To-Do...

Do you ever feel like life is getting away from you? I’ll be 20 weeks this weekend and can hardly believe that I’m halfway done the pregnancy. Physically I see myself expanding and know that Finley is growing; however, the thought of how our lives have changed so drastically in the last 5 months leaves me awe struck. I’m so excited to see what the next 20 weeks bring and can hardly wait to meet Finley.

What I can wait for is this never-ending to-do list of things to get done before Finley’s arrival. These include things like: the baby registry, finish (or start) the nursery, sign up and take breastfeeding 101 classes, sign up and attend the “how not to kill your baby during the first week class,” which I believe has a much more eloquent name in the course catalog at our hospital….. I know, I know, I have plenty of time; however, if these last 20 weeks go as quickly as the first, time is of the essence!

So, in addition to the mounting to-do list above, I’ve come up with my own to-do list of things to make sure that we’re doing things that matter instead of sweating the small stuff prior to our big, fall life change. Here goes….

1.       Plan a date night (or dinner out night) each week for the hubs and I

2.       Travel to see our families as frequently as we can

3.       Go to the movies at least 2x’s

4.       Spend quality time with our fur baby and take her on a walk (on her favorite trail) at least 1x/ month

5.       Take an afternoon nap 1x per weekend

6.       On Saturday mornings, do not set the alarm

Let’s see how I do in achieving these perhaps less productive but by far more fun tasks over the next 20 weeks!

Baby in the making!

Today I'm linking up with Kelly from Kelly's Korner for Show Us Your Life- New Moms! If you haven't visited her blog, she is a wonderful woman of faith raising two adorable little ladies.

For those of you just visiting me, welcome! I'm a mom-to-be due in October with a sweet baby girl named Finley. I began my journey to get pregnant in October 2010 and started this blog as a way to educate others about fertility issues by telling my story.

Below is my first blog post. Since that post a lot has changed for us with 1 successful round of IVF and now I'm chronicling the highs/lows of pregnancy and preparing for our little bundle of joy!

Despite my strong dislike for running, I’ve always been one who is running down the road of life.

October 2010, the month that I thought I would conceive….. Until then I had planned my life quite successfully and had secured the hubs and a job all according to my timeline (perhaps even ahead of schedule) and set up our happy little home in MD. I joke now, but had I known the difficulties we would have conceiving, I wouldn’t have spent the first 4.5 years of our marriage avoiding it like the plague.

Fourteen months later, the hubs and I are faced with a diagnoses that I never imagined, male-factor infertility. Although this is much more promising than lady issues, it’s equally as frustrating because there is no known cause other than genetics. So I resolve in 2012 to get pregnant, the unglamorous and scientific way via In-Vitro Fertilization.

This blog is a new year’s resolution of mine, a way of educating those who have provided support to me and as a resource to those facing similar issues as mine. It might not always be pretty, but I will try my best to be honest about what is going on and to maintain the humor and faith that has made it possible to take this journey thus far.

Welcome to my journey! It’s no longer a race and I’m no longer running; I hope that you’ll enjoy taking the journey one step at a time with me.

Month #4

The fourth month has brought a peaceful calm and normalcy back into this mommy’s life. So much so, that I often feel disconnected from the bean and am longing for it to move and let me know that it’s in there… any day now….

My appetite has somewhat stabilized, as well as my weight gain, and I’ve begun to do the things (consistently) that I once enjoyed doing pre-pregnancy, like working out. I still get very tired at the end of the day and often find myself asleep on the couch by 9pm, but other than that, we (the bean and I) are chillin’.

Here’s the month-by-month of my growing belly:

Week #13

Week #14

Week #15

Week #16

Weird food cravings:

-          Vanilla Bean ice cream, which I’ve been indulging in every night.

-          Avocado

Food aversions:

-          Sweet potatoes

Things I miss the most:

-          A frozen drink (non-virgin)

-          My ability to wear cute bathing suits, these maternity suits don’t look very flattering

And the winner is.......

Team Pink! Our little girl Finley..... still working on a middle name..... will be arriving this fall! More photos and details forthcoming when her mommy gets out of her dreamy, I cannnot wait to look at all things pink and purple daze!

What's in a name?

To date, the biggest disagreement we’ve had in our marriage (we’ll be celebrating 6 years on 05/20) has been the name for our child.  I think we both thought that we would open a name book and have that “aha moment,” but thus far that’s been far from the truth.

In three days we’ll be finding out the gender of our “bean” and would like to a have a name solidified before announcing it to the world. We’re 100% on the boy name ( initials are WJ) and finally 100% on the first name of a girl ( initial F) but are still challenged with a little girl’s middle name.

That’s where you come in….. send your middle name forth if you think it meets our requirements:

-          1 syllable

-          Cannot end in “ly”

-          Is not gender neutral

The great middle name hunt of 2012 commences now and we’re hoping to be inspired by you! Just leave a comment below and who knows, perhaps you could have a role in naming the little “bean”…. If it is a girl! You’ll know soon!