Sleepover!

My niece Chloe had a sleepover with us this last weekend while my sister was out of town and we had a lot of fun hanging out with her. She is such a fun, happy 

little girl with a HUGE personality! 

31 Weeks and Counting!

It took until just a few weeks ago for me to feel like the outside world really knew I was pregnant. Maybe it was because of the cold weather and always being bundled up that I hid my bump well. Or maybe.. (more likely) people have been wondering, but were too afraid to say anything in case I had just gained some weight! Well I am happy to say this is no longer a problem! In fact, I feel like I can't go anywhere without people wanting to feel my belly, and ask me all sorts of questions. I know that a lot of women's least favorite part about being pregnant is the freedom that everyone feels in touching their stomach. But for me, I really don't mind it at all. In fact I actually kind of love it! As I struggle daily in dealing with the negativity that comes with the body aches and exhaustion that have overcome me lately, I need any and every excuse to be reminded of the goodness that comes with pregnancy. I am completely overjoyed at the idea of being a mother.. but the 9 months that it takes to get there... is really not so fun! Today I decided that for the next two months I am going try my best to take in all the happy moments, because being pregnant truly is a gift and even though it is often extremely difficult, I am lucky to be experiencing it.

Getting closer every day! 

Life As We Know It

Since I was a little girl, I have been absolutely in love with children. At church on Sundays I would walk over to the moms that had babies and ask if I could hold them until church was over. It didn't bother me that I didn't always know these people super well, all that mattered to me was that if I was lucky, I had a little one to hold for an hour, or as long as the baby would let me until it was ready to go back to it's mom. This started when I was probably 8 or 9 and has continued on throughout my life. No matter where I am, if there is a baby in sight you can find me with that baby already in my arms, or trying to coerce the mother into letting me hold her child. A lot of my younger years were spent babysitting on the weekends and spending time with all of my little cousins, because that is where I truly have always found the most joy. There is something so simple and satisfying about holding a baby in your arms and knowing that you are providing them protection and comfort.

Now that I'm older and its my turn to be the mom, I have spent a lot of time thinking about motherhood and how much it changes your life. I am the kind of person who is often lazy, always a little behind schedule and it takes a lot for me to be motivated about something. But when I hold a baby, I feel my entire attitude change and all my worries flow from me. I breathe in their love and sweet innocence and I know that as I take care of them, they are content, and so am I.

I have spent a lot of my life looking around at other people who seem to have all these skills and talents, and wondering when mine would show up. Should I be trying new things all the time and hoping that one of these days I'll actually catch on to something and just love it? Am I not surrounded by the right people? Is something just wrong with me? Maybe I'll find my passion when I have children? Or.. maybe my purpose in life is to simply be a mother and to love these little people with every part of me, knowing that I am their's and they are mine.

I don't think that being a mother will be easy, I can already envision all the sleepless nights and days filled with exhaustion and dirty diapers. I can see myself feeling lucky just to get in a three minute shower. I recognize that there is an entire world of chaos that comes with having children, and to a lot of people it is daunting and completely undesirable. Lots of people say that they want to "live a little" before they have kids. But to me, having children and raising a family IS living. Children bring me peace. I feel the love and compassion that I have to share and I am am ready to give every moment of every day to this child that needs me. 

Nothing in the world feels more right, than for me to be a wife and a mother. I was fortunate to be raised with extremely loving parents with assurance that they loved each other, as well as my siblings and me. I am so lucky to share life with my best friend and to start in this new adventure together, knowing that we will create that same feeling for our children that we both had growing up. Life as we know it will be forever different, and that is the most exciting thought in the world!

3 Months To Go!

Three months from today our little baby girl is due, and everything seems to be on track! She moves around a TON these days, which is so crazy to feel! Adam has even been able to feel and her a lot more and there are times when she is moving so much that we can see the movement all over on my stomach. Although pregnancy has not been easy, it is in those moments where I can feel her and see her, that I know that this is all real and pretty soon we will have a real baby moving around in our arms. I can barely hold in my excitement, my patience is wearing thin, and if only these next three months could just speed up a little... that would be great :)

Baby Bettger is a GIRL!

Since we first found out we were pregnant, we have wanted a girl sooo bad! For me, having lots of younger girl cousins who I have spent loads of time playing with and babysitting, having a little niece who I am very close with, and obviously being a girl myself.. it just feels right. I love playing house and dress up, doing their hair and pretending to be princesses. All that girl stuff. For Adam, he has said that he just pictures getting home from work and a little girl running to him, so excited to see him after being gone all day. We would have been happy to have a boy OR a girl as long as they come out healthy and happy... but for some reason we just couldn't get past the idea that there is a little girl hiding in this belly of mine. And we were right! So now all we have to do is wait.... oh and pick out a name. Because every time we think we have it figured out, we change our minds and have to start from square one! 

Happy Saturday :)

Pregnancy Progress and Procrastination

There have always been, and I'm sure there always will be "those" pregnant women. The ones who take their picture in the same outfit every month so they can show exactly how much they changed during their pregnancy. The same women who read their entire "What to Expect When You're Expecting" book and know it by heart, take their prenatal vitamins religiously at the same time every day and are calling their doctor anytime they have a question. Well... I am here to tell you that I have never been one of those people! I am not organized, I forget and lose things all the time and I am a huge procrastinator! I am the classic "fly by the seat of your pants" kinda girl. Now while I am fully aware that that type of lifestyle isn't exactly ideal for being an adult and raising a child... I do have to say that I have turned out pretty okay living this way so far! My point in sharing all of this is to try to force myself to become a little more accountable in just a small way-- that's a good enough start right?

So-- I didn't take my first "baby bump picture until after I was at least 3 months pregnant because I really wasn't showing at all.. and who wants to see a picture of a regular old stomach? Not me! Well... to be honest I definitely do see the purpose of those first few months pictures. So that when you really do begin to show for real, you can believe it and you have a reference point. I continue to hear from people that I am not showing very much for how far along I am.. ("You just look like you ate a hamburger...!") and it is in those moments that I wish I had a picture from when I first found out I was pregnant so I could prove to these crazy people how wrong they are! I promise that THIS (pointing at my stomach) was never there before! After today I am swearing to myself that I will take more pictures of my bump and post them on here. At least so I can look back and remember how much I changed in these 9 1/2 months, and be proud of myself for surviving the constant growing and stretching! 

Here are a few pictures that I have taken that show how I have changed from 3 months till now.. 6 1/2 months along! They are not perfect, but they'll do the job! My next pictures will be better... I PROMISE.

The next time you hear from me, we will know the sex of our baby... so stay tuned! We are SO excited!

Christmas, Baby Bumps and Football!

We had an amazing Christmas! Due to a funeral in Port Angeles that brought my parents all the way over here from Eastern Washington, we were able to spend this holiday at our home with my parents, my brothers, and my sister and Chloe. While they were here we tried to fit in as many of our Christmas traditions as we could! My Parents brought all of our family's stockings and all the presents from under their tree at home, we took our annual Christmas morning on the steps picture and had cinnamon rolls for breakfast. We Spent the rest of the day watching a movie and playing our new games that we got as gifts!

It was pretty different fitting our whole family into the tiny living room of our little loft style apartment, but we made it happen and we loved it!

My Parents left mid afternoon and headed out of town to my grandparents house, and Adam and I spent the rest of the day with Adam's family. We had fun celebrating with his parents and their close friends, the Andersons!

Since Christmas we haven't been up to much! Adam has been working a lot, which is helping us to be able to save money for when I stop working in a few months. I am growing bigger everyday and we are getting more and more excited to meet our little baby in just a short while! I am 25 1/2 weeks pregnant today, which is over six months! Where has the time gone? When we went in for our 20 week ultrasound , we were so excited to find out the sex of our baby, but unfortunately the positioning made it impossible to tell! We have been patiently waiting (not so much) to find out and our time is finally coming this week! We find out Wednesday whether we are having a boy or a girl and we are so excited to be able to finally buy some baby clothes! 

Lately I have been able to spend more time with my little niece, Chloe and we having been loving all our time spent together! Most days I have her when Adam is at work and the other day she said, "How about next time you work, and Adam watches me instead?" We can tell who her new favorite is.... Lucky for her she got to spend time with him a few days later!

We have been keeping up with football and loving watching our Seahawks play! I grew up with a dad who LOVES the Seattle sports teams, and until recently I never really followed them much. I caught the Seahawk's fever a few years ago, and it seems to be just in time because these have been their best seasons ever!  We are looking forward to watching their Second Superbowl appearance today!

This is our Seahawks baby bump :)

Lastly, we are soo ready for winter to be over and in case anyone was wondering,.. there are exactly 45 days till spring! Happy Sunday!