25 Weeks!

This one is for you, Melissa:)

I did it...

Yes, I'm growing a baby!!

I'm getting ALOT top heavy! It's incredible. I will take it though. It's so worth it!!

This last week this little ladies movements have gotten much stronger. When she moves others can see my tummy move. In fact, Joanna just saw it happen this weekend. A couple of days ago I was hugging Aaron from the back and she moved, or kicked or whatever she does and Aaron could feel it. I was very excited about that!

We are stocking up her closet and preparing maybe a little too early but the excitement is hard to contain around here. Especially with the kids, o.k. me too:)

24 Weeks!

I had another appointment yesterday....things are cruising along and baby girl is healthy and wiggly as ever. It makes Aaron nervous! As we were laying in bed at about 11:30 last night and she moved 5 times in about a 30 second time period. Aaron said that if the baby is naughty then I will have to trade rooms with Porter:)

I gained 8 pounds in 5 weeks. Whoops!! I'm trying to keep it under control but I am getting rather top heavy!! I guess if I have to gain it that is probably a good place for the weight to go.

We have been ordering lots of cute clothes and get so excited when the packages arrive. We put our little baby's room together and are pretty ready and excited for her arrival. I have felt really good but Aaron has been saying I'm moving a little bit more awkward lately. It's probably true!!

We leave for California tomorrow with Joanna and Jason to jam out to Peter Cetera. I love to just listen to him!!

Hopefully I don't gain 8 more pounds this weekend!!

It's Getting Real....

As Aaron and I were laying in bed getting ready to settle down for the night after a hot date, I put my hand on my tummy and felt our baby girl move on the outside. So, I told Aaron that he might be able to feel her move so he put his hand on my tummy and about 10 seconds later she moved and he said,

"I felt that! I was the first one to feel her move huh?"

It's times like this that I know Aaron really does love this baby growing inside me. He just gets to experience the orneriness of me. Not really feeling what is to come. He was cute to be excited and we are so so excited!! I am excited for the other 4 kids to feel her move.

Our Baby Girl's bedroom furniture and bedding will be here within the next few days and we are going to start decorating.

I can't wait!!!!

Neither can my Madi:)

THE Day!

The day that we had been anticipating for 19 weeks now has finally come and we got to find out the gender of our sweet baby. It started the night before when we were discussing my upcoming Doctor's appointment. Porter asked me to please, please call him at school after my appointment to let him know what it was. I told him no way because I wanted to tell all the kids at the same time. Madi made me PROMISE I would not tell ANYONE before she got home from school. So, against my will I promised and I kept it!! This was hard especially because my sisters helped me plan and prepare the whole day to tell them.

I got to the appointment and Aaron was even there! We waited for about 10 minutes, weighed myself-gained 6 pounds in 6 weeks. Got a sample and met up with Aaron in the ultrasound room to wait for Dr. Winward. I'm not going to lie, I was nervous. I just wanted my little baby to be healthy, then we would move to being nervous about Madi being upset if we were having a boy.

About 5 minutes later Dr. Winward showed up. She measured me and said I was growing "beautifully" I looked at Aaron and asked if he thought the same. He shrugged his shoulders and said, "Sure".

How Sweet!

We then got to work. Dr. Winward squeezed the warm jelly on me and we found our little babe. Everything looked great! About 10 minutes into it she asked what we were hoping for, we both shrugged our shoulders and she put up on the screen "It's A ..." I was thrilled! I think Aaron smiled. Let's be honest.....He doesn't wear his emotions on his sleeves. That is my job.

Our little baby was perfect! The only thing that was questionable was I was on the border for placenta previa. We will do another ultrasound in 8 weeks to see if I am in the clear. The worst that could happen would be that I need to have a C-section. It is very unlikely but I will take that any day over something being wrong with this baby.

When we were done with everything we made our appointment for 4 weeks and headed out to get stuff to surprise my parents and kids to tell them what we were having.

I picked up Brayden and Ryan from school. Of course they wanted to know but I had to tell them they had to wait to find out until Madi and Porter got home. Brayden kept saying it was a boy. We headed up to my parents to blow up balloons and put confetti in them with random letters. Bud then wrote up this poem for them.....

Way cute huh?

We put one on my front door also along with an It's a Girl and It's a Boy balloon.

We anxiously awaited for 3:30 to come and were so excited when we saw them being dropped off. They read the note and walked in the door with a little bit of a confused look on their face.

We got Ry and Brayden home-they were helping brother Stewart scrub his driveway. Then rounded Aaron up-he was talking on the phone-to find out what we were having. When they walked in the family room it looked like this....

Porter decided to kick a balloon just as I took the picture.

Does this surprise you?

Can you tell Madi wants a girl?

They needed to pop all the balloons to see if they could spell out "Boy or Girl"

When Madi first saw the B her face fell because she didn't think I would put any of the girl letters in the balloons at all if it was a boy and vice versa. Then just before they found the "i" she thought the "Q" was an "o". She had all sorts of mixed emotions going on.

It ended up being perfect because they had the letters B, y and G, r,l.

They now either needed an "o" or "i" and this is what they got....

They were so happy and Madi couldn't stop smiling. We are very happy about this!! I guess by my mom and Karen predicting this was a girl they are right!

I can't explain how happy I am. I love to feel her move!

She moved so much during the ultrasound. She even did 2 "poses" for the pictures. One with her hand on her cheek and the other with her cute little hand under her chin. Dr. said she is already a drama queen. We'll see:)

I love being pregnant with this little girl but I can't wait to hold her in my arms. Madi doesn't think it will ever come! It is so fun having older kids to share in the excitement. Brayden makes the comment daily, "mom, your baby is getting big" saying this while patting my tummy. They are all interested and love talking about what life will be like with a baby around.

I have a great life and I love the family I have.

Although I know there is so much I need to do with my older kids before this little lady arrives I can't hardly stand it!

Aaron can wait-he doesn't really love crying babies!

So far.....

I had my appointment and everything went well! Aaron will come to an appointment when it is exciting. Probably the ultrasound. That is o.k. with me though. Dr. Winward, who delivered Brayden and Ryan is my doctor and she is just as nice as can be. She did my annual exam then checked on the baby. She knew she wouldn't be able to hear the baby's heartbeat and asked if there was any reason why we should do an ultrasound. I told her I had been having gas pains, so she checked me out and thought she felt a cyst. So she wanted to do an ultrasound. There was nothing there, my bladder was just full. We did get to see the little flutter of the heartbeat and my little baby growing. That was good to see. My due date is June 14, 2012. Flag Day!

So far this pregnancy has been so much different than I can remember of my other 4. I am sick a lot more and just tired. I have to eat ALL the time and I'm getting to be a big 'ol mama! I have decided I can make one of two choices. Eat and be bigger than I would like to be, or not eat, maybe be a little thinner but live on the couch. I have chosen the first option for it is a lot better for my kids. I quite like steak and salads at this point in my pregnancy. I am very happy eating a big juicy steak. I am having issues with my digestive system, thanks to the prenatal vitamins I am taking-I guess it's too much iron for my body to handle. So, Aaron looked up on how to fix this problem of mine. I'm supposed to eat 6 small meals a day instead of 3 big ones. I can't overeat. I should stay away from white rice and bread. I need to eat lots of leafy greens, beans and peas. Don't forget the whole grains also!

I think the biggest change in this pregnancy is how Aaron is.....he is so so so so nice to me, he doesn't get bugged and is there for my EVERY want, need or desire. He is patient when I am trying to decide what to eat and is willing to rub my feet and tickle my head always!! Maybe we should have waited 10 years to have kids:).

The kids are so excited! After we told them for the next couple of days all Madi wanted to do was look at baby stuff. She is very excited along with the boys. Porter says the least of course and Brayd and Ry just comment once in awhile about how my baby is getting "BIG" they usually say this as they are touching my tummy. I hope they all adjust well and are happy to see the baby.

My mom is 100% sure we are having a girl. Aaron's mom has also had dreams of us having a girl. So, I'm betting on a girl but I would be just as happy with a boy. I know boys, I can be real with boys and I love my boys! However, my Madi needs a sister and a baby girl would be so fun to dress and cuddle also. Either way I will be happy. I just want a baby to love and hold.

I'm excited to see what comes and am more excited to be 2 weeks away from the 2nd trimester. I just want to feel good again!

Baby

There will be no pictures with this post, just new news! I have been after Aaron for quite some time now to let me have another baby. 1 year and 8 months to be exact. We went back and forth, I was serious at times and not so serious at others. I think Aaron could sense that and maybe that is why he didn't think it was such a big deal. In August of last year Aaron sent me a text that said I could have 1 more! I was very excited and even told people I was going to have another baby. He told me to wait until November to get my I.U.D. out though, so I did wait and I got it out. Then Aaron wouldn't touch me. He was ornery and wasn't excited at all about doing this. So, in December I got it put back in. We didn't talk about it much until about the summer time. I was getting anxious, Madi would talk about a sister all the time and my life was just too easy! I was getting lonely, Brayd no longer needed me as much, he is 4 and becoming very independent.

In August, Aaron fasted about it, then went to Lake Powell for a week. He felt that he should let me act in my full capacity and maybe he wasn't letting me do that by not letting me have another baby. When he came back from Lake Powell he gave me the go-ahead again. So, I got my I.U.D. out again. With Ryan and Brayden when we decided to have them it took me a month to get pregnant so I was expecting this. September came and I wasn't pregnant. Joanna and Christie were though. They are due May 6 and April 30. This was probably a good thing. October 2nd came and I got a positive pregnancy test. I took another one the next day with the same results. I put the test on the counter for Aaron to see-I still knew he was doing this more for me. He likes that our babies are old enough to do their thing and play with us. Not so much whining, crying, dirty diapers and drama! I didn't say anything to him after I knew he had seen the test. I wanted him to talk about it, I was scared ~ True Story ~

Later that day as Brayden, Aaron and I were driving around with Jayci in the back who was crying, We have this conversation...

Aaron.....I don't want another baby.

Me....Too late.

Aaron.....Why did you take a pregnancy test?

Me.....Aaron, I'm pregnant.

Aaron......No you're not, one line was lighter than the other.

Me.....It doesn't matter, there just needs to be two lines.

SILENCE.....the whole way home.

The conversation wasn't brought up again until 3 days later. He went down to visit the Vegas store and he saw Matt and Karly's baby. When he came home that night he told me he was excited to have a baby. That was very comforting and surprising to hear.

So, our journey begins.....We have our doctor's appointment on November 1st. I haven't been feeling well this last week. I'm getting older so I really want to have a healthy pregnancy. I don't want to gain a lot of weight. I want to feel good, I don't eat everything in sight and I'm trying to be a good girl-not too emotional. I feel pretty good when I wake up until about noon then until 5 I feel pretty yucky. I then get better for the evenings. I spend that time sleeping a lot. Better than eating! My poor boys can't figure out why I won't let friends over now. Porter was probably a little confused when I asked him to bring me saltine crackers in bed last night at 930 and Madi gets mad when I hold my stomach. She thinks I am teasing her. I'm thinking we will tell them our big secret after my doctor's appointment on Tuesday.

Well, that's the story. We will see what happens next....