? #2---The Name

This was the question for months now. I actually dreaded when someone would ask me. For some reason we have a hard time finding girl names we like. I've posted before on this matter. Again our criteria was a biblical or Hebrew name with a good meaning. Josh and I figured that the Lord would point us to the right name for this child. We went through thousands of names and couldn't agree on one. I really liked the name Meira which means Light but Josh didn't like this one at all. I still made sure though that this name was always on the list of possibilities in hope that Josh would give in. When we were getting ready to go to the Dr.'s office to see if I actually was in labor four weeks early Josh ran into the foyer and said,"We don't have a name or even a narrowed down list." I told him maybe when we saw her something would come to us. Well it didn't. The next day Josh printed off every Hebrew name he could find and then forced me to go through all 2300 of them. We then had it narrowed down to about ten. The problem was that even though Josh picked out some of these names he said he didn't feel led to call her any of them. After all of our guests had left for the evening I told Josh we were not going to sleep until we had a name. Well Josh must have been tired since after about ten minutes he said, "I don't like any name, just name her Meira." Now if you know my husband he never backs down in a negotiation. This is why we still haven't replaced the flooring in our hallway and stairs and that has been in negotiation stage for about a year now.

Every time I fed the baby that night I would look at her and not feel at peace with the name. She didn't look like a Meira. But I had no other names in mind and we had to decide. The next morning I was in the shower and the name Hannah came to me. I started to think of who Hannah was in the Bible and how she came to that point where she knew she had to give everything completely to the Lord. I started to think of the last year and a half of my life. From having a cyst removed to then having to go back in a month and having an ovary removed due to possible pre-cancerous cells. To getting pregnant right away to then losing that baby in miscarriage. To watching a close friend of mine dealing with losing a friend to cancer and wondering if maybe I should just be content with the two healthy children I have and take every precaution necessary to avoid dealing with that awful disease. This last year had many ups and downs but I still knew He would always be faithful. Hannah was the name!!!
I jumped out of the shower and asked Josh if he liked this better. He said he liked it better than Meira but after the decision was made I think we both felt like this was the name for our baby girl.

The middle name Ilana is actually my Dr.s first name. This was a name I had been thinking about for a middle name and actually had a dream before I even knew I was pregnant that we had a girl and her middle name was Ilana. Hannah really wanted Dr. Kirsch to deliver her. As soon as she heard Dr. Kirsch was going on vacation she decided she wanted out. I'm also very grateful that she is one of the only Dr.s who will still do a VBAC. She has saved me from 2 very unnecessary surgeries so far. The picture below is of Dr. Kirsch holding Hannah.

Big ? #1----The Birth

The big two questions from everyone has been about the birth and how we FINALLY decided on a name. So here is the answer to #1: (This is a long post just to warn you. I want to make sure I write this down for my personal journal before I forget anything.:)

I had a Dr.'s appt at 10am and I found out I was 4cm. My Dr. was leaving for vacation and wouldn't be back until April 7. I started to panic a little. As many know I absolutely love my Dr. but the one who would back up for her, well not so much. I was sent home with the instructions that she would see me when she got back and that I will still be pregnant. On the way home I was praying that I wouldn't have the baby before April 7. I decided the first thing I was going to do is send out an email to the girls I have prayer night with and have the prayers start. Prayer night was actually scheduled for Wednesday and then I would be seeing them again on Friday so the plan was to pray this one through.:) As I felt all panic go away I realized that the normal contractions I had been having were a little stronger. I dismissed the thought that I could be going into labor. Three minutes later I had another one. Hmmm....am I just freaking out or could I really be going into labor. I got home and told Josh I wanted him to hang around for another half an hour. I think he was a little skeptical since he knew I was panicked about my Dr. going out of town. He was a very nice husband and stayed. After twenty minutes I realized I was having contractions every 2-3 min. I called the office back and was told to come in at 1pm if things continued. I then started calling people to make arrangements for the kids. To be honest I still wasn't convinced I would be having a baby that day and figured I would be sent back home. I finally got a hold of Wendy and she said she could take the kids. I started to get that same panicky, shaky feeling I did with Liah as I was packing bags for the kids and myself just in case. Blake started to notice I was panicking a little and started getting a little scared which then caused Liah to as well. I told Josh to take the kids. I knew Josh's mom was on her way and I wouldn't be alone for long. I still was not in pain really just a little panicky. Once Josh got back we headed to the office. We arrived at 1:30pm. I was checked again. I was 7 cm! I had a quick ultrasound to double check that the head was down and then was taken over to the hospital. I had a great nurse who started the whole admission process. I had to have antibiotics since my group B strep test was done at that mornings appt. and the results weren't back. I was asking her questions about this and was told it was 2 doses at 4 hours apart. I asked her if she knew I was at 7cm already. She looked at me and said, "You're at 7. You don't act like you're in pain at all. We have to start moving." The pic below was taken about this time.

For the next couple of hours contractions still continued a little stronger but nothing that bad. I remember at one point I said I wish things would just start hurting so I could get things done. Josh's mom and my nurse started laughing. They both agreed that normally at 7 cm you shouldn't be asking for more pain. My Dr. came at 5pm and could finally break my water since the baby had dropped. The water was broken and things started. It took about 45 minutes for the pain to really get unbearable. At about 6 I had the nurse check me. I was at 9cm(I think. Everything past this point is a little blurry.) The next contraction I had this unbearable pain in my back and continued to have it. I dismissed it as just back labor. At 6:25 I asked to be checked again and I was 10cm and she called my Dr. Now the time from being checked and when my Dr walked through the door seemed like eternity but in reality it was 10 minutes at the most probably less. I tried to start pushing but my back was killing me in the position I was in. My legs were also now starting to kill me. I remember freaking out at this point because I felt like I didn't want to be in this position but I also knew that there was no way I could move. I remember saying "I can't do this." but I felt like no one was understanding that it was about my back and the position I was in and not about actually pushing the baby out. I remember looking at Josh and he had that helpless look on his face and then I looked over at Josh's mom and she had the same look. I finally remember just thinking that I couldn't communicate what was going on and I was just going to make things happen quick. In about 2-3 pushes Hannah was out. Even after the baby was out my back was killing me. We think maybe I pulled a muscle and I'm pretty sure it happened that first time I had the nurse check me. So I was really only in pain for about an hour and feel so blessed to have fast labors. When I hear some of my friends talk about their long labors I can't imagine. I actually did get that second dose of antibiotics. The last drop went in not more than 5 minutes before she was born.

Meeting their New Sister

Blake and Liah were so excited to come and meet their new sister. So after a shopping spree at Babies R Us to pick up the things we still needed they headed over. They were both so ecstatic.

You might notice that both kids look a little tired. Because things happened so early the kids were really shuffled around the day before. Within a 6 hour period I think they were at 3 different houses and 1 1/2 hours of that they were at Adventure Club. I am so grateful to the great friends we have and everything worked out perfect. After their visit they went with Grandma and Grandpa and stayed there until we came home.

Hannah Ilana Ostrom is here!!! 4 weeks early!!!

She was born on Thursday night at 6:45pm weighing in at 6 lbs. 15oz..

So many things to celebrate

I feel like all we've done is celebrate this weekend. It started out celebrating Evie's first birthday at Josh's parents house. We were so glad Tim, Melodie, and Evie could make it down even if it was not for long and at last minute. Unfortunately I forgot my camera and missed some great pictures of the cousins playing together.



This is also Easter weekend. Well sort of. This is one of those years that the weekend we celebrate Easter and when we should celebrate it don't match up. So next month we will celebrate Passover along with the other feasts at the right time. Blake's explanation of why we are celebrating twice this year is great. To think that a seven year old gets how the feasts and the Crucifixion and Resurrection go together while most adult Christians can't. Insights of a child are great.

On Saturday we went to the Egg Hunt at church and the kids had a great time. Again I forgot the camera. I realized this on the way and Josh told the kids not to do anything memorable that should go into a scrapbook. Saturday night we had our Shabbat meal. Blake requested lamb and even though we had just had it I was happy to oblige.

On Sunday we went to church and then to Josh's parents for lunch. We then went home and did a little something to celebrate Purim. Since I wasn't feeling all that great I scrapped most of what I had planned and we watched the VeggieTales Esther story while eating popcorn. The kids had their noisemakers and even though it wasn't exactly what was planned it was still fun. Next year I better not be 8 months pregnant and will feel better.






After the movie we colored a couple of Easter eggs to finish the night off.

The Messiah has Risen!!!

These are some pictures that were taken on Sunday morning before we went to go celebrate.
Yes that is snow in the background. We always try to get outdoor pictures but it was so cold so we improvised and took some pics in front of the sliding glass doors in the family room. I must say that the snow and the spring clothing does not really go together.


I realized I haven't posted any pregnancy photos. Here I am at 35 weeks.

6 weeks to go

It was a pretty routine Dr's appt today. We talked about being induced since I'm a VBAC and a lot of my concerns about this were put at ease. We also think the baby is head down which was also great news. That was pretty much it.

We still have no name and to be honest am wondering if the baby will have a name leaving the hospital. Baby Girl Ostrom sounds pretty good right. I'm nesting like crazy and will be posting pics soon of my organizing obsessions. I'm definitely tired. I'm noticing every Saturday I get a little slower at getting Shabat dinner ready and the house cleaned. I'm anxious to have this baby so I can feel normal again.

Last big girls night out---just the two of us

Since we think this baby is a girl I really wanted to do something really special for Liah's last girl night before the baby. "My Little Pony Live" came to the Morris at the perfect time. I kept this a huge surprise and she didn't find out where we were going until we were walking up to the Morris and she saw the sign. Thankfully Blake kept the secret as well. All day it was killing him to not tell Liah because he knew she would love it.
Here is Liah waiting for the show to start holding her flag that she picked out as a souvenir. She was so good and had a great time. She sat on my lap the whole time completely amazed. The whole story line was based around the biggest tea party ever which one of Liah's favorite things to do is have a tea party.
This was Liahs favorite pony.

Josh and Blake had a great Boys Night In playing video games. On the way back from the show we stopped by Dairy Queen to get a treat for everyone and Liah got to tell the boys all about the show while eating her hot fudge sundae. It was a great memory.

Picasso in the making.....and other projects

Today we learned about Picasso. Our project was to make a "Picasso-like" face. We looked at quite a few of Picasso's originals and then some examples of ones that kids had recreated. Blake was all set to go and actually did the whole project in one sitting where I had planned on finishing this up next week. Art is definitely something that Blake loves and it puts him in such a good mood. Blake used oil pastels for the first time and he really enjoyed them. I had been warned that these could get very messy but was surprised at the mess free table. Yeah for Crayola!
Here is Blake's finished masterpiece.

Here are two history projects that we've done over the last couple of weeks. Last week we finished up our study of Knights and Castles. The left pic is our family Coat of Arms that Blake designed. He said he put the cross in the middle so people would know that our family follows the Lord. This week we just started studying the Vikings. The right pic is a drawing of a longship. Blake is definitely developing a love for History and just a love for wanting to find things out and have his questions answered.

8 weeks......but who's counting......

I AM!!! I went to the Dr. on Monday(March 3) and things are looking good. I was actually very nervous about this appt because for the last couple of days I had been having pretty strong contractions. The Dr checked and said that things were starting to happen with my cervix but nothing considered preterm with a third baby. I'm feeling really good except for the feeling as though my stomach can not possibly stretch anymore. This morning Josh made a comment how it seems as though I've been pregnant a lot longer this time.:) It must be because I've been pregnant ALL winter which makes it seem like things are taking forever.
We still have no name. I'm nesting like crazy. Strawberries have been the choice food this month and I'm dying for it to warm up enough that Josh can grill out. It started off with a craving for grilled out steak but now I would settle for a turkey hot dog as long as it's grilled. I definitely know what we'll be having for dinner the whole month of April.

Our Shabbat Visitors

As I was just finishing preparing our Shabbat meal last night I looked out the kitchen window and saw 8 deer eating our sad looking bushes in the backyard. Did I mention that our bushes are sad looking because they have been known to be a favorite snack for the deer last winter? The kids were so excited. This was the first time we've seen deer in our backyard this whole winter. You can't see but in this pic there is actually a deer that is only about 3 feet from the window looking back at the kids. You can tell that people have been feeding them since they don't seem to be scared of people at all. Some of our neighbors think the deer are a bother but we love them and look forward to their visits. This morning we also saw a wild turkey behind the house. We definitely live in "Natureville" which I love as long as the animals stay outside of our house.

Late Valentines Making Pics

The kids had a great time making Valentines for Grandmas, Grandpas, Aunts and Uncles. Blake also made some for his Homeschool class at Mothers Group a couple of days before this. It was one of those fun craft moments where everything was dumped onto the table and they could use whatever they wanted to decorate their love notes.

I can't believe I did this.

So today I took the kids out. We had absolutely no milk, no bread, no fruit (except for the 4 brown bananas sitting on my counter that may be too gone for even banana bread), and no vegetables. I figured I should probably make a trip to the store. Now I have not been taking the kids grocery shopping for a couple of reasons, 1.)I just don't have the energy to push the cart with any children in or hanging on the cart. 2.)It seems like every time I go the weather is awful. 3.) I really have been trying to keep my kids out of public places as much as possible with all the sickness going around. Well this morning I didn't have a choice so first we went to Panera to get bagels for breakfast and then off to the grocery store. Now I know that I'm a germaphobe. (Is that an actual term?) I used to not be this way but when I was pregnant with Liah, Josh and I came down with a severe case of the flu which had us in bed for two weeks and took months to finally feel completely better. Being pregnant again I've noticed that I have been extra cautious. Going into this shopping trip I prayed the whole way that we wouldn't pick up any germs and I had my poor kids wash their hands with antibacterial gel about a hundred times. After we got back home and had lunch it was time for Liah to go lay down for quiet time. I then realized that she had been sitting in a grocery cart and was about to get into bed. I was so tired from the trip and my interrupted sleep from the night before that changing her clothes seemed like too much work so I then did something that I can't believe I'm writing down. I LYSOLED MY CHILDREN! Now it was not like I sprayed all over them but definitely Liahs back side and Blake got a squirt as well. So hopefully my kids will stay well. Now I completely understand that there are germs in the air but I figured making them wear masks in the stores would be a little overboard. I'm not crazy after all!

10 weeks to go!!!

Well on Monday I went to my last monthly Drs visit. I will now be going every 2 weeks and then on to the weekly. Things are looking good. We still can't figure out which way the baby is laying and will have an ultrasound in 6 weeks if this is still the case. I do not want to have a c-section and am praying that the baby will be in the right position.

Now I know that 10 weeeks doesn't seem like a long time but I feel so uncomfortable now this seems like forever to me. I'm not sure if it's because the baby's in a weird position but this time things feel much different. I know the Lord will get me through but sometimes I look at my stomach and think "How can I make it for 10 MORE WEEKS?". I'm sure I'll start feeling better when the nice spring weather comes. I CAN NOT TAKE SNOW AND COLD MUCH LONGER.:)

Our Day of Rest

And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all His work which he had made. Genesis 2:2

The whole family looks forward to the Sabbath day but today I was looking forward to it more than usual. I had a great time with old friends and meeting new ones at a scrapbooking retreat on Friday night. I stayed up way to late though and only got about 4 hours of sleep. Today I was still so tired and was happy to hear that small group had been postponed to next week. So after eating Sunday dinner at Josh's parents house we headed home and did our usual Sunday routine. Within 10 minutes everyone was out of their Sunday best and into comfy PJ's. The kids layed on the couch and watched a movie (Liah fell asleep) and Josh and I took a much needed nap.

When everyone was up Liah reminded us that Josh had told her we could watch our wedding video which we did. After the video Josh and Blake had their usual Star Wars Lego game time.

Note: After uploading the above pic of Liah I realized I uploaded it before I rotated it and doing it over seems like to much work. It is the Sabbath day after all.


I decided to get some more scrapbooking done and Liah came up and watched me for awhile and then started asking if she could scrapbook. I have been planning on getting her some scrapbook supplies for her 4th birthday so her and I could have a fun thing to do together while Josh and Blake have their video game time. I decided to let her start her first scrapbook page tonight. I was actually expecting her to just have paper and stickers randomly placed all over but was very impressed at how well she planned out where everything should go. She completed 2 pages tonight and was very proud of herself. I think Josh is wondering if this family can afford two scrapbook addicts.

This is her first page completed. She is definitely a natural. The only thing I helped her with was spelling out the word DANCE.

So that is how we spent our Sabbath this week and I can't wait for next week.

My Blake

Sometimes Blake just amazes me. This morning I let the kids go up and play in the playroom for a couple of minutes and was listening to them as I rested. Liah asked Blake if he could be the babysitter for her baby dolls. I was not sure what Blake would say but as usual he took his sisters feelings into consideration and said yes. Now I know that Blake would have much rather been playing Star Wars or building something with legos but I love to see his kind heart when thinking about others. He has also started lately helping me without even being asked. A couple of times I've caught him picking up in the living room or family room just because he wants to help. Now we still have our moments, sometimes multiple times in a day, but it's great to see him growing into such a good worker and also a leader. He definitely loves to lead his cleaning crew (i.e. Liah) to see how fast they can get their bedrooms and playroom cleaned. Pretty soon he will have another sister to show such kindness too. The other day we were talking about how many kids we should have in our family and Blake said,"I think we should have one more girl after this baby." I was shocked since I thought he really wanted a brother. When asked about this he replied, "We can just adopt a brother who is 8 or 9. I want a Big brother." He probably IS wanting someone to protect him from all those sisters.

Coming up on the Third Trimester

So I haven't written here in forever. I give myself 5 minutes on the computer unless I have everything done for the day. This is working great for my schedule but anything computer related normally gets pushed off. So I can't believe that in a couple of days I will be officially entering the last trimester. I'm definitely feeling it these last couple of days. I had my glucose test this week(Jan.21) which came back fine but it did show I was anemic . So now in addition to prenatal vitamins I have to take an extra iron supplement. I'm hoping that by the next week I will have enough iron stored up that my energy will come back some. The baby has been very active the last couple of days. Liah could spend hours feeling the baby kick and watching my stomach jump. Liah is calling the baby "LaLa" so at least one of us has decided on a name.



The Braxton Hicks contractions have started which have me in gear planning for the birth. Because of the c-section with Blake we don't feel safe with a homebirth even though Liah's birth was fast and went well. I keep having dreams and this strong feeling that if labor goes the way it did with Liah the baby might come at home. I'm totally planning for every scenario or as much as you can when it comes to birth. We'll see what happens.:)

Waking up in the tropics

So if you have read last nights blog you would see that I couldn't sleep and was up until about 2:30am and then didn't sleep well even after that. I kept thinking I was just having pregnancy hot flashes and that is why I kept waking up sweating and feeling like the house was on fire. I quickly dismissed it and would try to go back to sleep. I had actually fallen asleep on the couch and that is where I stayed the rest of the night. In the morning Josh came down and said,"Why is it so hot in here." He had asked me if I had turned the thermostat up and I told him no. He checked the thermostat and it read 72 degrees. He then realized that the furnace was running so he went downstairs to check things out and still had no answer. I thought maybe he had a fever and I was having hot flashes.:) Our automatic thermostats battery died so Josh popped in a new one and the actual temperature finally showed. It was 90 degrees! It has taken hours for the temperature to come back to the normal 71 degrees we normally keep it at. So I definitely got my warmth fix for the next couple of days. Hopefully I will sleep better tonight when I'm not roasting.

Insomnia and update

The worst kind of insomnia is when you can't sleep but you have no energy to do anything. So you sit and think about all you could be doing but decide to just sit on the couch and read through other peoples latest blogs and update your own. I could be catching up on so many things............ but I'm not.

For those people who haven't heard we had our ultrasound last week and we found out we are having another..........(drum roll)........Girl! We are of course elated. We went into it really wanting a boy and a girl and to be honest I knew I was going to be ecstatic and a little disappointed no matter what. I love having my boy and I love having my girl. I think Josh still had hope that it could be twins and we would have one of each. He as well really wanted both and figured why not do it at the same time. Blake had a twinge of disappointment but was over it very quickly. Having another girl made the whole room situation very easy. We actually still had the crib set up in Liah's room even though she hasn't slept in it for almost a year. After the miscarriage in April I couldn't bear taking it down and putting it in storage and I knew as soon as we lugged the thing down the three flights of stairs I would be pregnant.

So now comes the real dilemma. The name. Josh and I tend to not agree on names and this is actually why I figured we were having a girl since it took us about ten minutes about a month ago to come up with a boys name. Isaac and we had too many choices for the middle name to count. After this I looked at Josh and said, "This must be a girl because that was way too simple." Liah was unnamed for 24 hours and I'm worried we might be leaving the hospital with no name this time. I really want a Biblical or Hebrew name so throw any ideas my way. We can use all the help we can get. We are also sort of big on meanings which adds a whole new difficulty to this process. For example, Jael is one of my favorite biblical women but her name means Mountain Goat. Josh doesn't really like the name anyway and the meaning immediately throws it out. I also like the name Phoebe (when I first heard a baby named this I didn't like it but it has grown on me) but Josh says he immediately thinks of Friends. When I mentioned the name Jordan he came back and said, "What about Euphrates or Tigris." As you can imagine this discussion is quite hilarious. I do like the name Ilana but maybe for a middle name. This is actually my Dr's name and I have always thought it was unique. We are still praying about it and hopefully the Lord will give us direction soon!

Hearts at Home and my religious ruts

This past weekend I went to a Hearts at Home conference. I look forward to these every year and know that I will come back with great ideas and insights. This year was the same as usual although I did come back tired which I guess is to be expected in pregnancy. I learned some great new things and also heard things I've heard before but for some reason I need to be reminded every so often. There are always amazing speakers but what is always so amazing is how the Lord speaks to me at conferences like this. Sometimes it is even small things, for example, I was sitting in a workshop and the speaker was talking about how she loved a clean house (as do I) but she didn't want to feel like she had to be cleaning all the time (as do I) so she set one day to get ALL of her cleaning done. A couple of years ago I prayed about how to keep things in balance and I felt led to start cleaning part of the house each day but this HAS NOT been working lately. When I heard this woman talking I felt the Lord saying to listen and do what she was saying. It was then I realized that my life is very different from what it was 4 years ago and God is changing my plan for keeping things in balance. Four years ago I had 1 child, living in a small apartment, without too many extra activities. I now have 2 children, 1 on the way, living in a house with a yard, homeschooling, in charge of a Moms Group and VBS along with some other ministry things. I see in this simple and maybe silly revelation I received how sometimes I can turn the smallest things into legalistic religious ruts. I want to be open to whatever the Lord says even when He changes things. This year we have decided to let our kids go Trick or treating around our culdesac and then come back and pass out candy along with tracts. I really don't like halloween and all the gore and just plain evil that it is associated with it but the Lord convicted me that I was missing out on a great opportunity. When else do you have kids you don't know coming to your door and asking for something. While we will be handing out candy I am also going to hand out something about a relationship with Jesus. I want to be ready for whatever God changes in my life.

I have also been focusing on just enjoying my kids and having fun. We always have great family times but last night was a blast. We decided to play charades. Josh found a program online that actually gave you the words. It was hilarious to see Liah play this game. Blake was awesome at it, much better than Josh and I. It was a fun time and I realized that things were perfect even though the house was (or should I say is) a mess. Sometimes I need to be reminded that this is just a season in life. There will be days down the road that I will have all the time in the world to clean my house because my children will be grown and gone. And though I'm excited to see what my kids turn out to be and see how God uses them I don't even want to think about them not being kids anymore.

This is the day the Lord has made

While I still feel like I'm not getting as much done as I should I think I am FINALLY starting to feel better! This has been such a fun and exciting day. The work has finally begun on fixing our drainage problem in our yard. Or at least they're bringing in al the equipment today. When we bought the house we knew we wanted to have this fixed so we could actually make the side yard into a Real Yard. I never thought this would be happening only a year after moving in since we still have other things to finish but it is. The reason it is happening is because the city said they would fix the problem since it is the drainage easement for the neighborhood on this side of Blair Hills. Did I mention that this is being fixed FREE OF CHARGE to us!!! This is the reason this is being fixed now and not years down the road. The company that is coming out is very friendly and has even agreed to pull out a stump and bushes quick before they leave with the big backhoe. We will still have to dispose of all that stuff but who cares. This is going to save us a good two weekends worth of yard work. I will be posting pics soon. Josh was like a kid at Christmas! We also have started carving our pumpkins which was a fun project and we will finish them after Josh and I come home from Date Night.

I think it's amazing

Sometimes you just find those things that make you wonder "How did God do it?". If you have a weak stomach you may want to quit reading now!

This morning as I was throwing up my 5 strawberries I had just eaten I couldn't help but be amazed at how little I put into my body and how much can come back out. This has always baffled me. I remember about a year ago Blake had a little stomach bug. He seriously ate 3 bites of chicken noodle soup and the mess that I was cleaning up about 5 minutes later took 2 full size towels. God made our bodies so unique and crazy!

OK I better stop talking about throwing up or I'll have to go up to the bathroom again. I am past that much awaited 12 week mark in pregnancy and I'm still sooo queasy. I feel my energy coming back but my stomach hasn't decided to cooperate. Each day I tell myself "Tomorrow is the DAY!" That day has to be coming, right???

Blake: My Helper

Blake has always been a very compassionate and sensitive child. Today I was feeling a little worn down so I decided to sit for a moment and rest. I was checking my email when I felt my blood sugar drop and I immediately was very shaky. I went down to the kitchen in a panic to find something quick and easy to eat. After I grabbed my leftovers from yesterdays lunch and an apple I sat in the living room trying to not panic and relax. Blake came into the room and was wondering why I was eating and sleeping at the same time. I sat my head up and told him I wasn't feeling well and was just trying to relax. Blake then decided to try to make me laugh by doing a funny dance around the living room. He did take my mind off things while the food started to take effect. He then said he would get lunch for Liah and him which he did all by himself so I could sit and rest until the shakes went away. I really don't know what I would do without him lately. He is always such a big help.

Let us not eat the bread of idleness

I was remembering a prayer I had posted quite a while ago and dug around and found it. This is something that I want to read everyday to keep my focus on what's eternal.

"O God, when I have food, help me to remember the hungry; When I have work, help me to remember the jobless; When I have a home, help me to remember those who have no home at all; When I am without pain, help me to remember those who suffer, And remembering, help me to destroy my complacency; bestir my compassion, and be concerned enough to help; By word and deed, those who cry out for what we take for granted. Amen."

I feel like I take things for granted so many days as do most of us American Christians. I've never felt real hunger pains, I've never not known where I'm going to sleep. I think the most important thing though is I've never had to fear speaking that I follow Jesus. So many people in this world can't say the same things but most all the follower's of Christ I know can. This is something we should thank God for everyday and at the same time it should stir within us a desire to help others who can't.

My Biggest Accomplishment for Today

Today is one of those days that I wish I could start over, well at least after 10am. I feel like I've done absolutely nothing today. We did get good news today though. People may or may not know that we are pregnant with #3. We had our second ultrasound today and everything is still looking great and I have been released to just the normal prenatal visits now. This was a huge weight lifted off and I'm feeling very confident that everything will be ok. The problem is because everything is ok I am physically feeling awful. I can't get motivated for anything. I need to finish school (or should I say start) with Blake. I have to get the kitchen cleaned up or my family will be eating without any utensils tonight and I still don't have Moms Group finalized for tomorrow. My Biggest Accomplishment for Today: I haven't thrown up.