VICTORY. 20: Half-Way There

(Once again, I'm blogging one day late because Tuesday's classes don't end til 6 and i'm pooped after that)

Anyhow. The one song that comes to mind when I think of this weeks victory post is "Whoa, we're half-way there. O-oh, livin' on a prayer. Take my hand, we'll make it I swear. Whoa, livin' on a prayer." Because it's true. We are now officially half-way through this pregnancy. I'd like to say that 20 weeks marks the day/week we can stop counting up and start counting down BUT I don't think I'll start counting down until 24 weeks (the "legal" gestational age of viability at which they will "attempt" to save your baby if you go in pre-term labor). But regardless, 20 weeks is a great feat for us! Leading up to Tuesday was actually a great, fun-filled exciting week.

Not much went on early last week but on friday my sister came home from school to celebrate Valentine's day with her boyfriend. So Krista, Matt, Justin and I went to see the Friday the 13th remake in theaters. Justin and I decided to head out a little early because I horribly wanted a rootbear float. Well apparantly at some point which I was unaware of, the ice cream shop on the Avenue in White Marsh changed to a ColdStone which does NOT sell rootbear floats :( So Justin and I indulged in ice cream instead. We then waited in line for about a half hour before the doors opened for the movie. Although scary movies aren't really my thing and although I prefer Micheal Myers over Jason Vorheez, it was still a good movie.

On Saturday, Valentine's day, I started the day off at Guiseppe's Hair Salon with my sister and Matt. We decided to both cut and dye our hair with my favorite hair stylist. Part of my sister's rendevouz was mine and Justin's birthday gift to her. For me it was a much needed freshen up for my hair and I'm so glad I did it. I can't wait to go back in a few months, mainly to get my hair washed again, ha ha. I just love how that feels. Anyhow, this is the final product of both mine and my sister's hair and a belly pic from that night.

Justin and i decided not to do anything extravagant this year for Valentine's day, but being the wonderful husband he is, he still bought me a card and a cute soft teddy bear. :) The rest of the night we sat around, did some laundry, gave the doggies a MUCH needed bath (which was quite amusing) and ordered pizza and hot dogs from Dominick's. It was a romantic day, ha ha. And while we didn't buy each other gifts this year, Jackson got a gift, but not from us. On thursday, I believe, Justin came home to find a box in the door. It was Jackson's Valentine's day gift from his Smith grandparents. He got some very cute items: a doggie blanket, two sesame street t-shirts, some cute socks, a boo boo bear (a bear that holds plastic ice cubes for when he has boo boos), and a bib that says "drink more milk". Even the box was decorated for Valtentine's day. The gifts were very sweet and I'm sure Jackson will LOVE them. Here are some pics... and some other pics of his loot so far!

Jackson also received another gift On Thursday at work from one of the bartenders, Krysta. She gave him a very nice and very soft blue and white blanket that I know he will love. Thanks Krysta! And Finally, I can't go without mentioning that this year's Valentine's day was the one year anniversary of when Justin asked me to marry him. Although we didn't go all out and celebrate it is definitely a day we will always remember and will always mean a lot to us.

On Sunday Justin and I made our way to church. It was a great church day, except for my breathing. I was told early in high school by my doctor that I have exercise enduced asthma. It never really gave me too much of a problem, but I did have an inhaler mainly for swimming and when I knew I'd be running a lot. Since high school I've had no problems and have not needed my inhaler. Well because pregnancy makes asthma like ten times worse, I've began noticing that it also seems to make exercise induced asthma worse. In church, it was hard for me to sing an entire song standing up without stopping. It really wasn't very fun and now I know that i may have to talk to my OB about getting an inhaler.

After church, Justin and I made our way to walmart and then met our friends Bert, Laura, their daughter Mackenzie, Rob, and Sharon at Rob and Sharon's house for a "Bare bellies" photo shoot with Laura's family photographer Mandy Sroka. I thought it would be fun to do, but I was a little worried that my pics wouldn't be as great because I'm not as big as the other girls. We took lots of fun pictures, inside and outside, and had a great time. Mandy was awesome and she made it a lot of fun. All of the pictures aren't loaded yet, but here's a sneak peek!

I love this one, but I'm not really that big :) I was sticking my tummy out for emphasis!!

This one below is my favorite so far. Mandy did a great job with this one!!

After Bare Bellies, Justin and I went to old navy because they were having a pretty good sale. We each got a few items and even picked up a few on-sale clothing items for Jackson. We then enjoyed the rest of the evening at home.

On Monday I had clinical of course, but Justin had off work because it was President's day. When I came home, we just enjoyed our night together. BUT when it came time for dinner, I realized that I HAD TO HAVE lasagna. ha ha. So off to the grocery store we went. As soon as we walked in, Justin saw the Rotisseri chickens and a sign that said "Free tossed salad for two with the purchase of a Rotisseri". Hmmmm. So, we ended up getting a single serving lasagna AND the chicken and salad. I had all three with some mashed potatos and toasted italian bread. It was a great meal. We finished the night watching Erin Brokovich and heading to bed early, and trust me 10:30 IS a record for us!!!

This Tuesday I had class all day but after class we had plans to have dinner with our good friends Jared and Kris and their three adorable kids, Madison, Haley, and Joey. We had a great dinner (spaghetti.. which is great because Jackson LOVES italian food) and after dinner Jared and Kris passed down all of Joey's baby things that he's grown out of. They gave us a portable swing, a small bouncer, a baby tub, a basinet, lots of blankets and three BIG bundles of clothes. We are very grateful for it all and the clothes are extremely cute. They said to expect more as Joey keeps growing like a weed and they even plan to pass down their infant carseat and bases, which will be great since we'll have our travel system and two bases for our cars, and now we'll have an extra carseat/base system for daycare and/or going to grandma's!!! The spare bedroom which will become the baby's room is getting quite full, so pretty soon it will be time to think about painting.

All in all it has been a fantastic week. Making it to 20 weeks is a blessing in itself and we are extremely excited for the next 20 weeks, and for the next 20 years as a family. I'll leave you with my 20 week pictures taken yesterday exactly at 20 weeks, and so far I think they've been my best pictures yet (besides the one's Mandy took of course). Enjoy!!!