30 weeks!

I think I am becoming delusional. I am 30 weeks pregnant today and for some reason it doesn't feel like I only have 10 weeks to go. I feel like I have all the time in the world but I know August will be here before I know it.

How far along? 30 weeks

Maternity clothes? maternity everything but a few shirts I can stretch out for a few more weeks
Stretch marks? no
Sleep: This week has been great!
Best moment this week: Seeing Star Trek: Into Darkness with Nathan. It's the first movie we have seen in theaters since my 1st trimester when I couldn't stand the smell of buttered popcorn. Also when the baby tried to kick the doppler when the doctor was checking the heartbeat
Miss Anything? not feeling tired all the time and I miss sub sandwiches
Movement: Tons, she's starting to move even when I walk which is a very odd feeling. 

Food cravings: Chick fil a chocolate shake and Panera Bread's Cinnamon  Crunch bagel
Anything making you queasy or sick: There were a few smells that made me queasy but I don't remember what they were
Gender: Girl

Labor Signs: No
Symptoms: Heartburn, hip pain, back pain, no energy
Belly Button in or out? top half is almost flat, bottom half is shallow
Wedding rings on or off? on
Overall Mood: pretty good but yesterday I was very moody
Looking forward to: 2 year Anniversary on the 4th!

Hello 3rd Trimester!

Yes, this is over a week late. Things have been very crazy around here now that we are in full baby prep mode so it's been hard to get on here to post.

So I have been documenting my pregnancy on Facebook and I think I will continue for the next 12 or so weeks will post my progress here. I promise the post on how God's timing involving this pregnancy should be here the next week or so.

How far along? 28 weeks 4 days

Maternity clothes? maternity everything but a few shirts I can stretch out for a few more weeks
Stretch marks? no
Sleep: It depends on the night, very hit and miss.
Best moment this week: Found a dress at Motherhood that I had my eye on for a few months on sale. All I need to complete my maternity wardrobe is an amazing part of jeans then I will be set :)
Miss Anything? doing the dishes in one sitting (i have to take breaks to put up my feet because they have started to swell if I stand for too long), bending over to pick things up and deli meats.
Movement: Very much so. I think I am starting to feel more movement when I am at work but since my job keeps me moving, it's hard to tell. Anytime I sit down all I can think is "the force is strong with this one"

Food cravings: ICE!! I am so glad there's a Sonic near by because their ice is amazing!
Anything making you queasy or sick: buttered popcorn ick!
Gender: Girl

Labor Signs: No
Symptoms: Heartburn, hip pain, back pain, starting to lack mobility, swelling in my feet if I stand up for too long, and it takes more energy to do basic things
Belly Button in or out? in but getting shallow
Wedding rings on or off? on
Overall Mood: pretty good but I have had my moments this week
Looking forward to: Getting more things ready for the baby! 

August Rush

It's hard to believe my last post here was in August. So much has happened in the span of the last 9 months and I will not try to recount it all. I find it somewhat humorous that my last post was in August because since December, I have been waiting for August to come back around. Sure August is already a neat month, my amazing mom's birthday is that month and school starts in August but this August will change Nathan's and my life forever. How? Well for those who don't follow me on Facebook we are expecting our first child, a girl sometime in early to mid August. We were not expecting to get pregnant when we did but it's amazing just how perfect God timed it looking back. But I will save that for my next post. This is about how we found  out that I was pregnant.

It was just after Thanksgiving when Nathan started to think something was different about me. I didn't seem like myself. When he first mentioned it I knew I was acting differently but I thought it was from stress. Thanksgiving had been a very tough holiday to be away from family and I had been extra homesick. On top of that, it was the last 3 weeks of school and like always, I was running around trying to make up everything I had procrastinated on all semester. So for me it was just the wonderful time of the semester and it was nothing out of the ordinary. The week after Thanksgiving was pretty much flew by and Nathan still had his own ideas of what was going on but kept them to himself.

Then, the last week in November, I snapped. I had a few good cries that week, I got so mad at Nathan that I threw my keys and to top it off my face was having it's monthly acne spree plus I just didn't feel great. Well my time of the month was due to come any day so I didn't give much thought that there could be something else going on. Then, Friday, I got acid reflex. This was the one of the things that made me think something wasn't right. I told Nathan to pick up a pregnancy test on his way home from work and I would take it Saturday morning.

I woke up Saturday, December 1, morning with Nathan and took the test. I had false alarms before and I figured this was another one. Even though they tell you to wait 2-3 mins for results to appear, I stared at it waiting for it to tell me that I wasn't pregnant. Then, a faint pink line appeared. Yelled for Nathan to come in the bathroom and once there I asked him if he saw a little pink line and he said "yes. what does that mean?". I replied "It means I might be pregnant" (Side note: does anyone else see a trail of denial on my part?) Anyway, when I said that Nathan's face spread into the most elated and goofy smile, a smile I hadn't seen since our wedding day. I was in shock. He was thrilled and wanted to tell a few people. I told him not to until I took another test and got it confirmed at the doctor. Later that day, I went to Target and picked up another test. The entire time I was still in a weird stage of denial. It wasn't until I took the second test in the middle of the day and that same line appeare that I truly believed that I was indeed pregnant. That night we told our parents and our siblings who were in about as much shock as we were and a few days later the doctor confirmed that I was about a month pregnant and could expect a baby in August.

Needless to say, after this, the last two weeks of school flew by. I found an OB group and in January I got to see my baby for the first time. Seeing the baby on the sonogram made it all very real. I was still nervous about miscarrying but once I saw the baby, my worries eased a little bit. Then when I was almost 12 weeks, we announced to everyone that Baby VanderBoegh would be coming in August.

 So the last 6 months have been thrilling and nerve wrecking. I got off very easy the first trimester. I was sick but barely and once I hit 14 weeks, I felt so much better. It's still hard to believe that we will be parents in 3 very short months but it is really happening. Today I am 28 weeks pregnant, the start of the 3rd trimester WOO!!! I am very excited and I am looking forward to getting back into blogging this wonderful journey.

15 lessons I have learned in the first 1year and 2months of Marriage

My neighbor recently posted things she had learned in two months of marriage on her blog and it got me thinking...what has my time being married taught me?

1. Your spouse can amaze you with how far their support goes.
2. It's okay to procrastinate on chores sometimes but don't wait too long to do them
3. There are places cheaper than walmart
4. If you find a great price on a certain food item you use a lot, stock up as much as your budget will allow
5. Pintrest is a housewife's best friend
6. DIY laundry soap and fabric softener can save a lot of money.
7. Always make time for your spouse.
8. Budgets are amazing
9. Just because you can't keep your house clean and dinner on the table every night, doesn't make you a bad wife.
10. If you have student loans or credit cards, know your debt and have a plan to pay it off
11. Baby fever will get the best of you if you let it.
12. Don't let baby fever cloud your judgement when to start trying for kids
13. The farther away from family that you are, the more precious that family becomes.
14. God will always provide even when it doesn't seem like He will.
15. No matter your circumstance, you can make it through. Nathan and I were told we were crazy for moving 500miles from family while we both worked and went to school but here we are a year later and doing well. It's not easy but we are getting through 

Bloom where you are planted

There are moments in our lives when we have a great epiphany where it feels like God himself has blessed you with bit of wisdom on a circumstance. If you are lucky then even as years pass, that same wisdom keeps popping up from time to time. Nearly three years ago, God granted me one little piece of wisdom. At the time I was an 18 year old freshman who was living away from home for the first time in my life. I heard a sermon preached by Dr. Richards and I all of sudden, I had a peace about my circumstance. Even though I had issues adjusting to college, I knew I could not give up. Now I am 21, married and been living 500miles away for over a year. Yet, I find myself in a very similar circumstance. I will admit, Nathan and I haven't had the easiest of times getting to know people, I still sorely miss my friends from my senior year of high school, and I am not adjusting to my new job as well as I would have liked. Yet, in the times when I wonder why God put us where He has and I think about those negative thoughts, I remember the epiphany of a very scared 18year old who ended up blooming where she was planted. Baptist College of Florida changed me and gave me the chance to meet this amazing guy I now get to called Husband. Now, once more I have a chance to bloom where I am planted and I know God has me right where I need to be.


Family update: I started a new job as a part time teller for a bank and Nathan has a few job leads so hopefully we will know something soon! And 15 days until the new semester. Oh we  are in for so much fun!!!

The VanderBoeghs One year later

Over a year ago, I was waking up on a beautiful June 4 morning with my best friend from college in the bed next to mine and the thought came in my head "I am getting married today". For about as long I as I had been with Nathan, I dreamed of this day. Nathan and I had talked about what would be in store after this day but this very day was going to change my life forever. It was the first of many events to transpire over the next year that would challenge us and grow us as we began to live with one another. The first two weeks of marriage flew by. The honeymoon and the move really sent us for a whirlwind. Then the dust settled and it was just me, him and a brand new place we would call home.

The first 3-4months were some of the hardest for me personally. I was unemployed for part of  this time (i got a job just shy of the two month mark) and I was transferring to a new college. To make the latter worse, I was a minority at my new school. I was one of the handfuls in orientation who was married and to my knowledge, I was the only one who was under the age of 25. This was also my first time at as married student. I was so lost on even how to behave in my new idenity so to say. No one here, unless they were from the college I went to before, would  know me by my maiden name. My life was so vastly different from when I was single and the adjustment period was tough. Also at this time we were a one car family and since Nathan works 40hours a week in Raleigh, guess who got the car? I was lucky enough to find rides to work and I could walk to class. But this period of my life had so many adjustments, it's really only by God's provision that I made it through as I did. I have an amazing support group of my husband, my family, in laws and few friends that made getting through a lot easier.

After this adjustment period, things started to fall into a bit of a pattern. We go to church on Sunday, Nathan works during the week with class on Thursday. I had class Monday night, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday during the day and the worked at night. We have had some adventures along the way. In December we saw family and boy did that teach us a lot about planning family trips. We decided to do a day trip to DC and while we had fun, it was an exhausting day. Note to anyone: Day trips can only work if your are traveling less than four and half hours to get there.

Honestly there has been so much to happen over past year that I don't remember a lot of it. Much to the chagrin of my shutter bug family, I haven't taken that many photos of the last year and I wish I had because it's been an insane ride of a year. Nathan and I are still struggling with meeting new people and making friendships but we are lucky enough to be each other's best friend so that part isn't awful. We have had our fair share of fights and non happy times and it's felt like we are dancing minefields.We do miss our family and FL but we know God has us here for a reason. And at the end of it all, God is in control and He's the one taking care of us. Without Him we would not have made it this year so to Him goes all glory for what we have done, are doing, and will do in the future. We have one year under our belt and I'm look forward to what God has in store for us next.

Life, Marriage and new projects

Well I took over semester off from blogging but it wasn't because I didn't want to but rather that life got in the way. Since becoming a two car family, things have been a lot easier on us. I can get things done when I want to and I don't have to wait on Nathan being home to do them. That is probably my favorite thing, that plus  being able to go to school and back with out walking or asking for a ride. Since I haven't posted in a while I will give a brief update on the last few months and then the next post will be a reflection on the last year:

Decemeber we went to FL for a few very short days to spend time with family which was wonderful. And we also enjoyed our first Christmas as a married couple. At this point I should mention my absolute love of Skype. It has over the years allowed me to keep in touch with Nathan and my parents and over Christmas we got to enjoy having our family with us even though they were 10hours away.

In January we joined a church and started to get involved a little bit here and there. Also the new semester started. I was especially happy for Nathan because for the first time since he has been a student at SEBTS he had a class that met weekly.

February was fairly uneventful. The highlight was Valentines Day when Nathan surprised me at work with flowers and had dinner with me on my break. Have I mentioned how awesome my husband is?

March and April were also fairly uneventful. I did get my haircut and it's a similar style to what I got when I cut it back in July. The semester has been tough on both Nathan and myself as homework has piled up and sometimes doesn't get done. I also has to withdraw from a class for the second time since I started college. Honestly, it's an awful and sick feeling knowing I have to retake a class and that I wasted money on a class. Though the more I think about it I know I have learned two things: 1) I don't want to have this happen again and 2) even though it's awful, it's teaching me lessons I may not have learned otherwise. God is shaping me through my mistakes and maybe one day I can encourage someone because of my own life lessons. Also my closest friend I have made since coming to NC got engaged and we are now in the midst of planning her wedding. It's so crazy since it was just last year I was putting the final touches on my own wedding!

May has been a little bit more eventful. It started with celebrating 11months of marriage by seeing the Avengers which was an awesome movie :) I did find out that would not be able to pass another class which means I will only have 6 hours less hours to take but I can retake the class I failed over the summer so I will still be on track for graduation in 2015. Then the jeep decided to break down, yet again and my dear husband is in the process of trying to get it fixed. But I am so thankful for the community I live in and the other seminary wives' willingness to take me to work until the jeep is fixed. The rest of May will continue with us working and then going on a wonderful, ten day trip south to see family and friends as well as celebrating our 1 year anniversary at the beginning of June.

Well that's an update! Reflections on the last year coming soon.