The belly is half full

20 weeks down, hopefully only 20 more to go..

Everything has become incredibly real to me these past couple of weeks. Baby girl has gotten much stronger, and her kicks and rolls are easily felt now by me. Unfortunately, when daddy tries to feel she seems to stop moving suddenly. (I think he just calms her) which I can relate to, because he also calms me.

My sister, Christina, came in town this week and helped me to register at Target and Babies R Us, which was very helpful, and another aspect that made everything feel much more real. I am dreaming a lot about what life will be like when she's here, what to do with her room, how our lives will change, and what she will look like. I've also began to pray for her to know Jesus, as it is never too early to pray for a soul to be saved. Today, I was thinking about my previous pregnancy and the sweet little life that is now with Jesus. And realizing, without that terrible experience, the little one inside of me wouldn't be joining our family. Comforting to know that God works good through the effects of sin in this world. I guess he knows what he's doing after all. What an amazing God we serve!

20+ belly picture coming soon...beware, I am much bigger this week :)

17 weeks.

So I'm starting to learn a little about the nudger inside of me. She likes to dance after I drink orange juice, she always adjusts when I adjust, and I already know she has a beautiful soul. (No reason for the last one besides that a momma just knows!) We have named her this week, unfortunately for all of you, you'll have to wait until she enters this world to know her name.. but it is a lovely name that I think she'll fit quite perfectly. David and I are tickled about having a little girl, she already has 5 outfits, the cutest socks, and a pair of shoes and I haven't bought her a thing!

CRAZY DREAMS..
I keep dreaming that I have her, and then in the middle of the dream I realize that I haven't gone full term yet, and this must be a dream! So while still in the dream I decide to enjoy her while I have the time. Last night in my dream, she could understand everything I said, although I didn't tell anyone else that because I didn't want them to know that my baby was a genius. I'd whisper in her ear that if she let her auntie hold her for a while, that we'd get to read an extra book at bedtime and she'd silently agree.. Strange dreams for sure, I think I'm just so anxious to meet her!

Baby Herrington is a............................

Watch and see....

Take a guess at baby Herrington's sex!

16 weeks and counting...

It was a cramped day with house hunting for several hours, going to a few baby stores to get a feel for what we'd like on our registry, and then browsing the internet all night in search of the perfect baby bedding... sigh. I haven't thought much yet about the nursery, as we will most likely be moving out of this little apartment before baby Herrington comes along. I will miss this place, something about it has felt like home from the first day we moved in, It holds so many memories, I'll have to lock up in my heart so I'll never forget.

Today while trying to figure out how in the world to fold up the stroller that's supposed to be incredibly easy, I had an epiphany. Holy crap! There would soon be a little one in this stroller, a little one that WE will be responsible for. It hit me, and I stood in the stroller isle with a freaked out look and tears in my eyes as David was still trying to figure out the crazy stroller! Sometimes I don't think I really understand at all what is to come.

This week I am 16 weeks pregnant. Or 4 months. Wow, seems all the fun is starting now, and besides my few mornings sick in the past few weeks, I'm actually feeling pretty great lately. Not really having too many cravings, still lots of aversions though... Only weird thing I can think of is that I cant drink enough water, I keep a glass by my side all day, all night, and when I don't get up to drink it, I dream about it, flowing water with lemon squeezed in and I inevitably wake up so thirsty I down a whole glass! (which by the way has just been wonderful for my late night trips to the potty).

Feeling nudges here and there but cant wait to KNOW without a doubt it's baby and not just a LOT of gas or my heart somehow beating in my tummy (which is what it feels like sometimes).. THE most exciting thing though, in 48 hours I will know a little more about this little stranger inside of me... I'll blog again to reveal the sex of the baby... Stay tuned...... No idea who's even reading this, but stay tuned!

I'm attaching a picture of my belly at 15.5 weeks.

The first trimester-

Blogging on my lunch break :)

I thought I'd record a bit of what's been happening lately with me and my body, as well as other life changes that seem to be occurring all around us these days.

I am now in my 14th week of pregnancy, and the bump that is my belly seems to look a little more like a baby and a little less like I ate a whole lot. (Some of you are probably thinking "it still looks like you ate a lot" but that's ok.) I am thankful to be becoming more of a chubby kid if it means this baby is growing and healthy.

This morning something amazing happened, we were in a staff meeting and I felt a little nudge from within. I haven't felt it since, but I think a momma knows, and that wasn't just gas. It was pretty awesome, I'm kinda glad I drank a huge glass of OJ and got the baby on a sugar high, it was worth it to feel that little prod.

The first trimester of this pregnancy has been a bit insane. I felt most of the time like I had my emotions under control, but good friends were there to tell me when I was being a crazy woman :) I was very sick every day, throwing up most days. The house was most of the time in shambles and my poor husband kept up mostly everything including grocery shopping and meals since I couldn't bear to smell certain foods. The past week or 2 though I've felt totally different. Not 100% but definitely feeling more like myself everyday.

David has just accepted a new job. He's so wonderful that 4 different companies were all dying to have him, which ended up working out great for him to have options and companies kept leveraging thier offers which we were not complaining about! House hunting has taken a new level of seriousness in the past month or so we'll see what God does with that!

We have another ultrasound a week from today, I'm hoping the Dr. might be able to take an educated guess on the sex of the baby. I'll post pictures next week :) Yay for celebration Midwest which was a BLAST this year, and another YAY for a family renunion and camping trip with my side this weekend.

Keep on keepin' on.. Here's baby at 10 weeks.

Seeing your heart beating.

So Thursday was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. David and I headed to our first prenatal appointment with our new OB. Everything happened too fast for me to be nervous. After we got lost in a maze of an outpatient center, we arrived 10 minutes late and paperwork was shoved at me so quickly, "write down every hospitalization and reason for it"- ha that made me laugh, I wrote "A LOT" in big letters to cover all the columns. She was rushing me to get me back to see the doctor, as soon as I handed her the paperwork and sat next to David the door opened and the nurse was there to get me, they made me pee in a cup while they sent David to ultrasound. My heart was pounding out of my chest and in the bathroom Jesus and I had a little conversation about how he better stick next to me in the next few minutes, because either way I wanted him there.
We got in the room, met the Dr, ran through a few quick details about our previous loss, and up on the table I went. Poor David was squished in the corner holding my purse. The room was too awkward for him to come around and hold my hand, although I wanted that more than anything. Since the first ultrasound was the first we'd learned we lost first baby I was a bit of a wreck. It didn't take long though, a few seconds later I hear the Dr say, "yup, you're pregnant"- (as if I didn't know that, there have been just a few subtle reminders in the past few weeks) but there it was- a little blob that was going to change my whole world. She showed us the spinal cord, the little arm that was sticking straight out as if to say "hi mom and dad", and then I saw it, the flashing light in the middle of the gummy bears body. A heart, beating. I looked at David and we both laughed with tears in our eyes. Amazing. In that second everything felt worth it, and I knew my life would never be the same. Can't wait to meet our little bear sometime around December 16th. I'll try to keep this blog updated with belly and ultrasound photos. Happy day!