And that's our school day! 

I'm so excited about how well its been going and how much fun we've been having!

Even though I was homeschooled growing up and always had an idea of how I wanted to homeschool my kids, I was still a little overwhelmed and intimidated when it came time to actually get started.  Now that we've started, it feels completely natural.

We'll take a couple of weeks off when Baby Sister decides to make her arrival {only 2ish more weeks!} and I have a couple of special fun and easy things for Reaghan to work on during that time to help keep her busy : ) but mostly it will be a nice little fall break of baby snuggling that I'm looking forward to!

Saturday Laundry and Motherhood

Yesterday was a nice, slow Saturday over here. We stayed home and played and just did little things around the house like laundry and washing the bedding. It turned in to a sweet, productive day at home!

In the morning after I had lazily sat on the couch and drank my tea while the girls watched a couple of cartoons I knew we had to get up and get going otherwise I was in danger of laying on the couch all day long! (Hello 3rd trimester and restless, uncomfortable nights that make me drag in the mornings!) Anyways, we got up and the girls got dressed and started playing.  The first load of laundry was done from the dryer so I dumped it on my bed to start folding but then just stared at it. Ugh. I wasn't feeling it. The couch seemed so much more inviting! I started day dreaming about a Saturday with no responsibilities - napping on the couch, watching an actual adult show or movie, maybe reading a book, maybe eating a bowl of ice cream (oh, hello again 3rd trimester!), but definitely not laundry or parenting.

"Snap out of it!" I told myself. "Put on your big girl, Jesus loving, mommy pants, put away that selfishness and lets get this day going." Do you ever give yourself a little pep talk? haha "A podcast!" I thought. "Yes! That's what I need." The girls were playing nicely, so I decided to listen to a Risen Motherhood podcast while I folded the laundry to get me focused for the day. I picked their episode "Motherhood is Ministry: How to See and Serve your kids." turned it on and started folding. 3 minutes went by and I was feeling more motivated already as I heard some truth to combat my laziness. 

And then this cutie pie walked in to my room:

She started asking me questions about what I was listening to and then asked if she could climb up on my bed to sing her favorite song. I was annoyed. My first reaction that this podcast on how to see and serve your kids was being interrupted {by a chance to see and serve one of my kids} was annoyance! *face palm* I begrudgingly let her up on the bed and paused the podcast to listen to her song. When she was finished she dropped down to her knees and asked if she could "help" me fold the laundry. I stared at her sweet face for a second, imagining the extra time her "folding" would mean for me and how I really wanted to listen to the podcast, and then the blessed Holy Spirit poked me. 

"Hey Meghan, if you say no to her so you can go back to listening to that podcast... yeah, you'd totally be missing the point. The enemy would LOVE it if you shooed your child away right now under the guise of spiritual nourishment for yourself. You know what would be spiritual nourishment for you? To die to yourself and see your baby and fold clothes with her."

Praise Jesus. So that's what we did. I put my phone away and we chatted while we folded clothes together. And you know what? It was nourishment for me. It was a precious time that I was tempted to avoid for a little peace and quiet and I'm so glad that I didn't! Instead I got to connect with my toddler, who definitely needs some encouraging, heart connecting, one on one time with mommy because so often I spend my days disciplining her strong willed, two year old self! Plus, it did get our day started and after the laundry we spent an hour just playing baby dolls {with big sissy too!} because we didn't have anything else pressing to do or anywhere to be. 

The day stayed slow, but it was productive {in more ways than one!} and good and sweet.

And I eventually got to listen to that podcast later during nap time. : )

*I'm not associated in any way but I've been blessed by listening to the Risen Motherhood Podcasts. Most of them are around or under 30 minutes which makes it easy to listen to during naps or doing a certain chore!*

Poured Out

This summer I've been doing a couple of different things for my morning bible time. I've been rotating between a couple of books and then just reading through the book of Philippians... memorizing it and meditating on it and letting it take root deep in my heart.

There have been many words that have convicted and challenged me to check the motives of my heart, but these specific words from Paul have been following me around the last few days.

"Even if I am to be poured out 

as a drink offering upon the 

sacrificial offering of your faith,

 I am glad and rejoice with you all.

Likewise, you also should be glad

and rejoice with me."

Philippians 2:17

Poured out as a drink offering, upon another sacrificial offering. That's what Paul was saying. I was curious so I looked up "Drink Offerings" in the Old Testament and there is actually a lot of theology behind God's instructions for the Isrealites to offer Him these drink offerings! More than I was expecting when I first looked it up. Like how it was not to be offered until they reached the promised land - which makes sense in terms of Biblical Theology because drinking wine was a celebration activity - so God abstained from receiving this wine from His children until they reached the promised land the same way Christ says He will not drink the fruit of the vine until he drinks it new with us in his Father's kingdom! (Matt. 26:29) {I love learning things like this!}

Aside from that, in terms of what Paul was saying, the wine along with other offerings like the grain offerings were symbolic of the works of the worshiper. Paul thought of the struggles and toils of his ministry as a drink offering upon the sacrificial service of the churches to which he ministered. His labor was offered up as a drink to God, a wine to make God's heart glad and Paul was saying that he rejoiced in this labor.

But why did this stick with me?! I thought about it for a few days and initially I felt like it was speaking to my season of motherhood. I am *in*the*trenches* right now with my two year old. I definitely feel like I am being poured out every hour of every day parenting her. By bedtime I feel like I have done all I could to train and instruct with love, patience and diligence and there is nothing left. So "Yep," I thought, "this is why this verse is hitting home with me right now. I am poured out. I need to rejoice in this season. I will try to rejoice as I go about my correcting for the 1,000th time everyday."

But then this morning... oh this morning... do you ever have those moments where you read something and feel like scales are dropping off of your eyes? As I read these words again and prayed again, God showed me something new. Perhaps I did feel like I was poured out right now, but I felt the Holy Spirit ask me who was I pouring my energy out for. Earlier in Philippians Paul instructs the church to do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit {which I'm convicted is a motive that invades almost every area of my life!} So I was asked again - Whose alter was I pouring out my drink offering on?

My own?

Sometimes I get caught up in wanting my children to be well behaved because it will reflect well on me. It will make me look like a good mom. Like I have it all together. I love when the girls are complimented on their behavior and on the flip side I've had so many humbling moments this last year as Lilly has displayed her two year old tantrums and acts of defiance in very public places. As I've trudged my way through this year of parenting I've almost done it out of a prideful place in my own heart. I don't want to be humiliated or embarrassed. I want to be, to be perfectly honest, thought well of for my parenting skills and well behaved children.

Don't get me wrong... we are trying to be intentional to raise girls who love the Lord and have character traits that are a fruit of their love for Jesus and not just for good appearance. That is our summed up, ultimate goal for them. But have I been working towards this for my own good appearance and desire to be praised or for the glory of God?

I believe the labor of Motherhood can be a sacrificial offering to God, I'm sure you Jesus following mama's can agree! And when we are in one of those rough seasons, feeling exhausted by the tedious training of young hearts and minds, it can feel like we are being poured out on top of our usual offering of our lives. God made it clear for me that I have to be more careful that I am offering my life and labor on the right alter. I want my children to love Jesus and behave like they do for God's glory, not for my own. My own behavior, the way I parent, needs to be for God's glory and not my own. I know this isn't a theological enlightenment happening here, and even sharing this is humbling because it seems like something simple that I should fully grasp. But sometimes I think I'm doing the simple things because I know it in my head when there's really an area of my life that has become all about me and not about God. I'm so thankful for a God who patiently helps me to see!

For from him and through him and 

for him are all things.

    To him be the glory forever! 

Amen.

Romans 11:36

My Hyperemesis Pregnancies {Part 2}

In my last post I talked about the morning sickness woes with my first and second pregnancies and ended promising a followup on my third, so here it is!

When 2019 came around we knew we wanted to try again for a 3rd baby at some point this year. We were thinking a little later in the year but by mid February this little girl's life had begun. As soon as I found out I was pregnant I began praying in earnest that my morning sickness would not be as bad as the others. I felt a sureness in my soul that it wouldn't be so bad. I was in the best shape that I'd been in since before Reaghan was born. I was eating the Trim Healthy Mama way regularly, I was only a few pounds away from my ultimate goal weight but felt good about my health so I wasn't concerned. I had run a marathon and a 50k only 2 months before. I had also been soaking in Epsom salt baths because of my sore muscles from running so I was excited that my magnesium levels were probably pretty good - since that's supposed to be a contributing factor to morning sickness - and felt confident that it would lessen my symptoms!

I think it was this false sense of confidence in the beginning that it made the morning sickness so hard to accept when the hyperemesis kicked in only 10 days after finding out I was pregnant.

There isn't really a need to share the details again, you get the idea - vomit non stop, unable to keep any solids or liquids down, sudden weight loss. Again I was faced with the reality that I had someone besides myself to care for {2 this time!} when I felt like I could barely survive the day. I couldn't reconcile how I was going to make it happen. Within only a few days I was significantly depressed and overwhelmed. I laid in bed one night crying and sent my mom and sisters this text.

When I sent it, I didn't feel like I was over exaggerating. It is sincerely how I felt. I couldn't see through the darkness of being that sick. I couldn't imagine feeling this way for another 12 weeks, I was only 6 weeks pregnant at the time and I knew this would last well past the 1st trimester. I wish I could say that it was then that I cried out to God and allowed His grace to be sufficient for me, but instead I spent 2 more weeks wallowing in my self pity, swearing that this would be my last pregnancy because if I made it through this, I absolutely COULD NOT do it again.

But God was so gracious while I sat in my pit of despair. He sent my family and friends to help lift me up. Mark of course was the constant, steady rock through it all. Caring for the girls as soon as he was home from work from dinners to baths to bedtimes. Its truly an exhausting time for him, not only because he takes on many of my household responsibilities on top of working but I keep him at night with my trips to the bathroom and tossing and turning in bed. He has never complained about it in any of my pregnancies. My older sister is always the generous giver and brought me everything she could think of that might ease my sickness from peppermints to suck on to straws so I could sip drinks slowly. Friends brought dinners for my family to eat and ordered pizza's to be delivered to our home. My mom took Reaghan to her dance classes. My sister and friends picked the girls up for play dates to get them out of the house and brought me one of the only things I could seem to sip on and keep down - a Starbucks frappe.

Not my most flattering picture, but basically how we survived the evenings until bedtime.

It was through their selfless acts towards me and my family that God's grace began to poke through my gloom and despondency. I began to feel my conscience pricked by my selfish attitude and then one day I decided to listen to one of Oh Hey Truth's podcast in their series of Philippians. They talked about Paul and what he was probably going through being in prison. I was convicted of how little my suffering was compared to what others have endured before me, and for much less joyful reasons than carrying a new life! I was convicted of how I certainly had not been rejoicing in any of my suffering. I had not been feeling especially thankful for the ease of getting pregnant or the babe growing inside of me. The darkness started to fall away as I listened to God's Word. It was then that my soul finally called out to God; repenting of selfishness and asking for help to change my attitude and perspective.

And here's the thing. My attitude did change, but my sickness persisted. I continued to need to spend the majority of the day laying on the couch and get sick with every sight and smell of food. I didn't call off work anymore, but in a truly un-explainable, God-is-gracious way, my schedule would "fall apart" on its own and I didn't have to work as many hours in the middle of a busy spring sports schedule. I knew I was headed for an ER trip with the way things were going so I began forcing myself to eat or drink even though I knew it would probably come back up... I just prayed some of it would stay down long enough to make a difference. I did my best to do a load of laundry or wipe the counters or make it to church... all the while rushing to the bathroom when necessary. It still sucked. My throat was still raw to the point of bleeding some times from the vomiting, BUT I wasn't in my pit. On the worst days the hours seemed to drag by and I was still a little less patient with my toddlers than I like to admit, BUT I could recognize it get myself together.

Eventually the symptoms began to lessen as they had before and I just had to deal with the nausea and not so much of the vomiting. I eventually weaned myself off the Zofran because it was making me extremely exhausted throughout the day and that was a totally different challenging symptom!

So here were are now... the severity of the beginning starting to fade the way the memory of labor pains do though clearly not completely gone from my mind! The last two pregnancies I felt MUCH better around 18-20 weeks but for whatever reason I'm now 27 weeks and still waking up nauseous almost every morning. I have to make sure I get some solid protein for breakfast or I feel light headed and faint and have to lay down for 15 minutes or so. Every few days or so I gag my way through making dinner or lose my dinner doing ONLINE grocery shopping. I think the rough emotional start and the fact that this is the longest I've had to deal with being sick has made this third go around the hardest by far.

BUT those things above aren't happening every day. Over all I feel 100% better than I did in the beginning and in that I rejoice! In some ways I'm embarrassed to look back at how I handled the first few weeks of being sick this time around, but I'm so grateful that God pursued my heart in my darkness. He was faithful to me when I was at the end of my rope. At one point after God began to change my heart, I listened to another podcast by Raising Arrows about her experience with severe morning sickness and hyperemesis and every word she spoke was like a soothing balm on my soul because I could relate to it in every way. I write this in hopes that I can just join Amy in her testimony and let you know that if you're struggling to get through morning sickness, you aren't alone! I've been there. Others have been there. It can be so hard! But God is there for you too if you let Him in. He wants to walk with you in your sickness and His grace is sufficient to see you through! You will get through this Mama!

"But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me" 2 Corinthians 12:9

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God." 2 Corinthians 1:3-4

"When you pass through the waters,

    I will be with you;

and when you pass through the rivers,

    they will not sweep over you.

When you walk through the fire,

    you will not be burned;

    the flames will not set you ablaze."

Isaiah 43:2

My Hyperemesis Pregnancies {Part 1}

If you follow the British Royal family at all you probably heard the term "Hyperemesis Gravidarum" when Kate Middleton was pregnant with her first baby. If you haven't, it's a form of severe morning sickness with severe and persistent nausea and vomiting that can lead to weight loss, dehydration and possible hospitalization. Guess what lucky girl has the Kate Middleton experience when she gets pregnant... yep! This girl! Hearing about Kate Middleton's experience was the first time I'd ever heard of Hyperemesis and while I find the Royal family intriguing and will occasionally read an article or two about their lives I wouldn't say I follow them, so after hearing about it I didn't think much about it until a year later when I got pregnant for the first time.

Along with all of the exciting things that happen when you find out you're pregnant, I knew some "morning sickness" was coming my way. I'll never forget walking into church the Sunday after we found out we were expecting and thinking how cute it was that I was feeling a little queasy. The thought of it being more than that wasn't in my head yet. I just want to go back in time and give my former naive, little self a hug and tell her she has no idea what's about to come.

 I was about 6 weeks when the hyperemesis set in with Reaghan. At the time I thought it was normal, that this was just what morning sickness was like and that I just needed to toughen up and get through it. I didn't know any different and I was a little embarrassed to admit to people how hard of a time I was having. They would suggest eating crackers before I got out of bed, or nibbling on crackers throughout the day while sipping Gingerale. They suggested sucking on hard candy or peppermints. All of the usual remedies for morning sickness weren't doing anything for me. No matter what I tried, I threw it up. 

I was working full time then and 3 days a week I had to be at the clinic for a 645 am patient. Looking back I'm not sure how I survived. I remember frequently having to leave my patient in the middle of the gym as I ran to the bathroom or a nearby trashcan to vomit... or many times just dry heave as there wasn't much in my stomach to throw up. It was miserable and obviously I wasn't able to keep my pregnancy a secret for very long at work.

I have vivid memories of having to pull my car over on the way home from work or on my way to get lunch because I was getting sick, or pulling whatever receptacle (like the plastic covering of a news paper) that was in my car and throwing up WHILE driving because it was either that or puke all over myself.

I couldn't stand the smell, sight or thought of food. Commercials, billboards, grocery stores, restaurants - they all threatened to be the death of me! I swear I could smell food THROUGH the closed refrigerator doors! I was able to eat cold deli sandwiches with the most success, but even that wasn't full proof. I would crawl into bed every night after work begging for sleep to get a little relief from the nausea and vomiting. Mark did his best to get me to eat and drink and was always trying to bring me new solutions like Gatorade ice cubes to suck on to keep me hydrated. He watched movies with me in bed on the weekends and did all of the grocery shopping and dinner making for himself.

I tried my best to function during that time because I didn't know how sick I was. I went to work, tried to make it to family functions, and made myself go to church when I could. Like I said, I thought I was just doing a poor job of handling the morning sickness and needed to toughen up.

I lost 15 pounds the first couple of months of my pregnancy and didn't put back on any weight until the doctors finally prescribed me some anti nausea medication and I finally started taking it. I was hesitant to take it regularly because I didn't want to put anything in my body that wasn't necessary. (Which was totally a first time mom way to think and didn't make sense because food and fluid were what my baby needed and I wasn't getting that to her unless I took the medicine!) The meds helped curb the vomiting enough that I could start keeping food down but it never took away the nauseous feeling so it was fantastic and a little bit of a disappointment at the same time. I was desperate for the 13 week mark when people told me I would start finally feeling better, but I didn't start to feel like a normal human again until 19 weeks. I'll never forget the first day I woke up and didn't puke right away and then made it to lunch time before getting nauseous. I celebrated in my car that I finally felt normal! I had bouts of nausea and even some puking on and off for the rest of the pregnancy but after the halfway point it was completely manageable. Even eventually without the medication. I just had to make sure I ate every 2-3 hours. I can't be 100% sure, but I think what I feel the second half of my pregnancies is what most women feel in their first trimester, or at least a minor form of that.

While I threw up during labor with Reaghan, thankfully every symptom was gone the minute she was out of my body and I ate my "after birth celebration meal" without any repercussions!

When we decided to get pregnant with Lilly I tried to research everything possible to lessen my chances of getting sick again. I took magnesium and Epsom salt baths because magnesium deficiency is supposed to be a contributing factor. I also tried my best to change up my diet in the weeks leading up to conception to help with any other deficiencies I might have had. Unfortunately it was no use. I ended up getting just as sick and it was twice as difficult the second time because even though I was only working 2 days a week, I had a 2 year old that had to be taken care of during the day. Again I tried everything I could to keep food down. Eating bland foods. Eating protein. Eating small amounts. Sipping on ginger tea. Sucking hard candies. And while some things like sucking on lemon drops helped in the moment, long enough for me to change a diaper or get Reaghan dressed, it wasn't long before I was rushing to a sink or a toilet. It was nearly impossible to even make it through a shower without throwing up in the shower.

Mark took this picture of Reaghan napping with me on the couch one day.

You can see from my journal entry that I eventually ended up in the emergency room the second time around due to dehydration. My brown pee staring back at me from the cup made me cry as I waited for the IV fluids to get into my system. I asked my OB for the medicine immediately after that night and took it everyday right away this time around. I was at a new OB and they weren't aware of my previous experience, but by now I knew it wasn't just me being a wimp at morning sickness and I needed to be able to function enough to care for my toddler and the growing babe in my belly.

  

Taking the Zofran regularly helped me get to the manageable point a few weeks earlier than I did with Reaghan, but Mark still had to handle all of the meals and grocery shopping. I was still extremely sensitive to smells, I even hated the smell of the new house we had moved into right when we found out we were pregnant! Mark did everything he could in the evenings and weekends to care for Reaghan. I still puked my brains out many mornings and at the very least carried the nausea around as I had with my first pregnancy. By the Grace of God somewhere between 17 and 19 weeks I was able to wean myself off of the Zofran and keep food and water down without it.

I got dressed nice and smiled for our announcement pictures, because I really wanted 4th of July themed pictures, but I was miserable and felt like fainting during most of this photo shoot. I could barely function the rest of the day.

Both times the ability to drink water again was a huge milestone that I was so thankful for. Being desperate for water but throwing it up immediately after drinking even a small glass is miserable. It was only possible to take the smallest of sips several minutes apart to have any hope of keeping it down at all. Thankfully with Lilly, once I got to the point of keeping food and water down, (with the Zofran) I was able to start being more active and even got back into running a little bit and that was able to continue after stopping the medicine! I always have to remind myself in the hardest moments that there is a light at the end of the tunnel! The tunnel might feel long and dark at the time but it does have an end!

I want to tell you all about my 3rd and possibly hardest experience with HG that I went through earlier this year and that I'm still dealing with with baby girl #3, and also share how God's grace is sufficient and has enabled me to journey through it... buuuut this post is already so long and wordy! I'll end here and follow up in a Part 2!

If you're here and reading this I'd love to hear your experience with morning sickness. I've met some women who have had similar experiences to mine, some who were hardly sick at all and some who experienced it differently with each pregnancy! 

New Look!

The blog has a new design and layout! So far I'm loving it but I'm still adjusting things and working on making sure all of the links work. Hopefully it will be fully functional in a few days!

I'm hoping to make more regular posts on here since we'll be starting our first official year of homeschooling this fall as well as welcoming the new baby!

Come back soon to see all of the new finished details!

Baby #3 Update!

We had our 20 week ultrasound at the beginning of June to check up on baby #3, make sure baby was growing and healthy and of course find out the gender!

We are having...

... A Girl!

I held my breath a little as the ultrasound tech started looking for the gender... when she told us that it was a girl I laughed and told her that was a big moment for us because we already had two girls at home! She started to laugh and apologize but of course we interrupted and said were excited for another girl. I would not say that I was disappointed at all, BUT I was a little surprised because I had convinced myself it was a boy. I mean the odds were kind of in our favor this time for a boy, right?! I was already planning on giving away all of the girls clothes to some friends who are pregnant with girls right now and dreaming of blue but it looks like I won't be passing on any clothes or bows or ballet flat shoes just yet and that's fine because I love my girls.

Mark said he knew all along it was a girl so he definitely wasn't disappointed either. 

We just laughed and smiled talking and imagining our family of 3 pretty girls.

We stopped at Party City on the way home and picked up some poppers with pink streamers in them for the girls to open. They were so excited to find out if they were getting a baby brother or a baby sister. 

My original plan to video the girls opening them outside was changed by our neighbor having her yard mowed by a loud industrial lawn mower right when we went outside to pop the poppers, but it was probably a good thing we went back inside because they made a mess!

The popper idea was a little bit of a fail in general because Reaghan wasn't strong enough to twist hers to get it to pop and as I was helping Lilly, she put her hand over the top of hers right as it popped, so the streamers didn't go flying up in the air as I imagined. *facepalm* Oh well!

We decided to video them instead of take pictures right when they popped so these are the only ones I have, but you can still see they're excited and I know the video is something we'll enjoy looking back on!

They both thought it was going to be a baby brother, so Reaghan was surprised to see the pink! She said she was still excited and was happy just to know who would be coming! She's the sweetest. Lilly still thinks its going to be a boy sometimes... in fact I had to go back for a repeat ultrasound the next week to recheck baby's spine because they couldn't see it well the first time and I took the girls with me. Lilly asked about 3 times during the ultrasound if it was a boy. Haha I think she's finally coming around to the sister idea though. : )

Aside from finding out about her gender, baby #3 appears to be healthy and growing nicely. She is in the 50th percentile, which seems about right for my babies, and I think her side profiles look a lot like Lilly's did. 

I'm 22 1/2 weeks now so I'm starting to feel her move in more regular patterns and can finally feel and see movement from the outside. I can usually count on feeling her move first thing in the morning and late at night, an hour or so before I go to bed. 

I'm still nauseous every day and occasionally throw up if I've gone more than 2-3 hours without eating or randomly she's not a fan of something - like the few cheese cubes I ate while fixing lunch today. But I was able to stop the Zofran right around 20 weeks and I feel like I've been able to manage it by eating sufficient protein at meals, especially breakfast, and not letting my stomach get empty. You know, the usual advice for the 1st trimester that doesn't make a bit of difference for me until I'm well into my 2nd. I am happy to be off of the medication though because I definitely felt a drowsy side affect this time around and it was rough feeling still feeling that 1st trimester exhaustion when I was supposed to be enjoying the energy of the 2nd trimester. I wasn't sure if I was just tired because it was my 3rd and I have 2 toddlers this time, or if I had low Iron ({I don't, they checked} or if it was from the medication. Thankfully it seems like it was the Zofran and now that I'm off of it I'm not nearly as tired during the day and even feel up to working out here and there. 

So far I think this pregnancy has been the hardest of the three, but overall I'm healthy and I'm thankful for a healthy baby! I can't wait to meet her in October. <3

We just need to decide on her name!

OBX! {2019}

OBX Beach Week 2019!

We had another fun week with Mark's family to kick off the summer.

DAY 1 

{Beach Day}

DAY 2 

{Beach Day, Ice Cream Party}

DAY 3 

{Dolphin Watching, Craft Night, Glow Stick Party}

DAY 4

{Aquarium, Manteo}

DAY 5

{Beach Day, Date Night, Family Soccer}

DAY 6

{Beach Day, Putt Putt}

DAY 7

{Goodbye Beach Pictures}

It was a fun week. Reaghan was unusually brave and enjoyed every bit of the ocean, sand, digging for sand fiddlers and swimming in the pools. Lilly was her usual two your old self and required an exhausting amount of correction and discipline (but that's parenthood in this season I suppose!) but she definitely had her sweet and fun moments to try and make up for it!

We love the memories we've made taking this trip the last several years, especially as the girls grow older and are able to do and enjoy more on their own. 

I'm especially fond of spending an uninterrupted week with my 3 favorite people in the world. <3