ramble, ramble

Busy, busy and busy is what I would use to describe myself lately. I feel like I've been moving a mile a minute and traveling like crazy (which I love!). I'm pretty sure I've spent the majority of my time in Florida these past couple months and it's been great! Ant and I got a chance to go to Orlando to visit (and work for me) and we had the pleasure of spending time with some very missed friends and family. It was so nice! I also got to spend some time with mom and dad, Lucie, Tad, Reagan and Quin (more on that soon), and my girlfriends from high school. The past 3 weeks Ant has been on a break from school, but Monday he goes back. It's been nice to actually spend some quality time together and just chill, even though I've still been working like crazy. At least my job allows me to play a little on the side!

Our little peanut is growing like crazy and if what we're told is correct, it is about the size of a large mango this week - next week we will graduate to a cantalope… woo hoo!! We're almost half way there (19 weeks to be exact) and we've been seeing doctors a lot lately. It seems like every time we turn around, we're going to another appointment. I found a great neurologist up here and I really like her! At my appointment, she increased my med dosage, reassured me that my meds are the best to be on compared to the others out there, told me that it's perfectly fine to breastfeed (YAY!!! I was pretty worried about that) and referred me to a perinatologist to do some high risk testing and such. It was a pretty productive appt. and she wants to see me once a month to make sure everything is on track. Success! Yesterday we went to our regular OBGYN and had a quad screening done which will tell us if there is any major abnormality or birth defect and we should get those results by the end of next week. Today we had our first appt with our new perinatologist. We spoke to a genetic counselor and had an ultrasound. It's always so exciting seeing the baby moving around and this time we were able to see it kicking and putting it's hands up near it's face and all. Although, we did turn our heads when the tech explored the netherregions (is that even a word??) so that we couldn't see what the sex of our little peanut is. She seemed to know right away what it was, but she was tight-lipped and didn't spill the beans! All I could think of was how jealous I was that she knew and I didn't! It's a pretty strange feeling now that it's actually possible to know what the sex is, but Anthony is REALLY excited about being surprised, so we're stickin' to it! So far we have a girl's name picked out, but we are still undecided on a boy's name. Any suggestions?!

profile… not really cooperating!
















strong heartbeat :)
















On another note, I'm feeling MUCH better these days! Once the 12-13 week mark hit, I started feeling like a normal human being again which was such a relief. I got most of my energy back and now I don't feel like I have to eat every second of the day… that was getting REALLY old! My clothes started getting tighter and tighter and just the other day I wore my first pair of maternity shorts (thank you, GiGi Ma!). We haven't been very good at taking pictures of the belly, but we have a recent one that I can share. I'm not really sure if I've felt the baby move yet. Last night we were watching a movie and right in the middle of a really intense part, I said, "I think I just felt the baby move!" Ant just looked at me and said, "really?!" Then I said, "I don't know, but it feels different and I can't really explain it" So, all-in-all, I might have felt it, but I'm still not too sure! I think within the next 2 weeks I will be having a growth spurt and start to feel the baby move more and more. All very exciting!

12 weeks:





















18 weeks:























Oh, one last thing: I have to show off my new nephew Quin (Albert Winchester V) - He was born on June 7 @ 3:19am (lonnnng night!), weighing 7 lbs 14 oz… perfectly healthy little boy and just as cute as can be! See?!! ----->


































Reagan just turned 2… so big and such a great big sister!

a story about a peanut…

well, what can i say? it's been a weird and awesome 3 weeks to say the least. and it kind of feels like we've been here for longer than that. maybe that's because i've been kind of cooped up in our house with tons of work! work is good these days, that's for sure. it's much needed even though it makes me a homebody.

savannah is a great city. we can pretty much ride our bikes or walk anywhere and it seems like there's always something to do (even though i haven't really partaken yet). it's beautiful here and we are growing to like it. anthony started school a few weeks ago and he's absolutely loving it! he tells me every day that his life couldn't get any better and that's an awesome thing to hear as a wife! he just celebrated his 32nd birthday and i failed miserably in that department this year. i definitely don't get the best wife award this year, but i plan on making it up in the future for sure!

which leads me to why i've been such a slacker lately... as most of you know, we are PREGNANT!!! no, i'm not kidding... no, it wasn't planned (well, by us at least!)... yes, we're scared... and yes, we're excited!! i'm about 9 weeks along and we are due on november 12. it's taken a while to sink in, but today we had an ultrasound and actually got to see the baby! it was amazing. we didn't really know what to expect going in there so we were blown away when we actually saw the heart pumping away! the ultrasound tech said that the heartrate is 160 and that was good, so we're trusting that everything is on track and healthy thus far! sorry for keeping such an awful secret from those of you who just found out, but we were trying to stay realistic. technically, we're not really in the clear for another 3 weeks, but we couldn't contain ourselves any longer! so, not to use this as an excuse, but... well... ok, i'm kind of using that as an excuse. i've had absolutely no desire to do much of anything beyond sitting on the couch, eating, sleeping and peeing lately. i'm actually not too fond of eating anymore these days because it's turned into a chore for me. i never really crave anything, but i'm always starving, so i'm constantly left in a dilema. i'm sure my whining isn't helping in the husband department, but i'm trying to keep it to a minimum! i'm so tired all the time and find myself 'accidently' falling asleep in the middle of the day until i'm rudely awoken (is that even a word) by my phone or someone on ichat who needs something from me at the church! i then find myself in a mild panic wondering how long i had been asleep and how much chaos i had caused from doing so. thus far, many have been pretty understanding, so thank you to those of you i've been slacking on... your patience is much appreciated!

just today we posted on facebook that we are going to be parents and the outpouring response of excitement is so overwhelming for us! i can say it a thousand times over and over, but i can never really express how blessed i am by the amazing friends and family that God has placed in our lives. the love just continues to pour out and even though this is a scary process for us (considering our current status), God continues to put the most amazing words into people's mouths for us to hear. and believe me... they are HEARD! we know that we have such an amazing support system and this baby is so loved already... i can't even imagine when he/she is actually here in our arms!

the only thing we can ask for right now is your continued prayers and support. this journey is going to be a little different for us because i am technically considered high risk because of my epilepsy. the meds that i'm on seem to be the least harmful of them all, but there are still risks of some birth defects, so they will be watching us a little more closely than normal. this also means that i won't be able to have the baby with a midwife and in a birth center like i had dreamed. it's just too risky for them. so, i am still on a quest to find a birth plan that i'm comfortable with and i know that God has His hand in it all! i just want everything to happen as naturally as it possibly can. again, thank you for your prayers and your support... we are truly blessed!

so, stay tuned as we will be updating you on our journey... hopefully more often than not :)

here are some pictures of our little peanut (with some captions from ant):

a new place

So, i have been EXTREMELY crazy-busy lately. We are finally moved in to our new place in Savannah. It was a long move, but it's done! Well, we still have LOTS to do, but it's all in the apartment and that was the hard part! We had some amazing friends help us load the truck and clean the old apartment on Thursday and then we headed up to OP to stay with mom and dad for the night. Thank goodness! We got there and dad had made a yummy hot meal that was waiting on the table and then we went in the hot tub before we both passed out! On Friday morning, Lucie and Reagan surprised us by stopping by at 7:30am! It was so good to see them before we headed out. After lots of rearranging and barely squeezing a king size bed and washer and dryer into our truck, we were off to Savannah. Mom, Dad and Mark headed up there with us and helped us unload. Thank goodness again!!! We don't know what we would have done without all of the awesome friends and family that helped us. Seriously, we really don't know what we would have done! So now we just have to figure out how to put LOTS of stuff in a tiny place with no storage.

Mark is staying with us through St Patty's Day (YAY!) and him and I are at Panera right now getting some work done. (well, blogging, checking facebook and then getting some work done) We don't have internet set up at the house yet so i will be working from panera (thank you for the free wi-fi, panera!) until we do. I still have tons of work to do and now i've missed 2 days, so i have lots to catch up on. Such a blessing, though because i need all the work I can get. Luckily I have my laptop now or else I wouldn't be getting ANYTHING done! I can't really drag my huge tower and monitor into a panera!

Anyway, i have a bunch of jumbled thoughts going on in my head right now. It's good to finally be up here, but it was EXTREMELY hard to leave Orlando. I pretty much cried all the way to OP which was pretty pathetic, but much needed. I really miss everyone so much already and can't wait for all of our friends to visit. It's cool up here, but it's just different. It's gonna take some getting used to. There will be lots of facebooking going on to keep in touch!

Again, THANK YOU to everyone who helped us move. I know that's the last thing any of you wanted to do, but we are so blessed to have you in our lives! THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!!!

k-

old cities, new friends & a great weekend

k:
Well, I wanted to post this blog as soon as I got home on Tuesday, but this is the first chance I've had to sit down and write. Last weekend was so great. I went into it not knowing what God had in store for Anthony and I in Savannah. I mean, we both KNOW that He wants us there, but you never know what you will have to endure to get there. I needed to head back up to find a place to live come March, so Mom, Lucie and I decided to make it a girls weekend while we were at it. It was so much fun! We realized that it hadn't been just us three since about 4 or 5 years ago when we went to NYC together. No kids, no husbands, just us.

This is a crazy story and it might be a long one… just hang in there with me.

So, just when I think my life can't get any more crazy, something REALLY crazy happens. Where to begin... well, almost 7 years ago I had just graduated from UNF and was sort of wandering around, not really sure what I was doing with my life. One day I got a really weird urge (now I know it was definitely the voice of God) to move to Orlando. Why? I have NO clue! I didn't know anyone in this city… no job, no friends, no home... nothing. But I moved anyway. During my hunt for an apartment (a really cheap one), I overheard a girl talking to her leasing agent in an apartment complex that mom and I were checking out. Her story sounded very similar to mine and her needs were exactly like mine. Mom and I looked at each other and before I knew it, I was tapping her on the shoulder. About 5 minutes later, we were on a golf cart looking for a 2 bedroom apartment together. Six years, 2 apartments and a house later, we were still roommates until I got hitched and we had to 'break-up'.

Most of you know this story... her name is Jenn and she is still one of my best friends to this day. (and we even work together now!) Divine Intervention, no doubt!
















Jump ahead to this past weekend:
Saturday morning. Just drove in to Savannah and went straight to a property management office to get some keys to look at a few properties. Started making small talk with a cute couple in the office, Maggie and James from SC. After eavesdropping a little (once again… I guess that's my thing), I realized that they were looking at the exact same properties that we were about to look at. So I say, "Oh, you are looking at the same ones as me!" And Maggie replies, "Well, you guys are welcome to tag along if you'd like. We might as well save the gas and look at them together." Right at that moment mom looks at me and says "This is really weird. DeJaVu, big time right now." So we chuckle and hop in the car.

We saw some incredibly awful places. From rotten ceilings falling down, to midget-size doors, to appliances that must have been from the 1800s and slanted floors that might give you a case of vertigo... well, let's just say it wasn't going well. AT ALL. By that time Maggie and I were realizing that we had pretty much the same taste and nothing we were seeing had met our standards yet. We also realized that we both had made a previous appointment for later that day with the SAME guy to look at his apartment. Just weird. So, I told her that I had a meeting at 2:30 with a different guy and I had a good feeling about his property and that they could tag along if they wanted. 2:30 rolls around and we meet Rob. He is the owner of an "apartment complex" that consists of a bunch of old historical houses in a 2-3 block radius that he has flipped and turned into apartments and townhomes. So, we are walking around checking them out (not too thrilled about what we were seeing). After seeing all of our possibilities, I think Rob realized that we weren't too impressed.

He stops mid-sentence and says,
"Ok, you [pointing to Maggie] need a one bedroom, right? And you [pointing to me] need a 2 bedroom, right?"
"Yep," we replied.
..... [long pause].....
"Can I just entertain you guys for a minute?"
"Um, YAH you can!," I said.

I could see his wheels turning. I knew he had something up his sleeve and this whole time I kept saying I had a good feeling about this place, but it turns out it's not for the reasons I thought. He continues to tell us that he is just finishing up flipping this house [that he was planning on selling as condos] about a block away. Just so happens that the downstairs apt is a 1 br and the upstairs apt is a 2 br. Brand new EVERYTHING. New insulation, plumbing, ac/heat, carpet, floors, appliances... everything! Perfect? I THINK SO!!

Ten minutes later we were signing our applications in his office while playing with his doberman puppy, Ava!

Here's our house: Our door on the left, Maggie's door on the right.
















This is the back... our stairs go up and you enter through the kitchen. We also have our own 'driveway' for parking (it's not done yet), which is unheard of in Savannah... most parking is on the streets. YAY!




















Here's a little tour for ya!




Our doors... this is my new friend, Maggie :)
















And this is my new friend Ava... she fell asleep on me while I was filling out my application. So stinkin' cute! I told Rob he has a dog sitter now.





















It's weird how God works in my life. He never ceases to amaze me. When I find myself doubting even the least bit, BAM! there He is, throwing it back in my face. Probably saying, "Duh, Katie... why do you doubt me?" (God says DUH in my head all the time... don't judge.) I was so incredibly relieved to find a place. That meant that we could relax for the rest of the trip and go to Paula Deen's instead of searching for a place to live. (Paula Deen's was amazing, btw!)

Lucie and I resting in a little boutique. My back and Quin needed a break. Mom was still shopping, as usual. :)

















After lots of shopping and eating (and car battery dying), we headed back on Sunday afternoon… bellies so full of fried chicken and gallons of sweet tea.
There's lots more pictures of us, but you'll have to bug Mom and Lucie for those.

Lucie and I went on to St Aug to see this little girl:
(Nana bought her a ring [bling, bling] in Savannah)






































On Monday, we decided to take a picnic to the fort... it was beautiful!































































And then it was time for me to leave.
Reagan put one of daddy's socks on to walk me to my car.




















Needless to say, it was a great weekend! We can't wait to see all of you in Savannah (even though we won't have a spare bedroom... bring your sleeping bags!)

until next time…

hold the possibility

k:
Ant gave me a book for Christmas… Practice Random Acts of Kindness. Here is an excerpt that stuck with me. And you'll probably be hearing more out of this book in the future.

Hold the Possibility

If you can imagine it,
you can create it,
if you can dream it,
you can become it.
-William Arthur Ward

"Me second child died when he was four," recalled Clea. "It was such a devastating experience that it took me years to recover. My whole life seemed to have suddenly gone from bright technicolor to drab shades of gray. Just getting up in the morning was a major undertaking. I couldn't understand how this could happen, and I had no hopes for the future. It seemed like everything was empty of meaning and feeling. After I'd been wallowing for six months in grief and depression, my younger sister came to me and told me it was time to start living again. She told me that I had to fix a picture in my mind of a day in the future when the sun was shining and I was playing with my daughter, laughing and having fun. She told me that even if it seemed impossible, I still had to imagine it could be true."

"I tried, but it was very difficult. After a while I could see it, but it seemed buried in the shadows. Gradually, the picture became more and more clear to me until, indeed, the day came when I did feel exactly as I had imagined. Then more and more days began to feel like that."

Fortunately, not all of us have to go through what Clea did. But we each hold the capacity to draw toward ourselves the things we want in life through envisioning their possibility—even if right now they seem impossible. If you desire more love, compassion, and peace of mind in your life, you can begin to create that reality by holding the possibility of being more loving, compassionate, and peaceful. What would a picture of what you want look like? Make is as detailed as possible, and take a moment each day for the next week to imagine it.