Sometimes and Always #37

Sometimes: I get really into the gymnastics events in the Olympics.

Always: It reminds me of growing up, watching at home with my mom. 

Sometimes: I feel like I could eat Subway every day. 

Always: It's so good, so fresh and so cheap. 

Sometimes: Fatigue wins over blogging. 

Always: I can sleep these days like no one else. 

Now say hello to my sweet sponsor, Allyson, from Cupcakes and Candy Canes as she shares a few Sometimes/Always with us. She's an adorable soon-to-be teacher and also a soon-to-be wife and she will just make you smile. I love her happy attitude and her occasional sarcastic outburst. : )

Hey there! I'm Allyson and I blog over at Cupcakes and Candy Canes. Don't let the name confuse you; it's mostly a blog about life. For me that includes finishing school and being so excited to start teaching, wedding planning, and the occasional craft or recipe. I hope you'll stop by. I love the sweet community of the blogosphere and I can't wait to meet you!

Sometimes: The days at work drag. 

Always: My mind wanders to my wedding and things start looking up!

Sometimes: My mind goes nine billion miles an hour. 

Always: I pray for peace...and He grants it to me. 

Grab the button from my sidebar and link up! Be sure and go leave Allyson some love!

Baby Names

We have a little over 2 weeks left until we find out if our sweet baby is a boy or a girl...and to keep myself from going nuts make the days pass faster, I've been looking at names. 

We actually already have a pretty set list of names for a boy and a girl, but I still like to shop around and see what all is out there. That's where I need y'all to come in today. 

Leave a comment with what you think that we should name our baby boy/baby girl. 

Our likes: Names that aren't used frequently, but don't sound too strange. Boyish names for a boy and girly names for a girl. 

Our dislikes: Crazy spellings and unisex names. 

Ready, set, go...let's see what y'all can come up with!

Someone thinks he's funny. 

A Funny Blogger Trait

Yesterday I was writing an email to one of my blog besties, Meg, and I somehow got to thinking about blogger traits and how funny/unique/sometimes ridiculous we can be. 

This "blogger trait" is probably my favorite because I see it so much and it really makes me laugh. Plus, I am SO guilty of doing it...every single time. 

You might be a blogger if: you write comments on a blog friend's announcement post (for an engagement, baby, etc) so that everyone knows that you knew the announcement beforehand, just to cement your bestie status and make sure that everyone is aware of it. 

Example: Saying something like, "Whew I'm so glad this is finally out in the open!" or "I could barely hold it in any longer...yay!" 

I don't know if it's because I'm writing this post at midnight and I'm delirious or because of these pregnancy hormones, but every time I think about this little "trait," I start giggling.

Bloggers are SO dang funny. 

via

What are some blogger traits that you notice? Share...we all need a laugh. 

PS: I'm sharing a few delicious summer drinks over at Holly's blog. 

Sweet Baby Bump - 13 Weeks

The highlights:

- We made it to week 13 (plus 4 days)! Woohoo!

- The nausea is getting SO much better. 

- Sweet little heart rate of 163 at this week's appointment. 

- I can stay up past 9 pm these days. 

- We scheduled our gender ultrasound...August 16th!

- Craving chicken fried steak with white gravy all the time. 

- Hubby prayed last night and said "Thank you, God, for our sweet bunny." (Don't ever tell him I told y'all that. Haha!) 

- The bump is growing and growing, always bigger at the end of the day. 

- Got my first Etsy baby purchase. I couldn't go one more minute without buying SOMETHING!

I know, I know...huge bump. I blame food and constipation. : )

From this adorable Etsy shop.

On Choosing Trust

This post stems from my post a few weeks ago. 

There is SO much hurt and pain in the world. It can be hard to understand WHY these things have to happen and it can be hard to trust God through all of the devastation. 

The last 5 months have been the hardest of my life. I never thought that I would have to deal with the loss of a baby, and yet I found myself doing exactly that, wondering how I was supposed to go back to work and how I was supposed to laugh again. And I know that there are so many people going through similar things and through much worse things. 

One thing that really helped me heal was when someone told me, "God never promises that if we follow Him, life will be easy and free from pain. In fact, He says it will be worse. We will be persecuted for believing in Him. But He does promise to work all of these things together for good for you."

It took me awhile to get to that point, to where I could look forward to seeing what good God could bring from our miscarriage, but it really helped me get through some of my darkest days.

Now I can see it, I really can. It's been 5 months and I would guess that I have had the opportunity to reach out to and share the love of Christ with at least 15 other bloggers who have experienced miscarriages since mine. It brings me to tears, seeing this whole thing come full circle, remembering the support and love that I got and now getting to pass it on. I feel like it gives our baby a purpose. And while it certainly doesn't take any of the pain away and I would much rather have that baby, I can see how God took something absolutely terrible and has turned it around for good. 

It is HIS victory. 

So no matter what you are going through, a devastating loss, a horrible divorce/breakup, depression, whatever...just hang in there. Trust the Lord, even when it seems that it's too hard. Believe His promises to turn it into good somehow, someway. He will do it. 

Sometimes and Always #36

Sometimes: This pregnancy brain takes over and I am a ding bat. 

Always: At least I can blame it on the pregnancy.

Sometimes: I thought I had a post written for today...and I didn't. 

Always: Oops. Sorry to those linking up with me!

Sometimes: Being from the South is the best, especially when it comes to food. 

Always: I'm glad I'm not a health nut. ; )

Sometimes: I am obsessed with chocolate covered bananas. 

Always: I consider it healthy because there's fruit in there. 

Sometimes: It's embarrassing when the Sonic people know my drink order when I pull up.

Always: I keep on going back...they have the best drinks!

Sometimes: I get nervous thinking about finances once I become a stay at home mom. 

Always: I know that God will provide for us. 

Grab the button from my sidebar and link up! Sorry it's late today!

All the Little Bunny Details

It all started on Mother's Day. 

I was due to start my cycle and I hadn't yet. I decided to take a pregnancy test because I thought that it would be totally adorable to find out and get to tell my parents all in the same day, which just so happened to be Mother's Day. The test was negative. That was probably not the smartest decision on my part, because what was already a pretty hard day got even harder once I saw that negative. 

That was also the week that we found out that my dad had to have open heart surgery. To say that I was an emotional wreck that week is putting it quite lightly. So the hubs and I went to stay at my dad's for a few days so we could be near the hospital he was in. 

Four days had passed and I still hadn't started my cycle. I decided to take another test while we were at my dad's house. It was negative...and then I thought I saw the faintest positive. I rushed out to show it to my husband and he couldn't see anything. I thought I was hallucinating because I wanted it to be there so bad. We decided to take another test the next morning and again, the same thing...I thought I saw a positive and my husband could only see negative.

My doctor had told me to call her as soon as I got a positive test to come in for blood work, so I just decided to go ahead and call. I really thought that I was seeing a positive test. I went in for blood work as soon as we got back and then I went back again in two days to get it repeated. 

Then we got the call...my levels were growing! I was pregnant!! Praise the Lord! We had been a little worried because the pregnancy test was so faint, but we quickly found out why at our first ultrasound appointment...I was a week earlier than I thought, which means that we actually found out that I was pregnant at 3 weeks! 

(This is one that I took a few days later...not so faint...woohoo!)

Emotionally, this pregnancy has definitely been harder than the first time around. I basically cried throughout our whole first appointment, from the waiting room to the ultrasound room, and even after we saw our sweet baby and heard the heartbeat. This has been a lesson in letting go and trusting God, in praying the desires of my heart to Him and then leaving anxiety and worry behind. I don't always succeed either. There have been times where I have had total peace about this pregnancy and there have been times where I have been so scared. And I honestly think that's okay. God knows my heart and He knows that I trust Him, even if my human emotions/fears sometimes overcome me. We know that He is good all of the time. 

We have had three ultrasounds already (my doctor is amazing!) and baby bunny is just growing and growing. We've been able to hear the heartbeat each time and that sounds just melts my heart. Mostly we just feel so blessed and grateful that God has given us the desires of our heart. 

Just a little advance notice: this blog will most likely take a baby turn in the upcoming months (and years). After all, this is a lifestyle blog and that's where life is definitely headed. : )

Again, thank y'all for all the congratulations and the prayers. I can't express how much they mean to me. We are SO thrilled!

Sweet Baby Bump - 12 Weeks

First of all, WOW. Y'all are absolutely amazing and I cannot say thank y'all enough for all the kind words and well wishes given to us on our pregnancy news. They just kept coming and coming and I kept crying and crying (good tears!) and I've just never felt so loved before. 

This time around has definitely been an emotional ride. I'll be sharing more next week on how we found out, how we told people, our first few appointments, ect. 

Right now I'm 12 weeks (and 5 days!) and I'm feeling pretty good! My energy level is slowly starting to come back up and the nausea is getting better and better every day. We have an appointment next week and we will hopefully schedule the gender ultrasound that day, probably sometime around the end of August. 

A few highlights:

- The only things that helps my nausea is eating. Lucky (chunky) me. 

- I have unintentional ombre hair because I'm scared to get highlights. 

- I am leaning towards girl, but I look at boy stuff endlessly. 

- We honestly have no gender preference. We want both!

- My face is gaining weight the quickest. 

- I wake up about three times a night to pee. 

- I always want pizza and Subway sandwiches. 

- My scrubs are getting tight.

- I couldn't hold the news in any longer!!!

We are thrilled in a way that words can't even describe! 

Pray for our sweet baby bunny!

1...2...3

We are SO SO SO happy to announce that our little family will be growing by one this January!

That's right...there's a little baby bunny on the way! We are just feeling so extremely excited and blessed that the Lord has given us this sweet child and we can't wait to start this journey of parenthood! We don't know if there's a boy or a girl in there, but we are head over heels in love. 

Sometimes and Always #35

Sometimes: I am lazy and watch tv instead of reading a book.

Always: A good book is so much better than a tv show. 

Sometimes: I rock back and forth when I'm standing up. 

Always: It freaks people out, but I can't help it. 

Sometimes: I can't believe that it's been FOUR YEARS since I graduated college. 

Always: It feels like it was just yesterday. How did I get so old?! ; )

Sometimes: I hate looking back at pictures when I was skinnier. 

Always: It's motivation to get in shape. Maybe. Ehh. 

Sometimes: I think people post some weird pictures on Instagram. 

Always: Most of my pictures are of food, so who am I to say anything. 

Sometimes: I get caught up watching The Golden Girls late at night. 

Always: Even though I've seen every episode, I just love them. 

Grab the button from my sidebar and link up!

Five Must Haves

I love reading about beauty products on blogs. There's nothing I love more than trying a new product, but honestly I stick to drugstore brands/products, aka anything that I can get at Wal-Mart. 

I wanted to share my top five can't live without/cry if I run out beauty products. 

1) Neutrogena Makeup Wipes

via

I stinking adore these wipes and cannot go one single day without them. I have the full size ones at home and the travel pack in my suitcase. They take makeup off SO easily, even mascara. 

2) Burt's Bees Lip Balm

via

Nothing beats this chapstick. It stays on and makes my lips feel so smooth and refreshed. 

3) Pantene Detangler

via

There are three versions (silkening, conditioning and anti-breakage) and I really love all three. They make it easy to brush out my thick hair and smell absolutely amazing. I think Pantene products have the best smell. 

4) Vaseline Lotion

via

I have super dry skin. I blame it on a) my dad and b) being a nurse. I wash my hands way too much every day and use hand sanitizer like crazy. That being said, this is one of the only lotions that really keeps my skin moisturized. If I skip it one day (especially on my hands), I notice right away. 

5) Caress Body Wash

via

This scent...oh my. It smells absolutely amazing. I've made it no secret on this here blog that showering is not my favorite thing (don't judge), but I really do sometimes just want to shower to use this. It's that good. 

Feel free to share some of your beauty product loves in the comments below!

This is One of Those Deep Posts

I've read a few posts lately from several different bloggers about their struggles with believing in God when there is so much wrong in the world and so many bad things happen. It breaks my heart to hear about people struggling and while it's certainly normal, I really feel compelled and convicted to share what I personally believe about it all.

Maybe it will help people. Maybe it will only help one person. Maybe no one. Either way, I'm feeling led to share it and I'm honored that y'all would take the time to read it. 

A lot of people don't understand why bad things have to happen if God is all-powerful. They feel like He would stop these horrible things from happening if He could and so they then feel that He must not be all-powerful. When God created the world, He allowed free will to exist. He didn't want a robotic/forced group of people that followed Him. He wanted people that had the choice to follow or not to follow and He hoped that we would choose to actively follow Him. Of course, sin entered the world right away and this is where bad things come in. This is where the devil lurks and works and spends his time, scheming and whispering and enjoying our fears and pain. 

While God IS certainly all-powerful enough to stop all these bad things from happening, He doesn't always chose to do so. This can be hard to understand and my best stab at it is that it is part of the trade off we have from having free will. Some people think that God should never let anything bad happen to Christians and are confused that He lets them experience loss and tragedy, but again, He wants people that choose to follow Him because of love and reverence, not because of fear. If we knew that being saved meant having the perfect life, we would chose it because of that, not because we loved God. 

God will one day come and defeat the devil and take all of His followers to heaven, where we will live forever free of any pain or sorrow. Until that time, we are here on Earth, living with the purpose of glorifying God. I certainly don't understand it all and I honestly think that's okay. God is so much bigger and larger and smarter and all that...that we can't even being to comprehend why. He doesn't ask us to understand why. He simply asks us to put our faith in Him. And one day, we will know all these answers. 

The best way that I can describe our inability to understand is like this: my puppies always want to go out in the front yard (which is not fenced in), but I won't let them. While they may see it as I don't love them enough to let them go or that I'm not capable (or powerful enough) of letting them out, it's really just that I know more than they do and I know that they will take off running down the street and get hit by a car. So I actually am loving and powerful, but I do it for their own good. 

Wow, I hope this post makes sense to someone. Again, I'm not claiming to be an expert or understand it all, this is just my personal take on some of the "tough stuff."

Sometimes and Always #34

Sometimes: I get obsessed with certain foods and want to eat them all the time. 

Always: I eventually get tired of them and then never want them again. 

Sometimes: Real clothes are just not going to happen some days. 

Always: I don't see anything wrong with a day spent in pajamas. 

via

Sometimes: I cry way too much watching cheesy reality shows. 

Always: I'm such a softie when it comes to love and heartbreak.

Sometimes: Patients in the ER can really test my patience. 

Always: Y'all would just NEVER believe the reasons that some people come to the ER. 

via

Grab the button from my sidebar and link up!

PS: I'm about...oh...three weeks behind on visiting Sometimes/Always links, so give me a few days. I'll get there...eventually. : )

Those Kind of Friends

There's one thing that I love about my friends...we have that perfect family type relationship where we are so comfortable together and there is no need to "entertain" each other. I love friends like that.

My two best friends came up to visit this past weekend and we ate at a delicious little sandwich shop, visited the library to get me a card (woohoo!) and spent the day sitting around my house catching up and just enjoying each other's company. It was so nice, like words can't even describe nice. There's something to be said for being comfortable with people. 

We also celebrated my sweet friend Shan's birthday by making her bake her own cake for us. : )

You made yourself a good cake, Shan. 

The BFFs are Coming

Dear best friends, thank y'all for coming to spend the day with me today!! I needed it. Dear blogger's block, this is my second link up in a row this week. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but still, where has all my inspiration gone? Dear Sonic, you probably already know this, but I seriously adore you. You have delicious drinks and do them half price every single day. You are awesome. Dear Michaela, let's actually for real Skype tonight, instead of like all the other nights where we failed. Dear fresh fruit, thank you for being so delicious and healthy. If I close my eyes, you almost taste like chocolate. But not really. Maybe I should start dipping y'all in chocolate? Dear husband, sometimes I don't know how you put up with me. But just remember that I'm not THE craziest woman in the world. Really. I'm so blessed to have you. And you have a cute butt, too. I win. 

And lastly, Dear bloggers, sorry I have been a little behind lately. I owe a lot of y'all emails, which I plan to get around to this weekend.

I get to see these two cuties today!

Yes, It is Okay

It's okay............

- To be on a little vacation from your blog. 

- To be SO STINKING EXCITED for Meg and Stephen!!!!!!!!!!!!

- To eat chocolate chip cookies and chocolate milk for breakfast...at noon. 

- To get tired of people posting outfits every single day on Instagram.

- To hate that they are building a house right behind ours and they start at 6 am. 

- To not shower every day. : )

- To get emotional with a good book.

- To get a drink from Sonic daily. 

- To wish we were at the beach right now, even though I'm not a beach person.

Hope y'all all had a great 4th!

Sometimes and Always #33

Sometimes: I drink more Sprite than water in a day.

Always: That first bubbly sip of the day is just divine. 

Sometimes: I miss having itty bitty puppies. 

Always: I can't believe that they were ever this little!

Sometimes: I forget that I have Twitter since I deleted it from my phone. 

Always: I really don't miss it...or Facebook!

Sometimes: I get so stinking excited when our flowers/trees bloom. 

Always: It's so neat planting something and seeing it grow.

Sometimes: I feel like our marriage is too good to be true. 

Always: I feel so blessed to be so happily married.

Sometimes: My husband is the sweetest thing in the whole world. 

Always: He's a little cutie, too. I just love being married to a manly man. 

Grab the button from my sidebar and link up with us today!

A Few of the Good Things in Life

- Weekends where we are both off. 

- A good book. I'm reading Pride & Prejudice right now. 

- Cute little puppies that will do anything for a toy. 

- Being able to freely worship the Lord. 

- Sonic drinks. 

- Husband making dinner (steaks, green beans, mashed potatoes, garlic bread).

- Blog friends turned real friends. 

- Late night dessert. 

- Cheese stuffed crust pizza. 

Sometimes just the little things make life so perfect.