Happy Birthday, Happy Thanksgiving, and Merry Christmas

In November we celebrated birthdays for Benny, Sarah, and Kyle. We went to Orlando mid-November and celebrated with Benny & Sarah. And we got to celebrate Kyle's b-day over Thanksgiving.

We had a great time visiting with family and friends we haven't seen in a long time. I'm posting some pics of the celebrations along with some cute pics of Gabi, Kennedy, Piper, and Phoebe.

Gabi using Aunt Christy's velcro rollers

Kennedy using the rollers as binoculars
Aarrrgghhh...our little pirate!
Meow...our little kitty cat

Happy Birthday Benny & Sarah...making birthday wishes
Piper & Phoebe
Kyle making his b-day wishes

Uncle Kyle and Kennedy

Go Gators!! Uncle Kyle got hooked up with all kinds of Gator gear

Benny & Kyle enjoying some Wii boxing

Kyle & Benny...Go Big Orange and Blue

Are you ready for Christmas? I don't think we are, but we have no choice in the matter! We are going to Tampa this weekend to visit Benny's father to celebrate a little early. And we leave on Dec 24th to fly to Biloxi to visit Benny's mom during Christmas. We'll get to visit my family in Orange Park after the New Year. It's a busy season!! I hope everyone is taking some time to enjoy this special time of year.

Time flies when you're pregnant!

I can't believe how fast this pregnancy is going by. It feels just like yesterday when I found out the great news. I'm 20 weeks now...1/2 way there. A couple of weeks ago I had my last ultrasound and we didn't find out the sex. Here are a few pics of Baby J.

This baby has Benny's long legs :)

Baby's first foot print

I've been MIA!

I know, I know…I’ve been neglecting my blogging duties lately! I’ve been busy and the internet at home has been down due to us making room for baby :) We have been making Benny’s office into “our” office so that my office can become the nursery. We’re making progress and I’m seeing potential for the new room in the house.

We’ve also been busy with training. We both got a certificate to become Independent Marketing Consultants for Palace Builders. They build Certified Green homes that are hurricane and tornado resistant. If you know anyone looking to build a healthy, green home in north Florida let us know.

I’ve also been working weekly with a coaching buddy practicing my Wellness Coaching skills so I can get my certification before the end of the year. I finished my training in February and had several practice clients, but now I’m studying and planning for the certification exam.

I’ve been having more migraines – they’ve been weekly and they are rough! I was able to get my medicine changed. They don’t go away completely, but the new medicine really helps to take the edge off and I am able to function and work. Good news though, since I’ve changed my medicine I’ve only had to use it twice and it’s been a week since I’ve had a migraine. Maybe now that I’m in my second trimester the hormones are settling down. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

I changed doctors and I’m lovin’ my new practitioner. There wasn’t anything wrong with my first doctor; I just didn’t think she was a good fit for me. I chose a midwife because I think she’ll be more in line with my beliefs. We went for our first visit this week and she’s a great fit for me. I know I’ll be happy with my change (especially since she recommended monthly massages…woohoo!!).

Everything is going great with my pregnancy. I’m healthy, the baby’s heart sounds good, I haven’t gained any weight although my body is changing and I’m wearing some maternity clothes now for comfort. I’m planning on upping my exercise this week now that I’m feeling better and have more energy. I even got permission to start jogging again so I’m looking forward to that.

We go back in 3 weeks (my 18th week) for the last ultrasound. I’m still not planning on finding out what we are having, although I have been wavering on this decision lately. It will be a mystery on who I’m carrying these 9 months and how exciting it will be to hear “It’s a healthy ______”!

We get to change the clocks this weekend. We “fall” back one hour and I’m so thankful to get an extra hour of sleep!! Happy Fall to everyone!

How are you feeling?

I must get this question 10 times a day, but it doesn't bug me like it did in the beginning :) I am appreciating the care/concern people are showing me.

I'm actually feeling pretty good now. I think I'm over the little bit of morning sickness I had and I think I'm starting to get my energy back. I don't feel like I absolutely have to have a nap in the afternoon. I'm still having trouble sleeping so I'm tired in the morning, but it's not as bad as it was a couple of weeks ago.

I got another migraine Monday night and stayed home Tuesday. I took Tylenol - I don't know why...it doesn't help me, but I feel better in trying to make it go away. I also applied an ice pack every few hours. The ice seems to work better than anything. That and a great massage from Benny!

We had an ultrasound today and got some great views of Baby J. What an active little baby already!! I'm sure I'll be feeling him/her in a couple of months. We also got to hear the heartbeat. The great news is everything is looking normal...we were thrilled to hear that.

I took a picture on Sunday to mark the beginning of my 12th week. I'm starting to get a little bump :) I'll start posting some pics next month when I'm showing a bit more.

Blame it on the hormones!

Well, I've always done that! Anyone who knows me well knows that I'm an emotional person and I cry easily. In fact, Sarah (my dear sister-in-law) likes to call me "waterworks". When it was TOM I could watch Oprah and get all weepy. I would cry or get teary eyed when happy, sad, or filled with joy. I get touched so easily by little things that make my heart smile.

These days it seems to be a daily event. I cried when listening to a Coldplay song, I cried when telling the story of my Grandfather asking when I was due - he can't speak because of a stroke, but I could make out what he was asking and I could see the joy in his face. Heck, I'm crying right now while writing this. I don't get grumpy, moody, irritated...I cry. I guess it's a beautiful thing :)

What's funny is when I'm reading about different things going on with my body each week, everything is happening because of hormones. Not that I'm experiencing all of these symptoms, but here are some of the things that can occur due to the fluctuating hormones: morning sickness, bloating, belching, nasal congestion, slow digestion, constipation, heartburn, migraines/headaches, hot flashes, mood swings, food cravings, fatigue...the list goes on and on. Those darn hormones!!!

I'm trying to embrace the hormones and everything they are putting my body through. So if you see me crying, just hand me a tissue and know that I'm okay!

Rockin' a Bump

I don't have much of a bump just yet, but I read this in Pregnancy and New Born and it made me smile and I just had to share.

The top 10 reasons why rockin' a bump rocks your world!

1. That "glow" reserved for new moms is all yours.
2. Reserved parking at big baby stores - when the sign says "For expectant mothers only," you can whip right in!
3. A new addition to the family = an excuse to shop 'till you drop.
4. Front-of-line bathroom privileges wherever you go - nobody makes a preggers gal hold it.
5. That constant state of joyful anticipation over what's to come.
6. Two words: stretchy pants.
7. Everyone is nicer to a belly-toting mama; snobs smile, grumps grin and smokers blow in the other direction.
8. Have you checked out your chest lately?
9. A built-in excuse for an extra scoop of ice cream - for the baby, of course!
10. The beginnings of pure and unconditional love - the kind every little girl dreams of, and moms get to experience every single day.

Baby J Ticker Added

If you are wondering how far along I am, you can take a look at the new baby ticker on the right side of the blog page. I might have to refer to it often as I'm starting to have "pregnancy brain". I can't believe how much I'm forgetting these days!

UGH...I spoke too soon!

Do you know that I hate migraines?? I really thought that I wasn't going to get anymore, but sadly I was wrong. I woke up with a headache Friday morning. It got worse as the day went on and I finally left work at 3:00 with a migraine. I came home and slept for a while and when Benny came home we went out and I filled the pain pill prescription that my OB gave me in case I had another one of these nasty episodes. Well, the pain pill didn't do a thing! I went to bed with an ice pack on my head and tried to sleep through the pain.

Saturday morning I woke up and felt so bad. Still had the headache (the migraine subsided), but what was worse is I had a case of allodynia which came about due to not being able to take my regular migraine meds.

The whole right side of my face/head was affected. It was like I had an imaginary line drawn down my face - nothing on the left hurt, but everything on the right did. My scalp was tender to the touch, my face felt like someone ran sandpaper down it, my eye, ear, and throat hurt so bad...but only on the right side. Even if I shook my head as an attempt to move my hair out of my eyes, I felt like I was feeling every hair on the right side of my head move. It was the strangest thing I've experienced in a while. Saturday night I had to sleep with an ice pack again. And on Sunday most of the symptoms started to disappear.

I'm finally feeling better, although I still have a bit of a sore throat and my ear still hurts a bit. I'm hoping that it's nothing more than the after effects of that crazy migraine. And I'm still hoping for that miracle that I won't get any more migraines during this pregnancy. Can't a girl dream???

Bye Bye Migraines

There are so many positives with being pregnant, but I have to say one of the things I'm loving is not having any migraines. I've had a few minor headaches with the worst one being right after I found out I was pregnant. I could feel my heart beating through my head and all I could take was Tylenol. That OTC med does not do anything for me! I'm so happy to be migraine free right now. I hope that this will last throughout the entire 9 months and I would be ecstatic if I were migraine free afterward.

I've worked on getting all of my triggers out of my house. I've changed all of my cleaning products over to all natural, green products. I'm also using all natural personal care products. I've known that one of my migraine triggers was chemicals and environmental toxins. Over the past few years I've stopped using perfumes and lotions, fragrance laundry detergent, and most candles and air fresheners. In July I switched over all my cleaning products and couldn't be happier. And it came just in time since I'm breathing for 2 now :) I feel good knowing that I've made healthy changes for me, our baby, and the environment.

Seeing is Believing

Friday, Sept 12 was our first OB appt. We had our first ultrasound and got to see little Baby J and his/her heartbeat. It was amazing!!

I've been going through the normal stuff: bloating, nausea, fatigue, etc and I know I'm pregnant, but to see Baby J on the monitor just made it so real to us. There's nothing like seeing that heartbeat!

Speaking of the normal early pregnancy stuff...I really need some sleep! The nausea isn't terrible, but the insomnia is. I can't fall asleep and then I do just to wake up a little later to make one of my many trips to the restroom and then I can't go back to sleep. Working all day is rough when you're so tired. I guess Baby J is just getting me ready for what's to come :)

Whoa...we're starting a family!

Well the title says it all. Benny and I have been married for 11 years and we are expecting our first little bundle of joy :) I think our families are super surprised. Actually, that's an understatement...I think they are shocked! You see, we said we'd wait for 5 years and we did and then another 5 years came and went. During this time we've seen my middle brother Hank and his wife Sarah get married and have 4 beautiful children. And we've witnessed Benny's middle brother Kevin and his wife Eddia get married and have their first child. The attention turned from everyone wondering when we would have kids to our siblings and their children.

Without us planning (and everyone knows we are planners!) and/or trying to conceive we got some exciting news on August 21. After 4 home tests (you know, I could have bought a faulty test!) I was able to get into my family Dr. so I could get confirmation from her. On August 26 we received that confirmation and began sharing the news.

Today I went in for paperwork at my OB's office and tomorrow I'll have my first ultrasound.

Stay tuned to hear the updates on the pregnancy and I'll be posting lots of stories and crazy advice that I've received. It's amazing what you hear when people know you are preggers!