20 weeks! Halway there. Wow times flies when your having fun! I can definately say it has been an eventful journey this far and I continue to look forward to the next  20 weeks or so! I continue to patiently await a bigger more pregnant looking baby bump! Everyone at work insists that there bellies look like that when they push it out too! But I swear I'm not pushing it out it is there its just tiny still. I am guessing that in the next few weeks I will surprise myself by how quickly it begins to grow.
A few things I want to jot down and remember about this pregnancy!
Week 14: All of my energy returned and I began to actually feel like a normal human being again!
Week 15: I finally noticied that my belly was not flat anymore and I began to like sweets again. I had a very large food aversion to anything sweet in the  first few weeks and now it is essential for me to have one sweet thing on a daily basis(Its where I get my extra 300 calories from)
Week 16: I felt like millions of butterflies floating around in my belly and continue to get this sensation more and more with every passing day
Week 17-20: I was convinced that I would not have any food cravings, my thought being that for so many years of my life I was so good at restricting what I ate that even now I could push away a craving and just eat the good stuff. I literally have a staple group of foods that have to be in the house and that I eat on a daily basis, this includes, cereal, yogurt, cottage cheese, bananas, apples, oranges, berries, nuts, granola bars and peanut butter! My first big craving though was peanut butter and jelly sandwich with banana on it( yes i know normal people usually omit the jelly at this point but not me) Needless to say it was delicious! I also began to have very bad acid reflux and become full very quickly in these last four weeks. So today I started out my new way of eating so that I can get the right amount of nutrition and not feel like i ate a horse after a small sandwich. I am trying the eat a 100-200 calorie item every three hours, with the exception that my breakfast which is always cereal and a banana is a little larger because I am a little more hungry in the morning that any other time of the day. We will see how this diet plan treats me, Im just hoping I can feel normal again after eating and not feel like a stuffed pig!
Week 20: It is much harder to get comfortable now, sleeping, sitting on the couch, just moving around in general is not as comfortable as it has been, which I can count on only getting worse!

Overall I have a very easy comfortable pregnancy compared to what some women have to endure. I feel lucky to have bipased major morning sickness, major headaches and just overall feeling of Blah! I cant wait to see how quickly things change in the next half! One week countdown until I can find out if this little babe is a girl or a boy! Cant wait! Happy Easter All!

Laila's Story

Tyler and I were checking out a new church in the city this past weekend, trying to figure out a best fit for our particular needs and beliefs and where we just feel at home. I think we may have found the perfect place! We both really enjoyed the service and felt as though this is the right place and church that we will be able to raise our child in. I have had a long standing battle with my beliefs due the struggles that I deal with day to day at my job, as well as several other life experiences that really make you question your faith. To make a long story short I have always had faith in the little angels above. If there is one thing I knew it was that I always had a few angels up there listening when I needed them. Church always makes me think of my little Laila and her angelic part she has played into Tyler and my life. In the toughest of times I have always prayed to Laila Star. Laila was a precious little girl who went through more in her almost 3 years of life than most of us will in our 80+ years of life. She died just before her third birthday of liver failure. She continues to live on in my heart and the heart of the many people she touched in her short life. Her part in My and Tyler's life: When she passed my roommate Laura and I decided to have a benefit to raise money in her name for the American Liver Foundation. This is the benefit where I met Tyler. I cant help but believe she brought my soul mate to me at just the right time in my life. This was in September, in December Laura and I moved into a new place. About four weeks after the move I was going through my jewelry box and was surprised to find 3 star shaped beads hidden in with my jewelry (one yellow, one red, and one purple). I asked Laura, my mom, my sister if any of them had ever seen the beads before and everyone sort of just looked at me like I was crazy. I had cleaned out my jewelry box before I moved so i knew they were not there just three weeks before. Laura and I knew that it was a message from Laila. Her middle name was star and Laura and I talked about her often and would refer to the stars in the sky representing her and many other angels. I think she was just letting us know even though we cant see her she is still there. It was like she was reminding us to keep talking to her. So that is what I did. I often prayed to her when I prayed knowing that she was always somewhere listening. Laila's picture has always been placed right next to our front door for protection and because we know she is always there with us. Last year I probably was a little lazy when it came to praying. So it was Thanksgiving morning probably very close to the time the Tyler and I had conceived this little babe. Tyler and I obviously live in a different apt. than Laura and I had. I cleaned on my hands and knees the day before Thanksgiving knowing that it was our very first Thanksgiving we would be hosting as a family. I woke up Thursday morning to get the food started for Thanksgiving dinner and on the counter top was a little blue star bead, identical to the other three I had found in my jewelry box nearly three years before. I ran in to show Tyler who couldn't believe that I had found another bead. I cant help but believe that Laila also played a little part in helping us bring our first child into the world. I anxiously awaited the next three weeks so I could take a pregnancy test, because I just felt that was a sign from her saying don't worry I listen to your prayers your gonna have your baby! She continues to renew my faith and strength in God everyday. Tyler and I cant wait to tell this little baby all about our guardian angel Laila!

Here is a updated picture of Week 19 belly and a Tyler and I right before my celebratory dinner!

Luck of the Irish

The last year has been on heck of a year! I have had some major, but absolutely amazing wonderful life changes. First I graduated grad school, then got married, then the news of baby Fevold, and now a brand new job! Despite the fact that I am just about half way through this pregnancy I still landed an amazing opportunity! I will be the newest addition to the Heart Transplant Program here at Children's! I accpeted the Nurse Practitoner position today and will probably be begining my newest journey in life in about 4-6 weeks. It is amazing all that life seems to just work out. It's a little as though we have had a touch of Irish Luck(My Poppy was a true Irishman and I cant help but believe he may have had something to do with all of the Joy I am experiencing this St. Paddy's Day)! I feel very blessed and lucky for all of the things that have occured in my life this past year and all of the support that I have been given by my husband and my family. They continued to reassure me on a daily basis that the job thing would work out just like everything else and truth be told it has! I am very lucky to have been presented with this opportunity. The best part is I will continue to work with all of my wonderful friends and coworkers in the PICU! I also will get the chance to change the lives of lots more little kids which is one of my faovrite things to do! I am super duper happy and am elated to share the news with all of you! I look forward to all that life has to offer because it continues to surprise both Tyler and I with wonderful oportunities and a very special life together!

17 week BUMP

Here is an updated picture of week 17. I tried to take pictures with my regular clothes on but my belly is still just too tiny to notice unless I expose it all for you! I finally figured out how to take a picture in the mirror! I will update again in four week s and if what the Doctor says is true then in about three weeks my belly will just POP! Here is the unveiling of my HUGE baby bump!

Private Baby

It already looks like this baby is going to be a lot like me! It was being shy about showing us whether it has girl or boy parts! So another four weeks until we get to see if this baby is our little future Cubs Pitcher (God knows we could use a good one!) Or our little pretty pretty princess! We shall wait and see. The best part about today is that this little babe is healthy and growing right on schedule! Yep measuring exactly 17 weeks and 4 days! Today I got a really good view of the baby's skeleton, five little fingers where waving at me! I only gained a half pound since my last visit, but the doctor says that because I started tiny that its ok to only be up 5 pounds and as long as baby is growing I am doing something right! Maybe ill gain some pounds tonight. Tyler is taking me out for Chinese food finally, I have been craving chinese for about 4 weeks and we have yet to fulfill this craving. The funny part is on a normal day I would never eat chinese food. I maybe eat it once a year if that! The babe brings out lots of different flavors in me! My mom took me shopping this week and I bought my first pair of maternity designer jeans! They are super cute, comfy and look just like my pre preggo jeans! I also got a cute maternity shirt and undies! I cant wait to wear it. The doctor assures me that at 20 weeks you will start to see the belly grow daily! I cant wait to get to that point. I want to show of this bump like you wouldnt believe! We are happy that we have a happy healthy baby growing! Happy Birthday today to our future Nanny and best Aunt Elle ever! XOXO

The honeymoon phase

So week 16 is just starting and I am feeling great. I have all of my energy back and dont really have a thing to complain about. Really if I didnt know there was a little baby in there I probably wouldnt even believe it. My baby bump is slowly growing, I sort of just feel like I drank too much last month and now have a tiny beer gut or so that is all it looks like. I cant wait to get out of that stage and into a real baby bump that I can show off! I mean seriousy, there are some really cute clothes that I am dying to wear but I need my bump first! We moved this weekend into our new place. They painted the babies room and this was the first time we got to see it! It turned out absolutely magnificent! It is O' Reily green by benjamen moore and it couldnt be more perfect for this little boy or girl! I am looking forward to the decorating process. Right now it is being used as hulks playroom he likes to hang out in there and play! I would like to give a small update on how training hulk for baby fevold is going. We bought a little baby doll the cries and giggles. Needless to say that whoever is holding this baby doll hulk finds the nearest person to to cuddle up to and wants to be as far away from the doll as possible. So I guess that is better than the first time we took the doll out he tried to jump up and grab its foot. I know the books say that it is the best way to train dogs for the upcoming baby, but I think that when its the real thing he will try to get his nose right up in there business and protect them just as he does for Tyler and I. It is pretty funny to watch though! One day It was funny because I came home to find Tyler hanging out on the couch with the baby in one corner and him and hulk on the other side of the couch. Apparently they were just practicing for next years footall sundays when mom is working! Everything is going well we couldnt be happier to be in our new place! Everything just sort of fits and looks great in the place! The one and only downfall was this morning when Tyler and I decided to take a walk with Hulk prior to work, only to find that my car was broken into. The front passenger side window was smashed and all of the glove box contents were thrown all over the place. Luckily I dont really keep anything of value in my car with one exception being that I had comcast wireless boxes and cables in the back seat that we planned on returning. Im sure they broke in to find a GPS because we keep the carrier for it on the front window. Luckily we are smart enough to never ever keep that in the car. Tyler was wonderful enough to take the day off and get the car and everything else taken care of! So no big deal we jsut deal with and move on. We are so happy with our place and the weekend went really well, so all we can do is get the car fixed and move on with our week! Happy March to all!