Happy Birthday to my Mom!!

Today is my Mom's birthday!! Yippeee!! Happy Birthday, Mom! Love you and thank you for everything you have taught me thus far!!

Happy Birthday!!!

Iced in!

I know I'll be hating that we had this day off when Spring Break rolls around and we lose one of those days...but right now, I'm welcoming this unexpected break from work. Yesterday was one of those days that made me think to myself more than once, man it would be real easy to have this little girl and never come back! However, that is not a decision that will or can be made that easily. :) So for now, I'm relaxing on the couch with my bud, Duke, and we're watching some quality reality tv. It will be a day of the Bravo channel and the Food Network! Love days like this!!

PS...Tomorrow is my birthday!! Too bad our unplanned day off couldn't have been tomorrow!

We're having a girl!!

Well....the verdict is in...it's a girl!!!!!!

Everything looked great in the sonogram yesterday...length, weight, heartbeat...all of it is perfect! Went straight to Babies R Us and bought the cutest little onesie and some bibs!! Yay!!! We are heading back today to start our registry...yay fun with store guns!!

18 Weeks!

Me and the baby at 18 weeks:

Does it look as big as it feels?? I feel like its getting bigger every single day. Its very bizarre to watch yourself grow like this, but very cool. We went to the doc last week for our monthly checkup and everything continues to look great. We go this Friday to figure out if we've got a little lady or a little dude growing in there!! We can't wait!!!! We feel like its going to be a girl...wouldn't that be cool if we were right...maybe that maternal instinct is kicking in! And we will be heading straight to Babies R Us to start picking out stuff! I'm supposed to start feeling little "flutters" from the baby any day now...looking forward to that. Its all very exciting!

Look at that belly grow!

I just had to share two pics super quick. My sweet husband was the photographer!

Here is a picture of me at about 10 weeks pregnant:

And just 5 short weeks later, here is a pic of me at 15 weeks:

Dusty thinks it is so cute--he loves it! He is a pretty awesome husband; he always reminds me of how beautiful he thinks I am. And you need it when your body goes through changes like this; belly, acne, bloated, swelling--its not all so grand. I LOVE my husband!!

And what a Merry Christmas it was....

I can't believe its over...finished...thats it. Weren't we just counting down the days to when school would be getting out? Now Christmas is already over! Time flies when you're as busy as we have been in the past week or so!

We got out of school for the break on the 19th...which I didn't even really get to enjoy because I had to rush home to finish packing for our flight which left that very night. We got to California about 9:00pm--11:00pm on my Texas preggo watch. We were greeted by Dusty's mom, Chuck, and Anna--two of Dusty's very best friends. Love them! We all went to a nice steak dinner at a place called Flemings. It was the best steak I think I have ever had. By the time dinner was finished, it was about 11:00--1:00am for me. For those of you who don't know, since becoming pregnant, I'm in the bed by 9 or 9:30--hell, I get up at 5am everyday for work. I'm a tired mama to be! As you can guess, I was ready for the bed. By the time we got back to Toni's house and unpacked enough for bedtime, it was 3:30am Texas time. Ouch! I had been up almost 24 hours people! It was brutal!! But well worth it!

Saturday we hung out at Toni's house with Dusty's brother's family: Chad, Dawn, Courtney, Casey, and Corey. That was a fun day. We literally played Rock Band on the Wii all day long.

That night, we had good California BBQ--yes they do have BBQ and its not so shabby! We had tri-tip, twice baked potatoes, yummy bread, and salad. It was delish. :) I'm not biased or anything though, my hubby did make the tri-tip. :) We had a great day with everyone; lots of laughter and fun!

Sunday we went up to the mountains to see Dusty's Aunt Pam and Uncle Walt. They have a cabin in a little mountain community called Camp Nelson. It is unbelievable, beautiful, breathtaking--you can't help but feel closer to God when you're in the midst of something so gorgeous. We couldn't actually get to her cabin--her's is pretty high up and the roads were too snowy and icy for us to make it up. Don't think we didn't try though--3 times to be exact. Dusty drove up this little narrow, winding, road up hill and everytime--stuck. I was pretty nervous; all I could focus on was the cliff directly out my passenger seat window. It was an adventure! We ended up backing down and going to someone else's cabin where Pam and Walt met us. We met some of the nicest people there; let us join on their little happy hour--too bad I couldn't partake! It was a great time! Here are some pics of the scenery:

Sunday night, we came down the hill and back to Toni's house where we met up with some more of Dusty's old friends; Derek and Kathy. They have two kids now; Ramsey and Dayton with another one on the way. She is about 3 weeks ahead of me. The last time we saw them they were just newly married and had one little tiny baby--Dayton. Crazy how much time had gone by. It was great seeing them. And can you believe that I took no pictures of their cute kids?!

Monday was our last full day, so we went to see Dusty's Uncle Allan and Aunt Janelle. We spent the morning at their house just catching up; it was good to see them. After that, we headed out to Visalia where Chuck and Anna live. We spent the day just hanging out with them and their two precious kids. We went to lunch, drove around town, played some Wii, and had some pizza for dinner. We have so much fun with them; I hate that we don't get to see them on a regular basis. Chuck and Anna are great friends; I'm glad I can call them friends of mine now too! Everytime Dusty and I leave from spending time with them, we're always a little bummed because we know it will be awhile before we can do it again. Again--can you believe I took no pictures of our day with them?! I really should have at least taken some of their kids; too cute for words.

Tuesday morning was our last morning. We packed, jumped in the car, and headed to the airport. Parts of us were ready to come home, but parts of us wished we could have stayed longer. Its something that will always be a part of our life no matter where we live, we will always be saying by to someone. When you have family in California and family in Texas, there's no easy solution.

Wednesday was Christmas Eve and Dusty had to return to work. Poor guy. That evening, we went to Church with my folks and saw my mama performing in the choir. She did amazing! Her choir is pretty good. Nothing puts you in the Christmas spirit quite like those Christmas hymns. The next day we went to Muenster for Christmas. Yay! We spent the morning and lunch at my Mom's side of the family. It was good fun and even better food. It was a bit somber at times though; the first Christmas since Calvin passed away. We had bunches of pictures of Christmases past with him and did lots of reminiscing. We finished out the day by going out to my Aunt's house on my Dad's side. We did some skeet shooting, played some Texas hold em, and ate more food! It was a great day and we had lots of fun. I can't believe its come and gone already. I love my family--the Cali fam and the Texas fam! We can't wait for next Christmas though, when we have a little baby to share it with!!

Yippee!

So we went to the genetic counselor doctor person on Monday to do part one of the screening for Down Syndrome, Trisomy 18, and one other abnormality. They did an extremely detailed sonogram where we got to see our little one again. I always love seeing him/her! I could sit there and watch that sonogram for forever! We got to see all kinds of cool things--the nose, the mouth, all the little fingers and toes! It was amazing! And the baby was just jumping all over the place; busy busy! At one point we saw the little legs stretching and kicking like crazy. AND we got to heat the heartbeat--the most mindblowing thing ever. Anyways...everything looked and measured perfectly! Now we just have to wait for the blood test results next week to get the final word that everything is looking great!

Here is a little picture of our little one...can you see the face?! Isn't he/she precious?!!!

2nd Trimester!!

Yippee!! We are officially in our second trimester as of today! Woo hoo!! It is very exciting--may all the sickness be behind me! We go to the doctor twice this week. One for our screening, which is tomorrow. This will determine the likelihood of any genetic abnormalities such as Down Syndrome. Based on those results we will decide if amniocentesis is needed. Thursday we go back for our 12 week checkup. I'm pretty sure we will get to hear the heartbeat for the first time--we have seen it, but at 8 weeks, its too early to hear. So we're super excited about that! Wish us luck--I'm a bit nervous about the screening.

By the way...got some maternity clothes yesterday! Yaaay! None of my pants were fitting anymore, I'm talking not even zipping up part of the way. I got a few pair of jeans and some work pants--hallelujah!

Sick...and more sick

So I'm about 9 1/2 weeks pregnant at this point and I'm ready for the sickness part of pregnancy to take a vacation. Less than 3 weeks and I'll be in my 2nd trimester..hopefully I'm one of the lucky ones whose sickness ends with the 1st trimester. Fortunately I'm not throwing up every morning but I have had my share. My biggest issues are the queazy stomach and food aversions. I can barely go into my kitchen and especially the fridge because the smells of all the foods is too much. I'm getting sick just thinking about it. Oh and lets not forget I work in an elementary school--funky smells are common place, especially in the fabulous cafeteria. Its like Russian Roulet every day I walk in there...can I make it in and out while keeping it all in the tummy? Going to the grocery store used to be therapeutic to me...but now I can barely make it. I actually dread it--too many funk smells. What really bites is that it takes me such a long time to figure out what I want to eat; then I get it and feel like crap after I'm done. See one of the things they don't tell you about pregnancy is that your intestines slow down to help absorb more nutrients for the growing baby. This means food just sits in the belly--its the sickest feeling in the world. Ugh. I feel like poo as we speak.

Its too early for me to be showing, but I'm so bloated, I just look like I have some chub going on--no fair. I want to wear maternity clothes already! And I've just begun developing the pregnancy glow--no, its not what you think...its actually not so grand. Breakouts. Like I'm 16 all over again. Geez! And could I be anymore exhausted?! I come home from work and I am done. No exercising, no cooking, nothing. My poor husband. He is great though...very understanding..patient...very patient. :) Love him to pieces!

All in all, sickness does suck...but I try not to complain despite what you just read. I didn't feel this way last time and we weren't so lucky. So this must mean all is well! Its all about the end result anyways...its all worth it!

Surprise!!

Alright....its been awhile hasn't it folks?! Well...I've been waiting and waiting until the right time to share our news....and decided what better time than now! We are PREGNANT!!!!! I learned shortly after my last blog about losing weight and haven't had the urge to write about anything else since because nothing is as exciting as this! At this point, we are about 9 weeks along--I'm due June 21st. I have been sicker than a dog this go around, which is a good sign since last time I wasn't at all. And we all know what happened with that one. :( We went to the doctor yesterday and had nothing but great news! She said that the baby is the perfect size, the heartbeat is great, and that as far along as I am that the chance of miscarriage this time is about 2%. I cried when I heard her say that. The biggest weight off of my shoulders that you can imagine. This whole pregnancy up until yesterday, I have stressed and worried about that question "will this one make it?" We got to have a sonogram done yesterday too and that was about the coolest thing ever. The baby is 2cm--and already has little arm and leg "buds"! The heart was just pumping away too! We got see he/she wiggle once...I'm telling you, it the most amazing thing to see--to know that is growing in my tummy as we speak. Its an awesome feeling. Anyways...I decided after the positive appt yesterday it was time to share! We are over the top excited!! Here are two little pictures of Baby Dominie!! Enjoy!!!