first baby bump update

since I'm already 16 weeks, I guess I should start posting some details and baby bump pics!

I am feeling absolutely fabulous and not much has changed since before I was pregnant, I'm happy to report. There was a period of about 2 weeks (I think between 8-10 wks, can't remember!) where I just couldn't get enough sleep. It took a while to get going in the morning with a little bit of sickness, but no throwing up. I would sleep under my desk during my lunch break at work :) and then come home with good intentions of cooking dinner but falling asleep on the couch from about 5:30-7:30. There was lots of sleeping going on those days! The little bit of nausea in the mornings was quickly cured with ginger ale and Fritos...a lot of Fritos.

After that passed, it's been great! At my doctor's appointments, the answer to all their questions were "no, no, and nope!" (which is a good thing) The baby's heartbeat is strong and fast. There's been some weight gain...I've never been a fan of the doctor's scales...boo. I think it also doesn't help that I would weigh myself in the morning and then go to the doctor in the afternoon. So, no more scales except at the doctor's office...who cares as long as he says I'm good!

We get an ultrasound on January 5 and find out if little Taylor is a chico or chica. a woo hoo! Trey, of course, says it's a boy. And I kind of agree. However, I also convinced myself for several weeks that I was growing two babies down there. We have no history of twins whatsoever :). God only knows!

I'm 16 weeks tomorrow and I've posted my 14 wk (L) and 16 wk (R) "bumps" below:

Can't wait for the baby to start growing more!

Another addition...

Last time I made this type of announcement, I was slightly scolded by my friends because they were expecting a baby and not a dog :). But Dreya was oh so cute!

So, this time it's for real!

I'm 13 weeks tomorrow and we'll be expecting a little bundle of joy on June 10, 2012!

trick or treat

As Dreya and Biscuit took a Halloween trot around the neighborhood,

they "tricked" by peeing in yards & "treated" the kiddos who wanted to love on the sweet puppies.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

While you were sleeping...

There's something about a moment of silence,
when you are sleeping and not testing my patience.
One on the rug and the other his bed,
I sit in silence and clear my head...

You've played in the lake and chewed yummy bones,
You got off the leash and visited other homes.
You've captured my heart and craved my attention,
You dirtied my floors too many times to mention.

I give you treats when you sit and you stay,
Not when you're crazy and rough-house and play.
But you're just too cute and easy to excite,
So, sometimes I cheat and give you one more bite.

Earlier today, I had just about had it
When you ran through the woods and rubbed your neck in stinky animal... (well, you know).
But I'll continue to care for you and clean you and feed you,
Because life just wouldn't be as interesting without you two...

It's been a long weekend, I've enjoyed your company,
You protect me and love me and make a cute little family.
As I sit and reflect on our eventful day,
I continue to love you in every way.

With my patience in tact and no need for sweeping,
I'll sit and relax while my puppies are sleeping.

Things I never ate...

...before I met my husband.

Isn't it weird how your tastes change over time?

Or how you're just willing to try new things for some odd reason?

Here's a countdown of five fun foods that I now actually like or love to eat because Trey brought them into our household:

Monkey see, monkey do :)

 

 5. NUTELLA

[i love to eat this on strawberries]

4. BLUEBERRIES

[still not my favorite but i do like to eat these with other fruits]

3. HEATH candy bar

[um, delicious. how did i never know about this?!]

2. SWEET POTATOES 

[can honestly say i had never eaten one of these in my life before i met trey. oddly enough, his family owns a sweet potato farm in Louisiana.]

...and the most shocking:

1. POPCORN!

 [if you've known me for any period of time, you know that i can't stand the smell of popcorn...gives me a headache. i think it stems from a bad childhood experience in stringing popcorn for the Christmas Tree. or it could possibly be that my mother burned the popcorn on the stove every-single-time. now, i'll eat it at the movies. and by golly, it actually tastes pretty good!]

Is there something that you never ate until someone introduced it to you later in life?

Dreya's Long Lost Brother

Oh goodness. We found the cutest dog today...Dreya's long lost brother. Now, he lives with us!

Trey saw in the paper that the Houston SPCA would be at Tractor Supply, so we decided to swing by.

Little did we know that we would find the perfect playmate for Dreya. We had been talking for a little while about getting another dog, but I just couldn't get through my brain how we could handle two great danes in the Taylor casa. A smaller dog might be right up our alley. After we brought Dreya to meet little Biscuit here, we knew they would just love each other.

...and they do L.O.V.E. each other.

Biscuit is a male lab/retriever mix and is exactly one month younger than Dreya.

 Dreya is showing Biscuit the ropes...

They will wear each other out. I love it :)

The Taylor family just got a little more entertaining. Welcome home Biscuit!

a conversation with Blythe

I recently got to spend some time with my fun friend, Lynch (a.k.a. Allison), and her sweet family.

There was fun had by all and much entertaining by this little cutie. 

A conversation with Blythe...

"Hi, my name is Blythe and I am cute."

"Meet my new friend, Bailey. He is one funny dog."

"What? Who says I can't have a dog as a friend? C'mon!"

"No, really. C'mon...gimme that camera."

Is she cute or what?!

mixed emotions

Our guest bedroom is coming along slowly but surely in the deco department.

I've been looking for just the right curtains for a while, yet haven't found anything that I love [and] that's within my price range. Hence, my journey to hunt for the perfect fabric (p.s. I love shopping for fabric) and make some panel curtains. 

I found some super cute patterns, but wasn't quite sure if any of them would work. I took a gamble and bought 6 yards of this:

Amy Butler Fabrics

I absolutely love this designer and she has great mod fabrics. Check out her website here. In not wanting everything to be "matchy, matchy" and going for the antique/chabby style, I ended up with mustard/noveau trees [limited availability of her fabrics at the fabric store in Huntsville]. The colors don't quite go with the room, or at least what Trey would say goes in the room. He cracks me up when it comes to decorating.

But I'm thinking it might work. I'll be expecting some honest feedback from Lev, Annalee and Bonnie this weekend because they'll all be visiting Casa de Taylor. A woo hoo!!

One Question

Our Sunday School class has been studying Holladay & Warren's Foundations, 11 Core Truths to Build Your Life On. God has shown us tremendous lessons on why we believe what we believe and helped us to define our Christian worldview. We have studied topics such as the Bible, God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, creation, salvation and sanctification. Our current topic is good and evil...what a bundle of questions this brings about! It is a somewhat intimidating topic to approach. However, we can always trust that while we will never know the answers to all things, God will make His Will known to us and reveal truths in His timing, as it is needed in our individual lives.


As I was preparing the lesson a few weeks ago, such a sweet moment arose between Jesus and me. I knew I should have written it down at the time but put it off. It irks me to know that Satan finds pleasure in these small instances when I choose not to share. Thank you to my dear small group sisters tonight who reminded me of the importance and effect of testimonies and God's work in our lives. What God reveals, let us not keep from sharing and building up the brethren...

In The Case for Faith, Lee Strobel writes concerning our desire to know the answers to questions concerning good and evil:

"I commissioned George Barna (or as I read during class, 'George Barnacle.' Just add it to the list of mispronounced words that only seem to arise during moments of public presentation.), the public-opinion pollster, to conduct a national survey in which he asked a scientifically selected cross-section of adults: 'If you could ask God only one question and you knew he would give you an answer, what would you ask?' The top response, offered by 17 percent of those who said they had a question, was: 'Why is there pain and suffering in the world?'"

Of course, this seems to be a popular question that we have all probably pondered at one point in our lives. And if we are truly being honest with God, there should be such rational questions. But how is that question going to help me here in the long run? If I know the answer, will it stop the pain and suffering? ...this knowledge brings me no arrows for my quiver of life. I continued to think upon what my question would be.

One. One question.

"What is Your will for my life?" ...no, He shows me this already.

"What am I doing wrong here on earth that you want me to change?" ...again, just pay attention and I know this answer.

"How can I please You more?" ...really, Ang? see first two extraneous thoughts.

Why is this so hard? There are so many questions. Something has to be more important than the rest. Aha!

"What will it be like in Heaven?" ...er. strike four. again, intriguing yet "point"less arrow of knowledge.

Something's missing. I'm standing before God - awesome, omniscient, all-powerful God - and all I can think to ask are questions that center around me. 'Your will for ME', 'how I can please you', 'what will MY life be like in Heaven'...me, me, me. It's not about me!

And then it hit me. I'm standing before God - awesome, omniscient, all-powerful God.

merciful, gracious, Almighty God.

I'm standing before God - My creator, my deepest love, my best friend.

My loving Father...my Dad.

There's only one compelling thing to do in this situation.

The one question is clear. 

I can hardly contain my beating heart as I have the freedom to ask, with arms wide open and ready to run...

"May I?"

May I run into Your arms?

May I feel my Father's embrace?

May I get a giant ol' bear hug from the creator of hugs?!

May I know the love of my Father?!

The longing of our hearts is not to know all the answers from the Father,

but to know Him.

And as I was overjoyed with the excitement of that situation and my question to God, "May I run into Your arms?!", Satan stealthily said, "And what if the answer is 'No'?"

In a split second, the surety of my Father's love was doubted.

Would my earthly father ever deny my request for his presence and his love? Never! Not even in the worst of times...my parent's deepest love for me is never not given freely. How much more will my Heavenly Father give?!

It is in a moment such as this, when Satan comes to plant seeds of doubt in a subject that may be so easily believed...that we must turn to God and trust in His Word.

His Word tells us that He will never leave us or forsake us. When we ask to come to God, He is always waiting and the answer is always, "Yes, come dear children."

Let's celebrate!

the fourth of july

My favorite holiday! This day of celebration is special because of what it represents for our country and makes me so proud to be an American. Plus...you get all these fun things on the same day:

FLAGS

FIREWORKS

FOOD

and for me today...FAMILY!

I'm so excited that today I will be spending this very special holiday celebrating with my friends and family. Also, we're celebrating my 30th birthday!!! [Which is on July 10...we're just a little early ;)]

Happy Fourth of July to you and your family!

i'm eating pizza

and not the gluten-free kind :).

What's that?

"Huh?" you ask...

"Don't do it!" you shout...

Oh, I'm doing it. And not just pizza.

chili cheese fritos.

yummy wedding shower cake.

blue bell's birthday cake ice cream.

friggin doughy, cheese covered pizza.

and I'm still alive!

I've had an amazing change in my life this past week and all glory goes to my Awesome God...

who didn't just heal my body, 

but more importantly, renewed my mind.

may this sweet little testimony create a bubbling in your heart and praise on your lips.

JUNE 2010

Most of you know I got extremely sick last summer and couldn't quite figure out what was going on. Long story short, the doctor diagnosed me as both lactose- and gluten- intolerant. No dairy. No wheat. No malt, barley or rye. She was right and for almost a year now, I've had a very strict diet. It was hard at first, but became second-nature after a while. I told myself...no griping, no whining. This is just how it is. If I want to be healthly, just don't eat certain things. A lot of things. 

My sister mentioned praying over me a few times and somehow I just let it go. Never directly said no out loud but I also never petitioned, yes please. With any other thing I'm quick to pray...for some reason, this was different. I was obstinate.

Fast forward to MAY 15, 2011

Hassyn, my precious little niece, has a big heart for her Heavenly Father and is getting baptized. 

This was our conversation at the end of church:

A: Hassyn, will you pray for me?

H: Yes. What do you need?

A: Well, I'm allergic to some foods and my body can't handle them very well. Can you pray for that to go away?

H: Well, do you like to eat that?

A: :) yes

H: ok

Then, her precious little hands took mine and we closed our eyes to pray. I waited for her and then realized she wasn't praying out loud. After a while, I took a quick peek to see if she was still praying. I think she could sense that I looked up and cracked her eye open to glance at me ;) and then continued to pray. Shortly after, she finished:

A: Thank you Hassyn. What did you pray for?

H: I prayed that you will be able to eat the food you liked and that it would not hurt your body, in Jesus' name.

Did I mention, she's 6? Oh, how sweet is the faith of a child!

Two things stick out to me.

1) I felt led to ask her to pray because I know her prayers are not jaded and the faith of a child (in Jesus) is powerful. meaning, as we grow older I feel like our minds are more susceptible to believing lies and letting Satan get a foothold if we are not fully dependent on and believing in God's Word.

 I felt like I had been believing a lie about my body.

2) When Hassyn asked me, "Do you like to eat those foods?," that thought had not crossed my mind. To me, it had never mattered about whether or not I enjoyed the food...just the fact that I couldn't eat it and had to work harder about preparing my meals. When she asked that, I thought, "I've been missing the point. I'm forgetting that my Father loves me and wants the best for me." I fully believed and only focused on those dietary restrictions. The Lord reminded me again of Peter's vision of the unclean foods and who am I to believe in and put those restrictions up? God cares for me and has authority over his creation. I had forgotten that. 

So, I've eaten various forms of gluten since last Monday with no consequence! Well, maybe some gas here and there ;)...but nothing like it was. I had a semi-bad reaction just a few weeks ago, so I know it was still an issue and didn't just go away eventually, like some people will probably try to say.

Satan will do all he can to make this seem meaningless.

But I know better...you know better.

do you understand?!

This is big time! I'm no longer gluten-free, I'm truly FREE of gluten!

Praise God and thank you sweet little Hassyn for praying for your Aunt Ge. 

Here is a recent page from Hassyn's journal...

random things I love

1. pinch-pleated curtains...yet I have none in my house

2. Fuzzy Taco...really good potatoes




3. emails with the cutest animals doing the funniest things...I will always open an animal forward.

4. Collective Soul...this is one of those you don't want to really admit but I can jam out to these guys any day!

5. Strawberry snacks...I've eaten one packet per day for at least the past two weeks :)

projects here and there

you may remember a while back when I said I would finish something.

...and I did! I just didn't get around to showing you guys on here :).

So, if you love before and after pics as much as I do, by all means...

ENJOY.

bought this little jewel for $30 in a Corsicana antique store

of course, Dreya wanted in the picture

spray painted it off-white...super easy and quick

picked out this lovely fabric to recover the cushion 

made a pillow for kicks

...and oh yeah.

just realized I don't have the "after" pic on this download. lo siento!

you'll have to check back later :)

moving on.

and realizing I don't have the "before" pic for these next two items. sticky note that!

this monster was a hand me down from my sister's cousin-in-laws. just imagine classic early 90s woodgrain and brass.

saw it, sand it, paint it, and voila!

(got to use my circ saw on this one to reconstruct the top. heart.) 

 add nickel-plated hardware...and done.

this medium to large sized mirror was my grandmothers.

it had a brassy/gold ornate thing going on. 

again, whipped out the spray paint one Sunday afternoon

and this is what we got!

Chabby-chic for sure!

p.s. that chair was one of my first projects

that's all for now! Trey and I pasted some allen+roth textured wallpaper this weekend on an accent wall in the guest bedroom. it's awesome, I must say...and quite a bit less labor-intensive than we expected. sweet. I'm almost done painting...color is sea sprite. 

All the elements shown above are in that room. stay tuned for a semi-reveal!

yum yum

I don't know that I, personally, have ever made peanut butter cookies in my entire life. Honestly, they've never been my favorite. However, on a GF diet, you come to love anything you can eat...a lot of nutty things! I found this fabulous recipe on allrecipes.com for flourless PB cookies and modified it slightly. Made them this past weekend for Easter and made them again before I left for work this morning (yes, that easy) for my Bible study tonight. Everyone loved them!

These are absolutely fabulous and super simple!

Get a big glass of [ahem, lactose-free ;)] milk to go with these and ENJOY!

INGREDIENTS:

1 c peanut butter (GF)

1/2 c Splenda

1/4 c Brown Sugar Splenda

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

DIRECTIONS:

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Form 12-15 cookies on greased cookie sheet. Sprinkle with Splenda and use fork to create criss-cross pattern. Pop in oven for 8 minutes. Enjoy!

Happy Birthday Dreya!

yes, dre dre's big day was on February 6...she turned one!

however, we wanted to have a puppy party with Levi, who turned two in April and originally planned to have a party in March. That didn't quite work out and we ended up all being available on April 2. They never knew the difference!

So, Christi made all the puppy treats and doggy cake.

I made the edible cakes for the big peeps. 

LEVI ...the birthday boy

BUTTER

 GENNIE

DESI 

Lil' Girl & Reese 

 

PRESENTS!

We love you Dreya!