Hearing the heart beat!!

We went to the doctor yesterday, and we got to hear the heartbeat for the first time! Matt and I were both speechless and so enthralled with the awesome noise! It was a good, solid beat, and everything looks great at this point.

Total weight gain: little over a pound (wow...wish it would stay that way!)

Cravings: soda (I have refrained from this one), Mexican, ice cream

Tiredness: yeah, I still go to sleep pretty early! I went to a movie last night with Leah, and I was fighting to keep the lids open!

11 weeks

I can still not get over how great I have been feeling! God has truly blessed me, and thus everyone around me! I am starting to tell a difference in my mid-section (very subtle), and I know that it will change so much over the next few weeks/months! 

I am a bit nervous about gaining too much weight over the holidays! Everyone gains weight during the winter; it's just a fact of life. Being pregnant makes that even easier, and I want to stay on track with the weight gain. I bought a DVD set called Fit Mama. I had some other pregnant friends recommend these to me, and so far I love it! I need to be more consistent, but anything at this point is better than nothing!

I go to my second doctor's appointment on Tuesday, so I am again anxious and excited to see and hear about the life inside of me!

Buying super cheap maternity clothes

While at a baby shower for another friend this past weekend, another preggo mama told me that Old Navy had their end-of-summer maternity clothes on sale for as cheap as $1.99. She recommended that I go check it out, especially since it would be April and May when I will be getting at my biggest. I surely did not think that I would be buying maternity clothes at 9 weeks pregnant, but anything to save us moola in the future!

I called my sis and asked her to go with me; I never like shopping alone. Plus, we always need each other to help make a decision! After digging and searching through all sorts of clothes, here is all that I got for a little over $60:

• 3 pair of capris
• 2 pair of bermuda shorts
• 2 tank tops
• 4 knit tops
• 2 dressy tops
• 2 dresses
• I think that's it...

I must say that I am pretty impressed with myself! Though I will not wear some of this for a while, it will be here sooner than I think! 

Telling my students

How and when to tell my 8th grade students has been a thing for me to think about. I knew I wanted to wait until the first doctor's visit. I thought that I might have to tell them soon, especially if I was not feeling well and would not be able to hide it. However, this was not the case at all; I have felt great! 

I decided that since most of the teachers I work with knew, the administrators, and even some of my past students, it would only be a matter of time before the secret was out. As part of their warm-up activity on Friday 11/7, I had 5 sentences on the board for the students to look at and determine what the sentences had in common. I had used the word "baby" in some way in the sentence. Sometimes it was a noun, a verb, or even an adjective. My 1st period class was really searching for the language arts answer, and one student said, "They are all simple sentences." I could tell by the look on some of their faces that they had an idea, but did not know what to say. When the answer finally came out, they were super excited and clapped, screamed, and laughed. Some of them are very upset that they will not get to meet Baby Johnson since he/she will  be born in the summer. I was amazed at how concerned they were with me. They wanted to know how I had been feeling, what my ideas were for names (and of course they had some!),was I going to teach still next year, and how cool it was going to be to watch me grow.  I knew they would be excited, but their level of excitement definitely shocked me! Not a day will go by at school without this baby being mentioned. 

Seeing our precious baby for the first time!

Matt and I were both so nervous and excited to go to the doctor today. We were a little uncertain of what exactly to expect, and what all we would be told. Like any mother, I was praying for the best. 

Seeing the picture of the little life inside of me was absolutely breath-taking. The baby has definite limbs right now, and we were able to see them all. At one point, a little arm flittered across the screen, and it looked like a wave. The heart was beating 177 times a minute, and watching this happen was pretty cool. Matt and I were smiling so big and could not get enough of it. Seeing the baby brought things into perspective of what is happening. I guess you could say that we are still on cloud 9, and we cannot believe this blessing that God has given us. 

I am at 8 weeks 1 day today, so there is so much ahead of us. I have been feeling great, and I am oh so thankful for that! I am hoping to steer clear of nausea and other not-so-cool pregnancy symptoms!

Anxiety awaits the fist doc visit!

I am right at about 7 weeks, and I am soooo ready to see the ultrasound and hear our baby's heartbeat! I have been feeling fine, and a part of this makes me nervous. I keep telling myself that I am in tune with my body, and I (my body) would know if something was wrong. I get so tired, and it is almost amusing how fast I can fall asleep! Matt has just gotten used to the idea of me being in bed most nights way before 9:00. I know my body needs it, so I do not fight it. The 8+ hours of sleep sure makes teaching 8th graders all day a whole lot easier; I should have been sleeping more all along!

We go to the doctor on Friday, October 31--Halloween! We are both excited and nervous to go for the first time. I think this whole being pregnant thing will really sink in when we see the picture of our little nugget! I am thankful that Matt wants to be a part of this whole thing with me; not all men would find the OB doctor visit a thrill! He has been so supportive, and I know it will only continue!

Telling the new grandparents

Matt and I found out we were pregnant Friday 10/ 3. I did not think that we would know so soon, but boy was I wrong! Four pregnancy tests later, and all of them said yes, you are pregnant. Matt and I were both ecstatic and in shock. After all the deliberation, praying, and talking about this happening, here we were. We had said that we were not going to tell anyone until we went to the doctor, but that did not last very long! I immediately called Leah and Daniel (my siblings), and Matt called Stephanie (his sis). They were all shocked and thrilled to hear the news. Of course, this made my sister's engagement and future wedding plans more interesting, but why not have even more fun?!? It's kind of cool to think about how much my family's lives will be changing within the next year!

I also told a long-time best friend, Jamison, that night. I knew she would almost die when she found out, and I was right! I always told her she would be the first to know, and she was!

We wanted to do something extra special for the grandparents-to-be, so our brains began to think. Here is what we ended up doing on Thursday 10/9:

We first went to Martha and Larry's. We kinda lied to them and told them that we were in the area getting our rings checked and cleaned, and that we wanted to stop by and visit. We chatted for a while, and then Matt gave his mom a present. We had wrapped up a onesie nightgown and the wonderful children's book,  Guess How Much I Love You. Matt wrote a sweet little message inside the book. His parents were blown away and beyond speechless. Martha was so cute as she swayed back and forth reading the card. Larry was rather emotional, especially since he did not think that he would ever live to see us pregnant. I think we have given him motivation to stay with us here on earth a little longer!

Next, I called my parents and said that we were at the mall running a few errands, and that we could stop by for a while. Well, my mom then proceeded to tell me that Dad was not home yet, and probably wouldn't be until about 10:00. Hmmm...we contemplated on what to do, and then decided that we would go anyways because we could not wait. Dad finally got home about 9:40. We also gave them a nightgown and a book. However, the book I gave them was a little different. Over a year ago, Mom had given me the book Someday. It goes through a mother-daughter relationship all the way from birth to the daughter having her own baby. Mom gave it to me to say that "someday" she would be ready to be a grandmother, just not yet. I decided to give the book back to her and write in it that "someday" will be here sooner than we think. My dad got so tickled that he literally picked me up and could not stop laughing. My mom was grinning from ear to ear. 

The reactions from our parents was far better than we could have ever imagined! We are so blessed to have them in our lives, and our precious baby will also be blessed!