Bumpdate {21 Weeks}

I apologize for my blog turning into nothing but bumpdates. However, that is the only thing on my mind right now so I really don't have anything else interesting to write about. Between planning baby girl's nursery, getting ready for my own 3 baby showers and helping to plan baby showers and bridal luncheons for other friends, my life is consumed by invitations, decorations, Etsy and Pinterest. Not that this is a bad thing because I love being creative and planning events, but it doesn't leave time for very much blogging. In the mean time, let's check out the bump!

Week 21: January 22 - January 28  

Week 21 Milestones: 

- Baby girl is the size of a pomegranate this week! I can finally feel her moving around in there throughout the day!!! I feel her moving around the most when I am sitting at my dining room table working on my computer. She started developing taste buds this week so now she can taste the things I am eating. I better give her some yummy stuff to enjoy! She also has hair and eyebrows now!

- My total weight gain thus far is 16 pounds. Belly button is still in!

- Food preferences: Waffles. While grocery shopping on Monday, I walked past a display in the frozen food section with pictures of waffles on it. At that moment, I just had to have waffles. That night, we had waffles for dinner and ever since then, I can't get enough waffles. I'm still drinking my homemade smoothies and enjoying salads in between my waffle binges. On Sunday, I had my very first caffeinated beverage since September 6th. A coke icee. It was glorious. I think I just opened Pandora's box though because now I really want another coke icee. It is currently 38 degrees and raining and I am seriously contemplating driving up to the gas station for a coke icee. I think I will make a smoothie now to try and distract myself from these coke icee thoughts.

The crib arrived on Monday and Jared and I put it together last night. It's rather grandiose for our tiny nursery (which I knew it would be, sorry but I really like large furniture) but it's just so beautiful that I had to have it. I have all the bedding for it, but I'm going to wait until after we get all the other furniture in and hang everything on the walls before I but the bedding on.

Baby girl went on her very first quail hunt this week! (But that's a whole other blog post)

  

Pregnant and Hunting

Only in the South would a woman go traipsing around in the woods for four hours with a shotgun at 21 weeks pregnant. From November to February each year, quail hunting is a normal weekend activity in my household. It has been for years. I used to go with my dad and my brother, now I go with my husband. And one day, our baby girl will go hunting with us too...even though my mom will probably have a fit about it every single time, just like she did when I went.

Hunting is a deeply emotional and relaxing experience for me. I am most at peace when I am out there. Some people find their sense of calm and comfort in activities like yoga, I find mine in being out in the woods, especially while hunting. I wish I could do a better job at putting this feeling into words, but I can't. If you are a hunter, you know exactly what I am talking about. Otherwise, you could never even begin to understand. I have always been a huge fan of Ernest Hemingway's writing, which typically confuses people because he was such a sexist writer and most women can't stand him. I love all of his writing, but especially his works about hunting and the outdoors. He captures in words exactly how feel when I am out there. I experience hunting exactly the way Hemingway describes it and I get so much more out of it than just a sport. My dad passed a lot of knowledge and appreciation of God's creations down to me during our times out in the field together. I want to make sure to pass that part of him on to my daughter one day too.

Baby girl on her very first quail hunt!

Jared and I went hunting on Sunday with Josh and Heather. Jared and Josh go hunting together all the time, but this was Heather's very first quail hunt!

Hunting while pregnant was an interesting experience. I made sure to be extra careful where I was stepping the entire time we were out there because I didn't want to trip and fall. Shooting the gun was the part that was most different now that I am pregnant. I have a specific way that I usually stand while I am shooting, but I had to change it up a little bit because I have to balance differently while pregnant. My first few shots were way off in accuracy because my center of gravity and posture is so different now. Once I figured out the best way for me to stand and balance with the belly, I was back on track.

I want my daughter to grow up to be very comfortable with animals and the outdoors. I want her appreciate God's creatures and understand why we hunt them and eat them. Not something your average mom is concerned with teaching her daughter, huh?

In addition to my awkward pregnancy balance, this hunt was different for me because I'm not used to shooting with another left handed person at the same time. My dad was the only other left handed person I've ever hunted with. I typically shoot on the left side because that's where I'm most comfortable, and he could shoot from anywhere so he always let me have the left side. I let Heather have the left side that day because it was her first time and I wanted her to shoot from where ever she felt most comfortable. Once I got my stance adjusted for the belly, adapting to the right side was fairly easy too.

Heather's first quail! I made her hold it and let me take a picture. I told her that if you are going to shoot the bird, you have to be willing to touch it once it's dead. Heather and I only shot for a little while and then we let the boys take over and do the majority of the hunting. I didn't want to overdo it while pregnant. Although I do enjoy the actual shooting aspect of the hunt, I love just being out there in the peace and quiet watching Sadie find the birds and admiring all of God's beautiful creations.

Jared finally got a new truck! Remember, his old one was stolen out of the parking lot at his work at the beginning of this month. We picked up the new truck on Saturday evening, so it's very first excursion was out to the field for a hunt. As it should be :)

Bumpdate {20 Weeks}

Woah, we're half way there...wooah, livin' on a prayer. Sorry, the 80's child in me just couldn't resist. I can't believe that we are already half way through this pregnancy. We are loving every minute!

Week 20: January 15 - January 21

Week 20 Milestones: 

- Baby is the size of a banana this week! She is now working on mastering digestion and her own uterus is fully formed, along with about seven million eggs.

- My total weight gain thus far is 14 pounds. The belly button is still in, but it's getting tighter and I think it's only a matter of time before it starts to pop out.

- Food preferences: Same as always. I am dying to have some lunch meat though. That's a no-no on the pregnancy foods list, but I really want some. If I zap it in the microwave, then I am allowed to eat it so I'm thinking that might be happening here soon. I don't miss caffeine or alcohol one bit, but my goodness do I want some deli meat so very badly.

- We created our baby registry this week! Wow, was that a project or what! I literally spent hours upon hours in the days before we registered researching everything on the internet and texting some of my mommy friends asking for their advice. I honestly think I did more research for this baby registry than I did in 4 years of college. Then again, I knew absolutely nothing about babies going into this. There are so many choices. Too many choices. Which one is the best for my baby? Which one will my baby like? How do you know? I wanted to be in and out of the store as quickly as possible so I wanted to have all the products researched and picked out ahead of time. Of course, I ended up changing some of the stuff via the online registry the next day after I had time to sleep on it. Let's hope baby girl likes all the stuff I picked out for her! We are registered at Pottery Barn Kids and Buy Buy Baby.

- We went to an open house for a pediatrician's office this week which was surprisingly pretty fun. One of the pediatricians in the group was actually my pediatrician when I was a kid! He started the practice 31 years ago and my brother was literally his 5th patient ever. It was pretty cool getting to see him again and when I told him mine and my brother's name, he actually remembered who my parents were right there on the spot. All of my pregnancy resources were telling me that this is the time that I needed to start researching pediatricians, so I got right on it of course and narrowed down my options. However, I was surprised by how many girls at the open house were literally about to deliver. There is no way I could wait that late in the game to start seeking out a pediatrician. I like to be prepared way in advance. Plus, this was kind of fun for me. It made me realize that, wow, she really is going to be here before we know it!

- Some of the items we ordered from Georgia Baby started getting delivered this week! It was like Christmas around here, so exciting. All of the light fixtures...a floor lamp, a table lamp and a chandelier (eek!) have now arrived. I haven't unpacked them, so no picture yet, because I want them to stay safe in their packaging until we are done moving the other big furniture into the room. The rug also arrived, which I did unpack so there is a little sneak peek picture below. The rug is so soft and cozy, I can't wait to play on it with baby girl when she gets bigger.

- The most exciting thing that happened this week was that I felt baby girl move for the very first time!!!!! On Monday night, I was sitting on the couch watching TV when I noticed a slight feeling in my lower abdomen that I had never felt before. I sat really still and put my hand on that area, waiting to see if it would happen again. Sure enough, I started feeling a flutter on the inside just like everyone described it would feel like. It got stronger and I could kind of feel it from the outside too, so I called Jared over to see if he could feel it. A couple seconds later, she did it again, strong enough so that both he and I could feel it. What a surreal and amazing moment. Feeling her move is such a weird, but really cool sensation.  

We celebrated Nicole and Baby A at her baby shower last weekend! Nicole, MaryAnn and I took a picture just like this at MaryAnn's baby shower back in October and my how we have grown since then. I was only 8 weeks pregnant when we took that original picture and now here we are at 20 weeks, 31 weeks and 4 weeks post-partum.

Here is a little sneak peak of the crib bedding on top of the rug for the nursery. The color doesn't actually look that dark in real life. Silly iPhone camera.

These adorable closet dividers came in the mail this week from Etsy for the nursery. Now, I can start organizing and hanging up the clothes I have received thus far in the closet! Nursery planning is way too much fun!

Bumpdate {19 Weeks}

Almost halfway there, oh my goodness! This time is flying by and mama is getting big. Week 19 was full of more traveling. When this baby girl finally arrives she will have already been all over this country.

Week 19: January 8 - January 14

Week 19 Milestones:

- Baby is the size of a mango this week! She measured in at 11 ounces at our doctor's appointment which is a little on the large size for only week 19. We're not surprised. I told you that big babies run in the family :) She has all 5 of her senses now and she can even recognize my voice. That makes me feel special. I guess I better start talking to her.

- My total weight gain thus far is just over 13 pounds. I've started to notice that my belly button is getting much smaller, like it's squeezing together. I think that I am going to have an outie here soon.

- We went to the doctor for our mid-pregnancy ultrasound which is where they do a full anatomy scan to make sure that every part of the baby is developing correctly. We had to go to a special obstetric consultant place for our ultrasound instead of my regular OB because I was an IVF patient. Sometimes IVF babies are more at risk for certain things so they just like to be extra sure and use the fancy ultrasound machine to double check everything. Baby girl looked great and everything checked out fine!

- On our way home from Chattanooga, we stopped in Atlanta at this amazing baby furniture store called Georgia Baby to look at furniture for the nursery. If you live within a reasonable driving distance to North Atlanta, I highly recommend this place. They have a huge selection actually in the showroom (so you aren't just shopping out of catalogs) and they are so helpful. My mom and I were in there for 8 hours because we ended up going in a completely different direction than I had originally imagined. The staff there helped us design the entire nursery to make it exactly what I wanted and I am so happy with the results. I felt so accomplished when I left there. We ordered all the furniture, light fixtures, and a rug, so the only things left to decide on is the artwork for the walls. Now, we are just waiting for everything to get delivered! Here's a little sneak peak of the crib we ordered: Baby's Dream: Enchanted. I love it :)

- Food preferences: Same old, same old. Salads and carbs. I have gone back to making smoothies at home like a used to. For a while there, fruit was just too sweet for my tummy, but now I like certain fruits again. I still haven't been brave enough to try mango again though since my body started disliking it once I got pregnant.

My mom and I got to spend the weekend up in Chattanooga, Tennessee with Baby Claire practicing my BOB walking skills and learning lots of new mommy skills! Claire's family and mine are lifelong friends so hopefully Claire and my baby girl will carry on the tradition. Claire has a late summer birthday so my baby girl and her might even be in the same grade!

While I was out of town in Chattanooga, Jared and some of our friends from church installed brand new wood floors in the nursery for me! They are beautiful. Thank you wood floor installation crew :)

Baby girl was not a fan of the ultrasound machine on this day. It was freezing outside and she did not want to come uncurled from her little ball to move around for us.

BCS National Championship

This has been a very exciting season for our 'Noles and we were thrilled to have the opportunity to go to the BCS National Championship game this year! I'm so glad that the game was in the Rose Bowl so that we got to experience attending a game in this historic stadium. Plus, it was a good excuse for a little vacation to California.

The Rose Bowl actually seems pretty small considering it is such an important stadium. It also has poor acoustics so it wasn't really that loud in there compared to other college football stadiums I've attended games in. I did enjoy the atmosphere of it though especially since it was the 100 year anniversary of the Rose Bowl. It was a stadium that I have always wanted to visit and now I get to check it off my list!

I have encountered a lot of college football fans in my day, some good and some very, very bad. I must say that I was absolutely impressed with the Auburn fans. Not once the entire time we were in Pasadena did I encounter a single rude or disrespectful Auburn fan. In fact, tons of Auburn fans came up to us after the game and congratulated us on a good game. Now, that's good sportsmanship. I'm sure there are probably some obnoxious ones out there just like there are at every other school, but I didn't run across a single one while I was there. After the game, we walked back towards downtown Pasadena in a huge crowd all mixed of Auburn and FSU fans. I thought this was going to be a recipe for disaster. However, I was shocked that no one said anything rude to any other fans. We all just walked together in a perfectly civil manner. That's the way college football should be. Just because you are drunk and your team just won or lost, doesn't give you the right to act like an arrogant a-hole to the other fans. I was really impressed by the respectful attitudes displayed by both FSU and Auburn fans at this game. It made for a great gameday experience.

We purchased tickets to an FSU alumni tailgate which ended up being a great deal because it was all you could eat and drink and the area was really nice for tailgating. Considering there were 10,000 people there, the FSU Alumni Association did a great job of coordinating the entire event. I never had to wait in a single line for food, drinks or the bathroom. They had plenty of facilities for everything.

I loved having the mountains in the backdrop of the stadium and our tailgate. Such a cool view. 

The first half of the game was pretty rough. I was getting a little nervous thinking about how if we lose this game then I just flew 3,000 miles for my husband to be in a bad mood for the rest of our trip. Luckily, things started to turn around for us late in the game, but it wasn't until the very last second of the game that I felt relieved. The excitement and joy of such a big win was so overwhelming. After so many disappointing seasons as an FSU fan, it's great to finally be on top!

I am so thrilled that the 'Noles will be #1 when baby girl makes her grand entrance into this world. Plus, how many people can say that they attended their very first National Championship game in utero? Probably very few. I kept saying all season long how baby girl was our Seminole good luck charm and that we were going to go all the way this year undefeated. Looks like I was right :) Go Noles!

California

Jared and I traveled to California for the BCS National Championship. We stayed in Pasadena because that's where the game was, but we also visited the surrounding area while we were there: Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, Hollywood, etc. I had never been to Los Angeles before and I've always wanted to go just to see what there is to see and say that I went there. I am glad that we had the opportunity to visit LA so I can check it off my travel list, but let's just say that I will probably never go back. It's just not my cup of tea.

Being pregnant during this trip was not that bad, except for the flying part. Since I was pregnant, I opted to not go through the scanner at the airport which meant that I was not subjected to a full body molestation by the TSA agent in the middle of security. It wasn't really that bad, but let me just say that they are very thorough when they do those "pat downs" as they call them. I've been feeling great for the past month of my pregnancy, but all that went out the window when there was a lot of motion on the plane. I was seriously on the verge of puking during take-off, landing and any turbulence we experienced in flight. We flew the red-eye back home at the end of our trip and I was so miserable. My feet and hands became super swollen during the 5 hour flight from LA which kept me awake and so uncomfortable. So word to the wise, don't fly during your pregnancy unless it is absolutely necessary. You have no idea how it will make you feel ahead of time and then it's too late once you're trapped on that plane. Never again.

Sunday, January 5 

We landed in LAX, got our rental car, and I was starving of course. So we decided to have our first experience at In-N-Out Burger since everyone told me that I just had to go there while we were in California. The place was a mad house, but everything still moved quickly and it was so delicious. They put Thousand Island dressing on their burgers instead of ketchup, which sounds really weird, but it is super yummy.

On our way from the airport to Pasadena, we decided to stop in Santa Monica to see the Pacific Ocean and watch the sunset.  

The weather was a little chilly for Southern California, but there were still crazy people going in the ocean of course. Ugh, tourists.

We walked down onto the Santa Monica pier to watch the sunset. 

The amusement park out on the pier was pretty cool, even though it looked as if the entire thing was about to fall into the ocean at any moment. 

Monday, January 6

We attended the BCS National Championship at the Rose Bowl...but that's a whole other blog post.

Tuesday, January 7

I wanted to fly home on the red-eye so that we could have an entire day of sightseeing without having to pay for an extra night in the hotel. Pretty smart, huh? We spent the day exploring Los Angeles and the surrounding areas before boarding our flight home late that night.    

First stop, Hollywood. I was pretty surprised (well not really because one of my sorority sister forewarned me) at how un-glamorous Hollywood really is. It's actually pretty dirty and ghetto. There is one tiny section of Hollywood Blvd. where the touristy stuff is and then the rest of it is just sketchy.

So we saw the stars on the Walk of Fame, the hand-prints in front of the Chinese Theater, and then made a quick exit from the tourist trap. Check it off the list.

I really wanted to see the Hollywood sign and downtown LA from up above so I convinced Jared that we should hike up to the top of the Griffith Observatory. I think he was worried about pregnant me hiking uphill in an altitude above what I'm used to (aka: sea level), but I made it!

The view was awesome and I got to see the Hollywood sign. Check that off the list. I do love how you can see ocean and mountains all in one place in California. Us Floridians are not used to seeing mountains next to the beach.

We drove through Beverly Hills and Bel-Air, admiring the beautiful mansions, on our way out to the beach. We took the long way back to the airport (since we had plenty of time) driving along the ocean, and made a stop at the beach in Pacific Palisades to watch one final California sunset. Of course we had to make one last stop at In-N-Out Burger again before getting on our flight back home. Overall, we had a very nice trip out to the West Coast.

Bumpdate {18 Weeks}

Here is our first bumpdate of the New Year! I can't believe that we are finally in baby girl's birth year. Now, we can really start getting geared up for her arrival. Let the preparation, decorating, and registering begin!

Week 18: January 1 - January 7

Week 18 Milestones:

- Baby is the size of a sweet potato this week! She is moving around a lot in there, kicking, rolling, punching, hiccuping, etc. but I still can't feel any of it yet.

- My total weight gain thus far is about 12-13 pounds.

- I flew on a airplane for the first time while pregnant this week. Not pleasant. In addition to being molested by TSA since I couldn't go through the scanner, any motion on the plane made me feel super nauseous. I literally felt like I was going to hurl during take-off, landing and any turbulence on the flight. On our flights back home, my hands and feet got super swollen which was so uncomfortable. I was miserable. Needless to say, I will probably never fly on an airplane again while pregnant unless it is absolutely necessary.

- Jared's mom painted the nursery for us this week! The wall color is a pale pink called Diminutive Pink by Sherwin-Williams. I was really nervous about painting the walls a color because it always looks so different once you actually get the paint up on the wall. Plus, pinks are really had to do because sometimes they turn out too red, or too purple, or too peachy, and I didn't want it to be obnoxiously bright. Just a hint of pink. It turned out perfectly and my mother-in-law did an amazing job painting it. She's so talented.

- Food preferences: Nothing has changed. I finally got away from my donuts craving. Favorites are still salads, carbs and milk. Eggs and chicken are still on the nausea list.

Baby girl got to attend her very first National Championship game and we won! I kept saying that she has been a good luck charm for the 'Noles all season. I am so excited that she will be born during an FSU National Championship reign.

New Year's Resolutions

I typically write this blog post on New Year's Day, but things were so busy around here for the holidays that I just lost track of time. On top of everything chaotic that has been going on around our house in the past few weeks, the New Year didn't get off to as great of a start as I had originally hoped. I decided to not eat my black eyed peas and collard greens on New Year's Day this year because over these past two years that tradition has been bringing me the complete opposite of good luck and prosperity. Plus, I don't really like black eyed peas anyways, so if they aren't even going to do anything for me, I'm not going to bother trying to enjoy them.

However, by January 2nd, I was definitely ready for a do-over of this New Year already. Jared's truck was stolen from the parking lot at his work. Great. As if we didn't just have two weeks full of unexpected expenses (new washing machine, plumber, broken water filter, etc), now we are going to have to buy a new car. Plus, Jared loved that truck and I loved that truck. It was paid off and since it's was a diesel, we were planning on at least getting another 100,000 miles out of it before getting him another car. So now we have yet another thing to add to our plate, dealing with a rental car while we wait for insurance money on top of researching and purchasing a new vehicle.

I woke up on January 3rd with a positive attitude, knowing that it couldn't possibly be as bad as the day before. Wrong. Jared's mom was over at our house painting the nursery for us and I was getting things done around the house. I let the dogs outside in our fenced in backyard to run around for a little bit and went back to what I was doing. About 10 minutes later, I went to let the dogs back inside. Here comes Lola, but Sadie was no where to be found. I then noticed that the gate to our fence was open and literally almost had a stroke right there in the yard. I then remembered that the bug spray guy had been there a few hours earlier and he must have not closed the gate back all the way when he left (let's just say that bug spray company got an angry phone call after this). I was in a state of panic...not just a normal state of panic, but a pregnant lady state of panic which is much more dramatic and emotional. Sadie is not the kind of dog that just wanders around leisurely or doesn't go far away from you. Like Lola for example...the gate was open, with every opportunity for freedom, and Lola was still sitting by the screen door waiting for me to let her in the house. If given the opportunity, Sadie takes off full speed and doesn't stop. It had been about 10 minutes since I had last seen her, but in that amount of time with her speed, she could be miles away by now. Plus, our house backs up to about 10 yards worth of natural preserve and then there is a state road behind that. I was terrified that she had run out into that busy road and been hit by a car. I just kept thinking, oh my god, first Jared's truck and now his dog is gone. He is going to lose it. I knew there was very little I could do to bring her back, so I just prayed that God would lead us back to each other. I grabbed my mother-in-law and we both took off looking for her. She ran across my neighborhood street towards the lake (Sadie loves to go swimming) and I ran behind our house to the big road. Mind you, since I have an IVF-made pregnancy, running is definitely on the no-no list for me. However, in that moment I completely forgot that I was pregnant and was sprinting as fast as a could. It had recently rained too, so all the yards I was running through were super muddy and it was about 30 degrees outside. I knew that Sadie might not hear or respond to my voice, but there is one thing she never fails to respond to, her hunting whistle. In the field, Jared uses this whistle to call her back to him and I knew that if anything would get her attention, it was that sound. So here I am pregnant and muddy running through my neighbors' yards blowing this hunting whistle, which is insanely loud, when my mother-in-law hears Sadie's bark. She runs toward the bark and yells for me to come in her direction. Some of my neighbors back up to a tree line which divides our neighborhood from other private properties. Her bark was coming from the private acreage behind our neighborhood. So I had to run through some yards, jump over a barbed-wire fence, jump across a ditch full of water and across some random person's property before I came to this redneck-looking guy with all the doors of his truck open and Sadie inside. Not to mention, she was soaking wet. He said that he was outside loading some stuff up in his truck when Sadie came running into his yard. He tried to catch her but she wouldn't come to him because his pit-bull was out there with him, so he went to put his dog inside his house and when he came back out, she was in his truck. Never fails, if the door to a truck is open, Sadie automatically runs towards it and "loads up". Based on her wetness, she obviously took a swim in the lake before wandering over onto his property. However, I was so thankful that she was alright. So we took her back to my house and had to give her a bath in the 30 degree weather since she was already wet from the lake. I was pretty mad at her, but still so happy that she was home safely. Losing the truck the day before was upsetting. Annoying. Inconvenient. But that truck is a material thing that can be replaced. Losing Sadie would have been devastating. She is wild and crazy and pisses me off so bad sometimes, but Jared and I raised her from a puppy for the past 7 years and she is irreplaceable to our family.

Alas, I am getting a little bit of a late start on my New Year's Resolutions. But better late than never, so here they are...  

Exercise

I have been such a bad pregnant lady. I have barely been exercising at all thus far in my pregnancy. Due to IVF, I am so limited on what I can do as far as exercise. Walking is pretty much all I can do, but I haven't even been doing that. When you feel as horrible as I did for the entire first trimester of pregnancy, it is really challenging to get motivated to do anything beside lie on the couch in pain. Now, I am almost halfway through the pregnancy, so this is when exercise is going to become crucial. I want to maintain a healthy pregnancy weight and I need to be in better shape if I want my delivery to not be so difficult. Therefore, I must start a routine of walking regularly. I am going to try my hardest to go for a power walk everyday for the remainder of my pregnancy. Then, after delivery I want to get back into walking and running regularly to lose my baby weight. My goal is to run the Gate River Run in March 2015.

Let Go, And Let God

I used to be the kind of person who got really frustrated if I could not be in control of a situation. And then the last two years of my life happened and I realized that there is a whole lot that I have very little control over. I tried to fight it at first, but after two entire years of trying desperately to control things that are completely out of my control, I decided to just let go. There are so many things that only God has control over, so why should I frustrate myself trying to do His job? He will provide, He will take care of me and only He can do His job, so there's no reason for me to make myself miserable in the process. Things will happen according to God's plan and there is nothing you, nor I, can do to change that. During my IVF, I realized that I was finally beginning to live this truth. Never before had I been totally ok with not having control over a situation and not knowing what the outcome was going to be. I was actually surprised by how well I had learned to let go, and let God take over. One of my resolutions this year is to remind myself of this truth during 2014. There are a lot of things coming up this year that I am going to have very little control over...my labor and delivery, the health of my baby, my ability to breastfeed/care for my baby, and so many other unexpected things that I am sure will come up. While I will do as much research as I can ahead of time to prepare myself as much as possible, there is only so much I can do on my own. The rest is up to God. There is a lot of new and unfamiliar territory ahead of me this year, so I want to remind myself that when I am frustrated, overwhelmed or stressed, I simply need to let go and let God take care of me.