Pregnancy So Far

Pregnancy so far has been absolutely wonderful, especially the past few months since I've been over my nausea for the most part. When people ask me how it feels to finally be pregnant, I find myself at a loss to explain my emotions, which is an unusual situation for me. I am just. so. happy. In all the years that we tried to conceive I always imagined finally getting pregnant, and I imagined that every day of my life would feel like a gift. That is exactly how I feel. I am in awe of the miracle that has happened to us, and I feel so much gratitude.

A few weeks ago I think Shaye realized that all the horror stories his friends had told him about how cranky their wives were pregnant would be a different situation than ours. One day he said, "you're a lot less hormonal pregnant than you were in all the years we were trying to get pregnant." And it's true. I feel more calm and certainly more happy now than I ever have. Sometimes this happiness makes me into a bit of a ridiculous person. Whenever I can feel the baby kicking, I get this goofy grin that I can't wipe off my face. If we're around family, I want everyone to be able to feel the baby kick. Sometimes I cry during diaper commercials and IHC newborn commercials. I cry, not because I'm feeling loopy and hormonal, and certainly not because I'm sad, but because I am just so happy. We didn't know if this would ever happen for us, and I feel like my whole life is a miracle now.

So, you'll see that I'm really a broken record. I'm perpetually happy and I don't care who knows it. How did I get so blessed? I am happier than I ever imagined being, and I know that it will only get better from here. Despite all of the challenges that undoubtedly await us, I know that the Lord has prepared me to be a mother, and that as I work to do all that I can for our baby he will make up the difference.

And now here is a long overdue update on our little miracle.

16 weeks. This was when I could first here the baby move. Such an amazing feeling! I thought it was my imagination at first, but then as time went on I learned to recognize it. Now I can feel the baby respond to loud sounds and she always kicks when I lay down at night. She's going to be a busy little night owl like her mama, I can feel it!

Our gender reveal party with my family. This was WAY more fun than I imagined it being. We kept our ultrasound a secret. I was SURE I was having a boy, so imagine my surprise when the technician, after the baby hid from us for a good 40 minutes, told us it was A GIRL! I was seriously shocked and couldn't stop giggling. I made a gender reveal cake that turned out horribly--(the aspiring Martha Stewart side of me imagined this perfectly decorated cake and it just didn't happen!) This resulted in my first, and so far, only pregnancy melt down. When we got to my parents' everyone was so excited to here the news. We were waiting for my Dad to come down to the kitchen and my mom caught a fleck of pink on the outer white frosting of the cake. "I see pink," she said. I tried to act like that was so weird, but I was totally freaking out. Here is the video of her cutting the cake. It was so fun!:

I am SO EXCITED that we're having a girl and so is Shaye. What's not to love about girls?? She's the first grandbaby for by parents and the first girl in Shaye's ginormous family in a long time. She's going to be so loved!  I'm almost 22 weeks now, and I can't believe I'll be able to hold her in 4 short months!

I'll post another update soon of my more recent pregnancy and our cruise to Alaska. We had such a fun little Babymoon!