a break from the absence

Hello Bloggers!

Sorry I have been so absent lately. 

Things have been busy around here and my pregnant body is really telling me I need to slow down.

I'm just not sure how.

But I do know that I vacation will help. Doesn't it always? Especially a vacation with an extra day tagged onto the end to re-coop at home. 

That's right - my time off at work was approved.

I'll spare you the boring details, but it's been a crazy bust two weeks and it came down to the wire. My time off literally didn't get approved until the morning. 

And we're leaving tomorrow.

Yep, tomorrow morning E and I will be leaving rainy KY and heading south to {hopefully} sunny SC! 

We're planning on packing out cooler full of drinks {not too many for me or I'll have to pee a million times} and cuties {baby clementines}. 

So tomorrow evening I should be here ...

We have no plans for this vacation. 

I like it that way.

We can do whatever we want.

And I'm going to soak it in because this will be our last vacation before baby Parker arrives and then I hear the "do whatever we want" theme no longer fits.

My hopes for the trip are:

quality time with my husband

no back aches

the ability to relax

&

that my nasal cavities would open up.

...

you know how I mentioned that I was sick several weeks ago {like 4} 

well it just keeps hanging around.

I started out thinking it was a cold, but now I'm convinced it must be something else bc surely no cold lasts for a month.

I've read online that congestion can be associated with pregnancy, but I also have an on and off sore throat so who knows.

I'm just praying that a vacation will be the right medicine.

Anyways,

I'll be back soon with more updates on the nursery. I haven't updated ... well ... because there is nothing to update you on. We've painted the walls and trim & and now all of the furniture has been sitting in our living room for about a week now. Oh well, that's how things go sometimes.

Also, I'll be back soon to share more on the pregnancy diaries. I didn't get any pictures this week so I didn't do a 28 week post. Hopefully I can get E to snap some on the trip. I will go ahead and say that my body is sending me all kinds of signals that the joys of the second trimester are officially over. Signals like this achy back.

That's about it. I'm off to start packing!

sunshine

Today I am dreaming about being here:

{taken on our trip to Italy last spring}

with him

{taken on our "family vacation" with friends to North Carolina}

As I look at these pictures ... I am reminded of how much I miss the sun.

{and I feel freaked out comparing my body then ... to the giant belly I have now! Wow, pregnancy does crazy things to you.}

for the travel tree

If you've been reading for awhile, or been in my house around Christmas time ... 

you'll know that E and  I have what we call a travel tree. I got the idea from my parents who have been doing this for years. Every time E and I take a trip somewhere we pick up an ornament as a souvenir. Then, we put all the ornaments on a "special" tree in our family room. It is so much fun pulling out the different ornaments and remembering the many places we've been blessed to be able to travel to. 

This year we added quite a few ornaments to our tree. But ... one place that we forgot to get an ornament was Paris. Paris is quite possibly my favorite place that I have ever been ... I really don't know how we forgot, but we did. 

Since I knew we wouldn't be back anytime too soon, I started searching online. Buying an ornament online isn't as cool, but I figured that I'd at least have one to put up and remember our amazing trip. 

Then, I found these lovelies. Are they not the most adorable things you have ever seen?? I ordered them right away and cannot wait to put them up on our tree. 

I'd say that they sum up the trip pretty well...

Now if only I could find an ornament in the shape of a fondue pot or a block of cheese.

Ohh I could go back in a heartbeat!  
Maybe someday :) 

back from a wonderful weekend

Happy Sunday Bloggers!

I am back safe and sound from a wonderful road trip to sunny South Carolina ...

Pictures of complements of my amazingly talented friend Gil ...

We had the best time ever. Shopped a lot. Ate a lot of yummy food. Laughed a lot.

Last night at dinner we laughed so hard that people were staring. I would say that is a sure sign of a good trip.

I have been friends with all of the ladies in the picture above for over 10 years. They're some of the biggest blessings in my life. There's lots to laugh about over dinner when you have memories from the age of 14. 

I cherish our trips together and look forward to the next time we hit the road together.

Thankfully, the little baby the size of a lime cooperated for the trip :)

For the most part I felt great. In the past week, I can tell that fatigue and nausea are fading. I still feel a little queasy every now and then, but it's becoming more spread out.

Last week E and I went to our 2nd OB appointment. 

The Dr. said that everything from the labs taken last time were perfect. 

We also heard the heartbeat again through the Doppler. The nurse said that it might take awhile to find the little beat since our babe is so small still. However, as I laid there with the jelly, I was still a nervous wreck until I heard the thumping. I know that it was only a couple of minutes, but it felt like I was laying there for eternity.

I have experienced one new pregnancy symptom this week ... leg pain. On wed and Thurs of last week I kept noticing that when I moved a certain way, the right side of my butt / hip hurt. On our way to SC I mentioned the weird pain that I was having, and my friend who just had a baby told me that it was probably my sciatic nerve. She informed me that the nerve can run from your lower back all the way to the bottom of your foot. 

Then ... I woke up the next morning and my entire right leg throbbed!! It hurt so so bad. When I first woke up I just thought "weird my leg hurts" ... then it was like a light bulb went off and I remembered the nerve. 

That afternoon we went to the outlets and I wished for a wheelchair to be pushed around in. Thankfully, I got some relief from the pain as I stepped into the doors of JCrew. Perfect timing! 

Since Friday, I haven't had the throbbing pain, but I still feel the pain on the side of my butt when I move a certain way.

I hope that as my uterus shifts, that the pain will not be constant. All in all, it's all worth it to know that my body is moving around all the stuff inside of me just like it's supposed to. 

That's about all of the pregnancy news for right now. I took a few bare belly photos at 5 weeks and 10 weeks. I will post them soon. I feel a little self-conscious about them, but I know that I will regret it if I don't post them on this blog/personal journal. 

a lake weekend

Hello Bloggers!

I hope that you are enjoying your Sunday afternoon.

I have been napping and recovering from an amazing weekend!

This weekend E and I {and 16 other friends} enjoyed the perfect getaway and Fall kick - off. 

We were so blessed to be able to stay {for cheap} at a friends cabin for the weekend. 

A glimpse into our little adventure ...

ocean isle, aspartame, work, and other updates

 {Tree from NC ... I wish I could dig it up and plant it in my backyard}

Hello Bloggers!

Again, I apologize for being so MIA lately.

I don't know what's going on with me. I feel like I've always possessed a gift of being able to juggle a thousand things at once, but lately my juggling act sucks. 

Things are great. I don't want to seem like I am complaining about anything. I'm just in need of the Lord's counsel on balance and how He wants me to prioritize my life. 

So, here are a few things that have been going on ... 

1. E's dad is doing so much better. He is still in the hospital, but his condition has dramatically improved over the past couple of days. His blood count finally started rising on its own! Such a praise. 

2. The new job is going well. It's a huge learning curve, and a lot of times I feel like ... "how in the world can I be some kid's therapist??" But ... the kids are lots of fun. Even the really bad ones have their cute moments. However, I will be honest ... I have met a couple kids where it's been difficult to find anything cute about them. I think that has something to do with being in middle school. The job is emotionally difficult. Each kid that I meet with has a heartbreaking story. So, all that to say, I know that this is exactly where God wants me right now. 

3. The jewelry business is booming. So much so that I don't know what to do with it. E wants me to hire an assistant. I don't even know how to do that. I am in desperate need of business counsel. Anyone have any to offer? Also, Street Scene sales are fantastic. I brought in approx. 50 items on the 15th of Aug, and I went in two days ago and everything but like 10 things were sold! Crazy! 

4. I have been aspartame and caffeine free for almost 2 weeks! It has been crazy hard, but I am trying to prepare myself for the day when God hopefully blesses us with a little baby. Oh ... I hope it's sooner than later. 

5. Last {but not least}, E and I enjoyed a super relaxing trip last week to Ocean Isle, NC. We went down there with 4 other couples & two babies. We loved it. I probably could have stayed for a month. On that note, I will leave you with a couple snap shots from our trip. {Sadly, I don't have a lot of pictures from the trip. Every time I took my outside, it fogged up like crazy}

beachin it

Hello Bloggers! 

Sorry for being MIA lately.

I'm still learning how to balance the new job, jewelry sales, and ministry.

To be honest, I'm completely wiped. 

So ... it's absolutely perfect timing for a little beach vacay! 

E & I ... and a couple friends are heading out bright ( actually I think it will still be dark outside around 4am) and early tomorrow. 

Hopefully around dinner time we will be relaxing on the NC beaches. 

Oh how I love the summer.

Sweet sweet summertime.

european adventures: cinque terre & Pisa

Hello Bloggers! 

Thanks for tuning in for the last segment of E and I's European adventures. I feel like I have been blogging about our trip for a really long time. I'm starting to worry that I won't know what to blog about after the European adventures are over ... although I'm sure I'll think of lots of random stuff.

For the last leg of our trip we headed North from Florence to a small coastal area known as Cinque Terre. In Italian, Cinque Terre means five cities .... and that's what it is ... a collection of five coastal cities. 

It was a perfect end to the trip. Very relaxing. Everything about it was perfect ... except the place where we stayed. The place we stayed is not photo worthy. Actually, I would like to erase it from my memory for the rest of my life. However, E did snap some pictures of all the creepy crap in it. The pictures are kind of funny looking back ... it was not funny at the time. For this post I'll leave you with the pretty pictures. Maybe I'll share the creeper ones some other time. 

So, without further adieu ... here is Cinque Terre!

On our way to the airport we stopped by the Leaning Tower of Pisa ...