Celebrating our Furbaby!

She might be four-legged & furry, but she's our FURBABY and we celebrate her birthday!  Our furbaby turned eight years young on Sunday.  We gave her a new toy, a few *extra* treats and loads of pets!  We hope for many, many more years with our sweet, adorable furry child =) 

Happy birthday, Hannah ♥



A Trip Down Memory Lane: The Story of US

Kyle and I have been married for 492 DAYS!  Not that I’m counting or anything…and as cliché as this may sound, I truly fall more in love with him each passing day.  We’ve definitely grown a ton in the past 492 days! 

Kyle & I met on September 17^th, 2004.  I had recently moved back home after breaking off an engagement with the biggest piece of crap my now ex.  I certainly wasn’t looking for a relationship; in fact, I sort of felt like I was done with boys and relationships for a while.  In my mind, boys were the enemy.  I was ready to be single, have fun and just be ME for a while.  

It was refreshing and for the first time in over a year, I felt happy.  On my first weekend back home, a group of my friends decided to head downtown for some drinks, dancing and good times.  After the move and all the weird emotions I was feeling, I really needed to consume mass quantities of drinks a few cocktails.  Little did I know, that night would form the rest of my life with my now Husband.  

Kyle was one of my best friends’ roommates.  To be honest, I really didn’t notice him at first {hence, being done with boys}.  I remember taking the first cab downtown with a friend, Kyle’s friend and Kyle.  We chatted about jobs (at which time, I didn’t have one), how we all knew each other and the typical “small talk”.  

After consuming a few beverages, I remember Kyle talking to me quite a bit.  He seemed nice, but almost overly interested.  He asked me on a date, but I continually said “no”.  I just wasn’t ready to jump into the dating scene.  I remember he wouldn’t leave me alone, though.  The night got a bit hazy and one of the last things that I vividly remember was running into my friends’ room when we got back to their place SOBBING, because of Kyle.  Yes, the first time I met Kyle, he MADE.ME.CRY.  Honestly, it wasn’t that he was bad, I was just overly emotional and drunk...not a good combination. 

…Fast forward a few months.  I had hung out with Kyle in group settings, but not really on a “one on one” setting.  We “flirted” via text and even when we were together, but neither of us had the “guts” to ask the other out on a date.  We started to form that “friends with benefits” vibe, but it was different.  I think deep down, we both felt something for one another, but neither of us wanted to admit it.  

We were happy with the way things were, so we continued whatever it was.  This went on for about a year and a half {keeping in mind that during this time we had numerous talks about dating and relationships and on more than one occasion, he made it very clear that he wasn’t looking for a girlfriend or relationship…ouch}.  

Now, this should have been a red flag for me, but for whatever reason, I couldn’t let him/us go.  But, after a year and a half of being “whatever”, I needed to know what we were.  Was he my “boyfriend”?  Was I his “girlfriend”?  Was it {and would it always just be} a “friends with benefits” thing?  Was he seeing other people?  Did he want to be serious with me?  All these questions ran through my head.  I had to know where I stood with him.  I was scared he didn’t want a relationship and things with us would start to fizzle.  I felt nauseous.  I was afraid of how the “talk” would affect our friendship.  But, I had to know so I worked up the nerve to ask him.  Surprisingly, he said the he wanted it to be “official”.  I couldn’t believe what he was saying.  

5 months later, we moved in together….

On May 4^th, 2009 (after 3 years of dating, plus a year and a half of “whatever we were”), Kyle proposed.   

It was beyond perfect.  

I had absolutely no idea that this was coming.  We hadn’t really talked in depth about marriage even though I think we both knew we were ready.  In fact a few days earlier, Kyle said something about not wanting to get married until he was into his thirties (he was just 30 at the time).  I remember thinking, “well, I guess we won’t be getting engaged anytime soon”.  Little did I know.  

Anyway, back to the proposal…that day, Kyle told me he was going to have to work late, so imagine my surprise when I got home from work to a note on the door that read: an Leah, come downstairs, I have an early Anniversary present for you {our 3 year Anniversary was the next day}.  I cautiously walked in the house, still completely oblivious as to what was about to happen and walked downstairs.  To my surprise, there was Kyle, sitting on the couch, candles lit, flowers on the table and Dave Matthews Band playing (my favorite).  

He asked me to sit down with him and we chatted about our day and then he started talking about the past 3 years and how he loved me, etc.  (still oblivious).  He then, got down on one knee, pulled out a gorgeous ring and asked me to marry him.  My heart was beating so fast…I couldn’t believe what was happening.  And, the first thing out my mouth was “are you serious?”…nice huh?  I quickly said YES and the rest is history!  

I wanted to call my parents and he said that they already knew as he asked for my Dad’s blessing the weekend before, but they were still so excited when I called them and shared the details.  It was one of the most amazing and memorable days of my life.   

A little over a year later, we were married!

Our first camping trip

Random birthday / Kickball Shenanigans

Kickball...Vegas style

All dressed up

Little sister's wedding

Getting crazy at a Gophers Football game

Vacationing in Hawaii

So in ♥

A night on the town

Celebrating our engagement & my birthday in VEGAS

Our first {& only} 4th of July as an engaged couple!

Celebrating a friend's wedding

 

We're MARRIED ♥
 

We're having a baby!
 

Baby Books

In order to feel a bit more prepared for the little human we're going to be {or I guess already are} responsible for, we, like most first time parents bought/borrowed some baby books.  

It all started back when we were trying to get pregnant.  I may have been a teeny-tiny bit obsessed and bought 2 books:

What to Expect Before You're Expecting

 

In my opinion, the book was filled with all kinds of really helpful tips.  We used the Basil Body Temperature method from this book (which I'm sure is in every TTC book).  Not only was it informational, it had quite a bit of humor, too.  I also liked that it had a whole chapter for the guys.  My Husband even read it and thought it was pretty good.  I read this book pretty much from cover to cover and found it to be extremely helpful.  

Taking Charge of Your Fertility

 

We, er, I also bought this book while we were in the TTC mode.  It was....just okay.  I think it had a lot of the same information as the book What to Expect Before You're Expecting, but was a lot drier.  I definitely did not read it cover to cover, but read bits and pieces that I thought might be of good use.  I almost felt like it was too informational and almost a bit overwhelming.  However, I could totally see many couples benefiting from this book!

...fast forward to the "we're pregnant" stage:

Once we found out we were pregnant, I was eager to buy the next book in the "what to expect" series:

What to Expect When You're Expecting

I think I was just so excited to start reading, that I quickly got bored, overwhelmed myself and had little to no interest in reading this book.  Though I do pick it up each week and read the "what to expect this week" portion, I didn't / don't read all the mass amounts of information that is separated out by month.  

There is a TON of information in this book and I quickly found that 85% never pertained to me with this pregnancy.  However, I will say that there have been times when something weird will happen or I'll have an odd "symptom" and I'll check to see if it's in the book (and 99% of the time it IS), so I'll read up on that specific part.  It beats reading up on every little ache, problem, symptom and feeling that may or may not happen to you when you're pregnant.

I also bought this:

Pregnancy Journal and Planner

Sadly, I've hardly even used it.  Though it seems like a great way to document each "big moment", Dr. Appointment, weekly thoughts & feelings and questions, it was hard for me to remember to do so.  

I think I started off well, but must have gotten lazy come about week 16 {I guess that's what this blog is for, right}.  Not only do I wish I would have written in this more often, I wish my Husband would have also put his thoughts & feelings down.  It's interesting to see how each of his passing {pregnancy} weeks differed (or were the same) as my weeks.  Thankfully it was really inexpensive.  

There are a few more books I'd really like to read before baby comes, but we'll see if it actually happens.  Any good {baby related} book recommendations?

 

 71 more days!!

Three {random} Things Thursday

1. So recently, my sport loving/playing Husband injured himself. He was playing a friendly game of soccer and ended up injuring his knee.  He was in quite a bit of pain and limping around so a couple days later, he decided he’d better get it checked out.  

    He went to our family Dr.’s office and they said it just seemed bruised.  They gave him some exercises to do at home, pain meds and told him to come back if the pain didn’t subside within 2 weeks.  Well, 2 weeks later, he was still having trouble and knew something wasn’t quite right.  So he headed back to the Dr.’s and this time they sent him to get an MRI.  A couple days later we got the results of the infamous MRI and sure enough, he tore his ACL.  Awesome.  

    He saw a specialist the other day and he told him that if he’d ever want to play any sort of sport again, he’d need to have surgery to fix this.  Since my Husband loves to play sports, we knew the only option was for him to undergo the “knife”.  We debated waiting until after the baby was born and I was able to do things such as carry more than 20lbs (not that I would do this often, but you never know), shovel, etc.  But then decided, maybe it would be better for him to have the surgery now before the snow starts to fly since he’ll be hobbling along on crutches for a couple weeks (that wouldn’t be so fun to do in the winter, although, it might be somewhat amusing to watch…).  

    So, we scheduled the surgery for next Thursday.  That means we have 151351 things to get done before the surgery: move the last 2 pieces of furniture out of the baby’s room, clean the carpet, put baby’s furniture together, arrange the room, clean out our “back-room” (aka place where we store all kinds of junk) in our basement so we can put some storage shelves up, rake the leaves, take the garden out, mow the lawn one last time….oh man, the list goes on and on.  Therefore, I know how we’ll be spending our weekend….lucky us!!  I pray that the surgery goes smoothly and Husband is back on his feet in no time!

2. We finally ordered baby’s furniture on Sunday!  It took a lot of contemplating, discussing, measuring and researching before we decided on what would make up our baby’s crib, dresser and changing table.  The furniture will be delivered tomorrow, so we are hoping the countless hours spent on the computer comparing and researching was worth it.  I can’t wait to see what everything will look like in the baby’s room.  

    And, I’m really looking forward to being able to start decorating.  We’re ordering a wall decal and I plan to get a couple other things for the room to make it “perfect”!  It’s really all starting to come together – YEAH!!

3. With only 11 weeks left until we reach the 40 week mark with baby {excuse me while I have a slight panic attack}, I’m definitely starting to freak out a bit over this whole giving birth thing.  I’ve tried not to read too much about the actual giving birth part as I know that each childbirth/labor/mother/baby is different, but it’s hard not to focus on the horror stories.  

    I think part of the reason I’m so scared is because I have absolutely no idea what to expect, other than a fair amount of pain and a precious little baby as the end result.  With that, I’m trying to be really open-minded and not have a “birth plan”.  Though ideally, I’d LOVE, LOVE, LOVE for her to come on her own {and a week or so early}, I know that she could come late and I may need to be induced, or I may even need a C-section.  

   The whole idea of not knowing is so hard for me….I’m a planner and I like to know what to expect and when to expect it {side note: I do love surprises, just not the painful-shoot a watermelon baby out your vag kind}.  I know the pain, scariness and unknown will all be worth it in the end when we lay eyes on our baby girl (I just have to keep telling myself that).  When I get anxious thinking about it, I practice my “breathing”.  It actually does help quite a bit…let’s just hope it helps me get through those pesky contractions & the pushing!

29 Weeks of Love

We've made it to week 29!  As each week passes, I'm more amazed at the little miracle that's growing inside of me.  She's getting more and more active with each passing day.  I LOVE feeling her little (or not so "little" anymore) kicks, jabs, twists and turns.  The other day, she moved from one side of my belly to the other...the feeling was nothing less than amazing.  Also, baby girl gets the hiccups at least twice a day.  When I get the hiccups I'm usually annoyed, but these are about the cutest, most sweet little things ever!  I absolutely love them!

Last Friday we had our 28 week appointment (somehow, we ended up getting a week behind).  I did the normal: peed in a cup, got on the scale (even though the # I saw was a bit scary...I've officially gained 10 pounds so far), had my blood pressure taken and I got a flu shot.  

We met with another Dr. and she seemed really nice.  It was a very quick visit.  She did the measurements and told me that I have a long torso.  WAIT....what?  Me, a long torso?  I'm {barely} 5'2", so finding out that any part of my body is long was a bit of a surprise.  We also listened to her beautiful little heartbeat ♥...it simply melts my heart to hear it.  

She must not have liked the Dr. pressing down to hear it, because she gave some pretty good kicks...that's our girl =)  Dr. said everything sounded and looked good.  Now we start seeing the Dr. every two weeks.  I still can't believe how fast this pregnancy has gone.  Other than not sleeping well, I'm still feeling great!  Hopefully that lasts another 11 weeks!!

We also ordered baby girl's furniture last night!!  It took a lot of research, measuring, and discussing before we finally "pulled the trigger" and bought the crib, changing table and dresser for our little one.  We both LOVE what the furniture looked like online, so hopefully it looks great in her room.  I'm really excited to start getting her room put together and all ready for her arrival.  Slowly things are starting to come together.  I'll post pictures once her room is done (or at least the furniture is in).  

Otherwise, our weekend was jam packed for once.  Usually you can find me and the Hubby vegging out on the couch watching countless hours of TV, sports & movies.  But this past weekend, we hardly did any TV watching {pats on the back for us}!  

Friday night we had a friends wedding.  It was a beautiful ceremony and a gorgeous reception.  I just love weddings!  Everything was perfect, including the happily married couple!  

Saturday, we met up with some friends at the Afton Apple Orchard for some apple & raspberry picking.  It ended up being a gorgeous day and was so nice to spend it with such great company!  We look forward to next year when we'll have our little one with us! We also had dinner with some friends that we hadn't seen in months.  It was wonderful to see them and their adorable little girl.  She's 9 months old and so full of personality!  

Last night we went out for a friend's going away party.  It was great to see him and a couple other friends.  All in all, it was a great weekend even if it was jam packed!  We figure we might as well do all these things now while we're not "tied down" with a baby.  

I'm hopeful that we'll get a few more things done this weekend in preparation for baby's arrival.  We need to desperately clean our back room in our basement, move 2 pieces of furniture out of the baby's room, clean the carpet in the baby's room...the list could go on, but I don't want to overwhelm myself =)  I think that's a good start for this weekend!  

Happy Monday! 

Class Re-Cap

I can not believe that our 5 weeks of classes are over, done, finito!  Seriously, where does the time go?  I think part of the reason it went so fast (or at least it felt like it did) was because the class was awesome!  Our teacher was so energetic and full of knowledge...it was a great balance of fun and learning.  

We learned about: the labor process, carseats, layette products, effective breathing exercises, natural births, medicinal births, c-sections, proper bathing techniques, the "must-haves", swaddling baby, what to expect when we get to the Hospital, what happens after baby is born, dealing with visitors in the Hospital and when we get home, all things safety and so much more.  

I feel so much better about actually giving birth.  I know what my options are and what I can expect with each.  I'm really trying to stay positive and go into this whole thing with an open-mind.  Obviously doing it without drugs would be great {better for Mom and the baby}, but let's be real, giving birth to a human is painful and should be somewhat of an "enjoyable" experience {at least in my opinion}; so, if drugs are needed, I'm all for that too.  

I'm starting to realize that I'm more excited to have this little girl than I am scared.  And, I'm sure in 2 months time, I'll really be ready to meet our little one.  Until that time arrives, we have plenty to do before she arrives.  We'll definitely keep busy; before we know it, she'll be making her appearance into the world!  

Can't wait to meet our baby girl....

28 Weeks of Love

Well, we’ve made it to our 28^th week, leading us into our 1^st week of the 3^rd trimester!  YEAH!  I can hardly believe we’re into the “home-stretch” of this pregnancy.  I was thinking back to May when I felt like crap – I remember thinking to myself, “I’m never going to make it, the 3^rd trimester seems SO far away”.  And, here were are…we made it!  So far I’m feeling pretty good.  

I can tell that I’m definitely having a harder time getting comfortable at night and sleeping the whole night is getting to be a bit more unmanageable, but I have no big complaints.  I can tell that bending over is getting to the point to where it almost hurts a teeny bit.  My big ole’ belly just gets in the way =)  I’m sure glad I splurged and bought myself a pair of Uggs a couple weeks ago.  It will be so much easier to not have to bend over and tie my shoes/boots and let’s face it, we do live in a place where winters are unbelievably cold and snowy so I needed these Uggs to survive winter (that’s what I keep telling myself, at least)! 

Otherwise, things have been fairly normal for me.  Still eating just fine, getting around just fine and feeling good for being 7 months pregnant!  We go in next week for our 28 week appointment (even though it will be 28 weeks and 6 days).  I’m looking forward to hearing her heartbeat and making sure everything is A-OK with baby! 

84 days to go….(not that I’m counting, or anything)!

Getting EXCITED!

As the minutes, days & weeks quickly go by we find ourselves getting more and more excited to meet our baby girl!  I can’t believe that Saturday was the start to our 3^rd trimester.  WHOA….where has the time gone?  

The 2^nd tri flew by – partly due to the fact that I felt great.  Not to mention all the fun things that came along with the 2^nd tri – hearing baby's heartbeat, seeing baby, finding out baby's gender, FEELING baby move…some of the greatest things I’ve experienced in my 31 years here on earth.  

I’m sure the 3^rd trimester is going to go even faster; before we know it, we’ll be rocking baby to sleep, changing her diapers, and blissfully staring at how amazing she is!  

We have so many things on our “to-do” list and we’re finally starting to conquer them.  Last week, we did all of our registering.  It was overwhelming, but really fun to start thinking ahead to when baby is really here with us.  Seeing all the cute baby clothes and the teeny-tiny diapers sure helps make the actual “labor” part seem a little bit better (hey, I’ll take whatever I can get at this point…I’m definitely starting to FREAK OUT)!.  

We also majorly cleaned out the baby’s room, picked out paint and taped the room so we can do the actual painting this week.  We’re so close on picking out furniture (it makes it a bit challenging when you have a tiny room and a tiny house)…I’m excited to start getting the room put together so we can think about decorations. 

I’m still feeling really good.  No real complaints.  I can tell that my back & hips hurt quite a bit, but nothing I can’t deal with.  I’ve also been having a harder time sleeping.  I think partly because I have a harder time getting comfortable (especially after numerous bathroom breaks in the middle of the night) and partly because I find myself constantly thinking about all things BABY…my mind just won’t shut off.  Maybe it’s Mother Nature’s discreet way of preparing you for when you really don’t get any sleep at night when baby is here =)  Either way, I feel blessed to have had such a great pregnancy thus far.  If the 3^rd trimester and delivery go this well, I will be one VERY happy lady! 

89 days to go….