Half Way!

Well lots of things have happened in the last few weeks. Uncle Nate asked Auntie Karin to marry him! :D That was exciting. I guess they both would have been your aunt and uncle whether they were married or not ;) You got lots of Christmas gifts: super cute shoes, lots of books, a lantern for your nursery and Dad got you your first toy! He wanted to pick something special for you to remember as your first toy and got you your very own telephone with wheels and eyes! I think you'll love it. I can't wait to try your tiny shoes on ya. They're adorable. 

Also, we hit a mile stone this weekend -

HALF WAY THROUGH THE PREGNANCY! 

Pretty exciting stuff! Dad and I took a little weekend away/babymoon up to Sun Valley and hashed out lots of potential names... no luck yet ;) Wish we could get your input on this. I am feeling you every day now and your kicks are getting much stronger. It feels much different than before where I was really unsure of what I was feeling. The Dr. said that my placenta is on the front of my belly so that's why it took a little longer to feel your kicks. The other day I was lying on my back and could feel you moving a lot so I just pressed my hand against my belly whilst I read and I could even feel a couple kicks with my hand! Such a neat feeling! I've been having Dad put his hand there when I can tell you're moving but he hasn't felt ya yet. 

Here we are at 20 weeks. Half way there! 

You're A...

BOY!

I guess Dad was right all along! "Father knows best" ;) So much has happened since my last post but I'll probably break it up into a couple posts.

First of all, we had our most exciting Dr. visit yet! I had been counting the days til I'd get to see you again (Dec. 21st) and was so excited that I almost forgot about Christmas! I feel like my Christmas was really a few days early ;) Dad tried to record again this time, but they said it was not aloud so I just have to try to remember the best I can. First they measured all the things that help them know if you are growing on track and if everything looks healthy. We saw your kidneys, your spine, your little beating heart, they measured your femur and lots of other things. Everything looked healthy and you are growing slightly bigger than my due date, so that's good... for you (not as much for me ;) Mrs. Sarah Thomas told me to drink some caffeine before the appointment so you'd be moving around and so it'd be easier to see if you were a boy or a girl. So, I drank half a Mt. Dew right before and it sure worked! You were moving like crazy! At one point it looked like you were standing on your head or you were going to do a forward roll or something. It sometimes made it difficult for her to measure, but she said she would rather you be moving all around than to be sleeping in a bad position for her to see everything. We saw what looked like a big yawn and she got a picture of it. I'm not gonna lie, your face is pretty scary lookin' right now because it still just looks like a skeleton, but you have a cute profile :) Dad thinks you have me nose. 

One time you were facing us and had your mouth open and your hands up by your face and it looked like you were pretending to be a dinosaur. So, after we looked at everything else she looked to see if you were a boy or girl... and you made it pretty easy for us ;) She said "Well, it doesn't get much more spread eagle than that". You are no doubt a boy. The pictures are pretty funny. I'll put them all in your baby book :) I was a little surprised because my intuition had been leaning toward girl, but I'm SO EXCITED! I looked at Dad right away because I wanted to see his face. I wanted you to be a boy because I knew secretly he really wanted a son first, but we would have been happy either way. The only thing is we had a girl name picked out (Kate Elizabeth), but didn't really have any ideas for a boy name. I've been making lists every day and running them by dad... this is going to be tricky ;)

I just thought this was funny ^^

17 Weeks

(Posted 3 days late due to connection issues in NJ)

Dear Baby,

Today we're 17 weeks along. Dad and I are in New Jersey with our friends Mr. & Mrs. Teis doing a video for their church. They have 4 little kiddos who provided our video update for this week:

... We'll see! :)

They also gave you your first official baby presents!

I think you'll love em :) The bear is so soft!

The biggest change I found this week is that my belly is starting to get firm all over. Must mean you're growing! I am starting to feel more movement these days and can more easily distinguish if I'm feeling you or just my tummy rumbling. Sitting at the airport in Denver I am pretty sure I felt you kick twice in a row. It's the first time I've really felt a distinct kick. It was really cool :) I'm also feeling short of breath more often and have unintentionally been doing that prego lady breathing thing with the big loud annoying breaths. Reaching my things in front of me on the airplane felt like such an undertaking. You're already getting in the way, you trouble maker! 

So, now you've been to Denver, New Jersey, Minneapolis, Pennsylvania and Tennessee! You are already quite the globe trotter. We'll call these "firsts" BB and your baby book ones will be AB (before birth, after birth ;) 

The Garcia Way

Just thought I'd introduce you to a different, yet, commonly seen side of your family. This is Dad and Uncle Nate being ... Dad and Uncle Nate before heading out for lunch. Wish I had caught all of it. Wierdos ;)

Sorry you don't really have a chance of being normal :/

16 weeks

4 months pregnant today and Ashley Chappell had baby Leighton this morning :) So, she'll be just a few months older than you. Dad said "soon it'll be us". I can't wait! I am getting less and less nervous about labor and more and more excited to see you! 

I haven't had any more "episodes" this week, I think because I can feel them coming now and I can eat something really fast. I haven't mentioned them on here yet and they are not a big deal at all, but if I let my blood sugar get too low I get this wave of nausea and get really weak, shaky and hot and have to sit down and I'm sweating like crazy and one time I threw up. It's kinda awful, but doesn't last long. It's happened about 4 times now but I've figured out it's when I haven't eaten in a while, so as long as I keep snacking throughout the day I am ok :) 

My belly is getting bigger all the time. I just hope everything isn't getting bigger all the time ;) I'd like to do some kind of workout class, but I'm not a member at a gym right now, so I'll just have to motivate myself to make up my own workouts. (JJ is outside eating one of my glittered pumpkins right now. Like, literally eating the whole pumpkin haha. But it's small and a vegetable so I'm just gonna let him.)

I'm not quite sure if I can feel you movin' around yet or not. Sometimes I feel some very faint rumbling feelings that could be you sqirmin' around or just my imagination. I wish I had a little window on my belly so I could just watch you wiggling around :) I hear you have toenails these days. Good for you. You make me proud ;) ;) Wonder if I'll paint them some day. 50/50 chance ;)

13 weeks Vlog!

First pregnancy vlog! Just for fun! :) I'm a little retarded so heads up!

Belly Pic

Ok, so I lied about the makeup but here is my belly @ 12 weeks 5 days :)

12 weeks, 3 days

Well I voted for your future today. I hope it's a bright one and that you live in an even better America than I did growing up (which was a great one). Of course God holds your future and the future of our whole country, but we still have to do our part as citizens of the greatest country in the world to raise our voice for Christian values because God does give us a free will. If we chose to follow and honor Him then He will continue to bless our nation. Maybe we will even see revival in your America! Wouldn't that be exciting!? Pastor always reminds us to pray for revival in our country. Anything is possible with God!

So, you went with us to the polls today. I saw a couple babies in strollers there too so you were in good company ;) Tonight we are going over to Grandma (Grammy? She thinks she's going to be called Grammy, but we'll see) and Grandpa Waldram's house to watch the results. Grandma made an elephant cake like she does on presidential election years.

As far as the pregnancy goes, I'm feeling well, just still tired. I fall asleep so early (which means I'm missing all the episodes of Hollywood Treasures that dad watches after I fall asleep at like 9:30!). I could probably take like 3 naps a day. Hope the energy starts coming back soon! Ash says that I should be able to feel you in a few weeks!!!! I can't wait! That's going to be so cool! I guess you're about the size of a lime these days and your just a wigglin' fool who squints and has reflexes and I guess your eyes moved from the side of your head to the front.... which I'm thankful for ;) I need to start belly pics but I never feel like getting pretty enough for one cuz I'm super lazy and just want to take naps haha. Poor dad. I will take one this week though :) makeup and everything!

Week 10, day 5

Dear Baby,

You are now 10 weeks old and about the size of a Kamquat according to my app :) Since we are calling you 10 weeks old now, your dad and I decided that when you are born you will really be 9 months old already! I can't wait to see you for the first time... in person. I really got to see you for the first time on Friday which was so amazing!!! You are just the cutest little gummy bear wiggling around in there :) and your heart beat was very fast - 170 BPM. Ashlynn says that a high BPM tends to mean girl. So, I don't know but I kind of feel like you're a girl too. Either way, I just can't wait to find out so that I can start on your nursery!

So, anyway my first Dr. appointment with my midwife - Georgianna was on Friday. It was so exciting to hear your tiny heart beating when she put the doppler on my belly. All of a sudden you seemed so much more real to me. You're actually right in my belly and you're a real little person with a real little heart beat :) I love you so much. I smiled so big when I heard it for the first time. Then she took me into the ultrasound room where we got to see you. Dad recorded it all for me. At first you were just laying in there. She pointed out your head and your little arms and legs and then she said "come on move around for us a little" and I really hoped you would and you did! And I cried. It was the cutest thing I've ever seen. You are still so tiny but such a little person already!

I'm feeling a lot better these days. I think the "morning" nausea is finally wearing off. The house is certainly looking better. I didn't feel like cleaning for like a month! So the last couple of days I've been doing tons of catch up. My appetite is starting to come back as well. I still don't feel like eating everything that I used to, but at least I can eat somewhat normal now. I've been craving pepper jack cheese, but I always crave pepper jack cheese, so I can't tell if it's because of the pregnancy or if I'm just giving myself an excuse to eat so much of it. I need to stop because I'm getting fat. I have a feeling I'm not going to be one of those skinny prego ladies with just that cute little baby bump. Fingers crossed!

(written 10/25/12)

Telling friends and family

A couple weeks after we found out about you, we took Grandma and Grandpa Waldram (weird to say) to lunch at GoodWood after church. Mom suspected the reason, but dad was totally surprised to hear that he was going to be a grandpa! Auntie Anna and Uncle Dan were excited too... and perhaps the Nases who were seated at the next table. I was so happy that they knew and could share in the joy and excitement! After lunch, I called Auntie Karin and Uncle Michael who were away filling their noggin's with knowledge. Of course, they can't wait to meet you!

After the evening service, we had Grandma and Grandpa Garcia over for dinner to tell them the news and Grandma G did a little hop skippy jumpy hooray and gave me a hug. Hannah and Grandpa G were so excited as well (Dad had already spilled the beans to Uncle Nate earlier ;). I think Auntie Hannah asked me if I was excited about 10 times :) she's about as excited as we are! (This whole Auntie Hannah-Auntie Anna thing may get a little confusing. Maybe we'll need to come up with some creative names for them) We called Auntie Rachel as well and she's so excited that Amy and Lisse will have a little Garcia cousin now!

Then, of course, I told Ashlynn, Sarah, Liz and Jen (That's Mrs. Holtom, Mrs. Thomas, Mrs. Waldron and Mrs. Barger to you!) and a few other people that I wanted to tell in person (including "Auntie Kassidy" cuz Anna just couldn't wait to tell her friends!)

Finally, about a month and a half after we found out about you Dad and I made an announcement video to let the world know that you are coming! About an hour after I told dad for the first time that he was going to be a daddy he had a whole announcement video planned out with music picked out and everything :) But he was so busy with work and traveling for about a month that we didn't have time to work on it until after that.

Here is us working on the video. It took two full days to make.

You will soon learn that completely disassembling a room for the sake of the shot is not uncommon for your dad. This shot consisted of 12 nail holes in my freshly painted wall ;) Anything for you, Baby G.

A little mood lighting

And here's the announcement video:

http://vimeo.com/51407907

(can't get it to post on the blog. Grr)

Every picture marks some mile stone in our 2 years of married life 

Telling Daddy

Dear Baby,

I had to go ALL day holding in my exciting news and being the only person in the world (besides you) who knew. It felt pretty surreal. I knew your dad would be home around 6 and I was so excited to surprise him! He had the car at work, so I walked to Walmart (about a mile and a half) to get some balloons and decor for when he got home. I saw Matt and Sabrina while I was there and saw their new tiny baby Kenzie. Wonder if she will be your little friend some day!

When dad came home from work, I ran up and gave him a big hug and this is what he saw while he was hugging me:

... and he said "no way." And gave me a great big hug :) 

Week 4

(Written September 5,2012)

Dear Baby,

I just found out this morning that I'm going to be a mommy and you're going to be my baby! I suspected you were coming though. Over the last couple of weeks, my skin has been breaking out and I've been a little extra emotional. I almost started crying at Red Lobster on Sunday over nothing :) Also, your dad just told me a couple days ago that he feels like he is ready to be a dad. That made me so happy! We have been anticipating God's timing for a few months now, but I really felt like all the pieces were in place and that we'd be prego soon, so when the pregnancy test only showed one line my heart sank a little, but it said to wait 3 minutes so I waited and sure enough a faint little line appeared!