FOR THIS CHILD I HAVE PRAYED...

This is the BEST news I have ever been able to give....

I'M PREGNANT!!!

It's a little blurry but that little screen for sure says "pregnant". I've only checked it about every 5 min.

It's out there. It's real. I still can't believe it! I took 3 different tests (4 if you count the one I took a week prior and mistook as negative) and just stared at each one! Not gonna lie, I still have the first digital one and I will keep picking it up to stare at the words "pregnant" until the battery dies. We found out January 25th and it was confirmed by the doctor today, February 4th. I'm estimated at 7 weeks! Find out for sure by Friday. *Although I am pretty sure already given they had me tracking my ovulation and I can pretty much pinpoint conception.*

Thank you everyone for all the prayers over the last 9 months since I shared our struggles with conceiving. We are feeling so excited and happy and just kinda floating on Cloud 9. I don't know how anyone ever keeps this in for the whole first trimester!!! I always thought I would be someone who would do that. But we've had so many people in prayer for us that I couldn't not share this huge blessing that you've all been praying with us about. I wanted to tell the world the moment it happened. It was hard enough waiting to have the doctors appointment to confirm.

So reactions....

Mine was ridiculous. I bawled. Not in a "happy tears" kinda way. I was terrified. The first test I took was just a test strip I got with my ovulation tests. I was so scared that I was reading it wrong. That I was just not getting something right. It couldn't possibly be positive. 

**Let me explain... if you've ever taken the kind of ovulation test that is just a test strip (not the plastic ones you get at the store) then you know they aren't the easiest to read. It's basically judging how dark or faint a line is compared to another line. With an ovulation test, if the line is ANY fainter than the one that comes on the strip then its negative. When I used the pregnancy strip the week before, I figured it was the same thing. The line was faint so I threw it away and tossed it up to my cycle being crazy and abnormal as always. Another week later, I decided to take another one, not really believing it would be different. That's when it hit me that the package of the pregnancy strips did NOT have the same results. No line was negative and ANY line was positive. This led to lots of staring and comparing. And then all the bawling.*** 

Basically I was too scared to be happy at first. I've been planning on telling Chris is some cute way and that was completely ruined. He came into the room to me sitting on the bed bawling my eyes out. He hugged me tight as he tried to figure out what had happened. After a minute of not being able to speak, I finally got out "maybe I'm pregnant". He obviously was a little confused by my reaction. He smiled and just reminded me that this is what we wanted. I showed him the test strip and then made him go get me a box of the digital ones at the store. I wanted one to just straight up say the words so there was no mistaking me reading it wrong. We went by the store on the way to church so I wasn't able to take it till after. But then I got the words I've been looking for for 2 years. Finally I let the happiness and excitement and just pure joy take over. Chris had a big smile and he hugged me tight. I can't believe how cool, calm, and collected he's been through the whole thing. I am freakin out!! In the best way. I also planned on waiting to tell the parents. I've had it all planned how I would get an annoucement picture done and just have them over for dinner and give them the picture. That didn't happen. I couldn't wait to share all this joy with someone. We told the parents the same night. I took video of my parent's reaction. Didn't take my mom long to figure it out on her own. Apparently it's "all over my face". 

I wanted to wait until after the actual doctor's appointment to tell the rest of the family. Over a week I had to wait! Brutal. Again...how does anyone wait a whole trimester?!  Yes, I get that there is a reason... but God forbid that something does happen (I can't even THINK about that without crying all over again) then I know having the support of family and friends would be a lot easier then feeling like I had to carry the burden alone since I never told anyone in the first place.

And now I get to share it with the rest of the world. 

There's so many of you out there that are still in the waiting process. I just encourage you to stay strong and have faith. You guys have been such an encouragement to me these last few months and gave me the strength I needed to not let myself get discouraged. It CAN happen!!! 

Excuse the jumbled emotion of thoughts pouring out in this post. I'm just so dang excited I don't think I could try and make sense of any of it. God willing, in just 9 months I'll have a baby!!! I'll be a MOM! Craziness.

NEW RECIPES

I've been trying a lot of new recipes since I started meal planning. I wanted to share a few that I've tried the past couple weeks. These are my real pictures of how they all turned out! I hate when the pinterest picture (or whatever other site you use to find recipes) looks like perfection and then it doesn't come out at all like that! =) 

Find this recipe here

I was so excited to find this recipe. I love having coffee in the morning but I like it sweet and creamy. Like half coffee, half cream kinda coffee. But I am trying to cut out sugar. This was super easy and fast to make and smelled soooooo good. Even after adding it to the coffee it still smelled so sweet and delicious. Then I tasted it and I was a little disappointed. It didn't taste nearly as strong as it smelled. It kind of just tasted like watered down coffee and not very sweet at all. BUT I am going to try again with regular milk instead of almond to make it thicker and add a little more of the spice and honey to sweeten. I'm not giving up yet. For all you normal coffee drinkers out there, this recipe may work just fine for you. It's a nice alternative (with way less ingredients) to store bought creamer.

Find this recipe here

 So this picture is actually my husband's plate. After I made his plate I couldn't get another big piece of leaf like that so I ate mine like a salad. I have yet to find good wrap leafs! Anyways... not going to lie. I was a little worried about this as I was cooking. There's a couple different asian seasonings and everything was just making a weird smell to me as it was cooking. But this was delicious! Definitely going in the meal plan rotation. I maaaay have used a teensy more sriracha than necessary. I love sriracha and spiciness but my husband can't handle too much. His mouth was on fire...but he still finished it. 

Find this recipe here

This meal is not paleo since it includes beans and corn. And a meatless meal was something different for us. But this is another good one! I really liked it but not sure how often it will make the rotation since the husband wasn't as much of a fan. He finished it but only after dousing it with a ton more cheese. He's not a big veggie (especially onion and pepper) lover and that's mostly what is in this. He actually really likes spaghetti squash (when I make it as spaghetti anyway) though. This basically just sautéed onion, bell pepper, and jalapeno layered with black beans, corn, and the spaghetti squash. The only hard part to this was actually cutting the squash! 

Let me know if you try any of these and how you like them.

DIY MAKEUP DRAWER

My husband regularly makes fun of me for being a "hoarder". It's hard for me to throw away any type of container (pickle jars, tissue boxes, etc) because my mind instantly thinks of different things I could do with it. As a teacher I know that paper towel rolls, toilet paper rolls, egg cartons, and all other sorts of "trash" can be turned into a masterpiece in 7 year old hands. If I had the storage space, there would most definitely be a hoard of these things piled up somewhere. 

This "hoarding" of mine has come in handy around the house. Those strong twist ties that come around appliance cords are kept in a drawer and are excellent for all my different opened paleo flour bags. I have several Crystal Light-like containers housing pens, markers, etc. Which is much more organized than them floating around in a drawer somewhere. Pickle jars and other glass containers are excellent for storing homemade paleo condiments or the coffee creamer I'm going to whip up tonight. 

To me this is just practical and logical. I don't over-hoard. My need to have things tidy and organized outweigh my need or ability to upcycle every piece of "trash". I figured I'd share my latest trash DIY with y'all. With the beauty subscription products I've been receiving I wanted a way to separate it all and still have it easily accessible. So I made this makeup drawer organizer!

It's a little ghetto fabulous cause I used tape to tape the boxes to the side to keep them from sliding around every time the drawer is pushed shut. But it works perfectly for what I need! I only have 1 drawer in my bathroom vanity and it is very, very shallow. I had not been able to find any of the trays and organizers you can buy in the store that were short enough. So I pulled out a couple handy, empty tissue boxes and got to cutting. 

First, I taped the turquoise tissue paper to the bottom and sides of the drawer. This is simply because its my favorite color and it makes me happy to see a bright pop of color when I open it. I put one of the tissue boxes down into the drawer and marked where I would need to cut so the drawer could still close. Once I had my different "trays" I taped them all together and then to the sides of the drawer to prevent sliding. And voila...simple as that. Perfect solution to the shallow drawer that wasn't able to be used for much before. And it only took maybe 10 minutes.

Even my sweet hubby has to admit eventually that "trash" can come in pretty handy.