2nd Trimester

Another milestone! I have officially finished the first 14 weeks...the first trimester. Of course each day is a milestone, but this one is extra special because the risk of miscarriage goes down significantly now. Also-it's the time I'm supposed to feel the best. No more nauseau or fatigue!

I'm still waiting for those to end though :)

Yay!!!

Mother's Day

I could not feel more blessed than to be celebrating this day as the Mother of my two children! Gary was so sweet to arrange a little lunch with my Mom at Brio. It was delicious! We also had a date afternoon/evening at the beach. It was beautiful! I am so thankful for my Mom, Gary's Mom, and the priviledge of now being a Mom! And I heard from so many friends on this day, many of whom did not even know I was pregnant yet, but wanting me to feel special and thought of on this day. They also wanted me to know they hadn't forgotten that I was a Mother to Mary Bridget. I received phone calls, emails and even facebook messages telling me Happy Mother's Day. I can't wait to tell them all the good news!!! I'm pregnant AGAIN!

PS...sorry there aren't any pictures. We have done 3 weddings in 2 weeks and are incredibly "pictured out." We are both exhausted but very thankful to have so much photography work!

12 Weeks

Does it get any sweeter than this? This is my darling niece, Gianna, who thought it was perfectly appropriate to kiss this pro-life banner after Mass. Everyone who witnessed just about melted to the floor at how sweet and innocent this precious girl is. I can't wait for our baby to play with Gianna! As you can tell, she loves babies :)

I never thought...

I would drink this once beloved drink again~



I used to *l o v e* coffee. But with this new-found appetitite of nothing...coffee is the least thing from my mind. Oddly enough-when I was working (and quite often exhausted) I was a regular coffee drinker, something I always wanted to cut back on. Well this little bundle of joy has helped me kick that habit. Of course during pregnancy I want to limit my caffeine intake anyway, but going cold turkey....I didn't think it would be that easy, but it's actually a punishment to even smell it (something I used to love!)

I avoid taking meds at all costs, especially while pregnant (a little suffering is good for me). But today I actually thought a half a cup of coffee didn't sound too horrible and hoped it might help with my headache.

It's nice to not have it every day, but once in a blue moon-it's a nice kick of energy.

Annointed

Is there a worse feeling than waking up to even the tiniest bit of spotting when you're pregnant? nope. especially not at 10 weeks.

We quickly called the doctor, while calmly remembering "everything will be fine" (but not really because we are just nervous!)...and he graciously made room for us that day! So before we went into Naples for the appointment we called Fr. Tatman (at Kim's suggestion!)...and he offered to meet us in the sacristy just before Mass and annointed my head and hands with the holy chrism oil (just blessed the night before and will be used the entire year...he said I was the first to "use" it!)...It was beautiful. And of course there were lady friends of mine helping prepare for Mass as sacristans and they all just bowed their heads and prayed with me. I felt so bad that *this* is how they were finding out, but we've just tried to 'ponder this pregnancy in our hearts' and wait until at least 12 weeks to really tell anyone.

soooo all was fine. The dr. examined me and showed us our beautiful child again via ultrasound and (gasp) he/she has arms and legs and is moving all around! It really was the perfect pre-Easter gift. We were so thankful and celebrated afterward with a taco lunch!

Getting out

It's been a while since I've gotten out. I keep hoping I will feel better soon and we can get back to fun times, dates, projects around the house, heck even just me making dinner. But mostly, I am very sick. Just nauseous all the time or extremely fatigued, or (yep) those headaches. I have lost 10 pounds already and it is very difficult to eat anything. But the punishment of not eating is even worse: nauseau. I pray I am not "hurting" the baby with this lack of nutrients!

Today I had a particularly horrible mirgraine, but the pain of sitting home on a beautiful Saturday, with Gary having the day off, was just too great. He was ready to have fun and go out, so I just put it into my will that I was going to have fun, no matter how bad the pain was. I figured the distraction might help too. So off to the "Harvest Festival" in Immokalee we went.



Or so we thought. Once we got there it was mostly over, poorly attended and not much to do. But we were both suffering from such cabin fever the thought of returning to our perfect little Catholic town was just not very exciting. So off to SR 82 we went. We just began to drive. We figured we would end up somewhere where we could eat dinner with a gift card. Bad idea. We ended up at Applebee's where the manager was less than affected that we had a horrible meal that we wouldn't even be able to walk away from for FREE without saying something. It was that bad. He didn't seem to care. So off we went to Gulfcoast Town Center where there was live music and a bit more life happening. We walked around and I began to feel alive. We went to Bass Pro Shops and dreamt of buying a boat (someday) :)

Windy day!



Ahhh relaxing on the water...




The Captain~



I'm quite the driver!





It turned out to be so romantic, just walking around and having fun. We ended the evening at the Outback Steakhouse where I had to fulfill the Baby's craving for a Bloomin' Onion (did you know you can just get a side for like two bucks?) and Gary had to fulfill the Baby's craving for the Chocolate Thunder From Down Under. *grin* It was over an hour's wait, but the bar area is first come, first serve. We ended up with an adorable booth and really nice server. It was just what a sick, pregnant lady needed! A distraction from it all :)

Thank you God for a beautiful day!

9 weeks!

Ironically we are so busy with photography that we are struggling to find the time to take pregnancy pictures! This is our first one :) and I'm standing in the nursery! (i love yellow)