8 weeks

Surprise! As many of you found out a few days ago we are expecting. We are still in shock and adjusting to this new phase of life. There have been days that I have totally lost it and thought there is no way I am ready to be a parent. I'm too selfish. We want to travel and have fun like others our age. And there are days that I've come to grips with reality and know that if anyone can do this, we can! I truly believe that whatever happens, happens for a reason. I know that if anyone knows how to take care of a newborn and young child, that is me. And there is no one more capable of caring for a teenager than my crazy kid-like  youth minister husband. We have decided to do weekly or bi-weekly posts  (like the one below) to document this new journey. You might not get bare belly shots until its evident there is a bun in the oven and I'm not just fat. But we promise to post pictures with each posting so you can watch along with us how fast baby grows!

How far along: 8 weeks

Baby size: raspberry

Sleep: sucks! I have to get up every few hours to pee and I’m always nauseous when I wake up.

Movement: Nope!

Food cravings/aversions: Seeing food on TV makes me really nauseous. Saltines are my friend but no real cravings.

Pregnancy Symptoms: Super nauseous all day, everyday. Cross my fingers I've only actually gotten sick a few times.

What I miss:  The energy to get up and go. Sleep. My list goes on and on but really the biggest thing would be not feeling so sick to my stomach all the time.

What I'm looking forward to:  Our first ultrasound in December!

Milestones: First doctors visit which consisted of 1000 questions and NO ultrasound.. I was not a happy camper. Its just hard to believe I'm actually pregnant without seeing proof.

Best moment this week:  Having one whole day of feeling absolutely normal! What what!

Moments with Jason: Jason has been so good to me. Every time I’m sick or not feeling well he gets me whatever I need and doesn’t make me lift a hand. Super love this guy! He is going to be a rock star dad!

Unexpected Anniversary Gift

October 26, 2005 was a super crazy day for Jason and me. We were getting to know each other more and that night at Taco Bell he decided to ask me if I wanted to date.. Yes. Just like that "Jen, do you wanna date?" paha! I laugh now because that's just Jas. Today we celebrate 6 years together which is amazes me completely! I am more in love with that man than ever before. He is such a great husband and such a great best friend. We've had some really hard times in the last 6 years but they have only made us stronger. To say the least our relationship has been everything BUT normal. We started dating young, went to college, got married in college, had 2 puppies that took up a lot of our time, and very rarely did we get to hang out with people our age, we both had to grow up and learn how to manage on our own. It's been a long hard road but so very worth it.

October 26, 2011 will be a day we will remember FOREVER! Today we found out our world will never be normal. We found out we were pregnant. To say this was an udder surprise is an understatement. Were we jumping for joy? Not so much. I cried and cried and cried some more. And thought to myself I thought it wasn't that easy. We were using methods to prevent this and all I could think was seriously? seriously? I mean you hear of people having such a hard time getting pregnant but apparently we are very fertile.  I cannot tell you how often people ask me working in a nursery do you have kids? My response is always, "NOPE! I can get my baby fix here at work and then go home and hang out with my hubby." Well little did I know there were other plans for my life. This will be a period of adjusting and craziness. My life has never been easy and I expect it to get a little harder but one thing the last 6 years has shown me is that with Jas I can get through anything. 

It's funny how life changes. This blog initially was a way for us to blog our wedding journey and as life goes on and time passes us by this will now be a blog of our parenthood journey. 

I know nothing about pregnancy. I know a heck of a lot about newborns but after they are 6 months old I have no idea what to do. To say the least this is going to be a long journey.

Yes, I did just post my pee stick on the internet...

oh, BOYS!

I am totally and officially outnumbered in this house which only means two things.. we got another pup.. and I better at least have 1 girl when we have kids.

It has been crazy busy around this place since we got him. He is 7 weeks old and a little tiny ball of energy (with sharp puppy teeth). Huxley Boy is loving him and they get along great. It seems like both the boys are growing everyday. Maybe, that's because the pup eats Huxley's expensive adult food and Huxley is eating puppy food?! 

At the beginning we were really contemplating why we needed another dog. Huxley was out of his cage and we could leave him out while we went places.. he is getting better with his manner's.. and life was great. But this new pup is totally providing Hux with some more play time and keeps him entertained all day so I'm happy we made the decision to add him to our family. Now, if only he can learn to sleep during the night and not all day then we will be good. 

This is just a little glimpse of how we spend our days with Huxley and Stono :)  

Definitely more pictures to come when we can get them to sit still for awhile. Also, thinking about doing a family portrait.. yes they are my children and yes we will all get our picture made together! 

Enjoy :)

life changes but some things stay the same

Lately things just seem to be the same. I'm praying the Lord will open doors and close others of the past. He has definitely answered prayers as Jason now has a J-O-B. It will be a matter of some last minute details and he will finally be able to do what he is passionate about, youth ministry. As for me, I'm loving my job. I feel like my brain is mush learning all of these new things and trying to save lives but I'm retaining as much as possible. I only have 6 more weeks until I'm off of orientation and let's just say the first 6 have gone by WAY too fast! 


I'm at a point where I'm really struggling to find people who care. Every girl wants girl time and friends but life has been so busy over the years that just has not been in the cards for me. With so much more time on my hands I'm seriously needing some friends in life. (That sounds really depressing... and really it's a long story..) Growing up I had some very close friends and life just seemed to find us drifting apart. College came and I really just had no time. I knew my classmates and that was it (seeing as we spent 24/7 with each other for 3 years.) I was one of those people who went to class and went to work and did the whole routine day in and day out. Therefore, I didn't really have time to make life long friends. I had some awesome room mates that I adore and try to keep in contact with as much as possible from miles apart. But now, I'm into the real world; college is behind me and I'm left with no one. Maybe it's me and maybe it's not but I find myself again drifting apart from those people. We are different. Ties have been cut with some and others just seem to disappear naturally. My husband is my best friend but c'mon a girl needs someone who understands her. Such is life. Some things change and some things stay the same. BUT this time I'm putting my foot down and I'm going to find some friends who care. Friends who want to be around me, want to listen and talk, friends that share common interests, and simply someone who cares. 

Lastly, I'll leave you with some friends quotes I found on the one and only PINTERST!! 

- We will be friends until we are old and senile.. then we'll be new friends!

- Friends are how God gives HUGS! 

- Friends are Gods way of proving He does not want us to walk alone. 

screw up

Definitely trying to update my blog and i've officially screwed up. We'll see if I cant get it back to its normal glory.

new favorite things

I have nothing interesting to talk about so for now on to some of my favorite things. Some of which might or might not be interesting to you...

- My new Keratin Complex Stealth Flat Iron! LOVE IT.

- Editing my friends list on facebook. period. the end. Had to get rid of people who claim to be "friends" but have nothing to do with you. Should have taken a lot more people off of my friends list but of course a girl has to snoop!

- My Huxley boy! (of course this isn't so new but still...) He is getting so silly. Whining is a daily habit and although it is 100 degrees here he thinks he needs the door open so he has free range over inside and outside of the house. When it rains he wants to stand outside and get wet. crazy kid.

- Getting another pup. We are either getting a yellow or chocolate pup in October. (glad my mom doesn't read my blog because then i'll never hear the end of this. so shhh...)

- Big Brother. (Loved me some Jeff & Jordan.) Combat Hospital. Keeping up with the Kardashians (Can't wait to watch Kim's wedding.. yes I am one of those people.) Bachelor Pad. (Can't stand half of the people on the show so I don't really know why I watch it.)

- House Hunting.. We can't move until November 2012 but I am so on the look out for some dream homes. You know the home you raise your kids in. The house you make into a home, kinda place. Because this house just sucks. Yes we are blessed beyond belief to be able to have a house but my neighbors drive me CRAZY! I cannot listen to the ghetto music throughout my house any longer.

-oh yes.. how could i forget.. my new JOB! Babies babies all day long! Love it. My job is so crazy busy and complicated that I find myself saying majority of the day things like.. "man i'm so far behind." "ohh.. i forgot to do such and such." "Oh that feeling of being caught up feels SO good but lasts only seconds." And then there are the nights I wake up dreaming about delivering babies and doing it wrong and it wakes me up in the middle of my sleep in a panic. Yes NOT SO fun! but i love my job.

- my Husband interviewing for a youth ministry position! we are so excited to see where the Lord leads us in the adventure!

- being crafty! so far I've made 1 thing. A yarn wreath that is ADORABLE. I'm working on collecting wine corks to make a monogram for our kitchen.

-Last but not least.. my VERY favorite thing PINTEREST!! LOVE IT. it brings out the crafty diva inside of me :) I've gotten so many great ideas from recipes to outfits to decorating ideas! Love me some pinterest.

yadda yadda yadda.. my life is boring.

ReCAP

Finally some time to relax, unwind, and have a little bit of peace and quiet. I feel like the last 6 months has been a whirlwind of madness.

January to May- Last semester of college. FINISHED! Graduated. Took and FAILED the NCLEX. To say this was a time of growing was more like an understatement. It took all of my confidence away from me knowing that I couldn't pass the test that was to "determine" my career. However, hindsight is 20/20 and looking back it was the best thing that could have happened. Yes it got rid of my confidence but that is what I needed. I am a new grad nurse who doesn't know half there is to know about anything. I have a basic foundation (4 years worth) that is to guide me in my practice with experience to make the best nurse I can be. So with that said I'm not supposed to have much confidence in my abilities. I needed that humility to put me in my place.

June- Vacation to the Dominican Republic which was exactly what I needed. It gave me time to reflect, relax, and replan. I had a GREAT time with my family and that week was simply just not enough. I could have stayed there another week for sure. I'm already ready for another vacation! June was my sit and wait month. I had to wait 45 days to retest so I basically went on vacation and spent every waking hour studying for my boards. I used a different book which was filled with strategies. Because when it came down to it... I knew my content like the back of my hand but I had no idea the strategy on how to pick the BEST answer when all 4 were mostly right!

July- the beginning was filled with LOTS of studying as my test was the 2nd week in July. I retook my NCLEX on July 12th and got the same amount of questions. I had what I thought was higher level thinking questions and a lot of medication and delegation/prioritization. I felt okay about it. I was looking forward to the 48 hour wait period until you could find out your results. ** For anyone who knows me if something bad is gonna happen it will happen to ME** So that 48 hour wait period turned into 6 days of waiting as my results were flagged and put on HOLD. Yes HOLD meaning I couldn't do the "trick" to find out if I passed.. NOTHING! So it was a waiting game. In the mean time my mom got really sick and I was staying with her pretty much all day and everyday after work. Finally on day 6 when I was fed up with waiting and was 2 seconds away from calling the Board of Nursing in SC (whom very rarely does their job in a timely fashion) I checked and 6 days later I found out I PASSED. Insert- I'm officially

J. Chinnis, RN

So moving on. I was supposed to have a job, for sure, since I've worked there for so many years as a tech. Long story short. The economy is causing us to have to down size and I was not guaranteed a job anymore. My boss pulled a few strings and was at least able to get me in part time in hopes that by the time i'm off orientation (in 3 months) there will be a full time position available. We will continue to pray for this because part time is just not gonna pay all of our bills! July was also my sweet hubby's birthday and unfortunately for him I was so spaced out and focused on my test I completely forgot about it and didn't get him a thing. Insert-HORRIBLE WIFE STAMP on my forehead! So what will August bring?

August- Hubby will start his final semester of college! I will start orientation for work. August will be a hard month for us trying to readjust to life on two different paces. However, the good news is he will only have 3 months of class and then he graduates with 2 majors and a minor! (So proud of you babe!) And on another note he has been looking for youth ministry positions EVERYWHERE and nothing has come up so not only am I going to need more hours he is going to need a job!

Just as the last 6 months have been crazy I assume the next 6 months will be as well!! Good thing we are getting good at crazy! I will post pictures of our Dominican trip soon!