12 week update!

So, it looks like maybe I won't get to updating this thing as often as I had hoped/wanted to, but once a month isn't too bad...right?

We just got back from our Nuchal Transulency test. Some of you are probably asking "what in the world is that?" I asked the same thing when I first heard about it. I found it tests for defects early on (down syndrome and things like that). Not that this would change our mind either way, but just to have the knowledge of what we might expect is nice. Well, we are very happy to say that so far everything looked great! We got about a 15 minute sonogram, and the whole time the doctor was trying to find out what the gender might possibly be.
And so she looked and looked and finally told us that our baby..............................................................
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likes to moon us :/
The whole time our baby had it's back to us! A little disappointing, but still something to look forward to for next time.

It was such an amazing sight to see how our little alien baby from 7 weeks has now turned into something actually resembling a baby We saw the beating heart (HR was 171 bpm), the spine, the brain, and even a little hand was waving to us :) the doctor said it will probably be a piano player looking at the long fingers. How anybody could look at that picture and not say that is a human life is way beyond me!

I am so excited to enter the 2nd trimester and start feeling back to normal, but I'm even more excited to see our baby grow :) It feels more real every day and makes me look forward to summer even more!!

Here's our baby saying "goodbye" for now! (see the hand?)

A reason to come back...

I originally started this blog in hopes that I would find something to write about. That something in my life would be interesting enough for me and other people to read and remember. I was pretty good writing in my diary when I was in elementary school (apparently I had a lot to write about!) but the older I got I think it became more of a chore. I was made to keep a journal on my semester abroad in London (which I am thankful for now), but I wouldn't have done it if it were not an assignment I would be graded on later. There are plenty in my family who have written their memories down and my grandpa has even started his own autobiography. That way things in life are not forgotten. That is why I have started this blog back up.
Greg and I recently got some exciting news that we have waited for for over 2 years now. We found out that we are finally expecting in early August (August 9th to be exact :)! We are thrilled for this blessing and want to remember this journey and look back on it to see what we went through to get to where we are.
It wasn't an easy journey to get to where we are at this moment in time, which is 9 weeks along :) but it is one I am thankful for.
So, needless to say, I think this reason is a pretty good reason to come back and begin writing again. I hope to be able to go back to this and remember everything from now until we become a family of 3 (5 if you include our dogs...which we do ;)

So far I have been blessed with a fairly easy pregnancy, just some nausea and fatigue, but easy from what I've heard :) It's just a reminder I guess that there is a life growing inside me :) Which amazes me everyday. Here is our first sonogram of our little bean. This was taken about 7 1/2 weeks along. I was in awe when we heard the heartbeat that day. I only wish we had recorded it, but I don't think I could ever forget that sound!

Isn't it funny...

Isn't it funny how you can get so excited about something and spend so much time and energy on it only for it to be forgotten and left behind soon after. I am like that with a lot of my "projects" I like the idea of starting something, but I need to be better about continuing those things as well! So, here it is...take 2 on this blog.

Finally! A place to put all of my jewelry!

Ok, I just had to share something I am super excited about! I don't know about you, but I had the hardest time finding a place to fit all of my jewelry. Especially now that all of my necklaces are long. Not only did they not fit, but they would get tangled, earrings would get misplaced, and then I forgot what I had because I couldn't see everything. They just didn't fit! So I was surfing the web for some ideas to help me organize my jewelry. And I came across something fantastic! So I had to buy it :) It just arrived the other day and I had to put it together all by myself because Greg was gone on one of his trips. So here it is! My jewelry organizer...

                              What? A mirror?

You might just think this is just some ordinary mirror, but wait until you see what is inside :)

                                    Tada!

This is my new jewelry organizer! I was so surprised how much  jewelry I actually had once I could see it all together. If you look to the right of the organizer you can see my old jewelry case. I can't believe it all use to fit in there (actually it didn't really fit, it was more crammed than anything).
Maybe I need to get more jewelry just to fill in the extra spaces ;)

Fostering

Greg and I have been foster parents for dogs since April of this year through the Collin County Humane Society. We absolutely love it, but it has been some of the most challenging and heart wrenching thing we have done so far.  The dogs we take home with us each have a story of their own. The first two puppies we fostered were called Lily and Rocky. They were 6 week old Australian Cattle Dogs that were surrendered by their owner to the animal shelter.

                                                                              Lily

                                                                        Rocky

These 2 were such sweet puppies! Now, when dogs and puppies are surrendered to the shelter they are automatically put on the list to be euthanized very soon. The sad part, is that the owners are told this and they give them up anyway. That is when emails are sent out with pictures of all the dogs about to be euthanized and different rescue groups step up and take these dogs into their homes and help them find a permanent home with a GOOD family.
These 2 puppies were so sweet but a LOT of work! When someone was interested in them it was a bittersweet moment when we gave them up. But we were happy that they got adopted together.

The second dog we took in not too long after Rocky and Lily were adopted was a shar-pei lab mix we named Toby.

                                                                          Toby

Now when we got Toby he was a skinny, scared, and unsure little dog. We could tell this would be different from cute playful puppies. We knew Toby had been through a lot in his young life. It took a long time for Toby to finally warm up to us. He got sick a lot when we first got him and I think that helped him see we were nice people and were here to help him. We didn't think we would have Toby for very long, because the puppies got adopted within a week of us getting them. But the days with Toby turned into weeks and weeks into months. We have now had Toby for 4 months now. It is amazing how much a sweet little dog can grow on you when you have had him for so long. Not only were we able to get him over being sick, but he went from a dog who didn't trust anybody to a wonderful happy dog. I like to call him our blissfully happy dog because I think he truly knows how lucky he is.
While we still had Toby, we decided to add another foster to our crazy animal house. So we took in a CUTE hound/lab puppy named Jack.

                                                                            Jack
He was such a cute and fun little puppy. He had tons of energy and loved to play. But he was also one of the most calm puppies I have ever seen! He would love to just lay in your lap and take a nap. He recently got adopted to a great family!
So we still had Toby. And by this time we were really considering adopting Toby because we had just fallen in love with him. So one night I was really thinking that Toby would be here forever, then I wake up the next morning to an email with an application for him. And to be honest my heart just sank. I was not ready to see him go. But tonight, Thursday, I took him to meet this family that is interested in him. And wouldn't you know that are the nicest family? They were so great with him even when he was acting so scared. So I told them I would send in my thoughts and they should hear back from me soon. I think I cried almost the whole way home. I knew when we went into fostering that it would be so easy to get attached to dogs. Especially ones like Toby where you see them grow so much! But I never knew it would be this hard to give them up.
But we keep on fostering. We just took in a beatiful chocolate lab named Allie. She has only been here 2 days and already has 2 applications from families interested in her. So I won't get to know her too well, but maybe that will be for the best!

                                                                            Allie
                                                    (Sorry this is obviously from my phone!)

I still love fostering and it is such a rewarding experience. I just wish it weren't so hard!
Of course, I should probably mention our own crazy dog, Charley. I think he has loved having dogs in our house more than us. If you haven't met Charley, he is a VERY social dog and LOVES everyone and everything he meets. He has been great through all the changes and has made lots of new friends I am sure :)
I'll leave this with a photo of our sweet puppy who is not much of a puppy anymore :)

                                                                         Charley








                                                                     

House Projects

It has been busy over at the Parks' house! A good busy, though.
I am on summer vacation from school now and I love having this time off to get things done that I am too tired or don't have enough time to do during the school year.
Greg and I moved into our house in February of 2010. We love the house, but had some "upgrades" we wanted to have done to it. So this was the summer to do that.
The first of the "upgrades" we had done was in the back 2 bedrooms we had these horrible lights (without a fan) that gave off no light whatsoever. So, the first thing we wanted to do was add a fan with a light that actually gave off light (what a concept!). And anyone who is from Texas knows that a fan is a MUST in the summer months. So here is our new (bright) fan. We can finally see how nice the room looks. :)

 The next thing we had done was our under cabinet lighting. I am sooo excited about this one! I never knew I would be so happy about lights, but I love them!
This is just a sampling of the lights, but they are oh so pretty :)

 And because I am in the kitchen on our "tour" here is some decoration that we have recently added to the top of the cabinets (All from Hobby Lobby-my favorite store!)

And now, for the final touch. We have saved and wanted this for quite a while now. Our new stone landscape in our front yard. The benefit of having a small yard (beside the fact that it takes all of 15 minutes to mow) is it wasn't too big of a hit in the wallet to have all the stone work done. Next week we are having some up lights put in. This was all done by The Patient Gardener. They really did a great job!

The Beginning

Hey all! I am just starting out on this blog adventure :)
So come along with me as we take a walk in the park!