the joys of living debt free....

I came home the other day from work....and jake was doing some "do-it-yourself" maintenance to his truck....and i just thought he looked so darn cute doing it!! ps.Please ignore the ou licence plate....it "came with the truck" and i have been BEGGING him to take it off since last march!! ;)

Speaking of driving free (or paid off) cars....i was surfing around on dave ramseys website the other day and came across this video.... click here to watch it ... this video could seriously change your life forever!! (did that sound dramatic enough to get you to watch it??)...Anyway, we will be opening up a "car replacement fund" in a form of a mutual fund and start this plan January 2010(we are going to add more to retirement and start college funding first).

21 Weeks!!!....

Your baby now weighs about three-quarters of a pound and is approximately 10 1/2 inches long — the length of a carrot. You may soon feel like she's practicing martial arts as her initial fluttering movements turn into full-fledged kicks and nudges. You may also discover a pattern to her activity as you get to know her better. In other developments, your baby's eyebrows and lids are present now

in honor of being 21 weeks along.... these photos where taken of a 21-week old baby during a surgery(i promise they are real...heather snopes.com it.)...I have seen these photos before (as many of you have)...but when my mom sent these to me in an e-mail yesterday i saw these photos in such a different light....thats the size of my little babys hand....thats the size of my little babys arm....so COOL!!

Bellie gets a bath and hair cut....FINALLY!!

Annabelle had needed a bath/haircut so bad lately i swear i have heard her say..."ummm mom...dad...when are you going to have money in those envolopes for ME??" ;)
before:

after:

Happy Valentine's Day!

make sure to love on the ones you love.... XOXOXO

whooooa, we're half way there, whooooooa, we're livin on a prayer...

thats right friends 20 WEEKS!!! We are half way through this 40 week journey! It is so weird to think that i am half way there to meeting my son or daughter!! I have continued to feel this little person move...ohhh two or three times a day, which is only the best feeling in the world!
this morning was my 20 week appointment with Ann. This is the first visit i have gained weight...up 4 pounds baby!! It was fairly uneventful (Thank Goodness!!), we chatted a while, she found my uterus/baby, and we listened to the heartbeat, he/she was moving around A LOT, we were hearing a lot of whooshing sounds mixed with heartbeat, baby was taking a little swim this morning ;)
I thought i would leave you with a photo of a banana....thats how long the baby is now!!

what God designed us for....

yes...i am taking another blog post from the human pacifier, but every once in a while she will write something that just really effects me! this was one of them... i put what i felt was the most beautiful part in bold...

I LOVE breastfeeding. I just have to say it. Gosh, it's just the coolest thing in the whole world. I was putting Levi to bed tonight with our usual routine. I rock him and nurse him, then lay him on his tummy {GASP!} in bed and put his pacifier in his mouth and he goes to sleep. Some nights though he's a little more restless than others and I pick him up a few times and just hold him until he's comfortable enough to go back to sleep. Anyway, tonight he tossed his head back and forth a bit and seemed like he wanted to be held so I picked him up with his pacifier in his mouth and held him cradle style like always. He turned his head toward my face as I was putting him in position and opened his mouth to let the pacifier fall out and with eyes closed, and parted lips started to ever so gently pace his mouth back and forth across my lips, thinking that my lips were my nipples {ooooooh if all men could have their way!}. So I sat back down in the glider and nursed him {again} even though I know for a fact he wasn't hungry, he'd just nurse five minutes before that. I sat there and just relished how good that made me feel; that he wanted me. The latex thingy in his mouth was just that to him. A latex thingy. But he wanted me. The real deal. He knows where comfort lies. He knows where to go for safety and familiarity. He knows that when he calls for me, I come. When he calls to be nursed, I nurse. I provide. I give. I surrender. I let every guard down for him. All for him. And he knows it. I LOVE that.

It's what a mother was meant to do. Give all. No matter how many women take offense to that, it's true. We were born to birth, to nurse, to nurture, completely, in pain and in joy, in loneliness, in comfort, all of it, not just the easy parts but the hard parts especially. It's what we do best when nature is at it's best; unobstructed, untouched, left at it's own, no lights, no machines, no man in a white cloak telling us stick there or push it out or suck it in. Just us all by ourselves. Two people alone in a dark room, telling one another without words how much they love each other. Giving all that one has...receiving the world in return.

Leeeets gooo fly a kite....

Ok maybe we didn't fly a kite, but we saw lots of people who were on our picnic today....it was a beautiful day...a little windy...but beautiful! There was even talk of a trip to the zoo today, but we have decided to save that for valentines day! Anyway as i was watching the "object of my affection" on the CW tonight eating lucky charms for dinner (sue me!) i was just overwhelmed with what a great day today was....just beautiful!