Weight

About twice a week, as soon as I wake up, I'll step on the scale and check my weight. As of this morning, I have reached a place that I have NEVER been before! Pre-pregnancy weight: 150 (give or take a pound). That has been my stable weight since like 9th grade! I officially weigh 160.7 pounds now, which sounds like a nightmare in my head, but that's right where I should be at this point! Most ladies gain roughy a pound a week from here on out, but lots of factors go into that. I know food intake is not a problem for me...
I eat like a whale.
5 times a day. :)

Anyways, yay for progress! I was getting a little nervous about weight gain, cause it just wasn't happening for me as early as most people start gaining, but it looks like that's no longer something to worry about.

Agenda for today: Leave work. I had clients from 8-1! Yikes! Make a quick errand. Meet my family at the Village for the Christmas Eve service. Eat dinner with everyone who's here! So looking forward to the next 3 days. :)

SEEing her move!

Okay, BIG NEWS here in the wee hours of the morning. It is officially Christmas Eve, and I just now saw our daughter's movement through my belly! I'm going crazy over here. This was my text to J, who was at work extra late: "I SAW her move from the outside!! My waist band was moving, so I moved it and could see her!!! I felt a big ole lump, too. She is growing SO fast. Ahh!"

I am ecstatic. I took a video on my phone, which I don't do very often, but I wanted to record her moving before I missed it!! And I really wanted to show her daddy exactly what I was seeing in case she wouldn't do it again when he got home. I will figure out how to put it on my computer and then on this blog. Like I said, I normally don't record things on my phone, but it worked!

Here's a screenshot sneak peek of the video (notice how lumpy it is on the left!):

20 Weeks

That is crazy. Norah, we've made it halfway baby girl! Johnny and I had a great time watching the DVD of the ultrasound again today. It is really beautiful. I'm in the process of editing and uploading pictures/videos of our party and the ultrasound for loved ones to see. That really should be up soon. I'm hoping by the end of the weekend.

I just got finished with a lovely and LONG nap snuggled with the pup, and I'm really feeling Norah right now. Kick kick kick! I am really looking forward to J's birthday tomorrow (23) and Christmas is right around the corner. Time is going by SO quickly... Slow down a little bit! I want to take this all in as much as I can. Talking to him the other day, I've realized something. I JUST NOW started feeling pregnant. "Why?! Dana you are halfway there!" Yes, I know, but when you don't feel nausea, movement, unhappy, like you are gaining weight, and like your skin is breaking out a ton, it can really mess with your head! Now, I feel our baby. So does my husband! We have seen her! My boobs are "huge" according to several people (lol), my fear of stretch marks is out the window now that I have them, I'm gaining weight, and I haven't felt any better in my whole life.

To be honest, I LOVE being pregnant.
God has REALLY blessed me in humongous ways so far in this thing. I am beyond thankful that we were able to make this baby, without any struggle, and that his plan for us is to be parents. I wish every marriage on earth could experience this.


How Far Along: 20 weeks today!

Weight Gain: 6ish pounds. Getting there! I am eating so much.

Innie or Outtie: starting to poke out on some days! Ah!

Maternity Clothes: J bought me my first pair of maternity jeans. I LOVE THEM. Still can fit into my yoga pants, which is awesome.

Sleep: No complaints! Sleeping great.

Pregnancy Perk: Boobs. Lol. And maternity jeans (they are THAT awesome)!

Embarrassing Pregnant Moment: Can I just say forgetting everything and cover my bases?

Baby Purchases this week: $6 jacket from Kid to Kid, and several great gifts from friends: giraffe rattle, pink rubber ducky, adorable pink onesies, ultrasound picture frame, baby blanket, comfort lovey.

Best quote regarding baby this week: "IT'S A GIRL!"

Gender: Female

Movement: Lots and lots! Felt my first big thuds today from Norah, which is way different than her happy little wiggles. It really caught me off guard!

Food Cravings: Somebody just hand me a lemon. I CANNOT get enough lemon right now. I always drink it in my water if we go out, but now I ask for a bowlful of lemon slices with my meal/drink. Still love cheez-it's, too.

Food Aversions: Nothing that I'm noticing.

How’s Mama? Happy and feeling amazing!

What I am looking forward to: Baby wise? Working out the whole insurance thing, which isn't even that big of a deal. Just praying we get answers soon. (Apparently my plan is anti-natural, but larsens billing is pestering!!) It will all work out, no need to worry :)

Size of baby: Length of a banana!

Update

Dear Baby,

Your name is Norah. :) We found out on Saturday (at your gender reveal party) that I am carrying YOU, sweet girl. It was so much fun. I can't wait to edit the video of the party and post pictures. Things that have been happening lately that I have not posted about yet:

- I've been feeling your adorable little kicks since around 17 weeks.
- Daddy has been feeling you move, too, when he puts his hand on my belly. We were sitting on the couch at about 18 weeks when he first felt you.
- I have been feeling great, and my first stretch marks showed up about a week ago (on my chest). They are almost purple, but will fade in time, I know.
- Norah Joyce, your middle name is so special to me. Not only is it BEAUTIFUL, you share it with my mommy! ... And I learned later that she was named after her Aunt Brenda, who is awesome. :) Obviously, GREAT ladies have the middle name Joyce.


On a side note, J's 23 birthday is on Wednesday! I'm so excited. And Christmas is 8 days away!!

Seeing baby

On Saturday, I got to peek in (with the help of an ultrasound at Stork Vision) and see our baby wiggle, turn, wave and kick, and open/close their mouth. It was amazing. I was blown away by two things... #1, how developed our baby is right now, everything is there! He/she just needs to get big and strong now. And #2, how well you could see everything on the ultrasound. It was truly incredible, ESPECIALLY switching to the 3D/4D views.

We were sent home with a DVD from the computer of everything she saw, a secret and viewable CD of captured images, and 5 b&w print outs to look at immediately.

Here's the funny part- the only thing we can look at now is the print outs and viewable images, because we don't want to find out before the party on Saturday. It is going to be SO hard but so worth it to wait. :) before we left, the ultrasound technician was given 3 envelopes, and I explained what should go into each one. Envelope #1 is TOP SECRET, which meant that the "boy or girl" card is in there, as well as a print out that shows proof. We open this after the gender has already been revealed at the party. Envelope #2 contains one simple card "triangle or square". I made boy and girl have a key word so when my mom helps plan the revealing moment with me, NOBODY will know whether we are having a she or a he! Obviously she knows to not tell me if square or triangle is circled, because I know what the key is. Envelope #3 is the one that is keeping me sane. It has the pictures that we can look at now, they are not gender revealing. I LOVE THESE. I hopefully will put pictures up for viewing very soon.

Until then, here's a sneak peak.

Weekend!

I am beyond pleased with my plans for this weekend. In the next few minutes, I'm beginning this AWESOME to-do list (and I am really looking forward to it!):

FRIDAY.
- Go to the bank and have a serious discussion with them on why they closed all of my debit cards with no warning (business and personal accounts!). The bank lady on the phone has no idea why... And she says that they will always flag the account with the reason when that happens. UGH. I have been living on cash, which is fine, but when you are counting $1 bills to buy groceries, you know it's a problem. This is my least favorite part of this weekend.
- Immediately drive to Hobby Lobby with the lovely cash I'll get and purchase what I shoved behind the feather boas last night. :) I wanted to shop for the gender party next week, but didn't want for them to "hold" my items (lines were so long), and I had no money. So feather boas it was. I am hoping that my stash has not been recovered.
- Gabe's birthday party. Fun!

SATURDAY.
- Wake up super early to drive with my mommy to Fort Worth... For the Ultrasound. :) I am so excited! And they told me to drink orange juice during breakfast, which I am very happy about.
- The rest of the day will be cleaning day!
- Kristin gets to my parents later that night. :)

SUNDAY.
- Church
- Laundry day
- Meet with Sherry... And we have a lot to talk about this month.

Loving that I took this weekend off!

Names

We have had a running list of super lovely baby names for a long time, and we still love our top picks. :) We are both happy to say that the name (and gender, of course) WILL be announced at our gender reveal party in just a week and a half! So excited!

I get to see my sweet baby in our ultrasound on Saturday morning, which is just 3 days away. Although I am sad that John won't be able to come with me this time, my mom is getting to come and keep me company which is fantastic. This ultrasound should be much much different than our first one at 6 weeks. We should actually see a baby in there and all of his/her body parts, instead of a just a yolk sac and flickering heartbeat. Woo!

AngelSounds Doppler

I love this thing!!!

Here is my video review and demonstration. :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mn0z_NZ5YA4

Christmas so soon!

I cannot believe there are only 23 days left until Christmas... Ah! I really cherish such great time with family, friends, and carrying on those wonderful little traditions. I think I'm looking forward to this year more than any other (which is hard to believe, because last year was our first married, and before that we were engaged)... But this year we are expecting. How special.

A few tangible things I would love to have at some point in my life:
- the book Yoga Sequencing by Mark Stephens
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1583944974/ref=redir_mdp_mobile

- Studio Rectangular Yoga Bolster in color Sand Stone, they may be having a BOGO offer on this right now... Free bolster anyone?
http://www.theyogawarehouse.com/proddetail.asp?prod=RB755CM

- the Moby Wrap in color Slate, may be considered the modern style?
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B002PIZV36/ref=redir_mdp_mobile

yoga mind

Being limited in several of my most-loved asanas has turned out to be surprisingly frustrating! ...But eye opening and beautiful in its own way. Yoga is about accepting where you are now and knowing that your relationship to each pose will always be changing. Most people know about the noncompetitive spirit of yoga (no one is better than anyone else), but do we apply that to ourselves? I know where I'll be setting my INTENTION this weekend! :) (thanks mom, speech to text is often a disaster!) 

Off to yoga teacher training. 

"I am right where I need to be today"...

Bump Growth

Weeks 4 to 17... Poppyseed to sweet potato!

Shasta cuddles

I've got one VERY cuddly puppy today. She makes it hard for things to get done on days like this, but somehow she knows that these are the days when I need it the most! Such love. :) 

Example: she stuck her head through the shower curtain for my ENTIRE shower (lol!), and panicked each time I went into the kitchen- the only place she's not allowed. I took a much needed chill break outside on our tiny little 3rd floor patio to spend some time in the Word this afternoon, and her sweet head rested on my lap for the LONGEST time. Even as I type this right now, she is laying down AS CLOSE to me as she can be. Like... getting any closer is impossible! My thigh is nice and warm now, though. ;)

I honestly don't quite know what I'd do without this sweet face in my life! She has brightened up my days and nights in many many ways this past year. Love her!

UPDATE on baby!
It seems as though we have a sweet potato baby!

(my little sweet potato!)

17 weeks!

Here's the relaxed bump as of this morning, first uploaded bump picture! - (Just for the record, relaxed bump means I'm not trying to suck my abs in, but I'm not sticking them out, either) ...

Yes

My hair is officially in a ponytail. This is crazy!!! First ponytail in 4 months! :)

Twilight

The Saga has officially ended. I went with my parents and a family Chinese friend, Coco, to go see the last movie this evening. I'll admit... I cried. 3 times. Not having read the last book, I had NO idea what to expect.

It was simply amazing.

I usually join on the "make fun of twilight" nonsense... Team Edward or Jacob, the horrible stares throughout every scene...etc. but to be honest, this movie was insanely great. Editing was top notch, the emotion was raw and real, acting was simple and realistic, and the story has a pretty sweet surprise part... Totally unexpected. Things that made me cry: a sad battle scene part that was just really touching, Bella's memories of their relationship from dating to marriage to present day- this honestly made me think of us- So I cried, and lastly, the beautiful song at the end. One of my favorites.. It has made my eyes sweat even before I knew it would be in Breaking Dawn, so I was a wreck at the credits. :P

http://breakingdawnthesoundtrack.com/a-thousand-years-on-youtube/

On a side note, I can't wait to see my hub hub, it has been 25 hours! Work should not separate people that much, but work is a blessing... So no complaints!

Giving Thanks

My goodness. WHERE TO BEGIN. I am SO thankful for everything God has placed in my life:

• My adorable husband, who hangs in there with me. I often let too many moments go by without taking the time to remember how blessed I am to share life with this guy.
• This crazy little baby growing and growing and growing. It is amazing! I am honestly really looking forward to my life completely flipping upside down in about 5 months.
• God's great presence in our intimate church homegroup. I can truthfully say that the body of Christ at The Village Church has changed my life and my walk in HUMONGOUS ways. I love our Church (universal).
• Our fur babies. Shasta and Bailey are just too amazing. They bring such joy to my life in the smallest ways!
• The Carrs and Cluffs. Family is tremendous, and living close is such a blessing (that we take advantage of too often).
• My health for many different reasons: for baby, for my massage business, for yoga teacher training, and just for feeling good! 
• FOR THANKSGIVING FOOD... mainly STUFFING.
• The last thing I'll mention on here is that I am SO thankful for the increase in fear of the Lord over this past year, and almost complete lack in fear of the world. Does this make any sense? In all seriousness, I have about 5% worry regarding life/death... and that number has increased since we made this tiny baby. I am in love with my Creator and Savior. No thing can separate me from Him. Life may totally suck, but I know the only One who can sustain me. Oh, and another helpful thing - I know the ending of all of this! ;)

As I sit here and type this, we are getting ready to leave for Stuffing: Round 2 at my parents' house. The Cluff's was fantastic! I need to go wake John from his slumber.

I seriously love this time of year. 

Happy Thanksgiving 2012!

 (......Pssst! God wins.)

Butterflies

I definitely feel baby. No doubt. Yes, I KNOW it is early for baby #1, but this is no stomach rumble. Even right now, as I sit here at work between clients, I feel the butterflies about an inch below my belly button. :) It makes me so happy! Best feeling ever!

To be honest, sometimes it feels like a flock of geese got trapped in there...

Update at 16 weeks:
Baby is as big as a turnip as of yesterday. Turnip baby!

I scheduled the ultrasound for December 8. Sherry (our CNM) passed along a Living Social deal to Stork Vision that gives us 50% off! So awesome! We were going to use them anyways, so it worked out perfectly. She is so great. Our gender reveal party will be one week later. CAN'T WAIT. 

 And I've come to a conclusion. If this child is anything like his/her parents, sleep and playing card games will be their favorite activities. 

ha ha ha!!

One of the most hilarious things I've seen in a while.
I'm not sure why, but all of these made me laugh - SO HARD. Please view all 17 pictures:

http://www.parenting.com/gallery/awkward-pregnancy-photos?cid=relblogposts

Photography joy

I love capturing images of this beautiful world, and I've done so since my first camera... I was 10. I like to think of my photography style as slightly whimsical, and often I'll play with tons of variations on one theme. I really cherish my Canon t3i. She goes almost everywhere with me (I've learned that the hard way... you miss every shot you don't take)!

Here are some of the latest.

and I've gotta share these... some of my all time favorites of our girl.

BUMP!

Halloween has come and gone, and we had a great time! Here is our homemade construction worker costumes ... and official baby announcement! 

...complete with work boots and baby tool belts. :) We made the signs by cutting and painting 'crafting' sheet metal, then writing the letters and borders on. What a fun project! 

So I am officially 14 weeks pregnant as of these wee hours of the morning, and it just so happens to be election day. Oh joy. I am so so excited to say that we HAVE decided to find out our sweet little one's gender, and can do so in just 2 weeks! Ah! We will have the technician write it down or hide the evidence in some way, so we can find out with EVERYONE at a gender reveal party we will be throwing. I am really looking forward to sharing this special time with our dear friends and families. More planning on this will come later, I'm sure. :) The ideas rolling around in my head are oh-so-cute.

How far along? 14 weeks!

Total weight gain: I still weigh the same, about 154. (Give me a break, I'm 5'9!)

Maternity clothes?! Absolutely. Luckily, I work/live in "yoga clothes", or basically upscale sweats. So that is definitely considered maternity clothes. Everything stretches, thank goodness. My jeans... not so much.

Stretch marks? I'm lathering in body butter and such whenever I think about it, about twice a week. I know I'll apply more when I get bigger, but I doubt I'll be able to keep the stretchies away. Battle scars, right?!

Sleep: Sleep is ok, but could be better. I know my problem is having to wake up and pee... 3-4 times each night. I drink SO much water in the evenings, and even though I try and space it out throughout the day, I find myself creating the bathroom issue. Whatever, I love water!

Miss anything? I miss being able to walk up a flight of stairs without feeling like I just worked out. And red wine... the smell drives me crazy! It was such a treat, and now it has been added to my reward list that I'm looking forward to in the future. And Mike's hard lemonade. 

Movement: Maybe? I don't exactly know what I'm supposed to be feeling for, but I think the other day I felt an interesting bubble thing in a weird place. I know the first kid isn't as obvious as the others, so it was probably just a tummy bubble.

Food cravings: Cheez-its, apples and peanut butter, celery and peanut butter, cashews, green olives, salads. I just now realized that I'm a salty craver so far! 

Anything making you queasy or sick: Nope! Not really any morning sickness, I know I have been so blessed in that. If I do feel queasy (usually due to hunger), my body VIOLENTLY sneezes twice and then it's gone! I read somewhere that it is just a symptom of irritation of the Vagus Nerve (connected to stomach).

Gender: Don't know yet. We were originally going to wait until the birth to find out, but now we want to just get it over with! Tell us already!  Hoping to schedule an ultrasound around 16 weeks to find out if there's a baby girl or baby boy in this tummy!

Labor signs: No way. 

Symptoms: Higher energy levels. Sore back earlier this week, probably from me compensating from the little bit of round ligament pain I'm having, but it's not too bad.

Belly button in or out? In

Wedding rings on or off? On

Happy or moody most of the time: My sweet sweet husband may say otherwise, but I feel the best I have in a long time! I love being pregnant so far. So excited what God has done here and I can't wait to meet this little thing (I reeeeally feel like it is a boy, don't know why!) 

Looking forward to: Our next visit with Sherry, our midwife, tomorrow. Oh, and finding out the gender in 2 weeks!

pumpkins!

One of my favorite days of the year, pumpkin patch day! It turned out neither one of us worked today, so we went. I look forward to this SO much!

 I love our little tradition. :)

I'm bummed that we found out TODAY that dogs are allowed in, but Shasta and I will go back soon for her photo shoot. Stay tuned for this. I'm stoked.

Next year baby and dog will come with us. <3

lifted weight

It is crazy how secrets tear at you. Even super great, exciting secrets that you know people will LOVE eat you away in the meantime! We recently told our church homegroup family that we are expecting- such a relief! It was a blast telling them. So much love and support from people striving to be like Christ throughout authentic life. An amazing group.

I do feel much better now, but our friends are next up on the list. Yikes! I am nervous about their reaction... luckily I have a couple of weeks until we reveal the news to them.

A few other life altering events that happened this week:

1. Aldi grocery store had their grand opening. They are now the closest store to our apartment, and to my job. Woo! The prices are ridiculous... I purchased WAY too much for WAY too little! Example: avocados are just 39 cents each. Score. Weird thing about Aldi, you have to put a deposit down to "reserve" your shopping cart - yes that's what I said. Outside of the store, there was a bunch of confused older ladies staring at the shopping cart area. I walked over (needing a cart) and tried to figure out what was going on. It turns out that you need to insert a Quarter into the cart to unhook it from the other carts, but you get your money back when you return it after shopping. I was irritated about this new system at first ("What NERVE they have to charge me for my cart!"), but then realized how ingenious it was. There were zero carts left in the parking lot.
2. I got to go to lunch with my beautiful sister and bro in law, they were in town and it was great getting to catch up with them! San Antonio is just too far away. :)
3. Fortune cookies are a big deal to me. I hate them and love them. They make me laugh... in bed. But often, they place this teeny reminder on my heart that God actually did intend for me to read that fortune cookie (duh), and that's comforting! Here's my "fortune" from yesterday:

Yes, come May, the beat I dance to will be much much different.

SO looking forward to it!

videos

here's the heartbeat video, like I promised:

and another one TOTALLY worth watching. Best pregnancy video I've found yet... so informative on what is happening right now. :)

how we roll

I am open minded about a lot of things. I like to do my research, and look at several options, but once I decide... I decide. Because of this, I am finding myself more and more on the homeopathic side of life. You know, drugs versus herbal remedies, unnecessary surgery versus just taking care of yourself, cortisone shots versus massage techniques.

 doctors versus midwives ...(yup, I said it).

...especially when it comes to the birth of this baby. (To each her own, right? I am passionate about this topic, and for OUR FAMILY I know what we are aiming to do. Everyone has their own opinions.) Why in the world would I put myself (or my husband, and my baby) through a traumatic experience when it isn't medically necessary? I trust the way God made my body for this beautiful process. And it honestly freaks me out knowing that 150 years ago when DOCTORS STARTED handling birth - for the first time, ever - they needed something else to do and intervened when it wasn't necessary. Then, by 1900, physicians were attending about 1/2 of the nation's births, including nearly all births to middle and upper class women. Midwives took care of the women who could not afford a doctor (which they were then mocked for). That just seems so weird to me knowing that midwifery had always been viewed as a highly respectable profession, even warranting the highest priority on boats to the colonies! I don't trust that system. Please watch The Business of Being Born (on Netflix) if you haven't seen it already. SO much information.

We have selected an amazing Certified Nurse Midwife, Sherry Oldfield, to coach us and take care of us through this process. She is handling all of my checkups and prenatal care, and will catch our sweet child when he/she arrives in May. She is educated (at an insane level... the information she knows seems to be limitless), experienced, and most importantly more in tune with ME than any social status or "norm". The hospital norm is actually really really stupid. It doesn't make ANY sense to me anatomically (drugs, timing, labor inducing, fetal distress that THEY cause, c-sections that THEY often cause, what you are allowed to do in labor, birthing position...etc). 

God willing, I will HypnoBirth in a birthing tub. In our home. With dim lighting, quiet music, no screaming or hollering, and just peaceful joy. Ahhh, yes.

On a side note, I heard my baby's heartbeat for the first time yesterday. I'll post a video of this soon.

It was absolutely amazing.

fall

...it's finally here. High of 55 today, which is crazy. Yesterday's high for North Texas was 80 something. October is my favorite month! Pumpkins, crisp weather, fall food. I have made 3 pumpkin pies in the last 5 days (2 were gifts).

Last year we were in a little rental house, so we had the opportunity to decorate our porch and front yard. It was awesome. I bought a cheap scarecrow, some pumpkins at the pumpkin patch (our MUST every year since we were dating) and a couple of hay-bales.

I wonder how we will decorate our apartment this year.

"It feels like fall. It's cold today, brown suit, and pumpkin pie. Mmm." - J
Yes. I absolutely agree.

for starters

First of all, I can't get the font to work right on this first post. 
It is driving me nuts!!! 

A story for you: 
While packing up my car after an in-home massage therapy session yesterday evening,  a sweet guy driving the trash truck around the cul-de-sac (obviously a little bored) yells about the white apple shaped sticker on my car. He apparently had seen them everywhere and wanted to know what they meant. Dumb me, "Oh, like Apple products!" but of course that didn't help. "The iPhone, iPod, MacBooks... Steve Jobs?" and then he got it. I'm glad I could help him. 

Ten seconds later he asked me if I practiced yoga. Um ...what. My brain exploded a little! We proceeded to quickly chat/yell about yoga. What an odd exchange with the trash truck man. God's sense of humor is awesome. (Already know a lot about me? Hope so! I am going to try and not describe myself, because I'm learning that my selfish view of things is not always the truth. Hmph. It's a humbling process- J and I will spill our lives... and just... be. What do they call it, blog therapy?)

So this is entry #1. I had kinda started a blog before this, but it was more about me rather than my family. Here's to hoping I can translate all my thoughts about life in my 1 year old marriage, the new baby that's growing like crazy (I am 9.5 weeks preg!), and just daily blessings. I love the idea of 'bloggin it out' on a constant basis, but I make no guarantees. :)