See Spare Grow

So, here are a few photos of the last few weeks...

Week 17

Week 18

Week 19

Needless to say, I am feeling rather big in the belly region right now!  I will say that the most recent picture was taken this evening (we normally take photos in the morning), so I am probably a little rounder than I would have been this morning.

In other news, we are buying a house this week!  And we have our next OB appointment the day before.  That said, my mom is coming to town to do the final walk-through on the house and to the ultrasound appointment.  I am very excited!  I haven't seen her since mid-September and she's pretty much just getting the weekly update with the photos; so it will be really fun to see how she reacts to seeing me in person with a baby bump!

Finally, due to the amount of crazy we have going on in our lives right now (especially with buying the house), we haven't been bowling the last two Fridays!  I am hoping we are able to remedy that situation soon, but it's not looking good.  With the few things that need to be done on the house before we move in, as well as Thanksgiving break and packing to do, I am not sure when we'll have a chance to bowl.  But I assure you, we will bowl again!

Ch-ch-changes!

Let me preface this post by saying that I should be writing a sermon right now... I'm not procrastinating, really; but I would prefer to have my sermon done by Thursday afternoon.  However, I have been wanting to blog all week and simply not had time to do so.

Have you ever felt so overwhelmed by an outpouring of blessings in your life that you lash out and start fights with your spouse?  Well, I have!  All this week, in fact.  Allow me to elaborate...

With the exception of losing Jared's dad in mid-September, the last four-and-a-half months have been overflowing with awesomeness (channeling Barney from How I Met Your Mother).  We got to end our summer of insanity with lots of vacation time with family and friends.  We started August with the knowledge that we were pregnant, though we wouldn't go public until October.  We learned that we would get to look for and buy our very first home.  We received confirmation that I would be ordained as a transitional deacon in the Episcopal Church. And this month, we are actually in the process of buying the house; we will travel to Cuba for Thanksgiving.  Next month, we will move into the new house; I will be ordained; and we will travel to Dallas for Christmas fun with some of my family!

When it rains, it pours!  My cup runneth over!  (Not to mention my baby bump runneth over my elastic waistband, too!)  And the like.

Even though none of these things are bad things to be experiencing and dealing with, they are still overwhelming.  Jared and I have been very snippy and short-tempered with each other lately.  We really don't like having these times; but I think we are snippy and short because we can be.  Does this make sense to anyone else?  Your spouse, hopefully, becomes the person that you can bear all to, but who will still love you even after you've borne it all.  So that's what this season of transition and change feels like for me.  We are short-tempered and super high strung right now, but we know that we are partners through all of the crazy.

Even though there is stress involved in all of these transitions, I am incredibly excited to have all of these experiences.  We will own our first home!  We will finally get to put together a nursery for Spare!  I will have hands laid upon my head and be made a deacon in the church!  And, eventually, we will hold our sweet baby in our arms and our lives will REALLY change.

There is so much to be grateful for in all of these changes.

Too Early to Think...

... So, I'll blog instead!  The hubs just left for a meeting in Alexandria today.  We had the chance to eat breakfast together this morning, which was nice, but now I am too awake to go back to bed and too sleepy to do anything else.

We've been bowling a couple of weeks in a row, now.  It's been a great time on Fridays for us.  The only problem for me is that my form is changing (catch the dual meaning, there?), and so it is becoming more difficult for me to roll the ball the way I am used to rolling it.  So, often when I think I am rolling correctly, I pull to the right or the left and end up very frustrated.

Speaking of frustration...

So, yeah, we've had some frustrating moments in our bowling lately.

Here are our scores for the last couple of weeks!

10.21.2011

Game 1

Game 2

Game 3

Game 4

10.28.2011

Game 1

Game 2

Game 3

Game 4

And here's a self-portrait, a small attempt to make our day of bowling a little more joyful!

This weekend, we are due to go to Jared's homecoming at his college. So, I am not sure if we'll have the opportunity to bowl, but if we do, we'll post scores next week!

A Few Photos

So, today is the final day of my 16th week of pregnancy.  And here are a couple of photos to show the progress of Spare's growth.

This was the first picture we took in Dallas over Labor Day weekend. We stayed at my mom's house, but she and my stepdad weren't there. So, she asked me to take a picture and text it to her.

And this was from this morning, in the same shirt.

Needless to say, I've started wearing maternity clothes, mostly because my regular clothes either don't fit and/or are terribly uncomfortable!

I have been feeling very good, though.  I have some energy back, but still fall asleep on the couch in front of the TV almost every night, especially lately since the Texas Rangers are in the World Series!  I have been walking and/or working out on the elliptical machine at the gym.  Jared is starting to train for a half-marathon, which is tough work, so I am trying to workout alongside him, even though I can't run with him.  So, that's part of why I am trying to keep my activity up.

The other reason is because I gained about 10 pounds during the first trimester.  I am now trying to be more discriminating about my weight gain.  I am not trying to lose weight or in any way trying to avoid gaining; I am just trying to be a little healthier about my weight gain from here on out.  So lots of protein, fruits, veggies, and whole grains are in the works!

Spare's First Onsie(s)

So, Jared and I were out looking for a semi-masculine pink LSU shirt for the volleyball match last night.  It was the Pink Match, so almost everyone, even the players, was wearing pink!  Jared has TONS of LSU t-shirts and even polos; but most of them are gray and some purples and a few yellows.  But he has NO pink LSU shirts.  He got me one last season, because they were being sold at a volleyball match- the Pink Match.

Anyway, we went shopping at the LSU Sports Shop, which is right outside of the PMAC (where basketball, volleyball, gymnastics, etc. games and meets are played) and Tiger Stadium.  We went in, expecting to find some pink shirts everywhere!  And there were NONE!

But Jared and I wandered throughout the whole store scouring the racks for pink.  Unfortunately all we could find were tiny pink shirts for little girls... not exactly appropriate for a 6' tall grown man.

Then, Jared happened upon the infant section of the store...  And that's when things got dangerous.  There were so many cute LSU baby things!  Since we are having a baby, we have been discussing our budget a lot lately.  So, I was trying to be the "responsible" one and say, "Okay, if we buy this, where's the money coming from..."  Jared had an answer for every item we looked at!

The first thing that caught Jared's eye was a football jersey, but it was in 0-3 months.  And since Jared was 10lbs., 2oz when he was born, I am thinking there's a good chance that our kid will not fit into 0-3 months for longer than about a minute.  So, we kept looking!

So, all in all, we walked away with two items purchased: 1) a 3 pack of LSU onsies; and 2) a super cute burp cloth.

Here they are...

The purple and white onsie are the same- they say "LSU."  The gray one says "LSU Tigers" in old school building blocks!

And, of course, the burp cloth is just hilarious because of drooling babies!  So, anyway, we are very excited about our first purchase for Spare's wardrobe.

I am sure that the LSU side of the family will help us keep Spare in team colors as he/she is born and grows older!

Rollin' with my Honey

So, here are some of our scores since early September.

September 2, 2011
AMF Richardson Lanes (a.k.a.- the place we bowled after our wedding)
This was the game that I made mention of here.

J Dubb- 181
Mtr. Alina- 139
Nurse Stacey- 104
Paulito- 110

J Dubb- 123
Mtr. Alina- 122
Nurse Stacey- 70
Paulito- 98

JDubb- 143
Mtr. Alina- 125
Nurse Stacey- 97
Paulito- 118


September 16, 2011
Circle Bowl, Baton Rouge LA

ASW- 169
JRW- 152

ASW- 139
JRW- 111

ASW- 135
JRW- 146

ASW-123
JRW- 135


And now, for something completely different!  I started taking pictures of the whole game on the screen display at the lanes- this way, you can see how the game played out, where we really picked up, or where we started to lose control.

October 7, 2011
Circle Bowl, Baton Rouge LA

A tie to start...

Jared takes the second game.

My highest score ever, but just shy of my goal.

Last game of the day.

October 14, 2011
Circle Bowl, Baton Rouge LA

Game 1

Game 2

Game 3

Game 4- I am finally victorious!

So, I hope you've enjoyed the switch to the photos of the entire game, instead of just listing the score.  I know I find them more interesting, because I am a big fan of bowling and like to know how things could have been different or better.

I did notice yesterday that I was VERY tired while we were bowling.  I was frustrated because I kept pulling right as we got farther and farther into our games.  Jared made the point that my body is changing with pregnancy, and I should adjust my game accordingly.  So, in game 4, I tried to slow my roll and focus more on my form and follow-through than speed.  It helped a little bit.

What to Expect...

In the coming months, we will both be posting more on how our lives are changing and transitioning.  In the past 7 months, we have experienced so much change.  We found out that Jared would be appointed at a church where he would be the solo pastor; we completed our first 10K; we packed up all our stuff and moved to a suburb of Baton Rouge (this involves many changes in and of itself: a new commute, a new wonderful congregation, a new parsonage with its own issues, and the list goes on).  We went on two vacations, and Alina went on a mission trip over the summer; we lost Jared’s dad just weeks ago; we just found out that Alina will be ordained as a transitional deacon in the Episcopal Church sometime in the near future; and we found out that we will most likely be moving again, but this time to a house of our choosing.

OH, and we also got pregnant!!!

That’s right, friends, we are expecting a baby in April of 2012!  This actually happened over the summer, as well, but we were very cautious about waiting until the first trimester was over to “go public.”  But we have completed 14 weeks of pregnancy and are ready to share our good news with everyone.  But please don’t worry; Jared’s dad knew that we were expecting a baby before he died.  He was probably the most excited of anyone!

So, you can see how our lives will be continuing to change and transition over the next several… well, years, I’m sure.  Our blogs will reflect all of these changes, as they have already.  Alina will most likely continue to share bowling scores and experiences, with added updates on pregnancy and maybe some photos, as soon as she starts showing.  Jared will continue to reflect on the “light stuff” of life and ministry; he’ll also be sharing some goals and looking for accountability from those who love him.

Again, we are so excited to share this wonderful news with all of you.  We are extremely excited about becoming parents of human children, not just furry ones.  We are really looking forward to Alina starting to show, both of us feeling the baby kick, and, of course, meeting sweet little “Spare,” (in utero name) whose sex will remain a secret to all of us until s/he is born.

We ask for your prayers and your support during this exciting time!