I wonder when I'm reeeeally gonna pop out. I feel like it's bound to happen in the upcoming weeks. 

For the first time in my pregnancy, I looked down at my tummy a few days ago and it looked lopsided. My belly button was facing left. What a bizarre thing! The baby is moving around lots now!!

I still can't get over this—the fact that God has chosen to bless us with a baby is so mind blowing! I'm excited for the upcoming weeks.

Week 21:

Hahahahahaha I just can't stop laughing. THIS is why I love(d) CBU and the professors there! :)

Maybe I shouldn't have updated my iPhone 4S to iOS 8. I read an article about how it can brick a 4S. Too bad that was already after I did the update. Well, my phone isn't quite a brick, but it seems to be on life support. Here is a list of the problems I've been facing so far. Fellow iPhone 4S owners, let me know if you're experiencing any of the same and if you have any solutions!

1. Maaaajor lagging. It takes an eternity for most apps to open and when you type, it types on a delay.
2. Issue with Notes syncing over iCloud. My iPhone notes are very important to me. I use them for freelance work as well as just keeping a written record of, well, everything! I'm always worried about losing them and having a syncing issue between my phone and my MacBook Pro just isn't acceptable! (I WAS able to resolve this issue eventually. Let me know if you need my step by step guide for doing so.)
3. Photos won't save. You know when you open apps like Timehop or Facebook and want to save a photo to your camera roll? Yeah, that wont work anymore.
4. Battery life disappears into thin air. My battery was at 94% and then my phone froze. I restarted. Now my battery is at 83%. Umm, can someone explain that logically to me please?
5. 2048 is now a joke! My favorite iPhone game, my addiction, won't work properly! I have to swipe multiple times to get tiles to move but then sometimes I swipe only once and the tiles move too much!! I can't live with this problem!!!!!

Well, well, well! Is God teaching me patience and trust and thankfulness or what?!

Last week, when my 20 week ultrasound was postponed from Friday to this Tuesday, we were definitely disappointed. It ruined our plans. We had planned to have a gender reveal party on Sunday but that couldn't happen if we weren't going to know the gender of our baby til Tuesday. After a bit of wrestling with the Lord, I felt a peace about it. I knew that God was in control.

Fast-forward to Tuesday (yesterday). Craig and I went in for my appointment. When we first walked into the room, we told the sonographer that we didn't want her to tell us the gender of the baby but we wanted her to write it down instead. She responded letting us know that that wouldn't be an issue because she has to write it down in the notes anyway. She proceeds with the scan checking all the important things on the baby. Everything that she saw was normal and healthy, but the baby wasn't being ultra cooperative so she couldn't see the its lips and cerebellum. Because of that, she said that they'd have to reschedule me to come in again for another scan. I think that it was probably at that point where she flipped on her grouchy switch. We reminded her that we wanted her to write down the gender of our baby but then she freaked out and said that it wasn't a 100% and she couldn't write it down for us. My frustration level started rising because we had already postponed our gender reveal party once before and I didn't want to have to postpone it again. But she just wouldn't budge. She said she'd have to ask her supervisor so she escorted us out of the room, completely forgetting to even ask us which pictures we wanted. We sat out in the waiting room for a few minutes before her supervisor came to inform us that it was against hospital policy to tell the gender of the baby seeing as it is just a guess anyway. My frustration was at the max now. I just couldn't understand the fact that they wouldn't tell us.

Later that day, I did some research and discovered that this is a common NHS practice. Some hospitals have a policy where they don't tell the gender of the baby. I guess that's why the sonographer freaked out about writing it down. Writing it down would make it more definitive that just casually saying it.

I am hoping and praying that in two weeks when I go in again, I get a different sonographer, someone who is more laid back than this woman and that they are willing to flex with this policy and let me know. Even if it comes down to Craig and I finding out on the spot and not being able to have a gender reveal party. Not for planning or preparation purposes—we are doing everything gender neutral anyway—but for peace of mind. I have never been a fan of surprises. And I don't want to wish my pregnancy away by being so anxious for the arrival of my baby so I can know if it's a girl or a boy. I want to really enjoy the second half of my pregnancy and cherish it.

At this point, I don't know what God is doing. I don't know what He's trying to teach me and I don't know why He's causing all these plans to not work out. I trust that He IS teaching me something though. Even yesterday, Craig pointed out that in the midst of our frustration over not finding out the gender of our baby, we had failed to even thank God for the fact that our baby is alive and healthy. We allowed a little thing to steal our joy when we really should have been soooo extremely thankful that God has already answered one of our biggest prayers by keeping our baby healthy. Right then, we stopped our little pity party and thanked the Lord for His goodness towards us.

And that brings me to a place of even more thankfulness—thankfulness over having a husband that turns me to Jesus when I am frustrated, thankfulness over having a husband who recognizes that God is constantly showering us with blessings. I've heard it said before, "When you feel angry, just start thanking God and watch your anger fade away." This couldn't be more true.

Who am I to make a fuss over something so minor as a canceled gender reveal party?!

Thank You, Lord, for being so good to me. Thank You for giving me a husband that loves You. And thank You for giving us a baby. Thank You for keeping our baby alive and healthy. Thank You, in advance, for the lessons learned in [small] trials like this. And thank You for caring enough about us to even want to teach us useful lessons. 

It's hard to believe we're halfway through already. How does time fly so fast?!

Well, here we are. 20 weeks down, 20 more to go.

Week 20:

I'm starting to realize that the category "life" is too broad for a blog...especially with a baby on the way. I might need to make a separate "pregnancy" or "baby" category! What do you all think?

Anyyyways, one of my favorite mom bloggers (can you believe I already have favorite mom bloggers?!) started a pregnancy log on her blog since she is now pregnant with baby number two! After reading hers, I felt inspired to log my own pregnancy! What a wonderful way to remember this joyous miracle that God is creating!

I'm almost halfway through my pregnancy now (I can't believe how fast time flies!!) so this might be fairly late, but at least this way I can capture the excitement of the second half!

Here we go!

Week 19:

Alright folks. I told you in a previous post that if my attempt at making homemade coffee creamer came out good, I would share the recipe. Well, it came out amaaaaazing. I feel like I'm drinking REAL coffee now! It would be wrong of me to not give Crystal from MrsHappyHomemaker.com a shout out though; after all, she is the one who came up with this glorious recipe. THANK YOU, CRYSTAL!!

It is SUCH a simple recipe with a TON of variations. I made the French Vanilla one for this first attempt so that is the recipe I will be sharing...but if you want to try all the other flavors, visit Crystal's original post here!

Recipe: Homemade Coffee Creamer

Ingredients:

Instructions:

Pregnancy: 18 weeks, 6 days

I've been having these cramps lately, near where my kidneys are. I don't know if these cramps are a cause to worry or not, but I've done all I could do at the doctor's. I had a urine test last week and I am still waiting for the results. Sit, wait, and trust the Lord. That's what I need to do. [Why is it that trusting the Lord is always my last option?! I need to learn to do this from the very beginning! But, anyways, I digress.]

I've been reading up on my symptoms online as much as I could without driving myself insane. A lot of sites make it seem like I'm just dehydrated. One site even took it so far as to say that even if the cramps are the beginnings of a kidney infection, I could flush out the infection from my system by drinking more water. Water. Always the solution. Yet, why is it such a struggle to drink more water?!

I've set a goal for myself...with a bribe. I am not going to make myself breakfast until I drink one whole large glass of water. Sounds easy enough, right? Ehh, not for me! Let's see how I do with my own challenge!

I live in England. So naturally, you can't find many of the delicacies most Americans take for granted—one of them being none other than (drumroll, please!) coffee creamer.

My fellow American friend living in the UK and I have recently been discussing making our own coffee creamers. It was kinda just something we talked about without actually doing...until today. I built up the courage to do some research. I was expecting to find recipes with a bajillion different ingredients that I'd never be able to find in England, but to my pleasant surprise, I found one that looks feasible!

Stay tuned, folks! If this comes out good, I will most definitely be sharing the recipe!

Sometimes, I feel like my blog needs a revamp. Other times, I just feel like giving up this whole blog thing. But I can't! I like blogging way too much to quit.

This blog was encouraging.

I'm at week 18, day 4 of my pregnancy.

It's a wonder how uncomfortable I am when trying to sleep. Oh lordy, what am I going to do when I'm a bit bigger?! I'm thinking of purchasing a maternity pillow but I'm not sure what the best options out there are. I don't want to spend a fortune on one, and one that can be useful after baby is here would probably be the wisest investment.

Mommas out there, what do you think?

On a different note, check out http://ohjoy.blogs.com/my_weblog/2014/08/pregnancy.html! She's one of my favorite momma bloggers! :)