Starting the Nursery

We are getting started on the nursery! This week our crib and changer arrived, and I absolutely love them! Now it's time to shop for bedding and all of the fun accessories and start decorating! I am so excited to get the baby's room put together!

Invisible Baby

Yep that's right.... invisible baby. This past week we've done a little bit of baby shopping. Today I haven't been feeling great, so Zac tried to cheer me up. While I was taking a bath, he put together the stroller, swing, car seat, and play pen and placed an outfit in each one. He walked into the bathroom pushing the stroller and told me our little guy wanted to hang out with me while I took a bath. I couldn't help but laugh at his "invisible baby". It was so cute and needless to say, it did cheer me up. I can't wait for our little guy to get here!

Strong little guy

I'm pretty sure our little guy takes after his dad. I think he's going to pop out and be ready for one arm pushups. I seriously can't believe how active and strong he is already. I started feeling "flutters" around week 14 and by week 17 I felt full blown kicks. When I was 18 weeks and 4 days, Zac got to feel and see him kick for the first time. Now he's constantly moving! The kid never holds still. Lately he's doing flips, and it is so weird to feel and see a wave of movement from one side of my stomach to the other. I absolutely love laying down and watching my belly bounce. It really does make all of the aches and pains worth it.

Love of my life!

In honor of Valentine's Day, I want to share a few reasons why Zac is the love of my life. Mostly to let him know that I notice "the little things". In no particular order.....

1. He is always asking what he can do for me or what he can get for me
2. He is an amazing cook and does almost all of the cooking
3. He will sit on the porch and talk with me for hours
4. He brings me breakfast in bed every single day
5. He loves to watch "chick flicks" with me
6. He has an obsession with vacuuming the house, so I never have to do it
7. He always stops whatever he is doing and jumps up and gives me a hug when I come home
8. He has taken on bathroom cleaning duty 100% since I've been pregnant
9. He iron's the clothes when I'm finishing up getting ready
10. He has my apple and granola bar sitting on the counter ready for me to grab on the way to work in the morning
11. He always warms up the car before work
12. He always meets me at the bottom of the stairs when I'm done getting ready, to give me a kiss and tells me how beautiful I look
13. He is so clean... in fact he's doing the dishes right now
14. He does all of the grocery shopping, most of the time I go with him, but he's the main man
15. He loves to go for walks with me and talk about life
16. He always holds my hand when we are out and about
17. He leaves me love letters and hides little sticky note love messages all over
18. He brings his jacket to the movie theater knowing I will get cold
19. He tucks me in bed every single night, even if he's in the middle of something and staying up for a while
20. He's always thinking of ways to serve me.... if I've had a stressful day he will get a warm washcloth and sit on the ground and wash my feet and rub lotion on them and massage them and just listen

I could list a million more reasons why I love him. These are just a few of the things that he does. The things that I sometimes forget to say "Thank You" for, and that I know I take for granted sometimes. Zac, I just want you to know that i really do appreaciate all of the little things that you do. They all add up in a big way and make you the most amazing man and the love of my life. Thank you so much for everything. I love you!

It's a.......

It's a BOY! We just found out we are having a little boy! We are so excited and even more excited that he is healthy. This week has been a crazy one for us. We weren't expecting to find out the gender for a few more weeks, but we had a couple of surprises. On Tuesday we went to the doc for my 16 week checkup. To make a really long story short-er... my uterus is huge! At 16 weeks, the top of the uterus is supposed to be about halfway between the pubic bone and the belly button. Mine is about 3 inches above my belly button. When the doc saw my belly he was totally in shock. He asked how far along I was supposed to be and when I told him 16 weeks and 4 days, he said I was measuring 8 weeks to big. He wanted an ultrasound done immediately because he thought I was either 8 weeks further along... putting me at 24.5 weeks... or there were twins. They couldn't fit me in until Wednesday. Needless to say it was the longest 24 hours of our lives. All night and the next morning we were stressed, excited, anxious, confused and having the weirdest mixed emotions. The thought of twins thrilled Zac and scared me to death. We went in for the ultrasound and they found just one baby... a little boy... and he measured exactly on track, 16 weeks and 5 days. He is totally healthy and is doing really well. They confirmed that my uterus is measuring 8 weeks to big, but said I don't have extra fluid or anything to worry about. My next appt is in 4 weeks. They may or may not do an ultrasound then, but they for sure want to do another one in 8 weeks to take another look and make sure everything is still ok. I also started leaking colostrum last week, which is way early, so it's almost like my whole body thinks it's a lot further along than it really is. Anyway, they aren't concerned at all, so we aren't either. We are just thrilled that we got to find out so soon that WE'RE HAVING A BOY! Now it's time to plan the nursery, shop, and see if we can agree on a name!

Baby has a heart!

Last Tuesday we had another doc appointment and we heard our baby's heart beat for the first time. It was so amazing. I can't believe how strong, loud, and fast it was. Hearing the heart made everything seem a lot more real. Now I know we really are having a baby and I'm not just getting chubby. We've "known" for a couple months now, but everything seems so surreal, and the whole idea of growing another life is so magical, that it really has been hard for me to comprehend. Hearing that little heart is exactly what I needed to solidify this whole experience. I can't wait to be a mom, and even more, I can't wait for Zac to be a dad. He is going to be the most amazing dad in the world. He already is. He takes such good care of me and the little baby and I feel so blessed to have him.

On another positive note.... there is light at the end of the tunnel. At the beginning of the week I was so miserable and exhausted, but by the end of the week I felt a ton better. I still feel sick every once in a while, but 70-80% of the time I feel great. Also, I have been sleeping fabulously. 6-7 hours a night, thanks to the Ambien my doc decided to put me back on. We're just finishing up our first trimester and I have high hopes from here. I can't wait to see what our second trimester brings.... I'm guessing more weird dream, terribly random food cravings, and hopefully some restored energy. Wish me luck!

Exhausted

The above picture is a totally candid shot Isaiah took of me the other day at the gym. I was so sick and exhausted, and I didn't have an appointment so I dozed off on the ball for a couple minutes. Everyone says that around 12-14 weeks they start feeling so much better. NOT TRUE! I'm feeling yuckier and yuckier every day. I started taking Unisom and B6 at 6 weeks, and then at 9 weeks I needed something stronger so they gave me Phenegren, and last night I was so desperate for some sleep I took an Ambien, which my doc gave me the "ok" to do every now and then... STILL DIDN'T SLEEP! Most everyone knows I'm an insomniac and pregnancy has made it even worse. I'm not sure if it's the sickness, the freakin' weird dreams when I do fall asleep, the fact that I have to pee non stop and can't fall back to sleep, the yucky cold I can't seam to shake, the fact that we just had the busy Holiday Season, having to wake up at 4 am every day for work, trying to run a company and manage employees, and now I have payroll tax, sales tax, and our annual taxes that I need to get done this week, or maybe it's all of that combined with the added stress of being a parent soon and having absolutely no idea how to take care of a baby. Whatever it is, I'M EXHAUSTED and on the verge of tears every second. I love our baby so much and feel bad for being grumpy during pregnancy thus far, but right now I need to vent a little. Please forgive me. On a happier note, we have another doc appointment tomorrow. We should get to hear the cute little heart beat! I'll keep you posted.