Closing on our Land- FINALLY!

Okay, last post of the evening:

We are finally going to close on our land! We were supposed to close back in December, but we had paperwork hangups. I got a message this morning from our builder and mortgage lender that we are closing tomorrow!!! I am so excited! After tomorrow they will break ground and start preparing our land for our new house! In hopes that this would soon occur, I went out the other day and took some before pictures of our land (okay, actually just the very front edge). It was a fairly gloomy day outside, but I took pictures nontheless.

Here is a section of the front of our property. The entire cul-de-sac is on our land. Although we will have 10 acres, we will be building at the front, near the road. The idea is that in a few months you will see more house and fewer trees than what you see here:

Here is a look back from where our house will be. One day there will be a front porch to sit on and look out from. You can't really see it, but we are at the back of a neighborhood. There are several houses nearby.

Here is a closer view of the area that will be cleared for our home:



Hopefully I will have updated pictures to share soon. I can hardly wait to see what it looks like when there is a dirt foundation, or when the concrete is poured and stud walls go up. This has been a long time coming, so we are very excited.

2012 is going to be a huge year for the McGough household!

Hmmm... Baby bump???

Okay, this is all on Damon. He has been bugging me for weeks to take a tummy picture. I have resisted, because honestly I feel like any "bump" I have is just bloat- not baby, plus I wasn't exactly a flat-stomached person before I got pregnant. He insisted that we need something to compare to later on, so here is my "bump" at 11 weeks:

The clasp on my pants was bugging us- not giving us a smooth bump, so I put on my beloved yoga pants:

So, there you have it, Damon! Here are our comparison photos. Baby bump, or not? Y'all can decide.

Our Reveal Day!

Tonight, although I am about to fall asleep on my computer, there will be three postings!!! This first posting is about the big reveal of our baby news!

We had our first ultrasound last Monday. At that time we discussed when we would reveal our pregnancy news to the world (or at least to "our world"). We decided to tell a few more family members that weekend, in person, and then that I would make my announcement at work the following Tuesday, since we didn't work Monday.

Once that timeline was in place, I needed a plan. At work, everyone has announced their pregnancies in different ways. I needed something new, that had not been done before. After a little brainstorming, my friends, Danielle and Emily, helped me form my cute idea.

First I had to make cupcakes. Well actually, in hindsight, I could have purchased cupcakes, but clearly that would have been too easy. It was fun making the cupcakes, because I knew what they were for, and it provided me with my first experience using a piping bag for icing decoration. I had fun, and when Damon got home he had to get in on the fun too!

Here are all the cupcakes:

This was my work reveal:

I had intended to wait until that afternoon to put our announcement on Facebook, but I was impatient and it was up shortly after 8am. I am glad our secret is out. We have so many friends who are sharing in our excitement!

Gifts from sweet friends!

I have the sweetest friends. Period. The number of people who know about my pregnancy is few, but those who do know are very excited for us and have kept our secret well. I am glad; however, that we will soon be telling everyone about our baby. Keeping our excitement to ourselves is tough, especially after seeing our little one on Monday.

I wanted to share a few pictures of early gifts I have received from a couple of my friends. This first gift is a baby gift that I was given the morning of my originally scheduled ultrasound appointment (Feb. 7th). It was very exciting to get my first baby outfit! Our baby, boy or girl, will be adorable in this cute ducky outfit! Thank you Krissy and sweet Julia!

My next gift was for me. My friend, Emily, (we work and go to church together) has two precious little boys. During both of her pregnancies she has worn the cutest maternity clothes. She has one top in particular that I have coveted every time she wore it. I just love it! So, Wednesday night, at church, I mentioned to her how much I love that shirt and the next morning, at work, she gave it to me! Come to find out, it is now a double hand-me-down; the best kind, because it is so soft. So, I now have my first maternity top, which has been worn with lots of love over the years. It it perfect, since I will be pregnant throughout this Spring and Summer.

Truly Amazing!

We had our first ultrasound yesterday! I don't even have words to describe that experience. It was definitely love at first sight. I feel so blessed to have chosen Dr. Bolton as my doctor for this pregnancy. She was very sweet and I felt completely comfortable with her. Although we waited a while at our appointment to see her, she took tons of time with us. She did the ultrasound herself and we spent at least 25-30 minutes looking at our baby. It was more than I could have asked for.

The one downside was that the ultrasound printer wasn't working. Luckily, I thought about our phones (I definitely loved technology yesterday). So all our ultrasound pics are of the screen, taken by our phones. But, we did get a video with Damon's phone (I am not going to share it with everyone), where you can hear the heartbeat and see our little squirmy baby! I think I watched that video a minimum of 15 times last night.

Here is our baby!!!!

 

It's hands are up, one by it's left eye, and one below it's right ear (right above the spine).

Our baby measured spot on at 10 weeks and 1 day yesterday, so our due date is September 9th! That was the date I had originally calculated. Our baby's heart rate was 176 bpm, so my doctor is predicting a girl (what Damon has been predicting too), but we will just have to wait and see. How a heart rate is supposed to predict gender is beyond me.

What had me entranced the most is that our little bundle is a wiggle worm! He/She was moving all over and kicking it's arms and legs. That was amazing to see. Every time he/she moved we got a great view of the spine, which looked good too. It was just an all around amazing experience! Prior to that appointment I imagined I would be excited, but I had no idea. I didn't cry, but I was giddy with excitement. You should hear me on our video- I sound like a highly blissful idiot! Lol!

Damon and I have a few more in-person announcements to make this weekend (we have been waiting to hear the heartbeat) and then I think we will make our news, and this blog, public on Tuesday.

Well, hmmm.... (9 weeks, 3 days)

I was really hoping that this post would be one filled with ultrasound pictures and appointment info, but alas it is not. Yesterday morning I got a call from my doctor's office. My doctor, Dr. Bolton, has strep throat. My high spirits sank immediately. My appointment was cancelled and had to be rescheduled. So, instead of ultrasound pics at 9 weeks, 2 days, we will (Lord, I hope!) be sharing pictures from an ultrasound at 10 weeks, 1 day. My appointment was rescheduled for Monday at 3:00pm.

My symptoms have been very minimal, and lately almost non-existent. Just earlier this week I told a friend that I felt like someone was playing a trick on me because I lately had not been feeling anything but normal and was beginning to think there wasn't anything in my tummy at all. HA! I should have kept that thought to myself because that afternoon I was extremely exhausted, hardly made it through the work day, and then when I got home I was miserably nauseated all night. So much for that theory.

I still have days where food is very bland, but it is not always an everyday thing. One day a food might have little to no taste and then the next it tastes like it should. I find that fascinating for some reason. My nausea has been few and far between, but when it hits it is not fun. It always happens at night and I am still not sure exactly why. I do not get sick, just feel bad. My appetite is normal, but I have noticed something that is neat. (I know, everything seems amazing to me. I am sure you all think I am crazy!) I will be fine, content, and not hungry one minute and then BAM, I am starving! It doesn't build up, it just hits me like a ton of bricks and I know if I don't eat something quickly I will get nauseated, and little will alleviate that.

I can't think of any other symptoms other than just being an old lady and going to bed at ridiculously early times every night. I don't ever go to bed with Damon anymore. I can't hold out into the late hours. I pass out between 7:30 and 9:00 usually. One night I went to bed at 6:30 and then was wide awake and eating popsicles at 10:30. Like I said, it all fascinates me! Lol!

In other news, our contract for our land goes back through court TOMORROW! Yea! Once the amendment is signed by the judge we just have to wait on the hard copies. When the bank gets those we can close. So, baring any further problems, we should close on the land and get started on our house by the end of this month. Finally!