Moved to WordPress

For those who still read/blog/like to lurk: Life is in a state of transition, so I thought this would be a good time to make the jump to a new blog.

lovethehends.wordpress.com

I'll keep this up for a few days and then I'll be making this old blog private.

:) Happy 2016!

Life at 29

 Back at 20 weeks... 22 on Tuesday!

Suiting up for an interview with Exxon

Conferencing in Nashville

I think a few years ago I would have been bored by life right now. Isn't that a funny thing to say? A few years ago my days were packed with work, school work, exercising, reading, and various weekend activities. I was always on the go and I always needed to be doing something-- anything-- to keep busy. 

Now days, not so much. 

Sure, I work, but my hours are far better than they used to be, I'm not in school, and I've come to realize that no matter how much I read I can never read everything, so I've stopped trying. (This is kind of big to say for a librarian!) Yes, I exercise, but I'm not kicking myself about it. And those go-go-go weekends of errands, miles of hiking, and what not? No more!  

So what am I doing? I'm cooking. Real meals! This house eats far less pizza and way more chicken. I'm baking desserts and breads. I'm scrapbooking-- finally!. I'm cleaning (and not hating it). I'm doing dinners with friends. I'm reading the newspaper. I'm sleeping at night. I'm actually watching the entire 12 seasons of Murder She Wrote. And it all feels so good.

This change is part pregnancy related, but really, it's because of work. This new job of mine leaves me invigorated and has reminded me that my work is just that-- work. Hopefully you are loving life as much as I am right now and doing things that you want to do and not just what you need to do.

It's a...

GIRL!

Has it really been almost a month since I last posted? August is always so busy. The majority of the month is spent in back to school mode for both Miles and me. Getting into the swing of packing lunches, laying out school clothes, setting alarms... After a summer of fun, August is so hard! But that was the beginning of August. 

Towards the end of August, baby excitement set in. I am finally feeling really good (hello, second trimester!) so we've been doing a lot of cleaning, planning, and online browsing. We also found out that Baby is a girl, so you can imagine all of the shopping and squealing we've been doing. I've also found my love for clothes again. The past couple of years I haven't cared about what I've worn (blame work), but with this new bump and new wardrobe has come a chance to try new things! Ahh, so many happy things right now. It's no wonder why I can't remember to update this thing.

Argentina

Okay, so Argentina was interesting. It was a great trip, but it was so different to be in a country that is still developing! Who knew that even in bigger cities toilet paper can't be flushed? Or that stop signs don't exist! It was most interesting to hear cambios call for American money out on the streets.

What's a cambio? It's a money exchange person. Banks will exchange American dollars to pesos 1:9. Meaning every 1 dollar is 9 pesos. On the streets a cambio will exchange your dollars 1:13. The American dollar is extremely valuable because the value of a peso changes. While a dollar... is always a dollar.

Highlights of the trip include petting a mini llama (!!!), sipping the famous Argentine wine at wineries, having a real asado, admiring the European influence on architecture, speaking Spanish, experiencing Argentina's Independence day and election day, daily siestas, and ALL of the views.

 First International Flight

 Cordoba, Argentina

 Pizza!

 Pre-Andes

 Old Hot Spring

 Hostel in the Andes next to the Chilean border

 Llamas!!

 Very cool salt lakes. It's impressive to see.

 11,000+ feet into the sky. 

 LOVED this sweet village

 Humitas

Miles' dream grill-- for asado. 

Love at first bump

When you spend two years battling infertility, you basically spend the first few weeks wondering if your body is playing a cruel joke. You kind of feel pregnant, but you can't see anything. And since you can't see anything, you wonder if if it's real. That's how I felt the first 10 or so weeks. I knew I was pregnant. I could see the baby in the ultrasounds, but I couldn't tell.

I'll be 14 weeks on Tuesday and I'm now--finally-- feeling pregnant. In the past couple of weeks a teensy tiny bump formed and it is slowly getting bigger! I found myself rubbing the little bump all day on Friday (with a goofy grin, I'm sure) because now that I'm feeling pregnant, my heart is filling with love for this little thing I have growing inside me.

I will try my best not to let this blog become a mommy blog. It's a blog about the adventures Husband and I take (like the trip to Argentina I haven't discussed!), but this little one coming in February will be the biggest adventure of them all. I can't wait to share!

Baby Henderson!

Two years of tears and prayers.

Two years of fertility testing, questions, and confusion.

5 rounds of medication.

One visit with a specialist.

One new job.

One natural cycle.

One long vacation.

And now...

a blessing. 

Baby Henderson will be arriving sometime around February 9, 2016.

I'm just over 12 weeks. 

My morning sickness is basically gone and I'm now always hungry.

My pants are too tight, so I'm using the hair tie trick to stay comfy.

My 36DDDs are now 36Gs. Yeah, G as in ginormous.

We should know if its gender by the end of next month.

We are SO happy and SO surprised. 

We spend most of our free time asking, "How did this happen?"

Well, it happened and we couldn't be happier!

Vacation: Mt. Rushmore & Badlands

Last week or so I headed out west for a long weekend with my mom and sister. My sister, Kari, has lived in Denver for 4 or so years and the past couple of summers, mom and I have tried to make a summer trek out to visit. Since we've visited Colorado on a number of occasions, we decided to head north for this trip. You know, just so we can say we've been to places like South Dakota and Nebraska.

Things about the trip:
-Mt. Rushmore is in the middle of nowhere and there is not a lot to do once you're there.
-Legally driving 80 down state roads? Awesome.
-The Badlands were beautiful. If you go- get up early to see it in the early light and then later again in the evening. What to do during the day? Nap by the pool. Between the heat and early mornings, you'll want it.
-You must visit Wall Drug.

LL Bean & Lobsters

I decided to dedicate the last of my Maine vacation to the two things most Maine: LL Bean and lobsters. On our trip, I really only had two things I had to do. The first was eat as much lobster as physically possible. The second was to shop at LL Bean as late as I could handle. We did both!

I ate some sort of seafood almost every single day of the trip- lobster, fish, shrimp, clams, scallops- nothing was turned down. We also went lobstering which was so much fun! It was interesting to see what a lobsterman's job is like.

 It was even more fun to take the lobster fresh off the boat and have Portland Lobster Company prepare it for us. 

Ahhhh, LL Bean. My family's favorite store. Did you know that there aren't any locks at LL Bean? It's true. LL Bean stays open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. If you open up a door and look on the sides where a lock would click in to the door frame, you'll just find wood! It's pretty cool.

Since LL Bean (in Freeport) stays open all the time, we decided to shop as late as we could. Of course, we ended up shopping on three different occasions. Yes, you read correctly, three times!

Oh and rumor on the street is that LL Bean is expanding! They say they will have a Knoxville store open sometime within a year. I AM SO EXCITED!