Happy Halloween

 Some changes are happening around here! We found out on September 11th that I'm pregnant, I was so surprised. I had been cramping so I just assumed it would be the regular negative test, but nope! We had been trying for 15 months and I was planning on visiting the dr in October to get some fertility help...but to my surprise the Lord had other plans! Here's a picture of me with the test...I look groggy because it's 6 in the morning



















I started taking weekly pictures at 6 weeks and this is a comparison of week 6 and week 12. I think I look thicker, certain parts are definitely bigger...haha! I also think I look really tired in the 2nd photo.
6 wks                                                                            12wks

  

Morning sickness is in full swing and I'm hoping it will ease up soon! Each day I send up prayers of thankfulness, because even though I'm suffering a little from nauseous and achiness I am so grateful to have this opportunity. I feel so blessed. Bill is extremely excited as well...you should have seen him the whole week after we found out, he was giddy! I loved it!

I've learned to forget about a good nights rest, I pee like 4 times a night and my brain won't shut off. Sometimes if I'm lucky I'll only pee once, but that's rare! Everyone keeps telling me that my body is preparing me for sleepless nights with the baby, I guess this is a good thing then.

I also have no motivation to do anything around the house. I work 40 hours a week and am beat by the time I get home at night...I sit on the couch and wait for Bill to get home. He has been such a big help, he really has picked up my slack. I do still help when I can, I've made dinner several times and I help with laundry sometimes...but it's just hard these days. I am so blessed to have a wonderful, loving, and helpful husband. He even holds my hair when I throw up in the morning...what a trouper. I've been trying to walk/exercise every week...I wanted to do it everyday, but that just hasn't been happening so I do it as much as I can. I'm hoping in the next few weeks my energy level will pick up and I can exercise more (I'd love to get back into my zumba routine!).

We announced our pregnancy to the Facebook world on Halloween with a picture of pumpkins we carved

 Bill came up with the idea and I loved it! I love the expression on his pumpkin, it's like he's thinking "what just happened?" HAHA!!

We are just so thrilled about our little miracle, we had our first appointment a few weeks ago and were able to see the baby, it was amazing! Last week I heard the heartbeat and I cried!!! As things progress I will continue to post pictures and updates!

My due date is May 14, 2013

5:15 AM

Here I am at 5:15 a.m. wondering why I'm not in bed. I've been awake for over a hour. It's been a rough night. Well, we've been living in Wisconsin for 2 solid months now and I can't believe how fast time is flying by us. My job went from being good, to ok, to being just plain awful. I wanted to cry every night after work, I was losing my hair, and I just noticed a stress rash has returned...I haven't had that since my (stressful) math major days in college 3 years ago. The job itself would be great, but I started mid summer when the kids had no structure (I work with school age kids) and they were just full of energy. Really, what child isn't full of energy; that's why I stuck with it. I enjoyed the happy moments when I was able to teach the kids something and play with them. I speak about this in past tense because technically those experiences are in the past, the summer is officially over!!!! The kids go back to school next week! I am hoping and praying that my work days get a little better, the kids will be in school and then spend time with me after school.
Here is a picture of me on our face painting day at work. I let the kids paint my face...


















This picture is from the School's "County Fair." Each room in the school was given an animal to use as a theme. At the fair children and parents would vote on their favorite class. My class was the cow. I bought sheets from goodwill and cut them up so the kids could paint black spots on them and wear them as "shirts" which actually turned out great. I made my cows Holsteins. Well, guess what!!! We won the contest. The kids wrote jokes that related to cows, such as What did the cow say to the other cow? MOOOve over! What is the cows favorite galaxy? The Milky Way. We had the jokes hanging on the wall. Also, the girls made udders out of gloves and taped them on their shirts and the boys made horns. I guess the creativity won over the hearts of many!! It was definitely a combined effort, I designed the shirts they came up with the rest! My outfit for the day...

 The next picture is of the cheese AISLE, yes an entire aisle designated to cheese (only in Wisconsin). The sweet lady in the picture is my mom. My dad and grandparents drove our things up from Georgia, and in the process got in an accident. They made it out ok with some minor injuries! My mom met my dad and they finished the trip while my grandparents stayed behind to heal. Anyway, I just had to show my mom the cheese aisle! She bought enough cheese to last her a while. I guess her Christmas list will consist of cheese from now on!

















I made popcorn recently, and not in microwave! I felt so awesome!! It actually wasn't that hard and it was very tasty.

Bill just started his new job. Well, it's still with Delta but he will be a customer service agent now. He is so handsome in his suit! It  was a blessing that he got the job. Originally, he was working a seasonal position and the last day for that was August 31st. After that we were not sure what he was going to do. Anyway, with many prayers a full time position opened up with delta here in Madison. It was amazing because we were told that full time positions never open up in Madison, this was definitely the Lord opening doors for us! Anyway, Bill applied and a few short weeks later he was offered the job! I am so grateful for the past year, it was a year of pain and lack of understanding, but also a year of faith and patience. I learned that faith is the only thing that will help us make it through this life. There is a reason we are here in Wisconsin and I know it is where the Lord wants us to be right now. Will we end up here? I have no idea, but I have faith that the Lord will guide us each step of the way in our future.

Empty Apartment

We are officially residents of the great state of Wisconsin. We've been here for almost a month and I cannot believe how quickly time is just flying by for us. I started my new job and am still figuring it out. I am working at a daycare and each day presents a new challenge for me. I really love working with the kids, but sometimes they really hurt my feelings. I'm a softie, I'll admit, and when negative things are said about my activities it just breaks my heart. I need to get tough skin, I know... and I'm working on that. I never thought I'd say a 6 year old could make me cry, but they have and it stinks. Bill's job is going well, he really likes the people and the atmosphere. It's much different than the Atlanta airport, it's smaller so he knows everyone!

When we moved our one small carload up the first weekend in July we stayed in a hotel for a week. From now on hotels are strictly vacation stays NOT living quarters. It was cramped, dirty, smelly, (the cheapest deal around) and just not good!!! The only decent part was the hot breakfast we had every morning. After the hotel stay we found an apartment. The apartment is decent, unfortunately, we have no furniture because all of our stuff is still in GA. Therefore, we live in an empty apartment. We are using the backseats of our car as our chairs and a cardboard box as the table. We bought a bed, so that's one thing we do have. I also brought the basics for the kitchen so I can make meals. It's been interesting when I want to reheat things, I'm going back to the techniques of the old days...using the stove to reheat my food. Ha, I needed to melt some butter yesterday, so I just put it in a saucepan and after a few minutes it was melted. I've enjoyed not having all of my crap around. I have appreciated the simplicity of not having much. My entire life I have been surrounded by stuff and I've wanted to get rid of things, but I have always felt so attached to things. Now I know I don't need them. By the time we get our stuff in August, I will have survived a month and half with practically nothing.

Bill has joined a community band and has started playing with them. Tomorrow is his first concert and I can't go. I have to stay late at work for a meeting. I am really proud of him for putting himself out there and taking chances!! Well, I keep putting off writing a talk for Sunday. I'm giving a talk in church and I continue to find other things to do instead of write my talk so I guess I better get to that. Until next time...

Wisconsin

We chose:


So, Bill moved to Wisconsin this past Sunday and got to his little apartment to find some not so great things (he is subleasing an apartment). The situation was bad enough that he only stayed one night and then told the apartments he had to get out or there would be trouble. Yesterday when I arrived we trekked all over the city of Madison with 3 roller suitcases a bicycle and two backpacks. INSANE!!!! Luckily, Bill had another place in mind to live so we finally got there around 7 pm, signed a lease, and set up camp. HA! It was a crazy couple of days for him, and he is so tired. He starts working today at the airport and I'm going back to Georgia tomorrow. I am job hunting, so for now I will be traveling back and forth from GA to WI. We decided to live in Madison for a year to gain residency then go to school. Out of state tuition is crazy!

In other news, last week we were coming home from Knoxville and couldn't get on a flight because they were all over booked. So we looked at other flights that took a round about way to Atlanta. We decided on NYC! The flight out of NYC was only about 2 hours after we landed, but I convinced Bill to spend the day in NYC...I mean, why not?!?! We were already in the city and we had never been before. He finally said yes and we spent about 8 hours walking around downtown NYC. 





Here we are at Times Square

Last week was also celebrated our 4 year wedding anniversary. I just can't believe it has already been 4 years!Time has flown by for me.