Clara Nicole Graham

It's official. Her name is Clara Nicole Graham. My brother sent me a few new pictures this morning:


I'm so excited to have a little girl in the family that will be so close to Julianna's age. They will be just months apart. Keep baking Miss Julianna! Stay in the oven as long as you can!

baby girl Graham is here!

Yesterday afternoon, my brother and his wife had their baby! Her first name will definitely be Clara but the middle name is still undecided. I think they are going to go with Clara Nicole. She weighed in at 6 lbs. and 1 oz. She was about four weeks early but she looks so perfect. I can't wait to hold her and squeeze her little cheeks!


Josh and I are becoming plentiful with nieces and nephews!

Current count:
Nieces: Dynasty, Alyssa, Lexi, Harmony, Clara
Nephews: Dakota, Gage, Daytona, Ashton, Dylan, Tyson

For a total of 11! I love having all of these wonderful children around and I really can't wait until our little Julianna is here to join in on all of the fun!

Babies"R"Us - Baby Registry

Babies"R"Us - Baby Registry

waiting on a new addition

My brother and his wife are also expecting. Yesterday, his wife went into the hospital because she has started dilating! Baby girl Graham should be here today! YAY for being an aunt again!

26 weeks and 2 days

Pregnancy: 26 weeks and 2 days

Weight Gain: about 25 pounds so far

Sleep: it's going much better right now but who knows how long this will last! i still wake up earlier than I'd like to feeling hungry.

Gender: she's a girl :)

Name: Julianna Hope Soto

Feeling: excited and anxious... only 96 days 'til my due date!

Health: my blood pressure has been great throughout my pregnancy, the doctor says my weight gain in right on track considering my pre-pregnancy weight, but I'm still experiencing yucky heartburn and acid reflux.

Movement: she moves alllll of the time--especially when I'm resting on my back or side and after I eat.

Belly Button: it's still in and it looks the same as it did 3 weeks ago so I'm not sure if it will stay in or come out. I am carrying Julianna very low so it might just stay in. We'll see!

Next Appointment: next week... I have to reschedule it because I double booked myself for the dentist and the OB. My doctor's office is very flexible so I'm sure I can get it rescheduled with no problem. I will be having my one hour glucose test at this appointment. I will get to drink a really nasty fruit flavored beverage, wait around for an hour, then have my blood drawn. I hope my glucose check turns out good because I will not want to experience that again!

26 weeks and 1 day/Baptism Day

Josh and I were baptised at church this morning. We are going to become members of Bailey's Grove Baptist Church. Josh's mom, step dad, grandma, sister, two of his brothers, two of his sister-in-laws, and our nieces and nephews were there to celebrate with us. It was a great experience... except for the fact that the water was sooooo cold! It hadn't been warmed up so it was probably close to 40 degrees! My legs were shaking and my lips were quivering.

Christmas/25 weeks and 6 days

Merry Christmas! 99 days until my due date!

Josh and I celebrated Christmas with my family last night and his family today. Julianna even got a few gifts from Nana and Paw Paw Graham. My favorite was the Hello Kitty socks--I can't wait to put those on her! They also gave us a gift set with different outfits, accessories, and a blanket. It's getting closer and closer to when she'll finally be here! I also got my baby bag for Christmas from Josh. It's adorable:

25 weeks and we have snow!

Today, I am 25 weeks pregnant! We had our first snow of the season yesterday. They saw there is more to come today so I guess we'll see. This is the view of the snow from Julianna's nursery window:

My baby bump is growing every week. Here is a side view and front view:

Julianna was moving around a lot this morning. Josh got to feel her again. It's such an amazing and cool experience to feel your child move. I'm so happy that he is the father of my little girl. He is going to be a great dad!

the nursery is coming together

Josh put together Julianna's crib today! It looks great! We got such a great deal on the crib at Babies R Us because it was on clearance. It had been over $400.00 but we got it for $150.00! We are going to buy a black dresser/changing table to match it this week.

We also got our first decoration hung on the wall. It's an Animals ABCs tapestry that I always had hanging in my room as a little girl. We re-vamped it to go in Julianna's room.

YAY for nursery progress!

6 months

Current photo at 6 months:Josh and I are getting ready to go to church. Then we're going to eat lunch and hopefully do a little bit of Christmas shopping for each other. We're almost done with all of our shopping! I can't wait to shop for little Julianna next Christmas!

current stats at 24 weeks

My Current Stats:

How Far Along: 24 weeks (well, that will be true in about an hour)

Total Weight Gain: 22.4 lbs.

Maternity Clothes: Yes! I have been in maternity pants since around 13 weeks. I can still wear some of my regular tops but they seem to be getting much shorter now.

Stretch Marks: Yes, unfortunately. They're not too bad though.

Sleep: I am tired... no, exhausted most of the time. Especially when I get home from work. All I want to do is lay down, eat, and be lazy! Most of the time, I sleep through the night but occasionally the baby's movement will wake me up or my hunger will.

Best Moment This Week: Finally looking more pregnant... instead of chunky!

Movement: I have been feeling a lot more movement lately and it's getting much stronger. Our baby girl must be growing!

Food Cravings: Salsa and sour cream from San Felipe and as of today, apple crisp. I sliced up some fresh Granny Smith apples and baked some this afternoon. Delicious!

Gender: It's a girl!

Labor Signs: None and I'd like it to stay that way for awhile.

Belly Button In or Out: It's still in but as you can see from the picture below... I think it's headed out, very soon.

What I am Looking Forward to: Currently, I'm looking forward to getting the nursery complete.

Milestones: Today (well soon enough) I will have reached V-Day! Her organs are developed enough to survive outside of the womb today. And I'm also reaching 6 months today, as well. Happy 24 Weeks!

23 weeks and 5 days

Yesterday, I had my six month checkup at the doctor. Julianna is doing great! Her heartbeat was 141 beats per minute and I'm measuring just right so that means she's growing on schedule. As for my growth... I am currently 150.4 pounds. When I found out I was pregnant at 4 weeks, I was 128 pounds. So I have gained 22.4 pounds... which is mostly in my chest and belly... but mostly my chest!
I'm starting to look more pregnant... rather than I've eaten too much! Woo hoo!

Babies"R"Us - Baby Registry

Babies"R"Us - Baby Registry

belly button

From the last pictures I took, several people commented that it looked like my belly button had popped. But it hasn't. That's my belly button ring. I didn't remove the piercing; I just got a pregnancy belly button ring to hold the place of the piercing to prevent terrible scaring that might occur. However, my belly button has definitely changed. It is no longer as in as it once was so it may very well pop in the next few weeks.

This is what my belly button looks like at 23 weeks:

23 weeks

kick baby kick!

I have been feeling the baby move around for about four weeks now but last night she was kicking like crazy. Josh finally got to feel her kick! It was so exciting for both of us because he has been dying to feel her move.

22 weeks

The past few days have been quite eventful!

Friday morning, Josh and I got up at 1:30am to catch some Black Friday bargains. We only made it to Old Navy that morning but we got some great deals. Then we were on our way to South Carolina to visit his family. We made it there by 9:30am and we were both exhausted!

Later that morning, I went shopping again with Josh's sister. I didn't buy much this time but we had fun just looking around. We relaxed for awhile then Josh's twin and his wife got there. They have a 6-month old. He made me really excited about my little one that's on the way!

Saturday was another shopping day for the girls. I pretty much finished my Christmas shopping--except I still have to buy gifts for Josh. That day, more of Josh's family came over to his dad's house so there was definitely a full house. We enjoyed a post-Thanksgiving meal together.

We came home on Sunday and I spent 2-hours wrapping gifts! At least that's out of the way!

We ended up not having the maternity photo shoot this weekend due to a conflict with the photographer. We are going to schedule a new date at the end of December, when Josh and I go back to visit for Christmas.

What a busy but nice weekend! Baby girl Soto has been busy!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Julianna experienced her first turkey day today. She'll be here for everyone to enjoy next Thanksgiving! YAY! We just had dinner with my parents at Cracker Barrel-- it was good but I am soooo full!

I just showed Josh a really neat website that shows what happens inside of a woman's body during pregnancy. The animation shows how the organs move to accomodate the growing baby:

http://www.umm.edu/pregnancy/000088.htm

We decorated our Christmas tree last night and put up our Christmas decorations inside:

Josh still wants to decorate the outside of our house with lights--especially on our fence. I'll let him handle that part of decorating!

We'll be up bright and early to finish up our Christmas shopping then we're heading to South Carolina to visit his dad, stepmom, and sister.

thought this was cute:

21 weeks and 4 days

Sleeping past 3:30am isn't something I enjoy anymore. I'm always wide awake by then regardless of how tired I am or how long I've slept. So during the week, I am soooo slugglish because I get incredibly tired mid-morning. Thankfully, on the weekends I can enjoy a much needed nap. So that's what I'm looking forward to today-- a mid-morning nap that I would normally not get to enjoy on a Wednesday!

I just made myself a yummy breakfast of fruits: (maybe being hungry has something to do with waking up so early?! but I did have a bowl of cereal at 11pm last night)

Since there is no school until Monday (YAY!), I plan on being productive around the house today. We are going to South Carolina tomorrow evening after we have a Thankgiving dinner with my parents. We'll be visiting Josh's dad, stepmom, and his sister. We haven't seen them in a few months so it will be nice to get together. While we are down there, I'll also be having some maternity pictures taken. Josh's sister has a friend who is a photographer so he will be taking the pictures. I'm excited but I just wish my baby belly was a little bit bigger now. But that's okay!

So the agenda for today is: completing school work (yes, even on my day off), laundry, errands, packing for the trip and the photo shoot, and of course, my nap!!!

our first gifts

We received our first baby gifts a couple of weeks ago. Two ladies that work for Josh's company sent them to us. It's so exciting to get gifts... just feels even closer to when we'll get to hold Julianna in our arms!

Lullaby Gloworm:

Sleeper:

My parents also gave us money to buy our crib. Speaking of that crib... it's still in the box! I need to get Josh to put it together so I can share what it looks like.

weight gain and health

I began pregnancy at 128 pounds. I currently weigh 147 pounds. That's a weight gain of 19 pounds in 21 weeks. I feel like I look pregnant when I see myself but many people can't even tell that I'm pregnant. A coworker told me today that I don't look like I've put on any weight at all-- which is a good thing because I don't really want to look like I've blown up. My 19 pounds is all in my belly and my chest. I'll probably just wake up one morning with a really noticeable pregnant belly and there will be no denying it then. Josh and I feel so surprised when people say they can't tell I'm pregnant. I guess because we both look at me alllll of the time!

As far as my health goes, I think the 19 pounds so far have been healthy. I have really tried to make good food choices. But really, instead of icecream... I'd much rather have an apple. It just tastes better to me right now. Except for Cold Stone: I could go for a birthday cake remix sundae anytime!

My blood pressure has also stayed pretty low. Right now, it is 110/70. Pre-pregnancy it was considerably higher than that. Maybe the healthy eating is helping because I know my level of stress has probably doubled since I got pregnant and began this school year!

adventures of week 21

Josh and I did end up doing all three of our to-do's on Saturday. Shopping at Costco, dinner at Olive Garden, and we saw New Moon at the Grande 18 movie theatre. The movie was great... Twilight is so addictive. I refused for a long time to even watch the first one but Josh and I both loved it when we finally saw it. The movie theatre we went to was really nice... they even had Alvin and the Chipmunk statues at the entrance:

21 weeks

Today I am 21 weeks on the 21st of November! Pretty neat!

Josh and I plan on going to do some grocery shopping at Costco, have dinner at Olive Garden, and then hopefully go see New Moon-- if it's not sold out everywhere! I'm sure Julianna will love the movie! Now... just have to wait for Josh to get off work so we can start our afternoon.

Here's the baby bump at 21 weeks:

getting harder to sleep

My sleep wasn't the best last night. My little girl was moving all over the place... she must have been wide awake at 3am. Not a good sign!!! And I woke up several times feeling VERY hungry! The only things that truly satisfy my hunger are:

-apples (preferably granny smith)- salsa and chips (with sour cream)

- Sir Pizza
-ceasar salads
-cheesecake -Olive Garden One of those is being fulfilled as I type. I'm eating my leftover Sir Pizza for breakfast! Poptarts and Cheerios aren't going to hit the spot today!

photobucket fun

Princess Julianna:

my 24th birthday and 20 weeks

my bump on my birthday:

My cheeks are getting plumper... and that's not the only thing! I went to Victoria's Secret to get sized for a new bra. I started my pregnancy at a 34 A... now I'm a 36 C! Wow... it's amazing what can happen in a matter of months!!!

My birthday goodies:

Josh had this cute little cake made for me. It's a teacup!

19 weeks and 5 days

Bump update:
I felt little Julianna move this week! At my doctor's visit this week, I had to have another ultrasound to check on her spine and to see my cervix again. Well, she was subborn. Didn't want to let the ultrasound tech get a good photo of her spine so I had to jump around and walk in circles around the room to get her to move. Finally, we got a good picture of the spine. Later that night, I felt a gentle kick. I guess she wasn't too happy about all of the bouncing around I had to do!

nursery in progress

We are going to spell her name out in these fun letters to put above the crib:

19 weeks

Black is very slimming. Even my baby bump doesn't stand out too much in my little black dress:

Josh's church outfit matched the color of our nursery:

celebrating our little girl!

Right after the ultrasound on November 2, 2009, Josh and I bought the crib, a few accessories for her room, and picked out a cute pink outfit to put on Julianna's first teddy:

The next day at work, Josh celebrated the news of a little girl:

His hard hat even says: "It's a Girl!"