Oh friends, I am so overwhelmed by all of your sweet, sweet comments!! Thank you SO much for your prayers – I cannot express my thanks enough!

This has been such a joyous, anxiety-filled, wonderful week! Sunday marked exactly a year since we started trying to get pregnant, Nathan turned 22 months AND it was Mother’s Day! What a day!

I was planning to wait and test on Sunday, but I was talking to my friend Melanie and my mom and both of them were saying what a horrible Mother’s Day that would be if I tested negative again. And the more I thought about it, the more I agreed with them, so I put Nathan down for a nap on Wednesday and took a test just so I could move on and enjoy my weekend.

So, you can imagine my surprise when I looked over after I finished washing my hands and saw two lines. 😉

It was a VERY long afternoon waiting for Jon to get home then! Ha! I spent the rest of the day crying and praying and laughing and shaking. Ha! I had bought Nathan a teddy bear that said “I’m the Big Brother” way back when we were hoping to find out we were pregnant around Christmas – just so we had a way to tell the family Christmas Day. I’d put the bear at the top of Nathan’s closet and forgotten about it, but Wednesday I dug it out, wrapped it in some tissue paper and put it in a grocery sack.

We waited very impatiently for Jon to get home and when he walked in the door, Nathan handed him the sack and said, “Here you go!” and I told Jon we found something we thought he might like. It was SO special!! He opened the bag and started reading the bear’s shirt and then stopped and looked up at me and I was holding the pregnancy test and bawling. Ha! 🙂 So then we both cried and laughed and danced around while Nathan looked on very concerned. 😉

This has been a week filled with happy tears! We told my parents on Thursday night at our early Mother’s Day celebration for Mom and we both cried, we told Jon’s parents on Friday night and we cried again and I told my grandmother Friday night as well and – yep, you guessed it – cried again. 😉 God is so faithful! I am so overcome by how wonderful He is!

(Someone helped me make pudding yesterday – can you tell?? 😉 )

My appointment Monday went very well! I changed doctors to one who is very experienced in VBACs (vaginal birth after cesarean) and I’m hoping and praying that we will be able to go that route. I really liked her! She is young, but seems very good.

(Nathan’s new way of lounging around. Ha!)

I had to go get blood work done yesterday (ugh. They couldn’t get my vein at first and y’all know my thoughts on needles!! Bleugh.) I had Nathan with me and he was the angel child yesterday. I was so thankful that he picked that day to behave! Ha! 🙂 One of the reasons we decided to go ahead and tell people is because one of his new favorite things to do is to yank up my shirt and start saying, “Hi baby! Hi baby! I wruv you, baby!” in a voice about six octaves higher than his usual voice. It’s about the sweetest thing I’ve ever seen but makes it a little hard to keep a secret. 😉

We are SO excited!! 🙂 Thank you again so very much for all your sweet words and prayers!!

And… here’s the winner of Running Sideways!

Congrats, Amy! I’ve sent you an email! I hope you are all having a wonderful week!!

Well, friends, I do believe it is WAY past time for a contest and I have just the book to giveaway!

I’d like you all to meet Kim Havens. She’s from Texas and originally contacted me about three years ago because her daughter is one of my cousin’s dearest friends. And, as it turned out, we just happened to be headed to Dallas for a conference, so we got the chance to meet in person!

Kim is just about one of the sweetest women I’ve ever met! She let me read the first few chapters in her novel and I loved them. And a couple of months ago, she sent me a copy of her book, Running Sideways, that she self-published.

I know there are SO MANY of you out there who have questions about self-publication, so I asked her a few questions and she gave me some great answers.  🙂

Hi Kim! I’m so glad you could join us on here today!! 🙂 What was the most surprising thing to you about self-publising?

I was surprised by how much input the I actually had in the process.
From start to finish, I literally decided everything from font size to
cover layout.

Would you mind describing the process you went through to get it published?
 
I knew there were a lot of self publishers
out there, so I spent some time deciding who I actually wanted to use.
Once I chose Westbow, it was simply a matter of going to their website
and purchasing a publishing package. The next day, I got a call from
them detailing how the process would work. I then submitted my
manuscript via email. About a week later, they sent me an editorial
review, and assigned me a design team. I chose the font, font size, and
where on the page I wanted chapters to start, page numbers etc. With
the manuscript finished, the next step was the cover design. They asked
for my specific ideas (book covers I wanted to emulate). I was given
access to a website where I could choose a professional photo for the
cover, or use one of my own. I chose the colors, font, and how exactly I
wanted the cover to look. Once that was finished, I waited (very
impatiently) to actually hold the finished product in my hand!

Tell us about the awesome cover design.
 

I designed my cover after perusing book stores and finding book
covers that drew my attention- made me want to pick them up. I decided
to send in a photo of my own for the cover- a good friend was my
photographer and the two people in the photo are my daughter and her new
husband. After the photo shoot we sat in the photographer’s kitchen
and edited the photo using both black and white and color elements. It
was a lot of fun!

Does self-publishing include editing?

Editing was something I was very unsure about, and would probably do
differently. I chose to not use the editing service offered by
Westbow for a couple of reasons: 1. It was expensive- $4500 for my
manuscript. 2. The edit sample they sent me didn’t make a lot of
sense. It was also an service that required another 4-6 weeks, and I
wanted my book out before Christmas. If I had it to do over, I would
definitely find an outside editor.

What was your favorite part of the process? And your least favorite part?

My favorite part of
the process was the creative side- choosing my own fonts, cover, etc.
My least favorite, was the uncertainty- wondering if the book was going
to be as professional as I hoped.

I’m so excited your book is out now!! Can you tell us a little about it?

In Running Sideways,
Medical missionary Meredith Thorne has spent years trying to outrun the
demons of her past; a past that involves Tate Matthews. Confirmed
bachelor Tate Matthews is a West Texas rancher content with his role as
protector of his seriously ill twin sister.
Until Meredith returns to Flat Rock, Texas and turns Tate’s world upside down.
In facing their painful secrets, can Meredith and Tate put away their
bitterness and find a way to forgive each other, and save the life of a
child?

 
 ***

SO… to win an autographed copy of Kim’s book, leave a comment below with your first name and email address. If you want to avoid spammers, I’d leave your email address like this: erynnmangumATgmail.com. 😉 I’ll draw the winner on Wednesday!

Good luck to all of you!! And thank you again, Kim!! 🙂

Yesterday, Nathan was in the bathroom with me while I fixed my hair and decided that he needed to hold all of his Memos (Mickey Mouse) and Pluto and Donald at the same time.

 We don’t need Goofy because he is one. 😉

Well. So, two weekends ago, I caught an AWFUL stomach virus, all last week I feel like Nathan was dealing with something along those lines and then yesterday, Jon woke up with it.

I need one of those stink bomb things but for germs. Really. Hopefully now that we have ALL had it, it will leave us alone!!! 🙂

So, Nathan and I tried to stay out of the house yesterday because the poor kid just does not get that when Daddy is home sick that doesn’t not mean he’s there to play. 🙁 So, we went to Michaels and Nathan decided that he was much too big to sit in the cart:

His latest thing is to say, “I got this.” So yesterday I said, “Nathan, are you sure you can hold on tight enough?”

He said, “I got dis. I got dis.”

He is too young for this. Surely I was just bringing this child home from the hospital.

Today, my friend Melanie texted me early this morning with an offer of going to the mall and walking around and it took me all of about .003 seconds to immediately agree. It was so nice just walking around and talking! And this is how the kids spent a good part of the beginning at the mall:

We ended up getting lunch there and riding the carousel which has become the Bright and Shining Beacon of Nathan’s existence. He loves the horses (even though they both look a little deer-in-the-headlights at the moment this picture was taken)!

 He threw the biggest fit when we had to get off and I immediately felt chastised again deep in my heart for all the times I’d judged moms when their kids missed behaved before I had one.

Sometimes I feel like I need to send an apology note to every mother in this city.

Last Saturday, Jon, my parents and my brother Caleb all competed in the Warrior Dash – a race/obstacle course that has you swim through a mud pit at the end.

They had a blast. 😉

And all of them did really well! I was so proud of them! 🙂

This shot of my parents is my favorite – ha!

The whole muddy gang!! Our friend Phoebe, Mom, Dad, Jon and Caleb.

Meanwhile, I hung out with Cayce, Bryant and this cheesy guy:

It was SO hot and dusty. We all had to take showers when we got home. And later that night, at Chili’s of course, Nathan ended up throwing up most of what he’d eaten that day. (Yes, we were those people at dinner.) So, we got the rest of our dinner to go and came home and he threw up again in the middle of the night. We spent yesterday at home and he had some pretty nasty diapers, so we were home again today.

Poor baby. I’m wondering if this is all connected to that fever he had earlier. He seemed to be feeling better after his nap today, so I’m praying that this is all FINALLY behind us!!

Nathan has learned a new trick, one that I’m sure will haunt our family pictures for the next few years:

I think it’s hilarious.

Hilarious NOW. I can bet money I will not think it’s so hilarious in two years when I am begging, pleading, crying and gnashing my teeth to get him to smile genuinely for a camera. 😉

Well, something is going around our city because every person I talk to has a kid who ran a fever this week. Including me. I think we are finally over the virus now, but it did have it’s “benefits”:

Like Nathan’s first Keva Juice. I’m all about doing fun things when you’re sick, in case y’all haven’t noticed. All day movies, ice cream, smoothies, bubble baths…my mother raised me right. 😉

 I’d say he’s a fan. 😉

Last week, Jon decided to go outside and weed the yard so (of course) Nathan had to go help. He came marching out of his room a few minutes later with his hat on and holding the boots.

He is a mess. We have such a fashion forward son. 😉

You can see where this is going, right?

Yep. 😉

We had a very long weekend. It started off well! We went to a bounce house in town for Julia L.’s birthday party which was an absolutely BLAST. Last time we went to the bounce house, I had to drag him up all the ladders myself but this time, he was like a little monkey climbing them!

Jon hadn’t been able to go with us last time, so he had so much fun with Nathan! It was so nice – last time it was all of us moms helping the kids through everything, so it was nice to be able to just sit back and talk while the dads took care of everyone. 😉

Sweet Julia! My sweet friend Melanie is her mom and seriously guys, the story of our friendship is just about as weird as it gets. Mel was actually the acquisitions editor for Miss Match! She got married to Matt and moved away from NavPress (which is in Colorado Springs) before the book released and I didn’t see her again, though I was friends with her on Facebook. So a little over a year ago, she posted something about looking for rental houses here, she had Julia who is just about three months older than Nathan, we met up again and the rest is history. 😉 God is good! I’m so thankful for her!!

Good friends – at least at the moment this picture was taken. 😉 Ha! Those two are TROUBLE together!

We brought a very tired, very happy boy home after the party!

 The rest of the weekend was not so fun – I started feeling yucky Saturday afternoon and by Saturday night I had a full-on stomach bug. 🙁 So gross! I ended up sleeping for fourteen hours that night, woke up with a fever and by Sunday afternoon, started feeling a little better. Yesterday I was pretty much back to normal, so I guess it was a twenty-four-hour thing. Bleugh.

Praying hard that no one else catches it!! 🙁

What did you guys do this weekend?

Ai yai yai yai yai.

These last few days have been SO busy! Tonight is our first night in over a week that we don’t have anything planned and I am so very much looking forward to a relaxing dinner at home and maybe a walk before Nathan’s bedtime tonight. We’ve been so crazy and I have taken almost zero pictures this week which might be a new record in the life of my little Nater Tot. 😉

A few things that have happened – last week, I went to see a midwife I’ve never seen before about our continuing struggle to get pregnant. She’d also struggled for a long time with infertility and she had a lot of good advice for me. While we were there she drew blood to run tests and y’all know that is my FAVORITE thing in the whole world. Um, NOT. (This blog post is officially vintage. 😉 But I got the test results on Wednesday and apparently everything was normal except my vitamin D levels which were very low, which apparently can contribute to infertility. (Who knew??)

So, she told me to take a supplement and go sit in the sun every day as close to noon as possible for twenty minutes or until my skin turns pink.

It looks like I will get that tan this year after all. 😉 I’ve actually really been enjoying my forced relaxation in the sun time every day. Ha! I put Nathan down for his nap and then head out there for a few minutes before coming back inside to write or clean or try to attempt to accomplish one of the 173 things on my to do list.

All that to say, THANK YOU for your continued prayers!! 🙂 I have felt so much more at peace in the last few months – such a huge blessing. Thank you! And please know that I do continue to pray for you all who are in the waiting boat with me.

On to Friday Favorites. 🙂

1. Amish Friendship Bread

I’ve had the starter fermenting in my house for ten days and yesterday, we finally got to bake the bread! It was so delicious and the perfectly unhealthy way to start a day. 😉

2. Spring skirts

When I was about five, my mom couldn’t get me to wear anything except skirts. Then I went through a long, long phase where I hated to wear dresses and skirts. Apparently things like these come in full circle (um…no pun intended) because I’m now back to loving skirts. Particularly jersey skirts – so very comfy and easy to wear with T-shirts!

3. Nathan’s new favorite song

Can we tell we’ve had a bunch of birthday parties in the last month?? 🙂

4. Chef John’s Buttermilk Biscuits

Seriously delicious and very quick and easy. I made these the other night with dinner and I pretended that they were incredibly healthy for me to eat. 😉

Your turn! What are your favorites this week??

Jon was gone this last weekend hunting turkeys, so we had a weekend full of Mommy/Son time, punctuated with lots of friend and Mimi/Bop time. We went to get frozen yogurt, we ate out, we went on walks and played. We had lots fun but I have to admit, we were both very glad to see Daddy on Sunday afternoon. 😉

 And after a weekend of doing things like watching Mommy get her makeup on and hair fixed and then dressing up to go out to dinner, I think one little boy was very excited that Daddy was home and taking him to his softball game. Or “beeball” as it’s known quite loudly in our house.

“BEEBALL! WHOA, BEEBALL!”

A very long time ago when we first found out we were having a boy, we went to Cracker Barrel for lunch one day and Jon told me that he was starting to worry that maybe our son wouldn’t like sports or want to play them or want play catch with him.

I don’t think we have anything to worry about.

I think Nathan experienced a high point in his life last night. First, he got to stay up two hours past his bedtime, second he got to watch his daddy play baseball, and third he got to run through the dirt chasing a ball for TWO HOURS straight. He was so excited. He laughed and yelled and was so darn cute I just let him get who knows what kind of germs all over his happy little body. And today when Daddy got home there was even more fun awaiting:

Yep. We have a boy. I’ve never been more sure of it. 😉

Sometimes there are just defining moments in being a mom. The first time I held him. The first time I kissed his sweet little cheeks. The first time he called me “Mommy”. The first time he spontaneously said, “I wruv you, Mommy!”

This was one of those defining moments.