PREGNANCY PICTURES TAKEN IN THE POPPY FIELDS...

Every year around this time the poppy's come in beautifully out in the desert. Jake and I always try to go see them during peak of the season but you just never know how they will be on any given day. If it is too chilly or windy out they will not open as much which is what happened when we went to see them last year. Last weekend we decided to take a ride to check them out to see how they were looking. We started out about 8:30 in the morning and arrived around 9:00. They were closed, but you could still see them for miles. They do look pretty closed up, but nothing like when they are fully open! We decided to do a little off roading since we brought our truck to get a little higher where there were an abundance of them in the hills. As the morning went on, and the sun started to come out a little more, the poppy's all started to open up and reach towards the sun. You could see them for miles it felt like, the mountains looked so orange from being covered in them that they looked like they were on fire! We brought the camera to take pictures, but did not start out with the intentions of taking pregnancy shots of me. Jake thought it would be so pretty to capture some shots of me in the flowers and the next thing we knew it turned into a full on photo shoot :)! We just kept taking tons of pictures to take advantage of the beauty of the flowers and get pregnancy pics all at the same time! The weather was incredible and it was such a special moment between us...a day we will both never forget! We decided that next year after the baby is born we are going to try and take pictures of the baby in the Poppies. We are planning on bringing props such as a red wagon and a basket to put the baby in.

As we were leaving it started to get more crowded with people arriving down by the main roads checking the Poppies out. It was so nice to have a truck to off road up to the higher hills because we got so much privacy without anyone disturbing us or getting in the way while we were taking pictures.

Once we were back on the main road and headed back home Jake pulled over on the side of the road, where a lady and her son were selling fresh cut Lilacs that smelled incredible, and bought a bouquet for me. When we got home he even arranged them beautifully for me in a bucket of water!

MY TUMMY @ 20 WEEKS...

I am all belly and he is riding low :)! I had a doctors appointment last week and Dr. Stone was really happy with where my weight was at for 20 weeks! She said that I am only 11 pounds more than my pre-pregnancy weight so I am doing great! She informed me that a healthy weight gain during a pregnancy for a woman my size is between 25-30 pounds so I am right on track. She reminded me to keep eating healthy and that splurging once in a while was OK as long as I did it in moderation and practiced self control! I lost so much weight from being so sick in my first trimester so that helped the weight cause a little, although I still feel guilty for the weight I lost during that time. The important thing is that my weight loss did not hurt the baby and he is doing well. Jake and I got to hear his heartbeat again and she said that it sounded healthy at 150 beats per minute. I look forward to hearing our little guy's heartbeat every time we go to the doctors. There is nothing like hearing your unborn baby's heartbeat...I cry each time I hear it! We were very happy with our visit and are very happy with our doctor.

MY TUMMY @ 17 WEEKS...

PICKING OUT THE FURNITURE FOR THE BABY'S ROOM

One weekend Jake and I took a drive to Babies R Us as I was feeling much better and wanted to get out of the house since I had such cabin fever from being stuck in the house pretty much my whole first trimester. While we were there we decided to start our baby registry and start making decisions on larger items such as car seats, strollers and the baby's furniture for his room. It was really nice because they had such a nice selection of furniture to choose from. Jake and I both decided we liked the same bedroom set so it made it really easy! We both really liked the dark wood finish and the finish we chose is called Espresso and the name of the collection we chose is called Babi Italia Pinehurst. The collection looks as classy as the name sounds! We loved how the crib can be turned into a toddler bed when the baby is a toddler and then it can be used as a day bed or regular bed as he gets older! How far cribs have come today...it's amazing! He just better like this bed until he is a teenager! We did not like the idea of purchasing a changing table as we felt it was kind of a waste of money because it can only be used for a short period of time so we opted to choose a dresser/changer combo and feel that he will be able to use this for years to come as well. We also decided that we would like to get him the 5 drawer dresser so that he has more space for clothing.

So far we only have the crib set up in his bedroom. My parents purchased the crib, picked it up at the store for us and delivered it to our house! What service I tell you! The crib was their big gift to us and I am so thankful to have such great parents to help us out. Of course I could not wait to have Jake put it together so he did so a couple days after it was dropped off. I am really looking forward to getting the rest of the furniture soon and getting his room all put together! Jake's parents and grandparents have talked about maybe purchasing the two dressers for us so that would be really nice! Below is a picture of the bedroom set (That is not the decor we chose though in the picture...see previous post for a picture of the room decor) and a video of how the bed works (JUST BE SURE TO GO TO MY MUSIC PLAYER AT THE BOTTOM OF MY BLOG AND PAUSE THE SONG PLAYING OR IT WILL DRIVE YOU NUTS TRYING TO LISTEN TO THE VIDEO. YOU CAN UN-PAUSE THE MUSIC WHEN DONE WITH THE VIDEO).

A LOVE FOR ANIMALS...

We have decided to decorate the baby's room in a Zoo/Jungle theme since Mommy has such a love for animals. After all, it runs in the family on my side! My mom loves animals and I grew up hearing stories of how she brought a tortoise home one day and told my Grammy that it followed her home or how she plotted with a boy she was friends with down the street when she was growing up to bring her a kitten from his cats litter to her birthday party as a birthday gift in a basket so my Grammy could not say no. She knew she could not have one but it was a gift and how could my Grammy make her give it back! Or how a chimpanzee escaped it's trainers (who worked for the studios) property when she was little and she found it sitting on the ledge of my grandparents pool splashing water and begged my papa to keep it! The trainer of course came looking for the chimp but that did not stop my mom from begging my papa for a monkey. He told her that if she could save enough money to buy one then she could have one! So my mom went and found a shoe box and wrote "Monkey Money" on it to start her savings! She never did save enough money to get that monkey she always wanted :)! Mom was always bringing home strays claiming they followed her! Funny thing, still to this day, she takes in strays and tries to find their owners. My dad started his first job at the age of 11 training dogs at a kennel. He really cracks me up how he has a million nicknames for he and my moms 4 dogs and is constantly coming up with new ones! What is even more funny is that they are all so smart and know that he has such a soft spot for them so they are constantly begging him for treats and he gives in very easily! I wonder if our child will learn this same trick?! As for my love for animals...it would have been fun to grown up on a farm with many different animals but since I didn't I only grew up with dogs. Mom has always been crazy allergic to cats as an adult so they were never an option when I lived at home. Now that I am married I have a little Zoo of my own...Three dogs (Zoey, Rocky and Paige) and two cats (Zack and Molly). Oh, and a salt water reef tank which is more like hubby's than mine but I still love it! My sister is also a huge animal lover and currently works with Lions and Tigers and Bears...well not bears! She went to EATM to be trained in Exotic Animal Training Management.

So I would like to pass down our love for animals to our baby and teach him how to love animals as much as we all do. I am going to decorate his room with monkey's hanging from the ceiling and Jake and I picked out an adorable bedding set which I will post a picture of. A couple years back I bought this adorable elephant rocker that I will put in his room also. I look forward to the day he can start riding it. I will post a picture below of the rocker. As soon as his room is complete I will be sure to post pictures to share with you all. Decorating his room will be such a wonderful nesting experience :)!

SCRAPBOOKING

I really enjoy scrapbooking when time permits and plan on doing a book for the baby. A couple of times throughout the year Michaels has a really good sale on their scrapbooking supplies so I like to take advantage of them when I can! Especially since I always have a gift card that has been given to me as a gift from my Grammy for different holidays. So I picked up a few baby embellishments at 40% off the other day during a big sale. I know I will be very busy when the baby arrives but I am hoping that I will get a little free time in! Scrapbooking really relaxes me and makes me happy. Check out these cute things I picked up!

MORE THINGS FROM MOMMY...

MOMMY'S GIFTS FOR HER LITTLE MAN...

I have picked up a few things for my little man over the past couple months, but I have been trying really hard not to go crazy as I am sure I will get a lot of nice gifts at my baby shower. How can this mother to be resist buying her baby some stuff?! Especially since it is my first! I tend to gravitate towards the greens if you notice. You can't really tell but in the second picture of the onesie it has little paw prints all over it! Here are some things I have picked up:

DADDY'S GIFTS TO BABY...

I thought I would share a few things that Daddy has picked up for his little man :). The cute pink Elephant teether was actually bought before Jake knew we were having a boy. He brought it home to cheer me up when I was really sick in my first trimester. I am sure that little man will not mind that it is pink...after all he is only going to chew it up and slobber all over it! Mommy really loves it because of her love for elephants ;). Can you believe Daddy actually picked out the two outfits pictured!? Such good taste! I love the monkey outfit and the cute little monkey face on the butt! The other outfit Jake picked out made him think of his Dad "Grandpa Russ" because he has a Jeep that he takes off roading, and Jake thought it was cute how there is a monkey driving a Jeep! I wonder what Grandpa Russ will think about this outfit?!?!?

GENETICS SCREENING AND FINDING OUT THE SEX OF THE BABY EARLY...

On February 25 (at 13 weeks and 4 days along), Jake and I set out to the Hospital for an appointment with an outside specialist that my primary doctor sent me to for some genetic screening tests to be performed. During this ultrasound they compare your blood test results (taken a week prior to the appointment) to the baby's organs and measurements. They look for genetic abnormalities such as Spina Bifida, Downs Syndrome and Trisomy 18 in your fetus. Normally the tests are performed when a woman is of age 35 or older but I was given the option to have these tests even though I am only 30. I opted to have the tests performed for piece of mind. If my insurance was going to cover it and my doctor was going to give me the referral to do the tests...then why not!!! Some people would rather not fuss with it but I felt it was something I wanted to do! Dr. Benoit's office was so nice and he had the best equipment imaginable! He did a 3D ultrasound and a 4D ultrasound. The 4D ultrasound was very creepy looking but so much more realistic than the 3D one. During the ultrasound he said "I know what it is"...Would you like to know he asks?! Would I like to know???...OF COURSE!!! I had another ultrasound date lined up for April 6Th with my primary health care but was not about to wait until that date! He informed us that he could only give us a 80% guarantee as I was still only 13 weeks along which is early but he seemed pretty confident! Jake and I then learned it was a BOY! He then informed us that all the the baby's organs looked like they were developing on track and that my first trimester blood tests came out negative for Spina Bifida, Down Syndrome and Trisomy 18. During the ultrasound our little baby boy was very sleepy and kept putting his thumb in his mouth...it was so cute! At one point the doctor even had to poke at my tummy a little to get him to wake up and move so he could see his spine to make sure it was developing correctly. Jake and I just sat in amazement during the whole ultrasound staring at our little baby. I didn't want it to end! Luckily, the doctor made us a video of the ultrasound to take home so we can watch it anytime! He also gave us some pictures that turned out really good!