Maternity Photo Shoots

My husband and I are blessed to have a beautiful young lady in our lives who loves photography and who takes gorgeous pictures!  She's not a "professional" as some would use the term, but I would definitely say her work is of a professional quality!  We did two photo sessions with Shelby, one in mid-November and the other in early December.  Thanks to the every changing and unpredictable weather here in Indiana we're wearing sweaters in the November shoot and short sleeves in the December shoot.

Now, without further adieu, here are our beautiful maternity photos!

Aren't they wonderful?!?!  We certainly think so!

Lord willing, we will finally meet our little guy in less than six weeks!

Have a wonderful day everyone!

Love,

A Month of Cleaning!

Alrighty folks!  This Friday I will be six months pregnant.  I've already noticed that getting down on my hands and knees - or more accurately getting up from being on my hands and knees - is becoming more and more difficult.  What does this have to do with cleaning?  A LOT!  It's difficult to clean baseboards, floors, floor cabinets, etc. without being on your hands and knees.  At least I have yet to find a trick to avoid doing so.  All that being said, I've decided to clean our house this month, while I can still get up and down on my own.

Here are some of my goals I plan to accomplish throughout my month of cleaning:
- Learn about and use natural cleaners.
- Learn about and make my own homemade cleaners.
- Cut back on waste - i.e. no paper towels.
- Re-organize my cabinets - more practical and efficient storage.
- Share what I learn with you!

Since my hubby is home on Saturdays and Sundays I've decided to do my cleaning Monday-Friday.

Here's the cleaning schedule I came up with:

Download and Print my Cleaning Calendar Here or Here.

As you can see, the first three weeks focus on specific areas:
- Week 1:  Floors
- Week 2:  Kitchen
- Week 3:  Bathrooms

The rest of the month I'll be cleaning fixtures and spaces throughout the house.


Becky over at Clean Mama is also doing a blog series on cleaning this month:  31 Days to a Clean House.  Be sure to follow her along, too!  She has a ton of amazing tips and tricks for cleaning your home - and free printables to help you stay on track!

Cheerful Cleaning!

Tyler and I are 5 months along!

Okay, so this is kinda late.  I was 5 months on September 6th.  Little Tyler and I went up to our monthly O.B. appointment and all seems to be going well!  Tyler is measuring right on schedule and I'm slowly but surely putting on a few pounds here and there.  The Dr. is confident Tyler is fairly healthy because of how active he is.  He was moving around so much that she wasn't able to read his actual heartbeat, but had to settle for getting a read through his umbilical cord.  It was on the lower side, but she said that was probably because it was coming through the umbilical cord.  I love feeling my little boy squirm and kick inside me.  Makes me that much more excited to be able to hold and love on him.  So thankful for our little blessing.

Baby Pugh Gender and Name Reveal!

Yep!  God has blessed us with a little boy!  We are very excited about meeting our son and seeing who he will grow to be.  Watching him move around during the ultrasound was amazing!  He already has lots of energy and would hardly stay still long enough for the technician to take the pictures she was needed take!  He did pose for some really cute shots though.

Within the first week we found out we were expecting we had names picked out.  We're naming our son after two men who have been a great influence in our lives, especially Ryan's.  The first name comes from his best friend, whom he helped bring to Christ and baptized.  He recently moved 2.5 hours away to preach for a congregation in Southern Indiana.  He and his wife are amazing and have their own precious son, who will probably be one of our sons best buddies.  The middle name comes from our local preacher who has had a tremendous influence on our spiritual growth and is someone we both hold in very high regard.  Our son's name is:

Knowing the gender of our child has helped the pregnancy become more real for both of us, especially Ryan.  It's fun to call our son by name and to look at baby boy clothes in the stores.

Praying God will bless us with the wisdom and understanding needed to raise our son in such a way that he will learn to love God, trust Him, and to develop his own personal faith so that he can live his life as a faithful follower of Christ.

God bless!

Nursery Progress? Nope, not yet.

Okay, so I have pretty much been avoiding the HUGE task of cleaning out the soon-to-be nursery that has been our catch-all storage room since April 2011.  As you can see below, I have A LOT of work to do!  

The futon is already gone (we were just storing it for my baby sister over the summer since we live closer to Purdue than my parents), so that's one less thing I have to think about.  However, I still have a lot that needs sorted through and relocated before baby arrives in January.  As of right now I don't have a set design/theme for the nursery, though I have thrown around several ideas (more on this coming soon!).  We found out baby's gender August 24th and so now that we know the gender I'm super-excited to turn this room into a wonderful place for out little one! (Gender/name reveal coming soon!)

Most of the items cluttering the room fit into these categories:

• My out of season clothes/clothes I can't fit into due to the pregnancy - some will go to basement others will stay in the closet
• Items we plan to put in a yard sale this fall - will go to basement
• Items I need to make a new home for in my office/craft closet - will go downstairs
• Empty boxes I'm saving for present wrapping/moving - will go to basement
• Clothes we're going to try to sell at a second hand store - will hopefully all sell, what doesn't sell will go to the yard sale
• Out of season items:  large space heater, our heavy comforter and electric blanket, etc - since baby is due in January, these items will most likely be in use by the time baby arrives
• Items we will probably end up either tossing or donating to Goodwill

So excited to start working on the baby's room and to be able to share all my ideas with you all!

4 Months and counting!

Well, baby and I are moving right along!  Baby is growing, moving, and listening to me as I talk about our day.  It's so exciting to feel him/her moving inside me!  

Sunday evening was our monthly Song Service where we worship.  After 45 minutes of singing, one of the men gave a short lesson.  Little Baby Pugh was moving like crazy the whole time he was up there!  It was such a wonderful feeling to experience!  

My mind kept wondering what was going through baby's mind.  Did he/she like the singing?  Was he/she glad we stopped?  Were my lungs crowding him/her while I was singing and was he/she happy I was out of his/her space?  Definitely can't wait to meet our little one!

Sleepless Pregnancy

For the past week or so sleep has been keeping itself at quite a distance.  Either I have a horrible time falling asleep (toss, turn, wriggle around, toss, turn, move the pillow, toss turn...you get the picture), fall asleep quickly and then wake up every 20-30 minutes, or sleep for a solid 4-5 hours and then wake up and do the toss, turn and repeat routine until I finally give up and get out of bed and go downstairs, trying to at least be productive if I can't sleep.  Tonight it's been one of those where I have a horrible time falling asleep (hence the reason I'm blogging at 1:30 in the morning).

Many of my friends who are mothers have informed me that this is my body's way of preparing me for the first few-several months of my baby's life.  They have also been kind enough to give me tips on how to get more sleep.  Some suggested napping (something I haven't done since I was 3, with the exception of the half-a-dozen times I took a power-nap during college after pulling an all-nighter), while others suggested taking Benadryl, Tylenol PM, or something of the like (that's safe to take during pregnancy).  I have a prescription for an antihistamine that I take at bedtime 2-3 times a week to keep my horrible almost-every-day headaches at bay, but even taking half of a pill seems to knock me out so hard that I'm groggy and almost worthless the following day.  I've considered trying to cut my pill into fourths, only taking one-fourth at a time in hopes that the grogginess won't be so severe. 
On the nights I do take my antihistamine I sleep quite soundly for a solid 8-10 hours.  I just need to figure out something to help me sleep the rest of the nights.  Any thoughts/suggestions on what I should do to try to get more sleep?

Baby Update - 2nd OB Appointment

Well, we made it!  The first trimester is complete!  We heard a good, strong heartbeat yesterday at my OB appointment, so all seems to be going well!  We met my doctor at this appointment and she seemed very nice and pleasant to work with.  The only thing she seemed a little concerned about is my slow weight gain.  She said they might have me start eating high-calorie snacks like peanut butter and cheese.  So, we'll see.  I just need to remember to eat!

Intro to Pregnancy

 

The first two months were rather smooth.  I didn't gain any weight, was blessed to be one of the fortunate women who do not experience morning sickness, and have been able to do pretty much whatever I desire.  We did have a little scare when I started spotting (every so lightly) and being first-time parents we had it checked out.  Thankfully, all was well!  At the ultrasound were able to hear our teeny-tiny baby's heartbeat at 6 weeks, when baby was only 6mm!  It was slow, as it had just started beating, but beyond precious nonetheless!  The feeling Ryan and I shared in that room was one that could only be expressed with holding hands and smiling deeply into each others eyes.  We're parents. <3

God is truly awesome!

Big News!

I can't wait to share with you all the projects I have planned for the nursery!  It has a long way to go from being the catch-all/storage/I-don't-know-where-else-to-put-this room it is right now and the floor is barely visible!

Took a Break to Refocus

Hello everyone, you might have noticed very little going on here this week. I decided to take a week off to re-focus, relax, and refresh my priorities and focus. Being pregnant and the summer heat hasn't helped me keep up with the housework. I get tired and worn out very easily.  We are installing the downstairs window AC unit tonight, so that should help a lot. Plan to be back and blogging away next week. :)

I have lots of plans for the next several months as we prepare for the arrival of our little bundle. ♥

Thanks for following! :D