21 Weeks 2 Days!

This is week 21 of my pregnancy! We have known about our little boy now for over a week and I have no regrets about finding out he is a boy. Everything is different now. I think in all boy. Boy things, boy colors, boy talk, boy life. I grabbed a few books at the library yesterday. 2 baby names books and one called Raising Boys. I figured I needed to get ready for all the testosterone and energy headed my way. I have never really understood boys. Why they think and act certain ways has always been confusing and frustrating. I need to learn about how God made them and how to raise them. It's funny, because I always knew he was a boy. When P. and I look back at the conception we think girl but in my heart I always felt boy. I wished for a boy for my husband. When we saw him on the ultrasound at 11 1/2 weeks he looked like a boy. I always called him "he" and if you look at everything we bought prior to knowing it leans towards boy.

My weekly email update said he weighs almost a pound now. He is as long as a carrot and his eyelids and eyebrows are fully formed. They say you can most certainly feel him move now and that is for sure. He is a mover and a shaker and I love it. Well, most of the time. I am eating a lot now, gaining weight and the nausea has eased up quite a bit. I still have a hard time with certain smells and never truly feel like eating but never have a problem getting it down. The contractions are just a way of life now. I have them almost every day, sometimes all day or all night. Some are painful and some don't hurt at all. But they keep coming and I usually lay down, drink some water and wait them out. They feel like a hard rock expanding in my lower abdomen and last anywhere from 10 seconds to a minute. I will address them again with my doctor Dec 10th but right now they don't worry me too much. The spotting only happens now if I do too much so I avoid that as much as possible and it has been almost 3 weeks now since I have spotted. I still have headaches a couple times a week but am usually able to treat them right away with some doctor prescribed medicines and rest. My legs are starting to hurt though. Not sure if it is from the extra weight, bad posture, sleeping on my sides or varicose veins but they are achy and annoying. I don't sleep that well because I can't get comfortable. And my tummy isn't even that big yet....just wait huh? But overall things are improving and going well. I am encouraged. I am encouraged to find the perfect baby boy name for our son, encouraged to work on the nursery, encouraged to learn how to raise my son wisely, encouraged to get the house ready for our new addition and encouraged to have a wonderful Christmas holiday. So far so good.

A few other updates.....

*At the ultrasound they moved my due date from April 9 to April 6.
*Abby's eye is all healed up and she is happy and healthy. Except she doesn't like the recent bitter cold weather.

*I am almost done Christmas shopping. Besides a few local friends and P. I am ready to ship out my gifts before the holiday rush.

*We are shopping for carpet. The carpet in our dining room, bedroom and hallway is original carpet when the house was built and it is so old, stained and faded. I am shocked at how expensive carpet is and am not sure we are going to be able to make the upgrade anytime soon.

*And.....we decorated our huge, fat, tall Christmas tree Monday night. We listened to my Neil Diamond Christmas CD and managed our way about our very wide tree carefully with lights, beads and ornaments. Abby was all interested in what we were doing. Serra was a little nervous about all the excitement but in the end posed for a cute picture with our finished tree. Enjoy.

2 Years And Counting!

P. and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary yesterday. Can you believe it has been 2 years already? I have lived in MI for 2 years now. Some days it seems like 2 years has flown by and some days it feels like I have been married to P. forever. And to top it off I am pregnant with our first child! What an eventful 2 years.

I have to admit the first year of our marriage was really hard. It was hard to leave my job and friends in CO and move to a place where I didn't know anyone and couldn't find a good job like the one I had at the Navigators. And the weather was miserable. The day I moved here two years ago it started to snow and snowed for 21 days straight. It was followed by 16 straight days of no sun. I questioned, "What have I done?" on a daily basis. Then on top of the new marriage and new place I had a new step-daughter and ex-wife. Let's just say.....things were not easy. But we have come a long way since then. My marriage is strong, full of love and joy, and gets better every day. My relationship with P. is trusting and honoring. He is my best friend and we are an amazing team. We have a beautiful home, great dogs, new friends and always have enough food on the table and love in our home. I made the best decision of my life 2 years ago when I married P. on that perfect day in Laguna Beach, CA.

We celebrated our anniversary last night with chocolate dessert at the Melting Pot. It was so good. I am sure our little man is going to be a dessert lover with the amount of sugar I provide him.

Oh, and we got a new car this weekend. We needed a bigger, 4-door car for the baby. It just happened that after we got our tree Sat. we saw a 98 Honda Accord for sale on the road. We stopped, drove it, thought it was perfect for us and bought it. It is a weight off our shoulders to have a car that will work for our growing family now. We will put the Accord Coupe up for sale sometime this month. I would love to drive it as long as possible before I have to move to my slower, more mommy-like car but we have to do what we have to do. But I am happy with my new Honda, it is still me, just a little slower. But that's what kids do to your cars....