I'm still here!

Things have been pretty busy around here lately, obviously since it has been over a month since my last post! 

We have been trying to get some things done around the house in preparation for the new addition that is to come. :) A few weeks ago, Brian's parents came for the weekend and helped us paint the nursery and recover the glider I got from my Dad! Here are a few pictures to commemorate the events of the weekend!

 

They got the room all painted and it looks great! It is Dinner Mint Green. We plan to do white furniture and pink/white accents. I will take a picture of the glider when it is all finished up. Janet had to finish the top cushion at home. Thank you Roger and Janet for all your help on these tasks!!

The following weekend Brian and I went shopping for a crib! We found this one at Target and decided it was what we wanted! Brian and I put it together that night. Marlon I think is starting to realize something is about to change and he was getting pretty nervous this night. He kept wanting me to hold him! 

 

I am pretty pleased with our purchase. Now to get a changing table and a dresser or some type of organizer I could maybe put in the closet with drawers. Annnnd of course bedding for the crib which is the challenge right now. I just can't find a bedding set that I like. I may end up making it instead. I could just pick out fabrics I like and go from there. We will see. 

Sorry I do not have a belly picture right now. But I assure you it is growing everyday! I will take one next week when I am 27 weeks. Can you believe it? 27 weeks already! Time is going by so fast...

We started Prepared Childbirth classes last week. It will be pretty interesting. I have learned quite a bit already. Let me share one interesting fact with you: you dilate to 10cm before you are ready to bring the child into the world. Here is the instructors analogy. 1cm = a cheerio & 10cm = a bagel. Imagine that one! Anyway, we still have 4 more classes - I am really looking forward to them and learning more about what I am about to experience in 3 short months. 

On another note: My parents got to come visit a couple weeks ago! Brian and I shared the amazing food of Tarahumaras mexican restaurant here in Norman with them. They loved it! My Dad is a HUGE mexican food eater and he said it was probably the best food he had. He would probably drive all the way down here just to eat there again - it's that good! We also took a nice long stroll around the OU campus just for fun. It was a good day. I miss my parents so much and enjoy the time I have to spend with them. 

I also tried a new recipe last night that my Grandma had found on Pintrest. It was so yummy! I made spaghetti with Meatball Biscuit Bubbles (pictures below) and a veggie. And then I made a yummy peach cobbler (compliments to Clarissa!) Anyway, these meatball bubbles are delicious and super easy to make! I recommend you try them out. Here is the website where you can find the recipe (http://kathiecooks.blogspot.com/2010/08/meatball-bubble-biscuits.html). 

I am sure there are many other things for me to update on since it has been so long, but this will do for now. Hopefully I can keep up with this blog more often now! 

I will leave you all with this:

How far along? almost 27 weeks

Total weight gain: we will keep this confidential now! :)

Maternity clothes? Yes...and quickly outgrowing them. Gotta go shopping again soon. 

Stretch marks? Not yet still. 

Sleep: Sleep has been pretty good lately. Usually right before bed my indigestion flares up quite a bit, but I only wake up a few times a night now.

Best moment this week: Feeling her move all day yesterday was pretty amazing. 

Miss Anything? Running...

Movement: Yes lots of movement!! I don't think she slept much yesterday because I felt her constantly, which I loved. You can see it on the outside a lot more now too which is pretty amazing. I coudl just sit and stare at my belly all day. 

Food cravings: Sweets... agh!

Anything making you queasy or sick: Only if I eat too much at one time do I feel sick. 

Gender: Girl!

Labor Signs: Not that I know of!

Symptoms: Indigestion, tingling feet (when I stand up it feels like needles!), back aches, tiredness again, and the emotional swings have set in. 

Belly Button in or out? Flat!

Wedding rings on or off? On

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy  

Looking forward to: Hearing her heartbeat again next week and getting to visit my family soon and hit up the Just Between Friends sale!

Happy New Year!

Well it has been pretty crazy around here lately, so it obviously has been awhile since I have posted. Anyway, Christmas was wonderful! We got to spend Friday night and Saturday with my family in Tulsa. And then Brian's family came to us on Sunday. I love spending time with family. Even though we don't live that far I still miss them all very much and wish we could see them more often. Anyway, we got to open presents for our little girl! It made all this so much more real. Here are a few things she got this Christmas. And people have been so generous to us in giving us things we need and handmedown clothes as well. :)

My Dad bought her this cute little giraffe!! I can't wait for her to hold it...

My Mom got me this cute frame! I put a picture from my second ultrasound in there. Of course it was love at first sight when she looked like a little blob/peanut in there at my 8 week ultrasound. The frame is white and pink which will look perfect in her nursery!

Her first pair of shoes! Brian's parents got her these cute little sandals. 

Brian's parents gave her a little doll rattle and a couple little cute outfits too! 

My friend and former co-worker gave us this. It is "baby's first keepsake ornament." It is white and light pink also, which is why I think I will hang it up on the wall in her nursery! I am looking forward to being able to write her name and DOB on there! :)

Here is a picture of my sweet Marlon with one of his new toys from Brian's sister! He had a good time opening presents as well! He got quite a few new toys and some more doggy treats which he loves. I love this little dog and I think he is going to love our little girl too. Even though I am sure he will be slightly jealous I think he will be quite protective of her as well. 

I really want to be more crafty. I have a few projects I want to do for the nursery! But here is an 'H' I deco podged to hang up in our kitchen. It is still a work in progress - a few places I need to patch up. 

Also the Tuesday before Christmas I hit the half way mark of pregnancy!! Can you believe it? Already half way there. How time flies. There is still so much to do to get ready. We have been working on clearing out the nursery again this weekend. It is getting pretty bare in there now. We plan to get paint real soon and get it all painted and ready to move furniture in there. We just need to get the furniture to put in there now...

I mention this below in my questionnaire, but I got to see her move on the outside for the first time this morning. She was moving around a ton, so I wawatching and trying to feel her and my stomach moved - it was pretty noticeable. Unfortunately Brian was still in bed, so he did not get to see it this time, but there will be more time to come! Brian did get to feel her earlier today though - it is getting a lot stronger and more noticeable now. Loving it!!

Here is the weekly questionnaire:

How far along? 22 weeks tomorrow

Total weight gain: 16 pounds...

Maternity clothes? Yep! 

Stretch marks? Not that I can tell so far...just my veins are really noticeable still. 

Sleep: It is getting better at times. I had major heartburn the other night that lasted 2 full days. It was rough and made it very difficult to sleep, but I made it through!

Best moment this week: I saw her move this morning!! First time that I have been able to actually see her movement from the outside. It was so amazing!

Miss Anything? Still want to go running - looking forward to doing this after I have her to help shed the baby weight!

Movement: Yes! Brian really felt her this morning - she has been moving around lots already today. 

Food cravings: Still craving sweet stuff. Other than that nothing specific. 

Anything making you queasy or sick: Nothing in particular. Usually I feel this way if I eat too much at one time. 

Gender: Girl!

Labor Signs: No

Symptoms: Just heartburn that time. 

Belly Button in or out? It is pretty much flat right now. 

Wedding rings on or off? On

Happy or Moody most of the time: HAPPY!  

Looking forward to: Getting the nursery painted!

Well I will leave you with my 'almost 22 weeks' picture!

Happy New Year everyone!! Here's to a new year that will be full of wonderful changes and new adventures!

19 weeks

It has been a pretty good week so far. Saturday I met a friend at PetsMart and we got our dogs pictures with Santa! I forgot to scan the picture to myself so that I could upload it. I will post the picture later though. It was fun! Poor Marlon was scared though, so he sat on my lap while I sat next to Santa. In the meantime, here is a picture of him all snuggled up in the blanket. 

Not too much to update on this week. I have my next appointment Thursday, so I am looking forward to that. This should be the appointment when she begins to measure my belly and all that fun stuff. And as always I get to hear the heartbeat - always love that moment. She just moved! :) Feeling movement is so cool. It is really weird though at the same time. Every once in a while I jump because it startles me so much. Feeling the movement makes it all the more real - that this is really happening. I am really pregnant. Honestly, sometimes it scares me too. I begin to worry about labor and delivery and I wonder about what kinds of pains will I endure in the weeks to come. I have read that a lot of women start to have mixed emotions during this point. And I am still just as excited, just nervous about how I am going to handle the labor part of it. But with the Lord's help I will get through it. I am still just so thankful that the Lord has blessed us in this way - truly a miracle and that miracle is growing inside of me. How crazy is that?! Pregnancy is one of those things that you just can't fathom (How is it hat I have a human growing in side of me?!). Like trying to figure out the concept of eternity... 

I found a crib online at Target that I like!! It is crib/changing table/drawers all in one!! Then one side of the crib can be removed and it turns into a toddler bed. Then you can take it apart and it is a twin bed with a night stand/drawers. Anyway, I like the idea and look of it from just looking at the website. Still need to shop around though and make sure I find one that will work best and for the best deal! But having a crib, drawers, and changing table all in one would save so much space in her room. That room is not that big, and I was afraid we wouldn't have room for all that plus the glider that I will eventually put in there. So with something like this, it would leave lots more room for other things. 

Here is the weekly questionnaire:

How far along? 19 Weeks

Total weight gain: Not sure...will find out Thursday. I don't think I want to know though.  :)

Maternity clothes? Yes!

Stretch marks? Not that I can tell so far...just my veins are really noticeable. 

Sleep: Still a hit or miss on this one. Just depends on the night.

Best moment this week: Sunday night she moved a TON and I really enjoyed it. And today at work, I felt her moving, so I put my hand on my belly to see if I could feel it, and I did! It felt like a little wave. 

Miss Anything? Still want to go running

Movement: Here and there. Getting a little stronger though when I do feel it. 

Food cravings: Cuties (I eat a couple a day) and chocolate. I constantly want something sweet.

Anything making you queasy or sick: The sewage smell that was wafting in the bathroom at work on Monday

Gender: Girl!

Labor Signs: No

Symptoms: I am having what they call Round Ligament Pain. A sign of my uterus growing even more. 

Belly Button in or out? In 

Wedding rings on or off? On

Happy or Moody most of the time: HAPPY! Only moody when I am driving. 

Looking forward to: Doctor appointment Thursday. I will get to hear the heartbeat again and this is the week my doctor will start measuring my uterus and all that fun stuff! 

19 week picture:

Random Pregnancy Questionnaire

I actually saw this on Pintrest (it is someone's blog I guess) and thought it would be kind of fun! I will just answer this one up until this point, then I think I will answer them accordingly for each weekly update!

How far along? 18 Weeks

Total weight gain: 10lbs (I don't think I have ever weighed this much in my life...it is tiring!)

Maternity clothes? Just bought some last Friday! I have stretchy black dress pants (not maternity, but work perfect). I did buy a few maternity tops as well because a lot of my tops are getting too small!

Stretch marks? Not that I can tell so far...

Sleep: It's a hit or miss. Some nights I sleep great. Other nights I wake up and my hips and back hurt, so I end up sleeping the rest of the night propped/sitting up on my pillows. And I usually have to pee at least once during the night.

Best moment this week: Brian thinks he felt her move in there this week. And we decided on colors for the nursery and possibly a name...

Miss Anything? Sometime I miss going for a run

Movement: Here and there. I love it!!

Food cravings: sweets for sure! Up until this point, I have craved pizza, hot dogs, and apples. And sometimes I just randomly get in the mood for whatever I may have seen that day. But lately I want chocolate quite a bit...not a good craving to have!

Anything making you queasy or sick: The smell of cigarette smoke and egg nog. Yuck!

Gender: Girl!!!!!

Labor Signs: No

Symptoms: Headaches here lately, but they are getting much better. I feel pain in my rib sometimes too, but sitting up nice and straight helps that.

Belly Button in or out? in still - but starting to get tighter.

Wedding rings on or off? On

Happy or Moody most of the time: HAPPY!

Looking forward to: Christmas! So excited to see and spend time with family and by that time I will be half way through my pregnancy and of course more things to look forward to by then!! :)

Preparations

Well I am 18 weeks along - almost half way already! Oh how time flies...

I have begun getting the nursery room cleared. I removed everything from the closet and bought cute little hangers to hang her clothes on as she gets them. Speaking of clothes, I bought a couple onsies for her the other day! They are too cute and I cannot wait to hold her in these. Also speaking of clothes, I am going to have a serious problem. I knew this would happen when I had a baby especially if it was a girl. Everything is just so darn cute - I want to buy it all!! Must. Learn. Discipline.

So cute!!

Here is a closer look. The one has a green butterfly and the other has an adorable baby elephant. 

Anyway, so the closet is cleared out, now to just get rid of all the furniture and everything else in that room since we won't have any room for it anywhere else. I believe we have also decided on colors for the nursery - which makes me even more anxious to clear the room so we can paint and buy furniture to put in there. I am thinking white furniture would go really well with our colors...We plan to do the walls in a minty green color and then do light pink and white accents. I plan to sew the curtains, probably pink. Brian wants to paint a mural or some kind of design on the wall, so now we just need to figure out what designs we want to incorporate with these colors. I am so excited though!!
And I think we have settled on a name. However, this name will be revealed at a later date...

I finally bought some maternity clothes. I was getting annoyed that I had one pair of pants to wear to work and one pair of jeans. And many of my tops are getting too small as well. I went to a consignment shop by my work on Friday and bought a pair of work pants, pair of jeans (yes with the maternity belly cloth covering and all), and 2 tops. Maternity clothes are awesome by the way! So comfortable - I will be sad when I can't wear them anymore! It's so great to not have to worry about buttons and zippers.

On another note - We got a new roof last Thursday. Ours got messed up in the hail storm a few months ago and we finally got it all fixed. I had to take the day off to be home - it was nice to have a day off form work to just relax at home. It was loud most of the day, but I was able to tune it out every once in a while. Poor Marlon was not a fan of the new roof though. Another reason I am glad I was home, I would have felt bad if he was this scared and home all by himself. He kept his ears back and shivered for a while, then he decided to go sit in his crate (which he only does if he thinks he is in trouble or if he is nervous or scared). He switched off from hiding in his crate to curling up in the corner of the living room. Here is a picture:

So sad. 

We got all of our Christmas decorations up!! I love decorating for Christmas. Brian did such a great job on the tree too! I let him take on the task of putting the tree up and decorating it. 

Well, here is a picture of my growing belly at 18 weeks 1 day. My t-shirts are having to stretch a little more each day! Oh and ignore the 'OU' on my shirt - this is just a sleep shirt. Figure I should have at least one OU shirt since I do live in Norman. I am an OSU fan! Go pokes! I did enjoy a pretty amazing game this last Saturday too! I just wish they could have made it to the BCS Championship game, but that's okay..maybe next time!

Keep growing and moving around in there baby!! Can't wait until your movements are more noticeable and your Daddy can feel you moving around too. So thankful for you - you are truly a blessing from the Lord!

Love you baby girl!! 

It's a....

GIRL!!! 

Here are her beautiful pictures from the ultrasound:

Sweet little hands!

Feet

She apparently she likes to sit with her ankles crossed - you can kind of tell in this picture. 

It's a Girl!! No extra parts were seen...

Waving hello!

Love this 3D picture of her. All curled up in there. 

I was so nervous and anxious to get to this ultrasound. The appointment was at 4:20 and the day seemed forever long! Then we had to wait about 30 minute after the appt time before we were able to go back. We were in the room for a total of about 40 minutes looking at our sweet daughter. She was being pretty stubborn and wasn't wanting to reveal her gender. So the ultrasound tech kept poking and shaking my belly to get her to move. She would measure a few things, then try to look, and measure a few more things, then try again. This went on for about 20 minutes until we finally got to see her! Doctor came in afterwards to take a look and confirm the sex of out baby. He said it was a girl, that he didn't see any boy parts in there. He also checked the brain, spine, neck, lips, etc and everything is perfect and healthy. Baby is growing right on schedule too. She weighs 6 ounces right now. It's crazy to go back and look at our last picture and see how much she has grown. Anyway, we are very excited to have a little girl. My parents have 2 grandsons and my in-laws have one grandson, so we will be bringing the first granddaughter in for both sides of the family, which is pretty cool. I can't wait to get a name picked out and get started on decorating the nursery and probably buying cute little outfits for her to wear when she graces us with her presence in 5 short months!

On a random note, a customer came in to my work today and looked at me and said, "You are carrying around some extra baggage there, huh?" This is the first time anyone has said anything to me about being pregnant that didn't know already. So I guess it is becoming obvious that I am pregnant! It was pretty exciting actually to have someone say something to me about it. It didn't bother me at all! 

I made some sugar cookies with pink frosting for us to take to our jobs. I thought it would be a fun way to share the news with our co-workers. 

It's pretty crazy to think that I am going to be a Mom soon. I remember being a little girl myself and here I am about to have one of my own. My parents did a great job raising me, I can only hope I will do a great job raising my little girl as well. I love you Mom & Dad!!! 

Seeing my baby girl and finding out the gender has made the reality settle in a lot more. I am really looking forward to being a Mom even if it is a little scary to think about at times. 

Well, it is really late and I must get to bed, so here is a picture of my 17 week "It's A Girl" belly! I'm pretty sure it is getting bigger! And I can still feel her moving in there. I am really excited for Brian to be able to see and feel her too. Hopefully that will happen in the next week or so!

Sorry I know I don't look the best. Again, I just took a shower. I meant to take the picture before my shower, but I forgot! :) I forget a lot of things lately...

Baby girl,

I am so excited to meet you in May. Today begins the 5th month which means I only have 5 months to go! It goes by so quickly. Your Daddy and I are so excited and looking forward to having a little girl in the house. I bet you will be a Daddy's girl too. Keep growing and moving around in there! Love you so much already baby girl. And don't worry, we will have a name for you soon!

Love, Mommy

Thankful

Well it has been a busy but great past week. I went and visited my family last weekend which was wonderful. It had been a couple months since I had been able to get up there and see them. I sure did miss them! I actually was able to see everyone in my extended family while there too which was awesome. My Mom and I tackled Affair of the Heart on Saturday - which was rather disappointing. A lot of the booths we wanted to visit again (since the last one) weren't there anymore, and there just wasn't as much good stuff to see. Maybe this is a good thing - less money spent. I had a good time walking around with my Mom though and we both found cute scarves to purchase! It was so nice to spend time with family last weekend. I know we are only a couple hours away, but I miss them so much and wish I could see them more often! Oh! and my Dad gave me a glider rocking chair for when the baby comes! So we now have a piece of baby furniture in the house. The fabric on it though is not the best, so my mother-in-law is going to help me recover it!

For Thanksgiving, we got together with Brian's parents and his sister and family. I ate lots (probably too much because my belly felt really tight and full for a while!) of good food! It was so nice to spend some time with all of them as well because it had been a little while since I had seen them. My sister-in-law brought my a couple bags of her maternity clothes for me to borrow since I am outgrowing all of my clothes and haven't really bought anything recently.

The cousins on my Mom's side of the family drew names earlier in the year and we were supposed to make a homemade ornament for them and send by Thanksgiving. It worked out that Nancy and I both drew each other's names and I just got my ornament in the mail yesterday. I love it!!! Here is a picture. She did such a great job!

Here is what I made her. I painted an ornament and then made a standing decoration out of a washcloth! It was fun getting to be crafty. This is the first one of many I made, so they actually got better than this one in the picture, but you get the idea. On the latter ones I used real buttons rather than the pom poms and I used an orange pipe cleaner for the nose instead of just painting on on there and felt works much better than ribbon for the scarf! 

Getting to make these ornaments has made me really want to be crafty now. There are a few things on my list that I plan to make and hopefully make time to do them before Christmas as gifts! :)

I have also begun the de-cluttering of the room that will soon be made into a nursery. There are a few pieces of furniture that we have to get rid of or find another place in the house for it and go through the closets and organize all that stuff that we have stored in there. We have this fairly big entertainment center in there that I planned to get rid of, but my Aunt Debbie gave me a great idea! She said I should paint it and then hang a curtain on the open areas, and buy cute little baskets to store the baby's things in there and there are a few drawers I could use for clothes. I told Brian about this and we both think it is a good idea, so we may see what we can do with it and hope that we enough room to have that, the crib, and changing table and everything in there. We shall see!! Only a couple more days until we find out if we are having a boy or girl!!! I am SO anxious. Then begins the baby names, nursery themes/colors, and lots of other fun things! I have started to kind of feel the baby moving around in there which is really awesome but also really weird, in a good way though. My sister-in-law described it best I think, it's like a fish swimming around in there. It does feel like a little wave in my belly. I am looking forward to when I can feel it more and when Brian can see and feel it as well. I can't believe it is going by so fast - already almost 17 weeks. 

Here is a random picture Brian took of my view of the ever growing belly!

Yes I think it is getting pretty big real fast! Even my boss noticed on Friday that it looked slightly bigger than it was just a couple days before. :)

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!! I will post Tuesday with the exciting news! Feel free to predict or guess what it could be...