March 19th-Package from Dennis & Carrie

When arriving home from work on Friday night...I was delighted to find a package in our mailbox! Dennis & Carrie Gaul sent us this cute card and gift from South Bend, Michigan.


Matt loves these soft baby socks:

Dennis is Matt's mom's cousin. And Carrie and Matt's mom (Deb) began their friendship in high school. They both work for LifeAction ministries and Carrie works with Nancy Leigh DeMoss & Revive Our Hearts. This couple has become very dear to Matt and I throughout our married years. They have wisdom and discernment that only comes from walking closely with the Lord. Thank you Dennis & Carrie, we love you!

It was a nice surprise at the end of a long week. I could not believe how tired I was this week, how incredibly hungry I was (and in turn ate!) and how much I felt like I was growing! Then I read my pregnancy journal and I felt better...that I must not be crazy: "This was a week of rapid, whole-body growth for your baby. Existing structures became larger and more well developed, but no new structures were formed. The chances are good that this week's growth spurt for your baby also resulted in a growth spurt for you." Absolutely! (this is what I wrote by this statement!)

After a minor meltdown on Saturday of clothes not being able to fit and all of the sudden feeling huge...my wonderful husband took me shopping for a few items for work...to get me through this next stage of growth without busting through all of my clothes! I am not big enough for maternity clothes, nor am I sure that I am a fan of how the pants fit anyway, but a size up in a pair of jeans, a few larger tops and a black trenchcoat that can expand with me was a lifesaver! Thanks, Babe. :)

March 14th- 16 Weeks

16 Week Picture:


Before Church:


I weighed in at 133.4 this morning. I have been so tired this week and weekend. I can't seem to get enough sleep! Plus, I can barely make it through a church service without leaving to go to the bathroom! Not to mention when Matt and I took a min-hike yesterday at Palmer Park and I couldn't make it through the hike...thank goodness for the great outdoors and Matt standing watch! Ahh, the joys of pregnancy! :)

March 11th- 4th Dr's Appt & Package from Jessie!

I had a fairly uneventful doctor's appointment today. I got to hear the heartbeat again...which I love. It's so amazing. And I feel myself breathe a sigh of relief when Dr. Shelton finds it. Yay! There is a baby in there. Dr. Shelton said everything seems to be going well! I'm gaining weight at the right pace and on April 14th we are scheduled for an ultrasound....where we COULD find out the gender of the baby if we wanted to. But we won't. Though I feel so strongly that we are going to have a girl...we will have to wait until August to find out if I am totally crazy or not!

Today was the appointment where we could have the blood testing to find out if the baby has certain diseases or defects...such as down syndrome. But we chose not to do the testing. I would certainly be the one to get a false positive and go insane for no reason!

This week and last week I have been SO tired. I can't seem to get enough sleep. While they have been busier weeks as far as work is concerned...I don't think that is the only reason. I never had the extreme exhaustion in the first trimester but now I am beginning to feel it. I have gained probably as much weight in the last two weeks as I have gained so far in the pregnancy so maybe the baby is having a growth spurt that is making me tired. I don't really know...I'm just guessing!

I was elated to discover a package in the mail when I got home from work & my doctor's appointment! Jessie sent us the cutest gift. She made me four burp cloths and a strap that you can clip onto any blanket to create a nursing cover! Thank you, Jessie. I love your gifts! And now to share the package with the rest of you:


This girl has the most perfect writing I have ever seen:


The cloths and strap:

She even made us pink & blue so we are good with either gender :) And by the way, Jessie, the blue color is perfect. Not a baby blue...but the blue I like. And with brown! You are too good. I was just telling Matt the other day that if we do have a girl, I want to incorporate pink into the room with the brown and blue. I may have to wait until the li'l squirt gets here to decorate! :)

Close-up of patterns:


Thank you, Johnston Family!!!!

March 7th- 15 Weeks

And here is your weekly picture!

I know you all say you can't see a difference...and maybe I just do because I know I can feel it in my clothes! Plus, the scale is going up every week now. I weighed in at 132.4 this morning. At some point I will need to do some side by side shots to show progression. That is why we have been taking them every week in the same outfit. So we can do a progression later that illustrates the growth! While now it is much more apparent to us...I'm sure I will quickly get to the point where you all will see it too! My doctor actually told me I will probably not show until 4 months. I'm getting close to that mark, but I guess we won't know until I get there!

And just because that same outfit picture seems boring (especially since it looks the same to everyone!) here is a picture before church this morning.

We got a $10 coupon from Kohl's this week for the grand opening of a brand new Kohl's (we have 3 now in Colorado Springs). I was so excited because you can use it on anything. So we purchased this top for work. These flowy tops are great because I can unbotton my pants underneath of them and wear my belly band around my waist with the shirt completely concealing what is going on under there! No one is the wiser. :)

On another exciting note, while we were in Vegas last week...we missed a big announcement from our Monday night small group. Kyle and Jen are pregnant! We are totally pumped about this as we were unsure about starting a small group with young marrieds without kids, when we knew we were going to be having one soon. Kyle and Jen are due in October so they are about 8 weeks along right now. Dale, another wife in our small group, called me immediately to share the news because we told her that we were pregnant last week! Her and her husband, Michael, could hardly hold in our surprise when Kyle & Jen shared theirs! Especially because Kyle's next question after the announcement was "Is anyone else going to have kids soon?" I think they were worried just as we were about how the rest of the group would feel about little ones running around! We are telling the rest of small group on Monday night our news. God has been so amazing as we have obeyed His urging to enter into this group in faith. Seeing how everything is working out better than we could have planned it ourselves...we are humbled and in awe. Michael and Dale are trying to get pregnant also right now and both Jen and Dale are going to be stay at home moms. So amazing. Thank you, Lord for Your sweet blessings!

March 3rd- Baby Card & Stuffed Lion

We received a baby card from Grandma & Grandpa Johnson this week!

So sweet. Thank you Grandma & Grandpa!

Also, I mentioned that Matt & I were in Vegas last weekend. You can find a complete account here.
What I forgot to include is that while Matt was out on the town (and I was in my conference) he bought the cutest little gift for our new baby! He went to the Lion Habitat at MGM on Monday. If you don't know this already...he is a big fan of lions. So of course, he probably just loved having an excuse to buy a souvenir! He bought this adorable baby lion wrapped in a tiny blanket! He is so adorable! (Matt and the lion!)

February 28th- 14 Weeks

We have completed the 1st trimester!!! Can you believe it? So exciting. And I will tell you. This weekend, my stomach decided to have a growth spurt. It is getting harder to hide these days! Here are the 14 week pics. (Although we cheated and took them a day early since we would be in Vegas on Sunday.)

See? There is a definite difference from last week. At least I can tell anyway. And so can Matt! I weighed in at 131.8 this week.


Once in our room on Sunday at Caesars Palace and before going out for dinner, we did snap a few pics so they were officially 14 weeks pics!

February 27th-Packages!

Matt and I attended the Focus on your Marriage simulcast that was broadcast live from Focus on the Family. We were up bright and early on Saturday for the live taping...and joined by two other couples from our church that were in our previous small group. Pictures of that event are on our Colorado Dreams blog.

When we arrived home from the event...2 packages greeted us at the mailbox!!! One we knew was coming from Mom Witt (thought we didn't know what!) and a surprise from David, Age & Colin! How fun. Despite the fact that we needed to pack and be up early again the next morning for my work trip to Vegas...we immediately tore into them.

Here's Matt with the exciting gift from his parents.


What is it? All sorts of good stuff! Stuff for baby, mommy & daddy!


And a little note:


Essentials for baby Jeopardy:




Maternity wear for mommy: (Lots more than this...I just didn't take pics of it all!)


Let's try it on


What it will look like in another few months :)


Love this lullaby praise cd!


Our baby's first book! It is a prayer book from David, Age & Colin. So cute! Made very durable to withstand drool and abuse! Thanks guys!

Oh yes, and I am wearing another new comfy dress! Thanks Mom Witt!!