Keeping (What's Left Of) My Mind Through Pregnancy

Having a healthy pregnancy is vital to mommy and baby. Not just to be physically fit but mentally as well. It's hard to keep those worries and crazy emotions in check when your hormones are insanely out of whack. I decided to step out of my routine lifestyle in order to find some balance and emotional stability. I can get so worried and anxious about everything. I thought that yoga would be a good idea to calm my nerves and get a bit of exercise. I purchased 10 classes and have 9 more to go. Because of my schedule I will probably only make it weekly (if that) which means by the time I finish with my package I will be 30 weeks pregnant or more! I can't imagine how hard it's going to be to maneuver by then since my belly is already getting in the way! Anyway, baby girl is doing good. I felt her kick pretty hard this past weekend and Matt put his hand on my stomach and felt her too. I look forward to her getting bigger and her kicks stronger.

21 weeks pregnant

It's a....

Sorry it’s taken a couple days to post this but the results are in: it’s a girl! I was surprised by the news because I was certain I was going to have a baby boy. My feelings about that probably came from the old wives tale that when carrying a girl you get really sick and feel awful (though I know it’s not always the case and can go either way for either gender). I am looking forward to this new chapter. It all seems so real now. My life is really going to change and I couldn't be more thrilled!

Tomorrow! :)

Tomorrow we find out the big news! Baby boy or girl?! We shall see. I'm feeling kind of anxious about this. Not because I have a preference but because whatever I do find out tomorrow determines the rest of my life. A baby in general changes life but let's face it, life is different in the long run decided on Y or X chromosomes. Let's just hope we have a healthy, happy, sweet little baby! I think we're going to find out it's a boy but only time (and the sonographer) will tell!

Ceremony and Tears

I don’t usually mind being open with how I feel and wearing my heart on my sleeve. I’m okay with being soft and crying in a movie theater. I have no problem expressing my love and affection for my husband in front of anyone and everyone. We’re both really affectionate people who willingly show our fondness and adoration towards each other and while we try not to be sickening about it, it does happen in public and in front of friends and family. The most vulnerable I’ve ever been though is on our wedding day and I will admit it was a little nerve wracking. It was also, in my opinion, the highlight of the ceremony if not the best part of the wedding. We said the standard traditional vows that I’m sure everyone is familiar with. I was smoothly getting through them until I got to “in sickness and in health” and then I got pretty choked up. After the vows we had our unity ceremony in which we went with pouring two different colors of sand into one container to symbolize our union or something. This was a bit difficult because my hand was shaking and my nose was runny from crying. Our officiant had a great idea for us to write each other love letters and then she would read them. I loved this because we didn’t write our own vows and because she was the one reading it- not us. (It just would have been too hard for me to get the words out.) She read Matt’s letter to me first and any composure I held during the vows was out the window. The tears were flowing. After my letter was read we said “I do” and were pronounced husband and wife. The hardest part was over and it was time to celebrate!

Getting ready

My lovely side bun with flowers

Feeling a bit anxious

My easily distacted groom and his groomsmen

Waiting for his daughter

The waterworks begin

Trying to pull myself together before the big moment

My groom anticipating my arrival

My bridesmaids waiting for me too

Feeling good

My dad lifing my veil

Check out the awesome mason jar arrangments Matts mom put together!

Pouring sand

Love letters being read

Not the most flattering picture, but here's me crying

Our "first" kiss

Woo-hoo, we did it!



One Week Til We Know!

Next week we will be finding out the sex of our little one! Today my mom gave me my first article of baby clothing. It's unisex, of course, even though she is adamant that we're having a girl. It was purchased from a wonderful store in Old Town Alexandria called 10 Thousand Villages. The store is a fair trade organization that markets hand made products from disadvantaged artisans from more than 38 countries. They have unique and really beautiful products and you're helping underprivileged people earn a living (as if you need another reason to shop)!

 About the adorable onesey: Sri Lanka is home to about a tenth of the estimated 40,000 Asian elephants in the wild. However, they're being killed because they interfere with agriculture. The animals have a large appetite and are eating the farmers crops and such. Many people believe that the only way for human and elephant to sucessfully live side by side is for the farmers to be compensated for the damage done. Mr. Ellie Pooh is using elephant resources (find our what here) as a sustainable economic income to help farmers and elephants co-exist.