My Bladder is Not a punching bag

So apparently Noah is under the impression that he can work out in my belly and use my bladder as a punching bag. He gets the working out ambition from Sean. haha. Its so cool that other people can feel him move but they don't feel half the strength that I do when he moves. I always feel like I have to pee and Noah doesn't help with that by kicking it all the time. I guess it just gets in his way. Andrea and Sean are always feeling my belly to see if he is moving. I love it. Sean is so excited. He talks to my belly all the time. Its nice that he is just as involved in this pregnancy as I am.... Well.... Probably not JUST as involved since I'm the one that got the experience of throwing up, back pains, and a fat belly. But he tries to know everything that is going on with me and does all he can to make it not as difficult.And he loves hearing about all the things that are going on with Noah, like what is developing this week and how much he weighs and how big he is. I am very blessed to have such a great husband that is just as excited to be a parent as I am. He is going to be a great daddy. I already know Noah is going to be really healthy because Sean is a pro. He tells Amanda all the time to let our niece, Cortney, eat things off the floor so she will get the bacteria and her body can learn to fight it off. Then she will have a strong immune system. Also lately Sean has been calling himself a doctor. He keeps telling me to just trust whatever he is talking about even when it has nothing to do with medical things because he is a doctor. It cracks me up! 

This week has been flying by. Sean has been sick since Saturday night. He got some viral thing. He had a bad temp of 101.6 for most the week. Dad and Justin came over and gave him a blessing on Sunday. He is doing much better today and doesn't feel sick at all anymore. He just has a stiff neck from sleeping in bed most the week. I'm so grateful for the priesthood and the blessing it brings into our lives. Other than Sean being sick and me taking care of him there hasn't been much else going on. I got to go to a girls night at my friend Brianna Neilson's house and it was a blast! She is one of my favorite people. We all just hung out all night and joked around. I am really looking forward to next week. We should get our taxes done and finally get our tax refund back and I'm getting a pretty big bonus from work on Monday! I love love love my job :) Then we can get the nursery finished. Well I'm off to go get a manicure done at Brittany Leckey's beauty school. Heck yeah! 

The Timeline Of Our Love

So Sean and I just realized today that it was a year ago last Friday that he proposed to me the 3rd time and that was the one that actually resulted in a wedding. Here is the official timeline of how it all happened.

Sunday January 17, 2010 - We went to a fireside together and afterward I "accidentally" locked my keys in my car. Sean took me to my house to get my spare key and on the way to his apartment we decided on hanging out and playing mini Uno. I met his sister Onda and a couple of his friends that night. The next day Sean asked me on a date :)

Friday January 22, 2010- After texting and hanging out with each other and other friends every night that week we went on our first date. Activity: Dinner at Chile's and then back to his apartment to watch Saturdays Warrior. He also kissed me that night at the door.... Well I kissed him but there was definitely no resistance on his part.

Wednesday January 27, 2010- Sean asked me out... Over text, haha sounds lame but it was the furthest thing from it. The night before we had gone to a friends party and Stacie Skinner saw us there together. She then posted on my facebook page asking if I needed to change my fb status. Sean texted me on Wednesday. Here is the conversation:

Sean- Speaking of my facebook page, there was something else posted on there that i wanted to talk with you about...
Deana- .... And that would be?
Sean- Text may not be the preferred way to ask this but why not.
So would you say that we are like boyfriend and girlfirend or where exactly would you say that we are?
Deana- Well that depends on if you want to be bf/gf or not.
Sean-I want to be. I like you a lot and i could see this going somewhere so would you like to be my girlfriend?
Deana-Yes i would :) i figured thats what you were hinging at but i wanted you to ask me. haha And i like you a lot too
Sean- :) I was hoping you would say that! I am a happy man right now

This was taken at Hilary's Bday party the night before Sean asked me out.

February 6, 2010- I LOVE YOU. Again another texting story. Sean worked a lot so many of our conversations in the beginning were over text.We had just been together the night before after he got off work. He then texted me that night and I saw it later that next morning. Here is that conversation:

2/5/2010 2:00am Sean - I love you. I couldnt wait to tell you. I had to get it out.
2/6/2010 9:57am Deana- I just woke up and saw your text. Best thing ever to wake up to. I love you too. Now come over so I can say it out loud in person <3
Sean- :)!! I'm so happy. I was afraid that you were going to say thank you instead of i love you.

Saturday February 20, 2010- 2nd Proposal (for those of you who dont know or dont remember Sean fake proposed to me the first time 2 years before we started dating, its a good story I posted about it) After a get together at the Mancave (seans apartment) We were alone in the living room and talking about how much we cared for each other and we just came to the conclusion that we were going to get married. It took 2 hours to say good bye that night because we were talking about plans and getting married and how happy we were to have found each other.

Thursday March 18, 2010- We had kept it a secret from most people except close friends and family that we were already engaged. We wanted to wait until after Sean had gotten a ring and we had a real proposal story to tell people. Long story short (for the long story look at past post about it) Sean took me back to the apartment where he proposed the 1st time 2 years previous and popped the question.

Tuesday July 13, 2010- We were sealed for all time and eternity in the Mesa Arizona Temple.

Looking back at it now we both have the thought "oh my goodness we were fast!" haha Sean says its crazy how fast things happened with us. But we both are so happy with the way things played out. And the entire time we both felt compelled and guided by the spirit and we just knew it was right. We look forward to all the new adventures coming in our blissful life together and are so happy to spend forever with each other. In a few months we will celebrate our 1 year anniversary and then we will  welcome the birth of our first child one month later. I don't think there could be a better way to celebrate a marriage than to add a child to our new eternal family.

Good Times & a Great Crowd

Last night was super fun! We had almost all of our favorite people there. Here is a list of the awesome atendees: Jessica, Tim & Adriana, Mark & Tiffany, Ben & Melissa, Blake, Kirby, Amy, Ben & Hilary. There was also a brief appearance of Andrea and Britt L. We pretty much just ate a lot of food and played pac man and other old arcade games on this cool little device that plugs into the tv. It was so nice to have everyone together hanging out. I know we all see each other a lot indiviually but not many times do we get all of us together. We are definately going to make it a regular thing. After hanging around our house for a couple hours Mark and Tiffany wanted to show us their new house, which quite conviently is only a block from our house. So all of us took a stroll down to their lovely home. Tiffany then suggested the wonderful idea of going for a walk down main street. The main goal of it was to induce Hilary, sadly this was to no avail, but we still had a blast! It was like a parade with three floats (Hilary, Melissa and I are all prego with big ole' bellies) I can't even begin to write all the funny, random, awesome things that happened on our trip so I'll just post pictures.

Half Way Done!!!

This whole week was a blast! First of all this week just seemed to fly by. I think it has to do with the fact that Sean was on spring break so we got to spend more time together and I got off of work early everyday this week. The best part is, when I leave early due to getting my work done early I still get paid full day. So I got paid to spend time with Sean. I just have to say I LOVE MY JOB!! They treat me so well. I also found out this week that I get a bonus for doing a good job last year. My boss said he isn't sure yet how much it will be but when he is told he will let me know. I get it next month sometime.

Yesterday I got a hair cut! Yes another one. Haha I just love the change. My boss walked by me today and said "did you do your hair again? You change your hair more often than anyone I know" I love hair change time because that means I get to go see Andraya. She is one of my favorite people. We have this awesome deal set up that we just trade our skills. She gets massages whenever she wants and I get my hair done whenever I want. So I end up getting it done once every 2 or 3 months. I got it realllly short this time! Like really short!! I love it though. I am happy to admit it is such a mom cut. Its so easy to style (meaning I wake up and brush it then I'm done lol) 

The back is my favorite

Sean is just so darn handsome!

Today marks the half way point in my pregnancy. I am 20 weeks today. Noah shall be making his grand entrance into this world in t-minus 20 weeks give or take a couple weeks. Sean and I can't wait to meet our little guy.

20 Weeks!!!!

 After getting off at 1:30pm on today I met a friend to pick up some more clothing for Noah. She had gotten it from some other people when she found out she was expecting but she is having a girl so she gave me some of the boy stuff. They are way cute too! Then I came home to a very clean house. Andrea and Sean cleaned up the living room and kitchen. Those two rooms seem to just get messy everyday! Its insane. But I'm so grateful for them pitching in and helping keep the house pretty. We are having some friends over for a potluck and games. I'm so excited!! They should all be here soon so I guess I should stop blogging and get back to real life so I have something to blog about later.

I love a clean house!

So I've always been a clean person and I kind of get anxiety when things are messy but it has gone to a new level now. I think the nesting has officially begun. I was napping with Sean on the couch today when I just randomly woke up looked around the room and just had to clean. The living room wasn't horrible but there was just things placed about the whole room not where they belonged. Pillows on the floor, plates from last night on the ensign table (aka- coffee table, but my dad called it ensign table the other day and I liked it) and shoes. This was just not ok. So I got everything picked up and put away then set on to clean the kitchen. I felt much better once they were both clean and orderly.

We had a prenatal appointment today after work and it was great! Dr. Hazelrigg measured my belly and uterus and said "you have a perfect uterus" Haha I didn't know there was a perfect one but apparently I have it. He said that I am growing just fine and that Noah is healthy and looks great. This made Sean and I very happy to hear. Not being able to see Noah everyday and check up on his progress is kind of unnerving. We have been reading this book called What the scriptures teach us about raising a child by Micheal Wilcox. I just love it! We are only in the beginning but I have already had so much insight and feel better prepared. He talks about how being a parent is like an apprenticeship to godhood.  I love that concept. I totally agree. A quote from the book "Godhood is parenthood of a grand magnitude, but before we can progress to that degree of glory, we are given the opportunity to learn here on earth the essential principles of parenthood, We can refine within the sacred boundaries of the family in a tiny dimension what God does, and what we are destined to do, on a galactic, cosmic level." That just blew my mind. I know we are to become like God and that is why we are sent here and I know the great importance of parenthood I just hadn't before put the two together. This makes being a good and loving parent even more essential to me than it previously was. I can't wait for Noah to be here with us. I was telling Sean the other day how I just wanted the nursery done already and he said "yeah well I just want Noah here already." It was so sweet. 

Speaking of the nursery: Its coming together nicely. We are having so much fun picking things out and planning. Sean put the crib together with Andrea on Tuesday while I was at work. Then we went and picked up a dresser we found on craigslist. We have also picked out a border and wall decals and the bookshelf we want all from amazon.com. 

Planning for a baby is a blast! I'm so grateful to all the people that have been helping out and giving us hand me downs as well. It makes it easier to plan and buy other things when I don't have to budget for those things anymore. Now the only big items we need to get are: food processor (making our own baby food), cloth diapers, bookshelf, crib bedding set and a chair. Then the rest is the small purchases like: hangers, more clothing, bottles, bibs, blankets, more books. toys, nursing pillow, changing mat, etc. I have a whole list but I won't bore you by posting it all. I am such a list maker. I make at least 3 lists a day. To do lists, To buy lists, To save for lists, pretty much I makes lists for everything. Sometimes I even make lists of lists I need to make. haha I know I'm crazy but Sean still loves me. He think my silly quirks are adorable. I think he is crazy for not thinking I'm crazy. I guess it works. So one other bit of news then I'm done for today's post. Sean has a new addiction. First it was that game angry birds on the itouch, then it was line up and now its flood it. Pretty much he is addicted to puzzle type, strategy games. He is cute and smart. The end. Love you all.

Eventful week

This has been a very eventful week! My goodness. On Thursday I went to a friends house to help her clean and get ready for her new baby. Jessica came and helped out too. She actually did a lot of the work. It was pretty fun. Then afterward Melissa and I went to DI and bought some stuff for her baby and I got Noah a globe. Its pretty cool. He is going to be a smart little boy.

 The best part of the night was when Melissa (the friend who's house we were cleaning) told me I could have her old crib for free because someone else gave her a new crib :) I love free stuff. Especially because cribs can be so expensive! Its super cute too. I love how simple it is. I'll post a picture when we have it put together. Also another cool thing that night was I learned how to make my pre-pregnancy pants fit without using a belly band. Its a much cheaper solution to the button being too tight. Simply take a hair tie and put one end around the button, slip it through the button hole then loop it back around the button.Pretty awesome right? yeah it is.

Today was not such a good day for either of us. Sean and I were both just not in the greatest of moods. I think we need more sleep. But we did have a good time at Myrna's wedding rehearsal dinner tonight. We were supposed to get a stroller but we had a hard time locating the Baby's R Us. Turns out we were looking on the wrong street.

Good notes though : I felt Noah move this week :) It is an amazing feeling I can't really explain. Its like a small flutter in my belly. Almost like gas but not as far in my stomach or smelly, haha.Sean is still doing well in both of his classes and enjoying school. We are excited for him to go to full time next semester. I'm getting bigger but everyone keeps saying I don't look as far along as I am. I however feel like I'm huge. Yes I know its a part of being pregnant and I should just be ok with it, but the fact is that its hard for a girl to see her self getting bigger and be ok with it. I'm incredibly happy to be pregnant its just an adjustment for me to grow. Sean just laughs and says "youre pregnant youre supposed to be big" It makes me laugh.

19 weeks

Friday Night Fun

Friday was a really good night for us. We started out by going to D.I. so that we could get a start on buying clothes for our baby one. We managed to find some really cute clothes for really really cheap, thusly making our trip an amazing success. We decided that we would have a date night, so we went out to dinner. Our initial desire was for Golden Coral but the line almost came out of the front door so we decided to go to Bill Johnson's Big Apple. The food was delicious. Afterwards, we decided to do our grocery shopping. We ususally keep very close track of how much money we are spending as we spend it, but we didn't want the stress on this particular night so we just bought the stuff that we needed. Surprisingly we stayed under our budget by about $80. We were quite pleased. Our final stop of the night was to Borders Bookstore so that we could get a book about Bradley Method. Sadly they did not have the book that we wanted, but they did have all of their other books on sale due to the store going bankrupt. We bought a ton of books for the baby as well as a couple for ourselves.

Noah Scott Howell

The day finally came!! We both woke up and went to work and it surprisingly went by really fast. We were both so happy for that. I had to drink 20 ounces of water an hour before the appointment and not pee so I would have a full bladder. Let me tell you, NOT a pleasant experience. I already have a small bladder and I love to drink water so I always have to pee. I got off work early at 3pm and went to my mama's house to pick her up to go with us to the appointment. Ondalynn (Sean's Sister) met him at the house and they drove together to the doctors after he got off work. We waited in the lobby for a half hour and I used my time well by playing with my mini bop-it game. I was trying to distract myself from the stomach pains of holding my pee.  That is how I was feeling. 

Sean and Ondalynn hadn't come yet when we were called back. I was walking to the room when the tech noticed how uncomfortable I was and said that if it was bothering me that much that I could go pee a little but to hold most of it. Let me tell you that is a difficult task! But I did what she said and layed down on the table. She asked when Sean would be here and I said he was close. She started the ultra sound but said that my bladder was too full and that she could tell I am already a really hydrated person and to go empty my bladder. I did so very happily!! Sean and Onda got there and she started the ultra sound again. It was so wonderful to see our baby. I cried when I heard the heartbeat. So turns out our child is really stubborn. He was on his stomach for almost the entire ultra sound. The tech was trying to get a profile first but he had his head tucked down and his hand on his check. Then she was trying to see the gender but he had his legs tucked up under him. Its cute because both Sean and I like to lay on our stomachs so he was emulating his mama and daddy. Not such a cute thing when we are trying to find out the gender though. The tech was poking at my belly trying to jolt him awake and make him roll over to face us but he refused. I was getting really nervous that we weren't going to find out today. He would occasionally trick the tech by moving for a split second but then rolling over on his stomach again before she could see.

She skipped looking for the gender and the profile and did the other measurements she needed and then finally he moved just enough that she could angle the picture and get a peek between his still tucked and crossed legs and saw that he is a BOY!

 My mom was super excited!! She yelled "I told you so!" haha She has been calling the baby Noah since we told her the names we picked for a boy and a girl. She said "nope you are having a boy so that will be his name." She was in fact correct the whole time. Then the tech was able to get a profile shot as well, then Noah promptly went back to his original position with his back facing us and on his belly.

He even gave us the thumbs up sign :)

So after all the wait and suspense we now know we are having a baby boy. His name is Noah Scott Howell. We both can't wait to meet our little man.

Sean was texting everyone that we are having a boy!

Disappointment, Then Happiness

So today was supposed to be the joyous day of seeing our little baby and finding out the gender. Alas this did not happen. I got a call this morning from my doctor's office and they said the tech didn't come in today so I had to reschedule for Thursday. I know, I know, its "only" 2 days away but it seems so long. Especially since I had the first appointment for today set since a month ago and I was so amped for today. Sean was so bummed too. But he made me feel better with loving texts all day. He is so sweet. I just love him. Also when I got off work he had a wonderful surprise for me. He took me to bestbuy and bought me a pretty new ipod nano. And even better he promptly filled it with music for me when we got home. He knows me so well and put all the music I love. It is only 1 1/2 inches which is perfect for me cuz its so small and cute. I like small things, haha. So I can carry it in my pocket at work. He said we could get me a touch like the one he has but I just don't have a need or want for something that big.

I love the color!

So we have to wait til Thursday after work to go see our little baby one and finally get to call it by it's name instead of "it" or "baby". But bright side is I will be 2 days further along and the baby will be bigger and maybe moving more. I'm sad that my sister Amanda can't go to the appointment anymore since she works that day but my mama will be able to go with us. Sean and I are so excited. We hope tomorrow and Thursday go by fast.