Saturday Snow Storm...

I've been sitting here watching it snow pretty much all day. I think we have about 7" of snow, give or take. Lets just say I'm not going out to measure! Danny made me breakfast in bed and I actually enjoyed a cup of coffee this morning. I haven't had much of a desire to drink coffee but this morning it was pretty good. Now that I've had my cup of caffeine for the day I'll be sticking to water, juice and milk the rest of the day.

Though it is still a little early, and I'm skeptical of posting (hence the reason I have not posted anything real public on Facebook in fear that something could go wrong before we are out of the first trimester), I thought I would go ahead and share my belly pics. I only know of maybe one or two people who check my blog anyway, so what can it hurt? We're going to be taking pictures every two weeks starting with week 8. So here's my week 8 and week 10 pictures.

8 Weeks

10 Weeks

I know, there's not much to see (other than bloat, oh joy!) but one day I will look back on these and say, wow, where did my body go? We have a little over 2 weeks until my next appointment and I am getting a little impatient. I just want to hear the heartbeat and know that everything is progressing as it should. I thought pregnancy would be so different, but in all reality, I don't feel that pregnant. I'm sure I will be kicking myself in the butt a few months from now when the weather is heating up and I am feeling like a cow! :)

Geez, it's already 3:00 and I haven't done anything today. Maybe I will go scrapbook for a little bit and then I'm going to make some homemade lasagna for dinner. Yum~o!!

Patiently Waiting for February 16th...

Not much has been going on lately. Just waiting, praying, watching my pants not be able to button and feeling sleepy all the time! Speaking of pants not being able to button, the baby is the size of a grape; my pants should not be this tight! I will be 10 weeks on Monday and I'm excited that I am nearing the end of the first trimester. I go back to the doctor on February 16th and I will be 13 weeks along. In one way I feel like it has been an eternity (mostly just waiting to see the doctor is what makes time feel so long), but really, it doesn't feel like it has been that long and I'm already getting ready to start my second trimester soon! Wow, time is going to slip through my fingers before I know it.

I have been feeling much better over the past week or two and sometimes I almost forget that I'm pregnant. From about weeks 6 to 8 I felt like I had a constant 24/7 hangover! Seriously!? I quit drinking so that I wouldn't feel like that. Oh, the joys of being pregnant. I'm not complaining though. I'm ready for this journey and all the ups and downs that come with it. I haven't really had any food cravings or aversions yet. There's been a few things that really "hit the spot" (Danny brought me a hot fudge Sunday home one night, that was pretty tasty, of course I always eat lots of pickles but I've noticed I'm buying them more frequently, oh and grilled cheese sandwich with a side of pickles is to die for!) but other than that I'm sticking to my normal diet, minus wine, rare steak, sushi etc. The one aversion I guess I have had is I no longer have my morning cup of coffee with french vanilla creamer. It was always my favorite part of the morning to have a nice hot cup of coffee but for some reason it just isn't doing it for me anymore. When I went through my two week period of feeling like I had a constant hangover I don't think I drank coffee once. It had no appeal and while I've had a few small cups since I've been feeling better, I've actually been omitting the creamer and substituting with milk and sugar. I have been eating lots of fresh fruits and veggies though! I don’t normally get enough calcium in my diet but I have been making an effort to drink milk each day and eat foods high in calcium.

So, my life is pretty boring at this point. I come home, feel exhausted though I’ve done nothing all day, eat, watch TV and go to bed. Okay, I clean and cook still but it’s definitely not what I want to be doing. Even walking up the stairs can make me winded sometimes! I’m tellin’ ya, making a baby takes A LOT out of you. You have no idea!

On a different subject I’m getting geared up for my annual scrapbook retreat in VA Beach that is coming up at the end of February. I have a few gift cards to Michael’s that I need to spend so I’m planning on going up there this weekend to stock up on supplies. I have so much to do! I really better get the ball rolling before this baby comes though because I will never EVER catch up when the little one arrives. :)

Debut of Our Little Peanut!

Danny and I went to the doctor's yesterday and I had my first sonogram. I was 8 weeks and 1 day along. We got to see the heartbeat which was really neat. Though our little one resembles more of a peanut right now, it will soon be growing arms, legs and a button nose! We are continuing to pray that everything goes smoothly this first trimester. We cannot pray enough to have a happy and healthy baby. I go back in 5 weeks for my 13 week check up. They will hook me up to the doppler machine and I will actually get to hear the baby's heart this time. So exciting! Our next appointment we will be out of the first trimester and hopefully smoothly sailing into the second.

Danny is going to continue traveling every other week to New York until June. The only good outcome is that he will get to take some extra time off in August when the baby comes. I've been doing some research online to find meals that I can make a few weeks before the baby comes and freeze them. I don't know what to expect when we bring that little bundle of joy home but I know that I probably won't feel up to slaving over a hot stove after giving birth! A few weeks before the baby is due I am going to try and make as many meals as I can and freeze them so that all I have to do it reheat them or bake them in the oven. I think it will help out a lot. Any recipe ideas would be greatly appreciated! :)

I'm looking forward to several things in February. My dad's birthday, my grandma's birthday, Eli, our chocolate lab turns 3, Valentine's Day, the Super Bowl, our 13 week check up on the 16th and I am going to VA Beach the last weekend in February for a scrapbook retreat. My friend and I have been going for the past 2 years and it is a lot of fun. We basically eat, sleep and scrapbook the whole weekend! It is so nice because I don't have to worry about house work, laundry, the dogs, fixing dinner, nothing!! All I have to do is get up, make sure I have comfy PJs on, eat and scrapbook. This year I am going to work on our Anniversary Cruise album and finish up our Honeymoon album. I know that once the baby comes I will never get to catch up!

Please continue to pray that our little one is growing healthy and strong. There won't be much to update you on over the next few weeks, except for maybe my growing belly. It makes me nervous that I won't have another check up for 5 weeks but all I can do is take care of myself and the baby and hope for the best.

Breaking the News!

...I've waited to share this news, but I think it's time...

Okay, so Danny and I had an early Christmas present arrive on December 17th. We found out we are expecting our first child in August 2010! I said stay tuned, big things were coming this year, didn't I? :) I had been feeling really hungry all day and a little tired. Danny says I'm always tired, but I felt that something was different, plus I was two days late. So it was 10 o'clock Thursday night and Danny is in the basement playing WoW, I was sitting watching TV and decided that I would take a test. I knew that I would be utterly disappointed if the results came back negative, but I figured I would take that chance. A few minutes later I carry the test down to Danny, a little in denial of what I had seen. I showed him the two lines and asked "is there really two lines there?!" He said, yeah, what does that mean? I said, well, that means I'm pregnant! He was apparently in denial too because he asked me to bring him the box the test came in so he could take a scientific look at the instructions. Sure enough, it passed his test and we stood there in shock for a few minutes of the news. He asked me if I was happy and gave me a big hug. Are you kidding? Of course I was happy, I was ecstatic, speechless and in a complete awe of what my husband and I have created.

Once we celebrated for a few minutes I decided it was time for bed. HA! That was a joke! Seriously, who decides to take a pregnancy test at 10 o'clock at night and expect to sleep afterwards? So I tossed and turned and thought of all the changes that are ahead of us. The next morning I decided I better take one more test just to make sure that the night before wasn't a dream. Low and behold, I got another big fat positive!

I called my doctor Friday morning to set up an appointment to confirm the at home test. We went Monday afternoon and the doctor confirmed that I was exactly 5 weeks along. I had already calculated my due date, but they confirmed that as well. August 23rd, 2010! At this point it still doesn't feel 100% real. We scheduled my first sonogram/ultrasound for January 12th. I will be 8 weeks and 1 day along when we go to our appointment. It's so scary because I have friends who have gone through a miscarriage and that is the scariest thing to think of. We've been cautious on who we tell and I always sum the conversation up with "it's still really early; we are just praying everything turns out okay." Most miscarriages occur within the first 6 weeks but you can still miscarry up to the 12th week. I have prayed every night that we are blessed with a healthy and happy 10 months. I hope to hear the "swoosh, swoosh" to confirm the heartbeat at our first appointment. But, if God forbid something should happen, I hope he at least gives Danny and I the strength to move on and accept what has happened.

So, I mentioned before that we found out on December 17th, a week before Christmas! Danny and I wanted to surprise our families with the big news. Christmas is kind of our thing, we got engaged on Christmas so we thought it would be perfect to announce we are having a little one on Christmas. We picked out a Christmas ornament for each of our families that you are supposed to put a picture in. Since we didn't have an ultrasound picture yet I put "Baby Mudd Coming this August!" The look on our families faces was priceless! All my mom could say was "OH MY GOD, NUH UH!"

We are excited and nervous for the journey ahead of us. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers!

<--- Looking Back and Looking Forward --->

So much is going on right now with the holidays passing and the New Year approaching rapidly. Danny and I had a wonderful Christmas with our families and have been so busy I have hardly had anytime to myself to relax, read a book or watch TV. We've got some big changes coming up in 2010 and I'm so excited to kick off the New Year. Even though we currently don't have any New Years plans I am completely content with whatever we decide to do. I'm not making any New Years resolutions, I just want to appreciate each day and spend more time with those that mean the most to me.

I can't believe that it's almost 2010! Where has the time gone? I remember when the whole Y2K scare was blown way out of proportion. I was a freshman in High School and I remember my parents didn't want us going anywhere just in case something were to happen. Looking back on the last 10 years I can't believe how much has changed in my life. I have had heart breaks, first kisses and a happily ever after. Ten years ago I would have never guessed that I would be where I am today. Who knew I would be married, have a house, two dogs, a great job and a wonderful husband? Whew, more updates to come in the New Year! Stay tuned :)

16" and counting....

Well, no cocktail party tonight. We have about 16" of snow and it's still coming down. It's been a pretty good day though. I made some food, scrapbooked, played with the pups in the snow, watched the hubby shovel the snow, enjoyed a cup of hot chocolate and relaxed! It's a bummer we couldn't have our party but mother nature had other plans for us today.

Ready for the weekend!

Christmas is so close I can almost taste it and our Christmas Cocktail Party is this Saturday! It is supposed to snow this weekend, so I am hoping that it at least doesn't ruin our party. I have enough food to feed a small army and I was really looking forward to the White Elephant gift swap and spending time with friends. I thought it would be a perfect way to celebrate the holidays and kick back and have a good time. Plus, who doesn't love finger foods? Personally, I think I could live on finger foods, which I guess might happen if no one shows up on Saturday! ;-( Ha, ha...I guess Danny and I can fight over our two presents for the White elephant. I'd be happy with either.

Danny has yet to start his Christmas shopping, but I am 100% done (unless I go in the store and find something else I just have to get for someone). I've really been in the Christmas spirit this year and I hope that all of my family and friends are happy and healthy. This time of year really makes me grateful for everything in my life. I know I should be grateful every day for the life I live but it is so easy to take it for granted. There are so many people that will not have a Christmas dinner, or a tree with presents to wake up to, or even a family or friends to share the holiday with. And that's the most important part! What would Christmas be without your family and friends?

Anyway, I'm so super excited for Saturday! I've got so much yummy food to prepare and it makes my stomach grumble just thinking about it. I hope that everything turns out and that everyone can make it. *Wish me luck*