9 years later...

Today, Courtney and I have been married for 9 years!

I thought I would do a review in pictures from where it all began.

1999 - shortly after we first met

2000 - the proposal

Here are some of my most favorite wedding pictures!
We were married in OKC, OK on May 26, 2001

I looove this shot that our photographer caught. I look so giddy and Courtney looks completely freaked out. HA!

praying together

stealing a kiss at the reception
us with my dad

I think this picture really shows how much fun we had at the reception

our parents leaving the wedding in the trolley

boarding the trolley

the new Mr. and Mrs. heading out to start their life together
Here's a yearly review in pictures...

2001 - honeymoon - dinner on the cruise
2002 - at the lake

2003 - Christmas

2004 - summer, shortly after getting our first "kid" Lambeau
2005 - Christmas
2006 - in Galveston, goofing off

2007 - at a wedding
2008 - at my Masters graduation

2009 - in Mexico
2010 - at Brandon's wedding reception
On Sunday, in church, Courtney did a reading from Jeremiah 29:11, one of our most favorite verses. As I listened to him speak, I was just about in tears as I thought about how lucky I am to be married to this man.

This man who literally started out as my best friend.

And 9 years later...he continues to be that for me.

I love you honey!

Halfway to baby!

I am 20 weeks today!! WOOHOO!!

I am feeling really great! I feel Callie move every night when I take a bath, but today I felt her quite a few times at work. It's so fun! Courtney still has not been able to feel her on the outside yet. I can feel her movements on the outside of my stomach, but probably because I can feel that along with her movements inside.

I am craving:
-Reese's Pieces
-Dr. Pepper (I limit myself to 2-3 per week...it's my little treat)
-salad
-chicken salad
-fruit

Smells aren't bothering me anymore, except that I am more sensitive to them. But nothing makes me feel sick anymore.

We've picked out the fabric for Callie's bedding. My mom is going to make it. Mom and I drove all over the Dallas area looking at fabric stores as well as browsed numerous internet sites for the perfect fabric. We ended up finding it at Hobby Lobby!! I was so excited too because I was beginning to think we might not ever find something I liked!


The paisley is for the crib skirt. The colorful polka dot and stripe will be crib sheets, the stripe will also be the valance on the window and the brown and white polka dot will be the curtain. The ribbon will be used to tie the curtain up.

We also picked out our crib. We went shopping thinking we were set on one crib, but since we knew we were having a girl, Courtney and I both decided we liked white and this crib better. I think it's so sweet. We haven't purchased the crib yet...just picked it out. So, halfway there and getting closer and closer!!

And we're going to have a...

If you are like me, you can't really tell a thing from that between the legs look, but the ultrasound tech was sweet enough to write it right there on the u/s for us...

so, yes...

WE ARE HAVING A GIRL!!!

Isn't she precious?? I think these profile shots are about the cutest thing I've seen all year!



(Now, this is all quite redundant for most as just about everyone I know has already heard this from us via text message, facebook, or email...however, I am blogging to chronicle my pregnancy for us and for our little girl eventually.)


I thought I might not sleep at all the night before the appointment, but I slept great! I should have known I would...even when I'm very excited or stressed, I'm still able to sleep. I hope that never ends!

My mom came in last night. She was going to the appointment with us. She almost didn't make it in because she got very sick earlier in the week, thought she was having an appendecitis, which turned out to be a blockage in her intestines. The doctor put her on medicine for it and she started feeling better. YAY! So, she drove in and we are so glad she did!

10am, Friday, May 7 - Appointment time!

My blood pressure was a little high. Guess I was anxious! ;) My doctor asked our predictions. Mine was boy, Courtney's was girl.

Right when the tech put that thing on my belly, we could instantly see the baby's spine, back, and head. Oh my goodness. There really are no words. I went from being so excited and ready to find out the sex of the baby to not caring one single bit what we were having. All I cared about was getting to look at this precious baby and all its parts. It makes me tear up right now as I type, remembering how I felt when I first saw the baby. The tech moved all around, showing us every inch. From head and brain to chest and heart to back and spine to arms and hands. The baby kept moving all around. She kept moving her arms up around her head and trying to get her thumb into her mouth. Now, I must say that I really had no idea what we were having until we got in there and I kept calling the baby a 'he.' I don't know why, but I did it the whole time.

Finally the tech moved to the leg area.

Her knees were all up at her belly. I asked if it was going to be hard for her to tell what we were having and she said, "Oh no, I already know what you're having."

:)

She didn't tell us then though. She said, "Hold on, let me show you." SHOW you is what she said. So, Courtney said, "Well, if you're going to show us, then it must be a boy." and she said nothing. So, we spent about 2 minutes totally thinking we were about to see boy parts. Totally thinking we were having a boy. That's about the time I started to cry. I asked for a tissue. Everyone in the room handed me one at once! Then she got us a shot between the legs and wrote in It's A Girl! and we were shocked!! SHOCKED! Courtney came over and gave me a kiss. And my hunch about it being a boy disappeared and we got all excited over our BABY GIRL!

A while back, Courtney said that if we were having a girl, he really wanted to name her. I thought that was sweet. But I had to make sure I was okay with the name he had in mind obviously! I had my mind set on Kate. Courtney wanted Callie. I liked it. We thought Callie Kate. But Callie Kate Christenson is a lot of c sounds, so we changed it to Callie Tate.

Callie Tate Christenson.

I love it. And the moment I found out that she was a she , I have loved her more than I thought possible.

And so has her daddy.

Tomorrow!!

Oh it is almost here!! We find out if baby bean is a boy or girl tomorrow!! at 10am!

Here are pics from yesterday.

Here's a picture just for fun because I love the shirt! It says, Twinkle, Twinkle Little... and the star is on my belly. It's all sparkly. I adore glitter! Glitter goes everywhere when I wear this. Love it! :)

So, predictions on the gender...

For the record, I have absolutely no idea or hunch about if I'm having a boy or girl. None.
Here are some other fun wives tales and what they say...

chinese calendar - boy

vein test in my eyes - boy

heartbeat - girl

belly predictions - either way. One of my mothers-in-law swears she is never wrong and she says boy. My neighbor Kasey swears she is never wrong and she says girl. ;)

dreams - 2 boy dreams, 1 girl dream

mood (people tell me if I'm moody then girl) - boy (I feel very pleasant and less hormonal than ever!)

These are obviously just for fun, but even these are a toss up! Or we're having twins. HA!

Oh baby!

So, it is 10:15 and I just got out of the bathtub. Why is this important info, you ask?? Because while I was having my nightly soak in the tub, I FELT THE BABY MOVE!!! 4 times!

I would be super excited about this anyway, but I am really relieved over it because I have been feeling extremely anxious lately and I said a prayer just this morning that I would be able to feel the baby move soon. For selfish reasons you know...to relieve my mind. And He delivered. Baby bean MOVED! It didn't feel like gas, not this time. I think I've felt the gassy movement for a while now, but it was nothing to write home about. This, though...this was definite baby movement. It felt like baby bean was turning over and over and over and then rammed into my lower belly. Way low down. That is amazing!

I worked in our flowerbeds tonight. We have big empty flowerbeds in front of our house and we started filling them up this week. And by 'we' I mean my neighbor Blaine and me. Courtney has been at the regional track meet and so he will come home to plants in the flowerbeds! So fun! I'll post before and after pics soon because I am very proud of the work we did! And work it was! Maybe that is why baby bean decided to start moving around. Mama had been digging big ole holes in the dirt all evening and was finally relaxing. :)

Whatever the reason, it is a blessing!!

pregnancy pains and such

We had our 16 week doctor appointment on April 12. All went well. We've gotten to the point where the doctor appointments are, you know, like 10 minutes long.

Pee, wait, go back, weigh, blood pressure check, go in room, doctor comes, listen to heartbeat (the true highlight of it all!), hear the baby sloshing around in there, doctor takes measurements, doctor asks if we have questions, ask some questions (of which I always think will take a while - it never does), leave.

Then wait one month, and repeat.

:)

Baby bean's heartbeat has been holding steady in the 160s now since we first heard it. I know, I know, sounds like a girl, right? That's what everyone who believes in the heartbeat rule tells us. We will see on May 7th!!!

It's amazing how anxious and excited I am for May 7th to come. I feel like a kid waiting on Christmas. Remember that feeling? You just couldn't hardly wait for it to come. That's where I'm at. And it always felt like it took an ETERNITY for December to get here? And then when December came, it took an ETERNITY for December 25 to get here? Yep, that's me. Come on May!! But we are down to 2 weeks until time to go. I can't believe my sister waited 9 months to find this out! Apparently she has more patience than me. :)

Okay, so the title of this post is pregnancy pains. The good news is that now I feel quite fabulous! No pains, no nausea, less tiredness. Just watching my belly grow. It is such a nice change...

...because...

...later the day of our last doctor appointment I started getting some back pain in my lower right side. By morning, it has turned to crazy bad pain in right side, just in from my hip. Pain that I couldn't get any relief from for the next 3 days. Sleeping was uncomfortable. Sitting was uncomfortable. Standing was uncomfortable. Etc, etc, etc. I started asking others what this could be immediately and all women who have had babies told me it was ligament stretching and that I should not be worried. But it was hard not to worry about the pain. I was afraid at first that it was an appendecitis. Then I became worried that something bad was happening in the pregnancy. I waited until the second day and called the doctor. She also said it sounded like ligament stretching. She told me I could come in for a sonogram if I wanted to. I was tempted. I knew it would ease my mind, but I gotta be honest...another peek at baby bean would have been fun too! I opted for patience though and didn't go in. By day 4, I woke up with NO PAIN! I was so incredibly happy and since then, I have felt really great.

Here's a 17 week pic. Today we are 17 weeks, 5 days.

Hello 2nd Trimester!

Well, we've hit our 2nd trimester! YAY! And just as everyone said it would, the sickness has started to fade. I am so happy for that!

All if going well. I've gone 3 days with no phenergan for the nausea, so that is really good! I'm still very tired, but that is even getting better. In fact, it's 8:20 and I'm still up, which means I am definitely not as tired. I was consistently going to bed at 7:45 every night. That stopped last week and I'm able to stay up until about 9 or so. Trying to get a lot of sleep though still.

We go to the doctor again on April 12. But the appointment we are so excited for is in May...that's when we get to find out the sex of the baby! It seems like time is going so slowly, but I know once that May appointment comes and school ends, it will start to go much faster!

Some "cravings" I've been having are:
-pickles and tomatoes, eaten together
-fruit, fruit, and more fruit
-veggies
-ice cream (I know, so cliche, but I really don't normally want it)
-pizza (I could eat it at every meal, but don't let myself!)

Some things I cannot stand right now:
-the smell of coffee
-any really potent smells are starting to bother me a lot
-the smell of our school cafeteria on most days ;)
-chicken sort of grosses me out right now

I'm really enjoying being pregnant...even though I don't feel great all the time. I feel like I'm part of a special something, something much bigger than me and it is a really incredible experience. I like seeing my belly grow. I like the wonder and joy of it all.

Here's some belly pics since last time...