Category Archives: Mcnugget

and counting! Can’t believe we are already at 16 weeks! The second trimester is defiantly going by faster than the first. Like I mentioned before, I am loving having more energy (I still enjoy an occasional nap and am trying to get to bed by 10:30, but I don’t feel like I am dragging all day). I also feel at a better place emotionally- I have a clearer (for the most part) mind and am able to think about the future and be excited about it instead of overwhelmed. We are enjoying watching my belly grow and am entertained by some of my Chinese friends at school who like to comment on my growing size daily– its going to be awesome when my ankles start swelling and my cheeks fill out… I am sure they will be pointing it out! 🙂

*saw this on someone else’s blog & thought it would be fun to start doing it myself

How far along? 16 weeks

Total weight gain: about 5 lbs or so… give or take… I actually never weighed myself right before I got pregnant, so it’s a guess

Maternity clothes? Not yet

Stretch marks? None so far!

Sleep: started sleeping with a pillow between my legs to get used to it… and I get up at about 6:30 or 7 EVERY morning for the bathroom!

Best moment this week: Talking to Chase about possibly having Jord take pictures during the birth of our baby and looking over at him with tears a glistening in his eyes… I asked him what he was thinking about and he said about holding our baby one day!

Miss Anything? Just my liking for Arab food… it makes eating out here a lot harder since that is about all there is to eat if I don’t want to cook!

Movement: I think I have felt little flutters- kind of like bubbles or little mouse feet running in my tummy- this week!! I know it seems early, but I really do feel like I have felt them every evening for the past few days… amazing feeling!

Food cravings: fruit smoothies, meat, eggs

Anything making you queasy or sick: Arab food still

Gender: ?? we find out in 1 ½ weeks!

Labor Signs: Nope- way too early for that!

Symptoms: stretching pains in my stomach as it grows, headaches, and heartburn if I wait to eat at night

Belly Button in or out? in

Wedding rings on or off? on

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy and thankful at the moment! … but maybe I should have Chase answer this one 😉

Looking forward to: feeling more movements and finding out if we are going to have a boy or girl!! Which means I can start thinking more about the nursery!

I have an exciting announcement before I end this post…

Our little McNugget is going to have another cousin just 2 months younger!! My sister Brooke is pregnant again!! She is due sometime at the end of November. We are so excited for them and feel blessed to be on this journey with them. As many of you know, my sister has another sweet baby girl dancing in heaven right now (for 5 months now)- there is not a day that goes by that she (or any of us) don’t think about sweet Blair, but we are thankful that the Lord chose to bless them with another child so quickly. It is going to be an exciting, long, scary 9 months for them, but I know that with the Lord’s strength and your prayers they will look back at it as a blessed time when they are holding their little miracle. Please join us in prayer for them. Check out her blog for updates and to read about the beauitful journey that the Lord is taking them on turning ashes into beauty. I am so proud of them and their faith.

p.s. I can’t tell you how excited I am that our babies will get to have cousins so close in age- practically twins! I know they will be living an ocean apart, but I am confident they will be bff!

“Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice!” 1 Chronicles 16:10

meaning, “I am PREGNANT!!” in Arabic! Yup, that’s right, we are going to have a sweet baby “mcnugget” around September 25th! We are beyond excited and feel extremely blessed to be on this journey of becoming parents!

Future Red Raider class of 2034!

My wonderful craft-y, photographer friend, Jord, and I have been taking pictures of my growing belly the past few weeks (isn’t she great!?)… I am so excited to watch our baby grow inside me! I know that we live across the ocean, but we wanted to keep you all involved & help you feel like you are watching the process with us! Hope this will help all of you feel a little closer to us and know how we are feeling, what we are thinking and how our baby is doing.

And this week…

Since we waited a little while to post this exciting news, I have been keeping a journal of how we found out about our tiny miracle, how I have been feeling, cravings, dislikes, prayers, hopes, little notes for our baby to read one day… And I plan on keeping it up. However, I thought I would share a few things with you all on here…

On January 23, 2012 I decided to take a pregnancy test (without Chase knowing) and after a few minutes two pink lines showed up!! I was so shocked! I mean I have taken a few of these tests before and that had never happened before… so I knew that we were in for a new adventure! I decided to write Chase a note, “How do you feel about having a lil’ red raider in our family?!” with a Tech onesie & the test and put it by the coffee pot. Now this was quite early in the morning on the weekend… so naturally Chase was still sleeping and of course I couldn’t fall asleep- I was going to be a mom! Who could sleep after that kind of news?! So I waited patiently for Chase to get out of bed… Finally he got up, went to make coffee, saw my note and was in total shock, but the good kind! He came into where I was and asked if it was for real… I told him yup- I least I think so?! We hugged and thanked the Lord for blessing us with this gift and the little human growing inside of me! We decided to wait a few days before we told family and close friends… but I couldn’t wait too long. Several days later we made lots of skype calls and shared the news with loved ones across the ocean! We feel so blessed to become parents!

Some other fun facts…

I am now in my 2nd trimester and I am feeling so much better! It is so crazy how.tired.and.lazy I was during my first trimester. Chase said he has never seen me that tired! I hadn’t either! I was fortunate and never threw up, but had many moments where I wish I could have. I have craved bananas, chocolate cocconut milkshakes, pickles, pizza (esp Dions… which I can’t have here!), Greek dressing (also a Dion’s thing, but Jord helped make a replicate), Wendy’s (yey for having one in Dubai!), and breakfast food! I pretty much have to have yogurt with garnola, eggs (prepared anyway), and orange juice everyday….Things I can’t handle right now are canned green chile, taco soup, Arab food (I know this is rough since we live in the Arab world– hopefully my love for it will come back…one day), and Mexican food (another one of my previous loves). One of my favorite things about being pregnant so far has been seeing how excited Chase has been about it! He has been so great and such a blessing. He gets a huge smile on his face whenever we talk about it or whenever he looks at my belly.

We went to the doctor yesterday and got to hear our sweet baby’s heart beat! What a beautiful sound! 140 bpm! It was a great appointment and we love our doctor. Next, month we will already be finding out if its a boy or girl… can’t wait!

Well, I will be back with more pictures, stories and such later, but I will leave you with this verse…

“For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s whom. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” Psalm 139: 13