Pregnant with a 6-month Old

I'm here-laying on my couch as my little one sleeps, blogging to the "world" about my wonderful pregnancy pains. 

I know the pains mean our little Dominic is growing and my body is compensating for his ever changing self inside of me, but I'm already feeling the give and take of having two children and I find it interesting that God is bringing this to light before Dom even arrives. I have to put myself second when Roman is awake-playing, feeding, reading, changing, and cleaning-but that also means, at times putting Dominic second since he's feeding off of me! When I come to this realization I take a breath, get some water and a snack while Roman happily plays in his jumper. 

I embrace this realization early as it is good practice for when Dominic is HERE with us and the needs of two increase. Pregnancy and wrangling an infant is all I've known with my kiddos, so I won't know what two little lives take until January, but for now I'm resting while I have the chance and thanking God for my beautiful life. 

Btw-I totally don't want to sugar coat; these pains are real, they aren't going away, and I'm sure with 19 weeks to go I haven't felt the half of it. But I've had some experience and trust in my God and the doctors around me to get me through!

Seattle {Travels}

This past weekend we took Roman to meet one of his great grandmas in a town close to Seattle, WA. You know what that meant...Seattle trip! 

We hit the prominent Pikes Place Market, stopped in at some speciality stores in the city, and of course stumbled upon a Seahawks pro shop where both daddy and Roman got some new NFL duds! 

During the time in the city and driving around the out lying towns, I thoroughly enjoyed our first travels with our son. Granted he's 6 months old, had no idea where we were and won't remember this trip no matter what-BUT all I could think of was how great it was to be introducing him to new places and how wonderful it will be to take both of our boys on trips as they grow. It will be so eye opening to watch them experience new cities, cultures, and adventures. It will be a favorite to dream up where we will take them and all that we will enjoy as a family.

We have our first family vacation booked for October to go to the coast! I can't wait for Roman to experience the sand and take him for walks around the ocean. Again, he won't have a clue what's going on, but I'm so happy we're starting these family memories now-no matter how old the babies are. 

Until next time!

I'm Back!

OH.MY.GOODNESS.

My last post was on June 2-THREE MONTHS have gone by since I jumped on here and posted. I believe my last blog post was written from bed, the night before I went back to work after maternity leave. Boy has life changed since then. 

We already knew it then, but I had yet to share on the blog that we are expecting our second baby! We found out when Roman was 1 1/2 months old that we were pregnant again and we were: stunned, thrilled, stunned, over-joyed, anxious-did I mentioned stunned? The surprise came more from how quickly we conceived again, rather than the fact we were having another baby. Clearly we know how babies are made, but the first time around it took us TWO years (hence why we felt called by God to let our second come in His timing, as we did with the first) to finally have a positive pregnancy test-we KNEW it could happen any time, but didn't know it WOULD happen so soon. All of that to say-WE ARE THRILLED to have our babies so close together, I'm enjoying pregnancy to the fullest and preparations are far under way for welcoming our second child as I am now 20 weeks along. Another exciting note to this is that we found out Roman will have a little brother (!) Dominic Alan to play, wrestle and grow up with. We are due one month after Christmas so needless to say, if I thought these last 20 weeks went by fast, the last half is going to FLY. Roman will experience all of his "firsts" holidays, we are planning his 1st birthday party very early so we can have everything ready by March, plus the added activities of every-day life...20 weeks (maybe!) will go by in a blink.

Another huge change since June 2-my hubby accepted a new job in Portland, moving us from our college town to our home town and making me a stay-at-home-momma. I was back to work after having Roman for exactly one month before I gave my notice and got to be back at home with him. Such a blessing for God to have provided a job where my husband can grow and flourish and for allowing me to be home with Roman, to enjoy my pregnancy and my time with Roman before Dominic comes.

Roman is now 6 months old and I'm having the best time watching him learn new things, try new foods and begin to understand the world around him. What a beautiful gift!

My hope now that I'm home is to blog about my wonderful, crazy, beautiful life and share my stories with whoever is out there reading them. (I know I've been home for awhile and only now getting back to blogging, but really-I'm going to do it now!)

Dying Inside Tonight

Ok that title might be a tad dramatic BUT....today was my last day before starting work back up again tomorrow and leaving my little guy for the first time all day. I had my first cry tonight and my hubby hugged me tight and reassured me that it was all going to be ok. I know eventually I will see it that way-but right now I'm picturing missing all of his funny faces, his laughs, rocking him, reading with him, carrying him around while I work on the chores, snuggling and loving on him all day long. I will be so ecstatic for 4:45 to roll around every day and speed (I mean drive slowly and carefully) home to my baby boy. 

God has truly blessed us by giving us peace of mind by having our great friend be his care provider. That has lifted a huge weight off of my shoulders and I know he will be taken care of so well. I have no doubts-but I'm still going to miss him like crazy!!!!!!!

I'm also able to acknowledge that I am very blessed that I'm able to have a job to go back to and be able to help provide for my family. The most important thing is to make sure we're all taken care of and God has shown me that this is necessary even if temporary :)

I love my God, I love my family. 

Sweet dreams blogging world. 

A Weekend of Firsts

Tomorrow our little boy has been with us for 12 weeks and in those weeks has blessed us tremendously! 

This weekend we've hit two big milestones that I didn't know would be coming so soon-he's growing up so fast! First off our baby now LAUGHS! It's the most beautiful noise and if we thought he was a happy baby before, he's even more so now that he knows how to express this new emotion. 

Second off, tonight is his first night alone in his own room. I know three months is a pretty decent age for this to happen, and a lot of people cross this bridge sooner, but I kind of expected to keep him with us longer! He's grown out of the bassinet and he's been sleeping in his crib anyway during the day-but still, my little baby is a whole room away instead of right next to my side of the bed...{mom going crazy now}

Soooo. Bittersweet weekend we've had. God is showing me how to trust in Him with letting go a little bit {even if it is just to the next room over} and watch Him continue to grow my little baby slowly. 

God is beautiful in His ways of provision for our little family. And with that-I will leave you with this.

His Purpose Every Day

I know every day God has a certain purpose-what to look for to connect with Him. 

My realization today (and every day since June of last year officially and many years before that...) is that His purpose for me EVERYDAY is to be a mom. And not just a person who gave birth to a child, but to constantly strive to be the best mom for my son every day of his life. God gave me this precious life for a reason. He trusted ME to be his mom, not anyone else on this planet. He blessed this baby from day one-through growth in my tummy, birth into this world and everyday that I get to hold him in my arms-He blesses him. And through that, He is blessing me and showing me that I have an incredible purpose to live out every day. Taking care of this little one He has entrusted me with and raising him up to be a lover of God. 

I think knowing I get to be Roman's mommy forever and picturing him growing up is one of the greatest purposes in life I could have.

Thanking my Lord for this amazing little boy I get to call mine :)

A Beautiful Moment

...see it's already only 3 days in and I didn't post yesterday-it happens!

My husband and I were up fairly late (and by that I mean past 10, before 11)-late for us with an 11 week old-and we were having a great conversation about Christianity, our faith, the church and how it all fits with our world around us. God's purpose in this moment was just to have us connecting deeply together about Him-it was wonderful.

We talked about raising our son and what we thought his life should look like as far as coming to know God-wanting to raise him in a Christian school and how we will financially do it, starting to teach him prayer at a very young age and that God loves him. Mind you, this is one of many conversations we've already had, we just like to delve deeper.

We also talked about how society views Christians, how our world is starting to become more and more "dark" than "light" when a percentage of our nation marks Christian when they fill out their surveys. It's an interesting concept to ponder.

We sat on the couch and talked for hours on end about so many things-I felt God's presence with us immensely and it always feels so great to share in those moments with my husband.

It's always really enlightening, uplifting and gives me a peace that God has provided a wonderful man for me to share in the same beliefs as me and to raise our family in the same way as well.

Friendships with Meaning

After tidying up the house, spending some tummy time on the floor with my son and drinking what was left of yesterday's hazelnut latte, one of my great friends came over and we shared in some much enjoyed girl time (plus one small boy presence) for the day. 

Toward the middle of the day as we were thinking back on old times, my "God's Purpose" moment came about and I sat back and smiled at it. Not looking for it in that current moment, it made me smile because I've just started this blog about putting effort into looking for His purpose daily and here it is knocking me back on the couch-it couldn't have been more obvious! 

I saw His purpose of great friendships in my life. I'll be the first to admit I don't have many people I can call my "bests" and that's not a "poor me" statement at all-it's just how it is and I like it that way. I learned early on that lots of sorta-friends or especially fake-friends are not the people I want in my life. They don't care what's best for their friends and it ends up pulling me down in the end. Whoa-took that in a different direction...back to His purpose :) The few great friends He has given me bless my heart in different ways, but I appreciate them all and I appreciate Him for helping me grow and continue these relationships. I love my people He has given me and love what I can share with them-we may not have the same opinion on everything, lead the same lives day-to-day or always be together-but I also learned early on that that's ok! We can be who we each want to be and still be bests :) 

God's purpose in my life is divine, intentional and blessed beyond imagination. 

Here We Go!

Into my life, our life, His plan for us as it is right now. 

**I meant for this blog to be called "Keeping God at the Center", but shockingly enough out of the millions of bloggers out there-I wasn't the first to come up with that name and alas the URL was taken! 

I want this blog to convey how God has a part in every day life, big and small, and particularly my life-because as it happens I think it's pretty amazing. I got some tips from a fellow blogger/online friend and decided to dive right in. Sure I put some thought into the fonts, background and layout of this forum, but ultimately I decided cut the stress of it (for now) and start writing!! 

Will I be as honest as possible-yes. Will I always write THE most entertaining posts you've ever read-maybe ;) Will I write a post every single day of the week-probably not. Because that's life! I'm writing about it, but I also want to be out living it-every day. 

As cliche, corny or ridiculous as it may be-I hope this blog touches at least one person and helps me to make some new friends with a few more.