23 weeks

...and feeling good! Some days I feel like I have more energy than pre-pregnancy! I really don't get this newfound energy since I haven't been able to sleep through a night in who knows how long. With all the nightly trips to the bathroom, routine turning schedule, frequent leg cramps, and being wide awake for 2 hrs in middle of the night, I should be exhausted. But I feel good!! And I am trying to take full advantage of this new burst of energy during this season. I have been trying to plan and decorate our little girl's nursery. So I have been searching, researching, price-comparing, coordinating everything from gliders to rugs. And I am having so much fun doing it! My goal is to have most of it all done before the 3rd trimester hits when I figure I won't have as much energy, be bigger and probably swollen!

But here is a preview of what is to come in our little miss' room...

It's a...

So we had our 20 week appt last Tuesday. This is the appt that you will typically get to find out the gender so we were really looking forward to this sonogram! A couple weeks before, we (or I) really wanted to have a gender reveal party for our families and we scheduled a get together for Friday night at our house. Well I decided (the day before the appt) that I wanted to be surprised with the families on Friday night. So our plan was to have Jonathan find out and me to be kept in the dark until Friday. Our doctor was great about it when we told him our plan. He even wrote it down for us and put it in an envelope along with pictured proof just in case Jonathan wanted to be surprised too on Friday. But Jonathan had a 5 hour drive to Amarillo right after the appt so he couldn't wait. (And he was going to call Lora, our cake decorator, so she would know what to do with the cake.) Well Jonathan did so well keeping it from me until Thursday night when he was driving home from Amarillo. He accidentally let it slip (in the most unusual way, I will say) and so I found out. I was first super excited and shocked and then upset that I wouldn't be surprised at the party. But I got over the latter and became elated at the news that I had just heard.

So we had the reveal party on Friday night with our wonderful families and I had a few pink and blue desserts for everyone to enjoy.

My mom made this bouquet of flowers for me...pink and blue!


The cake was an idea that I got from a cake show on TV. The icing in the middle would be either pink or blue depending on if it was a girl or a boy. Lora from Dream Cakes did such a great job!!

I had the family pick either a pink or a blue cake pop to represent which gender they thought the baby was before we cut the cake.

And then we cut into the cake to reveal....PINK!!!

It's a GIRL!!! Jonathan and I are so excited to be having a girl. We both kinda thought it was going to be a boy at first. Even though I did have 2 dreams early on that it was a girl. I guess I need to trust my dreams! We had a boy name but hadn't settled on a girl name yet so now we are name searching and nursery planning for this precious little girl. We can't wait to meet, see and love her!

Pregnancy is Crazy

I am so excited about being pregnant and everything that goes with it, I am on board with because I know what the end result will be. And I can't really complain about the 14 weeks that I have completed so far, because besides the nausea and fatigue, it hasn't been as severe as I know it could have been. But there are a few things that I have found more interesting and intriguing that have happened to me during all these hormones and body changes. It is just so crazy that hormones can do these things. Like the following:

1) Around week 9 or 10 when I was experiencing some nausea, there were 2 days or so that I had this metal taste in my mouth that I couldn't get to go away. It was the nastiest thing ever and I thought I was really ill or something. Well I googled it and found out it is somewhat common for that to happen to pregnant women. Although, I have never heard of anything like this before. It even has a name, dysgeusia. Thankfully, this only lasted 2 days! Cause I am not sure what pairs well with aluminum and tin-can.

2) Last weekend, while at church I noticed that I was having a hard time singing during worship. I couldn't stay on pitch, sing higher notes or hold out notes like i usually can. It was the weirdest thing. I didn't think too much of it until we got in the car and I tried to sing along with the radio and still had trouble! I couldn't sing anymore!! I, of course, googled this too and found that it is called laryngopathia gravidarum, which is voice changes due to pregnancy. So another crazy side effect of pregnancy that I am experiencing and have never heard of before. And it is getting worse...now when I try to sing it sounds like when you try to sing when your voice is gone due to laryngitis. You know, your voice just won't really come out and it is a struggle to get any notes out much less the right ones. It is so crazy! I think my speaking voice might have even dropped a few pitches. But I guess I will know for sure when someone calls me "sir" on the phone!!

Anyways...just trying to increase awareness of dysgeusia and laryngopathia gravidarum.

Despite these crazy and unusual side effects, I still think that pregnancy is a beautiful thing!!!

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Plus One

The James crew is going from two to three soon! We are expecting a baby in November and couldn't be more excited!!! I am 12 weeks pregnant and done with my first trimester! (It's hard to believe that!) Things have been going smooth so far with the pregnancy but I have had my share of morning sickness and extreme tiredness. But that seems to have improved over the last couple of weeks and hopefully I will be done with all that!!

We told our parents and families after our 8-week appointment. We gave our parents each a gift that represented something that they were good at and loved doing.

For Jonathan's parents...

His mom:

His dad:

For my parents:

My dad:

My mom:

They were all super excited as was the rest of our family when we told them. We are so blessed to have such wonderful and supportive family. And thankful that they agreed to keep our little secret until the 12-week mark! I know it wasn't easy!!!

We are so looking forward to meeting our little one and seeing what the Lord has in store for his/her life. It is an exciting new adventure that we are experiencing and we are enjoying every step of the way!

Turning Five!

Lily Marie Patterson turned 5 at the end of March!! I can't believe that she is already that old! Nat and Josh had a birthday party for her at a paint-n-pottery place. Then we went over to my parents to celebrate some more with the fam!

The birthday girl!

Liv was happy to celebrate!

Luke put on the googles of one of Lily's new stuffed animals

March Madness

For as long as I can remember, March Madness has been a big deal in the Jeffrey household. It is one of my dad's favorite things about the beginning of spring. He even planned his hip repair surgery this year around the tourney so he could watch all the bball games while he is recovering. He is a true sports fan! We always fill out brackets and have a family competition. And even though I don't have much clue about the best teams, their star players or their line-ups, I always look forward to my dad calling to get "my picks" before the start of the madness! (I usually do pretty well in the competition, I must say!). So here's to Duke beating Notre Dame in the final!!


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Dessert Plates

Something I have started collecting are what I call dessert plates. I love finding different prints and colors that are fun to use when entertaining and also fabulous for displaying. Here is my collection so far displayed in our kitchen on a plate rack I found at a consignment shop. Excited to fill in the middle rack as I find more!