15 Weeks.

I am now 15 weeks and have decided that I really want to do a uniform weekly photo. I have a few from prior weeks; however, I had not decided exactly how I was going to take them. For your viewing pleasure though I thought I'd include one of me when we found out at 4 weeks (which is a horrible picture because it's a phone picture) and one of me at 8 weeks.

After finally deciding how I wanted to take my weekly pictures from here on out, I went on a search around Lawrence for a chalkboard today (it involved many stores) - finally finding one I liked at World Market. Then Bryan decided we should take the pictures with our new camera that I got for my birthday, which lead to a random trip to Best Buy as I had not gotten a memory card for it yet. But I finally got the chalkboard ready to go to take this week's picture.

After getting the chalkboard ready, I decided that if I'm going to take a more uniform picture then I might as well wear the same shirt in every picture. Luckily, I have some very comfy maternity shirts from the Gap that I can wear now and throughout my pregnancy so I just chose a plain white one. The final product of this week's picture turned out pretty good. However, I must say that I'm not quite sure my belly is as big as it seems in the picture. It's full with Mexican food from dinner. Mmm!

Of course, before finishing up the photo shoot Miles wanted to get in on the action. Having the dogs involved may or may not have to become part of the weekly picture.

Big News!

With the cat out of the bag to family, we can finally announce that we are expecting! Baby Mayes is due September 15 (or 14th depending which nurse we see that day).

Bryan and I have always talked about kids; however, last fall the talk became more serious. At my routine appointment last September it was found that I had signs of dysplasia - or pre-cancerous cells. I had to have a procedure to try and get rid of the cells. During the two months of dealing with that Bryan and I began to talk about how we wanted to have kids sooner than later due to the fact that if I kept having signs of dysplasia and needing procedures it could decrease our chances of getting pregnant. So, we came to the decision that we were going to stop not trying to get pregnant. We weren't going to actively try, but we went forward with the thought that if it's meant to happen it will happen.

Turns out it was meant to happen fairly soon after making that decision. We found out at the beginning of January that I was pregnant. I can't say that how I told Bryan was this grand moment. It was very casual and not some extravagant moment. After we found out at home, we had the pregnancy confirmed by the doctor just a couple days later. It really set in then hearing it from the doctor that I was pregnant. Something I had wanted my whole life was finally happening - and it was happening with the love of my life and my best friend.

It didn't take long for the pregnancy symptoms to set in. Migraines, exhaustion, morning sickness. Oh, morning sickness. But now the morning sickness is subsiding and I'm already in maternity jeans, which are turning out to be quite comfy. But the most exciting part about now being in the second trimester is getting to spread the news. I have a hard time keeping secrets like this so having to keep this a secret for so long was really hard on me, but now that the news is out in the open it is even more exciting!

Baby Mayes at 10 weeks 6 days.