A lil of month 6 and 27 Weeks.......... 91 days to go!!

This has been an extremely busy month for Kelly & me. We’ve experienced a lot of changes with his job; thankfully it’s been mostly positive things, and I have stopped teaching for several years!! When we first got married, Kelly & I made the decision that I would stay home & raise our children. We decided we would make any necessary adjustments financially to make this choice possible. Thankfully, Kelly has been in a great position with sales and we’ve been able to save more than enough each month and are in a wonderful position financially for me to stay home!

I’m still feeling fantastic these days! We’ve done a lot of traveling this month between separate trips & trips together. I headed to SC to visit my family while Kelly went on a much needed golf trip. We also went into Hayesville for Kristin’s bachelorette/lingerie shower, and we’re having a lot of family & friends in town for our 1^st shower for baby Kaitlynn this Saturday!! The shower is going to be a lot of fun & my wonderful friends - Ginny, Angi, Christy, Karen, & Megan are so wonderful to host it! I'll definitely post pictures from the event next week!!

Work came to an end quickly for me – extremely exhausting, but the time off has already been worth it! I have been very productive at home getting things accomplished & knocked off our list of “to-do’s” before Kaitlynn. I’m walking Willa each morning for 30-45 minutes, and then working out in the afternoon at Curves for 30-45 minutes. Continuing my routine of exercising has definitely helped me to feel good throughout the majority of the day! I’m still eating very healthy and keeping the junk food OUT of our home. If it’s not here, we both don’t eat it.

I also had my 7-month appointment this morning. Here are a few updates:

I have gained 13 lbs total. Dr. Walter's told me I was doing a great job with my weight gain and shouldn't get over 25-30lbs total this pregnancy with how I've been gaining so far! I was thrilled with that news! Kaitlynn's heartbeat is as strong as ever - 157 beats per minute!! She is measuring & growing right on target for an "average" size baby. She is measuring at 26cm or 10.2in. This morning I also had the glucose test done: A.K.A. more blood work - loads of fun - I will post later once I get the results!! I also start going every 2 weeks for a check-up with Dr. Walters. My next appointment is Thursday, June 18th.

The big “talk” this month from friends, family, and baby websites that we’ve subscribed to are pregnancy classes. We’ve heard positive and negative things about taking classes verses not. Several of my friends have taken classes & said they’ve been great, but the few that have had children recently said they didn’t remember anything they learned in class once they made it to the hospital. Kelly & I have made the decision to not take any pregnancy classes except for possibly a CPR for infants. Northside Hospital is wonderful in the aspect that they prepare you once you arrive for what you should expect and the things we need to know during delivery. We are putting our complete trust in that and what we’ve heard from friends that have delivered at Northside in the previous few months!! We are looking forward to going there for Kaitlynn’s birth.

Month 6 has definitely been a good month & we cannot wait to see what month 7 has in store for us and our baby girl!

Here are a few pictures from this month! Enjoy :)

Willa is preparing herself for the lack of sleep she'll get in 3 months!!

Priceless

27 Weeks - 91 days to go!

Mama & baby Kaitlynn

Willa's cousin - Molly

Willa Grace's cousin - her BFF

Molly Crawford - 9 weeks old! She is a Miniature Doxin


Molly loves playing with Willa :)

Molly lovin' on Willa Grace

Molly Crawford

26 Weeks......Under the 100 day count!

This has been a very emotional week for Kelly & I. I have just finished my teaching job at Sweet Apple Elementary and Kelly is now our financial provider. Thankfully I will continue to receive a pay check through the end of August, but after that - he's it!! We are so excited that this marks another milestone for us in our lives. After our anniversary in July, the next big event is the arrival of our daughter. Finishing up my job has been a rollar coaster ride - I am very excited about staying home with our daughter, but it's going to take some getting used to. I always enjoy the summer because I head back to work in early August, but this year is quite different since I won't be heading back. I'm looking forward to keeping up with the people I worked with, but will miss them greatly!

I'm still walking & working out on a daily basis. I feel really good these days so I'm sticking with it. I weighed myself today and I have gained a total of 11 lbs so far. Some days I still struggle with the issue of gaining weight even though I'm pregnant, but with the help of my wonderful husband I'm getting used to the idea of putting this weight on. Kelly has been such an encourager to me to stick with working out, but he also reminds me that I'm beautiful to him no matter what :) That makes me happy!

Kaitlynn is still kicking & moving a lot. I've started having problems sleeping again. I usually sleep really well until 3:30am. Between 3:30 & 6:30 is up in the air with getting sleep. My body starts to ache from laying in the bed by that point. I've been able to sleep on the couch sitting up a bit which has helped me from being completely exhausted. Taking Tylenol at night also seems to relax me and help me to sleep a little better than normal. I don't really feel Kaitlynn moving around when I'm trying to sleep - just at night once I've stopped for the day! Kelly still really enjoys feeling her kick each night and now he loves to watch her make my belly jiggle!!

We are heading out tonight to celebrate my official last day of work! I'm surprising him and going where he wanted to go for his birthday this past weekend - Ru Sans for sushi!! I won't be eating raw fish, but I will definitely have soup, salad, and some amazing fried rice!!

Happy Birthday, Kelly!!

Today is my husband's 31st birthday!! We have enjoyed the weekend so far, but his special day has just begun! We had lunch with my dad yesterday at Zucca's and Kelly was stocked up with some golf items. Then we headed to the mall to find him some new black shoes - we were out looking for 4 hours and found NOTHING! However, I did find several maternity items, but I felt guilty since we didn't find Kelly some shoes. After our shopping trip, we were planning on going & seeing Angels & Demons around 8:00pm. I was exhausted so we took a 2 hour nap and stayed home the rest of the evening.

Today we're heading to Sunday School & Church and definitely having something yummy to eat. Kelly wants sushi, so that's what we'll end up doing. We'll either go see Angels & Demons tonight or tomorrow since he has the day off from work!

I gave Kelly is birthday gift early - I got him the 13 Original Rules of Golf framed for his upcoming "man" room when we buy a house in the near future!! He has definitely gotten a lot of golf things for his birthday! My mom got him a Golfer's Bible which is really, really neat! We will celebrate his birthday next weekend with his family when we go into Hayesville for Kristin's bachelorette & lingerie party!

Happy Birthday, Kelly!!

25 Weeks & The last week of School!

We have officially reached 25 weeks! We have 15 weeks to go or 105 days left!! We cannot believe how quickly the weeks keep rolling by. Kelly & I can feel & see Kaitlynn move around more & more each day! We usually spend time together at night watching her move around. I stay on the go & pretty active during the day that we usually don't feel her until Kelly makes me sit down & rest :) I have been blessed with feeling great these past weeks and still able to walk 2-3 miles & workout at the gym each day. My goal is to continue walking & working out each day until my doctor tells me to stop! Kelly & I were told how much working out helps during labor & delivery - honestly, I'll take any advice to help ease any discomforts & pains that might come our way when Kaitlynn decides to come!

Our next appointment is coming up more quickly than I'd like! It's in 2 weeks - June 4th - this appointment I'll have my check-up, my GYN check-up, as well as my Glucose test....lots of fun all rolled into one lovely Thursday morning! For those of you that truly know my inner most self, you know that I am NOT a fan of needles - which means I am not looking forward to my next appointment in 2 weeks mostly because of the blood work = needles.

At my last appointment, 23 weeks, I weighed in at 9 lbs. I weigh myself once a week at the gym (any more than that might be depressing!) - I weighed myself yesterday and was at 10 lbs. so I am VERY happy!! Working out & eating healthy is definitely paying off and should after the pregnancy.

This week is also exciting because it's my LAST WEEK OF WORK! School is out tomorrow 5-22-09 and I am looking forward to resting & enjoying the summer!! I love being on my own schedule so I'm very excited about that starting much sooner than later! We are definitely blessed & have decided together a while back that I will be at home raising our daughter instead of working. It is very important to the two of us for me to be home with her rather than have someone else raise Kaitlynn. I'm really looking forward to being a stay-at-home-mommy!! It'll be a huge blessing and I can't wait to see & learn what it's going to be like!!

Just 105 days until we meet our beautiful, baby girl!!

AMAZING

Kelly & I are both heading out of town today in seperate directions so we spent some time last night together!! When we finally laid down in the bed, Kelly wanted to feel Kaitlynn kick which was very normal - he feels her kick every night! :) Last night was different though - Kelly & I spent a lot of time watching Kaitlynn MOVE in my belly! We saw so many ripple effects, kicking, punching and pushing her back up against me! It was so neat to experience that!! We are definitely enjoying watching our baby grow and cannot wait for her to be here! 16 weeks to go! Crazy we're counting down the weeks instead of counting up these days! :)

23 Weeks

Kelly & I are 23 weeks today!! Each week is going by so quickly these days. I took today off from work because we had several appointments lined up. This morning I had my check-up with Dr. Walters at 9:00am. Everything checked out great!! At 23 weeks, I have only gained a total of 8 lbs., which is fabulous!! Working out & really watching what I eat seems to be paying off! My goal is to be in the 25-30 lbs. range when Kaitlynn is born! Her heartbeat sounded really good - 156 beats - she was moving around a lot too which I definitely felt, but also heard :) Next month's check-up brings the Glucose Diabetes test, blood work, my GYN yearly check-up, and Kaitlynn's check-up at 27 weeks.... that'll be interesting!!

After the appointment this morning I went and had my car check-up done with Honda. Things looked great with the car so that was positive!! After leaving the Honda dealership, I headed home to spend some time with Willa before meeting Kelly at the Maternal-Fetal Specialist for our 2nd ultra sound. We feel quite lucky that we got to see Kaitlynn again already! Last month they were not able to get her to move around enough to get all the pictures they wanted or needed, so we got to go back!! Everything went great at the ultra sound and it was wonderful as ever seeing our baby girl again! Kaitlynn is 1 lb. 3 oz. and is about 11 inches long. She's got a very stable heartbeat of 156 and is quite active!! The elevator was running slow today so Kelly & I took the stairs - 6 flights of stairs! She was definitely moving around & kicking a lot during the ultra sound - pretty funny! Not too much longer - 17 weeks to go and she'll be at home with us!

Here are some pictures from the ultra sound:

Kaitlynn at 23 weeks - 3D picture

Kaitlynn sticking out her tongue at mommy & daddy :)