facebook-official.

we're now official!  at least by social media standards ;)

so excited to use this photo, with the caption "one more present on the way! arriving june 2012," on my facebook today!!  the immediate flood of sweet words from friends all over the US brought tears to my eyes.  i am so lucky to have such sweet people excited for us.

yay for this fun adventure!!

14 weeks.

well, it's been a busy few weeks!  the holidays have a way of making that happen :)

Christmas 2011 was so good to us.  i spent the weekend before in missouri with my family and it was such a good time with them, as always.  and as usual, hard to leave.  i came home to snow, a couple work days at the hospital, and then Christmas was upon us!  mike and i had a great time celebrating with his mom, sarah & kate...and Christmas eve dinner with our koepp family.  lots of great gifts were exchanged & too much good food enjoyed this season!!

i feel really good right now.  i haven't had any nausea since about week 11, and i have much more energy again.  i even had enough energy to work out today for the first time in TOO many weeks.  the constipation-from-hell has also resolved & overall, i feel great.  i just keep hoping that my love of all things coffee returns soon.  the mere thought of it still nauseates me, and frankly, i miss it.

anyway, i'm making the announcement on facebook this week - but here is my 14 week belly shot.  in the last few weeks, i've developed quite a bump by the end of the day, but this week i noticed it doesn't go away in the mornings anymore.  i think it's here to stay :)

baby A, you got your first presents this week from family & friends, which was awesome.  we are getting SO excited about your summer 2012 arrival!

12 weeks with a bonus ultrasound.

i got to have an ultrasound this morning for my 12 week appointment.  the doctor couldn't hear the heartbeat with the doppler (which is normal this early) so she got out the portable ultrasound and i got to see baby A jumping around on the screen.  the little peanut was practically doing flips, stretching his/her legs & waving his/her arms.  it was seriously the coolest part of my pregnancy so far!  i can't believe how much he/she was moving, even though i can't feel a thing yet.  pregnancy is such an incredible experience.  i was so glad mike was able to come to my appointment with me, as i didn't even think to ask him til last night.  it was awesome being able to see the baby together & laugh so hard at the antics going on in my tummy.  every time i laughed, baby started jumping again. i did have a passing thought of, "this may be a bad sign" when i saw how active he/she was being!! ;)  we may be in for a real spaz!

i call this picture, "baby has a question!"

well, please excuse the horrible iPhone photo below, but you can see that i'm starting to really show now.  and i think it's more than just bloating.  although by evening it's more bloating.  anyway, i wake up with a little bump now and buttoning ANY of my pants is a thing of the past.  i actually bought my first pair of maternity pants this week at old navy.  i don't quite fill them out yet, but they were instantly more comfortable than my jeans + belly band combo.  basically as soon as i get home, and out of the public eye, i'm into my comfy pj pants.  i'm hoping in the next few weeks i can really fill out the maternity jeans.  i've got to get another pair somewhere though since i'd wear the heck out of the one pair i have :)  anyway, i think to the average stranger who doesn't know differently, i just look a little pudgy.  but i can tell i'm showing and it's so exciting!

in other updates, my nausea practically stopped about 10-14 days ago.  i just woke up one morning and didn't feel like yakking the second my eyes opened.  quite an improvement!  i actually was hoping everything was still okay with baby since i expected to have morning sickness longer than week 11, but after seeing baby doing perfectly fine on ultrasound, i'm just thanking my lucky stars that i feel better so early.  and i made it without ever throwing up (my least fave thing ever).  yay!

i can't believe i'm almost 13 weeks now.  i told my boss at work this week, and now that everything is okay and i'm wrapping up my first trimester it's pretty much public knowledge.  so exciting to have time moving along so quickly.  i'm excited to move into my second trimester feeling much better all around.  i'll try to get a better 12 week baby-bump picture this week...for posterity's sake if nothing else.  the goal is to get one every two weeks.

coming up this week is my trip home for price family Christmas & ruthie's graduation.  i'm so excited to see my family for the first time since being prego.  it's such a fun time to share with them!

a hampostle thanksgiving. 10 weeks in.

we spent thanksgiving in seattle this year with the hammers.  of course it was amazing to see noa & julie, as it always is, but this time was extra special because we got to meet RUBY.  born only a week before we arrived, she was the perfect newborn mix of smell-good, snuggling, and pure sweetness.  we LOVED loving on her, watching football while she slept on my chest, laughing at her uncontrolled arm flailing and eye-crossing, and soaking up every minute of our time with her mommy & daddy.

it was so sweet to hold her, knowing i'd be snuggling my own peanut like this in a few months.  i'm so glad i found out i was pregnant before she arrived :)  it made meeting her & enjoying her extra special.  newborns have always been my favorite stage of baby-hood, and i absolutely can't wait for baby A to make his or her debut in june!  even more so now after loving on the rube-ster for a week!

i called mike the baby-whisperer, because while we were watching ruby one morning so julie could nap, she was really fussy for me.  he took her and started walking around with her up against his chest and she calmed right down, and just looked around quietly.  this happened a couple more times over our weekend there, so he got his name. i would be eternally grateful if this is the case with our own baby!!

while we were in town i convinced julie to take a picture of my 10 week belly.  i should say, my 10 week BLOATING from hell.  i hardly think that's baby in there as much as, something else that won't come out.  thank you, pregnancy hormones & constipation.  keeping it real.  either way, the pants no longer button and the belly-band has been an amazing addition to my wardrobe.

at 10 weeks, i'm still having lots of nausea & it's only made better by eating literally every two hours.  at the max.  i start to feel it creep back up about an hour after i eat...and then it's really unmanageable, i.e. "someone-get-jess-something-to-eat-NOW-before-she-kills-us" unmanageable.  poor mike has taken the brunt of my, "oh hey, i needed to eat ten minutes ago" behavior.  i can't say i'm very cordial when i get hungry anyway, and being nauseated on top of it just about pushes me over the edge.  i still having vomited though, and for that i'm eternally grateful.

also, i still can't stand the smell of coffee.  i can't be in the room while it's brewing, i can't make a new pot or even pour the old pot down the drain without gagging.  i don't understand this little development, as pre-pregnancy i'm a 3 or 4 cup a day gal.  i'm hoping my love for it comes back soon, but in the mean time, keep me away from the 'joe.

so grateful for every passing week of pregnancy.  it's really a cool feeling to know a little peanut is growing deep inside my belly.