What Garden....



This is pretty much what mine
looks like right now, but only one

 Where did it go?  Well I started growing some items indoors and they were doing really well until the mold started growing and I learned that was due to over watering. oops.  Also living in wonderful Northeast Ohio means weather changes all the time at this time of year which also means our house does as well.  I don't think it was warm enough for my little plants so I am going to start over.  Someone told me to put something plastic over them so the heat stays more contained. 

All this to say that even though I have already made one small attempt of which I failed I am going to try again in a box garden in the back yard.  Yes a little too ambitious may but I was hoping for a little help.  Anyone out there have what to do and what not to do advice.  I can use all the help I can get and all kinds of help.  Go with any thought you have......

14+ Weeks

The most exciting thing this time around is just that God allowed for me to get pregnant again.  I had a hard time excepting the pregnancy because I was worried something would go wrong.  At my 12 week appointment I was able to see the baby in 3D and 4D which just brought out my thankfulness and excitement, I told myself to stop worrying.
This pregnancy has been so different then the last that I have been a little caught off guard on everything.  First, was the nausea for the first trimester and the fact that all I wanted to do was sleep.  Then there was the issue with bleeding and my cravings this time are so different.  I want fruits and veggie's more then anything.  The idea of pasta makes me plain sick to my stomach, not interested in pickles....yeah that's right weird.  The thing I want the most is a big salad and baked potatos.  I don't crave sour items and I don't crave spicy foods like before, now I am not saying I don't still want them, just not craving them like the last time.  We went for ice cream the other night and that did not sit well and I put it in the freezer for later, 2 weeks later it is still there.  I just want fresh fruits and veggies.  Now I am not say this means I think I am having one sex over the other just that this baby is going to be different.  It will be interesting if this change in cravings will make a change on this new baby schenk's eating behavior, if the new baby's eating behavior will be very different then Gracie's or just end up being the same.  Overall the what if's and could be's, the one thing I know for sure is my belly is growing much faster.  Hiding it this time around is very hard.  I know it is normal to grow faster but I would love for it to maintain for a little while.  Waiting for that pop is not in existence it is already here:)
I have updated food, belly, thoughts, and prayers would be for future decisions for the next six months on the choices in all areas of our lives.
Anyway, blah, blah, blah, what you really want to see is pictures.  So I have attempted to scan in the pictures, Enjoy!

3D

I also got to watch the baby in 4D which was very neat

My Little Ballerina

I know it has been a long time but things at the Schenk house has been so busy.  I thought I would take a moment to give you an update and share a few pictures of my Gracie Girl.

When I was little I loved the Angelina Ballerina books.  Gracie has a few and she has enjoyed them a little bit but I never thought she would love the stories this much.  Someone gave her an Angelina video with 4 or 5 short stories and she loves them.  She has picked up on the dancing a little and was showing off for my mom when she was in town visiting.  Here are a few pictures that my mom took, enjoy!



Angelina Dancing

Gracie Dancing

really working the arm moves

Sharing Bed Time with Sawyer

I think I mentioned this a while back that we have been doing a babysitting swap.  Every other Thursday we have Sawyer over to play.  As we do our nightly routine with Gracie we just have Sawyer join in and he really loves sitting in the big bed and reading.

Gracie loves reading her MeMa book

Our BIG Announcement

This last year Troy and I have been challenged with fertility issues that we tried to over come in so many ways.  Thankfully the Lord has Blessed us with BABY #2.  Yeap that’s right the one thing I thought would not and could not ever happen again has happened.  Troy and I could not feel more blessed.  We are expecting BABY #2 to arrive around November 16^th.  I am just 11 weeks along and the nausea is in full swing.  This does mean that Gracie and BABY #2 will be 3 years apart.  Those out there thinking we should have been using a calendar, with a Football coach for a husband, we don’t care, not even a little bit.  God’s timing would happen with or without a calendar and this is his plan of how he wants it to happen and when.  It just seems that February is our lucky month.

Here is Our Story of the little one…

In March I decided to take a test, it was a generic test and the line was very light.  So with my past history I decided to wait a few days to take another.  At this point I was expecting a negative.  Understand it has been a year of trying, medication, and tests.  So I did not believe at the beginning.  On a Thursday I took test #2 and it was a positive.  Saying I was shocked would be an understatement.  By mid-March I went in to meet with my doctor.  Due to our prior situation with cysts they wanted to make sure the sack was where it was suppose to be and not in my tubes.  The ultra sound was fine and I saw the little heart beat.  The next day I started bleeding and continued for the next couple of weeks.  I called the doctor 2 days after my birthday because I was sure that I had miscarried and at that point the doctor said I could not wait until mid-April to “clean things up” because I could get an infection.  I went into the appointment that day mentally prepared to hear those words, to see no heart beat.  Even the ultrasound tech had turned the screen away from me.  As the ultrasound began the lady turned the screen and said there's the baby and the little heart beat.  It turns out I am in the 20-30% of women that experience bleeding in early pregnancy.  The doctor showed me where on the ultrasound it was coming from and was confident everything was fine.  I was in shock and Troy was excited.  I actually apologized to the nurse because I felt heartless for just sitting there with no feelings.  I have completely guarded my feelings to keep from the pain, that I have not completely let it really sink in that there is a little one in there growing.

How I told Troy…

Well, I waited a couple days.  This has been a long year and the “no” news has been hard.   I wanted to be sure.  Saturday morning Gracie woke up and I dressed her in her Big Sis shirt that I made(a long time ago & luckily it fit) and had her go wake up Troy.  I was not sure how long it would take for him to notice.  I heard “daddy, daddy get up daddy” “what’s up Gracie” and then “Candace, Candace why is Gracie wearing this shirt”?  I just laugh.  He was so excited.

How am I feeling…

I have felt sick from the get-go, all day at the beginning, then it pushed back, and started around noon.  Once the nausea hit I was out the rest of the day.  I can now make it most days until about six but those days come and go as well.  I also have superman-smelling powers, ones that I must run from just so I won’t puke.  Example, the ladies room at work has a wall freshener that I have actually dismounted and then people spray the air fresheners on the back of the toilet which make an awful combination to anyone but for me I have to actually try not to gag when I walk in.  Things that I have found that settle my stomach that I never used before are prego pops, or in my case organic lolli pops, and ginger ale.  I have been so thankful for my friends with two children or on pregnancy #2 who have told me many times the second time you pop so much faster, so true for me.  There is no hiding the bump and once I have eaten it is all over.  I need to get out my maternity clothes so I can hide this from work just a little bit longer.  I loved being pregnant last time so I hope the second trimester will give me some much needed energy and a calm stomach.

We are very excited for another memory like this!

PS~THIS HAS NOT BEEN POSTED ON FACEBOOK BECAUSE THERE ARE TOO MANY CO-WORKERS ON THERE.

Mnemonics / Acronyms

These are what I like to call short cuts or ways to remember different things that you may get confused.  We started going over these the other day at worked and laughed at what some of the different sayings were.  Here are the ones that I liked and I already changed on of mine to be a little cuter.

North=Never
East= Eat
South= Sour
West= Watermelon

Multiply by 9

• Hold both your hands up with palms facing you. Number the fingers from left to right as one to ten.
• Now hold down the finger of the number you want to multiply by nine. In this example, we are going to multiply by eight, so the eighth finger is held down.
• The fingers to the left as the tens and the fingers to the right are units. In this example, there are seven fingers to the left (marked blue) and two to the right (marked red) which makes 72.

This one I learned for music classes

Are there any you use that I should add to mine for future teaching? 
I know there is one on the planets but Pluto was taken out of that mix.

Crazy Times

A coupe of weekends back my mom came up for the weekend to help me with a few projects around the house that I wanted to finish and I just needed and extra hand for some help.  Thankfully in that time we finished the pillows for the guest room and got a couple other things finished.

Gracie of course showed of her crazy couch hair, she is just the funniest little thing.

 she thinks she is just hilarious

 yes that is the crazy hair

look at those Schenk blue eyes

 Nana & Gracie