What will you look like?

This morning I was looking at the first pictures of my nephew's life. He turns one in about three weeks. CRAZY!!! Anyway, the first pictures of him he looks like he only got the genes from our (my sister's and I) side of the family. He doesn't look like he has his daddy in him at all. A year later, I'm not sure who he looks like besides himself. But anyway, it got me thinking about what my baby is going to look like. Especially when she first gets here. I hope she gets her daddy's eyes. Or her Grandma Hunter's. As much as I love my eye color (haha) I really hope that she doesn't have my eye color. She has a really good chance, so I'm hoping (for her sake) that she gets her daddy's eyes. Or maybe I shouldn't hope so much because I'll have problems when she hits her teenage years if she does have her daddy's eyes. Anyway, I can't decide what color of hair I want her to have. It's actually been really interesting to see my neices and nephews as they have come into the world. There are blonde hair/blue eyes. Red hair/blue eyes. Red hair/brown eyes. Brown hair/brown eyes. Brown hair/blue eyes. Black hair/blue eyes. Did I cover all the possibilities yet? And the funny thing is that all of those combos can be found on either my mom's side of the family or my dad's side of the family. So it left me wondering today what kind of combination will my little girl be? Will she look like a definite Hunter? Or will she look like a definite Johnson? Or will she be so much a combination (like me) that when she goes somewhere with her dad everybody will comment how much she looks like her dad, and when she's with me everybody will comment how much she looks like me?

I'm jumping out of my skin with anticipation at seeing her, being able to stroke her soft little cheeks and watch her sleep, her long eyelashes (comes from both Josh and I, so I'm almost positive she'll get those) brushing her little cheeks. Her perfect lips moving into a slight pout. Her little body snuggled so close to mine. Our own little creation, so perfect, so small.

Baby girl, I can't wait to meet you!

My cute little Pokey...

So I know that it might be kind of weird to post about my baby BEFORE she's actually here, but some days she's just so cute. Obviously there's not a whole lot that she can do but kick me or shove her bum up in the air so it's poking out, but it's still cute. So every night when her daddy gets home he comes in and kisses me hello (of course) and then he'll lean down and say hi to her. She loves her daddy already and absolutely loves the sound of his voice. I won't say that she moves every time he talks to her, but she can usually tell he's talking to her (probably because he's so close to her) and will start moving so that he can feel her.

About two weeks ago she found this spot in my stomach that is ticklish from the inside. And she keeps going back to it. I'm not sure why because I start laughing every time, but maybe she likes being jiggled around a little while I'm laughing. Anyway, she'll drag her hand or elbow or knee over this one spot and make me laugh because it tickles so bad. I'm assuming she finds this amusing and I am grateful that it tickles instead of hurts.

Another thing that I'm really grateful for is that I haven't woken up to her moving yet. I feel her move quite often, but rarely after ten or so. Hopefully she's decided that she loves her mommy SOOO much that she will always sleep through the night (I know, I know, wishful thinking) but as of right now I'm just grateful that she's not keeping me awake because I'm sure she could if she wanted to.

Now about my adorable hubby who just can't wait for this little girl to make her debut. Josh has been able to feel the baby since I was 20 or so weeks along and never gets tired of feeling her. His favorite thing to do (even though this DOES hurt sometimes) is to poke my stomach, especially because now she's moving more and more, but not just quick kicks, but where you can see my whole stomach moving. I'm not sure I explained that very well, anyway, he thinks it's the greatest thing to try and figure out which body part is sticking up.

Josh also loves to talk to the baby. He (sadly) does it almost more than I do. He'll sit and call her name (we call her Pokey right now because she's a Pokey little puppy who's taking FOREVER to get here...lol) and then just tell her how much he loves her and how much he wants to hold her. He also kisses her (my stomach) almost every night.

Something that I didn't know until a couple of weeks ago was that he'll sit with his hand on my stomach "holding" her after I've gone to sleep. I only found out because I was freaking out one day because I hadn't felt her move in a while and he was like "She was moving last night." And I was like "How do you know?" He gave me this look of disbelief and was like "I always lay with my hand on your stomach. I thought you knew that." Well, I had no idea, but I thought it was cute that he just can't get enough of "holding" his little girl.

As for Travis, he doesn't have as much opportunity to do anything with his baby sister, but he does ask about her every time he calls. And he also asks "if baby sister is out of Mamai's tummy?"

Anyway, I'm excited to meet this new little girl. I'm scared out of my wits to be a mom, but I already love this baby and I can't wait until she comes.

So it's a little early...

So I know that it's extremely early for me to be hitting this point, but I really can't do this anymore. I can't be pregnant. My heart is constantly pounding. I had five episodes yesterday where my heart was pounding for half hour or more. It left me feeling more than just a little breathless. And then I climb into bed last night, and my horribly large breasts (that are usually just the right size when I'm not pregnant) were killing me. Literally! I couldn't BREATHE! I laid on either side trying to get comfortable and to find a way that I could breathe, I finally ended up laying on my back to catch my breath. Now that's just wrong!!! But I seriously feel like my ribs/lungs are being crushed by the extra weight from my chest when I lay on my side. I ended up sleeping on my stomach last night. And again, that's just WRONG!!! When I feel more comfortable on my stomach than any other way, there's a problem because my stomach is STICKING OUT!!! And it's not even comfortable to sleep that way, but it's more comfortable than any other way! Now I do have to say that I'm grateful that I haven't started getting up in the night to go to the bathroom. Every once in a while I'll need to, or if I'm woken up by something else I'll need to get up, but I haven't been woken up because I needed to go to the bathroom. I just don't know what to do anymore. Two days ago I almost passed out at work because I couldn't catch my breath. Now that's wrong!!! I feel like I'm on of those 500 lb people who get winded by walking across the room! Except I'm not even walking across the room, I'm just sitting there and my body literally cannot handle the extra weight or the extra person in side me. And I feel like such a horrible mommy already! I just need to keep reminding myself that I only have eleven weeks (or less hopefully!) until I can breathe. I think I'll be able to deal with a newborn better than being pregnant because at least my body will be getting back to normal and I'll be able to function throughout the day without feeling like I need to have an oxygen tank sitting right next to me just so that I don't die! Thank goodness February is almost here...it gives me hope that April WILL come, and hopefully sooner rather than later!

Bravest? or Stupidest?

So I just have to tell everyone that I met either the bravest or stupidest man on earth. A guy came into the office the other day and asked to see one of the other employees. I got up to go tell her that he was here and he says "You're seven months along right?" Now most people like to be VERY safe and say "So when are you due?" or something along those lines, because nothing would be worse than guessing wrong on how far along a woman is. So it shocked me A LOT that he was actually brave enough (or stupid enough) to actually guess a month! Depending on who you ask (the ever on-going debate about whether a month has 4 weeks or 4.33 weeks for a pregnant woman...I personally believe that it's the same for a pregnant woman as anybody else which means 4.33 but anyways) he was either right on (if you go the 4 weeks route) or he was about 2 weeks off (if you go the 4.33). But still, I just thought I should let everyone know, there is a person who can claim the title to bravest (or stupidest) man.

Let's start the New Year off right!

So I was awoken at 12:15 am on New Years Day (yes I am lame enough and pregnant enough to be asleep that early on New Years) by a screaming match coming from our neighbors. It was so much fun. It lasted almost three hours before they finally calmed down. But by then I was hungry (oh the joys of pregnancy) and so I finally got up and ate something and settled back to sleep around 3:30 or 4:00 am. It started me thinking about all the things that I wanted to do with this upcoming year and wondering why ANYONE would immediately make the New Year just as crappy as the old one. I love New Years more than any other holiday because it always signifies the ending of my "old life" and starting of a "new life". I am one of those crazy people who writes resolutions or goals and I periodically check up on myself throughout the year. Last year I did horrible on my personal goals, but Josh and I did wonderfully on our couple goals. It was awesome to look at the list of ten goals that we had made for ourselves and realize that all of the strugglings of the past year have amounted to something. Needless to say we quickly wrote out ten more for this New Year and we can't wait to see what happens at the end of next year. I'm hoping I'm at least as close with my personal goals as we are with our couple goals! Anyway, Hurray to a new year that will bring all sorts of joy and wonder and all sorts of trials and struggles! I can't wait to look back at the end of this year and see where we are! Hopefully better than we are today!

The joys of pregnancy

So I decided this weekend that there really is nothing that you can say to a pregnant lady that will make her feel good about her size. I posted some pictures on our family website and one of my sister's said that I still looked too skinny and that I wasn't showing at all. Now as flattering as that SHOULD be, I have to say that I was a little offended considering I've gained between 15 and 20 lbs, which is a little more than I'm supposed to have gained right now. So really it's not MY fault. Funny that such a comment would make me feel like I was failing as a pregnant woman. That somehow I wasn't gaining enough, or that I was doing something that was going to somehow harm my child. Two days later my little sister (who is 18) came into town and she saw me for the first time since I got pregnant. Her comment was "Wow, you look a lot more pregnant than you do in the pictures . . . Not that you really look that pregnant, you look really good. . . Did I just offend you?" It was kind of comical that she back tracked because the comment wasn't really that bad, and I wasn't offended, but again, it just didn't make me feel good. So I've got one sister who thinks I'm too skinny and one who thinks I look WAY pregnant in person. LOL. That's how it feels when you're pregnant. Really bothers me that no matter how nice a person is trying to be, I always feel like "How about you just don't comment on my size at all?" So then the next day I was shopping with my hubby when we ran into a woman who I've known since I was ten or eleven years old. Her comment "You know, I wouldn't have known you were pregnant had I not already heard it from (blank)". Again, the comment kind of nagged at me because I feel like I look like a fat cow and I'm sitting there thinking "Wait, I look like this regularly? Pre-pregnancy? I'm going to go SHOOT MYSELF!!! Or wait, even better, I'll go drown my sorrows about my pregnany weight in MORE FOOD!!! YEAH!!!" And the final comment that was probably the one that I felt couldn't be taken in a wrong way was when we ran into one of Josh's friends who I've only met once or twice. Josh told him I was pregnant and he was like "I thought so, but I wasn't going to say anything just in case I was wrong." It made me smile. But anyway, the point of all of this rambling is that I think that you just can't ever say the right thing to a pregnant lady about her size, so best would be to just not comment about it at all. But I have to say that my top five things that I love about pregnancy are:

5. It gives you a glimpse into (sort of) what it feels like to be 20, 30, 40 lbs heavier than you are pre-pregnancy. It's been a real motivator for me to make sure that I start exercising now, and continue even after my baby is born because the aches and pains which I'm experiencing now are not worth the joys of over-eating or no exercising.

4. Even though I'm sure this will be ten times more when the baby is actually born, but it makes you think about somebody else CONSTANTLY. I can't tell you how many times I've sat there thinking about what my baby is going to be like, whether what I'm doing is going to be good for the baby, waiting for her to move so I can just feel her inside me.

3. I never thought I'd say this, but I'm enthralled at the changes that are happening to my body. Easiest example, I've been steadily losing my belly button since about 3 months along. And at 5 1/2 months or so I think it's finally gone. It's been an adventure to watch it get shallower and shallower. It will probably become an outie in the next few weeks, and I know I'm going to get a kick out of that.

2. I love how much everybody tries to do for me. I've had more doors opened for me, I've had more people be courteous, ask me if I need some help carrying something. Just little things in stores, I get smiles, people moving their carts out of my way instead of just shoving me aside. It's rather amusing to watch sometimes.

1. And number one thing I love about being pregnant: I love feeling my little girl kick. Even though it's started into the painful side of it as she gets bigger, I think it's one of the coolest things on earth to feel her moving inside me. I already know that's the thing I'm going to miss the most.

Holidays

This weekend has been crazy and yet so good. I enjoy being around so many of my family and Josh's family. It was great! There were some funny and fun events that happened (besides the actual holiday), so that's what this blog is about I guess.

First of all, my brother Rob and his wife Cami had their first little baby girl on Saturday. She's the most adorable little thing you could ever find. She has so much black hair and really dark skin. My older sister said something like "If I didn't know Cami better I'd say that wasn't Rob's baby." But the baby has his eyes and his nose. And the poor little thing was a bit swollen after thirty hours of hard labor and being suctioned/forceped out of her comfortable little habitat. She has the cutest little cry (not a Hunter baby cry at all). I couldn't get over how something that little could be that big. And how something that big could have fit into my sister in law's stomach just hours before. Both mother and baby are doing well, though both are a little traumatized and sore.

As for the funny, my niece Gabby came up to me on Sunday at our family dinner and says "Aunt Stacey, you have a baby in your tummy?" So I told her yes and she said "So you don't get to eat?" And I said yes, I get to eat and tried to explain that my baby is in one part of my stomach and the food goes in another part. I demonstrated by pointing to the bottom part of my stomach for the baby and the top part for the food. So she looked a little confused and then said "So the food gets on the baby?" It was way cute. After explaining that no, the baby is protected so that nothing can hurt it or get on it, she then sits there for a second and after thinking a minute says "Aunt Stacey, is your baby going to be cute?" It made me laugh pretty hard.

Anyway, holidays were just awesome, and it's my 22 birthday today. Happy birthday to me! I can't believe that it's my birthday again. This year has seemed to drag in some ways, now all of the sudden it's over and I have no idea how it passed so quickly. Soon I'll have a baby, and I'll have no idea how it got here. But I love life right now, and I guess that's all that matters.