18 Weeks and The Stubborn Discovery:

Today I am 18 weeks and 5 days pregnant and still waiting for my "pregnant" belly to show. I'm starting to feel a bit more "motherly" and catch myself rubbing my belly and telling Pearl to get prepared for her sister to arrive. I have a hard time waiting to see her progress from ultrasound to ultrasound so I was super excited to see our specialist today. Here are some of the updates we got today:

She is indeed a girl.

Weight: 10 ounces

Measuring at: 19 weeks 4 days

Heartbeat: 133 BPM

Since all of her major organs, fingers and toes are functioning perfectly the specialist said there is no need for us to continue seeing him; which bummed me out because I really like him, but more importantly - our baby no longer needs a specialist! WOO-HOO!

Another thing the tech noted was that we had a stubborn baby girl on our hands because it took forever to get her in position to get a good facial picture. Ed says that she is "taking after" me by being stubborn, but I just think we may have interrupted her beauty rest. Speaking of beauty, look at her gorgeous little face and profile:

Now that we are no longer seeing the specialist I'm not sure when our next ultrasound will be; which totally makes me sad. This was my fifth ultrasound and I just love seeing her grow and find it absolutely amazing to witness. If I could I would buy an ultrasound machine for my bedroom and watch her all day. 

The next milestone for my pregnancy will be when I'm able to feel her move. I think I may have felt her dancing to Adele last week, but I'm not quite sure if it was her moving or if I'm just jumping to conclusions. The doctor said my placenta is in front of the baby so it may take longer for me to feel her with all the layers that the movement has to go through. Hopefully I will get to "really" feel her soon.

This Thursday I will be 19 weeks and this is the size of a normal fetus at 19 weeks:

Looks like our baby girl is not average, because she's already 10 ounces. I can't believe she's almost 1 pound! Pregnancy sure does fly by...

Keep growing little one.

Wasn't it Just Yesterday?!

This past Thursday I came down with a really bad cold. I was so bummed because I was super excited for our first wedding anniversary (classic Kelli to get sick when something important is coming up). When I woke up on Saturday morning, our anniversary, I was greeted with a beautiful card from Eddie. On the inside it read, "P.S. Join me at Green Valley Ranch for a spa day!" I was so thrilled because my body was aching from my cold and I was due for a nice relaxing day with the hubman. We headed to Green Valley Ranch to be pampered:

Not only do I enjoy massages, but couples massages bring back good memories for Eddie and I. On our honeymoon we spent two days at the spa and it was worth every penny! There's nothing like the feeling after a spa day, especially when you're prego and they give you the "mother-to-be" treatment. Eddie knows me well and knows I prefer a couples massage over anything else. We truly enjoy getting massages and feeling like mush the rest of the day together!

When we got home, I surprised Ed with his gift...

A NEW GRILL!!

He was so surprised and so excited. For some reason, men sure do loves grills. So we cooked dinner and cut into our wedding cake:

Let me just say, this is the first time in my life that I did not enjoy red velvet cake. I was looking forward to it all day and it tasted like frost bite, but I guess it is good luck so we inhaled some cake and toasted with apple juice.

While eating, Eddie and I talked about how quickly this year has gone by and how quickly our future anniversaries are going to go. I just can not believe that this was a year ago... seems like just yesterday when my mom was getting ready to walk me down the aisle and we were hysterical. Wasn't it just yesterday that Eddie and I had our first dance and were slamming cake in each other's faces?! When Eddie and I were on our honeymoon we talked about coming back to celebrate our first anniversary and now we are having our first child together. Sometimes I think that time flies by way too fast, but with each day that does pass I love and respect Eddie more and more. I am so grateful for the life that we have together and am so excited for our future anniversaries together. 

Here's to many more anniversaries to come!

I love you, Eddie and thanks for being you.

Week 16 and 17 Fitness Inspiration

Every year I participate in the Susan G. Komen 'Race for The Cure'. Last year when Kasie and I did it we said that we were going to run the 5k this year; however during this years 'Race for The Cure' I was 16 weeks pregnant so we decided walking was best. While waiting for the race to start they had Josh from 'Holly's World' sing the national anthem and he was amazing! 

Total goose bump status from hearing him sing. Then, Holly Maddison shot the gun to start the race and we were off! The race was extra fun this year because Kasie and I got to catch up and chit-chat while supporting a great cause. We finished in an hour and took pictures on Fremont:

We have already decided that next year we will be running the 5k, but I'll be running with a running stroller and my baby girl - teaching her how to be active at 7 months old, just like her mommy. We also plan on rockin' pink tutus so I can't wait to do it again next year!

While on the kick of being active, I was inspired by this post and have decided that after I pop this baby girl out that I am going to start training for my first Iron Girl Triathlon. When JLo had her two twins she trained for a triathlon right after she gave birth. I know I'm not Jenny From The Block, but if she can do it after twins I'm sure as heck going to try my hardest! I even found this organization in Nevada called 'The Diamond Kid' where they have junior triathlons for kids (as little as 2 years old!) that can be done with their parents. This also had me inspired of all the fun things we can do when our little girl gets here. This week I did a lot of spinning classes to stay fit while being pregnant and they have me feeling happy and very energetic. Here are some bump pics after I got home from the gym the day I hit 17 weeks:

After all this spinning, I'm pretty sure the little one is going to come runnin' out and give Lance Armstrong a run for his money. I just can not wait to meet her and will do anything to keep my mind off the anticipation. Almost half way there! :)

IT'S A GIRL: one spoiled little girl!!

Eddie and I were dying to know the sex of the baby. I was convinced we were having a boy and Ed was convinced it was a girl (remember this?). So last week I scheduled us for a 4D ultrasound since they can tell you the sex of the baby as early as 15 weeks. We were so excited to finally be able to say he or she. On the way there I said to Ed, "I'm thee most unlucky person that I bet I'm wrong and it's a girl." When we got there I asked the tech what the ratio of boy to girl was for the day and she said that it was the "month of girls" and that they only had one boy that day. When we got into the room I asked her to let me know when she had a good view of the Gender because I wanted to guess. It seemed like it took the tech forever since the baby loves to cross it's legs. As soon as she said she had a good view I bursted into tears and said,

"It's a girl. Oh my God, it's a girl. Ed, we're having a girl!"

(pure disbelief)

I never thought I'd have a girl, let alone a girl my first pregnancy. I remember my mom wanting a girl so bad that she kept trying until I came along and here I get a girl on the first try. I just never thought it would be possible for me to have a daughter. So great, I'm the one carrying this sweet precious girl and thinking she was a boy while her daddy was right all along. Awesome, he's already a better parent then me. No need to worry about me though because I will love and spoil her like nobodies business.

Here are some pics of the ultrasound:

(I went a little overboard with the photos, but she's just so stinkin' cute!)

Full Body

Hand

Foot

Baby girl raisin' the womb roof!

During the ultrasound she would move her right arm up and down in front of her eyes and it looked like she was waving to us.

She loves us already. :)

Trying to hide.

Sucking on her little thumb.

Cuddling up on her mommy (my favorite photo).

The ultrasound experience was great and I was in total shock when we left. Eddie and I planned on keeping the sex of the baby a secret so that we could tell our entire family in person when we go home this summer, but that obviously didn't happen... I called my mom as soon as we got in the car to tell her how cute the baby was and she kept saying "Just tell me, please. I don't care if you tell me in person." So we called Ed's mom and she wanted to know too so I told them both at the same time. My mom was screaming so loud that I had to hand Ed's phone back to him. So all in all it was a great 5 minutes of suspense for them! I probably would've been able to keep it a secret if I wasn't so caught of guard by the sex. I still can't believe we are going to have a little girl. I am so happy that we decided to find out the sex of the baby because I feel so much more bonded to my little nugget now. I would've felt horrible if for nine months I kept saying it was going to be a boy. Now I can think of how we are going to do the nursery, think of all the girly ways I can accessorize her and begin to spoil her. The spoiling didn't take long to start either... Frannie brought the baby an adorable chocolate brown and pale pink fluffy blanket and the cutest socks I’ve EVER seen:

Aren’t these just adorable??

They’re my absolute favorite thing so far.

I can’t wait to see them on her!

Then, on Sunday I was determined to surprise Ed with a cute little outfit that said something about ‘Daddy’ on it. I went everywhere and could not find anything worthy of my first “girl purchase”. Everything was like, “Daddy’s Little Princess” and I’m sorry, but I’m not into the whole princess thing. Finally, I found this super cute outfit at Macy’s:

I was so excited for Ed to get home and he loved the outfit!

I can already tell she’s going to be one spoiled little girl…


Happy Mothers Day! :)

Home Sweet Home

Eddie and I have lived in Vegas for almost seven years, but I've never felt like this was my "home". Living in apartments and accumulating lots of junk stuff, we just needed more space, especially with a baby on the way. On April 15th, Eddie and I were finally able to say that we had a home! We found this one story home in Henderson that we liked, but it needed a ton of work. Since the price was right we decided to put in an offer. The house had multiple offers and we were praying and hoping that we would have the winning offer. Sure enough, Lady Luck was on our side (for once) and we got the house! For a whole month we dreamed about how we would make this home "ours". So here's what we did:

LIVING ROOM

The living room didn't need much work, expect for new carpet. We choose a lighter color that is super fluffy (great for babies to crawl on).

Before:

After:

(with new carpet)

FIREPLACE

I've always wanted a nice fireplace to hang Christmas stockings from and this house's fireplace had loads of potential. I convinced Ed that it'd be worth our money to invest in getting the fireplace done to my liking and of course, I got what I wanted! I'm so glad I did because now I am super excited to hang our stockings from our beautiful fireplace.

Before:

After:

(fireplace flattened and stoned)

KITCHEN

One word comes to mind when I think of the original kitchen in our house - DEMOLITION! I mean, this house was built in 1996 and there was not an upgrade in sight. Needless to say, it alllll went bye-bye.

Before:

After:

(new cabinets, granite countertops, new sink, new appliances)

flowers compliments of Liz :)

SPARE BATHROOM

One thing I am not is a pink person... yuck! I've always hated the color and guess what? The previous owners apparently loved the color because their bathroom countertops were pink. So yeah, those had to go along with the cabinets and old toilets.

Before:

After:

(new cabinets, granite countertops, new sink, new faucet, new toilet)

MASTER BATHROOM

I've always wanted vessel sinks so Eddie and I thought we'd get creative with the re-model in our master bedroom and we just love it!

Before:

After:

(new cabinets, granite countertops, new vessel sinks, new faucets, new toilet)

We did so many other things to the house and there's still so much more to do. This week, we are waiting for our blinds to come in and get installed and we'll also be putting up all new light fixtures and ceiling fans. Then, we are going to conquer the backyard! I finally feel like I have a "home" here in Vegas and every time I walk through the doors I think 'Home Sweet Home'.

 

Let the nesting begin!