2013

Wow, I can't believe another year is coming to an end!  What a year it's been!  Our sweet baby girl has grown up so much this year!  She's hardly a baby anymore!  She's more like a tiny kid.  *sigh*  Time sure does go by fast.  :)

So much of this year has been about Avery.  :)  She was almost 3 months old when 2013 started, just an itty bitty little thing.  She's grown so much!  She's learned to hold her head up, crawl, and walk.  She's learned some sign language to help us understand what she wants and needs.  She's developed into a beautiful and incredibly smart little lady.  She is fiercely independent and displays many of the characteristics of a firstborn child.  :)  She's perfect, our angel, and our year was made better because she was a part of it.  :)

Then, a few months into the year, I got the bug again, the baby bug.  Even though our little one was still very small, I was anxious for her to have a sibling.  So as soon as I got off the pill again, we got pregnant again, without even actively trying.  It was a blessing and a curse, because it was short lived and ended in miscarriage.  I think it's one of the bigger things I'm going to take away from this year.  It was one of those defining moments.  I wish it didn't have to happen the way it did, but some things are beyond your control.

However, that's not where the story ended.  When our doctor gave us the ok, we got pregnant again.  We kept it a secret for much long since we didn't know if it would end in heartache again.  Nothing is worse than having to untell a pregnancy announcement.  But, our baby proved us wrong and stayed healthy.  :)  So eventually, we finally told the world we had a little one on the way.  Not long after that we had our sonogram and found out our little one was a little boy.  :)  So now we anxiously await the arrival of 2014 and our own Connor.  :)

In 2013 Michael got a raise that helped stabilize us financially.  I also got a raise at work, and while my income doesn't mean much, it made me feel good to be appreciated by my boss and to have her fight for my raise.  :)  We spent our first FULL year in our house, which quickly filled with more baby stuff than we know what to do with.  We paid off Avery's medical bills and my car this year!  No small feet if you ask me!  I have now been babysitting Dayton for a full year now, as I began right at the beginning of 2013.  He has been a great friend for Avery and it's been fun, challenging, rewarding, and stressful watching them grow together.  ;)  I've made some new friends this year and helped some people out.  I'm looking forward to what 2014 has to offer.

Finally, what cannot be said enough, I got to spend another blissful year with the man of my dreams, my knight in shiny platinum armour, my best friend, Michael.  :)  He has been my rock and shoulder during the tough times this year.  He has added to my joy tenfold during the times when things were going well.  He loves our daughter, our son, and me so very much, and he shows it in everything he does.  He also tells me he loves me many times each and every day, and it's something I never get tired of hearing.  :)  He's all I could ask for and so much more.  It's hard for me to believe sometimes that I'm living this fairytale, but it's true.  I live a charmed life with the man of my dreams.  I am an incredibly lucky woman.  :)

Happy New Years, to my friends and family.  May you be blessed in 2014.  :)  We love you!  See you next year!

With Love,
Michael, Jen, Avery, and Connor

Pregnancy Update - 21 weeks

Well, being sick has definitely taken it's toll on my weight.  Sorry if this update isn't super peppy, I'm still sick.  :(

How far along:  21 weeks, 2 days

Due date:  May 9th, 2014

Next doctor's appointment:  Jan. 15th, 2014

Our baby is the size of a veggie/fruit/food:  Carrot/Banana/Pomegranite

Our baby in man terms:  Beer bottle

Total weight gain/loss:  +3.6 lbs (down 2.8 lbs since the beginning of this stomach bug)  :(

News:  We're having a BOY!!!!!

Best moments this week:  Michael got to feel Connor kick about half a dozen times, for the first time!  :)

Milestones:  We're over halfway done, we know what we're having, we've told the gender and name, not much left now but waiting until he arrives.  :)

Symptoms:  Right now all I can think of is stomach flu symptoms...

Maternity clothes?  Yes, and I need new maternity jeans, because these ones won't last another 19 weeks...

Stretch marks?  Nope

Belly Button in or out?  In

Movement:  Yes!  :)

Gender:  It's a BOY!!!

Sleep:  Getting rough

Food cravings:  Ech.

Food aversions:  All of it.

What I miss:  Being well. 

What I'm loving:  At the moment, not much.

What I'm looking forward to:  Getting better.

Thoughts and feelings about Michael:  I appreciate him taking me and picking me up from work and taking care of me yesterday and today.

Thoughts and feelings about Avery:  She's so sweet!  She came and gave me kisses and cuddles yesterday and this morning when I felt bad.  Made my day.  ;)

Labor signs:  Nope

Goals:  Get well, clean house

Weekly Wisdom:  Don't get sick.  The flu shot is useless.

Sick

I'll do my 21 week update after this sickness has passed and we'll see how much weight I end up losing...  Yesterday morning I was up 7.4 pounds.  This morning I was up 6.8 pounds.  And I haven't kept anything down all day, so tomorrow's weigh in should be interesting.  Just like around 1 month, when we found out we were pregnant, I got a stomach bug (NOT morning sickness) and managed to lose about 5 pounds over the next several days.  Hopefully this sickness won't last as long, but we'll see.  I expect the weight loss to look similar when it's all said and done.

Well, apparently Linda was sick Thursday and Friday last week, then Glenn was sick on Saturday and Sunday.  We went to visit on Wednesday and spent a day and a half in their home.  Wednesday night/Thursday morning Avery got sick in the pack and play where she was sleeping.  Avery was also sick last night (Friday) forcing Michael to get her up out of bed and giving her another bath (when he had just given her one before laying her down).  I got up at 2am with heartburn, again at 4am with heartburn, and by 5am I was throwing up too (Saturday morning).  I threw up again around 9am and took a zofran, hoping it would help before I left for work.  Michael drove me to work because I was afraid of puking, and by noon he was driving back because I simply could not work.  We got home a little before 1pm and I was throwing up as soon as I walked in the door (I had a bowl, thank goodness).  I had a waffle, hoping the bread-like substance would help settle my stomach.  Then I slept until 4:30.  When I woke up I went to the bathroom and threw up again, all my water and the waffle.  Desperate to keep something in my stomach, I ate half of a banana and drank some more water.  Now I'm blogging, then sleep.  I hate being sick.  I hate when my kid is sick.  This sucks.  Ugh.

And that's my happy blog for today.  Goodnight.

Picking 'Connor' and Kicks!

Well, the news is out!  We're having a little boy in May!  We now anxiously await the arrival of Mr. Connor Michael Voss.  :)

I know I titled this particular post "Kicks" so you assumed you would be reading about Connor's recent movements, and I'll get to that.  But first, I'd like to talk a little about his name and the process of picking it.  :)

When we were pregnant with Avery, before we had our anatomy scan, I worried that maybe my gut was wrong and that we were having a boy instead of a girl.  So Michael and I scrambled to come up with a name in case we found out Avery was a boy.  The name we picked back then was Luke James Voss (biblical, right?).  I loved the name Luke, but had a strong distaste for the name Lucas.  After we found out Avery was a girl, like I thought, we put Luke on the backburner for the next baby.

Between the time that we found out Avery was a girl and the time we got pregnant with Connor a couple things happened.  A friend of mine, who had been dating a guy named Luke, broke up with him, and a friend from Cru had a baby boy and named him Luke (surprisingly enough, I didn't know any other baby Luke's before).  So for me, that was enough to put the name out of the running.

As for a middle name, I've always wanted to use my husband's first or middle name (even before I had a husband) as my son's middle name.  Michael and James are both good, solid, and traditional names, so I knew either would work for my son.  But as we began looking for boy names, I took inventory around me and noticed A LOT of boys and men with the middle name of James.  My husband (Michael James), my brother-in-law (Adam James), my cousin's husband (Josh James), my nephew (Dayton James), my cousin's son (Hudson James), and my other nephew (Payden James) all have James as a middle name.  And while they name is awesome, obviously, that was A LOT!  So we began leaning towards Michael as a middle name.  Then there would be no mistaking who he would be named for.  ;)

It took us a while to find the name Connor.  I really liked Nolan and held onto it for a long time.  We tossed around some traditional names and some non-traditional ones.  We looked through a lot of lists and discussed names frequently and at length.  When we came to Connor we liked it, but decided to roll it around for a while to see if we loved it, and it stuck.  :)  So Connor Michael was chosen, and we had our boy name FINALLY picked!  Of course, the girl name came easy, and if we'd found out we were having a girl Kennedy Mae would have been her name.  :)  But we went and had our anatomy scan and found out, to our delight, that a baby Connor was on the way.  :)

Ok, I'm going to have to change the title of this blog, because waaaaaaay more of it is about Connor's name than is going to be about him kicking me, lol!

Today I felt Connor moving a lot more.  Actually, not moving so much as actually kicking me.  And, to make it even better, he was kicking me hard enough that I could feel it on the outside of my stomach!  :)  I was sooooo excited!  I waited until he'd kicked me 4 or 5 times before I called Michael in and asked him to feel.  And while Connor did kick right into his Daddy's hand a couple of times, the movements are still very small and delicate, so Michael couldn't feel it.  But the movement I felt today give me hope that in the next week or so Michael should be feeling his son move for the first time!  :D 

This begins a very exciting stage of the pregnancy for us!  It makes things so much more real when we can feel the baby moving.  It makes it easier to believe and more exciting.  It also reminds me that there is a living person inside of me, which is just plain weird, if you think about it.  ;)  Things are going to be so much more fun from here on out!  I'm going to worry so much less from here on out!  Praise the Lord!!  I am just so thrilled!!

Thank you again to those of you who have been thinking of and praying for Michael and I as we've been going through our pregnancy.  We appreciate it very much!  Please continue to pray with us as we complete the 2nd half of our pregnancy and embark on our new journey parenting two little children.  :)  It should be an adventure (to say the least).  :)  We love you very much and look forward to hearing from you and updating you more as the pregnancy progresses.  :)

Love you!!  And have a blessed remainder of 2013!  :)

It's a.....

BOY!!!!!!!!!!!!  Woooooohoooooo!!!!!!  :D

We will be having a baby boy (sometime around) May 9th, 2014!

Our little man will be named Connor Michael Voss after his Daddy.  :)

He is growing well and is very healthy!

Please continue to pray with us throughout the rest of our pregnancy.  :)  Thanks!

With Love,
Michael, Jen, Avery, and Connor

Visits with Friends, Christmas Eve, and Growing Up

It's only Tuesday and it's already been a busy week for Michael, Avery, and me!  We had friends in Wichita from out of state, so we made sure to find time to see them!  But around the holidays, everyone is busy with family, us included.  So lunchtime was the most convenient time for us to get together with people.

Monday we met with John and Meredith for lunch at Town and Country on the west side of town.  Michael took a nice long lunch break off of work, and I brought Avery and Dayton with me, and we caught up with our old friends.  :)  John and Mere are living in Colorado, but John's family is in Andale, so they are in the Wichita(ish) area around holidays occassionally.  :)  We appreciate them finding time to see us!  It's always great to see friends you've been away from for a while.  :)  Thanks for getting together with us, guys!  We love you!  Merry Christmas!

Monday night we went to Grandma Heorman's house for Christmas.  We had some delicious corn chowder and chili!  Avery had a great time running around the house and playing!  Even without an afternoon nap, she made it to 10pm before we got home and got her to bed!  She was QUITE the trooper!  And boy, the later it got, the more delerious and silly she got!  :P  She's such a silly girl!  ;)  Avery got a sand and water table from Grandma and Grandpa Heorman for Christmas!  It should be a lot of fun in the spring and summer.  I'm sure Dayton will enjoy it as well.  ;)

Today we got together with Tuzy (Michael) and Amaia for lunch.  :)  They are in Newton for the holidays, back from Minnesota!  Brrrr!!  We were so pleased that they came to Wichita to visit with us a little!  :)  And I was even more excited when I asked them what sounded good for lunch and they said Mexican!  Sold!!!  That's what I wanted too!!  The first place we tried was closed.  We called a second place that was closed, and finally ended up at Carlos O'Kelley's.  :)  It was delicious!  It warms my heart to meet up with these two when they're in town!  Wish they were closer!  Merry Christmas to two wonderful people!  :)

Tonight was the Candlelight service at church.  My parents joined us, and so did (my former and Michael's current collegue) Jil and her son William.  They are looking for a church home and thought they'd try ours!  We were thrilled to have them!  Tonight was a wild and crazy night for them to see and experience our church for the first time, but it was a fun night!  Michael, Avery, and I got some pictures taken; Michael played in the worship band, and we had a lovely service.  :)  We also gave my parents their last Christmas gift: a picture frame with a sono picture of the baby and his or her name on it!  (Glenn and Linda find out tomorrow, so mum's still the word here on the blog.)  It was a blessed evening.  :)

Finally, my little girl is growing up, and took one more step towards big-girl-dom tonight.  I had been working a lot of the day on turning her toyroom into her "Big Girl Bedroom!"  I put the sticker decals on the wall, made her bed with her new pink sheets and quilt, added her owl ottoman and chair to her room, and moved most of the toys to the basement living room where we'll be doing most of our playing from here on out.  So after church tonight we got her bathed and in her jammies, then, we gave her bed a try.  Instead of putting her in her crib like we've done every night for the past 1 year, 2 months, 2 weeks, and 5 days, we put her in her toddler bed to go to sleep.  Michael asked if we were going to try tonight, so I thought we'd try (not expecting it to go well).  But I was wrong.  She passed right out and now my big girl is sound asleep, in her big girl bed, in her big girl room.  *sob*  I love her so very much and am so proud of her.  I just can't believe it's happening so fast.  :)  Seems like just yesterday she was a teenie tiny little thing falling asleep on her Daddy's chest.  *sigh*  :)

I am sooooo looking forward to our new baby!  Especially with Avery growing up so much lately!  It will be nice to have another tiny baby in the house.  It will be fun to start over with that completely dependent baby, a change from our very independent toddler!  ;)  Only 4.5 more months!!  Woot woot!

Our life is going so very good right now.  :)  Avery is happy, healthy, smart as a whip, and getting more and more fun each and every day!  Michael has a job that he enjoys, he's challenged and appreciated there, and he just got a sizable raise for the great work he's been doing for the company.  I have a great job and awesome colleagues who are loving, kind, funny, and dependable both on the job and off, they are a great group of friends.  We have a warm home that keeps the snow off on these bitter winter nights, and we have had the priviledge of calling this place home for almost 2 years now.  Our dogs are happy and healthy, they add joy and companionship to our lives, and they are EXTREMELY patient with our not-so-gentle daughter.  ;)  And what we're especially thankful for this holiday season is our healthy baby on the way!  The Lord gave me peace, and then was kind enough to give us a glowing mid-pregnancy appointment where everything measured well and healthy.  We are so incredibly blessed!  2014 will be a wonderful year in the Voss household!  Looking forward to the many blessings the Lord has in store for us!

Thank you, for those of you who have read all of this!  You're troopers!  ;)  We hope you have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!  You might not hear as much from me for the next few days, please enjoy your holiday celebrations, and we'll talk again after.

With Love,
The Vosses

Pregnancy Update - 20 weeks

Sorry it's taken me so long to get this week's update up on the blog.  I had a busy weekend at work and just rested when I was home, so it slipped my mind.  ;)  Back to a normal weekday with the babies and time to blog.  :)  Here's this week's update!

How far along:  20 weeks, 3 days

Due date:  May 9, 2014 (although the baby was measuring a little larger during the sonogram this week, so I'm hoping for the 7th)

Next doctor's appointment:  January 15, 2014

Our baby is the size of a veggie/fruit/food:  Banana/Small Canalope

Our baby in man terms:  A nice sized boob (the website said it, not me, lol!)

Total weight gain/loss:  +5.2 lbs (I think the holidays are getting to me)  ;)

News:  We know if we're having a boy or a girl, but we aren't telling until Christmas!  :)  But everything looked great on the sonogram!  So we should be in for a quiet few months before the baby gets here.  :)

Best moments this week:  Finding out the gender of the baby!  Michael and I are both very happy!  It was also WONDERFUL to see the baby moving all over and knowing that he or she is safe and healthy.  :)

Milestones:  We're over halfway done!!  :D  We reached the halfway point of 20 weeks!  Woot woot!!

Symptoms:  Fatigue, Round Ligament Pain, Nausea, General Discomfort (especially when sleeping and laying down)

Maternity clothes?  Yup!

Stretch marks?  Not yet!  But they didn't come with Avery until around 34 weeks, so we'll see.  ;)

Belly Button in or out?  In

Movement:  Yup!  Mostly internal, I've felt a couple of things that felt more external, but by the time I got my hand down to feel, the baby had stopped.  It will keep getting better though!  ;)

Gender:  Michael and I know, but we're keeping it from our parents, so nothing on here yet.  ;)

Sleep:  Getting a little uncomfortable.  My pillows are too flat.  I told Michael to talk to Santa about new ones.

Food cravings:  Nothing in particular, just real food, not junk.  I think I'm about done with Christmas treats.

Food aversions:  I've been getting away from the holiday sweets like cookies and candies.

What I miss:  Good, comfortable sleep, without an early morning or middle of the night bathroom break; and energy

What I'm loving:  Growing!  Feeling the baby move!  Counting down the weeks!  Making plans for the baby's arrival!

What I'm looking forward to:  Having a brand new tiny baby!  :)  It will be strange going back to a small baby after having Avery and her getting so big!  :)

Thoughts and feelings about Michael:  Michael is such a wonderful husband.  He wants me to be safe and happy and healthy.  This week he was concerned about the weather and me driving, so he paid extra close attention to me and my car.  He also make sure Avery stays safe when we're out and about.  He took her to church with him yesterday (really early) because I had to be at work early.  He was a SuperDaddy!  (And Avery happened to be dressed as a superhero, Batgirl!)  ;)  He showed me how much and how deeply he loves me each and every day through his actions.  He is such an amazing and unique man!  I love him and respect him so dearly.  I am blessed to have him in my life.

Thoughts and feelings about Avery:  Avery is going to be SUCH a GREAT big sister!!!!!  Michael was telling me how she was doing at church yesterday and it confirmed my suspicions that she's ready for this new life change, and that she's going to do great with it!  So yesterday Michael took Avery to church early because he needed to practice with the band.  He put her in a chair in the santuary, and she sat quietly, listening and eating her waffle the entire time...  Until it was time to pray.  ;)  While everyone was quiet, Avery noticed the Winds of Worship conductor's new, 6 week old son, Ryan, and proceeded to say, "baby" over and over until they brought Ryan over for Avery to have a closer look.  ;)  When they brought him over, Avery leaned down very gently, and kissed Ryan.  :D  How sweet is that?!?!  She's amazing!  She makes me so happy each an every day!  And I know she's going to make an incredible big sister!  Can't wait to see how she takes to her new little brother or sister!  :D

Labor signs:  Nope.  I've had some Braxton Hicks contractions, but that, in no way, indicates actual labor.  ;)  We still have a long way to go, but at least we're on the downhill side now!

Goals:  Get the house cleaned from the last Christmas so we have room for stuff from the next Christmas (which happens to be tonight), and finish getting gifts wrapped!

Weekly Wisdom:  Soak up the moments, little as they may be, because they are changing quickly.  One day you turn around and your newborn baby is walking and talking.  So while she's struggling to pull herself up onto the couch with you, take a moment and enjoy that time, because she's growing up way too fast.  ;)  I know many people who read my blog are adults with kids and grandkids, so they've been through this and are long passed the 1 year old stage, so maybe this is advice for myself or friends my age with little ones.  Either way, drink in, even the small moments.  You'll be glad you did.  :)

Last Day!

Today is my last day of work until after Christmas!!  Hoooooray!!  Work has really worn me out the last few days, so I'm looking forward to a break.  :)  However, today I have an 8 hour shift at work.  :(  For the most part I've only had 5 hour shifts most of the holiday season.  I'm worried about how exhausted I'm going to be by the end of the day.  I was pretty worn out yesterday, but still had enough energy to play with my adorable Batgirl when I got home and we got home from dinner!  Sis and Adam gave Avery a Batman shirt, black pants with a tutu, and a handmade Batman hat for Christmas!  She looks ADORABLE in it!!  I even sent her to church wearing it this morning!  :)  (She'll wear her new dress for Christmas Eve church and Christmas Day.)  Maybe it's not the most holiday appropriate outfit, but she looks so darn cute in it, I couldn't resist!  :)  Well, I better finish getting ready!  Wish me luck today!

Backstory

Well, since we waited until around 17 weeks to tell people that we were pregnant, there was a lot going on in Michael's and my lives that I didn't blog about.  I didn't want to leak the news too early and have something go wrong and then have to untell people.  So today I think I'll share the backstory to this baby.  :)  I've mentioned parts of our baby backstory in previous posts, but I'll try to make this post a little more comprehensive.  :)

Miscarriage
I'm not going to say too much about this, because there's already a long, detailed post on it from back when it happened in June.  Long story short, we went in for our first appointment and there was no heartbeat.  We were devistated, but we survived.  We had a D&C a few days after we found out.  Michael was great through this whole process.  We had a lot of people praying for us and we leaned on each other.  We made it through one of the worst situations of our lives.

Waiting
We weren't allowed to start trying again until after my body had gone through at least 1 normal cycle.  I got really impatient when it was taking over 6 weeks for my cycle to come back.  I tried to be patient, but at that point I was wondering if it was going to come back at all.  Finally, 7 weeks and 1 day after the D&C my cycle returned.

Trying
Michael and I have never had any problem getting pregnant when we decided we were ready to try.  However, after the time lost on the miscarriage and waiting for my cycle to normalize, I didn't want to waste any time.  I used an ovulation prediction kit anyway, just to make sure we had the timing right.  I got very excited when I finally got the smiley face, saying that I was ovulating.  After that we just had to wait a couple more weeks to take a pregnancy test.

Testing
Anyone actively trying to get pregnant knows it's hard to wait the appropriate amound of time to take that pregnancy test.  We want to take the test early so we can know and be excited, or know and prepare ourselves for trying again another month.  However, pregnancy tests run between $7 and $15 each!  So testing when it may be too early can get expensive.  Lucky for me, I had two left over, and they were off brand.  So when I started testing early, I used them first.  The first one was negative (a few days before I should have tried testing).  The second one, I thought I saw something, but couldn't be sure, if the line was there, it was veeeeeery light (a day before I should have tried testing).  I sent Michael to the store for tests, and he got fancy digital ones.  I was a little irritated, because they were expensive and I didn't pee on one (of the three in the box) for long enough, and it showed me an error message.  That meant I just wasted the money on that test for an inconclusive result.  I took another one immediately after, still a little grumpy, but only for the briefest of time, because I did the test right and had waited an appropriate amount of time, so the test showed me exactly what I wanted, "Pregnant".  :)  I used my last test again almost 2 weeks later (to see if the week indicator changed), it showed me that my hormone levels were rising.  :)  A moment of relief.   :)

Pregnant
Well it was hard to stay mad about the expensive tests with such wonderful news.  ;)  Michael and I were very happy!  We took lots of pictures to remember that exciting moment when we found out.  :)  It was September 1st when we found out we were going to be parents again.  :)

Worry
If you've been following my posts the last couple of weeks, you know that I've been worried about something going wrong, and not finding out about it until our doctor's appointment.  That was at almost 20 weeks!!  To say that I was worried before our first appointment at almost 8 weeks, would be a complete understatement.  Every time my brain went blank for a minute, I was praying.  If I wasn't actively thinking about something else, I was praying.  Sometimes it was out loud, sometimes in my mind, sometimes is was in the car, a lot of times it was laying in bed, sometimes I would write my prayers out or type them, sometimes I just sang the words, "I need You, Lord, I need You.  Every hour I need You.  My one defense, my righteousness, oh God, how I need You."  I was petrified to go to the doctor and receive terrible news again.  It made it difficult for me to be excited about the pregnancy early on.

7 weeks, 5 days
We finally had our first doctor's appointment.  To my surprise and excitement, there was a blob, with a heartbeat, doing great.  :)  I had been calculating the days and thought the doctor would change my due date from my cycle date of May 9th to my ovulation date of May 14th.  However, the blob was measuring ahead a little bit, at May 12th.  My doctor decided to keep my due date the same as my cycle date with the understanding that the baby may need an extra few days.  It was such a relief to see that everything was going well.  :)  But I was still worried.  I asked for our next appointment to be 3 weeks later instead of 4.  My doctor is great, so he had no problem with that.  :)  But he let me know that when I came back, the baby might not be big enough to hear the heartbeat with the doppler, and we may need another sono.  I assured him it was fine by me.  ;)

10 weeks, 5 days
Our next appointment was right before Michael and I left for Vegas.  I had already asked my doctor if it was ok to fly and he had cleared me.  This appointment would give me peace of mind before the trip.  As expected, the nurse couldn't find the heartbeat with the doppler.  The same thing happened when I came in early with Avery.  At that time, I didn't worry much, just happily moved to the sonogram room to see my baby again.  This time, I worried.  To make matters worse, the sonogram room was backed up and several other people were ahead of me in line, so I had to wait a while.  Luckily I had my amazing hubby with me to keep me calm and assure me that everything was fine.  We got into the sonogram room and took a look.  Our baby was tiny, but you could see the arms and legs moving all around.  :)  It was a relief to see everything doing well again.  :)

First Trimester
After that appointment there were only a couple more weeks until we finished the first trimester.  It was a relief to hit that milestone.  After the first trimester your risk of miscarriage greatly reduces.  It helped me to worry a little less, but didn't eliminate my fears.  But every successful appointment after that made things a little easier.

Second Trimester
I have had 2 appointments since hitting the 2nd trimester.  One appointment was at 14 weeks, the other at 19 weeks.  At the last appointment we saw the baby wiggling around again, the baby was measuring perfectly, and we found out if we're having a baby boy or a baby girl.  :)  We'll enter the third trimester at the beginning of February, only a little over a month away.  :)  We're halfway done now.  And I'm more confindent each and every day.  :)

So that's the backstory.  :)  I'll include some pictures in this post.  Hopefully they've been explained well enough.  ;)  Maybe I'll revisit the backstory again later.  For now, I hope this helps you understand how much this baby means to us, and the emotions we've felt throughout the process.  :)  Love you all!

Christmas 1.0

Well, yesterday was our first Christmas celebration of the year!  My parents, Sis, Adam, and Dayton all came over to our house to celebrate!  We had a very good time!  :)  We had junk food for dinner (as has been our family tradition for many years) and we enjoyed watching the babies play with their presents!  They were MUCH more interested this year than they were last year!  ;)  Michael, Sis, Adam, and I did pretty well also!  Mama is always soooo generous with her Christmas shopping!  Here are a few of my favorite gifts from the evening: KSU yoga pants, jacket, and t-shirts, I am Malala book, Slash (yes, the hairband rocker) biography, a Bath and Body car air freshener, lots of yummy treats like pistachios and mint m&ms, KSU stone coasters, and a woodwick candle!  Just to name a few!  Avery got some great stuff too!  She got lots of new clothes and jammies, all absolutely adorable, my mom has great taste!  She also got a Veggietales book and movie, a Tinkerbell movie, the Monsters U movie, new sheets for her toddler bed (to match the quilt from Grandma Voss for her birthday), a polka dot blanket to match her toddler room, an owl ottoman, and an owl chair!  Again, just to name a few!  ;)  She was well spoiled this holiday season!  :)  And we still have a couple more Christmases to go!!  I don't know where we're going to put all her stuff by the time everything's over!  :P  Michael got some great stuff as well!  I'm currently cuddled up on the couch in his new Dr. Who blanket, for example.  ;)  He also got new jeans and sweaters, the latest season of Big Bang Theory, snacks, the movie Argo, and a gift card (to Lowes, I think).  The new baby got some diapers, wipes, and bath supplies.  :)  My mom wanted me to go ahead and tell her the sex of the baby so she could buy something specific for him or her, but I didn't give in, lol!  She'll still have plenty of time to shop from Christmas to May when he or she arrives.  ;)  Anyway, it was a very nice Christmas celebration.  :)  Looking forward to several more over the holiday season.  :)  Merry Christmas to all of you!!

PS, we hit 20 weeks today!!  Halfway done!!  I'm already feeling very large, so we'll see how this second half goes...  I'm a little worried...  ;)

It's a........ Baby!!

If you've been reading along, then you know that yesterday Michael and I had our mid-pregnancy sonogram.  :)  During this appointment the sonographer measured various parts of the baby including around the middle, the head size, and lengths of arm and leg bones.  Yesterday we were 19 weeks and 5 days along.  We also found out the gender of the baby.  :)  There is still time to make your guesses before the news goes public on Christmas.  ;)  So here's how the appointment went!

First off, the baby is doing GREAT!  Even though we are at 19 weeks and 5 days, the baby was measuring closer to 20 weeks.  I was pretty shocked by this!  Here's a little history on why: when Michael and I were trying to get pregnant again, I used an ovulation predicter kit to know when the best time to try was.  According to when I ovulated, the baby should only be measuring about 19 weeks yesterday.  But every time we've seen the baby and taken measurements, the measurements have shown 3 days later, 19 weeks, 3 days.  So my doctor left my due date at the gestational age according to my last period, 19 weeks, 5 days.  And now the baby is measuring even bigger!  20 weeks!  Did you get all of that?  Haha!  Here's a simpler way of looking at in:
Baby's gestational age based on:
Ovulation - 19 weeks
Early Measurments - 19 weeks, 3 days
Last Period - 19 weeks, 5 days
Mid Pregnancy Measurements - 20 weeks
I know that might not seem like much to you, but in that last week of pregnancy, I will take every day I can get!!  Based on ALL of that information, the baby should come somewhere between May 7th and 14th.  ;)  I'm actually hoping for the 5th!  Then Michael, Avery, and the new baby's birthdays would all be on the 5th.  Although the 7th would be cool too, because then Michael and Avery would have the 5th and the new baby and I would have the 7th.  ;)  All that being said, the baby is measuring right on track and growing at a perfect rate!  :)  Everything looked good on the sono.  All of the baby's organs are working and meauring appropriately.  The baby was veeeeeeeery active during the sono, just like our 10 week sono!  That may have been my fault.  ;)  I was told to drink 8-10 oz before going to my sono, so I made it 8 oz of very sugary and carbonated grape juice!!  :D  I wanted the baby to move if we needed it to, and boy, did that baby move!!  We even got a video of it!  I'll try to get it posted to youtube soon.  :)  The baby's heartrate was 133 beats per minute.  Quite a bit lower than the last couple of times we've been in, but still nice and healthy!!  :)  The other thing we found out was that the baby's placenta is laying between the baby and the outside of my stomach.  This means that movement will take longer to feel from the outside.  This also explains why I've been feeling internal movement, like rolling, but not as much with my hands on the outside of my stomach.  I'm sure there's a medical term (either anterior or posterior) but neither our doctor nor the sonographer used the phrase, so I'll have to look it up.  The baby was also measuring at about 11 ounces right now (which happens to be the same weight Avery was measuring at this point in the pregnancy).  At 20 weeks the baby is expected to weight around 10.5 ounces, and we're not at the 20 week mark until tomorrow, so the baby is gaining weight and growing like a weed!  :D  I estimated with Avery that she would be over 8 pounds based on all the information I had before she arrived.  She only ended up being 7 pounds, 6 ounces, so I was wrong on that one.  But I'm going to go ahead and make the same prediction for this one.  Based on what I know, this baby should be smaller, but continues to grow at a great pace!  So I'm going to guess that at birth, this baby will be right around 8 pounds.  :)  We will just have to wait and see!  Almost halfway done!!  Thanks for reading along, especially if you made it to the end of this!  :)  Remember, the gender and name will be posted on Christmas (or shortly thereafter, as it will probably be frowned upon if I'm blogging too much on Christmas day).  ;)  So stay tuned for the gender and name of the final member of the Voss Clan!  :)

Finally, I would like to say thank you to all of you who prayed (and continue to pray) for Michael, the baby, and me.  We appreciate those prayers so much and felt peace as we entered our sonogram yesterday thanks to you.  :)  I was so happy to find out that the baby was healthy and that everything is going well.  So thank you for standing by us and lifting us up in prayer.  We greatly appreciate it.  :)  Continue to pray for us, as we still have 20 more weeks to go, and then a lifetime of learning how to be parents.  ;)  Thank you!

We love you all so much!  Hope your holiday season is going well!  Stay warm, stay safe, and have a very Merry Christmas!
With Love,
Michael, Jen, Avery, and the Vossling  ;)

We know... :D

Trying to keep the gender under wraps until Christmas, but we know!  :)

Thanks to everyone who prayed for us.  :)  The baby is doing great and measuring right on schedule.  Turns out the placenta is in the front of my body, making movement more difficult to feel from the outside (which explains why I'm feeling internal movement, but not as much external with my hands).  Everything was good and healthy.  :)  We're back in 4 weeks.  :)  Stay tuned for the gender reveal here and on facebook around Christmas.  :)  Happy Wednesday!  :)

4am...

With Avery I didn't get the insomnia too bad until the end of my pregnancy.  I don't think that the reason I'm awake now is because of insomnia, really.  I think it's nerves/excitement over our appointment this morning in 4.5 more hours.  I'm excited to see our baby and find out that everything is healthy and the baby's gender.  But I am so incredibly scared that we're going to get to the doctor, take a look at the baby, and see that something isn't right.  :(  I wish I didn't think/feel this way.  I used to be blissfully unaware, optimistic to a fault, never even considered the possibility that something could go wrong with me, my baby, my pregnancy.  I never let worse case scenarios pop into my head before.  But then I had a miscarriage and it changed me and my happy optimism forever.  I went into the doctor, expecting to see a beautiful baby inside of me, and I was blindsided and told that there was no heartbeat and that the baby had stopped growing weeks ago.  My body hadn't told me or alerted me that anything was wrong.  I went into that appointment and was blindsided with the most horrible news I ever could have heard.  And because of that moment, because of that day, because of that stupid miscarriage, I'm scared to death for this baby.  I'm not excitedly awaiting the baby's next kick, I'm worrying anxiously because I haven't felt a strong kick yet or a roll in a couple of days.  I'm scared.  And being awake at 4am is giving my brain time to run and more opportunity to be scared, which is definitely not a good thing.  So if you think about it, please say a little prayer for Michael and I as we prepare for our sonogram today.  And please pray to give peace to my soul and mind and to rest assured in the comfort of the Lord that He has our baby in His hands and that He is carefully knitting together a beautiful baby inside of me who's absolutely perfect.  :)  Thanks guys.  Going to try to go back to sleep now.  Wish me luck.  ;)  Night.

19 Week Pictures

Today we're at 19 weeks and 4 days.  We'll hit the halfway point in 3 days!!  Wooohooo!  I think 20 weeks will be the last week that I take pictures of just my belly.  They'll be fully clothed from there on out.  ;) 

Here our some of my weekly pictures!  19 weeks, 15 weeks, 11 weeks, 7 weeks, and 3 weeks (a week before I even knew I was pregnant).  ;)  Below are brief descriptions of each week so you know which is which in case they get out of order.  ;)

19 weeks - Blue hoodie and flannel pants
15 weeks - Red long sleeved shirt and yoga pants
11 weeks - Gray hoodie and yoga pants
7 weeks - T-Shirt and yoga pants
3 weeks - Sleeveless shirt and red shorts

I think it's interesting to see the progression of my stomach.  At 3 weeks I got a bit of a flu, and wasn't eating much.  I got down about 5 pounds below my pre-pregnancy weight.  It was also before the baby had reallly had any time to grow, so it's a pretty good representations of my starting line, belly wise.  At 7 weeks I had bloated a little, by 11 weeks I had a lot of bloating.  But then you see in the 15 week picture that the bloating goes down and the bump is all baby/insides moving.  By the time my most recent picture, 19 weeks, was taken, the baby is getting much bigger, the size of a large heirloom tomato or a mango, and my uterus is almost to my belly button, causing a lot of my insides to shift up and the true baby bump to appear.  :)  This is only the beginning!  Stay tuned for more cute belly pictures as this little one continues to grow!

And get excited!!  Only 22 hours and 45 minutes until our sonogram!!!  :D

1 Day, 1 Hour, 18 Minutes left to go!

Our sonogram begins tomorrow morning at 9am.  I cannot wait!!  While I've felt a little bit of movement, I'm still not feeling anything consistantly.  I don't feel very many big movements like kicks.  I'm anxious to get to the doctor, to see the baby, and, hopefully, to hear that everything is healthy and going well.  It's always a relief after I've been to the doctor, having just heard the heartbeat, and knowing that the baby and I are growing.  But as the weeks tick by until the next appointment, worry creeps in.  I worry that something has gone wrong in the last 4 weeks and that I won't find out until the next doctor's appointment.  In this case, it's been 5 weeks since I've seen anyone (I saw the nurse practicioner last time) and 9 weeks since I've seen my doctor.  So there's lots of room for worry.  :/  I just try to pay attention to the baby's movement, and let it assure me that everything's fine.  I try to remember that I have no signs or symptoms of miscarrying this baby, so everything is fine.  I feel the baby, especially in the morning, when he or she is cheated to one side of my abdomen and I can feel how big he or she is and I know that the baby has been growing.  I try to convince myself everything's fine.  But until tomorrow's sonogram is done and everything is good, I won't be able to relax completely. 

I am looking forward to the fact that we're almost to the halfway point!!  It's nice to know that the rough beginning is over, and that things should run smoothly until the end when I'm big and a little uncomfortable.  Also, halfway means we're very close the the viability age, 24 weeks.  While it's definitely not prefered that a baby be born as early as 24 weeks, that's when there is a slight chance that the baby could survive if something were to happen and it had to be delivered early.  Then each week and day beyond 24 weeks there's an even better chance of survival.  I don't think we'll ever feel very "out of the woods" until the baby is here, but these little milestones give me something to look forward to and help calm me down and worry less when we reach these points.  Of course, the March of Dimes says 39 weeks, which would be ideal if we didn't make it all the way until 40 weeks.  But I'd prefer to go all the way to my due date (but not passed) if the baby will cooperate.  ;)

I want to deliver this baby at the Birthcare Center across the street from the hospital.  I wanted to deliver Avery there too, but my platelets had fallen below 100,000, and they didn't know how my body would respond to labor and delivery, so I needed to be at the hospital so they could keep a closer eye on me.  Now that we know that pregnancy causes my platelets to fall for some unknown reason, but never to a dangerously low level, I am hopeful that even if my platelets go under 100,000, that we can deliver at the Birthcare Center.  We're still a long way away from that time and discussion.  However, my doctor is pretty awesome, so as long as he feels the baby and I will be safe (and history shows that we will) he will probably be ok with it.  :)  The Birthcare Center is set up better for visitors.  They have their own room with couches and a TV and everything.  :)  I loved having visitors when we were in the hospital with Avery, and I look forward to having our friends and family there with us to celebrate the arrival of this new little one.  :)

In other news, Michael and I got our Christmas present from my parents early, a deep freeze!!  I'm very excited about this, because I'll have plenty of room to freeze and store meals for after the baby gets here and I don't feel like cooking.  ;)  (Who am I kidding?  I don't feel much like cooking right now either, but hopefully eventually!!)  When we were pregnant with Avery, we had to store stuff at Sis and Adam's in their freezer because all we have in at home is our little kitchen freezer, and it's STUFFED!  Actually, now that we have the deep freeze, I might go through the freezer and put a few things into the deep freeze so we have some more space in the house.  ;)  I'm also looking forward to going to Sams and getting some stuff in bulk that can be put in the freezer to try to save on some of our grocery bills.  I'm very excited about it!  :)

Alright, one silly story, and then I think I'm done (until tomorrow when I spill all my happiness on here after a very successful and healthy sonogram, please pray!).  Avery and Dayton usually play together very well.  Avery absolutely adores Dayton, and unless she's trying to take the toy he's playing with, Dayton pretty well tollerates Avery as well.  ;)  Well yesterday they were playing and chasing each other, a favorite game for both of them.  Well, at some point they each fell over and ended up on the ground.  Instead of getting back up and chasing each other again, they just kept going and crawled up and down the halls and around the living room, chasing each other and giggling up a storm.  They looked so silly crawling.  It's been almost 6 months since Avery's crawled and about 10 months for Dayton.  Anyways, they chased each other all over, crawling, giggling, and having a great time (moving very slowly in the process).  Finally, they got back up and started running again, still having a wonderful time.  :)  It was just too cute watching these sweet toddlers crawl all over the place like little babies.  They are so silly!  They definitely made me laugh.  :)

Anyways, stay tuned tomorrow for healthy info from our sonogram.  And maybe later today I'll try to get some more belly pictures posted.  ;)  Have a wonderful Tuesday, and if you have a moment, please say a little prayer on our behalf that our appointment goes smoothly tomorrow.  :)  Thanks guys!  Talk to you again soon!!

It's Almost Time!!

In 2 more days, Michael and I have our next doctor's appointment!  This is a very special appointment because it's also the week of our mid-pregnancy ultrasound and anatomy scan!  So in just 2 short days, we're going to know if we're expecting a baby girl or a baby boy!!  We can't wait to find out!!  If you've heard me talk about the baby's gender before, then you know we'll be happy with whatever we find out in a couple of days.  A healthy baby is obviously the most important thing, but there are positives to finding out we're having either a girl or a boy.  I'm so glad we had our baby girl first, because even though I didn't know it when we got pregnant, she's who I wanted.  :)  So now, going into our second and final anatomy scan, I can very happily say that either a girl or a boy will be great!  If we have another girl, we'll have 2 little girls very close in age.  I, myself, am a girl with a little sister very close in age.  Sis and I are only 14 months apart.  And while Avery and the new baby will be closer to 19 months apart, I'm still confident that it will make them very close emotionally.  I loved having my sister there to go through all of my life stages at the same time with me (still love it, as a matter of fact).  My sister is my oldest and one of my best friends (Michael's pretty high up the list too).  ;)  This was part of the reason I wanted our babies so close together in age, so that they could experience the lifelong friend that is a sibling close in age.  :)  So, all that being said, a little girl would be great!  We even have a little girl name picked out!  But as we're not sharing those details (much) until after Christmas, I've give you some initials to brew over.  ;)  If we have a girl, her initials will be K. M. V.  Feel free to make guesses, and I may even tell you if you get it right!  :P  And what if we find out we're having a boy?  That's what my gut feeling has been all along.  My gut with Avery was a girl, my gut with this baby is a boy.  Well, some of the advantages still apply if we have a boy.  They will be close in age and hopefully will be emotionally close and good friends, but boys are a different ballgame (as Dayton has taught me).  So what if we have a boy?  Will I be disappointed to not have the 2 close sisters?  No way!!  Because if we end up with a boy and a girl, we get to do and experience EVERYTHING!  We get to buy toy (and maybe eventually real) trucks, and have tea parties.  We'll get to play dress up and play in the mud.  We will watch both or them play sports, from football to softball, rugby to ballet.  We will get to watch them in musicals, hear them sing, and listen to them practice instruments.  We'll get to have talks about rough housing at home vs at school and discussing not kicking and chasing little boys around the playground.  We buy poofy Christmas dresses and little sweater vests and ties.  If we have one of each, we get to do it all.  ;)  (Not that I wouldn't be perfectly happy to be in a fluffy, pink, princess world for the rest of my child-rearing years either)  ;)  So no matter what we find out in a couple of days, we will be thrilled.  We are just excited that our last baby is on his or her way and is growing each and every day.  :)  Oh yeah!  Before I finish, I should give you the boy initials.  ;)  So here's your hint: if we have a little boys, his initials will be C. M. V.  Feel free to make your guesses!  ;)  And stay tuned to the blog (and facebook if you're on there) because on or shortly after Christmas, the news will be out!  We're doing things a little differently this time.  Instead of keeping the name a secret until the baby arrives, we'll announce the name with the gender.  ;)  So be ready!  :D  And this is your one and only warning, if you say anything negative (or anything that might be perceived as negative in a crazy pregnant lady's mind) I will jump all over you and will not be a nice person.  Michael and I have come up with beautiful names that we love.  We are the parents and the only opinions who matter on what we name our child is us.  So if you have anything other than a glowing opinion, keep it to yourself, because even an innocent comment, if not inflected or enthusiastic enough, could irk me the wrong way, and I promise you, you do not want to be on the receiving end of what comes next.  ;)  Rant/Warning over.  :D  Again, thanks for reading, and stay tuned, because we'll know soon!  Love you all!

Pregnancy Update - 19 Weeks

How far along:  19 weeks, 2 day

Due date:  May 9, 2014

Next doctor's appointment:  Dec. 18th!  Only 3 more days!

Our baby is the size of a veggie/fruit/food:  Mango/Heirloom Tomato

Our baby in man terms:  Softball

Total weight gain/loss:  +3.2 lbs

News:  We're almost halfway done!!

Best moments this week:  I got 3 little kicks right in my hand this week!  Nice to feel a little more than just rolling.  :)

Milestones:  19 weeks and kicks!  :)

Symptoms:  Backache and muscle stiffness

Maternity clothes?  Yup!

Stretch marks?  Nope!  Getting itchy though.  ;)

Belly Button in or out?  In

Movement:  Yup!  :)

Gender:  We'll know in 3 more days!!  Can't wait!  Not so sure I know anymore...  ;)

Sleep:  Pretty good, just sore in the morning, and my pillows are too flat and lumpy.  I asked Michael to talk to Santa about getting us some new pillows for Christmas. 

Food cravings:  Pizza rolls, chocolate milk, and ice cream

Food aversions:  None

What I miss:  Wine and a super hot bath

What I'm loving:  Getting bigger and feeling more movement!

What I'm looking forward to:  Finding out the gender and seeing the baby again this week!!

Thoughts and feelings about Michael:  I love him!  He cleaned the bathroom this week and it meant so much to me.  :)

Thoughts and feelings about Avery:  I love her!  She's going to make a great big sister!  :)  Can't wait!!

Labor signs:  Nope

Goals:  More house cleaning, nothing I can do, but I hope the mouse in our attic dies this week, lol

Weekly Wisdom:  Tell people you love them.  Say it often.  Have no regrets.  And when you feel like you've said it all you can, use your actions to show them.  :)

Pregnancy Update - 18 Weeks

We are almost to the halfway point!!  We are almost to our mid-pregnancy ultrasound where we find out if the baby is a boy or a girl!  I'm feeling more movement!  So much going on!!  Here's my week 18 update!  :)

How far along: 18 weeks today

Due date: May 9, 2014

Next doctor's appointment: Dec. 18, 2013, we'll also have our anatomy scan on this day!!  Can't wait!!  Only 12 more days!!

Our baby is the size of a veggie/fruit/food: Sweet potato/Bell Pepper

Our baby in man terms: Small electric razor

Total weight gain/loss: +2.8 lbs (Up over a pound since last week!!  Yikes!!)

News: We hit 18 weeks!  We told the family!  We put our news on facebook!  The baby is doing sommersaults inside of me!  ;)

Best moments this week: Baby movement!!  One morning I woke up and the baby was sitting higher and right in the center of my abdomen!  I had to take pictures!  It was cool!  The baby also likes to roll more than kick.  I'm sure the kicking will come eventually.  ;)

Milestones: 18 weeks!  Almost halfway done!

Symptoms: Nausea, fatigue, round ligament pain

Maternity clothes? Yup!  And proud of it!

Stretch marks? Just from Avery, but I'm getting itchy...  Need to break out the lotion.

Belly Button in or out? In

Movement: Yup!  Rolling and turning more than kicks so far.  But I didn't feel the kicks with Avery for another week, so I'm not too worried.  ;)

Gender: Unknown as of yet, but guesses have been made going both ways.  ;)

Sleep: Just fine

Food cravings: Anything I don't have to cook myself.  Frozen pizza, ramen, and pot pies have been what I've been eating, but if we're doing cravings, Olive Garden sounds great!  :)

Food aversions: I was thinking about this last night, and wings aren't sounding as good as they usually do.  Most things just seem kinda bleh.

What I miss: Houlihans Long Island Iced Teas!  We went to Manhattan last night and stopped at Houlihans because we had some time to kill.  I wanted a LIIT sooooo bad.  Oh well, maybe next basketball season.  The things we do for our children.  :P

What I'm loving: The belly!  It's getting round and cute!

What I'm looking forward to: Finding out if we're having a boy or a girl!  Either way, I'm going to be thrilled!  If we have another girl, we'll have 2 sisters close in age like Sis and I are, hopefully they'll be best friends.  :)  If we have a boy then we'll end up with one of each and get to do all the girl stuff and all the boy stuff.  Hopefully if we have one of each they'll still be best friends!  :)

Thoughts and feelings about Michael: I love date nights and time alone with my fab hubby!  Our trips to Manhattan are awesome!  The other day he texted me and suggested we go away together for a weekend, but holiday season isn't the easiest for me, so we're making plans for the end of February for an early 5 year anniversary weekend!  Can't believe I'm been married to the world's most amazing man for so long!  I love him sooooo much!

Thoughts and feelings about Avery: My sweet daughter is going through a bit of a stage lately.  She screams, cries, and fusses when she doesn't get what she wants when she wants it.  We're working hard on signing "please", she is not a fan of this sign.  But that's ok.  Sometimes even my angel baby isn't perfect.  This too shall pass.  ;)  I'm not letting one little phase make me feel like a failure of a mother.  I have a great kid and am very proud of her!  Even when she's a turd, I love her.  :)

Labor signs: Nope

Goals: Get my house cleaned!  A little is done!  Jil even did some dishes while she babysat last night!  But there's always more to do.  Maybe this week...  :P

Weekly Wisdom: I got nothin, sorry.  ;)  Just loving life right now.  :)  Taking in these moments while Avery is still small.  Enjoying all the little moments of this, my last, pregnancy.  Celebrating wins at work and a job well done.  Life is just good right now!  :)  God is taking good care of us, as He always does.  :)

17 week pictures

Before we hit 18 weeks tomorrow, I decided I'd post a few pictures of how the baby and I are growing.  I've been taking belly pictures for myself since about 2 weeks along.  I haven't been taking them so that I can post them anywhere (especially because my shirt is up over my belly instead of down), just so I can see how I'm growing over the weeks and months.  This morning I was laying in bed and feeling my tummy and it's soooo obvious where the baby is laying!  It's actually really cool!  I can't lose him, because he pokes out pretty good, lol!  And I took a couple pictures of that.  So I thought I'd share for anyone interested.  ;)  I'll also post my week 5, 9, and 13 pictures so you can see the progress.  ;)  Enjoy!  And on the final 2 pictures, the ones I took this morning, see if you can find where the baby is hiding.  ;)

*edit*
After picking the pictures, I realized they might not load in order, and since my belly gets a little round with bloat, then flattens a little, then grows again with my insides and baby, I thought I should label which picture is which, lol.  The 2 pictures in yoga pants and weeks 5 and 9, week 5 is thinner, week 9 is rounder.  Weeks 13 and 17 are in the plaid KSU pants, week 13 is the thinner one (when the bloat from week 9 has gone down) and by week 17 I'm getting round again from my insides moving up to make room for the baby to grow down low.  :)  Hope this helps!  :)  Enjoy!

Climbing

Avery loves to climb!  She's getting better every day and gets higher as she gets taller and stronger.  She can successfully climb onto the toddler bed, the chair in her toyroom (soon to be her regular room once she hits 15 months and it's safe for her to sleep in the toddler bed), and the folding chairs to the card tables.  She is very close to being able to climb up on the upstairs couch and loveseat, the breakfast nook chairs, and our bed.  She's amazing!  So adventurous!  And fearless!  :/

Well one of the ways she likes to climb is to run up next to the couch where I'm sitting and start to pull herself up (using her arms and putting her leg up on the couch), so I grab her arm and help pull her up.  Once she's up on the couch she likes to look over the edge either out the window or at the picture frame where there are lots of pictures of Michael and me.  Sometimes she climbs over me to get where she's going.  On occassion, she climbs right on my belly.  Not too big of a deal now, but I can't imagine it working out too well in a couple months, lol!  Can't wait to see Avery's reaction when we put her hand on my belly and her baby brother or sister kicks her.  :P  Only 2 weeks from today until we find out!  Keep us in your prayers!  :)

Pregnant!!

Well, now that the news is out, I can officially blog about the pregnancy!!  :D  Yay!!!!!  As you may or may not know, we waited a lot longer to spill the beans this time than we did when we were pregnant with Avery.  That's because in June we had a miscarriage at 8 weeks along.  It made me want to be certain that this pregnancy would stick before we started spreading the news.  So after 3 successful doctor's appointments, hearing the baby's strong heartbeat 3 different times, seeing a healthy baby on the ultrasound 2 times, making it past 8 weeks, and out of the 1st trimester, we decided to go ahead and share our news.  :)  I'm not out of the woods yet, and I'm not sure I'll ever get the peace of mind that I had with Avery back until our baby is safely in my arms, but I'm feeling much more confident with each passing day.  :)  If you've read my pregnancy update posts, then not much of this will be new to you, but here's the rundown on our pregnany.  :)

We are due on Friday, May 9th, 2014.  When we went in for our first appointment, I was sure the doctor was going to push our due date back, because I ovulated a little later and didn't get a positive pregnany test until a little later as well.  And while the baby was measuring 3 days behind our due date (May 12th), our doctor went ahead and retained the original date, while letting me know that the baby might need an extra few days.

We are currently 17 weeks and 3 days along.  :)  We are in the 2nd trimester, and have been since the beginning of November (almost a month now).  I believe our 3rd trimester will be beginning sometime around the beginning of February.  We are almost halfway done!  Only 22 weeks and 4 days (ish) to go!  ;)

Since we're almost to the halfway point, we get to see our baby again soon!!  :D  Our anatomy scan is scheduled for December 18th, exactly 1 week before Christmas!  We'll see how the baby is growing, check and make sure there are no health concerns, and find out the gender of the baby.  With Avery we had a big gender reveal party(/housewarming party) and we kept her name a secret (for the most part) until she was born.  I think we'll do things differently this time (just to mix things up).  We'll tell our parents and family during our Christmas celebrations (I have some fun ideas) and then we'll tell the world here and on facebook.  We already have a boy and girl name picked out, so now we just need to wait and see what the baby is and which one he or she gets!  :)

While I'm talking about gender, I think this baby is going to be a boy.  The pregnancy has felt different from Avery's, and I just have a gut feeling it's a boy.  For that reason, I panicked because we didn't have any boy name ideas.  So we thought long and hard and figured one out.  ;)  Originally, Michael was thinking we would have another girl, but I think the more I talk about a boy, the more he thinks we'll have a boy.  Either way, our family will be perfect!  If we have a girl we'll have 2 sisters, very close in age, the same way Sis and I or Amy and Rochelle were when we were growing up.  This was part of the reason I wanted our kiddos to be so close in age.  We're all best friends with our siblings and I want that for my kids too.  If we have a boy, then they'll still be close in age (and hopefully will like each other) and we'll get to do a little of everything.  We'll get to buy dolls and truck and makeup and tools; we'll get to have halloween costumes of princesses and fairies and monsters and super heroes.  We'll get to watch ballet and musical and karate and skateboarding.  :)  So either way, we'll be pleased with what we find out in 2.5 more weeks!  :D

In my first trimester I was tired and sick.  My morning sickness stuck to the morning, which was different from the way things were with Avery.  The fatigue and nausea drug on long past the 1st trimester and when I forget to eat I still feel sick (very similar to the way things were in Avery's pregnancy).  I'm wearing my maternity clothes again, and feel very comfortable in them.  My bump is getting bigger and it's exciting to see myself grow, it makes things more real.  I think Michael has gotten used to the idea that I'm pregnant way faster than I have.  ;)

That's all I have for now.  :)  I'll blog more later.  :)  Have a great day, folks!  :)

Pregnancy Update - 17 Weeks

How far along: 17 weeks, 1 day

Due date: May 9, 2014

Next doctor's appointment: December 18

Our baby is the size of a veggie/fruit/food: Onion/Turnip

Our baby in man terms: Hockey Puck

Total weight gain/loss: +1.6 lbs

News: We are pregnant!!  ;)  We made our announcements to family and on facebook.  :D

Best moments this week: Feeling more movement!  Thursday I felt movement about 3 different times, and Friday I felt movement about a dozen different times!  :)

Milestones: 17 weeks!  We made our official pregnancy announcement.  :)

Symptoms: Fewer first trimester symptoms, only a little nausea, a little fatigue, and round ligament pain

Maternity clothes?  Yup!  They are way more comfy!

Stretch marks?  Just the ones Avery gave me.  But my belly is itching, so I bet they'll come eventually.

Belly Button in or out?  In, I doubt it will go out.

Movement: Yes!!  Internal only so far.  Can't wait to feel more and for Michael to feel the baby moving!!

Gender: Don't know yet.  Only 2 weeks and 4 days until we find out!!  :D

Sleep: Just fine!  ;)

Food cravings: Not many cravings this week.  I made chicken and noodles with mashed potatoes and biscuits and gravy this week, both were delicious!!

Food aversions: Nope.  I basically eat it all.  ;)

What I miss: Nothing!  I love being pregnant at the moment!

What I'm loving: Feeling the baby move!  I've been looking forward to it for quite a while.  It's one of my favorite parts about being pregnant.  :)

What I'm looking forward to: Finding out what we're having! 

Thoughts and feelings about Michael: I love my hubby so much!  He's so helpful.  :)  I appreciate him helping me pack up the car and bring all of our stuff in and out for Thanksgiving and Topeka.  He's such an amazing Daddy, and he loves our little girl so much.  I think this pregnancy is getting more real for him as my belly continues to grow.  :)

Thoughts and feelings about Avery: Avery has loved being here in Topeka and playing with Payden, it's so cute!  She's done great with Madison and has shared her toys beautifully!  I think she's going to love having a sibling!  It's going to be a special time watching our two babies grow up together.  :)  I love her soooo much!

Labor signs: Nope!  :)

Goals: Get the house cleaned up this week.  I have been slowly getting more energy the last few days.  So, I hope I can put that to good use and get my house cleaned.  It's been a mess lately thanks to that first trimester (and a little longer) fatigue.

Weekly Wisdom: I'm not feeling extremely inspiring today.  I'll give it some thought and try to impart some wisdom later this week.  ;)

Pregnancy Update - 16 weeks

I will post this blog after we've told everyone we're pregnant, but until then, it will just be my secret.  :)  I started these pregnancy updates last time we were pregnant, but after the miscarriage it has taken me some time to want to do them again.  However, since we're now 16 weeks along, we've seen the doctor successfully 3 different times, we've seen the baby successfully 2 different times, we're heard the baby's heartbeat nice and strong over 7 weeks from week 7 to week 14, and we have successfully made it to the second trimester, I feel a little more comfortable doing these updates.  I'm not sure that I'll be completely at ease until I'm constantly feeling the baby move and we're past the 24 week mark (the age of viability).  But even then, I may not be completely comfortable until the baby is here.  Miscarriage takes all the fun out of pregnancy.  :(  But I'm glad that we're pregnant again and this baby seems to be doing great.  :)  So here's my first update of this pregnancy, lol, at 4 months!  Please enjoy!  I'll try to get something posted on a weekly basis in this same format.  :)  Love you all!  Happy 16 weeks little baby!

How far along:  16 weeks

Due date:  May 9th, 2014

Next doctor's appointment:  December 18, 2013 (19 weeks, 5 days)

Our baby is the size of a veggie/fruit/food:  Avocado

Our baby in man terms:  Small stud finder

Total weight gain/loss:  + 1 lb

News:  The family finds out this week!  After keeping the secret for so long, I'm looking forward to telling the rest of my family and Michael's family.  :)

Best moments this week:  Beginning to feel flutters!  Every now and then I feel little things and wonder if it's the baby.  I didn't feel Avery move (and really KNOW it was her) until 19 weeks.  So I'm not completely certain, yet, that I'm feeling the baby, but I THINK that's what it is.  ;)  I felt the first thing around 14 weeks and wondered if it was the baby, but I think that was still a little early.  Now when I feel things I think there's a better chance it's the baby.  ;)

Milestones:  We hit 16 weeks today!  We've hit several big milestones in the past 16 weeks that I haven't recorded, so I'll note some of those now:
7w5d - We saw the baby (blob) for the first time and heard the heartbeat, a wonderful feeling and sound after a miscarriage 3.5 months before
10w5d - We saw the baby (who now has arms and legs) again and heart the heartbeat, we got to see the baby kicking and moving like crazy!
13w3d - We made it to the second trimester where the risk of miscarriage significantly decreases.

Symptoms:  Nausea and fatigue

Maternity clothes?  Yup!  I've been in them for a couple weeks now.  I can still wear my regular clothes, and I can hide the bump when I want/need to, but the maternity clothes are soooo much more comfortable!  Only 1 more week and no more hiding!

Stretch marks?  Just the ones Avery gave me.  Hopefully I did plenty of stretching with her and won't get any new marks with this one.

Belly Button in or out?  In, stayed in through my whole pregnancy with Avery, I don't expect it to go out this pregnancy either.

Movement:  Maybe a little?  Hard to tell.  But the baby's skeleton is hardening, so hopefully a lot more soon!

Gender:  Unknown, but I'm leaning boy.  ;)  Only 3.5 more weeks until we find out!

Sleep:  I get hot at night, but am still getting a decent amount of sleep.

Food cravings:  Oh my...  Where to begin?!  I'll list the things I've been craving throughout the pregnancy, and next week I'll list the cravings of that week.  So far I've craved: wings (Fox and Hound, BWW, and Little Ceasar's), ice cream (mint chocolate chip), chocolate milk, ice water, McChicken sandwiches, and Burger King onion rings.  I know, I'm going to be crazy fat by the end of all this.  :P

Food aversions:  Not that I can think of...  I don't feel like cooking, but I feel like it's more of a fatigue thing than an aversion.

What I miss:  Energy and waking up without feeling sick.  I thought things would be better when I got out of the first trimester (they did with Avery), but I'm still feeling sick every morning (and sometimes during the day) and I still have absolutely no energy.  *sigh*

What I'm loving:  That we've had 3 successful doctor's appointments.  I get scared each time before we go in, then I'm relieved each time when we hear the heartbeat.  I try to take the morning sickness and fatigue as good signs that the baby is doing well.  I love that I'm pregnant.  I love that we've been able to keep it a secret and enjoy it ourselves for so long.  :) 

What I'm looking forward to:  Telling our secret!  4 months is long enough to keep quiet.  Now I'm ready to shout it from the rooftops!  ;)  I'm also looking forward to feeling the baby move, and not just the flutters, I'm ready to get kicked right in the gut!  From what we saw on the sono, the baby seems very active!  Once he or she is big enough I'm sure I'll feel plenty!  ;)

Thoughts and feelings about Michael:  I love my sweet hubby so very much!  He's been such great emotional support for me over our entire relationship, but specifically in the last 5 months.  The miscarriage was extremely hard on both of us, but he held me together in such big ways.  I'm so grateful for his presence in my life.  And now we have a new baby on the way and he's doing everything he can to keep me happy and comfortable.  He show's me each and every day how much he cares for me, especially in little things like loading the dishwasher or taking out the trash.  He's the love of my life and I don't know what I'd do without him.  I'm looking forward to giving him another child (our last child).  He's an incredible father with Avery and he's going to rock being the Daddy of 2 small babies!  :)  I love him!

Thoughts and feelings about Avery:  My poor little girl has some molars working their way through her gums, so she's been a little fussy lately, and wanting to sleep more.  I feel bad for her, but I love that she's super snuggly and cuddly lately!  :D  My independent girl is usually far too "on the go" to spend time cuddling with her mom, so I take advantage of these short times.  ;)  I love that tiny girl so very much!  :)  She brings sooo much joy to my life!  I loooooooove her!!!!!!!

Labor signs:  Nope and I don't intend to have them for a long time!  March of Dimes says "Healthy babies are worth the wait" (39 weeks), so we need to make it all the way until May before any of that starts.  ;)

Goals:  Try not to gain too much weight.  I lost 5 pounds in my first trimester with Avery, so I never got over my pre-pregnancy weight until I was 20 weeks in.  I gained a total of 20 pounds (over my pre-pregnancy weight) with Avery.  I have already put on a little weight with this baby (1 lb is not so bad for 4 months in), so I hope the weight gain just stays reasonable.

Weekly Wisdom:  Choose to be happy.  There are plenty of things in life to complain about.  Everyone has one thing or another going on.  I know better than many that tragedies and misfortunes can multiply in difficult times, but choose to be happy anyway.  Count your blessings and think about the good things in life.  I think this will make you a happier, healthier person, and more people will want to be around you.  :)  Be happy.  :)