Do they make cherry limeade flavored water?

I have had no crazy food cravings, obviously I'm only 12 weeks pregnant. BUT, my beverage choices have COMPLETELY CHANGED.

Here's my problem... During my 5 week long nauseous spell, I could only drink water. Well now, when I think of water, I think of being nauseous (NOT GOOD).

So here is my new list of must have beverages, I have one of each almost every day.

1. Caffiene free diet coke (I've given into soda temporarily, it makes my tummy feel just right)
2. chocolate milk (only in the mornings)
3. cherry limeade (if I get this between 2-4 it's half off, YES!)

ummm ok, so according to every pregnancy book I've looked at, you're a horrible pregnant person if you don't drink 8 cups of water a day. I try really really hard to drink at least 2 bottles of water a day...but still, it's yuck!

What am I going to do?

Mighty to Save

I was driving to work this morning, and I usually flip through 3 Christian stations to hopefully hear one or two good songs to get me pumped for the day. Well a line from a song this morning has stuck with me all day:

"My God is mighty to save"

I just loved hearing that over and over again.

I can think back through so many stages in my life where I thought my world was coming to an end - each and every one, my God has always managed to reach down, pick me up and carry me through. Not always the way that I wanted, but none the less, He's always been there - "mighty to save"

Be Blessed today!

My Belly

a time line of belly growth thus far.

just press play and wait for it.

Baby's first photo shoot

Here is my collection of ultrasound pictures so far.

Yesterday's ultrasound was Absolutely amazing...this little baby inside of me was moving around like crazy, kicking, moving its arms and legs all around, and turning upside down. I just sat there and watched in amazement. Something that small and intricate can actually be moving around. God is so good. I've never been so excited about something in my entire life.

Enjoy!!!!

#1: 5 week ultrasound photo (just enough to know there was actually something in there, it was my little mustard seed)

#2: 7 week ultrasound photo (this was the heartbeat day!!!)

#3: 11 week ultrasound photo (finally looks like a baby, with it's little baby mouth open, and legs in the air)

#4: 11 week booty shot, haha...this one is just for fun. The baby was turned around backwards, showing off the cute little bottom with legs straight in the air, LOVE IT!!!!! Just FYI, the little blob to the right of the booty is what's left of the yolk sac.

ultrasounds woo hoo

I managed to make a good contact at the ultrasound school here in P-cola, AND they have a good relationship with my doctor. So Im able to go in every few weeks and sneak in an ultrasound, for free. I have one this afternoon - and I'm so excited.

And after today, I do plan on posting my ultrasound pics, and belly pics too. YAY.

Love profile pictures...

I looked at the photo of myself on my blog today...and I laughed.

Why you ask? Well, because I don't look like that anymore, hahaha. Profile pictures can be so deceiving.

My face has slightly rounded out (well not slightly, MAJORLY). My hair is shorter, and that tan I'm sporting in that picture, well it's been LONG gone. Add 8 or 9 pounds, some pastiness, and an extra chin, and you've got 2008 Christy. I can't make any promises of an updated photo anytime soon, but I just thought I'd share that. It truly made me laugh this morning.

This could possibly be my most random blog post ever!

Hubby is amazing!

This past weekend hubby and I went to New Orleans for his annual work retreat. Up until the last minute we had decided not to go, since I hadn't been feeling well. Luckily!! We changed our minds.

We got there on Saturday and got a wonderful hotel room, and enjoyed a great dinner with hubby's company. During the dinner they gave away several door prizes...one of which was an I-pod that Amick won (woo hoo).
But wait it gets better...about half way through the dinner, the owner made several announcements and mentioned that he wanted to give an award to the employee that made the biggest difference in the company in 2007. Well who's name did he call?? none other than Amick! He got a beautiful crystal award AND the newset I-pod TOUCH, which is identical to the i-phone minus the phone part.

I am so proud of him - I mean how many people can say that? Employee of the year....out of 100+ staff, that is awesome.
Not to mention the 2 i-pods we got. Now that means, I have one of my own. YAY!

Day by Day

11 weeks...wow, have I really made it this far?

One more week left in the first trimester.

I go through good days and bad days. I have days where I'm so excited I can't stand it, and then others where I try to convince myself that this really is too good to be true. This morning was kind of blah. I still have more than 2 weeks to go until my next appointment, and I just sit and wonder if everything really will be ok until then. It's sad actually, I thrive off of the appointments - because it's my confirmation that everything is ok, and there really is still a baby inside of me. But between appointments it's just an all out battle.
Joyce Meyer did the best thing when she published the book "Battlefield of the Mind" (Which is a great read by the way) because it is so so true.

I feel almost like I should re-live a 5th grade experience and write sentences on the board - but instead of writing "I will not talk in class", I'd write:

"I am pregnant, and have a healthy living baby inside of me"
"I am pregnant, and have a healthy living baby inside of me"
"I am pregnant, and have a healthy living baby inside of me"
"I am pregnant, and have a healthy living baby inside of me"
"I am pregnant, and have a healthy living baby inside of me"

Maybe writing 200 or so would help me with my issue. Blah.

Well tonight, hubby and I will take belly pic #3, I hope to get them all posted tomorrow...I will let you be the judge - I think it's a bump, but all my books say it's still too early to see that.

Until tomorrow....

pregnancy blog

This is my plug for my pregnancy blog...created for 2 reasons.

1) Pregnancy is huge part of my life, but it is not "my life"...I'd like to still have my regular blog as a way to reflect what God is teaching me.

2) I want my family and friends outside of P-cola to have all the updates, and a blog is a great way to do it, belly shots and all. =)

So, I will continue to remain devoted to Ms. Joy Unspeakable, but for those interested in baby updates, you can find them here!!!

http://babycutler.blogspot.com/

Be so Blessed!!!!

I really am pregnant

Well it's official...I've started a pregnancy blog - I guess that means this is for real! First, I decided to have a separate blog for this pregnancy because, while it is a huge part of my life...it is not 'my life'. And I know (because I've been there) that there are people in this world that may not be interested in reading every single minute detail of someones pregnancy. So, this exists mostly for my family and friends that I do not get to see and talk to day in and day out. I feel like it's a great way to involve them even if they are miles away. So....

Here are 5 random things:

1. As of today, I do not have to take a progesterone pill 3 times a day anymore! WOO HOO. It's a small orange pill that never fails to get stuck in my throat and I hate it!! Well I love it for it's purpose - but I am glad to know that my placenta is now doing that job. "Goodbye little orange pill, thank you for everything, but I will not miss you!"

2. My pants do not seem to want to button anymore.

3. Our baby is the size of a strawberry. how cute, my little strawberry!!!!

4. Hubby has been nothing but wonderful

5. I honestly do not care if we have a boy or a girl, there is a part of me that is drawn to the idea of a baby girl, but considering everything, we will be so blessed either way!

I am in my 11th week - and am nearing the end of a horrible cough/cold. The nausea has also seemed less noticeable this past week. Does that I mean I'm finally out of that stage?!?! Oh, I sure hope so. I told myself that as soon as I was over the 1st trimester misery hump (no more morning sickness), that I would be a new person. My plan for this new person is to:

1) start walking - and no I do not need a ridiculous work out plan, because I've never been the one to work out to begin with. Why kid myself into thinking that now is the time to become superwoman? Walking is sensible and something I can do anytime with or without hubby.

2) get a small tan - before the psychos jump in with criticism, I do not mean monthly tanning memberships and baby oil at the beach... I mean spending a little bit of time in the sun (with sunscreen) to overpower this pastiness that has somehow become me. It's just not flattering to who I am. If I was Gwen Stefani, and could pull that look off, then I'd be ok with it. But I'm not. And as someone else has said "tan chub is better than white chub"

3) stop using nausea as an excuse for fast food. I will admit that for the past 5 weeks, dealing with this consistent nausea has been crrrrazy, and really, the only thing that seems to help is highly processed foods, and foods with a lot of substance. Well I can only imagine what I will look like if that trend continues for the next 6 months. eeeeks. On the other extreme, I'm not a carrot stick and balsamic vinaigrette type person, never have been....but I can enjoy a good salad for lunch and have my hubby grill some chicken for dinner (with mac n cheese of course). So I guess what I want to have is more balance. Not a diet that revolves around combo #'s from various fast food chains. (Although a #5 from Chick fil A sounds good right now).

4) stay excited - this really is such an amazing time, and I've got to continue battling my fears of the past and move forward in the fact that there is a living miracle inside of me. We truly are fearfully and wonderfully made!

"I can't get on that plane"

Since January I've been planning a trip for work - some very needed HR training to be held in our corporate office in New Jersey. I was set to go. My flight was scheduled for Monday 4/14.

Well, last Thursday I came home with the beginnings of a sore throat [you know, the kind that's not really that bad, but lets you know that something more is on it's way]. I crashed that night around 7:30. Friday morning comes and I am welcomed with the full blown thing, sore throat, stuffy nose, achy body - everything! But THANK GOODNESS it was Friday. I'd have the whole weekend to rest and recover. Well not so much, things just got worse, I somehow managed to gain a horrid cough as well. Friday, Saturday, Sunday, all day, fighting the cough and a fever, wondering how in the world I was going to get on a plane Monday.

Sunday evening I managed to shower and pack, I was determined.

Monday morning arrives....yikes, not looking good. I managed to get up, brush my teeth and put on a hoodie. Hubby drives me to the airport, and we say our goodbyes. I check my luggage, and make my way to the terminal, hacking, dizzy and just drained Here's the good part - Twenty minutes before boarding, I find myself in the middle of an all out breakdown - I started crying hysterically, call my husband and manage to get out "(sniff) - There is (sniff) no way (sniff) I can get (sniff) on that plane (cryyyyyyy)!!!!!!!!!!!!! After a few minutes of collecting myself, I called my boss and told her the situation, and then made my way to the check in counter and tearfully told them to retrieve my luggage because I would not be flying. I canceled my flight, went home and embraced the couch.

Monday was the worst, yesterday was bad, today I think there might be light at the end of this, I made it back to work...but still can't believe I missed my training.

Coughs and colds are no fun when you can only take tylenol. As I continue to cough and cough and cough, I just look down and tell the baby inside me just to hold on tight - it will be over soon! (The coughing that is)

whewww.

Take a deep breath - let it out...AHHHHH

Well here it is...

my 2 month delayed story...for any readers out there that have kept up with my journey. And I will start by saying - No matter what - I WILL Rejoice in the Lord always, and AGAIN I say Rejoice! (That will make more sense later)

I'll start around Christmas time - a rough one for me. I'm normally the one running around getting last minute gifts to complete my checklists, decorating stockings, planning the family get together. This past holiday was more of a blur...I am still amazed that I was able to send out such a cheerful Christmas card. Christmas conveniently followed my second miscarriage. Understandably so, it was hard. That had been our ideal time of sharing the news with family. But, well, you know...

That brought hubby and I to the new year... and as much as my heart wanted to be at peace with waiting awhile before we attempted the familiar words of "trying again", I just couldn't make myself be ok with that. So we started a month long journey of some serious God seeking all out prayer. We studied, and searched, and prayed with the sole desire to KNOW what God wanted us to do. So I pleaded "Lord, you know the desires of my heart, and you know where I stand right now....so if there is ANYTHING or ANY REASON standing in the way of Your plan for my life, Please reveal that to me. My desire is to have children, and if there is any reason why you do not want us to move forward in that - Please reveal that to us so that we can walk in Your Way, not our own."

That prayer repeated over the next few weeks brought many different confirmations from the Lord, several that came through this blog. Until one day hubby and I looked at eachother in agreement that we felt like God had truly given us the ok to move forward.

Which brings me to February. I do not need to go into details of what "trying again" means (smile), but that's what February consisted of...and the day before I left for my cheerleading competition, A test revealed that hubby and I were indeed moving ahead into a nine month journey we had earnestly prayed for. I was (and still am) pregnant!

Boy, did satan love that... perfect opportunity to insert fear, worry, and every other negative thought imaginable. This began my faith over fear battle, that I am still fighting at this very moment! But hubby and I claimed out loud, that this journey would only be led by the hand of the Lord, and that satan had no right to step near us. He is defeated, and My God is powerful, and His perfect love casts out all fear!

I called my doctor immediately, and he brought me in for a series of blood tests that revealed that my pro.gest.erone was dropping - so he put me on a supplement and told me to take it 3x a day until the 12th week. So I did (and still am). He felt like that was the culprit. My past 2 pregnancies would make it to a certain point, my prog would drop causing me to lose the baby. In March we went in for two ultrasounds, one that showed the gestational sac and this time there was something in there, PRAISE THE LORD, and the second one that showed us the most amazing thing I've ever seen - the heartbeat. After that day, my doctor told us that having passed that milestone, our risk of miscarriage had dropped to less than 1%.

While all of that was extremely good news, and I had nothing negative to dwell on, my heart and mind were still battling thoughts of fear, "what if's" and a lot of past feelings. All of this made me very cautious, scared to tell anyone - fearful that if I did, I would have to turn around and tell them bad news...just like in the past.

Luckily the Lord showed me Isaiah 43:
"Forget the former things, do not dwell on the past. SEE I AM DOING A NEW THING, now it springs up, Do you not perceive it?"

Even still we had decided to tell family and a few close friends, but other than that we would wait until after the 1st trimester...well that was until Sunday.

Some friends of ours came to church (which I believe was a divine appointment). I left after first service and went home, I was just going to wait there until hubby got done with second service music. Well, once I got there, I randomly decided to put the dogs up and just drive back to the church and wait instead (Why, I don't know, guess it was God).
When I got there, our friends were standing outside talking - and as I walked up they said "THERE YOU ARE, we've been looking for you!!!" They said they really felt led to pray over hubby and I. So when hubby finished music he came outside, and of the guys just spoke life over us for about 10 minutes. He prayed, hubby prayed, I cried - it was as if I had been delivered. Then my friend said - "I don't know why this just came to mind, but I feel like God is telling you Christy that it is time to Rejoice...and to step out in that" he said, "REJOICE from the roof tops, there is life inside of you" When he spoke those words, I felt the spirit of God speak over me. He had no idea the fear and thoughts I'd been battling for the last 4 weeks, but God told him to speak that over me. So I decided to listen, and REJOICE.

Which brings me to today. I woke up this morning with weird cramping and just twinges of pain, that immediately put me in a state of fear...my rejoicing ceased - until this afternoon I realized yet again that I cannot rely on a feeling or a doctor or a book to prove something that MY GOD has already put into place. So I'm spreading the joyful news anyway.

He has already spoken life over me, and told me to Rejoice. ...and through this blogosphere, I am rejoicing from the roof tops. I am 9 weeks pregnant!

I am thanking you now for the many prayers and encouragement that have meant so much to us over the past 7 months. And I am begging you now not to stop. I believe now more than ever that we truly do not battle against flesh and blood, but against spiritual forces of evil and dark powers. And that is what the past year has been for me a battle, and I am commited to stand my ground on the solid rock of Jesus Christ. NO MATTER WHAT!!!
So there you have it!

Oh ya, the dress fit, barely. =)

Quote stealer - that's me

I was browsing my way through blog-land today during my lunch break. And I came across this quote that absolutely brightened my day ...in light of that I had to share:

"YOUR GOD IS BIG,
AND HE HAS A BIG PLAN FOR YOU.
ONE DAY - YOU'LL SEE....
THAT PLAN WILL CALL YOU 'MOMMY'."

-from a blogger's mom's friend =)


What a beautiful thought!!!


On another note...I know that I am seriously due for an update, especially about "the dress", check back in a day or so, haha.