24 weeks.

i can't believe i'm already at 24 weeks.  i realized and blurted out in shock this weekend, "in 12 weeks i'll be full term!"  and then i just sat there in silence.  holy crap!  it seems so close all of a sudden.  i mean sometimes i feel like june still feels a long way off, but when i think about how fast 24 weeks has gone, to know that i only have 12 weeks til baby could really come and be fine is SCARY!  i have so much left to do!

anyway, enough panicking.  but seriously.

i am feeling great.  more than great, i feel better than before i was pregnant i think :)  i have tons of energy, i like how my body is changing, i lovelovelove feeling peanut roll around in there and love watching my belly move around with him.  it's all so amazing & i'm so grateful to be enjoying pregnancy so much.  i know it's not this easy for everyone, and who knows what the next 12-16 weeks holds for me - but for now, i'm really thankful for these blessings.

i still haven't had any food aversions or cravings in particular.  chik-fil-a breakfast pretty much always sounds good to me, but i don't necessarily crave it i don't think.  i love fruit and salad bar as a meal...but that's kind of always been true of me.  my love of coffee is BACK (hallelujah!) so i currently have no food aversions or smells that bother me.  i basically don't feel any different than before i was prego!  however - the sleep monsters have taken over my nighttime and although i know it's not entirely true, i usually get up in the morning feeling like i pretty much never went to sleep.  lots of tossing & turning.  which i know just gets worse towards the end of pregnancy!  i guess that's my only complaint :)

we found out this week that baby boy will have two girlfriends coming soon...baby huntington & baby seeba are both GIRLS!  so excited for their families, and they will both have sweet older brothers to watch over them!

so here's my 24 week picture....many thanks to sarah for all her help executing these biweekly photos shoots!

and a sweet photo of my first baby boy...

 we found out on monday that he has bone cancer, osteosarcoma.  we are of course heartbroken, and are trying to navigate our short future with him.  so far he seems to just have pain in his front right leg with walking, and so he limps, but otherwise seems pretty alert & playful still.  we are soaking up our days with him and absolutely spoiling him rotten.  my hope is that he stays long enough with us to meet our peanut in june.  i would love nothing more than to be able to photograph my boys together.  we call this look "the stuffed pig" - he is obsessed with his tennis ball from the Hubs.  it squeaks & is his fave.  he carries it around like this in his mouth, almost a pacifier.  or - hence the name - like a stuffed pig with apple in mouth :)  thank you for making us laugh through our tears, puppydog.

looking forward this week to the gestational diabetes test...aka drinking the disgusting sugar drink!  fingers crossed for a good report!

hello, again.

welcome back, my LOVE!!!

while on our babymoon, i had my first sip of coffee since week 5 when my tummy first turned at the smell.  and over the last couple weeks i have slowly rekindled my love affair with coffee.  thank goodness, it has been my only real aversion since being pregnant.  but it was hard to hate the smell of it so much, i think i had more of an emotional attachment than a physical dependence on the caffeine.  i just missed sipping a cup in the morning - and tea wasn't cutting it!

so glad i'm back to being myself...well, at least in this one area ;)

babymoon deets.

a babymoon was something i'd obscurely heard of in the past with prego friends.  just a little getaway with the hubs before the baby comes; to be alone, celebrate such a sweet time in your life together, and relax while mama still feels good ;)   what's not to love right? 

i am so grateful that mike and i were able to take a babymoon.

we just started talking about it a couple months before, once i started realizing how limited our time together "just us" was getting.  how fast pregnancy was going & how desperately i wanted to hold onto the just me & him feeling even while being thrilled about adding to our family.  so he got to planning - he's SO good at this, oh my gosh - and i got to anticipating.  he gave me little hints every day for a week before announcing where we were going.  i knew the dates but nothing else.  my excitement was overwhelming when i put the puzzle pieces of his hints together and realized we were going to CABO SAN LUCAS!!!

we had an amazing long weekend together on the beaches of mexico.  to date, our best vacation ever.  by a long shot.  every bit of our time together there, the resort, the food, the atmosphere, the serenity - was perfect.

here are the pics to prove it ;)

this is the view from our balcony.  uninterrupted private beach for three miles in front of the resort.  cabana beds for free reservation (oh yes we booked one!).  and what we called "our personal cactus" - loved the xeroscaped grounds and simple decor.

best part of relaxing by one of the beautiful pools: food & drink service to the lounge chairs!  i enjoyed several (virgin) pina coladas.  it was mexico, afterall!

the pools were heated and were amazing.  they felt like bathwater!  good news for a girl who gets cold easily :)  mike and i had a wonderful time just floating around in the water together all day.  my pedi matched the turquoise waters perfectly!

the ocean here is too rough to swim in but was so beautiful.  we had several walks along the water each morning - love this first picture of our footprints.  it was serene and isolated and absolutely perfect.

the sunsets were so beautiful as well.  the first night we got there we saw several whales breaching in the sunset.  kind of ridiculous how perfect it was.   we actually saw whales every day several times, they migrate north in february towards alaska where they spawn and then head south again for warmer waters by july.  very cool to see so many of them from the beach!

our awesome patio loungers, where we had breakfast delivered to the porch every morning.  and i successfully tried my first cup of coffee again since getting pregnant!  it was awesome to discover my love for it coming back!!

view from the lounger.

looking up at our little room/patio.

mike of course had to take a few pregnancy pics for me :)

i loved wearing a bikini and not having to suck it in :)

we reserved one of these beds our last full day there, and absolutely loved lounging out there all day.  we had lunch delivered, took a nap, and witnessed a huge whale breach really close to the shore.  it was surreal.  the most relaxing day together ever.

and my favorite pic together from the trip.

love of my life: so happy to be on this adventure with you.  thank you for planning & taking me on the most special vacation ever and for celebrating over & above this time in our lives together.  i love you!

22 weeks. and a babymoon!

just got back from the best vacation mike & i have ever taken: cabo san lucas, mexico!!  we had four days off together & my sweets planned a surprise "babymoon" for us.  a time to get away just me & him.  and toast to all the love & adventure that's to come in this next chapter of our lives.

it was extra special too because mike felt baby boy move for the first time!  we had just laid down for the night and as usual, the peanut started his acrobatics, and let his daddy in on the fun:)  best part of it, the big day fell on the 12th of the month - it seems to be our day for all things special!

this vacation was RIPE with good conversation, belly-aching laughter, and quiet sweet moments together.  not to mention the amazing scenery of a little resort on the sea.  it was perfect, and just what we needed.

welcome, 22 weeks!

it's a BOY!

i can NOT believe we're having a son!!

everything looked great on the ultrasound today, for which we are so grateful.  and seeing that he was clearly a HE was a very exciting moment for us ;)

let the pinterest-ing, shopping & overall obsessing about all things BOY begin!