38 Weeks, 2 Days

Yep, we still have baby girl in my belly! We have approx. a week & 5 days until our due date. Feels so weird that soon she will be joining our family. Can't wait to kiss her and snuggle with her! I will however miss being pregnant. Everyone I talk to asks me if I am over being pregnant and truth is no. Maybe, its because this pregnancy has been a breeze and I have been blessed with a super easy pregnancy or maybe because I love being pregnant. I will miss the days I feel her kick inside of me daily. It stops me wherever I am and makes me smile and realize how awesome life is. I'm going to miss my hard belly and the many kisses I get from Sarah on a daily basis. Thinking about it makes me cry. There will never be a first again. Every pregnancy is completely different and unique. I have had the joy to have this experience for months and maybe that is why I am so sad to see it go because it is something that I have become a custom to. This does not stop me from being super excited to enter our daughter into the world. Dang these hormones are no joke....

On another note, we got the car seat and base installed in our cars yesterday.We had the California Highway Patrol install them and glad they did because they were fast, installed it super tight and talked about car seat safety.

Now when I drive and I see the car seat in the back of our car I smile because soon she will be in there! If this doesn't make it more real that we are having a baby I am not sure what will! LOL

I have kept on swimming and just being a lazy butt around the house. Don't mind me! House is ready for the arrival of our baby. Yeah, baby laundry is not all the way done but the newborn pile but I am way to lazy to finish the rest. Eventually, I will get to it. 

Ready, Set, Relax

Today marks 38 weeks! Wowzers! Literally two weeks until our due date. To tell you the truth I am feeling awesome! Minus the constant, more aggressive Braxton Hicks life is good. We have a doctor appointment tomorrow and then were getting our car seats installed by the California Highway Patrol. I think seeing the car seat in our cars will make it even more real that baby girl is on her way!

I have been off of work for almost a week. Many said it would take some time to get used to the fact you don't have work to look forward to and the schedule but it took me about 5 seconds to get over that. I have been feeling stress free and happy! That will be another story when I have to go back to work :(

On my last day of work they threw a surprise baby shower! It was so awesome and out of the blue. My boss is awesome. It was filled with 20 close managers and directors I work with so it was nice to mingle and receive more gifts! I swear this little girl is SO spoiled and she isn't even here yet! I can't wait to see her in all the cute little outfits she has received. We are very blessed to have such great family, friends and co-workers around our lives. 

Other than that everything has been pretty low key. I have been catching up on some major sleep because we all know as soon as baby arrives sleep will be a thing of the past. It has been nice to be able to nap whenever I feel like it. It's also been nice to catch up on some much needed things that I put to the sidelines because of work.

So with only 2 weeks before baby girl arrives I decided it would be nice to maybe do some last minute stuff...who knows how much we will accomplish because like I have said before baby girl is on her own schedule. Since starting my maternity leave last Friday I say it hasn't been too bad. I'm excited to enjoy some major R&R.

Our list before baby girl arrives!

• Pedicures
• Go to watch the movie "Planes"
• Have a candle light dinner at home
• Cuddle, Cuddle, Cuddle
• Farmers Market
• Go swimming
• Foot massages
• Go to watch the movie "The Way, Way Back
• Go to lunch by myself and enjoy some "alone time"

Yes, this is me at 38 weeks! Can you believe it. I still fit in my bathing suit from before pregnancy. Given, its a tad tight in the top part but heck I won't complain! LOL

I will keep on updating and catching up on blogs!

36 Weeks & 3 Days

Time is sure flying by. A couple weeks ago the thought of time passing by scared the crap out of my. I was both excited and nervous. I am so used to being in control and labor and having a baby is just not in your control. I have learned that I had to let this go and go with the flow. I am now getting excited and I feel ready. As ready as I will ever be. We continue to finish things around the house, little things and I have been reading more and more.

Work will be over this this Friday and I can't even tell you how excited I am to be on maternity leave. I am so tired lately and my feet and back are killing me so being able to be at home and sleep as much as I can before baby girl arrives is my goal. That is if she decides to wait until 40 weeks!

We still have SO much washing of baby laundry it is not even funny. Frankly, I am not even worried. We have some stuff washed and ready for her to use if she comes early. I plan on washing the rest when she arrives and if it doesn't get done, I am sure it will at some point!

Our labor bag is ready and packed. It is sitting in baby girl's nursery along with my Boppy Pillow & Breast Friend Pillow. Every time I sneak in her room I look at everything and our bag and I smile with excitement. I can't wait to meet our baby girl. I wonder what she will look like how big she will be, it's just so exciting!!

This past weekend we upgraded my car. Long story short my car got hit in a parking garage and we decided that instead of paying the deductible to fix it we would just get the car we had been wanting to get since that was our plan for 2014 with tax return. Things just happened quicker. We also didn't want Harper to be in an unsafe/small car. So what did we get?!.....

A VAN!

We love it!! I know, many make fun of vans and I will admit we used to as well but after being pregnant and realizing everything that lugs around with a baby we knew the van was the right car for us. We didn't want to have to get another car 5 years down the road because it was just too "small" for our family. We decided to keep our Honda love together with a 2014 Honda Odyssey. Yes, we are total Honda snobs, LOL!

It was not too bad of a day at the dealership besides the usual many hours there it was fun & exciting!

This weekend, we also set up our new bedding for our room. I know I may sound a tad crazy and I am not one bit afraid to admit that at all but I felt that I needed things to be new with our baby on the way. I feel its our way of making sure everything is nice and new for her. We are starting to set up more of her stuff around the house and our house is beginning to feel more like a family unit.

Today, also marks my first day starting Heparin. I was on Lovenox for 36 weeks once a day. I have to say injections are something I am no longer scared of. However, due to my clotting issue I cannot be on Lovenox when delivering due to me not being able to get an epidural and frankly there is just no way I would not get an epidural! SO they switch you to Heparin at 36 weeks so there is no need to worry about this!

AND....last but not least by request a belly shot! I know we have been SO bad with this. I promise to take more!

This was the most recent photo taken just two weeks ago! Many still don't believe I am actually pregnant. I went to the doctor last week and I only gained 7 pounds so I am way under my weight gain goal so I am feeling pretty good that once baby is here I will be able to bounce right back and maybe lose some?! Whatever happens as long as we are both healthy and safe that is what matters!

Nursery & Rambling

SO happy to say as I sit here at 35 weeks & 4 days we are happy to say the nursery is complete!! Oh my goodness I can finally breathe. I was so worried it wasn't going to ever get done. Here is my reasoning behind this feeling....lately we have just been shoving more and more in the closet and room of stuff we receive and frankly after our baby shower we just shoved it even more and shut the door. I never wanted to look in the room because frankly I felt stress each and every time I looked at it. Well, finally my lovely wife had enough and I guess me trying to sweep it under the rug until the next weekend was just not going to jive anymore. I'm glad she pushed us to get it done because like I said before baby girl can come whenever she wants. Its her agenda and we are just following it. So I can now put my feet up and breathe a sigh of relief and best part is I don't have to close the door anymore!

Other than that which took forever because this pregnant woman had to take many, many breaks. Thanks to my lovely wife which I don't think I have taken the time to thank is the most amazing person ever. She has built everything for our little girl and does so much for me. She truly is my other half and I am so excited to start this next venture of our life with our daughter.

I was able to catch up on some books that we have been given which were found after we shoveled through her room and I am glad I am making some headway with reading. Although, I know parenting is something you learn as you go I know it is better to be a tad bit prepared.

Oh and we set up her swing and rocker and that is when I had an "oh shit" this is getting real in here moment!!!

We also received Harper's going home outfit! Truly brought tears to my eyes. I cant believe she is only 31 days away! YIKES!

Till next time!

Sewing Project #1, & Work

A couple days ago I went on a new adventure to start a hobby I had always longed for but never had the time to do it. Finally, after much contemplating back and forth I made the plunge and just did it....I bought a sewing machine. I knew I was crazy, after all I knew nothing about sewing! I turned on the machine and plopped myself on the table with my computer in hand. I watched hours of videos on YouTube and read on how to sew. Boy, was it confusing and more and more I thought I was completely nuts to even start such a crazy hobby with baby girl's due date fast approaching. I decided I was not going to give up after all I had given up many times because of our TTC journey. Finally I made headway and I felt good. I was teaching myself how to sew.

I felt adventures and went to the nearest fabric store, picked up some fabric and brought it home. Continued to read and teach myself and whola I have my first project done! 

Harper's first homemade blanket by her momma!

I'm beyond exhausted!! However, I am feeling rather accomplished of myself. Now as I sit on the couch I will not be moving for the next couple of hours. I may even sleep here that's how comfy I am!

Other than killing myself on a sewing machine today at work I got to thinking. I only have 12 more work days left. I can't believe the end is near and a baby will be in our arms. I have such excitement and nervousness in my body. Emotions I can't even began to describe to you on paper. We are so excited to meet our little miracle. 2.5 years in the making. I am very grateful to be able to take time off to be with our baby girl after she is born. It will seem like a long time but I know for a fact time will go by so fast which means both mommies need to cherish that time with her because as everyone says they grow with a blink of an eye. I am however, rather excited to be getting a break from work. It will be nice to just get away and not worry! 

Well, that's all for now...Till next time!

Organization Mayhem!

So remember in a previous post I had said I got hit by a the nesting syndrome? Well, here is my more elaborate post because I am feeling very confident with what I have accomplished. Given, I have a couple more things to organize these things are so small I could finish quickly. My main concern was getting the bulk of it done before baby girl comes to the world.

To give a little background I am a very organized person. My wife would describe me as a freak when it comes to anything organized. I will admit I do have an organization problem. I am not ashamed of it in any way LOL! In fact I have been like this since I was little. I remember clearly always organizing all my toys in certain ways and shapes. As I grew up I knew I couldn't live my life so rigidly so I allowed myself to just step back and not be so dang organized. I mean I will never be not organized but not as crazy as I used to be when I was young. So my point is ever since becoming pregnant my crazy organization skills have come back and in full swing. There is something about having the house be perfect before your baby arrives. I can't really explain the "nesting bug" other than it really is a true symptom of pregnancy. To make myself not seem so crazy I would like to mention that I know many women out there who suffer from the same symptom...yes, maybe more some than others.

So for the past couple of weeks I have been putting away and getting rid of "stuff" and organizing. So here is a little glimpse of what I have been up to the past couple of weeks. I feel SO much better with our closets and cabinets!

 Kitchen cabinets

 More kitchen cabinets

Looking at our closets makes me feel so awesome! Plus now everything is so organized I can find things a whole lot easier!

This weekend has been an awesome weekend I have to say. It has been pretty low key. I mean two weekends in a row! I am so not complaining. I m doing things as we go and I am learning to understand things will get done when they need to get done. Plain and simple.

So this Friday we bought my first sewing machine. No I didn't just walk into the craft store and decided this looked like a nice piece of machinery. I have been wanting to sew forever. My mom taught me to sew bits and pieces when I was little...remembering is a whole different story. I realized there are so many cute baby stuff that I want to buy when I could just make it myself. After much research we bought a Brother sewing machine. I am so in LOVE with this machine! I have been sewing and sewing what seems like all weekend! I have been practicing and practicing. Given this is my first time sewing by myself I was scared. I am proud to say I have taught myself how to sew! With the help of YouTube videos sewing is simply easy!

So now I have many sewing crafts on my list and I am hoping to finish one this weekend. On my other list of craftiness. I decided to bedazzle baby girls Converse shoes. They were just to plain and Sarah said I was allowed to since she has so many pairs of shoes.

I am so excited to be making homemade things for our little girl. It means so much more to me and more importantly it reminds me of when I was little and sitting at the table while my mom sewed my dresses or blankets. It makes things that much more special. Now, I just wish I would have paid more attention back then! Oh well! I feel happy learning on my own :)

Liebster Blog Award!

Wow! The over pouring amount of love is awesome! We have been nominated three times in the past week for the Liebster award!! This makes me feel super happy! I love to blog to just let everything out and knowing others are reading it and enjoying it is truly the icing on the cake!

Huge thanks to Our Journey to Become Mommies, Pieces of Religion & Bloggity Bloo

So what is a Liebster award?
It is a way for small bloggers out there to give recognition to other small bloggers (200 followers or less). Here is how it works:

The Rules:

1. Thank the Liebster blog presenter who nominated you and link back to their blog.
2. Post 11 facts about yourself, answering the 11 questions you were asked and create 11 questions for you nominees. 
3. Nominate 11 blogs who you feel deserve to be noticed and leave a comment on their blog letting them know they have been chosen.
4. Display the Liebster Award Logo.
5. No tag backs meaning you can't just re-nominate the person who nominated you.

As solo the first put it "the real purpose behind these nominations are not only as an accolade from a fellow blogger and let's face it, nothing really gently strokes our little writer hearts more than someone telling you they appreciate your work. In addition to the back patting we need to receive from time to time, it also allows us to get a little more personal as we get to know our increasing blogging community. It also helps drive traffic to your site as we reference one another".

Here are my nominations (in no particular order!) I also have no idea how many followers these people currently have, but I love reading them!:

Questions to be answered by me! (Since I got nominated three times I have decided to take questions from all of the fellow nominators!)

1. White, milk or dark chocolate mocha? I love anything sweet but I would have to choose milk chocolate!
2. City or nature person? City! I love being surrounded by people and buildings. Its a big comfort for me.
3. What are you most proud of in your life? My wife. She is my everything. She is the reason why I live and breathe everyday and the reason why we have a little miracle on the way!
4. Paper book or electronic? Paper. I love the way books smell both old and new. Wish I would read more. 
5. What's your biggest pet peeve? People not being courteous. Use your manners. I know we were all taught this!
6. Where do you see yourself in 15 minutes? In bed! YAY!!
7. Hot or cold? Cold, you can always add more layers!
8. If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be? Anywhere that has beautiful blue water. Fiji.
9. Favorite book? Diary of Anne Frank
10. If you could meet anyone person dead or alive, who would it be? Rosa Parks
11. Best thing about where you live? We have everything at our fingertips.

• Struggling to be Mothers
• Bits and Peaces
• Mrs. Katy Em
• Lezbmommies
• Non Fat Caramel Lesbian does Baby Making
• Two Mommas to Be
• Our Griswold
• The Adventures of Life, Love and Baby Making
• Two Moms and a Journey
• Little One Still to Come
• Mina's Musings
• Expecting to be Expecting

Now here are my 11 questions for the fellow bloggers I have nominated!

1. Sweet or salty?
2. Who would be the perfect dinner date and why?
3. Describe yourself when you were 18
4. What is next on your bucket list?
5. Favorite season
6. Where would your next vacation be?
7. What is the meaning of life?
8. Do you own any pets?
9. Do you have any fears?
10. Who is your role model?
11. How does a perfect day look like?

Enjoy and once again thank you to those who nominated me!

Tales of a pregnant woman

I'm sitting here 34 weeks pregnant and a hormonal mess. These past couple of days have just taken a toll on me. Yes, I am to blame for some of it but the rest I will blame on just being plain pregnant! I haven't really felt pregnant until oh about 28 weeks. That is when I started to notice a more noticeable bump and it was getting harder for me to just walk normally. Then I got to 30 weeks and I started having the lovely Braxton Hicks contractions...OK no worries I just learned how to adjust to them when they came. Everyone asked me how I was doing and my answer was always "great"! Then all of a sudden this Monday it hit me like a ton of bricks...my breathing was getting a bit harder to control, my groin felt like it got punched a bazillion times, my lower back is killing me and Harper is kicking me in my upper chest/ribs.

Maybe today at work was just not my special day and maybe the gal at the cafeteria didn't make it any better when she said I had the "waddle". I don't even notice that I waddle! She then went into a whole discussion about how I looked like a penguin with my lovely "waddle walk". That just ticked me off. So what if I waddle! I prefer to call it my strut!

Yes! This picture is how I felt when she was pointing out my walk. After that I proceeded to drop my water bottle on the floor and I'm guessing I was just too hormonal that I bent down way to quickly...got up and felt 90 years old. Wow! I had to have pulled a muscle. I then proceeded out of the cafeteria waddle and all LOL! The entire day at work I was miserable. I tried to find any bottle I could roll on my back. I rushed home and took a 1 hour bath. Wow, I must say that one hour bath made me feel like I had my body back for a split second.

My lovely wife then started talking about getting my body back after Harper is born. I continued to dream...she asked if I was excited. I never really thought about it as being excited because this is something we had longed for but a sense of me thought of all the things I will be able to do once baby girl is here. I enjoy being pregnant I really do and this is not me being selfish. It will be nice to be able to sleep on my back and stomach again, only pee once before bed, getting out of breath for every little activity and most of all being able to lift things without me always having to ask Sarah for help because its too heavy. So am I ready for my body back!? Yes and no. I want baby girl to cook until 40 weeks ideally. I mean that's in a perfect world. I hope this post does not offend anyone. I mean haven't we all complained about something while being pregnant? 

So as I sit here with my feet up on the couch and our doggy at my toes I feel great. My back is not hurting anymore and why, yes I do have to go pee again. Thanks for asking :)

Lazy Sunday

Today has been a very low key day. For the first time in weeks it wasn't full of running from one store to another or doing this and that for the house. It was low key which felt amazing! It even included a two hour nap!

I finally decided to get up and do some laundry since I always leave it for the last thing on my weekend. Then again who likes laundry?! So after finishing the laundry I decided it would be wise to start washing baby Harper's clothes. It was the most exciting thing ever and I hate laundry! Her clothes are so cute and tiny and just so dang cute!

So I leave you with some pics of my not so productive day!

Even our pup jake was lazy!

Also, thank you to the two fellow bloggers who nominated our blog! I promise the next post will be about it! Love you all!

33 Weeks & 1 Day

According to my ticker we only have 6 weeks & 6 days (48 days) until baby girl makes her debut. This is getting more and more real as time passes by. It still is all so surreal to me....that in less than 6 weeks we will be moms. Our long journey of TTC will soon end with a baby in our arms. I just can't believe it in all honesty.

The other day we were talking about our maternity photos and what we plan on wearing on the day we take our photos. Sarah had asked me if I plan on taking any photos of my belly. If you would have asked me that when we first found out we were pregnant I would have probably said no. I guess the sight of my stomach made me cringe. I have always battled weight issues since I was little and my stomach being a huge area of battle for me just made me sick. I am so used to seeing all these women on covers, magazines and even friends showing their beautiful bellies. They look so soft and so perfect. I then continued to lift my shirt up at 33 weeks. You know it is really weird. I haven't really stopped lately to just look at my body since becoming pregnant. I guess I try and avoid mirrors at all costs. Sarah smiled and made me tear up when she said I looked beautiful. I immediately went to the mirror and there I stood bare belly and all and I took it in. I loved what I saw. I love what has become of me since becoming pregnant. I don't think I am fat or ugly...I feel beautiful! I feel empowered. Sarah wanted to take a picture of my belly to save and share. I am not embarrassed of my stretch marks that have been made since becoming pregnant. I adore these beautiful marks made my our growing baby girl. In fact they are her imprints on me. I call them her tiger stripes.

I will really miss this belly when she is here but when I see her I will be reminded that she was housed for 9 cozy months. She has forever left a mark in our hearts and on my belly.

Prepping and Putting it Together

So remember how I mentioned in a previous blog post that time seems to be slipping from our fingers? Yeah...well I feel like we need to get things done ASAP. I believe my reasoning behind all of this is the fact that baby girl can come whenever she would like. We pray and hope that she doesn't make her debut until she is ready and well around her due date but reality is everyone is so different and since this is our first pregnancy everything is in the "unknown". This is where I believe our panic mode buttons have come from. I would hate for her to come and we are not ready at all. So the past two weeks we put on our "let's get this done now" hats and work towards having everything ready.

Well, to say the least my OCD has just taken over and instead of me just getting things done I want to make sure everything is perfect. So this brings me to the word "nesting". I know I have mentioned it before and quite frankly I feel like I have been nesting forever. So I decided that nesting is not just for the birds...pfft! Story is I want everything in tip top shape before our little princess arrives and well this means making sure everything is clean and organized.

So in my venture of organizing our household I have done some major cleaning and de-cluttering of stuff, which, I will save for another post.

What I will share is what I found useful in my adventure of prepping for baby in the past couple days!

The Diaper Bag!

At first, I thought you just threw in as many diapers and wipes as you could fit. It then sunk in that babies need more than just diapers and wipes. So I sat down with a pen and paper and wrote down what I thought was important to include in a diaper bag. This is what I came up with.

 A whole bunch of everything! 

 So you ask what I have included in our little girls diaper bag? Well, I thought it would be nice to share along to others what I thought was a good head start in getting the diaper bag ready.

1. The diaper bag (Well, duh! I think this may come in handy to help carry the 1,000 things that lug around with a child)!
2. Bibs
3. Changing pad
4. Diapers (I researched that for a newborn a good rule of thumb is to bring one diaper for every hour or two that you will be out)
5. First Aid Kit (You never know when this will come in handy for you or the baby)
6. Pacifier clip (We all know we don't want that little sucker to disappear)!
7. Diaper disposal bags (I can count many places where this will come in handy....we all don't want to smell a stinky diaper).
8. Boogie Wipes
9. Wipes (from what I have been told they say you never have enough wipes!)
10. Kleenex (in case I get so hormonal or just need one lol)
11. Diaper rash cream
12. Pacifier wipes (we hate germs especially those on the floor which is where a pacifier usually falls to)
13. Pacifier
14. Nursing cover
15. Hand sanitizer wipes 
16. Disposable nursing pads
17. Mittens
18. Pacifier bag to keep it away 
19. Extra outfit with hat
20. Socks
21. Grooming kit
22. Blanket
23. Burp cloths

What I forgot to picture...

  24.  Wallet

  25.  Cell phone

  26.  Sunscreen

So I leave you here with some helpful hints-at least I did lol. I have some more exciting posts to come about the good ole nesting syndrome. 

Till next time!

Braxton Hicks

Yes, I am one of the lovely gals that gets to experience the joys of Braxton Hicks. Also, known as "false labor or practice contractions". I started feeling these two weeks ago and at first I went into full panic mode. Oh dear god I thought labor was around the corner. I sat down and called my doctor immediately. She pretty much said that what I described was for sure Braxton Hicks! I was not excited to say the least. I was scared. Thoughts of early labor freaked me out. We were only 30 weeks she couldn't come that early. As time went by I learned that this was something I was going to have to deal with and more importantly I needed Sarah to understand it didn't mean to get everything ready and rush me to the hospital....poor Sarah. 

Things that I have learned make Braxton Hicks come more than usual....

~(lack of water) I learned this the hard way the other night when I woke up to immense uncomfortable Braxton Hicks. I woke Sarah up at 3:30 AM and said to get as many water bottles as she could carry. Soon enough she came in with 6 water bottles. I downed them all. Within minutes I felt 110% better! So ladies drink lots of water!! 

~(overworking myself) lately we have been in full get everything done before baby girl arrives and time seems to be scarce that I feel myself running to get anything done. I noticed when I worked too much it causes these lovely contractions. So I have been listening more to my body and learning this mama needs a break every now and then. 

To this day it amazes me how awesome our body is. It's unique in so many ways. 

So, anyone else have these lovely contractions known as Braxton Hicks?

Baby Shower

Ugh! I hate that I keep forgetting to update on our blog. Makes me upset because I have very good intentions to and then I am not sure what happens but a blog post is never made. Anyways, instead of boring you with my excuses I thought I would share pictures and an update from our beautiful baby shower! When we found out we were pregnant right away many wanted to throw us a baby shower. So we thought it would be nice for it to be a group effort since so many wanted to help including us. I know baby showers are supposed to be thrown for the parents to be but since this was our first baby and we had such a long journey of getting to this point we wanted to be involved. Boy, were we ever involved. I think we went a tad overboard with everything because by the end of the day on our baby shower I was glad I didn't have to plan another detail!

I took on the task of getting everything ready decoration wise for the shower. Sarah helped me even though craftiness isn't one of her key points. I have a very powerful mind when it comes to what I want and sometimes that take over the best of me. I try not to but it happens. All in all we ended up making everything for the shower and it came out fabulous! A memory that will forever be in our hearts and minds.

It was so nice to see how many friends and family we have in our lives and most importantly in our little girl's life. She is so blessed and lucky and so are we! We were so overwhelmed with all the amount of gifts we received. At first when we found it we were pregnant the first thing that was on my mind was making sure our pregnancy stuck and then making sure we had everything we needed for our miracle baby. After our baby shower it came to both of our minds and eyes that indeed we had everything for her. Now comes the task of putting everything away! That shall be another blog post!!

We would like to give a thank you to all of our family and friends for all the help they offered to make our baby shower a huge success! Special thanks to our two moms and grandma! You all are awesome!

Now I leave you with some pictures from the wonderful day!

Sarah feeling her kick

Can you believe I'm actually updating more than once in a week! I can't either. I really want to update more, I just get tied up with a million other things or I get tired. BLAH!

On June 12th around 10 PM we were laying in bed like we do every night watching TV and I was doing my normal news watching when Harper started kicking. She is a funny little girl. She has her "kicking" fests which occur during the morning and late, late evening. If this is anything like she will be outside the womb then we are in big trouble at night time LOL! Anyways, I told Sarah that she was kicking and kicking hard nonetheless. So like we have done many other nights Sarah put her hand on my bare belly in hopes that she would feel her kick. Keep in mind im 28 weeks weeks and we were starting to get sad that she could still not feel her kick. I laid there with my belly ready and she kicked and kicked some more and finally that moment when Sarah felt her kick brough tears to both of our eyes. It was the most amazing feeling for both of us. We could now know what it felt like for the two of us to feel her kick. Something so little that just flooded our hearts with joy. So since then every time she kick Sarah runs to my belly and tries and feel her and without a doubt she is finally getting used to us and our hands around her. This was one of those moments where you stop and look around you and know that EVERY struggle you went through to get to that point was so worth it. I wouldn't trade it for the world.

28 Weeks

I honestly don't know where time has gone. Everyone keeps telling me is slows down and then it feels like it takes forever for the baby to come but to the two of us we feel like time is flying right past us and finding time to breathe is becoming a challenge. Tomorrow we are 28 weeks! Which means we have less than 12 weeks or 85 days to go. However you look at it its going by super fast. I never thought in a million years we would be sitting here getting ready to meet our miracle our little baby girl. I can't wait for the day for her eyes to meet both of our eyes and tears to run down my eyes. Tears of joy. Tears of long awaited love. 

Pregnancy has been going great. Nothing to much to complain or mope about. If every pregnancy was like this then I would be pregnant all the time! It's been such a walk in the park *knock on wood*. I better be careful with my choice of words because maybe next post I will be posting about how miserable I am, LOL! I haven't weighed myself in two weeks. I know for sure I have gained something because baby is growing and so is my belly. It's like overnight my belly just appeared. For a while I didn't feel "pregnant" and now I'm fitting more and more into maternity clothes and I can see my belly pop out! The most awesome thing to see on a daily basis. Before I used to hate looking in the mirror now I love it and just stare at my ever growing belly. Makes me smile. 

So what would a girl with an easy pregnancy have to complain about? Really, nothing. The only thing I am finding more difficult is keeping my bladder normal. I have to pee all the dang time other than that and mild pressure on my lower belly everything is peachy. Thankfully there has been zero swelling with my feet or ankles. For sure I thought the other day when our temperature hit 105 I would be seeing my feet swell and thankfully nothing. Phew!

So what has happened in the past couple of weeks?! Well, we celebrated 9 years of being together and being in love. I still can't believe I have been in love with my other half for nine years. She is my better half and I truly understand what people mean when they say you couldn't live without them. I could never live without her. She completes me. Her daily smile and laugh still tickle me, and it will never, ever get old.

I also celebrated my birthday. Years before if you asked me how I felt about getting older I would have been sad and terrified and this year I was just happy. Age is just a number. Before, in the previous years I was scared because it seemed as thought birthdays reminded me that we were one more year without being pregnant and our chances of fertility had lowered. This year we celebrated the fact that I was given another year to live and celebrate life. 

In upcoming news our baby shower is next Saturday. Can't wait! Everything is just getting real!

Oh and how could I forget....tomorrow I have my dang gestational diabetes test. Now this is not my first time. My doctor had me have one at 16 weeks and I passed no problem....this time I am a tad scared I won't pass it. I have just been to good of friends with sweets. I hope and pray all goes well. I just want our baby girl to be okay. We also have a doctor appointment! Can't wait to see how all is going.

Well I leave you with pictures of the last two weeks!

My birthday celebration!

 27 weeks, 4 days bump!

 27 weeks, 4 days bump! Out shopping!

Bows made for Harper from a friend

 More bows 

 Baby shower gifts are starting to arrive for Harper!

 

How far along? 28 weeks

How big is baby? Cauliflower

Total weight gain/loss: Not sure, LOL! I will find out tomorrow!

Maternity Clothes: Maternity shirts/maternity pants

Have you started to show yet? Yes! Finally!!

Sleep: Better

Best moment this week: Feeling Harper kick more and more. Her kicks are getting stronger!!

Miss Anything? Hot dogs

Movement: Movement each and every day!

Food Cravings: Sweets

Anything make you queasy or sick? Not right now

Gender prediction: We already know its a GIRL!

Symptoms: Short fused 

Major purchases this week? baby shower items

Looking forward to: Seeing her on 4D soon!

Meeting with the Attorney

This past Friday we met with an LGBT attorney in San Francisco to go over the adoption process for my wife Sarah after the baby is born. It is very unfair that we have to go through something like this but we do. We live in California and have a registered domestic partnership which we have had since 2009. Since living in California with this domestic partnership Sarah will have all parental rights no problems, its all the other states outside of California that do not protect her unless they offer domestic partnership as well. We do not want anything to ever happen and I want Sarah to have these rights that everyone in the world should have.

We were super excited and nervous at the same time but there we were in the city holding hands on our way to the 14th floor to meet the attorney. She was soooo nice and for the entire hour she told us the in's and out's of each adoption and we asked our questions from our list we had written out together. After much talk and going through every scenario we decided on the type of adoption that best fit our needs and family and decided that she would be the attorney we would work with. She has over 20 plus years of experience with LGBT families and more important 10 years of LGBT adoption. We are very relieved that everything will be done with her and we won't have to worry about a thing except turning in the paperwork! Unfortunately, we can't start the full on process until after Harper is born but we felt a huge sense of relief that we are going in the right direction!

Baby Harper is doing great. She keeps moving more and more and her kicks are becoming more and more stronger. The other day we started playing music to my belly. She was having fun and kicking. It was the cutest thing ever!

Other than that life is going really well and things are going fast. We have officially 101 days until she shows up in our lives. We can't wait and as each day goes by we feel more and more blessed to be where we are at.

How far along? 25 weeks & 4 days

How big is baby? Eggplant still!

Total weight gain/loss: three pounds

Maternity Clothes: Maternity shirts/maternity pants

Have you started to show yet? a little pooch

Sleep: Better

Best moment this week: Still feeling her kick

Miss Anything? Hot dogs

Movement: Movement each and every day!

Food Cravings: Donuts

Anything make you queasy or sick? Not right now

Gender prediction: We already know its a GIRL!

Symptoms: Short fused 

Major purchases this week? baby shower items

Looking forward to: Feeling her kick more and more often

Milestones-Hitting 24 Weeks!

Ever since we got pregnant we knew there would be many humps (milestones) to get over throughout the pregancy. At first it seemed as though days took forever and weeks took years and little by little we got over one hump and we were then able to breathe a huge sigh of relief. It seemed as though it was one hump after another and everytime we went to a doctor's appointment we were a bunch of nerves and then another sigh of relief.

Last Thursday, we hit one of the biggest humps we have been wanting to get over since the day we found out we were pregnant. 24 weeks. Many don't know what 24 weeks means and many do not celebrate this huge milestone. The 24th week of pregnancy usually marks the start of the age of vitality; the first time the fetus could potentially survive outside the uterus. This was huge for both of us! We know that if anything god for bid was to happen and our baby would have to be delievered there is a chance she could survive outside the womb. However, she better keep baking for a long, long time until she is fully ready to come! Last Thursday, like every other morning I woke up and reached for my phone to shut my alarm off and quickly I had remebered today was a very special day for both of us. We were both so happy to have gotten this far in the pregnancy and we celebrated that entire day.

While we were at dinner we were talking about all our milestones that we have overcome and we came up with a list...

1. Getting a positive pregnancy test
2. Seeing a sac on the ultrasound
3. Seeing a heartbeat
4. Hearing a heartbeat
5. Growth between the 6th & 8th week
6. Making it past the 12th week where miscarriage rates lower by half
7. Making it past the first trimester
8. Making sure all Trisomy and Down syndrome tests are clear and normal
9. Nuchal scan being normal and clear
10. Passing my first glucose test
11. Anatomy scan being normal and clear
12. Reaching vitality-24 weeks!

As time goes on with the pregnancy we will keep writing stuff down of our milestones that we reach. Such a beautiful thing to see written down.

This year Mother's day was such a wonderful day for us. I remember so much the past years crying and wishing we would be able to be given the chance of being mothers. Finally our time has come and we celebrated Mother's day as I had always expected in my dreams. We got each other gifts and we surprised each other with posts on each others Facebook. I swear I fall more and more in love with Sarah each and every day that goes by. 

How far along? 24 weeks & 4 days

How big is baby? Eggplant

Total weight gain/loss: Two pound=p

Maternity Clothes: Maternity shirts

Have you started to show yet? a little pooch

Sleep: Better

Best moment this week: Feeling her kick like crazy this past week

Miss Anything? Hot dogs

Movement: Movement each and every day!

Food Cravings: Nothing

Anything make you queasy or sick? Not right now

Gender prediction: We already know its a GIRL!

Symptoms: Irratable 

Major purchases this week? Closet organization

Looking forward to: Feeling her kick more and more often

Last but not least I leave you with a picture of our beautiful baby girl. She already is wrapped around our fingers! We love her SO much!

Feeling Harper Kick

From the moment we found out we were pregnant it felt surreal. As the weeks flew by I knew we were for real pregnant. Ultrasounds showed beautiful sights of our bouncing baby girl. She grew and grew but I still didn't feel pregnant. It might have been the lack of symtoms or the lack of baby bump but deep down inside my heart I knew she was there. I kept telling Sarah I would feel "pregnant" when I felt her kick because its her way of saying "Im really here mommies"! The past couple of weeks I was looking for signs of the so called first kicks. I couldn't really figure if it was a real kick or just my imagination. Sarah kept asking me everyday if I had felt her kick. My response was the same..."not yet". I was sad because so many other women around me had started feeling their first kicks....then I started to panic. Is everything okay with Harper?! Why is she not moving but again I was reassured at all her appointments that she was just fine. She was a bouncing baby girl full of energy. Maybe, she's already giving us a run for our money!

Then a couple days ago I felt this weird feeling in my stomach. Like a gas like bubble feeling. At first my instinct was my lunch didn't quite sit right so I kept going with my day. Then it happened again that evening. I told Sarah and we both got excited and before you knew it I felt no more. Then the next day again like clock work I felt this little flutter. I then knew it was no longer my lunch from the other day but rather a little tiny human in my belly named Harper. I couldn't help but smile and giggle of excitement. I looked down at my belly and said "I love you".

The past couple of days it has been happening more and more throughout the day. No specific time of day but I feel it. Its such a beautiful reassurment that she is there and that she is all right. Not sure what she is doing excatly...maybe baby aerobics, dancing or practicing on her basketball moves as my wife would say but she is there moving in my belly. The best feeling in the entire world. It's almost like a little kick to say get ready mommies because soon I will be kicking for your attention.

Sarah asks me over and over to explain to her what it feels like and the best explanation I could give her was it felt like my intestines were coming out. Now that I think about it that was NOT the best or clearest answer! I now know what people mean when they say it feels like a gas like bubble. It does! I can't wait for her to grow and get bigger so then I can really feel her and while I may be singing a different tune when she really kicks me for now it makes us both happy!

22 weeks & 2 days!

It seems as though ever since we became pregnant time has slipped right through and we find ourselves always on the go! Its amazing what your priorities change to once you are pregnant and you know a baby is well on the way. You want to make sure you are prepared and that means prepared with everything. Our weekends have continued to be organizing and getting the house ready for baby Harper.  We have been cleaning the outside and garage and just organizing and organizing every nook and cranny in this house.

Recently we got a package in the mail from a very close friend. She got us our bedding from Potter Barn for Harper!! We were beyond thrilled to see her bedding here as a pre-baby shower gift. It also shows us how much love we have from both family and friends. We have been blessed with such great people to surround us. We can't even explain how much we have received in little gifts for our baby since we announced we were pregnant. We can't wait to share the love of Harper with them just like they have showed their love with us.

On Monday, April 29th we finally had our anatomy scan. The doctor's office we booked with at 12 weeks was completely booked with appointments and the only opening they had was at 21 weeks! Most  usually have it as early as 18 weeks but nonetheless time went by super quick and before you knew it there we were waiting for our scan to start. As I was laying on the table with my belly bare as can be I got this nervous feeling throughout my body. I was scared the scan would not go okay and we would hear a bad report from the doctor. I left my worries with God and I knew that everything would be okay. The appointment was an hour long and it was the best hour scan ever! We were SOOOOOO happy to be able to see our little baby girl even if it was for measuring. The tech was super nice this time! Finally the doctor came in and did his scan and looked over everything and said everything was "perfect"! Best word I had heard in the longest time. There is absolutely nothing more in the world than nothing everything is clear and we are free to go and our worries are out the door. We got some beautiful sonogram pictures on disc and even another gender scan even though we already know shes a baby girl. 

Sarah took my 20 week photo mark and even though my belly bump is still small for almost 6 months I know when I can barely move or walk I will be singing a different tune! At my last doctors appointment my total weight gain for this pregnancy so far....drum roll please.......1 whoppin pound! WOWZERS! There is NO complaining here and even though I have only gained 1 pound my stomach is stretching out  I can notice this in my pants and shirts. The tech said my uterus has only stretched out 10% so if this is true I sure do have a long ways to go before we start to really see a baby bump!

Hope all is well with everyone and sending lots of baby dust from California!!

How far along? 22 weeks & 2 days

How big is baby? Papaya

Total weight gain/loss: One pound!

Maternity Clothes: Maternity shirts

Have you started to show yet? a little pooch

Sleep: Better

Best moment this week: Knowing there is a little baby in my belly that will soon be apart of our family so soon!

Miss Anything? Sandwiches

Movement: Very tiny movements :)

Food Cravings: Nothing

Anything make you queasy or sick? Not right now

Gender prediction: We already know its a GIRL!

Symptoms: Nada!

Major purchases this week? Decor for her room

Looking forward to: Vitality