Little Movements

So, I have officially felt our baby moving! I would say that I have probably felt it move over the past several weeks, but nothing so definite to pinpoint that a specific movement was for sure the baby and nothing else. Well, I will mark this past Saturday as the first official day of *for sure* feeling it move. We were sitting on the couch after breakfast and I felt a "rolling" sensation in my lower abdomon - twice! Since then, every once in a while, I'll feel a little something and it warms my heart to know that its our little bundle of joy saying "Hi! It's me Mommy!" :)

Also, our ultrasound appointment is February 15th, so it's 2-1/2 weeks away. Hopefully, we will be able to find out if it's a boy or a girl at that appointment. That will be very exciting!

Stomach Flu and other Fun Things

I was all set to post a new entry and show you all (especially my mom!) a picture of what I look like at 4 months, and then I came down with the stomach flu! :( So, here is the picture!

It was hard to diagnose the flu at first because feeling icky is somewhat normal for pregnancy, but when I felt worse after a snack than better on Monday afternoon, I wasn't sure what was going on. When I threw up later that afternoon, Nathan suggested it might be the flu. As soon as he suggested it, it made since. I had only thrown up twice during pregnancy, and I have felt virtually no morning sickness for about a month, so throwing up now seemed out of the ordinary - even for being overly tired from helping our work move. Sure enough, I also got a fever and all symptoms went away after about 24 hours - classic flu. So, I was home from work yesterday and today - I slept almost ALL DAY yesterday, and had several naps today. I'm feeling somewhat better now, but still kind of weak.

I had a regular prenatal appointment today, and everything seems to be going well. Our baby still has a strong, healthy heartbeat!!! I'm still not sure if I've felt it move yet, but they say I should feel it in the next few weeks for sure. I will be scheduling my next ultrasound for 3 weeks from now - I'm not sure of the exact date yet because their lab was closed and I have to call back tomorrow to schedule it. That will be the one that *hopefully* will show us if our baby is a boy or a girl! :)

As for our work moving, we have moved back into our Walnut Street location - where we were over a year ago. The landlords haven't found a new tenant since we moved out last December, so when our current location had the fire this December, they offered to let us come back temporarily. We'll be here for a few months - until a more permant, medical location can be secured. The Walnut Street location is not suitable for offering medical services (ultrasounds), so that's why we moved out in the first place, since that is the direction the ministry is moving. I'll may be done working by the time they're ready to move out again, so I will probably end my 4-year tenure at the SCV Pregnancy Center in the same location as I started. :)

Baby Moves?

Just in case any of you actually keep track of my pregnancy ticker, I thought I would let you know my take on this week's developments. I'm not sure if I've felt the baby move or not. Sometimes I think I have - "feelings" of some kind that aren't painful when I'm laying on my side. But, since I've never had a baby before, I'm not sure if that's really what I'm feeling. I could just be imagining it because I want to feel something. And, I don't feel them very often, but then the baby is still very small. I'll let you all know when there are more definite feelings. :)

It's Fun Being an Aunt!

I feel bad that I haven't written anything in awhile, but I never really had anything going on worth writing about. It's hard for me to just write "something". I need to be excited about something before I'll write a blog entry.

So, this week, I got excited about being an aunt! I've been an aunt since a month and a half after I got married, when my first niece was born, but recently some things my nieces have done have been extra cute. :)

Emma (2) has started saying my name - that's always a fun stage for an aunt to be a part of. They must know you and like you enough to learn and remember what your name is and want to say it. Then, I found out that I am one of 6 people (besides her mom & dad) who she regularly talks about! That made my day. Very special. :)

When we arrived at family dinner last night, Hannah (4) and Lauren (2) came running into the front room to greet us, yelling their hellos along the way. Lauren, who is usually somewhat shy in general, runs straight to me and hugs my legs! That made my day also! Then they proceeded to dance around and exclaim how they were playing cowboys with Grandma (they had coyboy hats on). :)













Then of course, whenever a little one smiles at you, your heart melts also! Felicity (1) Owen (9 months), Evelyn (8 months), Sophia (6 weeks)

Kids are fun! So far, it has been a joy to be an aunt and watch all of them grow and flesh out their personalities. I am also rejoicing because soon, I will get to experience an even greater joy of being a mom! I can only imagine how much greater all these feelings will be when they come from my own children. :) I know being a parent can be hard work, but I also look forward to all the blessings it will bring as well!

"Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward." - Psalm 127:3

Christmas Pictures

Just to show a snapshot of our Christmas festivities, I thought I would include some pictures with brief descriptions. I'm pretty tired still today and all I want to do is rest, so coming up with a long dialogue about our Christmas time isn't going to happen. :) So, these are a few of my favorite pictures:

We visited my family in Oregon from the 20th to the 25th. This is a picture of my family.

This is my sisters and I on Christmas morning.

This was a fun picture of my niece, Emma, the day after Christmas when we celebrated with Nathan's family.

This is me with my newest niece, Sophia. She was almost 4 weeks old here.

This is my nephew, Owen, flirting with the camera two days after Christmas when some of us took the kids to a local park where they have some farm animals.