24 weeks!!

I have so much I want to blog about right now but I will keep this post as a pregnancy update. I haven't been doing very good about keeping up with the pregnancy updates. I wanted to do an update every 2 weeks and had planned on taking belly pics every 2 weeks. Oh well things don't always go according to our plan. I do capture pictures weekly with my iphone to put in my app so I can see how much I have grown. This experience just continues to amaze me every day. I am feeling MK move alot now. I pretty much feel her every morning and when I am eating dinner in the evening. It is the strangest feeling but I love it. It just brings the biggest smile to my face. I have also seen her from the outside of my belly move, now that is really strange to see this lump pop out on your belly. Overall I am still feeling great and have no complaints. I have had a great pregnancy so far. I went to the doctor last week and everything look good and was measuring just right. I will have an ultrasound at my next appointment when I am 27 weeks. I am looking forward to seeing my sweet baby again. I have a fibroid in my uterus so the doctor wants to take another look to see if its growing any bigger. It has grown each time I have been to the doctor so he is keeping a close eye on it. The place that it is in my uterus has no effect on the baby or the growth of the baby so that is a blessing!! I have gained 13 pounds so far and he says I am right on track for pregnancy weight gain. I am definitely showing these days and people are starting to say "wow you have popped out all of sudden." Even strangers are starting to ask oh when are you due?, what are you having? etc, etc. I also have had the urge to clean. This weekend I actually cleaned the house including deep cleaning like dusting all the shutters and scrubbing the stove and mopping the floors. Todd had asked what had gotten into me. haha. I like my house to be picked up but I am not much of a deep cleaner but lately I am wanting the house to be nice and clean, plus it just makes you feel better when your house is all clean. We should be receiving our chair table and lamp for the nursery in the next week or so. I cannot wait to see it come together. We have the crib and the dresser in the room and Todd finally finished painting it. The bedding is ordered and it should arrive around mid-end of June. I am so excited about Mary Kathryn's bedding. Whenever I show it to anybody, they are like oh that looks just like you. Its so true, it definitely looks just like me and Todd. We have a very traditional and classic taste. We wanted the nursery to be girlie but classic and have furniture that she could keep forever. I think we have accomplished that. Don't worry I will post pictures as soon as it is all finished. We still have a few projects we want to do in there as well. I am so ready for it to all come together. I have a feeling these next 3 months are going to fly by. Its so hard to believe I am already 6 months along and baby girl is moving all the time.

My Precious Baby Girl

To my precious baby girl,

I am 21 weeks along now and that means I get to see your precious little in face in 19 weeks or less. I can’t believe I am over halfway through this pregnancy. I am so excited to meet you and see who you look like. Everyone thinks you will have dark hair but I am starting to wonder if you are going to look just like your daddy. I love you so much already and know that love is only going to grow more and more. I am so anxious to meet you and hold you but of course I want you to stay in and cook for a little longer. Your daddy and I are busy getting your nursery ready, its turning out so cute. I cannot wait for the finished look. Its going to be the perfect blend of girly and classic. I think you will love it too. :) You already have such a hold on my heart and your daddy’s too. I just know you are going to be a daddy’s girl. He is so excited about you and we just sit and talk about you all the time. Its so funny to think that I thought this time in our lives would never come and here we are. God has blessed us so much and we are ever thankful to his blessing of you, Mary Kathryn. You have already touched our lives. You are the daughter we have always dreamed about and wondered about. I hope one day you will realized how much Mommy and Daddy love you and how much we have always loved you, from the day we saw your little heartbeat on the screen. Always remember no matter what Mommy and Daddy are here for you. :) My sweet precious baby girl I cant wait to see your sweet face come September!!

(I had Todd do a mini photo session for 20 weeks, these were taken last week after church.)

Easter 2011

I am just now getting around to posting about Easter. This week at work has just about done me in. I have worked 12-13 hours the past two nights and to say I am exhausted is an understatement. UGH!! Thankfully I was able to get of work on time today. I am looking forward to Monday when I am off since I am on call this weekend.

Anyways, we had a wonderful Easter. It was a gorgeous day here and church was wonderful as usual. We had a big turnout and everything looked so beautiful. I always love seeing all the Easter lilies and hydrangeas displayed. I have always loved Easter and Holy week. It is such a meaningful and reflecting time for me. I love to think about how blessed I am and how much God has done for me in my life. I truly do not know where I would be without God and my faith. He has given me everything I have ever wanted…..his love. I remember when I was younger the church I grew up in would be open all night on Thursday for people to come up for a hour and just pray and be in God’s place. My dad I went a few years and it has always been a favorite memory of mine. I loved waking up at 3 or 4 in the morning to head to the church and just pray and be with God for an hour. That hour had so much meaning to me and was so special. Its like God was right there sitting next to me as I was talking to him. After the hour was up my dad and I would go get breakfast at the local Kettle. I thought it was so neat that I got to wake up in the middle of the night to go and pray and talk to God and then go have breakfast, just me and dad. Honestly I cherish those times so much and they are very dear to my heart!!!!   

Me and my precious Baby Girl!! :) 

After church Todd and I headed over to his cousins house and spent the day with his family eating lots of great food and watching all the little cousins hunt for Easter eggs, play with chickens, and hit a piñata. It was such a wonderful day and nice to spend it with family. It also had me thinking about next Easter and how we will have a 6 month old then. My how things will be different next year. :) It is so much fun to think about though and I can’t wait to celebrate Mary Kathryn’s first Easter!! The 3 preggos. Bonny- Due in October, Me- Due in September, and Sarah- Due in July.

I am so excited our children will be the same age and growing up together. It is going to be so much fun.

I am 20 weeks along now. I can’t believe I am halfway there, it is starting to really fly by. Tonight I was laying on the couch and I felt her move around, it was very light but it was definitely her. It brought an instant smile to my face and I am so ready for Todd to be able to feel her.

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter and are having a great week. 

FIVE YEARS

Its hard to believe its been 5 years since these pictures. We had the best wedding and I would do it all over again if I could. :)
Todd and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary on Friday. It is hard for me to imagine that 5 years ago I was getting ready to become a married woman. I didn't have a clue as to how I would be a wife and take care of my husband. I somehow have managed to do a pretty good job and I would say I am pretty comfortable in my role as Todd's wife. Now 5 years later we are preparing to welcome our first child into this world. Our precious little baby girl will be joining us this September. I never imagined we would be having our first child in our 5th year of marriage. I honestly thought by now we would at least have 1 and maybe be working on a second one. As we all know God has his own plans and they are much better than mine. I am so thankful we have had these last 5 years together to just be "US" Its nice that we have built a solid foundation in our marriage and we are now both prepared and ready (as ready as we will ever be) to be parents. I am so excited about this new journey we are on and excited about the next 5 years. I often wonder what the next 5 years will hold. It will be interesting to say the least.

We usually don't do big gifts for each other but he always needs a new pair of summer loafers so I got him shoes and he surprised me with a cute dress and sandals. He did good (with help from his head elf......aka Mother) haha. We went and ate at Auntie Pastas and it was delicious. I love AP, I just hate that its 30 minutes away. The food did not disappoint, which I am glad since I had been craving it all week. We enjoyed our quiet little dinner date. It was nice to get dressed up and have a date night with the hubby.

I am so blessed to have such a wonderful husband and soon to be daddy. I know he will make a wonderful father and I can't wait for him to hold our little girl for the first time. It will be the most precious moment in the world. I thank God every day for bringing such a wonderful man into my life.

We stopped by his parents for a photo op and to see our sweet niece. :)I told her to say cheese and she had her mouth full of a hamburger and did it anyways, silly girl.

Think Pink

We went to the doctor yesterday and found out our little one is a baby girl!!! We are so excited and thrilled. We were also both in shock and surprised. My husband was convinced it was a boy and therefore he had me convinced as well. I just always knew I would have a boy first. It's so funny how you think one way and you just know your right and then its the opposite. As soon as the ultrasound tech put the wand on my stomach she immediately said its a girl. I couldn't believe it. I wish i would have had a video of our reactions. It was such a surreal experience and makes this pregnancy seem so much more real now. My baby is no longer "the baby" or "he/she" or "him/her" or 'it" or "baby s" my baby is now a SHE.......a precious little baby girl. We didn't get the best pictures of her yesterday because I guess she was moving around and now that shes bigger you can just see one little part of her at a time. Everything looked good and I was so thankful for a great appointment and a healthy baby. I was so anxious and nervous yesterday and as soon as I saw my sweet baby on that screen all those fears were taken away. We are still in awe that we are going to be parents of a sweet little girl. We can't wait to meet her and dress her up and put bows in her hair. I have been looking at girl stuff all day. It is so much fun and there is SO MUCH cute stuff!! We had fun calling all of our friends and family and letting them know our news. I think everyone was surprised because most people thought it was going to be a boy.

We have had our baby names picked out since we have been married. We both love old traditional family names. I like names that have a special meaning to me and to Todd.
She shall be called.......

MARY KATHRYN

She is named after my mom and grandmother. My moms name and my Nana's name is Kathryn. The Mary comes from my great aunt Mary Marshall who I am semi names after. My middle name is Marshall. We will call her Mary Kathryn. I have always always loved this name and I am so excited about naming my little girl. Last night I barely slept because I was so giddy about having a little girl and finally knowing who my baby was in there. Oh and I am officially 19 weeks today. I will do a 19 week post tomorrow maybe and a few sneak peeks of what we are thinking nursery wise. :) Who knew picking out bedding would be so difficult, but I think we have finally agreed on something.

A few sneak peeks of our little girl....

Gifts from her grandmothers. She is already going to be spoiled rotten. This is very dangerous. haha.
My mom got MK her first pair of shoes. Are they not the cutest thing ever? I could just squeal with excitement!! She also bought her an outfit and the picture frame above. Todd's mom got us a little basket with a few goodies. We are blessed to have such wonderful parents and for MK to have wonderful grandparents.

PINK OR BLUE???

PINK OR BLUE??

That is today's question. Today is our anatomy ultrasound and I could not be more excited and thrilled. I haven't seen our little baby since 11 weeks at the doctor. Of course I snuck a peek at work but you couldn't really see the whole baby. I know Baby S is going to look so different now. I am a ball of nerves and so anxious. I don't know why but I guess I am just ready to see our sweet baby and know that everything looks perfect. Of course I didn't get a wink of sleep last night. I tossed and turned all night thinking what will this baby be. I have always wanted a boy and a girl so it doesn't matter to me one bit, I just want a healthy baby!!! I know that God is in control and he is taking care of our little one. :) Its funny how at the beginning of the pregnancy you think that this day cannot come fast enough and now its here so quickly. Today we can start calling our baby by name. Today we can start really planning our nursery. Today we get to share the best news with our friends and family. 2:30 can not come soon enough!! My mom is coming up this afternoon so she will be in the room with us and I am so excited to share this experience with her. I am sure there will be lots of happy tears. :) She hasn't seen the baby at all except for u/s pictures I send her so she will get a glimpse of her first granddaughter or grandson. Everyone is on pins and needles waiting for us to call and let them know our big news. This is probably the best day next to the day when we told our parents and family. Today our lives really change as we will know that our little family of two is expanding to a family of three and if that family of three will include a baby girl or a baby boy. I honestly cant stop smiling today just thinking about it. :) Its a good thing I am at work so I am keeping busy and the day isn't dragging on too terribly bad. I have wondered about this day my whole life and now it is here. My sweet little baby I will finally get to call you by name. I thank God every day he has blessed us with you. You are LOVED so much. You will never know how much your mommy and daddy prayed for you and loved you.

We put together the bouncer last night because we were curious as to what it was like. Its so cute. I love seeing baby things in our house. We brought our dog Bentley inside and he is scared of it. It was so funny, he would not even go near it and he followed me all around the house. He would not leave my side. I have a feeling he might know something is up. Maybe he knows he will no longer be our only baby.

I promise to post tonight after we find out. I can't wait to share the news with everyone. :)

Here is a picture I snapped this morning. Im sporting a pink shirt under my scrubs. ;) I honestly have no clue what I am having but thought it would be fun to wear pink and I told my hubby to wear blue. hehe ;)

18 weeks

Today I am 18 weeks pregnant. WOW!! I can't believe in 2 more weeks I will be halfway through my pregnancy. That is just crazy to me. These last couple of weeks have certainly flown by. So far I am still feeling great. I have not had any bad pregnancy symptoms lately. My face is finally clearing up and my baby bump is definitely there. I am not sure how much weight I have gained since my last appointment. We will see what the doctor says next week. My only real craving has been anything spicy. Yes, I know I sound like a crazy person but so far I haven't had any heartburn and I want everything to be spicy. I also want to put jalapenos on everything. I have always loved spicy food but now I love it even more. I might regret this in the near future if I do start having heartburn. This past weekend was my brothers wedding and we had a blast. Details to come soon on that after I download all my pictures. I enjoyed seeing all of our friends and family and so glad that my family was able to see my while I am pregnant since most of them live out of state. I am so ready to find out what little baby stracener is, I can hardly stand it. 6 days and counting. My mom sent me an email today to look at the website best dressed child, which I have looked at before and love. She said how broke she was going to be when this baby comes and I agree. I will be just as broke. How can you not love sweet baby clothes!!! They are so cute!!! I am not sure if I have felt the baby move or not. Sometimes I feel like oh baby that is the baby moving but other times I am just not so sure. When I laid on my stomach the other day something definitely adjusted in my belly. I was like oops I guess I shouldn't have done that. I am sleeping really good lately, which is nice. It seemed like early on in my pregnancy I would toss and turn a lot so I am enjoying my sleep while I can and while I can get comfortable. I hope to update a little more often on the pregnancy as I want this to look back on. I am also so excited that so many of my friends are pregnant as well. It is so much fun to share this journey. My best friend just found out yesterday she is having a baby girl and I am over the moon for her. I was on pins and needles all day yesterday waiting for her to call. I can't wait until our babies get here and they can meet. :)

My 18 week picture. Not the most glamorous picture but the hubby just left to go to church choir practice. Plus its hard to take a self portrait. (haha)