Faith, Hope & Love

Faith, hope and love. All three I have been blessed with and challenged with the last few years.

Tomorrow is me and Jimmy's 6 year wedding anniversary. Looking back, our wedding seemed like yesterday. But maybe that's because I watch our wedding video every chance I get.... :)
At the same time, it seemed like we were just babies. Only 25 years old when I got married. Wow, I was so young. And had no idea what was to come.

Jimmy and I have been dating on and off since I was 16. So we are going on 16 years of friendship and love. We were best friends before anything else and that is exactly what he is to me. My very best friend. I truly can not imagine my life without him. Okay, sappy and corny, I know but it brings tears to my eyes to think how much this man means to me and how much he has been there for me in all aspects of my life.

A couple of years ago, I went through some boxes of things I saved from middle school and high school. I came across an entire bin full of notes that I have saved.... so hilarious to go through! I found stacks of saved notes from Jimmy. The first one I opened was of course a love note from when we were probably 16/17 years old. I read through it smiling remembering when we were so young, freshly dating. I got through half the note and stopped at a sentence he wrote. "I want to marry you someday and live in a house with 2 dogs." It made me laugh - that is exactly what we have! And yet my heart felt heavy. Infertility had taken a beating on us both. Our relationship was still strong, but there was obviously a sadness (spoken and unspoken) with this missing "piece" to our lives.

Three in a half years of infertility, doctor appts, etc. my faith, hope and love has been tested. I have been through all stages of grief: shock to find out my diagnosis of PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome), pain and guilt for not being able to give my husband a child, anger and bargaining with God - please if you only give me a child I will do this and that..., depression - crying and calling my Mom every time I found out someone else was pregnant, adjustment of the reality that this might not happen, working though/reconstruction - getting a new Doctor and starting a new plan and finally acceptance.

Acceptance - hard thing to do and hard to truly believe and feel. Once I started seeing my infertility doctor, I truly had a turning point of accepting this might not be in God's plan. Although I 100% did not understand why, I had to realize God's plan is better then mine. I found an encouraging quote and wrote it out and put it on my fridge so I could see it every day, "Do not mistake God's patience for his absence. His timing is perfect and he is always with you." Do not mistake his patience for his absence... the best thing I have ever read. I had to accept He has a plan for my life and I need to trust that whatever it is - He knows best.

4 months later, God blessed me with this baby girl growing inside me.

So on my 6 year anniversary, I feel especially thankful.  Thankful my husband has been by my side through everything. I have a renewed belief in faith, hope and love. We have had an amazing 6 years, just us and our two dogs. We have had so much fun, so many things happen and so many blessings. I can't wait to see what the future brings!

Love,
Kristin

Welcome to the 3rd Trimester - Baby H - Week 27

I can't believe this week starts the 3rd trimester! It feels like I just found out we were expecting yesterday.
Once we had our gender ultrasound, time has flown by. I can hardly believe it's June...

Which brings me to the next chapter of my pregnancy - not the third trimester but more of the - where is the air conditioning and the bathroom? My ankles are already swelling, my rings barely fit (I am just wearing my bands now) and my bathroom breaks have become ridiculous. 8 times in 7 hours during the night has been my record so far. BUT, I would not change it for the world!

Baby girl is SO active now! This week she has started kicking in two different parts of my tummy simultaneously. What is she doing in there? She is a busy, busy girl!  :) I am loving every minute of it. I took a video for Jimmy to see from the outside the other day - pretty amazing to think there is a human growing inside me. God is so good!

Life for us has been busy, too. It must be my the nesting mode I am in. We have replaced all our window treatments in the kitchen with new vertical blinds and wood blinds over the kitchen sink and side windows. It looks so much better. My amazing parents spent the entire weekend completing the project for us. They are so awesome!

Other projects around the house include our new bathroom vanity being installed. What a difference!
We are having new carpet installed in a couple of weeks in our lower level which I'm also pumped for. And the last part will be painting the upstairs bathroom, master bedroom and the nursery. My bedding was delivered so now I just need the paint on and the furniture. I hope to have the nursery project started/done by middle of July so I can spend the last month of my pregnancy relaxing!
Jimmy has been working every chance he gets on the yard, tearing down old trees, planting hostas, etc. etc. Lots going on...and happy to have it completed before baby comes.

Last weekend we spent all day Saturday and most of Sunday at a childbirth class. The days were long but we are really happy we signed up for it (Jimmy changed his first diaper on a doll LOL). We learned a lot and although it is very scary it also makes me super excited. We got a tour of MG Hospital and it is gorgeous and I feel much more prepared.

Next Dr appointment is next week and I will be getting a couple of shots. Then I see the Dr every 2 weeks. I have been feeling MUCH bigger and hoping it slows down a bit through the summer. Either way, thankful for this miracle inside me!

Love,
Kristin

26.5 Weeks

25.5 Weeks - my new view for the summer

Baked banana bread for the first time - came out delicious!

Fishing with my hubby

Kristin = 1, Jimmy = 0

Enjoying the summer