Randomness....

It's a good day to count all of my blessings!

In the midst of what should be a stressful time, I can't help but thank God for all of His goodness to us. Every day I am reminded of just how blessed I am to have such a sweet husband to share life with. I know that no matter what happens we can get through anything together, and that brings so much comfort to me.
We are so excited to meet our sweet little baby. As I feel my belly growing it has all become so much more real to me.

I'm really looking forward to our trip to St. Louis....yahoooo! I can't wait to wake up in my BFF's house tomorrow and give lots of hugs to her precious children, whom I have missed so much! It should be fun reconnecting with friends and I know our trip will go by way to fast.

Next week will be a busy one as we prepare for Jess to move in on Friday. We still have a few projects to finish down in the basement, but I'm proud to say that we are finally almost done!

Hope everyone has a safe and happy New Year!

A little bit of a blue Christmas...

The holidays have been different for us this year. We've been trying to enjoy our time together knowing that it's the last year that it will be just the two us, but at the same time we're so excited that we'll have a little one to celebrate Christmas with next year. Christmas is so much more exciting when you celebrate it with children.

Unfortunately this year we got a little bit of bad news to dampen our spirits. I got the call on the Christmas Eve morning. Last week we had gone to the hospital for some routine testing and our lab results we're in. Unfortunately, it looks like there's a chance that our baby might have Downs Syndrome. The chance is not great, but to put things into perspective - only 2% of the pregnant women that get this testing done actually have the test come back showing that their baby might have Downs Syndrome. So, although the chance isn't great that the baby actually DOES have Down Syndrome, the chances we're so low in the first place that it was even a remote possibility, and we "beat" those odds, so we can't help but be worried.

The specialist that called me gave us a few options for testing : A CVS test (which would have to be next week), an Amniocentesis in another 3 weeks, or a Target Ultrasound at 20 weeks. The CVS and Amnio are said to be 100% accurate, so would tell us if the baby does in fact have Downs Syndrome, but because they are both invasive, they come with a small risk of miscarriage. The Targeted Ultrasound could give us a pretty good idea, but is not 100% accurate.

Obviously we are devastated, but because no matter what we will love this baby, we have decided to just wait another 6 weeks and get the Targeted Ultrasound so as to not put the baby in any danger. We figured it would be kind of selfish of us to even risk putting our baby in danger just so that we could have a more precise answer a few weeks earlier.

All of this comes down to genetics, which is so odd because neither Steve nor I have any history of Downs Syndrome on either sides of our family. The specialist said that it's mostly due to my genes - although I'm only 30, genetically my maternal age is that of a 35 year old woman. Because this is all genetic, the risk of Downs Syndrome will increase with each of our subsequent children, so the longer that we wait to have more children, the greater the chances that it will be a special needs child. Because of this, I can't hep but feel a little fear for our future children and know that every pregnancy will come with a greater set of worries. The specialist advised that if we wanted more children after this one that we should do it quickly and be finished with having kids within the next 4 years in order to avoid the risk of more serious complications. All this time I've been joking about how my biological clock has been ticking, but I never really realized just how true my words would become.

All of this is a lot to digest right now. I don't feel fit to be a mother at all, let alone to a child that has special needs. I do know though, that God has put this baby that we wanted to badly inside of me and no matter happens we will love it. I also know from experience that God will never give us more than what we can handle and if it turns out that the baby does have Downs Syndrome, then He will give us the grace to deal with it.

With all of my heart I pray that everything is okay, but I can't help but worry. No matter what, I know that God is faithful and good and He will be with us regardless of the outcome. In the meantime though, prayers are appreciated!

Tidbits from my week thus far....

It's been a short but busy week.

- I have been feeling quite a bit better, as in I don't feel like constantly puking, ot more just once in awhile. I do, however, still feel exhausted and have strangely had a bloody nose (or to be more exact a bloody nostril because it's only my right nostril that bleeds, sorry for the gory details) every night this week thus far in the middle of the night. In all of my 30 years of life I have never had a bloody nose, so this has been rather strange.

- I am so ready for Christmas to come and completely have cabin fever at work. I know it's a shortened work week, but time seems to drag on and I can't wait to get out of here already.

- I went to see the midwife yesterday and got to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time. It was amazing and while we were listening to the hearbeat the baby actually gave me a swift kick as well. I couldn't feel it, but we heard the kick on the doppler and it was really cute.

- Tina and I went walking in the mall last night. I think we're turning into old people, and strangely I'm okay with that.

- I'm really looking forward to the Holidays this year. We're not going home to see family, but will stay here in Madison and spend the day with some friends that have become like family. It will be so nice to sleep in and not stress about any family drama.

- I'm also really looking forward to the New Year. We'll be going home to visit St. Louis and will stay with Dale & Missy. I'm so excited to have some quality time with friends and soak up every minute of loving on those sweet kids of theirs. Hopefully we can see everyone that we promised we'd get together with while we're in town for .

Everything's gonna be okay....

Considering that I'm constantly exhausted, I still find it amazing that I can't sleep in past 7:00 on a Saturday morning. I somehow subconsciously keep thinking that I'm late for work and it stresses me out.
Instead of getting up doing housework this morning I decided to just lay in bed and think for awhile. I started thinking about this past year and a half of our lives and this season that we're in now and I had a revelation. Sure, the obstacles may look different than the obstacles we had to overcome last year, but nonetheless all that I'm experiencing right now is just another testimony of God's faithfulness to us in the making.
I've told a few people about the story of us getting pregnant (no, not the literal details - gross!), but as I was thinking about it this morning I just couldn't help but feel so grateful to God.
Steve and I have been wanting to start a family for awhile. In fact, we were just getting ready to start trying back January of 08 when the option of moving to Madison came up. For us, moving to Madison meant putting kids on hold for awhile, because we knew that realistically church planting, moving and quitting jobs was not a fitting situation to bring a child into this world.
We knew that moving here to Madison to help plant this church was what God wanted for us, so we put starting a family on hold. I would be a liar if I said I wasn't a little sad.
So, here we were in Madison. Literally, almost every single friend we have here has kids - not a good combination for someone that wants kids but is trying to put that desire on the back burner. We felt that for our first year here we were to focus all of our efforts on what we had moved here to do and once again completely laid down our desire to start a family. It was hard, but we knew it was what we were supposed to do. Steve not having a job for 9 months and us not having any health insurance for a year and half was ironically comforting to me in this area, because with our situation I knew it just wasn't smart to even consider starting a family.

Fast forward to September. Steve was finally hired on as a full time employee and with is came some great health insurance for both of us that we would be eligible for in November. Being new at a job and in this economy I would be a liar if I said I was still a little nervous about a starting a family, but we both spend some time praying about it and really felt God give us a peace about trying.
I also would be a liar if I said I didn't hear my biological clock ticking louder every day since the day I turned 30. Being the detailed person that I am I did a little research and from everything I read I found that a woman in her 30's should expect that it would take anywhere from 9 months to a year of "trying" before she actually got pregnant. Because I felt like I had been waiting for forever to even start trying for a baby, I knew that the waiting process would be very difficult for me. For some reason, I totally prepared myself that by this time next year I still wouldn't be pregnant and the debbie downer in me felt discouraged with the trying process before we even started it. I don't know why, but for some reason, because I feel like we've been so blessed I always think in the back of my mind that our time for heartache is due and expect the worst. It's ridiculous, I know, but it's something that I've always struggled with.
Needless to say, we started trying and God surprised us once again when two weeks later after I started feeling really dizzy and overall yucky and took a pregnancy test (or 3) only to see that little plus sign. Shocked, excited and completely in unbelief did not even begin to describe how I felt. Apparently I'm not to good at keeping a secret, because the next day we had a beer float party at our place to celebrate Steve's birthday and both Jacqueline and Christina figured it out when I "just didn't feel like drinking a beer."

As I lay in bed this morning and thought about how overwhelmed I've been feeling, I couldn't help but be reminded of the little miracle growing inside of me that is just another testimony of God's faithfulness to us. Had we been trying for a year and still hadn't become pregnant, God would still be just as faithful, but I can' hep but feel so overwhelmed because He answered our prayers and gave us the desires of our hearts in the most perfect timing. It was extremely hard for us to lay down having a family for the season that we did. Honestly, sometimes I even wonder if we would have still moved here if I could have seen future and known just how hard putting a baby on the back burner would have been. I really feel though that God is smiling down us and saying "thanks for being faithful to lay down your desire for Me, now I'm going to give you the desires of your heart" and that puts so much peace and joy in my heart for our future.
Sure, there are a lot of details that need to be worked out. Namely, how are we going to live on just one income when it's already a struggle to live on two. But, I know that God is bigger than that and when I look at the obstacles we've overcome in the last 2 years, I know that somehow it's all miraculously going to work out, just like it has every other time.

Seriously, the peace that comes with knowing that our God is good and faithful and we can trust him with our entire lives is what keeps me going every single day. I know that we'll experience storms in this life, but it feels so amazing to know that God is on our side and everything happens for a reason. Phew!

Baby on Board!

We went in for some lab work and an ultrasound yesterday and everything is looking great! We won't have our lab results for another 2 weeks, but from how everything looked on the ultrasound it looks like things are progressing just like they should be. Such a relief! It's been kind of a rough week, so this is just what I needed to cheer me up.

When they first started with the ultrasound the baby was asleep, but woke up a few minutes later and it was so amazing! Steve and I loved seeing the little baby stretch and squirm around in there and the ultrasound tech seems to think our little one will be a boxing champ. Steve has been so cute. All he could talk about last night was how neat it was to see the baby squirming all around inside me. It just feels so much more real now.

Here's a 4D image of our little champ boxing up a storm!
On to other news, not only is the baby growing, but momma is to! I tried to put on some jeans this morning that I just wore last weekend and there was no way I was gonna fit into those puppies! I know that I'll gain weight during pregnancy and that it's not a time to diet, but I will admit that I'm having a really hard time as I see the scale continue to climb. What's even worse is that we used to eat pretty healthy and now sometimes the only food that doesn't make me want to vomit is McDonald's. I think I've eaten more McDonald's in the last 2 months than I've literally eaten in the last 5 years. No, I'm not eating every meal at McDonald's, but I do eat there once a week or so. I'm hoping that once I'm fully into the second trimester I'll feel better and feel more up to eating healthy again...for my benefit and the baby's. I hate eating like crap when I have a little one growing inside of me that needs healthy nutrients. I'm also looking forward to having a little more energy so I can start getting more exercise.

Until then though, I will be enjoying one of my new found loves - the 2 hour Saturday afternoon nap. :)

Freezing away in Margaritaville....

This morning our sidewalks were extra icy. Steve is very innovative and because we didn't have any ice melting salt to pour on the sidewalk he took our tub of margarita salt instead. So much for Cinco De Mayo this year, but then again, no drinking for me anyway!

On to other news, I've been feeling extremely overwhelmed lately. Just realizing that in 6 short months I'll have a child to care for is really starting to hit me. I feel so inadequate. On Friday, we babysat Lily (who is just a month old) and I got a good dose of reality.
I am thrilled to be having a baby, but sometimes I can't help but feel completely overwhelmed when I get to thinking and wondering about how we're going to provide for a child and what kind of parents we will be. From what I hear these are pretty normal feelings, but somehow that doesn't bring me any comfort and I'm still scared to death.

It doesn't help that things are miserable at Steve's work (which will soon be our only source of income). He's been under a lot of stress and has been working 12 hour days just to get everything done and it still doesn't seem to satisfy his boss that he's doing enough. I get so sad when I see my husband under so much stress at work because I know life isn't much better for him at home since he's been picking up so much of my slack. I am so grateful that he has a job and through that good health insurance for our family, but I just wish there was something I could do to make his life a little easier.

Okay, enough of my Debbie Downer attitude. I know it's all about perspective and I'm praying that mine will change soon.

Just a little mix up....

My mom is excited (to say the least) that she is going to be a grandmother.
When she asked me what we wanted for Christmas this year, I told her baby stuff - and stuff that was practical, not just like cute teddy bears or things like that.

So, the other day I got a box in the mail from Target. There was a gift nicely wrapped with a little card that had a printed message from my mom on it. Imagine my surprise when I opened it up and it was a handheld Tetris game. Wow. At first I thought my mother had gone off the deep end, until I looked at the packing slip and saw that it was actually supposed to be accessories for a breast pump.

Steve and I had a good laugh when we realized that some little boy somewhere was going to open his box, find MY breast pump accessories and think that Santa thought he must have been a naughty boy this year in order to receive something that must seem so repulsive to a 9 year old boy!

Needless to say, the Tetris game is getting returned.

The Great Blizzard Of 09!

It snowed a lot last night and it's still snowing this morning, so I guess winter is really here. Steve's company closed down for the day and not only could I not get my car out of the driveway, but I was feeling like crap, so I decided to take the day off as well.
I'm sitting inside sipping on my coffee (don't worry, it's half-caf for the baby), and eating a delicious home made cinnamon roll that our neighbor brought over for us, and at some point plan on taking a big long nap today. It's a perfect snow day!

I am so thankful for our snowblower today! Last summer we found an old man on the side of road (can you tell we have a theme with items from the side of the road here?) just wanting to get rid of a snowblower so we bought it for $22 (he wanted $25, but that's all the cash I had on me). What a steal! Not sure how long our bargain will last us, but while it's running we will take full advantage of it!

Steve's been outside for the few hours trying to clear off the driveway and sidewalk while the snow continues to fall down. Down the street you can see all of our neighbors trying to shovel themselves out. I still stand beside my hatred for snow, but I do have to admit that I kind of like it when it means I don't have to go to work.

Bedroom Before and Afters

We've finally finished our downstairs guest room, just in time for Jessica to arrive this weekend. I will be so happy once our entire basement project is complete. At least it's looking so much better.
I had a lot of fun when I realized how little we had spend on our little project. Here's the before picture of this oh so hideous room:
What was the worst about this room was without a doubt the concrete flooring, which suprisingly was a step up from the dog pee infested carpet that was in the room when we bought the house.
Here's what the room looks like now:
Because of my love for both decorating and doing it cheap, I was excited when I crunched some numbers and realized how little we spent on EVERYTHING to make this room look better.
Let's start with the floors:
We got this flooring at a great deal at lumber liquidators - $.59/sq. ft!
The room is 110 sq. feet total so the flooring cost a total of $64.90.
This cutie little rug I got a few years ago on clearance at Target for $4.88.I found this cute little reversible comforter and pillow set last year at Target on clearance and was so happy because it matches nicely with the rug.
Comforter and Pillow Covers = $12.00
Picture Frame = Ikea for $3.99 (The pictures inside are actually greeting cards that I got for free way back when I worked at Starbucks)
Also pictured are the two different paint colors we used for this room. As I mentioned before our entire basement project has been done with "Oops" paint. The darker khaki was $4.00/gallon at walmart and the lighter brown was also $4.00 for the gallon. The two gallons of paint not only went to good use in this room but we also used it in the family room, so total cost of paint for this room when you divide it out was just $4.00.On to the dresser....I've had this dresser for a few years. With my love for cheap/free stuff I actually found it on the side of the road back when I lived in St. Louis and gave it a very small amout of TLC.
Funny fact about us Rodriguez' is that actually every dresser or chest of drawers in our house have been found on the side of the road. To some people this might be gross, but we love the challenge of fixing things up. I can't even begin to tell you how many times we've recieved compliments on the matching dresser and chest of drawers in our bedroom that we refinished together and then stained to match our headboard (also consequently FREE) back when we first got married. I will have to do a post on our bedroom on another day though.
Cost of Dresser: FREE!
The pretty fresh flowers are compliments of my sweet friend Katie.
So that's it, the room is finished. We still would like to replace the ugly blue curtains that don't really match so well, but until I find a great bargain they'll do.
Total cost of a brand new guest room - flooring, paint, comforter, area rug, pictures frames and all....$94.65!

Weekend Update

The weekend flew by. Steve and I went on a much needed date of Friday night. It was so nice to get out do something rather than sit at home. Our typical evenings have consisted of me falling asleep by 8:00 pm and Steve watching movies on the couch.

I will say that because I've been so tired and unmotivated Steve has loved that he has had so much time to watch his favorite movies. Despite me being sick and tired he told me the other day that one of the perks of me being pregnant is all the time he gets to sit back, relax and watch some flicks (probably because I'm asleep half the time). He loves watching his action movies!

Saturday it was back to the grind. Jessica's moving up a bunch of stuff from St. Louis this weekend, which means we really have to get the basement ready for her now. Steve finished up some flooring that needed to still be installed in her closet and did a bit of painting in the family room. We still have more work to do, but we're almost finished. Yea! I'll have to do some before and after pictures of her room now that it is finally completed! It's kind of empty just because we want her to feel the freedom to decorate as she pleases.

Saturday I went shopping for tires for my car and came home empty handed. Every place I went was absolutely packed and I was so not in the mood to wait 6 hours. Sarah and I went out for lunch and were brave enough to head to the mall....such a bad idea. You would think it was the day before Christmas with how crazy it was!

Sunday was nice. Went to church in the morning and then I came home and slept (of course) while Steve spent a few hours cleaning the house. Seriously, he has been so good to me throughout this pregnancy! Katie came over to hang out in the evening and then I actually ended up staying awake until 10:00! I'm feeling it this morning though.
According to babycenter.com, my second trimester will begin on December 14th. Woo-hoo, energy, here I come!

Thanksgiving

We had a good Thanksgiving. We had originally planned to head back to St. Louis, but because I've been so exhausted I figured I wouldn't be fun to be around. Just thinking about making a trip home kept stressing me out, so we just decided to stay in Madison.
The weekend went as I expected....lots of sleeping for me!

One of my favorite traditions as a kid was to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade - something I haven't been able to do in years, so I had a good time relaxing on Thanksgiving morning while Steve and I watched the parade together.
We went over to Chris and Tina's for a Thanksgiving feast in the afternoon which made for a happy husband! (sorry Tina, I was to lazy to take pictures, so I stole some of yours)

Steve loves any holiday that involves food - when he's happy, I'm happy!

We woke up early Friday morning to do some black friday shopping. I
hate black friday shopping. Not so much the shopping part, but the crowds and all the rude people. We had a few things that we really needed that were selling for really cheap though, so we figured it was worth the trip. Really we only got up 15 minutes earlier than we normally do for work, so it wasn't that bad. We got home at around 8:30 and I was exhausted so I took a 3 hour nap. Then it was back to work.
We just found out that Jessica is coming up on the 12th with a carload of stuff to move in, so now we're scrambling to get everything ready for her as we thought we had another 6 weeks to prepare the basement for her. The rest of the weekend pretty much consisted of working on the house....so exhausting and so not fun!