20 weeks!

We are half way there! I can hardly believe how quickly this is going. And it's only going to go faster with Fall, Thanksgiving & Christmas on the way. So much to be thankful for & excited about. The Lord has truly blessed us and we are just overwhelmed by His blessings!


How far along: 20 weeks!

Total weight gain: I have finally gained weight! I'll give credit to all the delicious food in Hawaii, but I am up 2 lbs from when I originally started. Never thought I would be excited about gaining weight!

Maternity clothes: Love them! Especially the cute dress my Mom & sister got for me this week!

Stretch Marks: Nope!

Sleep: Other than my CRAZY dreams, I am sleeping pretty well for the most part.

Best moment this week: Getting to see our baby again at the appointment! It was amazing to see how much growth has taken place over the last few weeks. To see actual fingers & toes, the spine, the nose! It is just so amazing to me! God is so creative and this process is too amazing for me to comprehend!

Miss anything: Probably my cute normal bras :)

Movement: Possibly, although nothing for sure. But baby was definitely moving around like crazy during the ultrasound.

Food cravings: Nothing really sticks out...I'm still a pretty big fan of fancy salads though!

Anything making you queasy or sick: Nope!

Gender: It's a GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!! She was being a little shy, so the ultrasound tech only gave us a "90% guarantee", but she was pretty confident. We are so excited to have a daughter!

Symptoms: Feeling pretty good this week!

Belly Button In or Out: In- but it's getting shallower!

Wedding Rings on or off: On!

Happy or Moody: Happy! I am so excited for a little girl. Rich is going to be so stinkin' cute with her!

Looking forward to: Feeling movement & getting the nursery together!

 

{Sharing the news with Mom, Dad & Lauren!}

 {Mom & Dad when we shared the news!}

 {It's a GIRL!!!}

{20 weeks!}

Weekend in Review

As expected, this past weekend was both VERY busy and VERY productive. With the help of my parents, my sister & our good friend Debbie, we were able to finally finish the laundry room! This project has been going on since last Fall- pretty much our first big project after moving in. My Dad & Rich have put in several long weekends of work, and I have to say, it looks AMAZING!

Here are a few before shots of the laundry room:

 {The laundry room as it was when we moved in}

 {Dad & Rich started the framing}

 {Working on organizing that giant mess of cables & wires}

 {My studly husband working on adding more lighting}

{Framing & can lights going in}

For some reason, I can't find the picture I took when Dad & Rich put up the drywall. Either way, things stayed that way for a little while. In March, I got some cabinets for my birthday (Happy 25th, right??) and we hung those up. I really wanted to paint the room turquoise, and Rich went with it! We did the painting ourselves, which really made the room look awesome. But this weekend- we finally put all the remaining pieces in place! Flooring, painted cabinets, trim, etc. Ready for the grand reveal??? DRUM ROLL PLEASE!!!!!

{Rich & I did all the painting ourselves}

{Birthday cabinets!}

{An old cabinet my parents gave us to provide extra storage}

{Cute little "skirt" I made for our utility sink}

{Flooring being installed!}

{Flooring is installed!}

{Flooring and trim is finished!}

{Extra storage cabinet getting a makeover}

 {My people working on our wall cabinets}

 {Finished product- standing in doorway}

 {Extra storage cabinet- freshly painted!}

{So lovely!}

It turned out so well, and we are so excited to finally have this project finished! I cannot wait to be washing little baby clothes in this room in just a few more months! Eek!!

Stiles Family Reveal

Our plan to share the news with the Stiles was to wait until our family birthday dinner on June 6th. Everyone planned to be there to celebrate Rick & Kathy's birthdays, and we thought this would be the perfect time to share our good news. However, once we told my parents, waiting another week & a half seemed like a REALLY long time.

So, when we got a phone call asking if we could have dinner on Friday (June 1st), we immediately agreed to attend! Dan & Kayla were both going to be there, along with our good friends Preston & Rachel. We all had a wonderful dinner together- Rick got to test out his new grill! We sang "Happy Birthday" and had some delicious cake. And after dinner, we gave them our gifts. We got Kathy a pair of sweet little white baby shoes with little grey bears. And we got Rick a baby Cubs hat! Of course, we got their reaction on video. I love it!!

It feels so good to finally have our news "public". We're still waiting until our second trimester to really publicize things. But we it's good to have all of our family in on the secret now. Everyone has been so excited and supportive. Our baby is already so loved & cherished. I cannot wait to meet him or her!

Spehr Family Reveal

The first of our two big reveals finally happened this weekend! Since everyone was in town for my mom's 50th birthday, we knew this would be the perfect time to share the good news. Someone did ask me if I thought my Mom would be upset that we were "hijacking" her birthday. But I knew that this surprise would be well received!

We told my youngest sister, Lauren, on May 19th. She asked to stay at our house last minute on her way through town. I hid all the baby books & gifts that we had bought for our parents. But I still couldn't keep the secret! Rich & I decided spontaneously to tell her. She was definitely caught off guard, especially after just finishing her rotation in the NICU. Probably bad timing on our part.

So we thought it was only fair to tell my other sister, Ashley, before my parents too. On the way to dinner Saturday night, Rich & I told Ashley we needed to talk to her. I just LOVED her reaction!

We had a 7:30 dinner reservation at The Melting Pot (yum!) However, that meant we didn't get home until almost 11:30! At that point, I couldn't wait any longer to share the news. I wrangled everyone into the kitchen (which took a lot of work!) and finally got Mom to open her gift. Mom & Dad has awesome reactions too- I especially loved Mom's squealing! 

It felt so great to finally be able to share and talk about our baby with family. Mom was definitely impressed that I kept the secret as long as I did! The rest of the long weekend was spent talking about baby things and other plans. Mom & I even made a trip to Buy Buy Baby just for fun. 

Only 9 more days until we can finally tell Rich's parents (and our brother & sister-in-law). We cannot wait to get their reactions on camera as well!