..Absolutely Incredible..

So I had my 28 week check-up and got another ultrasound! Last time when my doctor said she wanted me to do another ultrasound, I was so excited. She didn't say why though, so I thought it was just routine. I get into the ultrasound room, and the techs ask me why I'm getting this one done. I told them I had no idea, I thought it was normal. They looked at my chart and said the last tech had wrote down that Macee's size was small for how far along I was, and my placenta was low. So of course I get super freaked out. The tech at my 20 week ultrasound didn't say a word about my placenta, but did say she was measuring 5 days behind my due date, but that's nothing to be concerned about.

So that was the reason behind this ultrasound. I wasn't going to complain about it though, most women only get one ultrasound in their pregnancies so I was ecstatic to be able to see my baby girl again before she actually gets here! 

At my 20 week one, they did a little of the 4D ultrasound, but her umbilical cord was in her face the whole time so we didn't get any good pictures of her. This time, the 4D one was about all they used, and Macee was such a little poser! They took all her measurements first and said right now she weighs 2 lbs 9 oz, but couldn't really tell me how long she is. Everything is looking absolutely perfect. She's still measuring the same, 5 days behind, so I'm not expecting her to come anytime before January 24th, which is a week after my due date. And my placenta is exactly where it should be, which eased my mind.

After the ultrasound, I went up to meet with my doctor for my actual check-up. My blood pressure has been a little high the last 2 visits, but luckily it hasn't gone up any from last time, so my doctor wasn't too worried about it. Besides that, everything has been looking and feeling great!

Her nose isn't really like that, it was just squished, I think. And she had just finished yawning, so that kinda screwed up the picture.

She looks so perfect already!

 Her little nose/profile is all ME!!! And the chubby cheeks have already started! Which is totally fine with me, I LOVE chubby babies!

 I think in this one, the tech had just poked my belly, and she moved her hand on her forehead, and her lips kinda quivered.. She didn't want to be disturbed!

 She was stretching back in the top picture, and yawning in the bottom! The yawning one is pretty freaky looking!

 And, she has HAIR! I was bald until I was about 2 years old, so I'm excited to see how much hair she has, and what color it is! Me and Alex are COMPLETE opposites in the way we look.. I'm short, naturally red hair, green eyes, and pale. He's tall, dark eyes, dark hair, and nice olive skin. That is one of the things I am most excited about, is to see who she looks like more. I think she'll have more of my facial features, like my nose and cheeks, but her hair and skin will be more like Alex's. But, you never know!

Now I start going to the doctor every other week! I've only got 12 weeks left, it is so crazy how fast the last couple months have gone by! I just hope the next 3 will be just as fast, if not faster!

..Long Time Coming..

So I've been debating on whether to talk about my past on here. Sometimes some people's blogs I read get a little too personal, but I get sick of writing the same stuff. Plus I figure not a lot of people read this anyways so it shouldn't really matter, it's more for my own memory.

So this pregnancy has been such an emotional rollercoaster for me. I've wanted to be a mom so unbelievably bad, for I can't remember how long. For those who don't know, I was married before Alex. I got married right out of high school..like 6 weeks after I graduated. His name was Ryan and we met working at Sizzler. This was probably the biggest mistake I have ever made in my life. I don't regret it, but it was still a mistake. I learned and matured so much from that 22 months of marriage to that man. I had to grow up fast. He was almost 10 years older than me, and I guess he thought he had authority over me. He had all the symptoms of being bi-polar, but never got help for it so he was never on any medications or anything. I felt like I was walking on eggshells the entire marriage. I never knew what would set him off and what wouldn't. After the first few months of marriage, he became very verbally and emotionally abusive, and I knew it was only a matter of time before it became physical. Luckily, I got out before it did.

This was going on while we were dating even, and looking back on it now, I don't know why I didn't run as fast and as far away as I could from him. But like I said, it made me grow up fast, and afterwards actually was a blessing in disguise. I knew what I wanted in a man after that, and I knew what warning signs to look for, and that helped me get away from a lot of bad guys while I was dating after my divorce. 

And it helped me to know that Alex was the absolute right man for me, and that feeling has never ever changed.

Ryan and I found out I was pregnant the first time 5 days before we got married. I was ecstatic, I always knew I wanted to be a young mom, and Ryan had moved on from Sizzler and had a steady job that paid well, so we figured why not start right away on our family? The first 16 weeks went well, I was so sick though. Then one night, I started bleeding. After 6 hours in the ER, we find out that I had miscarried at about 12 weeks, but it took a month for my body to recognize it and start the miscarriage process. 

I was devastated. Ryan, on the other hand, wasn't very religious or spiritual and he pretty much just told me to get over it. It wasn't a living thing, it didn't have a soul. That is when I knew things wouldn't work out with him.

But, being young and stupid, I stayed with him for another year and a half..and through another 2 miscarriages and one ectopic pregnancy.

For those counting, that means I had 4 pregnancies in a little over a year and a half, and under the age of 20. I had no idea what was wrong with me, the doctors could never figure it out. The ectopic pregnancy was the last straw on our marriage. That happened March 1st, 2008, and we separated on April 13. 

So, you can kind of see why this pregnancy has been so emotional for me. I've tried my absolute hardest to not let Alex see me get emotional when I think about the bad things that can happen. This is the reason why we kept it a secret for the first 20 weeks. I hated telling people, and then literally the next day miscarrying. I was terrified when I found out I was pregnant. I knew I couldn't go through another miscarriage. It would kill me. Alex gave me a wonderful blessing when we found out, and that helped calm my nerves for a while. I went to the doctor for the first time in June, and they did blood work and background checks and stuff. This time though, since it was my 5th pregnancy with no successful ones, they ran a few extra tests. We come to find out that my progesterone levels were lower than normal, and this could easily have been the reason behind my 3 miscarriages. 

Luckily, it is also easily treated with medication I had to take 2 times a day for the first 14 weeks. 

Words cannot describe the relief I felt when I first felt her move, and every time I hear her heartbeat, and when I saw her on the ultrasound, and when we found out that it was a girl!! All of these things I had never experienced before, the amazing things about being pregnant. I had always related being pregnant with sorrow, pain, sadness, and never knowing what was going to happen.

Alex knew my past when we met, he knew my troubles with my pregnancies, and he has been absolutely amazing through this pregnancy. Every time I feel freaked out by something, like if I don't feel her move for a while, or if I just feel like something is wrong, he is right there to let me know everything is okay. He reminds me to say a prayer and to rely on our Heavenly Father, that he knows and will do everything that is right for me, and I have to trust that no matter what. And every time I do, Macee instantly kicks me or rolls over to let me know she's okay.

I am so thankful for the Gospel. I wasn't active while Ryan and I were married, and I know that was a sign to me that things weren't right. I need the Gospel in my life, and in the lives of my children. I need a husband that holds the Priesthood, who can give me and my children the blessing we need. Alex helped me get back to the church, and we were able to be sealed together in the temple. That to me, strengthened my testimony so much. Just knowing I could be forgiven and be given a second chance at a happy life and eternity helped my testimony grow almost instantly. I am so thankful and so excited to bring Macee into this world and to have her be raised in a happy, healthy family.

I have been writing this blog post for a while, and editing and deleting and re-writing things. It might be a little too personal, and some people reading it might not have known all this about me, but it does feel really good to get everything off my chest!

Well, here I am at 28 weeks. I get to have another ultrasound tomorrow, and I am so excited to see my baby Macee again! I can't wait to see how much she's grown and changed, and hopefully they do another 3D one so I can put a little face to this little dancer in my belly!

..Just A Little Update..

So I have hit 24 weeks in my pregnancy! Everything has been going great so far, I'm finally out of my sickness (except for random days) and I'm now starting to get into the painful stage. Working has gotten a little harder, just having to be on my feet for 6 or 7 hours a day, and I'm hoping it doesn't get much worse, but I'm just kind of expecting it to anyways. 

She has been moving and kicking like crazy! She knows when I'm about to eat something because she gets so excited and starts doing flips anytime I eat. I love feeling and seeing her move, it's such a comfort for me. Even though at 2 am it's not as cute, it's still an awesome feeling.

I go back to the doctor in 4 weeks and I get another ultrasound, which I am so excited to see my baby girl again!

Me at 24 weeks

I feel like I am huge for only 24 weeks, but I figure since I have a small torso, the only place I have to grow is out!

We haven't been up to much lately, I still have a hard time being out and doing a lot of active things. But we did get to go to the zoo with Alex's family, which was so fun for me because I haven't been to the zoo since I was probably 5 or 6 in kindergarten! 

If I didn't do hair, I would definitely be doing something involving animals. I never really used to be an animal lover until I got my dogs, and that changed everything. I'm still not big on reptiles, but anything cuddly and furry, I fall in love with instantly. It kind of drives Alex crazy sometimes!

Us in front of the zoo

 

Surprise!!!

So I didn't really have anything to update on for a while, but now I sure do!

We are pregnant with a little girl!!!

I am 20 weeks along, and the due date is January 17, 2011.

We are SO excited, I cannot wait to start shopping and getting ready for this little one!

Here I am at 20 weeks.. Half way there already!!

Here's her cute little face and hands with the 3D ultrasound

And she's definitely a GIRL!!!

I will definitely update my blog a lot more, now that I actually have something fun to write about!

Home Owners!!

We are FINALLY home owners!!! Hooray!!!

We were able to finally close on Tuesday last week, exactly two weeks after our original closing date. We are all moved in, and now we just need to do the finishing touches, like painting, and buy our couch, kitchen table, and entertainment center, and then we weill be all set! It feels so awesome to finally be in our own house, and I'm so happy that I didn't give up, even though there were plenty of times when I wanted to! Once I get painted and everything set, I will put up pics!

Cali and Homeless-ness

So I'll start with the fun stuff, before I start complaining..

Our vacation was AMAZING!!! We had so much, very deserved, fun! Starting in Vegas, we stayed at Planet Hollywood, which is by far the best hotel we've stayed at in Vegas so far!
Alex was convinced we'd get upgraded again, since we did on our honeymoon too. I told him not to get his hopes up, but as we're checking in, I was eating my words! The very nice man that checked us in said they randomly upgrade people and that we'd be pleasantly suprised as we walked in. Which we were more than suprised!!
 

This was the first thing we saw as we walked in our room.

This was the second thing we saw.. And I also kicked butt at foosball!

Our amazing bed.. I haven't slept that well in a long time!

Our view from our room..

We did the typical Vegas things, gambled a little (lost it all), shopped a little, and went to the buffet!

Then it was onto Cali!! When we got there on Friday, we just went and explored around Downtown Disney, and found out that it was only about a 5 minute walk from our hotel room to Disneyland, which was awesome!!

Our view from our balcony in Cali.

Got to meet Mickey! He kissed me right before that, but they didn't get the picture fast enough.

Alex and Captain Jack!

At the entrance.

I was SO happy I wasn't sick this time!!

Okay so now to the complaining...

We still haven't closed on our house. We most likely won't close till Friday of this week, which will be two and a half weeks over our original closing date. The thing that frusrates me the most, is when the people we're working with promise or tell us a date and then it never ends up happening, because of some little tiny legal thing that they failed to tell us needs to happen first. We could have closed on Friday, but since it's bank owned, they have to have their lawyers or someone look over all the documents, which take 48-72 hours, and they didn't get the docs till this morning. And it would've been okay, except for the fact that we had to be out of our apartment yesterday. So for now, we're living in my parent's camping trailer in their backyard!

Fun way to get back to reality after a vacation, right?

Yet another setback..

So I am frustrated beyond belief. We were supposed to close yesterday on our house, and turns out we won't be able to until NEXT Wednesday AFTER we get back from vacation.

Our condo had been winterized since the owners didn't live there this winter. And we didn't know it had to be de-winterized until the inspections people came to inspect, and couldn't since the water didn't turn on. So they had to get someone out there to fix it, which took longer than expected, and ended up backing everything else up in the process. The inspections went well, there were only a few major things that needed to be fixed. Which didn't end up being fixed at all, even though they had a deadline of last Friday. We went through our final walk through on Monday and nothing had been done to it, besides the water being turned back on.

So, needless to say, I am done with this process. I am done careing, I am done worrying, I am just done.

I'm just going to pack my things, take my hubby, and run away to California and hide away with Mickey and Minnie..

They'll make everything better, right?

House update!

Well as far as we know, everything is still set on us closing on Tuesday!! We got the inspection done this week and there were a few things wrong with it that the sellers have until tomorrow to fix, but nothing too big. Part of me is hoping the sellers go over our closing date because if they do, they'll owe me and Alex 100 bucks a day they go over! I wouldn't mind that one single bit! Ha ha..

But hopefully everything goes well and we'll get the keys on Wednesday, then on next Thursday we're going to Vegas and Disneyland for a week!!! I cannot wait, we've needed a vacation so freaking bad!

We're kind of re-enacting our honeymoon because well, ours didn't go as planned. We did go to Vegas and Disneyland for our honeymoon, but I was extremely sick with a sinus infection when we got to California, so we only went about a half day to Disneyland out of our 2 day pass we had. So this time around, I'm making sure we get our money worth and actually have fun!! And I'm really excited to stay in Vegas on the way down, because we're staying at Planet Hollywood, and it's attatched to the Miracle Mile Shops and that is like heaven to me! So I'll let Alex play in the casino for a bit while I go shopping!
What a wonderful vacation this will be.. and pics will come soon after we get home!

FINALLY!!!!!!

Well, we finally got a house!!! We are so excited! Our closing date isn't until April 27th, and then we leave for Vegas and Disneyland 2 days later, so we really won't get to move in until about the second week of May. It still needs some major deep cleaning and painting in every single room, but overall, it's in pretty good condition!
It's a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom condo in Eagle Mountain, and I love it! Once we get paint and furniture in and everything, I'll post pictures as soon as I can! Here are some pictures just from our realtor's website...

This is the living room/dining room. The arch is my favorite thing in the entire house!!!

This is our kitchen..I'm so excited to finally be able to move around and cook for Alex in this!

And this is the master bedroom..And like I said before, it needs a ton of painting!

Frustration..

For the last month or so, Alex and I have been looking into buying a condo. The $8,000 credit has been extended till the end of April, so we figured we'd take advantage of it while we can. And let me tell you, it is not a fun process!!!

We've been looking out in Eagle Mountain mostly. We just love the area out there and have a really good feeling of living out there. We've put three offers down on three different condos. The first one was a bank-owned one and it went to the highest and best bidder..which wasn't us.

The second one was great. In our price range, had everything we needed. And just like a lot of things, was too good to be true. Our offer got accepted, which was great! But turns out, the lady that owned it dropped her price too much, without thinking of all the closing things she would have to pay for, and it turned out it was considered a short sale, which are pains in the butt!

SO..We've put another offer in on another condo out there, and it's been the one I have loved the best. It needs major painting and putty work on the walls, but other than that it's in great condition. We're just waiting and waiting to hear back from the bank to see if we got it or not. Which patience really isn't a quality I posess... ha ha.

More to come on this subject when we hear more info!

Wow..

I have gotten bad at this thing again!

Well, a quick run-down of the past couple months.. (nothing's new so it won't take long!)

December...

Christmas was great! We got to do a lot of running around on Christmas day, but it made it so much fun for our first married Christmas to get to see all of our families! We didn't get to have a very big one, because we were saving for Alex's tuition that was due two weeks after Christmas...great present, huh?

January...

Alex has been back to school since the beginning of January. He's doing great, even though he hates getting up that early to do his morning classes!

February...

We had a pretty mellow Valentine's Day. Alex gave me a pass to go get a pedicure, manicure, and facial..that I still haven't used. But it's the thought that counts!!

I'm still just working and doing my thing with hair and loving it! Two girls at my work just had their babies 2 weeks apart and it has made me crave a baby...like insanely bad!!! But we're still loving being able to do whatever we want, whenever we want, without dragging the whole house and kid with us, so it'll be a while till we have kids I think!

Something new for us is that we put an offer in on a condo in Eagle Mountain and should know by Thursday if we got it or not! It's so nice, and it'd be awesome to get out of this place we're in, out of renting, and into our own house! It's a 3 bedroom, 2 full bath 1300 sq. ft condo, with a walk in closet that I could live in!! We really hope we get it!

I don't have any pictures to post..I haven't been as camera-happy as I usually am! But I did get one of us bowling for our Valentine's Day date, and you'll notice that my hair is a little different than before! I showed a picture of my natural colored hair to Alex one day and he told me to go for it, so I took advantage of his opinion and did it! It was about an 8 hour process over 2 days, but we got it to look pretty close to my natural color. It's so different, but I love it! It was such a good change!