She's a kickin'!

This weekend JJ and I went on a double date with Lauren and Alex. We saw Bert Kreischer the comedian, at the Funny Bone in Omaha! What a blast! He was truly enjoyable. I'm glad to find lots of laughter throughout this pregnancy!

It's Saturday night, JJ just enjoyed a movie called, " Life as We Knew it." Cute movie. We shared a tiny tub of ice cream. Shortly after, the sugar reached the peanut. She has been kicking like crazy for twenty minutes now! Josh is now getting to feel her regularly. Her kicks are so strong! I should have thought marrying a soccer player through a little better.:) we are just blessed to get to feel her.  JJ and I have not been the best at taking growth pictures, but here is my latest picture at 20 weeks along!

First kick and secret name!

JJ and I have decided on a girl name already. It was pretty easy, we both loved it from the beginning. We have also decided to keep it to ourselves until she is born. We are loving the little secret between the two of us.:)

I felt her first kick Sunday, April 6th. We were at JJ's house in Lincoln watching a movie with Reuben. I asked JJ to touch my belly. Shortly after he put his hand on my belly, she kicked. I felt it clear as day and asked JJ if he had felt it. He did not. Apparently you can't feel it from the outside for a couple more weeks. I felt her kick again later in the week, on Thursday night after a workout. My belly is now protruding more than my boobs. Sad day. I've gained 6 lbs so far, I'm 18 weeks along.

We had our monthly appointment on the 10th. Peanut's heart rate is 141 bpm.. Dr. Fish says that is normal for a boy. Hmmm could it be?  This is a picture of me at 18 weeks along.

Easter with the Poppe's

On Easter weekend JJ and I headed to Omaha to spend the weekend with his family.  We drove up on Saturday, spent the night at the Poppe's, then drove back to Lincoln on Sunday afternoon.  We enjoyed a delicious kabob luncheon on Sunday with JJ's immediate family, minus his brother and his brother's family.  Next weekend, we will head to Sioux City to have Easter for my side of the family.  I feel JJ and I got lucky this year because my family chose to push the Easter celebration back a week, since my grandma wasn't back from Arizona yet.  So we are able to go to both gatherings this year.

JJ and I decided to reveal the gender of our babe to his side of the family this weekend.  What better way to do it on Easter weekend than with an egg hunt for the kiddos?:)  We filled 12 plastic eggs with candy and hid a small piece of paper with the baby's gender written on it in one egg.  JJ and I hid the eggs in Sarah's backyard and had the girls find them.  They were pretty quick at finding them.  We went inside and opened each egg to find the one with the note.  Emmie found it, then Ellie read it aloud, with the help of grandma Lorie.

Ellie holding Bella!

The egg with a secret note inside.. SHHH!

Which one has the gender written inside?

17 weeks along now!

Oh boy, it feels so good to be out of the nausea cave.  I'm back to working out, not as much as I should be, but I'm going when I can.  It's been difficult with a puppy around.  My dress pants are getting tight, and by tight I mean leaving deep impressions on my skin. YIKES!  I think it's finally time to get a bella band.  I did wear my first pair of maternity pants to Easter, not that I needed to, but they were so cute and new I wanted to wear them.  I imagine I'll even wear them when I'm not a fat, pregnant cow.

I made the switch to organic.  I now buy organic fruits, veggies and milk.  I love the change, the milk even tastes better.  

JJ has been an amazing, supportive husband.  He's responsive to my needs.  He's sweet.  He gives me a break and understands when I want to go to bed at 9:30 on a Saturday night.:)  I'm pleasantly surprised with his flexibility with his pregnant wife.:)

Current baby to do list:
Paint baby's room
Wash and organize clothes I already have gotten
Put crib together
move dresser and end table into baby's room.
Write in baby journal.

Gender Reveal!

I headed to Omaha this weekend for a girl's weekend.  I had some free time on Saturday so my friend Lauren, the nurse,  invited me to get an ultrasound at the pregnancy clinic she works at.  I am 15 weeks along at this point, so it is a possibility to find out the gender of your baby at this time, depending on its position.  Lauren sat in the room with me while we were checking on my little peanut.:)  What a great thing to experience with your best friend.  She loved it.  My little peanut was very active, usually moving and twisting.  We had the radiologist keep the gender a secret, so she could write the gender down and I could share it with my husband when we were together. Oh, the secrecy!:)  Lauren wrote it on a piece of paper and put that paper into an envelope for JJ and I to open later.  I drove the 2.5 hours back home and JJ was very excited to open the envelope. We waited until all our guests were gone and opened it together in our bedroom.  It's a........ GIRL!  We are having a precious baby girl! JJ was slightly sad, but is mainly hoping for a healthy baby above what gender it will be.  We will check again at my next ultrasound with my OBGYN to confirm the determination.

I plan to send my mom, dad and sisters a pink balloon and a blue balloon, both deflated with confetti and the gender inside.  They will have to blow the balloons up and pop them find out the answer!

On a random side bar, I have had the best conversations with my 8th grade students about my pregnancy already.  For example, the day I told my 8th period class we were correcting our homework and with every letter I give an example like "Number one is B as in boy, two is c as in cat" and after every example a different student would come up with a word that relates to something baby that starts with whatever the answer letter was.  They came up with works like baby, children, diaper.  At the end the last answer I read was a C, one of my "out there" students called out, "C as in KID!"  The class was in an uproar, I was laughing off the edge of my chair, it was a great day in class.  The next day I saw that same class, JJ had come to visit.  He brought me lunch and Bella during my planning period and hung out for the first 3 minutes of my 8th period class.  After he had left, one of my students exclaimed, "He got Mrs. J Pregnant!"  Once again, we were rolling on the floor laughing.  I have some pretty funny students!

Puppy Pick Up Day!

Meet Bella Boji!  My dad's new puppy!

Meet Bella Boji.

Puppies sure sleep a lot!

We picked up my dad's puppy on March 17th!  It was the first day of JJ's spring break, so we would have time to start potty training during the week.  She is the cutest little border collie.  We purchased her from a breeder in Kearney, NE (K&S Border Collies).  She sure is a handful.  My dad chose the name Bella Boji, we call her Bella.  She does not like the cold, so she prefers to poop in the house instead of freezing her butt off outside.  No matter how long we stand outside with her, she will just come back in the house and a sneak a poop somewhere.  She has gotten better, we do give her treats whenever she goes potty outside, so hopefully she catches on quickly.  She loves her toys and to play.  She goes from a mile a minute running all over the place to sleeping in 2.5 seconds and vice versa.  She screams bloody murder when we put her in the kennel to go somewhere.  She usually sleeps in her kennel next to our bed, at first she whines a little bit and then goes fast asleep.  The night before last JJ let her sleep in bed with  him the whole night, since I was gone.  Last night I did the same, she's pretty easy to sleep beside.  She is a great cuddler.:)  I am back to work and Josh is back to school, so she was in her kennel all day on Monday.:(  JJ's mom came over in the morning to let her out and play then and I headed home during my planning period to get some playtime in.  We hope to keep her until our family gathering for Easter, we will hand her off to my pops then.  I know I will miss her when she is gone, but she will have a lot of room to play on the acreage.

Cat nap on the end table.

JJ prepping for fatherhood?

Picking Bella up in Kearney!

Pregnancy Update

Oh wow, has it really been a month since I have written?  My pregnancy is going well so far, I'm in the second trimester now and I've gotten away from the dark times of morning sickness, why is it called morning sickness again if it doesn't only happen in the morning?  Good question, let's change the title "morning sickness" to straight up all day NAUSEA!  I'm glad to be done with that, I have now began to work out again, back to running.  I signed up for a short 5k the first week in April, just to make sure I don't skip days at the gym.  I have felt good, JJ and I have even had a chance to work on some house projects like paint the upstairs bathroom and make our house a bit more energy efficient.  I, of course, have had a few emotion breakdowns based on the comfort level of my clothes.  During the time my nausea was at it's worse, tight fitting clothes would make me feel worse.  Most of my wardrobe is form fitting, so you can guess my problem for parent teacher conferences one day.  It was a clothes all over the floor, stand in the closet and cry kind of morning.
  The pregnancy has gotten better since then, I haven't been in maternity clothes yet, but during that time I was convinced I need some.

My first CRAVING!-------------------------->

Chicken in a Biscuit crackers with spray cheese and an olive on top.. YUMO!