finally!

we finally felt our little girl move! last friday (7/15) i was in ohio for a wedding, and after the rehearsal dinner, i was talking to my mom when i felt a new little movement in my belly - it wasn't "butterflies" like most people describe them or even a very soft, gentle feeling. it was more like a little bump or kick. she quickly put her hand on my stomach but couldn't feel anything. right away i called kyle, who was still in milwaukee, and when he didn't pick up, i texted, "i think i felt the baby move!" but that feeling only happened 1-2 more times, then no more. and seeing as i can attribute a lot of twinges and feelings down there to the joys of "pregnancy flatulence" (sorry for the honesty!) i wasn't 100% sure that was baby girl.

until last night... kyle and i were laying in bed talking before we fell asleep, and there it was again! I put his hand on my belly, and we waited for it to happen again. a few seconds later, i felt it and i quickly looked at kyle - he was wide-eyed and all smiles. he felt it too! and baby girl gave us lots more kicks and pokes for the next 5 minutes that both of us could feel. finally, i could feel her and knew 100% that was her giving mom & dad a little hello (or just finding a more comfy spot!). this morning she wanted to make sure i knew she was still there - as i drove to work, it felt like she was just bouncing along in my belly. it's amazing to start to fall in love with this little girl that we haven't even truly met yet. but she is already is so so loved!

preggo update: 5 months

please excuse the untanned belly :)

today, i am five months pregnant! and it's definitely showing. it's now been safe for strangers to ask when i'm due, instead of them just looking at me and wondering, "is she having a baby or did she just eat too much for lunch?" according to our weekly updates, baby girl is now the length of a banana and her big accomplishment this week: swallowing. yup, workin' that digestive system. you go girl.

i really have loved being pregnant, especially after the first trimester (which, as i think back on it now, wasn't all that bad!) lately, my back being sore & restless sleep are my only complaints, but it's something i can definitely deal with. my only "real" complaint is i haven't "felt" baby girl move yet. and we know she's moving! she did plenty of that during the ultrasound, and when i went to my doctor the next day, he could hear her moving as we listened to the heartbeat. it's just a matter of me feeling it. a majority of people describe it as "butterflies in your stomach" which i have had none of. i have just had little pangs that aren't too painful, but seem like they're more from my uterus stretching than baby doin' a little dance in there. so hopefully soon, i will know without a doubt that that was our baby girl moving!

everyone keeps asking if i have any cravings... i at first said no. i'm often hungry, but give me a menu at a restaurant and it would take me an hour to narrow down my choice! maybe that's because i'm just indecisive in general. but lately, i've had some very specific cravings. and kyle has too :) we've both been loving pickles. we've finished 2 jars already! and i can't tell you how good sour candy tastes to me - sour patch kids, runts, etc. i find myself stopping at the 25cent machines just to grab some candy. not the healthiest things, but oh they do taste good!

thank you so much for all your congratulations & comments about the video. we are beyond excited for our little baby girl and feel so loved that all of you are looking forward to her arrival, too! i realized we mentioned that we found out we're having a girl but forgot to mention that the doctor told us that, from what she could see in the ultrasound, she's a very healthy baby girl! all her fingers & toes are accounted for, brain, heart, kidneys, bones, etc all look good. it's absolutely amazing the detail we could see and all the information the doctor could get from the ultrasound.

so overall, at 5 months, mama, dad and baby are all doing great. i've started brainstorming already for the nursery and am ready to get going. i think i'm a natural nester, so when that phase sets in, watch out kyle!!

ps-
i like how many of you voted in the poll even after we announced it was a girl :) and a few people even still guessed boy... but most of you were right, baby morgan's a baby girl!

baby's first summerfest

this year we went to our 2nd and baby's first summerfest! for those that don't know, summerfest is basically an 11-day concert where countless of bands get to play - from those you've never heard of (and probably never will) to famous musicians like o.a.r., sugarland, and maroon 5. we'll always remember going last year, one of the first big milwaukee events we took part in, so we couldn't wait to head back & take baby girl this year!

thanks to my great boss, we were able to go 2 different days using free tickets. kyle was so excited we went the very first night. we didn't know the bands all that well, but that didn't matter. we saw he is we and jack's mannequin. though we only knew 1 song, it was still such a great experience. there were even fireworks (baby's first!). the only let down was no funnel cakes. really? i will go to a fair, just get a funnel cake, and my visit would be complete. but alas, they did have lemon shake-ups, so i survived and we made plenty of fun memories from that night.

our second visit was a bit more relaxed. we ended up going on the very last day right after church. and actually, we didn't even stop & listen to any concerts! we walked around the entire place, stopped at some of our favorite booths from last year - hit a golf ball into a hole on an island in the middle of the water, count how many cans are in a canoe, giant game of chess, and of course spinning the wheel at frontier airlines & winning prizes (shout out to papa aka kyle's dad!!)

we also took a ride on the skyglider, which we loved doing last year. it gives you such a good view of the whole festival & just how many people are there. though, having a baby with me, i was just a little bit more nervous about the "safety" of the ride - sit in a box hanging from a wire a hundred feet in the air. sounds great. but we had a great time and it's events like these that make us so thankful we live in such a fun city, especially during the summer! can't wait to really show baby girl milwaukee once she's here!

baby morgan's big announcement

i got the best birthday present yesterday...

my doctor's office called on wednesday to say their ultrasound equipment was down and they would have to reschedule my appointment. i was devastated... kyle had worked so hard to get off of work friday. and his mom was flying in just to come with us. and being the day before my birthday, it just wasn't what i had planned!

being the amazing people they are, the nurses were able to schedule my ultrasound appointment at another location for the next day, july 7th - my birthday. i quickly said yes, hoping that kyle could sneak away from work and his mom could change her plans last minute. one out of two came true... sadly, kyle's mom wasn't able to make it. but thankfully, "daddy" was able to be there to meet our little babe. kyle, you're an amazing man and you are going to be such a wonderful dad. thank you for not only putting our family first, but for making this birthday the best one yet. i love you!

so without further ado, we introduce to you baby morgan...

baby's first camping trip

the week of june 19th-25th i had the privilege of joining 2 other leaders and close to 30 kids from tosa young life at summer camp. for a whole week, we were at castaway club in minnesota. i was able to go to 2 different young life camps when i was in high school and absolutely loved them. they really helped established my path to really seeing who Jesus and God are. (to learn more about young life, you can visit here). yl camp is something you truly have to experience to understand. so i thought i'd give you all a little glimpse of our crazy week and many more "baby's firsts."

the whole young life gang from milwaukee

the all-star leader team from tosa & white fish bay

our amazing cabin - love love love you ladies!!

our cabin of girls... oh how i love them. first off, erin is the other female leader who came along to camp with tosa. she is an amazing woman - such an example & encouragement for not only me, but also the 9 high school girls we had the honor of taking to camp. you would think 9 girls, 1 cabin, 3 showers and 3 toilets would equal a lot of drama. oh but not this group. we quickly bonded within the first day. though our cabin was a mess 98% of the time, we made it work. we shared clothes. laughed. ate lots of animal crackers & puppy chow. we turned into beauty queens for a volleyball tournament and jumped in a freezing cold lake together during a crazy obstacle course. these girls are real, they are beautiful, and i loved watching God move in each and every one of their lives that week. erin, averi, jenny, jessie, katrina, kyleigh, laurel, leah, mariella, and rosalie - i love you girls. thanks for one amazing week. and thank you for taking care of baby too. love, baby mama :)

cabin parasailing trip!

baby's first parasail ride!! with erin, too :)

baby's first giant swing ride with kyleigh

you basically free fall from what felt like a million feet in the air. (i think baby & i will stick to normal swings from here on out :) )

baby's first rock climbing! (i'm pretty sure i made it a whole 2 feet up!)

beauty queens playing volleyball

baby's first obstacle course (the girls did such a good job protecting baby!)

love you erin!

love you girls!!

meeting dr. mccann

we had our first appointment to meet our obstetrician in early may when i was about 9 weeks along. at first, kyle was going to have to work and miss out on the appointment. i was bummed to say the least. but thankfully my mom was able to plan a last minute visit and join me!

and then another blessing came along... just a half hour before the appointment, kyle was able to get off of work!! my mom and i picked him up at the VA and quickly rushed to our appointment. Not only were we excited to meet our doctor who would deliver the baby, but we would also hear the heartbeat for the very first time!

so my "entourage" and i anxiously headed to our room. as soon as dr. mccann walked in, we know we had found a great doctor. he came in and was just so warm and welcoming, and to top it all off, he had a sense of humor. after getting to know us a little bit, we got down to business and soon it was time to find that baby's heartbeat. i think dr. mccann was just as excited as we were, even though he said he couldn't guarantee he would be able to locate the heartbeat. once he examined me and found the position of my uterus, dr. mccann was pretty optimistic we would hear our baby. (he did say, "let's hear this little guy's heartbeat!" i asked if that was an official prediction for the sex of the baby...) and it didn't take long until a certain sound filled the room... i looked right at kyle and he looked so excited. that smile he had when i first told him we were pregnant had returned. and again, it was just as contagious as the first time!

i still remember exactly what it sounded like and even now, i still like to ask kyle, "do the baby's heartbeat!" (he does a very good impersonation!) it sounded like a "coo coo coo coo," beating so fast for such a little babe. though i was fully convinced i was pregnant, it was just such a confirmation to know, yes, there really is a baby growing in there! it was such an amazing moment as we first heard our baby tell us "hello."

mom, thank you so much for coming with us! dropping everything at the last minute to be by you child's side when they need you - thank you for showing me glimpses of the mom i want to be! now come visit again soon, we miss you!!

spreadin' the news...

one of the hardest parts of being pregnant during the first trimester was keeping our little babe a secret! most books say it's best to wait until you're about 3 months along to announce your pregnancy. but let me tell you, that was harder to deal with than the nausea! it felt like kyle ad i had this little secret that we just wanted the whole world to know!

for our parents & siblings, there was no way we could wait until then to share the news! we were able to go on skype and tell my mom she was going to be a grandma again (she had no idea that's what we were going to tell her). we also skyped with kyle's parents to fill them in, though they were a little more suspicious than my mom :) it was so exciting to share our joy with them! soon we were able to tell our grandparents either on the phone or skype, as well as our siblings. we were actually able to get together with kyle's brother and sister to share the news in person - aunt keri & uncle kris were very excited :)

but we needed a creative way to tell the rest of our friends & family the big news.... and along came the idea for the "oh baby" postcard. the pictures were actually taken outside of our church, epikos. we had a ton of fun taking them, as we used the self-timer on the camera and hung it from our car window. though kyle was a little embarrassed about showing his prego belly to everyone who walked by :) but we were so excited to fill everyone in on our growing family!