Baby kicks

I have started feeling my little bub kick quite a bit. It is the sweetest feeling knowing he is alive and well inside of me. Alex and I saw my belly bounce a few times and he can feel the littlest kicks when he puts his hands on my belly. When I lie still I can feel him the best, and the books say to talk to him and he might react but every time I do my sweetest mama voice, Maggie comes running begging for her head to be patted. She seems to be the only one responding to my voice these days.

When we went to the OB last week for my 20 week checkup we had a great sonogram experience. We got some really cute pictures and she gave us a DVD of the whole experience so I can see him move all around as much as I want. I am loving this part of being pregnant and am trying so hard to imagine his cute face and what his cries will be like. I'm at the crossroads of wanting these sweet feelings in my belly to continue and wanting to meet him so badly.

On another note... Lori is expecting a baby in August. Mom will retire and twice become a Granna by the end of the summer. Can't wait! It is a great time around here.

Early nesting

We have started some home remodeling and home rearranging projects this week. We will be putting in new floors, baseboards, and blinds and window treatments throughout the house. The idea being to have a clean house suitable for a baby, one without carpet that dogs have destroyed and window treatments that collect and spread dust throughout the house. We also need to convert our spare bedroom, now used as a den and computer room into the nursery. But in order to move things from the nursery we need to convert the former 'dining room', which we have dined at about 5 times in 5 years into the new den and computer room.

So we donated the dining room table, chairs, and baker's rack to Salvation Army and now have space to start moving things out of the soon-to-be nursery. In this process Alex and I got rid of a lot of clutter, some trash and some for donation. We are looking forward to the changes. We have had people come out to give us estimates on flooring, which will hopefully be installed by next week. Then we will buy some new furniture for the downstairs and have an empty nursery until we start thinking about baby furniture.

Here are the 3 industrial-sized bags of trash and the 3 industrial sized bags for donation along with lots of other junk that is on it's way out.

One more thing we got rid of this week... Alex's stolen, then found but now mostly worthless truck. The fools who stole it ripped out the ignition component but were wise enough to put it up on 22" rims. Alex was glad to finally be done with it and sold it to a scrap yard for $351.

December 22nd

Today was Alex's 29th birthday and my best friend Jennifer's 30th birthday. It is always fun for me to have two of my most special people celebrate on the same day. Since this was a milestone birthday for Jenn we let tonight be more about her.

We celebrated Alex's birthday at mom's house last night. She cooked lasagna and Lori and Dave baked a cake. Alex opened a few presents, including an XBox he has been dreaming about since he sold his early this year.

Tonight we had a surprise party for Jennifer. It was a joint effort to coordinate the surprise and it was a perfect mix of close friends, who all showed up with yummies to contribute to the pot-luck dinner... and plenty of desserts.

Happy birthday to both these special people, whom I am grateful to have for yet another year!

That's Mr. Paramedic to you

We went to Alex's Paramedic School Graduation ceremony tonight. It was nice to see Alex recognized for his hard work and dedication to a very demanding program. All the speakers talked about thanking the support systems the paramedics have at home, but in all honesty, I've been a bit of a wreck this year, and Alex did a great job supporting me and taking care of his school and career this year. I couldn't be prouder to be Mrs. Alexander Moran!

Here is Alex with his best friend from school, Sardenga

Today was a very, very good day

Well Alex and I went to the doctor today for my 13 week appointment. We have made many trips to the doctor in the past two months, at 4, 6, 9 and now 13 weeks. Every time I was apprehensive and hoping that what the doctors were telling me was there was still in fact there. I knew that if I got to this end-of-trimester appointment and everything was as it should be that I would ease in my cautiousness and would fully embrace this pregnancy without fear that something would go wrong at each turn.

Well that happened today... We went in and spent about 30 minutes with our sweet baby boy! We saw him kick and jump, and move his arms all over the place. We heard his heart beat, saw the heart beating in his chest, saw movement in his internal organs, saw the lobes in his brain, saw his adorable foot with all his perfect toes, and even saw his wiener, which he enjoyed touching.

We praise God for this day. After all we have been through this year we sometimes, er, very often, questioned where was God and wondered why we felt alone. Then this week at church Pastor Matthew's final thought was that God often separates from you when you need him most so that when he finally reveals himself to you when you need it most it 1) builds your faith and 2) demonstrates God's glory. I definitely got that today.

Here are some pictures of our beautiful baby boy.

Everything falling into place

Alex finished the last of 3 paramedic semesters last night. In one year he has completed about 4oo hours of rides with Paramedic crews, about 70 hours in hospital rotations, successfully passed all practicals and tests. He has one more final and then he is all done. This is a very demanding course and is full of extensive content. I am so proud of how much he has studied, all the time he has put into school, and how he has been able to start a new job and still be a wonderfully supportive husband at home. Last night I got to take him to my work's holiday party and I felt lucky to be on the arm of such a great man.

So like I said, everything is falling into place... Alex is finished with school, he has a job he loves, and our lives are about to get to a sense of normal for a few months until normal gets a whole new definition.

It's been a while.... like a year

Well my last post was over a year ago. I guess I thought 2010 wasn't all that great of a year, not much positive to share, but the second third of the year has been pretty great. So I'll share what you many desperate readers are waiting to be filled in on.

January: Alex started Paramedic School and quit his job.

February: We paid off $62,000 in credit card, student loan, and car loan debt. We called Dave Ramsey's show to shout "We're debt free!"

March: We found out I was pregnant and told everyone the good news.

April: Alex's truck was stolen and I learned of my first miscarriage... on the same day.

May: Alex completed Semester 1 of school, got a part-time job and we bought a Toyota Highlander... back in debt $12,000.

June: I turned 30! Lori visited. Bathroom remodel 20 months in the making is complete. I repainted several rooms in the house. Water from the AC handler in the attic overflowed soaking the ceiling, floor, walls, first-floor ceiling and walls. The water-extraction service set up dehumidifiers. The day after he finished, the downstairs window leaked during a heavy rainstorm soaking the downstairs, but I saved myself $400 drying it out myself this time. Roof was leaking. A friend who owns a roofing company saved me 50% and fixed everything. This house is making me insane!

July: I rear-ended a man who tried to defraud me with a whack-job mechanic and then retained a lawyer to sue my insurance for his non-existent injuries. I ended up having a reputable company quote me $600, only to do the job and present me with an $1800 bill. After expressing my displeasure the manager made everything right and I only paid $600 for great work... and my headlights are shiny again. We went to Washington DC/Maryland for Mike and Rachel's wedding. Had a great time with everyone. Ate a lot of food. Started a one-month boot camp.

August: Found out I was pregnant again. Told nobody except my secret 2 friends. Miscarried on the first day of school, while at school. Went to doctor, and when we were waiting in the waiting room Alex told me he was being hired as a firefighter in Polk County. 3 years of school, hard work, and prayers brought this blessing.

September: Jenn and Sean Duff had a baby boy, Shepherd Charles Duff, on September 1. Then Alex found a stray dog. I did not want the stray dog. Went to Atlanta to visit the Davis' and took the stray dog, who ran away from us. We found the dog in the pound, Alex in essence adopted the dog because it was released to him with a microchip. We found the owners in Tampa, reunited them with their dog, who ran away the next week and was reunited with Alex thanks to that microchip. The family decided they didn't want to dog so we kept her until a home can be found. Some interest, but the dog still lives here.... for now. Her expiration date I set expired last Sunday so she is on borrowed time.

October: Found out I was pregnant again despite being told to wait a month by the doctors. whoops! Was very cautious and told nobody (expect my secret people Alex didn't know about). They got me into the Dr. office right away for blood tests to confirm I was pregnant. Round two of tests showed hormones are rising and right where they should be. Started going to church regularly. I really enjoy it and haven't minded giving up heated battles at Frisbee as a Sunday morning trade-off.

November: We saw our baby's beating heart on sonogram (first time we got this far in 3 tries), three weeks later I went to the Dr. again but this time the blob on the sonogram looked like a perfect and beautiful silhouette of a baby. My apprehension turned to elation and my "secret people" finally got to hear the good news. Shared with family... and am so looking forward to the next 7 months. Expecting our baby in June.

December:... who knows yet. Predictions are Alex will graduate Paramedic school and be all done with his certifications... for now. We will go for one more Dr. appointment at will see our 12-13 week baby. Everyone is coming home for Christmas. I'm so excited I can hardly wait to see Lori and Dave and Marc and Amber!

2011 will be a great year. I can feel it already.