18 weeks 4 days

Almost half way there! We can't believe it. Time is flying by! Here are the pictures from this weekend:

And I think I have gotten bigger over the past few days. I went to the gym Monday and actually had problems getting around my growing belly to tie my shoes. I still was able to run 2 miles though!!! It felt so good, I'm so happy that I can still safely run. Hopefully that will help with keeping the baby fat to a minimum. I also started taking a prenatal yoga class last weekend, but it was a little too easy for me, oh well. I really think all the exercise I try to get is helping me with my energy and carrying around the extra belly weight all day. I think I need to do more yoga though, because the skin and ligaments of my stomach have been feeling so tight that it hurts! I definitely wasn't expecting that.

I'm definitely feeling the baby move now too, which is pretty cool. I hear people describe it as butterflys in your tummy. Me, no. It feels like a muscle spasm that is random and changes locations all the time. That is usually what it feels like, although Saturday in yoga, when I was laying on my left side, the baby leapt up from my left side into my right side! It was very strange, it felt like it threw its whle body against my side. I have a strange feeling that this baby will take after it's father and have way too much energy!

Speaking of Jeff, he made me a very good dinner Sunday night. He made chicken-fried deer steak with gravy and onions. I wasn't too sure about it at first, but it was so good! Here he is cooking:

Mmmmmmmmmmmm. Great over rice. Well that is my update for the week. We are both incredibly busy this week with work. I hope my job starts getting easier and slowing down soon!

Another Day

I just had to share that today is a wonderful day. Why? Because we found my favorite cookies at the Commissary!!! Little Debbie white be my valentine cakes. MMMMmmmmmmmm. Perfect for pregnant sugar cravings. Yes, we bought 3 boxes.



Now Jeff is cooking me a fish dinner, before tearing into some yummy cookies for dessert. What a great husband I have!

Not the longest post in the world, I know, but I wantd to share the news about the cookies!

I finally figured out how to upload this video! I hope you all enjoy it. It is from Thanksgiving when we first told our parents that we were having a baby. You can see their reactions in the video. Pretty funny!

Things have been going well here. I am in the 5th month now! Only 2 more weeks until we are half way there. Crazy idea. I am feeling much better, my main issues now are being tired by the end of the day, and having ligament pain on my sides if I move too fast or cough. Oh, and the peeing all the time thing, that's fun too. SO many things they don't tell you about until after you get pregnant!

People are finally starting to notice at work that I am showing. However, people who don't know me find it hard to believe that I'm over 4 months pregnant. I guess it's those strong abs I have worked so hard for so many years (bye bye abs).

Here are a few new pictures:



Yeh I don't really look pregnant at all from the front yet, at least not really to other people. I had a haircut and prenatal massage Saturday and they didn't believe I was this far along! The massage was wonderful though, I think I fell asleep at the end! My neck is still killing me though, I think I need to see a chiropractor.

From the side view, you can definitely see the baby bump now though, yay! I have decided that a nice bonus to the growing belly is that it balances out my butt and makes it look smaller. Horay!

I went to visit my new baby doctor on Wednesday and this is a much nicer practice, I'm glad I stuck up for myself and left the old doctor who was mean. Who needs that? While I was there I got to hear the heartbeat for the first time, which was awesome. Beating away! However it was laying way down at the very bottom, right on my bladder. What is it doing down there? I also found out that I have gained almost 10 pounds so far, geez. Where did it all go!

Jeff and I went on a tour today of the hospital where we will have the baby. We will deliver at St. Joseph's (http://www.carondelet.org/WomensCare/cb_intro.aspx). They have a brand new maternity ward which just opened 8 months ago! It looks like a great place to have a baby. Now it's time to start taking classes there so that we can figure out what to do with it once it comes out!

So here is some news: we decided for sure that we don't want to find out what the gender is. Anyone else not find out? We want the surprise at the end. And of course it wouldn't be Sarah and Jeff if we didn't make things complicated!

Other news: I will be coming home in April for a baby shower! I'm so excited. I can't wait to see everyone, and I will be pretty far along by then. And I will get home the day after my dad's birthday. Fun Times!

So what do you all think about this for the nursery: http://www.nurserydepot.com/cribbedding/productdetails.asp?id=1-10001834-10001838-143642-4-2&id2=602-0-0-0-0& ? Jeff loves it, and I think it is very cute and perfect for a boy or girl. We haven't set up any registries yet, but my sister found this and we think we like it!

So here are some new pics of Jeff:

Here is Jeff getting his gear together for a base exercise. He was practicing putting on his gas mask. I wasn't about to try it on!

Here are pictures of Jeff during and after shaving his head. He decided to go for the change, and I think it looks great! Much easier and cheaper than going to the barber shop too, now we have our own barber shop out on the back patio. And no, we didn't leave the mohawk on, that was just for fun :-)

14 weeks 5 days

This was me about a month ago:

And this is me today at 14 weeks 5 days along:

The belly is definitely growing! Notice the comfy materinty jeans, which are definitely the best things EVER. I think I might wear them forever!

I haven't updated this site in a while, I promise I will try harder from now on! The past 2 months have been pretty crazy though. After Thanksgiving when the parents were here, I travelled to Virginia for a week and a half of training for my job. I was able to make it home during my free weekend and see everyone. I finally met 2 wonderful new babies - our nephew Waylon who was born in July (Jeff's brother's baby), and Payton, newly adopted by our friends Diana and Wes. What perfect beautful little boys! It was fun holding them and wondering what it would be like to have my own soon to care for, which was also slightly terrifying. I picked up some good hints and ideas, and Diana even sent me home with my first baby clothes and a name book! Thanks again Diana! I also got to see quite a few of my family members, and spent some good time with my mom, dad and especially my sister. I think Laura is as excited about the baby as we are! It ws very good to be home, and it made me very home sick. We will make it home soon, we promise!

Upon my return to AZ, I of course came down with a bad cold and had to cram for my final accounting exam while learning a new job. Yeh, pretty stressful! We did however get to have an ultrasound, and here is the first baby picture of our little one:

We think he/she is sucking the thumb here! It was so funny to see the ultrasound, it was very active, jumping and moving around, and punching its arms like it was boxing. I think it will take after it's daddy!!! Jeff was able to be there with me, and we both realy enjoyed it. We should get some more pictures in a few weeks, I will make sure to post those when I get them.

We had a very quiet Christmas. We both realized that next Christmas, we will have a 6 month old (!!!) so we enjoyed the peace and quiet while we could! Since then, we have just been trying to relax some and catch up from the past few months. Whew! I'm looking forwards to the routine of the next few months.

Jeff confessed to me today that I indeed did marry a little boy who loves his toys. We spent a good hour or more in Sportsman's Warehouse today, buying a reloading kit and life-size deer to shoot arrows at. As soon as we finished our lunch after getting it home, the huge box was in front of our tv and he was pulling his deer out of the box and putting it together. Here he is with the new addition to our backyard:

Well, not much else to tell for now. Happy New Years everyone. This should one heck of a year!