Happy Birthday Javier!

Hey, just want you to know that I was the first to call and wish you happy birthday, but you were sleeping... So, here is a post just for you!

My sweet little BOY!

Okay, so we are having a boy! James and I are both really excited. Now we get to play with names and start saying "him" instead of "the baby" until we choose a name. We had the best ultrasound technician, she was a doll and she showed us so much stuff with the baby. The baby moved around a ton and it was fun to watch. He kept opening his hands which the technician said was pretty rare this early. The picture on the top is pretty funny, because it seemed to us like the baby was sick of the ultrasound wand and was pushing hard against it. Aren't these great pictures?!

The little things that make you smile...

This is me in my Christmas church outfit. What do you think Javy, I am getting a belly, you have to compare it to the last two pics... We got to church today and the baby was kicking like crazy! (I think my tights we too tight around my midsection.) I had my hand on my abdomen when the baby kicked, and I decided that if I could feel it in my hand, so could James. So I told him to put his hand on my abdomen and sure enough, he felt the baby kick! I was really excited because they say that the husband usually cannot feel anything until about 24-26 weeks (I am about to be 19 weeks on Tuesday). It is fun to share this with others! And then my niece, Bailey felt the baby kick too! It was fun. I hope we have this much fun at our ultrasound appointment on Wednesday!

A little nephew...

Yeah! My brother Jason and his wife Kaisie just had their 20 week ultrasound yesterday and they found out that they are having another boy! With three girls and one boy already, my nephew William is sure to be excited about this new addition to the family! I can't wait to see what our baby's sex is! We got lucky and we are scheduled to have our ultrasound on Christmas Eve morning! Cross your fingers for us, I hope that the baby cooperates and we can see what we are having... I don't want to play around with names until we know the sex and neither does James...
I am feeling great... except for the baseball that I have in my very low abdomen... It took me awhile at first to get used to that feeling... It is not comfortable. The other night, my good friend Heather called me and I just started crying and telling her that I didn't feel good. When she asked me what was wrong, I said" Nothing is wrong, I just don't feel good..." She started laughing and said, "Oh, you are soooo pregnant!" I realized later that night, that getting used to the uncomfortable feeling in my abdomen was what made me "not feel good" (I was a little tired, too). Silly pregnancy break downs...
I felt a lot of kicking last night, it was fun. It is amazing to feel these changes, at least when they are uncomfortable ones.. : )

MOVEMENT

Yesterday morning I woke up laying flat on my back. I felt weird tightness in my abdomen and put my hand there and felt this huge hard ball shaped lump there. I kinda freaked out for a little bit thinking that maybe my body was freaking out and then I went back to sleep until the alarm clock went off. So, naturally, I didn't really think about it until later that evening. I told my girlfriend Heather about it and she grinned real big and said that it was the baby. I was kinda confused and couldn't believe her at first. Mostly because all of the pictures they show in the maternity books make the uterus lining look so thick that I didn't think I would actually feel what Heather said was probably the baby's but or head... WOW! After that conversation I got pretty excited and couldn't stop thinking about it. So after I got home from our Relief Society Christmas party, I laid on my back in bed and put a little pressure where I felt the bump earlier that morning... And...
I little bit later I felt some real baby kicks! It was so cool! I did that for quite a while until I couldn't feel anything anymore. I am sure I fell asleep last night with a big smile on my face!
This morning, I woke up to some fluttering and now, I can for sure say that I have felt my little one move! This pregnancy is just a little more real now.

Dr's visit

So yesterday James and I went to visit the Dr. and he got out the Doppler and listened to the heartbeat. At first I recognized that something was different and started to get worried, but then the Dr. said that the baby's heartbeat was good and that there were even a few kicks in there. I thought that was really cool!
I think that I felt the baby moving yesterday. I was really in a belly smashing position, so maybe that is why I could feel anything. I think the baby was telling me to get off!
Other than that, nothing too interesting.
We are busy getting ready for our Ward Christmas Party. I have spent the last several evenings at Amanda's house trying to help get things ready before hand, so that the day of the party we aren't pulling our hair out in frustration and feeling rushed.
I am so thankful for my friends that have done so much work on this party because they don't want me to be stressed out. I LOVE YOU LADIES!

Latest Belly Picture and updates

Okay, so this is the latest pic taken this morning before church. (I did have a huge dinner last night, don't know how much of this belly is from that...)
I am feeling really great. I have a ton of energy and really feel a lot better health wise than before I got pregnant. So, I am just going to kick back and enjoy this phase... In a little over a week, I will be starting my fifth month of pregnancy! It is hard to believe that I am almost halfway there.... Yikes!
Yesterday we had a long day, we had a craft show from 9-3pm north of were we live, and then we decided to drive up to Potomac Mills mall, AND THEN, we met friends for our dinner group at a restaurant call O'Charleys back in town. It was a long day, but James and I had a lot of fun together and we tried to laugh about how I had to run to the bathroom every hour because my bladder is not lasting very long anymore...
I used more public restrooms yesterday than I would like to ever use in a lifetime!

S'mores....YUMMY!

Okay, so James has this week off work and yesterday was a nice sunny and not rainy day, so he lit a fire to this huge double tree stump in our front yard that we are trying to get rid of cheaply. Well, matches are cheap! So, when I came home from work yesterday, there was a very perfect smoldering fire going. And... I had the munchies, so we made s'mores! They were so yummy that when it was time to eat dinner, I was still full from all the s'mores that I ate! It was just a little bit of heaven! How many people can just light a fire in there front yard whenever they want and sit and enjoy s'mores whenever they want? This is the third or fourth time we have had big fires in our yard, and the second time we relaxed around it eating s'mores. I love where we live!

Okay, so enough about s'mores, I know you are all jealous. So, the latest baby news is that this week I had to go into the lab and get my 16 week blood work done. And let me just say, I was a little stressed because so many people have told me that this is the big blood work visit. So, I got to the office and (the girls that work there love me and are very excited about this pregnancy for me) had to show of my tiny belly. (The Phlebotomist told me she hated me because by this time she was already huge.) So, I asked her if this was the huge blood work visit and she just looked at me kinda funny and said, "No, we did that last time. Today it is just one vial of blood." And then we both just laughed. I always get myself worked up before I give blood. hehehe. At least they like me and when I left she gave me a hug and told me to just drop by periodically so they can see me grow. How nice is that to have such a relationship with your Phlebotomist?!