Only 4 months late...

Better late than never, I suppose. This is my side of the family (don't think we could fit DH's family in one shot...) at the big family Christmas party back in early December. It's also just a day after I found out that I was pregnant and was able to share the news with the whole family in person back home. Exciting stuff! Anyhow.. everyone is in the shot except my newly 16 year-old nephew who I think had a hockey game and was with his mom. The other 4 cutie pies are all there though!
(I should mention I had to steal this from my sisters facebook page... forgot it even existed! Go figure.)

Busy for the baby!

This weekend was crazy, although we didn't think it would be! First, my mom wanted to go shopping to get a celebratory outfit for finding out that we're having a little boy so we went shopping on friday afternoon. Since Janie and Jack (my new favorite store that has the cutest clothes... despite the fact that they are pricey!) sent me a friends and family coupon I decide to hit their sale rack where I did find the little man a couple of cute winter outfits. Unfortunately, I wiped out what little they had (they boys section was extremely picked over unfortunately and some of the outfits were still too pricey so I passed on them) and my mom hadn't found the right outfit so we left in search of the right one. After stops at Gymboree (glad we didn't shop here but more on that in a bit), and a few others, we ended up at the Childrens Place were we found lots of cute stuff! My mom ended up getting the baby not one, but 3 outfits and a hoodie that she couldn't pass up that I'll pair with jeans for him later.
Since DH missed out on the shopping, we decided we would go register on Sat. so that he didn't feel like he missed out on the shopping so much. After a couple of hours at Babys'r'us, we had our registry complete and not quite as full as we had thought it would be thanks to the generousity of friends. We also left with a gift bag from the store which was nice.
That night we went and had dinner with some very good friends of ours. We decided to check out a place DH had suggested and none of the rest of us have had. Its a Mongolian Bar-B-Que in Ogden... which if you've never had mongolian bar-b-que... its great! I had it alot when living in Idaho but not since then. This place wasn't quite as nice as I've had before but it was delicious! Afterwards we hit up the Ogden mall where we learned that the kids in our area are much more straight laced. I've never seen so many piercings on young teens in one place! The kids in our neighborhood are so clean cut and everything that it was a little bit of a shock to see such a dramatic difference not far from home! Anyways, we did a little shopping there where DH picked out 3 adorable outfits for the baby... one for immediately and the others for later on (including some of the cutest plaid shorts I've seen for babys!).
The best part of the trip up north to see our friends though was seeing their 5 month old baby boy! He is the cutest little guy ever and I loved seeing DH play with him as you could see the excitement from knowing he's going to have a son soon! As an extra treat... they sent us home with a ton of baby stuff! The baby is officially stocked up on recieving blankets and now also has a bathtub, moses basket (that was only used twice!), several more outfits and blankets, wipe warmer and a pair of the cutest shoes ever. The funniest thing was they kept apologizing because they only kept the gender neutral stuff at first since they didn't know what we were having. I am so blessed to have such wonderful friends that think that way! Although I think they're crazy for thinking that way since they gave us so much already and they didn't have to give us anything at all!
Anyways, other than all that, we also registered at Target (mainly for the gift since it included a $20 giftcard for shutterfly!) and spent the rest of the weekend cleaning house and doing homework. It was a busy weekend but tons of fun since it was spent thinking a lot about how our lives are going to be changing in less than 20 weeks!

5 months!

I'm officially 5 months along today which means I'm half way there to seeing my beautiful baby boy! Yea! Morning sickness has fully subsided (thank goodness) and there are very few things my body will reject, usually because of grease but otherwise I'm feeling great! I'm starting to feel more awake, although the pains are really kicking in.... some of which coming from the strong kicks of the little man. His favorite position is to be as stretched out as possible and there just isn't that much room for that!
Speaking of the little man.... after talking with my SIL the other night we found out that much of the family thought we were pulling a prank on them! They didn't believe that we're really having a boy! Goes to show how strong the curse of only having girls goes in my husbands family! They're all on board now, I think. If not, they will be rather soon since we'll be bringing our proof next time we see them all which is many pictures (4 of which he's bearing it all for us since he clearly wanted to make sure we knew he's a boy!), and a DVD the hospital gave us of the entire ultrasound. Also, we picked out the bedding so I'll post pictures of that soon although the online pictures don't do the set justice. We'll be picking out his first outfits this weekend too since we're hitting the sale racks of my favorite store for babies that I have a 25% coupon for! It's going to be hard to avoid the newborn stuff but we agreed to not buy any newborn to 3 month stuff since we know we'll get a lot of those sizes. The kid already has 4 pairs of shoes though that we found at kid-to-kid last night that are in perfect condition. Funny that he has shoes before clothes.... oh well.

Snips and snails and puppy dog tails....

Well, despite all odds (every generation of males in my husbands family has had a girl first), old wives tales, chinese gender calendar, etc. that have indicated this would be a girl, this little boy gave us a nice view to show that he is all boy! That's right... IT'S A BOY! While I'm a teeny bit bummed that this means no cute headbands and bows, I'm relieved that he is perfectly healthy (minus a few cysts that we go back in 2 months to check on... but don't appear to be a sign for anything at this point) and of course I'm ecstatic to finally know what the little baby who is slowly getting stronger each and every day is. My husband is thrilled beyond belief. No matter what I had hoped for, his face was priceless and I know having a boy means the world to him since he didn't think he would have a boy at all. This is truly the summer of boys... I can't wait for my precious son to get here!

A poll! ---->

Look to the sidebar... I posted a poll for fun. We have tons of family guessing about if we're having a boy or a girl so I thought it would be fun to see what everyone else thinks. My friend Stacey is convinced its a bouncing baby boy while several family memebrs are positive its a girl. I only have the poll set for 1 day since the big ultrasound is on wednesday so vote before then!!!

"If you had a pulse, we give you a loan"

For those interested, Dateline is doing a 3 part series on what lead to the state of our economy. Last night was on the mortgage mess and despite being rather on top of all the news about this, I was still shocked to hear what they had to say. Friday is about credit cards. Seriously, watch this or at least go to the site and check out some of the facts. Its amazing what people got away with. We've discussed it at work and I honestly think at this point, the first step to resolving our country's money problems is to start by educating people. Many people who ended up in bad loans were as a result of trusting those who they believed were honest people. Sad.... even more so look where our country is as a result.

Bring back the heat!

I know I will be eating these words later, but seriously, we were in the sunny low 70's this past week and today it is 30 degrees and snowing. It took me an hour to get to work because evidently as soon as the temperatures start to soar people suddenly forget how to drive in bad weather. It's been less than a month since the last snow but you would think it was a lot longer than that. ::sigh:: I know we need the snow but I really want to go play in the park with my dogs like I have this past week without freezing or worrying about them becoming pupcicles!

"Where's your daughter"

Conversation with our 5-year-old niece last night....

Niece: Where's your daughter??
Us: ::looking puzzled thinking we mis-heard:: Our dogs?? (this was the only thing we could think of that she might be saying....)
Niece: No, Where's your daughter??
Us: :: still puzzled:: Our daughter??
Niece: Yeah, your daughter.
Me: ::finally clicking:: Oh, the baby! Well, the baby is still in my belly!
Niece: Oh.
She then reached up to touch my belly and ran off to play.

The whole thing was comical since we were totally confused about what she was asking. She is a very smart child though and we think that there must have been conversations that she's overheard that I'm going to have a girl (not verified yet but DH's family thinks that I am due to the history of boys having lots of girls) and instantly thought I had a baby. She's the first child (under the age of 10) that has shown any interest in the fact that she has a new cousin on the way. Not a new event in our family but still cute to see the kids reactions.

5 days!

5 days until our big ultrasound when we find out the sex of the baby! SO EXCITED!

Where has time gone??

While looking at the calendar yesterday, I realized that I have exactly 6 weeks before all heck breaks loose! With my sleepless nights (I've been exhausted during the days due to having difficulty sleeping at night and the baby kicking isn't helping much since it makes it hard to get comfortable), I have no idea how I'm going to survive this summer. I think we have something planned every single weekend beginning at the end of april all the way till my due date (which we're going to have to pass on several things in July and August due to them being too far away). From baby blessings, weddings, showers, finals, graduations, vacations, family reunions, etc, its going to be insane. Makes the having the baby part look easy! For now I'm just trying to stay on top of life!

Dream Dinners

So, the sat. morning before DH's grandma passed away, we had made reservations to finally use our dream dinners gift card that my brothers family had given us for Christmas. We had been waiting for a good time to use it and ended up picking the ideal time as we have been so drained from everything that having meals pre-made has been a Godsend. We ended up making 11 meals while we were there and are now planning on going back again next month to make more meals! They have seriously been that good! So far we have had a calzone which fed us for 2 days, Walnut chicken raviolis (yum! Although we messed up that one since we didn't realize the raviolis had to stay frozen!), French Onion Chicken (wow! This one was amazing!), and then Island Chicken with Coconut rice (this one really surprised me since the chicken had a curry sauce that I wasn't expecting that went perfect with the coconut rice!). Really, the meals probably aren't all that hard to make in my own home but the convience factor with how busy we always are can't be beat. Besides, its allowing us to try things that we normally wouldn't attempt to make (like the mirabella chicken in my fridge... prunes aren't normally my thing but we were told this meal is a classic). My mom is going with us next month to try it out since we liked it all so much which we're excited about since the menu looks really good for that month! Who would've thought we would want to go back?!? We didn't think we would but I guess that turned out to be a good gift to give us!

18 weeks 3 days

So my last dr.'s appointment was actually last monday but due to everything going on at the time, I wasn't able to update. First, I finally met my new dr. and she is absolutely wonderful! We were so nervous meeting her, especially since we know how in demand she is and the fact that we were leaving a doctor that we adored (he doesn't deliver babies anymore). We opted to stick by all of our friends rave reviews and pushed to get in to see her. Thankfully I was put on her delivery schedule for August back in December so the old dr. just pushed to get us in. Since the baby is getting too big for the bedside ultrasound (boo! No more pictures at every appointment!), we instead got a sonogram and were able to hear the baby's heartbeat for the very first time. It was absolutely amazing to hear! We also go to hear how crazy the baby was since Jellybean was extremely active which the Dr. said is a very good sign that we're going to have one very healthy baby. I have gained weight, up 8 lbs now, but they were happy to see it since my weight had been dropping off previously due to morning sickness (which is slowly dissappearing... finally!). She also measured my belly for the first time which was right at 18 weeks. A little further than I was but close enough! We also opted to go ahead and test for Downs Syndrome and Spina Bifada to prepare ourselves in case the baby would need special care, and since they were already drawing blood the Dr. went ahead and had another vial drawn to check on my protein levels and see if my MTHFR would need to be addressed further and then scheduled to see me in another 4 weeks (which means I've been seeing a doctor every 2 weeks without fail....).
I had actually completely forgot about the blood being drawn until we got a call on thursday saying everything was normal! Yea! Definitely yea about not having to take more pills! And now we just need to wait for next week to roll around where we find out what we're having and the baby will get checked for any problems and I'll get checked to see if I'm having any blood flow concerns that could cause pre-clampsia. I'm sure everything will be fine though and we're just excited to find out if its a boy or girl!

On another note... evidently we're one of the "lucky ones" according to the nurse referring to our insurance. She asked if I had my payment and then realized I only had to pay $20 at my first appointment and that covers my Dr. 100%. I do admit, we have great insurance though since my medical bills will be under $300 after delivery and everything for this baby... yea to that!

"Mom, we're having a baby!"

I had to share this because it was too funny...
My SIL was pulling out an old car seat for her sister to use since she had flown down for the funeral with just her baby leaving her oldest two and her husband back home and was trying to bring as little as possible. Well, having five boys, they've been anxious to have another sibling (probably not going to happen) in the hopes of gaining a little sister. The second youngest saw the carseat and came running out when his mother came home shouting "Mom! We're having a baby!". Unfortunately she had to be the one to break the bad news that they weren't, but it was still really cute!

Saying Goodbye

Sat. was the funeral for DH's grandma. We started off the day at 9 am and didn't get home until nearly 6 so needless to say it was an incredibly long day between driving, the viewing, the service, burial and then the family luncheon. However, with each moment that passed, we learned something new and continue to do so as family members have begun to clean out her apartment. The mortuary did a beautiful job with her and she looked just as we remembered her as being several years ago, which was far better than when we said our goodbyes shortly after her passing. At the service we also heard wonderful stories of her life from numerous people. Of course it was mentioned how she had 30 grandchildren (all but a few are married), 97 great-grandchildren and 4 great-great grandchildren with the numbers continually growing (I believe there are about 4 of us pregnant right now). Pretty impressive numbers stemming from just 2 people. She also regularly kept a journal which is proving to be the most beautiful gift she could've left us. Never saying a mean word about anybody, she has provided the family with a window into her world and allowing all the kids a chance to relive moments they had with her years ago that they vaguely remember.
After the service we left for the burial site where we were all shocked to find a beautiful day laid ahead of us. It was supposed to be 40 degrees and windy but our car showed it was 57 degrees and a beautiful sunny day. All the great-grandchildren sung one last song and were given a rose off of her casket. We grabbed one for the baby which is currently drying and we're planning on putting in a safe spot in the baby's room.
Overall, the whole day was truly beautiful and touching. It was the final bit of closure that I think DH really needed, and some time spent with his family to reflect on her life and their memories of her.

Grief

I have a lot to update (well, sort of a lot), however, I will post about it at a later date. DH's grandmother passed away on sat. so it has been a rough week. DH has taken it really hard since this was his last living grandparent, and the only one he was close with. Even worse was that he was really thinking that she would make it to see the baby be born and we didn't make it in time to say goodbye. My mother-in-law went up that morning to see her since she wouldn't be able to make it the following day and discovered that her mother was having difficulty breathing. She left late that morning thinking everything was fine only to recieve a phone call from the nurse at the hospice that while it is possible she could be fine, it didn't look promising and she anticipated her being gone before nightfall. Everyone rushed but only one Aunt and her family was able to get there in time, which we are very grateful for. She was 96 years old and lead an inspiring life. I'm touched to have known her for the short time I have and am grateful for the things she has left behind, including her life story written down several years ago. I'm sad that the baby will never know this wonderful woman, but we know the baby will have someone truly special looking out for it!

Nightmares

Lately I've been having some really horrible nightmares, the type where I think every one of my fears appears in it, in particular regarding jellybean. One was really awful last night. They really remind me of the nightmares I had before I got married so I'm chalking it up to baby anxiety but I still wish they'd go away! Anybody know what I mean???

Round and Cute

This was exactly how DH described my belly last night. He told me that my belly is starting to look all "round and cute" and then quickly had a look of horror on his face and started backtracking so that I knew he didn't think I was fat or something. That part was quite entertaining! He is right though... my belly is slowly rounding out, and it appears I'm carrying a little higher than most woman we've seen that are due around the same time as me so my belly appears to be even more defined rather than looking like I just ate too many donuts! Honestly, right now it looks like I've stuck a small pillow under my shirt. Sorry, still no pictures yet since we keep forgetting. We'll shoot for this weekend to get some belly pics but no gurantees! As a side note, Roxy has found that my belly makes the perfect place to lay. She places herself half on Antonio (Thanks D for naming my pillow!) and the other half on my belly. I have a feeling the baby won't like that later on and anticipate Roxy getting kicked a few times later on!

I'm carrying an onion

This is the current vegetable that is comparable to jellybean. Last week it was an avocado, this week an onion. Hmmm...
Baby's skeleton is hardening, changing from rubbery cartilage to bone, and fat is finally accumulating around it. The umbilical cord is getting thicker and stronger, and those little fingers and toes are now topped by one-of-a-kind prints.

16 weeks 3 days

Along with already being 4 months along (wow, that first 4 months went quicker than I realized!), I have one week until my next appointment, 3 until we find out the sex, just over 2 months until gradution which happens to be one week before Hawaii! Add in the fact that my birthday falls in the middle of everything and it means the second trimester is going to be extremely busy! I can't believe that it is already March! Trying to decide which countdown I'm the most excited for, but they are all so exciting for various reasons (well, except the b-day... unless I can keep saying I'm 24 which was my favorite year thus far.... although looks like 27 is going to be a close call!)!

Busy, busy, busy

Wow, this weekend was a whirlwind of activity. I even commented to DH as we settled into bed last night that I felt like it was still friday, especially since I only got half of my stuff done that I wanted to (this includes homework which means I'll be finishing that up tonight!).

Fridays are always half days for me, which is always good news. However, we also recieved the bad news that day that one of our offices in the state will be closed in 8 weeks since the area is suffering really badly and our office can no longer support them. This, in a way, is good news since it prevents anyone in my office from being laid off. We have plenty of work, but not enough to share! After recieving that news, I decided to have lunch with my mama at her house and hung out with her for several hours. It was nice spending some quality time with my mom! I also took her to my house so she could see the beautiful crib she bought us all set up. Here is a picture of it (the best I could get at least from the website!) as well as a picture of the changer/hutch combination that hubby and I placed an order for on friday as well. They are both in espresso which is absolutely gorgeous!

Saturday, Dh and I decided to start our search for the perfect stroller since this (along with the changer combo) is one of our large purchases that would need to be made on our own. This was also one of the items that we were willing to spend slightly more on to ensure our baby is safe. We checked out babys'r'us where we got some extremely helpful tips from others who have done their research, and USAbaby where we got to play with some highend strollers. We fell in love with the Peg Perego, but alas, $800+ is not in our budget and we discovered that everything we liked and felt was necessary was in other strollers as well. Graco was quickly ruled out due to the difficulty of folding it (DH broke one at one of the stores! Oops!), but after looking at the Chicco (pronounced Keyco), we realized it had much more to offer anyhow. We ended up buying it in romantic" (shown) since it is pretty much the only one we both liked (and is brand new for 2009). Yes, I know we're jumping the gun with buying it, but we're going to have to buy it sooner or later anyhow and with how busy our summer is going to be we're trying to get the major stuff out of the way. Anyways, the carseat is rated #1 by consumer reports, can hold the baby up to 30 lbs (rather than 22 like most) and my favorite aspect is the stroller can be closed with one hand, stands on its own, and unfolds just as easy. Thank goodness. Folding strollers has been a nightmare of mine, especially after watching DH break the one! The stroller search took up most of sat. so after stopping by to show my parents, I headed off to church with them (while my amazing husband shampooed the carpets... I've been meaning to do that for weeks now!) and then came home and relaxed the rest of the night. Sunday was about the same... lots of relaxing time. We picked out the chairrail that will go in the baby's room (didn't purchase it yet), had a nice lunch and spent the rest of the day taking a nap and working on homework.

It was definitely a productive weekend and I have a feeling next weekend will be just as busy since we have a wedding to go to and are planning on finally using our gift card to dream dinners. I'll catch up on everything I need to do one of these days....