my nephew and i will ALMOST share a birthday

my sister, allyson, and i experienced pregnancy together for 7 whole weeks! She just gave birth to a perfect child on january 20  

...Simon McSpadden Flaming...
...7 lbs 2 oz...
...19.5 in...

                   
                   allyson & colby's second child
                                      william's first brother
                                           my parent's fifth grandbaby
                                                           and my fourth nephew 

i said to allyson the other day, 
"I can NOT believe that you are about to have this baby!

... this pregnancy went SO quickly!!"

seconds after i made that statement i wanted to apologize 

because I now know unequivocally:

pregnancies happen quickly  

only for those who  

aren't pregnant

ive been pregnant for five minutes and i am well aware that there will be nothing quick about the time between now and mid september...  everything about my day... every decision impacts something greater than me!! so, i now say to my sister:

knowing that my pregnancy will not happen as quickly as yours did through my eyes,

i envy how quickly my pregnancy will seem through yours

on another note: i'm beginning to feel my own form of morning sickness... i wake up in the morning, not nauseated, but oddly full... the thought of food isn't enticing at all...revolting even... nothing sounds good to eat.  

so i listen to my body and wait to eat.  waiting only half an hour or so i begin feeling incredibly dizzy, so i eat.... which is followed by a kind of sleepiness that is matched only by local anesthesia.  again, listening to my body, i sleep.  after an hour or so, i hit the floor running and the rest of the day i feel great!! 

not bad if you ask me! i've definately heard horror stories of morning sickness being more like morning, afternoon, and evening close-to-death-experiences of which the only relief is 8 hours of sleep from midnight to 8 am.  i'll take my symptomology over that any day!!! so, thus far, no complaints... key words being: THUS FAR!! stay tuned...

The Tree of Life

i know i'm probably being uber-vigilent when it comes to paying attention to every detail of this pregnancy.
i don't know if it's because i am and always have been a bit of a romantic (and a bit dramatic)...
or if it's because i have been looking so forward to starting a family that now that it's happening i'm holding on to every second... 
or if it's possibly because this is our first child and naturally i have nothing else to do than to pay attention to and give great importance to every measly detail... 
regardless: one of the side effects of my hypervigilence has been my incessant need to chronicle this entire journey. case in point: i've promised myself i would write the baby a letter once a week (atleast) for the next 9 months with the intention of giving him/her the letters when he/she turns 20 or so... old enough to appreciate it i guess. 


sooo.... i asked jordan to get me a journal for Christmas (mind you this was before we found out we were pregnant)... i got the journal in the mail 2 days after i was drooling toothpaste down my pink robe (see below)


the journal he gave me is absolutely incredible... we found it on Etsy.  it was handmade by an incredibly gifted artist in Chicago.  she hand-binds notebooks and journals and handmakes her covers. this one in particular is made of polymer clay...  

the journal is called TREE OF LIFE... how appropriate is that?? and beautiful!! i'm so excited to have it and create this small keepsake for our baby.

i woke up at 3 am this morning, a thought came to me... crystal clear...hit me like lightening... a thought i wanted to share with the baby.  i had to sit up and write a letter real quick.... poor jordan.

and baby makes three...

last monday i lost my cookies at work

tuesday my suspicions were confirmed

.....

BABY MAKES THREE

_________________________________________

i was so tired tuesday morning... i didn't even open my eyes as i held the ept beneath me

 luckily monday night before i went to bed

i put the stick on my toilet seat for the next morning's meeting with fate

otherwise, i would not have taken the time to unwrap it 
let alone wait on the final verdict!!

like i said, i was so tired tuesday morning...

with one eye open i picked up my strategically placed pregnancy test

when i finished i was too tired to wait... in my mind i was thinking

 ovulation tracker says:1 in 7...no way we conceived!

(december was the first time in 7 months that i ovulated)

... i went back to my warm bed and nestled up with sam & kaiz

......

an hour or so later, i threw on my pink robe

i had completely forgotten about the ept

i was brushing my teeth ... and that's when i saw it

before i even gave myself the chance to spit out my colgate
i ran into the kitchen to find jordan eating a bowl of fruit loops

you have to picture me...

ept in one hand, toothbrush in the other

balling

with toothpaste running down my chin onto my pink robe

...what a memory...