Christmas

I love Christmas time! Since David and I have been married we have always bought a real Christmas tree and this year was no exception. We picked one out from a tree lot that I highly recommend (they always have great trees) and decorated it while watching Christmas Vacation. Callie always has to take a picture wearing her favorite antlers and collar in front of the tree. 

This is how she really feels about it! 

I love watching Christmas movies. This year I was able to watch a bunch of Christmas movies because we had a week off before Christmas- It was awesome! I love baking cookies. For the past 4 years, a group of friends have done a cookie exchange. I have to say this year was some of the best cookies! Which is great since I am pregnant and like sweets more than I used too! 

I love spending time with family. It's nice because for the past two years we have been able to spend 2 days with our families. This way we aren't having to leave one family to get to the other- each family has one day. We had a great time at both families! This year was our last Christmas without a baby and I am sure will be very different than our future Christmases to come. Usually I am very melancholy the day after Christmas because I look forward to it so much and then it is over, but this year I was not sad. We have such exciting things coming up: baby showers, getting her room ready, and having a daughter, that I had so much to look forward too that I wasn't sad Christmas was over. Plus David had time off work so we had a lazy day together and then the next day went to the movies and dinner. It was nice getting to spend so much time together- just the two of us (insert heart and smiley face!). 

Sister in laws

 My family (for another few months until we add a baby girl!)

Family 

Playing Guesstures 

Baby girl got some presents too! We also got some more packs of diapers but I figured we didn't need to see all those! It's funny the gifts you get excited about when you get older- who knew diapers would be so exciting! 

Candy Making Weekend

We have had another successful candy making weekend with family! It is a family tradition for the girls to get together to make candy recipes that have been passed down from my grandmothers family. We have tried our own recipes but the best are the ones that have been passed down! It was neat because we had 4 generations helping to make candy this year. We always have a great time baking, laughing, and telling stories.

Baby and Belly Continue to Grow

Well I am at 27 weeks now and the baby and my belly are continuing to grow! All my appointments have been good and normal, my doctor says I am having an easy pregnancy (knocking on wood now)! We have started our preparations for baby girl. We have registered, picked out bedding, and started to look at child care. I don't remember if I talked about registering in previous posts but oh my it is a very fun and very overwhelming task! I have talked to my friends who just had babies and asked for "must have items" so that helped when we registered. David and I have gone twice and my mom and I have gone once. The first time David and I went, we were in the isle where you put babies to sit in things- swings, bouncers, vibrators, high chairs, etc.and David asked me "What do we need to put her in?" and I was like Ahh, I don't know!" It's all good now but that was the moment I panicked and thought- I don't know what a baby needs! She will have plenty of love and we will have plenty of support so it's all good!!!

24 Weeks

25 Weeks

26 Weeks

Baby Bump is growing quickly!

When I found out I was first pregnant, I swore I could see the baby bump. Well looking back at those pictures I realize that the little "bump" I was seeing is nothing compared to the bump now. It's like all of a sudden my stomach is growing at a rapid rate. I put all the pictures of pre-baby in a photo album and it's fun to look at all the changes and growing little girl and I are doing. Here are some more:

 19 Weeks 

 20 Weeks

 21 Weeks

22 Weeks

Baby Girl has a wardrobe already

Well it has been 2 weeks since we have found out that we are having a baby girl and she has already has a wardrobe! Every time we see a grandparent, the wardrobe grows!

A cute and educational learning station for little girl! 

It's a Girl!!!

It's a girl!!! Yesterday we found out that we are having a baby girl, a daughter! Seeing the ultrasound was absolutely amazing, there are no other words to describe it. It is a miracle and proof that God exist- seeing a baby and their beating heart growing inside of me. I had a grin on my face all evening and today it is sinking in that I am going to have a daughter. During the ultra sound, baby girl was moving so much the tech was having a hard time measuring different things and finding the gender. Finally she started cooperating and the tech was able to show us her head, heart, kidneys, spine, hands, feet, and all the other amazing things you see at an anatomy/gender scan. She measures normal to petite on everything- a healthy baby!!! The last thing the tech told us was boy or girl because little bit wouldn't open her legs. Finally she was able to get a confirmation that we are having a girl. I cried, happy tears. David and I were both amazed at how real it is now. I mean we are actually having a real person, a daughter, we can now picture our family. 

After the ultra sound, we had our family over to reveal boy or girl. It was such a fun night! Both sides came over and we had them guess boy or girl. I made a scrapbook page where they recorded their guess on colored dots. I also made an Old Wives Tale Chart so they could see what those said (it was fun making it and doing them). I made a banner and David wrapped a box. After the appointment he got balloons and filled the box so we could open in and the colored balloons would come out. You can see the decorations below (thank you Cricut cutter). We both stood by the box, opened it,  and pink balloons floated out. Our families were so excited- they jumped up, screamed, and cried. It was so exciting to see their reactions! Hugs and tears were shared. We laughed, told stories, and ate. I loved every minute of it!!! It was a special event and I am sure my quick retelling of it didn't give the night justice. 

Growing Belly among other things

Well I can see now how being pregnant changes your entire body, not just your belly! I just thought that your belly was the only thing that grew, I knew other parts of you had to grow too because I have read books and seen pregnant women, but I still had this fantasy that I would look the same but with a belly. Oh man, I had no idea what was in store for me! Needless to say my belly is not the only thing that has grown. My pants no longer fit, even with the rubber band trick (and its not all because of the belly!). My bra definitely doesn't fit- I mean I had to go up a cup size and a waist size- I feel like they account for half of my weight gain! I just wasn't expecting so much body change like your skin, especially the acne that has appeared on my face, chest, and back. I even had a past student ask me why I had more dots on my face this year than last year, yes lovely right?! Despite the acne and growing body, the 2nd trimester is a great time. Everyone knows, you can see the baby bump, only a little nausea, and not nearly as tired as before. We have started registering and I have started accumulating maternity clothes. It is a fun time! My goal today is to clean out the closet in the office so the baby stuff can go there (this means that I have to get 2 closets of clothes into 1). Any clothes that don't fit will go into a box for later, so I can conserve space. This will be a long task I just know it! Here are some pictures of my growing belly:

13 Weeks

14 Weeks 

15 Weeks

 16 Weeks

17 Weeks

Adorable Halloween Socks for next Halloween from a great co-worker! 

Flowers from my husband when we found out we were pregant

We are having a baby!!!

It has been a long time since I have blogged because the most exciting news I wanted to share I couldn't! It was the hardest thing to keep quiet because it is something you are the most excited about sharing with others. Those of you who know me, know that I am a sharer so this was exceptionally hard for me to do but I did it! Of course we told our parents and siblings the week we found out because we wanted to share the good news with them. It was so fun to see the reactions on their faces when we told them. Telling people is the best! I can honestly say that everyone was genuinely excited for us. We have received many hugs, kisses, smiles, cards, and well-wishes since sharing. We have also started to receive gender predictions- another fun thing! I am getting ahead of myself- so I am 13 weeks and have a healthy baby growing inside me. We have seen an ultra sound picture at 8 weeks and one at 12 weeks. Let me tell you it is amazing how much a baby grows in 1 month! See for yourself:

 8 weeks- looks like a gummy bear

 12 weeks- looks like a baby with all body parts! The pictures don't even do the experience justice. We could see the baby moving his/her arms and one hand was in front of his/her face in the picture below. It was absolutely and amazing thing to see! 

I have also begun taking belly pictures. Now some people think that they can't tell but I think it is obvious. It is my body so I can tell all the changes that have occurred and are occurring, so to me it is clear. It is crazy how your body just changes! I mean lots of things, that you totally don't expect to change do. Like my face- my skin was clear before but now it has broken out, including my chest and back. The old wives tale is that a girl makes your skin do that because she is sucking out your beauty! My hips must be widening now because they are achy, especially after standing at work and sleeping at night. I have finally started to feel good so I am getting back into my exercise routine- although nothing like it was before baby but I figure something is better than nothing.

Here is 11 weeks- at this stage there is no more sucking the tummy in

Here is 13 weeks

It was hard to dress in the beginning because I didn't want people to know so I had to wear flowy shirts that didn't show my extra donuts around the middle. I am not a flowy shirt person so it was kinda hard to dress myself! I have succumbed to the rubber band through the button hole trick and am pretty soon going to say forget it and go to maternity pants! Now that people know I can wear shirts that show it. When I went to the gym earlier this week, I realized that I am at the stage where I could be adding more pounds and not necessarily looking pregnant- oh well. 

Here is the picture we used to announce our good news: 

David found the shirt idea online and my mother-in-law embroidered it. 

Baby also has some clothes and toys already! Although this shouldn't surprise me that Baby has stuff! This is grandbaby number 1 for my parents and grandbaby number 2 for David's parents so there is lots of excitement between them! 

Baby's first onesie- my parents went to Las Vegas and came back with this. 

Now Baby has 2 onesies- my parents decided to buy Baby a piece of clothing from all the places they visit. 

 Baby's first toys

We are in for an exciting adventure!