Insomnia?

Well, here it is, 5 am, and I am awake and have been since 4am. Hmmf. This has been happening more and more lately the past couple of weeks. It is so odd for me because I am a hard sleeper and RARELY have ANY trouble sleeping in the least. If you have ever even met me you probably know that I heart my sleep....a lot. When I was working full time my goal was to get between 9-10 hours of sleep a night, and since I've been pregnant, I sleep more like 10-11 a night. I know. You just judged me. It's a lot of sleep so I would judge me too. But honestly, I don't really care, because I have been loving every minute of all the sleep because I know that is about to change....drastically. And maybe that is the reason I am ok with the insomnia lately because I know it is God's way of preparing me for all those sleepless nights. I actually appreciate it! Thanks God! You always know how to prepare us for big events coming up:).

So anyways, tomorrow I am 26 weeks! I am updating my bump picture because I feel like it has really come along these past 2 weeks and I'm so proud of it! Good job little bump! If you'll notice in the pic, it has become a lot more "bump-like" in the past 2 weeks. More round and pronounced. And for the first time, I have actually begun to feel more comfortable wearing tight shirts that hug the belly. See the progress??

We are getting there, right?? Holla!

Ok, so, things that are getting harder for me to do lately:

1) Bend over

2) Tie my shoes

3) Work out

4) Sit down/stand up frequently

5) Eat dinner without getting indigestion/stomach ache

6) Sleep through the night, apparently

7) Hide da bump!

8) Not buy everything I see for the nursery

9) Sleep on my stomach

10) Not cry at anything sentimental

11) Sit for long periods of time with out SOMETHING aching (upper back, lower back, sides, ligaments, etc.)

Though these things are getting harder, I still feel like I cannot complain about my pregnancy! It has been an overall enjoyable experience with little trouble. I would say that I recommend it! S0, all of my married friends out there (you know who you are)....c'mon go for it!!!! It will be fun, I swear:). Haha just kidding...mostly.

I have a feeling we will soon be making lots of progress on the nursery, so I'll be sure to update. As for now, the only thing I've done in there, besides make a bunch of purchases, is put up paint samples. PROGRESS! Haha, much to do before April 1st! So much excitement ahead of us!

So long waistline...

Holy cow. Holy cow. Holy cow. On Friday I will be 6 MONTHS PREGNANT!!! How did this happen? This is starting to get very real, very fast. I cannot believe the amount that I have grown in the past couple of weeks. I think I officially look pregnant. For so long so many people said, "Oh, I can't even tell you're pregnant!", but lately, I am not getting that anymore, haha. On one hand, it is fun to grow and get my "bump" I've been waiting so long for, but on the other hand, it's hard to adjust to "getting bigger". Any other preggos out there ever dealt with this? It just feels that for so much of our lives we do everything we can to not get "bigger"--work out, eat healthy, drink green tea, etc. in order to not get bigger. And then you get pregnant. And pregnancy goes against every rule you have ever followed as a figure-watching woman. Know what I'm sayin'? I'm not complaining, just adjusting. I think it takes some time, but hopefully pretty soon I'll just be used to it!

So here I am in all my glory at 6 months! Can you find the waistline?? Doubt it!

Other than my growing belly, tomorrow I have my 6 month appointment at the doc and they will be administering the gestational diabetes test. I hear they make you drink this nasty glucose drink and I'm not too thrilled about it. But we'd appreciate prayers that the results come back in normal for that test!

Also, we have begun the registering process. Holy overwhelming! I wish I even knew a little bit what a products I "must" have. So, if you have any suggestions, please by all means, leave a comment!

I guess that's all the updates for today--getting ready for the next few months to FLY! And for the fun part to really start!

It's beginning to look a lot like....

You guessed it...Christmas!!

Well, in a totally unrelated, non-baby blog post, our house is decorated for Christmas! The inside at least. We still have the outside to do, but that just gives me something else to look forward to! Too early for Christmas decorations, you ask? NOPE! Not in my book. Last year we put up our tree the day after Thanksgiving and it just didn't seem like it was up long enough! So I told myself I would do it even earlier this year. Additionally, I am helping a family friend decorate houses for Christmas, so I decided I had better put mine up before I got sick of decorating. Another reason we've got the tree up already.

So... without further ado... here is our tree!!

20 Weeks!

Half way there folks!! That is so crazy to think about. Crazy on one hand because I can't believe we only have 20 weeks left to do all the things we need to do, and crazy on the other hand because I can't believe I still have to wait 20 weeks to meet her! The longer I am pregnant, the more excited I get about being a mom to this sweet little girl. Being that this was a surprise for us and not in the "plan" quite yet, I never imagined I could be this excited or this happy to soon be transitioning to parenthood. It is such a wonderful blessing and we are so thankful to the Lord for bringing this gift into out lives. And she isn't even here yet!! I can only imagine how much my heart will explode once I am actually holding her in my arms.

Ok, enough with the cheesy stuff, sorry! Here I am at 20 weeks in Eureka Springs, AR for Grant & Michelle Usry's wedding weekend.

What a beautiful place Eureka Springs is!! I seriously hope I get to go back and vacation there some day in the near future. It has the most beautiful trees, rolling hills, lakes, and adorable atmosphere! Here is a pic of the view from the balcony of our cabin. I am in LOVE!

I believe that is all I have for now. Get ready for some serious growing coming up!! In the next month, she will weigh over a pound! And I will weigh....well...let's not go there....

New Development: Kicking!!

The newest and most exciting development in my pregnancy right now is feeling those kicks and movements in my belly! I started feeling them around 16-17 weeks, and it has gotten stronger and more frequent everyday since then. Now it happens all the time and Jono is even able to feel them when he puts his hand on my belly. This was so surprising to me because I just had NO idea that it happened this early. Makes me wonder what it will feel like in a few months! She is definitely an active one, so I am sure to feel lots of movement going on in there in the coming months.

On that note: I am almost 5 months pregnant!! Holy cow. This is starting to move fast. My belly is growing slowly but surely, but still haven't quite "popped" yet. Again, another surprise to me. For some reason, I thought pregnant people "popped" around 3 months, but I guess I was way off! I am thinking it's more like 5-6 months. I need to update with a recent belly pic--I'll be sure to take one this weekend as we head to Arkansas for Grant & Michelle's wedding weekend! So excited for a great fall weekend spent with great friends celebrating a great marriage.

Something else new right now is that yesterday we purchased our crib, changing table, and chandelier for the nursery!! Why so early, you ask? Because yesterday was the last day to use the Partner's Card, giving us an additional 20% off the already reduced sale price!! Holla! I am SO excited to start purchasing things and thinking about the future nursery. Next up: ordering the custom-made baby bedding. I found someone in Canton who will make the bedding for us and I am so excited about it! I will hopefully reveal it in a future blog post:). More to come!

Here are some pics of our crib, changing table, and chandelier:

It's a GIRL!!!!!!!

Well, last night we FINALLY had the big reveal party! I don't think I have been that nervous in a LONG time. Something about finding out the answer to the question you have been pondering in your head for the past 4 1/2 months is truly nerve-wracking!! It was such a special night with our families and I am so happy and blessed that we got to share this moment with them. As you can imagine, Jono and I are so thrilled that we will be parents to a little girl in the spring!! If you know our family history, then you know that boy genes run STRONG. So honestly, in all our lives, neither one of us ever imagined that we would have a girl first. We both always pictured having a boy first, and maybe even second and third. And though we both would love to have a boy, I have always known that a girl is a MUST for me at some point. I would never have told people this before last night, but I felt so strongly since the moment I found out I was pregnant that I was going to be having a little girl that I would have been so surprised if it were a boy (happy, but surprised). However, the reality that we are ACTUALLY having a girl is still so surreal and I can't believe it! Can't wait to meet our daughter!!

Here are a few pics from the party last night, and a video of how it all went down at the bottom!

This is the table where we had the cake as well as some cute boy and girl things my mom had purchased. As you can see, everything on the left is blue and everything on the right is pink! She will soon be returning the blue items:).

I had the guests publicly state their vote by tying either a pink or blue ribbon around their apple cider mug. I think the blue ribbon was the clear winner last night! But like I mentioned, if you know our family history, this was not surprising:).

Here is a close-up of the cake. Society Bakery did a great job and it was DELISH!

Waiting to cut into the cake and find out!

About to cut it and so nervous!

It's PINK and we are so happy!!

Still can't believe it!

I tried to post the video of us cutting the cake last night, but it is not working!:( Here is a link to the video on my brother's FB profile. Hopefully that works! Thanks for the video, John!

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=800920526773&ref=mf

"Pink or Blue??" Party Update

I figured I'd better update the blog for those of you who have been asking. Yesterday, thanks to stand-by flying, I was lucky enough to get stuck in the San Diego airport from 5:30am-5:30pm, therefore causing me to MISS my own party!! I was obviously so sad and bummed (may have even shed a few tears in the airport by myself), but I am feeling great today and ready for the rescheduled party TONIGHT!! I am getting A LOT of "pink" guesses which is so funny to me because so many people thought I would have all boys since I have 3 older brothers and so does Jono--no sisters for either of us! But I love it! And I guess we will see very soon!