13 Week Appointment

Today I had my 13 week appointment and the highlight was definitely being able to hear the heartbeat! At my 8 week ultrasound I was able to see the baby and the heartbeat but for some reason we weren't able to hear it so it was a very special experience being able to hear that tiny heartbeat! I had been worried because my pregnancy had just been too easy so far that surely something must be wrong because people just don't go through the first trimester without throwing up once! My sister Michelle even admitted to wondering if something was going wrong because her pregnancies were very tough on her but of course she didn't tell me that till after this appointment when we found out that everything was going fine.

Of course it wasn't all smooth sailing because from 6-8 1/2 weeks I was nautious all day (the term "morning-sickness" is very misleading) and it was very hard to eat food especially because I had some sensitivity to certain smells and meats especially were very hard to force down. All in all though I find myself very blessed because I work 40+ hours a week at a job that I am primarily standing at a computer working with customers and I was dreading the day when I would be working with someone and would have to run to the bathroom to throw up! But I am pretty much over the worst of it and the only times I feel nautious are when I don't eat enough.

Our baby is about 3 inches long and weighs about an ounce. There are fingerprints on the little fingers and he/she has reflexes and is just swimming around right now! The head is about 1/3 of the size of the body which is better than a week or so ago when it was 1/2 the size of the body! The heart was beating at 154 beats per minute which sounded pretty strong to us! I don't think I've started showing yet in fact I actually lost 3 pounds since my last appointment which my sister pointed out that that was even before Thanksgiving! I am so excited to start showing though I already have some maternity clothes that are just sitting in my room but I can't wear them yet! My sister Kim (this is her second pregnancy) is 6 weeks farther along than I am and has the cutest little baby bump on her tummy and I can't wait to catch up to her! My next appointment is in 6 weeks which means I'll be 19 weeks and I'll have the ultrasound that tells us the sex of the baby which we are both dying to find out!

Thanksgiving

I was so lucky to have been able to go back home to California for Thanksgiving this year. Because of my job I wasn't going to be able to take Thanksgiving or Christmas off because they put a hold on any personal or vacation time during the holidays but because of my mom's circumstances I was able to fly home thanks to my amazing in-laws and be with my family for Thanksgiving. (I was also able to get Christmas off but I have to work Christmas Eve, get off early to drive 4 hours to Salt Lake, fly from Salt Lake to San Jose then drive 3 1/2 hours to Atascadero at 10 at night, not that I'm complaining!!) It was so fun to have my entire family home for Thanksgiving because with 6 kids, 3 spouses and 4 grandkids its really hard to get an entire family home for the holidays!

Brian and I were able to help my parents put up some Christmas decorations and decorate the tree!

My mother is so wonderful you would honestly not be able to tell she has been struggling with cancer just by looking at her. She is the most wonderful person I've ever met and I love her so much. She is expecting 3 grandkids in 2010 and I know she doesn't take anything in life for granted.

My dad

8 weeks!!

So I went and got my first ultrasound today! It was so fun and so cool to see the little flutter of our baby's heart! Our baby is 7 weeks 5 days and is 1.48 centimeters long (the size of a kidney bean) and my due date is June 16th, 2010. The nurse doing the ultrasound came in and was getting things ready and as she's doing that she's telling us how she's never used that machine before and she didn't really know how to work it. Needless to say she was NOT building much confidence haha everything ended up being fine though and she was able to find the baby and the heartbeat. She didn't know how to print out the picture so when Dr. Meridith came in I got a second ultrasound so he could print it out which was really fun and exciting! Right now our baby has little arms and legs and little paddles for hands and feet, indentations where the eyes, nose, and ears will be, and the upper lip is developing. My mother-in-law was so sweet and sent me this necklace and said to let her know when the baby gets as big as the necklace, which he's about half that size. Here are the 3 pictures from the ultrasound I know its not much and that its hard to tell what everything is but the little dark spot is the amniotic fluid, and the thing in the middle is the baby! On the left is the head and the right is the bum! You can't see it but in the first ultrasound you could see the yolk sac perfectly which is what supplies the baby with nutrients during the pregnancy and its a perfect little ball which was even smaller than the actual baby!!

California

Since Brians out of school and I dont start my job till the 10th we decided to go to California for a week and a half to surprise both our parents.

Bubblegum Alley in SLO

Elephant seals in San Simeon

Brian and I went on top of this rock on our first date

Pismo Beach

Avila Beach

Brians 1 year anniversary present. He treated me to my first ever 1 hour full body massage, an hour and a half in our own private hot springs hot tub, and lots of sushi! It was so much fun plus we went wakeboarding earlier that day.

Oh just my husband being a stud

Sylvesters!!

Memorial Day Weekend 2009

Brian and I were able to go to Moses Lake, WA for Memorial Day weekend this to visit Brian's side of the family. It was so fun to be with his parents and both sibling's families.

Brian next to his good friend at the Aquatic Center

The whole gang

Brian, T.J., Aubrey and I

Everyone who ran the 5K plus Scott who did the 10K

Snowboarding

So for Brian's 23rd birthday I decided to take him snowboarding since he hadn't been since before his mission and he had been doing it since he was 8. Unfortunately, on his birthday, January 27th, he went golfing with a bunch of his dad's friends and ended up straining his back (we all know how strenuous golfing can be, especially when trying to keep up with men in their 50's). So my birthday present seemed a little ruined but it was too late to do anything about it. He was such a sweetheart though and just walked up and down the bunny hill with me as I learned for that first day. I wasn't so good at first but we still had a good time!

Robert & Marty went too they are so amazing!! This one was at Sierra Summit

Kirkwood

Yeah my husband's a stud....

My attempt at snowboarding

Married!!! July 30th, 2008

Brian & I were married on July 30th, 2008 in the Oakland temple. Once again, my amazing sister-in-law, Lynn Watkins, took the pictures and did absolutely amazing!

Oakland, CA Temple

This picture is hillarious! T.J. started crying and my mom figured that since Brian was already holding one screaming child it wouldn't hurt to put another one on!

Getting engaged March 29th, 2008

Brian and I got engaged on March 29th, 2008 and I'm sure this doesn't happen a lot but I was COMPLETELY surprised! He took me to a coffee house in Santa Maria, CA where his friend Rhett was playing a show (Rhett is an amazing singer/songwriter). On the second to last song he had Brian go up on stage to sing the song he wrote for me the month earlier for Valentine's Day and Brian acted all surprised so I didn't think anything of it. Afterwards he got on one knee in front of everybody there and asked me to marry him and, of course, I said yes! He even picked out the ring completely by himself! What a great catch.....

Here are just a few of our favorite engagement pictures, compliments of our amazing photographer, Lynn Watkins!