We finally got internet the other day so now I can catch up on my blogging on this chilly Saturday afternoon. This week was a busy one. We finished moving, we are trying to get settled in, and we had our first official doctor appointment! The appointment was reallllly long, but super informative. We chatted about family medical history, I got a nice little pelvic exam, got swabbed for some STD's and gave like 8 giant vials of blood. SO FUN! But, it was all worth it because we also got another ultrasound so we were able to stare at our cute little baby and take home a new pic for the fridge. It was pretty cool because not only did we see our baby's heartbeat, but I thought the little blob on the screen actually looked like a miniature baby, which made this whole process even more real. Our doctor said everything looked great, and the baby had a healthy heart beat, which I want to say was 168??? Shoot, I should have written that shit down. She also confirmed our due date, which is the same as my originally calculated date of September 2, 2013! She said she's estimating somewhere between the 2nd and 5th of September actually. We decided we are rooting for like any day after the 2nd because our doctor is on vaca for Labor Day Weekend. Which makes me panic. So I'm trying not to think about that possibility. So anyways, here is our 8.5 week sonogram. The baby is on the left, head down, tiny feet up, and the yolk sac is on the right, which I believe will be absorbed into the umbilical cord shortly. 

7 weeks was a pretty exciting week for us. We decided we needed to find a house or apartment that would be able to comfortably accommodate a family of three. After much thought, we agreed buying a house this year just wasn't in the cards for us. There have been a lot of changes in these past few months so we thought the process of looking for and paying for a house (and all of its fun, hidden costs) would be too much right now. So we actually found a really cute two bedroom, two bathroom apartment right down the road from our old one in our favorite little town. Only catch is that they weren't able to hold the apartment for us, so we had to be out of our old apartment and in our new one by the end of the week...yikes. So we packed up, recruited the help of our great fam and slowly moved down the road in the freezing Wisconsin weather!

The moving process was terrible. I hated every second of it. I was so tired and couldn't be helpful because every time I lifted a box Jef would yell at me to put it down. It was really inconvenient. But knew it was for a good reason, to protect this cute little babe! Speaking of which, the baby is growing like crazy each week. It's so fun to read all of my pregnancy books and scroll through my iPhone Apps to learn about everything that's happening this week with the baby and I. This week, The baby is the size of a blueberry! Considering we started at the size of a poppy seed, that's pretty exciting. 

And so...the terribly blurry 7 week bump pic

Okay so last Saturday, I woke up and all of the sudden...I popped. Now I have always had a little pouch that sticks out at the bottom of my stomach. But that could always be sucked in or concealed if need be. This however, this cannot be sucked in or concealed. Like it's out there for the entire world to see. Which is just so weird to me because I have been eating a lot healthier than in the past and I (so far) have not had any cravings or felt the need to binge on junk food? And I love junk food. So here I am, at 6 weeks, wondering what the hell is going on with my body!?...I have three theories. 

1. I'm further along than I think I am. If that were the case I would be pretty bummed out because I did not take care of my body like I should have. I was def consuming a fair share of alcohol (it twas the season), I wasn't eating healthy enough or taking prenatal vitamins, and I totally did not sleeping enough. 

2. Twins? Oh Lord, can you imagine? 

3. This is just the way I carry. Which I feel is definitely possible because everyone is different and every pregnancy is different, but this just seems a little too different to me, but who knows! Maybe I am just going to be huge. 

And so, here I am at 6 weeks...?

On this week's to do list, we needed to head to the doctor to confirm the pregnancy. First off, I was so excited to walk into my gyno's office and not get violated with a freaky metal object, but instead to simply pee in a cup. After the excitement wore off, I became so anxious to hear from the nurse with our results. She called us into the room and said, "You're Pregnant!" I was like, "OH YEAH!" Best feeling ever. She gave us a due date of September 2nd, which is super funny to me because September 2nd is totally Labor Day! Even though I'm sure I won't actually give birth on the 2nd, I'm still really getting a kick out of that. 

So all in all, we are super pumped to kick off this New Year. We are sure 2013 will be the best yet. 

So Sunday evening, while feeling terribly run down, especially dramatic and emotionally crazy, we headed to dinner and a movie with my fam (Our Christmas Eve Eve Tradition). I LOVE dinner and I LOVE movies. Yet something just wasn't right. After eating a small portion of my salad, I felt like I just polished off a 72 oz. steak. Literally felt like I was going to vom. As I was trying to talk myself out of puking, I realized how ridiculously tired I was. Like debating not even making through a 7 o'clock movie tired. After a few minutes of thinking I'd be doomed with the flu for Christmas, I remembered I was supposed to get my period that day, and I didn't. So I made Jef stop quick at Walgreen's so I could grab a Pregnancy Test. That night, I started experiencing the most stereotypical period cramps one could get, so I told Jef, and myself, that there was no way I could be pregnant because I knew what these cramps meant Mother Nature had in store for me.

The next morning I woke up at 7:30 because I just had to pee sooo bad. But then I remembered about the tests I bought the night before. There was still no period to be found, so I thought, what the hell? So I grabbed one of the sticks, peed on it, and walked away for a few minutes. As I returned, I peeked at the test...the word PREGNANT was sitting on the screen. I literally couldn't believe it. I started to tear up as my future life flashed before my eyes. I was PREGNANT!!!

I sat by myself on our cozy couch staring at our Christmas Tree while I let it all soak in. I was going to be a mom! Jef was going to be a dad! We were finally starting that family we had both talked about so many times. I couldn't wait to tell Jef, all I wanted to do was run into our bedroom, shake him uncontrollably til he woke, and then tell him the news!!! But then I remembered all of the cute ways you could tell your husband you were pregnant. Should I go find a shirt that says something tacky like Number 1 Dad? Or should I run to the local bookstore to find a cute book? Or should I be annoying and go buy a bunch of blue and pink balloons and shove them all in a box and confuse the shit out of him? 

Then as I thought long and hard, I laid my eyes on my chalkboard I made for our Christmas Attire Gone Wrong (But so Right) Party. I then thought how fun it would be to wrap that sucker up and give it to Jef for Christmas. So I quick grabbed my chalk and went to town on the board before he woke up. I then wrapped it in like three obnoxious layers of cheap wrapping paper that kept ripping and hid it behind the tree. 

After he woke up, I told him I had a Christmas Present that he should open early. He of course was super pumped to do me the favor and open it asap. As he ripped the paper off, he SLOWLY read the words on the board. Then he sat there and processed for the longest three seconds of my life, and then yelled, "No way!!!" followed by, "Are you joking?" No, Jef, I am not joking, we are having a baby. He then made me take another test and then got really excited and insisted we tell everyone. As I tried to explain to him that I was literally only four weeks pregnant and it was just too soon to announce our news, he was adamant he call his best friend. How do you say no to a guy that's so cute and excited? 

And so...my first baby chalkboard