11 Weeks

Oh...my....cuteness!

So this week we went for our Ultrascreen which was a bust because it was too early.  Something which they should have known when they called me to schedule it and had all the same information in front of them as they did the day we went to the appointment.  Either way we got to see our little adorableness.  Poppy was being a sleepy head (wonder where he/she gets that from) in the beginning but after some turning and coughing and some unwanted tapping on my belly by the ultrasound tech Poppy was kicking and moving!  It was so...for lack of a better word...weird to see our little one moving like a real baby!  Yes, I realize that he/she is...but it's just crazy to get used to!  

We go next week to peak at our little pepper two whole times in one day ((excitement))!  So next week we should have some more pics, and hopefully a video, to share with everyone!

So on with the survey!

Size of baby: Poppy has graduated to the size of a lime this week.  He/She has a big week ahead of him/her.  This week Poppy will be growing tons and movements will become effortless.  According to my baby center app Poppy will be hiccuping as his/her diaphragm develops, but we were lucky enough to catch this on the ultrasound a few days ago!  Who knew hiccups could be so cute??

Total Weight Gain: Still going strong at the same weight!  

Gender: I should probably erase this question from my survey...but it is kind of fun knowing my sister probably gets to it and holds her breath in hopes that I will post it here ;)

What I miss: SODA...I know that I could have some, but I've been doing so well holding out I'm pretty sure if I have one it's game over.

Cravings: Still nothing particular.  Just fixate on something and then I have, have, have to have it! 

Symptoms: Still super nauseous and still super bloated, but not really horrible symptoms just ready to move past it.

What I'm reading: Almost finished with What to Expect When You're Expecting.  Not that impressed with that book, so I will be picking something else up soon.  I also got a couple other books that I am getting ready to crack open.

Best Moment this week: Seeing baby wiggling his/her little feet and hiccuping...(sigh)

So more to come next week!  Happy weekend to everyone!

XO-Poppy's Parents :D

Week by Week

Hello all!

     I was going to save this for my 12th week but since we're getting close enough & since next week I should have lots to post I thought I'd get started now.

     I stole this from another blog that I frequent (thanks Traci!)  She would post this little survey each week to document her pregnancy & I really loved it & I want to keep track of it for mine to look back on.  So here it goes...

10 weeks!

Size of baby: The size of a kumquat

Total Weight Gain: Definitely not a question I'm prepared to answer...lol, lets just say when I found out I freaked & stopped working out mixed with a lot of relatives in town & a lot of unhealthy food made for a nice first couple weeks!  I am proud to say that I have lost a few pounds in the last couple of weeks & I am back to working out.  I feel enormous though, this symptoms of bloating is really sticking with me.  It makes wearing clothes really fun, haha!

Gender: It'll be a surprise!  Most of our family & friends are in the process of trying to talk us out of it, but we are committed to waiting!

What I miss: FETA cheese!  I know that I can have it if it's pasteurized but I honestly haven't taken the time out to look at the grocery store for it.  All I know is the tub I have sitting in my fridge is not & it makes me sad.  I don't really miss a whole lot except that I'm trying to stay away from a lot of caffeine so when my wonderful hubs reaches for that Dr. Pepper I pretty much drool all over him.

Cravings: The baked potato, as you already read about.  Other than that I haven't found one specific thing.  I just seem to get a hankering for something & I just have to have it...also as you read in my previous post, lol!

Symptoms: Nauseous, nauseous, nauseous! Now I consider myself lucky because I have seen so many friends & coworkers be much more affected by this than I am, but it doesn't change the fact that it is pretty miserable.  I am nauseous from the moment I wake up in the morning to the time I go to sleep at night.  I am nauseous if I eat or if I don't eat...it really makes no difference.  It gets really bad in waves, usually at an inconvenient time like when I'm helping a patient at work or when I'm in line at the grocery store.  Night time is the worst.  I seem to be very uncomfortable as soon as I've eaten dinner and I'm pretty sure my beloved Chase thinks his wife has turned into a truck driver because I could burp him out of the room.  Of course they are tiny adorable burps...of course.  Other than the nausea and bloating I have the usual pregnancy nose, my bra size is getting way up in the alphabet, & my veins are decorating my body.  So far pregnancy is really looking good on me ;)

What I'm reading: So much on the internet it's ridiculous!  But books that I'm reading right now are the staple, What to Expect When You're Expecting & I'm also reading Belly Laughs by Jenny McCarthy which is hilarious!  I have almost finished Belly Laughs & I have had some other recommendations on books that I'll be picking up along the way.  I'm pretty knowledge thirsty at this point so I'm sure there will be lots of reading and taking notes (Yes, I said taking notes) over the next 8 months.

Best Moment this week: Getting on the scale & seeing that the dreaded number went down instead of up!  I have a feeling that wont be happening much in the coming weeks so I am enjoying it!

     So here we are at 10 weeks & next week we are schedule for an Ultrascreen which is a fancy ultrasound, I'm told, done at the hospital & it will look at Poppy's spine, neck, etc more closely to check for any abnormalities.  We're hoping that we get a clean bill of health & we're pretty psyched to see the changes Poppy's made in just a couple weeks.  Poppy has now graduated from an embryo to a fetus which is a much faster growing phase & an exciting one!

     This week Poppy is growing nails, peach fuzz like hair, and his/her limbs can now bend so they will be having a fun time moving around in there.  Of course I wont be able to feel it since Poppy probably only weighs in at a quarter of an ounce & is 1 1/4 inches long!  Pretty tiny...but our little pepper will double in size in the next few weeks.  So exciting things happening!  Keep checking back as I try to keep up with weekly posts!

XO-The Culpeppers

Cravings

     So I know what you're thinking...isn't it too early to be having cravings??  So I thought also.  But the other day I got it in my head that a barbecue beef baked potato from 9er's Grill was what I needed...after being turned down by my hubs and then being rejected by the restaurant one night on my way home from work (they are moving locations...who knew?), I took matters into my own hands.  So I give to you, my first craving...bad enough that 4 days later I went out and bought the necessary ingredients and waited patiently for over an hour for them to bake in the oven.

My masterpiece...Mmm

If you're thinking, "that looks pretty big Fatty", you are correct.  But I thought, "Mmm this is going to be so worth it".  And then 5 mouthfuls later I tapped out...silly pregnancy!  Gives me unbearable hunger then bam!...I'm full :(  Guess it's for the better.  I'd like to keep poppy thin & trim ;)

That's all for now, hope everyone has a happy Thursday!

XO-The Culpeppers

Three's Company

     So this morning there have been a lot of posts but trust me this one is by far the best.

     Something you guys didn't know is that Chase & I have been trying for awhile to go from being a couple to being a family.  After quite a bit of heart ache & testing our relationship we got the best news we've heard in a long time...

WE'RE PREGNANT!!

     We are over the moon excited!  I wont get in to the details but after a long year we decided to take last month "off" and it turned out to be our best month!  Chase & I were just sitting out on our back patio eating dinner and talking about the upcoming month of his test and our anniversary and I told him maybe it'll be the "month of P's"...Promotion, Partying, & Pregnancy!

     Sure enough...that is exactly how the month of August went for us :)

     Here are a few pics of our first prenatal doctor's visit.  If this is a sign of what the rest of the pregnancy is going to be like you can expect a lot of videos and pictures captured by my director husband ;)

Patiently getting vitals taken & answering questions....
Okay, not really so patient ;)

Excited/Nervous

Answering more questions...

The longest wait ever...

There it is!!

Not my best picture...but it was an intense moment

     So the picture isn't quite what I was expecting.  I've seen these amazing ultrasound pictures from 8 weeks & you can see the head and extremities...it's really crazy that at that early they are little people.  But our's is a little dot & while I was hoping to see more of our little Culpepper it is crazy to think how a tiny little dot is a piece of Chase & I together growing inside my belly.  I can't wait to spend the next 8 months getting to know our little "Poppy"...as the baby has become affectionately named. (As in when we found out it was the size of a poppy seed)

 Here are some pictures & a video of us telling our families!

For Chase's mom & sister we surprised them by showing up at their dinner after I got off work.  We waited until we finished eating & then Chase passed them a picture on his phone of "our new addition to our house" ie a picture of the 3 pregnancy tests I had taken :)

Just like Kristen won the toe game she wins for best reaction...just look at that face!

:)

So glad we could tell her in person

Happy

lol, they were just a little excited...

just a litte ;)

     For my family we were going to wait to tell them when we were all in Galveston.  But when my mom text me that they were planning an Eduardo's night with my grandparents, aunt, uncle, & cousins I couldn't help but go!  Chase and his mom, Kevin, & the boys met us there and we gave his mom the duty of recording the moment.

     I wanted my mom to be the first to know so I played the same "look at the new addition to our house" game.  Now my mom knew that we had been trying so she didn't get that this was the big announcement and she thought that it was still a secret.  So just watch her reaction & then my frustration...haha!

I think my Aunt's reaction is so perfect & Shannon's running around the table & pushing my Aunt out of the way to hug me is pretty much the hilarious.

Take a look...

I just love this picture...haha

    So the next day was our Galveston trip & we went to the beach to play with the kids.  I swooped up the opportunity to tell Lexi in style ;)

    I was writing so fast as she walked in from the water that I couldn't finish the word pregnant, had to go with a shorter version!  lol

    So as you can see it has been a whirlwind last month!  We are in such a happy place right now that I wouldn't trade this time for anything.  I can't wait to keep you updated on all of the excited doctor's visits to come, but for now mark you calendars for...

March 28th 2012! 

XO-Lauren, Chase, & Poppy 


*PS-WE ARE NOT READY FOR FACEBOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS JUST YET, THANKS*

New Braunfels!

     After Chase's test we had another mini-vaca planned.  We packed up & headed to New Braunfels for a couple days.  While I don't have hardly any pictures from the trip, here are a few fun ones :)

Winning! ;)

Now this picture requires some explaining...

While it might not seem like much to you this game gave me the best ab work out from laughing that I've had in a long time.  Leave it to Chase to think of the silliest car trip game ever!

   So, we rode to New Braunfels in the most amazing mini-van ever.  In this mini-van were a million drop down over head compartments ready to store who knows what.  Well to Chase...why use them for storage when you could use them for fun?!

     So he dropped down all of them in the car and we all spent a good amount of time trying to put all of them up using just our feet.  I did pretty well with my short stumps but by far the over all winner and champion goes to none other than Kristen!

The only other pictures I took were at our last dinner where everyone ordered these huge beer ritas.

Mmmm

Hope you enjoy!

XO-The Culpeppers

My Husband the Genius

     Pretty much ever since we've been together I've told Chase that he is a genius.  He laughs & says "yeah right".  But as time goes by he manages to ace tests with little effort, giving him the nickname "Lucky" in Paramedic school by his jelly belly classmates.  

     At the beginning of the very long 3 months of studying there was a lot of anxiety in our household.  I kept telling Chase, "just do your best that's all you can do" & usually following it up with, "you know you'll ace it like everything else, smarty pants!"

Some how that didn't ease his mind.  So off the library he went every day off that he had.  It is the hardest I've seen him work for anything up until now.  I missed him every day that he was away in that dungeon of a library but the pride I had for him outweighed the loneliness hands down.

So on the day of his test I woke up early with him...not hard since I couldn't sleep all night anyway.  I did my best to make him breakfast and not hover over him while he reviewed a few more things.  I was hoping he couldn't feel my anxiety...

Off he went to the test & the waiting began for me.  After a long morning of praying & attempting to put my mind off it Kristen & I headed his way to hopefully celebrate with him.  We got the text that he was finished and that his score was a......97!!

I was instantly excited for him!  We waited at the bar for him to get there and of course he walks in like nothing has even happened and takes forever to make his way back to the table to see his sister & I.  At this point I just got up and threw my arms around him!  After those long months of studying and torturous anxiety we were done & with an amazing score! 

He of course was too busy being cautious to admit that it was a good score.  But as our lunch went on and more and more firemen came in stating they made 90, 91, 92's he perked up.

So the final results are...

Chase is ranked 41 out of 724!!=Chase is a genius :D

So we went from this....

To this!

Our anniversary celebration

     I am always proud of my husband but my pride has exceeded itself this time.  One thing he will tell you is that he is terrible at studying.  So for him to get up each day and pack up and head to the library on his own for months is a HUGE deal.  I am a proud wife & once again amazed at the smarty pants that I married :)

XO-The Culpeppers  

Home Updates

    It's been awhile folks!  Sorry for the blogging sabbatical...but lots of things have been happening around here!

 While Chase finished up his studying I had every intention of just looking when I went shopping with my mom but she found me the perfect buffet.  How can you pass up the perfect buffet??

So I brought her home to live with me & I love her!

     Here are a few pics of the new & improved dining room.  Also with curtains hung by yours truly ;)

Gotta love Ikea

Isn't she a beauty??

I can finally showcase the beautiful China that Aunt Joan passed on to us

Really loving the way the room is turning out!