oh what a life!

it's been another fun couple of weeks for us browns. my sis in arizona went on a week-long cruise and left the kiddos at home for my parents to watch. i decided to go out for a few days and play with the kids and help my parents. raine and emmett are such cute boys! raine is on the go all day long, and emmett just hangs out and enjoys watching his big bro. emmett was teething and fussed a bit throughout the night so i didn't get much sleep, but i guess that's just good practice for when november comes around, eh? and it was well worth it. it was so fun cuddling with that cute little boy!

 

 

 3 generations of boys. love this picture

i'm also really excited because my parents sold their beautiful house in northern cali this week and are planning on moving to arizona too! there aren't going to be many lake family members left in california. but it means my parents are going to be a lot closer! which also means i'll have another babysitter not too far away ;) 

in other exciting news, this week we had our big anatomy scan and got to see our little girl! this is the ultrasound that most people find out the gender, and it was nice to hear the tech confirm that we're still having a girl! we got to see all her fingers and toes and watched her kick me. it's always such a precious experience. 

she's a belly sleeper like her dad. and just look at that teeny perfect foot! melts my heart. the most exciting thing has been to feel her kick this week! it's just been the last 5 days or so that i feel her 2-3 times a day for a couple minutes at a time. people say you usually feel flutters first, but i must've missed that stage cause what i'm feeling is more like she is just poking me with her finger, or maybe she just always has the hiccups. but i'm loving it and it always brings a huge smile to my face. can't wait for ryan to be able to feel it.

this week i also went shopping with denene and malisa for denene's wedding next month. i'm so excited for her to become mrs. trevor brunner! then i found out my other best friend tahnee had her baby girl lila jeanne yesterday! i'm so proud of her and happy for her cute little family. can't wait to meet her next month! ryan and i also took the brown's boat out yesterday for a romantic ride in the sunset. we saw some dolphins and just cruised around. then to top off my week, i played beach volleyball today and am definitely feeling the results. i've been walking a lot with my mother-in-law paula, so i'm not completely out of shape, but it felt good to hit the beach today. 

19 weeks!

one last picture and i'll be done for this week. i have been pretty good at taking belly photos, so i thought i'd share one to compare how i was when i first got pregnant to how i am now. i'll continue to add to this as my belly gets bigger. 

5 weeks/18.5 weeks

 

 

so many blessings

once again, i don't know where to begin. i'll just give a brief update of what's been going on in our fun lives. since ryan graduated last spring, he's been working monday thru friday. it seems he has a lot of free time these days, especially with me being in school. i am now halfway thru nursing school at saddleback college in mission viejo. i love it!! it's been really fun, and so far it's gone by really fast. but since i'm either always at school, or the hospital, or studying, ryan has picked up a few little hobbies. first, golf...it seems he's done this more than surf these days. he also goes to the driving range quite a bit, or sometimes even golfs on the weeknights. second, scouts...he is an assistant varsity scout leader at our church, so every week they get together. so far, they've gone snowboarding, iceblocking, rock climbing, etc. i think it's the perfect calling for him because he is so good with that age group. third, camping. he has spent lots of time lately looking up camping stuff. but i'm glad he's found another hobby.

as for me, well now that school is done maybe it will sink in that WE'RE HAVING A BABY!! it is true. as much as we were planning on waiting a while, i can't help but feel so grateful for this little nugget growing inside me. and we found out this little nugget is a girl!! we couldn't be happier! she'll make her appearance around 11/10/12.

                                          Ultrasound on 5/9/12 confirming it's a GIRL!

 here is a little rundown on how we found out we are expecting... it was monday, march 5th and i had just finished a normal hospital shift for school. while i was there, i realized i was a few days late (which never happens to me). but i didn't really linger on the thought. however, i just happened to notice that just about every nurse i worked that day with was pregnant. plus, anytime a baby is born there, they play a little nursery rhyme for the entire hospital to hear. so of course that went off 10 times that day. i started getting the thought in my head, and once it entered it wouldn't go away. so as soon as i got home i told ryan to come with me while i take the test and to be the one to tell me it's negative so i can just move on (i was convinced it was negative). i take the test and i wait and wait for him to say something. finally i said something like, "okay just tell me it's negative already!" ryan says, "welllll..." i knew it had to be positive. and i freaked out a little. okay maybe a lot. we just hugged and i got teary eyed, and ryan said to me "aww, i knocked you up." :) i made him take me to target and get another one just to be safe. and what do ya know, that was positive too. so we called my parents and mindy and carrie and shared the news. his parents were out of the country so we had to wait a few days to tell them. 

                                                                           8 weeks


so that's our story and i'm now 17 weeks pregnant and still in denial i'm really pregnant. it really was a great surprise! 

                                                                     16 weeks

since this is our first official 'baby post' i'll do a quick catchup of other fun things in our lives. first, i somehow got lucky enough to go on ellen mother's day show! let's just say we scored. we got a sleep number bed, crib, carseats, stroller, babies r us gift card, and many more. i am still on cloud 9 and can't believe all that has happened in the last few months. ryan and i also went camping a couple weeks ago and used our new hiking backpacks.

 

it was such a nice quick getaway! i also just got back from visiting my best friend tahnee in san antonio. she's 38 weeks pregnant with a girl! i hadn't seen her in over 2 years so i needed some tahnee time!

                                              37 week baby bump and 16 week baby bump

           
i had so much fun visiting and catching up with my beautiful friend and i'm so excited to meet her little lila jeanne! thanks for the fun tahn tahn :)


just one last post, and i'm only posting it so i don't forget how great my 27th birthday was this last week! ryan and i went out to breakfast with his parents, then i got my hair done while ryan was working. for dinner, ryan took me to sushi, which we haven't had in forever!! of course i stuck to the cooked stuff but it was ah-mazing! then he took me shopping and got me some earings and maternity pants. but the best part of the day...ryan gave me the BEST massage i've ever had! who knew he had it in him. up till now, he's given me a few (and i mean very few) quick massages :). but this time he set up our room with candles and dimmed the lights and turned on nature sounds and used massage oil and everything! he is in big trouble now that i know he has this hidden talent. anyway, thanks again for the fun day babe! xoxo