It's a BOY!!!

After a lengthy ultrasound today we were finally told that we are having a boy! He is curled up and facing my back with his legs crossed and knees tucked up under him so he was being stubborn (he must take after his dad already!). He refused to move around even after they made me lay on my side for 15 min to see if it would help. He looked pretty comfortable there so I don't really blame him for not moving around too much. The doctor said that everything looked good and i don't have to go back to the specialist again unless something goes wrong. He did say that the reason I'm not feeling any movements is because the placenta is located on the front of the uterus and acting as a sort of cushion. I will eventually be able to feel the movements but he said that it will never be strong feelings. I will post pictures later but I'm supposed to be working right now!

If you have any suggestions for boys names PLEASE let us know!

Vacation!

If all goes as planned, Bryan and I will be leaving in the morning for San Antonio. The annual conference for Athletic Trainers is located there this year and I'm really excited to go back. I've been twice but never had the time to see the attractions and really enjoy it so this will be the year. Bryan has never been so he's looking forward to it.

I'm finally feeling better the past couple days so hopefully that continues while we're on vacation. One month from today we will be having the second ultrasound which will hopefully determine gender if the kiddo cooperates. I am really ready to find out so that we can settle on a name and get the nursery done. If anyone has suggestions for boy names they would be greatly appreciated!

God bless!

Heart Beat

Yesterday was my appointment with the doctor and everything went well. I was able to hear the heartbeat and it was a strong 160 beats a minute. I have been feeling sick the past several days so she was a little concerned that I might have a virus. I was running a temperature of 100.4 which is considerably higher than my normal 97.4. My blood pressure has also been elevated due to the intense pain of the headache and the fever but it was down today when I checked it. The doctor also prescribed some pain killers for the headache that have been working pretty well, I just don't want to take any more of them than I absolutely have to since they are narcotics and I'm not entirely convinced that it's safe for the baby.

Please keep us in your prayers that I can get over this quickly and get back to work. God bless!

12 weeks!

As of last Thursday I am into week 12. For most people this would mean an end to morning sickness, evidently I'm not most people. Other than the constant nausea and extreme fatigue I'm feeling okay. I've stopped losing weight and am now just holding steady. I have another doctor's appointment on Wednesday so hopefully we will be able to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time. Currently the baby is about the size of a plum. It just seems so unreal to think about the fact that there is a tiny little person inside of me. I can't wait to find out if it's a boy or girl but we've got another 8 weeks before that happens. If I am able to record the heartbeat on Wednesday I will post it on here.

God Bless!

Baby's First Photo

Today we had the first ultrasound. It was absolutely amazing to see the baby and watch the heart beat. The heart rate was about 158 beats per minute which is about double my heart rate. Sometimes I still can't believe that it's actually happening. Due to the measured size of the baby (1.49 cm) they have moved up my due date by 5 days which I fully expected. I told Bryan weeks ago that I thought the date was wrong and it should be December 3rd. I was right! Here's the photo that they sent us home with. Right now it looks pretty much like a big blob but I promise that it's a baby. Bryan was also thrilled to see that there is only one of them in there!

Storks and Chinese fortunes!

For those of you who don't know yet, we are going to have a baby!! My expected due date is December 8th. This is the photo of the stork that was in our backyard the day after we found out that I was pregnant. I also had a fortune in my cookie about a week before I took the test that read, "Your efforts are budding - Results will appear soon!" How's that for coincidence?!?

So far I have had a lot of "morning" sickness that seems to last 24 hours a day. Other than being really tired, I'm doing okay. We are both so excited and can't wait for all of the monumental events that come with being pregnant. Right now we are just waiting to hear back from the doctor about my bloodwork. Since I have thyroid problems I will be seeing a specialist a couple times throughout my pregnancy but how soon I see him will depend on the lab work. I called my Lyme Disease specialist last week to see if there were any major concerns and his nurse said that as long as I stayed symptom free that we were in the clear. That is such a huge relief so right now I'm trying to keep my stress as low as possible and get as much rest as I can.

Keep all 3 of us in your prayers!! God bless!

New adventures!

After much consideration I have decided to become a consultant for The Pampered Chef. I am extremely excited about the opportunities that this may bring. Cooking is one of my favorite things to do and I will enjoy being able to share that with other people. I need to book several parties pretty soon so if you'd like to help out I would love that! If you don't live around here but would like to have a catalog party that would be great too. Just let me know!

My silly husband!

Bryan's tests came back perfect so he's back to living his normal and crazy life. Here's what he's been up to lately.

This is going to be our new mailbox holder for the entire street. As you can see, it's HUGE! 9ft across and after it's buried several feet deep, about 4ft high.

This is his new toy/lawnmower. I think that he's more excited about just having it than he is about how well it will function as a lawnmower.

This is the pile of trees and limbs left over from past ice storms that had never been cleaned up. He's been working on this for about a month now. We will be having a massive bonfire when the weather gets a little better.

This is the ridiculously large tree that he decided to add today.

He actually called me to come outside and take these pictures because he was so excited about how large this tree was. He almost knocked down another tree in the process of getting this one across the field and onto the pile.

A-Okay!

Bryan went back to the doctor this morning and they ran some more blood tests today just to make sure that everything was perfectly fine. The doctor seemed to think that he would be perfectly fine and that the anemia was just a fluke and a small by-product of the stomach bug that he had. Hopefully we will have these test results by tomorrow. Thanks for all of the concern and questions!

Sickness

Bryan was sick most of last week. Just when it seemed like he was getting better be got a lot worse. We spent about 7 hours in urgent care yesterday and it was not fun. He was pretty dehydrated and since he tenses up when needles are mentioned, it took SIX tries before they were able to get an IV started to give him fluids. He was dehydrated enough that they couldn't even get enough blood to run tests until after the first bag of fluids was in him. They ran a bunch of tests and didn't really find out much. His blood tests did show that he was anemic and since he had been throwing up a little bit of blood and having blood in the diarrhea it was a concern. He didn't have food poisoning but they weren't really able to tell us much else. There are a few possibilities: it could be just the stomach bug that has been going around a lot lately or he could have some form of an intestinal disease. Due to the anemia and blood in the vomit and stools this was a major concern. He is taking antibiotics and after he finishes them he has to go back in for more blood work to see if he's still anemic. If not, then more than likely this was just a virus, although a bad one. He's feeling better today and hasn't thrown up in more than 24 hours. He has started eating again and has been able to keep everything down. I'm trying to get him to drink more water but it's a difficult task.

Thankfully I have not caught whatever this bug might be yet so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I'm washing my hands a ton and drinking lots of fluids so help ward it off. Maybe it will work!

Please just keep us both in your prayers and I'll update after our follow-up appointment in a couple weeks.

Pictures: Round 3

Here are the final pictures. This is our master bedroom and bathroom.

Pictures: Round 2

I apologize for not getting these on here sooner. The only picture that I still don't seem to have is of the master bedroom. I'll work on getting that done tomorrow on my day off. These are obviously the pictures of our kitchen and living room. Let me know what you think. I'm still trying to decide about painting the living room.

To My Valentine!

I know that I missed it by a couple days but I just wanted to express how much I love my wonderful husband. I have had the most amazing year of my life and I am so grateful to have Bryan in my life. He has made me happier than I ever thought possible and we have so much fun together. My life is full and complete.

To Bryan - You are the most amazing person in my world and I am so blessed to have you by my side every day. Thank you for always taking care of me and loving me regardless how difficult it might be some days. I can't wait for the next year to see how much more we can grow and change together. You are my soul mate and I am glad that after all these years we are finally together where we are supposed to be. I promise to never take you for granted and to love you forever and for always, to infinity and beyond!

Pictures: Round 1

I'm going to post the pictures that I do have. I promise that I'm going to clean the house and take pictures this weekend. This is obviously the front of the house. We have had a lot of rain lately so there is a pretty large mud puddle. You can see the pond in the back. Sadly, the ducks weren't there today when I took the picture. There is also a picture of our guest bedroom, 2nd bathroom, and hallway.

Water and Wildlife

We've had a lot of rain the past few days so our pond is filling up. It's so full in fact that it's draining out of the spillway in the back of the property. While I was home today I heard what I thought was a duck. I went out to look and sure enough there were 2 ducks on the pond. I hope that they stay even after all the rain is gone. We've also seen several deer around the yard and one rabbit. I really enjoy being back in nature and being able to see God's amazing creation.

Pictures will be posted this weekend!

Coming Soon!!

As soon as I can find my camera and charge the batteries I will take some pictures of our new home and get them posted. At this point we are completely unpacked and living comfortably. It has been so nice to be in our home and know that it's completely ours. Looking out the everyday over the pond and taking it all in has been so peaceful. The pond has been frozen over a lot lately with the temperatures and the ice/snow. I would love to walk out on it but I'm not that brave, or that stupid.

Check back soon!

Catch up

It has been a long time since I've posted on this blog.  Bryan and I have been incredibly busy over the last several months.  We are working hard and trying to enjoy every moment that we have together.  It's hard to believe that we haven't even been together a year yet.  

As of last Friday we are homeowners.  We will be moving this weekend and we couldn't be more excited.  We bought a great house out in the country that has some land and a nice size pond.  The house itself is fairly new and has been well taken care of.  I will post pictures once we are settled in.  

We are looking forward to what this new year has in store for us.  Hopefully only good things will happen for us this year.  Keep us in your prayers as we move over the weekend.  God bless!

Pictures!

Finally home!

Bryan and I got home around 3:00am on Monday and this is the first time that I have had a chance to get online. We had a long and interesting honeymoon in Mexico. The wedding was so much fun and it was amazing to see most of our loved ones all in one place for the night. We didn't get to spend a ton of time with some people but we want you to know that it meant the world to us for you to be there.

Once we finally got to Mexico we were ready for a relaxing and fun week. Bryan was sick the first half and then we had one day where we both felt great. On Saturday we went on an excursion to a Mayan pyramid and to do some adventure sports. It was a fun day but I got dehydrated and had a heat stroke. I had to spend the night in a Mexican hospital which was definitely an experience. After almost 14 hours there they finally agreed to let us leave so that we could catch our plane back home.

I know that is a ton of info in a short message but I am ready for dinner! I'll post pics soon!

ONE WEEK!!!!

Oh my. It is just happening so fast. I am excited and stressed all at the same time. I din't get anything accomplished yesterday so here's Friday's To-Do list.

1. Still need to find paper for programs
2. Call my make-up artist to check times
3. Unpack all my stuff out of my car
4. Pack for the weekend trip to Kansas City!!
5. Cut more squares
6. Fix dinner
7. Laundry

I know that most of those are not wedding related but they still have to get done and at this point, if it isn't on a list, it's not getting done!

Have a great weekend!!