This morning was our first appointment with one of the four midwives that are at the practice I am going to. We were very excited and had been looking forward to the appointment all week. Today was the big day when we were supposed to hear the heartbeat for the very first time!

We got there right on time and anxiously waited to go back into the exam room. Sharon, the midwife we met with today, did mention that at this early stage (11.5 weeks) it’s still sometimes hard to find the baby’s heartbeat. After she finished the other parts of the exam she said, “Ok, let’s find this baby.” She searched and searched with the monitor and just couldn’t find the heartbeat. She would find my heartbeat and point out how slow it was and told us that we would know when we heard the baby’s because it would be almost twice as fast. She searched for probably a good 5 minutes and said, “Well, I guess you’re having a boy, because he’s already being stubborn!” I was a little nervous, but didn’t say anything. Tommy spoke up and said, “Brea’s birthday was yesterday and we were sure hoping that she’d get to hear the heartbeat for her birthday present. Could you try a little bit more?” So she continued to search for another 5 minutes or so and then finally gave up and said, “You know what, our office next door has a sonogram machine, so we’ll just go over there and see if we can find that baby!”

Tommy and I looked at each other and were instantly ecstatic! We hadn’t expected this and couldn’t get up fast enough! We trekked across the hall and I got up on the exam table. She squirted that goo on my belly and turned on the machine. Right away we saw a little blob, just moving around like crazy. Those images are so hard to make out and so I didn’t want to say “There’s the baby!” if it was just my kidney or something. Luckily though, she said, “Yep, there it is!” The baby was moving around so fast that we couldn’t even believe it was true. It was honestly the most amazing thing I have ever seen in my life. If ever for one second up to this point I hadn’t really “felt” pregnant, all that flew out the window in that moment. We could even see the baby wiggling its fingers! She snapped a couple of quick pictures for us and at first glance you can’t really tell what is what. The first one you can see the head pretty clearly on the left side and then on the second one you can see the head, belly, and arms/legs pretty distinctly. I made marks on the second pic so the different areas are easier to identify!

After we left the midwives office, we went and had lunch. Tommy was already acting like a proud dad — showing the pics to all of the waitresses at the restaurant. They were all very sweet and acted like they could totally tell what the picture was!

Even tonight, more than 12 hours later, we are still staring at the pictures in amazement. We made this little person that is growing inside of me. WOW. God is great, isn’t He?

Today, as I am entering into my 29th year of life, I thought it would be fun to reflect back on the different stages of my life. Hope you enjoy this little walk down memory lane.

29 years ago: The year was 1979. I was born into a wonderful loving family — I’m sure my brother had no idea what to expect!

25 years ago: The year was 1983. I don’t remember much, since I was only 4 years old, but I’m sure I enjoyed the typical 4 year old’s life — playing with friends and family and having a good ole time with few worries!

20 years ago: The year was 1988. I was well on my way through elementary school. This may very well have been the year that I did the Hokey Pokey in the school talent show with my 3 best friends — Chelsea, Jackie, & Andrea. On roller skates, no less!

15 years ago: The year was 1993. I had just finished my last year of middle school and would be entering high school in the fall. I was 14 years old, had my very first boyfriend this year, and of course I just knew we were going to be together forever. WOW, thank goodness the good Lord had His own plans!

10 years ago: The year was 1998. I had just finished my first year of college and boy, what a change from high school it was! I met some people who are still my very best friends to this day. I also fully believed that I was going to meet my future husband in the 3 remaining years there.

5 years ago: The year was 2003. I had graduated from college and had begun the job that I still have today. I worked around the corner from a guy named Tommy that I was “just friends” with. He was definitely not my type and I was still frustrated that I hadn’t found that darn husband yet! My two best friends were married and one had a baby on the way. I was way behind in my “schedule.” My precious niece was also born this year — and subsequently changed my life forever (in a great way!).

4 years ago: The year was 2004. Remember that Tommy guy? Well, it turns out that he was a pretty good guy and my type after all. We began dating at the end of the summer the previous year and in August of that year he asked me to marry him. We planned our wedding for September of the following year.

3 years ago: The year was 2005. Tommy and I got married and started this crazy, wild ride of life together. I was so happy and couldn’t imagine my life any differently. We decide that we want to wait several years to have kids and just want to enjoy this time together alone as husband and wife.

2 years ago: The year was 2006. I sold my condo when we got married and we had been living in apartments ever since. We decided that we wanted to get into a house soon and made the choice to build our dream home. We started that crazy adventure (chronicled here) and it continued on into the next year.

1 year ago: The year was 2007. We finished building our first house and moved into it in March. Shortly after, I experienced a scary bout with depression, but finally worked my way through it. YEA! We started attending Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University and began paying off our debt in preparation for starting a family.

Today: The year is 2008. We are expecting our first baby on December 31st of this year. I think I can safely say that my life will be completely different at this time next year. I can’t wait.

**Forgot to add that my great friend Jenn did a sweet birthday post for me on her blog. Thanks Jenn — love you!

1. Morning sickness is a very strange phenomenon. Apparently it can cause you to change your opinion of Sonic chili-cheese coneys in a matter of hours. As in, I ate them for 3 days straight, then was on my way there again for lunch. I pulled up and saw the picture of it on the menu and nearly threw up right then and there. So sad. (Don’t worry Michelle, I am still using the Sonic gift card for lemon-berry slushes — they haven’t made me gag yet!)

2. What goes in comes back out. However, it might very well take days and/or weeks. Your digestive system will laugh at you if you try to assist it.

3. Pregnancy fatigue is unlike any other sort of fatigue. People kept warning me and I was like, yeah, sure, ok. And then it hit me in about week 9. Oh my goodness, I am apparently someone’s grandmother now. Someone’s grandmother who goes to sleep at 7:30pm. After a nap at 5:30pm.

4. Any sort of food smell that you are not currently eating or craving will cause you to gag. Visibly. Case in point — I was taking a nap on the couch the other afternoon. I WOKE UP to the smell of garlic as it was taking over my nostrils. The garlic woke me up. That’s powerful. Perhaps it was also due to the fact that Tommy used AN ENTIRE BOTTLE of garlic powder on his spaghetti. I am not kidding — the entire house reeked for the rest of the night.

5. The smell thing isn’t only limited to food. I was working in the church nursery on Sunday and I walked into a room full of babies. Who were having their diapers changed. All at the same time, apparently. And all had pooped. Oh wait, there was actually only one baby with a dirty diaper, but my sense of smell was totally begging to differ. I excused myself quickly.

Well, when I logged into WordPress tonight I went straight to my Dashboard to see when it was that I posted last — I just knew it was going to be over a month ago! Much to my surprise, the last post was on May 15, so I didn’t quite get to the 1 month mark yet. Go me!

I keep meaning to get on and post something, but then I procrastinate and it gets too late and I need to go to bed — and so then it ends up never getting done.

Anyway, enough rambling! I have big enough news to share that I was able to put aside my laziness procrastination and post! Are you ready? Have you already figured it out yet?
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
WE ARE PREGNANT!!!

Yes, you read that correctly! As of today I am approximately 10 weeks and 5 days pregnant, according to all those fancy conception calendars. That means that my due date is December 31, 2008. Oh my goodness — I think it’s safe to say that no one is getting Christmas presents this year. Well, except for us — we are getting a BIG one. Haaaa, I’m only slightly kidding, of course!

Anyway, we ended up getting pregnant on pretty much the first try. Apparently all we have to do is look lovingly at each other and BOOM, I am with child. We actually were thinking that it would take a few months, at the very least. I have no idea why I thought that — I guess it just sounds like that’s what normally happens, but noooo, not so with us. Wanna hear something hilarious? When I was late, the thought didn’t even enter my mind that I might be pregnant. I just thought my body was still adjusting from coming off the pill. So I was actually almost an entire week late before I thought that I’d go ahead and take a pregnancy test. I actually thought to myself, “Well, I’ll just take it so I can get the negative and be done with it.” Yes, I am quite clueless.

Needless to say, Tommy was rather speechless when I came and shoved the positive test in front of his face as he made our morning coffee (that I now couldn’t drink). He literally tried to talk, but words wouldn’t come out! It was hilarious. The first thing that he was able to say was “Go take a brand name test!” You see, pregnancy tests are expensive and so I had stocked up on dollar store tests. Yes, you can buy ANYTHING at the dollar store. So, I gulped down a bottle of water and we took the First Response test. Yep, there was no denying that I was preggers. Keep in mind that this was on a Tuesday morning before work. That didn’t keep us from just sitting there forever, staring at the two positive tests and at each other with these huge, goofy grins on our faces!

If you are trying to do calculations, the day that I found out I was pregnant was Tuesday, April 29th. So, at that point, I was already considered 4 weeks and 6 days pregnant. I also found out that day that the baby’s liver had already begun to function. WHOA.

Talk about a surreal couple of weeks. We shared the news that night with our immediate family, but waited until last week to share the news at work. Now that it’s all out in the open, it sure does make it feel more real. We had our first appointment on May 30th, but that was only with the nurse to get all the necessary paperwork completed. This Friday will be our first appointment with the midwife and we’ve been told that we will get to hear the heartbeat. I think that it will definitely sink in at that point!

Health-wise, I’ve actually been feeling pretty good. Weeks 6 and 7 were a little rough with the morning sickness, but I never actually got SICK, just very nauseous all morning long. I’ve found that I can’t eat as much as I used to in one sitting, but rather have to break it up into multiple small meals throughout the day. Luckily, the morning sickness is pretty much done at this point. I was very blessed to have it so mildly — so many women I know have had horrible times with it. I’ve had some other uncomfortable side effects of being pregnant though, so I’m not getting off scot-free. And no, I won’t go into the details of those here, at least not at this point. If you’d like to chat about pregnancy side effects, feel free to email me. I could use some tales of woe from other women who have “been there, done that!”

If you are interested in following along with our pregnancy, you can do so via this calendar. It is customized with my personal pregnancy timeline, along with the actual dates, so it is very easy to follow.

Also, in case you were having any doubts, here is the proof from that wonderful Tuesday morning…

I’m really late in posting this, but hopefully I’ll get it up in time to be included in the challenge! This is the first challenge over at Stamp Something and it’s a good one!

Here were the instructions:
“Challenge yourself to try something entirely new. Attempt a new layout or color combination or a new technique or fancy fold/card style that you’ve been wanting to try but have been putting off. You could also just keep with the theme of “Firsts” and make a card for a first birthday, a first baby, a first house, a first car, or any other first you can think of.”

So, in my card, I used the method of stamping with acrylic paint for the first time! (I found this technique via Pine is Here and I LOVE it!)

Check out all the other creations over at Stamp Something!

*Items Used:
Cardstock: Kraft cardstock — Hobby Lobby, Lemon Tart & Spring Moss — Papertrey Ink
Stamps: Polka Dot Basics, Garden of Life — Papertrey Ink
Ink: Light Buttermilk acrylic craft paint — DecoArt, Spring Moss & Summer Sunrise — Papertrey Ink
Ribbon: Twill — Taylored Expressions

I’m just posting my card quickly, then off to get a pedicure! I’ll come back later and include the supplies I used for my card.

Make sure to check out all of the other great cards over at Kristina’s!

*Items Used:
Cardstock: Blue, Orange, & White — Hobby Lobby
Stamps: Train — Target $1 bin, Baby Boy — Jo-Ann, Polka Dots — Papertrey Ink
Ink: ColorBox Frost White pigment ink, Staz-On Jet Black ink, PaintBox ink pads (for the train colors)
Ribbon: American Crafts
Brads: Jo-Ann Scrap Essentials
Other: Medium corner punch, Jo-Ann Craft Essentials white embossing powder, LePlume blending pen

My friend Lauren just announced that she is on the Design Team for a new Challenge Blog!!

It is called Stamp Something Challenge Blog and they will be listing a new challenge every Friday, beginning May 9! Go check it out — I can’t wait to see the first challenge!

My sister-in-law Lesa had Lasik surgery this morning and so the whole family headed over, armed with pizza, to see her tonight. Of course, I had to make her a card before we went, so here is what I came up with!

I suppose I could have used the “Get well soon” sentiment, but it wasn’t like she had an illness, so I just didn’t think it sounded right. Of course, as soon as I showed it to Tommy, he said, “Oh, so you are hoping that her eyes grow?” DOH! Nonetheless, when I gave it to her, she just loved it and so it was a success. I must say, this might be one of my most favorite cards I have ever made!

*Items Used:
Cardstock: Berry Sorbet, Spring Moss, & Sweet Blush — Papertrey Ink
Patterned Paper: Pink Patterns (pretty pink petals) — Papertrey Ink
Stamp: Garden of Life — Papertrey Ink
Ribbon: American Crafts
Brads: Jo-Ann Scrap Essentials
Other: Small corner punch, Sakura white gel pen, PaintBox ink pad
* I haven’t been posting this info with my cards until today — but I have found this info so useful on other people’s postings, that I am going to start doing it from now on!

This has been a crazy week, with Tommy being out of town (he’s finally home!), but I made time tonight to join in on this week’s Color Inspiration Challenge over at Kristina’s.

Also, I don’t have Stampin’ Up products, so I am improvising using the colors I do have.

Make sure to check out all of the other awesome cards that have been submitted for this challenge!

I’m passing this along from over at BooMama’s place, in honor of World Malaria Day, which is Friday, April 25th.

It’s called Bite Back, and you can read more about it over there.

Basically, if you donate $10, you can provide a mosquito net for a child - or a family, if they’re all sleeping in the same place - who otherwise would have no protection from this completely preventable disease — malaria.

If you can spare $10, please consider clicking here and making a one-time donation.