First Mother's Day

      It seems unreal to say... but today is my first Mother's Day!  The first of many more and I am very excited!  I enjoyed receiving text messages and calls from various people wishing me a Happy Mother's Day.  My Mother-in-law Marilyn was sweet enough to send me a card.  And my parents were awesome enough to purchase me a prenatal massage for my first Mother's Day.  I am super, super excited about that!  And it is funny, because I was just telling Kenny today that I would like a prenatal massage for our anniversary.
      This weekend was extremely busy.  I took the weekend off so that my Mom and I could travel to Columbus, Ohio to celebrate a family member's 50th wedding anniversary.  My Grandma asked me to play "photographer" this weekend, and my mom assisted with the decorations and food set-up.  While it was nice to see family from various states and to help Oscar and Rosie celebrate, it was quite an exhausting weekend for us.  The drive alone made us tired (about 3.5 hours), but we really did work hard on Saturday.  I actually found myself feeling a bit dehydrated by the end of the afternoon on Saturday and I told my mom that I needed to sit down in the A/C and drink some cold water.  I drank about 3 bottles of water in a row trying to rehydrate.  Gotta be careful about that and listen to my body!


Catholic church in Ohio



Oscar and Rosie



Beautiful



Cake in the face!



Dance



They had so much fun!

       But before we left for Columbus on Friday afternoon, my Mom and I stopped at Community North Hospital to meet Miss Adalyn Naoma Nelson.  Adalyn is Kenny and I's newest "niece"...the brand new daughter of our closest friends Brent and Ashley.   She was just born on Friday morning (May 11th) at 8:19am, and boy is she a keeper.  I held her for about 45 minutes, and my Mom had to keep saying "Okay Amanda, you have to put her down.  We need to get on the road."  I am sure that being pregnant makes holding her that much more special, but she is just so pretty.  I kept joking and telling Ashley that I was going to sneak her out and keep her.  

I love holding this precious girl.

        Aside from it being Mother's Day, I am about one-third of the way finished with my pregnancy.  As of yesterday, (Saturday, May 12th) I am 12 weeks along.  I cannot believe it.  How can I already be that far along?  I do not feel like I look pregnant yet, I honestly just feel bloated and fat.  We ran into a family friend yesterday and she is only 3 weeks ahead of me, and you can definitely tell she is pregnant.  I just want to have that official bump like her so I don't feel like people are thinking "Wow, she gained more weight."  It is not a good feeling.  And with all of my clothes feeling more snug, I am happy that Ashley offered to let me have some of her maternity clothes.  That is definitely a great offer because I have been searching on websites looking at maternity clothes, and you can spend a small fortune on that alone!  Who knows how long I can even wear those items before I need more.
      Overall it was a nice first Mother's Day.  Kenny and I went to Flap Jacks for breakfast and then I surprised my Mom with her favorite ice cream: Orange Leaf.  Mom and I drove to Metropolis Mall and looked around at Coldwater Creek and the Loft to find her some new clothes as a gift.  This afternoon Kenny and I went to his Aunt Connie's house to visit with the Gaddis family.  There we got to meet 1 week old Matthew...adorable!  Congrats Jessie and Matt!  And then we ended the day by driving back up north to the hospital to visit with Brent, Ashley and Adalyn. Adalyn is such a snuggler.  I held her against my chest for probably 30 minutes, and I changed her diaper and put her in her pjs.  She is so tiny that it was not easy, but I guess that is something that I will become more comfortable with.  Kenny held Adalyn for awhile too, and he was comfortable with her.  It's hard to believe that we will be holding our own in just 6 months.
     The best thing I can have for Mother's Day is knowing that my baby is healthy.  Other than the tiredness and fatigue, I have still felt just fine (thank you, Lord).  No morning sickness, and no nausea since about 6 weeks.  I keep watching the calendar because my next check up is on May 23rd (right around the corner) and then just a month later we will have our gender ultrasound.  If you haven't heard, we are not going to find out the sex in June during the ultrasound.  We are going to wait until July 1st when we will have a gender reveal party and find out at the same time as our family and friends.  Cannot wait!  I have already been purchasing decorations and planning the menu!  I love party planning!
    I have not posted a photo since the 8 week picture.  I am beginning to see a little bump.  You might not be able to tell, but I can.  Here it is!


12 Weeks



12 Weeks...see the little bump?



Maya wanted in the photo :)