16 Week Belly Pic

Doctor's Appointment

I had another doctor's appointment yesterday. All is well! I finally have gained a few pounds. After feeling so sick and not wanting to eat and then getting the flu...it took a little longer to put on a couple of pounds. My belly is definitely starting to take shape. I am not able to button my pants and have to trust the belt to keep them from falling down. I am not big enough yet for maternity pants, but that will come soon enough.

Tomorrow my parents and sister Melissa will be getting to town. We will be going to church in the afternoon, have a wonderful Christmas Eve dinner and then going to bed early so we can get up early to catch our flight to FLORIDA!

Yes that is right, we are going to be spending our Christmas break in Florida this year. My aunts and uncles and most of my cousins will be joining my grandma in Ft. Myer's Beach for a vacation/reunion. We are anxious to find out how Macayla does on an airplane! We are flying with my parents so at least there will be extra help when she doesn't want to be on the plane any longer.

I hope that everyone has a blessed Christmas and safe travels to all!

Christmas at Jason's parents

Last Saturday we spent a wonderful day at Jason's parent's house. We started the event with an incredible brunch that kept us full the rest of the day! After brunch put the kids down for a nap and the adults got to play some games. Just have to note that the girls beat the boys at the TV version of Scene it! :) When the naps were all done we gathered around the Christmas tree to open presents. Macayla was way more into presents this year. She got so excited with every one. It was very cute. Overall we had a great day!

Visit from Santa

Macayla must have been a very good girl this year. Santa came to visit at her cousin Collin's house when Macayla and Collin's other two cousins were visiting. Macayla wasn't so sure at first what to think about Santa but she was by no means scared. She sat on his lap like it was no big deal and enjoyed singing Christmas carols with everyone!

Belly pics

The upper two pictures are from when I was 12 weeks and the bottom picture is about 8 or 9 weeks. I have been doing very well lately. After about 6 weeks of bad nausea all day long with only an hour relief here and there, last week Monday a magic switch turned. Since that day I have not had any nausea (knock on wood). Although I know that it could come back at times I have been very grateful to be over the worst of it! Besides really bad heartburn yesterday afternoon I'm doing great!

Macayla continues to grow! Her vocabulary is constantly increasing. It seems like each week she gains 4 or more new words. She continues to be our "little helper" with everything we try to do...it is crazy how independent not only does she want to be but is becoming. Her potty training is going very well (at the sitter's at least). As long as she is taken to the potty on a regular basis she keeps a dry diaper. Almost every nap she is waking up with a dry diaper and sometimes when she wakes up in the mornings.

Hope everyone is enjoying getting ready for the Christmas season!

Baby Starke # 2: First Trimester Re-cap

Yes, the rumors are true...Jason and I are expecting baby #2 in June! Macayla already is pointing to my belly and saying "baby". It is very cute.

As you can tell from the previous post, our Fall was very crazy. On top of Jason being gone more than he was home, being in the middle of volleyball season and the start of the school year I was hit hard with early pregnancy symptoms. What hit hard first was the extreme fatigue. No matter how much sleep I got I could not feel rested. I was constantly yawning in the classroom and feeling like I could so easily nod off to sleep. This started about 2 weeks before we found out I was pregnant and last for the 4-5 weeks after finding out. By the time I took the test, I was already 5 1/2 weeks. I had a strong suspicion I was, but didn't have time to go buy the test...more like the energy to stop somewhere after practice and picking up Macayla. Jason was the one who actually ended up buying the test. I took it and with in seconds it was show a positive sign.

Jason didn't freak out quite as bad as last time. (Last time he left that same morning for Chicago and avoided talking to me all day). This time he was pretty calm, but told me that it was probably wrong...a false positive. The test was a double so I took the other one the following morning and as you would suspect, it was again positive.

By the start of week 6 the nausea started. It started earlier than when it did with Macayla and ended up being much worse. With Macayla I would feel sick if I didn't eat "soon" enough, but as soon as I ate I'd be fine for the most part. This time around I felt sick before eating and again 45 minutes after eating and it cycled ALL DAY LONG! From week 6 to week 12 I experienced terrible nausea. With Macayla I had about 4-5 weeks of not feeling well with only 2 weeks of really bad....this time around the whole 6 weeks were bad. Not 1 day was better then the next. Today was actually the first time I had been at work in 6 weeks that I hadn't felt like puking all day long!

Jason and I told our parents around week 7. With as much traveling as he was doing we decided to have him tell his parents over the phone, but while I was visiting for dinner. He got on the phone with his dad and asked him what was for dinner. His dad told him and Jason asked if he thought he had enough food. His dad said yes...why? Jason then stated that I was eating for 2. At this point his dad did not react but gave the phone to Jason's mom...Jason did the same thing with her. That weekend I went with Macayla to visit my parents. Jason went through the same routine with them. It wasn't the most creative but it was cute and did the job!

Last week Jason and I had our first appointment with the OB. We were able to hear the sound of the baby's heartbeat for the first time. It came in at 160....whatever that means :).

As I approach the completion of week 12 on Friday I hope I am finally on an up swing. It has been a rough several weeks but as rough as it has been, a few weeks of yuck is worth a lifetime of relationship!

Crazy Fall Schedule

I apologize dearly to all of my blog readers (if there are any left!). This fall was crazy to say the least. Jason was gone for work way more than usual, the first month of school is typically very hectic and volleyball was going on during the same time!

Macayla has changed sooo much over even just the past few weeks. Her vocabulary increases on a daily basis. She is becoming such a little girl. This week I picked her up and her hair was in full pigtails! She looked so grown up. Things have started calming down a little bit lately...just in time for parent/teacher conferences :(. Jason has been around...no overnights in the past couple of weeks. Here are a few pictures from the past few months.

Okay...I will try to remember some of Macayla's "new things":
"Help please"
"Goodnight"
"Amen"
"baby"
"ball"
Jumps onto the couch
Tries to help with EVERYTHING
Loves to buckle the snaps on her booster seat
Will have full conversations on the phone...even if no one is on the other side of the conversation
Her dance moves have multiplied
Wants to do everything independently
Consistently goes potty on the potty at the sitters...home is a little more inconsistent
She points to her diaper when she needs to go