Our Married Life

Christmas Card Giveaway

2011-11-09T14:12:00.002-06:00

My good friend in real life, Meagan, is hosting a giveaway on her blog. She has been given the chance to giveaway 25 Christmas cards from Shutterfly. I LOVE Shutterfly. We have made books, cards and calendars from them. I'm really excited that she has this opportunity to do this. So head on over to her blog and enter into her contest. It ends this weekend, so you might want to hurry up.

-Caren

I've Given Up

2011-04-21T10:06:00.004-05:00

So after almost 8 months of failure to nurse my child, I've decided to give up trying. I'm not giving up pumping until at least a year, so at least he is still getting the very best from me.

After getting his tongue clipped, another round of crainosacral therapy, and visits with Early Childhood Intervention, it has become apparent that Aaron has "outgrown" his instinct to suck, therefore, making nursing very difficult. He has also sprouted 3 teeth and one on the way. With the fact that he bites down on anything that comes in his mouth, I wasn't about to try to nurse him with those things in there. Ouchy!

However, I am still going to continue to pump for him. It still sucks, but at least I know I am giving him 100% of what he needs. I have a goal to make it a year and I think I can do that. I've been told that once I hit a year, it might be hard for me to stop since it has become such apart of my life for 8 months. I will be gaining 3-4 hours a day by stopping, so we'll see how that works out.

I don't see this as failing completely. Even though I've failed at nursing, I have not failed in giving him what he needs. I've learned about sacrifice and love because being an exclusive pumper is a major sacrifice and, frankly, a big pain in the rear. But my child is not starving. He gets everything he needs and it a great eater when it comes to milk. He is still not eating solids right now, but I'm not worried about that. He will when he's ready and I'm not going to push him.

So there it is folks. 8 months of doctors, lactation consultants, sobbing, soreness, and other professionals, I'm ok with not trying anymore. But for people who say, "I couldn't nurse," I'm here to tell ya, neither could I, but that didn't stop me from pumping to provide for Aaron. Thankfully, I have saved our family so much money over the past 8 months because of my refusal to use formula (except for a month or 2 when my supply was super low). I'm excited to see how the next 4 months or so goes now that I've given in and am no longer stressing about whether or not Aaron will ever nurse.

Thank you to everyone who has and continues to support my decision. Nuge has been such a huge blessing. Without his support, I would not have been able to continue. Also, thank you to Le Leche League of Arlington and For Babies Sake for listening to me, letting me cry, and giving me options and support. I defiantly would have stopped pumping 7 months ago if I hadn't found yall. And to prove that Aaron isn't starving, here is a picture of my sweet little chunkers!

One Step Closer

2011-02-14T14:09:00.002-06:00

I am one step closer to nursing my son for the first time.

We had a lactation consultant come out last week and she felt around in Aaron's mouth for like 45 minutes. She concluded that she was about 95% sure that he was tongue tied. He had a very strong gag reflex, a disorganized suck, and a high pallet. I told her that we had already seen an ENT (ears, nose, throat) doctor and he told us Aaron was not tongue tied. When she asked which doctor we saw, it became clear that we saw the wrong doctor. When I made the appointment 4 months ago (when the same LC told me he was tongue tied), the office told me I could get in sooner if I saw the other doctor. So we went in and the other doctor had no clue what type of tongue tie there were. He said that Aaron's mouth was great and there was not a problem. So we tried every other form of "fixin'" we could and nothing seemed to help.

When I called last week to make the 2nd appointment, I told them I wanted to see the other doctor. The nurse asked why and I told her everything that was going on. That we saw the other doctor and he didn't catch the tongue tie and the other one had the experience in what we were looking for. She transferred me to a nurse who promptly told me that she has been in the business for over 30 years and she has never heard of Types 1, 2, 3, or 4 tongue tie and that my LC didn't know what she was talking about and probably couldn't fix the latch so she was pawning me off on someone else. She also told me that some kids just don't nurse and that was probably what was wrong with my kid. I told her that I wanted a 2nd opinion about the tongue tie and tried to remain calm. Inside, I was so upset. How dare her tell me that. I've been struggling for 5 months to get my son to nurse because it is so highly important to me. I just knew it was Satan saying that to me so that I would lose faith in my LC and give up. But I had faith in what Deirdre said and I wasn't going to let that nurse bully me.

Today, Nuge and I drove out to Dallas and saw the correct doctor. He felt around in Aaron's mouth and said that he was, in fact, a little tight. He went ahead and clipped his tongue and that was that. Immediately, Aaron was able to stick his tongue out beyond his lips, which he has never done before. I gave him some breast milk and he calmed down.

So now, we have an appointment with the DO on Thursday to make sure that everything is good to go in Aaron's skull. Once we get that checked out, we will have Deirdre come back out and work with us on his latch.

All of this is working out the way the Lord has planned it. Every step closer that we get is because of His awesomeness. It is because of His strength that I have been able to continue on even though I've been pressured by so many people to give up and just feed Aaron formula. The Lord has carried me emotionally through all of this and I feel that His work is still not done yet. I feel that He will allow my son to nurse! And once he does, all the glory will go to my Lord, Jesus Christ. Because I know that it is not by my own strength that we have made it, but by my Jesus'. So I'm gonna continue to pray for Aaron to nurse and I'd like to ask you to join me. For those of you that know me, this has not been the easiest road. You know my struggles and you know how much this means to me. Thank you for your support.

FYI: About Breastfeeding Troubles

2011-01-26T16:05:00.002-06:00

Just wanted to warn the boys before they read this and heard more than they wanted to hear.

In the past 5 months, I've battled all sorts of nursing problems. It just seems to be one thing after another.

I'm an exclusive pumper. Not by choice, but by necessity. Aaron refuses to latch on. After much heartbreak, tears, sweat, blood, and medication, I've come to terms with it. But it's still something that I am willing to try and praying that the Lord will grant me my heart's desire.

My soreness NEVER went away. I mean never! So anytime I tried to nurse Aaron, it was extremely painful. Pumping was painful showering was painful; shirts were painful; sitting still was painful. I was in constant pain. I had never breastfed before, so I kinda thought it was normal. A lot of people had talked about sore nipples before, so I just thought it was normal.

Aaron also would chomp instead of suck. Not just on me, but on bottles, fingers, pacifiers, or anything else would put in his mouth. That, combined with the soreness was NOT fun!

We tried an Ear, Nose and Throat doctor to see if maybe he was tongue tied. He wasn't.

We took Aaron to a chiropractor and he did an adjustment on Aaron and the next day I went to a La Leche League meeting to have support for when I tried to latch him on. He chomped. Chiro didn't work.

I worked with lactation consultants and other nursing moms at LLL and For Babies Sake (another breastfeeding support group). They all were very supportive and gave me things to try. None of it seemed to help.

I showed one of the lactation consultants what was going on with me and she said I probably had staph and needed to see a doctor. So the next day, I made an appointment with a dermatologist. Sure enough, I had severe staph. He treated it. But Aaron still chomped.

I took Aaron to a DO who specializes in cranial sacral therapy. He discovered that Aaron had tension in the side of his skull as well as a jam in the base. He released both of those and the results were immediate. But we still had to wait for me to heal.

Finally I was staph free. When we tried to latch him on again, he freaked out. By this time, he was 3.5 months old and had no idea what those were for. All he knew was that he was hungry and I was trying to present something that wasn't his bottle. So I was going to try a supplemental nursing system. Basically, it's a feeding tube that goes from the bottle and runs next to my nipple so that he gets the idea that "they" are for food. But as soon as I got the feeding tube, I got another infection.

This time, it came with itching, soreness, redness, swelling, etc. I talked to the lactation consultants at my "milk makers anonymous" meeting and they thought it could be either thrush (yeast infection in my nips) or my staph was back. So I used my staph cream and nothing happened. I started to use Monistat 7 per the lactation consultant and nothing happened.
I went back to the doctor today and it turns out, a severe yeast infection. Why does it always have to be "severe"?

So with all that being said and explained, let me encourage the moms that have had similar issues.

I would say, "It gets easier," but with me, it hasn't. It just becomes a part of my life. Painful pump, bottle feeding, bottle cleaning, pump sterilizing, time constraints. I often feel like I'm a slave to my pump. And I guess I am. I pump every 3-4 hours and it takes anywhere from 15-30 minutes. I do power pump sessions which is pump for 15 min, take a break for 15 minutes, repeat for an hour. Take an hour break and do it again. I also wake up in the middle of the night to pump. Aaron has been sleeping through the night since he was about a month and a half old, but I still get up to make sure my supply doesn't diminish. I have pumped in the car on the way to and from Lubbock or after I've been at a certain baseball game for 7 hours. I've taken my pump to my bible studies and have excused myself for 30 minutes to take care of business. I've had to excuse myself at family events and lock myself in a room alone to pump as well. It sucks. It's inconvenient. It's painful. And I hate it!!

But I know that in the end, Aaron is getting everything that is good for him. I am providing him with all the nutrients that he needs. All the antibodies he needs. He is healthy because of what I'm sacrificing.

If you are struggling with breastfeeding issues, I understand. I've been through them. But I can also tell you, don't give up! I've wanted to quit almost every day for the past 5 months, but I'm continuing on. My ultimate goal is 1 year. But right now, my goal is the next pumping session. Through the power of my Lord, I'm able to find the strength to pump one more time. One more day. One more week. I have surrounded myself with people who are supportive of my decision to provide breast milk for my son. I attend meetings with For Babies Sake once a week, every week. I also attend La Leche League meetings and play dates to surround myself with other mommies that share the same ideas that I do about breastfeeding.

It's not easy for everyone. I thought it would be and I think that's why I'm so disappointed in my nursing experience. But because of it, I now want to be able to encourage other moms to continue through the rough patches, infections, and emotional issues that come along with nursing a baby. Maybe I won't be able to be an actual lactation consultant, but I do want to help support other moms that might be on the verge of quitting. Don't quit. Persevere through it and you'll be glad you did.

Shutterfly Giveaway

2010-11-10T15:59:00.004-06:00

I have never been one for Christmas cards. My thought was always, "I have Facebook, people can look at my pictures on there." But last year, we recieved 10 different Christmas cards from people and it made me wish we had done one. Afterall, we did have big things happen to us in 2009: got a puppy and bought a house.

So now that Shutterfly is giving away 50 free Christmas cards to bloggers (apply here), I thought, "Well 2010 has been waaay more exciting in the Nuge house." I made a photobook from them after we got married. One for ourself, one for Nuge's parents and one for my parents. They were a big hit and I was so pleased with them. My mother in law also made us a calender of Gus and gave it to us for Christmas. Now that we have Aaron, I think a calender would be great for the grandparents and my sister and Nuge's brother.

I checked out some of the Christmas cards and Holiday cards and oh. my. goodness! There are too many great ones to choose from. We are having pictures taken of our family here pretty soon, and these would be a great way for our families that don't have access to Facebook to see our whole family.

Here are some of my favorite cards:

Why I Choose Natural, Out of Hospital Birth

2010-10-21T13:51:00.001-05:00

I’ve had a few people ask why I chose childbirth out of the hospital. There are many reasons for my decision, but these are just 8 of the main ones. Like anything else someone does, it’s a personal decision. Natural childbirth is not for everyone. I was blessed to be able to experience it, and I would HIGHLY recommend it to anyone who is healthy enough to do it. But as it is, I can’t make someone’s decisions for them. I can just tell them my reasons and try to educate myself enough to be able to back up those reasons.

I want to preface by saying that not all of these reasons might be true to everyone. I was very blessed to have the midwife I do and the care that I received. This is neither a doctor bashing post, nor an anti hospital/medical post. I’m just stating the reasons for my choice in an out of hospital birth and how much of a great experience it was. Not all doctors are bad and not all midwives are good. It comes down to the pregnant mom, what she wants and what she’s comfortable with.

No OB
My “OB” is my family doctor. So in order for me to find someone to deliver my baby, I would have had to find a new doctor. I’m not a fan of changing doctors and I am not comfortable with meeting someone for the first time and have them be in such a personal relationship with me right off the bat. It’s not something that I ever wanted to rush into just because I was pregnant. It would have required way too much research that I didn’t really want to do at the time. Plus, I really like my OB. Now, I realize that most people will have to meet a new midwife if that is the route they want to take, but for me, I already knew which one I wanted to use. I feel that the bedside manner of most midwives is something totally different than any doctor I have ever met. I could be wrong, but it’s from my experience and from stories of other people.

Labor how I want
For most women in hospitals, they are required to stay in bed and on their backs while in labor. For most, this isn’t the best way to labor. It doesn’t let gravity work with your body to allow for the baby to come down the birth canal. In fact, it can slow labor. In the birth center, I was able to get up and walk around (which, it just so happened, was not my favorite position to labor), sit on a birth ball, take a hot shower, and pretty much be in any position that was comfortable to me. I was not restricted to a bed. As it was, I was able to get in the tub and have the water birth that I have wanted to have for years.

No pressure for drugs/interventions I don’t want
I knew straight off the bat that I did not want any epidurals, Pitocin, C sections or any other interventions that the hospitals would have wanted me to have. When you are in labor, you really have a hard time making decisions. That’s why it’s important to have someone that knows what you want that can speak for you. If I was at the hospital during my transition period, I would have wanted an epidural. Which they probably would have given me, but it would have been too late for it to give me any relief. If I had gone to the hospital too early, they would have admitted me and if I was still in labor after 12-24 hours (depending on the hospital) they would have given me meds to speed up the labor or told me that I needed to have a c section to get the baby out. It wouldn’t have been necessary as my body knows what it’s doing. God doesn’t make mistakes when it comes to His creation.
An episiotomy was also something I did NOT want. I feel they are unnecessary unless it’s a dire need. But most of the time, it’s not necessary. I feel that most doctors perform them to speed things up. But in reality, if they would take their time and let the process happen naturally, then they can prevent severe tearing and the need for an episiotomy. There are certain circumstances where one is necessary, but I feel that most of the time, it’s the doctor’s impatience that makes them “necessary”.

No hospital protocols
Once you are admitted to most hospitals, they put you in a hospital gown, start an IV (or at least put one in place in your hand), and put an electric fetal monitor on you. All of which restrict your movement. Plus, I hate needles more than anything and the idea of an IV is something I am not a fan of. I would have also been restricted to ice chips and water only. Labor is long and very hard work. How are you supposed to stay energized without food? It’s impossible. The reason they restrict your food intake is because they are preparing for a c section, which is major surgery and you aren’t allowed to eat before major surgery. The C section rate in the United States is 31.8%. The World Health Organization recommends a rate between 10-15%. Most women who end up having to have “emergency c sections” is because they were denied food for their long labors and got worn out and were no longer able to go on. They would have also taken the baby away from me as soon as he was born to do all the check ups and stuff like that. It is so important to have as much skin to skin as possible as soon as possible to promote bonding and breastfeeding. I’m not saying that you can’t bond with your child after a c section or anything like that. I’m just saying that is it recommended by most doctors and midwives, but so many of them make the mother wait. All the weights and measurements and stuff like that can wait. The baby will still weight the same and be the same length after a few hours. As it was, I was able to spend as much time with Aaron as I wanted to before the midwives took him to measure him.

Nurses and doctors are busy
When you go to the hospital, you are not the only patient. There are many other women that nurses and doctors are dividing their time between. Sometimes it gets hectic. So you might not have the same nurse throughout labor. In fact, you might come in a few hours before a shift change and then you have all new nurses that might or might not be up to date on you and your situation. The doctor basically acts as a catcher. He comes in right before the baby comes out to catch him. Then he leaves to deliver another baby. Sure you’ve talked with him during appointments and know him ok enough, but he might not know who you are if you saw him at the mall. He might even want to induce you early because he has a vacation planned. I’m not saying all doctors do this, but I’ve heard of it happening. Or, if something happens and he’s out of town, then you have a whole new doctor to deal with.
From the beginning, Lisa informed me that her best friend was getting married on September 11, 2 days after my due date. So we had a back up midwife in mind and I was ok with that. About 2 weeks before my due date, she wanted to go out of town for the weekend. She called me to make sure that was ok with me. Someone women freak out if their midwives go away a few weeks before they are due. But I thought it was very thoughtful of Lisa to call me to ask if that was ok. What doctor does that?
When I arrived at the birth center, I was the only person there. I was her only priority. She got me anything and everything I wanted or needed. She personally cleaned up my vomit off the carpet. After delivery, she spoon fed me yogurt so I could continue to hold Aaron. She was in no hurry to be anywhere else that day. When I called her at 3am, she cleared her schedule so that she could focus on me. Although I’m not sure how busy her schedule was on a Sunday, but either way, I was her focus. I came first.

Relaxed environment
From the very beginning, Lisa (our midwife) made sure we were comfortable. Not just with her, but with the whole natural birth, out of hospital experience. I never felt rushed during our appointments. On contrary, I felt like she would have kept us there for hours to answer every question we had. I never had to deal with random nurses that I didn’t know. Lisa was always the one we dealt with. She was not above taking my vitals, weight, belly growth, or anything else like that. She did it all herself, or the help of the student midwife that was working under her. She even invited my in laws to the birth center to have a tour and answer any questions they had about her or the birth process. My mother in law had a bad experience with childbirth with her first born and so she had some concerns about not having a baby in the hospital.
When I came in while in labor, it was the same calm atmosphere. We chilled out in the bedroom before we got bored. Then Lisa suggested we watch a movie downstairs so we wouldn’t be so bored. Once it became too hard to concentrate on the movie, we moved back upstairs to the bedroom and I was able to labor in silence. There was no nurse that was coming in every hour to check me. Lisa would wait until I was ready before she did anything. She talked in a soft voice and even quoted me scripture when I felt like I couldn’t go on.
When I got into the tub, it was the same calm environment. Even the other 2 midwives stayed quiet and talked in hushed tones so I wouldn’t be distracted by them. There was no, “PUSH PUSH PUSH”. I was able to push when I felt like it and stop when the desire went away. Lisa tried to help me with relaxing and breathing but wasn’t pushy about it. Nuge was by my side the entire time. He was able to catch Aaron and put him on my belly. He was able to cut the cord and he was the one who found out if Aaron was a boy or a girl. The whole experience was family oriented. When it came to checking how much Aaron weighed, Nuge got to do that too. We were not rushed into anything.
After delivery, Aaron and I took an herbal bath and could stay in there for as long as we wanted. It was a great bonding experience and very relaxing. After the bath, I was able to wash my hair and feel clean again. We were able to stay at the center for as long as we wanted or leave when we wanted. As it was, we decided to leave about 4 hours after giving birth. What kind of rest do people really get in the hospitals? Probably not much. The birth center knows that people rest better at home in their own beds and in their own environment. Of course, they made sure Aaron and I were both ok enough to go home. They also gave us a packet of information on how to care for a newborn and how to take his temperature and other vitals at home to make sure everything stayed great.

Love my midwife
I first met Lisa when she delivered my niece 3 years ago. I also went with my sister to her appointments when she got pregnant with her 2nd baby. So I knew how great Lisa was even before she became my midwife. She was, and still is, very encouraging and filled with knowledge. She loves Aaron and is never shy to hold him and kiss him and talk to him. She has a calm demeanor that was very helpful during labor. She came to the house 2 days after delivery to check on Aaron instead of us having to go to a doctor’s office. She loved on him so much and it was very sweet to watch. You can just tell how much she loves her job. She also came back to the house a few days later when I was having trouble breastfeeding. She worked with me and gave me suggestions and names and numbers of lactation consultants that she knows personally.

7. Drugs CAN do more harm than good.
I’m not naive enough to know that drugs only cause troubles. But for a lot of women that have normal pregnancies and no history of high risk issues in their family history, medications can cause trouble that is unnecessary. If a woman is induced with medication for whatever reason, it makes labor so much harder. The hormones that the medications provide are a lot more than what the body will provide naturally causing the contractions to be so much harder and intense than if the body had gone into labor naturally. This almost always causes the woman to need an epidural. Sometimes, the combination of the medications can cause the labor to slow down. This then requires more medication to help speed it up. Sometimes breaking of the water is “necessary”. But from what I’ve learned, the water bag acts a cushion for both mom and baby. Instead of the baby’s head pushing directly on the pelvic bone of the mother, the bag is used to cushion the push and make it more comfortable for both. Also, the combination of the meds can cause heart rate problems for mom, baby or both. When that happens, it almost always requires an emergency c section because someone is in trouble. But if the mother was able to go into labor on her own, deny the drugs to make it more comfortable for her, then most of the time, emergency surgery isn’t required. Now, of course, there are exceptions to all of these. I have a friend who was 15 days past her due date, her baby wasn’t growing, and her midwife was worried. She was required to go to the hospital to be induced. She had an epidural, and there were heart rate problems with her baby, but by the grace of God, she did not require a c section. And of course, if you are a high risk pregnancy, then none of this applies. I’m talking just about healthy moms, pregnancies, and babies.

I’ve never met someone who had a terrible birth experience at a birth center
In our birth class, most of the moms there were 2nd or 3rd timers, but first time out of hospital. Almost all of them came to the birth center because they had a terrible experience at the hospital. Some of them, it was their 3rd birth with the same midwife. When talking to people, it’s a hit or misses on if they liked the hospital experience. For most of my friends, it was a terrible experience. Some of them liked their doctors, but not the way they were treated at the hospital. Some of them loved every bit of the experience. But, in all the people that I’ve talked to or met who had birth center or home births would not do it any other way. Some of them have used the same midwife for all of their kids. The treatment is so different than at a hospital.

Things Nobody Told Me

2010-09-15T00:27:00.003-05:00

After you get pregnant, people will tell you all sorts of things. Some good, some bad. When people found out I was having a natural childbirth... at a birth center... with a midwife, a lot of people freaked out and would love to tell me the horror stories they have about such and such almost dying because of this and that. So I can't tell you about other people's stories. I can only tell you about mine. For my friends that are pregnant or thinking about becoming pregnant, remember, these are just MY experiences and things I wish people had told me about so that I could have prepared for them.

Now that I've experienced pregnancy and childbirth and am in the process of experiencing motherhood, when I talk to other mothers about what's going on (the good and the bad) they all say, "Oh yeah the same thing happened to me" or "Yeah, I had a hard time with that too". Really?! Why isn't anyone telling people this stuff? I think it's important to know that you are not alone in your struggles and joys and that there have been other women that have gone before you and have experienced the same things. So here are some things that I've learned that may or may not have been told to me by other mothers before they happened to me:

Pregnancy does not always equal morning sickness (or all day sickness), outrageous cravings or massive amounts of stretch marks.

I never once had any bout of sickness in the whole 9 months. I did have some cravings, but nothing that were too out of the ordinary; mainly peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, eggs (any kind), grapes, and chocolate milk. And although I did have a few stretch marks on my hips, it's nothing that I'm losing sleep over. And, by the way, yes, I did use lotion and it didn't work.

I was no longer able to sleep on my stomach or back (not that I was ever a stomach or back sleeper, but just knowing I couldn't made it worse) and sleeping on your sides starts to hurt after awhile.

Sure, it starts out comfortable, but after about 4 months of sleeping on your sides, it starts to get old. Plus, towards the end, you can't roll over very well and so it makes for turning pretty difficult.

Towards the end, it starts being uncomfortable.

I gained about 30 pounds while pregnant (I'm not ashamed of it either), and so walking, sitting, standing, laying down, bending over, getting in and out of cars, off of couches, etc, starts to get hard. When I dropped something, I always thought, "Man, do I really need that?".

Contractions don't always start from the top of the uterus and work its way down.

Mine felt like massive menstrual cramps...only about 10 times worse.

Labor is scary. Delivery is even scarier.

Now since I had a natural birth, I felt everything. And I mean everything. It was the most pain I had ever been in. I was scared through a lot of it. I kept thinking, "I can't do this." "I'm not strong enough." Of course, in the end, I was strong enough. But it didn't make it any less scary. Even now, if I found out I was pregnant, I would be scared of having to do it over again. But it is definitely something I want to experience again, maybe even multiple times over.

Breastfeeding is not always easy and does not always come naturally.

Aaron and I are having the hardest time figuring out this whole breastfeeding thing. He won't latch on to me and it's frustrating. It has brought me to sobbing tears on more than one occasion...or maybe even more than half a dozen times. I've been told multiple times over that other women had problems too and it will get better. It will get easier. Or that they weren't able to do it and just went to formula feeding. Why didn't anyone tell me that? My grandmother, mom, aunt, and sister were all able to breastfeed. My sister has recently had 2 kids and made it seem effortless. Come to find out, she had a really hard time with her first child. Why wasn't I informed of that? Aaron will latch on to my sister just fine, but won't latch on to me. Do you know how incredibly sad and heartbreaking that is for a new mom? It hurt me so bad to know that it wasn't him...it was me. He didn't want me. Very sad. Now, we are still working on the latching on, but I've been told by numerous experts that he will need to grow more and then it will get easier. That he has all the right parts to breastfeed, he just needs to figure it out. I still have faith that we will get this, but for now, we are pumping and using my milk to feed him. It's not ideal, but at least he is getting my milk. We will get there.

Natural childbirth will make you walk funny for a few days.

I don't think this one needs any explanation. I think it was a good 3 or 4 days before I was walking completely upright. A good week before I was able to sit and stand at a regular pace, put on jeans or other "regular" fitting clothes. I lived in pajamas for a few days. At that point, comfort is everything.

Every theory I had about parenting went out the window as soon as we brought Aaron home.

Nuge has taken off work for 4 weeks. That's more than what most men are able to do. So I figured that with him around, we would be able to do a lot of things on our own. But with my labor starting at 2:30am, having Aaron at 5:20pm, and coming home at 9pm, it made for a very long day. Plus with the trials of breastfeeding and Aaron not sleeping in his crib, we were exhausted the next day. My parents came over the next morning, cooked us breakfast and lunch, cleaned our house and watched Aaron while Nuge and I took a nap. The next night, Aaron was up for 13 hours straight, so Nuge and I were dead tired. At about 5am, I caught my mom online and asked if she would come over and watch Aaron for us while we got some sleep. She did and it was amazing! Once again, she cleaned and did our laundry for us. We have also gone over to my parents house to hang out. But secretly, or not so secretly, it has been so we can take naps while the grandparents watch Aaron. It has been a huge blessing and I can't believe I ever thought we could do it completely alone.

The meals that people bring over are one of the best gifts anyone can give new parents.

We have been so blessed by the amount of food people have brought over for us. It is really a lifesaver for us. It's so hard to find time to eat and so when our friends have brought food, we've welcomed them in and asked them to join us. It forces us to sit down, take a break, and eat. Plus, it gives us awesome fellowship with our friends and family.

You will wake up and check on your baby to make sure he is still alive.

I am guilty of waking up from a dead sleep to check on Aaron. And babies breathe so lightly sometimes that it's hard to see them move. So I have also been guilty of poking him or putting my hand on him so his startle reflex will kick in and I can see that he's still alive. Also, I have been a victim of Satan's scares. He likes to put horrible thoughts about something bad happening to Aaron in my head. It's a terrible feeling of not being in control, but ultimately, Aaron is in God's hands and it is up to Him if He wants to take Aaron from us. I can do everything I can to protect him, but it's the Lord's doing. I just have to trust in my faith in the Lord to know that He will keep my son safe and alive.

Parenting is unreal.

It's been over 2 weeks since we had him and I still can't believe he is our son. It's amazing. It's scary. It's nerve wracking. But it's an awesome feeling!

Your kid really is the most beautiful thing in the world.

I know we are all guilty of saying, "Yeah, that baby just isn't that cute." Nuge and I were prepared for our child to come out looking like a monkey. Both he and I have massive amounts of hair, so we were certain that our child was going to be covered in hair. We were also surprised that Aaron didn't have eyes in the back of his head or teeth coming out his nose (Nuge and I both have terrible eye sight and our teeth...well we won't go there). But nope, Aaron came out looking so perfect and beautiful. I have never seen such a beautiful baby. Of course, I'm biased and I'm sure all you parents out there feel the exact same way about your kids. That's just the way it is.

The nastiest things in adults are the most adorable in your child.

Who ever thought that poop, pee, burping and spit up can be cute? The only time it's not cute is when your son's "area" is not positioned properly and pee comes out the front, side, and back of the diaper and gets all over you. Or when you hear the "dirty diaper" cry, you say (in your cute baby voice), "Did you go poopoo in your diaper? Oh you sure did. Well let's go take care of that so you can be all nice and clean" It's a totally strange thing. But as soon as you change the diaper, they stop crying and all is right in the world. Your child is happy because of something you did.

You truly have a better idea of how the Lord sees you as one of His children when you have your own.

I love Aaron so much that it's unreal. It pains me to think of something bad happening to him. But my love for my son is NOTHING compared to the love the Lord has for me and the rest of His children. When Aaron is having trouble latching on, he can taste the milk that is coming out, yet he still refuses to eat it. I get so frustrated with him because it's right there in his face and he is tasting what is good, yet he still refuses to drink from it. How must the Lord feel when over and over we reject what is good and holy? We know the truth. It's right there in front of us, yet we still refuse to drink from His fountain of Life. I just think about how frustrated He must get at His children, yet He still loves us more than anything.

That's all I can think of right now. I'm sure there are more and as I come across them, I'll probably add them to another blog. For my friends out there that are wanting to become parents, I hope this helps and I hope you find comfort in knowing that whatever struggles you may have, you are not alone. Don't be afraid to talk about your struggles with other people, because I'm sure someone, somewhere along the way had the exact same thing happen to them and they might be a great source of comfort, support, and knowledge for you. Parenting is not all rainbows and sunshine all the time. It's hard, it's frustrating, it's heartbreaking, it's rewarding, and it's fun. Hope this helped or gave insight. If not, oh well. It was great therapy for me to get it out.

Birth - The Husband's point of view

2010-09-03T22:25:00.004-05:00

Caren wakes me up at 3am Sunday morning saying she's been having constant contractions and cramping that felt different and more serious than other "false contractions" she's had. I was thinking (our baby's not due for another 11 days and ah man he's coming right now? It's 3am! But I was also very excited). So I got up and we tried to start timing the contractions for about an hour. They were kind of random and not all that consistent as far as timing goes. She said she couldn't exactly tell when a contraction was starting. Caren texted our midwife Lisa to let her know the situation and we tried to lie down so Caren could have some energy for the laboring process. I laid down and fell back asleep pretty quick, but Caren couldn't sleep so she got up and talked to her Mom and other random people on the computer. I then got woken up at 7:30 by Caren saying "Honey if I'm going to be up you've got to be up" and she said that the contractions have gotten a bit more intense. I got up and we started timing them again. Caren was saying "We can go ahead and go to church, then labor at home for a while" but as she would go through a contraction she would moan somewhat loudly and we decided that going to church probably wouldn't be the best idea. I can't imagine the random moaning going on during the sermon...so the contractions were about 4-5min apart and lasted between 50-80 seconds. Caren texted the midwife to tell her the situation and told us to come in whenever we were ready. When about 9:30 rolled around, Caren decided it was getting a little too intense and wanted to go ahead and head up to the birthing center.

I think I was just in shock that this was all already happening...and we both were still somewhat doubting that this was actually the real thing. So we drove up there and Caren was going through some contractions wondering why we were hitting every red light. Meanwhile I kept reminding her that these pains were all normal and this was how God made childbirth to be. I think...at least I hope that that was helping her. We arrived at the birth center just after 10am. We went inside and I could tell that Caren was getting in more and more pain and I just kept praying for God to make this as easy as labor could be. Our midwife Lisa looked to see how dilated Caren was and she was at 3cm. We were somewhat bummed because it sounded like she still had a long way to go. We then went upstairs into a bedroom that we wanted to stay in and Caren sat on an exercise ball. Then I think we both realized that this was the real thing....this was actually happening right now....it was a mixture of emotions. For me it was exciting and I was a bit worried for Caren because I knew she didn't get much sleep and I thought this was going to be a marathon labor that would last like 24+ hours or something. Plus I knew that her pain tolerance is not very high so this would be a whole new ballgame...

So she's sitting on this ball going through these contractions and we were just sitting there and Caren said this is boring. So Lisa told us they had movies we could watch. We end up putting in the Father of the Bride and I decide to run out and pick up a burger and a bunch of tacos from Jack in the Box (with permission from my wife and Lisa of course) to last me for this whole marathon. I left and came back and sure enough this labor was no longer "boring". Caren was starting to be in a lot of pain meanwhile our phones are blowing up from people wanting an update, which I thought was hilarious. Everytime she would go through a contraction I would try and rub her back and press on this heat pack (which was hot rice in a big sock) on her lower back. Now what was funny was that I had never seen Father of the Bride before and I was actually getting interested in watching the movie lol! So I was like whoa Ryan focus on your wife here!!! So God gave me a quick slap to the back of the head to get me sucked out of the movie.

Caren then had another contraction and she said she felt like she was going to throw up. So Lisa runs to get a big bowl and I saw that she was starting to spew a bit, I then ran over and cupped my hands to catch her vomit so it wouldn't get all over the birthing center's carpet. I think Caren really tried to hold off until the big bowl came over but she couldn't and vomited right in my hands. Then the bowl came like 4 seconds later...then I was thinking, Wow...I hate throw up, I can't believe I had the impulse reaction to catch her vomit and it didn't even bother me at all. I realized I must be in like Survival Mode or something. Anyways then Caren apologized quite a bit for doing that.

At this point the fun was over, Caren was no longer smiling at all, no longer wanted to joke, it was all business and straight-faced because the pain was getting to be too much. Lisa then talked Caren into taking a warm shower, so we went up there and she got in the shower somehow and was in there for about 15 minutes and kept telling me that she was scared. I kept telling her to not be scared and that this is all classic labor pain stuff. This is how God made it to be, it's in God's hands, it's all normal stuff. I think this helped a little but she was still fearful. She then got out of the shower and was in quite a bit of pain. So I asked if she wanted to get in the bed in the bedroom. She got into the bed and would have a pretty ridiculous contraction then would doze off in the bed....this pattern repeated for about an hour and a half. While she would doze I was praying over and over in my head asking God to make this happen quick and easy if it was His will. I kept telling Him "you know Caren can't tolerate much pain...please, please just help her get through this. Please...we're your children...you know us...we can't do this without you." and that was some awesome God time and he delivered! So after this Caren asked if there was another position she could try and Lisa told her she could try the ball again. So Caren was on the bed still and was on her knees leaning on the ball and she had another contraction, and her moaning on this one sounded like extreme pain mixed with a desperation cry. It made my heart sink but I knew that this was classic labor stuff. So then Caren cried out "Can I get in the tub now?!!" So Lisa told her she needed to check her to make sure she was far enough along. Lisa looked and by the grace of God she went from 4cm at 1pm to 9.5cm at 4pm! So she said she could get in the tub. We all then helped Caren down the hall to the tub and Caren said she had the urge to push and Lisa said to go ahead.

Caren then somehow made it to the tub and I could tell she was just ready for this baby to get the heck out. At this point I was very excited!!! I knew that this was it! So Caren would get the urge to push and her phone seriously went off like every 4-5 minutes and Caren said "I hate that phone!" funny stuff. (of course it wasn't at the time). So I was kneeling on the end of the tub closet to her head and Lisa was on the other end and I was holding Caren's hand and she would SQUEEZE and pull pretty hard! But she was doing awesome and every time she would push we would encourage her that she was doing so well. So then she got the urge to push again and this baby came out of nowhere! Lisa was like oh geez! and told me to pick the baby up and put it on Caren, so I picked up the baby and put it on Caren and Caren's face was priceless. I think she was in a random state of bewilderment that this baby was suddenly lying on her! Then I was like YOU DID IT and it took a good couple of seconds for her to realize what just happened. Then we were like what is it, what is it? Then Lisa said take a look Daddy, so I looked at the "area" and said IT'S A BOY! IT'S AARON JOSHUA! It was awesome. So all the pain and stuff was nothing in comparison to this creation by God that was lying on his mommy.

To summarize I would say it was very uncomfortable seeing my wife go through more pain then she has ever been through in her entire life, but it was awesome to see the birth of our son. God really helped Caren through this, I believe he allowed Caren to go into labor early so the baby wouldn't be quite as big as a "normal" baby and He made the labor only last from start to finish a total of less than 15 hours, which is pretty good for a first baby. So God is awesome!!

Aaron Joshua, The Birth Center Way

2010-08-30T06:40:00.004-05:00

The Beginning

So as most of you know, Nuge and I decided we wanted to have a natural childbirth at a birthing center. It wasn't something we decided on lightly, but was definitely something we researched and talked a lot about. My sister had had her daughter, Emma, at the same birth center we were planning on using and had an amazing expereince. Everything about it was wonderful. All of my friends who had had kids, all had hospital births and all had some type of complication that required interference. Not that anything is wrong with a hospital birth vs. birthing center/home birth, but for us, there was no contest as to which one we wanted to do.

So the process:

Once Nuge and I found out we were pregnant, we made an appointment at Family Birth Services in Grand Prairie with my sister's midwife, Lisa. Our first appointment was awesome. She talked to us about how everything would go down, gave us a tour, answered all our questions and concerns and even told us to bring in Nuge's parents so they could be reassured that a birth center birth was completely safe and they had nothing to worry about. We listened to the baby's heart beat at every appointment and, like I said, answered all our questions and went over everything that I was thinking and feeling about giving birth. We felt very at ease with her and she was just a very likeable person. We had a student midwife, Rebekah, that would be with us at most of the appointments and the birth. She was the one that took my vitals and just watched Lisa do her job. Sweet girl.

Labor:

Nuge and I had decided to go on Date Day before the baby came. We wanted to go see movies, go to dinner and just in general, hang out with each other. So we did that on Saturday, August 28th. 2:30am, I was woken up by some massive cramps (ladies, it felt like your worst menstrual cramp ever). I thought it was from the Panchos we had for dinner (it was Nuge's half of Date Day). I text my sister (since she's a nurse and had been through labor 2 months before), and she told me to give Lisa a call. So I called Lisa at about 3am and told her what I was feeling and what was going on. She told me to try and time the contractions for an hour and then try to lay down and go back to sleep for a little bit.

So I got Nuge up (hey, if I had to be up, then so did he!), and we packed our bag (since we weren't planning on going to the BC for another 11 days), and he timed the contractions. They were coming between 8-10 minutes lasting about 45 seconds each. I called Lisa after an hour and told her I was going to lay down. Yeah, that didn't really work very well. They were too close together to sleep and too strong that when they did start, I would be wide awake and couldn't get back to sleep again. So I gave up and Skyped with my mom and dad for a little bit. I got Nuge up again at 7:30am cause I wanted some company as I was going through them. He made me an egg sandwich. I knew it was going to be a long day and I was going to need some protein to get me through it.

After the contractions started to pick up, I decided to call Lisa and tell her that they were very strong and coming at about 5 minutes apart and lasting over a minute each. She told me I could go ahead and come on in and be checked. So after packing up some snacks to eat during labor (which they encourage you to do to keep your strength up), we headed for the birth center. Once we got there, Lisa checked me and said I was at a 3, which was good cause I went from a 0 to a 3 in just a few hours. She encouraged me and told me I was making great progress. We picked a room to put our stuff in and I got in bed. A lot of books that I had read told me to stay up and walking, but the contractions were too strong that my legs felt like they couldn't handle the shooting pain. It was actually a lot more comfortable to labor in bed or on a couch.

After a while, I got bored just sitting in the room having nothing to do, so we went downstairs and put in Father of the Bride. After about 2 hours, I wanted to be checked again since I was sure I had made some great progress. Nope...4cm. We were in for a very long labor. We went back to watch the movie and then the contractions really picked up. One was so bad that I had to throw up. I told Nuge "I'm gonna throw up! Lisa! I'm gonna throw up!" They both set off to find something to catch it in. I couldn't wait. Nuge ran over to me and caught some in his hands before Lisa came with a bowl. What an awesome man he is for catching his wife's barf in his hands. That, my friends, is true love!

So after that, I was pretty much done watching the movie. I wanted to go back upstairs and concentrate on breathing and relaxing. Between contractions (that were now lasting about 2 minutes each) I tried to rest. I think I even dozed off a few times. Then, all of a sudden, I needed another labor position. Lisa got the birthing ball and put it on the bed and I got on my knees and rested on it. That was, by far, my least favorite position! I felt like I tossed the ball across the room and said, "I do NOT like that position!" Then I needed to throw up again. But I didn't. I told Lisa that I wanted in the tub right then!

Side Note:

I had decided a long time ago that I wanted a water birth. I had heard they were more comfortable (as comfortable as delivering a baby could be) than a bed and I was determined to try it.

The Tub:

Lisa checked me again, telling me that if I hadn't made much progress, we would need to put the tub off until later. If that had been the case, I would have asked to go to the hospital. By this point, the contractions were so strong and so painful that I wasn't sure I could really do it. When Lisa checked me, 2.5-3 hours after the last time she had, I was at 9.5cm. I went from a 4 to a 9.5 in 3 hours! It was awesome! So we headed to the tub. On the way there, I had a contraction and just felt the need to push. So Lisa told me to push. Got in the tub, and it was almost instant relief. Well not "relief" but it definitely felt better in the water.

Once in, I had another contraction and needed to push. This went on for a while. Between them, we could hear our phones going off in the bedroom. It was rather amusing because I had promised to keep people updated through Facebook but things happened so fast that we were unable to do that once we found out I was at a 9.5. I started to really hate the sound of my phone. But it was so awesome to know that we had so much support and prayers coming from our friends.

After about 45 minutes, the head started to emerge. Then, all of a sudden, things got going really fast. Once the head was born, I had one more contraction and then the baby was on my belly. I even missed the part where Nuge caught him and put him up there. I was in complete shock. We sat there drying him off and listening to our baby cry. We didn't even know what sex he was until a few minutes later. I asked, "What is it?" and Lisa said, "Why don't you check it out Daddy". He lifted the towel and the leg and said, "Oh my gosh, it's a boy! It's Aaron!" And that was that. A few minutes later, I had another contraction and the placenta was born. We called our parents to let them know they had a grandson.

Once out of the tub, we got back into bed and just looked at our beautiful son. He was perfect. They checked all his vitals and he was great! Nuge got to weigh him and the midwives had passed him around to see if they could guess how big he was. Nobody guessed less than 6.5 pounds. 5 pounds and 15 ounces. He was a tiny little thing! After eating some yogurt and boiled eggs, Aaron and I took an herbal bath. It smelled like something you would cook pasta in. It was so relaxing. It's supposed to help with my bleeding and drying out Aaron's cord. After the bath, they let me wash my hair (which was like staying in a 5 star hotel!). Then we just hung out for a little bit. Filled out forms and learned what to do with him now that he was ours. I had to nurse him before they would let us go. So around 9pm, we got to leave.

And that's that. That's our birthing story. It was the most amazing experience of my life, but it was also the scariest. I had never felt pain like that before, but in the end, it seriously was worth it. To know that our son is healthy and happy.

God really did design childbirth to be an amazing thing. I am so blessed that I was able to feel everything that God intended me to feel. We are also extremely blessed by our friends and family who prayed for us throughout the entire pregnancy and birth. Trust me, the prayers were heard! We felt everyone's presence there, even though it was just the 2 of us. We knew that the Lord had given us so amazing friends that were there for us. So thank you to everyone who prayed and thought about us yesterday!

I'm not embarrassed by my birthing pictures because I know that it was hard work and you can't always look your best when working that hard. So for those of you who might thing that giving birth is a glamorous event, it's not and I'm not ashamed to show you the true side of it. So no, I'm not wearing make up and yes, that's really what my face looks like. And 2, I had been sweating for hours and so yes, my hair looks terrible. Enjoy! :)

38 Weeks Down, 2 To Go

2010-08-26T10:51:00.003-05:00

Well, we have made it to 38 weeks! So far, everything is looking great! Our midwife, Lisa, said that Baby Nuge is in a perfect position for birth. He/she is head down and pretty low, which, according to her, is really good for 1st time moms this early. So that makes me excited! :)

Nuge and I have been camping out in the living room because sleeping on the couch is more comfortable than in the bed right now. It's actually been a pretty pleasant experience on the couch. I think I'm sleeping better and feel a little more rested.

I've been hanging out in the pool a lot lately to relieve some of my back pain. I love being in there, but when it's time to come out, the pain comes back. I guess you never realize how your weight can affect everything. 25 extra pounds around my belly has proven to be pretty heavy. I'd like to start walking around the mall so that I can maybe get labor started sooner rather than later. Although, Baby Nuge will come with he/she is ready. It's all in God's perfect timing!

So far, the due date is September 9. Our 2 year anniversary is on Sept. 5. Labor Day is on the 6th. So we like to think that Baby Nuge and I will start contractions on Friday, Sept 3. That way, Nuge will have all weekend off work, plus Monday! Then, his paternity leave will start on Tuesday. So that's the plan and we can't mess it up! :) Our midwife is also going out of town on Sept 11, so we can't have the baby on that date. But anytime after the 11 is ok with us! :) Of course we are joking!

I put a survey at the top of the blog so you can make a prediction of what gender Baby Nuge will be!

We Are Ready (I think)!

2010-08-17T14:19:00.006-05:00

And by "ready," I really mean the nursery is ready. I'm getting there, but I still have 3 more weeks until I'll be "ready"!

Crazy!! 3 more weeks. Which really means, I could deliver next week or 5 weeks from now. I'm not really worried about when the baby comes, as long as Baby Nuge is healthy. I have enjoyed being pregnant, so if I have to stay this way a week or 2 longer than planned, it's no big deal. Baby Nuge will come when she's ready to come.

I've only started being really uncomfortable these last few weeks though. It's hard to roll over when I sleep, sit up when I'm taking a bath or laying down, or putting on shoes. I haven't been able to fit in our shower for a few months now, so I've resorted to baths. Let me tell ya, when I've had a hard day, nothing beats a nice warm bath!! My fingers have swelled up so bad that I can't wear my wedding rings anymore. Since I'm not comfortable going out in public without my rings, I've put them on a pony tail holder and wear it around my wrist. A much better idea than not wearing them at all or wearing them on my pinkie. My feet no longer have bones in them. Or if they do, I can't see them anymore. When I wear tennis shoes all day and then take them off, my feet start itching really really bad because they have been constrained in a shoe and then are finally released. It makes for not such a fun night sometimes.

But all in all, it has been a very wonderful experience and I'm so blessed to have the trust of my Lord that He has allowed me to carry and care for one of His Children. I just can't get over what a blessing it is to have His trust like that. It's also very scary to realize that He has trusted us with something so precious. But I feel confident that Nuge and I will be able to take care of God's child as long as we remember Who's Baby Nuge really is! He is not ours, but God's. What an amazing realization.

Our midwife experience has also been wonderful. I can't wait to come back and post about the birthing process from a birthing center point of view. In the next week or so, I will post a survey of what the readers (that's you!) think we are having. It will be interesting to see what y'all think.

That's another thing that has been pretty cool...not finding out the sex. These last few days have been a little harder only because we have baby girl clothes, that my sister has graciously given us, in our closet. I very much want to take them out of the bags and hang them up, but if we have a boy, then it would be wasted time. So that's really been the only "hard" part of not finding out. Other than that, it's been a blast putting the nursery together and seeing my vision come to life on the walls. I would have never been able to do any of it without the help of my awesome friends and family.

Thank you so much to ladies in our Friday night LifeGroup (Linda, Kim, Lisa, Jennifer, and Heather). Y'all have all had some part (big or small) in the coming together of our nursery. And to the husbands who helped paint (Clint, Ben, and Kyle), y'all are pretty awesome too! Also, to all the ladies who put together and thrown the 3 best baby showers ever, y'all did such a great job and I enjoyed each and every one of them. So thank you Jan, Sally, Carolyn, Tricia, Jennifer, Jennifer, Linda, Erin, and Stephanie. And a massive thank you to the ladies who actually showed up to the showers! If it weren't for y'all, we wouldn't have much. I love you ladies so much!!

So here are some pictures of the nursery coming together. For more pics from the various showers, you can check out the Baby Nuge photo album on Facebook.

The Day We Got Robbed...

2010-05-26T20:13:00.003-05:00

So let me tell you the "fun, exciting" day the Nuge's had today.

I was at home, chilling out in the living room when the door bell rang. I don't like answering the door really, so I just looked out the peep hole and see a guy out there wearing a blue uniform type outfit carrying a notebook. I look out our front windows and see his car backed into our driveway. Well I don't know this guy; I'm not expecting anyone, so I don't answer. But he just keeps ringing our door bell over and over. Then he knocks and tries to open our storm door (thankfully, it's always locked).

I go into the bedroom and hear him on the side of our house going into our backyard. I call the cops and tell them I'm home, someone is in my backyard, I don't know who they are, I'm 6 months pregnant and I'm scared. She asks for my location and I tell her. I hear knocking on our back windows that lead into the kitchen. I kinda peer out of the bedroom and see the man looking in. He was looking towards the living room, so he didn't see me. I jump back into the bedroom and tell the dispatcher that he's looking into my windows. Then I hear him trying to open our back storm door (which is also always locked; our house is like a fortress) and yell, "Hello, anyone home?" Then I hear rustling of the bushes and kinda think he's leaving.

But then, I hear a loud CRASH sound and I knew he just broke my window. I tell the dispatcher that he broke my window and is coming into my house. I run into my closet and am just standing there. I tell the dispatcher that I can hear him in the living room and that I'm scared and to hurry up. She assures me the police are on the way and to try and relax and breath (uh yeah, cause that's what you would do if you were pregnant and a man was in your house) and not talk until I needed to.

Then the door bell rings again (I seriously hate my doorbell now). In my head, I'm thinking, these are his friends coming to help him take my stuff away. The dispatcher told me the police were on the scene now and they were chasing the guy and that it was safe to come out now. I told her, no, I'm pretty sure he's still in the house (cause in my head, it was just his friends that rang the door bell and they are the ones being chased). So she told me I could stay in the closet as long as I wanted, but that the guy was now caught down the street with a broken leg and that the cop wants me to come to the front door.

I go there and look out and I just see a cop car, but no cop. I go outside and tell her I don't see anyone. She tells me that they are coming, that they caught him down the street and are coming back to me. Just then, I see a cop running back up towards my house. I notice the notebook the guy was carrying on the ground in my neighbor's yard, so I pick it up and it said, "Sensus Information" (yes, that's how he spelled it). But it was just scribble scrabble. The guy also left his car in my driveway.

So the cops come and take my information and story and all that good stuff. They asked if I would be able to identify the guy and I told them yes. So they drove me to another neighborhood where they caught the guy and yes, that was him on a stretcher with a broken ankle. He tried to tell the cops it wasn't him. Um, dude, you left you car in my driveway!

Anyway, they took fingerprints on all the windows and doors. And took pictures of everything. Even the cut in the screen (which was probably there to begin with). All the policemen were super nice and kept telling me what a great job I did.

Thankfully, he was probably only in the house for a second before the doorbell rang, so he didn't get a chance to touch anything. I mean really, he didn't touch a single thing. He ran through the living room and went out the nursery window where the cop was standing and just took off running.

Some things that I have learned in this situation:

1. Even if I'm home and don't want to answer the door, to say something so they know I'm home and will go away.
2. Not call my sister when I think someone is coming into my backyard, but call the cops first. (Which is dumb of me cause I call the cops on practically everything that they probably know me by name up there.)
3. That I'm safe, my baby is safe, and my Lord Jesus was with me through the whole thing.
4. That I have an awesome sister and brother in law who showed up very shortly after the cops since it was her that I told that someone was in my backyard. She even called Nuge on her way over to tell him what was going on.
5. That my husband is awesome and came home to be with me even though I was ok.
6. That I'm still in shock and I fear a breakdown coming soon.
7. That people are evil! I mean really evil. Who really breaks into someone's house and tries to steal their stuff? Whoever said that people are inherently good are very wrong! We came out of the womb as sinners, we live our lives as sinners and we die as sinners. Only when we are in the presence of Christ Jesus do we become something different than evil.

What could have happened:

1. I could have not been home, he would have come in, taken everything, and left and I would have no clue who it was or anything.
2. I could have had our baby in the house with me and that would have made the whole thing worse.
3. He could have opened my closet door, saw me, and hurt me.
4. We could have a dog that would have barked and he would have left us alone.

23 Week Update

2010-05-17T10:44:00.007-05:00

I have been really bad about updating this blog. I guess I either:
1. Just forget about it
2. I figured you would be bored reading it
3. I don't have anything to say.
But more than likely, it's the second answer.

As far as the pregnancy goes, things have been going great! Baby Nuge is moving a lot more and for the first time, Nuge felt it kick from the outside! It was a great moment! I am getting bigger, but when I compare myself to my sister (who is 2 months ahead of me), I am still pretty small.

My sister, Cori, and I fishing at Lake Granbury for our huge "Mother's Day and Birthday Get Together".

The Birthday people: Kevin, 54, Emma, 3, and Caren, 25.

The Mothers: Jan (Caren's mother in law), Cori, Donna (Caren and Cori's mom), and Caren.

I'm trying to see if Nuge can feel the baby kicking. He couldn't at this point. But give him another week and he can!

Uncle Nuge teaching Emma to fish. He was really hoping he would catch one on that Barbie fishing pole for Emma, but it didn't happen.

Chilling out on the boat!

Emma's first time on a jet ski. She liked it, but didn't like the water splashing in her face.

We had our sonogram on May 11. Everything is going great. Baby Nuge is healthy, growing at a normal rate, and is measuring right on target. We did not find out the sex of the baby, for we are waiting until he/she comes out to show us! We informed the guy performing the sonogram and he assured us that he would not look "there" unless he felt something was wrong. Thankfully, nothing was wrong, therefore, he did not come close to "that area". So even if people wanted to see our sonogram pictures and try to tell what the sex is, they wouldn't be able to. So HAHA!! :) We were able to watch our baby move its hands and mouth on the screen. What an awesome site it was! So blessed.

Our baby has a foot!!

I find this sono pic rather funny. :)

I threw my sister a baby shower this past weekend. It was rather stressful, but in the end, I think it was a pretty good success. She got a lot of things that were on her registry and was very pleased with everything. She is moving to Lubbock in June to start her new job as a nurse at a hospital there. I am very sad that she is leaving, but happy for her that she has found a job. She will be coming back July 1st so that she can have her baby here with her midwife on/around July 9. Not sure how long she will be here, but I hope it's a while so I can get used to taking care of a newborn. And by "I," I really mean "Nuge." :)

Cori and I at her baby shower in front of the clothes she got. Thankfully, she got more than just clothes. :)

Cori and I at her nursing pinning ceremony! I'm so proud of her. Going through nursing school while trying to take care of a husband and a baby. Plus, getting pregnant in her last year. She is one strong person!!

One of my best friends, Linda, and her husband Ben, adopted a baby boy from Ethiopia. The week before Mother's Day, they flew there to go and pick up their son, Bereket. They arrived back home Saturday afternoon. Nuge and I, along with about 20 other people, had the privilege of being at the airport when they arrived. It was such a special moment to share with them and I was blessed to have been apart of it. Bear (as Bereket will be nicknamed) has adjusted fairly well to Ben and Linda. He is such a sweet baby and loves to be held. Trot on over to her blog for updates on her growing family.

Ben, Linda and Bereket, 11 months, on their first day of meeting!

Other than all that, nothing too much has been going on. I say that like this past week wasn't crazy. Crazy but good.

Weeks 13 and 14

2010-03-13T22:10:00.003-06:00

Some people have been asking how my pregnancy is going. And to be honest, I think it's going great! I haven't had any morning sickness at all. I lost my appetite for a long time and just wasn't hungry ever. It was a struggle to eat because nothing really sounded good. I did have some chicken early on and it was the most disgusting thing I'd ever eaten, so for right now, chicken is out. Other than that, I haven't really had any real food cravings or nausea. My appetite has since come back full force. Tonight, for instance, it started out with a strawberry banana milkshake, 2.5 hot dogs, Cheetos, pasta salad, and 2 or 3 pickles (I lost count). And I could probably go for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, but I better not press it too much.

I was super tired pretty much the whole first trimester. It didn't matter how much sleep I got, it was never enough. It wasn't that "Ahhh that was a great 12 hour sleep; I feel great!" It was always, "ugh, I can't even get out of bed and function correctly" kind of tiredness. Thankfully I don't work outside the home, so I was able to sleep as often as my body needed. Working pregnant women are my new heroes!

As far as cravings go, Nuge is the one that is getting all of them. His favorite dish right now is Chicken Ramen (blech), Rotel, scrambled eggs, mayo, Tabasco sauce, and some seasonings all mixed together either in a bowl or on a sandwich. Either way, it looks and smells disgusting!

I spend most of my days in lounge pants and t shirts since I find jeans restricting even when I'm not pregnant. So I never realized how pregnant I looked until I put on a maternity dress for a funeral last week. I was like, "Woah! I'm pregnant!" So now, I've graduated to maternity clothes that I'm sharing with my sister, who just happens to be pregnant too. We started taking pictures at 13 weeks, then again this week at 14.

Those were at 13 weeks.

And those were at 14 weeks. And yes, I am aware that they are stretched, so I look bigger than I really am. It was either that, or you were gonna have to turn your head to the side to see it. So just pretend I'm not stretched.

Also, people keep asking if I know if I'm having a boy or a girl. Yes, I'm having a boy or a girl. Which one? I'm not sure, but I know it will be at least one of those. We are not finding out the sex until he/she comes out and says, "Here it is." Or "Here it isn't." So later on, I'll have a fun survey you can take to let me know which gender you think we are having.

On Wednesday, we heard the heart beat again. It was like music to my ears! I have yet to have an ultrasound and I'm still back and forth on if I want to get one or not. We probably will just because I know the Nuge side of the family will want to see their grand baby, and I'm sure my parents wouldn't mind either. But we just aren't sure when we'll do that yet.

So there it is. My pregnancy, so far, in a nutshell. Come back (if you're interested) to find out how the rest is going. I'll try to keep it as updated as possible.

God's Many Blessings

2010-02-09T22:26:00.008-06:00

Over the past two and a half years, God has really blessed Nuge and I. He has been faithful in His Word and Promises, and for that, we are so grateful. Let's recap:

2007

I (Caren) had just come home from a 4 month mission trip when I was set up on a blind date with Nuge at the end of May. We clicked almost right off and became very close friends. He came into my life shortly after the birth of my niece, Emma, who has brought much joy to our lives. 2007 was only the beginning of what would be an amazing 2008.

2008

In late February, Nuge proposed, and obviously, I said yes. We both graduated from UTA; him in May and me in August. He was able to see our beach cabin in Galveston one time before hurricane Ike took it away just a few months later. In early September, we tied the knot on my grandparents' 55th wedding anniversary, which was a great honor and pleasure. Right before that, Nuge opened his heart fully to our amazing Christ Jesus and we have been growing in Him ever since. A little over a month later, we lost my beloved MawMaw in a very long battle with diabetes and complications. In December, we took our honeymoon, provided by Nuge's parents, to Jamaica. Our first Christmas was wonderful. 2008 was awesome!

2009

We stayed strong in our faith and marriage into the 2009 year. My grandparents decided to move up here to get away from the hurricanes. So in March, Arlington got new residents. It has been wonderful having my grandparents here. When Nuge's job required him to change from first shift (8-5) to second shift (3-12+am), I decided to stop working as a subsitute and stay home full time. For my birthday, Nuge bought me all the things I needed for a new puppy, and a few weeks later, we brought Gus home. After a few months of living in Nuge's parents' house, we decided to buy our own. So in October, we became official homeowners and even hosted our first Thanksgiving here. Complete with a turkey that Nuge made himself. I spent my very first Christmas ever (with Nuge of course) with my grandparents, aunt, uncle and cousins. It was quite amazing. But 2010 had some awesome things to offer for us as well.

2010

On Januray 2, we were able to celebrate Nuge's grandfather's 83rd birthday. Which we also used to announce that we were pregnant to his side of the family. Our joy came with some sadness. Just 2 days later, we lost our sweet puppy Gus to a tragic complication during surgery. We feel that God took Gus away from us at His perfect timing. It sucks, but we trust in the Lord and know that He knows best. Yesterday, we were blessed beyond belief with the sound of our baby's heartbeat. So coming to you, in September, will be a Baby Nugent.

August Blu "Gus" April 3, 2009-January 4, 2010

2010-01-07T14:21:00.002-06:00

On Monday, January 4, 2010, we lost our beloved puppy August Blu, which you know as Gus.

She went in for a routine spay surgery, everything seemed fine to the vet. As they were walking Gus out to me, she collapsed and turned white. Her body temperture was 95 degrees (when it's supposed to be 101). They put hot towels and hot water bottles around her as well as pumped some warm fluid in her to make her temp go up. It went up a few degrees and I guess they felt it was safe enough to release her into my care. They told me to keep hot towels and a heater on her and she should be ok. They didn't see anything that would worry them.

I brought her home and rotated towels from the dryer. Everytime I would cover her, she would get up and move. I wasn't able to pick her up and move her to the bed, so I waited until Nuge got home and then we both moved her. I put towels and the heater on her and she stayed put. I laid down with her and kept petting her and telling her it was ok. After an hour or so, she started to convulse. Of course I freaked out and called my father in law (who lives a few minutes from me) so he could come help me take her to the 24 hour animal hospital down the street. By the time he got here, she was not breathing. Kevin carried her to the car and I sat in the backseat petting her and rubbing on her. Nothing. We got her to the hospital and they took her in the back. There was nothing they could do for her. By the time we got the news that she was gone, Nuge had shown up. We cried with each other and just kept petting her.

She was our sweetie pup. She was 9 months old and we still had so many more years left to play with her. We are trying not to be mad at any of the situations because being mad and angry won't bring her back. we are not putting blame on anyone or anything. She could have died from any number of things: eternal bleeding, reaction to the meds, heart failure, anything. We talked to the vet the next day and she told us that she cut her open and didnt see anything that was out of the ordinary and even double checked to make sure she wasn't bleeding anywhere. We are just remembering how awesome she was. How much fun we had with her. And how much we loved her and she loved us. Over the last few days, we've been retelling funny stories about her and just missing her so bad. Going to bed, waking up, and everything in between is just not the same without our Gussy. But we have faith that God took her at the right moment. He knows better than us and we are going to trust Him with everything we have.

We greatly appreciate the outpour of support and prayers that we have received over the last few days. It has been so overwhelming to get phone calls, texts, comments and private messages. Thank you so much for all of that. We appreciate continued prayers for us to cope with losing our Gus and for us to figure out what our new normal is. Thank you all so very much.
Here are some pictures of our Gus over the last 7 months.

I got an award!

2009-08-19T12:47:00.002-05:00

I'm not really sure what the award is for, but I'm still excited about it! My real life friend at Adapting to Change gave it to me.

Some background information about Meagan: I've known her for years, but we met through AIM. We knew some of the same people at the BSM on campus and just started chatting it up for a few years. One day, I forgot why, but we met in real life. She's great! I felt like I'd known her for years just because we were able to talk about anything and I didn't feel like I had to pretend to be someone different. I was able to just be me. So now, here we are, both married (a few weeks apart). Her husband is a firefighter for the Air Force and they are stationed in Abilene. She hates it out there but is learning some patience from our good friend, God! Even though we didn't hang out all that much and talked mainly online, I miss her like crazy. We talk alot at night when our husbands are working and it is in those moments that I really wish she was here so we can just hang out and watch movies together or cook or bake or something.

Anyway, along with this award, I get to answer questions about myself. I always like talking about me. I mean who doesn't like talking about themselves? So here we go:

1. Who is the hottest Movie Star? I am a big movie watcher, but I don't think I have anyone to put in this category. Over the years, my idea of "hot" has changed. If I had to choose though, I'd probably go with Kirk Cameron because of his love for the Lord. I mean, don't get me wrong, there are plenty of other cute actors out there, but right now, he's the one that sticks in my mind.

2. Apart from your house and car, what is the most expensive item you have ever bought: A single item? Probably Gus. A whole group of things? Some furniture I bought a few years ago.

3. What is you most treasured memory? Oh man. I have so many awesome memories. But probably sharing our wedding day with my grandparents. It was their 55th anniversary and it was just an awesome day.

4. What was the best gift you ever received as a child: To be honest, I have no idea. Sorry.

5. What is the biggest mistake you have ever made? I've made quite a few but each one has brought me to where I am today and because of that, I would not change them for a second. Do I still look back on them and wince? Sure, but it's because of God's awesome mercy and grace that I'm able to be thankful for the life He's given me.

6. 4 words to describe yourself: passionate, emotional, giving, loverofChrist

7. What was your highlight or low light of 2008? Man, 2008 was the best year ever!! Getting engaged, college gradution, wedding day, honeymoons, it was all spectacular!!

8. Favorite Film? Currently (since it changes every week) it is Pride and Prejudice.

9. Tell me one thing I don’t know about you. I want to be the Proverbs 31 woman. If you haven't read it, do it.

10. If you were a comic book/strip or cartoon character, who would you be? Ya know, I've been thinking about this question for a long time and I can't think of a single character that would be me. So I'm gonna skip this one too. I'm sorry.

So now, it is my turn to pass this Meme award on to some of my other favorite blogs that I read.

Full Circle

SixFourteen Photography

Notes on our Life

Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures on this computer to give you, but I'll update later with some.

The Many Adventures of Gus

2009-08-06T20:42:00.008-05:00

I've come to realize that Gus is one very lazy dog (most of the time). We love it! She is just the perfect dog for us. She always seems to sleep in some interesting positions:

On the couch.
Oh my legs.
Still or again, I can't remember.
One ear hanging over.
In some position that I can't even begin to explain.
Curled up in a ball on the chair.
Sprawled out on my side of the bed.
Making sure Nuge stays asleep as long as possible...on my side of the bed.
Hey, why does HE get to sleep with her all the time? No fair!

But she also knows how to play rough too:

Sometimes she plays the hard way.

Other times, she plays the lazy way.

With a cup...
Or under the bed...Sometimes even attacking the shorts.

Or trying to catch Nuge as he runs and jumps on the couch. Her body is too awkward for her to get up there on her own. Maybe one of these days.

Zoo, Food, and Organization

2009-07-31T21:50:00.012-05:00

So as you read previously, my dad had surgery and has since been at home recovering. The doctor told him to get out and get moving to help him heal faster. Him, my mom and my niece went to the Fort Worth Zoo and invited Nuge and I along for the ride. This will be mainly a picture post, because we all know that pictures are more interesting than actual words. So here ya go:
Well if he had turned around I could have gotten a better shot.Nuge's favorite.Nuge with our beautiful niece, who hates her Aunt CayCay by the way.On the termite mounds.Nuge said "no" when I asked him if I could have one. :( boo on him!
So after the zoo, Nuge went off to work. I made him dinner! Potatoes Romanoff! So good and so easy!
You got your ingredients (3/4 cup of milk, 2 cups of water, a can of Cream Of, and Au Gratin). It called for Cream of Mushroom, but that stuff always makes me sick and I hate mushrooms, so I used Cream of Chicken and it was perfect!
Brown your meat. With seasonings.
Drain fat, then pour everything in. Just dump it all in there nice and good.
Bring to a boil and then cover and let simmer for 25 minutes. Yep, that easy.
I was going to make Brussels sprouts but I picked up one bag and it was broccoli, so I put it back and picked up another bag and it was broccoli, too. Apparently, God wanted us to have broccoli instead. So I put frozen broc in the pot with some minced garlic, salt and pepper and water and let it heat up and come to a slight boil as the main meal was cookin. Real good stuff.
Wash it all down with those awesome cookies and there ya have it folks, an awesome, easy and delicious meal.

And one more thing:
I have a hard time staying focused on my weekly chores. I can't stay motivated to clean (but I still do it). So I decided to make something a little more fun and loud that will, hopefully, keep me on my toes. I call in my Colorful Cleaning Caldendar!
I bought some magnets from Hobby Lobby and measured out construction paper with the days of the week and chores (obviously). Hung em up on the fridge and it's nice, big, and colorful. I can rearrange the chores depending on if company is coming or not. I can add stuff or take away. It was fun to make and has really helped me stay organized.
Up close. I have doing dishes and cleaning the kitchen 5 days a week, as well as laundry 3 days a week. I also have trash and recycle done the night before pick up day so I can remember to do it. I tried to not put "big chores" all together and to break them up throughout the week. And if I have anything going on later in the day (like LifeGroup on Wednesdays) then I obviously don't want to be scrubbing potties before I head out, so those are on different days. I think it's fun and it lets me know what needs to be done. So far, so good!

And of course, can't leave you without a nice picture of Gus!
Silly puppy!

What's up with 2nd shift?

2009-07-28T22:45:00.006-05:00

For 2 weeks, Nuge was on first shift for "Summer Shut Down". After being on 2nd shift since May, it was really difficult to adjust. In fact, I don't think either of us did. We were constantly tired, Nuge was getting sick, and I was having head aches. It was rough and I feel sorry for people who have to do 1st shift all the time. Not really. There are some pros and cons of 1st shift, 2nd shift, staying home, and working.

1st shift:
*Wake up at 6:30-6:45am. For natural night people (ahem us), this is no fun! For some people out there (ahem Mom and Davis) this is late.
*No breakfast because that would require waking up even earlier.
*No lunch with the wifey/hubby and that's sad, cause then we have to go the entire 9 hours without seeing each other. And let's face it, that's never fun for anyone!
*Morning nap with Gus that usually lasts between an hour to 2 hours. Always a good time!
*Wake up again and be hungry. But if you are anything like me, you don't like eating alone. So I would sometimes put off my hunger until later. I would try to snack on things, but then I'd remember that we don't keep snacky foods in the house for this very reason. So maybe a bag of popcorn, maybe nothing at all. Either way, not healthy.
*I'd lay around in jammies all day, because most of my friends work during the day, so I have nobody to hang with usually.
*I make dinner for Nuge.
*He's too tired to do anything because he's been running on 6 hours of sleep (and we all know that that's not enough).
*Gus is all confused about sleeping.
*I'm usually tired around 10, but stay up until Nuge gets tired which is around midnight, and then we start over.
With first shift, it just doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day. It feels like my time with Nuge is cut short, and that's no bueno.
*Get to hang out with the Walkers for LifeGroup more! Any day that we spend with the Walkers is a good day!

2nd shift:
*Going from a first shift Friday to a 2nd shift Monday = longer weekend!
*Go to bed around midnight or 1am on Sunday and wake up around 9:30 on Monday. That's a nice 8.5 hours of sleep! Not too shabby.
*Get up, have breakfast since we don't have to do anything until 2:30 when Nuge leaves for work.
*Hang out, watch a movie, play with Gus, talk, play around, and just have awesome husband and wife time.
*Nuge goes off to work, leaving me and Gus here all day to get stuff done. Usually Gus is ready for a nap, but I'm already up and ready for the day. So I stay in my jammies and start cleaning the house. Do laundry, vacuum, dust, change sheets, mop, and just all sorts of good stuff. All the while, watching movies to keep me entertained, because really, who enjoys cleaning in a quiet house? Better yet, who really enjoys cleaning? Show of hands now. Jan, you can't participate in this survey!
*I make dinner around 5pm. I usually make something kinda nice. Well, at least Nuge thinks it's nice. As soon as it's done, I put it in some of our handy dandy Tupperware that we got for or wedding, put Gus outside with some nice ice water (yeah she likes crushed ice...weird I know), then pack up and head up to Nuge's work.
*Arrive for dinner with Nuge. Nothing fancy, because remember, we are eating out of Tupperware, but at least we get to have dinner together. We talk and hang out for about 45 minutes and then he has to go back to work and I gotta go back home. After all, we do have a puppy that needs my love and care.
*Everyone goes to bed around 10 or 11 because everyone else has to wake up early for their jobs (suckers!) so Facebook gets a little lame late at night (sorry to the ones that I do chat with late at night. That's not meant for you. I love you, please don't leave me).
*Watch movies some more and play with Gus. Maybe bake some cookies to have ready when Nuge comes home. After he's home, we get another few hours to chill together before we turn in for the night.
So it just feels as though we get more QUALITY time together. That really is the main thing to me. I love spending time with him.

Staying home:
*There is only so much cleaning you can do.
*I am free to run errands at all hours of the day or night sometimes because I'm not bogged down with a "job". I'm totally not saying that staying at home isn't a job, because if you've ever stayed at home, you know it's hard work.
*I can do the things that God designed me to do; cook, clean, take care of children (hey, Gus does too count!!), and be there for my husband. It also gives me time to work on hobbies, which I've never had before. I'm learning how to sew and plan to get very good at it some day.
*Most of my friends work, so it does get lonely. But I can also go have some fun time with my mom and niece when I'm not lazy. Sorry Mom, I'll come by more often. I promise.
*When my mother in law is in town, we pick on each other and that's always fun. At least it is for me. ;) Love ya MommyJan!
*I get to have 3 meals a day with my husband.

Working outside the home:
*We made more money.
*The house was always a mess cause by the time we got home, we didn't want to do anything. Too tired from our long days.
*I only really cooked on days that I didn't work. Last thing I wanted to do when I came home from screaming kids was cook a nice meal. So we spent more money on fast food.
*I didn't get to see Nuge as much.
*It got me out of the house.
*I loved being a substitute. It was so much fun. Such hard work. So tiring. But at the end of the day, they weren't my kids and I could just walk away and never go back if I didn't want to.
*I hated being a substitute. Kids were rude, disrespectful, mean, loud, needy, sick, full of runny noses, can't read, can't write, can't say my last name, smell, and were terrible. But at the end of the day, they weren't my kids and I could just walk away and never go back if I didn't want to. And believe me, there were definitely some classes and schools that I never returned to. :Shudders:

So there ya have it. The pros and cons of everything. Well, not everything, but the staying at home, going to work, 1st and 2nd shift everything. And that's not even everything. And I'm really sad to say that I don't have any Gus pictures on this computer, but let me see if I can find something entertaining to you.

Well there ya have it folks, our very first date! June something, 2007. Rangers Game. Rangers lost super bad, but we didn't notice. Well we did actually, that's when we started watching the trash fall from the stands. Entertainment. Dollar Dog Night. Perfect!

Hospital, party, quilt, and Gus

2009-07-21T13:08:00.008-05:00

So I know everyone is dying to know how Keziah liked her quilt. But before I get into that, I want to thank everyone for all the prayers, phone calls, texts, comments, and e mails that my family and I received while my dad was in the hospital.

For those of you that don't know, Wednesday morning, at like 4 am, my mom text me to say that she was taking my dad to the hospital. Now my dad never wants to go to the hospital, so I knew he was in serious pain. Turns out, he had appendicitis. He got to the hospital's ER sometime after 4am, but did not go into surgery until 5:30pm. So they put him on some meds for a while so he could "rest comfortably". Now, my dad has had more knee surgeries than any other person I know and his pain tolerance is really high. I have never seen my dad in so much pain. But they wheeled him into surgery and 2 hours later, he was out. The surgeron said he had gangrene all over his appendix and sourrounding areas. So, of course, he took it all out and cleaned it up real nice. My dad then spent the next few nights in the hospital draining out the fluids and healing.
Saturday, the day of Zia's party, he was relased to go home! He is now doing much better. So thank you for the prayers. They were definitly answered.

So on to the party for my favorite 3 year old. Here is a picture of Keziah.
And her sweet baby brother Kohen.
He's starting to be able to move around pretty good and his laugh is contagious! I love hearing him laugh.

I also baked the cake, but since my cake decorating skills aren't top notch, I won't post the pictures here. That, and I didn't take any of the final product. But here are some of Keziah and her quilt.
She just opened it and Kim is telling her that it's from Caren and Nuge.
"Thank you Carewen and Nuge."
I think she really liked it!
So while Zia is opening her presents, I got to the play with Kohen.
He is so sweet!
And what post would be complete without some pictures of Gus?
So while I'm baking Keziah's cake, Nuge and Gus sleep. Lazy bums!
Can't believe how big she is getting. The vet said she would be about 65-70 pounds!!!
Now see, Gus is a smart dog. I'm doing laundry and this face cloth falls on the floor. What does she do? She makes sure I'm not looking, then she RUNS off to the living room and starts to play with it. Now, she knows she's not allowed to be chewing on this stuff and she runs before I even have to time to see what she has in her mouth. I get into the living room, she rolls over on her back (I didn't get a picture) because she knows this is the one position that is hard for us to get her out of, and clamps down on the cloth. What a sneaky, smart doggie!

Very first quilt

2009-07-13T16:31:00.007-05:00

I hope this will be the first of many posts about my sewing.

My friends, Kyle and Kim, have a daughter, Keziah. She will be turning 3 this month and her birthday party is Saturday. I will be baking her a princess cake but I also wanted to make her something. What do you make a 3 year old that will be special and not outgrow?

I decided to make her a quilt. Now, I know it was pretty ambitious of me to choose a quilt as my first major sewing project, but I have a friend who does quilting so I had all the confidence that she would not let me make a crappy quilt.
It all started with the fabric. First off, let me explain to you that I'm not a very good decision maker. I had talked to my friend about having a sewing party and so we were throwing ideas around, but I just couldn't make up my mind. I made my sister go with me to Joann so I could look around. Well when I'm in Joann, I'm like a kid in a candy store. Sewing has endless possibilities and I had no idea what I wanted. When I decided to make Keziah a quilt, picking the fabric was not as hard as deciding on what to make. So my sister and I picked 2 polka dot fabrics, 2 heart fabrics, and 2 butterfly fabrics. We also chose a nice pink for the backing.
Ok I forgot to take pictures of all the steps, so just pretend I spent over an hour cutting out squares, sewing 2 together, then 4 together, then laying them out so I can get the quilt to look the way I want it, and then sewing everything together. And Tricia and Catherine helped too, so we had a really nice assembly line going.
So now, I sewed on the border. So pretend Tricia cut out pieces to make the border and then sewed them together. Now I'm sewing the border to the quilt.
Then it was a group effort with the ironing. We ironed it flat so it would look nicer. Those are Tricia's hands but it's my shirt and Catherine is taking the picture. Team work guys, team work!
Then we laid the backing on the table, then put the batting on top of that, then the quilt on top of that. We used safety pins (while making sure not to scratch Tricia's new table) to pin all the layers together. We put a pin in each square and then on the bordering.
This is Tricia using her awesome, heavy duty machine to make the squiggles on the quilt. While she's doing this, Catherine and I are happily licking beaters to the awesome cookies that she made! Catherine, I'm going to need that recipe please! This process took Tricia a whole 7 minutes to do. Maybe longer, maybe shorter, but the point is: SHE'S AWESOME!!!
All the while, Gus is trying to get her afternoon nap. That's kinda hard to do at Tricia's because she has 5 kids, ranging from 14-5 (or 6, I can't remember) and 2 dogs. Everytime Gus got to snoozin, the kids or dogs wanted to play with her.
So then to make the edging, we cut pieces out of the scrap fabric. Since we didn't take cutting pictures with the squares, here's a good shot of me cutting the edging.
While I'm doing the cutting, Catherine is taking out the safety pins while trying to fight off Gus from taking a nap on the quilt.
So now it's time to sew the front side of the edging on. Pretend you saw pictures of Tricia sewing the edging pieces together and all of us ironing. Team work!
Now this part I thought was particularly tricky. After sewing one side of the edging on, you fold it over and sew along the line for the front part. I can't really explain it, but it was hard for me.
1.) I can't really sew in a straight line very well.
2.) It was really hard.
3.) I can't really sew in a straight line very well.
This part took the longest, I think. If not, it sure did seem like it. Tricia offered to do it for me, but I wanted to do it. I should have just let her. I mean, who would have known, right?
But in the end, it was all worth it. It took 3 of us 5 hours to do this whole thing from start to finish, give or take a few minutes. Not too shabby huh?
I can't wait to see Keziah's face when she sees this. I'm going to see what kind of left over fabric I have and maybe try to make her a matching something or other.

So there it is, my very first quilt. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be and it wasn't as overwhelming either. I had a great teacher helping me and Catherine was a big help too. Thank you ladies for everything. And thank you, Tricia's kids, for wearing out Gus. She's been sleeping since we got home and has hardly moved. :)

My New Obsession

2009-07-10T16:05:00.009-05:00

It all started on Facebook. I posted something about how our awesome puppy, Gus, makes me laugh all the time. My friend, Tricia, told me to check out this blog. Once you read it, you'll see why I love it. It started out with this one post about her Basset Hound, Charlie, and it has slowly become an obsession of mine. Not only does she have fun stories about her Charlie, but she has awesome recipes, fun stories about her life on a working cattle ranc h (which doesn't really sound like something I'd be interested in, but I've come to really enjoy reading), and her love story with her husband (that I spent a day and a half of unproductivity to read). All in all, I've really enjoyed her website. Between cooking, baking, taking care of Gus, and cleaning, I read her website. If you want to be sucked into her little world, then I highly suggest you check her out. She will keep you entertained.

So what else is new with us? Well those cookies that I blogged about a few weeks ago, yeah, Nuge makes me bake those at least once a week. The other day, I had HIM bake them for once and he really enjoyed it. Here are a few pictures from that night:
Here he is posing in front of all the ingredients. Nevermind my purse strap or sunglasses.
He's enjoying every minute of it. Notice the hand dandy laptop in back...that's cause I don't have the recipe printed off nor do I have it memorized.
"Uh honey, what's this this for?" :)
Since he's making the cookies, he gets to lick the beater.
They sure were good.
Somebody's gotta learn to keep SOME dough left over to eat. What's the point in making cookies if you can't eat the "left over" dough?
He enjoyed his cookies!
But now, the cookie jar is empty. Guess it's about that time to make more.

On doggy news: Gus is doing great with the potty training thing. We had to upgrade her to a bigger crate because she had outgrown her other one...obviously. She is now at 20 pounds! She's getting so big. Here are some updated pictures of her:
"You lookin at me?"
She was tuckered out after he walk. Just collasped right there on the cold floor.
But she didn't want to part with her harness.
Still sleepy.
"Mommy, why are you always takin pictures of me while I'm tryin to sleep?"

So not so much has gone on in the last few weeks. I will be going to a sewing party on Monday. Any ideas on what I can make? I have very poor decision making skills and the sewing world has endless possibilities. Leave me some suggestions.

I don't like following a recipe

2009-06-26T23:27:00.005-05:00

So my mother in law got me this cookbook for my birthday (May 10). Well, she got me a bunch of cookbooks, but this was the one I used for dinner tonight. I made Chili in Tortilla Bowls. I'm going to have to admit, it wasn't my favorite meal. There are a bunch of things that I would have done differently and the next time I make it, I will def make those changes.
So it starts out with these ingredients: ground beef, red bell pepper, chili powder, black beans, corn, onion, salt, pasta sauce, large tortillas, and shredded cheese.
As I was defrosting the meat, I decided to chop up my veggies. Now I'm going to sound like an infomerical for just a second. I only use Cutco knives for all my cutting needs. These are seriously the best knives in the world. My in laws didn't believe me until I got some for our wedding (yes we registered at Cutco) and started using them over at their house (they only had store bought crappy knives). They were impressed and bought us more for Christmas! I still don't have the whole set, but I'm working on it. So for the next few years for birthdays, Christmas, Valentine's Day, Groundhog Day, you can buy me Cutco knives!
Ok, infomerical done.
So I chopped up the veggies. Colorful huh?
Then I started to brown the meat. This is where I didn't do what I normally do when browning meat. I followed the recipe pretty much to the T and I shouldn't have. I normally season the meat with different seasonings that I know we like, but this time, I only put in salt and pepper. I should have at least put in a clove of garlic (which I would have pressed with my Cutco Garlic Presser), but I didn't. I also would have put in some other seasonings from our spice rack, but didn't. Oh well, you cook and learn.
So after I browned the meat, I added the bell pepper, onion and chili powder.
After the onion gets all soft and stuff, I added the black beans (recipe called for kidney beans, but neither of us are fans of that stuff), corn (I didn't have enough corn that the recipe called for, but I used what I did have and it didn't make a difference) and pasta sauce. Here is where I made mistake number whatever. I usually make "my own" pasta sauce, but I'm not sure how much sauce "my" recipe is and I didn't want to mess up this dinner. So I went against my better judgement and bought jarred sauce (gross). Next time, I'll use my own sauce, which consists of a can of tomato sauce, a can of tomato paste, a can of Rotel, and a little water. Add in some garlic and seasoning and you got yourself one heck of a sauce, at least according to Nuge. I can't take credit for this sauce either, because it's the one my mom makes.
So anyway, back to the meal. After you bring all that stuff to a boil, you lower the heat and let it simmer, covered, for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
So while that is simmering, you take one of the large tortillas (I used spinach tortillas because I misread the recipe). You can use whole wheat, spinach, or tomato tortillas. Anyway, you put it in a microwaveable bowl and kinda press it in there. You nook it (in the microwave) for a minute and a half and let it cool. After you let it cool...

You have a nice green tortilla bowl. Now I'm gonna be honest with you here. I was a little disappointed in how easy this was. I just figured there was more to it, but I guess not. Oh well. It worked. It was hard and held up when we put the food in it.
Since Nuge isn't home for dinner, I usually take food up to him at work so he doesn't have to eat fast food. So I had to put everything in a Tupperware to take it up to him, so the presentation isn't all that great, but it all tastes the same.
After you spoon your helping into your nice little bowl, you put some cheese on it and viola, a nice dinner you have!
Nuge ate all of his. I did not. The tortilla was kinda hard. Not crunchy. Maybe it's because all we did was put it in the microwave. Nuge said he'd probably like it better if it was rolled in the tortilla instead of spooned in the bowl. So I'll try that with the left overs and see what he thinks of that.
Overall, it was pretty good, but with the store bought pasta sauce and no seasonings, it was, in my opinion, pretty bland. Next time, I'm going to add garlic and my own sauce at the very least.
Here is the actual recipe from the book:

1.5 pounds of ground beef or ground turkey (I used only a pound of ground beef. Turkey would have been good too though.)
1 onion ( I didn't use all of it because it hurts Nuge's belly.)
1 red bell pepper ( I didn't use all of this either because I wasn't sure how I'd like bell peppers)
2 tablespoons of chili powder (measuring is for chumps, I just put some in there until I thought it was good enough)
1 can of red kidney beans, rinsed and drained (I used black beans and just took the juice out of it)
1 can of corn (I used frozen corn that probably didn't add up to a whole can)
1 jar of Ragu Chunky Pasta (not a fan. I'd use 1 can of tomato sauce, 1 can of tomato paste, and one can of Rotel)
6 burrito size whole wheat, spinach, or tomato tortillas (I only used to because, well there is only 2 of us)
1 cup of shredded Cheddar Cheese (measuring is for chumps, I just sprinkled some on the top of them and called it a meal)

1. In 12 inch skillet, brown meat, stirring occasionally. Add onion, pepper, and chili powder and cook, stirring occasionally, minutes or until onion is tender. Stir in beans, corn, and sauce.
2. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Meanwhile, using one tortilla at a time, press into 1 or 2cup microwaveable bowl to for bowl shape. Microwave on HIGH for 1.5 minutes. Let cool 1 minute. Gently life out and arrange on serving plate. Repeat with remaining tortillas.
4. To serve, spoon chili into tortilla bowls and sprinkle with cheese.

There you have it folks. A nice (sorta) dinner for you and your guests, husband, parents, whatever.
Just thought I'd leave you with some cute pics of Gus and our niece Emma.

Being Domestic!

2009-06-25T14:54:00.013-05:00

So last night I was really domestic! I went grocery shopping and bought a bunch of stuff that I wouldn't normally buy so I can try out some new dishes from some cookbooks I got. After I got home, I decided to make some chocolate chip cookies that Nuge has been begging me to make again. I found this really awesome recipe from www.allrecipes.com under Ashley's Chocolate Chip Cookies and, if I do say so myself, these cookies are amazing!! I took pictures while baking so you can have the full effect.
First you need all the ingredients. We have flour, sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, an egg, vanilla, Crisco, chocolate chips, salt, and of course, my trusty pink mixer!
Then you put the sugar, brown sugar, and Crisco in the mixer.
Then you start beating it.
Then you check on the sleeping dogs to make sure you aren't waking them up with the noise.
Then you add the egg and vanilla.
And I finally figured out what this little contraption was for.
To make sure when you put in the flour, salt and baking powder, it doesn't fly everywhere and you can just spoon it in nice and easy. Really handy!
Then you mix in the chocolate chips with your handy spatula. I love using my "Caren's Kitchen" spatulas that Karen Pulver gave me as a wedding gift. My mom always said to not trust a woman who uses a spatula while making cookies, brownies, cakes, etc since it doesn't leave much batter to eat later. Don't worry Mom, I made you proud at the end. Just watch.
So then you drop the dough, in tablespoons, on a greased cookie sheet. I actually did use a tablespoon to make sure I had it just right and then rubbed in in my hand to make them round.
You set the oven temp at 375. Of course, you don't have to bake your cookies at midnight, but I wanted to make sure they were nice and fresh for Nuge when he got home from work.
Then 8 minutes later, they come out nice and yummy!
Mmmmm! :)
Oh darn there isn't enough dough to make another cookie. Guess that's just gonna have to go in my belly! :)
Batch #2!
Yep, making sure they are still asleep!
Then you find a really cute cookie jar and put them all in. These fit perfectly inside this jar that Jan gave me.
So now the true test comes, does he like them or not?
Apparently he does.
Apparently he makes this face whenever he tastes something good. This is a pic of him after he tasted his Groom's cake.

So in case you wanted the actual recipe, here it is:

1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup butter, softened (I used Crisco instead of butter)
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups milk chocolate chips ( I used the whole bag because, well, I didn't see that it said to only use 2 cups. Maybe a whole bag is 2 cups. Either way, I used the whole bag. Besides, Nuge and I like a lot of chocolate chips in our cookies.)

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
In a medium bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Gradually stir in the sifted ingredients, then stir in the chocolate chips. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

So I hope you get a chance to make these awesome cookies yourself. They are wonderful. Once Nuge got home, he ate one, then ate 6 more. Then he ate more for breakfast. I'm almost out of cookies and it hasn't even been 24 hours. Granted, Jan and Kevin did eat some too, but still...they are that good. Too bad I can't take the credit for them.

Now on to my domestic activity #2!
I decided to make Gus her own doggy bed. Jan had 2 old, very flat pillows that she was no longer using. I thought it would be a good idea to sew them together and then tie fleece on it to make a nice, soft bed for Gus to lay on.
Here are the 2 pillows and the 2 different colored fleece. I bought them at Hobby Lobby and they were on sale since they were just left overs.
Now I forgot to take pictures of the rest of the project because I was in a hurry, but the instructions are simple.
1.) I laid the fleece out and put the pillows on top and kept a 4 inch (or whatever) margin all the way around so I could tie the ends.
2.) I then sewed the pillows together. It doesn't matter if your sewing skills are lame (which mine are at the moment but will get better, I hope) because it will be covered up by the fleece. 3.) Then I put the sewn together pillows on top of the yellow fleece and covered it with the red fleece.
4.) The I cut the strips (about 2 inches wide) all along the sides. After that, I tied them together.
This was the finished project. I forgot to take a picture of the yellow side, but you get the idea. Gus was pretty thrilled about it.
Although I'm thinking she liked sleeping UNDER it rather than on top of it. But whatever. It's her bed and she can do what she wants.
I still think this is her favorite bed though.

August Blu Nugent

2009-06-22T20:58:00.007-05:00

So Memorial Day weekend, Nuge and I got a puppy. Her name is August Blu, but we call her Gus. We wanted a Basset Hound named Gus, but didn't want a boy dog, so we had to come up with a clever name for a girl with the nickname Gus. August was one of the only cute ones that we had come up with. Blu comes from her mother, who was named Blueberry. She was born on April 3.

So now, 4 weeks later, we are still trying to potty train her. She will have accidents on occasion now, instead of all the time. She knows to go to the door when she needs to go. Sometimes we make it in time, sometimes we don't. Either way, she is starting to get the hang of it. We are crate training her, and that is still going, eh. She is really good at night. We can put her in there and she will wimper for just a minute or 2 and then gets over it. She hardly ever has accidents at night anymore, so that's a big achievement. But if I leave her during the day, she cries really hard and usually has an accident in there. But as with all things, it just takes patience and practice. We are getting used to it though.

Emma really enjoys seeing Gus, and I'm pretty sure the feeling is mutual.
Here are some even more recent pictures of her. As you can see, she is getting so big. We took her to the vet a week after we got her and she weighed 8 pounds. We weighed her 2 weeks later and she weighed 13 pounds. We have been weighing her every week and she is gaining at least a pound. She is now up to 15 pounds, but everytime we see her, she is getting bigger and bigger. One of her favorite things to do is sleep. We really do have a very lazy dog. And she finds the weirdest postions to sleep in. She cracks us up!

She loves our bed!
She loves the couch. And yes, she really is sleeping like that.
And she loves the wood floor. No joke, she was really sleeping like that.

So that's been our month. We have also moved into the Nugent's house. We will be renting from them until we are able to buy, which, God willing, will hopefully be sometime this year. I'll post more on that in a few days.

Kansas City, MO

2009-03-11T13:59:00.006-05:00

So a few weeks ago, the Nugent family went to Kansas City, MO for a Folsom (that's my mother in law's maiden name) wedding. So basically, Nuge's cousin Bobby got married.

To recap the weekend: flew from DFW to KCI on Saturday (the day of the wedding). All of our bags were checked, but only one of Jan and Kevin's bags got lost somewhere in the travel. So they had to make a nice trip to Kohl's for some wedding attire. Not a really good start. It also snowed 4-5 inches the night before we got there, so when we landed, we were greeted by a nice blanket of snow.

We got to our hotel, hung out for a few hours and then left for the wedding. It was really nice and elegant. On Sunday, we went home...end of weekend. Other than that, not too much else has been going on, which is why I haven't been updating. Below are some pictures for your enjoyment.

Jan playing with a snowball...

BP, Jan, Nuge, and me...
Nuge...

Lots of snow...

The happy couple and their daughter...

She was so sleepy...

Nuge and Michael (who was also one of our groomsmen)...

Jan and Kevin...

Me and Nuge...

After the I Dos...

Exchanging vows...

I love his look...those are his parents too...

I think Michael had the same look on his face while he was standing up at our wedding...

Too cute...

Our frozen over pool...view from our room...

Driving to the hotel...

Me...

Nuge...he's so adorable

Us at the airport....

When we landed...

Nuge started working some different hours. They aren't his permanent ones just yet, but they sure are different. For the next 6-8 weeks, he'll be going through training on the first shift. First shifts starts a lot earlier than he's used to, so he now has to be up at work between 6-6:30 am every day. Good thing about that, he gets off earlier, but bedtime is earlier. These past 2 nights haven't been all that great, but we'll get used to it. It sure will be nice when he goes on 2nd shift!

I haven't been getting many jobs this month, but that's to be expected. It was TAKS testing earlier and then Spring Break, so I'm not really expecting much. We'll be going to the lake over the weekends of spring break, but because Nuge has work, we won't be doing much else.

My grandparents moved up here and are getting settled in their new home. So far, they seem to be doing ok. I think they miss the golf course view though. For the most part, it has been an awesome few weeks and I have no complaints. I love my job, I love my husband, I love my family, and I love my Lord. All of which have brought much joy to my life.

God has been truly awesome and has majorly blessed us in ways that can't even be described. He has shown His love and mercies to us, sinners, and we are forever grateful. Through His strength and power, Nuge and I have grown closer...if that is even possible...and God continues to amaze us every single day.

Live Lobster Night!

2009-02-23T12:09:00.004-06:00

So on Saturday, we celebrated my dad's birthday. My dad is kind of a hard person to shop for so my sister and I were trying so hard to figure out what to get him. I said that he always talks about eating a really great, fresh lobster dinner. So Cori suggested Red Lobster. For some reason, I knew Dad did not like Red Lobster's lobster so we were trying to think of something else. As a joke, Cori said, "What do you want to do, just go pick up a live one and cook that?" GREAT IDEA CORI!!!

So Saturday, Cori and I went to Hong Kong Food Market and bought the 2 largest live lobsters they had. We surprised my dad by showing up and saying that we were going to fix him fresh lobster, shrimp scampi, creamed spinach, asparagus, and dinner rolls. Here are some pictures from that dinner:
Here is my brother in law, Luke, posing with his lobster.

Putting the other lobster in the pot. It was already starting to turn red after being in there a few seconds.

They are done!

Shrimp Scampi

Lobsters on the table

Creamed spinach

Dinner rolls

Asparagus

The dinner table. Complete with candles. I turned on the light so I could take pictures but the lights were turned off for dinner. Well, that was until my dad turned them back on after the prayer. He couldn't see his meal.

Overall, a very successful dinner. Happy birthday daddy!

In other news, my grandparents are moving up here tomorrow! They live in Beaumont but because of all the hurricanes that have been going through there, they've been evacuating quite a bit and were tired of it. So, they bought a house up here! I can't wait. For the first time in my entire life, I'll be living less than 5 hours from any extended family. We are super excited.

Other than that, life has been pretty simple and quiet. Work is going good on both ends. I'm working more because in a couple of months, I won't be working anymore because Nuge's hours will change. So I'm just trying to work as much as I can before that whole thing goes down. God has been truly amazing and has blessed us more than we could ever imagine. I can't wait to see what all He has in store for us over the next 50+ years!

Sick and Job Promotion

2009-01-27T20:27:00.008-06:00

Well it has been a long time since I've updated...that seems to always be the opening line of these things huh?

After Christmas break, I found it very difficult to find a job. Apparently teachers were not allowed to take off after the break...or were well rested. Either way, I got to spend a lot of time hanging out at home, cleaning, organizing, and just all around being a stay at home wife! It was great! I did, however, miss working. I actually really love my job and miss it when I can't find work.

I was able to fix some pretty awesome meals...if I do say so myself. I made, for the first time ever, homemade banana bread! I had asked some ladies on TheNest for some of their favorite recipes and so I got a few responses. They all sounded really good, but I didn't have all the ingredients for any of them, so I just made up my own based on what they had in theirs. It turned out amazing.
I was also able to make lunch for Nuge. He would come home for lunch for a nice home cooked meal! It was so nice to see him during the day instead of waiting until 5:45 to see him again. I've discovered that if I put Rotel in anything that I make, Nuge LOVES it! So pretty much everything I make, Rotel goes in it. Nuge isn't a big fan of "home cookin," so I had to make it to where he would eat it. Let's take a moment to thank God for Rotel!

Along with cooking, I was able to buy little bits and pieces for our apartment. Our sunroom went from this:
to this:
Nevermind the mess on the table. I've been sick and haven't felt like cleaning too much. The curtains were bought at Target. They still aren't finished being hung yet, but I was by myself when I did this so I couldn't hang the rod all the way. It's getting there though.

I also bought some cute little bedside lamps from Target...thanks to my sister who is awesome!
They are a little small, but I think it works. This is also a good shot of our new nightstands. The Streets gave us this one and then we bought the other. He also gave us a dresser:
This is where I do my hair and makeup every day. You can see that our bed isn't made, but I promise, I make it every single day. Just not the past few days because I've been really sick and just haven't felt like it.

Also, my dad is awesome! He put up these shelves for us:
These are above our potty. Obviously they hold our candles because I've been obsessed with candle lit baths. So the other night when I wasn't feeling good, I decided to take a bath. Nuge lit all the candles for me and I got in and started to soak it all up. Then I noticed something...
Woops! Yeah, one of the candles was a little too close for comfort. But it just kinda looks like a knot in the wood. So now we know to NOT have the candle on the right sit there while taking a candle lit bath.

So all this talk about being sick...yeah, it sucks. My sister was super sick and so was my niece and I hung out with both of them. Cori is still really really sick. My fever has gotten all the way up to 101.9. I haven't had a fever in, oh geez, I can't even remember how long it's been. So needless to say, I'm pretty miserable. I've had to turn down jobs. Why couldn't I have gotten sick on the days when jobs were scarce? God's funny that way. But here is what has soothed me:
Yep. Ladies and gents, we have tea and honey (new thing that Nuge bought me). Lozenges, Mucinex, thermometer, ibuprofen, and crackers (which is really the only thing I have eaten the last few days). That is a recipe of goodness for the sickness.

Now for the most exciting news ever! Nuge's bosses have been talking to him for the past month or so about a new job opening up. A few weeks ago, they gave him some paper work to fill out. Ya know, stuff like drug testing and the W4 and stuff like that. He still never heard a hardcore yes or no on the job. That is, until today! His boss came up to him, handed him the formal confirmation of a verbal offer. We aren't sure about the exact details of the job, but we are pretty certain that his hours will be 3-11pm. We know he will probably be on the manufacturing line doing QA stuff, but I'm not sure of the rest. We will keep you updated as we know more...hopefully.

So there it is ladies and gentlemen, our update of the month! :)

Just wanted to share...

2008-12-30T22:11:00.005-06:00

So Nuge and I have been living in this apartment since Sept. 5. He has been living in it since August sometime. So that means that our stuff has been in here for almost 5 months now. I am JUST now getting to the de-cluttering part of living here. I think it will be an ongoing process, but at least I'm starting somewhere.

The other day, I decided to really get serious about it. I went on to The Nest, where I get a lot of inspiration from other "nesties". One girl said to try out FLYLady. So I did and boy am I glad I did! She gave me a place to start because I felt too overwhelmed to just start somewhere. I did pretty much what she said and now, our apartment is finally coming together!

Here are some pictures of what I have accomplished and what I still have left to do. The apartment isn't completely clean, but I'm working on it so bear with me and I'll show ya pictures later.This is the coat rack my sister and I put up. On the left is the front door and on the right is the "hall" closet.
These are on the wall of the living room. My sister helped with these too. They are above and to the left of the TV. My camera battery was out, so I had to take quick pics. Whole living room will be up later.
This is our fireplace...obviously. We are going to put up some candle scones tomorrow on either side of the picture to make it prettier.
More of these will go over our fireplace. These are in our "hallway" right in front of our laundry room. The candles belonged to my grandmother but I will probably get cream ones later.This is our bedroom. Nuge and I hung those curtains a few days after we got married. Our first project as man and wife! I put the bed skirt on the other day.These are in our bathroom. I'll change what's in them as the seasons change. Cute huh? The inspiration came from Nuge's mom.Our laundry room.

Our dining room. This is really messy right now and we will get to this tomorrow. The table was Nuge's when he was young. Then it was his great aunt's, now it is ours. My sister and I hung the mirror.

The kitchen sink, spice rack, and bottle of wine that the Nugents got us for our wedding. We are gonna open it on our 1 year anniversary.
The other side of our kitchen. That toaster is the best thing ever!!! Poaches eggs and makes toast. Awesome breakfast maker! And Cutco knives? Nothing better!

So that's a sneak peek into our apartment. More and better pictures will come.

Now that I have Nuge off for a few days, we are gonna do more cleaning and organizing. Can't you hear the excitement that's in his voice?! I can! :)

Honeymoon!!

2008-12-15T20:34:00.000-06:00

We finally got to take our "real" honeymoon! Since we got married in September, we wanted to wait until after hurricane season to go to Jamaica. Nuge's parents treated us to 4 nights in Negril, Jamaica at Couples Swept Away All Inclusive Resort. It was amazing!
We flew out of DFW on Tuesday morning. Our flight was to land in Miami and then head to Montego Bay. We had about 20 minutes from the time our DFW flight landed and our flight to Jamaica took off. We were literally running from one terminal to the next. When we got there, they were already calling names saying that if we didn't show up, then our seats would be canceled. When we arrived at the gate, they asked us what our names were and so we told them, while still running, and they were like, "OK GO!!" and we boarded the plane. We sat down, caught our breath and filled out our Custom forms. Had a great flight to Jamaica! We land, go get our bags...nope, not there! My first reaction was, yep, I knew this was gonna happen. Everyone that was on our DFW flight lost their luggage. The airline people in Jamaica thought it was OUR fault for booking flights so close together. Um...not our fault! Jan and Kevin originally had us on an earlier flight, but when we got our itinerary, we were scheduled for another one.
Anyway, so Nuge goes to find help, I'm standing with about 3 other girls who's husbands/fiances/whatever went to go find help too. I found out that one of them checked her wedding dress. Yeah, she was freaking out. But I told her that since she wasn't getting married until Friday, it was cool. They were gonna have our luggage back either that night or the next day, I assumed. So then Nuge comes back with an airport guy in tow. We head to the baggage complaint area where about a dozen (DOZEN dad) were complaining about the same thing. We were all assured that our bags made it on the next flight out of Miami and that we would get our bags either that night or first thing in the morning.
Good thing I read the message boards and FAQ's and took the advice to pack a carry on just in case something like that happened. So we had our bathing suits, a change of clothes, and a few other random items. One thing we didn't have...contact stuff. I can sleep in my contacts and it doesn't bother me, but Nuge cannot. He wasn't too happy.
When we get through Customs and stuff, we are greeted by our resort. They offer us free Red Stripe and have us sit in the lounge. We load up on the bus for one of the scariest rides ever! Good thing we were sitting on the second row so we couldn't see what was really going on. The landscape was BEAUTIFUL! On one side of the road there was beautiful, blue-green ocean and then on the other, beautiful green mountains/small hills...depending on where you live.
When we get to the resort, we are handed a glass of champagne and a cool wet rag. They show us to our room. AMAZING!
Inside the cabinet: 3 bottles of free liquor, 1 bottle of red wine, a mini fridge stocked with: juice, tonic, bottle water, white wine, champagne, and random cokes. All free and stocked daily.
So that's the view from the inside. The view from the out...

Beautiful huh?
So after unpacking what little we had, we changed clothes and went to dinner. There was a cute little grill 2 buildings down from us that had cheeseburgers, hamburgers, hot dogs, and other random snacks. Since we hadn't eaten since breakfast, we were pretty hungry. After that, we went exploring where we ended up at another dining area. Not wanting to miss anything, we quickly got something to eat there too! Good stuff!
It got dark and we didn't know our way around too well, so we went back to our room to just chill until our luggage came. Since Nuge was freaking out about his contacts, I tried to ask random guests who walked by our room if they had contact solution. Of course it was around midnight and either they were too drunk to know what I was asking, or thought about how weird it was for some random person to ask them for contact solution. Either way, we didn't get any.
We decided to head to bed and just figure something out in the morning. Nuge didn't sleep too well because of his eyes but I was just fine...until he kept waking me up.
At 3:00 in the morning, we get a call from the front desk. Our bags have arrived! They told us they would be there shortly to deliver them to us. Well, Jamaican time: Shortly = an hour. But we got our bags and we took out our contacts and went back to sleep.
Some of the activities that we participated in: snorkeling x2= awesome, glass bottle boat= snooze, catamaran cruise= started out slow, but got to be very amazing, parceling= relaxing, awesome view, a lot of money, but greatness!, dinner at Feathers= amazingly romantic!, paddle boat= great fun until Nuge got hurt, sailing= awesome and very relaxing...until the water would splash, and basketweaving...yep, basketweaving! It was awesome and we did a great job!

Above: mine
Below: Nuge's
It only took us an hour and a half, but I think they are great! We are going to use them at Christmas for our dinner rolls!
We also participated in relaxing in a hammock to watch the sunset.
It was a great time for all! When Saturday came, we were super sad to be leaving but happy that it wasn't a beautiful sunny day. It was actually very rainy and gloomy...just like how we felt.
Our flight home wasn't bad. It was a straight shot, so we were able to get our bags this time! When we were over DFW, we could see all the Christmas lights and city lights and it was just amazing. We were also able to see the moon rise. Very spiritual.
So that's it...that's our Jamaican Honeymoon. I will post more pictures of the snorkeling and parceling when we get our waterproof cameras developed.

2 months is long enough!

2008-12-08T08:44:00.000-06:00

Golly, it has been forever since I've updated. Work has been crazy, as well as life.
It's funny; when Nuge and I were dating, we had all this free time and felt like we were together all the time. Now that we are married, it feels like there are not enough hours in the day and we feel like we never see each other anymore. We both go to work in the mornings, come home in the evenings, are dead tired, and then go to sleep at a very early hour. What happened?!
We have bible study/Christian fellowship on Wednesdays that has been known to last until 1 AM. Then on Thursdays, we watch our niece so my sister and brother in law can have date night. Usually, once a week, we have dinner with the Nuge side of the family. Usually once a week or once every 2 weeks, I go and hang out with my friend, Meagan, who's husband is stationed in San Angelo. And then on Saturday nights, we attend church. It doesn't seem like a lot is going on because we still have 3 or 4 days of "nothing" to do, but it just doesn't seem to be enough.
Nuge has never been a morning person, and his jobs requires him to be at work at 8 (like any normal job would). He has been with the company since we got married 3 months ago and he still can't seem to adjust to the hours. He wakes up a few minutes before he has to leave and then he comes home completely exhausted. I feel bad for him because he is so drained all the time. Me, I go to work between 8 and 9 (depending on what school I'm at) and come home between 3:30 and 4:30. My hours are a little more flexible, but I'm not near as drained as he is.
A few weeks ago, he got word of a job opening in his company that his boss thinks he would be great for. It's a 2nd shift (3pm-11pm) with more pay. The hours are more of his thing and we think it would benefit both of us. We are praying that God will direct us in the direction He wants us to go. He is supposed to meet with his boss today to discuss the opportunity. We are praying for good news!
We leave for our honeymoon tomorrow! Jamaica, here we come!!!! We are staying 4 nights at Couples Swept Away in Nagril, Jamaica. Our flight leaves early tomorrow morning and we will be returning late Saturday night! We are so excited!!!!
I will try to be more consistent with the updates. It has just been really hard with work and life and stuff. But Christmas break is coming up, so I will be off work for like 3 weeks or something like that! YAY!!! I do have some big plans though. Organizing the apartment! My mom, mother in law, and my sister have all offered to come over and help us out. It's not THAT bad, but all 3 of those ladies have much better skills than we do in the art of organizing. Hopefully, they can teach us a few things and then everything will be great!!!

Hi! Where have you been?

2008-10-02T20:39:00.000-05:00

So I haven't been on lately because...well, I guess there is not really a good reason. Just plain ole laziness, I guess. I was sick a few weeks ago and so that was no fun. I was out of commission for a whole weekend...which is not usually like me. I also legally changed my name to Nugent, so that was a very BIG highlight of my month! I love being Mrs. Nugent! It makes me feel super special to know that I share the same name as the love of my life! YAY! (Yep...totally get excited about stupid things.)

I also started my new job this week. I'm a substitute teacher for Arlington ISD and it has been a very interesting week. So far, I have done 7th grade English, 3rd grade, 1st grade, and today I conquered 5th grade. I like the older grades better because they are more self contained and independent. I'm also a big fan of switching classes. I like having the kids for a little bit, then sending them on to their next class. It makes it less stressful for me and more interesting since the class starts over with new kids. Tomorrow, I head to my old Jr. High school to sub for a 7th grade Science class. I'm very excited about it!

We started doing a bible study with our friends the Streets and the Walkers. We meet Wednesday nights and so far it has been some of the best conversation that I have ever had with friends. It is very refreshing to be in the company of other married Christians that are headed in the same direction; that are wanting to strengthen their marriages and their personal relationship with Christ. I love every minute of it. Thankfully, Nuge feels the same way. These past few weeks have been very peaceful and encouraging.
This week, we learned about how having Christ as the center of the marriage can affect the marriage, other relationships, and yourself. We also talked about the man being the head of the household. I know there are a lot of feminist who feel "belittled" or whatever by this, but after Kyle and Kim explained it in their words, and then took it to the Word of God, it became a bigger honor to have the husband as the head. The men are like the tree trunk. They are stable, rooted in The Word, and support the house. The women are like the vine that wraps around the trunk. They need the support and comfort of the strong, God fearing man. The women can't grow unless the men grow. They go where the men go. I may not be saying it as eloquently as Kyle and Kim, but it was very inspiring.

So that's pretty much what's been going on in the Nugent world. Not too much, nothing too exciting, but for us, we are stoked to be married! Almost one month!

Stay at home wife

2008-09-15T19:26:00.000-05:00

So today was my first day as a stay at home wife. It's not permanent, but it will be for the next 10 days. Today was also the first day of Nuge's brand new job. We woke up early, which is so not us, and I fixed him breakfast (poached egg on toast for those who were wondering). He fixed himself some coffee and we just enjoyed the few minutes we had together.

Last night before bed, I made him a lunch to take to work (2 turkey roll ups on whole grain tortillas) which he called on his way to work to inform me that he left it in the fridge. Good going honey. Good thing there is a cafeteria where he works.

Today, I got to do quite a few errands as a wife. It was pretty interesting since this is our first week of NOT being on honeymoon. My car has been in the shop since last Monday, so my mom came and picked me up and we got my car. Then I met with our insurance agent to discuss renters, car, and life insurance policies. Got all that taken care of, or at least it will be taken care of officially in a few days. After agent meeting, I went to my parents house for some lunch and spend time with my niece and grandparents who are still here after evacuating from Ike. I went to get my oil changed and bought a few things for our apartment. All in all, it was a very productive day.

I came home and started cooking dinner for my husband! I love to cook, so this was very exciting for me. I made a taco salad and it was done about 2 minutes after Nuge walked into the door. It was pretty awesome.

On a less than happy note, we found out that our beach cabin in Crystal Beach was completely destroyed by Ike. I mean there isn't anything except for the concrete slab. It was pretty upsetting, but we are insured and it was just a vacation home. The people that we need to pray for are the people who lost their actual homes. The pictures of the peninsula are pretty devastating so I know it will be years before the place is back up and running again as normal.

Tomorrow's goal: unpack most, if not all, of these boxes that are in the dining room so I actually feel like I'm in a home and not some dirty apartment.

I will post pictures of our new place as it gets finished. Right now, our bathroom and bedroom are the only rooms that are clean and just the way I want them...except for some hangings on the wall in both rooms. I'm starting to get very excited about our new home!

First one...

2008-09-13T02:12:00.000-05:00

So this is my first "real" blog. I've written some here and there but nothing to get excited over. I'm kind of learning this whole thing as I go, so bare with me if I stumble or bore you. It will get better...I hope.

Let me tell you a little bit about my husband and myself. We are the Nugents! I love the sound of that. We have been married for a week and it has been the best week of our lives...at least according to me.
My name is Caren. I grew up in Arlington, Texas and graduated from Bowie High School in 2003. There, I was a totally awesome member of the marching band...yep, that makes me ultra cool. My husband, Ryan (but we all call him Nuge), grew up in Arlington as well. We graduated from Martin High School in 2002. He was in the not so cool choir (kidding to all you choir people). After graduation, we both found ourselves at the University of Texas at Arlington. Nuge went in as a Biology major hoping to go to med school or something smart like that. After an awful stint at Organic Chemistry, he changed his mind and went with something a little more laid back (like himself) and got involved with Communication Technology. As for me, I always wanted to be a missionary and build houses, so I naturally went into Architecture. When my professor informed me that I actually suck at being an architecture major, I decided to go with my heart truly wanted. I've always been passionate about waiting until marriage to have sex, so I decided to be a motivational speaker for abstinence.
So that puts us here. Nuge graduated in May and I graduated in August. He recently got a job at Alcon and I'll be substitute teaching here pretty soon. We got married on September 5, 2008, which just happened to be my grandparents' 55th wedding anniversary. It was a honor to share our wedding day with them. They are amazing people and I love them dearly.

So what made me want to start writing a married life blog? I have no idea. I guess I figured it was the cool thing to do and sometimes I have something interesting to say. So I'm just gonna go for it...

You know how you go through moments in your life when you realize who your TRUE friends are? The ones that you KNOW will be with you no matter what stage of life you are going through? These are the people that you can't wait to see and you are sad to see go. I don't know if it is the whole getting married thing or the whole growing up thing, but I'm starting to see now who I want as my life long friend and who I wouldn't mind closing the chapter on. It's a very sad but real realization. As a couple, we are tired of empty friendships and 7th grade drama. This is the kind of stuff that is not healthy for any relationship, let alone a brand new marriage. Some people get that, others, not so much. How do you show people that you are ready to grow up and start a new chapter in life? I think we are struggling with this one. I'm not talking about anyone specific, or maybe I am, I don't even know if I'm sure at this moment. I think I'm just trying to get out emotions. Nuge and I talk about this quite a bit and we are still stuck.

Anyway, on another note. Tonight was the first time we went out with our friends since being married. I say "our" friends, but really they are Nuge's. They are his high school/college buddies that we have been regularly hanging out with. Another realization that I've had is that I hate going out to bars. I am always the designated driver, so I'm stuck being around a bunch of drunk people. Yeah, it's fun and funny at times, but when it hits a certain hour, I'm just ready to go home and go to bed. I'm a big party pooper, I know, but it just stops being fun being around drunks after so long. I'm not sure what kind of weekends married life will have in store for us, especially when Nuge starts going to work 8-5 on Monday. I guess we will see in the next coming months.
We have talked about starting a bible study with some of his other married, Christian friends. For the past few months, we have been wanting to grow more in Christ with other people who share our faith. It is something that is very important to us and important to our marriage. Once we get something going, I'll keep you updated on our progress and our learnings. We are extremely excited about starting something like this.