It's facebook official :) (and my first ultrasound!)

Well it's official - FACEBOOK official. Yayy! 

And even more exciting than that is 

WE GOT TO SEE BABY!

Seeing my sweet jellybean's heartbeat was so amazing. I've been insanely nervous about this ultrasound. So many girls in my BabyBump forum were reporting miscarriages after their first US (ultrasound) so I have been really anxious about finding an empty sac or see a baby with no heartbeat. But my little one was super active, doing somersaults and waving it's hands and kicking it's feet and the little flicker of a heartbeat was going strong (heartbeat was 150 - old wives tale says boy...as well as all the other old wives tales...guess we'll find out soon enough)! We listened for a few seconds and got the typical galloping horses sound (which by the way is so much cooler when it's your own baby than when it's someone else's). Jonathon was so quiet - he sat and stared at the screen. The doctor and I chatted the whole time but he was 100% silent - shock? excitement? Who knows. But he definitely beat me to posting the official announcement on facebook - before the doctor had even left the room, he had posted it and already gotten one "like"!

Here's my favorite US pictures - the doctor gave us 7 but these were the best and the only ones where you could really see anything

Funny story: My doctor is obsessed with baby feet. The entire US, she kept telling us that our baby has the cutest feet ever and she kept squealing with excitement (unprofessional? maybe. But it was SO nice seeing her excited about our baby rather than it being "just another normal day at work"). Every time baby would put it's foot out, which was non-stop, she would snap a picture. At the end as we were walking out, she told me to hide the pictures before I left the room because she was really only supposed to give me 2, but since my baby had such cute feet, she couldn't help herself. Made me grin! 

And finally, my dad is so excited about baby. He's been waiting rather impatiently to announce it from the pulpit of his church and calls me all the time to check on me and baby. He's busy making plans and giving advice - I love it! My mom is equally excited, but no surprise there! And the uncle-to-be is apparently obsessed with baby as well. This is gonna be one very very loved baby. 

:)

9 weeks, 1 day...

I'm exhausted, I'm irritable, I'm nauseous about half of the time, I have a million random little tugs and pulls and pinches, I'm paranoid, my back hurts, my head hurts, and I'm ready for this first trimester to be over! 

*Disclaimer: this is a rant. I am overjoyed to be pregnant, and I was as aware as possible of what I was getting myself into when we began trying to conceive, however, as a hormonal pregnant lady, I'm entitled to a rant every now and then*

This isn't fun so far. Once I can actually announce the news, I'll be a lot happier. Having to hide Saltines at work and sneak to the bathroom every half hour isn't exactly making me happy. Several of the women there know that we've been trying to get pregnant for a while because we're a pretty close-knit group. One lady in particular is beyond nosy and every time she asks how I am and say anything like "I'm tired" or "I'm ok" or anything other than "perfectly fabulous" she goes "oh my gosh, are you pregnant?!".   

Ugh. Stop. Enough.

As if that's not annoying enough (if I weren't pregnant, the last thing I'd want to be constantly reminded of is me NOT being pregnant, so, either way, she needs to just stop), once I tell her I'm not, she proceeds to give me advice on how I should go about getting pregnant:

"Oh, it'll happen when you least expect it" 

"Just stop trying and it'll happen"  

Really?! 

 These are the two most annoying things someone could ever say to someone trying to conceive. Every blog, poll, forum, conversation I've read lists these two comments as the #1 most irritating piece of "advice" that is likely to solicit the receiver of the advice picturing the adviser in a Vulcan death grip. 

just shut up.

Now, on to my original statement:  

I'm exhausted - every day I come home, I take a nap. A two or three hour nap. The house is a mess (except my amazing hubby cleaned the whole downstairs yesterday - woohooo!), we're not eating well because I'm too tired to cook, much less go grocery shopping, and the poop pups are being neglected.

I'm irritable - I don't want to talk to anyone or see anyone pretty much most of the time. They irritate me. All of the time. Most of the time. I don't even know.

I'm nauseous about half of the time - so morning sickness hasn't really hit me hard at all (hence the reason I've accepted the fact/assumption that I'm having a boy - thank you to the old wives tales and just a "feeling" - go ahead and laugh at me), but almost every day once I get settled into work, I just feel like poo.

I have a million random little tugs and pulls and pinches - there's pin-pricks in my side, my belly button feels like it's bruised, everything is stretching and pulling which results in tons of odd sensations. None that really hurt, but, are noticeable and irritating and enough to make me go "ummm....huh?"

I'm paranoid - since the pregnancy started out with some spotting, I've been overly paranoid about a miscarriage. They are oh so very common, especially this early on, I'm doing everything I can to prevent one (no drugs/alcohol obviously {this is harder than you might think....because no drugs/alcohol means no Excedrin for my migraines, no muscle relaxers when my back aches, and no cold medicine when I'm all stuffed up}, taking it easy, not eating the million foods on the list of no-no's, etc.). However, all the little tugs and pulls and pricks just keep me on edge. Thankfully I've started to calm down and stress a little less over this the last week or so as stress only makes things worse, but I'm still nervous. I'm really looking forward to my first ultrasound so I can see my little jellybean and hear his little heartbeat.  

Make sure my baby's ok.

My back hurts - constantly.

My head hurts - constantly.

And I'm ready for this first trimester to be over! - I can't wait to have a baby bump, to feel him kick, to really "feel" pregnant, to find out the sex, to get the nursery ready, to start buying stuff, to start having fun! Yes, I know I will only get more uncomfortable as time progresses, but so far, I'm just the same ol' me with nothing to show for it. 

Just ready for that next step.

I'm gonna have a little tiny baby!

It's official: 

 I'm pregnant! 

Jonathon have been trying since April and we found out December 11, 2011 that we are indeed going to have a baby. This month, we decided to hold off on trying during the holidays and pick back up after my birthday in February. I guess this relieved a lot of stress and totally unexpectedly, a baby was conceived! And I'm pretty sure it was Thanksgiving morning - haha. Sunday night, I had a sneaking suspicion that I was so I decided to test before we went to bed. I was thinking it would be negative regardless since you're supposed to always test in the morning, but I got 2 lines immediately - didn't even have to wait a whole 30 seconds. I freaked out, ran in the bedroom and threw the test at Jonathon who was already asleep. He wasn't sure what to say so he kinda sat there and stared at it and said "well, looks like we're pregnant" or something non-exciting like that. The next morning, I came in late to work and stopped at CVS to get more tests. And yes, I tested in the office bathroom when I got in and got 2 very, very dark lines. Go me :)

I'm a solid 6 weeks, 1 day pregnant today 

and my due date is August 11, 2012. 

I had my first OB appointment this past Tuesday with Dr. Stephenson who was fantastic. I'm actually disappointed she doesn't get to be my doctor for the whole pregnancy. Kinda strange, this military thing - my first appointment was at the Quantico clinic with one OB where they did bloodwork (but never did a pregnancy test which I found amusing...what if I was crazy and lied about being pregnant? they just wasted a whole 2 hours....but whatever! Figured that would've been priority numero uno!) and I signed more papers than I did when we bought our car. The rest of my appointments will be in Woodbridge, which is oh so convenient for me since it's about 10 minutes from my office. Woohoo!

My next appointment is when I'm 10w1d where I'll get my first ultrasound. Can't wait to see my little jelly bean (baby's nickname, by the way)!

Today was especially exciting. I got my first baby and maternity clothes from Angelfood (along with a box of food - mmmm) which is an organization that gives boxes of food to military families E-5 and below, as well as gobs of clothes. They have a whole room set up with clothes that you can pick through and just take whatever you need. I got a pair of maternity capris and a maternity skirt, and a whole bag full of neutral baby clothes. Over the next few weeks, I'm going to be working on cleaning out the to-be nursery so that when I slowly start collecting baby items, I'll have somewhere to put them! It's a good thing I won't find out the gender for several more months, otherwise, I'd have already have the nursery bought and put together lol. 

one of my favorites - says "my best friend" and is covered in dogs hehe

So, that's pretty much it. My head is swimming with baby thoughts, so there's really not much room left for anything else at the moment. I think it's time for a nap!

Two.Point.Five Kids, A Dog and a White Picket Fence - Almost

MY DREAM:

Two.Point.Five Kids, A Dog and a White Picket Fence

Three to Five Kids, Several Dogs, a Cat or Two and a Log Cabin

I finally convinced my husband that we can afford to live in North Georgia. HALLELUJAH! Up until now, he was dead set on either Unadilla, GA or Macon, GA...both of which suck. 

 

 

What Unadilla is known for

North Georgia is beautiful. There are places like Helen (an Alpine Village), Blue Ridge (yes, like the mountains), Dahlonega (can we say gold??), and Elijay (only for MawMaw and PawPaw and Janet). These are places I would kill to live in - specifically Helen. Unfortunately we can't afford Helen, so any surrounding towns will surely do. This is the view I'm looking for:

Can you really ask for a more beautiful view? Mountains, water, sky - basically, everything that is NOT in Quantico. Now, on to the house. 

Hubby and I have day dreamed about our future house many, many times. We both have very different views of our perfect house, so the compromise we have come up with is basically that Jonathon gets to pick the outside and I get to pick the inside. Now, if we were building fresh, this would be oh so easy. Log cabin, pond, acres and acres of land on the outside and a pristine, comfortable, beautiful inside complete with a huge kitchen, a big ol' tv and an enormous master bedroom and bathroom. Unfortunately, being relatively young and poor, I'm not so sure it will actually go this way. So, this is our plan. 

1. Buy a log cabin

can't you just imagine a kid in the yard and a dog on the porch?

definitely more me than Jonathon....but he'd totally go for it

I would love to come home to this every day

 2. Renovate, renovate, renovate!

so. perfect.

oh so rustic and fabulous

betcha never though I'd want a deer head in my living room, eh?

3. Decorate like Martha Stewart

I've become obsessed with antler chandeliers as of late

100% Martha Stewart meets Davey Crocket

cowhide!

 

4. Plan for Christmas

maybe I'll have Thomas Kinkade design my hou

se

5. Plan for baby

For little Aaron - just with some more camo and maybe, just an idea, a changing table?? might be helpful...

I love everything about this. including the tiny baby with the ruffle but on the chest. This will be baby Emma's room, sorry hubby!

6. Don't forget the dogs

chow time

Yes, my dogs are/will be spoiled

Littledog could totally rock this

Don't judge. I know no one I have even know will believe that this is actually the life and home I want. But people change. I'm sure anyone would have pegged me for a pink, sparkly, modern and over-the-top kind of dream house, Basically, the Barbie Dream House on over-kill. The problem with that is my husband would totally leave me, or at least resort to camping in the woods behind the house since he would refuse to enter the house. And really, who wants pink and sparkles and glamor ALL the time (take note: I will have my own office/craft room/girl room/whatever at some point and it WILL be a Barbie dream room....promise). So since I kinda like my hubby and would like for him to be proud of our house, this is a perfect compromise that I can see myself living in and loving completely.

So who's gonna come visit first?!

Baby blues.

I'm completely torn. It seems like every other day, I want a baby and then the next day I don't want one. There are so many pros and cons it's not even funny. If my husband wasn't 100% gung-ho on it, I'd say just forget the whole thing and we'll just get a bunch of dogs. But, he's already picking out baby bedding and sending me emails with baby names, planning  on schedules and our whole future with a baby. 

The truth is, I like my life. Hubby and I are happily married, live a very comfortable lifestyle and have pretty much complete freedom (well, as much as full-time jobs and college allow). My dogs are crazy and I'm pretty sure they'd step and drool on Baby Pritchard (BP, from here on out). I'm also sure that BP wouldn't enjoy long road trips or days on the lake fishing (I don't think they make infant-size fishing poles - BP would be so bored!). And I'm positive that BP would not allow for mommy and daddy to go out with their friends as much as they do now. Plus, babies are a little bit expensive. How on earth can we afford a baby and diamonds and boats?! 

But then, I mean, just look: 

Enough said, right? (No, don't worry, dressing my baby in cute clothes is not the reason I want to have a baby - but I don't feel like getting into all the sappy stuff right now). 

So, with all this said, I'm still just as confused as before. Carefree, easy lifestyle vs. busy, stressful life with baby. Sounds easy, but it's really not. 

I guess we'll just keep going with the flow and if I wake up one morning throwing up and start growing a huge lump in my stomach, well, then I guess we'll have a baby!