My Growing Belly!

Here are some pictures I took throughout my pregnancy! I definitely gained more than I wanted to, but I was thankful to have a healthy, easy going pregnancy. In fact, I "slogged" (slow jogged) until the day before I gave birth to Mason!

The first trimester: I felt pretty nauseous, but thankfully never threw up. I craved egg salad and french fries like NO other! I was very tired and was very thankful that Kylie was old enough to understand why I was so tired and was happy to have low key evenings with momma since Jesse was working out of town.

week 15

All of a sudden at week 15 (photo to the left is just the week before!) a little bump appeared! It was SO awesome to finally have some physcial proof of my pregancy and not just feeling fat! It was just the beginning of my growing belly!

I am going to be an AUNT again!

Shortly after I found out I was expecting I found out my sister was as well (about 3 short months after me)! It was the most amazing news ever! What a gift to be able to share this experience together as well as our kids being able to grow up together, accomplishing milestones about the same time, starting school together and experiencing life together! In fact, almost 2 years ago we witnessed our good friends (who are sisters) having the chance to experience pregnancy together and we thought "how lucky are they?" What a blessing that is! Now here we are getting the same experience!

It was so wonderful to have someone on a regular basis to discuss current cravings, pains, exchange ultrasound pictures with, share nursery ideas, good resources to read, how our babies will make their big debut and SO much more!! I cannot emphasize enough how much I enjoyed being pregnant with my sister and getting to share her first mother's day together! Congratulations sister! I am BEYOND happy for you!



I delivered Mason the NEXT day! Crystal was 7 months pregnant



Mason's first toy

Sherrie, my mother in law, took Kylie shopping and at the mall asked if she could get Mason a toy. Kylie explained that she knew the perfect one that he would love. So, she took Sherrie into Nordstrom and picked this out:

When she brought this home and told us she picked this out especially for her baby brother, our hearts melted.

Telling Shauna

I took this picture of Shauna and her new baby boy Bronson at our favorite place to meet: Starbucks. Isn't he the sweetest? I fell instantly in love with him! This was right after I had confirmed my pregnancy via 3 positive tests....but was still too afraid to tell her that day. I waited till week 7 to announce it to her, Jessica and some other friends. We all shedded tears of joy! Jessica, Shauna and my soon to be born were within 9-10 months of each other! What a blessing being able to raise our boys together with my BEST friends!

Pregnant!

For those of you who don't know....it took us awhile to get pregnant with our second child. We thought about expanding our family right before Kylie's third birthday. In fact, we were enjoying a wonderful family vacation in Oahu, Hawaii when we decided it was time to start! It was very scary, but also very exciting. However, after months had passed, I wasn't getting my cycle and we weren't pregnant. We were concerned. We had NO problem getting pregnant the first time. Was there something wrong? After finding the most amazing doctor ever, she determined that I wasn't ovulating, hence my absent cycles. But, after a few rounds of Clomid, which induces ovulation, we were unsuccessful. Over the next couple of years we waited to see if anything would happen on its own, but nothing did. My doctor suggested trying the Clomid again and after two failed attempts, she referred me to a fertility clinic. I left her office in tears that day thinking that we may not be able to have another baby. But, I immediately cheered myself up because we were already so blessed with a perfect, healthy girl. How could I be so selfish wanting ANOTHER baby when there are so many women out there who cannot have one. Therefore, I continued to focus my love and energy on the perfect girl I already had. Right before Kylie turned 7, I made an appointment at the fertility clinic and I was so lucky that they determined that nothing was wrong with me. She advised me to reduce my running (at that time I was running 30-35 miles a week as I had just completed my second half marathon a few months prior) put on some weight in hopes that my cycles would regulate on their own. We returned from Disneyland where we had SO. MUCH. FUN. and I started spotting...which was very unusual for me. I attributed it to my non existing cycle and perhaps my Dland indulges and lack of runs were finally delivering my period....but it never came....I was apprehensive to purchase a pregnancy test of more, but when the spotting stopped I had to. I will NEVER forget the feelings of joy, happiness and tears as it read positive! It still gives me the goosies today!

Disneyland!

Here are some pictures of our 3rd trip to Disneyland (we love it there!), where we are pretty sure is where our secong baby was conceived. I guess they are right when they say it is the happiest place on earth! Thankfully, other than the rides I was on my best behavior!

Beginning my blog!

After contemplating starting my own blog since Jessica began hers and then again when I found out I was pregnant with my second baby I have finally done it! I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED reading post after post since Jessica found out she was expecting to now all that Ben is doing! Even though I chat and visit Jessica frequently, her blog provided me a little more insight on what their lives entail! I have enjoyed it SO much that she inspired me to finally begin a blog of my own! I am BEYOND excited to share our lives with everyone! Thanks Jessica!