Now You're My Whole Life

This day is a gift like no other! God gave his son that we may have eternal life and He arose from the grave to prove He is our Savior! Thank you Lord! We celebrated by going to our 9 am service and listening to a wonderful message by Andy Stanley - How Nich and Jo saved Easter. It was a great back story on Easter! Then, Ryan and I came home, and I made a salad and asparagus for our family lunch at Nannie and Papa's! I made a Strawberry Poppy Seed Salad from Publix Apron Meals Recipes! So yummy! My asparagus had kosher salt and a sun-dried tomato seasoning with a little olive oil drizzled on it. This Easter our recipes all seemed a bit more healthy and I loved having so much green on our plate! Mom made great food as always! My favorite this year was the deviled eggs! Nannie is an amazing cook as well and did a phenomenal job with her Meringues that we topped with vanilla ice cream and strawberries! Ryan said he needs the recipe... We enjoyed spending time with family and f...

Who even knew that this much thought and effort goes into selecting your child's name? We wanted him to have a name that grew up with him. I can imagine what he will be like with this name. We both pray for a successful, caring, happy, and handsome young man. I know he will be nothing less. I knew, without a doubt, what our girl name was! So, when we found out our little baby was a HE I asked Ryan what he thought. We went through our list again and then this NEW one popped up and we were sold! Ryan thought of it, and I love the family meaning behind it. We both loved how well the middle name fit with his first name. We have been calling him by his name for several weeks, and I love it more each time I see him. So, here it is! Our sweet baby's name is . . .  Van Nus is my maiden name, and Ryan and I wanted to have some meaning in his name for sure. Vann is perfect to us and the right fit for our handsome boy!  I mean doesn't he just look like Vann Hudson?!...

Highlights: Week 20 How Far Along: 20 weeks + 1 day Total Weight Gain/Loss: 10 lbs Maternity Clothes: Some days I feel like I need an entire new wardrobe, and then I look online at maternity clothes and think again. Either the cute ones are outrageously expensive for the time you wear them or they look like you crawled out of a hole from the 1990s and need to wear your favorite slap bracelet with them. I am making do until this weather warms up. The Bella Band is my favorite purchase! Sleep: Woo wee! I can tell it's getting a bit more difficult. When you have 2 of 4 options for positions to sleep your nights seem a bit more restless. (My thoughts as I sleep: ok, been on my left side for awhile, here we go right side...1 ... 2... 3.... FLIP!) Then my boy kicks getting himself comfortable. Best Moment this week: I had several, but one that stands out is seeing all of my family on Daddy's side. We had Grandma Patty's memorial service on Saturday in the mountains....

How Far Along: 19 weeks Maternity Clothes: Thank God for them. My shirts look like belly tops, my jeans are squeezing the life out of me...making them work, and my undershirts feel like a straight-jacket. Malorie was a God-send and shared hers from last year with me.      Sleep: Sleep has been much better. I ordered a Boppy Wedge off of Target.com last week.  It seriously felt like a boulder when I layed down on my side and my bump was pulling on my back. This thing will come in so handy for the rest of my pregnancy. I love that it was cheap. Now, if I can keep Ryan from stealing it... he's made a couple of comments that make me think he wants his own! :) Food Cravings: Nothing in particular except Olive Garden salad and good hamburgers...so Ryan made some burgers for us on the grill and we I vegged out on salad yesterday after church. Food Aversions: I made it past my grilled chicken aversion! I ate Venetian Apricot Chicken at Olive Garden yesterday and...

How Far Along: 18 weeks Maternity Clothes: 1/4 in the maternity clothes. They just feel better, and my other shirts feel like they could show midriff at any point! :) Sleep: I have been getting to bed earlier, even though my schedule is a little off due to DST. I am excited about it though because it means tax season is over in nearly a month, and Ryan and I can start our walks in the evenings again! Falling asleep is not hard for me, but staying asleep is. I feel like I get up every 2 hours when my bladder feels close to exploding! Food Cravings: This week it was a hamburger. I definitely didn't have it from the best place, but DANG! It was so good! Ryan is getting a little worried because of the weird foods I am wanting. It will literally be because I saw a commercial on the radio or ad for it...that never happened before pregnancy. The Publix ad did help me stock up on some super sweet strawberries! They are 3 for $5 and DELICIOUS! Tonight I mixed them in with granola,...

Can't complain! Pregnancy has been awesome!! How Far Along: 17 weeks Total Weight Gain/Loss: around 8 lbs. Maternity Clothes: Some days yes, and some days no...weird isn't it! Sleep: I want to sleep on my belly and it's not going to happen! Other than that...sleep is definitely here! I have never slept more! I went to bed at 9:30 last night and woke up at 5:50 am. Never in all of my days of teaching have I done that...I am a night owl usually! :) Memorable Moment this week: We headed up to the mountains on Saturday to say our last goodbyes to Grandma. I loved it when my Uncle Carl let me know that every time a visitor came by to see Grandma Patty she showed them the ultrasound pictures of our sweet boy. He is her first great-grandchild. So precious! Food Cravings: Nothing crazy. Still on the pickle kick. Last night Ryan looked in amazement at my dessert bowl. It was filled with 3 "concession-stand" sized pickles. Yes...so yummy! Food Aversions: ...