Gift registry

Today i began our baby gift registry. I must admit it wasn't as fun as registering for our wedding, but it was fun selecting little items that i know will soon become very important and much needed in the next few months.

Memma came with me to help me decide what things we would need: car seat, towels, wash cloths, blankets, crib-related-things, etc.

When we opened the registry, i received a little bag with a few freebies. One of the freebies was a diaper:


I am sorry, but i have a hard time seeing my little girl ever being small enough to use this diaper. If she is anything like her mommy and daddy, she will come out a long, skinny little thing :)

She moves!

Our little girl moves! At 22 weeks and 3 days, i can now clearly feel her move.

The first time i thought i felt her move was last Tuesday, April 19 during my class at ASU. It was very light and i am not entirely sure if it was even her or my stomach just growling.

Then after that day, when i would remember, i would press my hand against my belly to see if i could feel her. Again, i would feel something, but not entirely sure what it was that i felt.

But then this morning, Friday, April 29 @ 6:05 am, while Kate Middleton was being walked down the aisle by her father (yes, i watched the royal wedding), our little girl made herself clearly present.

This is the best way i can describe her movement: it feels like a very strong heart beat after running or doing intense cardio, only this time it's in your stomach. It took me a while to figure out what it was, so i put my hand on my belly, and she continued doing it. I eventually got out of my seat and woke B up to have him feel her for the first time.

What a fun day! She continued to move all morning long while at school, and then a little again during my last period.

22 weeks

Our little girl at 22 weeks!

Our little girl definitely had a growth spurt this week. This pic shows my belly sticking out more than any of my previous pics.

Date Night

One of the best things B and i have done to invest in our marriage is to have our weekly date nights. Our date nights usually consist of dinner at home and then out for coffee or ice cream. It's a time where we can be away from the dishes, the computer, the tv, the laundry, or anything else that may distract us, and where we can just sit and focus on ourselves. You'd be surprised of how different our conversations are during that 1+ hr we spend together away from home.

Amazingly enough, date nights were something that started "by accident." Byron had purchased the book "Starting your marriage right" by Dennis and Barbara Rainey while we were engaged. So once a week we would go out for coffee and read the 2-3 page chapters together and discuss it.

We found ourselves looking forward to this so much, that even after we finished the book, we continued this tradition.

So for the past (almost) 5 years, B and i have gone out for coffee every Thursday, rain or shine. With the help of Memma and Papa, we plan to continue this tradition even after our little girl comes.

Meal Plan

I am known for being very organized (or as my mom likes to call it, too rigid), but being overly organized is something that, in my opinion, has far more advantages than disadvantages:

- I never have to say no to something b/c i am having to do something last minute.
- I find myself enjoying life a lot more -- much more relaxed, time to do other things, etc.
- I never had to pull an "all nighter" in my 4 years of college.

This is one aspect of motherhood that makes me nervous. How much of this control-freak nature of mine is going to be put to test once our little girl comes? I'm sure that a lot...

All that to say that being overly organized leads me to always have a weekly meal plan. And since many of my recipes/cooking ideas come from other blogs, thought i would share mine as well. And yes, my meal plan begins halfway through the week, not on a Monday.

Thursday:
Lunch - Egg salad sandwich (hard boiled eggs, leftover chicken, celery and mayo)
Dinner - Spaghetti, salad and garlic bread

Friday:
Repeat Thursday (yes, i cook for two days)

Saturday:
Lunch: Grilled cheese sandwiches, carrots and chips
Dinner: Out?? It's going to be a busy afternoon, so i may request a date :)

Sunday:
Lunch: Out with family
Dinner: Baked chicken fingers, salad and mac and cheese

Monday:
Lunch: Veggie quesadillas
Dinner: Repeat Sunday

Tuesday:
Lunch: School's PTO's chick-fil-a sandwich
Dinner: Parmesan pizza

Wednesday:
Lunch: Veggie quesadillas
Dinner: Repeat Tuesday

Disney 2011 part 2

Trying different flavors of soda around the world. Of course, we all agreed that Manzanita LIFT from Mexico was the best. My dear friend Lisa Plagge would agree with me as well :)

At Magic Kingdom.

Hands down the best pic of the trip. And yes, i am 19 weeks pregnant, and yes B is taking pics.

A fun pic from one of our rides.

Disney 2011

The Lord has blessed our relationship and marriage with many friends, mentors and family who love us and are just plain fun to be with. One of those special "couple" friends are the Kelleys.

Sean and Byron were "hall-mates" and later roommates throughout their college years at Wheaton College.

When we first began to hang out the four of us, Alison and i would just laugh and laugh the entire time as B & S told over and over the same stories we had already heard a million times before ... I don't care how many times i hear the "slurpy slide", 7-11, White Castle and double date stories, i still think they are the funniest things i've ever heard.

And though the stories are still there, we have managed to get past them and talk about other things. The Kelleys have unintentionally become our "travel buddies" throughout the years and love them dearly:

- Spring break 2009 - Riviera Maya
- Spring break 2010 - Visit them at Chicago
- Spring break 2011 - Disney World!

One of the many rides i did not go on, not only b/c i am pregnant, but b/c i don't like them.

At Animal Kingdom about to get soaked wet. Out of all 10 ppl who were on this ride, B and I were really the only ones who got wet :s

Out at Italy in Epcot.

The famous lasagna that B says cannot be beaten, even by Italy itself.

21 weeks

Belly at 21 weeks.

Gender party

A few pics of our little party at which we announced the sex of our pretty little girl.

Memma using both blue and pink colors.

Including both pink and blue shoes.

Joseph also cheated and used both colors.

My sister Alison drove in from Atlanta to join the little party. She wore pink, but she also thought it would be a boy.

The blue team.

The pink team.

It's a girl!

Byron wanted to use two baseball caps to tell our family whether we were having a boy or a girl. You can see the blue cap still on the table.


Only two people thought we were going to have a girl -- Nana (Morris) and Gram (Frey). Everyone else, including ourselves, were convinced we were having a boy.

We are very thankful for our little girl and can't wait to see her in four months and give her too many kisses.

It's official!

Soon after my dad passed away in November 2007, and only 5 months after we got married, a strong desire to become a mom took over me. We had decided to wait 4 years before we had any children and Byron was committed to that timing.

The desire was still there, sometimes stronger than other times. Byron would not even talk about tentative dates of when we would "begin" to try to have children.

Then on September 13, 2010 on my 26th birthday, when i was in bed ready to go to sleep, he said: "i do have one last gift for you -- let's start a family!" I remember crying a little, a little nervous, a little excited. The time had come!

Then on December 21, 2010, while in Mexico, i kept thinking about whether i was pregnant or not. Byron was in the States at the time, and told me to just go ahead and take the test to get it out of my mind. So at 11:30 pm i took a pregnancy test that came out positive. I immediately called Byron and told him the news.

Though sad Byron was not with me at the time, i was grateful to have been able to tell my mom and aunt in person.

This is a picture of me entering the kitchen ready to tell my mom she was going to be a grandmother.

Then on January 11 we had our first doctor's appointment and we had our first baby pic.