Belly Shot Comparison after 7 Weeks passed on by...

So this was fun... and wow has it ever changed after 7 weeks! Check out the belly button difference in the front shots as well as how low she is getting in the side shots! We had a doctor appointment today, gained another 2 lbs, woo hoo! So far I have gained 19 lbs and am right on track to gain about 25-30! Just what I was hoping for. She is doing well. I on the other hand am upping the iron to twice a day for now till my lab comes back next week. They are doing another set of labs on my iron, calcium and potassium to monitor the levels. I will keep you updated! I hope you all have a great new years!!!! 2011 Brings a little baby to our lives! :)

2010 Recap and a look into 2011!

I cannot believe 2010 is coming to an end! It has been a great year for us! In the last year we have done one addition to the house (extending our patio), my nephew Connor was born and what an amazing gift that was, got MARRIED, conceived a sweet little girl on our honeymoon in Cancun, I got promoted at work giving more flexibility to do things we want.

Like... Travel! Speaking of traveling, in 2010 we traveled to Michigan in January, Las Vegas in February, Cancun in July, Michigan in September, Colorado in November, and we are about to venture to California this Saturday! Traveling is something Ryan and I have a true passion for. We believe that it is something that is important and we always try and make time for it throughout the year. We are grateful and lucky that we have the flexibility and finances to do so. And don't think that this baby will stop us from traveling. Everyone always says, once you have a baby you dont go or do anything. Well that won't be possible for us so why not travel with her?! Makes it more fun!!

I leave 2010 with a happy feeling. I married the man of my dreams, we are getting prepared to have our first baby and we have been grateful for our jobs. When I pictured myself at 23 years old, I would have never thought that this is where I would be at, so life couldn't be better!

A look into 2011... I am SO excited for next year. I turn 24 a week from today, which we will be spending my birthday in California, just me and Ryan. I am really looking forward to this trip. We did not get much time off around the holidays so it will be nice to have a good break, just me and him. The following weekend is my baby shower given to me by my sister and mom, it will be so much fun! February will bring much anticipation for our sweet little girl and could also very well be the month she is born! Who knows? :) March will bring our sweet little girl if were ready or not! Ryan and I are both lucky to have 3 months of maternity leave so we will be taking that together from March-May.

And remember me saying having a baby wouldn't stop us from traveling? Well we are planning a trip to Cabo San Lucas near the end of our maternity leave to celebrate our 1 year anniversary. We want to to this before we go back to work and we plan to give grandma and grandpa a weekend to babysit- their SO stoked! In August we plan to travel to Michigan with Brynn for Ryan's brothers wedding. And then we know we will be going back east again at least one more time around the holidays! We are taking advantage of Brynlee flying for free till she is 2 :)

I look into 2011 with high hopes and goals! I am so excited for it to get here! I hope everyone else has had an amazing year and 2011 brings great things for you too!

And here are a few photos of my favorite memories from 2010: (in no particular order...)

{seeing our baby girl for the first time}

{Cancun, Mexico for our honeymoon}

{positive pregnancy test}

{Marrying the man of my dreams 6-12}

{Bachelorette party}

{Bridal shower}

{Red wings game for Ryan's birthday, a fun drunken night}

{Connor man being born}

{Me getting ready to witness the birth of Connor}

{The crew patiently waiting Connor's arrival}

{Las Vegas with my husband, never a dull moment}

{Our birthday, and my sister sad that she couldn't drink}

{Michigan in January and my birthday}

Maternity Photo Shoot

I know some of you may have seen these on Facebook but for my fellow followers who dont follow me on facebook... here are some of my favorite shots from our amazing photographer Mary Lessig (marylessigphoto1.blogspot.com)

29th Week of Pregnancy!

I cannot believe I am already in the 29th week with little miss Brynn! This is my last week in the 20's and I felt like the "30 week" mark would never come. And just like that, its already here. Time is FLYING by. The holidays are definitly helping with all of that!

We have been busy busy between shopping, holiday parties and trying to get some relaxation in. On Friday I was in the hospital again for the same thing as last time (blurry vision and dizzyness) and this time also a shortness of breath. They did an EKG, Chest Xray and an ultrasound and Brynlee was doing just great. It was scary but all came back normal with the exception of elevated progesterone and low iron levels. So I welcome myself to a daily iron pill from here on out! Whatever is best for her :)

During the ultrasound she was still head down face down. I dont think she will be doing much if any turning around. She seems happy in that little spot.

We have started our research on daycares in the local area near work. Starting tonight we will be touring our first center La Petite Academy. And then next week we have a tour at Kindercare. We have a few more on the list but we will start there. It is important to us that she is close to work and that we bond with the teachers and we feel its safe. We will keep you updated on how it goes! Some have a wait list till April so we need to find something soon and just get her name on the list.

It makes me sad that she has to go to daycare at times, but on the other hand, I work with a ton of mothers who have their kids in daycare, and hear positive things from it. It is amazing for their social skills, their immune system and just for interacting with other babies. So that part we are excited for. I am just not excited to leave her. But I will sob about that later down the road, not now. :)

I hope everyone has a good holiday season and a Merry Christmas! We will spending Christmas Eve at my mom's house with just our family. Playing the Kinect and games and opening presents. Then Christmas day the extended family will come over for a fun lazy day! I am looking forward to giving Ryan all of his gifts! I love this time of year!!!!

Brynlee's 4d Photoshoot

Lets just say.... this was an experience!

A while back my mom told me that Brynlee didnt want to show her face... well she was and still is right! Brynn was sooo shy on Friday. First of all, she is head down, and alllll the way down there. The tech didnt seem she will be going anywhere as far as flipping the other way. Also, she is head down (just like she should be for delivery.) But she wouldnt flip for us to see her face, the ENTIRE time. So all the pictures we got were quick side shots when she decided she wanted to just peek around for a second! At one point, I felt really bad because she made this mad face, and oooo did she ever look MAD. She just wanted to be in her little comfort spot and wants to wait for mom and dad to see her! So here are a few of the best pictures we got!!

~Sucking her thumb~

~Cute little face~

~Hiding, like usual!~

~Can't wait to meet her~

Oh, and just for a Monday laugh....... When I say we were trying everything, lets just say, this is one of the positions the tech put me and Ryan in to get her to flip.......... HA!

Fit4Baby~ So Excited!

Tonight I am starting a workout class called Fit4Baby. It is actually in Maricopa which is shocking since there is nothing out in the copa town! It is thru a company called Stroller Strides, ever heard of them? Their nationwide!

So basically it is a prenatal workout class at a local park with other mom's who are pregnant! According to the instructor there are 2 other girls due in March- Awesome!!! This is exactly what I need right now. It is one day a week for an hour. This will help me with labor and delivery and just stretching the sore muscles and aches I have been having.

The best part? 6 weeks after I have Brynlee I can join the Stroller Strides class and workout with other moms and their babies! So all the mom's that are due in March, I will get to meet their babies and workout with them! I am SO excited for this! This is a great way in my eyes, to meet new moms and friends in the local neighborhood!

A little surprise visit to the hospital

What a crazy weekend it has been!

I woke up on Saturday morning with an aching tooth. But of course it has to be one of the teeth that dont come in till your in your 20's. WISDOM TEETH. Apparantly my bottom left tooth was infected. Ouch! So I called my doctor to see what they recommend they do because I was in quite a bit of pain. They recomended I went to urgent care to get some antibiotics and the infection would be gone within just a couple of days. And that I would have to wait until after Brynn gets here to get them pulled since I cannot undergo that surgery while pregnant.

Okay so off to urgent care we went at 11am on Saturday morning. Got myself all checked in, got the pennicilian they recomended and some vicodin for the pain. I wasn't in nearly enough pain take the vicodin but I started right away on the pennicilian. So I took my dosage at 1 and at 7pm. Ryan and I had been at a friends graduation party. Left there and headed over to Walmart before going to another xmas party. While in walmart my vision started getting REALLY blurry. Like I couldnt see the big signs clear, blurry. So I told Ryan and he had remem

bered reading or learning about blurry vision=no good when pregnant. So I took the precautionary steps to call the doctor.

Doctor told me to go straight to the ER. That I could be having an allergic reaction to the pennicilian or could have preeclampsia. So off we went. After 3 hours of being there they finally wrote me a new prescription for Amoxcillian to try that rather than the penn. Then they wanted to send me to OB triage to check on Brynn. So off in a wheelchair I went...! 2 hours later after monitoring Brynn on a Non Stress Test (NST) she was looking good. Since we passed the NST we were able to go home! Thank god for no high blood pressure and Brynlee being safe. And also thank god for me having such a wonderful husband who had me take precaution because it could have been something very serious. Oh and side note: I had my blood pressure taken 6 times yesterday, SIX.

Today I am feeling much better and my infection seems to be clearing away quickly. It was funny though, because as I was in OB Triage the lady was asking me 10 million questions. She said, be happy your answering these now because they get saved and when you come in in labor, you wont have to answer them. LOL. I cannot imagine being in labor answering ALL these crazy questions she had. IE: Do you have a tongue ring? LOL. So anyways, at least the question game is out of the way when the real thing happens!

Just a few pics from our adventurous day!

We were laughing because the bracelets just kept adding up!

Me hooked up to the monitors... this reminded me of my sister when she was pregnant with Connor :)

Brynn's heartbeat: 143 :)

Changes during pregnancy....

Wow do things ever change as your pregnancy progresses! But for this post, I will focus on just one, Brynlee's movements.

I will never forget the first time I knew for SURE that it was Brynlee kicking me. There's the period where you just aren't sure it's her but it might be, but then there is the moment, where you have no doubt, thats a baby in belly.

Brynlee seems to have quite the routine down. She usually plays around the same time of day and night and usually while I am doing the same activities. I think her all time favorite is couch time. (How odd because that is her mama's favorite time too, hehe) Whenever I am laying on the couch, flat that is, not on my side, she goes hog wild. Its like she has more room to swim in there so she just has herself a little water aerobics party!

But the part that is changing the most is her movements. When I first felt her and for the last couple weeks, it has been quick movements, quick punches to the rib or bladder. They were very noticeable but definitly fast movements. Her movements over the last 2 weeks have progressively changed. They are starting to become a lot slower movements. Like my belly has a ripple effect. And last night, I felt a limb for the first time, it was like a little nub of something. And when that happens, it gets super tight on my belly and my belly becomes hard as a rock! Dang how I wish I could just see what she is doing!

To all my pregnant mama's out there, what changes have you noticed during pregnancy as time goes by? Please, share!

Colorado Trip Recap

Sorry I have been MIA for a bit. We are as usual our busy selves. We got home from Colorado on Sunday night. It was a quick trip but it was so much fun.

The weather was beautiful in the high 30's low 40's with the sun shining basically all day long. It made for a nice two days, to escape the heat we have here. When we got in Friday night we hung out around the table and just talked and catched up on what has been going on in all of our crazy lives. Recap: the party involved, myself, Ryan, parents; Dean and debbie, Aunt Mollie, Uncle Dave, Uncle Skippy, Grandma Bev (birthday girl) and Grandpa Bill. Saturday morning we cooked up a yummy breakfast and litterally sat in jammies all day long! It was such a relaxing day. We had the fire going and played games. I love lazy days like this and wish they came along more often!! We figured Saturday night we would get dressed for the big birthday dinner. So we all got in our decent attire and let the party begin! It was a great dinner. It was so intimate and with just the 10 of us there. We all went around the table and said something we loved about Grandma Bev. This of course caused tears streaming down my face. She is like the grandma I sometimes wish I had. I love my grandma dearly, but grandma Bev is just different. She is so youthful and has such a vibrant spirit about her. Sunday, Ryan and I hiked back up the mountain where our lives would forever change when he asked me to marry him! We had so much fun just snapping pictures and reliving our moment. He asked me again, and I said yes :) It will definitly have to be a tradition to walk the mountain whenever we visit Morrison. We finished the trip with some Sunday football and were headed to the airport!

It's always great visiting family and having relaxing much needed weekends! This weekend will be fun, we get our new couch! It will look so different in our living room, but a much needed change! I cannot wait to be able to lay out on our big comfy couch! My back is so over the couch we have now.

The baby shower invites are officially in the mail, so be on the lookout, coming your way!! Everything with the pregnancy is going great, her heartbeat was 150 yesterday and she is quite the squirmer! She wouldnt sit still for the doctor to get the heartbeat and the doctor could see her moving, it was great. I gained 4lbs, so I am officially up 9lbs, not bad at all. Supposedly should be around 15 so I am happy with my 9, I will take it! After my next appt I am on every 2 week appts, geez, that came quick! What sounds even quicker is a baby coming into my life in 4 months! Ahh!!! Anyways, until next time!

Lovin on our baby girl

The gang for Grandma Bev's Birthday!

Growing Brynlee!

The much awaited bare belly pictures.... definitely not doing these each week, haha. But I will do another around 30 weeks!

Oh the things we give up......

So... to all my fellow readers, if your a mom already or a mom to be, you know what I am talking about already. The things we give up while baking a love child!

We are headed out to Colorado this weekend to visit's Ryan's family one last time before little miss Brynlee enters into our world. Whats the weather going to be like you ask? Oh a high of 44 degrees all weekend and a low of 25. So his Aunt tells us not to forget our suits for the hot tub. Of course you already know, us preggo girls can't hot tub. But I just thought I'd call to double check, because it sounds sooooo good!

The doctors response: You are allowed to go into a hot tub, as long as its under 101 degrees and only in for less than 10 minutes.

What? 10 minutes. Man, what is the point? And then the possibility of harming Brynlee. Dang it. My answer had remained the same in my head, no hot tubbing for this girl this weekend! You'd think if I can't drink, they'd at least let me hot tub!

So it made me think, boy do we ever give a lot up while baking a love child.

The things I cannot wait to get back:

• Hot Tubbing!
• Drinking a nice cold beer!
• Wearing my cute Seven jeans and all the other jeans that fill up my closet and stare my in the face every morning like hahaha, you cant wear me!
• Not worrying about my caffeiene intake!
• Not taking 2 horsepills a day. Even though I know we take those after pregnancy for a while!
• My energy!
• My back no longer in pain!
• The view of my feet!
• Oh, and lunch meat, I cannot wait for the day I can eat a cold sandwich with no fear!

The things I do not want to give up post baby:

• My twice a week footrubs (sometimes more if I am lucky) from my hubby!
• The feeling of Brynlee kick me, I love it so much even when it drives me a little nuts at times!

I know I still have a ways to go but I thought this was an appropriate post after my silly call to the doctor today! It is all in good fun, and I would give up the world to make a safe spot for Brynlee in my tummy! But March couldn't arrive any quicker!!!

Until next time....... :)

Camcorder....CHECK!

Thank god for my husband! He found out that BestBuy was having a 2-day electronic sale on just a few items. A camcorder being one of them! With little miss Brynlee on the way, we new a camcorder was a must. I have to be able to record home videos. It is one of my favorite things to do as an adult is watch how crazy and silly I was as a kid. So I knew, we couldnt go without one! We were in the air between a small "flip" like camera or a full blown video camera. We opted for the full blown. My hubby is good at researching electronics and did his research before we decided to move forward on this one!

What was the deal you ask??? Originally $299.


On sale for today and tomorrow for $174!


That is a steal! And its not even Thanksgiving yet!!






Oh the memories we will capture on this little bad boy!!! Can't wait!!

It's November Already? 22 Weeks!

Time seems to be going a bit faster these days. We have been so busy lately and it's hard to feel like we will ever catch up! But everything we have been busy doing has been fun stuff, so its okay! We have a wedding to go to this weekend and next weekend we are in Colorado for Ryan's grandma's 70th birthday party! And then, THANKSGIVING! Who wouldnt love Thanksgiving being pregnant? Food! :) I still haven't gained too much weight. If I had to guess I would say I am up 5-6lbs. My goal is to stay around the 25 the doctor wants so in return, it comes off easily after delivery!

This past week we watched a very interesting documentary called the Business of Being Born. It was really really interesting. I felt like I learned a lot about the differences between hospital delivery and home delivery. And wow are they ever different! It really made me realize that I want to go as natural as possible with this delivery. Yes, call me crazy. But I want as little intervention as possible. If I absolutely can't subside the pain, I will get an epidural. But apparantly your body has endorphines that it releases that is supposed to make things not as painful, but a lot of people dont let their bodies get that far into the labor process. I may try. Who knows! I may get in there, and say give me the epidural, haha! But I really really want to attempt to go natural.

Anyways, as far as how I am feeling, about the same. Headaches, backaches, and heartburn, OH MY! :) I always convince and tell myself, I could be a lot worse off. It helps me not complain and feel more positive. Especially after seeing the hell and back my sister went through, I know it could be worse. So I deal with it! As long as Brynlee is active and moving, I know she is happy! And boy do we EVER have an active baby, no doubt she is happy!! :)

A lot of people have asked if we have decided on a daycare. We haven't. We haven't even gone to look yet, but it is on the list of things to get done in the next month or so! I will keep you updated on our search. Also people are asking when my shower is, there is a date set! It is going to be January 8th at 4pm! Invites will be mailed out towards the end of this month to give you time to RSVP with all the holidays, even I know how crazy that can be.

Our list for baby looks like this:

• Find a daycare in town


• Start looking into pediatricians


• Mail out baby shower invites


• Get Life Insurance


• Open an IRA or some sort of savings account for her college. We want to do this before she is born so we start saving, right away.


• Finish nursery! (Yes, there is still more to do!!)


• Get together the hospital bag


• Have a baby shower
  
• And then....... HAVE A BABY! We can't wait for her to get here, but in the meantime, we have a lot to do!!! :)

Have you guys missed me....?

have you guys missed me? Well we have been super busy lately! With fall now upon us we have been busy enjoying the outdoors and Halloween weekend!! We had Connor's Buddy Walk this weekend. Wow! This was such an amazing experience and I feel so blessed that I was able to be apart of such a special day for such special kids. There were so many kids with such love in their eyes and I could only get teary eyed all day. I just know that Connor possesses the same love that those kids do and I know that is how he is such a fighter. Through it all, he always smiles and keeps on pushing! Thank you again for all the people who came out and also who donated. The organization is a huge support system for my family and Connor. Words cannot express our appreciation!

Ryan's parents are also in town right now so we have been busy with them doing a lot of baseball watching, shopping and hanging out. It has been a fun week for sure!

I am still suffering from back pain and headaches constantly. It's like they just wont go away. Also we saw Brynlee moving from the outside this last week. I felt like I had some sort of mini alien growing inside me! haha! She is the size of a large banana this week, woah, slow down child. I remember when she was just the size of a poppyseed!

Hope you guys had a great Halloween weekend and here are just a few pics from the buddy walk and Halloween weekend!

Bleaker & Juno!

Cantaloupe...

Wowzers, Brynn is the size of a cantaloupe these days... no wonder why her kicks and movements are getting stronger!

Everything going great here, besides the new and improved, HEARTBURN! ;) I think I am baking a child full of hair in there!

Halfway Point!

Yesterday we had our 20 week appointment and to sum it up, it went great! She is progressing right on track and I am measuring right on time. She weighs a whoppin 10oz! The doctor was laughing so hard because she was curled up SO tight. She said she will probably be a gymnast because, woah, this baby is flexible! ( I guess she gets that from her dad since he was a gymnast through high school. ) The best news of all was that she is still a GIRL! I have been having nightmares that we would go to this appointment and they would tell us it was a boy. Not that I still wouldnt be happy! We were also told as long as everything is progressing right we might not have another ultrasound. As long as I am not measuring too small or too big, there is a chance we won't see her again. My mom says, we need some anticipation, I guess shes right! Also, I finally gained weight! 4lbs that is! My doctor was happy with that and so was I, she knows I am playing a little catch up so she seemed happy with the progress so far! Oh and she had the hiccups while we were looking at her, how cute!~

People still ask me, are you having morning sickness, how are you feeling etc. And honestly, I feel great! Besides the occasional headache I really cannot complain. It's a little surreal to have such a good go at this so far, but as with any pregnancy, anything can happen! But we are keeping our head high and just doing all the right things for this little one!

A message to Brynlee: Your mom and dad cannot wait to meet you! Daddy is already spoiling you and he cannot wait to kiss you! Mommy is being her crafty self and making you all sorts of goodies, just wait, its only the beginning for you my sweet child! We love you!


Here are pics from our ultrasound, enjoy!

Thumbs up!

I am #1!

Curled up in her little ball!

And yes this is kinda creepy but that would be her looking at you! :)

Till next time...