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Friday, December 30, 2011

Christmas 2011 with The Shields!

Hey All! This post is a little late, story of my life now! Anyways, we were so blessed this year to have yet another amazing Christmas! We were able to make Christmas Eve candle light service and then got to celebrate with both our extended families on Christmas Eve. Brian also worked at the firehouse on Christmas day. But it worked out great because we got up super early had our Christmas together, a yummie Christmas morning breakfast and opened presents together! Okay I will admit I was sad when 7:30am rolled around and he had to leave. I think I hugged him for like 5 minutes straight cause I didn't want him to go! I stayed with my family most of the day. Then I went to the firehouse, brought the guys a yummie dinner and got to hang out for a few hours in the oh-so-comfy recliners! :)

For Christmas we got lots of baby stuff which is awesome!!! We are so thankful! I cannot WAIT to get the cute little clothes washed and put away. Maybe this will be the first time ever that I will enjoy doing laundry. Oh yes and we are super ready to get things going in the nursery. First step was new carpet. DONE! Looks amazing! My sweet hubs worked SO hard all week with my dad and our close friend Shawnski to get all the old carpet ripped up, seal the floors, replace all our stairs, and fix all the creeks in our floor! Woohoo!! Pictures to come soon. I'm still deep cleaning everything and of course putting up some new decor. Did I mention that I cannot WAIT to get hmmmm..... every single room repainted in our house! Well YUP I can't wait. Looks like we will start on the guest bedroom and nursery very very soon, right babe? :)

Here are our Christmas cards this year. I got the template on a cute website: www.groopdealz.com .We soooo badly wanted to do maternity pictures for the actual picture but ya know we ran out of time. So we used our engagement pictures which were done in January 2011. Maternity pictures will be hopefully this January sometime before I get tooooo huge! :)




Now for a baby Shields update:

How far along: 23 weeks

Total weight gain: not sure around 15lb or so.

Maternity clothes: nope- wearing my belly band with my jeans love that thing!

Stretch marks: nope but I'm freaking out at any little mark I see. 

Sleep: great. Really loving my wedge I sleep with

Best Moment: I was in the bath the other night and I felt the baby moving all around. I then noticed I can actually see my tummy move when the baby moves! SO cool! Also loved loved loved seeing Brian open all our baby gifts this Christmas. He is getting SO excited and I just love seeing that excitement in his eyes, so cute!

Miss anything: nope- just my husband when he is at the station.

Movement: lots. The kicks are getting stronger which means baby shields is growing, yay!

Food cravings: ORANGES! Salads! But did I say ORANGES? Well this week, as of Christmas day I have been eating oranges like crazy. I had 4 on Christmas day, the small cuties though. Now I have at least 2 or 3 of those a day. I can't get enough of them. Also chocolate now that it's the holiday season. I also started drinking a small amount of coffee in the mornings again. I think it was a temperature thing before, I just didn't like drinking warm/hot things. So now I down a big glass of milk with all my vitamins and then have a small cup of coffee in the mornings.

Anything making you queasy or sick: nope

Started showing: OH YES. I had a lady at the register ask me, " Oh are you getting close to you due date?" I replied with first laughing and said, "No not really I have until April!" Guess she thought I was big for almost 6 months! Sweetness.

Gender: It's a mystery. We might, might, might find out Jan. 9th.

Labor signs: nope

Belly button: In and still have my belly button ring in

Wedding rings: on

Mood: HAPPY! Who isn't happy when they are on Christmas Break!

Looking forward to: Getting the guest bedroom and nursery painted within the next week or so! 

Pictures:



My cousin Lauren's Wedding

Christmas Eve!

I think I win now. First week I win! lol

Not sure why Brian is on his knee! lol 

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Baby Shields- Boy or Girl? No One Knows!!!

The past two weeks sure have flown by! Things have been going great. Ever since I've started my 5th month of pregnancy I have a crazy amount of energy. Well I still get tired but I'm actually cleaning, running errands, organizing, decorating, dancing, crafting, baking, cleaning, cleaning and CLEANING! Last weekend was too funny I was literally running around the house like a mad woman who has ADD. Which for those of you who really know me know I don't believe in ADD, yup I'm a teacher and don't believe in it! It's called parenting! (Alright now I'm off my box) :) But anyways if I believed in ADD I was totally distracted by the ONE million things I needed to do. I was running around the house cleaning, decorating, redecorating, and then somehow I ended up going through lots of clothes to get rid of them! Totally random! I was doing this all while Brian was watching football and just starring at me like I've gone crazy. He just kept laughing and saying HOLY COW LET THE NESTING BEGIN, blah blah blah! hehe! He was so glad to see me with lots of energy though!

On to the good news.... We had a sonogram for baby shields last Monday. We were told this was the time we would find out the sex of baby Shields. So we had a gender reveal party planned with our family and close friends! We originally were calling it a sex party, too funny! Then my dad started asking, "So whens the sex party?" Yup you guessed it......things got real Awkward!! lol For some reason it wasn't so funny anymore when my dad started saying it so..... Gender Reveal it was! I made these Ahhhhdorable invites on Etsy and sent them out!

Pretty cute huh? So we went to the appointment of course we were SO excited the WHOLE day and the days leading up to our appointment. I kept getting cute text messages from Brian while I was at work that day.... one of them saying: I'm so ******* excited! haha! We decided that we would find out at the appointment and then keep it a secret until our reveal party. Well Brian decided that because he can't stand surprises, he has to know!! The appointment went great. We got to see our baby, the spine, the brain, the heart, the arms, the legs. However, it was curled up on my right hip and facing my spine. So we didn't get to see the face, feet and it was hiding it's goods! We couldn't tell if it was a boy or girl. It was moving around tons but the feet were so curled up that there was no way to find out. BUMMER! We were not too disappointed because we had warned ourselves for this to happen. So we have another appointment Jan. 9th to do another sonogram to see if we can tell then! Which means the Gender Reveal Party got canceled! Boo!! Oh well it's okay!! We were so thankful that our baby was healthy and right on track with it's growing!! That's the most important part. We feel so blessed and keep continuing to pray every day (a million times a day) that this baby gets here healthy as can be! 

On to the next question that I keep getting.... is the nursery done? ha NOPE! What nursery? Just kidding we are using one of our guest bedrooms that will be turned into the nursery! I have not started on anything, I want to know what we are having first. I have not bought one thing for this baby yet. We have been lucky to have been given a brand new crib, an amazing rocking chair from Pottery Barn and then I'm repainting an old vintage dresser that I refinished, this will be the changing table! So I've got the basic here. We will be getting new carpet in our house, which includes the nursery next week so that's a step! We will then paint the room. As in we I mean Brian. I love painting but he says I'm a horrible painter. He used to paint houses growing up so he is really particular! 

Funny Pregnancy Story: Last week was a crazy, crazy, crazy week at school. It was jammed packed with fun activities, a field trip to crown center, crazy behavior, Christmas parties and more! Anyways my day on Friday started at 5am to finish packing up Christmas goodies for my friends at school. It was a crazy day because we had 2 parties and a Christmas singalong. I was beyond tired. After school my friend Jenn and I went to HyVee so I could make Christmas cards for the firehouse. We were trying to kill time before our 
work Holiday Party that night that started at 5. I left the party around 9. I still had to get groceries at Hen House on the way home. So around 9:45 I walk out of Hen House. I loaded up my car with the groceries and then..... I go around my car and get in the passenger side. WHAT? hahaha. I was the only person there. I was so tired I guess I thought Brian was there and he was going to drive me home. So of course I start laughing at myself and hoping NO ONE saw me do this. I get back out of the passenger side and walk around to the driver side and drive myself home, which is like a minute away. I get home, go inside, let the dogs out, get ready for bed and an hour later I realize CRAP all the groceries are still in the car. This mama was ONE TIRED MAMA! haha! Oh man!!! Of course when I told Brian he responded with, "Well I hope you don't leave our child in the car when you're tired!" hehe! Ohhh geeze, last week was a long week and Friday was an even longer day to say the least!


Here is the official update:

How far along: 22 weeks ( 5 1/2 months)
Total weight gain: 13lbs
Maternity clothes: Nope, still fitting in my clothes. When I work I do wear maternity slacks because they are comfy comfy!
Stretch Marks: I just bought stretch mark oil and boob tube! ha! They are suppose to be WONDERFUL. I can't wait to use them, they better be worth the money I spent on them! 
Sleep: great! 
Best moment this week: Seeing our baby at our appointment and seeing Brian's face when we got to see our jelly bean!
Miss anything: nope
Movement: LOTS! 
Food cravings: I have been loving this vegetarian bean and rice burrito at Taco Bueno!
Anything make me queasy or sick: nope. Well Brian got food poisoning last week. I was doing a great job taking care of him until I heard him puking. I had to go down stairs cause it was starting to make me sick.  I could still hear him and started gaging. 
Showing: OH yes! I love going over to see my family at my parents house, but every time I walk in I hear, "OH MY GOSH YOUR BELLY!" Guess I'm just getting used to it.  Someone at the firehouse (no names) said, "Oh wow you look like you're going to pop." I responded with WOW thanks I only have 4 more months to go! ha!
Gender: unknown!
Labor signs: no
Wedding rings: On! My fingers have shrunk because of the winter so they are sliding off! Guess my fingers aren't swelling so that's good!
Happy or moody: Happy all the time! Well I'll admit I was moody twice this week to my sweet sweet husband!
Looking forward to: Christmas with the family! I'm on break from school which is an amazing feeling and is exactly what I needed!

About the whole touching my belly thing, I'm trying to get better at letting people touch it. I think it's just when people are rubbing it, talking to it and singing to it what weirds me out! Every time I go to my parents Brian's on belly patrol so no one touches my belly. I'm slowly getting okay with it, slowly I said. hehe!


Next up: BELLY PICS!


22 weeks

22 weeks

Off I go! I'm finishing getting our last Christmas present for our nephews, getting our Christmas cards mailed out and crafting, crafting, crafting! Ahhh I'm so excited to give our Christmas gifts this year, homemade gifts are the BEST! :)


Sunday, December 4, 2011

Baby Shields will be here in 20weeks!

It's been way too long since I've blogged. Holy smokes these past few months have truly flown by. But yet they can't go fast enough! Brian and I found out August 22nd that we were Pregnant!!!! It was pretty comical! Brian swore and new that I was pregnant and said, "Jenni please don't go buy a test because they are so expensive." Well finally I talked him into going. I took it and sure enough PREGNANT! We were SO excited and Brian of course said, I TOLD YOU! I was kind of in shock so I said, "Well let me just take another just to make sure" Brian then ran with the tests and hid them because he didn't want me to waste them! haha! I ended up finding them and took another. I was STILL PREGNANT! Too funny!


Here is a brief summary of trimester 1: Easy! Exhausted! No sickness! Some food sounded REALLY good or disgusting.

Month 4: The hardest yet! I got the stomach flu twice and had a few complications which led us to the ER. Everything turned out perfect. But still the scariest thing I've ever experienced. This led me to missing a few days of school so that way I can rest and take it easy! It seemed to work well! Not to mention my husband is amazing. I could go on and on and bore you with how lucky I am but I won't. Brian is just a wonderful husband, so supportive, loving and caring! He has helped SO much with everything. Love that man! He is going to be the best dad and I cannot wait to see him in that role! I know it will just melt my heart.

Month 5: I just turned 20 weeks! Awwww what an amazing feeling this is to be HALF way done! Pregnancy so far has been really awesome and easy but I am dying to meet this little one! Our baby has really started to move this week. I think it's doing flips or something, the coolest feeling ever!!! I can't wait till the feeling gets stronger!! One thing that has surprised me is that I didn't think it was going to bother me when people touch my stomach or talk to my baby. Well it does. It really weirds me out, and I hate it! The only person that doesn't bother me is Brian. I love when he touches my tummy and talks to our baby everyday when we wake up, when we are just lounging on the couch, when I get home from work and when we go to sleep! Other people..... not so much. I really feel bad about not liking it but maybe I will like it when I start to show more! Or when I get used to having this belly.

Here are some fun questions:
How far along: 20 weeks
Total weight gain/loss: 9lbs. (stomach flu set me back a little)
Maternity clothes: Some pants only because they are OH SO COMFY!
Stretch Marks: None- I'm using lots of lotion to hopefully prevent
Sleep: Great! I have a pregnancy pillow and a wedge from a friend and LOVE them both
Best Moment this week: Feeling our baby do flips this morning
Miss Anything: Sleeping on my tummy and having wine now its the holiday time
Movement: YES lots today
Food craving: nope
Anything make you queasy or sick: When Angie was eating potato soup last night
Showing yet: oh yes
Labor Signs: no
Gender: Unknown. We have an appointment next Monday. Hopefully baby Shields cooperates. If I could make this baby a boy for Brian I would!
Belly Button In or out: in
Wedding rings on or off: On
Happy or moody: I've been really happy the entire pregnancy.
Looking forward to: Our Dr. apt next Monday! Love seeing pictures of our baby!
18 weeks!

20 weeks (my belly popped out this week)