6 weeks

This week started off with my sister's birthday. We went out to this amazing Mexican restaurant, which makes the BEST margaritas! There was a large group of people there and half of them didn't know I was prego. AJ and I worked out a plan to order a virgin margarita from the bar and use having to work the next day as an excuse to have only one. My Aunt, who has a sixth sense about pregnancy has been asking my mom EVERY DAY if I was pregnant. She was the one person I was most trying to fool. Worked like a charm! After dinner my mom told me my aunt leaned over and said "Amy's drinking, she's not pregnant, damn!" 

My dad came to dinner and this was the first time I was able to see him in person since we found out. A little back story-my parent's are divorced and my mom is remarried to my awesome step-dad and my dad has an incredible girlfriend. If I say "my parents" I'm talking about my mom and step-dad, otherwise I'll just say "my dad". Anyways, back to dinner. I wanted to tell my dad, but didn't want to overshadow my sister's birthday so I waited until we were leaving. I told him I wanted to show him a picture I took and showed him the PREGNANT stick. He was crazy excited for us! First thing he wanted to know was if we were planning on finding out the sex of the baby because he needed to figure out if he needed Pink or Black motorcycle outfits. P.S. My dad's a big Harley guy. I got a text from my dad's gf the next day telling me how happy she and my dad were and that my dad got very little sleep because of his excitement. The best part of having divorced parents is that my baby will have 2x the grandparents and 2x the love! 

Later in the week was Thanksgiving. AJ and I spent the afternoon at my parent's house with my mom's side of the family and the evening at AJ's grandparent's house. Had to stay incognito at my mom's because we are waiting until our big Steal-a-Gift party to tell everyone else we're preggers. I had two mimosas, sans champagne and my Aunt Becky still grilled my mom after we left. Good thing this party is in two weeks because it's getting harder to hide every day.

We told AJ's grandparents, uncles, and sister later that night. I realized that when Baby J is born s/he will be the 5th generation in AJ's family, s/he will have two great-great grandmothers! How lucky our baby will be! Of course the grandparents were thrilled with our news, but his grandma wasn't thrilled with sounding that much older because she was going to be a great-grandma. My new sister-in-law was so excited to be an Aunty!

After a long day of stuffing my face I was wiped out! This was the first year I've missed Black Friday shopping. This little baby just requires way too much energy from me! The rest of the weekend was spent hanging out at home and decorating for Christmas, my favorite time of the year! Next year we'll have a new stocking to hang with Baby J's name!

 

On Sunday we had our second annual Friendsgiving. Most of our friends already heard the big news, but there were a special few that we still hadn't told. This event is becoming a big deal with AJ and me, last year we announced our engagement and this year we were thankful for our Baby J. It's amazing what can happen in one year, we are truly blessed!

 

The end of week 6 was not my favorite, I caught a cold. BOO! Apparently my immune system is running low so that I don't fight off my baby, a great thing, but at the same time it also doesn't fight off any bugs. Having a cold and not being able to take anything for it is no bueno. I've been overdosing on orange juice, water, and sleep; lots and lots of sleep.

 

I don't have a picture this week-time flies when you're having fun!

 

Only 34 weeks left!

 

How Far Along: 6 Weeks
Total weight gain: +/- 2 lbs
Maternity clothes? Still rocking the belly band. Bought a pair of maternity jeans at Old Navy, can't beat a sale!
Stretch marks? Nope
Sleep: Waking up every night around 1am having to pee.
Best Moment of the Week:  Getting to stuff my face and not care!!
Miss Anything? I really miss coffee and not it's making me sick to even think of drinking it.
Movement: None
Food cravings: A lot of things are starting to sound very unappetizing, but nothing is starting to sound really good yet.
Anything making you queasy or sick: A lot of things just don't sound good anymore. Peanut butter crackers and toast are now on my "makes me sick" list.
Gender: Can't wait to find out, I want to start picking out decor for the baby's room.
Labor Signs: None
Symptoms: Still pretty tired, wonderful bloating, waves of nausea, and highschool style acne.
Belly Button in or out? In
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy and tired.
Looking Forward To: Our first Christmas party-Ugly Christmas Sweater Party!

 

 



We're Pregnant!

What a year it's been. In the last year, AJ and I got engaged, 8 months later we were married, and now we're pregnant! 

It all started on November 25th, 2011 when AJ proposed after a long night of Black Friday shopping. He had made me breakfast, which I thought was a thank you for spending all night out in the cold with all the crazies, but he had other plans in mind. After breakfast we made our way to the couch to look at all the good stuff I had bought. AJ snuck off to the office and changed the music we were listening to to Train's "Marry Me" song. Oblivious me, I just kept looking at all presents until AJ asked me to call over our dog, Gus Gus. When I called his name he ran over and jumped all over me and the couch and that's when I saw it, a bright green (my favorite color) ribbon with a very sparkly diamond ring tied to it. Of course, I immediately became a blubbering idiot and AJ had to wrestle down Gus Gus to grab the ring. He got on one knee and proposed and of course I said YES!

Since it was the holidays, I didn't really get into wedding planning mode until January, but once I started, I couldn't be stopped. In one day, I found the prefect wedding dress and the perfect venue! We booked our venue on January 7th and had just over 8 months to plan. Thanks to my amazing husband, bridal party, and my Mom the planning went smoothly and we had ourselves one amazing wedding on September 15, 2012. Our wedding was just breathtaking, I wouldn't have changed a thing. The best part was being surrounded by our incredible family and friends!

After all the hard work that made our wedding so fantastic, AJ and I spoiled ourselves with an all-inclusive honeymoon to Antigua in the Caribbean. Our honeymoon started off a bit rocky, but it left us with a story we will never forget. We were due to fly out the day after the wedding and land the following day in paradise. We boarded our flight on time Sunday night, but never made if off the runway; our plane had a computer malfunction. No big deal, we had a 6 hour layover in Miami so now we had that time to kill in San Fran. We boarded our next flight 4 hours later and again, never made it off the runway. Different plane and different malfunction. I know, I know, thank goodness this was found on the ground, but could this be any more frustrating?! The next two flights both made us miss our connecting flight in Miami so we decided to stick it out in San Fran. After hours of rescheduling flights and waiting for our bags, we finally headed off to a hotel, courtesy of the airline. We got to the hotel at 5am and had to be up and out by noon for checkout-of course the airline only puts us up in a hotel for the rest of that day. So after a short 5 hours of sleep we headed back to the airport. We had our flight scheduled for 8:40 that night and that flight was already delayed until midnight. Luckily we were able to fly out at 8 to Los Angeles and catch the next flight to Miami. We finally made it to Miami Monday night and took the short flight to Antigua where we touched down in paradise on Tuesday. The resort was very accommodating and tacked our missed day onto the end our trip-we got the full 7 days!

The rest of the week was spent stuffing our faces with delicious food, drowning in rum drinks, and practicing our baby making skills! Oh what a trip!!

The honeymoon was our first attempt at making babies and not just practicing, but I think all the rum must have made us sterile that week. No such luck first time around, but no reason to get discouraged. I knew this could be a long process, but something definitely worth the wait! Plus, practice makes perfect!!

I have wanted kids for as long as I can remember, but it's only been about three years that I've known I was ready for kids. I promised myself and AJ that I wouldn't get all OCD about trying for kids, it was a process that just takes time. So after our first bust I was only bummed, but not upset. I just wanted the awesome story of saying we got pregnant on our honeymoon! 

I'm always aware of when I'm fertile, but only because I track my periods and up until September 15th, I'd been AVOIDING getting knocked up! So it just so happened that I initiated fun time a little more often a certain week of the month. And...Ta-Da it worked, 2nd time's the charm! 

A week before my period was due I started getting a lot of dizzy spells, which was a normal occurance for me, but not in this quantitiy. Stupid me, this is the one "You're Prego" symptom I wasn't aware of. I just assumed something was going on, but was not expecting it to be from a little bean growing inside of me. As the RED dot on my calendar drew nearer I noticed my boobs were starting to hurt, but I didn't want to get my hopes up until I was actually late. 

I woke up on 11/10, Aunt Flo's due date, and had insane pain in my tatas so I decided to take a test. I saw a + immediately and became a smiling, giggling, very overwhelmed, proud wife and now momma. I immediately woke up AJ and showed him the test. AJ looked confused for a second, but then smiled. He showed some hesitation because the + was very light. I thought a + was a + no matter how dark or light. I was a little upset at his reaction, but I understood his questioning.

I had a girls day planned with my mamma so I had to keep quiet until I knew for sure. After what felt like forever, I dropped off my mom and headed straight for the store. I wasn't taking any chances this time, I bought the most expensive test that reads PREGNANT/NOT PREGNANT. Even though I'm married and actually trying to get pregnant, it still felt like I needed to hide the test or be ashamed. Guess those previous scares stuck with me. 

Anyways, as soon as I got home I took the test and waited....and waited...and then it happened...PREGNANT was blinking all over the screen! It was official, AJ and I were going to have a baby!! This time AJ showed true excitement!

We have our first appointment on Dec 6th, which feels like an eternity away, but I guess Dr. don't want to see you until you're 8 weeks. So now I wait and grow more and more anxious about this little baby growing inside of me! I can't wait to tell everyone, we've only told our parents and very close friends. We plan on telling everyone else on Christmas when we're 11 weeks along. This adventure is going to be amazing and I can't wait to meet our little bundle of joy!   

5 weeks!

Last week flew by, but I doubt that's how the rest of this 9 months is going to be. This week we told AJ's parents and two of our close friends. AJ thought the best way to reveal it to his parents was to tell them we were getting another puppy, but it wouldn't be born for another 8 months. Let me back up, AJ and I are the crazy owners of 4, that's right, FOUR dogs. We love them all to pieces, but 4 indoor dogs is enough to make any sane person crazy! His mom picked up on it right away and was overjoyed for us. Her only complaint was having to keep quiet until we tell AJ's sister who comes home from college for Thanksgiving. 

On Friday we went out to dinner with the the beefy, her boytoy, her sister, and her BIL (brother-in-law). Her sis and BIL are two of our very close friends and were two of our 14 person bridal party. They are semi-new parents to the most adorable 10 month old little girl. We are so excited for our baby and their baby girl to be the best of friends. I knew she had been askng my BFF if I was pregnant for a couple of weeks so having a glass of water with dinner was probably going to give it away. We all typically have a beer (or more) when we go out so I knew it'd be a dead giveaway. BUT she never picked up on it. We started talking about our Black Friday shopping plans and what deals they got last year at Babies R Us. I told her maybe I should go there and stock up on some diapers and wipes and instead of figuring it out she just looked at me like I was a crazy person who was WAY to prepared for a future baby. Finally she just asked if I was pregnant and of course we said YES! They are so happy for us and can't wait for their daughter to have a new friend!

We are only 35 weeks away!

How Far Along: 5 Weeks
Total weight gain: +/- 2 lbs -I typically fluctuate a lb up or down
Maternity clothes? Had to buy a belly band-my pants fit just right before you add a growing uterus to the mix
Stretch marks? Nope
Sleep: Still exhausted and waking up in the middle of the night for no reason
Best Moment of the Week: Telling my in-laws and our friends and getting to shop around in the maternity section
Miss Anything? Diet Coke and being able to have a beer when we go out to dinner
Movement: None
Food cravings: No continuous cravings, but on Thursday night I HAD to have a baked potato and AJ made it happen
Anything making you queasy or sick: Nothing this week, but I've read it may not kick in until the next week or so
Gender: I want a girl, but every time I talk about the baby I catch myself saying him
Labor Signs: Nope
Symptoms: Still exhausted, few dizzy spells, sore boobs, and really bad sciatica pain -thank goodness I can still take Tylenol
Belly Button in or out? In
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy, with one or so minor mood swings
Looking forward to: My sister's birthday and Thanksgiving are next week and I can't wait to pig out and NOT CARE! It'll be hard to avoid the alcohol without the family catching on.  
    

4 weeks

Since we were trying to get preggers, we found out at 4 weeks. First things first, I signed up for all the baby sites to start tracking all the amazing things happening to this little bug inside of me. We called our Dr and scheduled our first appointment for Dec 6th and I started taking my prenatal vitamins. BARF-that's exactly what I did the first time I took those nasty vitamins, but dummy me, I took them on an empty stomach. In BIG BOLD print on the front of the bottle it says "Take with food" and now I know why. Won't be making that mistake again.

Next thing we did was tell my best friend-she'll often be referred to as bestie, beefy, DBSCHK2 or just BFF. We didn't really have a choice when it came to telling my BFF; she'd been tracking my period all month so she knew the weekend was going to be our make or break point. I was in the middle of telling the hubby that it would be impossible for me to keep it from her when she text me and asked if she was going to be Aunty Birdy again? If I had tried lying, she would have known, even through text message so instead I just sent her a pic of my PREGNANT test. She was just as happy and surprised it happened that fast as we were.

Next was deciding how we were going to tell our parents and when. Since Thanksgiving was around the corner I wanted to wait and do something special for them that day. Not sure who I was trying to kid, there was no way I was going to keep this secret for two weeks. The day after we found out, we were headed to a Turkey Shoot with the family and of course I told my parents and sister right away! I had to break it to them that AJ and I wouldn't be making it to our annual family camping trip in July because we'd be 9 months pregnant. To no surprise, my mom LOST it, which then made me cry for the first time.

I'm taking weekly pictures to track my growing belly (and everything else) and I keep seeing this survey on all the prego blogs so I'll also update this for everyone. Only 36 weeks to go!

How Far Along: 4 Weeks
Total weight gain: 0lbs
Maternity clothes? None yet
Stretch marks? No more than those pesky ones I already am the proud owner of
Sleep: I can't get enough of it-I'm exhausted!
Best Moment of the Week: Seeing the + sign and PREGNANT on the two tests I took!
Miss Anything? Caffeinated coffee and Diet Coke
Movement: None
Food cravings: Nothing yet
Anything making you queasy or sick: Just prenatal vitamins on an empty stomach
Gender: Can't wait to find out-leaning towards a girlLabor Signs: NopeSymptoms: Exhausted beyond belief, dizzy spells and sore tatas
Belly Button in or out? In
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time: HAPPY!
Looking forward to: Telling the rest of our family and friends!