cravings and...kicks!!!

aaaannnnd.....we're officially in the second trimester! my baby is getting so big already!

updates: the baby is now the size of a lemon, and can smile, suck its thumb, and flex its little hands and feet!

1st trimester, about 12 weeks

my sickness isn't quite on the strict schedule of every single night like it was before. it just kind of comes and goes when it pleases, usually brought on by weird foods like cucumbers and stuff. who'd have thought? also cooking meat is still pretty tough, but i'm determined! shay is now super congratulatory every time i make a meal, it's almost been worth it to eat cereal and scrambled eggs for dinner on a regular basis, since i had no energy to cook anything else. i should go off cooking more often. ;)

along with the serious food aversions, there have been some SERIOUS food cravings going on. these aren't your, "i could really go for some chips right now" kind of cravings. these are all out, no messing around, eat-this-or-starve kind of cravings. to the point that i could have just had a full, delicious, totally wonderful meal but still be totally ravenous because that ONE thing wasn't on my plate.

my bff kari posted this on facebook the other day, and it was almost not funny it was so accurate!

my cravings have included: milk, cereal, apple juice, orange juice, rocky road ice cream (that could have been me though, but we're blaming the little one), mashed potatoes, baked potatoes, potato chips, french fries, hamburgers, clementines, blue popsicles, english muffins, lemonberry slushies from sonic, onion rings (also could have just been me), winger's wings, rotisserie-style chicken, poached eggs, and jolly ranchers.

this is what we came home from the grocery store with the other night, because choosing just ONE giant bag of cereal was out. of. the. question.

i've told shay that everything about me is oriented around food lately. i have lost not only my memory and eyesight, but my motivation for most things in life - with the exception of naps and food. tonight whilst giving into my daily apple juice craving, i was watching diners, drive-ins, and dives (something like the 4th episode in a row...) and i felt the weirdest feeling on the top of my tummy. it almost felt like my heart was beating in my stomach, but then it was off rhythm with my heart, and it turned into a spasm, and suddenly...

poke.

just tiny! just the tiniest, cutest, most adorable little nudge i could have ever imagined! i only noticed it because i was being very still, and my mind was wandering during the commercials. then just a whole bunch of little taps started rapping on me, still so light and gentle, almost like someone was saying, "hey mom? mom are you there? it's me!! can you feel me? i'm big now!!!"

of course it could have also been morse code for "bring pizza. stop. pepperoni. stop. no olives. stop."

coolest experience of my life. i called shay in to tell him, and first thing he did was put his ear to my tummy like the little one in there was going to share with him exactly what it was thinking. i'm telling you...these two already completely understand each other. i was thinking, "hey that's really cool feeling! kinda like bubbles!"

and shay, being the super intuitive father that he already is, was like, "no. it's trying to speak to us. it wants something."

either way, this little person has already wonderfully and completely stolen my heart. best feeling in the whole world!!!! :)

our biggest blessing. :)

if there was ever a good reason for updating this blog - and really, reviving it - it would be this! we are, as of today, 13 weeks and 2 days pregnant. :) i kind of feel like i've gone back to being a little kid, when people would ask me how old i was and it was never just "6 years old" or "8 years old", but "6 and 3/4" or "8 and 1/2". because each day closer to this baby coming is pretty much the coolest thing in the whole world!!!

shay and i had always been open to the feelings we hoped we would get that would tell us that the lord was ready to send a precious little soul to join our family. we both thought those feelings wouldn't come until 2013, but instead of the feelings, it's this little bean that will arrive in june. we are feeling a jumble of emotions even now - happy, excited, nervous, anxious, and even a little scared. mostly though, we feel so humble and grateful for this, the biggest blessing we have ever received. we know it's going to be amazing!!

i had a feeling i was pregnant from almost the very beginning, and was so impatient to be able to take a test. one night as i was signing up for insurance, i was asked if i was pregnant on the questionnaire. to give the most accurate info possible, i decided to take a test even though i thought it was too early, and - surprise! - it came back negative. i was so disappointed. i knew it was wrong, but when only one line showed up...well, i couldn't dispute that. so i went back to the questionnaire and got ready to send it in.

i had a feeling to check it again, so i went back and pulled it out of the garbage can. i probably looked a lot like a cartoon character at that moment. the double take i did was so fast! there it was, shyly appearing next to the bold evaporation line - the line that meant my whole life was about to change. the line that meant a whole new world was being created inside of me.

because the line was so light however, i didn't trust it. so i did what anyone would do: i grabbed shay and we ran to target to buy 6 more tests, 3 of which i took that night. maybe i was thinking it was a majority rules type of deal? either way, our jury came back totally unanimous...i was going to have a baby!!

it was so fun to tell our families about the baby, many of whom gave reactions that helped us feel their total love and support on our behalf. i know i speak for both of us when i say that when others are excited for us, it really makes a difference to us! this is a big thing in our lives - the biggest! - and means more than i can express when we can tell that others are looking forward to it just as much as we are.

we've decided to make more of an effort to keep this blog updated and let more people know about it, as many of our loved ones have asked to be kept in the loop about the baby. thank goodness for modern technology!