Home Sweet Home!

We made it home safely on Saturday night from our weeks stay in Southern California. We had a wonderful time but it sure feels good to be back in the comforts of our own home...mostly it's just nice to sleep in my bed again! ;)

We were able to fit quite a bit into our week. We visited with our family in San Diego, spent 2 days in Disneyland and spent several days with our favorite friends, The O'Connell's!

The first day we were in Disneyland it was in the low 90's and the heat just about did us in. We ended up going back to our hotel, taking a nap, eating dinner and just trying our best to stay out of the sun. We headed back to Disneyland that evening and it was much better! It's still winter here in Reno, so the 40 degree jump in temperature was quite a shock to our systems. We returned to Disneyland on Wednesday and had a great day of fun riding the rides, saying hi to the characters and just enjoying our time.

Thursday and Friday we spent hanging out with the O'Connell family and had a great time walking the malls, letting the kids play and just visiting. It's hard having such good friends who live so far away, but we are grateful that we get to visit on a fairly regular basis.

Here are some pictures from our trip. I realized when I got home that I only took pictures in Disneyland.

Sunny Southern California...

HERE WE COME!!!

Grandma Dean, Bella and I leave early tomorrow morning for a week long vacation in So Cal. We are visiting friends and family and spending a couple days at Disneyland! We are so excited and I'm just praying that my pregnant bladder cooperates on the drive down and back! ;)

Check back for pictures and updates!

24 week pictures...

Here are a few pictures from tonight. I can't seem to get a decent one that includes my head, but I'll get over myself and post one anyways. ;)





And here's the real deal...a bare belly shot...

6 months!

Wow! Where did the time go? I'm finding it hard to believe that I've entered my 6th month of pregnancy!

I'm happy to report that I'm feeling pretty good these days, but for the last week all I've really wanted to do was EAT and SLEEP! I'm trying SO hard to keep motivated but I feel like my body is taking over and my mind only goes so far in motivating me to get things done.

I had a really busy week at work and the staff hosted our annual volunteer appreciation dinner on Friday. I was at work for 10 hours Friday and made the huge mistake of wearing shoes with a heel. After setting up, serving food, and cleaning up I was left feeling like I'd been run over by a truck. I woke up Saturday morning with swollen hands and feet and a terrible headache...definitely over did it! With the exception of a couple loads of laundry I didn't do much of anything other than lay around and sleep most of the day. I hopefully learned my lesson because I was miserable!

In happier news our little girl seems to be doing well nestled in my tummy. She moves constantly and I'm now able to distinguish between different parts of her body. Bella felt her move for the first time the other day and her reaction was priceless...it completely freaked her out! It took her a few days to get up the nerve to touch my belly again, but she finally was brave enough and knowing what to expect, she actually enjoyed feeling her sister move around.

I will try to post a new belly picture sometime this week.

Belly Pics!

Here are a couple pictures from tonight. These are officially my 22 week pictures as I will be 23 weeks tomorrow. Of course Bella had to be in on the action! ;)

The Great Tie Dillema...

This morning I came downstairs to find Andy in his usual work attire, with one exception...he was wearing 2 ties!

Here is a picture of him just before leaving for our appointment with our Doctor...



(In case it's hard to see in the picture, his ties are identical except for the color...one is pink and one is blue. He said our ultrasound would determine which one he wore to work.)

And this is what he wore to work...



Yes, it's true. We are having another little girl!! We were so certain that this baby was a boy that it came as quite a surprise when we saw those three familiar little lines on the screen. After our initial peek our Doctor took a few more measurements and I couldn't resist asking him if he was sure so he went back for another look. He explained it to us this way, "These 3 lines, no penis and no scrotum are usually what we see when baby is a girl." He said he couldn't give us a 100% guarantee, but that he was at least 90% sure. I knew he was extremely confident in his assessment, but I had to check none-the-less! ;)

And here is what she refused to show us last time...



I know this may look like nothing to a lot of you, but if you look directly above the arrow there are 3 lines on top of each other and those are her "girl parts". The picture is as if she is sitting above you and you look up at her bottom. Does that help at all?? ;)

Having a son would have been wonderful, but after waiting for so long for this baby, hearing that we are having a healthy little girl is some of the best news we have had since first seeing her little heart beating away in October.

Most of you know that Bella has had her heart set on having a baby brother and I'm happy to say that she took the news very well. She was still excited to go pick out the baby's first outfit and I was very pleased with her choice. I can't wait to see her baby sister in this...



I've become increasingly excited as the day has gone on and one of the things that I simply cannot wait to see is Andy with his daughters and how much they will both adore their daddy. We have so much to look forward to in the years to come and I'm so thankful for the blessing of this little girl.

22 weeks!

According to my weekly email the baby is about 10 1/2 inches long and close to 1 pound. Even though that is tiny compared to a newborn it still amazes me that something that size is living inside of me! This little one continues to be as active as ever, making his/her presence especially known whenever I'm trying to sleep. A couple nights ago Andy and I were laying in bed, him quickly falling asleep, me feeling like my insides were being turned inside out every 5 seconds. Finally I put his hand on my belly so he could feel a little of what was keeping me awake. He had a few minutes of fun poking at the baby and getting a nice strong thump back. Of course that did absolutely nothing in helping the baby to calm down and me get to sleep, but it was a fun little moment none-the-less.

Our next appointment is on Friday and we get to have another ultrasound in hopes of getting a clear gender shot. I'm starting to get excited again, but reminding myself that there is always the possibility of the outcome being the same as last time. Again I made sure to schedule it for first thing in the morning so I didn't have to wait all day. I will hopefully have some news to send out on the blogshpere by early afternoon.

Andy and I are on a mission around here. We have decided to clean out and organize our house (and lives) room by room. We planned to start with the garage, but in hopes of being productive yesterday with a limited amount of time we tackled our bedroom instead. We got everything done except for our under bed storage bins which we will finish up this morning. Even though we still have a LOT of work to do it feels great to accomplish something and be one step closer to our goal. We've also agreed to do nothing with the nursery until our re-organization is done. It will be hard to resist (especially if we are so lucky to find out if the baby is a boy or girl), but is great motivation to keep going!

Last week was a tough week at work for me as I dealt with many couples in crisis. Everyday as I drove home and pondered the day I kept coming to the same conclusion of how blessed I am to have the marriage and family that I do. Andy and I have faced some of the same situations that bring couples into my office feeling hopeless and ready to give up and to know that we can face life TOGETHER is more of a blessing that I ever imagined it to be. I guess I'm trying to say that I'm extremely grateful for the blessing of sharing my life with someone who I know will never give up on me or our family. It feels great to be doing life together!

Stuff...

First, I'll get the headless picture out of the way. Today I am 21 weeks, but this is my 20 week picture that I didn't get posted last week.



I'm finally starting to feel good on a regular basis. Andy no longer has to bring me breakfast in bed which is nice for both of us (believe it or not, I actually enjoy not having to lay in bed every single morning), my motivation is coming back, I'm able to eat more of a variety of foods and with the exception of being completely exhausted from head to toe by the end of the day (my day ends a lot earlier than Andy's and Bella's by the way), I'm feeling like myself again.

We have been busy working on projects around the house, not only getting ready for a new baby, but also getting back on top of things that we have been letting slide. We have some projects in the works that we are finishing up and starting some major cleaning out and reorganizing. While it's occupying almost all of our time, it feels great to be getting things done.

Andy is currently in Portland on business. We took him to the airport yesterday morning and when we started to drive away Bella said, "Mom, is he going to be okay by himself?" The concern in her voice was heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time. I assured her that Daddy would be fine by himself, but she was genuinely concerned about him. When she talked to him last night on the phone, I overheard her telling him, "I really wish I was there with you Daddy". She's such a sweetheart and even though I'll admit to the occasional twinge of jealousy, I have to say that seeing her and Andy's relationship develop into something so special brings me a great deal of joy!

The weather here has been unseasonably warm. We are currently in the low-mid 60's. It has been great but we really need a winter. We have had no snow or rain to speak of which has left the ski resorts hurting big time and if it stays this way, will have a grave effect on our water supply this summer. The weather is forecasting rain by the end of this week, so maybe this is just the start of our high desert winter??

Here are a few pictures of Bella and Andy snowboarding. I took so many that it's hard to choose, but these are some of my favorites...











I think that's all for now. I'm off to fold some laundry and hopefully finish up our taxes.

Gentle Reminders...

1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.
2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.
3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
4. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
5. Pay off your credit cards every month.
6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.
8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.
9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.
10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.
12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.
13. Don't compare your life to others'. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.
15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never blinks.
16. Life is too short for long pity parties. Get busy living, or get busy dying.
17. You can get through anything if you stay put in today.
18. A writer writes. If you want to be a writer, write.
19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. Have it as an adult.
20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.
21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets ... Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.
22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.
23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple. .
25. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words: "In five years, will this matter?"
27. Always choose life.
28. Forgive everyone everything.
29. What other people think of you is none of your business.
30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.
31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
32. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.
33. Believe in miracles.
34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.
35. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.
36. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.
37. Your children get only one childhood. Make it memorable.
38. Read the Psalms. They cover every human emotion.
39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.
40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.
41. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.
42. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
43. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
44. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
45. The best is yet to come.
46. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
47. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
48. If you don't ask, you don't get.
49. Yield.
50. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift

20 weeks!

I officially crossed the half way mark on Monday and time seems to be going faster and faster. With the exception of the bibs and stuffed puppy dog that Bella picked out for the baby after my ultrasound, I still don't have a single thing for this baby! We have quite a project in turning Bella's play room into a baby's room and I really want to get all of that taken care of before I start accumulating baby stuff. Andy is in the middle of building drawers to store our DVD's and CD's in and as soon as he is done with that we are going to take on the task of creating space for this little one. Of course not having a definite boy or girl answer is also holding me back a bit.

I'm currently fighting off a cold, but other than that I'm feeling pretty good these days. The Chiropractor has been a miracle worker with my lower back pain. It went from constant pain to virtually non-existent and I can't tell you what a relief it has been! The baby is also moving around ALL THE TIME now which is not only reassuring, but also a lot of fun! Last night he/she must have been doing flips or something because the movement was so big that it was actually starting to make me feel a little nauseous. It felt like my entire insides were being flipped upside down...over and over and over again! ;) When I first got pregnant I thought that maybe I would have a low energy, calm child this time, but I have a feeling that we are in for another kiddo with the energy of 5 "normal" kids! ;)

We still haven't taken my 20 week belly pic, but as soon as we do I will post it. Everyone keeps telling me how small I am and I keep reminding them that this is about the point where I start growing exponentially. At my u/s the baby weighed about 1/2 lb. so if this one is a little under Bella's birth weight I have a full 8 lbs of baby to put somewhere in the next 20 weeks! Yikes!!

Ultrasound Pictures!

As many of you know we had our routine 20 week u/s yesterday (although I'm actually only 19 weeks). We went in to our appointment with the assumption that we would leave knowing if the newest member of our family was a boy or a girl. We were wrong! ;) Despite our Doctors many attempts our baby refused to give us so much as a glimpse between his/her legs. Finally the Doctor stopped trying and told us that he would check at our next appointment in a month.

I have to say that there is a twinge of disappointment, but not nearly as much as I expected. Hearing that our baby was healthy was all we really needed yesterday. There wasn't a single concern that the Doctor had. He did all the measurements, pointed out the things they look for that could indicate a possible problem and assured us that from what we could tell we had a very healthy little one in there.

Here are a couple pictures. I haven't had time to get to the store and scan them onto a disk, so these are pictures I took with my camera. Not the best, but they will do for now.

Our alien baby...



Notice the arrow pointing to the ear. We were so amazed at this one...not only the little ear, but also the detail of his/her spine.




And my favorite one...

Kaitlyn Elaine

Two of our dearest friends Kyle and Terri said goodbye to their beautiful baby girl on Saturday when she was born silently. Terri was 25 weeks pregnant and discovered on Friday that Kaitlyn's heart had stopped beating.

We were blessed to be there with them for the birth and to share some time with Kaitlyn before the said goodbye.

I will never profess to understand why things like this happen, but I do know that they are wrapped in the arms of Jesus during this incredibly difficult time and that they are looking forward to the day when they meet their angel baby in heaven.

If you could say a prayer for them I know they would appreciate it. They are such special people and it breaks our heart to see them have to travel down the road in life.

Kaitlyn Elaine, a little girl that will forever be in the presence of our Lord. A precious angel who will never be forgotten...

Something to remember...

I came across this quote today and for thought a few parents out there might be able to relate...

"Children seldom misquote you. They more often repeat, word for word, what you shouldn't have said."

- Mae Maloo

Andy and I *think* we watch what we say in front of Bella, but all too often she reminds of that her ears are farther reaching that we think! ;)

Happy Birthday!

To the most wonderful friend a girl could ask for! :)

Wish we were there to crash your birthday dinner! Seriously though, I hope this year brings with it much happiness and many new blessings!

:)

Off she goes!

Bella is now the official owner of her first pair of snowboarding boots. We looked all over trying to find boots in her size and I finally came to the conclusion that most 4 year olds probably aren't hopping on a snowboard...skis, maybe, but the snowboard doesn't seem to be as popular amongst the preschoolers! ;) Of course she is adamant about wanting to board and Andy wants to teach her just as bad, so we perservered. Yesterday we hit the jackpot and these are what she will take her first ride down the slopes in (okay, she won't really be going down any "slopes" at first)...



Andy has plans to take her up on Thursday and start getting her used to being on a board. I will be saying many prayers that day, but know that this is just the beginning of my very daring and adventurous little girl doing things that will make my heart skip a few beats.

Unfortunately I won't be there to take pictures, but I will be sure to give a full, second hand report once they get back!

In baby news, I was 17 weeks yesterday and think I'm finally starting to feel better. I have been to the gym a few times in the last week, am sleeping decent at night, and have more energy than I've had in months. Along with that has come the much anticipated days of feeling this little one jump around in my belly on a regular basis. Of course for the last couple days he/she has decided that 5:30 am would be a good time to wake up and jump around for an hour or so. I love it, but at the same time am wondering why it couldn't just be an hour or so later?? ;)

Here is a belly pic from yesterday. Sorry about the lack of a head in all my pictures, but by the time Andy gets around to taking my pic at night I look like hell, so he just gets the important part! ;)





Compared to last week, I've really "popped"! ;)

16 weeks!

Today I am enter my 16th week of pregnancy. Up until a couple weeks ago the time was slowly creeping by, but all of a sudden things seem to be speeding up.

I receive a weekly email that tells me about how the baby is developing for the particular week I am in. According to today's email our little one is almost 5 inches long and his/her finger and toe nails are fully formed. It's amazing for me to think that I have a perfectly formed little person growing inside of me! I love it! :)

Andy clicked a couple pictures of Bella and I yesterday. Here is a cute one that shows a little of my growing belly...



And just for good measure...an adorable picture of Bella I took yesterday...

7 years ago tonight...

Andy asked me to be his wife!

It's hard to believe that it's been that long...I'm sure glad I said yes! :)

As usual we are home for New Year's Eve. I don't think we've made it to midnight since the year I was pregnant with Bella. We are usually woken up by the celebration of our neighbors, say a quick "Happy New Year" and promptly fall back asleep!

We did take advantage of our Claim Jumper gift card and treated ourselves to a yummy dinner and desert which was fun!

I hope everyone has a fun (and safe) evening and that the New Year brings with it many blessings!

Let's talk about babies!

We currently seem to be having a baby boom amongst our group of friends from church. There are 4 of us due this summer...Terri is due in May, I am due in June, Melanie in July and Jessica in August! Three of us are really good friends outside of church and it's amazing that we are all having babies so close to each other. This is really such a treat for me because even though I'm the only one having their second child, it will be so neat to have friends who can not only share in being pregnant but will have kids so close in age! When I was pregnant with Bella I was pretty much the only one so I've never experienced this before and I'm really looking forward to it. The funny thing is that Terri, myself and Jessica's husband all work at the church. I joked at our staff meeting on Wednesday that they were going to have to hire a substitute staff for the summer because we would all be gone!

In other news I'm feeling the baby move on a regular basis now and I LOVE IT! I have to say that for me it is one of the most amazing things I have ever experienced. I was completely fascinated by it when I was pregnant with Bella and am so excited to be experiencing it again. The baby seems to be the most active in the evenings, especially when I'm trying to go to sleep. I can't wait until his/her movements are a little stronger so Bella and Andy can feel it too.

I'm 15 1/2 weeks now and I think it's FINALLY starting to sink in that we are actually having a baby! I still haven't done a single thing to prepare for a newborn and have decided that I will wait until our ultrasound (end of January) to really do anything. If it's a boy we will need quite a bit of stuff, if it's a girl we will obviously be a little more prepared. I will have Andy take a belly picture soon so everyone can see my ever expanding mid section! ;)

I received some wonderful pregnancy oil from Elizabeth for Christmas and am hoping that I can once again minimize the stretch marks that accompany a belly that seems to grow exponentially. I just started using it a couple days ago and I love it. It doesn't leave any kind of oily residue on your skin and it smells wonderful!!

I also think that the baby might be going through a growth spurt or something because the last few days I have been starving! It doesn't matter what I eat or how often, I feel like I'm always hungry. Don't get me wrong, I love to eat, but honestly this feels like more of a burden than anything right now. I hope it doesn't last too long and I can get back to doing something other than eating 24 hours a day! ;)

I guess that's all for now. Today has been a lazy day at home for Bella and I. I was able to take a nice long nap and Bella has occupied her day with playing with her new toys, stamping, coloring, playing a little Wii and hanging out with me. I have a list of chores waiting for me when I wake up in the morning, but it sure has been nice to have a day of doing NOTHING!

Pictures!

The first 2 are from Christmas Eve...

Merry Christmas!

We hope your day has been wonderful! Despite Andy coming down with the flu Bella had last week we have managed to have a really nice day. We were of course up early to open presents and after the excitement we were able to take a nice long nap and just woke up a little bit ago.

All of our gifts were wonderful but Andy completely SHOCKED me by buying me this...



It is a Nikon D80. It has 10.2 mp and came with 2 lenses. I said I was shocked, but I mean, really. truly. shocked. So much so that I started to cry (yes, I know I'm pregnant, but still...). I don't know how to describe how much it meant that he would buy me something like this without any prodding or hinting around. I just never expected it. After carefully following the instructions I have it to where I can take a basic picture, but beyond that I have NO clue what I'm doing. I am so excited to learn how everything works and my goal is to have a decent understanding of it all by the time the baby is born so I can hopefully get some really neat pictures of Bella and her new baby brother or sister.

I'm going to cook us a nice dinner of Prime Rib, mashed potatoes and asparagus and then I think we are going to watch Cars tonight.

I have a ton of pictures to share that I will try to get up over the next few days, but until then I'll leave you with this one from last night...



It's a little out of focus, but when you get your picture with Elvis you can't be too picky!! ;)

Dr Appt Update...

Just a quick note to let everyone know that I had my 14 week appointment today. I was a little nervous going in knowing that we would listen for the heart beat again (remember last time we couldn't hear it) and that by this point there should be no reason NOT to hear it. Of course, ye of little faith was finally able to exhale as the Dr. put the Doppler to my stomach and the familiar swoosh of the babies heart beat sounded from the speaker. The first sound we heard he identified as the babies pulse and then after a few minutes a distinctly different sound appeared which was evidently the heart valves. Now, I have no idea the real difference between the two, but the definitely sounded different. After that he went back and forth between my heart beat and the babies which was a fun comparison (mine was much slower).

And with that I was pretty much up and out of the office. I have to say that it was nice to finally have a short, routine visit finally. My next appt will be in 4 weeks and will also include my big ultrasound!

So busy!

We are going a million miles an hour around here so I'm going to do a quick update post with a few spare minutes I have.

*Bella's Dance Recital was on Saturday. Her class danced the Christmas Conga and were absolutely adorable. Her outfit was something else and due to the fact that her little belly was showing I've decided to only post 1 picture that pretty much hides her bare tummy. I'm usually not too worried about posting pics, but am also aware that there are people out there searching the net for certain kinds of pictures and made the decision to err on the side of caution this time. I would LOVE to share them with anyone who is interested, so feel free to email me and I will send you a few.



*Andy and I attended his Christmas Party on Saturday night and while it wasn't all that exciting in and of itself, we FINALLY won something in the raffle! Just so you know we NEVER and I mean, NEVER win anything...either of us. Anyways, we won a $100 gift card to Claim Jumper...one of our favorite restaurants in town!

*Some of you may know, but Andy is starring as Elvis in our churches Christmas Eve drama production! He has been busy with practices and has several this week in preparation for Sunday's performances. I will of course be taking pictures and posting them so stay tuned!

*Although I had a tough few days this week, for the most part I'm finally starting to feel better. I keep having to remind myself that I am still pregnant and need to take it easy some times. I have so much I want to get done and have been diligently working on catching up that sometimes I forget to take time to rest until my body literally forces me to stop!

*We have a ton of things on our calendar for this week so we are just taking it day by day. We are very much looking forward to Christmas Day as it will be the first day in about 2 weeks that we will all be home and able to relax for an entire day!

*And just because...here is a picture of Bella in front of our Christmas tree. Notice the beautiful red scarf she is wearing...Grandma Dean made that for her per her request for a Christmas Scarf. She has worn it every day since Saturday (when she got it) and I finally realized that I think she is wearing it so much because she figured out that it gets her a lot of attention (yes, my daughter like attention ;) ).



I hope everyone is managing this busy time of the season and most importantly remembering the amazing gift of love we are celebrating!

Santa Claus!

Bella has been anxiously awaiting her visit with Santa this year. We told her last week that we would take her today since Andy was off and could go with us. The first thing she said this morning was, "When are we going to see Santa?" We picked a great time to go as there were only a few people in line and she was able to sit with Santa and talk with him for a few minutes.

Here is a picture of her waiting in line.



And the official Santa picture...



Bella was so excited after her chat with Santa. This is such a magical time of year and seeing her face light up like it did was really something special. After our visit with Santa we decided to take advantage of Andy's day off and finally got some of our shopping done. I have a very specific list this year and it made it so much easier than trying to come up with a gift on the spot. We still have to shop for Bella, but other than that we are close to being done and it feels great!

And one last important note...I'm 13 weeks today and officially entering my 2nd trimester! It's hard to believe that a third of my pregnancy is over already!

12 weeks...

And 2 days to be exact! ;) I can't believe I've finally reached the 12 week mark! I'm happy to report that the vomiting seems to be getting better and that while I'm still pretty exhausted most of the time, I'm finally able to function again. I have a ton of catching up to do, and am trying to get a few things done each day with the hopes of being back on top of things as soon as possible.

Instead of an ultrasound picture this week I thought I would leave you with a glimpse of my growing belly. If I would have planned better I wouldn't have to post a picture taken by a 4 year old of me in my jammies, but oh well!! ;)