We couldn't be more thrilled! I finally had my ultrasound at 21 weeks yesterday, and our little princess is progressing and growing just as she should. We were a little surprised when we found out because both of us thought our baby would for sure be a boy. I think it had something to do with the fact that we both grew up in families that had boys first, so it just seemed like that was in the plans for us too. Now that we know our baby is a girl it makes everything so much more real. We no longer have to say "the baby" or "it." Also, I can FINALLY start picking out fabric and decor for her nursery!

A little update on latest with us:

Currently we are living with Mike's parents. They have been so sweet to let us live with them for a few weeks. We signed a lease yesterday for our new place and move in Sept. 20th. We experienced a bit of sticker shock when searching for a home here since we were used to cheap Rexburg apartments. Oh well, you do what you got to do. We are excited to move into our own place again and get settled in. It feels great to know that we are here to stay. I am looking forward to staying in the same area for more than 4-8 months, and to get established in the community and church.

Pregnancy:

I have finally arrived at the point of my pregnancy where I am feeling great. It is so amazing to feel our little girl kicking and wiggling around in my belly everyday. The doc told me she is breech right now so I am hoping she flips around. Have any of you experienced this? He told me not to worry and that 50% of babies are breech at this point in pregnancy. I am not freaking out at this point, but if she stays put I will.

I want to post pictures of my baby bump but my cord for the camera that hooks up to the computer is packed away. Don't worry though. I will post some as soon as we get settled in our place.

Mixed emotions.

I am excited to go home to Colorado next week and see my family.

But my heart aches about leaving Mike in the east to finish out his summer job.
(By the way, it was his idea for me to go spend the last weeks of the summer in CO, not mine.)

I am cannot wait to find out if this baby is a boy or girl. Any guesses?

But we have to wait until the last week of August.

I am sooooo happy this is my last week of my summer job as the office administrator for Vision Security. What a headache it has caused me.

However, once I get back to Denver it's time to look for substitute teaching jobs for the fall. I will have to wear an over sized shirt to cover my baby bump at job interviews. ;-)

We are looking forward to settling down in Denver and raising our family.

But finding the right place to live has been stressing us out.


Overall, we have a lot of good things to look forward to, but also many unknowns. This is one of those moments in our marriage where we truly have to "go forward in faith." A good friend once told me, "You have to take a step into the darkness before the Lord shows you the light"

Guess this is what having faith is all about.

Living on the east coast definitely has its perks, especially when it comes to historical sights. Being a history major you know I am all about it! In May, when it wasn't so hot and humid, we drove to Williamsburg with some friends and spent the afternoon there. Every time I visit an historical sight I think to myself, "when I get home I am going to read up on this." Then whenever I am reading about a specific place or event I think, "I want to go there so bad!" I also feel like my so many of my history tid-bits are fading. When you're in school your mind is filled with so much information. Then somehow, at least for me, so much of it fades when you graduate. So frustrating. I need to brush up on my history again!












I thought this was rather interesting. Check out the letter "M." A little odd, don't you think?

Have you ever seen this game with the stick and circle? Mike gave it a whirl. He caught on pretty quick.

Last weekend we drove to Delaware to visit Mike's grandma in Wilmington. I love visit her because she is so sweet and takes care of me, especially since I have had morning sickness. By the way, this week I woke up one day and felt like a normal human being again! We went to the gym and I had a great workout. Such a relief! Anyway, while we were in DE we went to Pea Patch Island which was a fort used by Union soldiers during the Civil War to hold Confederate prisoners. Pretty cool huh?



If you look closely you can clearly see that I am in the "is she pregnant or just fat" stage.



Us walking around the prison corridors. Apparently this place is super haunted. I have to admit walking around the dark prison rooms made me feel weird....like someone was watching me or directly behind me. No joke.

Here is Mike waiting for me to walk around the corner so he could jump out and scare me. I caught him though. Ha!

On our drive back to Virginia I randomly saw a street sign with our last name on it. Of course we had to pull over and take a picture.




When we got home we went over to a park just across the street from us for the 4th of July fireworks show. These are our only friends here, Mark and McKelle. They sell pest control and we met them a church. We go to the beach with them just about every weekend. Not sure what's going on with my face in this picture but its the only one I took so whatever.

It's a good thing my first trimester has been in the summer so I can indulge in a wide variety of one of God's great gifts to the earth.

On the other hand there are things I absolutely can't eat right now.


1. Onions- Even mentioning the word makes my stomach turn.


2. Garlic- That lingering taste it leaves in your mouth no matter how much you brush your teeth...so disgusting.


3. The smell beef leaves in your kitchen after you cook it. It takes days to go away so I don't cook it anymore. The grill has been our best friend lately.


4. Strong perfumes or deodorizers. I used to love the scent "coconut lime" from Bath and Body Works, but I had to take out our wallflower because the smell was too strong for me. I wonder if I will ever like it again.


6. The smell my dishwasher soap puts off when the dishwasher is running. Never noticed that before! Pre pregnancy I had a very keen sense of smell, but now it's like I have the nose of a dog. I can smell EVERYTHING!


7. Being hot. The a.c. is constantly running in our place for two reasons: first, since it is so humid here if the air isn't being circulated it gets really stuffy. Second, it's been in the 90's for the past three weeks so a.c. is a means of survival. At night I set the thermostat at 72 degrees. Mike says its like living in a meat locker. I really can't imagine being in the third tri here. I would die.



OK, I promise my next post will be something other than pregnancy stuff. Haha!

Needles. I hate them!!! A couple days ago I had another Dr. appointment in which they drew my blood. No big deal right? That's the mind set I kept reminding myself before I got to the Dr.'s office. Plus, I would really like to know my blood type. I could have found out in 7th grade biology when we pricked our fingers to do blood tests, but I was too squeamish and had to leave the classroom. So I figured at 24 I had grown out of it. Wrong.

So the nurse and I were sitting in her office, and she was asking me tons of questions about my health history and answering my questions about pregnancy. When that was over she quickly changed the subject and rattled off a bunch of questions about how it went showing my family the pics of our baby. Meanwhile she was tying my arm up so she could start the blood test. (Ugh....I am getting light headed as I write this.) "This should be easy because you have really good veins" she exclaimed.

"Good to know" I said. Then I felt the needle enter my arm. I was OK for a few seconds, but then I started to feel light headed and my hearing was weird. You know the feeling. It sounds like water is running through your ears and everyone sounds far away.

"I think I am blacking out." I said as I started slumping over in my chair.

"Nan! NAN! Get in here NOW!" She yelled to the other nurse. The next thing I new I was surrounded by five nurses who were propping my feet up, calling my name, fanning me, putting a damp rag on my head, making me smell this awful stench to awaken my senses, and putting juice in my mouth. I slowly started to come back to consciousness and was aware of my surroundings again. My body felt weightless and I was out of it. I don't know how long the whole ordeal lasted but I sure got sweaty in the process.

"Did you come alone today?" The nurse asked.

"Yeah" I said. I told Mike he didn't have to come since they were just going to run a few tests and go over my medical history.

"Well we aren't going to let you go home until you are feeling 100%. In the mean time just relax. Eat these crackers and drink some juice and ginger ale."

They put me into another room with a recliner and a fan to recover. So I chilled there for about 30 minutes until I felt good enough to drive myself home.

The worst part is they weren't able to get enough blood so I have to do it again! Ugh. They said the next time they will have me lay down instead of sitting in a chair. Hopefully that works because I don't want to go through another fiasco like that again!

The BIG news....

In case you don't already know.... we are going to have a BABY in January!

We couldn't be happier. It has been such a surreal experience for me. When I found out I just stared at the test thinking, "Is this for real? I am pregnant? This happens to others girls, not me." For some reason I never imagined myself pregnant. But at the same time I was soooooo excited. When I told Mike he said, "I knew it!" He was really happy but at the same time I think he was a little shocked. Excited shocked though. I think it is more of a reality for women because we feel pregnant right away. I did at least. I don't think it will hit Mike until the baby is actually here.

So yesterday we had our first Dr. appointment. I had originally decided to skip the first ultrasound because there really isn't much too it. The baby looks like a little blob anyway. However, when I got to the Dr.'s office they told me it was the only way they confirmed the pregnancy, so I caved. Man am I glad I did! The moment I saw our little baby wiggling around on that screen I totally cried. He/she was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen! Words can't even describe the joy we felt. It makes this morning sickness seem worth it. Did I just say that?!? That cute little baby is making me sick? Ok, I can deal with that. The doc also told me all the symptoms I am feeling are normal and sign that the baby is healthy. So that gave me some relief.

Right now I am at 10.5 weeks and am looking forward to getting out of this first tri. Poor Mike has had to put up with me sleeping all the time, throwing up dinner every night, flopping around like fish in bed at night because I can't get comfortable, and being moody. I am crossing my fingers that I feel better in a couple weeks.

Nonetheless, we are absolutely thrilled to be parents to this little baby. It is such a blessing to know that Heavenly Father has entrusted us with one of His children. I just wish January wasn't so darn far away!

Lil' Miss Lauren McCabe became Mrs. Jason Buckley on April 10, 2010.













The expanding McCabe family....minus Austin, Sarah's husband. He was on a business trip.


Brothers.

Matt's girlfriend, Brooke. The next McCabe wedding???

Psst.....remember two years ago when we were standing right here on our wedding day?

Sarah, Emmry, Catherine and me.

Congradulatins Jason and Lauren!

Next step.....blogging!