17/18 weeks and more pictures!

okay so i know i write too much so im going to be as brief as possible for this post. i have lots of things that i want to get done today but i wanted to post all these pictures, since this was a pretty monumental week in the pregnancy. we found out the gender of Peanut!

this past week has been pretty busy. we're getting more anxious to move, and every day brad kept reminding me, 'can you believe we find out the gender in __ days?!' we were both getting pretty excited and nervous about it. this past weekend i had a women's retreat with several ladies in our ward and it was fun to spend some time away. they do it every 6 months or so and we stay in a gorgeous cabin (i went last september as well) and then travel into a famous amish town (shipshewana) to eat some really good food and go shopping. being pregnant, i very stereotypically brought home only food as my souvenirs, but no one in this house has complained yet! they have an awesome cheese factory there and you can try tons of different cheeses, so i got a garden vegetable cheese which is AMAZING. you wouldnt think youd go on vacation to buy cheese, but seriously...as soon as i knew i was going on the retreat the cheese is all i could think about! we also went to this awesome restaurant and ate lunch together before some of us headed home, and i picked up a chocolate peanut butter pie. great googly moogly...it is so tasty! aside from the food though, it was so fun to be with all of these ladies. i think when i went in september, it was how i was best able to get to know many of the women in our ward, and it really helped me relax and get to know people. i will really miss our ward if/when we move away.

i do have to brag for a minute, though. 2 weekends ago, brad and i went to the peg perego factory outlet store that happens to be here in fort wayne. when we came in, we found out that the semi annual huge sale they have would be the following weekend (which was last weekend while i was out of town). the day before the sale, brad and i went over to see exactly what i wanted and to try and see if we could find out any prices (they have decent prices normally, but we heard this sale was particularly awesome). they had almost everything priced, and it was all at least $50 off everything (so $100 for a car seat/stroller combo, which is what we needed). brad mentioned to me the one we had seen the week before and how he liked the neutral colors (it was black with beige leather) the most. the lady pulled it out and it wasnt priced yet--apparently it was last year's model and so even though it didnt have the price tag yet, it would most likely be even cheaper than the ones already on the floor. we had figured that saving even $50 would be worth it, so she told us exactly what he needed to say when he got there and wished us luck.

brad showed up at 8:40, 20 minutes before the sale began. no one was at the door, but several women were all sitting in their cars, looking menacingly at each other. he texted to ask if he should get in line, to which i said YES!! apparently, as soon as he got out of his car and began walking to the door, about 15 women got out of their cars and ran for the door as well. brad was first in line, and was the only guy. he was able to get in and get exactly what we wanted. the car seat is the floor model (but it is in perfect condition--this is not a heavy traffic kind of store at all) and the stroller is new in the box. online, the set goes for $600. brad paid all of $180 for both the car seat, stroller, and car seat base!! i was so so proud of him for braving the crazy ladies and getting what we needed! we honestly could not have gotten a better deal! here is a stock photo of what the system looks like (side note--we didnt get the bag in the picture)

we also randomly found a boppy pillow for $4 at a garage sale and i plan to recover it in fun boy fabric. this is what rowdy did when we put it in the car:

he might have a hard time learning what is his, and what is Peanut's...

sunday was a beautiful day and we took our obligatory 17 week photo. im really poking out in this one! it was surreal to know it was the last photo we'd take not knowing the gender (hopefully).

i had crazy dreams sunday night, thinking of all the scenarios to keep us from finding out the gender, and i had quite the talk with peanut about showing off his/her goods just this one time. when the technician turned on the machine and put the wand to my belly, the very first thing we saw was a butt shot! first thing we could totally tell it is a boy!! he is definitely NOT shy in the least, and he is also a wiggly little bugger. what should have taken about 20 minutes took almost an hour because he wouldnt stop moving around. flexing his legs, pulling them underneath himself, twisting side to side, everything. it was crazy to see. i kept trying to notice the movements, but i still cant really feel them. sometimes i think i do, but then i realize it's just me feeling my own heartbeat. the technician finally got all the measurements and said everything looks great. he is right on track at about 5 1/2 inches from head to bum and he is a bit skinny but he will plump up soon (hopefully not too much--i dont want to birth a 10 pounder!) we then waited another 30 minutes to see my regular doctor who said my due date is right on track and i am measuring exactly where i should be. i have gained 6 pounds total so far, but im still 9 pounds under what i was when we very first found out. im okay with that! here are pictures of the goods and what the tech called 'our alien baby's face':

 i cant figure out how to turn this picture upside down....so flip over your computer! :) (it says 'oh boy!' if you cant tell)

his teeny little face :)


after leaving we called our parents and told them quickly while we drove brad back to work. i then had to wait like 4 excruciatingly long hours to call the rest of the family, but i survived :). i did some serious searching of things i'd like to make for peanut (and yes, that will continue to be his name until we make a final decision on one) and i am getting really excited to dress him like a little man! eek!

when brad got home, we went to carters and kohls to pick out a few outfits and things for him. he will undoubtedly have a bright wardrobe! here they are:

 this is Peanut's new baby, aptly named Edgar the Elephant. he is so cute!

 a fun guitar onesie!

 i may just bring home Peanut in the cute grey sweatpants and this newborn onesie....holy cute monster! (random question: do you think orange is an acceptable boy's color? brad and i have differing opinions about it....)

i love the cute little rhino on this one!


anyway....there you go! now i need to get ready to go to joanns to get fabric for Peanut's baby blanket and car seat cover. im super excited!!! :) i hope everyone has a great week! hope you enjoyed the pictures!

16 weeks and sick days.

this week has been both really good and really hard. i have been trying to wean myself off of my nausea medication, and it seemed to be going well. since february, i have been taking zofran religiously every 6 hours, and if i forgot or slept through my nighttime meds, it would make me really sick for the entire next day. i eventually got to the point where i was only taking it twice a day, once when i woke up, and once before bed. that had been working well, and then i realized that i only had about 4 pills left. since i have to call my doctor and talk to her about getting more, i have been trying to be strong and ration out the pills to see if i could handle going without it. i took only one on tuesday and then i didnt take any on wednesday to see how things would go. it was okay....until thursday. great googly moogly. i went visiting teaching in the morning and was already not feeling well.

anyway, i didnt sleep well the night before, and after brad went to work i fell back asleep. i woke up with all of 15 minutes to shower, get ready, eat, and get over to visit teach. i was a little hungry, but i didnt have time to eat and hustled out the door. after visiting, i got back in the car and started driving back. even though cecilia lives 5 minutes away, within a minute of leaving her house i went from thinking, 'i should have eaten' to 'is there any food in this car because i need to eat NOW' to 'i am way too far past hunger' and realized i needed to immediately pull over to throw up. the problem was that i was on a narrow road with no shoulder and houses on either side, and i wasnt about to pull into someone's driveway and puke in their yard! luckily there was a grocery store right up the road and i made it to their truck entrance, pulled in, put on my emergency lights, and puked my little heart out (sorry if thats too much info for ya!). after i calmed down i drove the last 2 minutes home and felt awful, not being able to eat anything and i had a splitting headache. i slept for a bit after lunch, but by the time brad got home i still felt awful but i wasnt able to throw up just to calm down my stomach. we ran a quick errand, and by the time i got home i finally emptied my stomach. brad was sweet enough to get me some soup and i found that i had a few more zofran pills in my purse. i took one and within 30 minutes i felt MUCH better. i was able to eat some carrots and cucumber slices, and i slept well, thank goodness. the next morning was a little rough since i was subbing and that is always a little stressful, but thankfully i was only there until lunch and then got to go home and relax/do the dishes and all the other housewifey things.

on friday night we went over to our good friends' house, the allens, to play games. we are so glad that we finally have some good friends to hang out with--it was especially hard for brad when we first moved here because he didnt know many people. our RS is wonderful and i got to know several of the ladies pretty quickly, but brad hadnt met many guys he connected with. within the last few months, however, we seem to have made a nice little group with some other couples, all within the same age group and similar family dynamics (young kids, new babies, or pregnant). the guys all seem to like to play video games (which makes brad VERY happy) and all us ladies seem to get along well. brad and i were chatting the other day about if/when we eventually move, and when i asked, 'is it odd that i will miss it here because of the friends we have made?' brad immediately responded, 'heck no! we have an awesome group of friends!! im really going to miss them when we move, too!' it is really nice to know he feels that way, since he hasnt always loved it here. its nice not to feel lonely, you know? makes being away from family just a tiny bit easier.

on sunday, we did something we have never done before--we sang a duet in sacrament meeting! i never thought it would happen, since i shy away from it (my nerves tend to get the best of me) and brad just doesnt like to sing in front of people, even though he has an amazing voice. people regularly tell us at church that we should sing in the choir, and we always thank them and chuckle, knowing we wont join. i wont really get into details, but i usually dont like ward choirs. call me an awful person or a perfectionist, but it's just how i feel (side note:one of our friends is now the choir director, so i dont know if we'll be able to avoid it here much longer). anyway, the ward choir pianist confronted me about a month ago, telling me multiple people suggested that brad and i should sing. she told me she wanted us to sing on april 29 and already had a song picked out. while nervous about it, i was also flattered, and i told her i would be happy to do it, but she would have to talk brad into it--i knew he would say no if i asked him. i warned him she would be contacting him, and he laughed, saying there was no way he would do it. but a week later, when she called him, i was shocked to hear him agree! we've been practicing a lot and we were very, very nervous. it was an arrangement of Abide With Me. it wasnt too difficult, but nerves can make any song hard! we were both seriously shaking before going up and were super nervous, but i think it went really well. when i was growing up and would sing at church, i always jokingly said i would gauge how well it went by how many people i could get to cry. needless to say, several people in the congregation were tearing up, so i call it a success! we got many compliments, but my favorite was when one of the YM came up to brad and told him, 'oh brother ivey, you did awesome. man, when you hit those low notes...wow!' i am so proud to know my husband is such a strong role model for the YM in the ward. i love to see how they react to brad and our friends in the ward who are all young, successful, faithful priesthood leaders. its only a matter of time before he gets pulled into the YM presidency. now that i think about it, the YM president is moving in a month...

and with all of that, here is my 16 week picture. technically, i took it last night, right before bed, after taking off my makeup was in my jammies, and today im 17 weeks. but since im OCD, i know it will always annoy me that i have a belly picture of every week except one. ugh. so i forced myself to take one at the very end of week 16. i have been eating nonstop this week and unless i am literally in the process of swallowing food, i am hungry. not nauseated, but very, very hungry. if my belly wasnt poking out before, it sure is now!! i even ate steak on saturday, which is a HUGE deal! my first steak in 4 months was so, so tasty. im glad i took a chance and ordered it! the next thing i want to try is a hamburger. ive been missing hamburgers like crazy! eventually i'll eat chicken again, but im not really interested in it at all. ick--chicken. and just in case youre thinking, 'wow! she's going to be a walrus if she's this big at only 16 weeks (not like anyone would ever say that ;) )' i've only gained 2 pounds so far, so neener neener. im sure i'll regret saying that in a cocky tone later on, though...

oh! we find out the gender of Peanut one week from today! so make your predictions now. brad's hoping for a boy, me for a girl, and who knows what everyone else is thinking! all i know is it's one persistent, strong will little booger who knows what it wants and will fight until s/he gets it!

i hope everyone has a great week!

UPDATE: i got a few requests so you could see my ridiculous and giddy face as i hugged my amazing new diaper bag, and even though i didnt want to show you, i will. i love you THAT much. here it is! (it is blurry because i was laughing i was so excited and wouldnt sit still long enough for a decent picture) and if you dont know what im talking about, read the previous post! yay sisters!

I'M. SO. EXCITED!!!

holy moly crappity crap! i just want to share the elation that i felt today when i got a special surprise in the mail. i got an email from amy (hi, sister!) this morning that a package was coming from jennilyn, bethanne, and her. i texted brad about it and he asked me if i knew what it was. i had no idea, but considering all i think about is babies right now and all we have gotten so far was the three outfits from the last post, i was pretty intrigued about what it might be. i told him, 'i do hope it's not that diaper bag i mentioned on the blog though, because i definitely don't deserve it. but im excited to find out what is!'

after brad got home, we were talking in the living room and i saw the ups guy drop off a package at our front door. i jumped up and ran to get it, and it was a BIG package. i knew this was going to be good....and when i looked at the front of the box, i noticed the sticker for a brand i have recently come to know/dream about....petunia pickle bottom! EEK! i felt just like the little girl from Despicable Me when she says, 'it's so fluffy i'm gonna die!!!' as i tore open the package and saw the beloved diaper bag that i have been drooling over for the past few weeks!! i have seriously been searching for other bags, trying to talk myself out of this one because i didnt think i would realistically get it, but i really, really, REALLY wanted it. in fact, the other day on babysteals.com they had the same bag in a different print on sale and i freaked when i saw it. brad told me to buy it (he was, unbeknownst to me, praying it would be sold out), and sure enough, when i pushed the purchase button it changed to sold out. i was so so bummed. BUT NOT ANYMORE! :)

i would post the goofy picture brad took of me snuggling excitedly with my new bag, but it is just a bit too ridiculous. i wish i had a good reason to start using it now! i am so, so excited to fill it up with lots of cute baby things! it has a million pockets and is plenty big enough to replace the need to have a purse once Peanut is here. seriously...im giddy over here, people. positively giddy!

so a big, hugely ginormous thank you goes out to jennilyn, amy, and bethanne for my super awesome bag!! i love you all and i am so spoiled--i have such a great family! :)

15 weeks

hey-o! i just wanted to quickly update everyone on this past week. i was 15 weeks (if you want to be really technical, im 16 weeks today, but i digress) and it was a busy, busy week. i would have to say that i am very, very grateful that (for the most part) i was feeling pretty good. one day this past week, i looked down and my belly button seemed to be a little more shallow than normal, and it weirded me out. brad just laughed at me, but i really think it did. the next morning, though, it wasnt anymore! i think things were just shifting around a lot. so odd. i keep having weird pain in my abs and ribs, and i think it just cause everything is being pushed up to make room for peanut. just in case you were wondering, peanut is now the size of an avocado! that's fun.

last week started with a pretty big project of making superhero capes for my sweet sister-in-law's son's third birthday party. after severely overestimating the amount of fabric i needed and underestimating the amount of binding i needed, i finally got enough supplies and got to work making 12 superman capes. of course, i made a few mistakes (fewer than expected, considering how many items i was making) like putting the fusible webbing on the wrong side of three of the S symbols, rendering them unusable. urgh. besides that, and the fact that we had a freak windstorm that knocked out our power for several hours so i couldnt do any ironing or sewing for a while, things went pretty smoothly. i knew i needed to finish the capes by tuesday afternoon in order to mail them off in time, but i may have procrastinated a tiny bit on sunday and monday, not realizing how long it would take to make 12 capes (ive never made more than 2 of anything at one time).

luckily, i finished at 3:30 on tuesday afternoon. i had called office depot (where i usually send packages because the post office is wayyyy downtown) to find out when the post man came, and they told me sometime between 3 and 6pm. i threw on some clothes (yes, i was in my jammies up until that point, sewing my little heart out) and sped up to the store to send the package for the normal $6ish for priority shipping. i ran in 5 minutes later, and went straight to the counter. i asked if the post man had come yet, and the girl said, 'oh, he left about 10 minutes ago.' nooooooo! i told her my situation and that i had to get this package to california by saturday and asked for my options. she told me to go get a box and then she would tell me the different price options i had to make sure it got there in time. i grabbed a box and moseyed back up to the counter, figuring i would be paying an extra $10 to ship this box. i gave her the mailing address, and my CHEAPEST option to make sure it got there by friday was $40. FOURTY DOLLARS. 10 minutes was going to cost me an extra $35?!! my only other option was overnight which would have been $83! i almost fell over on the floor. the other workers by this time were listening to the situation, throwing out ideas for what i could do. because it was tax day, the postman came earlier than normal, and they are the last stop before the post office. suddenly, i asked the lady, 'what are my chances of getting to the post office and beating the postman down there with my package?' one of the workers told me it had to be posted no later than 5pm and there was probably a huge line at the post office because of tax day. it was already 4pm and i had a 25 minute drive ahead of me during rush hour and a major construction detour WITHOUT any traffic. i paid for the box and ran out to the car, as the workers yelled, 'we're praying you dont hit any red lights!'

i ended up getting downtown faster than normal thanks to some foresight about the construction work and google maps, and i ran into the post office at 4:30. there was a pretty long line and i refused to just stand for 20 minutes only to find out i was too late, so i called out to a worker as another customer was walking up to her, 'it isnt too late for priority shipping, is it?!' she, as well as everyone else in line, turned and looked at me like i was crazy-o and she replied, 'nooo....' i took a deep breath and said a quick prayer thanking HF that i made it, and got my package sent off. it did end up being about $14 for shipping, but good golly i was willing to take it after almost paying $40 at office depot! in the end, the package got to j's house on thursday in plenty of time and from what i hear the party was a success. i guess you cant go too wrong for 3 year olds anyway, right? :) it was a fun adventure, and im glad to know i was able to do it! it kind of got me curious about etsy shops that might make birthday kits (like all the paper goods, signs, etc, and one big item for each of the kids)--i wonder if that would be successful and if people would pay for that kind of thing? i might do some research on that soon.

that night the miamaids were in charge of a joint activity for mutual, so i got home at 5 and had to quickly make 2 dozen cupcakes and buy a bunch of toppings for cupcake wars at 7pm. it ended up going really well, but it took some planning. one of these days i'll accept help from friends when they offer (2 different people offered to make the cupcakes, and another friend offered to help with the capes, and i said i was fine to them all). im so silly that way.

on wednesday, i subbed for a kindergarten class, the same one i did a month ago and they were so good! what a smart, adorable, well behaved class. my goodness. i slept really horribly the night before due to a mixture of stress (it was the first full day sub job i had taken in about 2 months) and not being able to relax, so the worst part was feeling pretty lightheaded a lot of the time and constantly needing to sit down wherever i could. luckily, kindergarteners get snack time, so that helped a lot, and there is a full time aid in the class, so she helped a ton too. that class is just adorable!

thursday was a recovery day, where i desperately needed to clean the house and pay a bunch of bills. i got everything done just in time for brad to come home for a much-needed long weekend. on friday we took my ring up to the closest jared galleria of jewelry to be inspected (to keep my lifetime warranty good, i have to have this done every 6 months) and then drove the rest of the way over to a HUGE outlet mall in michigan city, in. it was FREEZING outside, so we went into most stores just to get out of the cold, but we found some good deals. brad got some work clothes and a nice sweatshirt, and i got a columbia fleece pullover and stretchy skirt for the hot summer months ahead. the most exciting thing, though, was our first baby purchase! it is totally a boy outfit, but i couldnt resist the price at $1.91 on clearance, and i was able to convince brad because of the subject matter. here it is:

brad texted a picture to his brother with the statement, 'our child is doomed to be a nerd.' i nicely told him that he should say destined instead, since it is inevitable, but not necessarily a bad thing! oh man.

on saturday we went to babies r us and priced a bunch of items to get a feel of how much things cost for babies. it caused a bit of hyperventilation from us both, but we came out of the store with the realization that we will, in fact, be buying basically everything used, with the exception of a car seat and stroller. we are going to be borrowing a crib and unused mattress and cosleeper from gracious family members, so we wont have to buy those items, but we do hope to get some more good deals on other used items. our biggest purchase by far will be the carseat/stroller combo (we decided it is worth the investment to get a safe set that will last through multiple kids), but i am now unsure about a few other possibly big purchases, like a pump and a nice diaper bag. realistically, the bag is purely a want, but i dont want to spend $50 and have the bag fall apart in 6 months, you know? and as for the pump, i have always heard that medela is the best brand. but i dont know how often i will end up using it. i definitely need one, but i dont know if i will need a very good one, since i dont know if i will be using it every night or once a month. should i spend the $300 for the best one? or do i get the cheapo playtex ones that still cost $50 but that might not work well?? and what about nursing pillows? i have heard many conflicting opinions about the boppy and the my breast friend brands, and i am stuck. i dont want to spend $40 for either until i see which one i like, since it seems like it is coming down to a matter of opinion. bah! anyone want to donate one for me to borrow until i can decide which one i prefer? any suggestions about any of these purchases (or any other baby necessities)?? any help is much appreciated--i trust everyone who reads my blog (all 6 of you)! :) in order to make me feel better, we went to see if the new carter's store was open in town yet, and it is!! i was so excited that i made brad come in with me. somehow i managed to talk him into two outfits, with the promise that if peanut is a boy, the girl outfit with go to baby girl watchman, and if peanut is a girl, the boy outfit will go to some friends who are due to have a baby in 2 weeks. the pictures are blurry, but here they are:

the rest of the weekend consisted of a lot of unexpected naps and lounging around. oh, and brad was able to take an old car phone charger i had and solder it to our broken guitar hero foot pedal and fixed the foot pedal! im so grateful for such a smart and resourceful husband. he is such a smarty pants and i am so glad about that! i tell myself all the time that i sure hope peanut got his smarts, cause my intelligence doesnt go much higher than a 5th grade education. just sayin...

finally, here is my 15 week picture. hopefully this is proof that last week i was just unusually bloated. maybe i should just avoid stripes...hope you all had a great week and that this next one is also exciting!

14 weeks...hello second trimester!

im blogging again in less than 2 weeks! impressive, right? i just thought i would throw out some happenings in our neck of the woods. nothing life changing, and nothing very impressive, but im trying to be better!

this past week has been a bit of a milestone in the pregnancy (i think, at least). while i am still very much dependent on my nausea medication and i am afraid to stop using it for fear of a lot of nausea hitting me at once, but i have been feeling this much ( ) better for the past few days. since the second week of february, i have been constantly very, very nauseated. i didnt want to eat ANYTHING. it was awful. the idea of almost everything was disgusting, and i basically had force myself to eat what i could (which at first only consisted of baked potatoes and chicken noodle soup, with the occasional fruit or vegetable). i hated eating, thinking about eating, and the way i felt after eating. and since i couldnt stomach even the thought of meat (seriously, driving past a billboard with a burger on it made my stomach lurch...every single time), i never, EVER felt full, which made me feel more nauseated. it was a constant cycle. with all of that being said, this past week has brought on a few good changes. i went from always being so, so hungry i was nauseated and didnt want to eat, to actually feeling legitimately hungry. this week is the first time in 3 months where i actually wanted to find something to eat because i wanted to eat (not because i knew i had to).

now this is still tricky, since i find myself very hungry basically every hour and im unwilling to wait for something to cook. so i still eat lots and lots and lots of fruits and vegetables (green apples, oranges, strawberries, and pineapple are still my best friends), but i am trying to branch out and try some new things. i have hated the idea of going to a restaurant for fear of not wanting anything on the menu and being pressured into trying something i cant stomach, which in turn wastes a lot of money (been there, done that). we havent eaten out much in the past couple months with the exception of the cruise. today, however, even though i ate lots of ham (leftovers from easter and the only meat i can eat right now, so i have eaten a LOT of it to feel full this week), at least one orange and one apple, some pineapple, and several snacks throughout the day, we went out to eat. and the best part is that i was actually able to eat!! we went to the olive garden and i ate breadsticks, salad, and i got an appetizer sampler plate for my main meal of stuffed mushrooms, fried zucchini, and fried calamari. it was all tasty and i was able to eat all of it (well...try all of it) and i am actually excited for leftovers (which i will probably snack on in the next 2 hours)! i know this seems silly but believe me, this is a BIG DEAL.

in other news, i gained a pound--the first in the pregnancy (remember...i lost 15 since we found out i was pregnant). i am excited about this, but im not excited either. i went from wishing i was showing, to not wanting to show at all! brad took the weekly belly shot of me last night and i intentionally wore a tighter shirt since the last picture was apparently 'too loose' according to brad and it didnt show anything at all. in my defense, we had just eaten a large pasta dinner which contributed to the pooch, so i think it is more of a 'food baby' than real baby. plus its just a bad picture (anyone want to buy us a new nice camera?) ugh. i envy all you women who are so photogenic and take gorgeous pregnancy belly shots! where is the glow? where is the great skin (ive been breaking out like mad)? where is the awesome hair (i have nutso baby hairs that are IMPOSSIBLE to tame and stick up all over the top of my head no matter how i part my hair that always makes me looks like i stuck my finger in a socket and shocked myself)? sheesh. anyway. here is the picture, in all its bad-lighting, slouching, gross hair glory (i really am not showing this much!!)

and that's about all that has been going on.

in other news, rowdy was especially cute today. for a long time i have been getting up to read scriptures with brad in the morning, and then after brad leaves, rowdy and i snuggle on the couch while i watch the today show/snooze for a couple more hours (brad goes to work at 6:40). this week i havent been sleeping well so i needed to go back up to bed to sleep, which means rowdy doesnt get to snuggle as much as he prefers. since i finished cleaning early today, i stretched out on the couch after lunch and let rowdy lie down with me. he PASSED OUT and when i finally tried to wake him up so i could get up to work on some things, he opened his eyes, looked at me, stretched, and then fell back to sleep mid stretch! you cant really tell in the picture, but his arms are still up in the air, fully stretched out. he stayed that way for a good 5 minutes, before i woke him up again and all he did was try to shift and flip over to his other side. of course, he got halfway there and fell asleep again while on his back. i couldnt help but take some pictures. he is so spoiled, but we sure do love him!

mid stretch

didnt last long enough to flip all the way over!

his latest thing? we always sit with blankets on the couch and since it has been warmer we havent needed them. rowdy is so used to sleeping under the blankets that he will get on the couch, look at us, and dig at the cushions (which is what he does to get under blankets). he will do this over and over and over until we pull out a blanket and put it on him, to which he will immediately curl up in a ball, lie down, and sigh in contentment. so, so spoiled.

oh! one last thing! if any of you really, REALLY love me and want me to be very happy, please feel free to buy me this diaper bag:

http://www.petunia.com/bags/wistful-weekender/delightfuldahlia

it is very expensive (not as bad as some, though!), but the brand comes very highly rated and all the ladies in our ward swear by them. i love love LOVE this bag and i think its a fabulous design. so if you want me to subliminally tell Peanut who their favorite aunt/uncle/grandma/grandpa/friend is, buy me this! :) you can even combine it with my upcoming birthday gift. just saying. hope everyone has a great weekend!

dear Peanut.

okay, this isnt a cheesy letter to our future child. i just couldnt think of a better title.

i promised brad that i would dedicate a post solely to our future little one, so here it is in all it's glory! im going to tell the story of how we found out, adjustments we've already made, some FAQ's, and a tidbit of information about the future. so here we go!

how we found out
brad and i have been trying since about june of last year (sorry for TMI). having assumed it would happen quickly, we grew disappointed when it seemed like everyone else in the world was getting pregnant besides me. i bought some tests just in case and had used 2 out of the 3, and those 2 times were pretty sad. in fact, over christmas break, i was over a week late (again, TMI, sorry!), and i had basically convinced myself i was pregnant. we couldnt find a way to sneakily get a test while in california and so we took one the morning we got back in town. it was negative, and then i started that day. ugh. very sad. so on the day i was supposed to start in february, i didnt have very high hopes. i went to mutual on that tuesday and one of my friends (and the miamaid advisor) got to talking about babies. she is pregnant and due in 5 weeks, so this has been a frequent topic of conversation. she and another leader asked me point blank if i was pregnant, to which i chuckled and said no! when i got home brad and i had been arguing and i was being unusually emotional (which is saying something for me. poor guy) and he jokingly told me to just take a pregnancy test. i refused, and he said i really should. to appease him and prove him wrong, i went upstairs to take the test. i remember thinking as i was reading the directions that i wouldnt know how to react if it was positive. he came upstairs and i asked him what he would do if it was positive. he shrugged his shoulders, since he didnt think it would be either. i set it on the tub and walked away, knowing it was negative but not wanting to look. after the time was up, he glanced at it and said, 'uh....this says positive.' i laughed and said, 'what? no it doesn't!' and went into the bathroom. he held it up to me, also in disbelief.  and did we cry? did we hug and embrace in excitement? nope. i started laughing uncontrollably and he kept shaking his head in disbelief. it was about 10:30pm at this point, but we still ran to the store and bought two more pregnancy tests to make sure. i immediately took one, and it looked half positive, half negative. confused, we went to bed. i didnt sleep one bit that night. first thing the next morning, i took the other test. it had the same mixed results. i told brad that i really wasnt sure, and then he asked to look at the directions. after a minute, he looked and me and said, 'you were looking at it sideways! it's totally positive!' i began laughing again, and it was still so weird and surreal. wow.

that day i texted a friend who had just had a baby and asked who her obgyn was. she asked me if i was pregnant, and i had to lie to her. i made an appointment for the next monday, february 6. when i went, brad still didnt believe it, and i was way too afraid that it was all a fluke to let myself believe it. it took about 10 seconds for them to confirm the pregnancy, tell me i was 5 weeks along, and they gave me the preliminary due date of october 10. at that point, brad started to believe it. a little bit.

we were going to do something creative to tell our parents on valentines day, but we called them that night and let them know. they all reacted just as expected. the best was brad's mom. right before calling her, brad said what he thought she would do--a tiny little gasp and then say, 'really?!'. sure enough, when he told donna, she reacted EXACTLY like brad said she would! it was really funny. we had to keep it a secret for another month when we told everyone on brad's birthday over the phone and video chat. it was really fun to surprise everyone.

adjustments we've already made
for the first week after we found out, i felt totally fine. so fine, in fact, that i was worried something was going wrong. that weekend, however, my back began to really, REALLY hurt. like...more than ever in my entire life. after crying all night on sunday night, i decided to call the doctor the next morning. she told me to come right in. brad was able to come with me during his lunch break, and they did an ultrosound to make sure it wasnt ectopic. im awfully glad brad came for support, because he otherwise wouldnt have been able to see peanut or hear his/her heartbeat for the first time (it was so faint that i had to hold my breath to hear it). the doctor said i did have a cyst on my ovary, but that it was actually pretty common very early in pregnancies and it was most likely causing the back pain. she gave me drugs and sent me home.

soon after that, i began regretting i ever worried about not feeling sick. i was horribly nauseated from week 6 on. it hasnt stopped yet. i am having better days than others, but i am getting pretty tired of not being able to eat much of anything. i had to leave church 2 out of three weeks early which made people suspicious, but we still tried to keep it secret. i have been completely exhausted and i cant function unless i sleep about 9 hours at night. even then, i want to take a nap almost every day. chores have gone by the wayside, and rowdy's favorite spot laying on my lap was off limits for a long time. brad has been forced to cooked any and all meat he wants to eat, and i dread cooking and/or eating out for fear of my limited options.

at my 9 week appointment, they moved the due date to october 8. and yesterday, i had my 13 week appointment. they said that all of my tests are great. my heartbeat and blood pressure look really good, and peanut is alive and very active. they found his/her heartbeat, but not after several minutes of searching, finding it, and then losing it. my doctor finally said 'this little stinker wont sit still long enough to get a heartbeat!' haha....peanut has only existed for 13 weeks and he/she already is being a little booger--no wonder ive been so nauseated! peanut is also healthy with a perfectly normal heartbeat of 155 beats/minute

FAQ's
-how many weeks are you now? 13 weeks, 1 day. but who is counting?
-have you been sick? i have been very, very nauseated. i did have one week where i was throwing up a lot, but medicine has helped that part of the discomfort. im having more days now where im less nauseated and there are periods where i feel better, but i still am not out of the ballpark by any means.
-are there any foods you hate? meat! eww....the smell, look, thought....its really putrid.
-do you have any cravings yet? i eat a LOT of fruit. specifically green apples, watermelon, pineapple, strawberries, and bananas have kept me alive for the past few weeks. i also like baby carrots and other random vegetables. baked potatoes and chicken noodle soup were also high on my list for a while. oh, and i always have to carry a baggy of gummy bears and pretzel sticks in case i get randomly hungry (and for midnight hunger pains, which happen regularly). last week, i had an exceptionally yummy chocolate frosty and fries, and every day since have craved those two items exclusively. i havent had one since, but i think about them often (like right now....)
-are you going to find out the gender of the baby? heck yes! i am far too type A to be surprised for the first. i also have a million sewing projects i want to do and the nursery theme i chose that i thought would be gender neutral is apparently not manly enough for brad's liking, so i have to wait until we find out before i can make anything for baby.
-when will you find out the gender? may 7...5 weeks from yesterday. i'll be 18 weeks along. woot!
-do you have any guesses on the gender or preferences? brad really wants a boy (he says he'll be happy with either) but if i ever accidentally say 'he' instead of 'it' brad gets really excited. i would love either, but girls are just so much fun to dress up! so if i had to say, i would say that i would love a girl, but i have a tiny feeling it's a boy (and only because i rarely say 'she' when referring to peanut, but i regularly accidentally say 'he'). we'll be super happy no matter what, since we have names for both.
-will you share your names? i used to freely share our name options, but have since been told to keep them secret until we know the gender. then we'll reveal (again) the chosen first and middle name. just in case you were wondering, the first names have been chosen for a long time.
-how much weight have you gained? how dare you ask such a question! just kidding...im making these up after all. ive actually lost 15 pounds since we first found out i was pregnant. the doctor isnt worried about it at all, and she said that the lack of protein and lack of desire to eat certain foods caused the loss of weight. i was assured i would gain it all back. ugh.

future information
-while we try to get used to all of this and the coming life change (i realized during general conference that i will be in labor, about to be, or with a newborn by the next conference! crazy!), we found a new place to live. it is less than 5 minutes away from here, and we will be renting from a family in our ward. they are being stationed in the military in monterey, ca for a year and wanted to rent out their house to someone they knew. we hadnt told anyone we were looking to move (presumably to downsize and save some money, but we werent having any luck staying in our ward boundaries), but jennifer sat down next to me one day in relief society, turned to me, and jokingly said, 'want to rent our house?' i just looked at her and said, 'seriously? we're looking...' they called that night and are willing to give us an amazing deal to rent the house. it is bigger than the one we are in now, and it is a lot nicer. we will be saving money going there, and we will still be very close to brad's work, grocery stores, and our friends. the only downside is that there isnt a fence in the yard, so rowdy will have to be leashed to go outside. but we have decided that it is worth it. plus, they have to move out only 2 weeks before we have to move out of the current house here, so we'll have 2 weeks to move. it's going to be pretty perfect. we just feel very blessed right now and we are excited with the way things are going. oh! and here is the first pregnancy picture of many:

here i am at 13 weeks in all my glory. so...yeah! there ya go...probably too much information. start making your guesses now about the gender of Peanut!

the cruise!

hello, everyone!

i have been meaning to catch up in blogland for a while, but somehow i have stopped checking blogs so often and it is becoming increasingly difficult to devote an hour(ish) every day to all of the craft blogs i love. it just gets overwhelming if i have a really busy week and can't check them at all, and then it becomes a multi-hour investment, which i just dont want to do.

with that in mind, i promised a long time ago that i would update news about our lives here. i dont really have any pictures for this post (sorry!) but as soon as i get everything uploaded from our recent excursions, i'll do a picture dump. this post is specifically about our cruise, so....yeah.

brad and i had a FANTASTIC time on our cruise! the amount of driving was tiring, but it was so worth it. my parents were kind enough to watch rowdy while we were gone, and we have come to believe that he was more spoiled by them than he is by us (if that's even possible)! he sure does miss the company. in short, the weather was beautiful every step of the way, it was never too hot or too cold or rainy (with the exception of 10 minutes on the cruise ship on our way back to florida), we didnt hit any traffic, and best of all, i didnt get (very) sick on the ship! i was very, very worried about it, and i actually almost wouldnt have been able to board, except that brad encouraged me to do the early check in process online instead of at jacksonville. as i did, it asked for all of our information, and it asked if i was pregnant. i had read extensively and it only said that you cant cruise if you are over 24 weeks because they dont have trained medical staff if something happened and you go into labor, but it never asked if i was pregnant at all, until this check in process online. after i checked yes, our reservation was immediately flagged saying that i couldnt board unless i had a form filled out by my doctor confirming i was fit to cruise, and it was supposed to be turned in no later than 7 days before we left. the problem was, i did check in 3 days before we left. i had a panic attack and called carnival, and they emailed the proper form. of course my doctor was in her office 30 minutes away the next morning, so i spent way too long driving up there, waiting until she was free and asking her to fill it out, and driving home to call carnival and make sure everything was turned in. lucky for us, they found the form without a problem and filed it. whew!

the first day of the cruise (we boarded in the afternoon) i was feeling very sick. i think now it was a lot of worry about food options, traveling, and how things were going to go in general. it seemed like the boat was SO rocky, and that didnt help. that evening, i was really worried that i was going to be miserable the entire time. luckily, laying down on the bed helped reduce the feeling of movement, and i slept well. the next morning, they told us we would be an hour late into freeport, bahamas, because there was a storm the previous night that was tossing the boat around a lot more than normal. once they slowed it down, the rocking slowed down. and for the rest of the trip, it wasnt really that bad. of course i had my moments, but it wasnt near as bad as i thought it would be! plus, thanks to a 24-hour buffet of fruits, i survived. yes, i might have felt like a horse at times, since i would eat a green apple every time i went up to the buffet, but i also stashed 3-4 in my purse. i had a constant supply of fruits, i tell you. and thank goodness for it!

we spent the 5 hours we had in freeport walking around port lucaya. the boat docks in a random industrial area and you have to take a taxi to wherever you want to go. unfortunately, we thought the most popular shopping district and the place we wanted to snorkel were within walking distance, but they werent (in fact, they were separated by a canal, and we could only get to the snorkeling area by extra $15-20 in taxi rides). when we finally admitted defeat, we decided to buy day passes for $15 each at a resort with a private beach area, and then it was great. it was warm but not too hot, nice and windy, and the water was gorgeous. good golly, ive never seen water so blue and clear!! we just relaxed in the sun while i ate my supply of apples, and eventually headed back to the taxi area for the boat.

oh! i forgot to mention that on the day we went to freeport, i won a raffle! woohoo! it was just a free prize drawing for random stuff, and brad talked me into going down and putting our names in. and what did i win, you are asking yourself? i won a carnival towel (if you steal theirs, they charge you $22 to replace it. these are nice towels!), a silly little plastic picture frame, and......champagne. seriously? of all people on the boat, the pregnant, mormon girl wins the alcohol?! honestly, i wanted the stuffed bear for Peanut to have as his/her momento from his/her first cruise. but when i asked to trade for something else, the lady declined. boo. it was okay though, we gave it to the couple sitting next to us at the dinner seating (they were biiiiiiig drinkers and it was their honeymoon, so we felt it was appropriate). i sure did feel silly carrying it around in my purse all evening, though!

the next morning, the boat docked in nassau at 8:00. side note: i have learned after being married to bradley kevin for 2 1/2 years that he is so funny on vacations. i equate him to a kid on christmas morning: exhausted from all the excitement, unable to sleep, and DYING to get out in the middle of the action. so even though i passed out around 10:30 the night before and he stayed up watching tv/planning what we wanted to do in nassau until after midnight, i woke up to him showering at 6am, and he was completely dressed, ready to go, and laying on the bed staring at me by 7:15. i tried to pretend i was asleep, but by that time, he couldnt wait any longer and reminded me nicely that i needed to hurry up so we could get the most out of our day at nassau. i grudgingly got up and got ready, and we grabbed some breakfast before heading out around 8:30. we spent the day exploring the city. it was so, so fun! it reminded both of us a lot of mexico, with lots of booths everywhere and run down cars and buildings. all the people selling things called me 'pretty lady' and 'sweetheart' and 'beautiful girl' and that certainly helped my ego as we tried to haggle with them for prices. we ended up getting a cool wooden mask to hang up and a magnet from the pirate museum they had. the museum was really fun. it was much more extensive than i expected, and by the end of it, i had learned a lot more about pirates than i ever thought i would. i did really want the magnet that had skulls on it with the one on the end having an eyepatch. it said, 'it's all fun and games until someone loses an eye.' i thought it was pretty funny, but it didnt have the name of the museum or nassau on it, so we got one with all the different cool pirate flags.

next we walked a little bit (maybe half a mile) to the queen's staircase. apparently way back when, someone (im assuming the queen?) made their slaves carve out a huge staircase from this veritable mountain of limestone. there are 65 remaining steps and this long carved out walkway (almost tunnel) and it is really cool. it leads up to the highest point of the island, which we didnt know until we reached the top, where it had once served as a lookout to warn the island of any pirates. it was so cool to see the entire area! (again, pictures coming asap)

we then took a taxi over to paradise island to where the famous atlantis resort is and spent the afternoon on a GORGEOUS public beach called cabbage beach. we got there around 1:30ish and we walked 200 feet down the beach to a pretty vacant spot. it was so, so beautiful. the water was a tiny bit colder than in freeport, but we loved it. we stayed out for about 2- 2 1/2 hours before we went back, finished up shopping, and then grabbed some conch fritters before getting on the boat (in case youre wondering, they werent really good. just tasted like deep fried batter--we heard you can get much better versions in other places, but we forgot to get it before this point and it was too late to go back) at least we tried it.

**just a glimpse of cabbage beach. it was so beautiful!

 **one of the few pictures we took together. we're so good looking!

**brad's shot of cabbage beach. gorgeous.

we finished up the cruise with a day on the boat, relaxing, eating, and playing lots of trivia games (cruises are essentially for drinking and gambling, so options can sometimes be limited). we also nursed some pretty raunchy sunburns from nassau. we got back to jacksonville in the morning on march 26, and then drove back to my parents house. we got to spend one short evening with my parents and then made the 12 hour drive back to fort wayne. i have to say, i liked fort wayne a little bit less this time than before, knowing how far away we are from family.

 **this is our obligatory "darn it! we forgot to take any pictures so lets take one on the way out the door" photo. excuse my lack of makeup and everything else. sheesh. and i dont really look that pregnant--it's the angle! i swear!

**rowdy did NOT like being stuck in the back seat on the drive back (he couldnt stay on my lap since it hurts, he is too big, and he wiggles way too much now). i had to put up a pillow barricade, and he tried his best to be as close to us as possible. he refused to just sleep on his bed, but for a few hours, he kept falling asleep while sitting up and leaning on my pillow, trying to be near us. so silly.



since then, things have gone basically back to normal. me, not being able to cook much, brad having to work long hours, and both of us trying to wrap our heads around the fact that we have a baby coming (crazy)! we cant wait until we see family again and we want to remind you all that you are always welcome here!