23 weeks and a moving baby!

Another week complete, and needless to say it was a crazy one. I left Monday night for a conference in Wisconsin. For about 40 miles it was near whiteout conditions...it was probably the scariest thing I've ever had to do. There were times I wanted to pull over, but the roads were so bad, I really had no idea where I was, or if I pulled off the road if someone would be able to see me. I was terrified. There were a few things that got me through the drive. 1, was the fact that having a family is something that always pushes me to be a little safer, and stay a little calmer. 2, I was listening to the Max Lucado book 3:16 on CD and was constantly reminded of how amazing God is, and knew that He would protect me. The 3rd thing that got me through the drive was I really started feeling this baby kick. It was amazing and all of a sudden that motherly instinct kicked in, and I really went into protective mode. Once I made it to Madison, I was exhausted, but much calmer. It was a great conference and I had some great alone time, eating dinner alone at a restaurant, reading a book, was a much needed rest time.

The baby has started moving more and more! When I got home, Josh was able to feel the baby move for the first time. It was great. There is nothing more amazing to me than feeling a baby move. Everytime I feel the baby, I feel blessed and amazed at the miracle of life.

Here are the pictures of the week. I am up another .5 pound from last week, so I know the weight is coming. I am just hoping that it doesn't creep up to fast and too much.
And the bare belly...it's getting bigger and strangers are really starting to notice and question, so now I am pretty sure that I look pregnant and not just fat! :)

22 weeks

22 weeks down and 18 left to go (or less!!) I feel like I am really starting to show more and people seem to finally be realizing that I am pregnant, so that's exciting. I have started to feel a little more movement, but still not a ton yet. Everything still feels like flutters.

I leave for Wisconsin for the Career Conference tomorrow, so that means 3 days away from Mia and Josh. I'm going to miss them tons, hopefully I can get some good sleep while I'm gone, but I doubt it. Here are this weeks pictures. I gained 2.5 pounds this week...YIKES! That's okay though, I am enjoying watching the belly grow.

Here are the new belly pictures from this week.

And the bare belly

21 weeks and Nursery Furniture

This week has been pretty exciting, I got to order the new furniture for the nursery. I guess for me, that makes it start feeling even more real! We have started cleaning out the nursery (the Old Office) and have picked out paint colors for the room. We are going to do the walls sage green, and the wall right behind the crib chocolate brown. I am so excited. Here is the furniture we bought for the new baby's room. These pictures are from the website. Both pieces will be cherry (the color of the crib in the picture below). I scored a GREAT deal on both of these, one I couldn't pass up. I got both of the pieces for 50% off during a sale (actually during a company misprint, that they honored). YAY!!




We decided to start the nursery with gender neutral bedding. We will keep this bedding for awhile until we decide to go with a more gender specific bedding. The bedding we picked out is super cute, this is the comforter (which we didn't get), but the bumper looks just like it. The crib skirt is sage and chocolate brown dots...super cute. Below are a couple of options we have picked out if it's a girl and one if it's a boy. I think both are adorable! :)

And that brings me to the infamous belly pictures. First of all, on a good note, I lost 2 pounds this week. So I am thinking the scale was off last week. That means I am only up 1 pound from 2 weeks ago, putting my total weight gain so far at 2 pounds. I am pretty excited about that. I have been feeling movement a little bit, since my placenta is anterior (in front) it is harder to feel, but I am starting to feel it more and more. Everytime I feel this baby move I remember how blessed I am to be carrying this child.

And here is the bare belly picture, I feel like I may have finally popped out! :)

One final note...to stick with our surprise theme, Josh and I have decided on names. We are set on our boy's name, and have our girl's name narrowed down to two. We are super excited. We decided to keep our names a secret for a couple of reasons:
1) We don't want to hear any feedback on our choices
2) We aren't sure which girl name we want to use yet, so if it's a girl, we want to wait to see our little girl before we name her.

So...come May, there will be LOTS of surprises! :)

Also check out the header of my blog and take a guess on who this little baby is.

20 weeks and the weight gain begins!

So I knew it was inevitable that at some point the weight gain would start, I was just hoping it wasn't this fast. This week I gained 3 pounds...YIKES...that is NOT good! Oh well...that only puts me up 4 pounds at 20 weeks, so I guess I will be happy with that. This week was a great one with our big ultrasound and a friends wedding. Whenever I attend weddings, I always remeber how lucky I am that I was able to marry my best friend and begin a family with him. Here is a picture of our family at the wedding.

And here is my belly today at 20 weeks....halfway there

And for fun here are some comparison pictures.

And the famous bare belly shot.
20 weeks pregnant with #2

20 weeks pregnant with Mia

Big Ultrasound...It's A...

Surprise!! We held out and told the tech right away we didn't want to know. I am sure Josh and I were both having some thoughts about finding out, but now that we don't know we are SUPER excited!! Everything was great, baby's heartrate was 148 and baby is measuring great. There is nothing more amazing to me than seeing a baby growing inside you, watching it move and yawn and wiggle its toes. I feel so blessed to be able to experience all the things that come with motherhood. At one point duirng the ultraosound, we were looking at the baby's toes and the baby reached down and grabbed its toes and played with them.

Here are some pictures taken from our ultrasound.
Here is the baby looking down and it has its right hand by its face with its thumb out

Here is a profile shot of our little babe

Baby gave us a thumbs up!
And sweet baby toes.

19 weeks

19 weeks pregnant today. Mia has been in "Mom ONLY" mode lately, as in, I can't go to the bathroom, leave the room, be out of her sight without a major freakout. She wants to come give me a hug 15 times a day, or hold my hand, or sit on my lap. The Old Wives Tale would say that means we are having a boy...so we'll see. Speaking of gender, tomorrow is my ultrasound. I can't believe we are already to the point of our "BIG" ultrasound. We still plan on not finding out, so I'll let you know how that turns out.

Here is a great picture of Mia and Grandma today at Brunch. I just love this picture of both of their smiles. Mia is so blessed to have both sets of grandparents in town to build amazing relationships with.

Here is a family picture from today at brunch
And here is the belly. I didn't gain any weight this week, so I am standing solid at +1 pounds still at 19 weeks. I am pretty happy with that. I am pretty sure that Stroller Strides is keeping me in line.

And here is the bare belly, it's growing!

Recap of 2009

2009 was an amazing year. It was a year filled with trials and tribulations, joys and sorrows, but most of all it was filled with family and friends and amazing memories. This year went so fast that I thought I would catch you up with a quick photo recap.

January

February

March

April - Mia turned 1 year old

May

June

July

August

September was a busy month for us. Josh turned 29, Mia stayed away from home for the very first time and we found out Mia was going to be a big sister.

October brought our 5 year wedding anniversary and the joy of an 18 month old little girl

November

December brought Christmas, Santa and Mia's first experience playing in snow.

This year has been so busy, but it has been such a blessing watching Mia grow into the little girl she is becoming. She is full of personality, she talks up a storm. She loves her babies, her Dog, watching Dora and Curious George. She has brought so much joy to our lives and continues to teach us patience, understanding and finding joy in the little things in life.
Hope 2010 brings just as many memories and experiences.