22 Weeks and counting

I am now at 6 months and I've passed my half way point!!  How crazy is that?!  Well, I sure think it's crazy....at first, the weeks just crawled by at a snails-pace and then when I hit the 2nd trimester the weeks just started flying by.  Thankfully the nausea is almost totally gone now and only comes on sometimes in the morning when I forget to eat breakfast.

Here's me at 20 weeks (I know it's 2 weeks old, but I haven't uploaded my recent ones yet)

My belly has really started growing! It's pretty obvious to everyone who sees me that I'm pregnant unless I'm wearing a big hoodie or my labcoat at work.  Patients who walk in our office mostly have no idea I'm even pregnant unless I say something (which I normally don't because then I get flooded w/ the unwanted and weird advice).

I have been feeling our baby girl move around in there quite a bit...what a weird feeling!  Sometimes it totally surprises me and feels like she is doing back-flips (she probably is based on what I've seen her doing on the ultrasounds).  She moves a lot after eating and while listening to music. She likes Foo Fighters! The first time I felt her kicking a bunch was while listening to "Best of You" by Foo Fighters.....atta girl.

As for our baby's name, it is TOP SECRET and will be until she's born or possibly very shortly before she's born.  Jaime and I have pretty much decided on the name and middle name, but are keeping it quiet in case we decide to change it and so no one steals it!! (I've heard way too many stories of that happening!)  In the meantime, Jaime has decided we'll call her "Nugget" based off of the 90's McDonalds plastic chicken nugget toys. I have no idea where this idea in his head came from, but I'll just go with it.

Remember these guys?

About 2 weeks ago, something I have been dreading and worrying about this whole pregnancy happened.....Kidney stone.  It was horrible!! I was at work and started getting a weird stomach ache.  I didn't think anything of it at first because I'm always having weird pains and aches these days, but after about 15 minutes it totally accelerated into a full blown hot knife attack in my side and lower back.  I could hardly breathe or stand up right so I grabbed my stuff and headed to the ER.  When I was on the freeway I started to get really nervous that I might pass out from the pain but thankfully I didn't and the hospital is only about a 10 minute drive from my work.  I got there just in time as I started throwing up and seeing spots and all that horrible stuff that comes with extreme pain.  Surprisingly even though I am pregnant, they were still able to give me some good drugs to ease the pain, although I could tell it was a very weak dose.  Jaime met me down there soon after I was taken back and then we spent about 7 hours there having tests, ultrasounds and all that fun stuff done.
A while after I got home from the ER, I finally passed the stupid thing and all its evilness.  It amazes me everytime how something SO SMALL (5-ish mm) could cause SO MUCH PAIN!

Jagged evilness

Other than that, life is going pretty good.  We've been all settled into our new house in Kent for about 2 months now and I'm loving living closer to my parents which will really come in handy our little girl comes along.  I don't like living so far away from Andra and Dustin, but Bonney Lake isn't too bad of a drive and we are usually able to get together on the weekends. Here's a cute picture of their 6 month old McKay.

Such a little stud-man

I'm ridiculously excited for spring-like weather and sunshine to be able to sun bathe my growing belly.  We are hoping to be able to get in a few camping trips before I pop in the summer.  Sleeping in a tent on an air mattress all huge is going to an interesting experience....I already have a hard enough time sleeping in my own bed!! But I'll make it work somehow.  Summer is not summer without camping!

Jaime already looking at little bikes for our baby girl.

 Jaime got (another) new car!  He had to sell a lot of his other hooptys and save up for a while to get this one, but it's one he's wanted for a long time.  He's always had a thing for mustangs and wanted to have a Cobra.  It's a REALLY fun car and we've been having a great old time driving around in it. I hope he keeps this one around for a while.

It's a......GIRL!

Well, the long wait is over and we finally had my 20 week appointment on Friday and found out that we are having ourselves a cute little baby GIRL!

I was able to bring my "fan club" (as they called it at the office), into the ultrasound room with me.  Jaime, my mom, Jaime's Mom, Andra, and baby McKay (he wanted to see his cousin).  The ultrasound took about 30-45 min and we didn't even get to find out the gender until the very end!  Apparently, this little girl is very stubborn and had her legs crossed the entire time. The ultrasound tech had to keep coming back to the "between the leg" shot every few minutes to see if she'd moved any.  She finally did and we got a clear shot of her girl parts! It was so exciting my heart was racing so fast!

Jaime and I both had a "feeling" it was a boy but didn't get our minds set on that because we knew at the end of the day it was only a 50/50 chance.  Some of you may think we (especially Jaime) is bummed about not having a boy. But we're actually pretty happy with it!....Just don't expect to see her wearing pink tu-tu's. If she's anything like her mommy, she won't tolerate bows, dresses, or anything  frilly.

As far as my pregnancy has been going, I am finally starting to feel better!! I've gotten some energy back and only feel sick every once in a while.  I've also got this bump that literally came out of nowhere in the last two weeks. She totally hit a growth spurt and I feel like she doubles in size every day!  Guess it's time to start looking into some maternity clothes.....Too bad I hate shopping! Ugh.

We are super excited and relieved to finally know it is a girl we'll be having in July/August.  Here are some of the images from my 20 week ultrasound.

Our girl's face...Look closely, it looks like she's smiling!

Profile

Finally got the shot confirming she's a girl

Foot Print

Legs crossed like a lady

14 week ultrasound

This a few weeks old now, but here's our baby at 14w3d.

I'm now 17 weeks and still battling morning sickness...but I have to say it is getting better overall. I sure hope I'm not one of those unlucky people who has it the whole pregnancy!

Love the potbelly!

Recent happenings and BIG NEWS!

I’ve really been slacking with the whole blog updating lately, but I have good reason for it. Lots of new and exciting things have been going on in our lives lately. 

Baby McKay!

The first piece of news was the birth of McKay LaMar Davis on September 16^th to Andra and Dustin Davis.  I was actually able to be present during the whole birth and it was such an amazing experience getting to see that sweet little boy enter the world.  I thought I would get light-headed or grossed out or something, but it was awesome!  I was able to be there for pretty much the whole day and labor except for when they gave Andra the epidural. (I’m glad they wouldn’t let us stay in there because I don’t wanna see monster needles going into people’s backs). It was the coolest experience to get to hold him just minutes after his birth. I know newborns are ugly, but he was so adorable even when he was screaming. 

Davis Family with new baby McKay

Me and McKay just minutes old

Me and McKay about 18 hours old

He is now just over 4 months old and is loved so much by everyone.  He is already the life of the party and loves attention from new faces. I get so excited everytime I get to see him! He’s got the cutest smile in the world. Sometimes he seems a little confused when Andra and I talk to him at the same time and he looks back and forth trying to make sense of things.

McKay smiling for Uncle Jaime

Happy boy

New Car

One day I woke up and had the feeling that it was time to sell my BMW.  People who really know me knows how much I love that car so it was a big deal that I was feeling this way.  I didn’t know if maybe something major was going to break down on it soon or what, but I decided to go ahead and post it on Craigslist and see what kind of attention it got.  About a week and a half later, it sold for my asking price. (I was secretly hoping they’d lowball me and I’d walk away keeping my beemer, but they were fine paying the whole price.) 

I’ve always had a thing for Lexus IS300’s so I decided to start looking at those.  I figured my next car should still be sporty and fast, but have 4 doors for whenever children come along.  GOOD THINKING!  I looked for about 2 weeks and finally found the one I wanted (a black 5 speed!) all the way up in Bellingham.  It even has some flashy rims on it that I didn’t think I’d like too much, but when I saw the car in person I fell in love with it.  Actually I fell in love with it when I drove it!

 Biggest News of all

Baby at 10 weeks

Some of you thought it may never happen,  but after over 7 years of marriage Jaime and I are proud to announce we are expecting our first baby!!  Now some of you probably think it had a lot to do with Andra having a baby, but honestly it had nothing to do with that.  We have actually been kinda trying for a while and had to go through a heart-breaking miscarriage early last year.  I knew I was pregnant way before the tests could say positive, but I waited and waited and sure enough, two lines showed up, not to my surprise.  Jaime sure was surprised! I hadn't told him about my suspicions because I didn’t want to get his hopes up if I was wrong.  It was very hard to keep a secret but we did for as long as we could.  

I am about 13 weeks along and just starting to get some relief from morning sickness.  Morning sickness is a bunch of crap!!! What a miserable way to feel ALL the time. The term “morning sickness” was probably made up by a man or a woman who’s never been pregnant. It should be called ‘24/7 sickness’ or ‘what did I get myself into sickness.’  It’s nice to kind of feel a bit normal again even though I still don’t have my energy back. But enough complaining, we are super -duper excited about this baby!  Jaime is convinced it’s a boy and I've had feelings it’s a boy as well, but I’m not out buying monster truck toys like he is….yet. 

I had my first ultrasound at 10 weeks and we got to see our little sour-patch-kid wiggling around in there.  What an unexplainable feeling!  I mean, I went through a lot of this stuff w/ Andra but it is so different  when it is YOUR little baby in there.  And just this last week I had another ultrasound done and we got to watch the little baby jump up and down in there like I was a trampoline.  It’s amazing how much it moves and that I can’t even feel it yet!

Head shot - 13 weeks

Looking down at top of head . Jaime thinks the baby looks like it's holding onto handlebars in this picture.

It's pretty ironic....back when we first got married, everyone asked "when are you guys gonna have kids?!"  To keep people off our backs we replied "hmmm....maybe in 7 or 8 years."  We were mostly kidding, but it looks like that's how it worked out after all.

We have possible names picked out but they will be top secret until baby is born.

We can't wait to teach our boy or girl to ride dirtbikes

P.S. I am taking weekly "baby bump" pictures.  I have them on facebook but in a super-private album that you have to be invited to view (even if you are on my friends list.)  If you are interested in seeing them, let me know and I'll add you to the list.)

The Holidays

I always LOVE the holidays!!  I know a lot of people get stressed out and annoyed with them but I love it! I actually enjoy hanging out with my family members!  For Thanksgiving, we were able to go to both our families activities which is always nice.  Same for Christmas!  Unfortunately I had to miss out on the huge Jex Family Christmas party because I was at home throwing up all evening with this baby-growing business.  Jaime had to fly solo and reported back to me that it was a great time with the largest turn out in years.

Sadly I didn't take very many pictures at all this season. Thanks for this one Nicole!

LeBlanc Family Christmas brunch

Mt. Hood Trip

About a month or so after Bon’s birthday, we finally got a trip planned to go down to Mount Hood in Oregon for the weekend.  Me, Jaime, Bon, Brent, Aaron and Luke went down there and stayed in this super cute cabin close to Timberline.  We spent a great blue bird day snowboarding on the mountain and then headed back to our cabin to soak in the hot tub for a while.  I love going to Mt. Hood!  Always a good time.

And to end this post, here's a few random pictures of some other things we've been up to lately

Me and Jaime at a beach in Bellingham

Out riding in Ravensdale

Jaime going through puddle

HDR of group at Ravensdale

Labor Day Weekend - Oregon Coast

We were very excited to have such nice weather in the month of September this year, especially considering the weak-sauce weather we had the rest of the summer.  As Labor Day weekend approached Jaime decided he wanted to take me to the Oregon Coast and I just can't turn that down!  Since Andra was almost at her due-date, I was very hesitant about going 5 hours away and risking not being here for her labor.  Thankfully, the place we were staying understood our situation and let us make reservations knowing that if we had to bail at a moments notice, we wouldn't be charged. 

We also treated this trip as our 7 year anniversary trip even though it wasn't for a couple more weeks. On Friday we headed down to Oregon and decided to stop off and stay the first night in Lake Oswego.  We stayed at the same hotel as we did 7 years ago the night before we got married, right by the Portland Temple.  

After checking in and walking around the temple grounds, we went to dinner at the restaurant (Oswego Grill) that we ate at immediately after our wedding. It was great time to reminisce of our wedding day.

The next morning we continued our trip down the coast to Surfrider Resort just north of Depoe Bay.  I love this place!  I've been her many times even when I was a kid and it is one of my favorite spots along the Oregon Coast.  Our room was just perfect with a spectacular view and I wasted no time putting up my hammock on the balcony.

Once we got situated in our room, we headed down to hang out on the beach for a bit and play in the waves.  We couldn't have asked for better weather!

Staircase down to the beach

I love the Oregon Coast

Waves hitting the rocks

Me playing in the waves. (This is the exact spot a sneaker wave took me out about 24 years ago....and my whole family laughed at me. Now this beach is called "Not-Funny-Beach" because I screamed at them to stop laughing at me and that it wasn't funny!)  Now I try not to turn my back on the ocean. =)

Being cute on the beach

Jaime flinging seaweed at me

Beach smooch

Haha...check out this ghetto gazebo.

Going to check out what's so "dangerous"

Jaime walking on the rocks at Boiler Bay

I LOVE this picture

Holding hands

Coming back onto the "safe" side of the fence

One of the things I love about Surfrider is their restaurant.  It. Is. Amazing!  And reasonably priced too which is hard to find along the coast.  It also has the most amazing view overlooking Fogarty Beach.  We went to an early dinner to assure we'd get a table with a view and we ended up having the restaurant to ourselves.  I got the seafood platter and ate oysters for the first time since I was a kid. So nasty! Thankfully I had tons of other seafood goodies to eat.
After dinner, we drove into Depoe Bay to get some food for the next couple days.....or so I thought.  Once we got out of the car, Jaime went straight to the candy store.  Figures.  We bought enough salt water taffy to last most people 6 months.

Jaime found candy

Then we headed back to our hotel just in time for the sunset.  

One of my favorite places to read in the whole world.

The next day the weather was not as good.  It was super clear when I first got up in the early hours for a morning run on the beach, but by the time Jaime crawled out of bed the fog had moved in.
We decided to go on a drive to try and escape the fog and find a sunny beach somewhere.  No such luck..but we did find some cool spots to hang out at for a while including a beach that had tons of surfers we watched for a while.

Cool deserted beach we found near Devils Punchbowl.

This beach had some pretty cool caves we explored for a while.

After a day of walking around 

After exploring and spending the day at numerous beaches, we were both pretty worn out so we headed back to our room (which had big jacuzzi tub) and enjoyed a nice warm soak while watching a movie.  Then I passed out in front of the fireplace. (It was turned on, but you can't see the flames in the picture for some reason)

I love sleeping by fires

It was a great enjoyable weekend and I can't wait to go back.  Kudos to Jaime for coming up with the idea!