How Can It Be?

How is that I'm already at week 17? This pregnancy is absolutely flying by. I'm almost half way there. Goodness! Well, we had an appointment on Jan 28 (last Wednesday). Dr. Moffat said everything seems just great. It was another short appointment...just heartbeat and some Q&A. The best part about it is that she said we could come back in 3 weeks for our ultrasound rather than 4! Yay!!!!!!! I am so so very excited I can hardly stand it. I'm so ready to know if it's a boy or girl. Our appointment is on February 18th at 2:00. It'll be here before you know it! In the mean time, I'm growing growing growing. I went through my closet last week and pulled out all my "skinny" clothes. :( It was a sad sad day! I knew it was coming, but I didn't think I'd have this hard of a time with it! I bought a new maternity dress to help cheer myself up. I think that's allowed in these circumstances. That made me feel a little better. I love dresses about as much as I love purses! Have I mentioned how much I love the 2nd trimester? It is such a relief to be able to wake up and not be afraid to move and cause the morning sickness to erupt! Other than a pretty daily headache, I feel so stinkin' great! I even managed to start working out! I ordered a video online and I'm going to a class at the church once a week. I should've started working out several months ago, but better now than never I suppose! I haven't blogged about this yet, but I have been having the craziest, most vivid dreams ever throughout this pregnancy. Some nights, I feel like I haven't even slept because the dreams feel so real. Sometimes they're scary and I wake up in terror. Other nights are just random and funny. Last night, for example, Jack Bauer and I were BFF. I woke up laughing out loud this morning. He actually had a crush on me, but of course, I was committed to James and didn't have that kind of interest in him. I'm still laughing about that one. Oh goodness!
We've started working on getting the house ready for baby. It's been needing some organizing and de-cluttering. It's coming along, slowly but surely. My goal is to get that part of it all done in the next month so that we can go ahead and get the nursery painted and furniture bought by the end of March or so. I've been looking around for a good glider and am having a hard time finding one that I like. I'm thinking of getting 2, one for the living room and one for the nursery. We need an extra seat in the living room anyways. All of the rest of the furniture in the house is espresso with neutral colors. I think we'll probably use espresso furniture for the nursery as well; however, I love white furniture for a little girl's room. We'll see. Let me know if you have found the perfect glider...
James has been sick the past few days. He's picked up some kind of glorious stomach bug. I'm trying to keep my distance and take care of him at the same time...not an easy task! I've managed not to pick it up though, thank goodness! Hopefully he'll recover soon!
Here are a couple of recent pictures:

BabyBeat - My New Love

So after my last blog, I received a call from my lovely cousin, Tanya. She had read the post where I talked about renting a fetal doppler for peace of mind and it turns out that she had actually purchased a doppler when she was pregnant with Madison, her first daughter. It was one just like they use in the doctor's offices (minus the digital heart rate reading) and she paid about $500. She proceeded to tell me that she had sold the doppler to one of her friends last year for $100, but her friend no longer needed it! So she sold it to me for $75! I was so stinkin excited. They cost about $30 to rent them by the month, so we got a pretty great deal!! So now I'll get to keep this one and lend it out to my close friends as they need it. I went and picked it up on Saturday morning and spent a few hours there with Tanya, her husband and 2 little girls. It was a great time. I don't get to see them nearly enough. She showed me how to use it and let me borrow 2 huge bags full of maternity clothes, which I'm getting very close to needing. So anyways, now I have the doppler at home to use anytime I need to be reassured that our little one's heart is beating away. It has given me so much peace of mind and I am so grateful to have it.
Another exciting note: I'm getting a new camera!! Yay!! My dear friend, Lee Anne, went out and got the Canon Rebel XS (a digital SLR) and let me play with it at church on Wednesday night. I, of course, fell in love with it right away. I tried to convince James that I needed it for when the baby gets here. He surprised me and went out and bought it for me on Friday! He actually bought the upgraded model, but after doing some research, I decided that there wasn't enough difference between the 2 to justify an extra $300. The XS model was out of stock, so we had to order it. I can't wait to get it, though!
Random picture: It makes me laugh! This is Ollie on one of his darting sprees. He's so fast!

Just a quick picture or 5...

I'll put up some more later, but I thought I'd go ahead and put these up!

Have a great day!

These are our cute little trees up in between the kitchen and living room

Stockings hung on the DVD bookcase...lol!

All the presents finally wrapped and under the tree

This is me a week ago. 13 1/2 weeks along here

And again..

A New Year and I Can't Wait!

2009 is going to be our year. I can feel it! It's off to a wonderful start. Nothing huge has happened (other than the continuous growth of our baby and my tummy, which I happen to think is huge in itself), I'm just so full of joy I can hardly stand it. At 14 weeks, I'm now into the second trimester of my pregnancy and loving it! Everyday, I am in awe at this little life that is growing in me and all that God is doing in our lives. I'm feeling pretty good nowadays, too. The good days are definitely outnumbering the bad ones. I am seriously thankful for that! According to some reading that I have been doing, the baby is about 3 1/2 inches long right now! Isn't that crazy! It's hard to believe that it'll be here in just 6 months! Last week, I watched the Friends episodes where Rachel has her baby and just cried. I know it's only a tv show, but I couldn't stop thinking about the love that you feel when they put the baby in your arms for the first time. Sweet stuff :) We go back to the doctor on January 28th, so continue to pray that everything goes fine and the baby is developing on schedule. The nerves in between visits is about to kill me. I've thought about renting a fetal doppler so that we can hear the heartbeat at home and have some reassurance. But for now, I'm just trying to have faith that God is in control and He'll take care of us no matter what.
Change seems to be a trend for the year. James is determined to get himself healthy and in shape before the baby gets here, and I must say, I think he's doing a pretty good job with it so far. Of course, the motivation of a visit to the Melting Pot with some of our best friends when they reach their target weight doesn't hurt. It makes me laugh because all these people around me are talking about getting in shape and losing all this weight, and I am putting the pounds on! I am working on eating healthier and I'm planning to join the aerobics class that a friend is starting at church. She promised to help me out with some modifications ;) I'm looking forward to it, though. It's fun to workout when you have fun people to do it with! I got my hair cut over the weekend. Apparently it's not as drastic as it felt like to me, as not many people seemed to notice. Lol! I got about 4 1/2 inches whacked off though! It's the shortest that I've had it in years. I like it!
Christmas was great this year. Busy, but great. I was worn out by the time December 26th rolled around! I was fortunate enough to have almost 2 full weeks off from work though, so that was nice and gave me plenty of time to recover. James got a new Blackberry that he's in love with, I got a breadmaker, a new Vera and some maternity clothes, and we got our backyard fenced in. Good stuff! I hardly took any pictures from Christmas day, though. I regret that.
We spent New Year's Eve with my family and had a great time playing games, eating, and laughing all night. I even managed to stay up and watch the ball drop! It was a good time. Mom played the Wii for the first time and decided she wanted one for their house! :) I just love her!
I've been able to get back into my reading. I've read a couple more Karen Kingsbury books in the last little bit. She's my fave. Currently, I'm reading one of her's called Ever After. It's great so far...a tearjerker for sure.
Okay, I'm done writing for today and I'm sad that I don't have access to my pictures right now! I have some cute ones to share! I'll have to post those later! :) Take care!

Pregnancy...

Well...thus far, pregnancy has not been what I expected! Don't get me wrong, it's one of the most exciting times in my life, but in my little brain, it was supposed to be all cute and fun! Trimester #1 has been far from "cute!" I am grateful because I know it could be much worse. Nausea set in the day before Week 6 began and it hasn't let up since! I do have good days, though! Those are usually the days where I get to take it nice and slow in the mornings and get plenty of sleep. I have seriously tried every trick in the book. Any piece of advice someone gives me, I try it. So far, the only things that have helped are Phenergan, Emetrol, and eating peanut butter before I go to bed (odd, I know). I try to eat small meals and not to let my stomach get empty, and that helps. But I hate feeling like I'm eating all day long!! I have certainly obtained a little "pooch" in my tummy. It's real tight though. It feels funny! I am still able to wear all my pants, but some of my tops have seen there last wear for awhile. My sweet mother was making fun of me because I had to buy a medium sized shirt at a store that I usually would NEVER get a medium at!! People seem to be enjoying the fact that I'm getting bigger. I'm trying to embrace it and enjoy it, if that's possible. I guess I'll feel better when it actually looks like a baby-belly and not just a little weight gain!!!!!


I was an emotional girl to begin with, but since the pregnancy has taken over, it's about 10 times worse! Now, when I get emotional, it takes me hours to regain my composure!! James is just loving it.... :) Speaking of James, you would all be so proud of him. He is doing such a good job at taking care of me! He has been very sweet and willing to do whatever! I'm grateful for such a fantastic husband!


We go back to the Dr. on December 31! By then, I'll be 12 weeks along and almost through with the first trimester!!! Yay!! We should be able to find out the gender of the baby sometime in February, probably towards the end. It'll be here before you know it! These 10 weeks have absolutely flown by (well, I guess 6 weeks since we didn't find out til week 4). I'm just full of joy and thankfulness right now. Two posts in one week is a pretty big deal for me! Maybe I'm getting better at being a blogger!! Keep us in your prayers as we finish out this first trimester and return to the doctor at the end of the month!

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas!!

I'm officially the worst blogger ever! As promised in my previous blog, here is some updates of the last few months! Let's see, we went to a couple of football games. Those were fun, even though we're awful this year. Here are a few pics of the games...

I had a birthday! James surprised me with a party at our house with some of our closest friends. It was really a great birthday, even though 23 seems like a big number for me. I shouldn't be 23 yet, should I? Yikes! Oh, and we had a great opportunity for some more pictures with the Crawford kids after some of the party cleared out. They are too precious.

Yeah, it's every single season.... :)

Yay for Willow Tree angels!





This picture is my all-time fave!! They are so stinkin' cute!
Isn't he just the cutest??



We spent Halloween with Zane and Ashley...always a fun time. We dressed up and had a blast. We went to see a movie after all of our trick-or-treaters had come and gone. We had a whopping SIX kids come to our house. Sad sad! Anyways, me and Ash saw High School Musical 3 (which was great) and the boys saw some scary movie.

The four of us at my in-laws' house!
My little cowboy...oh my!
My favorite little Dorothy!

One of my great friends, Hollie, got married on November 7. I got to be a bridesmaid in her wedding. It was a very beautiful and sweet wedding.


She let me be the princess at the rehearsal dinner :) How sweet of her!


The beautiful bride :)

This makes me laugh because the bride is wiping away Madison's tears! Isn't it usually the other way around? It was a sweet moment!

Me and my handsome husband at the reception!

We put our Christmas tree up the Saturday before Thanksgiving. It was a lot of fun! I love getting ready for the holidays! It was so nice having my own home to decorate this year!

The next day, we FINALLY got to tell people that we're expecting! It was such a great day! We told my parents first and then ran over to his parents house to share with them right after! His mom had made me a shirt to wear for when we told them we were having a baby. Here is a picture of it! It's adorable :)

As always, we attended the Fantasy of Trees Gala on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. It was a lot of fun!! Any excuse to get all dolled up and spend a night eating good food and getting excited for Christmas!!

Thanksgiving was great this year! We got to spend time with both families. I only have pictures of some of the kids from the day (are you surprised?), but they're still cute!!

Here's Mackenzie! She has gotten to be about as much fun as her big sister!!! Love her!

This is sweet little Payten. This was just about everyone's first chance to meet her! She's a doll! Here she is with her daddy. He doesn't get to see her a whole lot right now, so this was a very sweet time for them! We don't get to see him a whole lot either, so it was just all around special!

Now here are some random pictures!!

This is me at about 8.5 weeks. Not a lot to show right there, but James insists on taking pictures. I'll try to put up progressive pictures regularly (no guarantees though!)

I know...he's the cutest thing you've ever seen!!

This is our 2008 Christmas card photo :)

Finally!!!

James and I are expecting a baby of our own!!!!! :) We couldn't be happier about it! We had our first ultrasound yesterday. I was extremely nervous about the ultrasound, but it went great. The little peanut is growing right now track and has a nice strong heartbeat! The doctor said everything looked great at this point and I have no reason to worry. I go back for my next appointment on Dec. 31. I'm just looking forward to hearing that heartbeat again! Our due date is July 13, which puts me right around 8 1/2 weeks right now! I've had some pretty severe nausea that lasts all day since the day I turned 6 weeks. I know it could be much worse, and if my discomfort means the baby is doing well, I'm more than happy to put up with it! Fortunately, I do have good days with little to no nausea. Those are happy days, but I'm also comforted when the sickness returns to remind me that there is actually a little one in there that's growing!
It's been hard to get used to the idea of being pregnant. Not in the sense that I don't want to be, but that it seems to good to be true. You know how it is when you finally get something that you've wanted for so long, you tiptoe around and try not to get too excited for fear that it will slip away as quickly as it came. Hearing the heartbeat and seeing the little one on that monitor was a big step for me. It helped to confirm for me that, maybe, just maybe, God is really giving me what I have wanted for so long. So now, I'm trying to embrace this gift with all that I have. I'm letting myself get attached and love this baby like no other. I know that regardless of what happens, God will be there. He will take care of me and provide for me because that's who He is. I'm not going to be afraid anymore!
I know it is so cliche, but in all honesty, all we want is a strong, healthy baby. Boy or girl, doesn't matter. Now, had you asked me a year ago, I admit I would've been pleading with God for a little girl. But falling in love with little Tripp has shown me that little boys are just as precious!
There is more to update everyone on (since it's been 3 stinkin' months!!), but that's something that has taken priority for the time being!
Keep us in your prayers over the next few months!!