belly bump progress

My belly progress has been slow... but its now to the point that I can not wear regular clothing at all. I had to make several purchases over the last few weeks to build my wardrobe. I have a handful of regular shirts that still fit though, so that is great! Pants on the other hand no longer fit and thanks to Destination Maternity I now have several pairs of pants that fit both in length as well as in belly.

5 week, shortly after I found out we were expecting

10 weeks, with not much change at all, and still in regular clothing

12 weeks and in yoga pants, which are still the most comfortable!

14 weeks and still in prepregnancy clothing

16 weeks and in maternity jeans... only a few prepregnancy pants still fit

19 weeks in one of the few dresses that I own that still fit.... I forgot to take pictures at week 18!

20 weeks along and in maternity clothes

I've been taking pictures bi-weekly, but I think now that I'm half way through that I'm going to start taking them weekly! It's been exciting to see my belly grow, but not so much the stretch marks. They are inevitable even if I'm using a tummy butter to "aid" the marks. I'm not fond of them, but they are what they are. I'm happy that my tattoos haven't stretched with my belly and hope that they don't.

I hope that soon Josh can start feeling our little guy moving and kicking. I feel him all the time, and mostly at night or when I'm resting. While we flew home from Kentucky I felt him almost non stop during the flight and then today while at the chiropractor I felt him kicking during my pressure print thearapy.

It makes me smile everytime I feel him and makes me feel even closer to this little one. Its hard to believe that in 20 weeks (maybe a little less, or maybe a little more) I'll be holding him in my arms and watching him grow into a young man!

It's a boy!

Last Thursday evening Josh and I went to see KTAR's A Christmas Carol performed at the Orpheum Theater in downtown Phoenix. Before going we stopped for dinner at Pei Wei. After we finished our meal we grabbed our fortune cookies.

"Wouldn't be cool if the fortune cookie told us the sex of the baby", said Josh.

"Sure would babe", I replied.

And when he opened it we saw this...

We both laughed out loud, literally. I placed it in my purse and we went to our show and had a beautiful time.

I didn't sleep at all that night. I kept dreaming of little boys and when I woke up I figured it was because of the fortune cookie, because for months I had been having dreams of little girls and thought for sure we'd see three lines on the ultrasound image.

Josh and I arrived at our appointment and when they called us back I climed back on the table and as soon as the tech touched the ultrasound wand to my belly this was the first image we saw...

That would be a penis! I was stunded and then I cried because, well I'm having a son. I thought I was having a girl, but we both wanted to have a son first and that is what we said from the begining, but after a few weeks I thought for sure it would be a girl. We would have loved having a daughter, but we love the fact that we are having a son.

The scan took nearly 45 minutes because it was an anatomy scan and the tech was capturing lots of images for my midwife to look at. He was really active the entire scan right up until she tried to capture images of his heart. That is when he settled down, tucked his chin to his chest and held his arms in front of his face, which caused them to shadow his heart.

The tech had me move to the left, and then to the right but he was very stubborn. She even pressed the wand down on his head to get him to move and he kicked me and I felt it!

Now that I know what it feels like I can feel it all the time! He is so active inside of me. It makes me smile everytime I feel him.

Tomorrow I'll be 20 weeks and will post some new pictures.

Now to pick out a name for this little guy!

Thanksgiving Preperations

We are getting ready for another Thanksgiving spent between two families. My in-laws are wonderful and don't apply any pressure on us to be at their place by a certain time. My mom always serves an early dinner (1-2pm) because my father works on Thanksgiving for double time and a half. My (Step)Mother-in-law also serves an early Thanksgiving because of Josh's step brothers. We go to my parents' house first because I help my mom cook and then we go over to Josh's parents' house in the early evening for desert (and sometimes seconds!). I hope in the next year or two we can host Thanksgiving at our house and just have both families come over so we eat all together.

To get ready for Thanksgiving I've been baking pie and making my Mother-in-law's homemade chocolate covered cherries. So far I've made 2 pumpkin pies, 2 pecan pies, and 3 1/2 dozen cherries. I still have two more pies to make and another batch of cherries. We'll take a pumpkin and pecan to my mom's house and a pecan to my in-law's house. The other three pies are for my gym. I know it seems silly to take pie to the gym, but baking is fun for me and I don't want to eat it since I've been working with them all day. I've been talking up my pecan pie with my trainer so now I feel obligated to take him one and if I take one to him then I feel like I should feed the other staff members too.

In addition to pie I made homemade cinnamon whipped cream!

I'm looking forward to tomorrow and know that this time next year I'll be getting my nearly 6 month old ready for his or her first thanksgiving! I'm absolutely thankful for the life growing inside of my belly and we'll find out what this little one is in just about 2 weeks! We are keeping the gender a secret until Christmas though!



This picture was taken yesterday... a much rounder tummy to celebrate Thanksgiving! 16 week and 5 days! (4 months!!)

I had my second appointment with my midwife this afternoon.

I was running a bit late which made me feel really horrible, because I hate to be late for any reason. I called to let them know and the nurse sounded annoyed, but when I got there they said it was no problem and thanked me for calling ahead.

I had to pee in a cup, which I did first because I had to go! And then they took my blood presure (110/70) and weighed me in. I came in a a dead even 147. That is a gain of 6 pounds total. I'm worried about large weight gain because I don't want it to get out of hand. I know that realisticly I'll gain 20-30 pounds, but being 160-170 is not something I'd like to be again, reguarless of how fast I'll loose it. I've been keeping up with walking on the treadmill and maintaining a routine at the gym though.

When she was listening to the heartbeat there was a thud and apparently that was the baby kicking! She asked me prior to listening if I had felt any kicks yet, but I haven't. She said it would feel like being lightly flicked from the inside. When she was searching for the heartbeat there was a loud thud and she asked if I had felt it, but I didn't feel anything. It's exciting to know that the babe is being so active!

My uterus is right where it should be for 15 weeks, between my pubic bone and belly button. I did ask about the pulling and she said it was round ligament pain and that as long as there is no prolonged cramping or bleeding that I shouldn't worry. I also asked why I'm so rounded above my belly button. The baby obviously isn't that high up. She said it was because of the relaxin my body is producing. It's making things a little softer is all. She said it's nothing to worry about.

She said that a lot. We talked a lot about my fears after we discussed genetic testing. I'm declining blood work to determine abnormalities because in all honesty we will love this child no matter what. And if there is something wrong with him or her, I don't want to spend the next 5 months worrying about it. I know that it could prepare me for what's to come, but I worry enough as it is. My midwife supports my decision not to find out and said that the next ultrasound can detect abnormalities if I change my mind. We talked a lot about my fears because of my brother's unexplained physical and mental disadvantages from birth-now. She understands now why I'm so worried but thinks I need to relax and enjoy being pregnant.

I didn't get to schedule the ultrasound because it has to be preapproved by my insurance so they will call me in a week to schedule it. My next prenatal appointment in December 8th and I'll be 18w5d. I'm going to try to schedule the ultrasound before we leave for Kentucky on the 18th, but if I can't then I'll do it the week leading up to Christmas. It won't give us time to order gifts to share the sex, but I can make them or try to find them at a store (though shopping last minute is not my idea of fun!). It's all fun stuff though.

All in all I'm doing well and the baby is growing fine. My midwife is pleased with the heartbeat and movement of the baby and says I'm "perfect" and not to let anyone tell me otherwise.

14 weeks

I'm 14 weeks today. I've been trying to take photos of my slowly growing bump, but right now I just think I'm fat. The top I wore today helped make it look more bump like, and it's not even an maternity top. I bought it at Kohl's over the summer and it's meant to be one of those flowy tops that hangs with little pleats in front. I think it will carry me for a few months which is nice. My pants no longer fit though. Those are size 10's and I thought I'd be able to pull it off, but I had to unsnap and button them after lunch. Thank goodness my top was long enough!

I've ordered some maternity clothes from Old Navy thanks to the suggestions of some mom's my friends. I hope they are in soon. I did buy some Bella Bands though so maybe I can make my clothes last a bit longer.

Next appointment with the CNM is on Tuesday. I'm looking forward to hearing the heartbeat again and scheduling our next ultasound. We've decided to find out the sex, so this next ultrasound the baby will hopefully give us the "money shot". If not I'm sure we can handle not finding out. But it would be fun to know!

Ultrasound!

We had our first ultrasound today!

The baby measures at 4.16 cm long and has a heart rate of 158 bpm.

The experience was so amazing! The gel was warmed and I was completly ready for it to be cold so that was a pleasant surprise. The tech was very thourough and we were able to see the baby wiggle around and bounce. At one point it was so active I started laughing which made the baby wiggle and bounce around more. In a few shots it looked as if our little one was waving at us.

All we could do was smile. Our next prenatal appointment is November 10th and then will have another ultrasound in Decemeber, which is when we'll find out the sex. I'm not sure if we will or not, but we are keeping our options open!

Midwife appointment

I had my first appointment with the Midwife today. Her name is Tanya and she put Josh and I at ease. I was so nervous and having Josh there with me and having Tanya answer all of questions was so great.

One of the first things she did was check the baby's heartbeat. I was scared because she didn't find it right away, but then suddenly we heard the sound of galloping horses. Hearing the heartbeat was so moving. Josh and I just looked at one another and smiled ear from ear. Tanya said the heart was beating at about 160 beats per minute and sounded very strong.

After listening to the heart we talked about the symptoms I was experiencing and she answered more questions and suggested making the appointment for the first ultrasound. We determined that date of conception was August 13th and that baby's due date is still projected as the 6th of May. The ultrasound will measure growth and we'll confirm it again.

I had to have a pelvic exam and she did it super fast. I've never had one done as quickly as she did it and that was very much appreciated. She also said that she doesn't believe in routine exams and that made me very happy because I DO NOT like being probed... also I'm very sore from the exam now so I'm glad I won't have to do that every time I go in.

After the exam and getting dressed I had blood work, which was done in office, which was great. They took 6 vials which was not so fun, but at least I didn't have to leave the office and go to another one to finish it.

Once the labs were taken I made an appointment for the ultrasound. It looked as if they weren't going to be able to get me in until the 29th but they said they would call if they had a cancellation for this week. I had to make another appointment for the midwife and pay my copay at the other window and while I did that they had a cancellation and the lady at the other window caught us before we left! So it all worked out, and Josh will be able to come to the ultrasound too!

We'll actually get to see our little one on Friday which will put me at 11w1d. We are excited to see an image of our little one even if s/he is only the size of my thumb!

One year Anniversary

Today is our one year anniversary!

Its hard to believe that one year ago we exchange vows at our church in front of friends and family and that by this time last year we had danced, ate, laughed and already checked into our honeymoon suite for the night.

This last year has been full of challenges with me finishing my masters degree, Josh leaving Best Buy, finishing his degree, attempting to start and run his own business, almost facing foreclosure on our home, finally figuring out the cause of Josh's chronic pain and Josh starting a new job. Thank goodness that when a door closes a window opens because we did not have to foreclose, Josh decided running his own business wasn't in the cards at this moment and was offered a job working for a great company, and of course the news that we are expecting our first child.

What doesn't break us only makes us stronger.

To celebrate we had breakfast at The Breakfast club this morning, saw a movie and enjoyed frozen yogurt. We took a small break in the afternoon to relax and nap and then went to dinner at Rokerij, exchanged gifts, and then returned home to eat the top tier of our wedding cake and wash it down with a bottle of cider from the wedding. We saved both a bottle of champange and cider just in case, and its a good thing we did since we don't want to cause any harm to the baby.

Just an FYI though, fondant does not hold up well in the freezer for a year, but the wedding cake was moist and delicious!

All in all it was a great year with many more ahead of us!

8w5d

We are half way through the first trimester!

So far I'm experiencing all of those lovely first trimester joys including:

heartburn
fatigue
"morning" sickness; which shows up right after dinner
bloating (and those things associated with it)
enlarged and tender breasts
vivid dreams
moodiness
absent mindedness

All in all it's not too bad even if my facebook status appears snarky. The end result will be worth it all.

I had a doctor's appointment with my GP last Tuesday and they had me pee in a cup to confirm what we already knew. We went over some basics and then gave me a list OBGYNs to contact. In the process of calling I found a practice that has CNMs (Certified Nurse Midwife) and I made an appointment with one of them. I see her on the 13th, which is still two weeks away. I hope we'll get to hear the heartbeat and see our little belly bugg for the first time.

Josh has been super supportive and has taken on all of the animal related chores so I don't have to be exposed. He's also been reading all of the pregnancy books that are laying around the house and picking up on the chores I've let become lax.

Over all everything is going well!

Expanding our hearts for baby # 1

Recently Joshua and I found out we would be expanding our family.

Its still early as we are only 5 weeks along, but we are bursting with joy! We have our first prenatal appointment on September 22nd. It feels so far away from now!

Victoria Graduates

I graduated from Northern Arizona Univeristy on Saturday with my Masters of Education in Early Childhood Instruction with an emphasis in reading instruction. I graduated with highest distinction by having a 4.0. I'm seriously thankful to be done with school for at least a couple of years.

Joshua made a video of my graduation for all of you to enjoy! Happy graduation to me!

Bring on the updates

So much is going on for us these days!

Josh finished his undergrad work back in March and will officially be a graduate student come this September. After 14 years Josh was finally able to finish him Bachelor's Degree in Business Management and will be persuing his MBA at Grand Canyon University this fall. Ottawa will have their graduation at the end of this summer so Josh doesn't get to walk until then.

I will be completly done with my graduate career this Tuesday and will be recieving my MEd in ECI on Saturday. I'm completly ready to be finished with school! I have no plans on going back to school anytime soon, however I'm considering taking on another Masters in Special Ed in a few years (maybe after we've had some children).

I'm about ready to wrap up another school year and Josh has been working hard on his new business and even has a few clients! This new year is flashing before our eyes and we hardly noticed that we'd been married for 6 months! It's hard to believe that it's almost been 7! Before we both know it we'll be celebrating our first anniversary. No professional pictures as of yet, which is why I haven't posted anything. Apparently the digital artist our photographer works with has been sick. I hope that we recieve finished photos back before our one-year mark!

All is well in the Willingham house hold. All four kitties and the dog are sheding in preperation of the summer and we are chasing them around the house with the vacuume to try to keep up. No children planned yet, but maybe we'll start doing that in the fall.

The Wedding Song

One of the greatest gifts we were given for our wedding was a song writen and performed by Josh's father. For our first dance Josh's dad and his Aunt sang our wedding song live. He recently surprised us with a professionally mixed song.

If you click on the picture above it should open a link to open the song. It will open in your media player.

It truely was one of the most special moments of the night.

Josh and I couldn't have been more touched by the loving words that his dad and put into words and music for us.

THE WEDDING SONG
(I’ll Always Be With You)
For Joshua and Victoria Willingham’s Wedding
Music and Lyrics: Warren H. Willingham II

DID YOU EVER BELIEVE IT COULD TURN OUT SO WELL
AND YOU WOULD FIND SOMEONE, SOMEONE YOU SHOULD TELL
I SHOULD TELL YOU I LOVE YOU, IT’S TAKEN SO LONG
WHAT GOD BRINGS TOGETHER COULD NEVER BE WRONG

HOW LONG IS FOREVER, DOES ANYONE KNOW
AND WHAT IS A LIFETIME, I’M NOT REALLY SURE
BUT I’M SURE THAT HEAVEN IS WHEN I’M WITH YOU
NOW WE’VE GOT EACH OTHER, THAT’S HOW WE’LL GET THROUGH

NOW I’VE ASKED YOU TO SPEND YOUR LIFE WITH ME
WE’LL HAVE GOOD TIMES AND HARD TIMES
SOMETIMES WE’LL DISAGREE
BUT NOW WE CAN FACE IT TOGETHER
AS STRONG AS TWO PEOPLE CAN BE
STRONG FOR EACH OTHER, FACING FOREVER
AND KNOWING HOW GOOD IT CAN BE

DID YOU EVER BELIEVE IT COULD WORK OUT THIS WAY
IT’S THE WAY THAT IT SHOULD BE, WE ARE ONE HERE TODAY
AND I’LL LOVE YOU FOREVER AND A DAY TO BE SURE
I’LL ALWAYS BE WITH YOU, I’LL ALWAYS BE WITH YOU

Valentine's Day

Our first Valentine's Day as a married couple was a lot of fun! It was nice that it was on a weekend so that we didn't have to rush after work to get ready and go out. We started the day with "love cakes", which are my version of chocolate pancakes. I whipped up a batch of love cakes and made Josh some bacon. We ate together and watched Battle Star Galactica together.

Unfortunately the rest of the morning couldn't be spent cuddling or hanging out as we both had homework to work on. I was able to pound out two small papers. When I finished I got into the shower and while I was getting cleaned up flowers had arrived for me. Josh placed them in the bathroom and I was surprised to see them when climbing out of the shower.

After I got dressed and ready for dinner I set out the presents.

The flowers are beautiful and I'm excited for another beautiful vase. Its really neat as it looks like its folded into itself with a pretty green trim. The large box was Josh's gift and the smaller one was mine.

Josh was very excited to open his gift. He saw it in the closet and has asked a few questions about it's contents, but I kept it a secret!

When he opened it he didn't even notice what was on the wrist. He thought his gift was just a Build-a-bear Coyote dressed very similar to himself. Note the shoes and sunglasses look exactly like his own brown sneakers and sunglasses! He laughed when he saw what I had named him; "Howly McHowlerton", which is a play on some of the names we jokingly call our animals.

I actually had to point out the coyote's wrist. Josh said he thought it was just part of the coyote's outfit! He said he was pretty jealous of the quality Build-a-bear had when he didn't have something nearly as nice! My silly guy!

He loved the watch and was hamming it up to show it off to the camera.

Then it was my turn to open my gift. Josh told me that it was something I had wanted for quite some time. I couldn't think of anything off top of my head that I had been wanting for a while, besides a clean house without putting in the effort!

And when I saw it I realized that it was the jewelry set Tracy made that I have been coveting for almost a year! Every time I've seen the honey jade and amber set I've mentioned how much I'd love to have it, but never bought it myself. Tracy is one of the most talented people I know.

I was disappointed that it didn't quite match my outfit and considered changing, but Josh thought I looked too good in my pink dress to change. I left my new jewelry at home and wore my rose quartz, mother of pearl, and garnet pendant instead.

After we took a few more pictures and cleaned up our present mess we headed to dinner. Josh took me to Oregano's where we ate yummy pizza, lasagna and pazookie while drinking the best Bellini's ever. We were so stuffed that we came home to watch a movie instead of going out to see one. We started to fall asleep on the couch and that pretty much concluded our Valentine's Day.

All in all, I have to say celebrating Valentine's Day as a married couple is tons more fun than dating. It was an excuse to get dressed up and have a good time without the awkwardness of dating or the pressure of expectation. It was amazing to spend the day with my husband just loving each other and celebrating our love for one another, even if we had to do homework inbetween!

Graduation

Both Josh and I will be graduating this year!

I think both of us have a slight case of senioritis right now with graduation only3-4 months away.

Josh's 14 year education journey will finally end next month and he'll have his BA in business management (although if he took one more year he could probably finish two others in psychology and information technology). He is looking forward to beginning his MBA focusing in marketing and is thinking of starting that in the fall. He is currently working on his last 16 credit hours and will be finished with his course work in 3 weeks, but won't "graduate" until June. He's been swamped with homework and we haven't spent a ton of time together but it's all worth it in the end.

I will be finished with my MEd in May. I'm taking an online course and then will take a seated class starting in March. I'm very excited to be finished. My degree is in Early Childhood Instruction with an emphasis in reading. I finished the reading requirements last summer and already have my reading specialist endorsement. I know that I will be walking on May 9th, which is a Saturday, so that means I won't be missing any teaching days. I'm just ready to be done though. I'm slightly burned out.

In the end we'll be smarter and will look back on this year and wonder if we were crazy for getting married and going to school all while taking care of a house and working full time.

3 months

How fast time flies when you aren't paying attention!

Josh and I have been very busy with the day to day details of our lives. It's hard to believe that its already been 3 months and that soon we will be rounding off the 4th!

Josh and I had a nice Thanksgiving with our families. We spent Thanksgiving afternoon with my family and Thanksgiving Evening with Josh's family. Before we knew it Christmas was here! As tradition we spent Christmas Eve with Josh's family and then we spent Christmas morning together. Christmas afternoon was spent with my family. Since we put a lot of work and money into celebrating our marriage we kept to a low key Christmas, but Josh was still able to surprise me by buying us tickets to see The Lion King, which we'll be seeing this weekend.

Our first New Years as husband and wife was spent with our wonderful friends. And then Christmas break was over with and we both realized that we had packed on some pounds between the honeymoon and the holidays. We are both working our behinds off to loose the extra weight and then some.

Our jobs are keeping us on our toes.

The kindergartners are growing in leaps and bounds and before I know it they will be in the first grade and I will have successfully completed my first year of kindergarten and my fifth year of teaching!

Josh has decided to leave Best Buy. After lots of careful consideration Josh decided to take a Corporate buyout and will be leaving Best Buy as of February 12th of this year. We are both confident that this will open new doors for Josh and ultimately us as a family.

Josh and I will both be graduating this year as well. Josh will finish his degree Business degree through Ottawa University in March and I'll be finished with my MEd from NAU in May. We are both excited to be finished with school, but Josh wants to start his MBA fairly soon after graduation.

To answer many family member questions, no we are not planning to start a family yet. We each are working getting our education squared away and we will start planning for little Willinghams further down the road.

It's our intention for (at least me) to keep everyone updated about us via this blog. Please feel free to pass it on to other family members!

Newlyweds

We'll we've been married for a little over three weeks now. Many people have asked if it feels any different. To be honest it doesn't feel different, just better.

The entire wedding was beautiful. Josh and I are so happy with the way everything went. Our DJ was wonderful and made the reception worry and stress free. The reception hall was beautiful and the ceremony was priceless.

I've included a few pictures of the day and will hopefully upload some slide shows at a later point. Most of our pictures are from other people since we haven't seen the professional ones yet.

We are also waiting for the video from the wedding and I hope to be able to load it on here so that people that couldn't join us can still see what our special day was like.

Here is our church alter

My dad walking my down this aisle

My grandpa and me posing

My family

The bridal party

Josh and me in the limo heading to the reception hall

Our very yummy cake that Josh designed

Josh and my dad talking before the grand entrance to the reception hall

Josh and me doing the grand entrance

Josh and me while telling each other why we're perfect for one another

There are a ton more pictures, but they are not organized or anything. Mostly they are jumbled randomly in my picture folder and on photobucket. My goal is to organize them and create a slide show of the wedding, the reception and then the honeymoon.

Eventually we will have professional photos and we will share those too. Keep checking back!