Early Merry Christmas!

Everyone needs to click this link to brighten their day! Don't worry, its short! And trust me, it will brighten your day!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=9524828671

Good Doctor's Appt

Well first off I know its been a while since I updated, my sister got onto me today...

I went to the doctor yesterday and everything was fine. Baby's heart rate is 158 so good and strong. Its relieving to hear the heartbeat since I can't really feel the baby yet. I say "can't really" because I'm not sure if the fluttery feelings in my stomach are the baby or if its other bodily functions (such as digestion...). Basically things are completely normal...despite who the father is. Okay, do y'all get that joke? When I told it at work everyone looked at me strange and then when I explained what I meant...they all went, "ohhhh, we thought maybe you just found out who the father is..." Okay these aren't random strangers that I'm telling the joke to, most have met Greg and those that haven't have heard enough stories about him to feel like they know him.

I did get to share all of the lovely symptoms I'm having with the doctor most of which were met with, "yep, that happens...not much we can do about it..." For example: crazy headaches; bruising from brushing up against, well anything; my hair falling out; nausea...Luckily nausea is something they can do something about. I'm now having what I like to call "reverse morning sickness". During the first trimester I would feel sick all the time except for about the 10 minutes after I ate. Now, I feel starving all the time and once I eat I feel awful. I'm throwing up far more now then I did before mostly because now there's a lot more food to throw up! Again I wonder, why do people do this more than once???

On that high note, I'll sign off. Well, that and to let you know the next appointment is December 14th where we'll find out the sex.

Let the hormones begin...

So, they warn the husbands about these so-called pregnancy hormones where we're supposedly on this roller coaster of emotions. Yeah, they're not lying. Wanna know the low point of my day? I'm driving home from work and one of those stupid OnStar commercials comes on...guess who starts crying driving down Wurzbach Pkwy?? Yeah, the pregnant lady. It wasn't even one of the really good ones with a kid crying or anything, it was a stupid one where they get in an accident and OnStar calls the police and saves the day again. For some reason, that whole concept was especially touching to me on my drive home from work. Oh man, this is going to be a long 6 more months!!

Ask my family, I cry enough as it is. Stressed out? I start crying... Ticked off? I start crying... Frustrated? You guessed it...bring on the water works. I'm going to have to figure out some tricks before I start crying over stuff at work. That would be just great sitting in my staff meeting in a room full of guys only to start crying...Surely this part gets better right? Yeah, I didn't think so...

Hurray!

The morning, noon, and night sickness is slowing down. I'm SO glad! I'm tired of that pukey feeling all the time! This past week has been really good, not too much nausea. I'm glad they weren't lying when they said second trimester is better. I'm still not 100% why people do this more than once, but there must be some reason. :-)

We're telling people now...let me rephrase that....we're telling EVERYONE now! Its fun, but still a little awkward. I mean, how do you really throw into casual conversation that you're pregnant? That's why I liked the blog because I could just email the link and tell people to read it. :-) For someone who likes to talk as much as me, you wouldn't think it would be that hard!

NEON...

I love our NEON group! Getting involved with that has been such a blessing in Greg and my lives. NEON is our church's small group for our youth. We're the freshmen NEON leaders with one other couple, who have also been a HUGE blessing in our life.

I was hesitant to get involved just because its such a big responsibility. Every time I leave I just feel so good. God's definitely put these people in my life to uplift me as much as I'm supposed to lead them! God is so good!

When we moved here we were so lonely! I joke a lot that nothing kills a marriage faster than living in Abilene and for Greg and I it was true. We were struggling with God, with our relationship with each other, just life in general! It was hard being SO lonely. Even our first year here in San Antonio was hard. We had my parents and we had an awesome church it was just hard figuring out where to get plugged in.

Our kids are so awesome! They were so excited for the baby and just excited to see us! Its so wonderful having that relationship with people. I mentioned our co-NEON leaders. I have to be honest, as much as I love the kids, our co-couple is definitely the best blessing of NEON. Getting to know them and having that new relationship in our l ives has been AWESOME.

Its been through leading this group that I feel myself growing so much stronger with God. Our sermon today was by our youth minister who did an incredible job. Basically do you want to be sitting in the chair next to God, or one of the other two sitting further away. I look at my parents and I never doubted which chair they sat in. I always viewed my parents sitting in that chair right next to God talking with him every day seeking His guidance in their lives. As we start this new chapter trying to lead a new life in this world its even more important to me that I'm sitting right there next to God so that when our child grows up they're sitting right there too.

What on earth do pregnant women eat?

That's what I asked my mom, well her and most of the pregnant women I know! It seems like every time you turn around there's a new food that you need to limit or avoid. Off the top of my head: sandwich meat, hot dogs, bean sprouts, fried foods, unwashed fruit, soups (high sodium foods in general), fish, fake sugar (AKA artificial sweetener), caffeine...not to mention the five million medicines you can no longer take. There are lots more that I can't think of, but it invokes a certain level of fear thinking that at any moment you could be about to ingest something that could be bad...

I had no idea where to start finding something for lunch! I pretty much ate Subway every day before I found out I was pregnant...well since tuna and sandwich meat are on the "do not" list it kind of limited my choices. Luckily, my new doctor is really cool. She explained some of the nuances of the off limit foods. For example, fish is okay, actually fish is good! Just don't eat fish with known high mercury contents. Okay, that makes sense to me. Basically, advice to those of you pregnant or getting pregnant. The internet is a very good thing...its also a very bad thing. Don't stress yourself out over what to do and what to eat and when in doubt just ask a professional. They won't laugh...well at least not to your face. I'm sure my doctor walked away and told her colleagues about some of my questions over lunch. Oh well, I'm always happy to provide the entertainment...as long as I don't have to know about it. :-)

First Ultrasound

For all of you who hang on my every word and have been checking this blog religiously for the past few hours you'll be happy to know the ultrasound went well. Now for the rest of you who aren't total stalkers...the ultrasound went well. :-)

We've decided already the baby is ADD. Darn thing wouldn't be still long enough to get a good shot. That was one thing that really surprised me. I never really thought that something the size of a kumquat (about an inch) would be wiggling so much! It was so relieving to see the baby, hear the heartbeat, and see it move. Everything is right on track.

Now for the pictures, my mom took the second best one so you'll have to settle for the best and then the other two. :-)







This one shows the hands and feet. Its my favorite because it shows the baby really isn't just a blob.





These two kind of just look like blob pictures, but you can see the profile. I think our baby's going to have Greg and my photogenisis (duh, word that means the same photogenic abilities as us...not really, I think I made it up, but it sounds cool). It didn't like posing very much (like Greg) and when the picture was finally snapped it doesn't turn out all that attractive (like me...its okay, I've had 26 years to become okay with that).






Hope y'all like. Keep us in your prayers.