A Special Sort of Milestone

3 years.  Depending on the circumstances and how you view it, that can either be a short or a long amount of time. Today, Jason and I are celebrating our three year anniversary; and for me, three years feels like an incredibly short chapter on our long journey through marriage.  It's crazy to look back and think of all that has happened in this short amount of time and how much our lives will be changing from this point forward.

In three years, we've experienced what it's like to lose loved ones, gain new family members, change jobs, move homes, make new friends, travel to numerous countries overseas, and so much more.  And it's true that love is just like wine...it gets better with age.  We were madly in love when we got married and today our love is even stronger.  We are constantly marveling at the fact that we complement each other so perfectly.  His strengths are my weaknesses, his weaknesses are my strengths, and we see eye to eye on every important issue.

I am proud to say we are still in the honeymoon phase of our marriage.  Thankfully, we've never had to "work" at our relationship.  We've never second-guessed our choices and we've never had bitter fights.  I'm confident that we can stay in the honeymoon phase because we are constantly working to build a foundation that enables us to grown and maintain a strong marriage.  From our nightly prayers and daily devotionals together to developing our core values and our family's mission statement, we have a vision for how we want our marriage to be. 

And I truly do see our three year anniversary as a special sort of milestone because life before and after this milestone will be significantly different.  The addition of a little one to our family is going to change our family dynamics.  It's no longer going to just be the two of us. And when our sweet, little man comes, our roles are going to change..we'll no longer just be husband and wife but we'll become parents.  We're going to face new challenges that we've never been presented with.  But it's going to be so exciting to see where the future takes us, our family and our marriage. 

I know there are plenty of obstacles and hardships that we'll encounter in the future, but there is no one else I would rather be on this journey with.  God knew what he was doing when he put Jason in my life, because I literally could not have asked for a better man even if I knew how.  Here's to celebrating this special milestone!

Happy Anniversary, sweetheart!

6 Month Bumpdate!

How far along? 24 weeks!  I feel like things are starting to really pick up pace.  16 weeks left all of a sudden feels like such a short amount of time!  So much to do to prepare!
Baby is a: Precious little boy!!
Size of the Little One? He's the size of a eggplant, about 8.5-9 inches long and approximately 1.5 lbs!! 
Total weight gain/loss: About 10-11 pounds. The numbers are psyching me out a little, but it's all for a good cause, and I feel like I'm still very much on pace and not packing on the pounds unhealthily, so I try to remind myself about that.
Maternity clothes?  I've got a handful of not-so obvious maternity tops now that I've added to the wardrobe.  But, I still am wearing my normal tops too and even bought some normal tops the other week.  I'm pretty certain that I'm in denial that I'm supposed to like double in size.  I'd be happy if my size right now is as big as I would get.  I don't think that's gonna happen! :(
Stretch marks?  None, so far.  Been using Burt's Bees Mama Bee Body Oil and Palmer's Cocoa Butter Lotion for Stretch Marks, so hopefully that will help me avoid them!
Symptoms:  I have mild sciatica pain every so often.  And on my drive back from Dallas for work, my left foot swelled up a bit!  That was a first!  Hopefully that's not a sign of things to come!   But so far, it hasn't happened again.
Sleep: It's definitely takes more wiggling around to get comfortable, and I toss and turn a bit more, but still bearable.  Little nervous for how this is all going to work when I get bigger!
Miss Anything?  Nope!  Loving this chapter of our lives!
Movement: For sure!  He loves to kick away during the day while I'm working.  And he likes bouncing around for daddy at night while we're laying in bed.  Thankfully he knows, so far, that nighttime is sleep time!
Food cravings:  Not a single thing!
Anything making you queasy or sick:  Nope!
Have you started to show yet:  Yes, definitely have a bump.  And I've had two strangers ask me when I was due without me bringing anything up, so I guess I don't look like I'm just fat!
Belly Button in or out? In, but it's getting close to flat!
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time:  Happy!
Looking forward to: Hitting the third trimester milestone!  Minus all the uncomfortableness that apparently comes with it.  
Best Moment? When Jason felt him kick for the first time at 20.5 weeks!  He was like "ahh, that's soooo weird!"  Haha.  It was fun! And even my mom and sis-in-law have felt him, so he's not shy around other people!  And I've had moments where he just won't stop kicking me and it just makes me laugh out loud.  He's a strong little guy!

5 Month Bumpdate!

How far along? 20 weeks!  I seriously can't believe we're finally half way there!
Baby is a: Boy!  Next week we have our anatomy scan, so hopefully that will just be confirmation that he's still a boy, haha!
Size of the Little One? He's the size of a banana, about 6.5-7 inches long and approximately 10-11 oz.
Total weight gain/loss: About 4 pounds, so far.
Maternity clothes?  I'm still managing to just use maternity bottoms.  Some of my regular tops are starting to get a bit tight.  So, we'll see how much longer I'll be able to last.
Stretch marks?  None, so far.  Been using Burt's Bees Mama Bee Body Oil and Palmer's Cocoa Butter Lotion for Stretch Marks, so hopefully that will help me avoid them!
Symptoms:  The occasional 36 hour headache, ugh!  And acne breakouts like I'm a high schooler all over again!
Sleep:  Is still pretty good.  It's a little harder to fall asleep, but when I'm asleep I'm out.  Thankfully constant peeing has never been an issue so I definitely get my 6-8 hours of sleep!
Miss Anything?  Nope!  Loving this chapter of our lives!
Movement: Yes!  I was so nervous that I was going to have to wait till like 22 weeks to feel something, but he started moving when I was 18 weeks and 4 days!  Just this past week, he has started moving more and I love it!  It's hard not to smile every single time I feel him wiggling around in there.  I will say it didn't feel like flutters or butterflies at all, like I've read some people describe it as.  He definitely gently pokes and nudges me, and when he's moving a lot, they feel like painless muscle spasms.
Food cravings:  None!
Anything making you queasy or sick:  Not really.  I've been pretty fine this month.
Have you started to show yet:  Yes, definitely starting to get a little bump!
Belly Button in or out? In, but it's getting close to flat!
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time:  Pretty happy!
Looking forward to: Letting Jason feel the baby!  I keep trying every day to see if I can feel it on the outside, but no luck yet!   
Best Moment? Feeling the baby!  Having the constant reminder that there's a little person growing inside of you is so overwhelming and exciting, and in a way it becomes even more real that we're that much closer to embarking on the journey of parenthood and meeting our sweet, little man.