On a happier note.. here's a sweet picture of little Joshua!

This was him at one week, he'll already be two weeks tomorrow :)

Joshua!

In a story that mirrored much of my own... my cousin gave birth to her baby boy yesterday via c-section. He weighed 6.15 oz and was 19 3/4 long! Welcome to the world Joshua!

Welcoming Joshua

Last Saturday I helped host a baby shower for my cousin, Jennifer. It was a nice to see all of her friends again, and as always it's good to have time with my family. I was busy with the shower, so I took, oh about two pictures... luckily, one of her friends took some really great pictures.

The diaper cake I made her..

the tissue paper roses were a reoccurring theme around the party

The candy table I put together..

the little sayings went a long with the candy inside

Aunt Bev decorating a onesie for Joshua

Cash trying to get into all the presents!

A Boy Named..

I had a feeling the H would get cut off.. shucks!

These are the letters that will be hanging in his room!

Yes! We finally decided on a name! Thank God. With every ones help we narrowed down the names to Jonah Cash, and Cash Carter. Although the most popular names were Ryan Quinn, Ryan Fenix and Noah Austin.. Diego wasn't willing to settle for any of those. We kept going back and forth with Jonah & Cash.. saying "Ok, it's going to be Cash.. but, I like Jonah too!" So we said forget it, let's just put the names in a bowl and pick a name. Jonah Cash was the winner! We're both happy with this name and look forward to meeting little Jonah very soon!

Help Us Pick A Name!

We didn't want it to come down to this.. but, between the two of us, we can't make a decision! Last night we put our heads together and all we got was frustration! Some of the names on this list are Diego's creations.. and some are mine. Some I hate, some he hates.. but, we want to know what you all think!

Click the link below to cast your vote.

Thumbs up or Thumbs down.

Drum Roll Please..........

We revealed the news to our parents by braking into their houses and putting these balloons up for them to see when they walked in the door! I confess, we told a white lie to our families.. our appointment was actually at 10 this morning, not 3:30. However, it originally was scheduled for 3:30.. but the office called to reschedule a week or 2 ago. We decided to do the balloon idea, so we didn't want everyone asking what the verdict was (Stephanie!).. which we figured would happen if everyone knew we were going in at 10. I tell you it was hard to keep it quiet just those few hours! We wanted our parents to be the first to know, however Diego's youngest brother was home when he brought the balloons over.. so he was the first in our families to find out.

Pictures!!

The DVD they gave us was video and not pictures so, I had to take a picture with my camera. The quality is not real good.. but you can definitely tell what you are looking at

My son showing off the goods!

Profile, about to put his thumb in his mouth

Front view of his face...

A little scary, but cute because he's mine!!

Big feet like his parents!

Hopefully, he doesn't have his dads toes..

haha.. I kid, I kid

I guess it's true that a mother always knows! Even though my heart was saying, "please be a girl", my brain said.. "nope, your getting a boy!" I'm totally fine with that.. I know I will have stylish little boy!! I can't wait to buy him clothes, and tennis shoes.. some vans, chuck taylors.. the whole bit. I am beyond thrilled to know that my baby is "he" and no longer "it". So... onward with the nursery! I deleted a bunch of stuff on my BBbaby registry, and I will be going to Target sometime soon to scan stuff! Yay!

Anticipation

The anticipation is killing me. I absolutely can not wait for tomorrow to get here.. it's one of the days I have waited for my whole life.. finding out what I have been blessed with. It's the answer to all my questions. This bed set or that one? This name or that one? Pink stuff or blue stuff? Who wins, Daddy or Gran? It's a huge day, and I can't wait to share our news with everyone. I'll most definitely be back tomorrow to post pictures and thoughts. Hopefully I can get some sleep tonight!

Another Appointment

Went to the doctor today. It was an interesting event. My doctor and her husband (who is also an OB) moved across the street and joined Austin Regional Clinic. I liked it a lot better when it was their own private practice. I always got called back in 5 mins, and I felt like I had their full attention. Today, I waited forever.. and this appointment was set up with her husband because she "wasn't there"... come to find out she actually was there, don't know what that was about. Anyhow, her husband was very nice and I was ok with him. However, it just seemed so hectic there.

For the good news... My blood pressure was great! The medicine is working! For some reason, I never remember the bottom number, but the top number was 104.. at my last appointment it was 154. So that was a relief. I got my flu shot, ouch! Heard the heartbeat again, it wasn't as pronounced as the last time I heard it, but he said it sounded good. 150 bpm. The best part was setting the date to find out what our little one is. I'm so damn anxious. Nov 3rd can't get here fast enough, we do have a lot going on this month.. so hopefully it will be here before we know it.

And for a final thought. I officially think... it's a boy. The feeling has finally come over me, and I just really think it's a boy now. This whole time, I've gone back and forth.. but now, I just have that feeling.

Doc Appointment

I went to my doctor's appointment yesterday.. and I heard the heartbeat! YAY! That was pretty neat. I've been eating whatever I want the past few weeks.. Dan's, Pei Wei.. pretty much whatever sounds good that day. So I was really nervous to get on the scale.. but, I was pleasantly surprised.. I lost 2 pounds! However, my blood pressure is still high. Bummer. I now have to take bp medication.. monitor my bp, and.. I have to do a 24 hour urine screening! Doesn't that sound fun? For 24 hours, I have to carry my pee jug with me. She is checking to make sure my kidneys are ok, to rule that out as a reason for my bp being high. I see her again in 2 weeks. Anyway.. that's about all my appointment consisted of.. until next time.

Fat Chance

What are the chances I will look like this at the end of my pregnancy?!?

I will be standing in my sister-in-laws wedding 8 days before my due date.. and I want to look this pretty! I'm sure I will be a swollen mess! Seriously though, I'm just hoping to make it to the wedding, regardless of what I look like. I'm praying that I do not go into labor the day before or the day of. I will be very upset. If it comes down to it, I may request to be induced to keep this from happening.

Ever since my cousin, Brad, brought up having a St. Patrick's Day baby.. that's been kinda stuck in my brain. I would really love that! Especially, since my husband is big Notre Dame fan. SPD, is 4 days after the wedding.. so I don't know, it's all up in the air.. only time will tell.

Inside the Oven

Today we got another peek inside the oven.. and our bun seems to be baking quite nicely! I went today for my NT scan.. I won't know the results for about a week, hopefully everything is all good.

5 fingers!

Long legs like it's mommy!

Ava Michelle

My friend Ashley finally popped! She was due Aug 25th, but figured since Gavin was born about a week early.. Ava probably would too. Wrong. The 25th came and went. The 26th came and went. The 27th was winding down, and bam.. right in the middle of Project Runway (haha) the contractions started and off to the hospital she went, and with only 30 more minutes left in the day.. Ava was born.

I got a call around 10:30 saying she was at the hospital, and around midnight I got another call saying Ava had arrived.. and that she weighed a whopping 8 pounds 6 oz! Which is pretty big considering her parents are both pretty small. I was so happy, it took forever for me to go back to sleep. I keep wondering what she looked like.. how Ashley was doing.. and how it all went down. She was lucky that she had a quick labor, but for the second time.. there was no time for drugs!

The next morning, my friend Brandy and I were soo anxious to go see the baby.. we got ready early.. went and got some balloons and food for Ash... and spent the whole day at the hospital. We left briefly in the evening and headed back up there with our boys. For having pretty much no sleep, Ash seemed to be in a great mood, laughing, and hanging out with her visitors.. maybe because she was finally on drugs :)

I guess maybe because I am pregnant and I know that the next baby I hold (that little) will be my own, I couldn't help but fall completely in love her and her littleness. Even though she was actually rather large.. she was still so little. I was holding her in the rocking chair and she gripped my finger and held it tight. My heart melted. *tears are actually falling down my face right now! darn hormones!* I love babies!!!

She looks nothing like her mother.. at least right now she doesn't... she resembles Gavin when he was a baby. But, she has a totally different shaped head. A large head haha.. I'm excited to see what she looks like in a few weeks.. until then, here are the pictures from the hospital.

Please focus on the baby and not the cleavage! I'm having issues containing these things :)

Diego and Ava

Best. Day. Ever.

Today.. I had my first doctors appointment after 8 excruciating weeks! After being off last week, Diego was unable to get off again to go with me.. so I was by my lonesome. He kept reassuring me that everything would be fine. Of course, I wasn't really trying to hear that. I just wanted to see the picture of my baby.. and my babies heart beating!!!! By MY.. I mean OUR :D

I'm pretty much a nervous wreck by the time they call back which was really fast! I set in the room, the nurse came in.. she took my bp. She left. Doctor came in.. first impression. She was pretty and had cute glasses.. don't know why that matters, but it put me at ease. She seemed very down to earth and relateable.. she started talking to me.. I was very comfortable, I told her about my last experience.. and she said the same thing happened to her on her first try.. so she understood.. which also put me at ease. Then it was time to get undressed for the ultrasound.. and parts check. She turned the monitor so that only she could see. Luckily, since she had glasses on, I could also see! I couldn't tell much, but I could definitely tell it was bigger than what I saw last time. She turned the monitor around to me.. and I saw OUR child for the first time! I saw the heart beating like crazy.. it was the best thing I've ever seen. Ever. I wish soo bad that Diego could have seen it too!

The only sucky thing was that my blood pressure was high.. so next time it better be down, or I will have to go on meds.

Other than that.. I have a normal sized bun a' baking! My next ultrasound will be Sept 10th. I think that's when they check for downs and other stuff..

Ohhh... and I must brag. No throwing up from this mom to be. I can brag today, but yesterday and all weeks prior I was a nervous wreck about it. I have been nauseous though, it comes in waves. My face is breaking out like a 16 year old! Boobs are sore as hell and feel even bigger than normal! and I'm pretty much tired all day. I think that's about it. Now that it's out in the open.. I'll be letting y'all know what's up as stuff comes up!

Congrats G Family!

My friend Jill, who I worked with at the doctors office had her baby! She had a little girl.. Claire Jane. I wish I could give more detail.. but, all I know is that she was born! haha.. I'm curious to find out if she was born on the 4th of July. That would be pretty cool. The only info I've gotten has come from Dave's (Jill's husband) Facebook page. Here is a pic of 5 year old Sophie and her baby sister Claire!

Sophie is such a cutie pie! I held Sophie the day she was born,

so it's very weird that she is already this big!

A Quick Congrats

To my best friend from 4th grade, Kimberly who is now a proud mama! She welcomed her baby boy last Monday, March 30th. The babies name is Jax Parker. Kimberly was the only prego I knew carring a boy! So.. it's girls (for now) from here on out! Congrats again, Kim & Rock!

Brandy's Shower

My friend Brandy's baby shower was a couple of weekends ago.. and it was a huge success!! She got tons of cute stuff.. and lots of diapers. I had a good time seeing people I hadn't seen in a while. The best part was No drama - just good fun!

By the way, some one else showed up with a diaper cake... it was much smaller than mine, but I have to admit it was very cute!

Diaper Cake

I am 100% positive that Brandy will not see this.. before her shower tomorrow. I doubt she even knows I have a blog.. haha :D Sooo... here is her baby shower gift. I figured while I was uploading and blogging I would go ahead post this. I wanted to make it super girly and pink.. but she is trying to stay away from pink this go around. She wants everything purple.. but purple just wasn't doing it for me. Anyone who knows Brandy.. knows everything she wears is black.. or just about at least.. so that's why I went with Black and Pink. It didn't turn out as cute as I had pictured, but still cute nonetheless!

The 2 black things on the sides are onsies, spoons on the bottom middle, bath toy butterfly in the middle, 2 pacifiers hanging on the top tier, a bottle brush.. and there are 2 teething toys.. and an A for Aliya on top!

I forgot to mention that I used over 100 diapers on this thing!

So, that should last her about a week.. haha

Week By Week

Right after I suspected that I might be pregnant I found this website called Surebaby. I really like the week by week section, it tells me what should be going on with me and the baby. Today starts my 8th week, so this is what is going on with us:

The Baby:

This week of pregnancy your baby is a not even an inch in length, but about the size of a cherry. Your baby's eye lids are beginning to form, but until their growth is complete; the eyes look open. The tip of the nose is present and the ears are forming internally and externally. Your baby's heart has 140-150 fluttering beats per minute- about twice as many as yours! Arms are growing, and wrists and elbows are evident. Your baby's hands and feet are shaped like paddles, while the fingers and toes are beginning to form. Muscle contractions are starting, but early movements aren't noticeable to you, yet.

Changes in You:

Your waistline is likely to have expanded a bit by the end of this week, but the changes are very gradual. Your uterus is about the size of a grapefruit this week.

The Raffle at Work

For the past few weeks at work the "Morale Committee" has been promoting this raffle fundraiser they are doing. Several units at work put together themed baskets.. such as a Texas basket, a Spa basket, a Toy basket, a Baby basket, a Tea Time basket.. there were about 10 of them. I looked over them and considered buying a ticket for the baby basket.. but it didn't look that great. Tuesday of this week (the day before the final day) they put out another baby basket that was MUCH better! and I thought.. well heck, the raffle is almost over and this is super cute.. I probably have a good chance of winning it. The tickets were a $1 each or $4 for 5.. so I bought 5. I kept an eye out to see how many other tickets were put into the can.. and by the end of Wednesday there was a bunch of tickets in there.. I thought damn! I'm not going to win after all!

Today was the drawing.. and I'll be damned if I didn't win the basket!! I'm proud of it! It has some cute stuff.. 2 baby blankets, a fun link toy, powder, body wash & lotion, bibs, even flo bottle, socks, pacifiers, wipes and a toy monkey.. all for the bargain price of $4 and I helped out our Morale Committee! Here's a pic of my winnings!