Ya know what is amazing? Organization. I’m now a super-fan of organization. I have been overwhelmingly amazed by what I’m getting done in these weeks/months before baby comes. Things that I have been putting off for years and always brushed to the side because of priorities (*cough*overcommitment*cough*). Like changing my last name on my vehicle registration…. ummm.. after three years of marriage. Like looking into life insurance. Like organizing the personal financial files, so it’s no longer a pile of papers on the desk. Like cleaning parts of my house that have not seen a scrub-brush since I bought it, oh, FIVE years ago. Basically, to summarize, this is a ridiculously-awesome-season of life. I just finished organizing my personal computer files into folders in “My Documents” instead of random shortcuts sprinkled across the screen. Organization makes my life so much better!!!!

One of my favorite pastimes lately is digital scrapbooking through Shutterfly. Taking pictures is fun and sharing them on social media is fun, too, but there’s something very special about holding-seeing-touching those pictures combined with words as a personal journal of our family memories. So I’ve been spending some time organizing our family photos (I’m determined to take my photographic bent and apply it to our family life, instead of being the photographer who takes photos of everyone else & not their family). I’ve been gradually scrapbooking the years of our marriage and it’s so fun!

My most recent “organization” brainstorm involved special travel scrapbooks. I was having a difficult time deciding how to organize our travels/family vacations. Should I attempt to just choose my favorite photos from a week of vacation and scrapbook them in a couple pages in our yearly scrapbook? If I did that, there wouldn’t be room for the stories and little silly things that make vacation memories fun to read. Should I make entirely separate photo-books for vacations? But then, I wasn’t sure I’d fill a whole big 12x12 photobook (my normal size for yearly family scrapbooks). And then, there’s the whole saving-money thing. My brainstorm was this: I’d design vacation photo-books in the 8x8 photo book size and then whenever Shutterfly decides to offer a FREE 8x8 20-page photobook coupon code --- I’d order….

Wouldn’t you know it? But not even a WEEK after I had this brilliant brainstorm, I had finished a little photo-book of this Smoky Mountains vacation that we took in the beginning of May and then, there popped up a FREE coupon code! (For the Shutterfly fans, the coupon code is still valid for a few more days! Check it out!). My photo book is on its way, just for the cost of shipping…. I’M SO EXCITED.

In the meantime, don’t you wanna know how our Smoky Mountain vaca went?

So there are LOTS of photos in this post. Keep in mind that we were travelling from Pennsylvania to Arkansas for Brandon’s summer internship, so aside from packing our car full of everything we needed for the summer, we also packed for vacation… and stopped in Gatlinburg, TN, for a week of rest-and-relaxation.

We got to Tennessee on my very first Mother’s Day (at that time, I was 14 weeks pregnant! Seems so long ago now!), so my request was a milkshake. We couldn’t find one, so we settled for a frappucino. I was happy! (though I look tired in this picture… not sure why? Maybe just travelling tiredness) :)


We love using Homeaway to find vacation rentals. They are generally cheaper and more well-equipped than hotels, and since we LOVE quiet, privacy and the ability to make some meals in our vacation home (to save money & because restaurant food is often not-very-healthy, so we limit that), it’s a perfect option.

We found a one bedroom condo up on a mountain above Gatlinburg, with spectacular balcony views!

When we arrived, Brandon was incredulous: “How do you FIND these places?!?” That made me very happy! I’m the travel planner and researcher of the family, and so I love to get a winning vaca rental like this one. Makes my little soul rejoice!

I was especially enthralled with the living room’s window-seat. I spent quite a few hours there reading, thinking and napping over the course of the week….



Some of our favorite moments were enjoying the beautiful sunrises with coffee in hand, wrapped in blankets on the balcony.


While I call this a vacation, it was actually more like a half-vacation. Brandon was still working twenty hours per week remotely (and he continued to do that over the summer in addition to his full-time internship). We considered it a necessary sacrifice, because vacations are a luxury item. I just used the time that he was working to read or journal or think or plan.. or nap, because pregnant women need more sleep. It’s a proven fact. :P Also, combined with the rainy May weather and us coming off a very exhausting spring college semester schedule, we welcomed the extra time in our little condo for resting.

When we *did* leave our little condo, it was for hiking!! This was a tiny little (popular) trail up to Clingman’s Dome, the highest point in the park. With views in all directions, it was definitely worth the long drive and exhausting walk to the top. This is the walk where I figured out that I really wasn’t in very good shape (it motivated us to work out almost daily over the summer! Nobody likes being out-of-shape!).


When we weren’t hiking…. I was looking at maps. It’s a family problem. My family loooooooves maps. My dad loves maps, especially hiking trails maps. Especially hiking trails in the Great Smoky mountains! One of my favorite parts about travelling to the Great Smokies is that I have so many childhood memories there. On family road trips, we tended to stop in the Smoky Mountains once a year or so, on our way to or from Texas or the national swimming pool show (our family vacations were often combined with Dad’s business travel, because we were homeschooled and we could do that!).

Our second hike involved waterfalls!




So did you know that May is allergy season in Tennessee? Did you know that my husband is allergic to something in ragweed? Keeping those things in mind, let me tell you about the scenic drive that we went on. One of my favorite places in the national park is a scenic loop road called “Cades Cove.” Sometimes the whole road is closed so that only bicyclists can enjoy the scenery without cars. We sadly decided *not* to bring our bicycles (not enough room in the car), so we did the driving tour…

I brought along the camera (of course) and the tripod to snap a few pretty photos of us together…



And then poor Brandon started sniffling and sneezing something FIERCE, and I figured it out. We were standing in a field full of grasses and ragweed… Oops. Good thing the rest of the scenic drive could be enjoyed from the car. I jumped out to take a few pictures, but mostly we kept the windows closed and counted wildlife sightings from the car.


Just to illustrate how close we were to the wildlife… that’s our open car door.


As a great happy ending to my story about allergies, Brandon recovered quickly after I stopped making him breathe near fields of grass. And we closed our scenic drive with the most delicious BBQ meal possible! And there were hush puppies! I love them!

Rainy days abounded during our vacation. I can’t say that I minded sitting on the window seat in our condo and listening to the raindrops fall down the windows. When the fog rolls in over the mountains, there is a certain aura of mystery that is strikingly beautiful.

The rain meant that our plan to conquer Mount LeConte (and see the pack llamas!) was nixed. We’re just not hardcore hikers with rain gear. Instead we browsed through the visitors center, staring at stuffed dead animals, reading signs, buying postcards, watching the informational documentary… where we learned that the Smoky Mountains are considered a ‘temperate rain forest.’ Considering the torrential downpour that halted our last attempt at hiking… we believe that!

And then we came home and ate s’mores. Why not? It’s vacation. :D

The other parts of our vacation included eating too-expensive-but-still-delightful pizza in Gatlinburg, walking around the little town streets, a pancake breakfast, viewing Thomas Kinkade paintings together, finding a redbox to rent movies (finally saw Frozen! and a more somber-but-still-great movie – The Book Thief! and a few more oldies-but-goodies).

I still think that my favorite part of vacation is being able to spend 24 hours a day with my husband. I married him ‘cause I loooooove him… and truly enjoy our time together. Our conversation, our silence, our seriousness, our sillyness, our work and our play. Marriage is wonderful. :)

Here are a few last mountain views! I hope you enjoyed seeing our vacation, just as much as I enjoyed sharing it!


Little balcony, we will miss you.

Hey y’all! There’s a baby in there! He’s a-moving and shaking all the time these days. I think it’s the most-fun-thing-ever to watch my belly move! Pregnancy is a really cool and really weird phenomenon (all at the same time). A little human being growing in my belly? So strange. So amazing. So ridiculously awesome.

So I’ll give a little update for the friends & family… we’re finally back at home and it’s wonderful. I have officially launched into “baby preparation” mode. While I still don’t own a scrap of baby clothing (yet), we’ve been gifted with an amazing stroller and car seat so we’re pretty much ready, right? :D Hehe. We did have a fun little interlude of mall walking over the weekend. It was too hot/muggy to walk outside, so we window-shopped by looking at cute little baby clothes. And shoes. Which are adorable, but about .0001% practical (from what I’ve heard) and considering the $25 price tag, I think my children are going barefoot forever. I will be raising pioneer children --- of the hardy variety. :P

Baby Nursery.  I like that my Narnian baby nursery vision is coming together in my head—though not yet in the room. Also, I saw some top-secret baby shower decoration ideas that someone is working on and they just thrilled my soul… not to mention, made everything start to feel so real! I went home and started getting busy with my own list of nursery décor purchases. But first --- we paint the room. Sometime.

Pregnancy Symptoms. Current symptoms include general roundness, heartburn and the inability to get off of my very-low-couch. Poor little thing is a very old secondhand couch, and it can’t help that it is defective and a bit bowed where I usually sit. So I have officially moved my normal reading & laptop writing seat to the living room glider. If only to keep myself from being irritated by the necessity of rolling, turning and grunting to stand up…. In general, my pregnancy is going very well. Measuring right on, keeping the weight in a good range and feeling GREAT. I really cannot complain in the least. :) At least, now that I’ve finished the cleaning extravaganza, I can’t complain. :D

Cravings & Other Deliciousness. You could say that I craved whoopie pies? But really, we were gonna buy them at the farmer’s market last weekend and the absence of a baking vendor distressed me so much that I walked into a pole with my head. It hurt.. but made a funny story for later. I redeemed myself this week by finding, buying and eating whoopie pies (well, one was for Brandon) and therefore mostly forgetting about my walking-into-poles moment… The newest food-related pregnancy phenomenon is the very-small-state of my stomach. I am hungry A LOT, but full very quickly and then frustrated when I can’t finish my delicious food. I know, I know. #firstworldproblems

Thoughts on Times of Transition. I have had a lot more thinking time these days, and more moments to consider the changes going on in my life. This is truly one of my biggest life transitions to date. Going from single to married was huuuuuge, of course, and because of who I married and our joint devotion to the ministry of the home, our marriage is the foundation for the decision for me to be a full-time homemaker. In the three years of our marriage thus far, we were making preparations --- relational, financial, educational, etc. for this season. And so I feel like going from working-full-time to staying home with babies + becoming a full-time homemaker is almost the biggest thing that’s ever happened to me. And quite honestly, one of the best things ever! Side note: Knowing that something will be difficult doesn’t have to diminish the enthusiasm that I have for it. :)

The process of transition is unsettling. People don’t like change. They don’t like it for how weird it feels and how it changes the status quo and how it makes waves in the peaceful pond of their existence. Perhaps I’m feeling a bit more like I’m rowing this boat of change in our lives and I’m having fun feeling the movements and the waves that precipitate the arrival of our wee babe…. so I don’t feel “drowned” (to go along with my metaphor) by the dramatic changes in my lifestyle --- from not working outside the home, to stepping back any church/ministry obligations, to taking over the day-to-day management of our finances, to not really seeing a lot of people because I’m not going to a job, etc. I am stepping into the blessing that someone once eloquently called “the hidden season of motherhood.” It’s something like a great disappearance (though not quite so dramatic as prior to the Internet age --- where I still have a bloggy/facebook/social media presence), and sometimes these kinds of transition can be difficult.

How am I preparing for this hidden season? Lots of reading. Lots of thinking. Lots of meditating about what the Bible says about motherhood/parenting/*gasp* gender roles. I just finished rereading “Dare to Discipline” by Dr. James Dobson. I’m a big fan of that book --- for the balanced approach that he has to discipline. There’s a way to discipline children right and there’s a way to discipline children wrong, and I think children’s souls are far too valuable to get it wrong. (at this moment, my windows are open and the nice breeze is blowing in… but also the sounds of loud-and-obnoxious yelling. The only good thing is that the neighbor folks are yelling at their dogs – not children – but still, it’s no fun to listen to).

I will say that I am feeling profoundly grateful for God’s provision through a hard-working and genius husband who puts priority on this new season of my life. Without his encouragement, protection and complete support, I know that life would be rough. This is why you should a) talk about gender roles before marriage, and b) marry someone who thinks like you do. (that’s for all the single lady readers!! Talking about EVERYTHING during the dating/engagement season is absolutely paramount! The best way to not have conflict about the important stuff is to agree beforehand!).

Because I mean, wow. If I thought marriage was good before… being married and pregnant with the love of my life, it’s pretty darn spectacular.

 
I told you we were going on a travel extravaganza. In the last three days, we have travelled for over 34 hours of driving time. It was a little unexpected. My grandfather’s health is failing and he is now at home receiving hospice care. We left early on Saturday morning to be able to spend a little bit of time with him on Saturday night and Sunday morning. We travelled north from our temporary Arkansas home through Missouri, Illinois and Wisconsin, through waving fields of corn and flat lands to pretty green fields in Wisconsin. In spite of sober circumstances of our visit, we did enjoy seeing various family members for a few short hours and then we were back on the road towards Arkansas.

Today was Arkansas and Texas travelling. Brandon has his end-of-internship presentation this week, so we drove to Houston and will be here for a couple days as he does work-type things.

Driving through East Texas was especially fun for me…. because I was born here and spent the first five years of my life here! I spent the hours of drive time searching my early memories for pictures of eastern Texas. I remember the pebbly roads and the rolling hills and the city names. I remember the green vegetation (not stereotypical Texas at all – no tumbleweed and cactuses) and the moving oil derricks. I remember lots of fried catfish and a few cowboy hats and the more unpleasant things like fire ants and cockroaches (though we called them “waterbugs”). I remember the beginning of my kindergarten year at Christian school in a basement classroom --- though we ended up moving to Pennsylvania and I was homeschooled for the rest of the year. I remember homegroups (like Bible studies) on hot Texas nights where people sang worship choruses and that was my favorite part.
 
Through the years of my childhood & young adulthood, our family always did road trips together. It became a bit of an art form to travel as the Thull family. I’ve noticed that these “tips” are ingrained within the brains of my siblings and I, even though we’re all grown up and travelling with our own families. So I’m gonna share them with you!

My Family Travel Tips!
- Pack efficiently and quickly. It takes skill to fit everything in where it ought to be!
- Leave on time / get on the road as quickly as possible.
- Go to the bathroom every time we stop. No excuses, no exceptions.
- Be quick about it / you can relax on the road.
- Pack a good cooler : bottled water, good drinks and a Monster energy drink for the tough times.
- Always throw trash away when you stop - so the car stays clean.
- Road trips are the best for good conversation.
- Wear sunglasses.
- Bible CDs. They rock.

- Check the map often enough to know where you are, even if you have a GPS. (This is the job of the passenger, aka navigator). The driver drives. The person riding shotgun navigates.
- Don't talk/listen to music/be crazy or distract the driver in any way while navigating through busy traffic in large cities. Let the driver concentrate!
-When it comes to hotels, you get what you pay for... Or a little bit less.... Get a good hotel, so you can get a GOOD NIGHT’S SLEEP. Sleep is essential for alert driving.
Or you could be like me and be most excited about the full-length mirror! Baby Bump Photo Time!! (26 weeks along and Baby Boy Schwartz loves travelling, i.e. I think he sleeps the whole time, because he only started kicking again when we got to the hotel!).



-If breakfast is included, fill up now cuz we're not stopping for awhile.
- When you’re tired, get a Monster. Or pull over and sleep. Or both. This is not a contest.
- And if I could add the Schwartz tips of travelling, there must be COFFEE involved. (just a little bit of decaf for me, but Brandon drives better after two cups of coffee). :D

And that, my friends, is how we travel. I was surprised that all the horror stories of pregnant-while-travelling didn’t really come to pass. I just made sure to request frequent bathroom breaks and stay hydrated and wiggle my toes around with my feet up on the dashboard every once in awhile (something about preventing blood clots?!).

We aren’t quite done with our travel extravaganza… stay tuned!

The secret is out! It’s a BOY!

We are so excited! Though I gotta say, we would have been just as ecstatic with a girl. We had several conversations about wondering whether the baby would be a boy or girl. One of my midwives had a theory that it was a boy because of the heartbeat. Brandon thought we might have a boy first because his twin brother’s wife had a boy first. I thought that if we were doing it that way, my sis had a girl first so we had a 50-50 chance!

We did a silly list of pros and cons to having a boy or girl on the night before our ultrasound. It was fun, and hilarious, and the end result was that… we love both boy babies and girl babies, and we had no preference. I mean, boys are rough-and-tumble and great big brothers, but like Brandon said, “girls are just so darn CUTE!”

Ya know what they say? Never say never. I always thought, “I don’t understand bump photos. They’re weird. Why do people post them?” And then, I had a happy little baby bump and a large collection of friends who happen to be miles and miles away from me. I know what will happen – I’ll go home in August and everyone will be all like, “OHMYGOSH, NAOMI, YOU’RE HUGE.” (actually, let’s really hope that doesn’t happen). Hehe. The point is, I must keep said friends updated with the progress of my pregnancy…. since you can’t see it in person. *waves to PA friends!*

So there ya go! I’m officially 17 weeks along. To translate: it’s the second trimester, yay! Random people have begun asking me if we’re expecting… so I guess that’s a good thing. I have officially moved beyond the looking-like-I-ate-too-many-Twinkies stage. Good. ‘Cause I don’t even like Twinkies.

I met with my Arkansas midwife last week and that was fun. Travelling for the summer is kinda annoying because I have a Pennsylvania midwife and now an Arkansas midwife…. and in three months I’ll go back to my PA midwife. I’d prefer to have just one. But life throws ya curveballs and one just has to roll with the punches. It is what it is. :D

The really fun part is that I heard our baby’s heartbeat again!! Which is awesome. Brandon and I have begun referring to the baby as Squish-Squish… because that’s the sound of the heartbeat. ;) And it’s waaaaay better than calling the baby “it” until we know whether it is a boy or a girl. Also, it’s pretty great that this has turned into calling random babies “squish-squish.” Like “aaaah, did you see those parents that took their little squish-squish up for prayer at church today? I hope everything’s all right.” And “look! a squish-squish!” (Yes, talking about babies is great and funny!). :D



Other fun updates:

Books. I’ve been keeping busy doing pregnancy reading. Honestly, I did so much baby reading prior to pregnancy, I kinda ran outta good books. At my midwife appointment last week, I was excited to see a few titles that I hadn’t been able to find at my library at home. Pregnancy books are an odd genre because a) everybody’s got different opinions about everything, so it takes some mental sorting, and b) birth by nature is an ‘earthy’ kind of experience, so the details are a little icky to read. I mean, seriously, it’s all like, BLOOD! LABOR! TMI! Ya know? It’s like a recall of every baby shower and women’s retreat I’ve ever been to in my life (what? you weren’t inundated with countless birth stories as a teenager?). ;) But I gotta say --- pregnancy books are still about 100x better than online pregnancy forums. That’s where the real crazies come out. Also, it amazes me how many people ask questions to the random internet that should be directed to people that actually KNOW STUFF --- like medical professionals or even older women that have been mothers!

Food Cravings & Aversions. I like food. The highly-sensitive-food-aversions of the first trimester have passed, which is nice. I still hate the smell of Subway… but I don’t think that will ever change. :D I finally enjoy coffee again! Not enough to drink it every day – which is better anyways. But since this is hot Arkansas, I’ve been doing cold-brew decaf iced coffee a few times a week and it’s a nice treat! Every time I make it, I’m like, why even go to Starbucks? This stuff is amazing --- and it didn’t cost me $4 for a cup!

In answer to the “have you had pregnancy cravings?” question – no, not really. There’s some food that I prefer over others --- like the fact that I’d rather have ice cream for dessert, rather than just some dark chocolate. I’m loving the fact that I have more time to cook better, i.e. healthier. Time to prep fresh vegetables, visit the farmer’s market, try my hand at baking homemade wheat bread, throw together morning smoothies and simmer beans on the stove. I really love cooking, and it’s great to be able to do more of it, and it’s very helpful to finally be cooking our meals right before we eat them --- rather than the crazy spring/fall semester schedule that had been me packing 90% of our food in lunchboxes to be eaten throughout our workdays! (I am definitely in the insanely-grateful-to-be-staying-home category of homemaker).

I’m trying really hard to be mindful of what I’m eating and how often. Always trying to get more greens into my diet by throwing some kale in my broccoli-cheddar soup (Brandon raved about that soup), or throwing some spinach in a strawberry smoothie or finding new dinner recipes. Sometimes I feel a little whiney, like “why are vegetables sooo booooring?” And then I remember that adults are not supposed to whine. :P And I remember that ALL the food groups are necessary… so I go drink some milk and I feel better. :D

Heart Thoughts. It’s difficult to put words to the swirling thoughts in my head about pregnancy. The inner turmoil of the first trimester was relentless. Having seen many close friends and family go through miscarriages in recent years, you could say that I was fighting hard against anxiety. But God is good and God is big and He carries my heart in His hands. As I continue to walk this journey, I’m falling into more trust of my God.