Monday, January 26, 2015

snow days and second trimester!

last Wednesday night we got tons of snow.. like 3-4 inches! It was powdery and white and beautiful! The only thing I don't like about the snow is driving the 30 min to work in it, eek! 

Cody and I got outside for a little bit to play around and take a few pictures to document it all


















this also marks 14 weeks AKA SECOND TRIMESTER!
How far along? 14 weeks 
size of baby: a lemon
Total weight gain: just a few pounds
Maternity clothes? definitely love the maternity jeans on my non-work days, but I'm needing some maternity scrubs soon..my drawstring scrub pants aren't giving much room to grow ;) 
Sleep:  sleeping great!
Best moment this week:  I was able to hear the heartbeat again which is always music to my hearts and such a confirmation of God's hand in this wonderful miracle! I believe this can be the hardest time of a pregnancy.. i'm starting to feel better so I don't have the oh so confirming daily nausea/vomiting but not quite feeling baby move yet so I'm in a constant state of paranoia and worry.. which has caused me to pray like no other and trust God. Pregnancy is many things but a test of faith is one of them! 
Worst Moment this week: I got sick the morning I turned 14 weeks and then could not shake the nausea all day (even though I slept the day away for work that night). That was no fun. 
Miss Anything? nope!          
Cravings: still loving lots of fruit but this week I've also loved oatmeal and cherry tomatoes :)
Symptoms:  after thursday, I haven't been nauseas (yet) and not so ill feeling. I have been bloated still and find myself to be more snappy at people/things though :(
Looking forward to:  the weeks to come! more hearing the heartbeat, ultrasound, and finding out the gender of course! plus lots going on outside the pregnancy portion of my life to be excited about!


Saturday, January 17, 2015

a few of my favorite things

prenatal gummy vitamins call me a whimp but I am no good at swallowing big pills, we bought the gummy vitamins we found out we were pregnant from Target and love them! They're yummy and hits all the vital nutrients this growing baby needs  saltine crackers aka my best friend. These things get me through the morning sickness/all day sickness/slight hunger pains that occur a love that multiplies  by the Duggars. I've been wanting to read this book and I found it on sale at Christmas. Its such a great look into their life and faith friends I'm thrilled this is on Netflix! We love watching it nehemiah another bible study by Kelly Minter (I've mentioned how much I love her studies before) and so I'm doing this one while our church studies Nehemiah as well  pregnancy body kit my sister in law got me this for christmas and I love it! The kit comes with body butter, stretching oil, aromatherapy spray, body wash, and some sample tea packets.. all products include ginger and focus on easing the queasiness. I use the stretching oil every night on those expanding areas!

13... going on 30?!




How far along? 13 weeks 
size of baby: a peach
Total weight gain: not too sure... I'm still thinking just a few pounds but this belly does seem to be expanding at a rapid rate! 
Maternity clothes?  I have tried some maternity jeans for certain days and I believe those are some of the greatest gifts on the earth. But I can still wear old pants with the rubber band trick and normal shirts with long tank tops
Sleep:  after a bout of insomnia, I think I'm back to sleeping my life away. Blame night shift or pregnancy fatigue but I have definitely been well rested this week ;)
Best moment this week:  getting lots of time off work to rest and relax :)) also, Cody and I have gone on a few date nights which are great
Worst Moment this week: the smell of the chicken crispers I ordered at Chili's.... or any of the moments this week when my tummy didn't cooperate..
Miss Anything? hot hot baths... and lunch meat sandwiches  (I did sneak one in today.. heated of course ;))             
Cravings: fruit and more fruit... especially strawberries (summer baby, anyone!?). I cannot bring myself to bring chicken or leftovers... like I said the chicken crispers were bad enough at Chili's but even worse sitting in our fridge, gag. 
Symptoms:  nausea on and off, some days I do not want to eat at all/and today like every 1.5 hours.. fatigue, and eh... sore body parts
Looking forward to:  seeing/hearing the little one whenever that may be next! and looking forward to feel it move around!!

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

12 weeks of sickness

just in time for "12 days of Christmas" ;)

the last 12 weeks will be ones we'll never forget... 1 because we're grateful for every second this little one is in my belly and 2 having us both sick made for quite the test of the "in sickness and in health" part of our wedding vows ;)

let's start with November 13th:
I knew I was pregnant. I felt different and had many of the common symptoms but the most obvious was the gut feeling I had that I was pregnant, plain and simple. Cody insisted we wait to take a test until we could get a for sure answer. So on nov. 13th we took two tests and got immediate positive results! We were thrilled... and shocked!! and according to dates, 4 weeks pregnant exactly.



 I had no symptoms at this point, just butterflies from being so excited!! We kept it to ourselves for the next two weeks. 


then we went home for thanksgiving, 6 weeks pregnant on thanksgiving day. We made "tickets" to "grandparenthood round 2" for Cody's parents and surprised them. I believe they were shocked ;)

excuse the blurry pictures for both reveals, my camera and I were not prepared



 my parents love their coffee so I ordered coffee mugs of etsy to reveal the news to them. We ended up going to see them thanksgiving night and I just couldn't keep the news in until the morning so we gave them some evening beverages. They were sooo excited. my mother says she "just knew it".. ;)


 at 6 weeks my biggest complaint was the completely miserable bloat. It was the worst at the end of the day or night (if I just worked). My word, pants never felt tighter! 

however, the "real symptom" hit the morning after telling my parents. I woke up at my parents house and smelled breakfast casserole my mom had made, which I'm sure smelled great.... but I had a weak stomach to start. We went to the kitchen and made our plates and I told Cody "If I disappear... I'll be in the bathroom". Sure enough, two bites in I dashed from the table so fast, he didn't even notice! Haha and I got sick for the first time. Him and my mom ran in and witnessed the event. First time for everything ;)

So my love for saltine crackers began... 

food aversions at 6 weeks: any "bold" food. I LOVE thanksgiving food, casseroles oh my! BUT this year I was gagging at the thought of it. I still shudder thinking about the heaviness of that type food, blah. 

week 7

week 7 was okay.. we had just told our families so we could at least tell them (and close co-workers and friends who knew by now) how everything was going. But I was so so sick and living off of crackers, yogurt, and fruit alone. I could not bear the thought of meat or anything heavy. 


also during week 7 was when Cody's kidney stone hit. He woke up in the middle of the night to tell me he was in excruciating pain in his left lower side of his abdomen and then he began screaming out in pain. I had no idea what was going on so I called my mom who instantly suggested a kidney stone and that we should go to the ER. We went to our small town ER where they gave him pain meds to get him under control, ran a CT and sure enough... kidney stone. We were sent home with more meds and advised to "rest and let it pass this weekend"

We rested all day Thursday and Friday (praise God, I had 5 days off somehow and was able to be home with him the whole time. I'd never laid around or watched so much Netflix in my life ;)) Friday at midnight he woke up in the same excruciating pain, this time making him sick.... which then made me sick. When he was hurling in the bathtub, and me in the toilet, I got overwhelmed at how I could manage to care for him if I couldn't hold my own cookies! We took him back to our ER where they got his pain under control again and we got sent back home with more, and different meds to help him pass it that weekend. 

Sunday afternoon came and the same incident... again. making him sick... again. I called our pastor/Cody's boss to come over and pray and he ended up taking us to Lubbock where they x-rayed Cody and saw the kidney stone hadn't moved at all so we said "do whatever, we're not leaving until it's out". So, we stayed at the hospital that night and he had a procedure the next day to break it up. 
at this point I called for backup and his parents came in to help because I was about to have to go back to work. We all rested more and after removing the stent a week later, we're pain free and good to go! But we never ever wish that on anyone!!

we couldn't be more thankful for our family and church family for thinking of us, praying for us, bringing us food, and just loving on us in this time!

meanwhile, 8 weeks pregnant
my bump looks oddly large in these pictures for both 8 and 10 weeks, blame it on my I'm-going-to-work-and-just-ate major bloat.

my symptoms are the same this week...
getting sick about every other day... at any time of day. whoever said it was "morning" sickness? my worst time is 5-9pm for sure. I'm barely getting off the couch and if I do I'm clenching my mouth shut ;(

food aversions: same... anything strong. but, love me some mexican food! but strong "american" food.. heavy meats, casseroles, seasoned veggies, etc... nope and nope. 

and all about that bloat..  

10 weeks pregnant

How Far Along: 10 weeks 
Size of baby: A prune
Sleep: really bad insomnia, is that a thing this early? I can't sleep through the night and then when  I need to sleep during the day for work, I lay there and toss and turn
Total Weight Gain: maybe a pound or two?
Symptoms: nausea, fatigue, and bloat
Movement: no no
Maternity Clothes:naw, just trying to find my stretchiest pants to wear 
Go-to eats: I can eat pretty much anything now, but definitely am more selective about what I want than normal. what baby wants, baby gets, right?

Best moment of the week: seeing the little one move on an ultrasound, what a miracle it is to see God's hand in such a tiny creation!
Gender: halfway there to find out the gender
What I wish people knew: that It's so exciting and yes, I know everything will change ;)
What I’m looking forward to: continuing to see it grow! ...and maybe start to feel better!



At 11 weeks I finally felt better! Didn't get sick once (small victories!) and here I am at 12 weeks back to the dashing to the bathroom. One could only dream it was over ;) 






july babies all around

that's right! we're pregnant! due july 23rd! perfectly between my july 17th birthday and cody's july 30th birthday ;) 

ignore the backwards N on the banner, it always confuses the heck out of me when I have to glue the letters on backwards...

happy 12 weeks little one!

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

our christmas

We stayed in west texas for the actual holiday and went home to celebrate Christmas on new years with our families due to me being on call for work for the actual holiday. 

Cody and I, after being at home so much anyways, were starting to get a little stir crazy but we enjoyed the relaxed holiday nonetheless ;)

On Christmas Eve we made sausage balls and chocolate covered pretzels together. I loved having Christmas flowers around from people at our church who spoiled us!








Christmas Eve night I ended up staying on call and not having to go into work so we decided to celebrate our Christmas that night. 
excuse the awful lighting in these pictures, while I love our cozy living room, all of the lighting comes from these huge orange bulb chandeliers!


 Cody thought it would be funny to put his hospital socks as a stocking stuffer to me ;)


 Cody typed up and framed our wedding vows as a gift to me!


The day before new years eve (after I got off work) we headed straight to my parents house. We got there and Cody and I passed out on the couch for awhile, oops! That evening we decided to do "Christmas". It's always fun getting to pick out special gifts for everyone. Christmas changes so much each year I get older but I love it all the same. 

I got my parents a canvas print of one of the pictures I took of them on their anniversary. 

 the cats had tons of fun playing in the bags and boxes ;)
 We got my brother a texas tech tie and I printed off and framed a picture of an anatomical heart (I thought it would look great in an office someday!)
 then we braved the winter cold the next day to snap a few family pictures





lastly, a picture from our new years eve. we stayed home with my family, ate tons of snacks and watched football and the ball drop. I was in and out of sleep up to midnight, no surprise ;)