Category / Mr. Right

by Bethe

Weekend recap: A fancy night out, a trip to the ER, and twinkle lights

Oh my blog friends, what a weekend! It was one of those that takes you the rest of the week to recover from. Here’s a recap of our adventures – you’ll see what I mean:

Friday night I surprised Mr. Right with a fabulous First Father’s Day Date to our favorite gourmet restaurant, and showered him with a new car stereo for his 10-year-old car (he needed one badly). It had all the makings to be one of our best nights in a long time, until I took my first bite of dinner and got struck with a tidal wave of nausea (yea for lingering stomach bug at 36 weeks pregnant) and little Miss Wrenn moved into some weird position that had me almost barreled over in pain. Silly girl.

We managed to make it through dinner without me getting physically ill, packed up my almost untouched food and headed home (after a small detour to get some gelato, of course – Mr. Right knows how to cheer a girl up). We ended the night with me in bed, hugging a body pillow trying to coax Baby Girl back to a less painful position, and Mr. Right on the couch with an ice pack in severe pain from his bike injury. It was not the most romantic First Father’s Day, to say the least.

Saturday we headed to the hospital for an all day childbirth/breastfeeding class. After ten hours of learning about the beauty – and horror – of childbirth, and me still feeling nauseous and unable to eat much, we headed home for what we hoped would be a quiet, peaceful night. (note: Breastfeeding is so intimidating! It deserves its own post where I desperately need some advice from you seasoned mamas out there. Stay tuned.)

Instead, an hour later we ended up BACK at the hospital, this time in the ER to have Mr. Right’s bicycle wreck injuries checked out. They had gotten much, much worse, and when we showed our childbirth nurse the bruise on his leg (bruise doesn’t really describe it – it’s like you took purple paint and painted several square feet of his left hip/thigh, from hip bone to knee), even the nurse said we should get it checked out.

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(I tried to snag a pic of all three of us in the ER. Sadly this isn’t even Wrenn’s first ER visit.)

I’m not sure if you should be proud when you have an injury so bad that you can actually shock the ER doctor, but we did just that. Every nurse who saw it just gasped. It was THAT bad. Thankfully, we got FAST, wonderful care (I work at a great hospital with some really great people), and Mr. Right’s injuries checked out fine, which means I will sleep much better (because you know I’d been up all night googling his injuries and had been horrified by what I read). Now he’s got some medicine for the pain and should make a full recovery in 6-8 weeks.

In the meantime, if you want to see the gnarliest bruise in the history of the world – call us.

We finally got home at 10:00 p.m. – exhausted, hurting, nauseous, and ready to retreat from the real world for a little while. And we did just that – we spent most of Sunday just resting and recovering emotionally from a stressful week. We did manage to have Mr. Right’s parents over for a wonderfully relaxing Father’s Day dinner (and praise Jesus my nausea was finally gone!), and then Mr. Right and I ended the weekend sitting on our back porch, admiring the pergola he built me and enjoying each other’s company under the twinkle lights.

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Finally, we got our romantic evening we’d been hoping for.

by Bethe

A stomach bug, a bike crash, and an oh-my-gosh-they’re-going-to-let-us-have-children?!?! moment

Have I mentioned I’m 36 weeks pregnant? Like, hugely, uncomfortably, waddling pregnant?

Oh, and I’ve had a stomach bug this week. Which stinks anytime, but is especially not fun when you’re 36 weeks and hugely, uncomfortably, waddling pregnant.

Although between you and me, I’ve had it for three days now, and it’s still here, which makes me wonder if it’s not a bug, but a return of morning sickness. Please no. Anything but that. Lord, let it be a stomach bug that’s on its way out!

So I spent Monday home sick from work (my first day off since New Year’s Day – including holidays – I’ve been hoarding vacation/sick days like they’re going out of style to save up for my maternity leave). I’ve eaten nothing but toast, chicken noodle soup, and baked potatoes while chewing ice chips (drinking water? Ick – so gross). Luckily I’m an expert in nauseous eating, having had six months of experience. I should write a book. All you first trimester sick girls out there – call me. I can help.

So imagine me home Tuesday night, having crashed and taken a two-hour nap the moment I got home from a long day at work, finally sort of sitting up and eating chicken noodle soup and feeling absolutely awful. And my phone rings.

It’s my work – and I need to come in for something very important and unexpected. It’s just part of my job, these things happen.

But it’s less fun when those things happen while you’re home feeling (and looking) like death. I mentally started thinking about what clothes I had lying around on the floor of my closet that would look clean enough for me to wear in to work. Oh, and clothes that fit (there are very few that do at this point).

While I was on the phone, Mr. Right called me. He had been in a bike riding accident. Not just any bike riding accident – Mr. Right does the serious bike riding where you wear bike shorts and go fast on city trails and your bike weighs as much as Baby Girl did at 4 weeks gestation (translation – light). Poor Mr. Right went head-first into the concrete trail and skid on his shoulder, elbow, and hip, ripping and bruising the whole side of his body. Poor guy had to jump back on his bike and ride all the way back to his car, which thankfully was only a mile away.

Did I mention I was horribly nauseous, 36 weeks pregnant, and had just gotten an emergency call from work 30 seconds earlier? And now I have a poor, hurt husband with injuries that are yet unknown? Yeah, it was one of those nights.

I met Mr. Right in the driveway, watched him limp out of his car and helped him assess the damage. He’s going to live, although he looks like he’s been in a major bicycle accident, and he has a bruise that’s almost as big as my full-term belly and a limp that any pirate would envy. And there was blood – less blood than there could have been, considering his accident, but blood nonetheless, dripping from his elbow.

After he got cleaned up and we decided that there were no injuries requiring a trip to my ER (heck, I work at a hospital and already had to go), I left Mr. Right on our couch, ran into work, took care of what I needed to take care of, went and bought wound care supplies and a late drive-through dinner for my hurt man, and came home and finished patching him up. 

And then I climbed into bed, a nauseous, exhausted mess, and crashed (no pun intended).

I thanked God that the night wasn’t worse. After all, Mr. Right landed head-first on concrete, cracked his helmet, skidded who knows how long, and has no major, life-threatening injuries to show for it.

And then I thought – holy cow, all this, and we’re about to be parents too?!?! What the heck are we going to do with a BABY?!?!

by Bethe

A promise of what is to come

Dude, this pregnancy thing isn’t for sissies. I spent my afternoon doubled over in pain as Little Miss got into some weird position and wouldn’t move back. When Mr. Right called to check on me, I was on my knees, hugging my office chair, trying to relieve some of the pressure off my belly and will her back into position. My goodness it was glamorous.

It was the second time she’s done this in the past week or so. My doctor thinks maybe she’s flipping or starting to move into position. I hope it means she’s getting ready to come on her own in, say, two weeks. Or three. No sooner, sweet Wrenn, you hear? (I’m 35 weeks tomorrow.) Thankfully every time she eventually moves back to where she belongs, but it leaves me sore the rest of the evening. Thank goodness for a sweet husband who picks up takeout for dinner so I can hug my body pillow on the couch and relax.

In other news…

We finished the nursery. That sound you hear is the Hallelujah Chorus playing in the background. It’s such a relief. I realize Baby Girl doesn’t need a nursery in the beginning, but I needed to get organized and inventory what we had and what we still needed. Plus, I’m assuming that I’ll be recovering and things will be chaotic when she gets home, and I don’t want to have to come home to a mess. And now we don’t have to. Pictures to come SOON. I promise. I’m so happy with how it turned out.

And, Mr. Right has caught the nesting bug. After helping me cross everything off our “Things that have to be done before Wrenn’s arrival” to-do list this weekend, he got a wild hair on Tuesday, one of his rare days off, and built an entire pergola in our backyard. It looks amazing, and we spent last night sitting underneath it, admiring his handiwork. I’m amazed at the things he dreams up and then builds – he is really, really talented, and I love to watch his creativity in motion. I promise, pictures of that to come soon as well.

Oh, and while I’m bragging on Mr. Right – he officiated his first wedding last weekend for some dear friends of ours. It was an adorable outdoor, backyard wedding – something straight out of Sweet Home Alabama. Of course there are no pictures because I was big and swollen and at this point, well, I have no desire to take pictures. But trust me, it was adorable, and my man did an AWESOME job preaching the ceremony. He looked like an old pro – and talk about strange to hear your husband, the man you just exchanged vows with, lead another couple through the same thing. I would have cried if I wasn’t so fascinated watching my feet swell to epic proportions in the outdoor humidity.

Which reminds me… I promise to post some bump pictures. My goodness, just as I crossed all my baby to-do’s off, now I’ve got a whole list of blog to-do’s!

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PS–Just a reminder about the prints in my shop. After baby comes I will take a temporary break, so if there’s anything you’re hankering for, pick it up now.

by Bethe

Look at us, we started the nursery!

Folks, we have a nursery! After a few months of putting it off, then brainstorming, then putting it off some more, we finally cleaned out Mr. Right’s office/guest room (what a great guy), taped everything off, and got the thing painted, all in 24 hours.

A special thanks to my awesome sister who came over and painted the nursery for us! Talk about a servant’s heart. She knew that my doctor said no painting for me, and Mr. Right is crazy swamped with finals (oh, how we’re all counting down the minutes until grad school is OVER), so she just decided to do it for us. It was such a blessing.

You should have seen Mr. Right and I prepping the night before she came to get the room ready. I was in my work dress (because dresses are so much more comfortable than anything else right now), on my hands and knees taping off the baseboards while Mr. Right was on a ladder caulking holes and removing blinds. I’m not very graceful under typical circumstances, but I’m like a clumsy beast at this point, so I’m sure the neighbors got an eye full through our blind-less windows at 9:30 at night. And I’m just pregnant enough to not really care.

nursery 1

The next morning Mr. Right assembled our crib, and suddenly the room felt like a nursery. He has since moved in other furniture (an armoire for storage and a dresser that we’ll use as a changing table – pics to come), and slowly but surely we’re moving closer to being baby-ready.

nursery 2

The nursery will be mostly neutrals – grays and whites – with pops of color in our accents. This fabric, which is part of the quilt I’m making for her, is the inspiration for those pops of color – lot’s of tangerine-oranges, turquoises, and a few other random colors here and there.

nursery 3

And here’s the rest of the fabric for her quilt. We’ll be using the leftovers for pillows, possibly a bedskirt, etc. You know, whatever I get inspired to sew. Don’t be surprised if you don’t find some leftovers in my Etsy shop in the form of baby quilts or pillows.

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And, finally, we’re thinking about using this picture for above the crib. Mr. Right and I have a real love for internationals (especially our ESL students!), and we also love to travel, so we think this is the perfect picture to go above our tiny sleeping baby. Plus, it reminds me of a quilt.

Stay tuned for more pictures as we make progress on the nursery. I’m 29 weeks along, so not too much longer until she’s here with us napping in this very room!

by Bethe

Give-away winner & an anniversary trip

Hey there blog friends! First things first, let’s give some free stuff away! What a way to start off a week!

Jenny was a Theta with me way back when (how has it been 10 years since I graduated from college?) so it was fun to see her name pop up as our winner. Jenny – send your address to me (bethe@texaslovely.com) and we’ll get you your free Hallie necklace.

If you didn’t win, you can still head over to Curated by Kelly and do some shopping. She’s donating 50% of her sales this week to charity – what better excuse to shop for some new spring goodies?

On to other news…

Last weekend Mr. Right and I headed out West for a belated anniversary getaway/babymoon. If you’ll remember, I was much too sick to celebrate our real anniversary back in January (I went to bed, alone, before 8:00, so nauseous I could barely function – not exactly what I’ve always fantasized marriage would look like). We have made it our tradition to buy each other a weekend away instead of traditional Christmas/anniversary presents, and last weekend we finally got to do just that.

It was ah-mazing. Thanks to your prayers – and a comfy king-size bed- I slept like a baby, was almost completely nausea-free, and got to enjoy a romantic weekend at a little cabin in the woods with my Mr. Right. And when I say cabin, I should be clear – it was a luxury cabin.

I’m ready to move there.

A proper recap to come, complete with pictures from our new fancy 50mm camera lens that Mr. Right got me as a surprise. That stinker is so full of surprises when it comes to romantic anniversary weekends. My goodness, how I love that man.

by Bethe

Baby kicks and baby bumps and a nesting confessional

1. Thanks to everyone who prayed for Mr. Right as he preached at that youth retreat last weekend. It went GREAT! Some of my very proudest moments are when I sit in the audience and get to watch him preach Jesus from the pulpit. It’s like all those years of praying for a godly man were answered in a way much better than I had ever hoped, and those moments I’m reminded that God hears my prayers and in his perfect timing (in this case, 7 years after I started praying this fervant prayer), he responds.

I should also mention that Mr. Right looked super cute while up there preaching. Not that it matters, but he did.

2. I felt Baby Right kick for the first time on Sunday! I felt some tiny punches to my lower left belly as I watched a movie – more than the flutter I’d been waiting for – more like a flick. Ever since I’ve been feeling more and more – it’s so exciting to feel that little life in that growing belly of mine.

3. Speaking of bellies – here’s some belly pictures.

16 Weeks

17.5 Weeks

18 Weeks

4. Speaking of bellies and babies – I finally hit that second trimester sweet spot, where I want to do things besides lay on the couch and watch TV. I spent my free time this weekend quilting and writing on my book and organizing my house. I now know why women nest during pregnancy – it’s because during that first trimester they’re so sick that they let EVERYTHING go (and I mean EVERYTHING), and by the time they start feeling better, their house is so out of sorts that they absolutely HAVE to nest or they’ll lose their mind. At least, that’s what I hear other people do. Not me. My house hasn’t become a disorganized mess. No way. Uh uh. (nods head “no”).

Let’s be real y’all – the more visible areas of our house have been somewhat clean thanks to our cleaning lady, whom we paid for when we got rid of our cable (greatest decision EVER in the history of the world). But the only way I’ve been able to “clean up” for the cleaning lady is by throwing things in every cabinet, drawer, closet or pantry I could get my hands on, which means if you opened a single door in my house, you were liable to have something fall on your head. At least, in all areas except for Mr. Right’s, since he is one of those rare guys who actually picks up after himself and stays organized (thank goodness there’s one of us in this relationship). So, this weekend I cleaned out, threw out, and organized my way back to a little bit of sanity in our home. And it feels amazing. And I hope it lasts for at least a week or two.

5. And finally – I want to leave you with this picture of Mr. Right and our nephew Luke from dinner last night. Does this not make your heart melt? I’m not sure what I’m going to do when he’s holding our own baby – probably cry a lot. You know, the good kind of tears.

by Bethe

A date, an emergency, and a preacher

Finally… a date night!

I’m not normally a big Valentine’s girl. Mr. Right makes me feel loved all year long (and plans really thoughtful and elaborate dates), so I never thought we’d put much pressure on Valentine’s. But I was too sick to celebrate Christmas, and too sick to celebrate our anniversary, and we’ve postponed our annual anniversary weekend get-away over and over until I felt better (sweet Baby Right, you owe me). We really haven’t had a good date night in 18 weeks – we’ve tried a few times, but they usually end up with me getting sick in the middle and us rushing home so I can go straight to bed. Not exactly romantic.

So this year, we decided to do Valentine’s extra big. Mr. Right got us reservations (two weeks early!) at one of the trendiest new restaurants in Fort Worth, and we both exchanged big (for us) presents. I’ll be making several visits to the spa, thanks to my cute man. What a treat.

The night was filled with romance and deep conversations and lot’s of laughing. My evening was completely nausea free (praise the Lord!), I even ate the food (yea!), and felt totally and completely spoiled.

 And then there was an emergency…

Last night, while lying in bed at 4:00 in the morning we awoke to the sound of our burglar alarm going off. Mr. Right chivalrously jumped out of bed and ran to the front door to see what was wrong, and found that someone had gotten our front door open, setting off our alarm (which is so loud they can hear it from outer space). We think someone tried to break in, heard our alarm go off, and ran away.

Between you and me, the bad guy is lucky he didn’t get a gun-toting “Texas Welcome,” if you know what I mean. The alarm probably did more to save him than us. But it was scary nonetheless, and we spent the rest of the night with racing hearts trying to calm down.

I’m by nature a fearful person, and I refuse to let this bad guy steal my peace. But prayers are welcome, so I feel just as bold tonight when I crawl into bed and the house is dark and quiet.

Speaking of prayers…

Mr. Right is preaching a youth retreat this weekend for a local church. Please say a prayer for him as he gives FOUR sermons – and pray for the teenagers on the receiving end, that they will be blessed and challenged and know Jesus more when they leave than when they arrive. My heart is welling with pride today. And, to be honest, my eyes are a bit droopy from my 4:00 a.m. wake-up call.

by Bethe

Calling all moms – I need some advice

I have a secret.

Like, no idea whatsoever. Thank goodness for Google.

Speaking of Google stories, last night I was telling Mr. Right some things I had learned from friends about breast feeding, and I mentioned mastitis. And that’s when he said, “I know all about that.”

(me): “What?” 

(Mr. Right): “Yeah, Cows get that.”

Oh yeah, I forget, I married a man from the country. Who used to show animals at the stock show. It turns out everything Mr. Right knows about pregnancy and having babies, he learned from cows.

I’m either in very good hands… or I’m in trouble. Time will tell.

But back to babies and how little I know. We’ve started to talk about the nursery, and as we look at various products, I need to know:

1. We need a rocker/glider. What did you use? Did you like the wooden kind with a big/comfy cushion…

or the plush lazy-boy-like chair?

I thought I wanted the plush chair, but now I’m wondering if I would want the rocker with a cushion to offer head/neck support as I feed in the middle of the night. Please tell me what you think.

And, if you have one you loved, where did you get it? We don’t want to break the bank, but I want to invest in something comfortable, since I figure I’ll be spending some late nights rocking Baby Right in it.

One more question – some folks have suggested putting a twin bed in the nursery. Moms, did you do that, or did you wish you had?

Discuss amongst yourselves… in the comments section. I’m all ears.

 

by Bethe

Be joyful in hope

About a week ago, during one of my many hormone-induced tearful meltdowns, Mr. Right kept asking me what was wrong, what I was upset about, and I couldn’t even verbalize it.

In our house, we call that fracturing from reality.

Does that mean I’ve officially punched my ticket to the crazy train? When you’re sobbing and you can’t even explain why you’re upset? How do you give words to that crazy cocktail of fear and nausea and exhaustion and frustration with not feeling like yourself for ten weeks in a row. And I think there may have been a discussion about childcare in there somewhere (which I can’t think about right now – it’s too hard).

And then, as Mr. Right did his best to talk me off of my cliff and bring me back to reality, he did that thing that drives me crazy in the moment (pitfalls of marrying a minister) but really gets me thinking later. My husband is incredibly wise.

He asked me to tell him one thing God has been teaching me through all this.

Which is totally the right question – how has He redeemed the past ten weeks of nausea and complications and sitting on my couch watching 13 seasons of Law & Order SVU while sipping on red Gatorade?

What made it worse was that I had no good answer. I don’t know. I can’t see it yet. After being so sick as a newlywed, I was able to look back and see so many things God taught me. But right now? Right now I just can’t see past right now.

It may take awhile to be able to answer that question. But in the meantime, I will choose to be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and faithful in prayer.  And Baby Right, as tough as this is, you’re worth it.

Scripture print available here

by Bethe

Happy birthday to my blog… and to me.

Today is my birthday. Not only that, but it’s also the fifth birthday for my little blog.

Here’s the first post, written on my 27th birthday. Well, technically, there’s the first post, but a few months ago I moved everything over to this fancy new home.

Well, that’s not exactly right either. Technically I’ve been blogging more than five years. Because really, I started over here in July 2005. Do you realize that was seven-and-a-half years ago? My goodness, a lot has changed in that time, but funny enough, much of the time I still feel like that 24-year-old wide-eyed girl. I’m so thankful for (and highly amused at) the chance to go back and relive what life was like from 24-32. It has been a wild ride for sure.

But back to today’s birthday. Today I turn 32 (although if anybody asks, I’ll say I’m 29), and since it’s also Thanksgiving, I thought I’d look back at what I was thankful for in year 31:

-I am thankful for my TWO new nephews. Those little boys have totally changed my life. I’m head over heels in love with both of them. Both are total miracle babies, and both increased my faith in different ways.

-I am thankful for the chance to open my little Etsy shop. I have learned SO much about opening a business, about bookkeeping, about shipping. It has been a total blast, but also a ton of work. (PS – I just signed up for my first pop-up Flea Market event for next weekend – stay tuned for more details)

-I am thankful for Mr. Right’s new job. It was a huge leap of faith to leave his current job at the church and venture out to try something new. And while we launch his new business, we’re dreaming about the next step in our ministry. The two are not mutually exclusive.

-I am thankful for the chance to visit BOTH coasts this year… two trips to the West Coast and one to the East Coast. The gypsy in me enjoyed visiting all new places this year.

-I am thankful for both of our families, and for their continued health. We had a few scares this year, but I am thankful that God blessed me with TWO amazing families who love Jesus.

-I am thankful for my own health. After battling a health issue for almost 18 months, I am happy to say that I am fully healed and so very thankful to finally feel good again.

-I am thankful for sweet friends, both old and new.

-I am thankful for my ESL ministry. It’s such a privilege to do something that you really love and work with people who feel like family.

-I am thankful for Mr. Right, for the way he has supported me, taken care of me, and been my best friend. He pushes me to take risks, and cheers me on when I feel unsure of myself.

So Happy Thanksgiving… and 32… here goes nothing!