Family Christmas Photo

Hey Everyone!

Happy Monday - hope you all have a great start to your weeks! Just thought I would post our family Christmas photo for this year. We have never attempted to use the timer on our camera to take a picture of the whole family - to say the least we had to try it a couple of times before we got it right :) It was a lot of fun though - and some of the pictures are pretty funny!

Family :)

Our Christmas tree - we both think that Christmas trees are so pretty on their own that we never decorate ours. I think we'll probably start though once Ava gets old enough to enjoy that tradition.


Eeek - this is what happens when you use the timer for the first time hehe :)


That's better - Dan, me and Ava <3

As for our weekend - it was nice and relaxing! We watched a bunch of movies including Boondock Saints 2, The Most Wonderful Time of The Year, Night at The Museum 2, A year Without A Santa Claus and some others that I can't remember. We got to spend Saturday night hanging out at my friend Sam's house and played this game called Continental (fun game - we need to play this again soon when we're not all tired). Sunday we got to sleep in a little, go to an AWESOME church service at Manna, relax that whole afternoon, run some repeats in front of the house and make some Christmas candy :) It was a great weekend and I'm so glad to have Dan home from the field!!

Week 28 - Hellooo Third Trimester!

Today is the beginning of Week 28 and you know what that means... only 12 weeks to go!! I am getting to so excited for Ava to be here and so is Dan. If I am this excited now I can't imagine how excited and ready I will be for her to get here when the time actually comes. Here is a growth chart that I found online this morning that I thought was very interesting and really shows how much we'll both be growing these last 12 weeks :

Very medical looking - I know but I just couldn't get over how much growth will occur just in the last little bit of the pregnancy and how much she'll change even between now and week 32! Today I'll be scheduling our next 3D/4D ultrasound which we're going to do (hopefully) on December 30th which is Dan's birthday :) I can hardly wait to get to see her sweet little face again.


With the package that we're going with this time we'll get a DVD of the entire ultrasound that we'll be able to watch at home - very excited about this since it's hard to remember the little details the further away you get from when you had the ultrasound. I'm so glad I have these pictures on our computer from the first one.

In other news : Congrats to my husband Dan!!! He just found out last night that he got selected for civil affairs and will be switching over to one of those units very soon. He's been waiting to hear back from them for quite a while now and it was such a relief to finally know either way whether he was chosen or not - and of course we're veryyyy excited that it was a YES you are chosen :) And he ended up getting home from the field last night instead of today which I was VERY excited about... when I saw him pull into the drive way I was at the front door jumping up and down like a little girl hehe then I proceeded to try and run up and jump on him like I used to before I was pregnant but quickly realized that wasn't going to work :) Ahh once again I'm sure we were quite the sight.

Hope you all have a great Friday - Ava and I are off to go do some yoga!

Fun Things - Week 27

Hey Everyone!

Just wanted to post a quick list of some fun things that happened this week :

• Puppy play date with my friend Sam and her pups Gracie and Sylvia - Rico of course tried to be the dominate one of the group as always but like usual he was over thrown by a female... poor guy :)
  

• Watched Julia and Julie - such a good movie... just made me feel good! Not to mention it was fun to snuggle with the pups on the couch during the movie since Dan is in the field this week
• Got all of Dan's presents bought and wrapped this week. Very excited about giving one gift in particular. I hope he likes it!

• Went to the Trees for Troops event on base and got our beautiful free Christmas tree - this thing is ginormous and was at least 3 x heavier than all the other ones I looked at while I was there. So glad I got in line early this year - it was a zoo when I was leaving. Couldn't help but think about next year when Ava will be with us to pick out our tree :)

• Got the tree inside and set up all on my own... this always makes me feel good, especially when it's a monster like this one!
  
• Realized I have almost gained 30 pounds and can't believe it because I don't feel that much heavier. Feeling good and glad that Ava is growing healthy!

• I have become a true chocoholic this week - hot chocolate, chocolate candy, chocolate covered cookies, chocolate ice cream... you name it and I would LOVE to have some of it!
  
• Set the date for the baby shower - January 30 @ 6:30 PM - Thank you John and Clare for planning it, it means so much to us.
  
• Realized that we are in the THIRD TRIMESTER starting tomorrow (week 28) - home stretch here we come! We are so close to meeting Ava I can barely believe it.
  
• Enjoyed spending time with great friends, clients and talking with my family that lives far away. I am so blessed to have such amazing people all around me.

That's all for my quick update of fun things that occurred this week. Dan will be home tomorrow but first I'll be going to yoga, planning a tasty dinner for him and hopefully working on Ava's room before he gets home. Hope you all have a great night and enjoy this wintery weather :)

Week 27 Updates

Hey Everyone!

Just wanted to do a quick post with a few updates from this week.

My biggest news for this week is that Dan and I both got to feel Ava's little foot for the first time the other night :) It's so funny because I'm starting to feel her move in different ways now - more rolling around hands and feet then big punches and kicks like she was doing before. I also feel like she is pressing out more with her hands and feet in certain spots. Dan and I were sitting on the couch as I was telling him about this... I reached down to see if I could show him what I was talking about and there was her little foot pressing right under my belly button!! It was such a great moment and made us feel that much closer to her. Dan laughs at me because I'll just sit there and stare at my belly sometimes waiting to see her move in different ways... I can't help it, every little move still amazes me!

Week 27 Picture

I have been feeling a little bit more tired the last two weeks than I have in a while... I'm thinking I need to bring back the afternoon naps from the first trimester. Today I also had a pretty bad dizzy spell. I was staring at a handout that I was helping explain to a friend at work and as I was sitting there my entire vision shifted to the right and then to the left and then back to the center again. That was the worst of it but the dizziness didn't go completely away. I think it had a little to do with over doing it during the morning and not eating enough (I ate my usual stuff but I don't think it's cutting it anymore for feeding both me and Ava). It scared me a little but my friend gave me some peanut butter and I took it easy for a bit before I decided I should probably go home, lay down and get some food. I ended eating lunch and sleeping for about 3 hours - after that I felt MUCH better... still not quite myself but much better. I am definitely going to do everything I can to keep that from happening again - not a good feeling, not to mention it means I could be doing more to take better care of myself.

As for workouts - they have been more sporadic as of lately and have included more running than before. Yesterday afternoon Dan and I went to a track on base and did a Fartlek workout - mine was significantly modified but still was a lot of fun! For this type of workout you do 1:00 minute at a slow pace, 1:00 minute at a medium pace and 1:00 minute at a fast pace. It was pretty funny how similar all three of my paces have become :) It felt great to be outside though and to watch Dan and all of the other people on the track run repeats and things like that. I was hoping to do a CrossFit workout today but after my dizzy spell I figured that was not a good idea. So for now I am playing my workouts by ear... if I feel good I'll do a workout but if not rest it is :) I still have been doing yoga every Friday with Clare at the Breathing Space which I LOVE! Will probably start doing more yoga - per Clare's suggestion - the closer we get to Ava's arrival to help me stay relaxed, loose and focused.

That's about all the news for now. Been having fun getting everything ready for Christmas and can't believe it's almost here already! Will be going to the Trees for Troops event this Thursday to hopefully get our free Christmas tree - our tree that we got last year from this event was so beautiful. Alright, time for bed :) Goodnight and I hope you all are having a great week so far!

Thanksgiving Photos

Hey Everyone!

We made it home safely from Maryland and are finally getting back into the swing of things here at home. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with my family and we hope you all had a great Thanksgiving as well :) Here are some pictures from our trip - only ended up taking a few:

My family on Thanksgiving morning before our annual Thanksgiving 5 mile race - the race was a lot of fun and I was able to run the whole thing without stopping, yay! My brother was so sweet and stayed with me the whole time so I would have some company :) Everyone else had fun racing and got some pretty good times!
In the photo (left to right): My Brother Connor, Step Dad Troy, my Mom Lya, random turkey, Me, Aunt Pooh and Dan.


My Mom's beautiful Thanksgiving table :) She is an amazing decorator and I am convinced she'll own her own decorating company someday soon (hint hint)!! She always does such an awesome job of making Thanksgiving a special day for everyone. Thanks Mama!


Mama getting everything ready... at the crucial moment before everything is done!

Those are pretty much all the pictures I have from the trip :( Wish I had taken more but we were busier than I thought we would be. I will work on taking more at Christmas time... which is coming up very quickly by the way - eek! I can hardly believe how quickly time is flying by. In 3 short months or so Ava will be here with is :)

Highlights of the trip:

• Getting to see my family for Thanksgiving and my Mom's birthday
• Having some funny conversations at dinner with the family - those are always the best!
  
• Surprise fireworks at National Harbor on the night before my Mom's birthday - fireworks are one of her favorite things and this was an AMAZING fireworks display. The willow tree one was my favorite.
  
• Georgetown shopping for my Mom's birthday - got to spend time with my Mom and Aunt Pooh and find a bunch of great buys including two pairs of awesome boots (Thank you Aunt Pooh and Mom for your help!).
• Black Friday shopping with Dan - something I have never done before but had fun wandering around with Dan, yay for Bath and Body Works sales!
• Dan and I getting to recreate some college memories at Einstein Bagels - we used to eat there almost everyday when we both went to ASU. They had our favorite holiday coffee too - yum!
  
• Dan surprising me with a cross necklace that we saw while we were out on Black Friday :) He hung it on our bedroom door at the house so I would find it - so sweet!
  
• Ava getting to be around and hear everyone's voices - can't imagine how amazing it will be to have her there with us next year for Thanksgiving and Christmas!
  
• Just being home - I love it there so much.

Things I am grateful for:

• My husband Dan and our little family - including Rico and Marley :)
  
• Our baby girl Ava and the smooth/healthy pregnancy that we've had so far - here's to the next 3 months going just as smoothly.
  
• All of our friends and family - I am so blessed to be surrounded by such amazing people and am so happy that Ava will have such loving people in her life from the very beginning.
  
• Our cozy home - lots of memories yet to made here!
  
• Our jobs - very thankful for the stability that we have.
• All of the things we have had the opportunity to experience and grow from this year - it was a BIG year for our little family, lots of happy times and some rough times but all of them have helped us to grow in a very good way. God is so good :)
  
• The opportunity to do the things we love everyday.
  

Week 25 Update

Hey Everyone!

Thought I would do just a quick overview of what has been going on lately during week 24 and 25. I have been feeling a little under the weather for about a week now... I just have a cough with some congestion but that is the only symptom. I have no idea what it is but it's almost gone, yay!! Besides that I have been feeling GREAT! I have been doing my workouts as usual (just have been forgetting to post them :( oops) and have also started doing yoga with my friend Clare at the Breathing Space here in Fayetteville and I LOVE it! It goes hand in hand with the things I am doing through HypnoBirthing to prepare for labor and have really seen a huge difference in my stress level and my ability to relax since I've started these two things which is great... if you know me really well you know I tend to me a very anxious person at times :/ but I'm working on it! My muscles have really started to loosen up too thanks to the yoga, which is great because I am always extremely tight through my hips and upper back/shoulders. So if you're pregnant I really really recommend yoga. As for HypnoBirthing Dan and I completed our final class this past Saturday and I have to say I am going to miss the classes... our instructor is awesome and it was nice to have a specific time dedicated solely to preparing for Ava's arrival. But I am going to continue doing my daily relaxation, affirmations and breathing to continue to prepare. The weekend was great - full of relaxation, workouts, a pre-thanksgiving dinner, movies and seeing an old friend. Great weekend spent with my favorite guy! This week I'm just spending getting ready for Thanksgiving, our trip up to Maryland to see my family (YAY!) and my mama's birthday :) I've decided for Thanksgiving to make my usual Pumpkin Pie Cookie Bars...

... along with a Pumpkin Chocolate Tart - both courtesy of Martha Stewart.

I am so excited to see my family! Thanksgiving is by far my favorite holiday and especially when I am able to spend it with my my family and Dan :) My mom makes the BEST Thanksgiving dinner EVER - that's right I said it! And I just love spending time with the people I love the most (will be missing the rest of my family of course that's on the west coast along with Dan's family). We're leaving to head up there on Wednesday evening - we'll throw the kennels in the back of the truck and we're out of here. We used to drive up there with the pups in the back of the car but they have just gotten wayyy too big and slobbery for that anymore. Not to mention that poor Marley gets car sick everytime we drive for more than 10 minutes :( And that makes for quite a rough trip with the car smelling like throw up and all. So we're going to try it this way and see how it goes this year.

As for workouts I have been doing about 3 days or so of CrossFit consistently every week along with some running. Here are my workouts from the weekend -

Friday:

Yoga with Clare


Saturday:

400 m. Run
20 x Back Squats (65#)

3 Rounds

Loved this workout that Dan made up for me, especially the run. Felt great!


Sunday:

2 1/2 Mile run with Dan - Wanted to prepare somewhat for the 5 mile Turkey Trot we do every year with my family on Thanksgiving morning... I think I should be good to run that far but I guess we'll have to see how Ava and I feel that morning. Excited to still be running though :)

Last but not least here is a picture I took this morning for week 25



Ava is growing so fast - she is the size of an eggplant now :) We only have about 3 different melon sizes to go until she's at the size she'll be at birth! I feel her consistently throughout the day now but still the strongest kicks are in the morning at 10 or so and before I go to sleep. She's a bus girl that's for sure!

Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving if I don't get to post again before our trip... I hope it's a great day for all of you filled with people you love, yummy food and lots of tasty pumpkin desserts!!

Learning How to Crochet

I am so excited to go to Michael's today to get the things I'll need to start learning how to crochet! I have been wanting to learn for a while now but this morning I was looking at Etsy.com at different baby hats since it will still be chilly when Ava gets here and I realized that if I learned now I could make those things for her myself instead of having to buy them and they'll be that much more special :) Here are some pictures of the kinds of things I'd like to make for her...

I love this hat - so simple and delicate!

Baby Cocoon - Used for her baby pictures that we'll hopefully get soon after she's born :)

These seem so soft and comfy!

Those are the things I've come across so far that I'd like to try to make for Ava - first things first though and that's learning how to crochet. Should be fun!