St. Martin

We just got back from our "Babymoon" to St. Martin and had a great time!  It was so nice to escape from the cold weather to the Carribean!  St. Martin is absolutely beautiful and we hope to return someday!  Below are a few pics:

Our Hotel

The beautiful water

Us at Pinel Island

One of many amazing views

Out to dinner at the Grand Case (famous restaurant district)

"Le Tastevin" the wonderful French Restaurant

Derek driving our very small rental car!

Fredericksburg (where all the cruises dock)

Triple The Fun!

What could be better than being pregnant with your first baby?  Well nothing, EXCEPT being pregnant with your first baby WITH your best friends!!

Now that Ashley is "out of the closet" I can blog about the most exciting part of our New Years 2010! 

Kim, Ashley and I were roommates at UT and all in AOPI sorority.  We had so much fun in college and have become even closer since.  From being bridesmaids in each others weddings to always sharing a room on our Breakers trips, we always do everything together!  Our husbands have all become great friends and we even got fur babies together last year that are also best friends!  We always joked about having babies together but never actually thought that it could happen! 

So this is how it all went down.............

Kim had recently shared her big news over Christmas.  When she called to tell me, I couldn't resist but to tell her that I was expecting too!  I decided that I would also tell Ashley at New Years especially since that would be extremely hard to keep it from her all night!   Kim and Patrick got to our house early to watch the UT Basketball game.  When Ashley and Luke got to our house we were all 6 standing in our kitchen talking.  I announced to everyone that, "we have beer in the fridge, wine on the counter or you can drink sparkling grape juice with me and Kim!"  Ashley looked at me confused and said, "Why are you drinking grape juice?"  I just smiled and told her the good news!  She then turned bright red and turned to Luke and said, "Oh my gosh can we please tell them!?!"  Kim and I looked at each other and then turned to Ashley and started screaming obnoxiously!  Of course we spent the rest of the night taking gender tests, naming our babies, ect.  It was so much fun!

Kim is due in July, me in August and Ashley in September.  There are only 9 weeks between the 3 of us!  We decided that we would do New Years together again next year with our 3 babies (who will of course be best friends too!)  I feel so blessed to have these girls to go through life's many phases with!

We also have a few friends that are expecting their 2nd and 3rd babies this summer.  Our college friend, Katy, is expecting her 2nd in June and Christia is expecting her third in June as well!  Me and Kim's High School friend, Jordan, is expecting her 2nd in August (only 2 weeks before me!)  This summer will be full of many babies for sure!!!!!!!!!! 

Below is one of our pics from our photo shoot!!

FINALLY 12 Weeks!!

I cannot believe we are FINALLY 12 Weeks today!  It has been such a LONG 12 weeks and it feels great to reach this pivotal milestone in our pregnancy when our chances of miscarrying drops significantly.  We have ordered some fun announcements that we will send out in only a matter of days to family and friends!  It will feel great to be out of the "pregnancy closet" that we have been in for almost 5 months! (Since September 2009)  Below is a recap of the last 12 weeks:

After we were cleared from our first pregnancy in early November, Derek and I ended up getting pregnant almost immediately again!  We couldn't believe that it happened so quickly.  Dr. Morgan had me come in every week starting at week 4 through 7 to get blood work to make sure all my levels were going up.  She told me to continue to take the Prometrium (the progesterone supplement) just in case.  Each time she called with the results I would hold my breath hoping for good news.  My levels continued to rise and they scheduled my first OB appointment at week 8 where we had our first Ultrasound.  As we walked into the office I couldn't help but have flashbacks of our last ultrasound and how terrible it was.  Once we saw the baby on the screen we were relieved to find out that everything looked great!  The baby had a strong heartbeat and was exactly the size it should be.  We couldn't have been more thrilled!  Our next appointment was at week 11 when we were able to listen to the heartbeat with the doppler.  It was amazing to hear the heartbeat so loud and clear!  The heartbeat was 165 bpm which according to old wives tales means that it could be a girl!  Apparently, if the heartbeat is over 140 it will most likely be a girl.  We will see!  The best part of this appointment was when Dr. Morgan told me that I no longer needed the progesterone!  It was great to throw that stuff away!!

Our next appointment is scheduled for February 17th where we will listen to the heartbeat again and do the other standard check-up procedures.  Then we will get to schedule our next appointment which will be the big 20 week Ultrasound!  We are praying hard that we will see a very healthy baby at this time.  We could not feel more grateful!

Below is a pic of our ultrasound at about 8 weeks: