Baby Pool!!

We set up a baby pool online for everyone to play with!! I have enjoyed other people having them so I figured we should, plus it will be cool to see everyones guesses and how close the winner gets to being correct!! We have also decided to send the winner a gift! Not too sure what it will be, but we are planning on candy or something delicious and a couple other fun things! Plus then there is incentive for doing our baby pool! Hehe! This is the link for the baby pool: http://www.untilithappens.com/lamarchebaby

We had our 20 week ultrasound on Tuesday and there is nothing better than seeing our baby on a screen! I was worried about my ultrasound tech because you hear horror stories about cold awkward tech's but mine was amazing!! She explained not to read into her calling the baby a him because she calls all the babies him, and that she talks to the babies too! We chatted as she took all the measurements and clarified that the baby has all of its vital parts and that they all look good and work! She also said that baby is already head down! Wahoo!! And that it was the only baby she had seen all day that wasn't breech so hooray for not having to worry about it flipping later on! When Justin came in she showed us our baby's brain, pumping heart, kidneys, bladder and all the other goodies! She made sure to skip over baby's lower regions, but showed us baby's feet! Here is what baby looks like for those of you who haven't seen my profile picture:

For any of you McCracken's reading this...check out baby's nose! Its a total McCracken nose! I think it is hilarious that the picture we got of our baby it's mouth is WIDE open. My Mom also thought it looked like the white glow from the ultrasound above the baby's head looked like a unicorn horn...so baby has now gained the name "Baby Unicorn"

I'm feeling good again and haven't gotten sick in a while, and am able to eat sort of healthy things again!! Wahoo! The baby has been moving a lot more and realized that what I thought were kicks the whole time are actually punches, vicious little peanut! Justin even thinks he felt a little "punch" the other day too so that is really exciting! I can hardly wait for it to start moving more and for him to feel it all the time, and maybe even see it!

Here is my most recent belly photo:

We finally set up our backyard for summer too and I am so excited for it! I spent a good amount of Monday relaxing in my hammock, and realize as the months progress that it won't be as easy to get in and out of it as last summer so I'm going to enjoy it with ease while I can. I've heard lots of negative things about being pregnant during the summer so I have decided to be positive about it and maybe it will make my experience a happier one! Here are the reasons I am excited to be pregnant during the summer instead of the winter:

-I get to wear flip flops and easy slip on shoes all summer
-I do not have to worry about stuffing my swollen feet/legs into boots for our freezing winters
-I get to wear maxi dresses and comfortable cute clothes
-I don't have to layer and wear thick clothes outside, just to get inside and fry to death
-I don't have to buy a maternity coat
-Not being able to reach my feet is a fantastic excuse for regular pedis
-I get to go to the PNE and eat all their delicious food while pregnant(obviously WAY better than while not pregnant)
-I will have a baby to keep me entertained this winter while I'm trapped inside during snow storms
-I don't have to worry about sucking my tummy in, or my muffin top in my cute summer clothes this year
-I will have a cute baby bump for my bathing suit

And I'm sure there are more that I could come up with so I feel excited, not uncomfortable about the thought of being pregnant this whole summer long!

Plus in the end our baby will be so stinking awesome that it will be worth it!

Well,  I should go get ready for work. Have a fantastic day & happy baby pool guessing!!

Almost half way!

Woohoo!! I can't believe I'm already 19 weeks! It's crazy how fast time has gone so far! Next week we have an ultrasound again and I can hardly wait to see our baby looking more like a baby than a blob with limbs! :)

I've been getting sick more in my 2nd trimester than I ever did in my 1st, which is strange. I'm wondering if it is from my prenatal or if my baby just hates healthy foods! I've gotten sick a couple times this past week and it has been after I have eaten something healthy or taken my prenatal. It's weird, I get sick after eating chicken and veggies but can eat McDonald's and have NO problem! Silly little peanut.

This past weekend was my best friend Vanessa's wedding in Surrey. Justin and I spent the latter half of the week in Surrey visiting and getting ready for everything. It was such a gorgeous wedding, and such an honour to stand beside her on the day! The weather, however, was not super nice for the first part of it. It was pouring for the first set of our photos but on the upside we won't have glare in our eyes and have squinty eyes! I barely even looked pregnant in the dress, and Cindy didn't even have to put in a belly panel!

She looked so stunning, and I am super happy for her and Joel to be married! Being engaged, I feel like is the hardest time on a relationship. You are kind of in between dating and spending forever together, and planning a wedding is such a strain on any relationship. So yippee for a new life beginning!! 

Oh.my.word. Let me write a little paragraph about the most amazing thing I have purchased thus far...a SNOOGLE! When you are pregnant, or maybe even when you're not pregnant you should own one! I am a belly sleeper and was beginning to get a little uncomfortable during the night. Thankfully we have a 1.5 inch memory foam topper on our bed so I've been able to get away with it. But when we went down to visit my parents and I went to fall asleep and felt like I was laying on a board...not comfortable. So I used a couple pillows and managed to sleep on my side not so comfortably with kicking them out a few times during the night. Then the next day we went to Toys R Us and scanned a registry...mostly because I heard you get a sweet gift bag, but I saw my snoogle and purchased it! Now I sleep like a baby on my side and LOVE going to bed with it every night. It is a super weird looking pillow but it works like magic!!! Okay, I'm done my rant of love! 

Well, I should really go finish tidying my house and making Justin's lunch. He's on night shift AGAIN. Which sucks because I'm all alone, but is also good because I got to rest up from my weekend. OH and I get the WHOOOOLE bed to myself. Just me, my fuzzy dog, and my glorious snoogle! hehe! I will update next week after our Ultrasound on Tuesday! Yippee!! 

Life Update

So as my friend kindly pointed out I haven't been blogging well, or updating anyone with baby info! So that's what this post is for! So if you aren't interested in my baby/pregnancy info this probably isn't the blog for you to read! :)

I've been trying to limit my posts about my baby and pregnancy so I don't swarm everyone's feeds with info about it, so maybe a blog post here and there is the way to go! :)

I am almost 17 weeks already and I can't believe how fast the time has gone! I feel like it was yesterday I was jumping up and down in our bedroom with the positive result! But here we are, over 4 months along! I have noticed a couple changes lately, which are really exciting! I feel like my belly has dropped over the past couple weeks, that I am definitely beginning to carry low, but maybe that's just me! I will post a before and after belly photo and you guys can all decide! I also started to feel baby move a little bit in there, which is the coolest and weirdest feeling ever!! I know its really early for me to be able to feel the baby, especially in my first pregnancy. But I am a google nerd so I know what I am looking for and not to just pass it off as gas! Hehe! Plus, I have never felt gas in the lower right side of my abdomen anyways!

Me at 12 weeks

Me today at 16.5 weeks

I have been having more cravings then I did in my first trimester and eating really weird things! Like last night I had an insane craving for sloppy joes, so I went out to the store and bought the stuff for it! Of course I had to cut up some pickles and mix them in there, what kind of pregnant lady would I be if I didn't add pickles?! And then I proceeded to drink 4 large glasses of milk (which I used to hate) and eat 1/4 of a jar of pepperoncini peppers! Justin described being pregnant like being high, he said out of no where you think of something you want to eat and then you have to have it, like right that moment and can't stop thinking about it. He said its like having the munchies, which I found quite humorous.

My best friend Vanessa is getting married at the end of this month, and I am crazy excited for that to happen! I was a little worried about my bridesmaids dress though, but thank God it fits! We measured me at 8 weeks pregnant and then ordered a size up, luckily it fits everywhere but is just a little snug on the belly. But Vanessa's mom is really good at sewing so is just going to cut out a panel for my belly and put in stretchy material! Woohoo!! There is a layer of chiffon overtop of the material so no one will even know. Well...no one would have even known if I didn't just tell everyone! hehe!

I have been feeling really good still! And am so thankful I didn't suffer with any morning sickness so far this pregnancy! I am just finding I'm grumpy and emotional. Its especially hard when Justin is on night shift and I just feel lonely. I can't eat cooked vegetables with this baby,  they do not sit well with my stomach. So I have been eating raw carrots, and a lot of meat and cheese! :D

We finished painting baby's room! I LOVE how it turned out, I am so excited with it! We did the main back wall with the stripes, which is the wall baby's crib & change table will be up against, and the rest of the walls are the light green! Now we are just going to paint our bedroom and then we can lay down carpet in that part of our house! We are getting a nice big tree wall decal for behind baby's crib that I think will look really good! And we got a bunch of baby stuff from friends and family which are super appreciated and take the load off a bit! We bought a crib and a stroller already, so I feel like we are making a bit of progress there! I can't wait until I can put together everything in baby's room!

Oh and we bought a boat! Justin found a really good deal on a boat down in Aldergrove so we came down last weekend and picked it up! It is a 16 ft Malibu bow rider with a wake tower but it isn't currently running. Justin did a couple of tests on it so he thinks that he can get it up and running pretty easy!! Plus, with being like 7 months pregnant this summer I won't really be able to hold onto him on the back of the Sea Doo this year either! We we figured this was a better option, plus then we can bring more people out with us!

We had our second appointment with the OB and it was really good! I found out that all my blood work seemed normal, but after this baby comes out that I need a booster for Rubella because my levels were really low! So that's kind of crazy! But we got to hear baby's heartbeat again, which is easily the best part of the appointment! This time he had more trouble finding our little peanut because baby was super low!! But he found it and baby's heartbeat was 163 bpm this time! I don't believe in "gender fetal heartbeats" so I know people may think that over 160 is a girls heartbeat but it has been proven to be totally false! So that is a clue we can rule out! Anyways, I am thinking of doing a online baby pool! So that everyone can guess what gender they think our baby is, when its going to arrive and how big he/she will be! But I'm just trying to find a good site and what exactly I want the pool to look like!

Well, Justin will be getting up from his sleep very shortly so I should go so I can spend time with him out of the 1.5 hours I get with him today! Wooooo night shift.

Goodbye Money

I started looking into strollers and the basic baby stuff today and can I just say holy cow! The stuff is so expensive! We think we found the nursery furniture we want, but I started looking at strollers and a cradle or bassinet for the first 3 months. 

First let me rant about bassinets...why are they all so ugly?! I just found that most of them I looked at are frilly and overly patterned and just not my style at all. Plus they are like $200 or more. I'm sure they can be found at a lesser price but most of them are crazy expensive! Especially since the baby is only in it for the first 3 months or so. At least our baby will be in it for the first 3 months while Justin is off work and then get moved into its room and crib when he goes back. Needless to say I think I might be more of a cradle lady

I'm finding it hard to find a stroller that would really fit our needs. Since we live in Williams Lake I would really like something with bigger wheel or that is good in snow in case I want to go for a walk. Very unlikely...but still it would be nice to have something I can easily push from my car to the store if there is snow on the ground. I really like the travel system strollers though, and they often don't come with good wheels for outside. I like getting a matching car seat and stroller and being able to just have one stroller for baby's whole time needing one! 

I am looking for crib bedding too and maybe I am just a diva but I have found maybe 3 that I like. Or maybe I just have a specific idea about what I want it to look like. I don't want bumper pads, so I don't really want to spend extra on a set that comes with them. Also since we are not finding out the gender of our baby I want bedding that is gender neutral. We are getting espresso furniture for the nursery and the walls are green, so something that goes with that as well. 

That is pretty much it for my baby rant. It is the first of many I am sure, but I figured hey isn't this what a blog is for? To get the silly thoughts in my mind out into the world!! Plus if you have any ideas I am more than happy to receive them. 

Our Peach

So I think its fairly safe to say that most of you by now know that I am pregnant! I am 13 weeks tomorrow so that makes our baby about the size of a peach! The whole concept of pregnancy is so intricate and amazing I am just blown away every time I get my weekly update on what's new with my baby. Already our baby has fingerprints, reflexes and its vital organs have formed which is crazy for something that is only 3 inches long!

I am still feeling great which I am really happy about and my belly definitely popped while on the cruise. Justin says he hates the term "popped" because it sounds like something exploded in my belly! Haha! So I try to use a different term around him :) 

I have been keeping a belly book for info for me and I also am making a book for baby. I update baby on stuff every week, like what I have been up to, what I have been eating, or if we saw the baby that week. Just little things that I might forget when the day comes and baby is finally here! I feel like I need a nickname or something for our baby, I feel silly just calling it baby all the time. I suppose thats what it is, but I might have to start trying new names for him/her! 

This past week I had my 12 week check up at my OB, which was good, and definitely informational. We got a huge book with tons of info on pregnancy and all the resources in our town for it! I had my physical...oh joy. And then we went to listen for baby's heartbeat. The doctor warned us that at 12 weeks there is only like a 30% chance of hearing the baby's heartbeat so not to be too concerned if we can't find it! So I was all ready to not hear the heartbeat...because 30% isn't that big a percentage, and he put the cold jelly on the doppler and stuck it down in the middle of my belly and BOOM! There was baby's heartbeat, he said "Wow...that was easy". There are no words to describe what it is like to hear your baby's heartbeat for the first time, or probably even the second time! He let us hear baby's heartbeat and then he moved it so we could hear mine and hear the difference! 

I have noticed that anytime I sneeze my stomach feels tense for like 15 seconds after the sneeze, its like baby is saying "Holy crap, what was that!?!" Its so funny! I can hardly wait until I can feel it move around and kick in there. I'm sure once it starts kicking me in my ribs I will take back that desire, but for now I'm pretty stoked! 

I have felt pretty good my first trimester so I am looking forward to feeling amazing during my second. And possibly even doing my prenatal workout video more than 2 times :) hehe! Here is hoping!! But only after I enjoy my DQ tonight. Yum Yum Yum!!! :D

The Cruise!

So as many of you know we just came back from a fantastic 7 night Caribbean cruise...*sigh* It was so nice to be in the sun and heat, especially since I live in Williams Lake where it has been snowing ever since we got back!

We went as a family to celebrate my parent's 30th wedding anniversary! Woohoo! But of course who really needs an excuse to go on a cruise! There were 12 of us that went: My Mom & Dad, Jordan, Justin & I, My Uncle Gary, Aunt Karen, Cousins Mark & Greg, and Mike & Katie with Estelle! We were really looking forward to cruising with other people as last time we went was our honeymoon and we were alone...obviously. But we just thought cruising with people would make it so much better!

For those of you who don't know the Bonderud's this story might not be as entertaining to you, but that is just too bad! :) So at the time of booking the cruise my cousin Greg didn't think he would be able to come. He was in between work and had an other trip planned for later this year and just couldn't see it happening. So we were all sad but planned our cruise anyways. A couple months later in September of 2012 Greg changed his mind and decided that he pretty much just didn't want to miss out on the cruise and booked his tickets to stay with Mark and Jordan. The plan was to keep it a surprise from everyone until the cruise came, but slowly the cousins found out. Our main goal was to keep it from Karen & Gary which we were highly successful in doing!! Greg works as a paramedic out of town so he told his parents that he would be gone the week we were on the cruise as he had to go to Oliver to work so he couldn't watch the house. This was completely normal as he goes up for work quite often. So they found someone else to watch the house while they were gone. The morning we all flew out for Miami Greg offered to cook everyone breakfast, but we had to be at the airport at 6 so breakfast was at 4:15...what a trooper. So we went over and had pancakes, fruit salad and bacon...it was so awesome. And we all talked about how we would send Greg postcards and flash his picture around and find him a bride! We all headed off to the airport, or at least that's what Gary & Karen thought! Our car drove around the block until the other Bonderud's were long gone and picked Greg up and went to the airport! We all got through customs and walked around a bit and then found Gary & Karen and had Greg turn the corner last. My Aunt Karen's response was so epic, if you know her you can only imagine how loud it was! It took her a while to process that Greg had gotten through customs, she just thought he came to say goodbye, but when she figured it out she freaked out! It was so awesome!!

Justin and I got to Miami and went to our hotel, lucky for us we were in time to catch the free shuttle from the airport back to the hotel and went up to our room. By this time we were exhausted and really hungry so we searched through our tacky pizza flyers thrown under our door and ordered some pizza. We figured since my parent's plane came in only an hour after ours that they would be at the hotel soon and would probably be hungry! So we called the front desk and told them to pass on the message for my parents to come to our room. We called around 11:30, and by 1:30 we had heard nothing from them. We figured that they had probably waiting for Karen & Gary and then for Mike, Katie & Estelle who came in at 12:30 so that they should be there soon. By the time 2 am rolled around I was too exhausted to stay awake any longer and we went to sleep. Turns out it was a good thing because they had a heck of a time with their shuttle and it took them a long time and a decent amount of money to get to our hotel.

The cruise itself was fantastic! We had brought walkie talkies so we could all communicate which worked sometimes, but not that often...or people didn't have them on! We got to eat dinner most of the time together, which was really fun and we had fantastic waiters as well! For my Mom's birthday they even got her up dancing Gangnam Style at dinner with all the staff, I wish I had recorded it with my phone instead of hers because it was hilarious. Especially since the poor lady had broken her toe earlier that day snorkelling! I ate tons of food, especially from the Guy Fieri burger bar and the taco and burrito bar! Yum yum! Oh, plus I definitely visited the candy store almost every day. It definitely is expensive Carolyn, but I got little bits and figured since I was only drinking water I could splurge on candy!

I think everyone should go on a cruise at some point in their life. There is just so much to do, and so many food options! It was definitely way better going with family then just going as a couple. But at the same time it was really nice to just come home and be alone as well! We went to Cozumel, Mexico; Costa Maya, Mexico; Isla Roatan, Mahogany Bay, Honduras; and the Grand Cayman Islands.

We did this super sweet excursion where we rode on a 1000 horsepower speed boat to a private island for the day. But the boat would do 180's and soak us all! It was so awesome! And then we got to lay on the beach all day and Greg and Jordan did a water balloon toss which turned out to be hilarious!!

We were lucky too in sailing with Carnival that our ship didn't have any issues. They have had a couple issues with their ships lately and ours seemed to be perfectly fine, so thanks God!!! :)

It was a nice much needed warm break and now I can't wait for summer!

And baby makes 3!

We are so excited to be able to announce to the world that I am pregnant! YAAAAAAY! You may have noticed I've been a little quieter with my updates and my blogging, but that is because I didn't want to give anything away!!

So I figured I would write this blog to answer the general pregnancy questions and show you our adorable little bean!

I have been feeling really good! God has been good to me this pregnancy and I haven't had any sort of sickness or constant nausea! I have had a day here and there where I feel sick, but for the most part I just feel fat! I feel more tired for sure, but not the exhausted, crumple to the ground, can barely move kind of tired...so that's good! I mostly am just a bottomless hungry pit who has to go to the bathroom all the time!

I am due September 24, 2013 which make me currently at 10.5 weeks. And was going to wait until I was out of my first trimester to announce it but figured what the heck! After I had my ultrasound today and baby's heartbeat was at 167 and it looked good, I was just too excited not to share the news. Plus my parents have been dying to tell people about it too!

We are not planning on finding out the gender of our baby and waiting until it is born to find out! I know a lot of people now a days aren't waiting because they want to know and want to plan. But for us, we just didn't think that was necessary! We painted baby's room green and plan on buying gender neutral black and white bedding! As for clothes, baby will be in onesies for the first little bit anyways and then I can go crazy shopping! Plus I figure if we don't know what gender our baby is we won't buy a pink flowery stroller or a blue cars carseat and can reuse it for baby #2! Also since baby clothes are the cutest things basically in existence I won't be tempted with every adorable baby girl piece of clothing I see to buy it for baby, hopefully saving us moolah! No judgement on those who find out, these are just our reasons!! :)

I can see no better way to celebrate than to go on a Caribbean cruise for 7 days starting Sunday!! Talk about a pregnant ladies dream! Unlimited delicious food...I think yes! 

                                                                     Our little monkey

Now I am free to blog once more!! Looking forward to updating you on my week, and making you all jealous! he he he!