Heart's A- Pounding!! :)

This morning I went in for my third doctor's appointment - and this one was the first appointment where I was able to hear the heartbeat!!! It is always so awesome to get reassurance that our little baby is doing well!! The heartbeat was around 150 - and supposedly there is a wives' tale that if it is above 140, it's a girl (I had thought it was when it was above 160 - oops!) so it very well might be a girl! I still feel like it's a boy - so it will just be a surprise at the end!! It was just so much fun to hear that the baby is happy in there - hard to believe in 6 months we will get to meet him/her!!

I also was able to stop by the hospital where I'm planning to have the baby - they were so nice and gave me a tour and explained how it would work! What a peace of mind! I've been 'fixating' lately on some different pregnancy stuff - so it was nice to have a preview of where I will be during this huge life event! I was also able to pre-register - so when I'm ready, we can just walk/waddle/roll right on in!!!

Let's see - recent cravings I've been having (just for fun!) - tomatoes with salt, vegetable soup, guacamole, and grape juice - so random!!!

I hope everyone is doing well! It always makes my day when I hear news about our baby - so I'm a happy girl!

Love
Laura

Just past 3 months :)

Good morning! It's been a while since I've written on this! Ian and I went to the suburbs for Christmas, and it was great! It was so nice to be with family and catch up with everyone!!

Plus, we went to the Christmas Eve service where Ian and I were married - and saw Pastor Paul, our officiant, so that was awesome as well :)

I am just past three months now - yay! - and at 9:00am this morning have another doctor's appointment - so I will update you later today!

Hope everyone enjoys this week! Happy New Year!
Love
Laura

Home for the Holidays!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Ian and I are braving the snow, and heading up to the suburbs for Christmas :)

Happy Christmas Eve!
Love
Laura and Ian

2 days!!

Until Christmas AND the end of Cletus's first trimester :) Our baby is just growing up so fast!! hehe Cletus already gave his Dad a present and then wrapped a present for his Mom under the tree! (The gift tags don't lie!) :)

Things are going pretty well lately - I've been battling with a cough - so that's no fun! I've taken some tiny doses of a doctor approved cough syrup. But I still worry so much! If I didn't take it though, I would not sleep - and just cough for hours straight - so I hope the doctor is right!!!

We'll be traveling up to the suburbs for Christmas, which I am really looking forward to! Other than the fact that every time I check the weather channel for up there, you guys are getting pounded by snow! Crazy! Although we're getting ice on top of dangerous ice - so I think I'd rather have the snow! There are people about 20 minutes away who have been out of power for 4 days! And on these cold, cold days too!!!

I remember being about 6 weeks pregnant and thinking that the end of the first trimester seemed so far away! But it's almost here :) I know it's not a huge deal, but little baby landmarks are good things to look forward too!

After Christmas, I'll look forward to the next doctor's appointment (the 29th) and then I'm just so excited for when I start looking pregnant!

Happy few days before Christmas!
Love
Laura

Baby, it's icy outside!!

So, I am pretty much ready to go to my institute day - already checked for school closings this morning, sat down to eat breakfast - only to find out that our school was delayed for 2 hours because of the ice. Not bad, I'll still go in early, but I just thought I would have time for another post then! :)

Even though the ice is dangerous to drivers, walkers, and power lines, I think it is one of the most beautiful winter scenes!

I'm starting to tell more and more kids at school that I'm pregnant - mostly after conversations that go like this:
"Mrs. Bally, do you have any kids?"
-"Not Yet"
"Mrs. Bally, do you have any nieces or nephews?"
-"Nope...."
"Mrs. Bally, you really don't have any kids yet? How old are you?"
-28... Actually, I do have some news for you guys - I'm three months pregnant!

Then, the kids usually freak out, which is just so cute - and already want to touch my belly - which is also really funny! I can only imagine when I actually GET a belly how my students will just be mystified - One girl just kept saying excitedly, "I just can't believe it! I just can't believe it!!" Such sweet kids - I love them!

We have an institute day today which means short meeting and then I get to work in my room - so, I'll be bringing in some Christmas movies to watch while I clean :) Not so bad, I suppose!

Have a great day everyone - Family, I'm really looking forward to seeing you over Christmas!!
Love
Laura

Finally a new post!!

Hey all :)
Sorry that it's been more than the typical 3 days! (As my Dad pointed out! :) Since the kids at school are SO giving this time of year, it seems one or more of them gave me a really bad head cold so I'm feeling kind of out of it! Oh well... at least they share, right?

Anyhow - happy 12 weeks to our baby!! One more week, then it's the end of the first trimester! Now, there is a discrepancy between my count of weeks and the blogs, I believe... and I think the doctor agrees with me too... Anyhow, see if you can maybe figure it out. We count the first day of the pregnancy as September 25th - so haven't I gone through 12 weeks? Or am I just starting my 12th week like the blog says? I really hope I've gone through 12 weeks!!!!!

Today is our last day with the kids, so it should be a pretty fun day! Then I will get to enjoy Christmas break - definitely one of the perks of being a teacher! :)

I'm feeling much better, by the way. I only have to snack on pretzels once in a while, and I'm not nearly as nauseous anymore - yay!! :)

I can't wait until my next doctor's appt though - which is the 29th - to see how things are going!

One more thing - I found out that one of my friends who graduated with me through the art education program at U of I is also pregnant - due in April! So that's pretty exciting too :)

Okay - off to school for the day! Hopefully I will be able to pass out all of my presents to the kids before they send us home on account of ice!

Love
Laura

Like a little kid!!

I'm reminded of how SLOW Christmas arrived when I was little - and for this reason....

The end of my first trimester is on Christmas Day - so that is one thing that I am SO looking forward to! Also, my next doctor's appointment is the 29th - so in about two weeks. I'm anxious to hear the heartbeat again, and I can't believe it's still so far away! I go every month though - so it's not like the appointments are that spread out!

Anyhow, the days seem to go by slowly, and I'm just so looking forward to these days! Probably much like kids can't WAIT for Christmas morning!

It's still pretty amazing that there is a baby growing inside of me - I love it!

And to all of the family I'll see over the holidays - I don't really have a baby bump yet - just so you know :)

Love you!

Happy days! :)

To Ian, Happy Anniversary!! Today is our 4th anniversary, and I am just so blessed to have Ian as my husband! I could go into all sorts of mushy stuff, but I'll spare you the details :) Let's just say I love him a ton!

To our babe, Cletus, Happy 11 weeks! We're so blessed to have you growing inside me!! What a miracle! I told the teachers at school about you yesterday - they were excited! Which was fun!! A lot asked me how I was feeling, so I had to be honest babe, and let them know you're still making me tired and nauseous! But it's worth it - we already love you!

To all our family members and friends, thanks so much for your thoughts, emails, and for being excited for us too! We are happy to share this with you - We love you!

Have a great day, everyone :)

Baby... What do you like??

Hey all :)

I was reading today that sometime around this week the babe will start getting its nutrients from the umbilical cord - instead of the yolk sac. What a huge responsibility!! I feel like I should be eating whole grain everything and not even thinking about empty sugars!! :)

It is a mystery figuring out what to eat though - I'm in a stage where I'm hungry, but nothing really sounds good - not the most fun!!! I wish I was at the stage where EVERYTHING sounded good!

There is one food item that I am needing to have some self-control with though - and that is pineapple. I am LOVING pineapple! I think for the past 5 weeks I have been eating one whole pineapple a week... Anyhow! I would eat one whole one everyday, but I pace myself so it last for a few days... and then I go back to the grocery store and pick up another one!

So Dad and Linda... I was thinking... I would totally pay big bucks for some fresh pineapple from your Hawaii trip :) I bet that would be HEAVEN!! :)
Maybe it's not worth it though....

On a husband note, Ian has been such an awesome Dad-to-be lately! I honestly couldn't ask for a more supportive husband - Plus, he surprised me last Thursday on the way home from my grad class by putting Christmas candles in all of our windows - it looks beautiful!! It's nice to be pregnant when I can share it with my awesome husband! :)

Anyhow! Not too exciting of a post - if anyone has any ideas for food that might be good on a nauseous stomach, please feel free to let me know! I'm tiring of pretzels and crackers :(

Love you all!
Laura

Fun pictures

Hi everyone! :)
This morning my mom emailed some pictures of herself when she was pregnant, and I thought they were so much fun! How amazing that in this first picture, I'm the little baby, and now I'm having my own!

I'm feeling better lately - not as nauseous - just tired! Thank goodness for the weekends!!

Thanks for sharing these pictures, Mom!

Mom with Laura

Mom with Mary

Mom with John :) I also love how Mary and I look in this picture!

Double Digits!

Happy 10 weeks Baby Bally!! Three more weeks until the end of my 1st trimester - and I'm so happy!!! That day will officially be on Christmas - so what a nice present that will be! And wow - I can't believe that Christmas is in 3 weeks either!!

I've been reading that I'll get some energy back at that time, so that would be really nice as I'm so tired at about 7:30/8pm every night!

Last night was the first time I tried to suck in my stomach and just wasn't able to - nothing moved! Kind of a weird sensation, but I suppose that's just the way things go :)

Anyhow - 10 weeks! Yay!!! Hope everyone is doing well!
Love
Laura

First baby picture!

We saw a picture of our little baby today!!! It was amazing - so awesome!!! Ian and I were able to see the heart beating, and at first Cletus wasn't moving, but then Ian saw his foot move.... asked "Did the foot just move?" and then Cletus started moving and wiggling about like crazy! Definitely putting on a show with his/her arms and legs for Mom and Dad!!! The doctor said the baby looks great, and he put us at 9 weeks and 4 days - which means we're up for a July 2nd due date :)

To decode the picture a little bit - babe's head is at the top, then you can see an arm poking out, then the legs are near the bottom of the body :) Sounds silly, but it may help a little! Cletus is 2.84 cm long today - just over an inch tall :)

Just too exciting!!!!

One of the few....

Well... pretty much every district around us has canceled school - but Peoria 150 is still in session! At the time, I'm KIND of wishing we had a snow day, but really, I know I would much rather be going to school today than in June!!

Have a great day everyone!
Love
Laura