olive sings her favorite songs..

in case you need some assistance in identifying her songs..

video one: (in order)
1. part of Jesus Loves Me
2. Jesus Loves the Little Children

video two:
1. twinkle twinkle little star
2. baa baa black sheep
3. the abc's
4. Jesus Loves Me

i promise, it's only one baby.

only 10 weeks, and this belly's poppin'.

this does not bode well.

:\

is there anything cuter than an olive in overalls?

i think not!

a week of lovely weather

...is a good reason to spend a morning at the park...

...and to drink coffee outside.

we got a whole bunch of gorgeous roma tomatoes from our tomato plant this week.

and we read this bit of news in our local paper, which gave us a good laugh:

earthquake!

we just lived through our very first earthquake! never thought it would happen here.. the whole house started vibrating, and i thought maybe a big plane was passing over head or something, but then the shaking got worse for about 20 seconds and stopped suddenly. i called my mom to tell her, and she said they felt a quake in NC at the exact same time. scary!

http://www.myfoxdc.com/dpp/news/local/usgs-reports-5-8-earthquake-in-dc-region-082311

meet small frey #4

matt and i were nervous wrecks as we went into the ultrasound room at the midwives' office this afternoon. (or at least, i was. my husband has nerves of steel. i have nerves of...what's the opposite of steel?)

we are SO thankful that the ultrasound immediately showed a rather healthy looking peanut of a baby, with a nice strong heartbeat. baby even obliged us with a little wiggle-dance, which was exciting!

we told olive "there's our baby! how would you like a baby of our own?" to which she replied "baby stinky."

we foresee many fun adjustments in the near future!

we're almost 9 weeks along, and our official due date is march 30th, 2012. (which means we might end up with two april fools babies!) :)

"so long insecurity"

insecurity.. it's a subtle little disease that wreaks havoc in most women's lives in some degree. it's definitely plagued me through large portions of my life. as a teenager it was debilitating. i don't know why i started believing this little lie, but for some reason i was convinced as a teenager that if God were to ever bless me with a marriage, that my insecurities would fade away and ultimately disappear. God did bless me with a marriage, to a wonderful loving husband (he's truly the greatest physical gift God has ever given me,) and for a while it seemed my theory would prove correct. under my husband's unconditional love and attention, my confidence soared and a lot of the insecurities that weighed me down seemed to go away..

then the trials started coming.. a slew of them, from infertility worries, miscarriages, difficulties as a first time mom, and frightening illnesses, to worse of all, marriage struggles, and all those dormant insecurities started flooding back with a strength i had never known before. i felt like i was going to drown in them the the lowest times. i realize now that i was such a fool, thinking my salvation from insecurities rested in human relationships and human acceptance, rather than in the grace of Christ. the insecurities are something i know i will struggle with for a long time, but i am finally starting to recognize the lies that have been fueling them all my life and i am striving to combat them with the truth of God's word.

my friend B. and i have bonded over the last several years of sharing our mutual struggles with insecurities. she recently lent me this book by beth moore which she really enjoyed. it's a very readable book, (beth moore speaks on a homey, girl-to-girl level that comes across as intimate and genuinely loving,) but it has a lot of information, and i read it slowly over the course of about four weeks, taking breaks in between chapters to try to really absorb what i was reading.

another reason it was hard to absorb was because it forced me to look at myself in a way that isn't flattering. i recognized myself on practically every page of that book, and the picture the words painted wasn't very pretty. but the prevailing thought that consumed me as i turned the last page of the book was that all these years, i've never really believed God could heal my insecurities. i've kind of gotten used to and settled with the idea that they'll just define who i am for the rest of my life, and now i'm starting to realize that i've been a slave to a bunch of lies. it's been a call to go back to the Bible and re-examine Christ's words through the clear lens of truth.

this is the first book i've read by beth moore, and i don't know a whole lot about her, but i do think that this particular book is insighfully and sensitively written, and lends a healthy fresh perspective to those struggling with insecurities.

morning passages

this is a piece i've been working on (it's slow going - my skills are so rusty.)

music is by phillip glass, from his score for "the hours."

(sorry for the horrible audio quality.)

our quick stop at the OH state fair

we were only able to stay an hour or two, but during that time we got to see: some cute animals (and one unfortunate pig..) some neat rides, we watched a couple of marching bands, and smelled tons and tons of pretty much every sort of fried food imaginable. (deep fried butter? deep fried pepsi? seriously guys. these must be the sins-unto-death of the food world. shudder.)

we'd love to go back one year when we have more time! looked like there was so much to see and do!

seven days in marysville

"he'll zap you any way he can"

do you need a good laugh today by any chance?
i did.

and this gave me a realllllly good one.

...

just a little update for interested family members...

my midwife appointment turned out to be pretty boring. they confirmed my pregnancy, and estimate i'm around 6-8 weeks. i have a more in depth appointment next week, and an ultrasound in exactly two weeks.

nausea and fatigue are reallllly hammering me this week - today's been especially tough. every time i'm tempted to complain, however, i try to remind myself that i'd really prefer to be miserable than have no symptoms, as those symptoms are at least reassuring that my body's working hard on something important. and i also try to remind myself that this won't last forever, (though at 6-8 weeks, it sure feels like it's going to be forever.) :)

thanks for your love and prayers!

so it begins.

it started in ohio, and seems to be getting worse each day.

luckily it gets better by late afternoon, and i start to feel like a normal human being around 6pm.

i'm taking it as a good sign. i never got sick with my two losses. 

midwife appointment in the morning.. hoping that i'll find out how far along we are!

two-day "date" and surprises

it has been HOT!

my mother in law watched olive for a couple of nights last week, while my niece and nephew were in town visiting (olive loves cousin time!) it was very quiet and lonely at home without baby girl, but we tried to take advantage of the time together. we saw "captain america" at a local dinner theater, and stuffed ourselves silly on burgers (sans buns!) and popcorn.

it's a treat getting to go out for coffee by ourselves. we even got to read through the paper without olive spilling milk all over it.. ;)

i had been feeling kind of funny for a week or two, so with fingers crossed we took a little test to see

if our suspicious would be confirmed...

it's really too early to be sharing, but since only our families read this blog, i thought i'd share the "proof." we're very happy, and very anxious as the first trimester can be so scary. i'm looking forward to (hopefully) getting an early ultrasound next week so we can get a little peace of mind!