Just the belly

Just a belly shot for today....which is all I'm sure anyone wants to see anyways :) Baby girl is growing fast! Can't believe I hit the 3rd trimester already. Can't wait to meet her!!!

Baby girl at 28 weeks and 4 days:

P.S. This is my best attempt with the camera timer :)

25

25. Yep. That's how old I turned on May 5th. I must say that it was my first birthday that I've actually dreaded. It just sounds so old! I'm not 18 anymore....that was like 7 freaking years ago! Ugh. Happy birthday me. Blah.

Well it was a good day though all in all. I only had to work half a day and after that Brandon took me out to lunch to the Olive Garden! YES! We only eat there every once in a while (like my birthday) because Brandon doesn't like it for some strange reason, so I take full advantage of going there on my birthday.

Yikes I just sat here for nearly a minute straight staring bugged eyed at the computer trying to remember what else we did that day. haha. Um, we just mainly relaxed and Brandon let me do basically whatever I wanted. He made me waffles for breakfast (another one of my loves that Brandon doesn't like so it's always a real treat when I get it) and we also took advantage of one of the 3 warm days that we've had this year and went for a bike ride. We ended the night with ice cream cake and me watching a chick flick while Brandon sat next to me and played on his computer. That's the one thing he still refuses to do, whether it's my birthday or not is watch a chick flick with me. Which he SHOULD because I sit through all his weirdo alien/sci-fi stuff for him. Where's the love?!!

Brandon also thought it'd be funny and play a trick on me. He gave me this huge present and I had no idea what it was, so I opened it and what was it? Your top of the line Nerf Gun. I just stared at it and then stared at him and then stared at it and then glared at him and told him this better be a joke. And he had me going for like 3 minutes that this was in fact the present he got me. Was I fuming?? Just a little. Luckily for him though just about the time I almost sent him to the dog house, he said he was just joking and gave me my real present. Here's some pictures to prove it...

This is my "oh you better be joking" laugh/smile. See how forced??

And here's one of sweet baby girl at 24 weeks along (we'll be 26 weeks tomorrow) And I swear she has double in size since then:

So I'm gonna take a D.C.O.S. here (drastic change of subject) but Brandon randomly reminded me of this one time blah blah blah and began to tell a story of an embarrassing moment of mine that I tried to block out. Remember this post? Yeah he thought it'd be pretty funny to tell his class mates about that one. Ugh the things they must think about me! So it got me thinking about all the bad luck I've had over the years with embarrassing stuff. Which I'm sure I feel like embarrassing stuff is always happening to me because I get embarrassed easily. I then decided to just let my guard down and say to heck with it and let everyone know some of my most memorable moments that I would've liked to forget at the time, but now I have to admit they're pretty funny!

*Brandon and I decided to go out ice skating last fall and I hurried and threw on some pants and a sweater and out we went. We got to the ice skating rink and walked around for a bit and found someone to ask if we could go skating and of course free skate was only lasting for about 3 more minutes. So we turned around and watched for a second and I went to adjust my sweater only to discover that I had a bra hanging out the bottom of my sweater!!! I walked around with a bra hanging out the back of my pants for who knows how long and sweet Brandon "claimed" he didn't notice, that's why he didn't say anything. yeah whatever.

*One time when I worked at a credit union, I was trying to cross-sell a mortgage and I have a tendency of mixing up words that sound similar. So I was really close and then I blurted out "Well if you would like, I can get your number so I can have a Mortgage officer call you and set up a confrontation?" (I meant consultation) And she just looked at me weird and said "No thanks" and walked away. I was puzzled because it was going so well, when a coworker asked "Did you just say confrontation???" Ugh Stupid stupid!

*I was leaving work for lunch one day and I stepped off the curb to get to my car when my high heel got caught in my pant cuff and I didn't even have time to even try and stop myself. I just fell spread eagle and smacked right into the side of my car. Most ungraceful fall ever AND it made it better that about 20 feet from me was some Pepsi
guy unloading his truck and he saw the whole thing. I've never got in my car and driven away so fast in my life.

Note: I also had my high heel get caught in my pant cuff countless times while at work. And it ALWAYS had to happen when I was walking to the counter to help a customer. Seriously. Why it never happened when no one is around, I'll never know.

*On my 2nd date with Brandon we went and played Bingo for my 21st birthday. Well I had accidentally stamped a number she hadn't said, so I made a mental note to not count that one. Well of course I forgot and a little while later was so excited to see that I had bingo. So I shouted BINGO BINGO!!! What are the odds my first time playing I'd win?!! Well the lady came over to check my card and announced to the whole room that I had mistamped something and in fact didn't have bingo. There was lot's of laughing and pointing and whispers of "Oh that's gotta be embarrassing!!" throughout the room. I was convinced for the rest of the night that Brandon wouldn't go out with me ever again.

*I usually don't get embarrassed around Brandon, so this is rare. Brandon wanted me to proof read a paper he had written about computer programming or something to that nature. Not gonna lie, it's not my favorite thing to do cause it all goes over my head and makes it very boring to read. Well I hurried and skimmed through it and made little corrections and handed it back and told him it all looked good. And he said something like "Wow you went through that fast! It all sounded ok and flowed smoothly and made sense?" and I said "Oh yeah! Best paper ever!" Only to find out a few seconds later that the paper was actually front AND back...and I just lied and told him that it all flowed smoothly and made sense even though I had no idea that there was text on the back! He then thought it'd be pretty funny to tell his whole class about that one and now I'm sure they all think I'm retarded.

*I was at work one day when Carrie Underwood's song "Before He Cheats" (the one where she trashes a guys car for cheating on her) came on and I told one of my male co-workers that was one of my favorite songs because every girl fantasizes about doing that to a guy who broke their heart. A couple weeks later another Carrie Underwood song came on, I think it's called "Last Name" (that one is about a girl who slept with a guy and didn't even know his last name) and my male co-worker hears the song come on and says in front of a lot of other coworkers "Hey Nicole! It's the song that you said you fantasize about doing!" And I turned about 10 shades of red and hurried and said "NO NO NO!!! Not this Carrie Underwood song! It's the other one about trashing the car!!!!" and he was like "Oh, my bad...they sound the same." Humiliation galore.

*Back in the day when I was on the swim team, I was getting ready for practice and my coach started counting down how long we had to get in the water and I was rushing to put my cap and goggles on and the countdown got closer and closer to 0 and she said something like "Hurry up Nicole!!!" and I shouted back "Ok I'm going!" and I went to hurry and jump in the water and instead stepped on a kick board and totally slipped and completely belly flopped ungracefully into the water in front of most of my team mates....pretty sure I didn't come up for air for a while until I was ready to face the humiliation.

And I know there are many many more but those are the ones that are seared into my brain. At least it makes for some good reading.

P.S. Baby girl is doing just wonderfully. Growing and moving like crazy! I LOVE IT! Pregnancy has been an amazing experience and I really am enjoying everything about it (well almost everything) 99 days to go!!! Can't believe it!!

Delighted

We are so thrilled to be having this little baby girl join our family. It seems to be the only thing we can talk/think/dream about. We've already started collecting stuff for this little sweetie and it doesn't help us be more patient!! All I want to do now is shop for her and buy clothes that make me want to have a come apart right there in the store because I can't even handle how cute all the little baby girl clothes are. But I must say I have been pretty good. We've only bought 2 outfits for her. That's right, only 2. I should get a freaking medal for that. Cause if it were up to me, I'd be getting one of everything in all the stores everywhere.

It was so fun going to our ultrasound. The days...weeks leading up to it were brutal. The night before was just like Christmas! Full of excitement and anticipation....were we buying blue or pink?? Having a little Phoebe or Phoebo???? (kudos to all you "Friends" fans who got that) We finally made it to our appointment and practically skipped into the office. Thankfully, we barely even had time to sit down before our name was called to come on down! We had the coolest ultrasound tech. He was very fun and made the experience really neat. He'd point out every little detail about her and we both nod and say something like "oh yeah I totally see her kidney" when in real life we both admitted after word to thinking "Huh?? I don't see it, whatever you say dude!"

Then out of no where, without even giving us a heads up, he practically sang "It looks like you have yourself a little girl!!!" And my immediate response was "Huh??? What!! Seriously??!! Check again!!" to which he patted my head and checked again and said "Yep, definite girl." Brandon squeezed my hand and said "I knew it! The magic 8 ball never lies!!" We both screamed in delight and couldn't believe that we created this sweet little girl. And oh my gosh she yawned during the ultrasound and we SAW IT!!! That's right, we saw her open her mouth and yawn. Seriously folks, CUTEST. THING. EVER.

She was kind of a little stinker during the ultrasound though and had herself wrapped up in a ball so tight that we couldn't really get a good look at her face on the 3d ultrasound, but we got a pretty good side shot of her and also another one of her sucking her thumb. Showing here:

I know these are hard to tell but, it's just of the side of her face and she's facing towards the left. I can't stop staring at her little nose and those perfect little lips. The second picture is the one of her sucking her thumb.

And here is what she looks like on the outside! This was taken today at 22 weeks 2 days.

As you can see, she still has lot's of growing to do! But I'm finally starting to feel pregnant instead of just bloated. ha ha. Don't mind my hot pajamas, as soon as I get off work I peel my tight work pants off and put these comfy ones on! If only I could wear them to work.

Well that's all for now. Brandon is winding down this semester and I can't wait!!! Yay for getting my husband back! Hope everyone had a Happy Easter!

P.S. Have you had these????

My gosh I can't stop eating them. I become like a crazed lunatic every time I'm around them. I swear it has some addictive chemical in it that makes you crave it fortnightly! (kudos again to you if you recognize that quote)

Results are in....

IT'S A GIRL!!!!

Mother's Instinct??

Do people really have "mothers instinct" when it comes to knowing the gender of their baby? Because to me it's like, you've got a 50/50 shot and that's pretty good odds! I just don't know about all that, but it's probably because I have had zero inkling's of what this little bean is growing inside me. ZERO. I couldn't even venture a guess. I even try and talk myself into saying "Oh I think it's a boy" but then immediately after I say it I'm thinking, "well actually i'm gonna go with girl...no wait...boy, girl, boy, girl?!?!?! AHHHH" Then I have a little argument with myself about what happens when I try and guess and I should just shrug my shoulders and say I have no idea. I haven't even had any dreams about baby either! I've had dreams about being pregnant, but even in my dreams we haven't found out yet. Mr. Brandon though has had PLENTY of dreams about baby though. I think so far he's had 3 dreams it's a girl and 1 dream it's a boy. That's a total of 4 dreams people! And I've had none. I must've passed my "mother instinct" onto him.
That's when I go to the trusty internet and other tools to help with my guessing. I came across this little calendar and according to it we're having a girl:

But still, I can't get passed the fact that there is a 50/50 shot in it being right, so of course people think it really works. The odds are great! Plus the magic 8 ball in Walmart said it was going to be a girl too and we all know those never lie. Everyone seems to think it's a girl, which makes me want to be the rebel and say boy! haha show them.

I guess I'll just suck it up for another 3 more weeks until our doctor appointment....*Sigh*

I have it all pictured in my head though and I replay it like 20 times a day of the doctor finally announcing what it is and me and Brandon jumping up in excitement with high fives and chest bumping!! It's gonna be great.

And last but not least, I think baby is finally start to grow quite nicely and I just want the whole world to see. However, the whole world doesn't need to see my growing chin(s) and chipmunk cheeks as this pregnancy progresses, so therefore I probably won't post any belly shots with my face. For your viewing pleasure, Baby Holdaway at 17 weeks:

Baby update

So we have an official due date now...August 27th! 2 days before school starts. Yeah. Good timing us. NOT! My due date was a week sooner on the 20th but for some reason I'll never understand, the doctor set me back a week and made me hate him just a little bit. I only hope that he induces me early so that Brandon can actually see our child before being engulfed with school again. And then he decided he was going to make me wait another 5 weeks until we find out if it is a boy or a girl. I am so impatient about this and want to know now! Temper tantrum thrown? Maybe. haha. Oh well, it'll get here some day. April 11th we will find out if it's a boy or a girl. Can't wait! We heard the heart beat for the first time today and it was crazy! Beating at a whopping 151 beats per minute. It was a lot faster than I expected and still so crazy that there really is something inside me.
We have seriously no clue on what we're having. I have had no mother's instinct or dreams or hunches or anything. I can honestly say though that we really don't care either way, blue or pink, we'll be ecstatic! And I must warn you, our kid will be so cute you may just barf. Or throw the computer screen across the room because you can't even handle the cuteness that you are beholding. Just you wait.

Quarter century dead

Those were the words quoted by my husband when I asked him what he thought about turning 25. I'd never quite heard it that way and I thought it was pretty clever. That Brandon, he's so funny. His birthday was a little over a week ago and I decided it was probably time to post about it. It landed on a holiday this year so we both got work and school off! I was so excited to spend the whole day with him. It started out early for me since after I got up to do my nightly bathroom run (gotta love baby pushing on the bladder) I was oh so sneaky and went downstairs and I had hid 25 black balloons all around the house (are you impressed he didn't find them? That's cause I hid them where I knew he wouldn't ever look, like the washer and dryer!) So I spread that all out over the floor and hung up a "over the hill" banner as well as a matching balloon. I was quite pleased with myself that I pulled it off without him knowing. Though I did lay up in bed for a long time after word just waiting for one of those balloons to hit something sharp and pop and ruin my surprise. Although it would've been pretty funny to see Brandon shoot up out of bed yelling "what? what?! What?!!" hahaha I'm sure he really wouldn't do that, but I'd like to think that he would because it makes me smile just imagining it. Here's a photo of the damage:

And this is the look Brandon had on his face all day longing knowing he was now a quarter century dead:


Just kidding, he looked like his usual adorable self all day. More like this:

We didn't do anything to grand for his birthday. We went and saw a movie and played Donkey Kong for like 4 hours haha. Then we went out to Olive Garden for some amazing food...oh it was delightful. I loved spending the day with him.
And to my sweet honey bunches of oats, I'm so glad you were born. What would I do without you constantly teasing and entertaining me?! I love that I get to spend many more birthdays with you!

On a side note, how about that snow storm we got a few days ago??? That was crazy! I think it took us 30 minutes to dig our car out!


And these pictures don't ever do it justice. There was so much! I LOVE IT!!!

p.s. Baby is doing great!!! We have a doctor appointment on Monday and I'll be a little over 16 weeks by then and I really want to see if I can sweet talk the doctor into telling us if our baby is a he or a she so I can stop calling baby "it" Wish me luck!