18 Weeks

Here I am at 18 weeks! I finally am starting to looking pregnant and not just fat! Wahoo!

On the other hand, I'm too small for most of my regular clothes and too big for most of my maternity clothes...it's rather annoying only having 4 or 5 outfits to wear. It took me 15 minutes to decide what to wear to church this morning, and it was only after Brian suggested this dress (perfect! duh?! What would I do without my fashion guide?) that I finally found something that looked good. I'll be really getting bigger in the next couple of weeks so hopefully I'll start fitting some of my maternity clothes, yipee :)

17 Weeks

Here I am at 17 weeks. And if you're thinking something is out of place, ding ding ding, you're correct. Since Friday we have been battling a double ear infection and strep throat for Brandon, and just a really nasty cold for me (if you look closely, there is snot evidence on my shirt every where). I still wanted to get a weekly photo in, especially for all my family and friends out west. This was the compromise I came up with. I didn't ruin the original copy because I know years from now I'll love to look back and laugh at this picture. My face looks horrid, just trust me on this one.

Below are pictures and a video of Brandon in his favorite outfit. Normally, I don't give into this sort of thing, but since he was so sick, I just wanted him to be comfortable and happy.




Trying to say *cheese*

How to Know if Brandon is Sick.

This is how you know Brandon is sick:


He asks to cuddle on the couch/chair with a blanket, bear-bear, and milk. Then asks for "Blues Clues show".



He then proceeds to watch all 45 minutes of the show without getting up to play with his toy cars sitting on the floor in front of him. All the while his nose is dripping...and dripping...



This is video proof of this morning. He is totally out of it, and anyone who has been around normal, non-sick Brandon, knows that he must not feel very good.

16 Weeks

I'm now 16 weeks. I look pretty much exactly like I did last week. No big deal. In the next month the baby doubles in size. AND on February 9th, the Tuesday before the Myrtle Beach Marathon, we have an appointment for an ultrasound! That's when we'll find out the gender of the baby. Hooray!

15 Weeks

This is me at 15 weeks pregnant. I feel like this picture makes me look way more pregnant that I actually look in person...I didn't try to slouch or anything either :)

Bump

Alrighty, so here is a picture with my baby "bump" at week 14. I know, I know, I don't really look pregnant, blah blah blah. Well, I look pregnant for me! I do not normally have a belly sticking out past my chest, okay? It really does drive me crazy when people don't acknowledge my pregnant-ness. So humor me and just tell me I look pregnant, k?

Thanks :)

The New Year

I watch/stalk/read many, many blogs. I've been reading everyone's "new years" posts and thought 'hey, I did a long post all about the last year, I should do a post about new things this year'. Therefore, here I am.

For Christmas "Santa" gave me this book called "The Total Money Makeover" by Dave Ramsey. My mom recommended it and I've seen Dave on Fox plenty of times. I figured I don't know enough about money, so why not learn something that would be beneficial to the family? I opened it Christmas morning all excited-like for Brandon but I didn't get reading it until a couple of days later. I had no idea what I was getting into reading this book, and man, I wish I hadn't wasted those couple of days.



This book has completely changed our perspective on how we view our financial "life" right now and we are making some big changes. The book is exactly what it says it is on the front cover, "A proven plan for financial fitness." We're sick and tired of being financial fat and now we are going to live like no one else so that later, we can live like no one else. On a teacher's salary, of course things are tight. We also have dreams of going on a mission when we retire, hopefully several! We never had a plan though. This book gave us the "umph" to do it. We know what we want, and we are taking control. At first, it was just me telling Brian everything I was reading. Now, we're both on the same page. That leads me to another subject I wanted to bring up.

This New Years has made me realize even more how grateful I am for Brian. He is a hardworking man willing to do what ever it takes to get the job done. He is willing to go to school online so that he can continue to work to feed the family so I can stay home. Not only that, but works coaching, and extra part-time things at the school to make ends meet. He is willing to work all day so that I can be home AND we can meet our financial goals. I have so much respect for this man. He beats himself into the ground for Brandon, baby #2, and I. One of my goals this year is to show him more appreciation for all his hard work. I cry even thinking that he might not know how grateful I am for him.

Another exciting point of this year is the second child coming into our family. I am 13 weeks and 5 days today. I am already showing like I was with Brandon at 15.5 weeks. I know this is normal, but I was kind of hoping that my abs had stayed in a little better shape. Morning sickness is pretty much gone most days and I'm in the second trimester! Things to look forward to? Feeling the baby move (with Brandon I was 17 weeks) and finding out the gender in February sometime.

So many things to look forward to and be grateful for!