15 WEEKS!!

How Far Along: 15 Weeks (Last Friday)

Size of baby: Baby is the size of an avocado (4-5 inches long)

The Bad: TIRED.

Maternity Clothes: I am pretty much in maternity pants all the time now... only have a couple of non-maternity pants that still fit. I received lots of maternity clothes from my best friend Jackie (thank-you!!) and my mom and I went shopping when she was hear for Easter. I am loving the maternity dresses - very comfortable!

Gender: Our official appointment is set for May 14th to have our "20 week" sonogram... we did find out a little early though. We are so thrilled, but are waiting to reveal it to the world (facebook, etc) a little longer :)

Sleep: Still getting up at least once to use the bathroom each night - I am thinking this will only get worse?!? Other than that I am sleeping very well so far.

Movement: Nothing yet!! I was told that the jolt I thought I felt last month was too early...

What I miss: Deli sandwiches... sometimes I just want a ham and cheese sandwich that is not heated...

Cravings: I have really started to crave asian food... mainly stir-fry dishes like fried rice or pad thai. I am still having aversions to mexican food and pulled pork... poor Josh - these are two of his favorites.

Symptoms: The heartburn is getting a little worse... I pretty much get it every day.

Best Moment this week: At our appointment this week - we got to HEAR the heartbeat for the first time!! On our last appointment the Doctor had a hard time finding it since it was still so early. This time, she was able to find it right away. It was a "strong 152". We were so excited to get to hear it!! Later... they offered to do an early sonogram to see if they were able to determine the sex of the baby... I will update on this very soon!

Things are progressing nicely! It feels like time is starting to go by very quickly. We are just so thankful and so excited for this little miracle!!

1st Pregnancy Update: 13 Weeks!!

I decided that I should probably get started with the pregnancy updates... I don't have a baby bump photo yet - Josh and I have taken a few so far... but you really can't tell anything so I will spare you :).

How Far Along: 13 Weeks
Size of baby: Baby is the size of a peach - 3"long

Total Weight Gain/Loss: 1 pound (Not too bad so far...)

The Bad: Nausea - although (I think) I am almost done with it?? and still so TIRED.

Maternity Clothes: Bought a bella band 2 weeks ago and have begun to wear most pants with the top unbuttoned.

Gender: We should find out around 19 weeks...

Sleep: I am already getting up at least once to use the bathroom each night - I am thinking this will only get worse?!? Other than that I am sleeping very well so far.

Movement: I thought I felt a little jolt this past weekend... I am thinking that may be too early!?!?

What I miss: Riding roller coasters... haha

Cravings: I think my only real craving right now might be peanut butter...I have quite a few aversions - most of which center around mexican and pulled pork - can't eat either at the moment.

Symptoms: Nausea, heartburn, indigestion - I sound like a pepto commercial!! Too bad I can't take any pepto...

Best Moment this week: Josh got a job offer in Huntsville - we are officially moving and will be having a baby in Huntsville!!

Although I don't have baby bump photos yet... I do have sonograms!! Here are the sonograms from my first 2 appointments. The first one was scheduled at 7 weeks and the second one was done at my 11 week appointment when the dopplar machine could not find the heartbeat (which they said was very common) and they did a quick sonogram to make sure everything was okay!! It is so neat to see our little one doing summersaults!!

7 week Sonogram

11 Week Sonogram

I totally did not notice it at first, but at the 11 week sonogram, you can see the baby's face looking into the camera - you can see two eye sockets and an outline for the mouth. It melts my heart :).

Hewietts - Soon to be a Family of 3!!

That's right folks, we are going to have a baby!! I apologize for the lack of posting on the subject until now - we decided to do the big Facebook reveal last week and we have been busy and traveling ever since! Here is a little update on how we found out the exciting news and how we told our families...

How we found out - Josh and I started to have "the discussion" last Fall and decided that we were ready (or so we thought...haha) to start trying around November. I came off of the patch at that time and immediately realized that it may take a little time since it was a VERY strong dose of estrogen and my body was all out of wack - emotionally and physically... in mid January, before I headed off for a trip to St. Louis for work, I took a pregnancy test and it was negative. I assumed that since it was around the time when it should show a positive if I was pregnant, that I was not. However, I got back from my trip on Thursday night, January 26th and decided to take one more test just to be sure... this time we got a very different result!! I took the standard line test and although the line was pretty evident, it still was not as dark as the "control" line so we immediately ran out to the CVS to grab a digital test just to be sure - the results were clear - "PREGNANT." We were beyond excited.

How we told our families - We wanted to think of a creative way to tell our parents and siblings and so we turned to Pinterest (where else?) and found the idea for this picture:

Funny side story as we are taking this picture... We really wanted to tell our families in person before we told anyone else - so when we took this picture, Josh, my doctor and myself were the only people that knew... some ladies walk up in the parking lot next to us and immediately one of them yells "what are you taking this picture for?!?" (Please remember, we live in the very small town that is Cullman, AL and anything out of the ordinary will cause people to speak out.) Without even thinking I yelled "We are pregnant and we are taking this picture to tell everyone!!" They were very excited for us, it was sweet. Sorry Moms - unfortunately you were not the first to know after all...

We headed home to Jax the weekend of March 2-4 to tell the family. We got in late Friday night (as usual) and I just could not wait to tell my Mom and since she was still awake - we gave her a "present" which was the picture above in a frame. It took her a minute to read and when she could make out what it said - She jumped up and down and ran to hug us. On Saturday we were able to have lunch with my sister, Aunt Lala and my grandparents and we told all of them as well - they were just as excited. Later that afternoon we headed to Josh's parents house. We were planning to have dinner with his sister, grandparents and aunt that evening and so when we got to their house we asked his parents to come to the back bedroom and handed them the same gift - picture in a frame. As they pulled it out, Josh's Mom immediately started tearing up and as his dad read it he said "Congratulations!!!". They were so excited, it was a very sweet memory :). We later told the rest of the family and they were all thrilled!!

We called several friends over the next couple of weeks and made the BIG Annoucement (to Facebook) on Friday, March 16th after my 11 week appointment.

I am now officially 12.5 weeks along and feeling pretty good - I am hoping to do an update post later this week for my first official pregnancy update. :)

Josh and I are beyond excited and so honored at this opportunity from God to be parents. We are already praying for our sweet little one and for our ability to raise and guide him/her.

We have a busy summer ahead of us - Josh is officially accepting a permanant position at Huntsville Hospital this week and so we will be in full house-hunting mode and hopefully making the transition to Huntsville over the next couple of months. I will continue to work at my job in Birmingham through at least August and traveling to job sites as long as my doctor gives me the "OK". We are excited to plant our lives in Huntsville, get plugged into a church and get ready for the baby! More updates to follow...

UPDATE ON THE HEWIETTS

Yes, we are still alive... I am just a terrible blogger.

It has been over 2 months since my last post - shame on me!! Although, I must say - I am noticing a common trend with many of my blogging buddies. Busy times.

Where do I even begin...


TRAVEL - We do a lot of it!! I still need to post about our wonderful trip last NOVEMBER to San Diego. I need to get on that.... Josh had a hospital conference and I got to tag along and we celebrated our birthdays in style!

For the holidays we were in Dallas for Thanksgiving and Jacksonville for Christmas... need to do update posts about this as well...

In January we visited our friends Sarah and Logan in Memphis and Adam & Tyler in Murphy, TN.

For work this year I have already been to Kent, Ohio & Carbondale, IL. I will have several more trips in the coming months to Chapel Hill, NC, Durham, NH (get to fly into Boston!! - never been there before!), Kennesaw, GA, Lock Haven, PA & Raleigh, NC. This summer is going to be busy!

Josh and I also have a couple of FUN trips coming up soon... Chicago in March (another hospital conference I am tagging along to) and BERMUDA in June for my sister's wedding cruise!! Can't wait :)


ON CALL - Josh's residency is going great and this year he has actually started to rotate as the "Administrator On Call." You should definitely ask him about it if you see him... he has done one week-long rotation so far and it was quite eventful. Those middle of the night phone calls to settle Physician disputes are not fun, let me tell you.... (Or let him...)


ACE - This year I am a mentor in the ACE program here in Birmingham. Design & construction professionals mentor highschool students in the junior or senior year who are interested in becoming an Architect, Construction Manager, Engineer (or Interior Designer!) Each week we visit different firms and learn about the design and construction processes. The kids even have to complete a group project which we had to assist with... I think I had a little PTSD from studio come out, but hopefully they were not too scared :).


DRIVE - We drive like its our job - each of us have a 110 mile roundtrip daily commute and we are counting down the days until we move! We have enjoyed the past 9 months in small town America - but we are ready for a slightly bigger city - somewhere we can both live, work, go to church and say TARGET within 5-10 miles of each other. Josh's residency will finish this May and so we will hopefully have some exciting updates this summer on where we are moving next!


SMALL GROUP - We are still involved (as much as we can be) in our small group at Brook Hills. We miss seeing everyone each week very much and are sad when we realize that we will not be a small group very much longer... 5 of the 6 couples in our small group will be moving this summer after graduating from grad school to places like Ohio & Chicago and South Alabama... it is a sad, yet very exciting time for all of us as we expand and move out to glorify Christ in new and exciting places. We are hoping to plan another trip to the Farm (like last year) as a farewell weekend. We are also sad to think that we may only have a few more months at Brook Hills and under the wonderful preaching of David Platt - but we are excited to see where God will take us and use us in our new home - wherever that may be.

2012 = year of change... plain and simple.

BOOKWORM - So apparently that is what I am now - I never liked to read very much in highschool or college but there is something about traveling that makes me crave a good book. Lately I have read The Help, Hunger Games series (Love - can't wait until March with the first movie premier), Falling Home by Karen White & I have recently started to read Gone with the Wind. (I have never even seen the movie - Josh's Mom will be excited when I tell her I am done with the book and ready to see the movie!!)

That is about all of the Hewiett Updates for now - stay tuned for more that will hopefully occur sooner than 2 months from now :).

CHRISTMAS CARD

Here is our Christmas card this year. We decided to design it with Shutterfly this year again -with 40% cards and free shipping - you really can't beat it. We addressed them and sent them out Saturday so be expecting your copy very soon!

P.S. We were very excited about our picture this year as well. We found a Cullman Local Landmark to include for our picture - the Clarkson Covered Bridge. (Originally built in 1904). We made use of our new camera and tripod to get a family shot :).

TRAVELING WITH DAD

My Dad loved to travel. Plain and simple. We were fortunate enough to tag along on all of the wonderful trips that he and my Mom took growing up. (Well, most of them, they took a few trips to be alone as well :). My Dad loved trying new things, seeing new places, meeting new people and trying new food. He taught us to appreciate these trips and treasure our time together as a family. Whether we were boarding the wrong train in Paris, falling down a ski slope in Colorado, or getting kicked out of the Sistene Chapel in Italy - we were together.

Today will be 8 years since my Dad's passing. I still miss him like it was yesterday - but I am so thankful for our many memories together. Josh and I plan to continue these wonderful memories with our family.

The Hewietts turn 27!!

Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband!! Today is Josh's 27th birthday. Once again, for two days, he will be one year older :). I thought it would be fun to recap our last 8 birthdays that we have shared together...

19th Birthday - Dating

20th Birthday - Still Dating

21st Birthday - Yep, still dating

Insert picture of 22nd Birthday here... when we were (almost) engaged

23rd Birthday - First birthday as a married couple - in our Riverside Apartment :)

24th Birthday - with the whole family

25th Birthday - First Birthday in Birmingham

26th Birthday - at Jim N Nicks in Birmingham...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOSHIE!!! Can't wait to celebrate this year with you in SAN DIEGO!!!

But first, we will celebrate with a birthday dinner for him tonight - last time I checked we were either going to Taco Bell or Cici's Pizza. He said he just "couldn't decide." Haha... pray for me, and my digestive system, please!!

Also, side note - is it bad that I had to ask Josh last month how old we were going to be this year? Time is flying!!