Nursery and 21 Weeks Preggo!

My brain has been going NON-STOP on nursery decor!  Well... I'll be honest... on all baby stuff really!  My family came over and helped us paint this weekend....

The picture is a little dark, but the color is a beautiful creamy pale yellow color.  Home Depot calls the name of the paint "cream puff."  It makes the room so bright (normally... not as much at 5:00 pm!) throughout the day. 

And here is an up close picture of the amazing glider we picked up this weekend!  $60 on Craigslist--what a steal!

 I love it!  And I can't wait to get all the other furniture in there!  Here is a picture of the bedding I am going to register for.

 Isn't it adorable?  I wanted to do all gender neutral stuff... but when I found out we were having a girl I just could NOT resist this bedding!

The window treatment...

The pillows...

 

The accessories...

I love it all! 

And of course... I have to find a pretty pink and white chandelier to go in there somewhere.  Maybe something like this:

or this...

or this..

I can't wait to get it all done and see what it looks like all together!

Here is a 21 week picture update:

I'm feeling great!  It is so nice to have more energy back and not feel sick all the time.  YAY for second trimester!  I can't believe we're already over the half way point!  Baby girl moves around quite a bit now... and it's so fun to feel her little nudges.  I haven't felt any full on hard kicks yet, but I know that is in store soon!  We are still working on names.  We are getting closer, but are hesitant to make a loud declaration without being 100% positive!:)  Can't wait to hold this little one!

Gender Reveal Party and Mother's Day!

We had both sides of the family over this afternoon for a Mother's Day celebration and to reveal the sex of our little one!  I won't keep you waiting much longer...

Those that thought it was a boy (yes, Sam and Sadie thought so too):

Those that thought it was a girl:

In order to reveal the big moment, I made a margarita cake to go with the Mexican theme (we had chicken enchiladas for lunch) and dyed the inside pink or blue....

Since it is Mother's Day, all the mothers received the honor of cutting the cake (from left to right, my sis-in-love Kelly, my ma-in-law Linda, and my step-ma Juli).  You HAVE to click on the collage below to enlarge the pictures--it's SO worth it!  Their faces are priceless! :)

And a little video so you can have sound effects (don't mind my awkward giggling):

In case you didn't figure it out from the video....
BABY VAN SANDE IS A GIRL!!!!!!! :-)

Mother's Day: A New Mom's Search for Meaning Through Pain

Ever since my mom passed away in 2006, Mother's Day has been a tough day for me.  Hearing everyone talk about how wonderful their moms are and how much they love them is just a painful reminder that my mom isn't here anymore.

BUT.

Now I have a new reason to celebrate this day, and I could not be more ecstatic about it.  I now get to experience Mother's Day in a new way.  I have wanted to be a mom for soooooooooooooooo long, and now it is finally happening.  Motherhood is such a gift, and I feel so blessed to have the privilege of having this beautiful child growing inside of me.  Being a mom will give this day new meaning, and from this day forward, I don't have to dread it anymore.  Life has now come around full circle.  Where there has been death, there is now new life.  I am constantly reminded of the lyrics from Matt Redman's "Blessed Be Your Name," referring to the reality of human suffering and praising God through the pain.

You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will choose to say
Lord blessed be your name

For all of you out there who have lost your mom and struggle with Mother's Day, I am reminded of these words from 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18:

"For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.  After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.  And so we will be with the Lord forever.  Therefore, encourage one another with these words."

Can't wait to join her in the clouds before we go to meet the Lord.  She better wait up for me!

18 Weeks and the Big Gender Debate!

Side-note: Can I just say....I am super obsessed with little baby booties and shoes!  They are the cutest ever!  Can you have a side-note before you even begin a blog post?  Well... it's my post... so I suppose I can, HA!

We have our big 18 week ultrasound TOMORROW!  Yes folks, the day has finally arrived.  SO PUMPED!  Please pray that we see a healthy little 18 week old baby, and that everything is developing according to plan!  Please also pray that the little munchkin will cooperate and show us his or her special parts because I definitely want to know!  Unfortunately for you all, 1/2 of our family members had commitments tomorrow evening and aren't able to come over to find out.... in fact, the only time that it will all work for our families to all come over is Mother's Day... so we are going to be super cruel and make everyone wait until Sunday to find out!

In other news...

The bump really popped this week!  Please excuse my awkward iPhone pic with the toilet behind me.  I never claimed to be a photographer people... and my husband is never home when I think about photo time!

 Current Baby Size: Week 18 - Sweet Potato

Symptoms: Negative: My body is super exhausted much of the time.  Positive: My husband is really enjoying the recent physical augmentations.

Food Cravings: I like food.... a lot.  Not any specific type of food, just really food in general.  Pretty much always hungry!

Something I've done to prepare for baby: We went baby furniture shopping this weekend and may have selected a crib!  It converts into a toddler and a full bed---amazing!

Special moment: Laying in bed with the hubs talking/dreaming together about what our baby will look like, smell like, act like, and how we will parent together.  Also loving Scott saying, "goodbye" to the baby whenever we part and knowing that the baby can hear us now!