I am pregnant!

Old news right? I just woke up this morning with to one of those "I am pregnant!!" realizations. You know, the point where it actually hits you and you realize that you are, indeed carrying human life inside of you. So crazy. I get to be a mama!! was my first thought. I was so excited this morning and I rolled right over and cracked open my bible. Believe it or not, the first verse I laid my eyes onto was, "My cup overflows with Blessings." (Psalm 23-I turned to Psalms because I love those readings). I am just amazed at this little life growing and bouncing inside of me, and I know this baby is one of the greatest blessings we'll ever receive from the Lord. I am so thankful he chose us for this particular baby, and I can't wait to see what he has in store for us. I continue to pray that he molds and shapes us into the parents he wants us to be. Here are some 17 week (+2 days) pictures of the bump. I included a front view because I think from the front I'm looking a little rounder than the side ;) I'm still in my pre-pregnancy jeans, but in the last picture you'll see how I'm keeping them on. They are a little uncomfortable on the belly when I button them!
If you can't tell, I'm using the hair binder trick. Today I realized that I am almost halfway through my pregnancy. I have been continually sick but it doesn't rain on my parade, I'm dancing out there! This weekend we finished the nursery bedding and a few little extras for baby. We are so excited to get the nursery cleaned up and arranged and then I promise pictures to share. Right now we have so many things stashed in there that we need to put away or find a spot for.

It was so fun to spend the weekend with my family. Mama + Bunny helped me prepare some meals to eat this week and some to freeze so that I won't have to worry about coming home and cooking at night. That was super nice and I appreciated the help. I'm sure I'll have to have them do the same when the baby comes! It's just so hard to take care of myself, take care of my husband, and take care of the house all at the same time, expecially at the end of the day! Jay has been so sweet cooking and cleaning the house for me because after a full day of work my energy level is pretty much drained. I wake up so excited and full of energy and by the time dinnertime rolls around I need to rest for a bit. Papa took us shopping at some antique/thrift stores {junk stores as Jay calls them!} and we found some really unique vintage items for the nursery. More to come. Tonight we are hoping to get out and exercise a bit but we'll see how I feel, it's always a 'go with the flow' type of thing...plus it's pretty hot and humid here today. Fall, where are you????

Oh and I miss my in-laws. If you are reading this, we need to get together!! Our families are both so similar and also so different, but equally fun...so when I spend time with one I miss the other. They both have their quirks and so many good memories! We'll have to plan some fun fall activities with them.

Finally Friday.

It's finally here!! This week just crawled by. But now there is only a few more minutes left for me to work and then I'm taking off early for the weekend. I'm meeting with an old friend who is in town to catch up over coffee {coffee for her, smoothie for me!} and then Mama and I are off to Bunny's. So excited for our roadtrip/girls weekend {plus Papa!}. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Random musings.

I'm so depressed. My sister left for college last week in Florida and I miss her! I usually get to see her a few times a week, so going 'cold turkey' has been hard. I know my Mom really misses her too. I get really sad when I think about her missing moments of my pregnancy and the little milestones we'll be reaching until February. I don't even know if she will get to be there when the baby is born, and I can't even think about it :( But she is having fun and she likes it there and I am happy for her and know she will do so well. I'm just feeling a little selfish and want her home with us...maybe those extra pregnancy hormones are kicking in ;) ::sniffle::

On a lighter note, I am loving this cool weather that we've been getting. It is such a nice change from the 80-90 degree summer days. Today is beautiful. I am so anxious for fall, my favorite season. My Mom and I have planned some fun things to do and keep us busy this fall. We are going to the apple orchard and pumpkin patch and plan on making some fresh apple crisp, and probably some apple cider. I can't wait until next year when we can carve pumpkins and dress up our baby for their first halloween :)

I've been trying really hard to stay active during this pregnancy. The sickness has made it really difficult because by the end of the day I'm so exhausted. I used to make it to the gym during the week, but now I'm only making it to yoga on Sundays and the occasional bike ride/walk with Jay. I hope this passes so that I can get back to the gym, because I want to continue working out as far as I can and as much as I can. I know that will help with labor/delivery and also my post partum health so it is super important, and also great for little bean. But my doctor also told me that sickness means the baby is healthy so I'm totally ok with it- even though I complain about it. Plus I'm just used to it now. Tonight we are going for a long bike ride and I can't wait! I've also been avoiding junk food which has been super easy since I don't have many cravings. When they come they pass quickly and I'm able to eat pretty healthy. The other night at the grocery store I was able to pass up oreos, cheetos, and chipwich ice cream sandwhiches...mmm go me! It was hard but I know it's best for me and baby. I haven't even had ice cream yet! Which I'm sure will change once I'm feeling better ;)

Avocado

16 weeks. I feel like these pictures are such a joke! I wonder when I will "pop" and be obviously pregnant. I don't really have that baby belly yet...I just look like I ate too much for dinner. Rather than gaining weight, I just feel like I am expanding and making room for baby. At my 16 week appointment I had gained another pound, so 2 altogether. Last week was super slow because I am being really impatient about finding out the sex of the baby. This week is going to go even slower since we have such a fun weekend planned at Bunny's.
Yesterday I was able to stop over at a friend's and she borrowed me a bunch of baby items. We were so excited!! She gave me a baby bjorn, ergo baby carrier, a graco stroller frame, a few born free glass bottles, a johnny jump up, a shopping cart cover, some baby utensils/sippy cups, and a bunch of maternity clothes! All like new. It was awesome and she is so sweet.

I am tired so this post is lame and boring.

15 weeks

Little bean is the size of a navel orange. It's legs now outmeasure the arms so it's almost to normal proportions. It is likely squirming + wiggling like crazy in the womb but I can't feel any movement yet. I really dislike calling baby "it" and can't wait until we know if it is a boy or girl! I have a gut feeling of what sex it is but I don't want to say...I am curious if Mother's intuition is correct or not! We'll see in a few weeks {forever!}. I had a doctor's appointment yesterday and was lucky to get an ultrasound so I could see bean. Finally baby settled down and was not still on it's head! It was laying comfy in mama's stomach. You can really see the outline of the head and the facial features a little bit.Let's see. Not much is new. I am slowly but surely making progress in the nursery. I finished a mobile that Bunny helped me create a few weekends ago, and that turned out cute. I'm looking forward to next weekend because Mom + I are driving down to Bunny and Papa's for the weekend. We are spending the whole weekend making baby items. Bunny wanted to make our crib quilt & a bunch of accessories so we'll be sewing/crafting up a storm. She's also going to help make some playmats and new curtains for the nursery. A few weekends ago we picked out the fabric so we are set to go and can't wait!!!! We are going to be busy bees. She is so cute and calls just about every day to see how I am doing and to get involved. My Grandpa is adorable too, whenever I am down for the weekend he makes sure that he is right in the middle of the project, even if he has no idea what he is doing! He just likes to be a part of it and help when he can. He made me some handmade wooden blocks that are awesome and I'm about halfway finished painting them. I have a few other projects I'm working on right now. I guess I need to upload a lot of pictures soon! Oh and we got our horribly uncomfortable chair returned and a new one {that we tried out in the store!} ordered. Hallelujah. Rocking baby will no longer cause a stiff neck and lower back pain ;) I think that's it for now. Tonight I get to date my hubby!! wohoo :) Last night he was gone at the Twins game.

Things I've learned from pregnancy.

Part one.
When I say I'm hungry, I mean right now...not 10 minutes from now, or it's time to start dinner now, I mean NOW. Yes I realize I went from 'I'm fine' to a savagely starving crazy person in .2 seconds, I can't control it ok? And yes it's completely necessary for me to lay on the floor until you find me something to eat within the next 10 seconds. I'm too tired to look for anything, and don't come near me without food in your hand or I might bite it off. Yelling might be involved if you don't move quickly enough. Just bring on the food.

I've begun to believe that dry heaving is a way of life. Hunger comes like a ravaging wild animal. I'm hungry all. the. time. But, there comes a point where I am so hungry I could gnaw on my own hand. And if I don't succumb to the evil monster's demand for something in my stomach, on comes the dry heaving {which isn't dry for very long}. Then begins the all too familiar wave of saliva that continuously runs in my mouth, prepping me for the all fabulous purging. This my friends, is torture. I dread those few moments while I'm running to the bathroom, fully knowing what lies ahead. Lovely.

If you've never experienced pregnancy, probably not a good idea to shell out voluntary opinions or advice on mine. I don't care how much first hand knowledge you've learned from living vicariously through your sister or your best friend or your aunts pregnancy, or what you learned in grad school or read in a book...you still don't know. Every pregnancy and experience is different, so all that generalized information you read in a textbook spewing from your mouth? Yeah, it doesn't apply to me. Keep it inside until you've been where I've been and then MAYBE, just maybe you can relate to my experience, otherwise you just look like an idiot telling a pregnant person what to expect. Mooooving on...

Don't make me make decisions, I beg of you. I wasn't good at it before, what makes you think I would be now? No I don't care where we eat, just get me there and make sure there's a bathroom close by. No I don't care what movie we watch, just pick it out so I don't have to stand in front of redbox and scroll through every last title and listen to the guy behind me clear his throat 5 times while I tear up because I just can't choose which movie we should watch and he is getting antsy. No I don't care that we are going out and I look like I'm a homeless person with a beer belly, let's just go so we can get back home and I can resume my laziness on the couch.

Pregnancy has the tendency to make you a crazy person. Don't give me the side eye or I'll throw my shoe at you.

14 weeks and a story.

This picture was actually taken at 14 weeks 4 days, so it's really closer to 15 weeks but here it is:
And now it's story time. One of my favorite memories from this pregnancy so far has been our last ultra sound appointment {pictures below}. I think it was around 12 weeks. We went in to get some measurements of the baby, so I got ready and hopped up on the table, anxious to see our little bean on the screen. The ultra sound tech found it right away, and bean was on it's head happily bouncing and jumping away. It was the most precious sight I've ever seen, so wiggly and squirmy! Cute right? We thought so...until the ultra sound tech laughed and said that while we have a really active baby, we need it to lay down for the measurements. Then she looks at me and grins.

She proceeds to tell me I need to get re-dressed, go out into the lobby and chug a whole bottle of water. Immediatly after I am instructed to run up and down the steps for several minutes, hoping that the combination of theses two exercises gets bean to move positions. Jay had quite a laugh watching me run up and down the steps. We headed back to the room and I hopped back on the table and baby bean was still on it's head. Fail. Off I went again for round two. This time Jay and I giggled as I choked down more water and broke a sweat. By this point my bladder was completely full and I was tired. Running up and down stairs is hard when you are pregnant! And do you think little bean even moved one inch? Nope.

I plopped myself on the table this time, out of breath and immediatly saw baby was still on it's head. It wiggled around and briefly jumped to it's back but wiggled right back upside down when she went to measure it, as if to say "haha mama, I tricked you!" Needless to say we left the appointment without the measurements needed. It was by far the best memory we've had so far though, and Jay already vocalized that we have a stubborn baby on our hands :0)

Oh and p.s. we went to a follow up ultra sound two days later and bean was still on it's head! You can see the little head at the bottom of the pictures. In the bottom picture bean has it's hand curled right next to it's face, hiding from mama + daddy! Little stinker. At least baby is super comfy :)

Lemon.

Baby bean is as big as a lemon this week! The bump says it's busy thumb sucking, toe wiggling, and starting to create urine. I find it so incredibly interesting that something that small can completely run my body and determine how I am feeling...amazing! Even when it was the size of a poppyseed it was already running my life ;)
I had a lot of last week off work so it was nice to be at home and relax. Jay finished painting the nursery and we have most of the furniture set up. We decided the chair we bought {which we picked out online} is horrendously uncomfortable, so we are returning that asap and picking out something soft and luxurious to take it's place =) It looked fabulous online but when we got it out of the box and put together it was stiff as a board--not something I want to be sitting in a couple times a day, every day with our baby. So hopefully we'll get that taken care of soon because returning things is always such a hassel.

On a better note we found and applied for a loan repayment/forgiveness program where they will pay a percentage of your student loans if you are teaching at a low income school. You have to qualify for 1 out of the 5 categories and Jay qualifies for 4, so we are hoping and praying that he gets approved. He had to get some forms signed by his principle and we've sent everything in and now we're just waiting to hear back. This would be a HUGE blessing for our family so please pray for us!

I started pre-natal yoga at my little yoga studio that I love, and lucky me- my favorite teacher from twilight yoga is a doula and also the pre-natal specialist at the studio. I just love her. The class was so amazing for my body. Lately I feel like I have no flexibility or balance and my body just aches. It felt so good to get on the floor and do some hip openers, abs and leg workouts. I was exhausted when it was over, and I can't wait for this weeks class. There are only 3 yogi's in the class so it's nice and intimate, and she puts a lot of focus and attention on your baby which I love. We're always focusing positive thoughts, energy, and feeling on our baby and I love it! She also shared a non-profit organization with us that holds free classes for expecting parents. When she was pregnant with her first baby she attended many of them and said they are fantastic. I was super excited to learn about this because I wanted to attend as many classes as we could afford, but man are they expensive! And I'm not sure if my insurance pays for them or not-but either way insurance is just a hassel and it's so nice that they are just free. You just show up and learn, not even registration is required. This is totally my kind of organization ;) So I printed off the schedule and we're going to go through it tonight and figure out which classes we want to take. We're also going to be talking about the option of having a doula, which I feel pretty strongly about.

And the best news is.........we scheduled our big ultra sound! We'll be finding out if we'll need to buy a football or ballet slippers on September 10th! Only 4 weeks away. Do you like how I am trying to convince myself that 4 weeks is not that long? It seems like an eternity!!!!!!!! What do you think we are having?