Baby Schultz :)

On Wednesday, my mom, Kennedy and I went to my first ultrasound. I thought I might be further along than I was, based on my cycle and symptoms, but turns out, I'm right where I should be. 7wks, 4 days. Here is a picture of "our little grain of rice" (that's the size of baby right now). I was so excited to see the little heartbeat!! It's crazy how much you can love someone you haven't even met yet :)

We're PREGNANT!!!!

I woke up on December 13th and realized, "I'm a week late. I better take a test just to put my mind at ease." I did some dishes for the two minute waiting time and walked back into the bathroom to check the test. Every time I take one, I keep it turned over until I'm ready to look. I flipped it very nonchalantly and to my surprise, it was a PLUS SIGN! I immediately started crying and thanking God!! I couldn't believe it! I have taken more tests than I can count. Whenever I'm even a few days late, I've thought I could be pregnant and would pee on a stick. Always negative. So this was a HUGE surprise! This all happened before 6am, so I waited for Jon to wake up to tell him. He was shocked too, but excited! We've been trying for the last year, even more so the last six months. I started to think maybe we were only to have one child, or maybe the Lord was leading us to adopt. I never gave up hope though. Praise God for His faithfulness!!! :)

As soon as I found out, I decided I wanted to surprise my family for Christmas. It was so hard to wait the 11/12 days but I knew I could do it. They were shocked, especially my mom and sister, Sarah. Just the night before, they were saying how maybe something is wrong with us and we should go to the doctor to check it out. I had to play it off ... "Yeah, maybe we should go." lol - SUCKERS! ;) It was so fun leading them on to believe I wasn't pregnant. Deceitful, I know, but I didn't want to give up the surprise early!! My mom's reaction on Christmas Eve was PRICELESS. She was beyond excited! I wrapped the pregnancy test and made her open it. The best part? ...she thought it was a THERMOMETER at first!!! ha! My mom text me that night and told me I gave her the best Christmas present ever :) I love her. Then Christmas day, we told Jon's family with Val opening the test. They were also very happy for us! I got everyone's reactions on video, including Kennedy's, and will be posting them very soon.

We had the most magical Christmas! We are so very blessed with the best family anyone could ask for. We hosted for my side on Christmas Eve and had a amazing time. My mom, dad, sisters, Aunt Mary, Uncle Danny and Ashley were all in attendance. We busted out our new table with the butterfly leaf and enjoyed great conversation and much laughter. I love them all so much. Christmas Day was at Chris and Rebecca's house. Another great time of good food and fellowship. I love them all :)

There's just one thing missing this Christmas... Grandma :( It was tough, her not being here, but I just kept focusing on all that we've been blessed with and the fact that I know I'll see her again. She would be so excited to know we're expecting... I wish I could share that with her. I love you, Grandma!!!!!!!!!!

New Family Traditions

This is the first year we started the Advent calendar with Kennedy. Every morning is a new inexpensive prize to retrieve from the door. We put a few different chapsticks in, a couple of small ornaments, a few chocolates, sillybands, stickers, erasers and I even filled a couple of days full of balls for her reward jar. She looks forward to it every single morning. First, she turns on our Christmas tree... then heads right for her 'daily door'. We have so much fun together!

We also made our very first gingerbread house this year! Jon did the brunt of the work, while Kennedy and I added all the candies. They were so cute together, going back and forth suggesting different candies for certain areas of the house. They did an awesome job together! Starting new family traditions are so much fun! :)

Reward Jar

Jon and I have been having a difficult time with Kennedy's attitude lately. 95% of the time, she is sweet, kind, loving, obedient, keeps us laughing and makes good choices. But the remaining 5% of the time, she exhibits naughty behavior, which includes an attitude, talking back and stomping of the feet. (I know, and she's only THREE!)

I decided that, although I felt I was consistent, I wasn't consistent enough and I gave her too much rope at times. SOOOO... almost all of the time when she is being naughty, I don't give her chances anymore. We go right to the punishment, which most times results in a spanking/time out depending on what she does. But the most important change we made was starting a reward jar (thanks to my good friend Julie!). Every time she cleans up without throwing a fit or waits for something patiently - just two of the many examples - she gets to put a ball in her jar. When the jar fills, she gets to pick a special place to go and spend the day with Mommy and Daddy. She decided immediately when we started (3 weeks ago) that she wants to go to Monkey Joe's! LET ME TELL YOU... her attitude has done a 180. I know she still tests us, but she's changed a lot. We do not bribe her with the balls by telling her, "If you're good, you get to put a ball in your jar!" We are just acknowledging when she makes good choices and OBEYS us. That is the BEST lesson you can teach your children. The Lord tells us that we need to obey our parents and I know she understands that now. Listening to your parents is important, but showing them that they are doing what God tells them to do, helps put things into perspective. The younger you teach them, the better! He put us in this position of authority over our children and it's a role we should never take for granted! :)

We're excited for the change we see in her and I continue to pray for wisdom and patience when parenting. Because let's face it, you can NEVER have enough of those two things!

Long Time, No Write

WOW. I am getting so bad at keeping up with this thing!!! I'll try to keep the updates short and sweet.

Halloween: OH BOY. This is the first year we took Kennedy trick-or-treating and it will be our last. We didn't feel the conviction of dressing her up (she was a GORGEOUS Belle and Max was her handsome prince!!) - but as soon as we started trick-or-treating, something inside of me didn't sit right. I hated that she had to ask for candy by saying 'trick-or-treat' and I had to shield her from the scary costumes. We went up two whole blocks and I brought her home. She told me two days later, "Mommy, I didn't like trick-or-treating because of the scary guys." WELL, that was conviction enough for me. No more trick-or-treating for us. As of now, I feel no conviction about her dressing up and attending a safe harvest party, but definitely NO trick-or-treating in the future.

A few weekends ago I went down to visit my friend, Marie. We had an AWESOME time together... shopping, eating, chatting -- AND REPEAT... :) I love her and I'm so thankful for sisters in Christ!!!!

Thanksgiving: We hosted for my mom, sisters, and Aunt Susie. It was our first time hosting and I'd say we knocked it out of the park! Great food and awesome company. :) The day after, Melissa and James hosted for his and her side - plus my Dad - which was also a great time! I loved that we got to be with everyone this year!!

I took pictures for a few more families and it was enjoyable (of course!). I HAVE to get my butt back to school soon. I would love to own/co-own a studio someday...

I have not baked in a long time, unfortunately. My grandma's blog ended before I finished my 30 recipes and I'm so disappointed in myself :( I feel like I let her down... I suck.

Well, Jon and I are really enjoying life together with our beautiful Kennedy - who is growing up way too fast. She's still enjoying school and loves reading/doing arts and crafts with me! We have a blast together :)

In a Nutshell

WOW! Where have I been?! It's been a month since my last post! We've been keeping busy, that's for sure.

After our last date night in Cedarburg, Sheena came all the way from California to see me. Well, not JUST to see me, but she did stay with us and that was a lot of fun! She was our first official house guest and I loved every minute of it! We stayed up very late every night either scrapbooking or just watching TV/talking. It was a blast. Then we left for Madison for our biannual scrapbook retreat. Sheena, Raven, Julie, Heidi, Lynne and I ate tons of junk, stayed up VERY late (in Sheena's case, she didn't even go to bed the first night) and enjoyed awesome fellowship. I lost some serious sleep that week, but it was worth every minute of it. I miss you, Sheena... come back soon! ;)

Kennedy started preschool and is thriving. Of course, my favorite part is hearing her tell me about her day. Last Thursday, she was teacher's helper and did very well! I'm not surprised... she is very detail oriented and task driven. I ordered her first Scholastic books a few weeks ago and that brought back a lot of memories. I used to LOVE coming home with that thin newspaper-like order form. My mom would always order me something out of it. It's weird to think I'm doing that for my child now. I feel OLD.

We started our 'Mommies of Blessings' group last month! Yes, we are no longer affiliated with MOPS, but we're bigger, better and God is more present than ever! We will meet once/month for our meetings, but will continue to try and meet for play dates as often as we can all get together. Last month, our first meeting took place at Anna's house and it was an awesome time of fellowship! We got to know each other on both spiritual and emotional levels. This Friday we meet at my house and a guest speaker will be talking about 'True Sisters - What Every Woman Needs'. I'm excited!

Last weekend, the three of us met up with Kim and Joe and drove to the pumpkin farm. It was a windy, but very sunny day! We got some cute pictures and picked three awesome pumpkins for carving. Now that Kennedy's older, I know she'll really enjoy cleaning out and carving them. I cherish every minute of family time that we get because I know she'll never be this age again. I want to soak it up!!

On Saturday, a friend of ours took some AMAZING family pictures of us. I love photographing for others, but it was a nice change being on the other side of the lens. It had been a year since our last family picture, so it NEEDED to be updated badly! We've all changed a lot, especially our sweet girl :) -- I will post them tomorrow!

On more of a sad note, I continue to struggle with the death of my grandma every single day. People say it gets easier after losing someone, but I find it has been the opposite for me... it's gotten harder. The other day I was driving with Kennedy and I looked over to the passenger seat and thought back to one of the last times she was in my car. She was released from the hospital and I was taking her to a doctor's appointment. She thanked me repeatedly because she felt she was inconveniencing me. WHAT?! I never EVER felt that way... I loved her more than anything and I wanted to do as much as I could for her! I pictured her tiny frame sitting next to me while I drove and I reached over to hold her hand like I did that day. Except she wasn't there... and my heart ached while tears ran violently down my cheeks. I so badly want to hold her hand again... to hug her... to talk to her. I don't necessarily ask God, WHY? I more so ask him, WHEN?. When will I be seeing her again? Because I can't wait to be reunited. For now, I need to continue to press in. God will continue to reveal Himself. Thank you, Lord, for the comfort and peace you bring. Although I have days where I break down and cry, I know who holds my life.

Our HOT Date!

Tonight, my dad so graciously took Kennedy while we headed up to Cedarburg for dinner at Anvil Pub and Grille. I've been there once before, but never with Jon, so I was excited to take him! He LOVED their food. In fact, he said he liked it so much, it made him want to write a review about it. Who says that?! He makes me laugh. Aside from their awesome food, the atmosphere is really what I love. We sat outside on their patio, along the river and listened to the Cedar Creek Waterfall as we ate... so amazing!

After dinner, we took a stroll through Cedarburg's historic downtown. The shops remind me of Door County. I LOVE IT! We went into this really great store where there were a lot of knickknacky types of things. It immediately reminded me of Grandma and I couldn't help but cry. That was hard. But after I pulled myself together, Jon spotted a really cool watch that looked like a bracelet. I always wanted a watch that looked more like an accessory. I tried it on and he bought it for me! What a sweetie. We walked another block and stopped at a confectionery store. We bought a few goodies for us and two chocolate covered strawberries for my dad (per his request). Then we headed to Cedarburg's scrapbook store - I just HAD to! Did a little damage there and walked back to our car.

What an AMAZINGLY romantic night. I love when we get to go out and just be us together. I love my husband more than anything. He seriously completes me, as corny as that sounds. He makes me a better person, while keeping me laughing throughout :)

I love you, baby. Thanks for an awesome night!!