21 Weeks

So I'm already 21 weeks along and feeling great. It hit me the other day that I only have 19 weeks left...we are already in the teens of weeks left. It's so unreal to me that in such a short amount of time we get to meet our daughter. I tear up every time I think about her (which is all the time!).

My pregnancy has been very wonderful when I think about what it could be like. I have absolutely loved being pregnant. And I do mean that. I did throw up every day for the first 18 weeks, but lemme tell ya, if you haven't been pregnant yet you might not know, that it is totally worth it. Every time you get to hear that precious heartbeat, every time I look at the sonogram picture of her tiny profile, or every time you feel her move at all - worth it! I would throw up every day for the rest of my life in order to have her in our lives and I don't even know her yet.

But now on to the more glamorous parts. I am done being sick, I have had a teeny bit more energy, I have been able to eat all kinds of food, and I have been sleeping much better thanks to my a-may-zing body pillow.

I have gained 11 pounds so far and have had no concerns (after our first little scary at about 9 weeks). I am so thankful every day that I am pregnant. And now I know it's with a little girl. I can't believe it. I think I walk around in shock or overcome with gratitude every minute of the day.

Happy 21 Weeks to our Baby Girl!

"Y'all Ready for This..."

Last Friday, on July 27th, we went to the doctor and found out that we have a perfect, healthy baby....GIRL! Can you imagine how overwhelmed with gratitude and relief we were to hear the doctor start in..."There's her heart and all four chambers, there's her bladder and it's full so we know her kidneys are working, there's her spine which is perfectly aligned..." and on and on. How many seconds into this appointment until both David and I couldn't stop crying? I'm going to be nice and say two.

And then, after we celebrated and thanked God together for our perfect baby girl, we went and told our family and close friends. And how overwhelming was that? I don't think I stopped crying from Friday at 3:20 until this morning. We are both completely overcome with joy. We love our friends and families so much, and to see them love this baby girl so much already is completely too much to handle.

Check her out for yourselves and tell me this isn't the cutest profile you have EVER seen.

Halfway!

That's right friends - we are halfway through the pregnancy and that much closer to meeting our little son or daughter. 20 weeks along and loving it! I feel great. I am still really tired, but the sickness and vomiting has completely left. I am nauseous a little bit of the day or if something gross happens, but that's it. I am learning to sleep on my side. And I can eat almost anything. And the best news of the day is that in just three days we get to see our precious little one! We cannot wait. It's all I can think about! I can't wait to share with you that our little one (or ones...I keep saying that it's twins and I had a very vivid dream that it was!) is healthy and growing strong.

Pink or Blue!

I can't believe that next Friday we get to see our precious little one! We are excited to find out the gender if we can. Our appointment is at 3:30 on Friday. Is that going to be the longest work week, and especially longest day, or what? Oh my, how will I ever make it until 3:30 on Friday?

After our appointment we are going to have a gender reveal party with our small group and family members. Nothing big, just a cookout and relaxing. We asked people to wear pink or blue depending on their guess and I am going to have them sign a guessing sheet for the scrapbook. And then, I won't tell you exactly how we will announce the gender, but I can tell you it involves Bo and the picture below (so I guess you can figure it out - I'm not good with surprises. Hence the gender reveal party right after the appointment - we can't wait to share our news!).

Almost Halfway There

Although I'm so excited to be this far along in the pregnancy, I keep feeling panicked and thinking that it's going by so quickly! I can't believe I'm almost to the halfway mark with this baby. And even more unreal to me is that we get to see this tiny guy or gal in less than two weeks. Please say prayers for us that Baby R is healthy and developing and perfect. I couldn't care less whether it's a he or a she. Check out the bump.

Popped! 19 Weeks and Counting

I have so much to report about this week, Week 19 of the baby bump. I realized yesterday that I had officially not thrown up for a whole week! I think it's over. Now let me warn you sisters that haven't been pregnant yet, morning sickness does NOT go away when you hit your second trimester. As you can see, mine lasted through 18 weeks. Yep, 18 glorious weeks of throwing up in the work bathroom between meetings. And I'm just being silly, the weeks really have been glorious, I promise. Vomit or not, this is such an amazing miracle that I can't even talk about this pregnancy without tearing up (or bawling like a baby in the shower, but tearing up sounds more glamorous). So I think I've hit the sweet second trimester part that everyone talks about, much less nauseousness and no more vomiting. I've been able to eat almost anything and feel great for most of the day.

And the best part about this week is that I've completely popped out! Everyone even notices and agrees now. I've said it's an odd world when a girl gets her feelings hurt when people say they can't tell she's pregnant and rejoices when people agree about how big she is.

Be prepared to be shocked by this picture below. These are side by side photos of 17 weeks and 19 weeks in the same shirt. I promise, they are only two weeks apart. I know, I know, pick your jaw up off the floor now. My doctor told me at my last appointment to try to gain a pound a week on average before I saw her next. I think she will be thrilled (or tell me to slow it down) when I see her in two weeks! What do you think?

One of the Very Best Weekends

This was one of my very favorite weekends ever. We had a plan this weekend to get our kitchen tiled and our friends' bathroom and bar area tiled. Little did we (the three tile boys) know, that tiling takes a lot longer than you might think. A whole lot. Luckily, we are all best friends and had a blast of a weekend even if we didn't get quite as much done as we planned. What we did get accomplished was hours and hours of hanging out, cooking, tiling, laughing, and feeling like an episode of Friends. We spent from Friday after work until this morning together and I couldn't be happier (well I could, only if even more of our best friends were there too!).

Our friends' bathroom and bar area look absolutely amazing and are complete except the grout, 16 freezer meals (I went home with 8!) are complete and ready to get my husband through a couple of months since I despise cooking after work, and we are all completely exhausted but filled to the brim with energy from being together and talking and resetting.

Friday night we all met at Chick-Fil-A while the boys ordered pizza and got started. And from there on out we relaxed and cooked and ran errands and talked, talked, talked. I didn't get any laundry done, my kitchen floor is a little torn up and will be for another week, I ate too much ice cream, and I didn't get much of anything accomplished around my house. However, I feel like this weekend is one I will remember for a very long time. Thanks to our dear friends for hosting us all weekend. We can't wait to do it all over again when it's time to start our kitchen.

And if anyone starts to say that maybe we don't need to tile our kitchen, maybe it's too much work...take a peak at what I'm dealing with day in and day out....

Yes, we need to tile.

Old Purple Dress

I had to post this picture, even though it's the middle of a week - 18 and a half - because the last time I wore this dress was to my wedding shower two years ago. I put it on and remembered that day perfectly. All day yesterday I thought about how two years ago I was engaged to this wonderful man and I thought my life was perfect. Don't get me wrong, it was. But now, putting this dress on over this bump, I can't stop smiling thinking about how if I had only known then how much better it was going to get..

Notice in the first two pictures, the lack of baby bump (and Sister #1 and then one of my best friends)

And now - woah baby bump!

My aunt wrote a book and it's called "The Best is Yet To Be." I think every time I wear this dress I will think about that phrase.

Half Full

I love the part that says "Maybe it's because I rejoice over what I have and don't grieve over what I don't have." It's not about being a lucky person or having everything you love. I've always tried to make every situation the most positive and happy as possible. I love my life and I think it's because it's a wonderful, beautiful life, but I also think it's because I make it that way. Not everything is bright and shiny in my life at all times, but I try to make those pieces bright and shinier if I can. I have the best base. I love God and I love my husband. And I know my husband loves me. And somehow, those facts make everything else seem bright and shiny when they might not be otherwise. I love this part in Anna Karenina. Levin is having a hard time at this point, yet he focuses on what he does have when it would be so easy to be upset and down. He makes sure this spring day is the best it possible can be. I used to have a habit (some might call it an annoying one) that I would try to wake up thinking that this very day was going to be the best day ever. I think it's something to strive for.

18 weeks! Oh my!

In less than three weeks we get to see our tiny little angel (or as I'm thinking from this huge belly, both of our little angels!) We can't wait :) This past week we picked out tile and this coming weekend David and our friend are going to tile our kitchen floor and our friend's bathroom while the friend's wife and I make some freezer meals. David and I went to pick out tile. Kinda. See picture below. He's on the phone with the friend because we can't really make decisions.

 

18 weeks and getting ready to go garage sale-ing with a friend.

 

18 weeks!

 

 

Picking out tile. 

Tuesdays Are The Best!

I have always loved Tuesdays and today did not let me down. First of all, we have had my perfect little 5 year old nephew staying with us for the past three days and had so much fun. Our youngest nephew has been sick and in the hospital (but he is doing better and maybe comes home tomorrow), so we have been keeping the 5 year old and having a blast distracting him from worrying about his little brother and missing his parents. We went to the pool, made fun dinners, played fun games, and went to friends' houses. I miss him already!

Good thing we had our doctor's appointment to hear the perfect little heartbeat to distract us! I am now almost 18 weeks and the baby's heartbeat was perfect and strong. I am feeling better than I've been feeling and only get sick every few days instead of every day. I even have a little bit more energy I think. I have been having more cravings and much less aversions to food. I have been loving sweet potatoes and avocados. And I've gained 6 1/2 pounds up to this point. Everything is right on track, and in 3 1/2 weeks we get to have a sonogram and see our precious little one!

Also, today, our front deck was finished! Such a fun time for us.