Fourteen Weeks and Free Stuff!

Today I and baby are 14 weeks along! He/she is the size of a lemon, about 3 1/2 inches from head to rump. :) Cutest lemon ever. We enjoyed walking to Dutch Bros. and sunbathing in the backyard with Amy today! Get that belly tan!!

Brian and I have been really into downsizing expenses lately to save, save, save! We just canceled our gym membership and internet and Netflix! That'll be a nice savings per month. I've also been getting into coupon clipping. I clipped 6 or so coupons today all for our date nights this coming month. Buy one get one free Baskin Robins, discounts on frozen yogurt or coffee at shops. We are also refinancing our house, which means about a $100 per month small mortgage! It's exciting to us. :)

Down the street there was a yard sale going on with some cheap stuff, and also a lot of free stuff. There were two upright car-seats for free. I walked down there and got the nicer of the two. Free is a GREAT price! We are surrounded by generous people who love us and our baby, and are getting lots of cute free stuff from them as well. The family I used to nanny for is giving us an ADORABLE vintage high-chair that their daughter outgrew! Here's a photo:

My parents have offered my bassinet, cradle, and crib from my childhood! All in white, which is what I would buy anyway! Our friends the Porters are giving us their beautiful white glider and ottoman that is still very unused and clean! Another friend is giving us her Moses basket lined in tulle which is the theme I want! What amazing blessings! I'm using lots of exclamation marks, because I am really THAT excited about everything! I'm feeling so loved and so excited for this baby to enter our world.

That's my rant for now. :) Thanks everyone for all the blessings already! And thanks for reading my blog, friends.

Right on Track!

So, I think it was two posts ago that I wrote (to the baby) about the possible options that we needed to find out via ultrasound. My uterus seemed really high for being in my 14th week, and I am convinced I have felt the baby move little bits. Well, the options were that I may be further along than I thought, or that it could be twins possibly... or that I got pregnant a month earlier with twins and miscarried one, etc etc. Those were all just possibilities, but I was confident in my calculations and that I didn't have twins. (Though I wish I did)! Anyway, the ultrasound proved that my original due date is correct and that the baby is right on track with that calculation. The ultrasound tech said she would move me to being 14 weeks 5 days, rather than 13 weeks 5 days, but that makes no since based on my cycle schedule. So I'm sticking to my calculations, a lovely 13 weeks and 5 days today. We loved seeing our baby! We really only wanted one ultrasound at 20 weeks to find out the sex and not overexpose our baby to ultrasounds, but we also wanted to know exactly what was happening. Glad we did it, wish we could've found out today so we wouldn't have to get anymore ultrasounds! I asked the tech if she could look between the legs, she said she could, but then never did..... ? That was interesting, lol.

All in all we had a good experience this morning, and are so happy to have some pics of our sweet faced little baby. We love you, Little One!! You have the cutest little pot belly I've ever seen! Looks like you may have your momma's nose, it looks turned up in the pictures. She took pictures of you so fast that we couldn't really see you in action much, but at one point I saw you punch one of your little arms. Cutest little thing I've ever seen. You are 3 oz. approximately now, what a little chunk! ;-p Can't wait to hold you, see you, and kiss you! Only about 5.5 months left!

Practicing Parenthood.

Brian and I have the privilege of watching our good friend's little guy, Hudson Porter. He is 4 months old, and a complete joy! We have had him since Sunday afternoon, and he leaves us Friday morning. While his parents are enjoying a pastor's conference in Colorado, we get to practice being parents!

He sleeps awesome. Still in the lots-of-naps during the day stage, which is great. He also sleeps pretty solid through the night, only awaking when his beenky falls out. Currently I am battling major allergies and possibly a cold. I AM SO STUFFED UP! It's even hard for me to want to go outside, open our windows, or roll down windows in the car while driving because of my hay fever. It's gotten a little worse every year I've noticed, however it is especially bad this summer being pregnant. All the symptoms are just magnified from my already stuffy/swollen sinuses. All that being said, I wish I had the energy to run around and play outside with Hudson more. Staying inside is working for now, though. I've been getting lots of laundry and ironing done. :)

Yesterday was HOT for Salem! It was in the 80's, and poor Hudson started feeling it in our un-air conditioned house yesterday evening. He just started bawling on the couch and turning red. Brian installed our air conditioning unit in our bedroom which was truly a gift last night! I put a wet wash cloth on Hudson to cool him off and took him into the air conditioned room, and he suddenly loved life again! Here's a video of Brian blowing and pretending to blow in his face. He would prepare for it coming, then get tricked! It was SO cute. He was happy for the rest of the night.


Please ignore the horrible video quality! I thought it was upside down, but it wasn't so I flipped it the wrong way. Anyway...

Dear Little One

Dear Little One,

Now I am 13 weeks and 3 days pregnant with you. We made it through our first trimester - YAY! We, dad, and Auntie Tara went out to Bella Vie yesterday for our appointment. We got the privilege of hearing your strong little heartbeat! What a powerful experience. The midwife, Carmen, said it would take a while to find you in there, however, instantly we heard you! You were right in front. You made me cry tears of joy, an experience I could never adequately describe. Your daddy's face was priceless, he was so proud and in awe.

One very interesting thing came up, though. I told the midwives Carmen and Desiree that I (am pretty positive) have felt you move a bit since last Wednesday night (June 15). Desiree took an interest in that, then asked to feel my belly. She was doubtful that I could feel you that early - as was I. When she felt my belly she was surprised at how high my uterus is, for how far I am. She, a woman not fond of ultra-sounds, highly suggested we get an ultrasound soon! There are three possibilities for this: 1) You are twins :) 2) You are 17 weeks instead of 13, or 3) I could have a very frontal uterus.

What a surprise!

Either way, we scheduled an ultra-sound for this Thursday morning (June 23rd). Daddy and I were both reluctant on putting you through an ultra-sound, but decided we'd like to know what the deal is! We will get to actually see your little body, fingers & toes, head & nose. (I'm not gonna lie, I'm very excited)!

Happy first day of summer, Little One! Hope the summer treats us well, and that my allergies will subside soon.

I love you very much. You are such a blessing to our lives. I pray that I can be the mommy that you deserve. Only by the grace of God!

Love,
Your Momma

Sweet Beat.

13th week!

Well, another week has passed, we are now at 12 weeks 3 days. I see now why EVERY pregnant friend I've talked to says they hate the 'in between stage.' Not too firm a belly, but bigger than normal. I just got home from a walk with the dog, and she actually walks me. I am just wearing a thin t-shirt, no hoodie, and I felt SO jiggly. When I walk our dog, she DRAGS me the entire time, even when she's tired. She never walks next to me, she's always going full force. It's hilarious, but I felt not-so-hot following behind her today jiggling like there's no tomorrow. :-p

Enough venting, I am feeling my fundus like WHOA this past week! {The fundus is the top portion of the uterus}. My husband gets confused every time I say that word to him. :) Anyway, I swear I feel it getting higher and higher each day. This is so exciting to me! I'm totally into being totally in touch with my growing baby/body, especially with my interest in midwifery. Anyway, my FUNDUS is about at belly button level, which is getting up there! It makes me so excited that there is something causing this bloated tummy and that it is becoming more evident everyday. Such an exciting process!

As I mentioned in my last post, I am no longer working at Great Harvest, so I am able to concentrate more on taking care of the house. I am loving it!! All last week I was sick, and gaining new sickness symptoms everyday, which made last week not too successful in my projects. However, I am feeling a ton better now and fired up about doing things.

I really want to buy a camera soon!! Brian and I were looking (for fun) at some yesterday, and I am inspired to get one. I think it's silly taking all my photos on my phone, lol. I really enjoy reading a blog with crisp, nice photos while explaining their post. It makes for such a pleasant blog reading experience! :) Speaking of a phone photo... Here I am today at 12 weeks 3 days. :)

How it began. :)

So, I haven't journaled or blogged anything, really, so far about the excitement of this pregnancy. I really want to before I forget details and fun facts. Here's the story of the very very beginning. :)

For starters, Brian and I thought it would be hilarious if we pulled an "April fools" on facebook telling everybody we were pregnant. We got a good friend (Nichole Haverland - our wedding photographer) who was 5 months pregnant at the time, to take a pregnancy test for our prank. So she did, and late the night before April 1st, we posted a couple of pics. One up close of the positive pregnancy test and one of us holding it, with excited faces. We wanted to get it up the night before to make it more "realistic." Well, that plan worked, unfortunately. We were immediately flooded with phone calls, texts, and all sorts of comments on facebook. Everyone was SO excited for us. It was funny at first, then we started feeling a little bit guilty. Then when a good friend from church texted me saying "I am praying for you and your baby!!!!!" - I lost it. I felt like the meanest person on earth!! So, we immediately took it down and told everyone the truth on facebook. We got so many comments about being the person who cries wolf, yadda yadda.

Now, as most of you know about me, I have wanted to be a mom since the day I was born. I was ready on our honeymoon to start having babies, but we committed to two years. Two years quickly changed to one year, and we were both ok with that. Well, right around the time of our April fools joke we *ahem* didn't watch our birth control method too closely, and God blessed us with a little "April fools" miracle. He thought it would be funny to pull the trick on us - which it was. And I am ever so thankful.

About one week to one and 1/2 weeks after the April fools joke, I was feeling nauseated all the time at work. I worked at Great Harvest bakery, and none of the freshly baked goods smelled good to me. Everything smelled horrendous and strong. One day while helping a customer who seemed to be taking FOREVER making up their mind, I got the watery mouth. I got so antsy, I wanted them to hurry up and make up their mind or I was running to the bathroom. I think I may have rushed them a little bit by my antsy-ness, and we finished up their transaction. At that point I knew something weird was going on. Either I was sick with some kind of mild flu that wouldn't come full force, or ...... I....... was........... pregnant? I really didn't think that was an option, though I wished it was.

A day or two after the customer incident I was grocery shopping and decided to throw a pregnancy test in the mix - a two pack, in fact. I went home, took it immediately, and it was negative. So then I was confused - what the heck? I'm never nauseous. I waited two days, wasn't feeling any better, so decided to take the other one in the pack. Brian kind of rolled his eyes a little bit at me for being so obsessive. But I needed to get to the bottom of this nausea! I took it while he was out running errands, set it down and didn't look at it for a little bit. Suddenly, TWO lines showed up!!!! I wept immediately. I prayed out loud to God, thanking Him, while trying to figure out how that was possible. I called Brian right away and said "When are you coming home?" "pretty soon babe, what's up?" "well, I have something to show you." "Did you take another pregnancy test? Are we pregnant?" "(weeping) YES!" "Praise the Lord!! I'll be home soon!" - What a loving supportive husband, I LOVED his response. He came home, we snuggled, prayed for our baby, then went out for food and prenatal vitamins. So the story began. When we found out, we were about 3.5 weeks along (gestation) - very early.

That's the beginning of this sweet journey. I am now done working at Great Harvest, because the mornings were killing me along with the smells. I will be helping my best friend Tara (blog.selaphotography.com ) with weddings all summer long, which will tide us over financially. Then I'll have lots of time to nest and prepare for Baby Bradley (who I'm positive is a girl). I'm so happy for this season of life, I could not ask for more.

Thanks for reading! That was long! :)


Here I am, 11 weeks 3 days. Not totally baby here, but the baby is helping make my tummy a bit bigger than normal. :)