In love...

Nothing crazy to report...

Just wanted to say, more shout to the world, how much I LOVE this baby girl in my belly!! I am SOO exicted and antsy and giddy to meet her!!!
I am so excited to for Dave to hold her for the first time, I'm excited for that first moment of meeting her, I'm excited for the first moment where it is just our little family together....

I feel her kick all the time and it makes me smile ear to ear...Alison finally got to feel some really good Kung Pow movements the other day, which is so fun!

That's all I'm thinking about today! So, I thought I would write it down. :)

Dave's in Colorado this weekend, and I miss him already.
But I do get A LOT more accomplished around the house when he's not there giving all his opinions and messing up my hard work of cleaning! And I'm so excited he's getting some time with Bryan and going fly fishing and hiking and drinking some beers and just enjoying his time!

Annoying Days.

You know when you have one of those days that just all those little silly things add up and DRIVE YOU CRAZY?! You know...like when you are trying to delete a voicemail and you press "7" a bazillion times and the message keeps playing completely ignoring your command...or you go to make a sandwich because you might eat your hand you're so hungry, and the bread is moldy...and then you go to park in the "stork parking" because damn, I've earned it, and someone is already THERE?! WHAT? There's someone ELSE who is pregnant?! Don't they realize it doesn't say "stork Parking" it says "K8 Parking"? (And btw...I found a spot on the opposite side of that spot, and it was a nervous teenager with her car running...I got out of the car slowly, and just stared at her with my big belly...and started walking - she put her car in reverse and left. I'm so mean today)
It's just one of those days for me.

I almost threw my phone out the window, but then I knew that would give Dave the upper hand on getting his palm pre.

Let's talk about the Stork Parking real quick:
It's so silly isn't it? I mean...really it is...why can't a pregnant woman walk as far as the "others". It's like the "others" in LOST...
Now before pregnancy...for years, I would see that stupid sign and be angry and sometimes it would put me in tears (depending on the time of month). I would drive by it and grumble under my breath all the way to the door of the store. When I would walk by it, it's like it would come alive and yell and laugh in my face, "YOU'RE NOT PREGNANT YOU FREAK!". The first time I went to the grocery store, I parked right in that spot and laughed right back at it...HA! I won this time!!!

In the future, that sign may win, because I don't have the ability to say "when" I get pregnant again, it's always going to be an "if" for me...a simple thing that most women probably don't even think twice about. But for right now, I feel victorious. :)

Isn't it funny what happens in people's brains and you have no idea? Now everyone knows I think signs come to life and laugh at me, and I feel a victory over a sign...

Phew.

I enjoy being pregnant. I really do. It's such a gift. I love feeling our little girl everyday, I love that people are nice to me (which is funny also...), I love taking naps and not getting any slack for it, I love eating lots of food, and I love the way Dave looks at me sometimes...

But there are some things that make me struggle. My back - it can be so painful, and then other times it's like normal. If I sweep the house, I have to lay down for an hour to be able to walk again, on our 1 mile walks with Poe, I am hobbling by the time we get to our street. One day I'm on top of the world happy - the next day I'm sad and depressed...I really don't enjoy those depressed days for no reason! Feeling lame - As most of you know...I'm a big "do-er". I have a really hard time just sitting around doing nothing. So, this whole thing with my back and pregnant women not being able to do pretty much any house projects, really tire my spirit. I hate feeling like I'm just waiting for others to do what I feel I could do. There's been SO many projects around the house to get completed just to get the simple nursery ready, and I've been able to do like 10% of them. It's hard for me to sit back and watch others do all the work, while I watch.
And coffee. Oh do I miss drinking coffee at any time of the day and however much I want.

So. those are my random thoughts for the day!

23 - 20 -1.2

Those numbers are: In order
How many weeks pregnant I am...
How many pounds I've packed on...
and how many pounds our sweet little girl is weighing in at...

Here she is:


It still amazes me that there is only 17 weeks left, 116 days to be exact (but I suppose you can all read my counter, just like me). I guess I should start reading on how to take care of a newborn. I am feeling her move all the time, which is obviously so cool. And I could just sit and stare at my belly for hours and watch all the moving...Dave doesn't seem to have that kind of patience, but I think its pretty darn amazing.

We are on the daycare hunt...have our first appointment today to see facilities, and hear how much damage it will do to our bank account, and to see what kind of montrosity of a waiting list is in place. And the stupid garage - will it ever get done, probably not...but I won't let the idea die!
I've been working on the permit, and still haven't completed the damn paperwork - if my husband would be a little more enthusiastic about HIS shed that might help (HINT. HINT.) That is Step 1 for garage completion.

Mental note: Never buy a house again.

Dave passed his big license insurance testy-thing! Yay!!!!! He's been so diligent at studying (at least he left the house a lot...I assume he was studying...he never came home smelling like beer :) ). I have been so proud of all the hard work he put in to his test. And he never skipped any class! He took his test on Tuesday and passed with flying colors. Yay for Dave!

It would be nice if the heat wave broke - it's really tough for me to get outside in this insanely hot weather and try to keep my body moving! My legs/hands/feet swell up instantly on walks and start to get tingly...no fun. I've also discovered, MUCH to my delight, that sweeping kills my back. It's so strange - and I swear I'm not making it up!

I wish we had fun trips planned, but no such luck for me. I suppose last year was a dream year and we're back to the same ole non-vacation schedule of the Anderson's!

It CAN'T be!!!! Is it?! Really?!

Half way over???!!!!!

It just can't be...It doesn't seem possible!
I'm 20 weeks pregnant today! Exactly half way there if I have this love bug on Feb. 2. I can still vividly remember the day we got our BFP (for all of you non-infertility-obsessers means Big Fat Positive). speaking of...lets take a different route in this blog post (I am Queen Scatterbrain lately...ask Dave, he'll verify 100%).

In the infertility world there's lots of lingo. And it seems SO silly at first, then you start actually SPEAKING it, which is even funnier, and the funniest part is it becomes normal language in your household. I have a girlfriend whom also struggles with infertility, (well, more than one...but you know what I mean here...) and if you were to spy on our emails or chatting conversations you probably wouldn't even know what we're saying!
BFP - BFN - AF - OHSS - TS - IUI - PCOS - 6DPO - 6DPTS - BD - BBT - BBs - DH

Those are just a few! (if I had lots of money I'd do a contest to see who could name all of those!)

The infertility world is a whole other place...I encourage those who are struggling with this to find others either in real life, or on a forum online, who can relate with you because it helps a TON to know you are not alone or what you are feeling and experiencing is normal. I belong to a forum called Taking Charge of Your Fertility(Ovusoft), and it has been a life saver and I've made quite a few "friends" on there...Strangely, I was also so incredibly excited to tell all of those imaginary friends that we got our BFP!! Funny...And ACTUALLY - another side note - I received an email from one of the girls on that forum that I 'recognize' from her avatar, and she told me that she had been following my journey since she had started on Ovusoft and decided to go straight into get a Laprascopy surgery to check for Endometriosis even though she had very few symptoms - just like me. She had her surgery and what do you know, she had Stage II Endo (again, just like me!) and they removed it all and her chances of conceiving are MUCH higher now. So she was thanking me for sharing my story and helping her make her decision sooner and saving all the money on other tests and procedures.
That was a great day to get that email...it makes me feel like I had some sort of purpose during all those months of struggling.

Wow. Anyways. Major side notes...
I'm thrilled - THRILLED - to be 20 weeks pregnant! Holy Cow! (and yes, I kinda feel like one too)
I am feeling pretty good except Iron supplement side effects and my back is killing me...But I suppose it comes with the territory. Poor Dave, he unfortunately doesn't sleep so well either anymore b/c of my tossing and turning and whining...
I will say (Sandie, you'll love this) that Dave has been absolutely perfectly wonderful these past few weeks...I've had either a foot rub, back rub, or leg rub every night and the craziest part is HE asks ME if I want them! (What?! Where? Wait...who am I?) I think it's partly because I made his favorite dinner the other night, and partly because he has been feeling our little girl more and more (some good kung fu kicks too!) which has made him smile ear to ear.

It's all such a miracle and a blessing from God. I know I drive Dave NUTS by saying that everyday (along with, Can you believe how big my belly is?!), but I can't help it.

AND - Biggest Loser starts back up tonight. Favorite show!!!

Sweetness

So, at our last appointment I drank a ton of OJ and ate Cinnamon bread on our way to the appointment, because I wanted to make sure the baby woudl be movin' around so we could find the gender! It somewhat backfired on me, because she was ALL OVER THE PLACE. It was so hard for Dr. Lang to get a good shot at pretty much anything! He would be trying to measure the head etc, and she would wiggle away. Anyways, we didn't get many great u/s shots - but this is my favorite! It's a 3D one, so once you "get it" it's really cute! She has one arm at her head and one under her chin.


And here's the proof she's a girl. It took me 2 days with a magnifying glass to see it...so I'll be shocked if anyone can see anything on this blog! And is it weird to post this picture? Seems kinda personal doesn't it...

Dave is officially out-numbered!!

IT'S A GIRL!!!
YAY!!!

We're SO excited (not that we wouldn't have been super excited for a boy too!!) Dave and I have been anxious to find out if this little love bug would be a mama's boy or a daddy's little girl. As pretty much most everyone knows, we had Dr. Lang (well actually his wife did the writing!) write down the gender on a piece of stationary so we could take it home and find out in a more personal setting, as oppose to just sitting on the table!

We skyped with my mom, Sam, Kelli, Grace, and Zack and had them read the results to us, which was SO much fun for us!! It was so special to share that moment with everyone and I'll never, ever forget it! We then skyped with Bob and Sandie, Dee, and Jessica to share the fabulous news!!!

I still have a hard time saying "she" instead of "it", but hopefully it will sink in as time goes on. ;) No - we haven't narrowed down a name, and we haven't decided if we'll tell people...

I am continuing to grow (duh) and ya can't miss my belly anymore! I finally broke down and went and purchased a few more maternity clothes - which helps tremendously. We're currently working on getting the nursery all set up and getting the process going. We're not going to paint the room and such, but there's still a lot of work to be done! We WILL finish the baseboards today!

Anyhoo...That's our update. We're going to be parents of a little baby girl!!! It's still so hard to believe!!!!

Weirdness and Goodness

I can't fit into either of those clothes anymore...I hope to someday re-introduce myself to them....(and a side note, what happened to those flip flops?)
It's odd. It's really really weird to be growing, in more places than just my belly! Now, I'm not complaining, just observing. It's a grateful weird, a happy weird, a thankful weird. But nonetheless, still weird.

Dave said the other night, "Wow! You look really pregnant!" Which is fun, funny, and again, weird, and happy and wondering if I'll ever get back to my normal size.
And I keep hearing over and over again that the "baby weight will just melt off when you start breastfeeding", which would be GREAT - but I'm not just accruing (I almost did a Jim Gaffigan move there, Accru-Accrui-Acc...Gaining) baby weight, I'm adding on actual fat (and boy-howdy is it fun!!! lol). So I am fully prepared to have to work my butt off (literally) once this baby comes. Let's hope we have a longer cooler winter this year so the weather stays nicer for outside exercise!

I am struggling with anemia...which has been tough. I feel like I have someone standing on my shoulders 24/7 pounding up and down saying, "GO TO SLEEP!". I'm taking an extra iron supplement, but it doesn't seem to be doing much yet, so that is a question on my list for Dr. Lang on Friday.

The baby is moving pretty much everyday now - well, I'm sure it's been moving for awhile, but I can FEEL it everyday now! And Dave has been able to feel it twice now! The first time on Sunday morning (August 30, 2009 - that date is for myself btw...) and then again last night! Every moment I'm just feeling overwhelmed with gratitude for receiving this gift from God!

Posey is as sweet as can be. She's just been a little sweeter to me these days...it could be because she just IS so precious, and it could be because my BFF, MOnica, had to put down her sweetie of a dog - Miss Madison - recently. Sniff. Sniff. I still get all choked up about it and it makes me want to give Poe that walk even when I REALLY don't want to, or play with her for an extra 10 minutes when I'd rather just sleep or lay on the couch like a log. See, now I'm getting tears in my eyes thinking of Madison and the heartache of Monica and Don!

Look up Katie...it dries the tears up...

Dave has 3 more weeks of school. THANK GOD. I'm so ready for that part to be done!

Holy Belly Growth!

I am looking at the difference between my 10w photo and this week. YIKES! What have I done?! I swear I've been eating less...not on purpose, but the stage of food-curing-quesiness has past, so I haven't HAD to eat every 1-2 hours, including getting up in the middle of the night to eat!

NOW. Saying all that, today I feel like total crap, and DID get up at 4am and had a bowl of cereal because the hunger pains were keeping me up at night. I'm hoping its just a major growth spurt in the baby and isn't back for good, because I was really enjoying feeling great again!



These pictures were taken at 15w5d.

Dave is working hard on the trim, and I'm sitting here like a lump on a log...already taken my first nap of the day. Somedays I feel just 100% purely pathetic. I did try to shake the nausea and went to the beach...I lasted exactly 14 minutes.