Sarah Jean

Here they are...the long awaited photos!
Sorry it took us so long, but we had some troubles uploading the video...

What's the Deal-y-o?!

So I know many of you are wondering..."where's the baby, when is she coming out, why haven't I heard heard anything yet???" Well, that would be because there's nothing new to report really. Miss SJ is apparently warm and comfy and has decided not to come out yet. I am HUGE!!!!!! I didn't even realize that I would come to the point where even my huge maternity clothes don't fit. Yep I'm there...even the sweats don't fit...SAD! I went back to the doctor today and I'm not really making any progress. We did go ahead and change the induction date to December 17. Hopefully she'll come on her own but right now it looks like she's going to need some extra coaxing.

D-Day

Well, I didn't blog about this on Thursday as I promised because I really didn't think there was much to share. The sonogram pics were awful and only because I think Scott is one of those rare people that can see something when no one else can was he able to decipher the shadows and blobs that made up our baby girl. Right now she should weigh around 7lbs...give or take. I was told today to not take much stock in that as they can be WAY OFF with their measurements at this stage. If I haven't personally told you yet...she is now head down...YAY! I know a lot of you have been praying about that so thank you! Basically the doctor said I hadn't made much progress and though he didn't come right out and say it, he insinuated that it could be awhile. Sigh! Well...I'm thinking Miss Sarah Jean might surprise us all. Scott says he thinks she'll come on Wednesday but I've been having contractions since Friday. Sooo....I'm starting to get a bit nervous! The contractions didn't actually start to hurt until today and they aren't yet consistent or close together so we'll keep waiting. Keep praying for us. I know the Lord is watching over us. I promise I'll try to keep this updated and if we have a new arrival I'll definitely post pictures! Stay tuned....

The Belly-36 Weeks

Let me preface this by saying I almost screamed out loud when I saw these pics and was adding them to the post. So for those of you who don't want to do the math, that's 9 months in pregnancy speak or 5 eternitys if you want to get really technical! Check it out...Sarah has dropped which I found out really means absolutely nothing! I can't even breath better!So, you can probably tell at this point...if not by the desperation in my voice, at least the size of my ginormous belly that I am more than ready for this baby to come out. Sigh! I guess it would probably be best if I wait until she...and God decide it's time for her to come out. I'm fairly certain she wants to come out though. She squirms around a lot now...especially at night...which is a first for her. Usually, she is like her mamma and snoozes away but I think she so squenched up that she can't seem to get comfy...well join the club because I can't get comfy either! Well, only 4 more weeks but if Mom is right then she'll be here the weekend after Thanksgiving! Btw...we have another sono on Thursday so check the blog that afternoon/evening because I'll be posting new sono pics along with her stats...length, weight, etc. The doctor wants to see if she's turned but I'm pretty sure she's still breech. I feel her hard little head ramming into my lungs throughout the day! Oh I can't wait to meet my baby girl! :o)

Perspective

So I don't have a whole lot to blog about today but I was inspired to write at least a little bit after the sermon at church this morning. You all know I've been in a bit of a funk over the whole election and after math. I'm trying to do several different things regarding all of this...one, to pray for our new leader...I think he'll need a lot of prayers and two...have faith...that God is in charge...of EVERYTHING and the results of this election were decided by HIM long before anyone ever went to vote. Anyways, Barry, our pastor, said something really interesting in his sermon this morning that really made me stop and think about my perspective on things. Barry pointed out that we...as a church had more power than one elected official...even if he is the president. Wow! I never thought of it that way but those words totally changed my outlook on the results of this election. We as Christians have so much power...through prayer and faith. Sometimes, we just need a reminder that we've got the most powerful King of all on our side.

The Election

I'm sitting here listening to Fox News reporting on the election. Though the numbers aren't in yet, they are calling Barak Obama the new president elect. I am literally physically ill. Scott predicted that this would be the outcome of the election. I truly want to cry. I'm alternately praying and trying not to throw up. I am so thankful for my faith...that my parents brought us up to love and trust Jesus and right now, that's our only option. The sad thing is that this country, a country founded on Christianity has fallen by the wayside. God has become an embarrassment and an inconvenience to us. In Bible study we've been talking about discipline and though our Bible study is based on the Old Testament, we often referrence the New Testament. Maybe this is God's way of disciplining us as a country? I don't believe God is turning His back on us...He is a loving God...but I do think He may be disciplining us for turning our backs on Him. It terrifies me that I'm about to bring a child into this world where a man who doesn't even believe in the God that this country was founded on is running our country. My greatest comfort is my faith and knowing that whatever happens, whoever is in power, ultimately, there is only ONE MAN who controls everything and that's Jesus Christ.

The Nursery Part V

I almost hate to post these pictures on here because they really don't do the nursery any justice but for those of you who are far away, I want you to be able to at least kind of have an idea of how the room looks. Scott got this idea 2s weekends ago to paint the bead board a shade of blue from the wallpaper border. I was really nervous about it because I honestly couldn't picture how it would look and the picture in my head was not a pretty one. Well, this past weekend while Scott and I were at church, my dad started painting it. I have to say that I was VERY pleasantly surprised! Not only did I LOVE the blue but the whole effect was very calming. Becca and I painted the floating shelves and all we have left to do is touch up paint...which will probably take an entire weekend...hang the floating shelves and move the furniture in there. Yay! We're approaching the home stretch!!!!

The Belly-34 Weeks

For those of you who don't want to do the math, that's 8 1/2 months. I think she and I are both incredibly uncomfortable. She spends most of the day and now night as well squirming around trying to get comfortable. I know that she hasn't turned yet so maybe it's because she's out of room? Well, only 6 more weeks until d-day but no one thinks I'll make it that long. I'm so excited and apprehensive. I can't wait to meet this little person that's been living inside of me for the last nine months! By the way...if anyone is wondering if I have any stretch marks...nope, I don't thanks to my mom's lotion bars. Go check out her website Serenity Soapworks. It's under my friends link.

The Shower

Well I'll keep this one fairly short but a few weeks ago, Jen, Mal and Ang threw a baby shower for me. I got tons of cute stuff! My sister-in-law Leigh was able to fly in along with my Mom, both grandmothers and my parents' exchange students Becca and Ju. Here are a few pics from the shower. Oh and FYI, my face is pretty swollen so I think these are kind of scary!

Election Day

Well, for anyone who really knows me you know that I HATE politics! I hate talking about them, I hate listening to them and I hate thinking about them. I will be so happy when this election is over though I admit that I'm really worried about the outcome though Daniel 2:21 says He changes times and seasons; he sets up kings and deposes them. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning. So, I'm just going to trust God on this one. Needless to say, I hate politics so much that the 2004 presidential election is the first time I voted. I know, I know...that's terrible but I really do hate politics. That said, Daddy and I went and voted early last Tuesday and Sarah Jean got her first introduction to politics. Here's some pics from that night. If you'll notice, Sarah Jean is proudly wearing her "I voted in Denton County" sticker!

Can Anyone Help Me...Pimp My Blog???

Lol...it's a little on the plain and boring side and since I'm still trying to figure all of this out, making it look "pretty" is out of my realm! ;o)

Random Thoughts

So I'm going to forewarn you...though this blog might seem totally random it all makes perfect sense in my scrambled prego brain! I just got home a bit ago from this amazing Bible study that I've been going to every Wednesday entititled Jesus in the Old Testament. Let me just say major props Amanda! God has blessed you with some truly amazing gifts and not only do you do a bang up, unbelievably amazing job with the children's ministry at Providence, you also teach a pretty stinking good women's Bible study! :o) So, anyways, I get home from Bible study and have this overwhelming urge to blog and share with all of you or one of you or however many of you actually read this my thoughts from tonight. We had the most amazing and open discussion tonight about God and how He works in our lives and how He teaches us and disciplines us and most of all how He's a good and loving God. There were lots of tears but the revelation I came away with tonight is how blessed I am to have such wonderful girlfriends. You read the emails and of course your mother tells you how important girlfriends are but you don't really realize just what a wonderful gift they are until you're older. I don't really think there's a lot we do appreciate until we are older. So really, that's what blogging tonight was all about. Lord, thank you so much for all of the blessings in my life. You have given me so much that I don't deserve, but Lord, tonight I thank you for gracing my life with beautiful, godly women that along with your help mold and guide me through being a good wife, friend, servant and soon, a good mother. Thank you for reminding me of all of these blessings when I lose perspective.

Can I Get Any Bigger???

This is a question that I ask myself...usually several times a day and I've finally come to the conclusion that YES I can get much bigger! This actually amazes me as I haven't decided exactly how it is that my skin seems to be able to stretch any tighter however I do think that Sarah has a hand in that as she spends most of the day ramming her hard little head into my left ribs along with the punches and kicks I receive at random and frequent intervals. I believe that she believes she's "helping" to create more room in there though I don't think that either of us is quite convinced of that at this point. Also...I have to wonder and am I the only one who has ever wondered this but do you think it's possible that her finger nails and toe nails are approximately 3 inches long?! This is another question I ponder frequently throughout the day as she seems to find great joy in digging them into every tender part of my insides. Is it actually possible to bleed to death from your unborn child's Elvira nails??? So if anyone is actually reading this you're probably wondering why, why is Allena blogging about her ginormous belly??? Well I'll tell you why. As I sit here squirming around in my chair...both Sarah and I trying desperately to get comfortable and truth be told I think she's the only one who might possibly be accomplishing this...my belly looking like a yoga ball implant is shoved just underneath the skin and cankles the size of telephone poles I think to myself...no one probably cares that I'm stinking miserable right now and it's my blog so hey, if I want to write about my misery then I will! Lol...so here you go...the mindless ramblings from a crazy pregnant lady!

Our Big Girl

Well, I was 31 weeks yesterday. For those of you who don't want to do the math, that's 7 months, 3 weeks pregnant. We had a doctor's appointment this afternoon along with a sonogram. The sono tech was running behind so we had to wait about 30 minutes. My adorable, charming husband talked her into throwing some 3D pics in for us. Unfortunately you can't tell too much from the pictures because our little princess decided to not cooperate for her photo shoot. I think she's beautiful and absolutely adorable but then I'm biased! I really can't tell who she looks like but I kind of think she looks like Scott. She has hair which looks like it might be curly...yay! I hope she has Scott's beautiful eyes too! The first picture is of her with her hand on her face and in the second picture, she has her face pressed up against the uteran wall..."pretending" to be sleeping! Ornery little stink gave us a few hearty kicks but she just did not want us to get a good look at her! As most of you know, Dr. Greebon has been telling me how small she is almost through my entire pregnancy. Wellllll....he got a bit of a surprise today! Miss Sarah Jean weighs 4lb. 5oz. and is 16.6 inches long!!!! I laughed because he's already talking about inducing me because he's worried she'll get too big if we allow her to go full term. For those of you who don't remember, my due date is December 15. I really don't want to be induced but I want what's best for Sarah so if the doctor thinks it's necessary then I'll bite the bullet. Ultimately, she's in God's hands. Psalm 127:3 I go back to the doctor in 2 weeks and we are supposed to come up with some "birth" dates for Sarah. She'll start gaining approximately 1/2lb. a week from now going forward so we're going to have one big girl! Here are some belly pics from tonight as well.

The Belly and More

Well, I've had some moaning and groaning from a few of you because I haven't put anything out there recently so I apologize and this is for you. I'll have to add pictures of the belly later but I've got some new ones to add to the blog too. You'll see when I post them but the first set of pics is at 28 weeks (7 months for those of you who don't want to count) and then I'll have Scott take some this weekend to post along with those. I'll be 30 weeks (7 1/2 months) on Monday. By the way, one of the pictures from the 28 weeks session is me standing next to the yoga ball and I think it looks like a yoga ball is actually stuffed inside of my belly! Holy cow I can't believe how fast this pregnancy has gone!!! Is this normal?! So this weekend Scott and I are going to try and get some more done on the nursery. I'll do another blog for that along with pictures to show our most recent progress. We honestly haven't worked on the nursery since the last post. Don't worry, I'm not holding out on y'all! We've just had so much going on over the last month that every single weekend has been completely full....much to our dismay! Well, Scott and I finished up our child birth classes last weekend...thank goodness! Don't get me wrong, they're very informative but Scott wanted to do the all day Saturday class which was 9-5 the first Saturday and then Sunday from 1-5 and then this last Saturday from 9-11:30. Hello...I'm 7 months pregnant! Sitting still for that long is beyond uncomfortable! Oh well, it's over now so thankfully we just have it out of the way. So I'm starting to get a bit panicky about everything we have left to do before Sarah gets here but I know it'll all get done eventually. Well, I'm sure you all pretty much know by now but Scott passed his emergency certification test!!!! He's been working on his IteachTexas stuff so hopefully before the school year is out he'll have his official teaching certificate! Well I guess that's pretty much all for now. Look for pictures this weekend and hopefully a new nursery post!

The Nursery Part IV

Dad put up the wallpaper border before they left today. The pictures really don't do it justice but it's gorgeous and totally changes the way the whole room looks! You can see the curtains are up but they aren't finished. Mom still has to hem the bottom and Scott and I are going to add the buttons at some point in time too. The curtains are made from unbleached muslin and have ivory eyelet lace bordering on all sides. We still have a ton of stuff to do but I feel so much better now that we have most of the big stuff done. I am 25 weeks today...only 15 more weeks to go and I know it's totally going to fly by! Hopefully tomorrow Scott will be able to take some belly pics and I'll post them on the blog.

The Nursery Part III

My parents came this weekend to help us out with the nursery. Here are the pics from tonight. This first one is the room with the beadboard up and the second picture is after Scott got the chair rail up. Tomorrow my dad is going to put up the wallpaper border before they head back home. We still have to paint the beadboard and chair rail and also the floating shelves and we're still deciding what we want to do with the crib but we've decided not to paint the dresser. Enjoy the pics and keep an eye out because we'll add more pics as we complete new things.

The Nursery Part III

The Scoop

So this is going to be a bit of a hodge podge of the events over the last week or so. Well Scott is really enjoying teaching and just finished up his first week at Pilot Point High. His kids have been bugging him about going to their games so we went tonight for the first half of the the first football game of the season...Pilot Point vs. Whitesboro. We had to leave at half time because I couldn't take the heat or the bugs any longer but Pilot Point was leading 22 to 13!

I went back to the doctor on Tuesday for my 6 month checkup. My blood pressure was borderline high and after talking to the doctor about the amount of pain I've been in he threatened to put me on bed rest for the remainder of my pregnancy. So I might not mind the resting part but we definitely cannot afford for me to not work and especially not for 4 months.

Other than that we've just continued to work on the nursery and Scott is getting ready to take his emergency certification test on September 8th.

The Nursery Part II

Okay so here's part II of the nursery. I've been bugging Scott to go ahead and paint the walls but he kept putting it off. Wednesday Scott truly learned the meaning of being in the doghouse so while I was out having icecream with Jen and Ang, he decided to do some MAJOR kissing up by going ahead and painting.

We've talked about doing stripes in red and blue...it sort of looks like an old fashioned flag...but once we got the base color up Scott started thinking that maybe he just wanted to stick with this one color sooooo...I have no clue what we'll end up with.

My parents are on their way as I write this to help us finish up most of the nursery over the weekend. Basically, I will be on my princess throne directing while everyone else paints. I'm a bit disappointed about this but since the doctor has threatened me with bed rest if I don't take it easy then I'm definitely going to follow instructions!

On a side note....I am SOOOO happy because my wallpaper border arrived so we'll have that to complete the nursery. USA Wallpaper told me it was going to be at least another 2 weeks but the package was laying on the front porch when I got home. Now I had no idea it was coming since I never got the tracking number email I was promised but I'm just happy I have the border. I'll be posting more pictures throughout the weekend as different projects are completed so keep an eye out!

Starting Out the Nursery

Yesterday Scott started on Sarah's nursery. The first pic is our before. We should've taken pictures of the wall paper border that was up too. Our wonderful renters...and I say this with a great deal of sarcasm....decided to decorate the "nursery" before we came back to Texas. I have been calling this the throw up room but thankfully now we can make it look beautiful again! The renters left the ceiling the mocha color the walls and ceiling were originally painted and then painted the top half of the room bubble gum pink and the bottom half the most hideous shade of green on the planet! This green is so bad that I'm fairly certain it doesn't even exist in nature! Okay, I'm off my soap box for now. So, the next picture is after Scott put primer all over the walls and ceiling. The last picture shows the ceiling completely painted. By the way, the lighting is funny in these so the color is Ecru, not gray in case you happened to care. My parents are coming Labor Day weekend to help us finish up or at least mostly finish up the nursery. Hopefully Scott will get around to painting the top half of the walls and the furniture before they come. I am SO JEALOUS because I want to help but unfortunately the fumes are too strong in that room for me to be in there for more than a minute or two. Keep an eye out because I'll be updating our progress with new pics.

Scott's New Job

God has really blessed us! We have been praying for a career change for Scott for sometime now. A few months ago, we felt that God was calling Scott to teach and coach. Scott has his bachelors but no teaching degree but we knew that he could apply for and test for his emergency certification. He applied for several positions with Pilot Point ISD but when we started checking into the emergency certification we hit a wall. The state board of education basically told us that there were only 3 ISD's in the state of Texas that could accept teachers with an emergency cert. so at that point in time we felt like maybe Scott wasn't supposed to do this teaching thing yet. About 2 weeks ago, Scott got a phone call from the Vice Principal at Pilot Point High School. They were looking for a chemistry teacher. That phone call has totally changed our lives! The last 2 weeks have been a total whirlwind as Scott has rushed to get college transcripts and sign up for the emergency cert. test, etc. He starts his job as the new chemistry teacher at Pilot Point High on Monday. He'll also be teaching a biology class. We were hoping he would be coaching as well but apparently God has other plans for us as we found out that he didn't get the coaching position as well. It's weird because I was a little disappointed simply because Scott really wanted to coach but I wasn't worried because I knew that God just had other plans. Say a prayer for Scott as he starts this new career. I think he's going to make a wonderful teacher! He'll take his emergency cert. test on September 8 and will work on his teaching certificate over this next year.

The Lord is good to those whose hope is in Him, to those who seek Him. Lamentations 3:25