14 Weeks

So I am a few days late on this post...imagine that! We were at the Lake of the Ozarks this past weekend, so I am just getting around to posting about Week 14, which was actually last Thursday, June 14th. You will have to forgive me!

This week...

Baby Bell is the size of a... lemon! The baby is about three and a half inches long and about one and a half ounces.

My bump is... developing sooner than expected! My lower belly is definitely starting to push out, but sometimes I can't tell if that is the bump, or just a sign that I am eating too much! I am sure the bump will start to take shape in the upcoming weeks! I am actually looking forward to the days were I look a little more obviously pregnant so I don't feel self conscious when people I don't know see me!

I have been feeling... relieved to be in the second trimester! There was a few weeks in the first trimester that I was feeling sick all day long and exhausted at the end of every day, but I am glad to finally be feeling better! I have also been feeling pretty anxious with all of the decision-making that comes with a baby - from all of the decisions that happen during pregnancy to all of the decisions that happen after the baby is born. I just have to keep reminding myself to take things one day at a time!

I have been craving... everything and anything that doesn't make me feel sick! I am really hungry all the time and have to eat every few hours. My recent favorites are Sonic vanilla shakes and mozzarella sticks, as well as fudgesicles and cheeseburgers. I am not the healthiest of eaters, so trying to eat healthy has been a real challenge for me. I have actually started eating breakfast - on healthy days I have Raisin Bran and on unhealthy days I have Peanut Butter Captain Crunch.

Our favorite thing has been... seeing Baby Bell during our first ultrasound on June 12th! This was the moment for me that the pregnancy became really "real". The baby was moving its hands, kicking its feet, and even turned over while we were watching! It was one of the coolest moments thus far! Hearing the heartbeat for the first time was also awesome - 157 beats per minute! Everything checked out and our due date of December 18, 2014 was confirmed!

We are looking forward to... the second trimester, settling in to our new apartment in Kansas City, and settling in to our new jobs! With so much changes in the last month, it will be nice to have some normalcy for a while!

Our Big Announcement!

Michael and I are super excited to finally share that we are expecting our first baby in December of 2014! After almost a year of trying, we were so excited (and were a little bit shocked!) by the news! Here is the story...

It was a super busy week for both of us. Michael had been studying for the last three months for his Professional Engineering (PE) exam and he had been incredibly stressed about passing this exam. Meanwhile, I was coming off of a super busy week at work - it had been Greek Week at Colorado State and hours are just crazy during that time. With all of this stress happening in our lives, I didn’t even think twice about it when I realized I was a day late. Over the next three days, I kept waiting, and waiting, and waiting - but nothing happened. Finally, on Thursday, April 10th, when my monthly visitor still had not arrived, I went to our local Target after work to get a pregnancy test. Michael wasn’t coming home that night, as he was staying at a hotel in Denver in order to be closer to the location of his exam the next morning. I figured I would just take the pregnancy test, get a negative result, and then I could stop thinking about it and move on to all of other things I had on my plate. I could not have been more wrong.

When I first saw the “Yes+” on the pregnancy test screen, I literally couldn’t believe it. Tears started welling up in my eyes and I kept saying “Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god.” Then I realized I was talking out loud to myself, and I felt a little silly. But I was just so happy and so excited. I couldn’t stop smiling. Then it hit me...I was not able to tell Michael. He was already nervous and stressed about his exam, that adding this to his mind would have been too much. So for twenty-four hours, it was going to be my little secret.

The next day, since I had some time, I thought I would think of a fun way to share the news with Michael. I had already planned on getting him a “You’re Finally Done With Studying” gift to give him after his exam. Instead of getting him some golfing items (which was my original plan), I decided to get him a couple of books for fathers-to-be! I tied the books up with a ribbon, along with my positive pregnancy test, and put everything into a gift bag. When he finally got home after his eight-hour long test, I was so excited to have him open his gift, but I was trying not to appear to eager. When he eventually got around to opening his gift, the look on his face was priceless. All he said was “What? What? Really? What?”. I will always remember the look of utter shock on his face. We laughed, hugged, and later went out to dinner to celebrate. We spent the rest of the night talking about Baby Bell!

Here are some pictures from the night I told Michael the news...