16 Weeks

I'm actually closer to 17 weeks pregnant now and am thrilled to report that the morning sickness has almost completely vanished!! I am feeling MUCH better, but still find myself being cautious about what kinds of things I am eating. Pretty much all tomato products are out for the time being, as are most meats and eggs. I'm trying to get most of my protein from cottage cheese, cheese, yogurt and milk.

Our next doctor's appointment is November 2nd and it's a big one! It will be out 18 week ultrasound and we hope to be able to find out if we're expecting a boy or a girl. I have a strong hunch it's a girl and I'm very excited to see if my intuition is correct. We're planning a surprise party to announce the sex of the baby. We will ask the ultrasound technician to seal the sex of the baby in an envelope and after the appointment we will take the envelope to a bakery. We will give the baker instructions to open the envelope and if it says "boy" then they are to make the cream filling inside the cake blue, or pink if it says "girl." On Saturday, November 7th at 7pm our friends and family will be at our house - you're welcome too if you're in the area! Once we're all here we will cut open the cake and reveal the sex of the baby in front of everyone! I think it's going to be a lot of fun and I'm really excited about it!

This next doctor's appointment is a big deal for another reason. We will be discussing a cost-share analysis from our insurance company. We still have a very strong desire to use Dayspring Midwifery in Hayden, but because our insurance company won't cover the birth if we do we have been thinking and praying a lot about what is in our family's best interest both financially as well as emotionally, mentally and physically. If our cost share is significant enough to allow us to come close to paying for the midwife, then that's what we'll do.

We seem to be in the midst of lots of decision making about the big changes coming in the next year. We're considering trading in Greg's truck to get a more family-friendly vehicle that will accommodate a car seat more comfortably. We're deciding how and when and where to put the baby and how to rearrange our current set up to best use our space. Greg has been working on installing some shelving in the garage. I have been space bagging all of our linens and shoving them under beds and couches, so we have a nearly empty linen closet! We have some work ahead of us, but it feels good to be working together for such an awesome cause.

We recently learned that my mother and sister will be joining us for Thanksgiving and I could not be more ecstatic! They will be here for almost a week! My mom has only been here once overnight and my sister came and stayed a week with me while Greg was away at training, so I'm very excited to get to show them around and partake in so many wonderful local festivities! This is the first time EVER that my mom has not spent Thanksgiving at my Nana's house, so I've got quite the shoes to fill. I've been working on the Thanksgiving dinner menu for days and think I have it pretty close to done. I will post it when it's been finalized!

Here's some recent pictures of the belly... enjoy!

Approx. 6 Weeks

15 Weeks, 1 Day

2nd Trimester

According to some of my books, today marks the first day of the 2nd trimester for me. I'm pretty excited and hope to see some of the relief that all of the experts promise come with this milestone.

For those that have been out of the loop, I have had pretty miserable morning sickness for the last 7 weeks of this pregnancy. I'd lost some weight, but not enough to concern the doctors and am glad to have been spared from having to take any medication for it. I did try every homeopathic remedy known to man: ginger in every form, crackers of all sorts, motion sickness bands, B12, peppermint, seriously you name it and I tried it. Some things worked for a short while and others didn't work at all. I have been feeling nauseous much less the last few days and haven't actually gotten sick since last week. I am still exhausted, but find that I can push myself a little more than I used to be able to.

Yesterday was a pretty big day for me. The start of "pregnancy brain" came when after brushing my teeth I spit my toothpaste into the bathroom drawer rather than into the sink. I then proceeded to laugh at myself so hard I nearly peed my pants! I went to the gym again for the first time in about 6 or 7 weeks and felt pretty good about it. My heart rate gets going a lot faster with a lot less effort which I'm sure is a combination of the increased blood volume and not having worked out in so long. I don't feel sore today and plan to go again this afternoon if I'm feeling up to it. It's very important to me that I stay as active as possible throughout the pregnancy. I hope to be able to start walking Copper again soon now that the smell of everyone in the neighborhood cooking dinner hopefully won't make me quite so sick. I intend to get a prenatal yoga video to do at home when the road and weather conditions prevent me from walking outside.

I have been very blessed in that my job could not be more understanding or supportive of the situation. I have been working from home when I need to and have the ability to make my own hours. With the exception of a few events and meetings, I can take long naps and do what I need to do when I need to do it. All that they care about is that the work gets done and that I put my hours in. When, how and where don't concern them.

Greg has been very busy. He's back in school full time. This will be his last semester at NIC before moving on to LCSC in January. He's been working two part time jobs which keep him out late into the nights. I appreciate the sacrifices he's making for us, I really do, but it's been hard on me because of having so many interruptions in my sleep. I try to go to bed around 10. Greg gets home from work anywhere between 10:45 and midnight depending on the day, so I wake up when he gets home. He usually needs time to wind down and do homework, so he doesn't come to bed until 1:30 or 2:00 am and I wake up then too because it takes him forever to get comfortable. Then we fight over the bed and the covers, his snoring wakes me up at least once more. Oh, and then I wake up again at 5am because I have to use the bathroom. I really would enjoy 6 or more hours of uninterrupted sleep, but I guess this is God's way of preparing me for motherhood.

six weeks and counting

2bakers4now is now soon2b3bakers!

Overdue Garden Update

Bear with me. Uploading these photos seems to take F-O-R-ever! And I can't ever seem to get the alignment quite right...

The entire garden. The pictures were taken in late afternoon, so that's why it's so dry. The greens in the bottom left are beets at various stages of growth. Not a whole lot yet, but we've been getting spinach, leaf lettuce, radishes, and a few beets. Yesterday we harvested our first cherry tomato!

The West Wing: Tomatoes, sweet peppers, spaghetti squash, lettuce, spinach, broccoli, beets, walla walla onions and green onions.

The East Wing: Zucchini, slicing cukes, pickling cukes, hot peppers, potatoes, 3 varieties of carrots, herbs, onions, and green onions.

Early Girl Tomatoes: We'll have lots of these to eat within the next 3-4 weeks.

Brandywine Tomatoes: Just a few little green ones so far.

Spaghetti Squash - Has LOTS of blossoms! I'm really please with this one so far!

We've been pretty disappointed in our berry adventure. This will be the small handful of blueberries we will harvest this year. Both of our raspberry plants died and the blackberry plant looks like it's just starting to grow. I'm not expecting any fruit this year, but we'll see...

The Most Important!

I completely forgot about our most important June highlight! Our second wedding anniversary! We didn't do anything extravagant and I think that's what made it so special. We exchanged cards and Greg dug a post so that he could hang the hammock that we purchased in Mexico while on our honeymoon. We've enjoyed several afternoons laying in it together this last month. I made a nice dinner, though I can't remember now what it was... :) After dinner we went to Sears and bought Greg a weed eater, I guess you could say it was his anniversary present?

It was just a great quiet time together. Sometimes we forget how much we need that time to recharge.

June Highlights

Since an entire month has slipped away I'll just have to post the highlights of the Baker happenings.

At the end of May we took one of the National Guard Youth that I work with to a Monster Truck show in Spokane. His dad is away from home for the time being and change is always hard, no matter what your age. Not to mention the struggles of the parent left behind to be everything to everyone right now.

We had a great time! Greg & S bonded in January at the Idaho Military Youth Winter Camp and they were glad to see each other again. S got to ride on a monster truck - an experience I hope he won't soon forget! We really thank the Lord that we were given the opportunity to bless someone else.

Early in June I headed for Southern Idaho on a bus full of Idaho's finest teenagers for five days of the most awesome Summer Camp on the planet! This year I took on a lot more responsibility than I had last year. I spent weeks and weeks researching, organizing, and planning. I feel so wholeheartedly that this is a labor of love! I have met some of the greatest people through this program and I really love working with these kids. The way they face their adversity, their maturity levels, I'm just so thankful for the privilege to know and work with them! The camp went very well! No major issues of any kind! Sorry - no pictures! I was too busy running around looking for my head! :)

While I was at camp, Greg was playing GI Joe in Washington. He says he was just doing his job, but he must have been doing it very well because the battalion commander recognized him and only four other soldiers for their exceptional work. He was given a beautiful coin to add to his already growing collection. I'm so proud of him. He is such a hard worker and I thank God that He is beginning to show Greg the fruits of his labors.

The week after camp and training we were able to take a drive to admire some of God's most beautiful creation. I finally saw my first moose! I was so excited!!















We are so thankful that we live here and dream of the day that we will own a little slice of this kind of land...












We've really jumped into our new church family and have been enjoying lots of bbqs, bon fires, and late night laughs. We have formed some friendships that will last a lifetime and I thank God for these people in my life everyday.
This is one of the many youngsters in the group... I guess he was thirsty? :)






The weather is warming up, so I decided it was time to take my ice cream maker for a test spin. I have always enjoyed Mexican Hot Chocolate and got it in my head that it would make an interesting ice cream flavor. I did some research, found a few different recipes that I kind of melded together. This was the end result:

I think it's safe to say that Greg liked it!

There is a lot going on in the garden and so many pictures of that to share! I'll have to post those later this evening because the gym is calling! Gotta run!