Happy 3rd Anniversary, Sweetie!!!

On September 22nd, Ken and I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary. This year we decided to stay home to celebrate. The last two years we've been out of town in Tahoe or Santa Cruz on our anniversary. We had such a great night together. We made dinner together; steak, mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, and dutch crunch bread. It was great to have a night where we actually had a chance to talk while making dinner and just relax together.
After dinner, I decided to make Ken some chocolate chip cookies and as I was getting ready to put the first batch in Ken asked me if I wanted to take a bath. I have been so achy lately that a bath in our brand new bathtub sounded perfect. He went upstairs, filled the bathtub in the baby's room, added my favorite Sweet Pea scent from Bath & Body Works, put a Parenting magazine on the counter, brought my towel in from our bathroom and even left a small towel to put behind my head.
After my bath, he helped me get out of the tub, which was kind of a huge feat considering how big my belly is getting and how deep the tub is. We decided to watch the Wizard from the 1980's with Fred Savage.
I have such an amazing husband! Everyday I'm reminded of just how lucky I am to have found such a caring, sensitive, and supportive husband. One of the most amazing things about him is that he hears things that I myself at the time don't even think are that relevant.
For our anniversary he gave me a sign for the wall that says "All Because Two People Fell In Love". I have been talking about wanting this sign for our entire marriage. I've always wanted to make a wall in our house just for family pictures. He also gave me a picture frame that says LOVE down the side and said he wanted to put it up in the baby's room. I'm really not surprised that he remembered that I wanted this sign from so far back. He hates to give me gifts that I expect and completely ignored getting me what I asked for, a massage. I love that he really thinks about what he giving me.
Ken, you are the love of my life and not a day goes by that I don't thank God for putting you in my life. I'm so excited to see you as a daddy and to see where we are this time next year with a 7 month old.
I love you! Your Wife

Growing belly

I'll try really hard to not post only about the baby, but it seems to be the main thing going on with us right now.

I'm 19 weeks today! I started feeling the baby kick 2 weeks ago. I thought that I felt it at 16 weeks, but the feeling was much different. At 16 weeks, it felt like a constant pushing against my stomach. But, at 17 weeks it felt more like popcorn popping. It was a great feeling and very comforting. I started to feel the baby move more regularly, especially after I'd eaten. This happened for 4 or 5 days and then went away for 3 days. Of course, I started to freak out and worry that something was wrong. It wasn't until yesterday that I started feeling the baby again. It was a great relief. It's been really fun to talk to the baby. One night he or she wouldn't stop kicking me and we had to have a little talk before I could go to sleep.

We go in for the big ultrasound on October 2nd and we'll be finding out the sex of the baby that day! We're excited to paint the room and get everything ready for him or her. I'm really looking forward to calling the baby by his or her name. We're taking a whole crew with us to the ultrasound. My mom, my mother-in-law and my sister are going with us. I'll let you know when we find out.

Here are the most recent belly pictures:

Isn't it nice that my husband always cuts the top

part of my head off of these pictures?

49er's are playing in the background. He had to get

back to his game ;)

Nothing fits

I knew this day was coming...I just didn't think it would be such an emotional moment. In the last couple weeks my belly has become noticeable enough for people who don't know I'm pregnant to ask me how far along I am. It's been kinda fun. People now come up and rub my belly. Which I don't seem to really mind too much.

However, today when I went to put on my shorts and they no longer fit. I realized last week that none of my maternity pants fit anymore either. I guess it's time to do a little more shopping. Shirts don't seem to be a problem since I've been buying in the clearance bin at the 2nd hand maternity shop and I've had friends giving me their shirts now that they are done having kids. I lost it today right after I weighed myself and realized that I now had gained 9.5 lbs. I know logically that I'm gaining exactly how much weight the books recommend, but I happened to gain 2 lbs this week instead of my normal 1 lb so I freaked out. My hormones got the best of me. I came downstairs to tell Ken and was almost in tears. He tried to calm me down, but I just panicked.

After calling one of my best friends who just had a baby a few weeks ago and begging for a couple pairs of shorts to borrow until the end of September, I called my sister and completely lost it on the phone. She did her best to calm me down and reassure me that everything is alright. One really good piece of advice was that I just need to surrender to my body. I have no control. Which completely makes sense, since the baby's been controlling when I go to the bathroom, eat, sleep, etc for awhile now. If I wake up at 1am to pee, I am starving. The thought has crossed my mind to install a mini fridge upstairs. This baby is evidently a voracious eater.

After my hormone surge, I felt much better. I've settled into a stretchy, non-elastic, skirt that one of the women I work for gave me. It's so comfortable. Ahhhh!!!

At 17 weeks, the baby now weighs about 5 oz and is about 5 inches long from head to rump. The big ultrasound is in 3 1/2 weeks. I'm a little anxious to see that everything is okay and to possibly find out whether this baby is a boy or a girl. Ken still hasn't decided if he wants to find out. I really want to know now. If we're having a boy I want to fully be excited about it when he comes out. I really think the baby is a girl, so if we don't find out and it's a boy, I'm going to be completely shocked.

I go in tomorrow for my 17 week check up. I'll get to hear the heartbeat again and be measured for the first time. I keep thinking that the doctor will probably tell me I'm farther along than I thought or that they missed an additional heartbeat. I may look 5 or 6 months pregnant, but I'm still only 4 months.