Fall Decor

This is my second post of the day (in an effort to calm myself down!). If you have time please read the post below too!
So everyone's posting pics of their fall decor, so I thought I would jump on the bandwagon!

Front door...

Entry... Entry...
Breakfast table...
Ovens...(they look finger-printy in this pic which is weird because I just cleaned them!) The towels need pressed, but I haven't had a chance yet!
The hearth...not thrilled with how this looks, but it will have to work for now. I love my acorns.
Normally I put fall leaves (fake ones) into my greenery that is on top of my entertainment center, but Chris won't let me get on the ladder (I'm a big enough clutz without having this big belly) and he certainly can't do it, so we will have to forget that this year! Anyway, I love seeing all of your beautifully fall decorated homes!

I'm hoping to make my favorite fall muffins soon (pumpkin chocolate chip) and when I do I'll take pics and post the recipe!

Thanks guys

Thank you all so much for your comments and especially your prayers. Jeff seems to be okay but still refuses to go to the doctor, which is killing me. He is so sore and I'm afraid he may have cracked a rib or two from hitting and rolling over that car, but he just won't go...and he's 31 so we can't make him. On Monday he will be having surgery for his ankle (pre-existing) and I hope that goes well. He has a pre-op today so I know that they will draw blood...not that that will tell them much in the way of the accident, but who knows.

For all those that live in the NWA Area, I have some consumer advice. NEVER, EVER under ANY circumstances buy a vehicle at Superior in Fayetteville.

I can't take anymore stress! Between taking care of my husband, worrying about my brother, being 6 months pregnant and issues with this dealership, I just can't do it! I know this will all pass, but I thought I'd pass the word on to my fellow NWA'ers that if you are in the market for a GMC product, go to Best NOT Superior!

Accident

I hope to return to my regular blog posts soon, but right now life is crazy. My brother has a HD motorcycle and was hit yesterday. He was going through a 4 way stop (it was his turn) and a guy ran the sign and hit him directly on the side. He somehow managed to jerk his leg up in time or is would have been totally smashed. Jeff went over the top of the car that hit him and his bike slid 25 feet. Amazingly, he seems okay. He woke up today in a ton of pain and my mom and I are forcing him to go to the doctor and get checked out. He refused to go yesterday because our home team (SF 49'ers) were playing. I'm sure you can picture me rolling my eyes here. Anyway, I don't think he was thinking clearly.

So between my surgery-recovering hubby and my brother, I'm still out of commission. I hope to be back in a day or two!

One more update

I have to make this quick, but I spoke too soon yesterday. Chris had a lot of bleeding and we were up all night. I called his dr first thing this morning and we went in. They immediately removed the pain pump from his stomach. They would never admit the problem but I know that it all stemmed from the pump. He is now on his pain meds which are helping some. Hopefully tonight will be much better.

Quick Update

For those of you who were praying for Chris, I wanted to let you know his surgery went well. He's resting pretty comfortably being as he has a pain pump. The doctor was able to repair the hernia and expects a full recovery. I'm going to have to watch him like a hawk because he thinks he is BamBam and wants to lift things and he is on a very strict NO LIFT policy. Should be interesting seeing as I am on one too. Oh well, we will make it work (in the words of Tim Gunn!)!

Deliciousness

My appetite has slowing been returning so I thought I'd share a few favorite things with you.

First, something I did eat pre-pregnancy, but not often at all, was cottage cheese. Now I buy two of these containers at a time!

Next up, chocolate milk (I'm not a huge milk drinker but I've always like chocolate milk) and caramel apple cider (heated up apple cider that I spike with caramel sauce!)!!!
And something I NEVER liked before...yogurt. I'm loving this peach yogurt from Yoplait!
And last but not least, we buy these by the case at Sam's Club...IBC Root Beer! Oh yum!
At least my snacking is healthy (for now)! I'm up to about 11 or 12 lbs gained! From what I've read the average person has gained about 17lbs by this point, so I'm okay with that.

On another note, one of my favorite lunch places has re-opened. I read about it in a local magazine and my mom and I went in today. Unfortunately they don't have the original recipes (bummer!) so the food is very different even though they are calling it the same thing. If you live in NWA I'm talking about the original Crumpet Tea Room in Rogers. However, the tea room inside of Interiors Gallery does have the original recipes so I guess I will just keep going there!

Back from Tahoe

I think there may be more pictures than words on this post!

The day we arrived in Tahoe we ate at one of our favorite restaurants (more for beauty than their food...they are very nouveau cuisine) Kitchen 19. Here's the view out our tableside window:

Lake Tahoe is straight in front and the popular Edgewood Golf Course is to the right.

Chris and Dad golfed at Edgewood the next day, so Mom and I headed to the club to eat. Here I am on the terrace overlooking the putting green and behind that it the 18th hole. Lake Tahoe is obviously in the background! Oh, and this can serve as my 23 week belly shot!
That night we ate at the Sage Room. It's located in Harvey's Casino and was the original Harvey's. It was actually a church brought over from California (Harvey's is in the Nevada side of Tahoe...for those that don't know, Tahoe is half in Nevada and half in California) and in the 40's it was turned into a casino.

My favorite thing is that they use pasteurized egg product to make the Caesar dressing (tableside!) and so I had my first Caesar salad in 6 months! Oh and it was soooo good!

Chris and I in front of the Heavenly Gondola that takes you to the top of the famous Heavenly Mountain.
This is the path the Gondola takes up to the top of the mountain. We've done it before but not this trip!A scenic pic:

I got a surprise gift today from one of dad's associates! It's a gift basket full of boy goodies!

That's it for now! I have so much housework to do before Thursday rolls around. Chris has his pre-op appointment today and it took F-O-R-E-V-E-R!

Busy weekend

This was one crazy weekend. Saturday Chris decided I needed a new car...my 5 year warranty on mine was going to be up in March and so we traded in my 2004 model for this one:


I love this car. It's my third Yukon and my 2nd Denali. I know how it works and I don't have re-learn everything about it so that's really nice. I got black on black which is what I really wanted so I'm a happy camper!

We had a leadership class going on at our property this weekend. It was so, so wonderful to go watch some of the processes that were being done. I went to Leadership One in 2004 and Leadership Two in 2006. For more information go here.

Tomorrow we leave for Tahoe! Woo-Hoo! It sounds like a lot of your are familiar with Tahoe which is so cool. I just think it's the best place on earth! The word Tahoe is synonymous with relaxation for me. I'm excited to hit up my favorite local places (Bridgetender, here I come!) and take in the pure beauty that is Tahoe.

I'm keeping this short and sweet today because I have laundry and housecleaning to do so we are ready to leave bright and early in the morning! Hope you all had a great weekend and will continue to have a wonderful week!

Bunco

Last night was bunco, and surprise, surprise, I forgot my camera! Well, to be honest, I would have felt a little odd walking in with my camera taking pictures of a bunch of people I don't really know! Ha! They may have thought I was a little nuts! I tied for most wins but we did a roll off (with dice) and I didn't get the high number, so no prize this time!

All in all, I had a good time and met some nice people. I was excited to meet Laurie since I read her blog, and was also excited to learn that some of the ladies that came read mine! I really tried hard to put myself out there and get acquainted with people and most were very responsive. It's hard when you feel like everyone knows everyone and you're the new girl, but how else am I supposed to make new friends?


One sort of funny thing happened - one lady kept inviting me to church and asking if I wanted to attend church activities and I kept telling her that I've gone to that church for 9 years (longer than her!). I don't know if she couldn't hear me or what, but everytime we ended up at the same table she would invite me to church! I just thought that was hilarious! I guess it goes to show how large our church is, because I didn't recognize most of the people (and they didn't recognize me), and I know they are there every Sunday!

Tuesday we leave for Lake Tahoe, my favorite spot on the planet. We usually go a couple of times a year, and I so look forward to those trips. It is such a beautiful spot. Here's a picture from last year:

A food post

I made the Creamy Italian Chicken again last night and I took pics! For some reason it's sideways, but you get the idea. Mine is served over whole wheat egg noodles. Oh, and have you seen those new crescent rolls? They taste the same as a traditional crescent but they come in roll form. YUM.
I don't drink coffee. I LOVE the smell but I loathe the taste. So here's what I crave: Fresh pressed English tea with honey and sugar:
English Breakfast is my favorite followed closely by Prince of Wales.
And now something entirely different...
Anyone recognize this bottle? I'll give you a hint...it comes in Orange Dream and Fruit Punch (mine is fruit punch). That's right, it's the lovely sugary drink that I have to down on October 9th before my glucose test. Oh joy. I'm not looking forward to that ONE BIT. My gag reflex is so sensitive (yes, I STILL have morning sickness) and I'm afraid I'll throw it back up if it tastes bad.

Other than that little jewel, my doctor appointment today went well. My doctor and nurses told me how petite I look for almost 22 weeks (I needed a small self confidence boost today!) and so that made me feel really good. It's odd seeing a number on the scale that I NEVER thought I would see though. I'm not crazy enough to tell you what that number was, but it was one I've never seen in correlation with me before. I've been having a TON of ligament and pelvic pain and he said everything was normal, so that also calmed me down.

Oh, and he told me that birthing class is not required which I'm excited about. I used my best friend Amy's line and asked him if I watched enough Baby Story on TLC would that cover me? I guess he'd never heard that before and he was rolling. Since we've already established (at each and every appointment) that I am having an epidural I'm not too concerned about the class. He said they mainly talk about the different instruments that are used etc so that you don't freak out.

Tonight is Bunco night! I'm nervous/excited! I wish I could get over my shyness, it holds me back in so many areas of life, but I just have such a huge fear of rejection. I'm working on it!

Creamy Italian Chicken

I decided that I need to start doing a better job of taking pictures, especially when I cook something yummy. Alas, both cameras were dead (I really need to learn how to charge them...) and I made a new dinner, and I'm going to share the picture-less recipe anyway!

OK, so if you read my last post you know I've been feeling AWFUL. I still have this migraine...it's been a week now since it started with no relief. Chris rubbed my shoulders (the pain from my migraines usually works its way into my neck/shoulder area and the muscles feel like rocks) and I had about 30 mins of relief last night before it came back.

So anyway, I say that to say this - I have been making the world's quickest recipes lately. The last thing I feel like doing is standing in the kitchen (which is normally what I enjoy the most). So I got creative and this recipe may sound a little odd, but it is GOOD. Chris is not a fan of new recipes (he likes to know exactly what we are having and what it tastes like) but he LOVED this.

Creamy Italian Chicken

3 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cubed

1 pkt. Italian seasoning

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 can (soup can) water

1 chicken bouillon cube

1 pkg. cream cheese

Mix all together in crock pot and cook on low for 6 hours. Serve with noodles.


I actually didn't cook mine in a crockpot because I didn't have time, but I boiled my chicken and then cubed it and threw everything in a sauce pan. It was YUMMY. In total it probably took me about 15 min's (outside of boiling the chicken). I hope you try it and like it as much as we do!

Multi Purpose Post

First of all, thank you all so much for your comments on my Faith post! Wow! I'm so glad that I listened to what I felt God was telling me to do, and I'm so glad that it blessed so many of you!


Next up, I have a Baby Brayden Bump pic (21 weeks) for you that of course comes with a disclaimer: I look AWFUL because I had a severe migraine and am dealing with a TON of sinus stuff and (TMI warning) a bladder infection. Not fun:

Awhile back I went to lunch with Kelly and asked if she thought we could start a bunco group - and we have our first bunco day Thursday night! Yay! I am so excited. I bet I wont know anyone (well, except her) and that totally freaks me out (SHY!) but I'll get over it! I also have my next checkup on Thursday.

I'm in a little bit of a pickle...you might remember me posting awhile ago about how I'm not doing a nursery in this house because we're moving...well, everything keeps getting pushed back. Originally we should have been moving in January and now it may be postponed until July, August or later! But in this house our bedroom is on the main floor while the other three are upstairs. I really hate to pack up and undecorate a room just so I can paint a nursery that I will probably never leave him in because it's too far away. We'll see I guess. Decisions, decisions.

Last up in the multi-purpose post; Amanda Ledford, if you are reading, let me know if you got my emails! Sometimes when I send them from Yahoo they go straight into the recipients spam box!

OK, well that's all for now!

Faith

Today is a little different for me. I usually try and keep this blog light and fun and talk about things that I think people can find funny or enjoyable. Today I am sharing something much more personal, and that is very hard for me. I'm one of those people who don't like to open up to others too much because I have such a huge fear of rejection. But, I feel like God has laid this topic on my heart and I've fought Him a little too long on sharing...

Faith. It's such a simple word that I think gets tossed around sometimes too lightly. It's so easy to say that you have faith in something. I know it is for me. But to truly mean it with your whole heart, body and soul is another thing. My biggest and most obvious struggle was with infertility. I told others countless times that I had faith that God would give us a baby. But truly, I don't think I did. No - I know I didn't. I wanted to think that I knew that it would turn out the way it has, but I know that I didn't - at least not until a few months ago.

I have a very hard time showing people my true emotions. When I say very hard, I mean it's like pulling teeth without Novocaine hard. I don't do it. Period. Too many people have used my emotions against me, to the point where I stopped allowing myself to show my feelings. I didn't cry at my own wedding. My husband did - in fact he cries every Sunday during Baptism. But not me. This started years ago, way before we started ttc. So I say that to bring you up to speed a little bit ... to where we began trying to have a baby.

I'm a total and complete control freak. I want things done my way or the highway (I've gotten a lot better with that though). So about six months after we started ttc I knew there was a problem...that may sound unusual but trust me, it was obvious. So I went to the doctor and we started Clomid. We made many trips to the doctor and then ultimately the RE. I knew that they would have the answers I sought...I mean, they are medical professionals. If they couldn't get me pregnant then it wasn't going to happen.

Then one day, my RE said that he was sorry and that our only option to ever have a child was IVF. Up until this point, anytime he or my OB told me to do something I did it without question. Clomid, Femara, HCG shots, Follitism shots, and HSG, surgery, IUI's...I did it. No questions asked, just how soon can we start. I had already researched IVF and knew that my insurance would give me $15,000 towards the procedure. We could easily do it. But when he said those words, I froze. I told him I needed to think about it.

Chris and I made the drive home from Tulsa and I was pretty silent (unusual for me!). I finally knew what my problem was. It wasn't that I had endo or that I didn't ovulate. It wasn't any of that. It was that I had no faith that God could do this without the help of a doctor. I told Chris I needed a break from all the treatments and he fully supported that decision. And if you've read my blog before, you know that I did get pregnant - that very next month, totally unmedicated, and I lost my baby. Now I'm pregnant again - the first cycle after my miscarriage and again without any intervention.

I think my miscarriage had a lot to do with testing my faith. In a lot of ways, it was easy for me to say no more doctors, I am going to have faith in God on this. But once you get pregnant and then that precious baby is taken from you, it takes a whole new kind of faith. Faith that there was a reason, a plan behind this. Faith that God will provide for you. Faith that God's plan is best, no matter what it may be.

So what caused me to write all this? The last two days I've not felt much movement from Brayden. It scares me. And every time I get scared I call my doctor. I realized that I'm falling back into a bad thing...So I came to the computer and I sat down, not really knowing what I was going to do. So I prayed. I rarely feel like God is speaking clearly and directly to me, but today He did. This will sound a little silly but there is a couch in our office and I felt like I needed to go lay down. I rarely sit on that couch and I've certainly never gone to lay down and rest on it (just because it seems weird to go rest in the office). So I did...and Brayden started kicking me. I know in my heart that every thing's fine but He just laid the subject of faith so strongly on my heart that I couldn't ignore it any longer. Nor do I want to.

Anyway, I hope that this post can be an encouragement to you somehow. Maybe someone out there who reads this is struggling with the same things. I'm not perfect, and I don't have it all figured out by any means. I still have such a hard time opening up and this was a leap of faith for me in more ways than one. But I hope it can be a blessing to you.

So did you watch...

...this?

Last night we tuned in for the premier episode of the new 90210. I have lots of comments on this...

First I should say that I was young when the original 90210 was on, but I watched it all the time. I don't remember all the storylines but I know who everyone was etc. So I recognized the old timers from the original series.

So the new lead girl, Annie totally overacted for my taste. Everything was so dramatic! Chris makes fun of me for watching soap operas but this didn't even compare. I thought every line of hers was so overdone - at first it was sort of funny but then it just got annoying.

Is it just me or does Naomi remind you of anyone? I can't get over how much she reminds me of that girl from Saved By the Bell - the one that dated Mario Lopez's character.

I enjoyed Jennie Garth and for the most part, her storyline. The romance with the other teacher should be interesting.

I've never been much of a Shannen Doherty fan, so I didn't really care one way or the other that she was back. I would have preferred Tori Spelling or Jason Priestly to return.

I think it was great that they brought back the Peach Pit and Nat. I always liked him!

OK, so there are my thoughts on the new show...what are yours?

Post #2 for Today!

I'm going to do TWO posts today because I just noticed that Amanda tagged me!

1. Who is your man? Chris
2. How long have you been together? Almost 5 years
3. How long did you date? 1.5 years
4. How old is your man? 24...in October. Yes, yes, I am a cradle robber.
5. Who eats more? HIM
6. Who said "I love you" first? He did
7. Who is taller? Thankfully he is...I'm tall for a girl but I can wear any heels I want!
8. Who sings better? Oh gosh, we are both terrible...neither of us can carry a tune in a bucket!
9. Who is smarter? That depends...I'm a much better writer/speller, but he is 10 times better at math than I am.
10. Whose temper is worse? His
11. Who does the laundry? Mostly me. But I don't iron...He will though.
12. Who takes out the garbage? Chris!!!
13. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Me - it's closer to the bathroom and furthest from the door!
14. Who pays the bills? Chris...I tried when we first got married. Not good.
15. Who is better with the computer? Me.
16. Who mows the lawn? Chris!!! I don't even know how to turn a lawn mower on!
17. Who cooks dinner? I cook/bake...he grills.
18. Who drives when you are together? I would rather drive because he's too slow. But usually he does.
19. Who pays when you go out? Whoever gets to their wallet first. Usually him. It's all the same account.
20. Who is most stubborn? Me.
21. Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? Him - I'm too stubborn.
22. Whose parents do you see the most? Mine since they are the closest by a long shot.
23. Who kissed who first? He kissed me.
24. Who asked who out? He asked me out.
25. Who proposed? HIM! Duh!
26. Who is more sensitive? Oh totally me. Hands down.
27. Who has more friends? It's even.
28. Who has more siblings? Him. I have one brother. He has 1 half brother, 1 step brother and 3 step sisters.
29. Who wears the pants in the family? Usually him, but occasionally I put my foot down on something.

So now it's my turn to tag! I tag Kelly, Krysta, Lianna and Megan!

A Work In Progress...

Once we found out we were having a boy, I went straight to Hobby Lobby to buy some yarn and start a blanket. My mom ended up taking that yarn and making her own, so I went back and got blue and green (I wanted chocolate too, but they didn't have it in the worsted yard). So this blanket is going to be 10 rows of blue by 6 rows of green stripes. It's a lot longer that it looks in that pic! Unfortunately, I can't remember how to tie in new colors so it's not technically correct, but I doubt Brayden is really going to care...

So now onto another favorite (not) subject of mine. Weight. I believe it's beginning to catch up with me...up until 19 weeks I'd only gained about 4lbs...give or take a pound. Now I think I'm up to 7lbs gained. My appetite seems to be returning. In fact, at 10:30 last night (really late for me to even still be up) I had Chris go re-heat my Chili's leftovers! Oh they were good! I'm afraid I'm going to pull a Tori Spelling and gain 11lbs in 1 month! Yikes!