First Belly Photo and a Pregnancy Question

Instagram has seen it, Facebook has seen it, it's about time the blog has seen it too

My first belly photo :)

I feel like my stomach grew overnight. Although I could see a difference in my belly before, not many others could and then BOOM everyone started commenting on how I'm showing and people have been touching my belly since. 

We get to go in for our ultrasound next Friday and we're hoping we can get an early prediction on the gender. I'm a little nervous for this appointment though. At my last appointment my doctor told me I had lost weight. She said she wasn't concerned yet, but that I needed to focus on gaining it. I figured I had lost weight because I was so sick at first and could hardly eat, but I feel like I've been doing so much better ever since. I eat breakfast, lunch and dinner; I eat small snacks every 2-3 hours, I really don't know what else I could do. With this mindset I hopped on the scale a couple days ago and have only gained one pound out of the few that I lost :( 

I feel healthy, and by looking at my belly our baby is clearly growing, so should I be worried? I'm not sure. So I'm a little nervous for our appointment. 

Do any of you  moms have suggestions for gaining healthy weight? Did you have this problem, and should I be worried? Any tips would be much appreciated :) 

Baby Girl Names: Help!

We don't know that little lamb is a girl, but I have a very strong feeling that it is (so does John, and my grandma, and so do my friends....it's gotta be a girl, right??). And we had our girl name picked out, it was a done deal, she was going to be Naomi Elizabeth.....but we have to change it.

Someone very close to us has had that name picked out for a while apparently and even though they're not pregnant, they still plan on using it even if we name our little girl Naomi. That would be two Naomi's who would grow up together, and who would live right next to each other. And that ain't happenin.

SO we have to find another girl's name because seriously, I'll bet money baby is a girl. But we need help. We need suggestions.

I'm SO picky with names!! I don't want anything popular (nothing on the baby top 100 list or even low 100's cuz they could spike in popularity); I'm one of those people that if I know someone with the name I won't use it; I want a super girly, feminine, unique, beautiful name....and I can't find one that I think "that's it!!".

Right now we have a couple on our list (and I swear if anyone steals them after I reveal them they'll see the wrath of Piper) they are:

Nova, my great grandma's name. She's my hero, the person I strive to be like, she meant so much to me that I feel like my daughter would be lucky to share her name and I would like to honor my great grandma by naming our child after her..

Nadine is our other name. I don't have any strong attachments to the name, but it's pretty, unique, and I feel like it's feminine.

Right now that's all we've got. John says "Nadine would work" but that's not exactly the response I wanted. He likes Nova, but I want a list for him so he doesn't feel like he has to choose that name because it's my grandma's name, ya know?

I would like the middle name to stay Elizabeth, but I'm in need of some help, friends.

Does anyone have any baby girl name suggestions??

The Vow

For our date night tonight I decided to rent The Vow.

I read the book a few weeks ago and LOVED it. I knew I could never get John to read the book but getting him to watch the movie would be much easier. So, I went down to Safeway, rented it, and within 5 minutes of putting it in, I knew I was not going to like the movie.

The movie was nothing like the book, they didn't even keep the same names. How disheartening. The whole reason I wanted John to read it was because of the message behind the story. If you haven't read the book I'll do a quick recap (Spoiler Alert!):

Kim (the husband) and Krickitt (the wife..nickname, not real name) met over the phone. She was going to school in California and he was a baseball coach in New Mexico...or was it Arizona....pretty sure it was New Mexico. Anyway, Krickitt was very athletic, she was a gymnast, her family was a big sports family as well, and she worked at a sporting goods store. Kim called the store to order some coach jackets out of their catalog and that's how they met. It started with a couple business calls, then went to personal calls, then to a face to face meeting, and then they fell in love. One of the things that they had in common was their relationship with God...well, kinda. They were both Christians and their faith was really important to both of them, on their first date they pulled out the Bible and read Job (ironic considering their journey), but Kim says that Krickett's faith was inspiring because it was so much stronger than his. He proposed, they got married, she moved to New Mexico, and they were very happy. They were on their way over to hear parent's house for Thanksgiving...or was it Christmas....one of those, they were on their way over to celebrate the holiday with family and they got into an awful car accident. I mean, really horrific car accident. The way he described it in the book the car had flipped onto it's top, skidded quite a long ways, when he woke up he felt blood dripping on his face then realized that it wasn't his blood- Krickett was hanging from the roof of the car still in her seat belt and it was her blood dripping onto him but she was completely lifeless. He thought she was dead. Long story short some passerby's called 911, pulled him out of the car (and his friend who they were giving a ride) and they were rushed to the emergency room. He was told that she had a 1% chance of living.

By the grace of God she made it, but she didn't remember anything from the past year or so (they had only been together for about a year) and she didn't remember anything about their relationship together. She was in the hospital for a very long time, she went through major rehab because she couldn't walk or do anything. The doctors said that the reason she survived and was able to recover like she did was because she was so athletic before the accident. Kim and Krickitt had a really long journey. She tried living at their apartment but it was too hard for her, she didn't remember anything. She went to stay with her parents and he flew out to see her every week ( I think her parents were in Arizona and he was in New Mexico). They fought; they had a really hard time accepting what had happened to them, she didn't like him and couldn't imagine falling in love with him, but their faith in God and their belief in staying true to their vows is what kept them together. That's what I wanted John to see in this movie. That this couple had a hell of a rough patch, I mean, the worst thing any couple could ever go through together...but they kept true to their vows...hence the title The Vow. In the end she fell in love with him again, he fell in love with the new Krickitt, they renewed their vows, went on their second honeymoon, and now have 2 kids, but she never regained her memory.

I'm frustrated because this movie didn't do their story justice. In this movie she was flirting with her ex and kissed him, there was this whole dramatic ordeal with her parents that wasn't remotely close to the relationship she had with her parents or his (his were not dead in the book, his dad was actually a huge support) and the biggest kicker, in the movie they got divorced. What's the point of making a movie whose whole premise is based off of the idea of a couple never breaking their vow, when Hollywood changes it and does have them break their vow??

If you liked the movie that's okay, but please go read the book. It is such a different story and one that is inspiring and worth reading. I wasn't inspired by the movie, I didn't get chills, I didn't even get teary eyed and I am thee biggest baby when it comes to anything even remotely romantic... but the book brought me to tears and really hit home with how important it is for a married couple to stay true to the promises that they made before God, to each other, forever.

The Covenant of Marriage

Dear Kim Kardashian and People Alike,

Today I typed the word “Marriage” into my Google search bar and the first thing that came up was ,”After just 72 days Kim Kardashian has filed for divorce from Kris Humphries”. So congratulations. You’ve made a mockery of everything marriage stands for. Marriage is a commitment of yourself to your spouse; it’s a promise to hang in there through the amazingly good times and the dreadfully bad times; marriage is a covenant “a solemn binding relationship which is meant to last a lifetime”.

People have this idolized idea of what marriage will be like, that after the wedding day you’ll both live “happily ever after” but you won’t. Not every day. You’re merging two different people, two different families, two different pasts, to create “one flesh”, one family, and one future together….that is bound to get rocky. But you made a commitment to stick it out through times just like that. And you Kim, you couldn’t do it for longer than 72 days. 72 days? Really? That’s absurd. Did you even try to make it work? Did you do everything you could to save your marriage? In 72 days, I know you didn’t. Once it got hard, you ran for the hills.

Yeah, I’ve read the reports on what’s been going on with them but nothing I’ve read is worth a divorce. People have gone through so much worse than what these two have gone through and they’ve made their marriage last for their whole lives. He’s currently out of a job? So is half of America; he’s partying too much? He’ll get over it…it’s called growing up and maturing, she knew going into it that he wasn’t the most mature guy in the world; He’s spending her money? Welcome to marriage. These are just excuses. She wants to move on, find something better, get more face-time in the press. I’m sure she’ll find a way to make money off of this.

It sickens me that people go into marriage thinking of an out. What I mean by that is, in the back of their minds, maybe even subconsciously, they think “if it doesn’t work we can get divorced”; “it doesn’t have to be permanent” but that’s exactly what it should be-permanent.

It’s easy to promise forever on a day when your happy, true character is being able to promise forever even when you’re not.












*P.S. I’m sure people who are divorced will not be happy by this post. Unless there is an extreme case like abuse or adultery, I will stand by what I said. Marriage is supposed to be permanent. If it’s not, then what’s the point of it?*

A Lack of Responsibility Has Severe Consequences

In the past two days I’ve heard two awful stories about dogs not being controlled on a leash or really controlled at all. Both stories have resulted in two dogs dying, actually, most likely three….but we’ll get to that in a minute.

I love my dog, he’s not just a dog to me, he’s my baby,  but I know his limits and I know his temperament. I know what he’s capable of even if I think he won’t act on what he’s capable of. That being said, I always have Duke on a leash (a short leash) when there are small children, small animals, or anything that would be left vulnerable to him if something went array. That’s what a responsible owner does. Owners, you need to be responsible for your pet. You need to be aware of your surroundings and be cautious, don’t think “my Frou Frou wouldn’t do that” because your Frou Frou just might.

The first story has to do with my friend Chloe and her baby boy. Basically, her and her son went over to her parent’s house and she told her parents to keep them outside because she didn’t trust them around her son. Her parents didn’t listen. Her phone rang and in the 10 seconds she had turned her back, the dog had bit her son in the face. Yes, he bit a one year old  in the face. That is not okay. And could have been easily avoided, but because it wasn’t the dog was put down.  Landry (the baby) wasn’t seriously hurt, but in my opinion that was a lose-lose for everyone. And all because her parents wouldn’t keep the dogs outside during their visit.
Although that story is sad and scary, this second one has been haunting me since I heard about it this morning. John’s best friend Zac was house/pet sitting for his parents while they were out of town. His mom has this adorable little Yorkie named Zoey. I’ve known Zoey since they brought her home, she’s the cutest little dog and she’s Zac’s mom’s baby.  Zac was out walking Zoey last night around their house (they live in Morgan, Utah. For those of you who don’t  know about Morgan, there isn’t much up there but there’s a lot of land). Zac’s aunt and uncle live next door to his parent’s and have a German Shepherd. Their aunt didn’t realize Zac was out walking Zoey and let her dog off his leash. Within seconds the German Shepherd had little Zoey in his mouth. Zac tried everything to get Zo out, and to make the other dog let go, he even shot at the German Shepherd, but it was too late. Zoey was dead. All because the owner wasn’t aware of it’s surroundings. I don’t know for certain if the German Shepherd was put down after what happened, but I think it’s pretty safe to assume that it was.

You might say that it’s harsh for me to blame the aunt in the last situation, because she couldn’t have known they were outside, but you know what- when you have a pet, especially a big dog, you need to be extra aware of what’s going on around you. And if your going to take your dog off his leash, you’d better be 110% certain about your surroundings. You might also think that it’s not fair to blame the parent’s of my friend, but if you’re asked specifically to put your dogs outside because a vulnerable baby is around, do it. What will it hurt if you put your dogs outside for an hour? And what will it hurt if you don’t?  Weigh the consequences because too many things can go wrong, guys. I don’t want to believe that Duke would ever attack a child or anyone for that matter, but I know that it’s a possibility because as much as I consider him to be a family member he’s still an animal and they still have moments when they act like animals and not necessarily pets.