16 weeks

This week marks 16 and I am still doing good. Baby is the size of an avocado (4-5 inches long and 3-5 oz). I have a little pooch that you most likely noticed in my 15 week post and I am still sporting it now. If you didn't know me and were just looking at me you might think I ate a bit too much and/or was just bloated, but it is definitely a hard little belly. My energy level has increased and we try to go on walks and hikes often, though the gym has only seen me once since we've moved. I do get a nap in about once a day and boy are those nice! Plus, with not working I have tons of time to do whatever I want or need to do. Eating often and much is still high on my priority list, ha, and will probably continue to be as such. I need to eat every 2-3 hours, which was how I was before I got pregnant, but now the hunger comes on stronger and faster. Thankfully I'm gaining weight as I should and it's not getting out of control with all my eating!

Today I had an OB appointment and I am happy with the office I chose. Everything went great, talked through a bunch of stuff again. Had another doppler and ultrasound! Baby's heartbeat is still going strong at 155 bpm and is a mover (from what the NP and technician said)! I'm not feeling it yet, but hopefully in a few weeks I will! At one point it was sucking its thumb and then was waving its whole arm a few times-that was cool! The ultrasound technician tried to see if she could take a guess on the gender and at the moment they are guessing GIRL, but at my next appointment they will scan again and will have a better prediction (if the baby cooperates of course)!

Here's a profile shot!

15 weeks

This week makes 15 and baby is the size of a navel orange (4.5in, 2-3oz)! I'm feeling good, finally kicked that nasty cold which was around for awhile! I am craving lots and pretty much all junk unfortunately (soda, cherry limeades from Sonic, Chinese food, fries, candy, ice cream, etc). So I am trying to keep myself in check and not get carried away. Steven does a good job at giving me the look when I say I'm craving something I shouldn't, ha. But he has also been nice and lets me indulge here and there. Plus my motivation to work out has gone down the drain and that's not a great combination when all I want is junk-so I'm working on that.

I think I finally found a Dr. here and have my appointment next week! It includes an ultrasound and I am quite excited to see our little babe again! Then at the appointment after that we will have the big scan where we find out the sex! We have no inclination yet as to whether it's a boy or a girl, however several people think it's a girl, we shall see!

Anniversary #6

Saturday was Steven and I's 6 year wedding anniversary! It was a wonderful day shared with some friends, too. The day started with us going to the Capital City Public Market, Downtown Boise. There were blocks and blocks of vendors with fresh produce, pottery, artwork, drinks, etc. I wanted to eat and drink pretty much all the food and beverages...no one would guess I was pregnant, ha.

Then we met up with some friends to float the river. The temperature was perfect and we had an eight person raft that was round with a hole in the middle like a donut with a backrest on it. It was awesome! I wanted to take a picture of it, but of course forgot the camera (one of these days I will get better at capturing more moments and taking good quality ones, too). Floating was quite the adventure, because guiding such a huge circle raft isn't that easy, but it made for some great laughter and good memories!

For the evening Steven and I went out to dinner to Old Chicago, then dessert at The Melting Pot (one of our favorite places). We ate waaayy too much and I joked with Steven that I had two babies now, one real baby with the addition of a food baby. After all that, we headed to Wahooz Family Fun Center for miniature golf. The Melting Pot and miniature golf here is special to us because it is where we had our first date seven and a half years ago! I thought it would be fun to kind of recreate that day and it definitely made our anniversary extra special.

I love the moments Steven and I have experienced together, the memories we have made and all the ones we will make. There are many times when I think, how did I get so lucky with a guy like my husband. God has blessed me tremendously and I pray that I will always be a blessing back to Steven, being molded into the wife He wants me to be. Here's to 6 years of marriage and hopefully 60 more!

Every year we take a picture with the number representing the year we are on for our anniversary. This year it was hole number 6 on the miniature golf course we went to! 

Whirlwind

My goodness these last few weeks have been quite the experience for Steven and I!

As most of you know Steven got offered a job in Idaho and we accepted. The thing about accepting was we had 3 weeks to move. We did sign up for that, but living it was interesting. We both worked those 3 weeks and needed to sell things, pack things and spend time with people we wouldn't see for awhile...it was busy. Plus during the last week we were there I got a nasty cold that is still holding on.

 

Everything we needed to do went surprisingly well and we have been super grateful. We have such a great support system in Alaska that was hard to leave. Our co-workers gave us some touching goodbye parties/gifts. And our family put on a party that was Hawaiian themed because Hawaii is where I actually first met the majority of them. That evening definitely touched me and made me cry several times throughout that night, because it would be one of the last times we see them for a bit. I will say I wore waterproof mascara everyday those last 3 weeks. 

We have been in Idaho for almost a week and it has been eventful as well. This first week we get to house sit for some friends and then we get to stay with some other friends for a little. We have some generous and wonderful friends here. 

Before we moved here we started the house hunt process with a realtor and on the second day here we actually got together with her and looked at the houses we were interested in. It was fun to do that for the first time, trying to find the house we would grow our family in. We are in the process of pursuing one in particular and we are looking forward to how it will play out! 

The weather has been wonderful here! Alaska was having the rainiest summer they have had in years and we were really looking forward to being somewhere there was a guaranteed summer! We've gone on walks, a hike, runs, bike rides and will be floating the river soon!

Our family goodbye party

 Steven with one of our adorable nieces Finley

This is our WHOLE family in Alaska, some amazing people!

 A welcome back card and gifts we received from our Boise friends

 Disc golf...a fav of Steven's

awesome downtown fountain 

Hi 

 our new car!

Timing

June 2nd... Positive
It was a normal Monday morning and I was up at 4:50am as usual to get ready for work. And I wasn't really late, but I was anxious to test. The month previous Steven had been saying things like, "We probably won't get pregnant so soon...let's not get our hopes up..." So after I did the test I kept telling myself, "Don't get your hopes up, it's probably going to be negative, just keep getting ready for work." But as I was setting the stick down, the symbol was showing positive already. I thought I was imagining things, so I ignored it for a little bit, but then of course kept taking some peeks back at it. Still positive (like it was really going to change)! My heart started racing and tears were coming to my eyes! I wanted to wake Steven up that second, but I wanted to wait till he normally woke up. Because when he woke up I was able to say, "I have a surprise for you" as I whipped out the test from out of my pocket!!!! His face was that priceless look of shock and excitement that I will never forget. We hugged, we laughed and I of course got all teary eyed again.

Now I will tell you the road to this day was not easy, it was full of many big ups and many big downs. There were many challenging moments that brought us closer to God and closer together. During this time someone very special to me shared the scripture, Philipians 4:6-7 which says, 'Don't worry about anything instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all He has done. Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.' Going back to these verses really helped me get through those hard moments and I finally learned to let go of most of my control issues (that's a toughy...as you can see I said most-not all) and learned more patience (which is another tough one).  There's a bigger plan out there for us that we can't imagine sometimes. And as the days, weeks, months or even years go by we learn of that plan and it does a lot for our growth and walk.

I've been really blessed so far with an "easy" pregnancy. There have been a handful of days where I've felt nauseous and needed to make a few runs to the bathroom and plenty of moments where anything and everything made me feel queasy. Then there's the wonderful bloating thanks to the hormones that run through your body as well as most of the other normal pregnancy symptoms. There are plenty of days I feel like I'm already 20+ weeks pregnant, haha, but I feel like I'm doing good. And every day I get to mark of the calendar I know I am blessed; I don't take this little miracle for granted.

June 20th...A little flutter

Today was our first OB appointment. It has been long awaited, even though it has only been a few weeks of wait since we saw that positive sign. I have definitely had some  anxious moments and thankfully I have an awesome husband who helps me think more positive. This is one reason I wanted him to be at the appointment with me. Finally after a bunch of information and questions they got out the ultrasound machine! The provider turned the lights down, Steven at my side with his hand on me, the ultrasound wand touched and there was the sac with a little blueberry sized baby inside! There was a faint little flutter of a heartbeat and that made me relieved. Steven and I looked at each other and exchanged some big smiles! After all that was done the provider started talking some more and that's when the full on tears came. I had been keeping some emotions toned down because I didn't know what to expect on the scan, but I was so joyful, I couldn't keep it in.

July 22nd...Appointment number 2
This was the day we were going to hopefully see a bigger baby and a more pronounced heartbeat and possibly hear it! I was even more anxious before this appointment than the last because it was more of a milestone to cross and I really wanted to be there. And now to get to the scan I'd been waiting for. There we saw our baby, 2 inches long and a strong heart beating away. Baby was looking as it should as was everything else inside. Then the Dr. got the doppler scan out so we could hear the heartbeat. At first we could just hear mine, then after a few moments came the sound that made me gasp out loud, our baby's heartbeat! 160 beats per minute was music to our ears. And this was the day/week we shared with everyone our great news.

Our announcement 

12 week photo 

Hello! I am Kaitlin (but you can call me Kait) and I am excited to start blogging!

Since my husband Steven and I are moving away from his family in Alaska and we still won’t be living in the same area as my family in Oregon, I wanted to have a place family, friends and whoever else wants to, could go and be a part of some life moments.

I decided on the name ‘Norris Lane’ because Norris is our last name and Lane because a lane is where you live, love, it’s where you are and it can be where you’re going, too. And I want people to see where we are and where we are going….follow us along our journey.