Baby Zajas: 16 Weeks

Friends!

Wow, it's so hard to believe that we are 16 weeks along in this pregnancy already! This means we only have about 5 months left until we get to meet our little one...crazy! :)

Last week we went for our 4 month doctor's visit. We got to hear the baby's heartbeat again, and that completely melts my heart every time. While there we scheduled our next appointment (two weeks from tomorrow!) where we have the big ultrasound and find out if we're having a boy or a girl! To say that I'm excited is quite the understatement.

Here's a current baby bump photo. I'm definitely growing, even though it's gradual! There are some days where I feel more pregnant than other days...not sure if it's psychological or if those are days where baby is having a major growth spurt or something.

I've still had 0 morning sickness since the 13.5 week mark! For that I am so thankful! I know there are some moms-to-be who are sick the entire time...and my heart goes out to you. I am so glad to be over that stage in pregnancy. I have been dealing with some pregnancy migraines, but I'm thankful that they came after my morning sickness so I wasn't having to deal with both at the same time.

Right now Baby Z is around 4.6 inches long (from head to rump), weighs approximately 3.5 ounces, and is about the size of an avocado. Because of the whole avocado thing, I have been craving guacamole like CRAZY the past few days. Thankfully, my sweet husband took me out to get some last night. It was delicious!

Bless that sweet man. He's been so good to us!

Have an amazing week! :)

-Tiffany

Baby Zajas: 14 Weeks

Hello friends!

I hope you all had an amazing Christmas and are enjoying the New Year! Jonathan and I had an incredible holiday season. The day after Christmas we flew up to Maine (and Maxo came with us too!) to spend a week and a half with my family. It was such an amazing and refreshing time. So thankful and blessed that we had that time there.

Baby Zajas is doing well! We are now at 14 weeks, which means we have entered our 2nd Trimester! I cannot believe the first trimester is over already...it sure did fly by. I've been feeling great for the past 6 days...woo hoo! Absolutely no morning sickness during all that time, which is such an amazing feeling. I've still been super tired all the time, no matter how much sleep I get, but that's to be expected (and so very worth it). And my doctor says I'll probably get a 2nd wind of energy soon, so I'm looking forward to that!

Here's an updated baby bump photo. Some days I can tell that it's getting bigger, and other days I'm not so sure. It'll be fun to have these photos to look back over and see the gradual change though.

Right now our baby is about 3.4 inches and about the size of a lemon (or the size of my closed fist). That's so crazy to me! It seems like just yesterday baby was the size of a poppyseed. Our next doctor's appointment is next week, and then at our appointment after that we'll find out if our kiddo is a boy or girl (although we have our strong suspicions as to what it is). :)

This pregnancy has made me so incredibly thankful for all the great blessings God has placed in my life. My husband has been so great through all of this, and has taken care of me so well and so sacrificially during the many many days I was sick. I appreciate him so much.

This year is going to be the best yet, I just know it!

Love and blessings,

-Tiffany

Baby Zajas: 12 Weeks

Hello friends!

Today begins our 12th week with Baby Zajas. It's so hard to believe how fast this first trimester has flown by! We had our 2nd doctor's appointment this week, and everything went so well. We got to see our little one again and hear it's heartbeat for the first time. That is never going to get old. :)

It's crazy to me how much this little one has grown in just a few weeks. It was so cool getting to see the baby kick and move and dance on our ultrasound. Makes me so excited for when I will eventually be able to feel the little kicks and movement.

The baby is not the only one who has grown! Ever since we found out we were having a baby, I was looking forward to the day that I'd start showing a little. Over the past couple of weeks I've finally been able to tell that there's a baby in there. We have lots of close friends and family who live far far away, and many of them have been asking to see some pictures of the growing baby bump. So, we finally got around to taking some pictures (thanks, husband!) to share with you all.

I hope to photograph the progress as we go along, so we'll be able to look back and see the growth.

As Jonathan and I have been preparing for Christmas (YAY!) I can't help but get super excited for next year and the fact that we get to celebrate with our first child. Christmas has always been my favorite time of year, and I can only imagine how wonderful it will be to get to share all the joy of the season, the traditions, the gifts, and lots of love with our baby. I am so looking forward to that! :)

I hope you all are having an amazing Christmas week!

Love and Blessings,

-Tiffany

To see other posts about Baby Zajas click here.

We're having a...

We're having a baby!

We're so excited to finally be able to share the news here. Jonathan and I couldn't be more excited, and we're so looking forward to going on this new adventure together. We can't wait to meet our little blessing of a baby on (or around) July 8th, 2012!

We've had so much fun telling our family and friends via Skype, phone, and some in person the past couple of weeks...and we wanted to announce it to the rest of the world in a creative way of sorts. Last night we announced it to our students at Real Life (our youth group) and were blown away by how excited they were for us (some were even crying with excitement!) It melted my heart. When we got home last night we quickly posted these photos on Facebook to let the rest of our friends know about our news.

Thanks so much to everyone who has already congratulated us! We are beyond excited, and it makes us so happy to have such wonderful people to share in our excitement.

I hope to be a better blogger and post updates on here more often in the months to come, documenting the journey along the way. :)

The pregnancy is going really well so far! I've had lots of days of being really sick, but it's oh-so-worth every moment of it. At our last doctor's appointment we got to see our little baby and it's heartbeat, and that moment was such a surreal one for both of us. I'm not sure when this will all sink in...it still feels like such a dream.

Here's our baby's very first picture that was snapped last week at our appointment. I couldn't believe how you can already make out it's little head and face and little arm and leg nubs. Love this little one so much already!

With lots of love and excitement,

Tiffany + Jonathan :) (+ Baby Zajas!)

Our Angry Birds Trunk or Treat Car!

This past Sunday our church had it's Fall Festival. It was so much fun! As part of the festivities, we had a Trunk or Treat (if you're unfamiliar with the concept it's where a bunch of people line up their cars and have them decorated with a game and pass out candy for the kiddos).

Jonathan and I decided to dress up our car this year...and then the idea just hit me...we needed to do an Angry Birds car! So that's what we did!

I had a little too much fun sketching and planning this thing out, and I'm so glad that it turned out just the way I envisioned it. I couldn't have done it without husband...he really helped me with the logistics and execution of it all.

For our game, we taped little pigs to smaller blocks and had the kids throw Angry Bird bean bags at them. They got an extra piece of candy for each bird they had leftover. It was a huge hit!

I made the bean bags out of balloons and rice using this tutorial (so, technically they'd be called "rice bags" I guess) and drew the Angry Bird faces on with Sharpie. Super easy and cheap!

Overall, I think it was a success! I loved seeing how excited the kids were about it. Scott Hamilton (yes, the figure skater) even came and brought his boys. 

The entire day was so much fun. So many of our students came dressed up with some pretty creative costumes.

We even had a hot air balloon!

It was a beautiful day spent with wonderful friends. 

Hope you all are having a wonderful Autumn! I can't believe it's November already. I'm already looking forward to the holiday season. This is the very best time of year. :)

With Love,

- Tiffany

Where's Our Focus?

A few days ago, my husband read an excerpt of this blog post by Perry Noble to me and it was very challenging (in a good way!) So often our focus in life can be on the wrong things, which is the cause of so many of our problems.

Image by my husband, Jonathan Zajas

Consider these thoughts...

If I focus on my abilities, I will always feel overwhelmed and inadequate…if I focus on WHO God is and WHAT He has done, I will feel confident and secure. 

If I focus on what others say about me, I will feel either pride or pain…if I focus on what God says about me, I will feel appreciative and thankful. 

If I focus on what the world says about money, I will most likely be broke…if I focus on what God says about money, I will be blessed!

If I focus on what the world says about problems, I will be in a constant state of worry and stress…if I focus on what God says about problems, I will see they are nothing more than opportunities to know and see Him for how great He is.  

(Where Is Our Focus? (10 Gut Check Ideas!) by Perry Noble)

These are just a few of the 10 points that he makes, so please click on over to his blog post to read the rest.

"Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need." - Matthew 6:33

When we place God first, and focus on him (and not our problems, other people, the world's opinions, etc.)...then we have absolutely nothing to worry about. He will always take care of everything we need.

So, I encourage you (and myself!) today to evaluate where our focus is. And if our focus is on the wrong things, then let's do something to change that!

With Love,
Tiffany

DIY Autumn Wreath

Hey there, friends!

I hope you're all having a lovely Friday so far! It's a gorgeous day here in Franklin, TN and I'm excited that it's starting to feeling like fall outside! Autumn is always the beginning of my favorite time of year. It's so cozy and comforting and is the perfect introduction to the Christmas season (which is the most wonderful time of year!)

There's something about this season that makes me both want to make something crafty and to work to create an inviting environment at home. So, last weekend I thought I would combine both of those desires and make an Autumn Wreath for our front door!

I searched the aisles of Target and browsed online for Autumn wreaths to purchase, but I just couldn't find one that I liked. After looking at lots of Autumn craft ideas on Pinterest, I was inspired by these two wreaths to make one of my own!

Here's the finished product...

I didn't take step-by-step photos of the process, but it's pretty easy to do!

This is what you'll need:

• Wreath form - I used a large straw wreath form, and left the plastic wrapping on it
• Yarn - I used 1.5 skeins of yellow yarn (but my yarn was a little thinner than some, so you might be able to get away with less)
• Felt - I used two large sheets of the stiff felt that was next to the not-so-stiff craft felt. (haha, I'm not sure what the technical terms are...maybe you veteran crafters can correct me?)
• Hot glue gun
• Hot glue sticks
• Scissors

1. Take your yarn, and hot glue the end to the back of your wreath form. 
2. Wrap the yarn around and around and around. (This step can be very time consuming...approx. 2 hours...so I found it helpful to watch something delightful, like Newsies, while I was wrapping away.) Don't worry about being too perfect with this. My perfectionist self was way too precise to start off with, but as I went along I got more lazy and it still looked about the same.
3. Continue to wrap until your entire wreath form is covered! You may have to cut the yarn and re-glue a new piece, and that's okay! Just make sure to always glue on the back of your wreath form.
4. Take your stiff sheets of felt and sketch out a leaf. Cut out that leaf, and then use it as a guide to sketch out a bunch more!
5. Cut out your leaves.
6. Hot glue your leaves onto your wreath.
7. Voila! You have yourself a neato Autumn Wreath.
8. Pat yourself on your back and go hang up your wreath smiling with satisfaction at a job well done!

Here's a glimpse out our doorstep. It looks much more welcoming than when we first moved in, which makes me happy. 

Husband bought me those yellow mums yesterday. I love them! 

Now all we need are some pumpkins...and a welcome mat! One like this, perhaps? Welcome mats are yet another thing that I have a hard time finding ones that I like. They're either blah, not our style, or too pricey. I may just have to make my own!

If you have any questions at all about making your own wreath, please don't hesitate to ask! And if you make your own, I'd love to see! Feel free to post a link in the comment section.

Have you made any Autumn crafts lately? Please do share.

Happy Autumn Day to you!

-Tiffany