Happy Anniversary

Three years ago today, E and I exchanged these words in front of 80 friends and family:

I am grateful to you for all that you are.
Before you, I was content to live life.
With you, I am inspired to experience all of God's creation.
I cherish the qualities you bring to our relationship.
You are my friend.
You are my most intimate companion.
Thank you for your love, your support, and your strength;
Thank you for your tears and your laughter.
Today, I give you my heart.
I promise to honor you in life.
I will remain faithful for all time.
I will nurture our relationship.
I will support your growth spiritually and personally.
I promise to listen to you.
I will encourage you.
I promise to endure good times and bad
To spend my life, forever, with you.
I love you.

Thank you for the best 6.5 years of my life (so far!) Thank you for working with me to make our dreams come true. I love you with my entire heart. You are my most intimate companion, and I promise to endure good times and bad to spend my life, forever, with you.

I love you.

AAAAHHHHCK!!!

I'm leaking!!!

Truly, the strangest pregnancy symptom yet.

21 weeks and another daycare visit

I'm trying to see 21 weeks as our actual halfway point. I'm not sure this strategy will work, but I'm hoping to be better prepared to go late this way... I'm guessing that regardless, at 8.5 months along when I'm bigger than a barge, I will be VERY ready... but I'm trying. :-)

This week has been too crazy to really notice any changes from the week before. I have felt Tot move a bit more, but wish I felt him more. I feel that for someone as "in tune" with her body as I have become, I don't feel him nearly as much as I should. I guess it's as good a place as any to project my baby/pregnancy-related anxiety, so I'll leave it at that. Other than that, my sneezing has died down, and I still gag quite a bit (for no reason in particular... it's annoying!) I'm sleeping well at night, especially now that we're home in our own bed. I am starting to get winded more easily, and I'm looking forward to joining the gym again and getting back into a swimming routine. I don't know what's happening w/ any cravings/aversions as the Christmas snacks have intruded on any regular eating routine. In general, I'm eating quite normally again, which is also quite a relief. I think I may be able to fully enjoy our anniversary dinner next week!

In other news, we toured a second facility today in search of the Best Daycare Ever. We really liked this place. I think it helped that we

1. weren't as overwhelmed since we had been on a tour once before and knew a bit of what to expect/ask and
2. knew this place was a bit more affordable than the last.

We are scheduling a few more places, but we're starting to get a feel for not only what's out there, but also what's important to us. I think we'll be able to have something decided in the next month or so, which feels very good as we have so many other things to start working on before Tot arrives!!

Home again, home again jiggety jig

We were quite the mid-western travelers over the last few days. 3 cities and four states... plenty for 4.5 days, for sure!

We had nice visits with our families, and Tot even received his first Christmas gifts! Little shoes, a piggy bank, a counting a book and the best onsie ever, that says "Hatched by two chicks." Fantastic! He's going to be well dressed and well educated!

We are happy to be home: happy to not be running around, and exceedingly happy to have slept in our own bed last night. This will be a short week, which is all one can handle after all of the holiday cheer.

Welcome back, and let the countdown to 2008 begin!

It's the most wonderful (ly busy) time of the year

Why is it that I have to have so much anxiety over the holidays?

Love cooking/baking and eating? - CHECK
Love gift wrap (such pretty paper) - CHECK
Love my sisters and my mom - CHECK
Love spending time with family - CHECK
Love playing games and making crafts - CHECK
Love watching Gladys play in the snow - CHECK

So, why oh WHY do I have an anxiety attack every time we're about to leave for MI....?

I really do love this time of year, but packing up and heading out and then driving from one place to another with no hours to spare... it just really wears on me. This year the anxiety is a bit lower as I've adjusted my mental framework in a few key ways... I'll leave that for another post. Still, I honestly don't have the energy I usually do, and the busyness just overwhelms me, and it hasn't even truly yet begun!

I don't mean to complain so much. Everyone is so happy to see us (and why wouldn't they be?), which is a nice welcome every time. We just have to cram so much into two days with my fam and one day (this year) w/ E's fam - it's a lot of work. Of course, we have to let Tot spend time with his cousins and aunts and uncles - obviously, not going to see the extended fam is NOT an option.

So, we leave tomorrow from work. We are packing the car tonight with gifts, food, our own belongings and a few for the dog. We will be cleaning the house a bit (who doesn't like returning to a tidied home?), and then feeding and watering the kitties (they can make it four days!) I think we have all of the errands out of the way, and I am not going to get around to making that salad dressing my sister has been asking after... I did, though, send her the recipe this afternoon, so that will have to do.

I don't know about Santa, but we've definitely made our list, and I've checked it twice (or thrice...)

Happy Holidays everyone!!

20 weeks and a whole new reality

We are officially halfway through the "average" pregnancy. Of course, I realize that the avg first pregnancy goes 8 days late... Still, 20 weeks is something to celebrate! Especially now that we know we're having a little boy!!!

Despite having 10 bazillion things to accomplish before leaving to see our families on Friday afternoon, E and I spent last night talking about our little boy and shopping around for little boy clothes. I simply cannot believe the reality that has set in now that we know he's a BOY!! Buying those little outfits - I just imagined him in those little shoes and socks, sporting the sweater vest and looking astoundingly adorable in his little overalls... all this, and with 4.5 months left to go before we meet him!

I cannot fully describe the rush of emotion I had when we learned that Tot is a boy. Of course, one must wonder why one feels the way one does when one is so surprised by one's own reactions, doesn't one? I think that finding out that he's a boy brought on a new sense for me- a sense that he is a real person who will be here in just a few months... we are, after all, already halfway! He is a real person who depends on me now and will depend on us when he's here. I am going to be a mom FOR. THE. REST. OF. MY. LIFE. Of course, it is not that I didn't realize this before, but I now understand this in an entirely new way. (I'm betting that his arrival will up that realization about 400 thousand times...)

Holding those little sweaters and overalls, I could imagine our son in them. I don't know exactly what he will look like when he is born (although, by the pictures, no one can deny that he'll be darn good looking!!), but I could sense him, there, in those little clothes, looking at me, looking at us. This morning when I looked at his picture again, I fell in love with our baby - I've reached a whole new level of love for this child growing inside of me, and I didn't even realize it was possible.

A boy has finally stolen my heart.

It's a boy!!!

Yup, S and I will be having a little boy in May! We saw the little guy this morning and everything is looking good. He is about 10 oz, 9-12 inches, and his heart beats about 152 bpm! We are going back on Jan. 8th because they want a better picture of the heart when he is a bit bigger. No worries, they didn't see anything wrong just want to see a clearer picture to be sure.

Happy little boy though. Shy with his hands in front of his face most of the ultrasound. He even open and closed his mouth to say, "Hi!"

The blog poll was wrongo! The end vote was 33 girl and 22 boy.

Here are some pictures of our boy!


Profile





Proof he is a boy!





We are excited to learn more about raising our little boy. We may just turn to those of you that have already jumped into life with a little guy for some guidance!