Baby Girl!!!

Well, today was the long awaited ultrasound! We were so excited it made it hard to sleep (kinda like Christmas), but the time finally came!! We got there a little early, but the ultrasound tech finally called us back. She first checked my cervix, which she said looked good. Then she asked us if we wanted to know what it was, and she was able to tell right away! It's a girl!!! Then she checked all of the other important things like the brain, the heart, the limbs, the face, the spine, etc. Everything was perfect! Baby girl does have a small cyst on her brain, but the doctor said it's totally normal and will go away before she's born.

We are so thrilled and feel so blessed to have a healthy little baby on the way. I particularly am SO excited to have a daughter! I can't wait to play with her, do her hair (if she lets me), and dress her in adorable outfits!! Bryan wants to know if she'll still play football with him ... I'm sure she will :)

So we know what she is, we have a crib, a stroller/carseat, a cradle, and a new car (thank God) that she can ride in safely, and I can feel her move pretty much every day now ....... yet it still feels like I'm dreaming the most beautiful dream ever!! I'm not sure it will feel real until she's born, but we can't wait!! Thanks for all your prayers and please keep them up.

Here are a few pics, including my 19 week one!!
PS ... No we haven't decided on a name yet ... hopefully soon!

by popular demand .. 17 weeks!

Just a couple pics .. everyone wants to see how big I'm getting so I figured I'd let ya see!! I personally can't believe I am showing this much at 17 weeks but that's ok :) I've only gained about 2 lbs, so I'm thinking I should be ok. Not much else to tell .. starting to feel a little movement I think, but sometimes it's really hard to know. Right now we are just anxious for our ultrasound coming up & trying to decide what stroller we want! And yeah, it really hasn't sunk in yet that we are going to have a baby!! :) :)

17 Weeks

16 Weeks

15 Weeks!!

How in the world am I 15 weeks pregnant already?? It blows my mind that the baby is the size of an apple and pretty much formed by now! The picture we took today though made me realize that I am for sure growing!! Yikes! It's pretty cool, I just hope I'm not HUGE by 40 weeks! We also had our first appt with the new OB today. I'm seeing Dr. Domingo after a lot of recommendations, and he was very nice. The baby's heartrate was at 155 bpm and we scheduled our big ultrasound for August 31st. Can't wait to find out what this little one is!!

Here are some pics over the last couple months...

15 Weeks

14 Weeks

13 Weeks

12 Weeks

11 Weeks

7 Weeks

An unexpected turn of events!!

Well, I feel like this deserves a story, but I don't even know where to start. I will do my best though!! Many of you know that Bryan & I have been seeing a doctor and trying to get pregnant for the last couple years. The main reason for this is because I have PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome) ... which messes with hormone levels and overall just makes things really difficult. So I knew a long time ago that I was probably going to need some help getting pregnant. What I didn't realize was how long and frustrating that journey was going to be.

We did hold off for a while just because of being in Costa Rica, and timing, and whatnot, but after a while of actually trying, decided to see a doctor. I'll spare you the details, but let's just say we went through lots of testing, drugs, and procedures. We did have one glimmer of hope about a year ago, but that baby was not healthy, and didn't live very long at all. It was a really hard thing for us to handle, but we kept on going. Things continued to fail, and I'll admit that I went through a time of bitterness, of questioning where God was in my life, and of thinking of other possible options for our future. After a while, I decided we weren't going to put our lives on hold anymore, and I decided to pursue my master's in TESL. I was very excited to start this in the fall of 2010, and while I didn't want to do any more fertility junk, decided to give it a few more months so that I wouldn't ever regret not giving it the best shot possible. The next step was a little exploratory laparoscopic surgery, where they found no major issues.

So as we were waiting to start another round after the surgery, I began to think maybe it was possible that I'd had a regular cycle, and maybe, just maybe, we had made a baby. Then again, I'd had that thought in other months, so I didn't want to get my hopes up. So on May 19th, my 29th birthday, I had a pretty strong MAYBE feeling. Not wanting to ruin my birthday with a negative pregnancy test, I decided to wait until the next day. Sure enough ... completely and totally without a doubt positive!!!! What?!?! I had gotten so used to the glaring one line on the tests that I wasn't sure how to react! Many emotions and thoughts went through my head, disbelief, excitement, relief, fear, you name it!!

I went to the doctor that day for a blood test and the levels were sky-high!! I couldn't wait to tell Bryan. I hadn't hinted at all that I could be pregnant because, yeah, we'd been there before and been disappointed before, so I didn't want him to go through it again too. I must have done a really good job, because as I went home and told him .. he thought I was joking! I had joked earlier in the week that one of the things I wanted for my birthday was a baby .. and so I said, remember the things I told you I wanted? Well, I got one of them! He was confused .. like, so if you didn't buy anything and nobody got it for you, how did you get something?? Once he realized it was the baby, he did not believe me!! I ran upstairs and showed him the test & we just smiled nervously at each other.


It's been a scary 12 weeks, just with what happened last year, but everything has been absolutely perfect so far, and we truly believe that this is a blessing from God. It is starting to sink in that this is the real deal, and we are so excited to meet this little one in January!!!

Here are a few ultrasound pics from the last few months ... the doctors follow all their patients very closely through the first trimester, which meant we got to see the baby a lot!! Now I have to wait 3 weeks til my appt with the OB on Aug 2nd, which feels like an eternity!! Anyways...

6 Weeks

8 Weeks

10 Weeks

10 Weeks (a different view of crossed legs!)

11 Weeks (Nuchal Translucency Scan)

11 Weeks (Face)

11ish Weeks (a little cramping scare)

12 Weeks (baby doing somersaults & waving)

12 Weeks (3D!)

just had to share . . .

this picture!! I was laughing so hard at this the other night, and grabbed the camera . . . I can't believe I actually captured it! Here you have one sleeping husband, and one incredibly LAZY puppy!! Sometimes he does this when he wants up, even though he totally knows how to jump up. . . he was apparently really tired this time!!

a few new things!!

Well, I know I haven't really blogged in a long time, but things have calmed down a lot here. Since moving in in November, we have not been working on the house as much as we should be! We have been really busy!!! We have done a few little things around here, so I thought I'd share! Here you have 'em . . .

A loveseat (that has a matching chair & ottoman) given to us by my friend Katie!! They are really nice, though I haven't convinced myself that they match the orange in the living room!

A new furnace & thermostat. Maybe not so exciting for all of you, but very exciting for us since our furnace was from the 60's and incredibly inefficient!! (Traded to us by a friend of my brother-in-law's for a freezer! Good trade!!)

Our new family room fan/light! This took FOREVER to pick out because I am very picky about the wood colors, metals, and glass matching what we already have in the house. (Made possible by Ann, my dad's wife. Thanks!!)

When Bryan was off the week before New Years, he worked on painting the kitchen cabinet doors. They look pretty good, though they still need a little touch up. We also bought some inexpensive hardware to spice 'em up a little bit!

We finally got light bulbs to put in our spotlights above our fireplace - they are really cool. Again, thanks Dad & Ann!!

And last, but certainly not least, here is our new little guy - Rusty!! He was a surprise gift to me on Christmas Day & has certainly kept us on our toes. We love him!! Here's a pic of him when he was little and now . . . he is growing like crazy and is certainly not done!!

As I explain all these pictures, I can't help but realize how blessed we are to have people that care about us and are doing all they can to help us make our house a home!! It's certainly on it's way . . . we have a list of things that need to get done before spring, so that we can then spend our time working on the outside!! We'll also be getting a special tax refund loan that will enable us to do more projects here, like new carpeting for the steps, fixing up the bathrooms, curtains, maybe a couch or two, etc. I know everyone says "You'll never be done with house projects!", we certainly look forward to the day where we can sit back and admire it all!!

Hope you are all well - have a great weekend!!

home for the holidays :)

Well, we're officially in (have been for a couple of weeks), and though there are still A LOT of details to finish, we can call this house our home!! We got our Christmas tree today & I decorated the rest of the house. I love how the house just feels so much cozier with all the stuff up!! I may not take it down for a couple of months - ha! So, enjoy some pics of a few improvements and some Christmas fun!

Living Room with touched up paint, lamps and piano!
Family Room with some furniture!
Family Room (waiting for the TV)
Upstairs Bedroom with Futon!
Same bedroom (windows are done!)
Other upstairs bedroom (our "lived in" office/music room)!

Bedroom with light fixtures, curtains, etc.

Who needs closet doors, anyways?

Painted (mustardish yellow) & finished window in laundry/bathroom.

Once again, who needs doors?? Dining Room with light fixtures, table, etc
I am really proud of how pretty this looks!!
Christmas Tree!

So pretty!

One of my favorite ornaments! Baby's First Christmas 1981!! That's an OLD ornament!
Aw, I was kinda cute there!
Not so much here!
Ornament from Bryan before I left for Ecuador in 2001!

This one made it all the way from Costa Rica!

Hope all is well & that you are able to take some time to enjoy the beauty of Christmas!!