Well, folks, it looks pretty well like my husband and I will be welcoming a baby boy, who will be named Jerry Allen Granville (all family names), into our lives and family come November! (See my new ticker - the pregnant woman, who really resembles me quite well, is wearing blue!)
Is it terrible to say that I was more than a little disappointed? When I spoke to a few people, I could hardly contain my tears. I really had my heart set on a daughter, but I knew even yesterday that my disappointment would pass and I would be able to move forward because now I know. My husband is nearly beside himself with happiness since this will be his first son after four girls and his happiness is only helping to dispell my disappointment and realize that his dream is coming true and I get to be a part of it with him. His dreams are my dreams and this little one is our son - a little bit of both of us and the generations of our families before us. I couldn't love him any more or less and I know I will be a mess when I see his little face and as I watch him grow, all those things! I watch Ryan now with an awareness when he says "Momma" that sometime soon, there will another little boy calling me "Momma". How crazy is that?
I have to admit that I am still sort of shell shocked and wondering what God is thinking to give me a boy? Are You serious? What am I going to do with a boy? I'm a girl for goodness sakes! I'm sure I'll figure it all out eventually, but this boy is already making me nervous. Oh well. Gotta love those little boys. Supermom - you'll get this - but I really hope I don't look better as a boy!
I am thankful we got to see him yesterday, but there were some issues I'd like to mention for any of you reading this to remember in prayer for us. We weren't able to get a very good look at our little boy for any number of reasons. We weren't able to get very accurate measurements of specific body parts or even kinda focus in on any particular one. He wasn't moving around too very much, but he was definitely active and Jerry was surprised that with how active he appeared, I couldn't feel anything yet!
We ended up visiting with the doctor (even though we weren't scheduled to see a doctor other than the ultrasound tech) yesterday, so I knew there were some concerns. The fluid around baby was a little too small for the doctor's liking and so I am scheduled for a higher-tech, higher-resolution ultrasound on the 18th to check it out a little better. I have also lost 2 pounds in two weeks when I should be starting to gain, so there is some concern that I am not eating enough, especially since this means I weigh a little bit less now than when I got pregnant. I am not trying to lose weight, but I am definitely eating healthier so that has more than likely cut my calories, when I should be adding 300 additional each day to my diet. Great - good and bad thing. Please pray for my appetite. It definitely isn't what it was before I got pregnant and it's hard to eat when I don't feel hungry. I want to make sure baby is getting everything he needs.
So, that's the news from the pregnancy front. Thanks for all your prayers and well wishes. I couldn't imagine a more supportive and enthusiastic group of people to go through all of this with. I can't wait to meet my little boy and introduce him to all of you, even those I've never met. You guys are truly awesome and I am grateful for every one of you!
P.S. If you're wondering where the pictures are, I'll just tell you that the ones I have are really not very clear and our computer at home is not set up and will not be hooked up to the internet for an indefinite amount of time. As soon as I can, I will post some. I have friends in the IT department here at work that will be willing to help me. It may be after my next ultrasound - I think the pictures will be much better then.
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Monday, June 26, 2006
tomorrow's the BIG day! ...and other news of importance
I AM SO EXCITED I CAN HARDLY
CONTAIN IT!!!!!
My husband and I are going in first thing tomorrow morning to have our 20-week ultrasound! I am so anxious to see how big, healthy, and beautiful baby is getting! It's been almost 11 weeks since I first saw our precious little one and I am ready to see her/him again and check out what all she/he's been doing and growing! And, if we're really lucky, we'll get to find out what the gender of our baby is! We already have our names picked out and are just ready to start calling baby by one or the other.
My heart is desperately longing for a girl, but God knows better than I the person He is creating and the life that He has purposed for our child, so either way, I am resting in His perfect will for all of us. Pray that I will be able to sleep tonight and that my heart will be at peace; I am so excited - you'd think I was a kid getting ready to go on vacation or something! But, even if I can't sleep, I've been reading the novel, The Devil Wears Prada (review to come and the movie is out this Friday!!!), so I'll have something to keep my mind busy. And when I finish that book (since I'm getting close to being done), I've got plenty more books to read!
My husband and I have taken all day tomorrow off, so I will be sure to post pictures and the happy news on Wednesday. Make sure to come back for the update!
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In other news, we finally have a washer and a dryer of our own! Hallelujah! I have been doing my laundry at a laundromat for almost eight years and I am so excited not to have to leave my house or dig out change to get my clothes clean anymore! It's truly a blessing for us and just simply doing my and my family's laundry now holds an incredible amount of joy for me! I'd even be willing to do a load (or two, or three, even) for a few of my blogging buddies - I am THAT happy!
This is all I have enough patience to write at the moment.
Everyone have a wonderful evening!
Friday, June 16, 2006
new blog name
So if you haven't yet noticed, let me draw your attention to the new name of my blog. Why the new blog name, you ask? There's a few reasons for this -
1. The old name - where God can be found - wasn't really practical anymore because I wasn't really talking as much about literature, movies, or music as much as I would really like to be. See, you have to actually be reading, watching movies, and listening to music to talk about all those things. Kinda helps. Music is never a problem (because I'm listening to music or have music on my mind almost every waking moment of the day), but the others take a lot more time that I just don't have right now. I imagine eventually I'll talk more about books and movies, but right now, my mind is nearly completely preoccupied. If you don't know why, just take a look at the top of my blog. On a related note, I have wanted for some time to explain why I named my blog what I did in the first place. I really liked the name and have debated for a while whether to change it all. Anyways.... keep an eye out for a blog post explaining more in the future.
2. I knew that if I renamed my blog anything, it would be brave mommy (right now it's mommy-to- be since I am currently pregnant with my very first precious child). If you've read any of my previous posts, you know how very much I love the song Brave by Nicole Nordeman. It just speaks of and to my very heart of where I am at in my life right now, what I feel most of all that God is calling me to be in everything, and of my own desire for God to make me brave. I don't know why God chose the word "brave" to speak to me so powerfully, but He did. I even looked up the word and the definition just blows me away - "said of a person, or their character, actions, etc: having or showing courage in facing danger or pain, etc; daring or fearless." That is what I want to be, especially in relation to becoming a mommy for the first time. I think I'm going to need some bravery!
3. If I'm listed by blog name on somebody's link list, I'm way farther up alphabetically. LOL. Yeah, because that's what's most important. :-)
Hope you'll like the new name. And, keep coming by.
1. The old name - where God can be found - wasn't really practical anymore because I wasn't really talking as much about literature, movies, or music as much as I would really like to be. See, you have to actually be reading, watching movies, and listening to music to talk about all those things. Kinda helps. Music is never a problem (because I'm listening to music or have music on my mind almost every waking moment of the day), but the others take a lot more time that I just don't have right now. I imagine eventually I'll talk more about books and movies, but right now, my mind is nearly completely preoccupied. If you don't know why, just take a look at the top of my blog. On a related note, I have wanted for some time to explain why I named my blog what I did in the first place. I really liked the name and have debated for a while whether to change it all. Anyways.... keep an eye out for a blog post explaining more in the future.
2. I knew that if I renamed my blog anything, it would be brave mommy (right now it's mommy-to- be since I am currently pregnant with my very first precious child). If you've read any of my previous posts, you know how very much I love the song Brave by Nicole Nordeman. It just speaks of and to my very heart of where I am at in my life right now, what I feel most of all that God is calling me to be in everything, and of my own desire for God to make me brave. I don't know why God chose the word "brave" to speak to me so powerfully, but He did. I even looked up the word and the definition just blows me away - "said of a person, or their character, actions, etc: having or showing courage in facing danger or pain, etc; daring or fearless." That is what I want to be, especially in relation to becoming a mommy for the first time. I think I'm going to need some bravery!
3. If I'm listed by blog name on somebody's link list, I'm way farther up alphabetically. LOL. Yeah, because that's what's most important. :-)
Hope you'll like the new name. And, keep coming by.
three things
Three things I heard at my doctor's appointment yesterday -
1. You need to start gaining some weight.
2. Your blood pressure goes down in the second trimester and back up in the third.
3. That's only going to get worse (referring to the carpal tunnel pain in my right hand).
Three moments that made it all worthwhile -
1. Hearing my precious baby's heartbeat and knowing he/she appears to be doing well.
2. Getting stuck only once in the arm for a blood draw by the nurse (and it didn't even leave a bruise - that's a first!)
3. Laughing about the appointment last night with my mom.
1. You need to start gaining some weight.
2. Your blood pressure goes down in the second trimester and back up in the third.
3. That's only going to get worse (referring to the carpal tunnel pain in my right hand).
Three moments that made it all worthwhile -
1. Hearing my precious baby's heartbeat and knowing he/she appears to be doing well.
2. Getting stuck only once in the arm for a blood draw by the nurse (and it didn't even leave a bruise - that's a first!)
3. Laughing about the appointment last night with my mom.
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
faithfulness in the waiting
“I don’t ask for success, I ask for faithfulness.” – Mother Theresa
This past Sunday, Kyle presented another part of the Joseph story in Genesis. I've really loved our exploration of Genesis. I've read most of these stories many times before and have never been as encouraged or challenged as I have been this time through. That's another post altogether, though. The highlight of the morning for me was getting to read the racy part of Potiphar's wife (you know, because pregnancy makes you feel so sexy). Yeah, not so much, really. But, it's always fun to read. Anyways....
After reading and hearing a little more about the story, we split up into small groups and our group, appropriately for me and I imagine a few others, was asked what the story tells us about waiting on God. (Kyle said it was the easy question - ha!) Our group talked about how even in the waiting, it seemed that Joseph was faithful in many things - to minister and share his faith, to remember that he didn't belong where he was, and to not forget about God. It's obvious to us in hindsight that God had a purpose for Joseph's waiting and so we can be encouraged in our lives now that God has a purpose in our waiting and calls us to that faithfulness, which is most often very difficult.
I've been in many waiting moments in my life. I feel like I am in many right now. I'm waiting for my baby to be born, I'm waiting and believing to see how God will provide for our family when I am no longer working, I am waiting to go back to school, I am anxiously waiting for my time at my job to be over, and in many ways, I am waiting to see what God has planned for our current little family and praying for Him to change my heart when everything within me doesn't want to be gracious or kind. And I am waiting, believing, trusting, and continuing forward.
What does it mean for me to be faithful in all of these things? And, how do I know if I'm being faithful or not? Sometimes I think I know, other times not so much. The quote above was really the highlight of the morning for me, because it has stuck with me, encouraged and challenged me (I like to say that alot - encouraged and challenged). For a while now, I've been aware of how easy it is for me to be unfaithful in all these circumstances. And, my unfaithfulness is sometimes downright rebellion because I am aware of the times that are very blatant, willful acts of that unfaithfulness. I am like a spoiled child saying to her Father - "I just don't want to."
And, yet my deepest prayer is for faithfulness, and whatever that means in all of these things, to be created and nurtured into all of my life because I don't want to miss out on the purpose that God has in store for me and who knows who else while I'm here in the waiting.
This past Sunday, Kyle presented another part of the Joseph story in Genesis. I've really loved our exploration of Genesis. I've read most of these stories many times before and have never been as encouraged or challenged as I have been this time through. That's another post altogether, though. The highlight of the morning for me was getting to read the racy part of Potiphar's wife (you know, because pregnancy makes you feel so sexy). Yeah, not so much, really. But, it's always fun to read. Anyways....
After reading and hearing a little more about the story, we split up into small groups and our group, appropriately for me and I imagine a few others, was asked what the story tells us about waiting on God. (Kyle said it was the easy question - ha!) Our group talked about how even in the waiting, it seemed that Joseph was faithful in many things - to minister and share his faith, to remember that he didn't belong where he was, and to not forget about God. It's obvious to us in hindsight that God had a purpose for Joseph's waiting and so we can be encouraged in our lives now that God has a purpose in our waiting and calls us to that faithfulness, which is most often very difficult.
I've been in many waiting moments in my life. I feel like I am in many right now. I'm waiting for my baby to be born, I'm waiting and believing to see how God will provide for our family when I am no longer working, I am waiting to go back to school, I am anxiously waiting for my time at my job to be over, and in many ways, I am waiting to see what God has planned for our current little family and praying for Him to change my heart when everything within me doesn't want to be gracious or kind. And I am waiting, believing, trusting, and continuing forward.
What does it mean for me to be faithful in all of these things? And, how do I know if I'm being faithful or not? Sometimes I think I know, other times not so much. The quote above was really the highlight of the morning for me, because it has stuck with me, encouraged and challenged me (I like to say that alot - encouraged and challenged). For a while now, I've been aware of how easy it is for me to be unfaithful in all these circumstances. And, my unfaithfulness is sometimes downright rebellion because I am aware of the times that are very blatant, willful acts of that unfaithfulness. I am like a spoiled child saying to her Father - "I just don't want to."
And, yet my deepest prayer is for faithfulness, and whatever that means in all of these things, to be created and nurtured into all of my life because I don't want to miss out on the purpose that God has in store for me and who knows who else while I'm here in the waiting.
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