25 Random Things, Facts, Habits, or Goals About Me:

I stole this from Facebook. Enjoy!

1. I met my husband when I was fifteen but we didn't start dating until I was a senior in high school. We've been together ever since and he is perfect for me!

2. My husband is a cop and while that's an admirable calling (and he looks amazing in his uniform, might I add!), it scares me to death. I worry so much about him at work.

3. I love to play the piano and have pretty much been playing for my entire life! I've been my church's pianist since I was 11 and I still continue to play and sing in our worship team.

4. Despite Brooke's delivery ending in a C-Section, I labored med- free for 15 hours (pushing for almost 3 of those hours). I have to have futue babies via C-Section and I HATE THAT.

5. I think that breastfeeding is the best thing ever. I nursed Brooke for 22 months and it was a wonderful experience!

6. I love all of the things that come with being a wife and stay-at-home-mom: Cooking, cleaning, laundry, etc... Some would say that I'm a cleaning freak but I don't think that there is such a thing:-)

7. I absolutely cannot sleep in an un-made bed. I make my bed after getting up almost everyday and on the rare days that I don't, I have to make it right before I climb into it. Maybe that's a little weird??

8. I speak and write in Japanese. At one point I was pretty close to fluent but now that I haven't used it much lately, I'm forgetting much of what I once knew.

9. John and I went on a Carribean cruise for our honeymoon and it was perfect! We stopped in Key West on the cruise and fell in love with it but we haven't had the chance to go back.

10. I cook dinner for sometimes up to 100 people every Wednesday night at church. I've been doing this for years and years and I love it!

11. I went to college for all of two semesters and hated every second of it. It was so NOT for me and that's okay!

12. I'm horrible at coloring, drawing, sketching, etc... I honestly failed art class in middle school. How do you FAIL art class??? It's beyond me...

13. I love to act and be on stage but I haven't had an opportunity to do so since high school. Life is just too busy now....

14. I love my niece, Jenna, and nephew, Nathan, like they were my own babies. I can't wait to have more and more kiddos in my family to love:-)

15. I cried when Barak Obama was elected.

16. I used to be a HUGE Yankee fanatic but after seeing so much about their personal lives I got too discouraged to even watch. Most of them are players, adulterers, steroid-users, etc.... :-(

17. I love being a mommy to a little girl (soon TWO little girls!!!). I love the bows, tights, accessories, and matching shoes that little girls "require." I can't wait to match my two daughters!

18. If I had the time (HA) and the smarts to go through nursing school, I would really love to get my nursing degree to be a labor and delivery nurse for after my kids are grown. I don't think I could ever get through school though.

19. I love Jesus and serving Him gives me great joy! I have learned that there's no peace apart from Him and being in His will.

20. I can't wait to be a "soccer mom!" I seriously want to be one of those room mothers at school or that mom who's always picking kids up or bringing snacks for everyone. I'm really looking forward to having school-aged children.

21. I want my house to be a haven for people who are in need of a friend, food, love, etc... God blessed us with this big house and it only seems appropriate to use it for His glory.

22. I was a vegetarian for 11 years but when I became pregnant with Brooke I HAD to have meat. For a while there I was a "closet-meat-eater" and I didn't tell anyone that I was into meat again until I just couldn't stand it!

23. I'm a text messaging fiend. I can close my eyes and text message with no problem. Pretty sad, huh?

24. I find sweeping and vacuuming to be extremely relaxing. Don't judge me! Lol

25. I love rain and thunderstorms. Gloomy days are my favorite thing ever!

A Different Kind of Anniversary

Today is mine and John's wedding anniversary! I know that anniversaries aren't really THAT important because you should show your love to your spouse each and every day, but for some reason, I get VERY excited over our anniversary. I must confess, though, that today was not really "anniversary material." First of all, we are being hit with an awful snowstorm so Brooke and I were trapped in the house all day and when John finally got home (around 6) we couldn't even go anywhere for dinner to celebrate because the roads were yucky. Another thing that added to my less-than-ideal day was that Brooke threw up this morning after breakfast so the whole day I was chasing after her with a towel or bucket every time I heard her cough. Lukcily she been totally fine for the rest of the day somehow. Weird!

So, I made the best of our day and prepared a really nice dinner for the three of us. I made spare ribs with homemade barbecue sauce, cheddar biscuits that tasted almost identical to Red Lobster's, fanned potatoes (a new recipe that was incredible) and Italian green beans. Everything turned out really nice and delicious so that was enough to make me feel like our anniversary was semi-special. John also got me a beautiful card with a nice long note, which made my day. I love my husband so much!

This weekend we are planning on going out of town on Friday night to officially celebrate our anniversary. There's this awesome restaurant about and hour and half from here so we thought we would go eat there Friday night and then stay over in a nice hotel. I'm really looking forward to my time alone with John, as my parents are going to be taking Brookie on Friday night. It's always good to get away, even if it's just for a short trip.

Alrighty, I'm off to relax with my husband! After all, it is our anniversary! Lol

I've Been M.I.A.

Holy cow, I haven't had two seconds to sit down behind the computer and write up a post. Life is crazy around here. Between chasing after Brooke, being a wife, church (attending services, shopping for and cooking Wednesday night dinners, teaching a women's study, being on the worship team, etc...), family, and John's schedule, I rarely have a minute to myself. Finally, I have some time to catch up!

Brooke has kept us in hysterics lately! The most hilarious things come out of her mouth and we just look at her in shock most of the time. For example:

*I said, "Brooke, are you having a brother or a sister?" She looked at me and said, "No thanks, mommy!"

*Today at lunch I told her to sit down and she said, "No thanks, mommy. I'm not sitting right now."

*We've been trying to get her ready for her big-girl-room by talking about it a lot. I asked Brooke, "Who's going to sleep in your crib?" She said, "Adrienne!" I then said, "Then where will you sleep?" Instead of giving me the expected answer, she yelled with excitement, "Daddy's bed!" Lol... I don't think so, Miss Brooke!

*Brooke is SO independent. Now she has to put her own shoes on every time we leave the house (which is always fun when we're in a hurry), pull down her pants for every diaper change, climb up into her car seat by herself, etc... She basically wants me to do NOTHING for her. Whenever I try to help her she says, "I min (am) feeding myself!" Hahaha! She doesn't understand that "feeding" doesn't mean "doing." I think I might be sad when she learns the difference!

*When I'm lying down on the couch or the bed she'll come up to my belly and say, "Kiss Adrienne." So sweet:-) I'm not sure she realizes what she's doing, but it's still precious to me.

*She likes to be JUST like me! She puts on my high-heels and pushes her grocery cart saying, "I min shopping for food." Sometimes, if we're really lucky, she'll find one of my shirts and put it on for her big shopping trips. It's hilarious!

Yes, my little girl is growing so quickly and is learning so very much! I love this age, despite temper tantrums and willfulness, and am just trying to soak it all in and enjoy my girl as much as possible.

I have a very active little girl in my womb right now! When I was pregnant with Brooke I rarely felt her kick. She would obviously move, but not as often as I would have really liked. This pregnancy is totally different though. Adrienne kicks hard and frequently... Most of the time when I'm trying to sleep! I do feel her a lot when I'm out about too. I wonder if this is a sign of things to come????? Brooke has always been very laid back and I'm starting to wonder if this little girl will give me a run for me money!

Okay, it's time to get some much-needed work done around the house. We're supposed to get 10 inches of snow tonight so I'm sure I'll be couped up tomorrow to do some cleaning, but I'll feel so great if I get it out of the way now!

FRUSTRATED!

Right now I am SO fed up with our heating bill. We got a bill for $400 in the beginning of this month for last month's use and before we even paid that one, we got a $350 bill in the mail today. GIVE ME A BREAK! Yes, I realize we have a big house, but this is the sick part.... 1) Our heating system doesn't even go upstairs so we're paying this for downstairs alone, and 2) We keep our heat on 60 when we're not home and we try to use space heaters as much as possible while we are home. I can think of very few times that we have had our heat up for an extended period of time.

I called the propane people, thinking that this second bill was surely a glitch in their system, and they're like, "Well it's been really cold, unfortunately." I realize that it's been really cold but seriously... $750 is A LOT OF money for PROPANE. I seriously want to scream right now. The other thing that ticks me off is that our electric bill was $17 in December so we just got a whopping bill of $400 for electricity because apparently it's VERY hard to give us an accurate read each month. I tell ya!

Here's what really, really, really ticks me off: Because we are a hard working family, we are offered no assistance to help cover our enormous heating costs. Sure, the state issues grants and such, but we make too much money to have them reduce the cost of our heating and electricity. I'm not looking for handouts, but perhaps we should stop handing things out to people who refuse to work if we're not willing to hand things out to people that work VERY hard for their money. Does anyone else get frustrated by this or is it just me? I'm not saying that there aren't some cases where people really CAN'T work (like when they get laid off or when they have medical reasons), but what really gets me is when I see people (and KNOW people) who literally refuse to work and they have luxuries that I don't because our lovely government hands them things. If you are working and STILL need help, then I am thankful that our government helps you out. That's what the money should be there for, in my opinion.

If you don't hear from me again it's because I've turned into an icicle due to refusing to turn the heat on. UGH!

I Can't Make Up My Mind!!!

Ugh, just when I thought that I had Brooke's furniture narrowed down to those picks, we went to another store. This is so not good! We found that we can get a beautiful set for her (that is made by Ashley Furniture) for almost $700 cheaper than those other two sets we had originally decided on. I have faith in Ashley because my gorgeous, indestructible bedroom set is made by them, along with my dining room table that I love. This set feels really solid but it's not quite as precious as the super expensive set that I had once hoped for. Although, I think that it might quite a bit more practical and versatile than the other choices.

To add to my indecisiveness, I also came across this furniture. The wonderful thing about this furniture is that my parents have the adult version of this bedroom set (with a full bed and cherry finish) and they LOVE it. They have been very satisfied with it and it has continued to look good even after several years of use. I would really like to get this set because of it's good reputation and also, I think it's precious! It's about $200 more than the furniture I listed above, but I think it's definitely worth it to get something I love so much. I dare say that this is the one. Thoughts, anyone????

I realize that Brooke could care less about her room and that she doesn't NEED the most perfect bedroom to know that mommy and daddy love her, but I'm still agonizing over this so it can be special for her. Really, growing up she won't care how much we spent on her furniture or what color the finish is. If that's the case, why can't I make up my mind??????? I need to soon or I think I'll scream.

Well, it's time for me to get up to the church and cook dinner for the masses. It's a lot of work but a lot of fun. Gotta run!

Baby News!!!!

We had our ultrasound today and we are having a (drum roll, please)..... GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so excited and I cannot wait to raise another little princess. We have enjoyed Brooke so much so we're really thrilled. Fun days are ahead for our family! The baby's name has officially been chosen and it is Adrienne Reese. If you know our last name then you'll see how pretty it sounds all together. I love the name:-)

More importantly that Miss Adrienne's gender, we are elated that we were told she has a four chambered heart, two kidneys, a functioning bladder, a completely normal brain, and a normal spine. Her measurements look great and she weighs exactly one pound now. God has designed humans so intricately and it brought me to tears to see how He was knitting our daughter together in my womb. It never gets old, does it??

I was so worried that we wouldn't be able to find out the gender and now I see how silly that was! The baby first had her legs spread apart, which was the point that the ultrasound technician said it was a girl. I said, "So, if it was your baby on that screen you would feel safe painting the nursery pink?" He said, "Well, I would buy the paint at this point." Only minutes later she did a big flip and mooned us, which was enough clarification for him to say, "Okay, go ahead and finish your painting!" Lol!

After our ultrasound, we had an appointment with my doctor. He had previously advised me that a repeat C-Section is in our best interest and today he asked me if I had a reached a conclusion about that. I have had A LOT of reservations and fears about another C-Section (which I have written about repeatedly), but the doctor opened up to me a lot and told me that when his wife had their first son (who's now 26) she had a C-Section for similar reasons that I had one with Brooke and when it was time for her to decide how to birth their second son, he decided it was the most prudent thing for her to have a repeat section. He went on to say that if I was his wife and this was his baby, he would hands down choose a C-Section. I have a lot of faith in this doctor and he really put my mind to rest, which was an answer to prayer. Anyways, with all that being said, we scheduled Adrienne's birthday for the 27Th of May. It's so weird to have such an exact, definitive date but we're very, very excited!

Brooke has been struggling with the news a bit, unfortunately. She'll say sweet things like, "Adrienne sit next to Brookie," but if we ask her if she'll share something with the baby she yells, "NO!" She's also been kind of clingy and fussy and I think that she grasps this whole concept a bit more than we give her credit for. I know that in time she'll adjust!

This has been such a special day and I don't think I've stopped smiling once:-) I think I'll go end it on a positive note and relax with my wonderful, out-numbered husband!

A Big Girl Room in the Making!

With the fast approaching arrival of this baby, we are turning our spare room into Brooke's big girl room. We're really excited about the whole process but we are still undecided about her furniture. We went to the furniture store today and these are our final two picks:

This is the white furniture that we like. She would be getting every piece that's in the picture. It's very, very pretty and elegant in person because it has a scalloped detail around the mirror and head board. It's absolutely gorgeous and VERY well made and we also think that it will grow with her, which is always a plus.

Our second choice is cherry wood furniture. She would be getting everything in that picture except for the desk... Instead she would be getting a large chest of drawers. We like this set a lot because it too is very well made. It's a lot more simplistic than the other choice and it's almost identical to our bedroom set that we have in our room. It's gorgeous but less "princess like."

As for her bedding, we have selected this gorgeous set from Pottery Barn Kids:



I think that either set of furniture will go really well with the comforter that we've chosen, which makes my decision even harder. Please give me your thoughts and opinions! We need to decide by Thursday because they're having a sale that ends that day.

Oh, real quick, another good thing about the white furniture is that it is made by the store itself (Raymour and Flanigan) so the guy said it will be around for years to come, which means we can go back in a few years and buy another bed to match Brooke's if this baby is a girl. Decisions, decisions!