was it a surprise?

I've been getting this question from more than a few people... and especially from people who aren't particularly close with Austin or myself (co-workers, friends of friends, you name it). I'm sure rudeness isn't their intent, but you know they're asking because they weren't expecting us to get pregnant yet, or because we didn't announce that we were trying to beforehand (FYI, that would be awkward!).

The decision to have a baby (it was planned! What?! We are so young!) stemmed largely from convictions in my heart, and Austin getting to see his nephew Jackson all the time. We know they're a lot of work, and thought it'd be best to work hard when we have the energy - in our twenties. But really, the Lord had been working this out in my heart since we got married. It was really awesome to see it all work together, though.

We were looking to buy a house, and wanting to have a baby, and I came home from work one day and told Austin maybe we should postpone it a bit, since buying a house was going to be crazy enough (and it has been! Hello, we remodeled a bathroom!). I think God laughed at my plans that day! We found out shortly thereafter that we were pregnant (more on that story here).

So now it's "out there" and everyone knows it - we wanted to expand our family! The sweetest part: both my mom and Austin's mom were 24 when they had their first baby. It must be good age to start. Being a mom is the only thing I've always known I wanted to do. My career path of choice changed from teacher to lawyer to accountant to event planning, and somewhere in there I felt the call to be a missionary (still waiting to see in what capacity) but throughout all those plans, I knew I was meant to have kids.

We're so thankful for the love and support of our families and friends. While we can wait for September to come (thank God it takes 9 months! We are not ready!), we are very excited to meet our little pea.

If you would, pray over the three of us in these ways:
-That God would make work/financial deicisons clear
-That God would mold us to be parents who seek to glorify Him in every decision and circumstance
-That we would realize that this child is a gift on loan to us from God, and that we are stewards of his/her life
-For peace in the heart of a mom who likes to worry and plan way too far in advance :)
-For our child to know and love the Lord

"I prayed for this child, and the LORD has granted me what I asked of him."
- 1 Samuel 1:27

"For you created my inmost being;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
    when I was made in the secret place,
    when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed body;
    all the days ordained for me were written in your book
    before one of them came to be."
-Psalm 139:13-16

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God."
-Philippians 4:6

xo,

week seventeen

I have to say, I love how short I look in all
these pictures. I blame Austin!

How far along? 17 weeks!

Total weight gain/loss: 7 lbs.

Maternity clothes? Not yet, but I feel like I'm on the brink. Waiting to tell my employers before I start wearing obvious maternity clothes.

Stretch marks? Nope!

Sleep: You'd think I'd be great on sleep, coming off of a weekend, but really I just want to sleep all night AND all day.

Miss anything? I miss being able to drink several glasses of (caffeinated) tea per day. That would help fight off the urge to nap...

Movement: Not yet!

Food cravings: French fries. I am typically a really healthy eater (hello, vegetarian!) but all I want are some salty fries and some spicy ketchup.

Anything making you queasy or sick: Not sick, but hello heartburn!

Have you started to show yet: Apparently! But it depends on what I wear.

Gender: Don't know!

Labor Signs: None

Belly Button in or out? In.. and still being pushed out

Wedding rings on or off? On

Happy or Moody most of the time: Sad most of this week. I think that ties in to the sleepy thing. I'm sad because I'd rather be sleeping.

Looking forward to: Finding out baby's gender in two weeks!

Baby Haynes is the size of an onion and weighs about 5 ounces.  (Yeah, that's right... not even a half a pound! So glad I could add seven pounds of cushion for you, baby!)

xo,

PS - I'd love to get some registry advice from you mamas out there. Namely, what has been the best and worst things you've registered for? We're keeping toys to a minimum, and we want most of the "big" stuff to be gender-neutral, since we hope to have another baby down the road :)

mommy updates - week 16

How far along? 16 weeks, 2 days

Total weight gain/loss: yuck, don't even ask. I should probably figure that out.

Maternity clothes? I wore one maternity dress (that really anyone could wear because it's hi-low) to church two Sundays ago. Otherwise, belly-bands are my bff.

Stretch marks? Not yet!

Sleep: I don't think I've slept through the night since I got pregnant.

Miss anything? You'd think I'd really miss wine but it's been remarkably easy not to drink it, despite the 30+ bottles in our house.

Movement: Not yet!

Food cravings: Sweets! Isn't that unfortunate? I've been eating a bowl of cereal after dinner to avoid packing on cupcake pounds.

Anything making you queasy or sick: Nope

Have you started to show yet: I think so, but it's still really easy to cover up!

Gender: Don't know!

Labor Signs: No

Belly Button in or out? In.. but being pushed out

Wedding rings on or off? On

Happy or Moody most of the time: Moody, unfortunately for Austin.

Looking forward to: Finding out baby's gender in 19 days!

xo,

bump picture: 16 weeks + two days

This is what it looks like when you
can't button your work pants
 and you have to wear a belly band!

So, I think this picture makes my bump look smaller (I felt enormous in that last one). We work all weekend on our house, so we don't eat as well as we should, and come Monday, it shows. I think I'll try to stick to Wednesdays for bump pictures, so they aren't misleading/any bloating can subside. I know I'm wearing black (unlike last week, which was a white shirt) but I think we'd all agree it looks smaller. It happens! I promise the baby isn't any smaller, and I am definitely not losing any weight. It's actually really cool to feel where the baby is when I lay on my back (yes, that is still allowed at this point). It's a hard pooch under my belly button. Baby Haynes is developing cartilage this week, so s/he can hear us! Daddy's started to talk to the baby, too.


19 days until we know if it's an Ethan or a Hannah! Of course I have a really cute way to post it on here... but you'll have to wait and see! We are also going to take cupcakes to our small group the day after so they'll know the gender of the baby.




xo,

bump - fifteen weeks

Without further ado, here's a picture of the bump!

Having a fixer-upper house (still lots more to be done!) and a new puppy means that Austin and I are really busy people! I hadn't been taking bump pictures because A) there wasn't much of a bump.. at all and B) we've been really busy!

I feel like I exploded over the weekend (yikes) but hey, I knew I had to start showing at some point! Why not at 4 months?

Also a cool thought: our mondo-baby (we all know s/he
will be enormous) is growing at his/her own rate now! For the first trimester-ish all babies are about the same. You can still track about how big the average baby is via the baby tracker, but I have a feeling ours is a little bigger :) and not just because I think the doctor has our due date off by about 5 days! Anytime in the next two to three weeks, I could start to feel baby move!


Getting excited about finding out if it is a Hannah or an Ethan (though apparently, everyone thinks baby is a Hannah!). Four more weeks!!

Love,

PS -  does anyone else think the shadow on this picture reminds them of the Shallow Hal movie cover?

meet Bear!

Bear is our new puppy, who we are obsessed with - partly by choice/force of cuteness, and partly because if we weren't, he'd poop and pee all over our house! He is twelve weeks old, and he is a mix of a Border Collie and (we think) and German Shepherd. He loves to play and have our attention. He is slowly learning to go potty outside, but he is also way too smart for that game.

Bear playing with his dad!

We read that we should just calmly pick him up when he starts to go inside (harder than it sounds when most of your house is carpeted) and take him outside. It's a long walk to go outside unless you're in the garage or our bedroom, which he almost never is. At some point, he learned that he gets to go outside if he "goes" inside, which ended up with countless trips outside (I think four times within 1 hour on Tuesday). So we started positive reinforcement (treats) when he "goes" outside. Works like a charm! Indoor messes have been significantly cut down. :)

Bear enjoying being outside... eating our grass (that's a no-no) sniffing EVERYTHING, playing, and going potty!

All this puppy sweetness just reminds me of the joys of babies. Bear got poop on the walls, and I read an article about babies doing the same the other day (I'm thrilled for that). I have little/no time to myself if Austin isn't around, I get ready within 15 minutes each day (I sacrifice the makeup) and spend all my time watching him. He isn't a baby but he sure is training me! All I have to say is... thank GOD that the baby will have diapers, and not have to run outside like with a puppy. The potty training will come later. And, thank God that babies aren't instantly mobile!

I'm excited for our baby to grow up with such a sweet and playful pup. S/he will have some awesome memories!


Love,

grandpa the fireman

Baby Haynes,

Your grandpa is a hero - a real, live hero. He fought fires for over 35 years before you were born. I promise that he will take you (lots of times) to go see real fire trucks and sit in them. His stories are pretty cool, especially the ones about him playing pranks on other firemen... but we'll wait until you're much, much older to tell you those!

I bought this for you today (couldn't resist).



Love you already,

Mom


PS - if you're a girl you'll wear it with a bow and a tutu, even though this is for boys :)

PPS - it would only be more perfect if it said 5 instead of 25!

heartbeat - week thirteen!

Today marks the end of my first trimester! Whoo hoo!!! I'm celebrating by going to the gym :) We have been working so hard on the house that we've neglected our workouts. It was nice to have a "lazy" Sunday - all we did was workout, laundry, change the locks (finally!) and watch some Game of Thrones! Trust me, compared to our last few weeks, that is a lazy Sunday! It's wonderful!

We heard baby Haynes' heartbeat again today, but I was a grumpy mama because I thought we were getting an ultrasound as well. Apparently I only get TWO, and I already used one! The good news is that we don't go back until May 6th, and when we do, we WILL have an ultrasound and we will find out if it's a boy or a girl! We will have to have some kind of gender reveal to go with it :)

Austin cheered me up (as usual) when we were in the office. The doctor picked up a machine that lets us all hear the baby's heartbeat, and it sounded like static/wind, so of course he made some joke about the baby trying to fight all the wind in there or something. Then we got a major case of the giggles, so we couldn't have heard the heartbeat even if we tried! The doctor finally got it and we all calmed down a little bit. Austin was recording it (I don't know how well it turned out) so if it's any good I will post it later.

I can't believe we will know if it's an Ethan or a Hannah in just six weeks! Lots of people have/are speculating about whether it's a boy or a girl. I'll occasionally feel one way or another, but it isn't consistent. It will be nice to finally know, so we can start planning the room (see previous post! It's going to be awesome/require a lot of time).

If you ever read this, little baby, know that your parents didn't care which one you were. We're blessed to be welcoming you into this world, excited for your future, nervous about being parents, and really just pray that you are happy and healthy. Oh - and tall, so we know you're ours and the hospital didn't switch you out. ;)


Love,

UPDATE: Here is a clip of the heartbeat! It's a video of nothing but it's cool to listen to.

the nursery

I'm a planner -  it's no secret. So is it a surprise that the nursery designs are already picked out? Here are the pins I'm basing the designs off of for either little Hannah Rosalie or little Ethan Michael.

If baby is a Hannah:

If baby is an Ethan:

Of course, I won't get the hubby to paint anything until May (after we find out the sex of the baby). We find out on my birthday week - what an awesome gift! Austin, this doesn't mean I don't still get presents!

Also, whenever we get around to it (soon), we will start taking bump pictures. At 12 weeks, I will finally say that my tight pants are getting a little tight. I'm thankful for my not-tight pants that will last me a few more weeks!

Love,

our busy life

We got back from Hawaii just under a week ago, and we hit the ground running with our bathroom remodel. Fortunately, I haven't been as tired as a I was a few weeks ago.. or maybe I'm just adapting :) I could always use a nap, though!

As of today, I am 11 weeks pregnant. I had to sit down and calculate that out. The baby is the size of a lime (that is crazy!), which makes me feel a little better about how chubby I feel! It's hard to believe it went from an olive to a lime in two weeks!

We still haven't told all of our friends, and we are slowly making that circuit. It's been hard to do with the move and the trip to Hawaii and the bathroom remodel. It sounds like a lot for a pregnant lady, but if you know me, you know that is my life! I'm always on to the next thing. I'm not the only one - Austin is really excited about planting a vegetable garden next weekend. I guess you could say I am rubbing off on him... :)

Our trip to Hawaii was great. I worked about 80 hours in one week, which made for a crazy week for me! When Austin got there, he rented a T-top Jeep Wrangler, so we got to enjoy Maui with the top down. We drove most of the West Maui Mountain and the entire road to Hana and back. It was an adventure!

Our last day there, I went into a little boutique in Paia and fell in love with a book for the baby. It's the first book we've bought for our first baby!

Here's the sappy note I wrote:

This is the book, which I love. The artwork is fabulous, and the poems are good, too:

XO,