20 weeks, Halfway There!

We are at the 1/2 way point! We hit 20 weeks on Jan. 17 and had our 20 week ultrasound on Friday. We were so excited to see our little one! It was amazing to see how much baby has grown in the last 8 weeks since our last ultrasound. It didn't look like baby had very much room in there compared to previous ultrasounds. Baby sure was wiggling around a lot, to the point where they had to send in two additional people to try and get a few last pictures. We saw baby's heart beating, the kidneys, the different parts of the brain, face and bones. It still amazes me sometimes that there is a little person in there, but I'm reminded each day from the little bump growing! At one point baby's feet were up by its head, baby was pretty much folded in half! I said to Mark, "We may have a little gymnast on our hands!" Baby also showed us that he/she could could almost turn somersaults while growing in mom! It was great to see baby and gender is still a secret, not even my doctor knows, so it will be an amazing surprise for everyone when he/she decides to come into the world! We are incredibly blessed and excited to welcome this little one into the world!
Here are some pictures:

Face

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Look, I can almost turn somersaults!

Did I just feel the baby move, or was that just gas?

I've imagined that feeling the baby really move is going to be great and really help us feel like there is a little person in there! The last few days, I think I've been feeling the baby move!! It does feel a little like gas, but its more forward and it doesn't happen all the time, but mostly when I'm sitting quietly. I'm waiting for the day that it really feels like movement, which may be a few weeks away, but for now, I'm pretty sure it is baby I'm feeling and not just gas!
We've also started reading books to baby as part of our night-time ritual. Mark found this really great book called: Baby oh Baby the Places You'll Go: A book to read in Utero. It is written by Dr. Seuss and adapted by Tish Rabe and it is a great rhyming book to read! We also have a few other bed time stories that we have been reading, rotating the nights each of us read and the books. I'm looking forward to being able to talk to baby more and feel the baby move in reaction to our voices!!

Pregnancy these past 19 weeks!

I have to say that I feel incredibly blessed to have had what I would consider a relatively easy pregnancy so far. Looking back to the beginning, I should have realized that something was awry because I was getting crampy during runs which normally didn't happen and my "ladies" were sore for a constant 3 weeks, also not the norm. I was lucky enough to not have any morning sickness, which I think I inherited from my mom who also didn't have any! I was quite fatigued and took frequent naps, but this is normal for the first few months. I also noticed that I had (and still have) a heightened gag reflex, which caught me off-guard a few times, but I've figured out how to control it. I think my biggest complaints for the first 3 1/2 months were that my appetite was totally off, Hello Carbs, Goodbye Veggies; and that i was waking up often at night (baby sitting on the bladder syndrome!). I feel bad for Mark because most of our dinners the first 3 months were Mac & Cheese or Baked Potatoes. Occasionally I would make something with chicken, but veggies were pretty much non existent. Once Thanksgiving rolled around, I felt like my appetite got a bit better, but it was really just before Christmas that veggies started sounding good again and we've started eating meals that we cooked before, so that makes me feel better!
I've also noticed these last few weeks that my energy levels are back up, which I knew would happen and was kind of waiting for, because some days I was tired of feeling tired! I've been exercising more these last few weeks, incorporating walking instead of running, a weights class at the gym 2 days a week, dancing on the xbox and prenatal yoga. I am feeling really good and am thankful that I am able to stay fit during this pregnancy.
It's hard to believe that we are already 19 weeks into pregnancy (almost 1/2 way)!! I feel blessed to have been feeling so good and am really now starting to have to wear maternity clothes. I did buy some pants right before Thanksgiving, but then figured out I could still wear my jeans with a belly band, which helped prolong the non-maternity clothes wearing! I am happy to report that I now have a small "baby bump" and its starting to actually look like a bump and not just too many cookies over the holidays.
Here is a picture we took on Wed (1/9/13) night. We were a little late with this pic, b/c we were 19 weeks on Thursday, but better late than never! We have been taking regular pics, but just added the sign to the pictures the last few weeks. I'll be sure to post updated "bump" pictures as we continue on this adventure!

Spreading the Good News!

Let me just tell you how hard it is to keep a secret for weeks from your nearest and dearest! We decided to wait until 12 weeks to tell family and friends, and boy was it hard! It is such an exciting time, but we kept our mouths shut. 
12 weeks ended up falling on Thanksgiving day, so we thought, "What better time than to share with our extended family, on Thanksgiving". A few days before we prefaced a get together with Mark's family saying that "Because I was out of town over the weekend, I was jealous that Mark got to spend time with our nephew Jack, that we should get together for dinner". That was the perfect set up because no one was expecting anything. We had dinner and we sitting around talking, when Mark's mom decided she needed to go home and wait for Mark's dad to return from a day work trip. It was now or never, so Mark got his dad on speaker phone, and said, "We have an announcement to make...". Everyone was so excited, and Mark's sister said, "Really, I wasn't expecting an announcement until after the new year!" Well, to be honest we weren't expecting to make an announcement quite so soon, but the world has other plans for us! 
The next day was the day before Thanksgiving and we were going over to my parents house to celebrate my Dad's birthday, also Megan was back in town for the holiday, so the whole family was there. I decided to write our news in my Dad's birthday card "Happy Birthday Grandpa", and see what his reaction was. He read it and then said, "Oh really?!", passed the card to my mom and it was all nothing but hugs and excitement for the rest of the night! Everyone was very excited and we were able to show ultrasound pictures from our appointment earlier that day. One of my favorite memories was being able to tell/show everyone the arms, legs and talk about baby's development. I forget that some of my siblings aren't medically minded and haven't learned about infant development, so it was fun sharing all of the exciting developmental milestones that baby had already accomplished in just 12 short weeks! 
The next day we shared the news with our extended families and everyone was excited for us! When telling some of my best friends the day after Thanksgiving, many of them weren't surprised because I had seen them recently and they were wondering if something was going on. It is so hard to keep a secret from these ladies, they pick up on EVERYTHING, but we were celebrating Caitlin's baby shower and since we hadn't told families, I didn't feel I could tell them first. We have all been friends since college and has been amazing to see how each of us have met amazing men and started families of our own. Of course everyone is so excited to add another baby to what I affectionately call my second family! 
Over the last several weeks since Thanksgiving, we have been telling other friends as we have seen them. We are excited for what the next few months have in store for us as we get ready to welcome our new little bundle of joy!

Hi there Baby!

We have had the amazing opportunity to have two ultra sounds and seeing the baby was amazing. At our first appointment the baby is so small, yet on the screen you can make out the hands and feet and see the heart beating away. At our second appointment, there was more to make out. The baby's arms and legs were moving around and the baby was wiggling about. We were able to see (with sonogram enhancements) stomach veins and arteries. We were also able to see a 3D picture of the baby. It was weird, but cool to see. The quality isn't the greatest, however, it is amazing to think that there is a small human growing in there. We are scheduled for out last ultrasound in a few weeks. Hopefully at this one we will be able to make out more of the baby, but we are not finding out whether baby is a boy or girl until he/she is born! Here are some pictures!

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3D Picture of Baby

A New Adventure: Parenthood

Just when we thought we were due for a break in adventures, we are on the road to another one. That's right! Baby Moyes is on his/her way and due to arrive June 6, 2013! We are incredibly blessed and excited for this next adventure! 

While we had planned on trying for kids this fall, as the window between my graduation from grad school and a potential baby closed, it happened a lot sooner than I had expected. Regardless, we are excited to welcome this new little person into our lives! 
This also gives me something fun to blog about, instead of boring old house projects! Stay tuned for more details about our "bun in the oven".

A Fun Fall!

We had a busy, yet fun fall. Mark's sister, Meme and her husband had a baby boy at the beginning of October! Jack was born on October 1st and is such a great baby. Mark and I have had a lot of fun watching him grow. We love all of the pictures that Meme sends to us and we have even had the opportunity babysitting him!

Uncle Mark and Baby Jack!

We also went to Las Vegas to celebrate my best friend Leslie-Anne's 30th birthday! Mark and I had never been to Vegas together, and we were just looking forward to a long weekend out of town! We had a blast celebrating Leslie's birthday. We went to see Cirque de Soiel's Beatles show, experienced the grand buffet at the Bellagio, explored the "old" strip and we even won some money! I was happy to make 4 dollars and Mark made $90 at single deck Black Jack.  We had a very elegant dinner at the Paris restaurant and enjoyed the wonderful amounts of people watching!

I also had the opportunity to go up to Seattle to celebrate my college friend Caitlin's Baby shower. Everyone is so excited to welcome Baby Hanney to the 221 family! It is always such a fun time to get together with all of these amazing ladies and now that kiddos are in the mix, it makes the get togethers always entertaining. I am always amazed that these weekends go by so fast, but cherish every minute I get to spend with these amazing women! 

Gonzaga Ladies and Kiddos in age order! 
Shannon (Lucas), Robyn (Lily), Erin (Bennett), Danell (Kaile), Caitlin, Me

We have had a busy fall, working on the house, school, and having fun!

New Countertops!

Our remodel is almost finished and then I'll do a big before/after post. We finally picked out the countertops, we went with Caesarstone in blizzard, which looks white, but if you get really close you can see the flecks in it (just like quartz). We love it! With the new counters, our new sink was also installed, a stainless steel undermount sink. It is so much better than our dual sink, much deeper and easier to wash pots and pans in.
Mark has also finished just about all of the installation of the baseboards, which look great! The only major piece we are missing is a kitchen backsplash. We have wavered back and forth about what to do, but we are starting to settle on a glass paneled backsplash, with the possibility of a color behind it.
We have also been in the process of buying furniture for the house, so I'm sure in some of the after pictures you will also get a view of our new digs!

Hood to Coast

 

Hood to Coast is an epic relay race, starting at Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood and ending on the beach at Seaside, OR. This has always been an event on my bucket list, and this year, Shannon was the co-captain of a team. There are 12 members on the team, plus a driver or two. Each person runs 3 legs ranging from roughly 3 miles up to almost 8 miles.The legs are broken up by difficulty/mileage, so some runners run more miles, while others have hilly/tough runs. So with a team all set, we started training harder for what would be a fun, challenging, exhausting experience.
I had the 1st, 13th, and 25th legs of the race. The 1st leg is the infamous, Timberline run, with a drop in elevation from 6000 ft to 4000 ft. It's a little over 5 1/2 miles long, and straight down the hill. This was a great description of the first leg by another runner: "Your ideal candidate would have short legs with
high turnover (to better handle the downgrade), a ferocity bordering on psychotic, and a
really short memory. In other words, your ideal candidate is a Jack Russell Terrier". So yes, I was the Jack Russell Terrier for our team. I do have to say though, that after running the leg, it was quite enjoyable. The weather was gorgeous, the run wasn't as bad as I expected and in looking back, I probably could have run it a bit faster. My other legs weren't anything to right home about. My last leg was run at about 5 in the morning, so it was pitch black and I was dressed a little too warmly, but I didn't walk and ended up passing quite a few people (road kills)!
Our team did well, no top 10 finish or anything, but with some substitutions of runners before the race due to injuries, we beat our projected time by just over 2 hours. I think the toughest parts of the race are the fact that in the 24 hours your team is running, you don't really sleep, and if you do, it is very intermittent, the traffic at some of the runner exchanges can be horrendous and your body is tired of nothing but bananas and carbs, but it was a great experience and I would do it again (if only it were easier for teams to get it, its a lottery). Great job team Coastbusters! 



Our awesome Van art, courtesy of Mark.