1 + 1 = 3!!

Well, back in April Jake and I got some happy news!! I'm pregnant! We had been trying for about 10 months. I'll be totally honest here and tell you all that I did have a miscarriage back in January. We went in for our first ultrasound at 9 weeks and found no heartbeat, even though the baby measured the right size. We were devastated. I waited two weeks for my body to process it on its own, but it never happened. So in early February I went and had a D&C. Two cycles later my prayers were answered!! Baby time!!

I just had my first ultrasound this past Monday, and everything looked great!! Baby measured right on track with a super strong heartbeat of 175! Jake and I are so happy and so relieved. We are so thankful that so far this has been a healthy pregnancy, and we pray that it continues to be this way!

I've bee keeping a pregnancy journal since I found out. Originally I thought I would just copy and paste everything from there to here, but it's turned out to be SUPER personal, so I'm going to do my own updates here! I'm 10 weeks today, so expect a 10 week post soon! For now I gotta go pick up my hubs!

Here is a pic of my ADORABLE baby. The giant thing on top is its head, and two little arms sticking out, which the wee one used to wave and dance at us. The bright white spot on the bottom left is a foot, and the round thing at the bottom is the sac! Love!

We're back!

Man am I a bad blogger. I don't know why I even bother anymore!

We finished up staying in the Camden house yesterday. Actually, our last official day was today, but we had to be out by like, 10am. Jake and I were already planning on coming home last night to see his sister who was in town, and we were just going to spend the night then drive back up to Camden early this morning. But since we had to be out of the house by 10am we decided there was no reason for me to go back. Well, Jake's boss decided he wanted to go home last night too, so we all just left the house yesterday. And thankfully, they are able to do some work here in town today and tomorrow!

Also! Jake decided earlier this week to work 9 hour days so we could have a half day on Friday (which then equals a three and a half day weekend), so now with him working close to home on Friday, it'll be especially nice! Yippee!!

I am happy to be home. SO happy. I missed my cat, even though I saw her on the weekends. It's nice to just be able to relax in my own home. It'll be nice getting in to a routine in this house and really begin to make it my own. We were only here for 2 weeks before we "moved" up to Camden! It's been a really crazy month to say the least, haha.

And now it's almost summer. I cannot wait! Not that anything really changes. The weather has been so lovely lately, even with all the rain. But it's been warm. In about a month Jake and I get to go see Rascal Flatts, and that will be SO much fun! My sister in law is going to have a baby this summer also!

Well, this was a rambling post. :)

Camden

So we've been at the vacation house for a week now, just starting our second week today. We love it! Jake and I arrived on Tuesday and got all settled. It is a nice cozy house that is just big enough for the five of us, a baby, and two dogs! Sometimes it gets a little hectic, but it hasn't been too bad. :)

 The job is about ten minutes away from the house, and it is SO NICE. Let me tell you, after having Jake work 1.5 - 2 hours away every day, this is the biggest blessing! We are loving being so close to one another! We're going to get totally spoiled, but for now that's okay with us. ;)

Fala loves it here too. I was shocked how quickly she adapted to it. In no time she was making herself at home, jumping on couches, loving the outdoor fenced in yard, and playing with Carter. She doesn't really LIKE Carter, she's too much of an old grump for him. But she does occasionally play with him, so that's nice. He's respectful of her though, so I'm thankful for that. No dog fights, no nothing. Fala is also learning how to tolerate a 10 month old baby who is constantly walking, crawling, and pinching is own dog! I don't let him do that to Fala by any means because I KNOW she won't put up with it. But she's learning that he's more likely to poke her than pet her, and she's learning that it's OK to get up and walk away. I prefer that anyway. ;)

We went home this past weekend and, of course, it was lovely to see Belle. She seemed happy to see us too, but by the end of the weekend she was back to being a total brat. I'll see her again on Wednesday, even though my awesome landlord offered to check in on her every day!

I'll see what I can do about getting pics up of this place, but I'm a little hesitant to do so because it's not my own. So we'll see!

We're moving! Okay, not really.

So Jake has started up a new job about two hours away. It's in a nice beach town, but it's still two hours away. That makes for four hours worth of driving. Thankfully he's only working 8 hours, but his boss (his dad) knows how important it is for his employees (his two sons) to be at home with their wives as much as realistically possible.

Enter my in-laws awesomeness. They are renting a vacation house for Jake and I, Jon and Maria and their son (Jake's brother and wife), and themselves, up in Camden so we can be only 10 minutes away instead of 2 hours!!

I am so excited. Maria and I "move in" tomorrow. We will only be there the days that the guys are working, so either Mon-Fri or Mon-Thurs. They're thinking about doing 10 hours days with us so close so we can have a three day weekend.

The house is a five minute walk to downtown Camden, which makes it about a five minute walk to the ocean. Although it's Spring in Maine, the temps are pretty mild, although this past weekend and today have been AMAZING. But we have the house for 6 weeks, so I'm certain the weather will just get nicer (Lord willing) so that we can enjoy the place!

Fala is coming, of course, but B.B will have to be left behind, which breaks my heart. I know she's a cat and she won't care, but I am contemplating coming down every other day or something to check on her, clean her litter box, check her food, etc. Maria's dog, Carter, is also coming! So it should be interesting having two dogs in the house. :)

I'll do my best to update from there! Free wifi! Woohoo!

New home

This past Saturday was moving day! Jake's brother, Jon, was able to help us out, which was a huge blessing. I certainly couldn't have moved the big stuff. Or my super heavy boxes of books either. :) We were able to get all the stuff (minus the animals) down in one load, which was nice. It took half the day, then we treated Jon to some pizza before he went back home. Jake and I spent the rest of the day cleaning out the old place, moving the animals, and unpacking and settling in!

The only downside was this: When we first moved in to our old place, we had to hoist our box spring for our mattress up through a second story door that used to go out to a porch. While we lived there our landlords took out the door and replaced it with a window. We realized on Saturday that there was no other way to get our box spring out. So, it stayed, and our landlords ended up waiving a fee we owned them so that we can go buy a new one! Hopefully we'll be able to do that next weekend. I feel like a high school student with my bed right on the ground. The animals sure love it though!

Anyway, we love our new place. I promise I'll get pictures up, hopefully later this week. I just want it to look as clean as possible in the pictures. :) Jake bought a bird feeder and made a place to hang it on right out of one of our big windows. I am able to just sit and stare at the little birds coming all day. Mostly we've had chickadees, Maine's state bird. But I've also identified a goldfinch as well! I think that's what they're called. It's so exciting. It's also fun being more in the country cause we live pretty close to a shooting range! Jake LOVES hearing the guns, and I enjoy it too. I also get a kick out of seeing a tractor drive down the road. So different than the city. :)

The animals are adjusting well. The poor cat was more freaked out on moving day than Fala was. But they've done very well. We bought a baby gate to separate Fala from the bathroom which contains Belle's litterbox and cat food. It'll also be handy for when our new puppy joins us!

When will that be? Hopefully this summer after we've saved up some money. :)

Life changes!

You know how there are things in life that you pray and pray for? You always want it so badly but it's just never quite given to you? The Lord just keeps telling you to wait. Wait. It is so hard, but what other choice do you have?

Then finally, years down the road, the Lords timing is finally evident. You finally see what you have been waiting for.

Jake is changing jobs! We are moving! And in the next few months we will (hopefully) be welcoming a new little puppy to our lives!

Jake has been in a very bad job situation for the past year and a half. I don't think there hasn't been a day where he or I have prayed that a new job will be provided. Over the last few months we heard about a possible new job situation, but nothing really ever came of it. Then finally, last week, it was all finalized. Jake put in his two weeks today. The day after Easter, Jake will start a new job. New boss. New company. New start!

We are also moving! We love our apartment that we currently are in. It is owned by lifelong friends of Jake's family. While that was great, and such a blessing at the time, it had it's downsides. We never truly felt like it was our home, because people would say "Oh, Jake and Joanna live at Sam and Jess's." No, we live in our apartment. But no one was very able to separate the two. So this coming Saturday, Jake and I are packing up and moving to a smaller, but more comfortable apartment out in the country. Still close to town, but far enough out that we probably won't be hearing sirens every night. We get our own private yard, even though there's still no fence. But we're probably going to do a dog run of sorts. It's a downgrade in many ways; no dishwasher, no laundry, we have to pay our own heat, and it's only one bedroom. But Jake and I felt so comfortable there instantly that we couldn't pass it up. It is so cozy.So us!

I'll try my best to post pictures next week after the move. I know I've never really done well at following through, but I'm going to try!

So to all those people out there who may think that God isn't hearing your prayers, He really is. He's just asking you to wait for His perfect timing. If it's in His will, it WILL happen. :)

HAH!

What a nasty little piece of work I am. Here I am, on a blogging role, telling how I'm going to write as often as possible about my volunteering at the humane society, or my last escapades in the kitchen. And now it's been what? Two weeks since my last post? Hahaha, oh well.

In reality, I have a decent excuse. I've only been able to volunteer once. Life changes quickly, and now Jake is having to take our car to work most days. So obviously that leaves me carless with no way to get around but my two legs. And I'm not walking that far just to walk some dogs. :) But the one day I have been able to go was lots of fun.

It was just my first day, so as is protocol, I wasn't actually allowed to walk the dogs. I got to watch though! They do this thing every afternoon called Dog Walk, where yes, they walk dogs. Haha. A bunch of volunteers and staff walk all the walkable dogs in the building around a path that takes about five minutes (of if you're not a good walker on ice, more like ten minutes). There were probably 8 staff walking, and myself and another volunteer. Unfortunately there were only about 10 dogs to walk. So it went really quick. But it was still fun. Of course, very different from what I'm used to. But I knew that going in and don't have any complaints!

Hopefully I'll be able to go back again soon, but life is pretty hectic right now with a possible move to a new apartment and Jake hopefully starting a new job. So we'll see! I promise to try to do better about blogging still though. :)