23 Weeks

Time is starting to fly by! It seems like every time I look at my calendar another week was gone by. Here are some highlights from this last week:
-Got kicked so hard (I'm guessing on my bladder?) that it made my scream AHH outloud. (not sure if this is a highlight)
-Finalized my grades early! (this might be a first)
-Mario got 2nd place at Mineral Wells:)
-got to see my best friend today!
-walked around at pottery barn kids which got me super excited
-dogs did not dig out of the back yard which means we don't have to spend money on an electrical fence

Funny(kinda) story of the week:
-So I was in a jumpy mood and without even thinking I ran from our bathroom to our bed and jumped on it without using my hands...if you've never seen our bed, it's about 3-4 feet off the ground..yes high. Over the last few weeks I guess I've lost some ab muscles...yeah I about didn't make it. It would have been funny to watch my facial expressions when I realized that that was probably not the smartest idea, it kinda hurt! It's crazy how you forget sometimes that your pregnant and that you can't do things that you used to do like jump on a bed without help.

-I did unfortunately miss my first Daniel study this last week due to grading papers and trying to get grades finished. I am love studying Daniel and can't wait to begin Revelation in the fall. I guess Mario (daddy) will be having Father/Daughter dates every Wednesday night come September:) Crazy to think about. However, I (mom) will be having Mommy/Daughter dates every Monday night with my homegirls watching the Bachelor. So excited about Emily being the next Bachelorette!!!! Mario just said that once the baby is here, that show will go out the back door....who does he think he is:) Kind of like people telling me that my dogs will live outside...WHAT? Now, I'm not an idiot, I know that my dogs will not be getting all of the attention anymore and that if they ever did anything crazy (like growl or seem aggressive) that we'd be finding them another home, but geez people, stop telling me these things! They are my dogs and I love them! Okay I'm off that soap box.

Here is the baby bump this week!

How far along?   23 Weeks

Total weight gain/loss: 12+ pounds
Maternity clothes? Pants
Stretch marks? No (not on stomach)
Sleep: Good
Best moment this week:  Seeing my BFF

Have you told family and friends: Yes

Miss Anything? nope
Movement: Yes...ALL the time...you can even see my stomach move
Food cravings: Banana Pudding, Milk

Anything making you queasy or sick: nope:)

Have you started to show yet:  yes, people our now commenting

Gender prediction: ITS A GIRL!!!!!!!!!No longer calling her IT

Labor Signs: No
Belly Button in or out? In (I have noticed that it's kind of flat now)
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time: Both
Looking forward to: talking about names and working on the nursery

21/22 Weeks....Rough Week.

I am blogging this morning feeling very down and upset! This week was rough at school and to top it off, my dogs (which everyone knows are my kids) got out yesterday morning. Sure enough they came back like always. There is a huge field behind our house that they love to go and run around in. Abbie honestly hasn't gotten out in over a year bc she knows she'll be in trouble. Wade has recently started bolting the door but he's our fearlful one and is to scared to venture out to far...so he always comes right back with no hesitation. Well, yesterday after we got home from Mario's race we decided to lay down for a nap. During this time, some friends who were staying with us came back from the race. Sure enough as the door opened the dogs bolted. This time they never came back. We have searched the fields and streets surrounding our area for hours. We even went out last night but they were no where to be found. I think that they either a) went to far and couldn't find their way home or b) someone picked them up. Hopefully someone will find them and turn them in today or tomorrow! So for now, I'm trying to keep my head held high. It's hard looking at their food that they never ate yesterday and knowing that it was in the 20's last night but I'm going to trust that God willing they're just fine!

I think I've decided what I want to do with the walls of the baby's room! This is a huge step for me. So now I have something to look forward to this spring break.

 I am thinking instead of the blues, going with two shades of purple...not sure yet what the contrasting color will be, I love the yellow, but not sure how it would look with purple. I definitely need someone with some decorating skills to help me out:)

Week 22
A week later and the dogs are back safe and doing great. I never posted the earlier one for some reason but that was exactly how I felt at the time. Thankfully Monday morning a lawyer here in Waxahachie who has land with a lot of animals found Abbie and Wade.Unfortunately, Wade ate two of his chickens but the guy was really nice about it!

I had such an awful weekend dealing with all of that I decided that I needed a personal day from school. So Wednesday I took off and went with my friend Kara to lunch and out for a spa pedicure (thanks for the invite!) We had a great time catching up and just enjoying some time away from our homes/school.

How is pregnancy going::: I'm sure that everyone goes through this at some point in their pregnancy, but honestly I just feel Fat and Gross! I'm in that awkward phase where people don't know if I'm pregnant or have just gained some serious weight. I have also started getting stretch marks which I didn't think would happen to me (who do I think I am) :). My sweet husband just keeps telling me, it's all worth it bc of the sweet baby girl growing inside me and of course I know it, it's just hard experiencing body changes. I am feeling great though and have an awesome appetite. A couple of weeks ago I started experiencing these horrible charlie horses in my calf muscles and nerve pain doing down my legs behind my knee. I have starting eating bananas all the time to hopefully help with this. Other than these symptoms, we are enjoying watching/feeling this little girl move around in my tummy. I put some Phil Wickham music to my belly the other day and she went crazy. I don't know if she liked in or not? All I know is I got kicked/punched for like 5 minutes in a row. I loved just watching my belly go crazy!

We did finally talk about names the other day and I think we have both decided on a name we like! Once it is final, I'll be sure to post! Here are some catch up pics of my baby belly. Sorry, no head shots, it's always late when I remember that I havn't taken any pics.

                                                  HALF WAY THERE....20 Weeks!

                                             21 Weeks

                                                   Front view...21 Weeks

                                           22 Weeks

                                          22 Weeks

We have 3 weeks until spring break! During that week, I will want to start working on the nursery, registering for baby items, cleaning out closets, a deep house cleaning, catching up with friends, and the list goes on. Can't wait!

Have an awesome week, it's supposed to be in the 70's once again! LOVE IT!

The next time I...

It is definitely Monday!  My race season is officially in full swing.  I haven't had a Monday like this in a long time.  It's the type of Monday where you are coming off of a really tough weekend of racing and you're exhausted and your legs hurt...a lot!  Enough complaining, I chose to ride and race my bike right?  Even still, I've got a little extra "hop" in my step. I've got a bit more "float" if you will. I placed decently in yesterday's race taking 8th place.  Generally thoughts of the race would consume my trip back home.  I'd ask things like, how could I have done better?  What were some things I did well?  Who beat me that I felt shouldn't have?  Who didn't beat me that I can say I'm proud to have beat?  Yesterday's drive home was different.  I stopped and thought to myself, when this race comes around next year, I'll be a daddy!  I went to the dentist last Monday and that's what got this train of thought started.  When I went to schedule my next cleaning, the lady said "you know the next time you visit us you'll have a little girl". It hit me...hard! Man what a feeling!  So that's the way I've been thinking about things here lately.  I'll take an event and think to myself, the next time I do this or that, will I be a daddy?  What a joy  What a blessing!  And from what I've been told I still have no idea.  I'm ready.  We're halfway!  Keep journeying with us!  Keep praying!  Thanks for reading.