9 Weeks

This week has defiantly had its ups and downs.

Morning sickness seems to occur right around dinner time or at night right before I go to sleep. I had a couple nights where I just crawled into bed early and stayed there. My morning sickness usually just consists of a horrible stomach ache. I also had some sharp needle like stabbing pains in my stomach and chest a couple times this week.

I still have been craving lots of banana nut bread and anything that has blueberries in it. I haven't really craved anything else besides that. I have been eating stuff that's "easy on the stomach". Anytime I get hungry I always have to remind myself to eat something that will be easy on my stomach. This means staying away from lots of greasy food, fulling foods and soda. Yes, I can no longer drink alot of soda. I am mainly drinking water, milk and some juice. Soda seems to sugary and hard on my stomach.

I've noticed I get tired alot easier. If I'm working on something I usually have to take a 5 minute break. I also started back walking. This morning I walked 2 miles and am going to kick it up to 3 hopefully by next week. I've just decided that walking will help me keep the lbs down and make me stronger during my delivery.

I think I've gained around 1 or 2 pounds. Like I said I'm not keeping track of but I'm sure with all the holiday food I gained some.

My brain keeps thinking about setting up the babies room already, lol. But I'm going to wait until we find out what we are having. I've decided to go ahead and make our guest bedroom into Jaina's new room and use her room for the nursery. I have everything I already need for the nursery except the color scheme and bedding. For Jaina's new room we are going to have to buy her a nightstand, dresser and headboard and use the bed that's already in that room. I'm wanting to do all this asap because I know exactly where everything is in our attic and want to get it down before I get too big to get up there.

We have also decided about some stuff for when the baby arrives in August. I know for sure that I want this pregnancy to happen completely natural (well besides having a working epidural!). Which means I will not have a for sure due date. I want this baby to come when it wants to not when I or the doctor picks it. So that also means family will just have to stand by and wait instead of coming down in advance like last time. I also think it will be SO important for Jaina to ride home in the car with us from the hospital with the new baby so she understands that the baby is actually going home with us. We also appreciate all the help we received following Jaina's birth with the moms and grandmas but we are wanting to do this all by ourselves this time since we already know what to do. Unless there is more then one baby in my tummy then we may reconsider having some extra hands around the house.

I have my first appointment not this week but the next and decided we are going to take Jaina with us to this appointment and to the appointment when we find out what the sex of the baby is but then all the rest of the appointments will be just me and Justin. I think coming to these two appointments will help her to understand what we mean by "mommy has a baby in her belly". So we will see how it goes.

And to add to my blueberry cravings my uncle brought me a special gift today from West!

Heaven on earth!!! Blueberry strudels! SO good!

And he brought cream cheese kolaches as well. Ohhhhhh so good!

Over Night Getaway

Tuesday, Justin and I headed to Austin for an overnight getaway. We had a little extra cash and gift cards that we received for Christmas, plus my parents were in town for the week so it was the perfect opportunity for us to get away for the night.

We didn't want to drive too far so we just booked a hotel on the Northwest side of Austin and planned on doing NOTHING the whole entire day!

As you can see my husband can NEVER take a serious picture, no matter what.

We stayed in a great location. We were not far at all from all the places we wanted to go. It was nice not staying downtown for once. We usually stay right smack downtown from walking distance of 6th street and party the night away but.......times have changed. I'm pregnant and were old, Lol. And let me tell ya it was SOOOOO much better this way. We got to spend lots of time in a quiet room, not having to rush to do anything. We really enjoyed our day!

We did head to Sam Moon. My uncle had given me a gift card so I picked up this cute hand bag! I also got a wallet and some new sun glasses since my others ones broke.

It was really cute because Justin let me stay as long as I wanted and he made friends with the security guard and they talked about guns while I shopped, lol.

That night we had an AMAZING dinner at Maggiano's. We were going to eat at the Macaroni Grill but we decided to go here instead. It was elegant and SO good! I would totally recommend this place on your next trip to Austin :)

Finally a normal picture of us two!

After dinner we headed to Austin's famous Amy's Ice Cream. We love coming here. She has original recipes and they have a selection of all kinds of different stuff you can put into your ice cream. I had Mexican Vanilla with chopped up Cameo's and strawberries. It was to die for!
After Amy's we headed back to our hotel room and called it a night at 9pm! Party on!!

The next morning we got up and eat breakfast at Kerbey Lane Cafe. They have the best french toast I have ever had in my whole life. So good! But my tummy was upset all day long. I couldn't shake it. We headed home after breakfast where I slept most of the day and laid around. Being pregnant defiantly has its ups and downs but am so glad Justin and I got to get away for a few hours. We think having time to ourselves is SO important and keeps your marriage alive especially when you have children that's why we take so many mini vacations! I hope there's plenty more of those to come!!!

Christmas # 3

Monday we had Christmas at my uncle's house. Justin had to work but it was the only day we could all get together on my side of the family. My parents, sisters, cousin and uncle all came into town. Here we are ready to head to my uncle's house.

Jaina in her Christmas dress in front of our tree

And Jaina in front of my uncles Christmas tree.

My mom fixed our traditional turkey and dressing for lunch. We always eat lunch before we open gifts.

Here I am with baby Alyssa :)
She really made me think about how life will be like in 7 short months

Here we are, all the girls together! I told yall there hasn't been a girl born in this family since my uncle was born!

My uncle lives in my grandma's house. We have ALWAYS had Christmas at my grandma's since I can remember. My grandma use to sit in the chair where my Mom is sitting. I told her that she is now the new Granny and can sit in her chair :) My grandma's house is a tiny 1940's style house so we were cramped for space with all the people and presents but we made it work.

We usually take turns one by one opening gifts and seeing what everyone got. We let Jaina and my nieces open theirs right away so they could play when they were done.

She got a ton of toys which included baby dolls, paint, colors, play dough, and all kinds of stuff.

Here's baby A sticking her tongue out at me, lol

It was definitely Christmas overload this year! I even had to put some of her stuff up in my closet that she got. It sounds mean but its not. She got alot of the same stuff like, paint, markers, play dough, ect, so instead of getting it all out at once I decided to I was going to pull things out slowly for her to play with. I think she will appreciate them alot more that way. I can explain to her who got her what when I get them down and this way she can be excited for weeks to come!
Here is Jaina and baby Alyssa playing together. I thought this was so sweet because it makes me think of what Jaina will be like next Christmas with her brother or sister :) The last gift that was handed out was for Jaina. My uncle got her an art board for her room. She was definitely excited about it but I'm not sure if knows exactly what it is yet. I plan on getting it out of the box for her this weekend.
I can't believe Christmas has already came and went! All that anticipation and now its over. I'm so glad we got to share Christmas with both sides of the family this year and I'm so glad it turned out the way I wanted it with Santa Claus and all! Till next Christmas we hope yall had a good Christmas too!

Christmas # 2

Sunday we left Wichita around 12 and headed home.

The drive always seems so long on the way home but we finally made it. We decided to open our gifts as a family as soon as we got home. Jaina was super excited about that!

Photos in front of the tree :0

Excuse the no make up and hair, I had been riding in a car for 5 hours

After photos we got right down to business. Jaina opened her gifts first. We decided this year that we did not want to get her a ton of toys. She has SO many as it is, she doesn't play with half of them and we just don't have the room in our house. She got her big gift from Santa and then we gave her about 3 other toys and a TON of clothes. That is what she mainly needed.

Then Justin and I opened our gifts from each other. We usually just give each other one big gift or a couple small gifts. I couldn't think of anything for him to get me so I just told him jewelry. A man can NEVER go wrong with jewelry. I told him to just buy me something that was cheap because I loose my jewelry all the time. I'm super bad at it and I told him that I wouldn't feel that bad if I lost them but instead he did the opposite and bought me these! I love them!!! I told him I would feel scared wearing them that I would only have to wear them on special occasions. I have never received real diamonds besides my wedding ring so I was pretty excited.

The we skyped grandma Do Do so she could see Jaina open the gifts she sent her.

She got a ton of dress up clothes which is her favorite, a baby doll, clothes a some other stuff. I also got the coolest wine bottle from Granda that I will have to take a picture of and show yall. Its really neat!

After presents Jaina played on her bike and then torn into some of her presents.

She dressed up in her princess costume and put dollars and coins in her Piggy before going to bed :)

Christmas # 1

Saturday morning we set off for Wichita Falls to have Christmas with Justin's family. This was the first time since I've known Justin that he actually got Christmas Eve AND Christmas day off for work. Since we always have Christmas with my family and he had these two days off we thought it would be nice for a change to spend it with his family on Christmas day and have Christmas with my family on another day, which worked out great.

So Saturday morning we met Justin up at the fire station after he got off work and headed north. Jaina is always such a good rider. She will just sit and look out the window or sleep and never makes a sound. Here she is eating morning donuts.

We got to Pops and Granny Pats around 1 and had Christmas dinner at Pops house around 5. All of Justin's family came over. We had Christmas stew and a bunch of snack food.

Here is Aunt Susan and Jaina.

Jaina and Justin's cousin Courtney. Granny Pat and Jaina After dinner Santa made his arrival!!!!

Since before Jaina's birthday she has been saying that Santa was going to bring her a bike for Christmas. So I thought it would be fun for someone to dress up like Santa and personally deliver a bike to her. Grandma Do Do sent the Santa suit to me in the mail since she already had one and Chad (Courtney's husband) played the role of Santa. Jaina was SOOOOOOOO excited that she fell on the floor when Santa walked in. Santa's hair was a little wild!!! Jaina was extremely shy when Santa was talking to her. He said "Ho ho ho, Merry Christmas I heard a certain little girl wanted a bike for Christmas". Haha it was TOO cute. I wish everyone could have been there to see the excitement in her eyes. It was priceless! We got her this "bike" tricycle a while back ago. I know she's to young for a real bike so we got her this tricycle. I think every child had a tricycle like this. I know we did growing up. Justin and Chad put it together for her before Santa brought it over. It was just her size and even has a bell on it. She got on it right away and started riding it.After Santa left we opened our other gifts. She wanted to open her "Big" gift first which was from Courtney and Chad. They gave her a princess karaoke machine.Which was right up Justin's alley! Justin was hogging the mic and Jaina was crying, lol. I see this being a battle at home!She got some super cute outfits from Aunt Susan and some other cool toys from Pops and Pat.Here is everyone opening their gifts. After gifts we all laughed and hung out watching Jaina ride her bike around the house. I'm so glad Justin got the chance to have Christmas with his family this year. It's hard being married and having family on the opposite sides of Texas and having a bad work schedule. It can make getting together with family hard but it all worked out and we really enjoyed it!!! Merry Christmas!

2 months!

Can yall believe I'm already 2 months pregnant! I can't! That means I only have 7-8 months to go depending on when I deliver.

So this week has been good. I've had no morning sickness at all so far. I did have one or two nights at the beginning of this week were I woke up a couple times during the night not feeling to well.

Justin says I already have a baby bump but I don't believe him. I keep telling him it's not a baby bump it's just stretched out from my last child, haha!

I haven't really been "feeling" pregnant this week but I have been feeling a little frumpy and blue though. I'm not sure why, I guess its just high hormones or something. I have not been keeping track of my weight and don't think I will this pregnancy. I just don't want to stress over it and get upset like I did last time. I remember many times I cried over my weight and I'm just not going to do it this time.

All I can think about is blueberry muffins, haha! Yes, blueberry muffins or banana nut muffins. I had Justin run to the store twice this week to buy me some for breakfast. It's the first thought that comes to my mind when I wake up in the morning. If that's all I got for Christmas was a box of blueberry muffins I would be in hog Heaven!!!

Cravings are the oddest things to me. Cravings are SO different when your pregnant. It's like all of a sudden it comes to your mind and you can't stop thinking about it until you have them. It's like a bad addiction problem, haha! No Joke!!

I haven't had any real bad aches or pains this week. I believe there is a big difference being pregnant and working and being pregnant and I stay at home mom. I know with Jaina being pregnant and working was 100% harder. I remember I would fall asleep at my desk (seriously), I would have to take snack foods with me and put them in my pocket and eat them between funerals and I was so much more swollen. Being home and pregnant is much easier, I can eat when I want, sleep when I want and rest when I want. But I'm probably not getting as much exercise as I did when working.

I had my doctors appointment over the phone this week which was a "phone interview". When I was pregnant with Jaina I had to actually go in and see a nurse for this appointment but I guess they just do it over the phone now, which was weird. But they basically tell you what you can and can't eat or do when your pregnant. She got all my medical history and asked if I had any questions or concerns. She told me I had to limit my soda and tea intake to one glass a day which I have been working on, no uncooked meat, no animal meat like deer or pig, no raw dairy like eggs or raw unpasteurised milk, and I can only have fish once a week. I also have to wash my hands thoroughly if I handle my cats or dog. I remember I quit raw meat, dairy and soda cold turkey last time and it was so hard for me. This time I'm easing myself out of them.

And this time I am aloud to take hot baths. Last time I was only aloud to take showers. I love taking a nice long hot bath. Last time they said I wasn't aloud to immerse my tummy under the hot water but this time they said it was alright as long as its not a hot tub. She then gave me my first appointment date for January 12 which will make me 11 weeks pregnant. Almost out of my first trimester! It just seems so crazy that they would wait that long because I had my first appointment with Jaina at 5 weeks. I have sonogram of just her heart at 5 weeks :) (which by the way is the first thing that develops) I guess since this is my second pregnancy they except me to know everything and make me wait longer for my appointment.

At my first appointment I will see a nurse instead of my doctor. She will give me my first sonogram and measure me, take my stats, and give me my projection date, which as of now is August the 3rd instead of 4th so we will see! Today we had to run into town to do some last minute shopping. Big mistake!! I only had two presents left. I usually start my Christmas shopping at the beginning of the year and shop all year for everyone in my family. I had just about everyone done by Thanksgiving this year! But I had 2 left and should have gotten them weeks ago because the places I had to go to was a mad house. As you can see this is how we felt!!!

All things Christmas

Today after Jaina got home from daycare we took some Christmas pictures out in front of the house. The weather was actually warm enough to take them. I should of taken them back in November when I had the chance. The weather has been cold, wet and rainy for the last week or so. We missed out on taking family pictures too because it has been so rainy. Oh well.

She HAD to take pictures with her baby doll

I put her in her Christmas dress she will wear on Christmas day. Its a shame that she only gets to wear it a handful of times during the holiday season. I usually dress her in it for church and on Christmas and that's it.

This is the back of her little dress. I found this one at Kohls and thought it was adorable. I originally had silver shoes to go with the dress but went with white ones instead.

And here is the front.

It's pretty easy to get Jaina to smile these days. I'll say "Jaina, smile at the camera" and she sure does! She always wants to look at the picture when were done taking it, lol.

I tried getting a couple more but it was starting to get dark and by the look on her face she obviously wanted to go inside and play, lol.
Then we headed out around our street on a wagon ride. She loved it and so did Dixi!

After her wagon ride we came inside to make Christmas cookies. She wore her apron grandma gave her last year. The straps are missing (....because Dixi chewed them off) so I had to safety pin it on her shirt.

I opted out on doing another ginger bread house. I've come to conclusion that they are just waaaaay to messy and hard to do. I figured if she wants to give it a try when she gets older then we will try again later.

I was going to fix original gingerbread cookies but since I don't like gingerbread and neither does Justin we fixed sugar cookies instead

And I've also come to conclusion that I CAN NOT make cookie cutter cookies at all. I've tried several times but it just hasn't worked out so far, lol. I let Jaina ice them and then she gave her daddy one. He said it was real good, lol. Oh well maybe next year I'll buy the store bought ones.