Christmas day with the Easteps

Christmas this year differed from tradition.  We usually spend this holiday with Joe's family in Illinois.  We only get up there once or twice a year, so it's very special for us to visit at Christmas and have that time to catch up and visit with everyone.  This year we couldn't make it.  Joe started a new job a few months ago and I used  all of my vacation time due to illness over the summer.  I know it hurt Joe terribly to miss another holiday with is family.  The only saving grace was that we were able to visit over Labor Day weekend this year.  While that didn't make up for missing my favorite holiday with his family, it took away the sting.

Since we couldn't get to Illinois, I thought it would be nice to visit my sister and her family for the weekend.  We hadn't seen them since summer, and since we never spend Christmas with my family it seemed like an ideal opportunity.  The thought of seeing my 7 year old nephew's face as he unwrapped gifts was all the incentive I needed to hop in the car and make the 5 hour drive.  We drove up Saturday and spent Christmas Eve with them.  We played games, watched movies and caught up.  It was wonderful.  The next day we came over around 11 and stayed until after midnight.  We missed Gavin opening most presents, but I'd had a rough morning and couldn't get there any earlier.  We did get to watch him open ours though and thanks to some great hints from Mom and Dad, he loved everything we got him.  That made us happy of course.  All in all we just had a great time together, which is what it's all about.  My sister is thrilled about becoming an Aunt and Gavin is so excited to finally have a cousin.  We explained that the baby will be small and no fun to play with for a few years but Gavin doesn't care, he loves babies and can't wait.

This is Gavin and I playing Jenga.  He is really good at this game and we had so much fun playing together!

Christmas Eve and The Big Reveal

We were really excited and nervous about telling our families about our big news.  We decided that the best way to tell them was as a Christmas gift.  I went online and found really cute ultrasound photo frames for the grandparents.  At our 12 week scan, we told the tech our plan and she made up two pictures that said "Hi Grandma and Grandpa" on the ultrasound.  Things were a bit rushed from here to get the pictures to the grands in time for our big reveal, but thankfully FedEx is reliable and they arrived with a day to spare.  We told Joe's parents that we would Skype with them on Christmas Eve.  When the time came, we called Larry and Marie and after the usual wait to get things set correctly on the computer, we asked them to open our gifts.  Our connection wasn't good so we went ahead and had them open the u/s picture first even though we originally planned on it being last.   As they opened the box, our nervousness was at it's peak.  We weren't disappointed in their reactions!  Marie said "Are you serious?" about 5 times.  While we laughed and said, "Yes, we're serious".  Then they both told us how thrilled they were and we could feel their love and excitement through the screen.  Having family that loves you that much, well there are no words for it other than we're blessed.   We gave Marie permission to tell the rest of the family for us at dinner that night.  Even though we couldn't be there to share the news ourselves, our call with family made it clear that everyone was excited about the newest Smith.

My family reveal was less eventful but they are no less excited.  My parents laptop wasn't cooperating so Skype wasn't an option, instead we had them open their gift over the phone and I'll never forget my Mom's voice saying "you're pregnant!".  They are thrilled for us and can't wait to meet their newest grandchild.  My sister and family were equally overjoyed.  And Gavin can't wait to finally have a cousin.  Now that it's finally out there we'll begin telling friends over the next few weeks.

12 week scan

Today was our NT (nuchal translucency) scan.  We were able to see our baby on ultrasound again today and it was beyond amazing!  No more gummy bear, this looks like a full fledged miniature baby.  Little head, arms with teeny tiny hands waving, legs kicking with perfect little feet pointing.  We watched in awe as Little Smith stretched one leg and then the other.  Arms and tiny hands to mouth and away again.  It was beautiful!  Our ultrasound technician was wonderful, she let us watch and marvel at our little one as they moved around the screen.  She told us our baby is very photogenic and we got some great pictures of them.  They are very calm, just like Mommy and Daddy.  We're hoping they stay this way :)  She did our measurements and everything looks fantastic.  Growing right on target, and no signs of any problems.  We are going to tell everyone on Christmas Eve when we're officially 12 weeks...we're so excited!!

Thanksgiving

Joe and I (and little Smith) spent Thanksgiving day with my parents in Hendersonville.  Normally Thanksgiving is a Cunningham Family celebration that Joe and I host at our house when possible.  This year I just wasn't up for hosting and cooking so we made dinner reservations at a restaurant on Main Street and drove up to spend the day with my parents.   These past few weeks have been hard on us when it comes to food.  Most smells make me gag, sometimes even looking in the refrigerator and seeing something unappealing makes me nauseous and hardly anything sounds good to me,  so poor Joe has really been on his own food wise.  It's been a lot of nights of take out or cereal.  So I was really looking forward to Thanksgiving dinner.  I LOVE mashed potatoes and gravy and the sides served at Thanksgiving and Christmas.  I literally wait for them all year.  This year was no exception and I was anxiously counting down to dinner.  Unfortunately, things didn't go as well as I would have liked.  I was hit with a pretty vicious attack of morning sickness and spent the entire dinner trying not to let on how miserable I was.  All of the food tasted terrible to me, the smells were making me gag, and I was so disappointed that I wasn't enjoying this long awaited for meal.  The good news is, everyone else loved it and had a wonderful time!  It was really nice spending the evening with my parents, all the while knowing that their grandchild was safely snuggled up inside growing strong was icing on the cake.  Every day is a reminder now of how our lives are going to change, but I've never been more excited about a change in my life.  Next year at Thanksgiving, we'll have a tiny addition to our table and family tradition.  I hope they love mashed potatoes as much as Mommy does!

2nd Ultrasound and Due Date

We had our second ultrasound today and were blown away.  In two short weeks our little bean has gone from the size of a grain of rice to a gummy bear!  We could see a head and arms and legs and a heartbeat of 180 beats per minute!  That's up from 123 bpm's two weeks ago.  Our Doctor was really happy with that wonderfully strong heartbeat and assured us that this is a very healthy and strong baby and things look perfect.  At today's scan he/she was measuring 3 days ahead of their conception date.  We've been given 2 different due dates...July 2nd based on conception age, and July 4th from our first ultrasound.  I'm sticking with July 4th because it's easy for everyone to remember and the likelihood of them being born on either date is pretty slim anyway so I can pick the one I like best.  Either way, summer can't get here fast enough!

Pregnancy Symptoms

I have nearly every symptom that I can find in the baby books and internet and I find that really reassuring.  The constant nausea isn't pleasant but in a weird way I really like it...it let's me know this baby is healthy and that things are normal.  Morning sickness is a sign of a strong healthy baby, so anytime I don't feel queasy is really more upsetting to me than when I do.  Eating carbs helps calm my stomach, so that's what I do...constantly.   The books say this will probably let up around 12 weeks, but I'm a little nervous for it to go away since the baby is so small right now that the nausea is my only link to this being real.  I can not wait for a belly and to feel movement!!

First Ultrasound! 6 weeks 3 days

We went in for our first ultrasound today and saw one perfect little bean on the screen, and heard a tiny galloping heartbeat of 123 beats per minute!  A fetus' heart beats twice as fast as Mommy and Daddy's.  Our little one's heart only started beating in the last few days, it will get even faster as time goes on!  Amazing.  It was a truly emotional experience.  Seeing them there measuring exactly on track, with a healthy heartbeat was a dream come true.  There were tears of happiness for sure!  And of course a picture of our little one to take home and put in a baby book.  They don't look like much right now, just a tiny grain of rice, but in a few short months that little grain of rice will be here for us to love and cuddle and we just can't wait to be their parents!!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween Everyone!  This is our favorite holiday so we usually go all out for Halloween.  Last year we spent it celebrating with Rob and Chris at their wedding and had an amazing time.  This year, we'll be spending it at home dreaming of next Halloween.  I can not wait to dress this baby up in their first costume.  And we'll get to go Trick or Treating!!  We didn't plan it that way, but knowing we've only got a year or so until people give us free candy for showing up on their doorstep with an adorable baby is really exciting!  And economical...think of all the money we'll save not buying our own chocolate :)

We went to a haunted trail last weekend and had a wonderful time.  If there's one thing I love about his holiday (aside from candy) it's the haunted houses.  We like to try a new one every year, and this year it was a 45 minute haunted trail.  Boy was it good!  My one rule though is that I have to be at the front of the line, or else you miss all of the good scares.  And that's the only way it's worth going!

We're pregnant!

Although we've received about 10 positive home pregnancy tests since the 22nd, today is the day we received official word from our Doctor.  I think we were too scared to get our hopes up and needed a Professional to tell us it's real.  It is!!

We're so excited and counting down until November 11th when we'll have our first ultrasound.  So far, I feel pretty normal.  A touch of nausea here and there but that's about it.  We're so excited!!