Life Lately

Wow, it has been a hot minute since I blogged! I have been so busy that I just didn't even give blogging a second thought. So that means it's time for a life update!

First, and foremost, I have spent a great deal of time reading pregnancy/childbirth/sleep training books. I am happy to report that I have read 3/4 of these, but have added a few more to my pile now.

As you probably remember, we were supposed to move into our house in December, but as you can probably guess that didn't happen! We are very close to the finish line, though, and should be moved in by the end of February! We have started packing up non-essential items and I am still in shock of how much stuff we have accumulated! 

Our Christmas didn't go exactly as we planned this year, but we did manage to make it down to the Festival of Light in my hometown for a photo-op! We have successfully taken a photo on the bridge every year that we have been together (which is a pretty big accomplishment for us since we suck at taking photos of ourselves), so I couldn't ruin that tradition this year! It's hard to believe that next year we will have another person in the photo with us!

Clockwise from Upper Left: 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015

I applied to be a blogger for the Oklahoma City Mom's Blog back in December and I'm happy to report that I was accepted! I am so excited to start writing contributor posts for the site!

I have successfully taken bumpdate photos every two weeks throughout this pregnancy (despite going through about three packs of chalk markers), but I haven't taken my 24 week photo yet this week, so I will show you the last one I did:

We have slowly been marking items off our "Baby To-Do List," so far we have purchased/been gifted:

• Bright Starts Around We Go
• Babyletto Hudson crib & Simmons Kids ComforPedic Mattress
• 4Moms Momaroo
• Baby Jogger City Versa
• Ju-Ju-Be B.F.F. Diaper Bag
• Cybex Aton Q (the ONLY carseat that will fit in the back of my Nissan Juke)
• Fisher-Price Rock 'n Play Sleeper
• Boon Lawn 
• Several pairs of Freshly Picked moccasins and a few pairs from other retailers
• Quite a few headbands and hairbows, but not nearly enough!
• Lots of books but we are still wanting a lot more! We try to buy her a new book or two every time we go shopping!
• And lots of clothes

I'm so ready to get into the new house so that I can unbox everything and start getting ready for Lilyann to make her appearance! In the meantime, our living room looks like this:

(and that's not even half of it!)

Last week, I was finally able to have a girl's night with my favorite former coworkers! It had been waaaayyy too long since we got together so we had a lot of catching up to do!

Unlike you North-Eastern bloggers, we don't have snow down here in Oklahoma--just a lot of cold weather. I have enjoyed seeing your snowstorm pictures but I'm certainly not envious! Is it spring yet? 

If you want to see more regular updates from me, be sure to follow me over on instagram! 

It's A...

Sorry I have been so MIA lately; I just honestly have not made time to blog lately. Pregnant women aren't lying when they say are exhausted! I seriously go to bed at 9 every night (getting a solid 8.5 hours of sleep), take a nap during my lunch break most days, and haven't even been working out and I'm just wiped. It's crazy!

Luckily, my morning sickness has all gone away (aside from a few random times like working out on an empty stomach or drinking apple juice first thing in the morning without eating) and besides a lot of headaches, acne, and exhaustion, I feel great!

I am now 18 weeks pregnant and am so anxious to feel the little movements of our little baby! I think I might have felt a few flutters/somersaults this morning but I can't rule out hunger pains so who knows what it actually was! Haha

Now for the news you have all been waiting for...

We have already had two ultrasound techs tell us the gender (at 12 & 16 weeks), but I like to know for sure (I'm a worry wart) so we weren't ready to announce the gender until we had a third opinion which happened today! Just like the last two ultrasound techs said, Baby L is a...

GIRL!!

And, most importantly, perfectly healthy!

We are over the moon excited about our baby girl and I have already started buying headbands and bows for her! I always dreamed of having a little girl but I was really convinced this baby was a boy, so it has been quite the surprise for me (Jacob, my mom, and my niece all said it was a girl from the very beginning).

We cannot wait to meet you Lilyann! Keep growing strong and we will see you in May!!

When does that pregnancy glow kick in?

Well I finally made it to the second trimester and I'm definitely feeling a lot better! I finally got my appetite back (which was the biggest problem I had throughout the first trimester) and the bump is starting to show!

I knew from the beginning that I wasn't going to update this blog with weekly bump updates because 1) I didn't want to commit that much time to it each week 2) all I wanted to do up until last week was sleep 3) I certainly have not seen that pregnancy glow yet (in fact, my face has been broken out like a pre-pubescent teenager the entire time) 4) I have had stretch marks ever since I can remember so I didn't really care to answer that question repeatedly (I honestly don't know how women make it this long without any stretch marks) and 5) I definitely did not want to update my weight gain each week because I know I will get huge! Haha 

With all that being said, I have consistently taken bump photos every two weeks to show the progress, so without further adieu, weeks 4-14:

Our first trimester screening results came back perfect! The baby is in the lowest risk category for genetic disorders so that was an answered prayer! It's kind of funny because I always thought I would pray for a cute little baby (preferably girl) and from the second I got that positive pregnancy test, my prayers have been for a healthy baby. I pray for God to protect the baby and to keep it safe and to watch over it as it continues to grow. And I can honestly say that I have no gender preference at this point, as long as he/she is healthy! On that note, I never realized how annoying it is to be asked if you want a girl or boy until I got pregnant--that is all anyone ever seems to ask and I always reply with "either, as long as it's healthy!" It has certainly changed my outlook on what is appropriate/not appropriate to ask a pregnant woman! 

With that being said, we find out the gender in less that a month and it's so exciting to know that in a few short weeks our little blessing will have a name! We have already picked out names for a boy and girl (both of which start with L ;)). 

Also, I still haven't had anyone at work ask me if I'm pregnant so we will see just how long I can push it! It's getting awful hard to keep it a secret (and none of my dress pants fit), but it's kind of fun keeping it to myself!

Watching the baby move around on the ultrasounds has been the most amazing thing ever--I really don't know how people can be pregnant and watch the baby growing through ultrasounds and not be in awe of God's handiwork. It seriously blows my mind! I wish I could record the ultrasounds and watch them all the time, but unfortunately they won't let me. I'm so bummed that they aren't doing an ultrasound at my appointment next week (just listening to the heartbeat via doppler) because I really want to check in on Baby L!

Here's to hoping that pregnancy glow kicks in soon so I can stop looking like a pregnant teenager! Oh, on that note--the new girl at work guessed that I was 30 years old...usually, people guess that I'm like 20 so I was amazed that she thought I looked older than I am. But then it dawned on me that I'm now closer to 30 than I am to 20 and I was a little offended.