And the beat goes on!

We've officially heard our baby's heartbeat! How exciting...and unlike what either Daniel or myself expected. I expected to hear a garbled, washing machine like noise and daniel expected a beat slower and closer to what his sounds like. What we heard was a beautifully clear and distinct heartbeat just rapidly pounding away! What a beautiful noise...

At the brink of the second trimester (currently 11.5 weeks) I've gained 3 pounds and all the blood tests came back negative, so we're looking very healthy and right on schedule. I think that it's safe to say that I am not going to throw-up due to pregnancy...this is a very thrilling possibility. Another cool discovery in all of this was finding out that I have the same not-so-typical blood type as my dad, B-. I inherited my dad's allergies and laid-back personality, I may as well have his blood, too :)

Ode to Saturday

I. Love. Weekends.

I have always really loved them, yet working the 8 to 5 thing really makes me appreciate them that much more. I get to sleep past 6:30, I get to actually see my husband, I don't have to dress professionally, and best of all- the work week is over and I'm not studying for tests or writing dumb papers for the next week. (Though I should be doing my thesis....which is already the longest paper I'll ever write).
In Arizona, I've come to find that the absolute best kind of Saturday during the summery-heat is the kind that starts out gray and rainy- and this rarely happens. I feel no remorse for sticking around inside clothed in my pajamas until much later in the day than if the sun and cloudless skies has been beckoning me to make good use of my time. Mmmm, I love rainy Saturday mornings :)
This particular saturday entails staying inside and repacking alllll of our stuff so we're ready to move come Wednesday. Perhaps at some point we'll trek to Goodwill so that I can extend my time before buying nice, yet possibly pricey maternity clothes. Before moving out here, I'd never actually moved my whole life from my home in Raleigh. (I don't count college apartments as quite the same thing.) Now, after having moved twice and soon a third time, I understand why people become less sentimental about objects.
When I first met Daniel he thought I was such a pack-rat and insisted that if the Chell house caught on fire it would burn for days. I thought he was just being insensitive. I now have a better idea of what he has saying- and while I have become less sentimental about objects that are not useful or immediately necessary, it can't be denied that if you go to my house in Raleigh, NC and develop a need for ANYTHING, you will be supplied with exactly what you needed. Someday in the likely very far off future when we have a house to call our own, I would like our home to be a happy medium of clutter-free yet resourceful! We shall see.....

One celebration after another

Last weekend, DP, myself, and the rest of the Pugh clan made a zippy trip to Houston, Texas for the eldest sibling (Tally) 's wonderful wedding. We now get to "officially" welcome Trent, her husband, into the family! He's one of the few males I've ever met that actually feels comfortable teasing me and all around giving me a hard time. While it may sound messed-up, I actually cherish that becauses it means a few things: he knows I can take it, he fits in just right with Tally, and I get to be in on the fun! Anyway, that's all just to say that I'm thrilled (and Daniel's thrilled...perhaps for a few different reasons) that Trent is part of the family and that he's Tally's partner for life. Congratulations!!

It really was a whirlwind trip, but it turns out a few things beyond a wedding happened around that time.

*For one, my clothes really don't fit so much anymore as a bitty belly is beginning to protrude. Here's a picture from about a week ago of some stomach action (9ish weeks)...

*Another thing is that we found out that Daniel's other sister, Traeci, is expecting her second baby due to arrive near the beginning of May.

*Yet another realllly exciting thing is that we signed the papers to get our 2 bedroom apartment starting September 26th! Phew!

*The last thing to happen is for Daniel to turn 24 today. As he is a 'bit' of a football fan (HA), he along with some family and friends attended the first home game for the Cardinals. What relief that they actually won...I mean, of course they won (ahem). His parents treated him to a birthday dinner last night where he received the gift of a hooded Cardinals baby towel. Very cute. Though it still seems sorta weird that we're getting gift for OUR baby...it's nuts!

This picture was taken last night after we'd gorged on some yummy dinner...and as you can just barely see, Izzy the dog wanted some serious attention!

That's about all I can think to write for now...we're in town now for good, so perhaps we'll keep up better with this blog!

Coming soon: our next Dr's appointment is September 26th!

8 ish weeks we think.

So, this is sorta the baseline picture I suppose. According to the Doctors, I am now 8 weeks but as that doesn't add up to a due date of April 10th, I'm confused. I guess we'll just leave it as I'm at least 8 weeks?

I'm not gonna pretend like the body and comfort changes I'm experiencing now are directly caused by baby. Really, I just never have liked feeling restricted in clothes or shoes, so being uncomfortable with tight waistbands...not all too new. (As a side not, please ignore the uber-wrinkley pants, they never ever stay nice.)

Overall, things are going well. Currently, my internship has me doing administrative work for the Madison School district; this means I standardize recipes and decipher nutrient information for the national school lunch program. We visit schools daily during lunch to evaluate their performance and I get to pretend to be professional with my forms, clipboard, and magnetic name-tag...but internally I'm giddy at being with the hundreds of fun and happy little kids. The only tough parts are: avoiding boredom, guessing at 6 am which foods I'll be able to stomach come lunch time, and going to sleep early and alone cause Daniel is still so wide awake. This rotation could be loads worse, as could this first phase in pregnancy!!