New blog to come--ASAP

Hey everyone...

Thanks for being so patient with me, the terrible blogger! I have a bunch of great pictures of our trip to Seattle, as well as some new sonogram pictures from today!!! The pregnancy tiredness has worn me out the last couple of weeks, but I promise to be updated by the end of this weekend! Thanks--and check back soon!!

Alyson

I miss Justin!!

This morning, Justin left for the airport around 4 am. He is going to Seattle for the week for training for his new job. He was so excited to be getting to go there, the birthplace of Starbucks!! (By the way, within hours of getting there, he has already been to the original store!! ) I miss him already--it's never the same without him here! Luckily, I'm getting to go out on Thursday night, and we are going to make the long weekend a mini-vacation! Everyone keeps telling us, now that we have a baby on the way, that we need to take a vacation before it arrives. We have so many family trips, weddings, etc., already planned for this year, that I think we'll have to make a bunch of these mini-vacations really count!! I'll be sure to post pictures of our trip next week.


Now for a baby update-- I had my first OB appointment today and my doctor is absolutely wonderful!! I think the sign of a great doctor is when they seem like they know you, remember what has gone on with you before, and know details like you were just in yesterday. My doctor is very much like this, and I love it!! (She must take very detailed notes in the chart!!) She said that everything is looking great, my uterus is growing, and that I'm okay to fly to Seattle this week. (I was a little worried about that one!) She even said that she would give me another ultrasound at 10 weeks, because of my history. Usually they only do an ultrasound at 18 weeks, and any others they have to have a reason for so the insurance will cover them. I'm so excited to be getting another one--she says we should be able to see hands, fingers, feet, toes, and by my official second OB appointment a few weeks later, we should hear the heartbeat!! This is truly a miracle going on inside of me. I have wished for it, dreamed about it, and earnestly prayed for it for so long, and now that it is really happening, I am in complete awe of what God is doing. I'm so thankful to get to experience it!!

Justin and I were at Target on Saturday for some things, and just had to browse the baby section. We weren't planning on buying any baby stuff yet, but saw this onesie, and couln't resist!!! For those of you that know Justin and his financial brain will know why we didn't pass it up! Isn't it cute--and so amazing that our baby will fit in it!! (See--I'm still amazed by this whole process!) More baby updates will come soon!

I just realized that I had some pictures on my camera that I hadn't posted, so here they are!

My brother and his fiancee Kristen sent us beautiful roses to congratulate us. They have been on my dining room table all week, and I have them drying out now. They are so sweet! Both can hardly wait to have the baby born--they will be a WONDERFUL uncle and aunt!! Thanks guys!
Two weekends ago, we drove up to Buhler, Kansas, for a wedding reception for some friends. Landon, a friend of Justin's growing up, as well as a groomsman in our wedding, was married to Lidiya last October in the Ukraine. Since the wedding was pretty much just family, they had a reception in Landon's hometown. We wouldn't have missed it for the world, and it was very much worth the long drive!! They told us all about the weddking, showed pictures, and described some of the Ukrainian wedding traditions--so interesting!!! We also go to meet Lidiya and are just so excited for them! They are a wonderful couple and we look forward to spending time with them through the years!!

Lidiya, Landon, and us

A first for us...

I thought I had gotten used to the crazy weather here in Texas, but last night was a first for us. At 4 am, Betsy woke us up barking hysterically at the thunder. This isn't that uncommon, since Betsy often barks at the thunder in the middle of the night. We woke up, ready to shush her and go back to sleep, but realized how bad the weather sounded outside. I turned on the TV to see a HUGE line of thunderstorms, stretching from Tulsa all the way down to Waco, with the dark red line, with rotation markers, right over McKinney. Great. They were saying that we were in a tornado warning with reports of 70-80 mph winds, and at that moment the severe weather sirens started sounding. Quickly I grabbed my contacts (so if our house blew away, I wouldn't be blind!), our wedding rings, a change of clothes, and Betsy. We climbed into our under-the-stairs closet, throwing out the vacuum cleaner, and hunkered down. Pretty scary for this California girl...



We sat for about 15 minutes, listening to the rain and the weather channel in the background, watching the radar on Justin's phone. Betsy was an angel, just laying on my lap quietly. I think dogs really must have a sense for things like this--amazing! Thankfully, this was a very fast moving storm and the tornado warning was cancelled by 4:15. We went back to bed after making sure the worst was passed us, but I didn't really sleep too well the rest of the night. I pretty much laid awake with my stomach in knots, thinking about how unprepared we really are if something worse was to happen. Goal for the weekend: create an emergency kit--something we should have done when we first came to Tornado Alley!!


Enjoy the pictures of our middle of the night "oasis"!!

You wouldn't even know we were behind the coats!

Betsy re-enacting her time in the closest

Thankfully, we didn't have any damage, but the news reports all day showed so much damage, and even tornado touch-down reports from all over the area. It really is scary at times to live with this kind of weather, but I know that God is protecting us. As long as I have Justin, Betsy, and our baby, we will be okay!!

The GREAT News

We are pregnant!!! Finally--after three years of struggling, we are 7 weeks, 1 day pregnant. Here are some pictures of our little baby as it looks like at the moment. I think a good description right now is a "blob", but Justin doesn't like me to call it that. So I'll have to come up with a new name soon. =) I can't wait until we can finally find out what it is!! I don't understand how people could be patient enough to wait the full nine months!

I'll be updating all our info as we go along.... Here are the 7 week stats:

Baby Stats:

-Length: 11mm (about a centimeter--about the size of a bean)

-Heart rate: 148 beats per minute

This picture shows the baby (small, gray, fuzzy looking blob in the black

shape. The head is at the top. Doesn't look too much like a baby yet, but it looks WONDERFUL to us!!!This picture is measuring the heartbeat. The lines along the bottom are actually the heartbeats. We wanted to videotape it so you could see the flickering, but they wouldn't let us--legal something or other--bummer.

Mommy Stats:

-No real weight gain (yet!)

-Amazingly enough, I've hardly had any morning sickness! I'm not naive enough to think that I made it without any, but I'm hoping maybe I lucked out!!

-I've taken pictures of my belly since week 4, so we can look back and see the changes, but I won't be posting any of those. I'd rather show a belly that actually looks pregnant, not one that just looks chubby! Sorry! =)

I have my first real OBGYN appointment on Monday afternoon, so maybe we'll have more info to post then!

We really debated with telling our great news this early, since we've had 3 early miscarriages in the past. Even though it would be really hard if something bad happened with this one, I'd rather have the love, support and prayers of all our family and friends. But I know that nothing is going to happen with this pregnancy! The baby looks great and his/her heartbeat is strong--so we are just going to believe that every detail will be fine and we will get to hold and love our baby come November 25th!! We appreciate all your prayers during this pregnancy!

Keep coming back for more updates!