Mommy I can hear you :)

First of all I would like to thank all of you who commented about when you first began noticing a bump. Your comments made me feel better about my non-expanding belly. I have also found comfort in pictures off of the what to expect website. The pictures are both of women at 16 weeks, and as you can tell there is a drastic difference in the size of their belly. Maybe the bottom girl is carrying twins?

I was excited to read that my baby this week can now hear my voice. That is very exciting to me. I have been talking to the little one all along, but now he/she will actually hear their mommies voice. The source said that babies can now begin taking in tunes of songs as well if the mother sings the tune to them. It said that when they are born they may even recognize a familiar tune. When my step mom was pregnant with my youngest sister my dad used to hum a song when Kat was kicking to calm her. To this day she will still fall asleep to that tune if she remains still enough. I kind of want to start reading to the baby soon (is that weird)?

Where is my bump???

So, I have decided that everyone else at 16 weeks either has or had an obvious little bump. However, I still get the question every day "When is your belly gonna grow"? I want a bump that everyone can see so people can understand why I get moody if I do not get to eat, why I can't take my eyes off babies in public, and just because I want one. To me I have noticed that my body has changed in various ways, and my belly has grown. However, I have been looking at blogs of others who are pregnant and they had bellys at 16 weeks, and mine is still just a tiny

bump. I am going to post pictures of me at 8 weeks and me at 14 weeks, and you can let me know if you think my belly has grown. I truly do not see a change in pictures. My pants are to small to button now so I know I have a small bump but nothing drastic. If you are or have been pregnant will you comment and let me know when your obvious bump first appeared? The top picture is of me at 8 weeks and the bottom is 14 weeks (sorry my head is cut off).

MOM

We all know how exciting it is to a mother to hear their baby say their name for the first time. I myself can not wait to experience this, and know that I am the only person in the world that he/she will be refering to. However, can you imagine your son being in a critical car accident on Christmas day, and watching him lay in bed day after day for two months not knowing when he will recover, and then hearing MOM. How powerful would that be? It brings chills and tears to my eyes just thinking about it.

Well today, my Aunt Libby was able to experience this. Matt called out to her today by saying MOM. I can not imagine how happy she must have felt at that moment, and I can just imagine her standing over his bed with tears in her eyes saying "I am here my baby what is it that you need". For most moms I am sure after 23 years you take the word for granted, but when tradgedy strikes, you do not know if you will hear your baby call out to you again, and the word is not taken so lightly.

I am so excited that my cousin called out to his momma today, and I am so grateful to God for allowing him to recover, and I pray daily for continued recovery. God is so good, and I know that Aunt Libby is one happy mommy today.

I have included a pic of Matt and I when we were babies. This is probably around the age he said mom for the first time. I have also included a picture of him at 22. He is still her baby no matter how old he gets, and I am sure that the word Mom is one in which she will always be exctied to hear.

Sydney the Destroyer

As many of you know from my previous posts we have a new puppy who we named Sydney. Sydney is a lot different than my baby girl Bella in that she is a larger breed dog with a whole lot of energy. I think I took for granted what I thought was a lot of energy with my little Yorktese when she was a puppy. I never realized the difference between large and small breed puppies until I had the two to compare. Growing up I had a boxer named Abby, however, I do not really remember her puppy days, and therefore I just assumed that Sydney's puppy stage would be a lot like Bella's. Man was I wrong.

Above I have included a picture of Bella the first night we got her, and Sydney a couple of weeks after we got her. There is definetely a difference in size.

Here are a few more differences:

1. Sydney is very strong (she can basically pull me over when I am trying to contol her). Bella, could not move my arm if she tried.

2. Sydney can jump on the furniture (including the bed) at 4 months. Bella still has not accomplished jumping on the bed except for maybe 5 exceptions her entire life.

3. They are both very jealous and moody, however, Bella is the moodiest one of all.

4. Sydney can destroy things very quickly (she has destroyed doggy (Bella's favorite toy of all time), books, cords etc). When Bella was four months all she could destroy was a piece of paper.

5. Sydney has to go to the bathroom a lot, and it is actually a big hassle to clean up her accidents that she has indoors. Bella used a litter box for the first year of her life, and her messes were basically non existent.

Below are pictures from my Birthday walk. You can tell that Sydney has already grown a whole lot in size. In fact I could barely control her on the leash just to take this picture. Nick had to run with her to get her energy out.

Anyways I could go on and on about the differences. However, I love our new puppy and I am trying to gain dominance over her (the dog whisperer makes it look so easy). Whenever she is jumping on me I can snap, tell her to sit, push her down etc etc etc and she still will not stop. However, as soon as Nick snaps from across the room she lays down like a perfect angel and does not move a muscle. I guess I just don't have the magic touch. Well the main point of this post was to talk about the trouble Sydney got into today. Today at Target I bought Belly Laughs by Jenny McCarthy, and actually finished the entire book in about an hour 1/2. I loved the book, and I was laughing out loud while reading it. Afterward Nick and I went upstairs to cook dinner, and we left Sydney in the room outside of her kennel, and I left my book laying on the bed. When we came back down from dinner we found that Sydney had enjoyed my book as well, and had chewed the cover and a few pages. Geez. Oh well, it is still readable, and at least I finished it before it was destroyed.

3 Posts in one day!!

Just thought I would add a few pictures for you to enjoy. This first is a picture of our new puppy Sydney. She is already 2 times this size.

Below is a picture from Gatlinburg this past weekend.

I thought I would add a couple of Christmas pictures. Christmas was a hard time this year, but it was also our first Christmas as a married couple. The first is a picture on Christmas Eve at Nick's parents house with our babies (all three of them). Below is just a cute picture of my baby girl. Bella's favorite place to lay this year was below the Christmas tree.

God's Little Works

As many of you know my cousin was involved in a car accident on Christmas Day. My grandmother told me a story today that has touched my heart, and caused me to stand in awe of God. Matt's uncle and his wife traveled back and forth to Tennessee when Matt was in the hospital there as many family members did. However, every time they would get a hotel room for the night they would be given room 114. His wife decided that it was God's way of trying to tell her something. She began searching the Bible trying to find the answer and came across this verse

"But when Jesus heard about it he said, Lazarus's sickness will not end in death. No it is for the glory of God. I the Son of God, will recieve glory from this" John 11:4 (114)

That verse I believe speaks in itself, and it proves that God is there to help us through situations and give us hope as long as we take the time to listen. WOW I feel so blessed to know that God was assuring us that good will come from this bad situation, and that Matt will overcome this obstacle.

Some Beach Somewhere

First off I had a wonderful birthday with my hubby. We slept in, went to lunch at Ruby Tuesdays, took our doggies on a walk in the park, and then had dinner. It was a great day, and unfortunately the last warm day of the week. I awoke this morning to find snow once again laying on the ground. Given it was not even an inch, but with it came cold wind and a reminder that it is still winter. I had gotten a little spoiled from last weeks weather, and I have to admit that I was sad to see the warm weather go.

I have always been partial to the beach and warmth. This Kentucky weather can sure get old after a while. I am still trying to convince my hubby to move south somewhere, so baby gardella and I can play on the beach all day long. I hope my convincing works :). However, if not at least I have spring break to look forward to. As of now Nick and I are planning a getaway with a few close friends to our friends Jersey's condo in Stuart, Florida. If that for some reason does not work out then I am convincing Beth and Blair to go with me to Florida and we can all be pregnant in bathing suits together. I am including a few pictures of our honeymoon, and old spring break pictures while I sit and try to pretend that I was in paradise now.

This is a picture of me and baby Asa. I babysat him while I attended KCU, and then his family moved to Florida. We were able to see them one year on Spring Break. This is how I want my babies to grow up. What a perfect life. Instead of playing in

the back yard baby and I could go to the beach during the day while we waited for daddy to get home.

Below is a picture from our first spring break together as a couple. We were in Stuart, Florida (where we may be revisiting this year). Notice Nick's long hair :). Also, I have included a picture from Spring Break 05 with a group of my KCU friends.

It is almost my birthday!!!!

So, this weekend was amazing. Nick and I had a wonderful time in Gatlingburg, and it was great to just get away and be alone. We decided to cut our trip short by a couple of days, and instead decided to splurge on things we really wanted to do while in Gatlinburg this weekend. We had a wonderful Valentines Day filled with walking around Gatlinburg, having lunch, and visiting the World Record Museum. We had plans to go to a nice steak house for dinner that night, but instead we ended up having KFC in bed. It may not sound romantic but it was perfect. Our big day was Sunday. That morning we went to a pancake breakfast, visited the Aquarium, and finished up the day at the Dixie Stampede (the food was just as amazing as I remembered). This morning we woke up, went to have Pizza for lunch, played a round of putt putt, visited an As seen on TV outlet store, and then headed home to reunite with our puppies. I will post pictures from our trip soon.

Tomorrow Nick and I are both playing hookie for my b-day, and the plan is still not set in stone. It is crazy that I am turning 23. I feel as though my birthdays are not as exciting anymore, but I am excited to have another alone day with my hubby tomorrow.

The baby is 15 weeks this week, and I was excited to read that it is possible to feel the baby kicking (though unlikely) this week. I told Nick yesturday that I felt as though I was feeling the baby moving at times. I guess I will wait a few more weeks until the movements become regular to know if it is truly the baby that I am feeling inside my tummy. Well I guess I will end this by saying Happy birthday to me in less than an hour, and I will sit and wait until I turn 23 to fall asleep (I was born at 12:36 am, so I truly turn 23 basically as soon as the 17th begins).

A Romantic Getaway

So, I came home to a surprise today. Nick has planned a weekend getaway to Gatlinburg, Tennessee. I had joked with him the other day telling him that I wanted to go to Gatlinburg, simply because I wanted to eat at the Dixie Stampede (very weird pregnancy craving). I have not gone to the Dixie Stampede in years, but I am now super excited. Since this weekend is the weekend before my birthday, and Valentines weekend we are staying until Wednesday morning, and then driving the five hours home. We are actually driving down tonight, and we will probably not arrive until about 1 am. However, I am very excited for a much needed weekend getaway with my husband.

It is funny because I was talking about the things that I like to do while in Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge and unfortunately a lot of those I will have to pass up due to being pregnant. Though it may be hard to find something to do to entertain us for four days, it will definetely be a weekend free from everyone except for us. I love alone time.

I will let you know what all we find to do.

A Praise

So, as many of you know I was terrified last weekend about having all of my blood work completed. I was so afraid that I was going to be a carrier of the cystic fibrosis gene, and that we would then have to have Nick tested as well. However, I just spoke with the nurse and she informed me that the test results came back all clear. THANK YOU GOD. I don't know why but for some reason, I really thought that I was going to be a carrier. I am so thankful that God has allowed Nick and I the peace of knowing that our little baby will have no worries when it comes to that specific illness.

On another bright note I am so excited about this weekend. I have always been a romantic, and I love Valentines Day because of that. Yes, I know that Valentines Day is a corny holiday, but I am not a girl who expects a large, expensive gift. I am perfectly content with a little bit of romance, and a night alone with my hubby. Since we began dating Nick has planned all of the Valentines Day dates. Last year he took me to Japanese, to Merrick for drinks, and then home to blankets in front of a fire and a bottle of wine. It was perfect. I accidentally guessed part of this years plans without knowing the other day while we were in the mall. I have such a bad habit of doing that. We were walking past build a bear, and I looked at Nick with what I thought was a brilliant idea. Little did I know he had already thought of it, and he was planning on surprising me with it on V-Day. He is taking me to build a bear for the baby together, and we are going to both kiss the heart, and record a message for the baby that will be placed in the bear. He was so sad that I came up with the idea to, because he really wanted it to be a surprise. It will still be fun though, and it is so cute. Other than that all I know about our V-Day plans is that I have to be ready for dinner by 8. I will keep you posted on what other plans he has up his sleeve.

Please keep my cousin, Ashley and her husband Jeremy in your prayers. Yesturday she had emergency surgery due to an unknown tube pregnancy. She ended up loosing one of her tubes due to it, and she is heartbroken over the miscarriage.
Also my great-aunt lost her husband this morning due to a stroke so please keep her and her daughter in your prayers as well.

Cora

Last night I came across a blog about a family with a little 10 month old baby named Cora. Their story has truly touched, and ripped my heart out of my chest. Three weeks ago Joel and Jess (mom and dad) took Cora to the doctor due to the fact that she kept getting ear infections. Jess also had a couple of other concerns, like all new moms do, with her stomach being swollen, and an unexplained black eye. The doctor had the parents take Cora to the hospital for tests, and the prognosis ended up being that the sweet baby had stage 4 cancer. They began fighting the cancer immediately, and Cora had four surgeries. Eventually she began having lung failure, and her heart started building up fluid. Cora passed away Feb 8.

This story absolutely broke my heart. I can not even imagine how the parents of this little girl could be feeling. At Christmas, as far as they knew their baby girl was healthy, and now she is gone to be with Jesus. The parents have a strong faith in God and their blog is truly touching. Here is the link to their blog http://themcclenahans.blogspot.com/. Please keep this family in your prayers. I can not seem to get them off of my mind, and I have been praying for them all day. There has also been a lullaby written in memory of her. Here is the link http://www.newmusicmonday.com/.

The 4th month/2nd Trimester

Finally I have completed the first trimester, and am now beginning the journey into my second. This marks 14 weeks for baby and I, and I have to say I am getting more and more excited each day. The baby this week is about the size of my clenched fist, and the baby may actually be sprouting some hair. God knows this poor baby is definetely screwed with the curly hair gene. Unfortunately daddy and I both have been blessed/cursed with a head full of curly hair. I think I can deal with a little boy with a head full of curly hair, but I pray that some how if we have a little girl, a straight hair gene will come from somewhere. I do not want my daughter to have to go through life with hair like mine. It drives me crazy on a daily basis. The baby this week may also be growing eyebrow hair, and languno to keep him/her warm for the time being.



Nick and I had a blast shopping yesturday, however, we found it very difficult because we do not know the sex of the baby as of yet. Therefore, we left the shopping spree with a UK hoodie, and UK jersey for tailgates, and we decided to wait until we for sure know the sex before we buy anything else. It was so difficult. I am seriously looking into the 4-D ultrasounds in order to determine the sex a little earlier, and to get a clear picture of our little baby. Our doctor does not perform the first ultrasound until the sex can be determined, and I have to admit I am getting impatient. My birthday is this month so I think I may ask for the 4-D ultrasound as a birthday present. I have calculated the weeks, and the sex of the baby could be determined as early as March 8. I really feel as though it is a boy, but I can not wait to know for sure.



Today I have been thinking a lot about my cousin Matt. He is now in Atlanta at a rehabilitation hosipital in critical care. The doctor has stated that his eyes are tracking vertically at times, and that one eye has tracked horizontally. Some days it is just weird for me to think that he is still recovering, and that the future is still unclear at this point as to how long it will take. Today has been one of those days where everything reminds me of him. Please continue to keep him in your prayers. We are trying to plan a time to go visit him, and I am thinking it will be the end of February. This situation has truly taught me not to take anyone or any moment for granted, and to cherish every situation and day that God blesses you with. I look forward to the day when I can sit around with Matt, and have him make fun of the crazy things I say once again. This is a picture from my 21st birthday a couple of years ago.

The Dreaded Blood Work

This morning, Nick is taking me to have all of my pregnancy bloodwork completed. I have to admit that ever since my last appointment I have been putting this day off. I have always had a fear of having my blood drawn, and I am definetely one of the those people who freak myself out before hand. However, my next appointment is on Tuesday, so I must have this blood work completed today.

Keep us in your prayers as we go to get this completed. One pray that I do not pass out, and two pray for the Cystic Fibrosis gene test to come back negative in my blood. My great aunt had two children with cystic fibrosis, and therefore I could possibly be a carrier of the gene. If I test positive for this gene then Nick will have to be tested as well to see if he is a carrier. Even though the chances of both of us having the gene are slim to none, it is still another pregnancy unknown to worry about.

After we are finished at the hospital however, we are going to a baby store that is going out of business, and seeing what fun things we can find. That idea is definetely what I will be looking forward to as they are poking me this morning.

It must be in the water!

So, I have decided that there is a baby epidemic that must be present in the Kentucky water. Either that or, as my friends have stated "I have placed a curse on everyone I talk to about being pregnant. I had mentioned in a previous blog that one of my best friends from my entire life is expecting a baby. She found out a few weeks after she and I went to dinner, and I told her that she needed to have a baby with me. On Sunday another one of my life long friends called me freaking out because she definetely saw a line on the pregnancy test, but she was unsure if it was positive or not. It ended up being positive, so now we are all three pregnant together! It is so exciting/crazy. The other night at a super bowl party I sat around with my one of them and talked about pregnancy symptoms. We are so old. I am so excited for all of us, and I pray that we all have healthy babies.