Harkness - 22 Weeks, 3 Days

I apologize for my long absence but I have been keeping very busy. Today I took all of my siblings to Harkness Memorial State Park and we had such a GREAT time! The weather was perfect and everyone (including me) got lots of fresh air and exercise! It was absolutely beautiful!!!!! God's creation is just so incredible!!!!

The pregnancy is continuing to go well. This week I have been feeling the baby move (and kick) a LOT! It seems like every evening as I start settling down in the last couple hours before going to bed, the baby has lots of energy. But I love feeling it! Now this Little One just needs to kick hard enough so Scott can feel it! :)

I know this is so short but I wanted to be sure and post something before May. My birthday is in 1 week and since I didn't think about my birthday until the day before last year ("something" was going on.... something with bells.... perhaps... :)) I am actually thinking about it this year and anticipating it. Hopefully we'll get to go on a double date with my parents since my Mom and I share the same birthday! This is my last birthday before I'm a Mom! :)

Have a great weekend!

20 weeks, 2 days

Wow, you must all be in shock since I am doing a post for the 3rd day in a row! :) I finally have a picture! Even though I don't have much else to write about today, I thought I shouldn't wait to share the picture! :) As you can see, my belly seems to be ever growing. Actually, it really isn't my belly so much as the baby! :) We love our baby!

I am off to do some shopping for the weekend. Much going on around here. Although yesterday was a nice relaxing day and I enjoyed a quiet afternoon with my Hubby while we watched Meet Me In St. Louis with Judy Garland! Such a great classic.

Movement

Okay, so I still don't have a picture yet (I'll work on it... :) .... ) but I just had to post because I was so excited today! As I was putting dinner together in the Crock-Pot (Lemon Chicken) I felt the baby moving a LOT! I have felt it a few times, but not when I was "trying" to feel it. :) In other words, concentrating and just waiting to hopefully feel something. So I am very excited. 20 weeks, 1 day! :) Haha, can you tell I'm counting????

20 Weeks

Today I am 20 weeks pregnant!!!! Woohoo!!! [Approximately] half-way there! Hopefully this baby comes on time (or even a little early would be nice! :) ).

The baby weighs between 9 and 10 ounces and is over 6 inches long (head to rump). Including it's legs, the baby is approximately 10 inches long! So, all in all, the baby is somewhere around the length of a banana. Which seems very strange when I think that I have a baby that is that long in my belly! :) Unfortunately I have not taken any profile shots lately so I don't have a picture today. :( I will however try very hard to make sure there is one for my next post.

I know I haven't written in over a week, and I am sorry to say that it is because my mind seems to have shut down a bit. What I mean is that every time I think of writing a post, I can't think of a whole lot to write about. We are greatly enjoying being home and back with family. It seemed like we were gone for so long.

I am enjoying being home so much that I have been neglecting my computer. I have 100+ new emails and sometimes it gets a little too close to 200. I go through and delete the ones I can every few days, and tackle a handful of the emails that need responses and so on, and so forth. I think I got backed up when we first got back to CT and I didn't touch my computer for over a week!

Scott and I have been married for 10 months and 1 week. The day we got back (after driving 12 1/2 hours from NC) my husband ended up driving 12 1/2 hours back to NC that very night because of an emergency in his family. I stayed up here because mentally and physically I was not prepared for the trip so shortly after arriving home. The next day felt like torture. I started off the day trying to be cheerful and get the errands done that needed to be done (mind you I cried myself to sleep the night before). But it was not easy. In the entire time that we had been married, we had never spent more than 9 hours apart and knowing he was so far away did not help. He decided to fly back the following morning which meant so much to both of us, but I was very glad to learn (as a result of our short seperation) that I loved him so much I couldn't bear being apart for even 36 hours! It gave me a greater understanding of what it must be like for all the wives of our men overseas and made me value my time with my husband even more. I know that in the future there will be nights when we will not be able to be together because of book stuff and what not, but I am determined to keep the number of those nights as low as possible! The baby and I will go wherever he goes, no matter what it means. I am so thankful and grateful for my husband. God continues to amaze me in how His blessings continue to overflow.

This month is a very special month as it is my parents' 25th wedding anniversary and my grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary. I am so thankful that God has given me such a great example of what it means to stick things out and be willing to walk together through the thick and thin.

Well, I guess I did find something to write about. I hope it wasn't too confusing! :)

Update - Long Overdue

I am sorry that it has been so long since my last post. We have been rather busy and I must admit I have enjoyed my little "sabbatical" from my computer. For the past week I haven't even touched my computer except to charge our ipod and have used my Hubby's to check my email real quick when I have gotten a chance.

We are finally home. Not in our own place yet, but home! We have been home for 1 week now after spending several days with our dear friends Tony and Shayna and visiting with Shayna's family. We had so much fun there and you can see a couple pictures here. We played lots of Uno Attack and had some yummy cheesecake with strawberries our last night. Sadly, I forgot to take out my camera during our stay there :( and so wish I had taken some pictures! I had intended too, but the only time it crossed my mind was when it was inaccessible.

It is strange to think that it has been over 4 months since we started out on our first Book Tour, but it is also so exciting to be done and wonder what God has in store for us now! :)

The prenancy is going well. Here is a picture of me at 15 weeks and my friend at 25 weeks...

I am now 18 1/2 weeks along and had my first prenatal visit today. We got to hear the baby's heartbeat which the midwife had no trouble finding (she didn't have to try at all) and it was so cool! I am starting to feel some slight movement and know it will only get more intense as time goes on. :) I am sure I am feeling the baby more than I realize too, because since it is my first, I don't necessarily figure out right away that what I'm feeling is the baby.

My siblings love just looking at my belly which seems to be growing little by little every day. :) They are almost as excited as I am... :)

We are starting to adjust to being home and knowing that we're not driving off to some other state in 2 weeks. :) We aren't completely settled in yet, but we're getting there. I am enjoying catching up with our families. Even though we all talked on the phone and skyped several times while we were gone, it's not the same as being in person.

There's an update for you all. :) I will try to make sure I don't let 2 weeks go by before posting again. There is just so much other stuff going on to keep me busy right now that I'm hardly getting a chance to go online at all never mind write a blog post. :)