Ribbons and Tutus for Us!

It's A Girl! ♥

Above: Celebrating Anthony's college roommate/teammate getting married in Genoa
Below: Four years have flown by since our wedding day! Time goes by so quickly; it makes you realize that cherishing each other every day really should be a priority. :) In this picture we are having dinner to celebrate in Tahoe.

The lack of blog posts in the last two months can be blamed (mostly) on summer school classes, which ended last Friday! Hooray for freedom! We were able to celebrate the weekend, which included our four year anniversary, Anthony's mom's birthday, Baby Pudewell hitting the 6 1/2 month mark, the end of summer school classes, and Anthony's college roommate's wedding, by having dinner with Anthony's parents in Tahoe, and attending the wedding ceremony in the middle of a beautiful field on a ranch in Genoa, Nevada. :) Sorry for the delay on the update...but here it is!

Oh Baby!  Since the last entry, we found out that we are having a little girl, painted our nursery (twice), started picking out furniture for the baby's room, and purchased about eight tutus...

Baby Pudewell, 21 weeks and the baby belly, also 21 weeks :)

Baby Pudewell getting a kiss from Daddy
with her new tutu

We could not have been more excited to find out we were having a little girl. In all honesty, we would have been just as thrilled either way, it is just exciting knowing what the new addition will be. The day we had our ultrasound appointment and found out it was a girl, we went out on a date to celebrate, and ended the evening with a little shopping trip to buy Baby Pudewell her very first tutu, with a matching flower. 

Then it was time to start painting the nursery! We wanted a two-tone light pink and grey room. There were no light pink colors that looked pink enough, but not far enough away from a pepto-bismol color, so we ended up going with violet and grey. We painted the room and decided we liked it. A few days later though, I started having some doubts about the grey color. My cousins came to visit, and I took them into the nursery and asked them, "what color does this look like to you?" (asking them about the grey). Well...one cousin said it looked green, and the other said blue. Awesome. So the night before Anthony was going to put the chair rail up to divide the two colors I told him I wanted to repaint the nursery. He seemed less than ecstatic, but ultimately he decided that it was important for the nursery to be a "happy place" for me, since that is where I will be hanging out in the middle of the night when our precious little princess decides she would rather eat than sleep. :) So off to home depot we went. We picked out a very pink color, didn't even get a sample to try out, bought a gallon, took it home and painted it on the wall. We loved it! It looks fabulous with the violet and the room is fabulously "pretty in pink". Perfect for our little princess (who, after all this, will probably hate the color pink and refuse to ever wear a tutu).

After all that time spent working on the nursery, some relaxing time at the Lake was definitely in order!

5 and a half months (22 weeks) at Lake Tahoe

The best part of the second trimester is feeling the baby move all the time! I first felt her move at 18 weeks, one day. In the beginning, every movement feels the same. I have heard it described as a fluttering feeling, but to me it felt like someone lightly dragging their finger across my belly, but instead of being on the outside of the skin, it was on the inside. Hard to explain, and I think it is kind of a woman thing; I told my father-in-law about feeling her move and how amazing it was, and he said, "Like you're possessed. Cool." ;) 

There is a big difference between feeling the baby move at 18 weeks, and feeling her move now at 26 weeks. Now I can actually see my belly move when she moves, and I can sometimes tell if it is her head or her back or bottom pushing on my belly, or if it is just a foot or some other small part of her pushing on the edge of her safe little home. I absolutely love feeling and seeing her move! It is one of my favorite things to do; just lie down and watch her "dance" as I call it. Anthony loves feeling her move as well. He will sit with his hand on my tummy and just wait. Every time she moves, he says, "Woah" and gets the cutest look on his face.

At the beginning of July, I went to Washington to visit the family and take my mom to the Olympic Trials (her Mother's Day gift from her fabulous five). While I was gone, Anthony bought and assembled the crib we picked out, put up the chair rail in the nursery, and cleaned the whole house. He has told me I must stop bragging about him on Facebook...but he didn't say anything about the blog! ;) He has been so wonderful, helpful, supportive and understanding through this whole process. I am so blessed that he will be the daddy of our precious little baby. I love that man. (Sorry Anthony...I'm done, I promise...for now ;))

Here are the belly pictures...taken in the nursery with the final paint color, and the chair rail Anthony put up. :)

Talk about a baby bump! This is Baby Pudewell at 26 weeks (6 1/2 months)! Notice the difference between the belly picture above from 21 weeks. What a difference five weeks makes at this point in the pregnancy! I can only imagine what it will look like in five more weeks...oh my! :)

With the growing belly, I finally had to buy some maternity clothes. Though they are comfortable (amazingly so) it was still a little funny to me that in the same shopping trip, my mom and sister and I picked out a very cute Victoria's Secret bikini for my 17 year old sister. Then we went to Motherhood and I bought pants that have a huge stretchy band at the top instead of a zipper and buttons. Oh my. Official landmarks of growing up. 

In all seriousness, we have been very blessed so far in our pregnancy. I feel great physically and I honestly love being pregnant. Though I must admit, when I get on the scale every week and see the numbers getting higher and higher (inexorably) I feel a little anxious. It is all for a good cause though, and when I feel the baby move and I sit in her beautiful pink nursery, those anxious feelings are quickly forgotten.

We continue to pray for our little girl, and are thankful for her health so far. Praise Jesus for watching over us throughout these first six and a half months of pregnancy, and we pray that he will guide us as we get closer and closer to becoming brand new parents who really have no idea what they are doing. :P

Until next month...God bless! :)

18 Weeks ♥

18 weeks...Baby is on the move!

Golfing in El Dorado Hills on Mother's Day...if it's a boy, he will be proud that his mommy was golfing. If it's a girl, she will appreciate that her mommy was golfing, and the fact that my golf bag is pink ;).

My oh my! This baby has been working hard on growing, growing, growing! It is still kind of hard to tell in the pictures, but the baby bump is becoming more and more pronounced and more and more items from my closet are being put on the "not going to happen" list. :)


For a while, it was hard to tell what was going on with the baby. Second trimester has been pretty smooth sailing, and trust me, I thank Jesus for that! Although I sometimes feel really tired, the first trimester nausea is completely gone and I feel great. This also means that between appointments, it's hard to know if everything is progressing as it should be. I sometimes ask the baby, "Baby, are you doing okay in there?" Apparently our baby is a bit of a prima donna...she (or he) never answers. Whatever. Luckily, we are smart grown ups and we can outsmart a tiny little unborn baby...we went to the doctor and did a "fun ultrasound". They call it "fun" because they get to take your money, which seems really fun for the doctor's office, and we get to see our little alien-esque baby, which is always fun for expecting parents, who have all the optimism and excitement of people who have never wiped up someone else's poopy bottom in the middle of the night when they really would rather be sleeping. "Fun Ultrasound" = everybody wins. 


In all seriousness, the ultrasound was incredible. The baby was on the move!! It was amazing to see the baby looking so big and like a real human. The last time we had an ultrasound, we were almost 10 weeks along, and the baby looked like a little gummy bear. The cutest gummy bear on the planet, of course, but still...a gummy bear. Now we were able to see the head, the beating heart, the brain, the arms and the legs! Not only were we thrilled that the baby has all of those things, we were absolutely dazzled watching our little one spin and twist and turn, moving and flexing its little appendages. So cute! Another amazing little development this week has been the ability to feel the baby's movements! I felt it for the first time on Monday night, while I was laying on the couch listening to Anthony play the guitar. It was wild! There are few things that are more special to me than feeling the baby's movements. It makes everything so much more real, and reminds me that my belly is growing for a reason, not just because of my good friends Ben and Jerry. :)          

**Sidenote: Anthony tells me on an almost daily basis that he wants a chubby baby...yesterday he brought me pizza for dinner, and he encourages any kind of sweets I want to eat...still trying to figure out if this is a good thing, or a very, very bad thing. I will keep you posted.**

And now...some pictures of the growing baby belly, and the star of this whole thing, the baby him(or her)self...

16 weeks! This week was a growth spurt week! I say this because  my bump grew a lot compared to previous weeks, I felt like I could eat an entire tray of lasagna all by myself, and I was extremely tired...I would fall asleep at 5:30, sleep until Anthony woke me up to go to bed, go upstairs, crawl into bed, and sleep until morning. 

We will have to start doing these pictures with clothes over the tummy...they are going to get less and less pretty... ;)

And finally...our Shining Star!

He (or she) was moving around like a champ, and then decided all of a sudden that he was tired, and just went to sleep! So funny! He woke up later and started spinning and flexing his little legs and arms. This picture is from one of the baby's mini naps. Right now the baby is head up, which the doctor said is normal for 18 weeks...hopefully he eventually flips around! :)

As you have probably guessed, we don't know the sex yet...in a few weeks we have our big ultrasound appointment where we get to look closely at the brain, heart and other organs, and we should be able to find out then if we are buying tutus or little Toms with matching bow ties! So exciting! Praise God for blessing the baby with healthy development thus far, and please keep praying with us for the continued good health of our little one. :)

First Trimester...Success!

First Trimester...Success!

We went and shot guns in the Nevada wilderness for Anthony's birthday. We figured we will put some of those pictures up when the baby is in his (or her) teens, to show our little love button (and potential girlfriends/boyfriends) that Mommy and Daddy mean business ;)

Whew! We made it through the first trimester, which (little did we know) is actually the first 13.5 weeks of pregnancy, not the first 12, like Anthony and I thought. Either way, here we are, alive to tell our tale. Our little baby is now 3.5 inches long, about the size of a large lemon. Its hands and feet are half an inch long, and he (or she) and can make facial expressions! Sometimes Anthony and I are amazed at how big the baby seems to be getting so quickly. We think back to February when we first found out we were pregnant and the baby was the size of an apple seed...We were at Kaitlyn's volleyball tournament in Vegas, and I had actually eaten an apple and taken one of the seeds out. We examined it in wonder, and I put the seed in my pocket to pull out throughout the day and stare at in awe...pregnancy will do odd things to you.


Speaking of odd, I am sure there are days when that is exactly what Anthony thinks I am. To put it plainly, I do weird things. I haven't had any cravings, per se, but...let's just say, I get really excited about food. When Anthony and I eat something that I think is just so delicious, I have a little "yummy dance" that I do. This dance came out of nowhere. It arrived on Anthony's birthday when we went to a Nevada BBQ place that Anthony wanted to try. I ordered chicken strips off the kids menu with macaroni and cheese, oh, and french fries...they came with the chicken strips (don't judge). Oh. My. Goodness. It was so delicious. I ate every last bite, and as I was eating, I started doing a little dance on my side of the booth. I was just so happy to be eating something so yummy, and not feeling nauseous, that I had to dance. It was just a little jig, and it went away when my food was gone, but I have to say, the dance comes out more and more these days. I'm suuuuure it is not at all goofy or embarrassing to Anthony, but as far as he is concerned, if his pregnant wife is happy, then he is happy, so he never tries to stop me (smart man). 


Other weird things...Anthony laughs at me when I eat pickles straight out of the jar. I will swear until my last breath that they are not a craving. I have always liked pickles. He just can't help himself whenever he sees me eating them. I think it is just too stereotypically "pregnant lady" for him. He loves it. He has truly been a rock through all of the difficult times of the past 14 weeks. Last week I was trying to make eggs for us for dinner. It was Monday night, the first day back to work after a beautiful nine day vacation. I was feeling a little sick, and of course, nauseous. I had just finished reading Mockingjay, the final Hunger Games book, and I was quite emotional.  For whatever reason, the raw eggs were just too much  for my stomach to handle that night. All of these factors culminated in me, in the kitchen, tears streaming down my face, full on crying like a baby. Anthony came into the kitchen and rescued me from myself, sent me to relax on the couch, and made us dinner. So sweet. I'm sure he was thinking to himself, "Someone has stolen my usually only-moderately-crazy wife and replaced her with this super-crazy-emotional lady with overactive tear ducts and a very sensitive stomach!" 


All that said, the overly emotional moments are infrequent and the wild "Oh my gosh, there is a baby growing inside of me, and it's half you and half me and getting bigger all the time" moments happen often. Last week we had our second appointment and we got to hear the heartbeat again. Such an incredible sound. This time was exciting because it was the first time we got to use the "on the tummy" equipment to hear it. At 10 weeks, we were still so early that we had to do it internally. This time, we got the whole gel and wand (official name: transducer) on the belly experience. It was amazing. Every week we read about the new things happening with the baby and we are blown away. Sometimes it is hard not to look forward to the next stage, the next appointment, the next "whatever it is". We try to slow down and just enjoy each week as it comes. Enjoy every stage, knowing that once it is gone, it is gone, and who knows how many more times we will get to experience it? 

This week, we are celebrating less nausea, more energy, sunny weather in Reno, and the special quiet times we get to spend together. We are excited about getting the house ready for the baby, and have started doing some "nesting". We cleaned out the office and threw away A LOT of things that we probably never knew we had up there...a computer desk, a computer, three trash bags full of miscellaneous "stuff" and a bunch of books that went to Goodwill. Although we are eagerly looking forward to the arrival of our little one, everyone tells us that once the baby arrives, the time we will have for just the two of us will be a thing of the past. We believe everyone who says this, and we spend much of our time just enjoying hanging out with each other, from trips to the lake, to sitting by each other in church, to snuggling on the couch and watching a movie with the doggies. Each stage of this process is a blessing, and we are trying to keep that in mind as we look forward and plan for the future, while we cherish today. ♥

Front view of the week 14 belly :)

Side view of the week 14 belly, along with the spot I missed while applying sunscreen at the lake last weekend :)

And Baby Makes Three...

It was Sunday, February 12. I had been expecting my monthly uninvited guest to arrive over the weekend, but she is rarely considerate and not always punctual, so the fact that she hadn't shown up yet was not completely surprising, but it did make me wonder. Anthony and I hit the hay around 10:00. When I woke up at 12:30 and couldn't go back to sleep, I decided I would get up and take a pregnancy test, "just in case". Into the bathroom I went, and behold, three minutes later...two pink lines. Oh my goodness. Well now, of course, I really couldn't sleep. Not wanting to ruin Anthony's sleep, I spent the rest of the night in the guest room, praying and watching hundreds of thoughts race through my head as I tried to get some sleep before my alarm went off. Somehow I managed to keep the secret from Anthony ALL DAY on Monday. My word count per day is about 10,000 times higher than Anthony's, so this was no small feat, but I managed. I wanted to tell him on Valentines' Day. Anthony's Valentine's card this year was homemade, with a poem written on it. I will spare you all the sappy details, but at the end of the eight stanza poem, the last line read, "And this October, baby makes three!" Anthony looked at me with the sweetest, most excited and amazed look on his face. It was exactly the moment I had been hoping for.

And so, our journey began.

Here are some pictures of the belly progression. The first two photos, though they aren't labeled, are from week 6. I couldn't really tell a difference in the size of my tummy until this week (week 10). My clothes still fit the same, but when I wear fitted shirts, I look like I ate too much for lunch, and my belly sticks out. Try as I might, I just cannot suck it in!

My oh my, it is amazing how a tiny little baby changes everything! And when I say tiny, I do mean it. When we first found out about our little one on the way, of course we both had to read up on all of the crucial information that you absolutely must know in order to become an effective parent that will raise an Ivy League scholar. So we each got a few apps for our phones. That first week, the apps told us that our baby was as big as an apple seed. We were seriously amazed. What had been non existent one and a half months ago was now an apple seed-sized future person that was half Anthony and half me. Crazy.

We had our ten week appointment last Friday, and got to actually see the baby for the first time and hear the heartbeat! It was the best sound! Again, we were dazzled. Here is the picture of the little teddy bear, who is now 3cm long! (pretty impressive, compared to an apple seed)


So here we are. Every day seems like it brings something new, and we are just trying to enjoy the miracle each day, and thank God for giving us this huge blessing. Our due date is October 21, 2012, but I think the baby will be born on the 23rd, because that will be seven years exactly since Anthony and I had our first kiss. I am pretty sure the baby knows this and will try to be accommodating. ;)


Thanks so much to everyone who is praying for us and sharing this exciting time with us. We are so blessed with awesome friends and family, and we love every one of you!