Simple things

We are really, really excited about having this in our shower. We could have bought it at any point in the last four years, but we didn't. So now we are extra joyful!

Easiest Move Ever

...Claims Michael. We seriously had so much help, it was wonderful. Thank you for everyone who helped Michael load and unload the truck. It made my warnings of not hiring a moving company to do it seem silly.

We made it without anything getting broken, just some scratches, dents and stains. Oh well, we don't have very many prized possessions. Fun pics from Sunday:

The Muscle

Champion Friends
And of course, what's a gathering of these men without some rough housing?

And we say goodbye to Mason Grove!

17 Weeks

We requested a sono today at our 17 week appointment in hopes of finding out if baby is a boy or girl but baby had other plans. Long story short we don't know for sure yet so we will wait for three more weeks. Our doctor said baby looked healthy and showed signs of good development - that is always comforting to hear. So is the phrase, "Your weight gain is great." This is one of the better pics from this week - cute little legs.

Big Weekend

Michael and I both have our feet up on the couch this evening. We've had a great weekend full of activity and change.

Friday - We closed on our home, had a celebration dinner, drove to Lowe's and began painting the new walls.

Saturday - We woke up and begin painting for 10 hours straight. By "we" I mean Michael and my father. I watched and coached and helped here and there. We drove back to the Alex one for last night of sleep.

Sunday - Woke up and went to church, picked up the uhaul and lunch on the way home, moved out of one house and into another, had loads of fun people all around us, stayed up late and crashed as soon as the last person walked out the door.

We are home and happy. In other fun, and in some ways more exciting, news: I felt the baby move on Sunday morning! It was the middle of church and I was leaning forward intently listening to Mark preaching when I felt two firm bubble-like sensations in an odd area. It sent me flying back in my seat. I had to think a moment about what that was and realized that it must have been the baby! There were no other weird stomach movements going on that morning and I was so focused on the sermon that usual stomach rumblings wouldn't have made me blink. After that, I focused harder on my body and was pretty sure that I felt some other little flutters (more like rolling). I was really excited. It's becoming more of a reality.

I'll share some fun moving pictures as soon as I upload the camera!

Grown up

Blinds, garage door opener, exhaust fan w/lighting, ceiling fan, cabinet door hardware, kitchen and bath enamel paint gallons, these are the things swirling around in my head. As a kid, I always thought these items were so boring. Now they are my reality and it's where our money is going. I must admit, I kind of like it. Tomorrow the house is ours!

Pollen go away

Since Friday night, I have been struck with miserable allergies. Packing has been so painful because every time I lower my head to lift something I get a pounding headache and my vision blacks out. I am so thankful for my friend Gillian and my mom who have come over this week and helped box things up. We are so close to the move, only 3 more days!

I packed and threw away most all our unusable food today...my master plan to only eat Jr Bacon Cheeseburgers is in full force! Gotta feed the baby, right? Speaking of that - baby bump is here to stay.

I woke up at week 16 and there it was! Baby is the size of an avocado and is suppose to double in size in the next 2 weeks. I haven't felt the baby move yet, but I know they say first timers don't often feel flutters until week 20. We have an appointment next week and it is possible that we will find out the baby's sex then! Stay tuned, I'll be sure to share!

Birthday Fun

Friday night we spent the whole evening at Ashleigh's home cooking, dancing, laughing and hanging out together. I love nights like that, it couldn't have been more perfect. (OK maybe if Manda and Bek were there.)

Sweet little surprises for me:

Love these beautiesAnd so continues the "Panini Brothers"- begin loud, nonstop Italian accents

Marco, DavId, y Miguel


A true Italian staring down the newbie
Knighting Marco as an official Panini Brother
Hugs all around! (I can still hear the loud shouts "Happy Panini Brother! Ey! Mwah! Mwah!"

Cookie cake time

Exhausted after blowing out only 3 candles - darn allergies.

Thank you to all my favorites who made this night special! I feel so loved.

Special Day

Happy Birthday to my sweet baby sister! She is 9 years old today. You are so loved little Missy.

10 days left

Soon you will be my home:I really haven't thought about packing much yet. Now I'm scared, I don't really have boxes and things are still in place in our current house. It all has to be done 10 days.

The Back Story

*Note, I don't keep a journal and this is basically my replacement for one. Someday, when I feel like it, I might collect the blog entries I like and print them to make hard copy to serve as a journal. I will want to remember these things some how.

I went on a walk today and it reminded me of the last time I went walking - New Years day on Sunset Beach. That was before we knew I was pregnant.

On Christmas day I felt the dull cramps as a sign that the dreaded "it" was coming. I was expecting "it" any day over Christmas. Disappointed and frustrated, I told Michael to expect "it" so we could both stop thinking about the possibility of being pregnant this month. Still upsetting, this month was going to be easier because we were celebrating Christmas and going to the beach for New Year's with the whole Daubert family. So I waited and waited but "it" didn't show up. We got to the beach the week after Christmas and so we were a little distracted by the relatives. But I still didn't think anything of it. This had happened before and we learned to guard our hearts and minds.

Every now and then the cramps came back and I could swear that I was feeling queezy at times. The queeziness was cured by eating food. I noticed it but disregarded it. It mostly angered me because I was in no mood to be fooled with regarding this issue. I told Michael about that and he became really hopeful. At this point most women probably would have run to the store and bought an EPT - although it need not be early since this was post 3 or 4 days. 1)I wasn't getting my hopes up 2) we didn't have access to those goods at the beach and 3) we were at the beach with the whole family and I didn't want to experience those dreaded emotions around them. So I didn't think about it.

New Years Day everyone who was left decided to take a walk on the beach. I had such a good time talking and walking with Aunt Becca and Cathleen. The men followed behind us as we walked to the very end of the island. Somewhere around mile 3, my lower back started to hurt really bad. The muscles felt tense and sore so I complained a little to Michael. He said to not worry about it and just keep walking. I've never really had back pain of any kind before so I thought it was odd. We were just strolling along, why would it be hurting so much? After we got back, we estimated we had walked close to 6 miles...or was it 25? I can't remember. It had been 2 hours of great exercise. Inside the beach house all I wanted to do was lay on the couch (and eat chips) to rest my back. My back felt better the next morning and we all drove home back to our normal lives.

Michael had decided we should wait until I was 10 days late (like the third eye blind song) to take a pregnancy test. I was fine with that. We really had no desire to see a negative test so it was easy to wait. But as soon as we got back home around 10pm Michael changed his mind and started asking me to take a test. It took about 1.5 hours of convincing me, I reluctantly gave in and marched right into the bathroom to just get it over with and move on. You know what happened next. The dark blue line shot straight up seconds before the test strip even came through. We couldn't believe it! No crying, no laughter, no emotion- just a smile from Michael before he ran out of the room and out the door to go buy another test. The cramps, the nausea, a week late, the lower back pain - it all made sense. Happy sense. We went to bed right after that happy and smiling. Our wait was over!

Birthday week

Friday is my birthday! I love birthdays but I've been super distracted from this one. I'm a little sad because I think 25 deserves some fun celebration. Also my baby sister's birthday is on St. Patrick's Day which is way more fun and she has cool parties like going to Pump It Up with all her friends. I love celebrating with Brianna in March. This week looks like it will be beautiful - Friday is calling for sun and 73 degrees! What a great birthday gift from God. Maybe He can get me a pedicure too?

March seems to have been such a sad month for so many people - locally and globally - already. I usually feel like it's filled with joy and thankfulness as spring returns. Hopefully things don't get worse for people. It's hard when there are so many fun things going on and nobody feels like being happy. At least I have the Lord, Michael and my family to lean on and be joyful together! For that, I am grateful!

California again??

That's right! I get to visit California for the 3rd time in 14 months! Michael's company has a big convention coming up in Palm Springs and I get to go along too. I cannot wait to be in warm, sunny weather at a resort and relaxing. I might even convince a certain friend with a 30lb baby to come see me while we are there. I'm really hoping she'll come on Monday and Tuesday, I can get her a discounted room rate. All she has to do is say the word. Maybe one day she'll live on the east coast again, I miss her.

Baby's first chair

Here's the first piece of baby gear in our home! This is what my mom bought for us last week. We figured this will work for boy or girl -just add some pink fluffy things and we're set. Also you may notice one of the moving boxes is labeled "Nursery." That's my favorite box. Even the cardboard is precious to me.

Second Trimester

We're in the second trimester already! There's not too much else to write about yet, so here's my progress at 14 weeks. Now I am beginning to see more of a baby bump. And, my hair is fluffier than ever. I'm also starting to fall asleep in random places for 15-20 mins or so.

The Bachelor season is coming to an end and I'm honestly quite sad about it. I've got to go get ready for the show - only 2 Monday nights left!

Branches on My Family Tree

Look at all beautiful the siblings God has given me!

My sister, Heather
My brother, Preston My sister, Brianna My brother, Matt My brother, John My sister, Gabrielle (and Tirzah) My brother, David My sister, SarahMy sisters, Ashie, Manda and BekThese are some of the most precious faces in the world to me. I am blessed!

Beginnings

Yesterday Mom bought us our first piece of baby gear! We found this great little Maclaren infant rocker seat nearly %70 off and I'm so excited! Having baby stuff around the house already is delightful. As we move this month, I'll get to start keeping things in the actual baby nursery - I wonder how many times a day I'll walk in that room?

Here's my blank slate:

New picture!

I realize Michael and I might be some of the only people who think this is cute but here's the baby at the 13 week appointment this morning:

The thing that the baby appears to be lounging on is the placenta. I'll spare you the umbilical chord and spinal chord pictures. And my wonderful doctor (who gave me two big hugs today) took the time to address my concerns about the hospital delivery room and told me her philosophy on birthing. I love her. I'm pretty much convinced now that I won't need a doula. And do you all believe that heart rate old wives tale? Those of you who've had babies already, what were your babies heart rates before you found out the sex?

13 weeks

We have our second doctor's appointment tomorrow! I'm so excited. It's so much better than the regular doctors, you never want to go to those appointments. At 13 weeks our sweet little baby has all his/her finger prints formed, critical development is nearly finished, organs and veins visible and functioning, the body is growing more proportionately to his/her head now, and the baby is about the size of peach!

On Monday I move into the second trimester already. How quickly that came! I haven't gained weight yet but I'm warned that it is right around the corner. I mean things are getting pretty big inside of me, how could I not??

We cannot wait to find out if Dauberito is a boy or girl! If we are lucky then we might know by the end of March. If we have to wait for the big ultrasound then we'll know on April 27th. I'm not trying to rush to those weeks, but we are so excited to get to know this little baby even more.