Week 7/8!

March 28th

Baby M is the size of Wild Strawberry this week and weighs about .04 oz! Baby M's brain is growing like crazy this week and is starting to form cartilage that will develop and harden into bones!

How's Mama? I still haven't gained any weight yet (no surprise with all the nausea!) however, my belly grew 1/2 inch! So did my butt....LOL. Everything else is the same :D Nausea is still in full force and I'm still exhausted, have very sore breasts, heightened sense of smell and some more acne. I swear I really do love being pregnant :D I am growing a HUMAN. My baby. All the other stuff is just details :D 

This is not the best outfit to get these pictures in, but I still thought it was cute :D

Highlights this week! This week was amazing. We had our first ultrasound!!!!!!!! I was so nervous the night before it. I was praying that everything would be okay. After I prayed, Carter ran up to me, sniffed my belly and gave it kisses. Ummm- how cool is that? I knew that it had to be a little sign from God that everything was okay. Either that or I spilled some food;D 

Our first appointment was pretty basic. I met with the nurse for a minute for her to ask some questions and then we waited for the ultrasound room to be available. When we finally got in there, the nurse practitioner was pretty quick. We didnt have much time to ask her many questions, but that was really for next time. While we were waiting for her to get the baby on the screen, I felt like time stood still. I was so nervous. What if there wasnt actually a baby? What if there wasnt a heartbeat? What if there were 2?! Holding John's sweet hand, she found our little baby and we got to hear the heartbeat. Of course I cried. John was in awe. Everything was perfect. There are no words. We got to see our precious little baby and hear his or her heartbeat. It was 144!! SO FAST! How amazing. Seriously, just so amazing. In a moment like that, I am just in awe of what God is capable of. 

We found out I was a little further along than I thought, and because I was within a week of the due date from what a person with a normal cycle would be, they didnt change it. SO, this is the 7 and 8 week update! I have a feeling I'll be late based off this information. lol. Lots of questions for our next appointment, which is April 26th. So exciting! The nurse practitioner also told us that because the baby had such a strong heartbeat that the risk of miscarriage has dropped significantly. She said it's never 0% and we are down to 5%! Praise the Lord! Such a weight lifted off my shoulders! (I still check the toilet paper every time I pee though). 

John and I celebrated by going to lunch at Ruckus and then we both had to go to work. He let me take the ultrasound pictures with me. Of course, like a proud mama I showed them around my office :D Most of them had to be looped in on my being pregnant because of how sick I've been. It was too hard to hide. So it was exciting. The afternoon ended with a LOT of throwing up :(. Nothing could ruin my day though :D 

 My little baby! Baby M still has tail! :D

John's Birthday was the next day!!! What an awesome birthday present-we might not have been able to go to Puerto Rico, but hearing our baby's heartbeat is definitely the best present ever. On John's birthday, we celebrated by grabbing dinner with his parents and my mom and shared all the baby pics :D Proud grandparents for sure!

Happy Birthday John!!! :D Carter, Baby M, and I love you!! :D (notice the sea bands, the nausea is rough!)

This weekend I worked my last shift at PNC and went bridesmaids dress shopping with Britt! My dress is so pretty and she was super sweet to let me pick out one that I felt comfortable in when all the other girls are wearing the same dress. :D I did get sick at the store :( and didnt make it to lunch. Instead I took a 3 hour nap before my last shift at PNC. Everyone at PNC knows now and everyone was so nice! I had someone get me popcorn and someone else get me some bread pudding (it's all homemade and to die for!). Seriously, everyone loves a pregnant lady! :D 

Week 6!

March 21st

Baby M is the size of a ladybug this week! How appropriate!!

This week Baby M is starting to form his or her eyes and cute little nose! 

How's Mama this week? About the same. Lots of nausea. Lots of it. Same heightened sense of smell, tender breasts, cramping, and just overall exhaustion. They keep telling me the nausea is a good sign- so I'll take it. :D Anything for a healthy little one! 

This week has definitely been the most challenging so far. I threw up because of food for the first time. I tried to make myself eat some yogurt to get the calcium and I just wasnt feeling it. I ate it anyway. They tell you not to do that- and now I know why. Just the smell of yogurt turns my stomach now. Unfortunately, I work in a cubicle and my neighbor loves yogurt. I've had to quietly get up and leave whenever she eats it. Pollen struck with a vengeance this week too. Apparently, when you're pregnant any allergies you have can become much worse. I felt so bad on Wednesday and I couldnt stop sneezing (annoying everyone at work, I'm sure) I ended up having to take a Zyrtec. NOTHING was going to help, so I caved. I felt MUCH better after a nap and a few hours later.

How's Daddy? Daddy (along with Mommy) is still bummed we are not going to Puerto Rico. BUT we did celebrate his birthday big with a few days off and a quick trip to the beach! See below! He's also doing a magnificent job taking care of me :D

Highlights from the week: This week we were supposed to have left for Puerto Rico- so John and I were both kind of bummed. More so bummed because being on vacation sounded much nicer than working. haha. We decided to take Thursday and Friday off anyways and spend some time relaxing- we both needed it bad. 

Thursday I planned a fun little get away for us to celebrate John's birthday early! :D I planned a fake Puerto Rico day in Wilmington. We got up kind of early and headed down there. Our first stop was Wilmington Brewing Company and John was able to sample a few beers. I had a root beer and I usually hate root beer. It was delicious. Pregnancy is so weird. lol. Our next stop was San Juan Cafe for lunch! I found it on Yelp and it had great reviews. It was just a little hole in the wall, but the food was AMAZING. 

Next stop was the beach! Duh! We spent a few hours lounging on the beach, enjoying the weather. It was actually a perfect beach day. Just warm enough and the water wasnt even that chilly! We also played bocce. It was such a nice time and Baby M got to enjoy his or her first trip to the beach! Mommy even got in!

On our way  home we stopped and got some tacos from a new place near our house and then started to binge on Game of Thrones (we wanted to re-watch the last two seasons). I was very lucky that I didnt really get sick until we got home!!! Thank goodness!! :D

Friday we lounged all day. Which was good because Friday was really rough for me. Bless John's heart. He's been taking such good care of me. We watched a lot of Game of Thrones and I basically stayed on the couch most of the day. The Weavers invited us over for dinner, so we did make it over there for the night. We hadnt told them yet, so we stopped and bought some stuff to take over- Cinnamon rolls and pickles. When we walked into their house, we told them what we brought thinking it would hint at the news and instead Becca was like YES! I love both of those things.....hahaha. Fail. John was like "OH, it's a new craving for Anna....must be the baby!" and all sorts of celebrations :D They also shared with us that they ARE MOVING DOWN THE STREET FROM US! Literally 2.5 miles! SO EXCITING! We also got to take Carter with us over there and he made two new friends- which he'll get to start playing with more in May! YAY! 

Saturday was rough again, I just keep telling myself this is a good sign!! More Game of Thrones. Friday night when we stopped at the store, we had also gotten some chicken salad- it was delicious. I may or may not have made John take me back to Lowe's to buy more of it. Eating was a struggle and the sound of it was delicious! So off we went. John is such a good hubby :D

Sunday was a little bit better- and it was Easter! We just enjoyed each other's company and made the best of the day :D Our little vacation was awesome- definitely not long enough, but awesome. 

In hindsight, if we were able to go to Puerto Rico- it would have been a terrible week to go. I was WAY too sick and I would have hated to have ruined such an awesome experience. 

Week 5!

March 14th

This week Baby M is the size of a peppercorn!

Crazy how much bigger baby has already gotten!  I'm sure I'll think that every week though :D This week Baby M has grown a tail! haha. Eventually, it will turn into the spine- crazy weird. This week baby is also starting to form his or her heart! It's working on building the 4 different chambers. How is that possible with it being so small!! Other major organs are starting to form also- like the stomach and liver. 

How's Mama? This week I've been doing a little better. I actually lost weight this week and took my measurements for the first time. I have not been as nauseous as last week. I did throw up on Saturday but that was really it. The exhaustion has been incredible. I used to think I was tired before? HA! This is a whole new level of exhaustion. I've been getting home and taking naps and/or going to bed early. It's seriously amazing the level of tired I feel. I've still had the sore boobs, cramping, and frequent need to pee. New this week are headaches. Oh they are not fun. I've also gotten some lovely friends on my face- I look like a teenager with how much I've been breaking out :(.And bloating. I dont know if I've ever really been bloated before, but I'm pretty sure that's what is going on right now. It's a bit uncomfortable. lol.  

How's Daddy? Taking really good care of Mama. He rubs my hair when I need it, gets me food when I need it, really doing everything he can to help :D He's gunna make a great daddy. 

Highlights from the week: Wednesday night the Kinlaws had us over to celebrate with them! She made a delicious veggie enchilada casserole (I'm finding veggies harder and harder to eat). We talked about babies and how exciting it was to pregnant together! After dinner, they surprised us with presents. They are so sweet. Josh gave John an aged Scotch!! and Krystal made me a very cute pregnancy survival kit :D The basket was filled with things I would need during the first trimester (and maybe even beyond). Super cute! It was themed with ladybugs. In the basket was a beanie baby ladybug with a little note that said "For when you need a reminder.... "I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of Him. - 1 Samuel 1:27". Bring on the waterworks. Back in probably December, during my month of being super frantic and worried about not being able to get pregnant, I was sitting at my desk and I saw a little ladybug crawling on my keyboard. For some reason, this brought me such a sense of peace. I dont know why, and I know it sounds crazy, but I felt like it was the Lord and my daddy letting me know that everything would be alright. I told Krystal about it and she remembered months later. I dont know about you, but I have the best best friend in the world. It was super sweet of her to remember and to give me one when I did get pregnant. It's such a nice reminder :D

This week I also worked at PNC on Thursday and Saturday for the NCAA Tournament! Thursday was a LONG day. We had to be there at 10am and didnt leave until about 12am. I ended up having to tell a few people at work so they knew what was going on with me. It was fun to see some live NCAA games and a neat experience. However, I probably wont do it again next year. The day is just too long and NOT worth taking a vacation day over (unless State is there of course! haha). Saturday while I was at work was when I threw up the 2nd time. The fun thing about throwing up at PNC (thankfully I made it to the bathroom) is that the toilets are automatic flush and when you throw up and they flush- it splashes back up on your face. GROSS. Anyways, it's neat that baby has already been to a basketball tourney!

I will say that while some of these symptoms are not awesome, everyone seems to LOVE a pregnant lady and everyone is so nice to me! 

Friday, John got to come have lunch with me! We tried out a place called Burger Bach near my work and it was really good! It was a nice treat to get to see him during the day! 

Pregnancy brain is also very real. I used to think that women played it up and surely if you do get it- it wouldnt be this early?! Nope. It's real and it strikes fast and quick. I locked my keys in the car this week, forgot to make John lunch one day completely and didnt remember until I was making it for the next day, and I forgot to wash the conditioner out of my hair and dried it. LOL. I'm sure this will get frustrating but right now, it's kind of funny. 

Here's to seeing what next week brings!

Week 4!

March 7th

This is crazy. I have a little baby in me. My mind cannot even wrap itself around that thought. I know John's cant either. 

This week, baby is the size of a poppyseed!! 

How tiny!! I cant believe something that small can even be alive, let alone be a baby. Baby M is already developing his or her brain this week too! 

How's Mama? Well, this week there was a lot of cramping still, the heightened senses of smell, very tender boobs, an interesting metallic taste in my mouth, and nausea. The cramping still feels like I'm about to start my period any minute. It's very nerve-racking. TMI- but every time I have to pee (which is a lot more already!!) I check to make sure there is no blood. I'm pretty sure this is normal, but I'll be happy when I'm not so nervous anymore!

I've thrown up once already- this past Sunday. John and I were sitting in the living room and he was rubbing my neck because it was sore. I started to feel pretty nauseous and got up to get a ginger ale. When I did, I barely made it to the sink before I threw up. Yay. But supposedly it's a good sign, so I'll take it :D A few other times at work this week, I've started to feel pretty rough just sitting at my desk and each time so far, I've forgotten that I'm pregnant and I'm trying to figure out what is wrong with me until I remember. haha! It will probably take awhile to get used to. I started to track what I was eating in hopes to figure out a pattern or at least to see if eating helped with the nausea or if certain foods did. We'll see!

How's Daddy? We are both still trying to get used to the idea! This is CRAZY!

Highlights from the week: Monday, I went ahead and told Karen and Lindsay at work. It was going to be way too hard to keep it from them since I walk with them almost every day and they knew we were trying. They were both super excited :D

We told a few other friends this week and called Timmy and Meg to let them know that we had to cancel our Puerto Rico trip. That conversation was really hard. While we are over the moon excited about the baby, we were pretty bummed about cancelling the trip- stupid mosquitoes. UGH. John keeps joking that we are going to call our little girl Zika now. lol. 

Thankfully, because of the stupid outbreak most airlines will refund your money with a doctor's note proving pregnancy. This turned out to be a fun little task this week. While I am so thankful that the airlines will refund my money with a note- that meant I had to figure out which doctor to go to. I know I could have just gone to anyone for the confirmation, but I turned it into a big headache, which turned into a lot of crying on the phone. Those poor nurses. Most of them just laughed at me. I also found out through this adventure that all OBGYNs are considered "Specialty Doctors" with my insurance and the co-pay is a bit higher. Not a super huge deal, but I had spent a great majority of my time trying to find one that wasnt specialty, until I learned they all were. I decided to stick with the OBGYN that I had been going to since we moved back from Miami. I called them on Monday and they were able to see me on Wednesday afternoon. This trip was solely to pee in a cup and let the nurse tell me I was pregnant for the letter. It was awesome. Hearing the nurse confirm my positive pregnancy test was incredible. Made it feel a little more real- at least for a few minutes. lol. With how nice they were (and they didnt even charge me a copay for this visit!) I really felt like I had chosen the right place for all of my prenatal visits :D So that felt good!

To top the week off- I got to work a Garth Brooks concert! It was awesome!! So Baby M has already had the concert experience of one of Mommy and Daddy's favorite artists :D

Here's to hoping for a healthy pregnancy!

Sharing the news!

For YEARS I looked at different ways that we might want to tell our families the good news one day. BUT that all went out the window as soon as that test read yes. John and I celebrated together and started to try to figure out how we were going to tell people. Neither of us wanted to or really could keep it a secret. We were both just way too excited!!!

The first thing we wanted to do was return the favor to Krystal and Josh. We were the first people they told and so we wanted to do the same. We came up with a quick plan to go over to their house- we wanted to borrow their shampooer anyways- and headed over. Krystal was gone. So that foiled our plan. 

We got lucky and Jane texted us and told us that John's grandma would be at their house and they were planning on doing dinner with her and Julie and we were invited! Sweet! Didnt need to make up a lie. lol. We couldnt do dinner, because we had plans to do dinner at the Kinlaws with a bunch of friends, but we would definitely stop by and say hi to grandma! We told them we were running errands out that way anyways. Okay, so a little bit of a lie:D. We figured on the way to their house, it would make sense to stop at my moms first. We made a whole route- first we would stop at my moms, then Jim and Janes, and then go by Julie and Joel's since we wouldnt be there for dinner. Whelp- I called my mom and she was out of town hiking (umm what?) and Joel had to work a really long shift so he was going to be sleeping until he went to work. Well dang. 

We were so overwhelmed with the news and none of our plans working, that we decided to just take a nap and chill for a bit. We laid down on the couch and took a nice long, much needed nap. (Before I fell asleep, I asked John if the shampooer was in the room- I could smell vinegar. HA!- this sense of smell thing is no joke!)

After we woke up, we went on the hunt to find something cute to share the news with. We settled on the cutest pair of NC State baby sneakers (because,duh). Of course Carter came with us and we headed off to Jim and Jane's house! We put the shoes around Carter's collar and John brought him in. Jim and Jane were both in the livingroom and of course got on the floor to pet Carter, so it was perfect. Jim was like- baby sneakers? Jane just stopped and looked at me questioningly. Let me stop here and say that for all the years that we have been married- Jim and Jane have been fantastic about not pressuring us to have kids. Even though we know they probably wanted them awhile ago and will be over the moon excited about this kid, I never once felt pressured by them. For that I will always be thankful to them. I think this is why Jane didnt ask- she just looked at me. John and I smiled big and I said "Yep, we're pregnant!" Oh those sweet, sweet words. :D Of course, everyone was just so excited and we hugged and celebrated :D We were both so happy that Grandma was there too- she was SO excited! I wish I got more pictures, but John and I decided to just be in the moment and enjoy it. So that's what we did.

On the way to share the news with Grandma and Grandpa!

Are they not the cutest things ever!

We hadnt planned on staying for too long, but Julie called and said she would be over about 6pm for dinner. We decided to just stay and show up at the Kinlaws a little late. When Julie walked in- we had prepped Carter again. He ran over to his Aunt Julie and she petted him and we kept trying to get her to notice the shoes, but she just didnt. Finally, Grandma was like- JULIE DO YOU LIKE HIS NEW COLLAR?! So she finally stopped and looked. "ARE Y'ALL PREGNANT?!" Haha, Yep! You're going to have a human niece or nephew now!! All the excitement :D Unfortunately, we had to text a picture to Joel, but I know we wont get to tell everyone the way we want to. 

 Big Brother status :D

After sharing the news with the Martin family, we headed over to the Kinlaws. Our goal was to figure out a way to get the Kinlaws alone, in a house full of people. HA. We ended up eating dinner first and then I asked Krystal if I could see their new crib! They had just gotten it put together and John and I wanted to see it. I asked kind of quietly so EVERYONE wouldnt want to come. The three of us went upstairs and then John went off to find Josh (we thought he followed us up, but he hadnt.). My job was to stall Krystal in the nursey. It got so bad, I was literally pulling out all the clothes she had in the closest "to make sure I didnt buy her something she already had." haha. Finally, John got Josh upstairs. Krystal had sat down on the floor and John shut the door. John said- "We loved the boots that you used to share with us that y'all were pregnant, we thought we would return the favor." At this point he pulled out the sneakers (Krystal and Josh awwwed). and then he finished "to share with y'all our news." Krystal SHOT up off the floor and gave me the biggest hug and Josh was like- WHAT?! That's awesome!! and hugged John. Then we switched. It was great. :D How awesome to get to be pregnant with your best friend?!

Afterwards, we went downstairs and I did my best to get everyone at the party around the Kinlaw's kitchen. John and I decided that everyone at the party were people we would want to tell soon- so why not tonight?! (I was not drinking and it was gunna become obvious at some point anyways. lol). So John raised a glass and said I wanna make a toast- and honestly all of this is a blur. The shoes came back out and people awwwed over them. About half of them got it and half of them thought the shoes were for the Kinlaws. The best reaction out of all of it was Jenny's. She was like "WAIT- WHAT?! Y'ALL TOO!?!" and ran over and gave me the biggest hug :D We celebrated with all of our friends and it was awesome. 

The day was perfect. 

The next morning, John had a shoot at a church in Wendell for a work project. We had worked it out with my mom to come over to her house afterwards. "Jim and Jane needed to borrow her folding table and chairs for company"- HA!. So off to church we went. It was an interesting experience to say the least. I had been to one other black church in my life, so I kind of knew what to expect, but it was still an experience. John was supposed to interview the pastor. The pastor is also an attorney and the BAR was doing a story about him! We ended up staying through the whole service and let me tell you- we got so many hugs. Everyone in that church was so welcoming! After church, we headed off to my moms house to share the news with her. She and Bob had left to go and pick up a take and bake pizza for lunch. So when we got there, they weren't home. We decided to put the shoes on the counter and I stuck our "yes" pregnancy test in them. We sat them right next to stove so they could see them when they brought the pizza in.

I told John that when they got back to the house that Bob would take the pizza into the kitchen and my mom would come around and hug us. So I figured Bob would see them first. It almost happened that way. Bob took the pizza into the kitchen and we saw him smile real big. My mom had gotten a salad so she was actually putting that down. We got up to go and hug her and then Bob asked her to unwrap the pizza and he would move the oven rack down. Before he did that though, he came over and was giving us a hug. My mom in the meantime- TOTALLY MISSED THE SHOES. She kept looking at us and talking and totally wasnt paying attention. Bob went back to the oven to move the rack and my mom turned to put the pizza on the stove top and stopped. She looked back over at us and was like "NO! ARE YOU SERIOUS?!". We smiled really big and said yes! We are pregnant!! At this moment she starts screaming and Bob drops the rack he was moving and was like WHAT?! hahahaha. We were like- we thought you saw the shoes and knew already?! He was like no! I thought it was just some NC state something and you were giving me a hard time (he's a Carolina fan)!! haha. So we celebrated and ate pizza. 


After we were done eating, we were trying to figure out how we were going to tell my sister and brother. I really didnt want to tell them over the phone, but I didnt know when I'd see either of them and I didnt want to wait real long. We decided my mom would call Sherry and see if she was coming to visit any time soon. So she called and was talking to Sherry (we figured if she called, Sherry wouldnt suspect anything). Sherry wasnt coming any time soon, so John sent her a text of Carter with the shoes. Mom kept asking her if she got the text and Sherry was getting impatient. We all figured she thought my mom got engaged. haha. Then we heard a big scream! YAY! So we told her all about it :D

Next up was my brother. Mom called him and he didnt answer, so she tried again. No answer. She sent him a text that said "call me asap." haha. Poor brother probably had a heart attack. He calls her immediately, and was like- I'm at work, what?! He sounded so impatient. John went ahead and sent the text and my mom asked him if he got it yet. He was like "No, and I cant talk." She said "Well it's really important, it should be there any minute." It took for what seemed like ever. He got so impatient that he told my mom "I have to go, I'll call you back" and hung up. LOL. He calls right back and he's screaming and crying!! He was just so excited. I told him we were sorry for telling him that way but he didnt care at all. He was just so excited to be an uncle :D Afterwards, we sent Britt the picture too and talked to her for a little bit. It was awesome. Not exactly how I always wanted to do it- but our excitement got the best of us and it was perfect :D

Two of a Kind, Working on a Full House

In case you missed it- 

WE. ARE. PREGNANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Like for real! I have decided I want to talk about pregnancy on my blog- the good, the bad, the ugly. I'll try to remember to put a warning up if it's one of the bad or uglies. But know, you might run into some of it:D

The way we found out was not like I expected AT ALL. I thought we would take a test one morning and after trying for a long time it would finally be positive. We would scream and dance and be totally shocked. Nope. Well we did scream and dance and John was shocked. lol. I knew. If you're close to me, you know I used to think I was pregnant all the time. Even though it probably wasnt possible, knowing everything I know now. But this time- it was different! 

When our fertile window hit in February, John and I did all we could do to make it happen this month. I mentioned charting in the last post- this is SUPER helpful for so many reasons. Charting can tell you so much about your body and cycle. It's really amazing. There is mixed research on how often you should do the deed too- some says every other day and others say every day. The time before when we tried, we tried every other day. This month we tried every day in our fertile window (Sorry, parents- TMI! :D). This worked for us, but everyone is different! Anyway, by charting I had become familiar enough with my temperature and body to know exactly what day to expect my period. Luckily, we didnt even have to wait that long though! The last week before my period came, I started to have a really good idea I was pregnant. I am lucky enough to get to work from home on Monday's, so during our lunch Krystal and I take the pups for a walk around our neighborhood (I love this about Monday's). Well that Monday I told her- I'm pretty sure it worked this month. I told her I had been hesitant to say it out loud in fear of jinxing it- and I didnt want to tell John just yet (again, because I ALWAYS thought I was pregnant) and it would be too early to tell. Bless Krystal because she's been a recipient of hearing me be pregnant all the time too. She believed me though (not sure why, and if she was lying she was good at it!). But I told her I just felt different this time. I couldnt describe it. The next two days, I felt weird. Like couldnt eat anything, tired weird. At this point I was like oh, maybe that feeling is just me getting sick- because I can always eat. lol. Ginger ale was the only thing that helped. Thursday, I was like nope- pretty sure I'm pregnant. But then I just had this huge fear of "what if I'm wrong again?". So I tried to push it out of my mind. My period was supposed to start Sunday- so I could have taken an early pregnancy test, but honestly I was too scared and didnt want to put John through that. So I vowed to wait a little longer.

Then Friday came. Here's some TMI, if you want skip ahead. I had been crampy for a few days, my boobs hurt bad, I was exhausted, and had to pee a lot- all signs of starting my period (except the peeing). BUT they were all different. Take the PMS symptoms I just mentioned and multiply them some. I was either pregnant or going to have one of the worst periods ever. Then about lunch time- I started to smell everything. My lunch smelled like straight up broccoli and not in a good way. My co-worker saw my face and asked me what was wrong- I told her I thought the broccoli in my salad was bad. She smelled it and said all she could smell was dressing...ummm. what? lol

A little while later I went to talk to another co-worker and when I got to his desk was assaulted by the smell of mint. Not thinking it might just be me- I was like "what are you eating over here?! It's smells like straight up mint!". I will never forget this. He looked at me, pulled his trashcan out from under his desk and showed me a gum wrapper that he had tossed in there earlier. That was it. ummmm. what? lol At this point, I knew it for sure. I typically have a good sense of smell anyways, but this was insane. 

On my way home from work John called me and asked if I wanted to go out. I didnt want to tell him over the phone. I convinced him we needed to go home first and let the dog out. He obliged and we met up at home a little while later. Traffic was BAD. So it took us both a long time to get there. I got home first and was so nervous to tell him! I didnt have any proof, but I just knew it. I knew he would probably think it was another one of the times I just thought I was again. When he got home, I was in the bedroom with Carter and he comes in to change out of his work clothes. I told him- we can totally go out, but I want you to know that I'm pretty sure I'm pregnant. He was like, Nooooo. I was like- No babe- this time is different. He was like- go take a test!!! I told him that it was too late in the day and it might still be too early for a test to read positive. He told me to take one anyway. (I've never taken a test without him, we decided a LONG time ago that we would always take them together). 

So I went and peed and there was the faintest line you have ever seen in your life. So faint that even I thought it might have been there before- like you can see a spot where the line is supposed to be. Usually, I would have been a little disappointed. But I just knew. I was like- it doesnt matter what this stick says- I'm pregnant. He said okay, we'll check again in the morning. (PS. morning pee is the best pee because it has the most concentrated amount of the hormone that early on). We ended up going out for Italian and then just hanging out at home. We were both exhausted from the long week anyways.

Barely there...(you need a magnifying glass)

The next morning, I work up at 5:30 and had to pee so bad. I didnt want to wake John up that early so I  made myself fall back asleep. 7:30 rolls around and I have to pee even worse. I couldnt fall back asleep that time, so after laying there for awhile I finally woke John up. I went and peed on a stick and we waited the 3 minutes. 3 minutes later, there was another faint line (but darker than the night before). I was SO EXCITED. I was already talking about who we were going to tell and how. John was like- hold up. Are you sure that's positive. I showed him the instructions and the pictures on the instructions of what means it's positive. He was like, you might be! but we have to go get another test. LOL. He didnt want to get excited until we knew for sure. So off to CVS we went. We sprung for the test that literally reads yes or no. We grabbed some breakfast while we were out and headed back home. 

Just a little darker, but definitely there...

After another 3 minute wait- we both looked down at the stick and so very clearly it read "YES." The emotions that ran through me- I cant even describe them. John grabbed me and we hugged and screamed and that part was how I thought it would be. Just amazing. We were going to be parents. I had a baby growing inside of me. All of the emotions. 

So, we are pregnant. We are having a baby!!!!

Our Journey to Parenthood!

When John and I first got married, everyone asked- "When are you gunna have kids?". We always said about 5 years- we want to spend some time together before we take that step. Really enjoy each other's company before we bring kids into the mix. Yadda,  Yadda.

We wanted to live life, travel some, experience as much as we could. And boy- have we lived our lives to the fullest so far. I have no regrets in our decision making. I am very happy with who John and I have become and love everything about our marriage and relationship to one another. 

Seven years later (haha!), John and I finally started talking about starting a family! I know you are never ready for kids- and trust me my freak-out meter is sky high right now! But we really didnt want to have them while I was in grad school, then we didnt want to have them while were in Miami (we really wanted to be around family), then we wanted a house first and more stable jobs. We wanted to be able to provide the best for our children when the time came. 

Due to some of my family history and my crazy cycle (I'll spare the details), we assumed it would take us quite a while to get pregnant. So we decided to go off birth control when my last pack ran out in July. Now, we did not start trying then- I was told by my doctor that we should wait a few months since my cycle is so irregular- let things try to sync back up some. We didnt try, but we also didnt prevent. Knowing what I was up against, I started tracking my cycles so I had some data for when we wanted to get more serious about babies. 

Come October, we were on our EPIC vacation (which, I know we STILL need to post about- shame), we decided that we would go ahead and start trying! It couldnt hurt! So we followed my app, and nothing happened. With my irregular (longer than normal) cycles, we "tried" in November only to actually miss the window. Since I really had no idea about this process- more than just the basics- we decided to start ovulation sticks to start trying to figure out when I was ovulating. There is actually a whole science to this process and it's actually very, very intriguing. If you ever want to talk about it- let me know!

We were able to catch the window the next month and hoped and prayed it work, but knew that it would probably take us a long awhile. We also found out our best friends were pregnant this month- AH!!!! So I REALLY wanted to be pregnant IMMEDIATELY. So much so, it probably wasnt healthy. lol. However, this lead me to research everything I could know about getting pregnant and like I said- the whole process is very interesting. We decided to start charting this month too. Just to have as much information as possible. I also read that if anything is wrong, it's good to have charting information to share with your doctor. It makes it easier to find out what exactly could be wrong. December didnt work out for us either- but at least we knew this time we had done everything we could!

Come January, I missed the window again- surprise super early period that really threw me off. So for February, we were prepared as early as we could be. lol. However, at this point I had really started praying about the entire process. I realized that it is not in my hands whatsoever and the timing will be Lord's completely. I had shared with my sweet cousin that I really wanted to be pregnant with my best friend- that was the dream!! and she told me ever so calmly- the Lord knows your heart, Anna. He can make anything happen (thanks, Christina :D). With that in mind and my new sense of peace about the process, we once again did what we could- but with me way less stressed out. We put it all in God's hands. 

And guess what?

WE ARE PREGNANT! 

WE. ARE. PREGNANT! 

Like WHAT?! It's so crazy. It happened SO fast and IT'S HAPPENING NOW! 

We are so very thankful and blessed the Lord chose us to parent this little baby growing inside of me. Most days it still doesnt seem real (minus all the symptoms!). It's still very, very surreal and I think it will be for some time. 

I cant believe we are going to have a baby!!