The most amazing experience!

I had my 12-week doctor's appointment today, and because we are going through the university hospital, there are a lot of students who shadow the nurses/midwives while they earn their grad degrees. I got the chance to have an extra ultrasound today so one of the students could practice. Because she was practicing and receiving instruction, John and I got to watch our baby for a good 20 minutes, plus hear the heartbeat! It was such an amazing experience! Baby has arms, legs, hands and feet. We even got to see baby's profile and watch him/her kick, flip, bounce and roll over. I have never seen anything this amazing before. I totally understand how women can fall in love with their children before they are even born. I mean, look at this little guy! SO cute. And he/she is ours! We made that!

12 Weeks

 How far along: 12 weeks
Total weight gain: None so far
Maternity clothes: None yet, but I did purchase a couple of Belly Button Bands to make my jeans more comfortable. They are so worth it! I highly recommend. Also, leggings are my new best friend.
Stretch marks: None yet. I've been using Burt's Bees Belly Butter to help prevent.
Sleep: So far so good, although I have to pee with a vengeance every morning.
Best moment of this week: Going in for my 12-week check up and getting to a surprise ultrasound thanks to some U of U students needing to practice! More on that ultrasound later.
Miss anything: My old eating habits. I've gotten really picky and don't really enjoy meals that much.
Movement: None that I can feel, but my 12-week ultrasound proved that baby is very energetic! Kicks, flips, bounces, etc.
Food cravings: I started out my pregnancy craving protein (eggs, hamburgers, etc.), but haven't had many cravings lately. I have eaten a lot of buttered toast, drank a lot of juice, and had a lot more mac n cheese than any person should though.
Anything making you queasy or sick: Certain smells, like John's beard oil (sorry honey!) and I usually get a wave of nausea during every meal. But luckily, no throwing up.
Have you started to show yet: See above...I think I definitely am. I mostly look bloated, but there's a definite bump there.
Gender: Don't know yet. John wants a boy, and I don't care!
Labor signs: Nope. Way too early.
Belly button in or out: In. Let's hope it stays that way for a while, haha.
Wedding rings on or off: On.
Happy or moody most of the time: I think I've been pretty good emotionally. I would say I'm happy most of the time, with the occasional cry session. But it's not me...it's my hormones! ;-)
Looking forward to: Cleaning out our storage room so that we can start moving things from our guest room into it so that we can convert it into a nursery. And Halloween. I got a cute shirt to wear since I'm pregnant. I'll post pics after Halloween.

And just for fun...here's John's 12 week bump shot:

Finding out!

Finding out I was pregnant is kind of a funny story. We found out I was pregnant on Sept. 2, 2014.

 

Over FOUR years ago, when John and I got married, one of my best friends got us everything we'd need for a medicine cabinet...including pregnancy tests (Thanks, Ash!). Back then we thought it was pretty funny and they got put into a storage closet where we kind of forgot we had them. Well, when I starting to think that maybe I could be pregnant (no symptoms really, I was just late and had a feeling), I decided to dig them out. Turns out, they had expired over two years ago...but we decided to try them anyway. I took one before work that morning and it immediately turned up positive. We both shrugged it off, figured because it was expired it would give a false positive, and decided to buy more after work. I did my best to concentrate that day at work but it was tough! After work, we stopped at Walmart and picked up a couple more tests. When we got home, I took one right away. It turned up positive too! That's when we knew for sure! I am not going to lie, my initial reaction to learning I was pregnant was panic, fear and stress. Our whole lives were/are going to change! It was a lot to take in. After letting it sink in for a couple of hours, I finally got excited. I could not believe that there was an actual human being growing inside of me (Well, technically it was a blastocyst at that time). I asked myself and John several times up until my first doctor's appointment...am I really pregnant? John has been ready to be a dad for probably a couple of years now, so he was excited from the beginning. He is also a very laid back person who rarely stresses out or panics. I guess that's why we work together well. He was really supportive while I processed and had my mini-panic attack. Now that I'm in the thick of my pregnancy (no pun intended, but seriously...I think I'm starting to get a little thick around the middle), I'm SO excited and can't wait to meet our little baby.

 

 

Me with 2 of the 4 tests I took...shocked!

Kind of gross since I peed on these, but here are the positive tests.

And here's John with the tests! Shocked and awed!

Oh Baby!

It's official....John and I are going to be parents!! Announcing Baby Madison, due May 10, 2015!!

Here's my first ultrasound, taken during week 9. Baby was just 3 centimeters long and had a heart rate of 173. I am going to do my best to document my pregnancy on my blog, along with pictures of my growing belly. I think it'll be fun to look back on in the future...so here's to hoping I can actually keep up with it! I'm 12 weeks along now, and I plan to do the updates weekly starting with this week. Now off to take some selfies of my belly in the mirror.... Stay tuned!!

City of Rocks

Last weekend John and I had a totally, 100 percent free day, which if you know us, never happens! So, since we had so much free time on our hands, we decided to take a day trip up to Idaho to see the City of Rocks National Register and do a little hiking. We had SO much fun! The drive was about 3 hours each way, but there was beautiful scenery and a lot of fun little towns to go through. The City of Rocks was beautiful! Pictures below! :)

Absolutely beautiful views!

Just one of the many cool rock formations

Can you see John?

There were tons of pools formed in the rocks
 because of all the rain we got in August.

Looking out at the expanse of City of Rocks

More beautiful views!

We were so high up that I felt like I was going to blow away at times.

Window Arch

Another cool rock formation

Lake Tahoe or Bust! (And Reno too)

A few weeks ago, I was offered a promotion at work from assistant editor to associate editor. As kind of a way to celebrate, in addition to John and I having a four-day weekend that we didn't know what to do with, we decided to take a road trip. I have never been so spontaneous--I usually plan trips months or even years in advance! We had three weeks to spare so we booked some hotels, found some Groupons for some cheap entertainment and dining options, and we were ready for Lake Tahoe (or BUST!). We had a great time. We stopped in Wendover the first night, and then drove to Tahoe where we spent two nights. Our last night we spent in Reno. It was SO much fun! Pictures below to show all of our fun times (in no particular order)!

The road went from looking like this...

...to this! Much better.

John just hanging out at Heavenly Village.
He didn't even know I was taking a picture...

At Heavenly Village! It was so bright.
I think both of us closed our eyes, haha.

Riding the gondola to the top of the mountain to see Lake Tahoe!

The view of Lake Tahoe from the top of the mountain.

John pretending like he wasn't scared to ride a ski lift.

Cave Rock. It's a 75-foot long tunnel that's sacred
 to local Native Americans. Really cool!

Beautiful Lake Tahoe!

John and I at the lake.

Another gorgeous view.

All ready to go hiking!

The beginning of our hike. It only got better!

John and I before our hike.

Check out the size of that pine cone! They were all huge!

The trees were massive...we had to demonstrate just
 how big! This is me trying to hug a tree...

...and this is John showing how short he is compared to the tree, haha.

All the pine trees were amazingly beautiful!

We made it to Vikingsholm! An easy hike down the
 mountain, but going back up was not so fun.

Vikingsholm, a Scandinavian castle built on the
shores of Lake Tahoe in the early 1900s.

The water was so clear!

John pondering life and stuff while standing in the lake.

Eagle Falls. A steep but short hike. Worth it!

John inside a tree.

And me inside a tree. We had to take this pic fast, I'm pretty
sure there were a million spiders in there.

At the Nestle Tollhouse Café. Yum!

We got a kick out of this soda. I wonder what it tastes like?

Emerald Bay

Vikingsholm again.

We went to the Wooden Boat Classic, a boat show for
wooden boats built in the 1930s and 40s. Really cool!

One of the most beautiful boats!

We of course had to stop for milkshakes during our road trip,
because it's not a road trip without a milkshake, right?

My handsome John!

Reno! It was party central downtown. People were literally dancing in the streets.

We went to a place called The Chocolate Bar, that specializes
in all things chocolate. How could I resist? Fondue for two!

*Side note: I realize I have posted a lot of junk food. I promise we
don't eat like this all the time. And we did eat fruits and vegetables too...I think..

While we were in Reno we found out our best friends Chris & Alysia
got engaged! These were our shocked and excited faces. So happy for them!

Beautiful corvette we saw at Heavenly Village during their Hot
August Nights car show. There were a ton of beautiful cars, but I really love corvettes!