Five on Friday! :)

I really like four day weeks. Like I'm pretty sure every week needs to be a three day weekend four day work week. Come on get with the program corporate America, it works.

1) Our wedding season kicked off with a bang last Saturday as we watched our friends exchange vows written by them and said I do. It was one of the sweetest ceremonies I've been to. We love getting all dressed up and LOVED that the dress I'm wearing is non-maternity. Woo hoo. I can only rotate those so many times this wedding season!

2) Speaking of wedding season. I love this time of year, our fridge stays full of pretty things. We have save the dates, wedding shower invitations, wedding invitations, baby shower invitations and graduation announcements/party invitations. I love them all. This summer is a nice break from last summer though, we had 6 weddings and all the events that came with them. We were busy busy! :)

 3) Our sweet girl turned three on Wednesday. I can't believe how much she has grown. When we firs discussed getting a dog we decided on a boxer. A breed that we both had experience with before and one we loved. However, when a friend of mine was selling puppies and one of my best gal pals sent me a picture of the pup she got from the liter, I couldn't say no. Kendall is a pitboxer mix. Yes she has pitbull in her. I understand the stereotype and get all the judgmental looks when people realize she has pit in her. But we couldn't have asked for a more loyal, sweeter, kinder, full of personality pup. She's great with kids and has the best temperament. She stays on bump patrol and doesn't leave my side when we're home together. On the weekend's she becomes my dad's companion when the chemo makes him feel rough. I don't have any doubt that she won't be the best big sister for Caroline, with her breeds mixed she's going to be her protector and best playmate. :) Happy 3rd birthday sweet girl!

4) My favorite reality/contestant show came back on this week! So You Think You Can DANCE or as I will further refer to it as SYTYCD! It's a show I've watched since season 1 and coming on only during the summer is just not enough in my opinion. I grew up dancing so it's a show I thoroughly enjoy and makes me wish I was still dancing and way better than I was!

5) It's been a intense week for our family. Yesterday dad and mom met with the cardiologist at Duke and while the appointment was all good news the reality of the situation became more real. In about a month and a half my dad will start preparing for a stem cell transplant. I met mom for breakfast and could tell the anxiety of it all was settling in. So I found some scripture to try to focus on during these next few weeks. 

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! 

21 Week BumpDate.

21 weeks. That means we're over halfway there. We found out we were pregnant in January and now it's almost June. Talk about flying time. 

Baby Size.....A carrot. Caroline is about 10 and 1/2 inches long and weighs a quart of a pound. 

Weight Gain: Up three pounds from pre-pregnancy weight but since I lost four pounds during the first trimester I'm up seven. 

Maternity Clothes: Yes. Shorts, skirts, and dresses I can still wear the majority of my tops thankfully. I was able fit into a non maternity dress for a wedding this weekend, it felt good! :)

Stretch Marks: None from pregnancy! 

Gender: A sweet baby GIRL Caroline Vance Walters. 

Movement: Oh yes, pretty sure we have a gymnast on our hands. 

Best Moment this Week: We had a wonderful long weekend in Hickory at Derik's parents house. It's a nice little escape and I finally got to soak up some Vitamin D.

Looking Forward To: My cousin's high school graduation party! I love it when my family is together. :)

What I miss: Nothing really :)

Symptoms: I breathe crooked and get heartburn thankful for Tums! :)

Nursery: Her closet is starting to fill up. Woopsies. We picked out her crib (I think) and found a couple of gliders that we both love. Decisions Decisions. 

Belly Button in or Out? In!

Mood: Happy, excited, overjoyed! 

Prayers for Caroline this week:

Lord, 

We are over halfway through this pregnancy. Time is really flying, we praise you for a healthy pregnancy this far. Lord pregnancy is all about trust there is so much unknown going on during a pregnancy. As humans, we tend to fear the unknown. Lord help me to put my full trust in you and not be so worried about something going wrong during this pregnancy. This is supposed to be a time of joy but the devil is trying to still my joy by creeping in fear and anxiety. Thank you for your faithfulness, your grace, and your mercy. 

Amen

Five on Friday!

This week has been a pretty good one! I can't believe Memorial Day weekend is upon us the "official" kick off to summer! I swear it was Christmas yesterday....

1) I've had a lot of worry on my heart lately but I've decided that I've just got to stop worrying. I'm not in control, whatever happens is going to happen regardless how much I worry or not. Worry and anxiety are from the devil and he comes to steal, kill, and destroy. I will not allow him to steal anymore of my joy about this pregnancy. Life is too short to have the joy stolen from us. So I'm choosing joy!

2) We have a store called Peaches and Cream and it's a children's boutique. My sister and I grew up wearing it and I'm so excited it's still around for sweet Caroline. Hello smocked dresses and sweet appliques. They had their storewide 30-40% off sale PLUS an additional 50% sale today. I didn't go nearly as crazy as I could have but luckily they have the same sale right around Thanksgiving. 

She's going to be so fancy for next summer. The cherry outfit, $5 y'all. 

3) Thanks to a sweet friend she also received her first monogram. Baby bloomers. Y'all. I. Just. Can't. 

4) We're in Hickory at Derik's parents for the kick off our wedding season! Our friends tie the knot at the same place we did a little over a year ago. I'm so excited! Busting out my dancing shoes. :)

5) It's Memorial Day weekend. Yes a great time to gather with families and enjoy cookouts, the beach, the pool, and other summer time activities. But let us not forget the real meaning of this weekend. The service and sacrifice of our military men, women, families, and friends that have lost their lives protecting our freedoms. Let us remember the fallen and pray for those still serving. 

CPL Pruitt Rainey February 21st, 1986- July 13, 2008. Killed In Action. Afghanistan. 

Week 20..Halfway there!

Baby Size.....A banana. 

Weight Gain: Up two pounds from pre-pregnancy weight but since I lost four pounds during the first trimester I'm up six. 

Maternity Clothes: Yes. Shorts, skirts, and dresses I can still wear the majority of my tops!

Stretch Marks: None from pregnancy! 

Gender: A sweet baby GIRL Caroline Vance Walters. 

Movement: Yes! Becoming more consistent now and more often throughout the day. 

Best Moment this Week: Impossible to choose one best moment. The anatomy scan finding out our babe is healthy, finding out our sweet babe is a girl, sharing the news with our families. 

Looking Forward To: A three day weekend! :) Happy Memorial Day!

What I miss: Not worrying about every single twinge. 

Symptoms: I breathe crooked and get heartburn. 

Nursery: Finally setting some plans down. 

Belly Button in or Out? In!

Mood: Happy, excited, overjoyed! 

Prayers for Miss Caroline:

Lord, 

We praise you for a sweet healthy baby girl. We couldn't thank you more. Thank you for answering our prayers for a healthy babe. Thank you for a healthy pregnancy this far. Lord you know the worries on my heart and I pray that you give me a peace to make the right decision. Thank you for your faithfulness and grace. 

We love you!

Amen.

20 Week Anatomy Scan/Gender Reveal!

With little sleep the night before we headed to our anatomy scan bright and early Friday morning. We were the first appointment of the day. To say I was a nervous wreck would be a complete understatement. I was so nervous I lost my breakfast before we could leave to go to our appointment. The tech called us back and I was praising the Lord they didn't do my blood pressure then. I'm sure it was through the roof. The tech we had was seriously a God send. She was one of the kindest ladies I had ever met, I could take the woman with me everywhere. You could tell she genuinely loves her job and cares about her patients. She asked if we wanted to know the gender and of course we said yes providing baby cooperated. She got right to work and began measuring everything. It was truly one of the most incredible experiences. Seeing all four chambers of the heart, the brain, the spine, the stomach, the kidneys, baby's bladder, my bladder, the rib cage, the hands, the arms, the legs, the feet, the nose the mouth. Truly an incredible experience. The tech was great and pointed everything out as she went along and kept saying everything was perfect. Obviously she couldn't give us exact results but just hearing the word perfect come out of her mouth lowered my blood pressure. Baby cooperated and we were able to tell the gender and it's pretty obvious what Baby W is! We met with the doctor and he confirmed all the tech said that baby was developing normally and beautifully! We couldn't have been more thrilled. We both left the doctor's appointment on a high and I'm pretty sure we floated on that high for the remainder of the weekend and I'm still floating today. We called our families to confirm healthy baby and even though they tried to weasel the gender out of us we didn't break. I was pretty dern proud of myself. We let the furry child know what her sibling is and she wagged her nub in approval. :)

Right when we got home...still floating on said high. 

Sunday we hosted a gender reveal cookout for our families! We didn't want anything too over the top so we kept it small and the menu easy. We served hot dogs, hamburgers, all the fixin's, chips, fruit dip, cupcakes, and homemade frosty ice cream. 

Pink or Blue? I'll never tell. :)

Cupcakes and old wives tales. 

I kept the decorations to a minimum. Didn't want to go overboard with the pink and blue. 

With our families 

Team Pink 

Team Blue

For the actual reveal Derik and I wanted everyone to participate. So we poked holes in the color balloons it was NOT. The ones that remained inflated once blown up is the color that Baby W is. 

It's a....

GIRL! I have felt girl all along however, Thursday night I was convinced otherwise. We would have been over the moon either way and we are just so thankful for a healthy baby girl! :)

I think it was a tie between these two as to who was most excited for a little girl. My aunt Pat and my sweet daddy. That little girl is going to have him wrapped. :)

We let the grandmother's reveal sweet baby girl's name. Caroline Vance both are family names which was important to us! We had decided on Caroline before we even thought about being pregnant. Just one of those pillow talk things. It was the only girl name up in the name pool for the entire pregnancy. We threw out other girl names but nothing felt right but sweet Caroline. 

 Derik asked the ultrasound tech to say Miss Caroline says hello! 

We are so excited for our sweet girl and can't believe that we are halfway to meeting her. Bring on the bows, monograms, and dresses!

xo, 

Sarah 

One Year Later...

As I write this post, it still doesn't seem real to me that just a year ago we were about to say our I do's. It doesn't seem possible that a whole year has already gone by. 365 days, 52 weeks, 12 months of marital um bliss. Has every single day been blissful? No. But the wonderful thing is as I sit here trying to think of that not so blissful moments I can't seem to think of any. Our first year of marriage has most certainly had it's ups, downs, twists, and turns but that's apart of the beautiful ride. I'm just thankful I have someone sitting right beside me holding my hand through it all. Marriage is a choice, every.single.day. We choose each other, for the long haul. For the good days and bad. For the laughter the tears the struggles. For the perfect days the imperfect days and all the days in between. Our marriage is perfectly imperfect but it's just that OURS. I couldn't be more grateful for the day we said I do, in the rain.

We celebrated our first anniversary all weekend long with yummy dinners, shopping, and celebrating with our families! We couldn't have imagined spending it any other way. 

Week 19 BumpDate!

It's Week 19 y'all and what a fun one it's been! Baby W has been moving like crazy off and on lately and I love it!

I'm carrying a baby. Hubs is carrying a case of beer. 

Baby Size.....A mango or a tomato. 6 inches long .5lbs Mangos are one of my favorite fruits but my Paw-Paw grew tomatoes and I can't help but think of him  and smile when thinking of how big baby is this week.

Weight Gain: Up two pounds from pre-pregnancy weight but since I lost four pounds during the first trimester I'm up six. 

Maternity Clothes: Yes. The white shorts above buttoned the week before. Sunday morning I put them on and had to pull out the hair ties. A pair of white maternity shorts and navy maternity shorts are on their way to me. Thank you Old Navy short sale! 

Stretch Marks: None from pregnancy! 

Gender: We find out Friday, family finds out Sunday. Operation duct tape Sarah's mouth begins approximately 9:30 Friday morning when our appointment is over. 

Movement: Yes! Not always consistent but when I feel the flutters I love it. :)

Best Moment this Week: We spent the weekend with Derik's family in Hickory and had the best time as usual. We also celebrate Mother's Day twice Sunday! Such a great day celebrating our amazing mama's! 

Looking Forward To: Friday's appointment obviously! Finding out what our sweet bean is and seeing that it is healthy and happy and sharing our news with our families on Sunday at our gender reveal cookout! 

What I miss: Nothing really! 

Symptoms: Oh hello round ligament pain again, can't say that I missed ya. And heartburn. 

Nursery: Two tubs and a desk left to clear out! After Friday I'll be pinning like a mad woman!

Belly Button in or Out? In but still does that weird thing right after eating! 

Mood: Happy, excited, and anxious for Friday. 

Prayers for Sweetest Baby: 

Lord,

We are getting super anxious for Friday. Not only to find out the gender but for the anatomy scan. I pray that Baby W is growing 100% healthy. We pray for peace as we go into this appointment, peace from you surpasses all understanding. Lord, we wonder about this sweet baby's personality this week. Will it be laid back and relaxed like daddy? Or a little bit of a worry wart and planner like mommy? We pray that this child be filled with joy, your joy Lord! Thank you for a healthy pregnancy so far and we pray that it continues to stay that way! 

Amen

Five on Friday!

Happy Friday my friends! What a week it has been. It's final week in my world so therefore when my laptop has been opened it's been all school related. That makes for one lonnnng week, oh I long for the days of no more case studies, practice psych evaluations, and exams. I was able to have some fun this week. The hubs is pretty good about dragging me away from my computer when he can tell I need a break. 

1)We celebrated Cinco De Mayo Monday evening by eating an early dinner at our favorite spot La Cocina. We attempted to beat the crowds, it's crazy how our celebrations have changed. Can't lie and say I didn't miss my margarita, but oh well! Next year! For your viewing pleasure Cinco De Mayo three years ago. Also a few nights before college graduation. I present Derik and Sarah the dating years! :)

2) Wednesday my sweet daddy had a doctors appointment at Duke. Y'all let me just say that God is good. We all went into this appointment not knowing what to expect exactly. With much anticipation and prayers my mom, dad, and sister went to meet with the specialist and got some questions answered. We all decided toting this hormonal pregnant one along probably wouldn't be the best since I just look at my dad and cry. Chemo is a powerful drug my dad and I now weigh the same amount. But it's doing it's job and the doctor is pleased. He'll have a procedure at the end of July if all is well with his heart and we're in fervent prayer that it will be the beginning of the road to remission! God's hand has been in it all from the beginning and that is even more evident now. We serve a mighty God y'all. 

3) Y'all Wednesday I decided to play domestic goddess. I made four cheese gluten free ravioli, GF garlic bread, and funfetti cupcakes. Did I take a single picture? Surely not. Was it delicious? Absolutely. Pinterest for the win on the gluten free ravioli. Although the funfetti cupcakes were not GF I made them more selfishly for me than the GF eating hubs. Sorry I'm not sorry? :)

4) This time next week we'll be hopefully finishing up our 20 week anatomy scan. We'll finally know what this sweet bean is growing in my belly. We'll also get a chance to look at all the organs and make sure everything is growing and developing properly. While I'm anxious to find out gender obviously, babe's health is the by far first and foremost on the list of importance for this appointment. Will I be able to sleep a wink Thursday night? Probably not. :) I'll just have to remind myself to not watch all my shows at other times throughout the week so I'll have something to occupy my mind!

5) Wrapping up this weeks favorites with two shout outs to the best momma's I know! I'm so thankful to have my sweet mama that always has a listening ear, comforting words, and shares the same obsession for Christmas as I do. She's a  God fearing woman who leads by example. I'm thankful for the friendship we have formed over the past few years.  I only hope to be half the mama she is! 

My other mom became officially my second mom almost a year ago. (Next Sunday a year ago) I'm so thankful for my mother in law! She's always taking care of us and everyone really. She's a wonderful mother, nana, wife, and nurse. She's a lady that wears many different hats often simultaneously. I'm not sure how she does all that she does do! She loves the Lord at that is quite clearly shown by the way she cares for others. I couldn't have asked for a better mother-in-law!