16 weeks

Baby Size: The size of a avocado!

Countdown: 24 Weeks

Weight Gain: It literally varies from day to day.

Maternity Clothes: Still wearing a little of both. I have a few shirts and dresses that are "normal" clothes that work fine. I'm in between and it's a little annoying. My clothes are a little tight, and maternity clothes are too big. Ugh.

Stretch Marks: none so far. Fingers crossed. I'm using coconut oil and
Johnson's Baby Oil gel with Shea and CoCo Butter.

Sleep: I've been sick again this week with this sinus crud so it hasn't been easy to sleep. However, I can nap anytime anywhere. The humidifier has really helped. Oh, and the BOPPY pillow...WOW!! A friend from work loaned me hers and its been a lifesaver. It's so comfortable and I have to fight Daniel for it every night.

Best Moment this week: It's been a rough week with this sickness. Molley has had a rough week with her tummy and she hasn't been eating. The best moment was probably Thursday when Molls started eating after 3 days of nothing.

Food Cravings: None so far. Still having a few food aversions.

Symptoms: Not many, I think some of this stuffiness in related to pregnancy, and some a virus. Mama and Daniel and both caught whatever it is from me. I did throw up for the first time this week but again, I think it was from all the congestion. There was no nausea involved.

What I Miss: nothing that really stands out.

What I'm Looking Forward To: Doctor's appointment June 10th. Mama, Mrs. Ginger, and Charlie Kate are going to this appointment with us. We are having a "Sneak Peak" ultrasound and will hopefully find out the baby's gender.

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13 weeks

Baby Size: The size of a peach!

Countdown: 27 Weeks

Weight Gain: No Comment! Lets just say my scales lie and I prefer the scales at my doctor's office.

Maternity Clothes: A little of both. I can still wear some of my own shirts and my pants with a Bella Band. I will mix a few maternity clothes in and dresses are awesome!

Stretch Marks: none so far. Fingers crossed

Sleep: I'm on the downhill side of the extreme tiredness. I don't have all of my energy back, but I can totally tell a difference. During the extreme fatigue times, I would fall asleep anywhere. I have never known TIRED like that before. I am sleeping like a log most nights. Not many potty trips, maybe one, if any. It may be the afternoon walking or all this rain that we have had, but I have gotten lots of sleep. Is it possible to store sleep???

Best Moment this week: The sun came out and we got back to walking. Moved up to two miles. GO GROUP!!

Food Cravings: None so far. I'm still having food aversions and can't even think about eating "gooey" things. I will say I have had two shrimp po-boys since Saturday and they were delicious!

Symptoms: A few headaches this week and last. Not too bad. Still having night time (after 7pm) nausea. Haven't been SICK yet. Praise The Lord! Still having nose bleeds (started in week 3 and I didn't realize why.)

What I Miss: nothing really. I thought I would miss sleeping on my stomach but it hasn't crossed my mind.

What I'm Looking Forward To: Doctor's appointment tomorrow.

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9 week appointment

Our second doctor's appointment was on April 11th. At this appointment we had our first ultrasound and got to hear our little peanut's heartbeat. WOW!!! First off the baby was super active and "danced" the entire time. The heart rate was 179bpm and all looked greaat. Here is our 3D ultrasound picture.





I'm going to get on my soapbox right now, so please excuse me...but HOW IN THE WORLD can someone say this is not a baby, not a life???? This is amazing to me. There is an obvious profile visible in this picture.




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Telling our Parents

On March 26th, Daniel's Mom and Melissa came to Chestnut for the day to hangout and see the sites around Monroe County. I got a new camera for my birthday and Melissa and I wanted to go out and experiment with our cameras. We spent the day exploring train tunnels and old churches. That afternoon we went home to start preparing dinner for everyone, my parents were coming to eat also.

We found out at our first appointment that our due date was expected to be November 10th, which is the day after Mrs. Ginger's birthday. HOW EXCITING!!!! Daniel and I worked all day on Monday preparing dinner for the next night and planning how we would tell our parents this exciting news. We made this picture and wrapped it up as a birthday gift for Mrs. Ginger and made Easter baskets for Mom and Dad and Daniel's Dad and Stepmom.

Daniel told his Mom that we had a gift for her that she needed so we were giving her an early birthday gift.

Mom and Dad came over later and we gave them an Easter Basket with the picture gift wrapped inside. I wish I had recorded Mom trying to figure out the picture then her screaming.

That Saturday, the 30th, we told Mr. Danny and Sandy the same way.

BIG NEWS!!!!

On March 4th Daniel and I found out we were expecting a baby. Well, I found out then had to wait two hours for Daniel to get home before I could tell him. We (Daniel) decided back in October that it was time for us to start our family. I say Daniel because I wasn't real sure, but that's an entirely different blog post.

Daniel was out at a meeting in town and like I said I had to wait a long long two hours for him to get home.  I think I sat in silence for two hours and watched my hands shake.

Back in November I started planning how I would tell Daniel the big news and I bought a tiny pair of baby boots, since he and I both LOVE our boots. When Daniel got home I had supper cooking and asked him to watch it for just a second. I came back and told him I found a surprise for him. I gave him the boots with the positive pregnancy test in them. He was speechless!! I think he said "FOR REAL?" and nothing else.

We were both so shocked that we were silent for a good while. Then we decided we needed to go to the doctor first and be sure and keep it between us until we knew for sure.

The hardest part was knowing that I was going to Troy the following Friday (March 8th) with my Mom to walk in a 5K with Daniel's Mom and Sister. How would I ever keep this quite???

For the first few weeks the nausea wasn't too bad. As long as I didn't let my stomach get empty I felt fine. I did purchase a pair of PSIbands to wear for the nausea and they DO help.

On March the 14th I had a class in Birmingham and Mom rode with me to keep me company. I knew this trip wouldn't be easy and I was so afraid she would notice something. I blamed the nausea on carsickness and put on the PSIbands and we were good to go. ;-) She's never going to forgive me for hiding this from her for so long.

By this time I was almost 6 weeks along.

On March 21, 2013 We had our first Doctors appointment. He said everything appeared to be going well and wanted me back in two weeks for an ultrasound and blood work.

The next day, March 22, I left for my "girls weekend" in Destin. TALK ABOUT TORTURE!!!! I spent the weekend with 9 of my closest girl friends and couldn't tell them a thing. On Saturday I was having trouble hiding the fact that I was exhausted and one of them asked me "are you pregnant?" "No" was all that I could get out and I prayed that she couldn't hear my heart beating.

We didn't keep this a secret for any reason other than we wanted to be sure everything was "ok" and we wanted to tell our families first. We had a plan all along for when and how to tell our families and it just so happened to fall after all of this. Those stories are to come.

The major symptoms I have had are nosebleeds (which I have never had before in my life), nausea, and soreness. Amazingly I haven't had a migraine since February 27th. I know my mother is saying "See, I told you if you would get pregnant it would help your migraines." Lets just pray she is right.

I;m not really craving anything.

I do not want cakes, or doughy type foods. I actually gagged looking at Little Debbie Easter Cakes. I think Daniel's quote after that was "You are very sick." I normally LOVE The seasonal Little Debbie Cakes. Sweets aren't that appealing these days.

I prefer to eat fruits and veggies right now. Oh, and ketchup. I can't seem to get enough ketchup these days. Not that I'm putting it on everything, it's just that when I'm eating ketchup...it's delicious!!! I even sent Daniel this picture because we've laughed about the ketchup thing a lot lately.

Happy Halloween

Have you ever seen this much cuteness in one picture????

Here are our nieces, Charley Kate as "Miss Piggy" and Lincy as "Dorothy."

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Lazy Weekend At Home and October Recap

It's been so nice to stay home this weekend and not have anything planned.  On Friday night we had a spur of the moment "Date Night" to Greenville, AL and a Haunted Firehouse. Then on Saturday there was a sudden cold snap and we had a lazy lazy day inside.

Everyone caught a warm and cozy nap.

The month of October has been a busy wedding month. On October 6th, Daniel's step brother Manly married his fiance' Becky in Josephine, AL. The setting was gorgeous and Becky was stunning. We had a great family weekend with their close friends.








Wendy Ward from Troy, AL made their gorgeous wedding pictures. She made so many cute pictures of Becky and Manly. They had a sign that ready "Happily Ever After" in several pictures. These were precious. Wendy is so talented!!

Sweet Lincy

Uncle Daniel doing what he does...picking

Jennifer, Rachael, Daniel, Chris and Manly

Daniel and I celebrated our 2nd Anniversary on October 9th. I can't believe we've been married 2 years already. I guess it is true, "Time flies when you're having fun."

Our friends Hunter and Tara got married on the 13th of October in Mapesville, AL and Daniel was in their wedding as well. Here is a link to their photographers page with a sample of their wedding pictures. AMAZING!! I might be just a little partial by saying "Wes is so talented and makes great pictures," but he is, and he did make our wedding pictures also.