Happy First Day of Winter and....DADDYS BIRTHDAY!!!

my dad has the lucky coincidense of sharing a birthday with the first day of winter! Fun huh?!! I didnt get to see my daddy on his birthday, he lives so far away:( BUT.... I love you dad and happy birthday!!

less then a week till christmas...

First Trimester in Review....

*October 24th- did some continuing education (you know, continuing from that bachelors degree that i have) and went to an all day Childbirth Education Day and Doula Training at OSU-OKC...came home, having birth and babies on the brain, thought i would take a pregnancy test. It was POSITIVE (i truly had NO idea!). Called jake, told him to come home NOW!! Showed him the test!! cried, got crazy excited, prayed...and then went to a birthday dinner for my father-in-law... we could have burst at any point during dinner!!! I was (to the day) 4 weeks pregnant.

*October 26th- We could not wait any LONGER!!! Called my parents...told them the news!! then got iron on letters from michael's and made shirts. Mine said "baby" down at my belly, and jakes said "baby daddy"...wore them over to dinner at jake's parents...all parents were incredibly excited!! but we told them, not to tell anyone until i was 6 weeks along. No one liked that idea ;)

*October 24th~November 21st- lived day by day in fear that we would lose the baby like last time.

*November 2nd- none of us could wait any longer!! started "telling" people. I was 5weeks 2 days.

*November 7th- this is the day equivalent to when we miscarried our first baby. We slept in...stayed in our PJ's all day...rented the entire first season of the HBO series "big love"... did nothing all day!! made it through the day with baby still in tow :) I was 6 weeks.

*November 11th- first midwife appointment!! Very nervous that we would hear bad news, but excited to hear good news!! Gave 5 viles of blood, peed in a cup, meet our lovely midwife, fell in LOVE with her and had an ultrasound. Found a teeny tiny baby but no "for sure" heart beat :( no fun! Still not really having any symptoms and not feeling "pregnant" yet it all made me kinda sad....but still having faith in God's plan, we trekked on, baby and I :) I was 6 weeks 4 days.

*fast forward about 3 days after our first appointment....morning sickness....wait...ALL DAY sickness....

*thoughts on morning sickness....SUCKS...ohh and a LIE! right at about 7 weeks is when it hit and it went strong for 3 weeks straight... funny thing is...morning was the only time i felt ok. It would start at about 11am, continue the rest of the day, and be super super bad from about 5:30 on, until i woke up the next morning. for a good 2 weeks all I ate was Sprite, Saltines, Popsicles and Ramen Noodles, thank goodness for vitamins!

*November 21st- back to my midwife's office to confirm a heartbeat...we saw it "loud" and clear!! Jake said he could even see the different valves of the heart while beating! I cried, Ann(our midwife) gave me a big hug and told me to go enjoy thanksgiving knowing that we have a healthy baby! I was 8 weeks.

*November 27th- Thanksgiving!! First day in about 2 weeks that i felt like eating! ~side note, thank you baby for picking thanksgiving, the day you give be a break~
I was 8 weeks 6 days.

*Starting to feel a bit better, cravings started around 9.5 weeks (i cant remember exactly) list of cravings so far...biscuits and gravy, Reese's peanut butter cup cereal, mashed potato's, apple cobbler and ice cream, fazoli's spaghetti, olive gardens salad...

*December 4th~7th- went on a girls trip with my mom to branson.....3 momentous things happened on this trip...I did not feel sick once!!! I stopped being able to button my jeans!!! and extreme fatigue kicked in gear big time...i had hardly any energy, i was asleep by 8:30 every night, and needed a nap pretty much everyday...this continued on even after the trip. I was 10 weeks.

*Had a break from feeling sick from about week 10 to week 11. then starting sunday of week 11 i threw up for the first time....i threw up every day during week 11. it always happend between 11am and noon...yuk!!

*December 18th- our 4 year anniversary. Since we decided not to go anywhere for our anniversary (to save money and because i didn't want to be sick the whole time on a trip). We both took the day off just to spend with each other. Jake made me and baby french toast, we got massages, and just loved on each other all day, that evening was the Crossings Christmas staff party. So we pretended that Crossing threw us a big anniversary party :)

*December 19th- 12 WEEKS!!!! we made it to 12 WEEKS!!!! all the stress and worry can disappear and we can truly start getting so so excited! although i am still feeling sick through the day, we are just praying it wont last the whole pregnancy! We slept in, went out to breakfast then headed off to OU for my 12 week appointment(ohhh and threw up right when we got there, luckly i made it to the bathroom). I gained and lost weight all through the first trimester, but total from beginning to end i gained 2 pounds which is at the lower end of the average (2-5lbs is average). and we were able to hear the heart beat! At first when we were listening for the heart beat, you could hear mine right away, then about 20 seconds later....a much much much faster heart beat!! it was in the 150 bpm range. I can not explain to you how amazing it was to hear my heart beat and our baby's heart beat, beating simultaneously! AMAZING!! We chatted with Ann a bit, she told me that the reason i have been throwing up is most likely due to the fact that i am not eating enough between 7am (when i eat breakfast) and 12:45pm (when i eat lunch). that my blood sugar drops and i get sick. I eat almonds at work, but she told me to add string cheese or boiled eggs and that should help. She wished us a merry christmas and a happy new year and told me we will see her again at 16 weeks:)

TA-DA!!

why I married Jacob, 4 years ago today...

*we still miss each other while we are away at work.
*we still miss each other when we are in different rooms.
*he calls me all day just to see what i am doing.
*he loves me faithfully and unconditionally.
*he loves Jesus more then me!
*he doesn't mind that i don't like to snuggle when i sleep.
*he is a master of the grill/smoker.
*he looks good in his jeans.
*he looks even better without them.
*he completely supports (and sometimes is even more passionate them me) my crusades...natural birth, cloth diapering, recycling, living debt free, etc...
*he is a good provider.
*he loves his mother.
*he loves MY mother.
*he tells me that I'm beautiful.
*he makes me feel beautiful.
*he is my best friend.
*he not only puts up with it, but he loves my ever-changing mind.
*he is my baby daddy.
*he cooks for me....and he is good at it!
*and so many more to ever mention!!!!

my love, happy 4 year anniversary....i love you to the moon!!!!

4 years of loving each other....

check out our baby countdown....

Less then two hundred days to go!!!!!.....weird!!!

where the hell is matt?...

I have seen this video 3 or 4 times on other blogs, and it is actually quite popular (over 13 million views on you tube!!) But every time i watch it i cry...its a happy cry...and I'm not really sure why i cry...just see for yourself...


Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

*make sure to turn my music off...

GIVE IT TO ME!!!!....

1-2-3 catch up ...

1)The day after thanksgiving we went over to my in-laws to eat left overs...rhonda happen to catch this moment with Deuce(rhonda and steves wiener dog), Snuggles(heathers pitbull), and Annabelle(our little fuzz ball ;) hoping to get a little morsel ;) I promise this was NOT choreographed!

2)Mom and i went on a girls trip to branson this weekend...We saw some great Christmas shows!! We went to a "dinner, Christmas lights tour", The Branson Belle showboat, and the Dixie Stampede...they were all so fun!! And thank you Jesus i did not feel sick the whole time!!! Im pretty sure my sickness has worn off!! *knock of wood!*


3)I know its a little late...but baby is the size of a Kumquat this week :)
this is what is happening with our little bean...How your baby's growing:
Though he's barely the size of a kumquat — a little over an inch or so long, crown to bottom — and weighs less than a quarter of an ounce, your baby has now completed the most critical portion of his development. This is the beginning of the so-called fetal period, a time when the tissues and organs in his body rapidly grow and mature.

He's swallowing fluid and kicking up a storm. Vital organs — including his kidneys, intestines, brain, and liver (now making red blood cells in place of the disappearing yolk sac) — are in place and starting to function, though they'll continue to develop throughout your pregnancy.

If you could take a peek inside your womb, you'd spot minute details, like tiny nails forming on fingers and toes (no more webbing) and peach-fuzz hair beginning to grow on tender skin.

In other developments: Your baby's limbs can bend now. His hands are flexed at the wrist and meet over his heart, and his feet may be long enough to meet in front of his body. The outline of his spine is clearly visible through translucent skin, and spinal nerves are beginning to stretch out from his spinal cord. Your baby's forehead temporarily bulges with his developing brain and sits very high on his head, which measures half the length of his body. From crown to rump, he's about 1 1/4 inches long. In the coming weeks, your baby will again double in size — to nearly 3 inches.

i was tagged!!

8 things tag!


8 TV shows I love to watch
1. Lost
2. The Office
2. So you think you can dance
3. Fringe
4. Americas funnies videos
5. Law & Order SVU
6. NCIS
7. The today show
8. The Bonnie Hunt show


8 Favorite Restaurants (no order, it just depends on what sounds good)
1. Casa Perico
2. Olive Garden
3. Iron Star
4. Taco Bueno
5. Jason's Deli
6. Johnnies
7. Paseo Grill
8. Eskimo Joe's



8 Things that Happened This Weekend:
1. satisfied a biscuit and gravy craving
2. saw my mommy, daddy and brother
3. received a baby blanket my grandma made
4. ate 3 thanksgiving meals
5. watched "the business of being born"...again
6. fell asleep to the OU-OSU game
7. stained (because i cant color) my hair closer to my natural color
8. Put up Christmas decorations


8 Things I Look Forward To
1. our 4 year anniversary (12-18)
2. meeting this little person inside me!
3. Paying off our house
4. Jake coming home from work everyday
5. lost starting up again (1-21)
6. having a big pregnant belly :)
7. Jakes 28th birthday and new years (same day)
8. mom and I's trip to branson this weekend!



8 Things on my Wish List (For Xmas?)
1. video camera
2. my baby to be here (except not really...he/she needs to cook a lot longer ;)
3. boppy pregnancy pillow
4. no more lives torn apart
5. that wars would never start
6. time would heal all hearts
7. every man would have a friend
8. right would always win
9. that love would never end (i had to add a #9 to finish it ;)



8 People I Tag
1. Heather Seaton
2. Stephanie Kramer
3. Kim Hough
4. Lauren Schatzel
5. Emma Krueger
6. Lindsey Boyls
7. that's all I got ;)
8.

9 weeks!!!

our baby is now the size of a grape :)

a little prayer request...

I have found (in the most amazing ways) that having a blog means having my own personal team prayer warriors!! Thank you to all my God-fearing readers out there, that have been so prayerful and supportive....well i have another prayer request...My parents were divorced this year after 26 years of marriage...and this will be our first holiday season not "together"... I just worry about my mom and dad, and just pray that they can focus on the fact that we are celebrating the birth of our savior and to continue to love him as much as he loves us and know that he has the ultimate plans for our lives! Love you mommy and daddy...

"I know what i am doing. I have it all planned out- plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for"
Jeremiah 29:11 (the message)

just something i came across...

beautiful homebirth slideshow...by the new york times!!! I feel very at peace about the dicistion we have made to use the midwives at OU this time...but so looking forward to a birth at home someday!

Baby and i have made it to 8 weeks!!!... AND COUNTING!!!

WE SAW THE HEART BEAT!!!!! Our little bean is HUGE compaired to the ultrasound we had just 10 days ago!! Can you tell that baby is waving at us!!(at least thats what im telling myself it is doing;) we were praying to see a healthy flicker of a heart beat...we didn't see a flicker we saw a full blown heart beat!!! It was so awesome!! My midwife said that the baby and the bag of waters looks completely healthy...with NO sign of miscarriage!!! Praise Jesus!!! Thank you everyone for your prayers!!!!

the start of my cloth diaper obsession....

My first cloth diapers!!! the two newborn ones were giving to me from my dear friend Amy, and i got the large one on craigs list...these particular ones are called gDiapers which are great, because they can be used as a 100% cloth diaper, by putting a traditional pre-fold inside the gDiaper OR....for more convenience (which we will use for babysitters, church nursery, and trips) you can buy biodegradable liners to go inside the gDiaper to just throw away once soiled! AWESOME HUH?!!

baby and i have made it to 7 weeks!!!...

7 weeks
Your baby, having doubled in size since last week, is as big as a blueberry(about 1/2 inch in length).

Its about time!!!....

here is a little preview for steph... (from the wedding in Dallas almost a month ago!!)

Its 4am...

i woke up 2 hours ago feeling extremely sick....i have eaten some toast, taken a bubble bath and am now listening to Christmas music and Internet searching....its all worth it!!!...right?? ;)

a break...

I have decided to take a break from doing photos for a while....I have a shoot this weekend then a wedding on new years eve and that's all I'm going to do for a while, maybe all of 2009. at this point, i am sick every night when i get home from work and pretty much asleep by 7:30 so i have fallen behind on my photo work, and i totally apologize to all my photo peeps (especially Stephanie!). And I know 2009 is going to be full with anticipating this little one and then getting to know the little one, i figure i should take a break....anyway i have had 3 shoots that i have SO needed to blog, so here are all 3 slide shows!

Graysons 6 months

Krista + Phillip

The Porter Family

ps. yes i used the same song for all three....but i just LOVE it, and it totally works for every situation!!!

is that it?....right there?....ok i think i see it....

Well this morning was my very first pre-natal appointment ever! My appointment was at OU Medical Center with Ann Stewart (certified nurse midwife). To be honest going into todays appointment we were still trying to decited if we wanted to use her at OU or use the homebirth midwive we met with and LOVED in June. But after todays appointment my decision was so easy!! When we first got there Ann was "catching" a baby (i loved their use of midwifery terms!!) so they sent us straight to the lab for blood and urien sample. 5 VIALS OF BLOOD and a empty bladder later, Ann was ready for us. We had a long "get to know each other" time where we pretty much fell in love....We loved her philosophies, her motherly support,and her firmness when needed. She complety gave me the confidence to birth in a hospital....which I know im totally weird, but I was so much more scared to birth the hospital then to birth at home. Anyway after our "get to know each other" time, it was time for my first ultrasound ever!! As most of you know we were very very anxious about this ultrasound and what it could tell us (good or bad)....well the little screen came up and right away we could see the bag of waters, it took a little while, but there was something there...HAHA...my little baby bean is so little you could hardly see anything!!! I was really hoping for that "TA-DA" moment with being able to see a flicker of a heartbeat, but I just could not see it :( Ann said she thought she saw a small flicker, but my baby bean is so small that she wanted me to come back next week, when the baby is 8 weeks to confirm that flicker she thought she saw. That was a little disapointing, but she said there is defently a implanted baby and that the bag of waters looks like a good shape and heathy and that tells her a lot. So thats pretty much the break down of what happend today...I know a lot of people were anxious to hear how today went :)

just practicing....

Thanks to our Peruvian baby wrap heather and rhonda got us last summer we have already been practicing our babywearing skills :) poor Annabelle, (she actually LOVED it, she would have stayed there all night) i have a feeling this will be the first of many things that Annabelle will be our guinea pig for ;)

baby and i have made it to 6 weeks!!!!....

I just want to start this post by thanking everyone for their calls, texts, blog comments, facebook messages and emails and I know your prayers!!! If you dont know...today is the equivalent day to when I miscarried in April...Getting past today is really huge for us!! Its 12:30pm and we are still going strong with baby-in-tow :) I am still in my pj's the curtins are closed and we are having a "big love" marathon...i wanted today to be uber stress free!
I know its kinda weird for us to be "telling" people that we are expecting so early, when i have a history of miscarrage....but i checked out this book from the library last week called "Avoiding Miscarriage everything you need to know to feel more confident in pregnancy" The women who wrote it was so encouringing and it was really awsome to read that i was not the only one out there after a miscarrage wondering weird things like... "ohh i should not have had that tuna sandwich last week" or "maybe i bent over too much". Anyway here is an exerpt from the book that encouraged us to "tell people" right away....

Despite beleiving there is no such thing as "jinxes", many of us still prefer not to "tempt fate" by announcing a pregnancy too soon. another reasonthis myth has some appeal is that about 95% of all miscarriages happen in the first three months. waiting until after the high risk period is over should save us from having to explain to people that we miscarried, if that turns out to be the result.
while this sounds logical, it turns out to be misguided, as I discovered. I decided not to tell anyone other than muy husband when I became pregnant after a miscarriage. Thinking it would spare me having to break bad news if it ended badly. Unfortunately, it did end badly, and I realized the flaw in this strategy. What I needed then was support and understanding from my nearest and dearest. While my husband was supportive, he had also suffered the loss and I didn't want him to be responsible for my sole support. I wanted my mother, sister, and my best friends to support me,and knew they would give me the solace I needed. But those were odd phone calls, where I had to tell them I'd lost a pregnancy the hadn'e even known about. They were disconnected from it, much as none of us wanted it to be that way. They hadn't hoped along with me each day, celebrated a little more each week, and then been shocked by the loss when it came. Because I hadn't lived the pregnancy with them, I hadn't been able to share my joys, and in the end I wasn't able to sharer the burden of my loss. Not telling my "suppot group" robed us all of a chance to connect. "Sparing" friends and family sounded noble, but was unwise.

We have been through a loss alone before (last time we had not told anyone!!) and we would never want to go through that again!! So I hope that everyone is ready to celebrate every week with us, because every Friday (thats when my "weeks" change) will be a HUGE celebration to us!!!!! :)

Happy Voting Day...ohh yeah, and....

fairy tale ending!!...

email from Kim....
"Miss Girl will soon be a Texan thanks to the rescue down there! It is an answer to prayer. They know all about her medical condition and never gave it a second thought. In fact, they have an application for a family right here in OKC - so maybe she won't be a Texas. The vet here and the rescue in Texas feels sure she was used over and over again for breeding and that when they were done with her they just let her go.

Bless you Christy and Jake for saving (literally) her life!!!!

Love you all.

Thank you.
Kim "

update on 'Girl'....

After a week of no word from our "dog found" signs...we decided to call Kim...our dear friend who works with a lot of rescues...she came over to meet her, check her out, and take her picture...Kim confirmed that she is older (7ish years old), either deaf or just very hard of hearing, and just the sweetest dog ever!! While Kim was checking her over, all three of us at the same time noticed this mass on her belly...Kim felt around on it, it was hard and bumpy...Kim said that it didn't look good:(...Kim got her connected with a rescue shelter who is going to pay for her vet bills and has room for her. Jake and Heather took her to the Vet yesterday. She spent the night, but we did hear from Kim...she does have some tumors (not sure if they are cancer) so the rescue is deciding if they can afford to remove them (money and the recover time)...we are now just waiting to hear whats next.... :(

Happy Birthday to my father-in-love...

This is a photo of steve, rhonda and I at my graduation(may 2007)....again i could have not asked for better in-laws!!! Happy Birthday Steve...ooooo you are going to LOVE your gift from all of us!!!! Cant wait until tonight for us to give it too you!!! ;) LOVE YOU!!!!

butterfly kisses comes to mind...

from the wedding this weekend...I love these photos as a series of two...walking down the aisle with daddy, leaving with hubby...i just love it!! was i right about the totally awesome sun glare??!!!

I promise I'm still alive...

wow!! I can not tell you the last time we have been this busy!! I am even skipping church tonight, just to try to catch up with everything! We got home from our trip/wedding to Dallas at 2:30AM on Monday morning (yes we both had to be at work by 8am) and i have felt behind since...Our trip was way fun, jake and i went to our favorite place...northpark mall in Dallas...we spent way too much money(all cash of course ;) and had a blast!! We had our first IKEA experience...that place makes me want to live in a tiny tiny new york city apartment! It took us 2 hours to walk though it!! The wedding was Beautiful!!! It was so awesome to see old friends and do what i love...I did the photos and Jake married them...I have just downloaded all 1700 photos from the weekend...yes i said 1700!! It was a sunset wedding on a lake which made for great sun glare photos!!! I will post some as soon as i get to it ;). but the latest news...Monday night after work, we had a friend in our yard...a female bulldog was wondering around yard, with only a flee coller, all we knew to do was put her out of harms way (aka the street) into our back yard and feed her (she is very skinny). We have put signs up all over the neighborhood, with no luck. Because it so rainy and cold we have set her up in our garage, and she is just making herself at home....we think she is old, she is very hard of hearing, and seeing, and just sleeps all the time,she is very very sweet, she is eating good, and seems to either be potty trained or just is good a "holding it"... we have named her "girl", we didn't want to give her a permanent name because she's not ours, but we had to call her something...anyway we need some prayer warriors out there to help find her home or a home for Girl...I will post some photos of her soon too...

cute boy...

We are leaving town tomorrow early morning for a trip to Dallas....which will be a little bit of pleasure and a little bit of business...One of my best childhood friends, Stephanie Munson, is getting married On Sunday the 19th. Jake is performing the ceremony and I am doing the photos....we have got quite the team going here ;) But at the last minute we have decided to go a day earlier and do some shopping!! It is going to be a beautiful wedding and it will be really hard for me to do the photos through teary eyes ;) But i cant wait...and will defenetly post a few when we get back! ~adios~

IM BACK....

I think this is the longest i have gone with out posting!! Well a few months ago, i expressed my love to the show "so you think you can dance" and posted a video of my favorite of the season "no air" (check it out, i think it was in august), welllll....Jake, Heather and I went to the LIVE tour last night in Tulsa!!!! It was Jake and I's selfish birthday present to heather!! It was AMAZING!!! I was so star struck!! It was 3 hours of solos, the favorite group dances and the favorite duets of the season....



this was my attempt to get some shots during the last group dance....if you follow the show, you can pick out most of them if you look hard enough...joshua, twich, katee, comfert, will, keringhton, chelsea, mark, gev, and courtney...


Since I already showed my favorite dance ("no air" in august), i thought for the sake of the post, i will show my second favorite dance..."bleeding love"...which i got to see LIVE!!!...this is so good!!!!