Nesting....it's here!

So I have noticed over the last couple of days that my nesting instinct is alive and powerful in my home. I am not sure if my house has ever been this clean and this organized. I will be working from home once the baby is born, so today I decided to rearrange my living room to accomodate the desk and computer I will be working from. It is still 4 months away!!

I think it is the excitement of becoming a mommy. I walk into the baby room often and look around, imagining there being a baby in the crib. Imagining myself sitting in the rocking chair with a sweet little child in my arms. These are the time when, emotionally, I feel like I am on top of the world. This is literally the best feeling in the world (aside from the day I married Ryan). I am ecstatic.

Friday we find out the sex of the baby. I have had 3 dreams this weekend that the baby was a boy. Prior to this week, all of my dreams were girl dreams. I was feeling fairly confident (or as confident as I could be) that the baby was a boy for a really long time. Then I felt strongly it was a girl. At this point, I have no feeling either way. And either way, I am ecstatic as could be just to meet the precious little nugget.

Anyways, I guess I should get back to nesting... it is calling my name :)

A Day to Myself- The Healing Power of Cleaning

Today turned out to be so enjoyable for me. I got a call at 6:30 AM this morning from my hubby letting me know he was working extra duty. This means he will not be home until 7:00 PM... what do I do all day? I love Saturdays when Ryan and I are home together. It does not happen too often, so I cherish those days so much. We usually work on projects together, take long naps, and watch some of our favorite TV shows. I was so thankful he took this extra duty, though. He works so hard for our famiyl.... so what do I do now?? I could hang out with friends, go swimming, clean something.... hmmmm. So I decided to start the day with a trip to Target for cleaning supplies, then get some Starbucks. This always seems like a good way to start out the morning. I them came home and threw some laundry in. I thought of all the projects we had to do around the house, before baby comes! I thought of caulking the bathroom and planting some more flowers in the front yard. I had so much fun doing both of those projects- it almost seemed healing to me. Not that I really needed any healing, but I felt so relaxed while I was working. I thought of so many things, prayed for so many people, and generally felt so calm and collected, happy with this life I have been given.

Now I just took a shower and I am so happy to start the indoor projects on the house-cleaning the bathrooms, touching up paint in the house, dusting, vaccuuming, and hopefully taking a nice little nap in the middle of the day. Lunch sounds good- there are definitely some left overs I could be eating to clean out that refrigerator.... Oh that reminds me I need to grocery shop.... I guess the point of all of this is to say how thankful I am for the little things in life- like cleaning. What a way to see the things the Lord has given me. I am so blessed.

First Blog Post Ever!

As this is my first blog post ever, I will give a little background of my family and the beautiful life I have been blessed with. The Lord truly makes all things beautiful!

My Hubby- Ryan Michael Coykendall was born June 6, 1988 in Tucson, AZ. He was always an outdoor enthusiast and typical boy- played with bugs, broke bones, rode his bike, tortured his older sister, and absolutely loved to learn. These characteristics are still a very real part of him. He loves to camp, fish, hunt, shoot guns, and hike. He also loves working on trucks, working in the yards, and woodworking. He is a very talented man- I am so blessed to know and love him. He followed his dreams, and right out of high school began training to be a firefighter/ EMT. Three days out of high school he was back in school for EMT. He passed that class and soon decided to apply to the Pima Fire Academy, where he graduated in 2007. Soon after graduating from Pima, he applied for Golder Ranch Fire Dept. He was accepted into the Fire Academy and graduated from that in May 2008. He began his journey as a firefighter and has enjoyed the experience and the profession so far. He has aspirations to be a Paramedic someday! He also does concrete work on the side- he is very good at what he does. He has been blessed with a lot of side jobs in the past. My husband has a heart of service. He will never turn down an opportunity to help someone and he is known by those around him to be a very faithful friend. He is an incredible husband... I would need a lot of space to explain why. He has a voice that will calm me no matter what the situation and a smile that still melts me whenever I see him. His heart is one of faithful, true intentions and he is a man of God. I cannot wait to see him as a daddy- he is so excited for the journey ahead. I cannot imagine having another person in this world like Ryan- it will be close to heaven for me.

Our Doggies- We have 2 very large dogs that are a large part of our family. They are our children for now and we really do love them. Beauregard, our Neopolitan Mastiff is about 137 lbs of muscle and skin. He has the most wrinkly face I have ever seen! He is quite stubborn at times and his puppy tendencies will be with him for a while, but he is a precious part of our lives. He will be 2 years old this September. Our other doggy, Duke is a bloodhound/ rottweiler mix. He is about 140 lbs of pure heart. He is not one of the smartest puppies I have met, but he has a heart of pure gold. He wants to be a lap dog, even though he takes up all of the couches we own. He is huge! They enjoy roaming around our backyard, eating the figs off of our tree, digging holes, eating tree branches, and wrestling with one another. They are happy dogs (who eat a lot)! We cannot imagine our life without these puppies!

Our Little Nugget- At the time of this post, our sweet little baby is 20 weeks old. The baby enjoys moving around in mommy's tummy- causing gas and some discomfort in the rib area :) It is about the size of a cantaloupe right now. We find out in one week (July 31) what the sex is.... I am so excited I can hardly control myself. Ryan thinks boy and has thought that since the first sonogram. I thought it was a boy all the way until 2 weeks ago. Then I noticed myself being seriously drawn to pink things! I wanted to buy pink clothes, pink strollers, pink paint for the baby room, etc...

Me- I am 21 years old. I am a blessed wife and a soon-to-be mommy. I work part time for a medical billing company and have been there for 3 years. I will be working from home for the billing company once the baby is born, which is a huge blessing! I really enjoy watching Friends- in fact, I could watch the same episodes over and over again! I also really enjoy Starbucks and Target (they are my weaknesses). I am passionate about swimming and coaching swim team for Desert Christian High School. My dream was always to be a wife and mom, so I am really living my dream! My life is everything I could have ever wanted it to be. The Lord has truly been good to me.

Life right now... Ryan is currently working on fixing up an old truck (his commute to work is about 60 miles round trip, so a fuel efficient vehicle was necessary). He has been painting, priming, trimming, and whatever else you do to a vehicle :) I am getting ready to coach swim team at Desert Christian. I love this part of the year. I am always a little stressed, but I know it is something the Lord created me to do! I also love working on our house. We bought our first house in September 2008 and it has been a wondeful experience working on the house and making it our own. Next step is baby room!!! I hope this blog will be a wondeful way of me expressing how thankful I am for the blessings in my life and giving you a glimpse into the life I live.