Update on Baby Girl and on Other Adventures

So It has been almost 12 weeks since I have updated. I will be adding pictures here and there throughout this blog!

So for anyone who is behind and doesn't know, we are having a GIRL and we are naming her Emily Grace Tingle!

Here was Emily at 10 weeks:

Here was Emily at 13 weeks:

And Finally Here is Emily at 20 Weeks:

The pregnancy has had some hiccups, but everything looked great at my 20 week appt. They have the hiccups under control for now and Emily looks perfect!

I have been craving chick-fil-a and milk.

She is officially kicking me ALL day long and I love it!!

Will update on updates on the boys soon.

Baby Tingle # 3!!!

So I am going to try to be faithful on here and update my pregnancy, belly photos, Doctor appointments and ultrasounds so that I can have a record of things I craved, things that happened, and other little moments and thoughts that I want to remember.

So  here goes Post #1

I had my first OB appointment today. We did an ultrasound. It put me at 6 weeks and 4 days which means I am due on March 5th, 2013, which is now my official due date for the remainder of the pregnancy.


A few fun things to keep track of

Nausea and Vomiting in full force right now
Craving sweet things (watermelon, candy)
Hating salty foods
Loving me some milk and yogurt
My mood swings are pretty bad right now :(



My heart rate was 80 bpm (which is great for my past health problems and problems with my thyroid).
My blood pressure was 113/64. Which is another great one!
I weighed 200 lbs (yes I just broadcast my weight)  and that means that since finding out i was pregnant 3 weeks ago I have not yet gained any weight.

The baby is about the size of a blueberry and has started to form the nose eyes and mouth. There are buds on the side of the head there ready to become ears and there is buds that are ready to grow into full length arms and legs. Its heart is started to form and is beating healthily! The blood has already begun to pump through the body. Its intestines, kidneys, lungs, pituitary gland, brain, muscles and bones have started to form!

I was able to see the heartbeat on the ultrasound which made my day and has made me much more calm and relaxed! Also, my doctor went ahead and got me anti-nausea medication since I am having a hard time actually keeping my food down after consuming, and the constant nausea and sleeplessness due to the nausea that I am experiencing. Hopefully it will help me sleep better and be able to function better!!! So yay for that!

The only problem presented at this ultrasound is that there is a blood clot above the pregnancy in my uterus. It is small at the moment and for now is just something that has to be monitored. I have been ordered to take it easy, rest as much as possible, no strenuous activity, and to drink lots of water! I can do that :) Hopefully it will dissolve on its own and there will be no problem and that is what I am speaking in the name of Jesus! So as of now everything is fine and the pregnancy looks great and I am doing great!

So there is post #1 about Baby #3!

Jack Edward Ballard Sr.

Today I cut watermelon and it should  have been a simple task with no emotion and no thought, but when I cut watermelon or eat seafood or drink coffee my memories of papa flood back. Some times I just smile and then sometimes I lose it and am overwhelmed with emotion.

When I was younger we went to Destin, Florida numerous times for Christmas. One Christmas my whole family had Christmas morning together in our Condo at Destin. I have fond memories of those sweet times with family and with my papa and with my grandparents. I can recall memory after memory that just flood me with happiness. Me and my cousin Tim racing into the VERY cold ocean and falling in and spending that Christmas with Anja, a German exchange student that stayed with my Aunt Beth. She is still a precious part of our family along with her beautiful parents and now husband. In fact my aunt and grandmother have been to Germany to visit her family since that year with us here.

I recall memories of Papa cutting watermelon on the patio on newspaper and letting me eat it as we go! Or the way that even when I was WAY too big he let me sit in his lap. He never judged me, never failed to show me that I was 100% loved. He always had candy at church. He always gave the best bear hugs and he, along with my daddy, taught me how to fish and how to love eating fish. He loved his seafood, actually he loved his food! He taught me how to love Coffee. It started at the Auburn games. LOL. He would make me a cup of coffee in this auburn cup that I always had to use. He and my daddy taught me to be a Tiger! They taught me how to mean War Eagle!

We always ate out after church. He allowed me to choose where many times. But he never failed to be generous and to tip well, he always paid for my friends meals, and we always laughed at our meals. We may have annoyed people with our loud table and constant laughing and talking, but that is how we did things. Our conversation wasn't always appropriate, in fact we may have gotten more laughs out of the gas problems that the Ballard's have.

Beyond all the laughter was a man who loved his wife and loved his children and loved his family. He may have been extremely stubborn and sometimes his temper could flare, but he genuinely loved life, loved his family, and loved his savior. He lived like that 24/7.

The last vacation I ever took with my papa was in June of 2006, when we went to Kentucky Lake to fish. It was me, my daddy, my papa and my granny. We had a lot of fun and my favorite picture of me and papa came from that trip.I had just started dating Michael that summer and was very wrapped up in that. If I had known that it would be the last time that I would ever go fishing with my papa oh how I would have treasured it that much  more.

We are quickly approaching 5 years without him here. Sadly he passed away 3 weeks before I married Michael and he was never able to meet Jeremiah, but I was far enough along that he was able to fill him quick the day before he passed away. We were all sleeping wherever we could find room in my grandparent's house. We were all there when he started to take his last breath as How Great is Our God played on the stereo.

I love my Papa to know end and miss him every second of every day, but I will see him again.
But on days like today, when I cut the watermelon, it all comes flooding back. All the memories of him, our family's closeness, and of our last moments with him.

I love you Papa!

Parmesan Catfish and Life

Tonight I made a good dinner, in my opinion. I  made Parmesan-Breaded Catfish, homemade mashed potatoes, peas, asparagus, and carrots. I may even make a late night batch of homemade brownies. I love being free of transportation duties and school duties and just being able to be a stay at home mom with time to cook, clean, spend time with my boys and my husband, and still have time to myself at night to blog :)


This is how life should be. Yes we are in a financial mess, because lets face it, when it rains it pours, but as Michael so eloquently put it, when it pours you just have to get an umbrella!


But despite our financial circumstance, I still get to spend time with my family and cook for them and do our housework and throw in some grey's anatomy when I get a chance.


In the past few years I have watched many people I know of, some through Facebook and family friends and some close, go through loss of their children. Some were miscarriages, some were NICU babies, some were precious precious toddlers not far from Caleb's age. I want to treasure my time with my family, because God can choose to call them home at any time and that will be it until the other side.


So today I choose to cherish the time and family that God has so graciouslly given me and I chose to praise him despite our circumstances, because one he ALWAYS has a plan and purpose, and two because he deserves that praise all the time and circumstances come and go but my family is here right NOW and God is ALWAYS FAITHFUL to his children!


Who is like you, Lord God Almighty? You, Lord, are mighty, 
and your faithfulness surrounds you ----Psalm 89:8

Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.----Lamentations 3:22-23

I will sing of the Lord's great love forever; with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known through all generations.---Psalm 89:1

For anyone interested here is my Parmesan Catfish Recipe:

somewhere between 1/4 to 1/2 cup all purpose flour

about 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

about 2-3 tbsp cornmeal

about 1-2 tsp paprika

salt and pepper at your discretion

3 tbsp of egg white 

about 1/4 cup of fat free milk (any milk works, but that is what we use)

4 4-6 oz catfish filets 

1. Preheat oven to 350

2. combine cheese, cornmeal, paprika, and flour in a small mixing bowl and mix together

3. combine egg white and milk together in small bowl and mix together

4. dip each filet in bowl of milk mixture and then coat in breading mixture then place on nonstick baking pan

5. cook for 35-40 minutes (fish should flake easily

Nutritional Info (made a recipe on caloriecount.about.com) (1st number is 4 oz serving, 2nd is 6 oz serving)

Calories: 215 (4 oz) 275 (6 oz); Fat: 7.5g; 11g; Sat Fat: 1.6g; 2.4g; Cholesterol: 43 mg; 64mg; Sodium: 98mg; 147mg; Carbs: 9.5g; 14.2g;  Fiber: 1g; 1.3g; Sugar: 0.6g; 1g;  Protein: 16.4g; 25.6g

Tips: add seasoning and parmesean cheese as you would like to add a little more flavor. This is a very light breading, so it will not be similar to the type of breading that you find in like parmesean chicken at Olive Garden. It may seem bland if that is what you are expecting!

We have decided

So, we have decided to homeschool.

I am going to finish my degree, but my husband and I decided that for the moment, not using my degree is acceptable in light of being  to educate our children the way we choose and in the environment we choose. We are paying a lot of money for someone else to raise and educate our children, when I am very capable and will enjoy doing so. I am not sure why God has called us to do this or why all the pieces of the puzzle that needed to fall into place for this happen have fallen. It will be hard and will be an adjustment for me to be at home with my children 24-7. I am not sure I am cut out to do this, but I have to trust that God feels that I am, and he knows me better than I know myself, so I have to trust him on this one. 

Already after deciding to homeschool, the enemy is throwing things at us and making our lives harder. I have to believe that means we are doing something right. I hope that all my friends out there will support our decision and our future decisions and  let us decide the best course of action for our family! 

I struggled with this decision for many reasons.  I  struggle because I feel wasteful for not going directly to work when I finish my degree, but I have to believe there is a reason God has called this on our family. I have struggled with it because I don't feel I have been the best wife, mom, daughter, or sister the past few years. I have hurt a lot of people with my indifference in some cases and my selfishness in others, and I have hurt people who have just tried to love me. I have messed up royally and it almost cost me my marriage and my family. I know that God has forgiven me and that my husband has forgiven me. I know that God chooses not to remember what I have done in the past when I ask for his forgiveness and my husband and I have chosen to  move on from this chapter of our lives and start fresh. But, I am still scared. I am scared that I will mess this up, and that I am not good enough of a mom or wife to pull this off full-time.

I guess I am laying it all out there, because I don't want to hide or bottle up anything. Nothing should be a secret. My life should be an open book so that I am held accountable for my actions. Also, because if there are any other young moms out there struggling with motherhood and being a wife and part of a new family by marriage and trying to make it work, I want them to know that they are not alone. 

But regardless of the fear and doubt that I feel, we have chosen to make this leap and we are committed to it. So we are diving in headfirst and hopefully with the support of our savior and the support of family we will keep our heads above water. 

The bible says that we should
"Train a child up in the way he should go; and when he is old, he will not depart from it." Proverbs 22:6

The best way, that we see, for us to raise and educate our children in the world with the many pitfalls that it presents to a young child, is to raise them with a Christ-centered education and environment. We will be able to have more control over what he hears and the people that he hangs out with and will be able to protect him and his innocence until it is time for him to go out into the world and hopefully be a warrior for Christ. 

I know this was a long post, but I wanted to write what was on my heart. 

What Do You Want to Be?

We live in a society where progression and forward progress are the highest priority on our to-do lists. In every aspect. When we are teenagers in high school we are thinking about college and getting married. When we are college we are thinking about being done and getting married, having kids, making money. When we have our jobs you are constantly thinking about when you are going to make more money or get a better position or in some people's case they are just looking forward to a better job.

In this world of progress we are supposed to know what we want to do before we are allowed to join the military or even drink. Some parents try to plan our destiny for us when we are still in diapers. For me, I did things a little backwards. Got pregnant, got married, had a baby, finished high school, had another baby, and now I am almost done with college. Not the Godly path, but it became my path and one thing I have learned in the past five years of marriage is you have to do the best with the circumstances dealt to you, whether those circumstances are a consequence of my irresponsibility and mistakes, or the result of the curveballs life likes to throw you.

However, one misstep I created for myself. I decided after I had Jeremiah I had to go to college, just pick something and graduate just to be done, to prove that I could do it, to make my family happy. I have changed my major many times. My wonderful husband has always been supportive, but others close to me have not. I get asked all the time, "when are you going to be done?" not in the I just want to know tone, but the you have been given long enough, just finish tone. I didn't know there was a time-stamp on getting my degree or figuring out what I want to do with my life. So for everyone that thinks I change my mind too often or I talk about it too much, guess what, " I DON"T KNOW WHAT I WANT TO DO!" I feel like I am wading in the dark. I am interested in  my classes, but haven't found this job  or career where I am like, yes THAT is it, THAT is what I want to do. So I have been trying my hardest to keep my options open. But I have let others influence me to get done and to pick, so now I am almost done with my degree, but it might go to waste, because I am doing soemthing that I love to do, but finding a job will be almost impossible between the economy and my degree. So why did I get it? Because I need a degree, any degree.

But now I am feeling like I wasted my time, efforts, and money and still without any clue of what I want to do.

I am thinking about Law School, Education, Masters in History to do archiving, and yes there are still that many options I am thinking about because committing to something means that i might waste my time again, since I am not sure what I want.


I am only 22 people, please tell me I have more time to figure it out without being hounded about getting done.

I am not really talking to anyone in specific, just something that has been weighing heavily on me.

I want to know that if I change my mind a thousand times that those close to me will still support me until I figure it out. Sometimes I think people think because I am married with kids that all the sudden everything will click and I will know what I want to do with my life besides being a mom, but I don't.

So if I look or sound annoyed when you ask about college or my plans don't take it personally, I am just really frustrated right now.

So here is to all the I don't know college students out there, you are not alone.

Proud and Happy Wife

My husband,  Michael, went to a Men's Conference at our amazing church, Church of Highlands. It started last night and ended today. He then went straight to work afterwards. When I talked to him at work he was telling me how much fun he had and how one of his best friends got baptized today. He was so excited. The next thing he tells me is how he wishes one of his old friends could have come and now that I sit here and think about it, I am beaming with pride, joy, gratefulness, and love.

The man of my dreams loves going to church and growing in his relationship, he loves his friends and genuinely cares about their spiritual and physical lives. I fully believe he would lay down his life for his family and his friends. He has such a big heart. On top of all of this, he leaves that conference and goes straight to work. He is working because we need the money and he would do whatever he had to do to make sure we were taken care of.

I am so grateful to My God for giving me him and giving him to me at such a young age. I mean if all goes well then we could get to spend 60, 70 years together. I get to grow old with this man, this wonderful, loving, caring, hard working man! God blessed me beyond anything I could have ever imagined.

Mike and I have been through some really rough times and we just lost our way last year and I thought this once great thing might be slipping away, but God does what he does and restores our marriage and strengthened our commitment to each other, but more importantly to him and is evident in our Marriage, our children, and our demeanor.

How I love this man that I am married to and what he stands for and what he does!

So for all the marriages out there that you think have no hope, I promise there is hope!
For all those marriages out there that are blissful right now stand strong in God's promises and keep him at the center or the marriage will fall apart, I guarantee!

For all those ladies out there take time to appreciate that man God gave to you and love on him and make it known to God, your man, and the world what he means to you!

I LOVE YOU MICHAEL!

Mock Mashed Potaotes

Cauliflower puree makes a perfect low-carb stand-in for mashed potatoes. It gets its fabulous flavor from garlic, buttermilk and a touch of butter and, best of all, it has about one-quarter of the calories of typical mashed potatoes. If you like, vary it by adding shredded low-fat cheese or chopped fresh herbs.

Ingredients

250	grams Cauliflower
1/2	tsp Garlic Powder
2/5	cup Milk, Nonfat, Fluid
2	tbsp Omega-3 with Extra Virgin Olive Oil Buttery Spread
1	tsp Parsley, Dried
0.33	oz Extra Virgin Olive Oil
4	tbsp light sour cream

Directions

1. Place cauliflower florets and garlic in a steamer basket over boiling water, cover and steam until very tender, 12 to 15 minutes. (Alternatively, place florets and garlic in a microwave-safe bowl with 1/4 cup water, cover and microwave on High for 3 to 5 minutes.)
   
   
2. Place the cooked cauliflower and garlic in a food processor. Add buttermilk, 2 teaspoons oil, butter, salt and pepper; pulse several times, then process until smooth and creamy. Transfer to a serving bowl. Drizzle with the remaining 2 teaspoons oil and garnish with chives, if desired. Serve hot.

Calories Per Serving

93

Total Fat

7.3g

Saturated Fat

2.4g

Trans Fat

0.0g

Cholesterol

5mg

Sodium

212mg

Total Carbohydrates

5.1g

Dietary Fiber

1.5g

Sugars

3.5g

Protein

3.1 g

Vitamin A 7%

Vitamin C 47%

Calcium 6 %

Iron 2 %

I really like this!!

My First Post

I just wanted to put this blog out into the world.

I will be posting recipes, stories, revelations from my walk with Christ, and just generally anything I want to!!

Enjoy

Sam