New Year, New Baby!

Happy New Year!!
2014 is looking quite promising over here... I want to blog a recap of 2013 and also want to share some of my resolutions and things I'm hoping to work on/learn in 2014 but I'm not quite organized enough yet to post that particular blog-- (go figure!) so instead I will chat about the last 14 weeks of my life.
We are thrilled to announce that we are expecting #3 in early July of this year! July 9th, is my exact due date so somewhere around then, Max and I will officially be outnumbered by kiddies around here. Scary! :) Since there is a GOOD chance that this will be our last baby, and my last pregnancy, I want to make sure that I document all that I can remember... Not saying a fourth baby is NOT in our future, but I can say it's never been in our 'plan' so likely, this baby will complete our family! With that being said, here's a bit to get you up to date....
A lot of people have asked us if we were "trying" to get pregnant. The answer is yes, sort of. We had been 'paying attention to things' without being overly optimistic for the last couple months. At the end of October I realized I was a few days late, and on our way to watch my cousin's play in Anoka on Nov. 1st, I told Max that we should pick up a test on the way home just to ease our minds. We didn't think we were pregnant. The play went longer than I expected so my plan of running into Target (my beloved store where I first found out I was pregnant with Piper!)  wasn't going to happen since by that time all the stores were closed. I still desperately wanted to know by that point so I convinced Max to let me stop at a 24hr Coborns (classy!) in Elk River where we not only bought, but took the test. I can be a little impatient with these things ;) Then we left and soon after leaving the store we got stuck waiting for an incredibly long train. It was then that I took the test out of my purse and asked Max to look at it. His response was something along the lines of "YEP! IT SAYS YEP!"
We were both more than a little surprised, extremely happy, and yet both had a feeling of "Holy shit, what now??" :) I think we chatted nonstop for 30 minutes and then for the rest of the ride home we were silent. Both taking it in as we thought about how our lives would be changing, once again!
We didn't tell anyone for quite a while. Although I was super happy about this baby, I also felt very guarded about sharing the news. I was terrified that I would wake up and no longer be pregnant one morning. Our first appointment was at 8 weeks and I felt much better after seeing our little one's heart fluttering on the ultrasound machine. Soon after, on Thanksgiving, we shared the news with our families and some close friends. We had another ultrasound at 12 weeks to monitor some spotting I had been having and once again got to see our sweet baby! The following week we made it public that we were expecting and since then we have just been patiently checking each week off the calendar... In two days, I will be 14 weeks along and officially out of my first trimester. It really does seem like it flew by, the but the holidays kept us so busy I figured that would happen.
I will say that overall, this pregnancy has been EASY. I never got the extreme fatigue that I did with both Ryder and Piper. When pregnant with them, I would literally go to bed by 8:30 everyday because I was just so exhausted. That never happened this time around. I always felt like I had adequate energy and although I would make myself rest for 20-30 minutes and put my feet up during naptime each day, I always felt somewhat normal. I never got sick with morning sickness although I didn't always have the strongest appetite. I would eat really small things every couple hours because the thought of a big meal overwhelmed me most days. The thing I have noticed the most is that the foods that sound good to me have changed. I am a huge protein fan normally. I know how important it is in your diet and pre-pregnancy my breakfasts and snacks consisted mostly of protein. Most breakfasts I would have a protein shake, or a whole wheat english muffin with peanut butter and string cheese, or eggs of some type.... Since being pregnant, however, the only things I have been eating for breakfast is a bowl of special k cereal or yogurt. This morning I even had toast with jelly. These aren't crazy things by any means, but they are crazy for me. I NEVER eat cereal, or jelly for that matter. I also need strawberries on hand at any given time. Basically anything sweet and carb-loaded sounds good to me, which is just not my typical diet. Oh well! The only other signs of pregnancy that I've consistently had would be the lovely acne that has taken over my face (thank goodness for makeup- ugh) and I've been incredibly out of breath. I don't recall ever having that with either of my last 2 babies, but from what I've read and heard from my doctor, it is actually a common pregnancy symptom. Who knew?!
My belly is also growing, which I am actually thankful for because up until now, it has just been in the awkward "looks like I've just simply had too many christmas cookies" stage and although I hadn't really gained any weight, majority of my jeans/pants have not been fitting for a while now. The small belly I do have, is much lower than I remember with Piper so my clothes fit so much more different than when I was pregnant with her. I also have only had a few headaches, which is a relief because I had horrible headaches nearly every evening with P... When I compare the two pregnancies, they are like night and day, but then again, every baby is different!
We haven't made a solid decision as to whether or not we will find out the gender of this baby. I would like to be surprised and find out at delivery, but Max is leaning towards a gender reveal party and finding out at the same time as our family and friends... Luckily we have a good 6 weeks or so before we have to decide until our 20 week ultrasound scan! We appreciate any prayers for a happy, healthy baby :)
STAY WARM TODAY!