Lucky 13 & a Cold

I reached my 13 week of pregnancy mark on Dec. 13th, which was also my birthday. 

We had our church Christmas program the same day.

Oh, and also our Sunday school class Christmas party.

We had a full day, which, in all honesty, is fine with me. The "older" I get, the less I care about making my birthday a big to-do. I actually don't know if I've ever really wanted a huge fuss over my birthday. Probably because that's how my family has always treated birthdays.  They are special days, where you definitely feel loved, but it's no parade with fireworks. 

And I'm fine with that. 

Back to Sunday,

We had our Christmas program at church. The day before, my mom had bought us all tickets for The Living Christmas Tree at First Baptist in Little Rock.  It was fantastic and I'm glad that most of our family (minus Logan and Morgan- boo to finals!) was able to come and enjoy it together.  I teared up a couple times - it doesn't take much lately - but the choir was SO good. I am a sucker for the old Christmas classics.

We ate at Chuy's (my pick) after the show.  My dad was the only one that had never been there and I do believe that he enjoyed himself. ;)

My baby brother Clark had to go back to OBU after dinner because he had to study for finals coming up, and when he told me to have a happy birthday and that he'd see me soon, I had to quickly say goodbye because I almost lost it again in the parking lot. 

baby brother

These pregnancy hormones, YALL :| 

Oh, yeah….our Christmas program. 

I think it went well, despite my husband saying that a few of the songs were a little long (insert eye-roll here). We had several testimonies shared…they were tear-jerkers….and I'm not just saying that because I am hormonal, because even grown men in the church were wiping their eyes. 

I was a hot mess by the time the second service ended. A HOT MESS.

I'm sure the video will be attractive LOL!

That afternoon, we had our SS class Christmas party. It's always fun to get together with that group. The only "negative" thing is that our class has grown so much in the past few months, that is hard for me to remember everyones name and what they do and which kid belongs to which family.  I blame pregnancy brain… I think it's a real thing. But our party went well, we played dirty santa/white elephant, and ate some delicious food.

________________________________________________________________

Monday morning rolled around and I did not feel good, but I went to work anyway.

Monday evening came and I was miserable. 

I had "caught" a cold. 

Tuesday and Wednesday were not pretty days. I decided to call into work on Thursday because I felt like I did not need to go in sneezing and with a hacking cough when I have to work with sick babies. SOME people I work with don't care about that, because either they don't want to miss work or they simply can't afford to miss work. But it still irks me because I feel like everyone is just passing it from one person to the next.

But I digress…

As I'm typing this, it's Friday. I work Sat-Mon and so I am praying that I can just make it through the next three days without getting worse and hopefully all this sinus mess will finally go away. I am already feeling like I can almost breathe normally again, so here's to getting well!

I hope the {few} that read this are staying happy and healthy this week!

'Tis the Season,

Holly

12 weeks & a tiny heart beat!

December 10th was our 12 week appointment.

I've been a nervous wreck because ever since I woke up at the start of week 11, my symptoms have decreased significantly. Most people would be rejoicing, but this little momma-to-be is a worrier and so I have fretted a bit. 

We showed up to our morning appointment and I just knew my BP would be high because for about a week and a half, I had been worrying and praying that everything was okay.

It wasn't high, it was perfect!

Our doctor popped in and basically said this would be one of the quicker appointments and that she would be using a doppler ultrasound to listen for the heartbeat.

I held my breath and she searched for what seemed like several minutes, when in reality it was probably just a few seconds.

We heard that precious, tiny, strong heartbeat and I about lost it on the exam table. :')

this was right after we got to hear the heartbeat

I even got the hubs to take a video on his phone, just so I can listen to our baby's heartbeat whenever I want. Best decision ever.

Baby had a heart rate of 150 and it was nice and strong. I'm feeling better than I have in weeks!

We are very blessed!

'Tis the Season, 

Holly

Our {little} Secret: Part 2

Once we went to the doctor for our 8 week appointment on Nov. 12th, we decided to plan to tell our parents the following weekend.

I ordered this SUPER CUTE onesie on Etsy, paid extra to have it rush delivered, and we (mainly me) racked our brains on how we should tell everyone.

I'm sharing the picture again because, I MEAN!

Coming from larger families, we knew that getting everyone together at the same time was not a real option.

We told my family on a Friday night. A few days before our appointment, I got online and did some "research" (my husband's favorite word) and found an adorable book for new grandparents, called "The Gifts of Being Grand."  So I ordered two and had them rush delivered.

My family does a Thanksgiving tree and it's been a tradition for years.  We have colorful, contraction paper leaves and we write various things we are thankful for every year.  So I dug around in our office, found some red construction paper, and made a leaf and wrote Baby Nicholson on it.  I stuck that in a box with our ultrasound picture and then the box in a bag with the book.

Late that night, after we had been over at their house visiting for a while, I stepped out into the garage to grab the bag that we had stashed before we walked in.

I made my family (Dad, Mom, & Joshua) sit on the couch together and asked them to open the box first, before pulling the other gift (the book) out of the bag.  My mom was SHOCKED, Joshua was speechless, and my dad….well…bless him.  I believe his first words were "Oooohhh noooo…." but not in a negative matter, just a totally shocked, never saw it coming way. Or so we think ;)

We told Aaron's family the following morning. When his mom opened the box with the ultrasound picture, she immediately started bawling, as did his sister, and his dad walked over, over-alls and all (you just have to know him) and he said "Well it appears you have a bun in the oven!"

Later that day, we told my baby brother Clark, who had come home from college for the weekend.

The next day, Aaron told his two brothers, and we face-timed brother Logan and my SIL Morgan, and I walked over to the Thanksgiving tree, where we had put up the leaf, and we laughed about some of the leaves that somehow make it back up on the tree every year, and then I casually focused on the Baby Nicholson leaf.

We called our grandparents in the following days and everyone was SO thrilled and SO surprised.

We decided to make our announcement early, after we got a chance to tell some more family and some of our close friends. Considering that we didn't really trust some of our family members to keep it a secret for very long, I think it was a good decision. I am very happy we announced early.

I was so tickled at the outpouring of love and kind words that were showed to us during those first few days. I may have cried a couple times (I DID).

'Tis the Season,

Holly

Our {little} Secret: Part 1

After we found out that we were expecting, we couldn't wait to tell our families.

Except we did wait.

I am a notorious "worrier" and I think it may be due to a recessive worrier gene on the Garland side.

I wanted to get through our first doctor appointment, just to make sure that we were 1) really pregnant, and 2) that everything up to that point was normal.

I scheduled our first appointment on November 12th, 2015. So that means from October 21st until the 12th of November, we had to keep our secret.

Talk about a hard couple of weeks.

Actually for me, it wasn't so bad. I am a pretty private person and this was a huge deal for me, for us, and so it was easier for me to remain tight-lipped.  My poor husband on the other hand, was "on the struggle bus."  I'm so proud of him for not slipping up ONCE.

What was really hard was hiding my "morning sickness" (just let me LOL at the fact that it's called morning sickness, when (for me) it's really 24/7, constant sickness, that comes and goes ALL DAY LONG) from my mom/family and from my coworkers. I stayed home a lot and visits with family were short and sweet. Work was a bit easier because I could just say I was tired (which I was) or that my stomach hurt a bit and most people left it alone because there's always something going around at the hospital.

I nibbled on Saltines and sipped Powerade for weeks and drank more Sprite and Ginger Ale than I probably have in all of my life. But I rarely complained (out loud) because I knew that in the end, it would be worth it.

I was a bundle of nerves before our appointment. I just knew my blood pressure was going to be through the roof (IT WASN'T) and that all my vitals were going to be out of whack. (THEY WEREN'T).

Aaron met me for lunch before and I gave him the run down of what I thought the first visit might entail. He doesn't "do" medical stuff.

Long story short, I think our doctor will be fantastic, Aaron handled the appointment like a champ even though he mentioned how he felt like he had germ crawling all over him (BLESS), and we got to see our little nugget on the ultrasound.  Aaron's face in that moment will be one of my other favorite memories. I wish I had videoed it. We saw the little heart just beating away and our baby even moved a tiny bit.

Also, I wish I had known about the ultrasound. I thought it would just be a regular US.

NOPE.

Here's how that little convo went…kind of...

"Okay, we will now walk down the hall so we can get an US of your baby!" said the doctor.

"Oh wonderful! How exciting! We can't wait!" said Holly and Aaron.

walk walk walk….

"Okay, I will need you to undress from the waist down and I'll be back in a minute to do the transvaginal ultrasound."- Dr.

(mental brakes screeching) -Holly & Aaron (mainly Aaron)

So while undressing, I told him the gist of what would happen and to just hang in there and not really watch anything but the screen.

He handled it like a champ.

Meanwhile, I was the one that had a wand stuck in my hoo-ha and was "undressed" from the waist down…. and then I got blood work done. Yay for being a woman! And a mommy! :)

 I think all women should get a reward for that…and after a PAP smear. I am just saying. Maybe like a gift card for free ice cream or something. I think we should make that a "thing."

I would have done way more/worse if it meant we got to see our baby.

WHICH WE DID AND IM STILL TICKLED ABOUT IT. That ultrasound picture will be one of my greatest treasures.

I tried to guess my due date, just so I could order ones of these super cute onesies that I found a few months prior on Etsy! I figured by our timeline, June was the month and we could figure out the actual date at the Dr.
Our doctor said baby Nicholson measured at 8 weeks during our appointment, so our due date is going to be June 20, 2016!

We can't wait to meet you!

Be blessed today,

Holly

First comes LOVE...

(This post has been a few months in the making. I know I should have written it at the time everything was happening, but hey, life gets busy!)

"Aaron and Holly sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G.

First comes LOVE.

Then comes MARRIAGE.

(then comes a few years to enjoy said marriage…)

THEN comes a BABY in a baby carriage!"

____________________________________________________________

I feel like life as a young adult is just a constant ache/rush/longing/pressured feeling to get to "the next stage of life." 

Whatever that stage may be.

Aaron and I got marriage fairly young, he had just turned 24 and I was 22. But we were in love and we were ready. I mean, we dated all those years. 

It seems to me, and correct me if I'm wrong (don't, I'm not), but when you are in a serious relationship, everyone wants to know if and when you will get married. 

But then there's a new level of annoyance. Once you are married, people start asking when you plan to start a family.  I believe the first of those questions began right after we returned from our honeymoon. No joke. I think it was my grandparents ;) BLESS.

My mom likes to say, "people mean well" and most of the time I can agree with her. 

Aaron and I have talked about babies since high school. How we hoped they would look like us and what our house would look like.

We've talked about babies for 4.5 years now. Adding to and changing our (ever-changing) list of baby names, what sports they might play, schools, where we might want to raise them, but how we weren't quite ready for them. (I can say that the pressure to actually have a baby increases rapidly each year you are married, from SOME people (it's not your life, folks!), but not ALL people. That's another rant for another day.)

But, we've only REALLY talked about babies for the past several months.  When was the right time to start trying, what about insurance, where would we live, would we have family close, what about new/bigger cars, etc? 

One day my sweet, wonderful, loving, crazy, dreamer of a husband looked at me and told me he thought it was the right time. So we talked about it some more and prayed about it and decided to just see what happened. 

I took a pregnancy test the morning of October 9th, 2015. That was the day we had planned to go look at a car for me (see previous pos: thttp://tistheseasontobeholly.blogspot.com/2015/12/rainfall-scratches-and-growing-up.html). It had been a little while, well a little while is relative, I should say it had been an appropriate amount of time and I thought that if, by chance, it was positive, we could celebrate that day since he already had the day off work and we were going to be together all day.

It was negative. 

I was surprised (at myself) how it actually took me a few minutes to compose myself and to go tell Aaron the news. My first and only pregnancy test I had ever taken was negative, which I knew there was a 50/50 chance it would be, but it REALLY bummed me out.  We knew there was an obvious chance that it could take a while to get pregnant, but just seeing the little word on the stick bummed me out for a few days. 

Thankfully, my awesome husband was encouraging and I was able to bounce back to my old self and change my mind set. Still praying and trusting God through the process.

October 21st rolled around. I had been feeling a little sick to my stomach the past couple of days and I told my husband that I was going to take another test and if it was negative, I was going to the Dr because I believed that I had caught some "bug"(there's always something going around) at the hospital. So the morning of the 21st rolled around, Aaron left for work, and I worked up the nerve to take another pregnancy test. 

I left the bathroom and went into the kitchen to fix breakfast for myself and turned on the TV. Several minutes went by before I could muster the courage to walk back into the bathroom. 

When I finally did and the screen said POSITIVE, I kind of flipped out. My poor dog could not figure out what was going on! (He still can't figure out what's going on actually)

I kept the secret ALL day because I wanted to tell Aaron face to face, but I didn't think that I should tell him he needed to come home early or anything.  We even had dinner with one of our couple friends and I was proud of myself for not slipping up in front of them.  

Once we finally got home, we decided to watch a little tv before we went to bed for the night.  I was just sure my face was going to give me away, but I told him I'd be right back and went and got the pregnancy test.  I was on the verge of (happy) tears, so instead of melting into a puddle in front of him by trying to be cute or clever, I just handed him the test.

The look on his face will be one of my favorite memories. :) We were so excited and in our prayers that night we thanked God for our little blessing.

:) we are VERY blessed

Tis the season!

-Holly

Rainfall, Scratches, and Growing Up

Friday, the 9th of October, is a day that will "live in infamy" in the Nicholson household.

Let's start from the beginning, or really, about 6 months ago.

Aaron drives a Toyota Prius. We LOVE the Prius. But it's "ode" (as my brother Joshua would say) and it has over 200,000 miles on it.  We have made a lot of good memories in that car.  A. LOT.

The Prius has been acting its age this past year.  It is having issues with the oil, with the speedometer, and TURNING ON AND OFF.

Yes, you read that correctly. The dang car will sometimes not turn on and will sometimes not turn off.

WHAT THE WHAT.

Needless to say, we (by "we" I mean "Aaron") have been looking at cars (24/7) and trying to make a budget so that we may be able to smartly purchase said car.  Our 2nd biggest purchase with the first being our house, but our first biggest purchase without any "help" from our families.

So fast forward to this past week.  Aaron got ALL excited because he had found "The Car," had been watching it for a couple of weeks, decided it was worth checking out, and called me at work to tell me about it.  Of course, I don't normally have my phone on, so he left a voicemail, and when I saw it on my lunch break, I automatically assumed something was majorly wrong. :|

He tells me about "The Car" and how he has decided to take off work on Friday and have to two of us drive up there and check it out.

This was Tuesday.

By Wednesday afternoon, he has talked to our bank about financing and has it all lined out.  The boy does not waste any time. He also had put down a (refundable) deposit to "hold" the car for us until we could check it out in person.

Friday morning we headed to Muskogee, Oklahoma.  Yes, OKLAHOMA. It a little over 3 hours away, because, we live in Arkansas.  And "The Car" is in Oklahoma. (insert eye roll #1)

Oh and did I mention it was RAINING? (insert eye roll #2)

OH. OH. Did I mention that Aaron we rented a car to drive up there? Because we were worried about taking our actual daily drivers (mainly the Prius) on a long road trip. (eye roll #3)

I love my husband. :)

So we get to Muskogee, OK and your stereotypical car salespeople are out front, and a few of them are smoking…in front of the door…the entrance to their business...I mean really? But that's another rant for another day.

We meet the salesman that Aaron has been in cahoots with communicating with all week.  He pulls the car around and it is beautiful. But my husband, being ever so picky thorough, walks around and around and around the car, gets on the ground by the car, mashes all the buttons in the car, and asks the salesman as many questions as he could think of.

I am so thankful that he was so thorough.

We both test drove "The Car" and, no surprise, it drove like a dream.

Then Aaron requested to check out the car OUT of the rain (gasp!) and to see it dried off (gasp!).

You would think he would have asked them to cut out their kidney. We waited and waited and waited.

They finally called us back to the back garage to see the car.  Aaron walked around and around and around and laid on the ground to look under the car (yes, I regret not taking any pictures).

Guess what we saw?

SCRATCHES.  The whole back bumper. Superficial, but still. Not the point.  Aaron was NOT having that.

He went into competitive deal maker mode. I love seeing that side of him.  I know that we would be in good hands because my Aaron David is not going to make a financial decision that he is not 110% sure about or that he can't afford. He reminds me of my Dad in a lot of ways. ;)

Long story short…because believe me, it was a LONG day in Muskogee.

The dealership manager came and talked with us, because we were going to walk away from "The Car," and said he would refer us to his personal body shop (eye roll #10 at this point) and that he would personally take care of whatever repairs necessary that the body shop could do to fix this car for us.

We went to McDonalds in Muskogee (never again) and talked it over. We decided to just go get an assessment at the body shop, and if they couldn't give us what we wanted, we would walk.

The body shop was the highlight of the day. They were surprisingly friendly and wonderful and by the end of our 3 hours there (yes 3 hours), I was best friends with the secretary and she told me ALL about her family and her two dogs and showed me ALL of her pictures on her phone.

Aaron was in the back with the workers, so I don't really know what all went down, but I do know that when my husband walked back in the front door of the body shop, he had the biggest smile I had seen on his face all day, heck, all week. That's when my attitude went to slightly bummed about probably not getting "The Car" to slightly optimistic.  Aaron told them exactly what he wanted done and somehow got it all fixed and all expenses were covered by the dealership. "The Car" looks brand spankin new.

Oh, wait, didn't I say long story short? ;)

We got the car.  I will spare you any more details.  Just know that I am tickled that Aaron is so tickled and I am thankful that God has provided Aaron and I with two great jobs and that we were able to get a great deal on "The Car".

I'm pretty sure that dealership will never want to rumble with Aaron Nicholson ever again.  I love my picky husband.

Here's to growing up!
-Holly