20 weeks!

Well, we just over half-way through this pregnancy, and I can hardly believe it!  How is time passing so quickly?

How Far Along: 20 weeks (and 1 day!)
Total Weight Gain/Loss: I have lost 8lbs!  I have started telling people that pregnancy is the best diet I ever tried.

Best Moment this week: seeing the excitement that my mom and dad have telling people they are having a granddaughter; taking Grayson to surprise his Great Great Aunt Roberta at her birthday party and spending time with his family
Gender: Girl!  Her name is Finnley Elizabeth.
Movement: Yep! Sometimes more than others.  She definitely likes to move around when I'm falling asleep and when I'm waking up in the morning.  Oh, and David got to feel her kick a couple weeks ago!  She is strong!

Food Craving: It really varies from day to day. Some days, I have my heart set on something all day, and then I get it in front of me, and I lose my appetite completely. I have been eating a lot of salads, a lot of fruit, and a lot of macaronni and cheese. 
What I miss: I don't really miss anything.  Well, I take that back.  I miss not feeling sick!  :)
Maternity clothes: Yep!  All maternity clothes, all the time.  I mostly wear lots of dresses.  She is so low right now that pants are just too uncomfortable...even maternity pants. 
Sleep: I am tired all the time.  But, that doesn't mean I get much sleep! I have been waking up throughout the night...sometimes I can fall back asleep, sometimes I can't.  I can tell when it's 2:00pm every day, though, even when I don't have a clock--that's the time I get the most tired!

What I am looking forward to: hearing her heartbeat at the next doctor's appoitnment, shopping for her, designing her nursery (in our new house!!!)

Belly Button: may be starting to bulge a little, but it's still an innie

Symptoms: nausea, exhaustion, picky eating

Due Date

Yesterday was a hard day. I did my best to write a post that wasn't depressing, that didn't show how I was really feeling, that got my mind off the heartache that I was feeling all over again. I was successful, for the most part, at keeping my feelings inside when I was around others...but I most certainly couldn't hold back when I laid in bed to go to sleep last night.
Yesterday was the day we had scheduled to have Baby Bledsoe #2, our sweet child in Heaven.

I had about a million mixed emotions running through me all day yesterday. Of course I am thrilled to have our sweet daughter growing stronger, bigger, and healthier in me each day. And, of course, I know how blessed we are to have celebrate Grayson's birthday this past weekend. But, I still think every day about the baby we lost. Was the baby a boy or a girl? Would the baby have looked more like me or David? What would we have named our newest child? And, I keep thinking about how we should be holding our baby in our arms, kissing and hugging our gift from God, how we would soon a be bringing that baby home to our house, home to its big brother, and home to us...had our baby lived.

I don't think I will ever get over the loss of that baby...and the loss of all the dreams I had for our child. I know that I could never adequately express in words what I have in my heart. I guess I just want to ask that you all keep our family in your prayers. We love you all.

Random Monday thoughts

Head's up! I can't guarantee that these won't have some possibly offensivee statements. :)

I have lost over 7 pounds since I've been pregnant with Finnley. She's growing just perfectly, but she's just been wearing me out with making me feel so sick all the time! So, I have decided to try to constantly eat small stuff, even when I'm not hungry, in hopes of feeling better. The problem is, I have been eating things that are just the most disgusting combinations ever! For example, yesterday, I decided I wanted a bagel. Well, that didn't stay down. So, I ate some mac and cheese with tuna, some skittles, some cheetos, nachos with everything on them, spaghetti o's, a huge ice cream sundae, mandm's, and some chips and dip. So strange!

I have been so lazy these past two weeks and haven't worked as much as I should have. Granted, most days I was getting sick all day long...but, there may have been 1 or 2 days when I just played hooky.

David and I are inching closer and closer to building a house...it's almost a reality! We have already met with the bank and our realtor, and we have almost decided on a floor plan. Now, we are just waiting on the next step of meeting with our builders! We drove out past the lots yesterday, and it was so strange to think that, if everything goes right, we will be living there in our brand new custom-built house in less the 6 months...with a 2nd child! Whoa!

I have not been sleeping at all lately, and when I do sleep, I have been having the most vivid, random dreams. What the heck is going on? I don't like it.

Grayson has his 1-year checkup with Dr. Catherine this afternoon. I'm excited to hear how much he's grown, but I'm not looking forward to the shots. The poor kid has learned that he usually gets them when we go to the doctor, so he has started getting fussy as soon as we walk in the door. :( The staff says that all kids do that, but I really don't like it!

I guess that's it. Thanks for checking in on us! We love you all!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Grayson's 1st Birthday Party!

I will just let the pictures speak for themselves.  :)

We had a GREAT time, and, as you can see, Grayson was completely spoiled!  The day was quite the whirlwind...we were all exhausted by the end of the day!  :)  What a fun day, though!

Thanks to everyone that came to celebrate with us!  And, as always, thanks for checking in on us!  We love you all!

1 year old!!!!

How in the world is our baby 1 year old?!?!?!?!

(I will get his sign pictures up ASAP...I promise!)

Grayson,
Mommy and Daddy cannot believe that a year has already gone by since you came into the world.  You changed our lives so completely, and we have absolutely loved every single minute of watching you grow from a newborn to the little boy you are today.  You are so happy and smiley all the time...and you have the BEST sense of humor!  You are quite silly, that's for sure!  We love you so much, G-man!  Happy Birthday!!!

At 12 months, Grayson:

• no longer takes a bottle or formula!  He drinks everything from a sippy cup!  What a big boy!  He drinks about 4 cups of 2% milk, and eats breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a snack every day.  He loves loves loves all kinds of food--I don't think there is anything that he doesn't like!  He has even learned how to climb into his little chair all by himself, and put the tray on!  It's so funny!  

• is a toddler!  He walks/toddles more often than he crawls now, and it's so fun to watch.  He concentrates so hard sometimes not to fall down, while other times he wants to take off and run!  He is so proud of himself whenever he walks a long distance.  He will even clap for himself!  :)

• He wears 12-18 month clothes, size 5 diapers, and size 5 shoes.  At a doctor's appointment last week, he weighed 25 pounds, 6 ounces.  He is the same size (or bigger) as some of the 2 year old kids in his class!

• He loves loves loves loves to go to school.  He loves his teachers, Ms. Dana, Ms. Jennifer, and Ms. Amy...and they love him!   He has learned so much at school, and we love seeing what new things he shows us when he comes home each day!  He has learned to wipe off the table after he is done eating, throw away his trash, blow kisses goodbye, wave and say "bye bye," answer "yes" or "no" using both words and by nodding/shaking his head, and he has learned not to hit his friends.  WOW!

• He talks so much!  I wouldn't even be able to write out all the words he can say because there are so many!  I love listening to him talk to us, and he has just the cutest little voice.  :)

• He has learned to put his shape blocks into the correct spots on his shape sorter, and he loves to read his books.  He also loves to look at his picture book.  He always points to himself in the pictures and smiles so big.  He also loves to ride on his radio flyer scooter, and to snuggle with Scout, his stuffed doggie.  He still doesn't watch much TV (which is fine with us!) but he does like to watch Elmo when we are in the car for a longer period of time. 

I am sure there is so much more to write about, but my mind just can't wrap around the fact that our baby is 1 year old!  Wow, we sure do love him more and more each day (and I honestly don't know how I could love him any more than I do today!).  We absolutely can't wait to see what this next year has in store for our little boy!

Thanks for checking in on us!  We love you all!

It's a......

David and I went to our 18 week check-up this week to see how sweet Baby B is doing.  This appointment was our ultrasound appointment, so we were looking forward to finding out if we would be having a son or a daughter. 
We were sooooooo excited when we walked into the ultrasound room.  The nurse looked at the screen and kept commenting about how perfect everything looked.  We were able to see all 4 chambers of the heart, the spine, the parts of the brain, 10 little fingers, and 10 little toes, and.....

It's a girl!!!  :)

Here are pictures of our precious daughter, Finnley Elizabeth:

I am sooooo excited to be having a daughter, but I am also terrified.  Girls can be so mean, and I just really want to protect her from all of that.  Of course, there are other reasons I'm terrified, too (boys are so easy! HA!)...but, more than anything, I am thrilled.  Absolutely thrilled.  :)  I can't wait to meet her! 

We picked up Grayson from daycare and immediately drove to Target to continue our tradition of picking out an outfit the day we find out boy/girl.  This time, Grayson was able to pick out a pink outfit for his little sister.  He was soooo cute the whole time.  I held up 2 outfits and I said, "Grayson, which one do you want to get for Finnley?"  He pointed to the pink one, grabbed it, and held onto it for the rest of the time we were in the store.  He is going to be such a great big brother. 

Hopefully, I will get an 18-week pregnant post up here soon. Until then, thanks for chekcing in on us!  We love you all!