Happy Thanksgiving!!

This thanksgiving I have so much to be thankful for"

First, and most importantly, I am thankful for my husband. He is amazing!! If you would have asked me 4 years ago, if I would be married ,I would have laughed. He is the most kind, sincere, gentle man I have ever met in my life. We connect on a level beyond my wildest dreams. He treats me like a queen. I thank my lucky stars everyday!! I am one of the luckiest girls to have such a wonderful man!

Second, I am thankful for my family. I come from a big family and I married into one. I have the most wonderful relationship with my mother and sister-they are my best friends! I can't imagine my life without them. I also love my in laws to death, they have been incredibly supportive through out our journey. But it doesn't' stop there. I have the most wonderful cousins who I have grown up with. They are more like sisters to me than cousins. They have been through it all with me, and that started back in my teens. They rock!!

And finally, I am so thankful that we are finally pregnant. Sometimes, I have to pinch my self to realize that this isn't a dream! A part of me doesn't know where to start with this subject. I am thankful for the RE's office. That our doctors gave us the expertise to give us the opportunity to be where we are. But most of all, the compassion the staff and doctors gave us along the way. We never had the horror stories others have had. They gave us what ever we needed and then some. And I will never forget the generosity of them giving us our fertility drugs to help us financially. We have insurance, although it doesn't pay for any type of fertility, so anything helps. And the cost of drugs could have killed us. I love them and would aways thank them for this miracle. I don't know if they will ever know the true effect they have on other people lives. I can't believe that 1 year ago, i was crying every night that this wasn't working. I never thought I would never have a child, at least not my own biological children. We are now officially 20 weeks, half way there. And we are having a baby boy. What a miracle!

NEWS BREAK!

IT'S A BOY

more info to follow......have to leave for work.

not today

My u/s was not today....... but according to the poll, the majority of people think we are having a girl! I wish I could say I had a feeling. I have a feeling it is a boy, but I think that is only because I want a girl. But once again, I will be happy with either or.

So the new thing is rib pain. My rib cage feel likes like it is going to pop. It sucks. I have also started to have this nose problem. It's stuffed and runny and annoying. I feel good otherwise. I feel the baby all the time. Hubby can also feel it alot. It's not real strong on the outside, but you can definitely feel it. Most people seem surprised that he can feel already. I think it is because prior to being pregnant, I was pretty thin. Or maybe we just have a really strong baby!!

exhausted

I am so tired! Pure exhaustion! I have 3 days of work until a day off, and it seems so far away. We have our u/s this week-we are so excited!!! Will write more soon, to tired to type!

18 wk belly shots

Not a whole lot of change since the last time. I am all belly so far, and hoping to stay that way. Wouldn't that be nice. I have no idea how much I have gained. I know not a lot of my pants fit anymore, still able to fit in most of my shirts as long as they are long. My ribs and tail bone hurt all the time. From what I have heard, this is not going to get any better if it already bothering me. I can deal with the tail bone, but the ribs-it feels like someone is grabbing under each one and pulling out. Almost like they could pop, it hurts!! Other than that, I feel great (knock on wood.) I am sleeping a little better.

My MIL called me with the steal of the week. Tar.get had 2 brit.ex car seats clearanced at 80% off. It was a $280 seat for 42.99 and 62.99 depending on what one you got. We ordered 3. One for DH and I, and one for my mom. My MIL ordered one, and SIL ordered 2. I got the call around 8:00 that they were online, and by 9:15 they were out of stock.

My SIL also announced publicly last week that she is expecting at the end of May. We have actually known for a couple of weeks, but couldn't tell anyone. We are very excited for her, she has dreamed of being a mom since she was a very little girl. It will be nice having children very close in age. I grew up with my cousins being my best friends, and they still are til this day. I can only hope that our children will have close relationships with their cousins and family growing up.

Just a reminder, if you haven't voted, our u/s is very soon--what will it be??

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Update: Tar.get sucks! They canceled my order because THEY were incorrectly priced. In my retail world, they should have to honor that price. I was so excited!!!! Now, I am bummed!

reality

Dear baby,

Up until now, you have been distant dream of mine. You have been something I have wanted so badly. Although you weren't created the "old fashion way", you were created out of more love than I could have ever imagined. I was told you were growing inside of me about 12 weeks ago, but it didn't seem real. I felt as if it were a dream, some distant reality. I saw your little head and body when you were 6 wks old. Seeing your heartbeat was the miracle I had dreamed of. But with all of that ,it still didn't seem real. I didn't feel good and my waist line has changed, but my life remained the same, until a few days ago.........

My life has changed, again! I feel you moving and letting me know your there. You will never know the emotions that go through my body every time I feel you. Just writing this brings tears to my eyes. I never thought I could love someone without even knowing them. But, I am falling head over heals in love with you more and more each day, each kick. It is a miracle I will never take for granted, in fact, I thank god everyday for giving us this gift. In a few short weeks, I will get to see you again, and how much you've grown and changed. We will also find our if you are our daughter or son. Either way we will love you the same. Your daddy and I can't wait to meet you in a short 5 months. In the mean time, stay warm and cozy, and grow big and strong. And if you don't mind, let me know your there as much as you want, although I may regret asking you that as you become a teenager.

I love you so very much,
your mommy

Movement

I am pretty sure I felt something 2 days ago. Now, keep in mind I have no idea what I am expecting to feel. I have felt weird "fluttering" here and there, but nothing that would have stopped me in my tracks and make me think it was the baby. In all honesty I thought it was either a muscle switch or gas. My body has had the most bizarre sensations and feeling in the last 4 months, so who knows. The other day i was sitting on our chair in the living room watching TV and out of no where it was like someone had hit me in my lower stomach, from the inside. It wasn't like it hurt, but it was just not the fluttering feeling everyone has told me to look for. It was more of a flick, like if someone were to lightly flick your ear. I stopped and pushed lightly on my stomach and 2 seconds later it happened again. It wasn't hard enough to feel on the outside. It was cool, that is if I really did feel our baby. If not I am on crack and have some serious gas!! I can't say I have really felt it since, but I have heard in the beginning it is normal not to feel it everyday. So we will see.

Other than that, life is pretty uneventful. I started cheating and have been sorting Christmas decorations. I even started putting a few things up in our house. If I wasn't having Thanksgiving here for my family, I would probably have my tree up already. I know it is a little early, but I work retail and I don't have time or the desire to do anything after Thanksgiving. We are way to busy and I am to tired when I get home. And this year it is the shortest time frame between Thanksgiving and Christmas, only 4 weekends in between. (Personally I think this in wonderful! the shorter the better.) I shouldn't feel to bad, there are actually a few people on our street that have their Christmas lights on their house and they have been turning them on at night. I

was trying to get DH to put up my lights last weekend-don't worry I won't be turning them on until thanksgiving. It was in the 60's and beautiful outside. He chose not to, and now he wants to get them up and today is a high of 27 degrees, with a wind chill of 18. Maybe he should have listened to me last weekend when I told him to take advantage of the nice whether instead of doing it in the cold. But what do wives know?!?!?

another day of paradise

We had our 17 wk appt today. Everything went well as usual. Heartbeat was at 150 bpm, just where she wanted it to be. I still have to take the glucose test at 20 wks, which I am not looking forward to at all. On the bright side, I get to eat before I drink as long as it doesn't have sugar in it. So I don't have to starve myself like I thought I did. I got to schedule my u/s for this month and I am so excited to find out what we are having. And the icing on the cake....I got my flu shot. I am still not feeling any movement. There are some days I think I might feel something, but it's probably nothing but gas. I still only have a little bump. I will post pictures soon again.

We went in voted today, did a absentee ballet. I thought we would wait forever, but it wasn't as bad as I thought. We only had to wait 1 hr. I am so glad we got to vote today, because I wouldn't get to vote until after 5 tomorrow night, and who knows how log the lines would have been then.