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2017 WENDY CORREEN SMITH. Powered by Blogger.

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17 Weeks Today & Yesterday's Doctor's Appointment


Last night, after dinner, Ryan and I sat on the back porch. The crickets were chirping and the breeze was cool and refreshing. We were talking about another couple we know that is going through IVF. Then we started to talk about our experience. We were remembering the day of our egg retrieval and something the doctor said about my endometriosis that could have really discouraged us. Reflecting on it now, I start to get shook up thinking about how fortunate we are to have our son growing inside of me now. The odds were against us, but yet, with faith, hope, and unending prayer, we have our miracle. In the midst of our conversation, as we started to get deeper into remembering it all, I had to stop him. I said, "well it doesn't really matter" as I held my round belly, "our golden egg is right here growing strong." And with grateful hearts, as I was thanking God for the 100th time that day, we changed the subject. What we went through does matter, it matters so much, but there are days that the memory of it all can steal the joy of today. Everyday I wake up thanking God for this gift, and my heart and mind cannot think about our son without thinking about the miracle he is. 



I had a doctor's appointment yesterday. I got to see our baby boy again! He was head down facing my spine, because of his position it was really hard to see his cute little profile. The sonogram tech tried really hard to show me his boy parts, since I've yet to see them. Our blood test is 99% accurate, but we still wanted to confirm he's a boy for the fun of it. He refused! His little legs are right where I thought they were. Over the past few days I can feel his little feet tapping on my belly just below my belly button on the left side. 





All went very well at my doctor's appointment. I'm 17 weeks today! My blood pressure was good, actually it was higher than what is normal for me, but I can't help but get nervous before appointments. I've gained six pounds in four weeks! That is a total of 15 pounds already. My goal was to only gain 25 pounds all together, although I know I can gain up to 35 pounds and still be in the healthy range. I'm not off to a very good start (my words, not my doctor's). My doctor and I had a pretty long conversation about my diet. I knew it was coming because he's my sister's doctor as well, and he is very focused on diet and nutrition. He knew I was following a vegan diet pre-pregnancy, but since I got pregnant I've been slowing adding meat and some dairy products back into my diet. I've always been a high carb/low fat type of person. My diet has worked well for me and I've maintained my weight for over ten years. I love my pasta, breads, frozen yogurt, and cookies! He told me I need to flip-flop my diet. I need to cut the carbs and eat more fats. He said to eat cheese when I want a snack! CHEESE, I haven't eaten cheese in years. He said I need to add cheese and milk to my diet, eat meats, and of course fruits and veggies. My high carb diet can cause an insulin rush for the baby and that can lead to higher birth weight. And we all know what high birth weight means, a rougher delivery. He said he could weigh one to two pounds more than he should which means what should be 20 minutes of pushing turns into four hours! The high carbs also causes a concern for childhood obesity and diabetes. Let's just say I'm taking my doctor's advice very seriously. I'm up for the challenge, and honestly, I'm a little excited about adding different foods into my diet and getting rid of the pastas, breads, and sugars!

That sonogram photo of our baby boy's foot is just precious. I can't help but think about kissing that little foot and his itty-bitty toes! Ry and I have already started on the nursery. We are currently waiting for the wallpaper to show up. Once we have the wallpaper installed we will order the furniture. Next week, we're going to order a sign from House of Belonging, to hang above his crib. My aunt is already planning our baby shower! It all feels surreal still. 

With love xo
Wen 
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The First Big Purchase for Our Baby Boy


We made our first big purchase for our baby son last night. I plan to have him sleep in our bedroom until he's sleeping through the night. His nursery will be upstairs and transitioning him to the crib will probably take several months. I knew I needed something cute for the bedroom and I was planning to get this moses basket and stand from Restoration Hardware. It had been on my baby registry for some time! I was on Pinterest and reading blogs and discovered this white baby bassinet from Pottery Barn. It was more expensive than the RH one I'd had my eye on so I thought I'd check Craigslist. I really didn't think I'd actually find exactly what I wanted, but sure enough there was one on there exactly like the one I wanted from Pottery Barn. Talk about LUCK! Then some crazy cool thing happened. I made her an offer, a bit under what she was asking. She'd only used it for three months, so I was a little nervous she'd refuse. As I was waiting for her to reply I got an offer on two chairs I've been trying to sell for a few weeks. We really need to get rid of the chairs to make room in the nursery. I ended up accepting an offer on the chairs for the exact same amount I had offered for the bassinet. The bassinet seller hadn't responded to yet, so when I got the offer on the chairs I was thinking I really have to get the bassinet. I texted her back and said "we'll meet you tonight to buy it!" And she immediately responded with "deal" and we made plans to meet up at Target. 

I love finding deals! And I'm not talking about settling for something we don't want, I mean hunting for exactly what we want and finding it! That is the best feeling. 








You can guess who made the baby blanket and blue booties. My angel Grandma! I've had them in storage for years dreaming of the day I can pull them out. The bassinet is on the wheels which will be nice because I can push it to the side of my bed or into the living room or kitchen. The sheepskin rug is from Ikea and I think I need to pick up another one because they are so soft and perfect for babies. 

I've been playing music around the house the last few days and I swear this little baby is going to have a love for music like his daddy. I can feel him wiggling around inside of me, as if he's enjoying the tunes. It is really the sweetest feeling in the whole world. Another thing that gets him moving is ice cold water! And I drink ice water all day long. I think I've felt a few small kicks, but they happen so fast I'm not 100% sure of what I felt. I read that he's going to have a growth spurt over the next few weeks. I'm ready to see my belly grow more and feel stronger movements from him. 

I hope he always knows how much we love him. And I dream about all that he will learn from his daddy, he's a true gentleman, in every way you can imagine. There are so many things that I hope he learns about love and life and I know he'll be teaching us a lifetime of lessons as well. I can't express how happy I am to have a little guy, I like to say I get more of my Ry in my life, and that is a pretty amazing feeling. 

Here's to a weekend full of happiness and love xo
Wen 
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The BEST Surprise of Our Lives | It's a BOY!


Yesterday Ryan and I experienced the absolute best surprise of our lives. We had a Gender Reveal Party and found out with all of our family that we are having a SON! Last week we received an email with the blood test results from the Cell Free Fetal DNA test, and the BEST and most IMPORTANT news of all is that everything they tested for came back negative. That was truly the only news we really needed to hear. To know our little baby is healthy and growing strong is the answer to all of our prayers. The gender was just the fun part and what we waited all week to find out. 



Everyone is asking two questions. 

1. Did Ryan know the gender? 
No, he didn't. Ryan and I, along with all of our family, had no idea the gender of our baby until we opened the box filled with blue balloons. 

2. How did we pull off this surprise?
It took a lot of communication and secretive teamwork, along with self-control on my part. It all started when we had our last sonogram and discussed the blood test with our doctor. The DNA blood test provided the gender results. We told him we wanted to find out the gender, but we wanted it to be a surprise. With his help we came up with a game plan. He would email the important information, the health results of the blood test to us. When we received the email showing that all came back good, we were to email him back and tell him to send the gender in a new email. We did that and on Tuesday morning I got a notification in my email that the gender information was in my phone app. There were two people involved in the secret. My brother-in-law and my sister's mother-in-law. On Tuesday I went to my brother-in-laws work. I gave him my passcode for the phone app and he opened the message. Once he had the gender he texted my sister's mother-in-law from his phone. She was in charge of getting either pink or blue balloons to fill the box. When she arrived on Sunday, with the balloons in two black trash bags, she snuck into the master bedroom and filled the box.

Saturday, the day before our reveal, was a very emotional day. I often feel like I'm living in a dream. After waiting so long for this baby, and going through the IVF process, the reality that I'm pregnant often hits me hard. I wake up everyday and feel like the luckiest woman in the world to be carrying our child in my womb. I thank God for our answered prayers all day long. I can't think about this pregnancy and our baby without thinking about God's hand in our lives. It all ties together and I feel like I'm carrying a piece of Heaven in my body right now. It's surreal and emotional, and I cry happy tears every single day. 

I always felt like I was carrying our son, whom will be named after my Papa in Heaven. I'll write all about him in a new post someday and the story behind his name. I had many dreams about our son and my intuition felt very strong. Ryan thought it was our boy the whole time too, but then changed his mind on the day of the reveal and thought maybe it was a girl. I think he just wanted to play it safe, so that one of us would certainly be correct. 





The ribbon display was made by my mom for our wedding. She used material that used to belong to my grandma. At our wedding the ribbon display was hanging across the pond and I could see them blowing in the wind as we exchanged our wedding vows. Each time the wind would brush across my skin I could see the beautiful ribbons blowing in the wind. It was one of the most miraculous moments of my life. I could feel my grandma's spirit with me through the wind as I watched the colorful ribbons floating in the air. I wanted her to be a part of our day and this was how I did it! 



























We had our family take a guess at whether we were having a BOY or a GIRL

This was the GIRL guesses. Ryan switched his guess at the last minute. He's a sweet daddy and wanted to play it safe just in case! We were both guessing BOY the whole time.


And this was the BOY guesses. As you can see the majority of the group had the correct guess. I was really surprised that this many people had it right! My sister, Haley, had a premonition dream before I even got pregnant that we'd have a son. Both my sisters and my mom were just as sure as I was that it was a BOY. 


Ryan's parents did not take a guess. They decided to stay neutral. They said all they care about is a healthy baby. 


The anticipation before opening that box was unreal. A dream. All I can remember is seeing BLUE and looking over at Ry and seeing the big tears in his beautiful eyes! 














Our nephew, Oliver, should be pretty happy to have a boy cousin arriving in February. They will be only nine months apart! He was outnumbered in the girl department so this is exciting news for this little guy. 




We keep telling Mrs. PB that she is going to be a big sister, but we don't think she's too excited about the news. She's not really into kids so much. She is our baby though and we will make it work! 


Here is the video my aunt captioned of the moment we found out we are having a son. I'm thankful to have this video because I've watched it a 100x! The moment I saw BLUE...I tear up each time I watch it. 



Now we can start calling our little guy by his name! Ryan and I sat on the sofa last night and talked about him. Our hopes and dreams for him. I dream of the moment we get to hold him in our arms, and look into his beautiful eyes. Until then I'm cherishing every single moment I have him inside of me growing strong and healthy. Grateful, just so very grateful. 

Closing with this heartwarming prayer. 


Father, I give You all the glory and praise that is due to Your great name. You are so faithful. Thank You, Lord, for answered prayers and for granting me the desires of my heart today. Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth, and let there be continued peace within my heart and life.
Love xo 
Wen and Ry
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