It's August 2015 and that is COOL

(This is my child. She is cute and tiny and makes me think happy things)

If you want to know how crazy having a baby makes your life then let's reflect on the fact I haven't posted on my blog since I was 38 weeks and I now have a 10 month old.
Thankfully I have been better at writing in my journal so I can remember all the details from Lainey's birth and beginning of life by reading it.
So let's just go from where we are now, which is good old Provo, Utah. Can't say that Provo has ever been on my dream list of places to live but HEY not that bad. I mean not bad at all if you ignore the BYU stickers, shirts, the actual BYU campus and stadium. GO AGGIES!  There is something about the mountains here that just make me happy and I wonder if Travis will ever get sick of me saying "just look at those mountains!" at least once a day. But really Provo is cool and shout out to my in-laws for letting us stay with them and being awesome in every way.

Speaking of Travis, he is coaching the wide receivers at his old high school Timpview and also helping run the offense. He is also selling Solar on the side which he has been doing the past year. He is great, he still enjoys discount movies and movie theater popcorn as often as he can.
Speaking of me, I'm doing #momlife stuff. I'm not sure exactly what that means but it sounds pretty cool. I keep my tiny human fed, changed, content and safe. So I think that's a pretty cool job, because trust me it's a lot of work. That's not to say I don't sneak in time to watch HGTV and The Bachelor of course.
Speaking of Lainey, she's the exciting one. A whole ten months old and full of personality that girl. She stands and walks along anything she can find but it's her crawling that's rather impressive to me. She does this thing where she crawls so fast she has to put her head down to become more aerodynamic and if looks like she is an Olympic runner trying to medal in the 100 meter race. Lainey eats anything she can find (I actually just pulled a piece of plastic out of her mouth) so it's kind of a full time job to make sure she isn't eating rocks, grass, dirt, wood chips (all things I've saved her from eating). She's recently become super interested in food and likes quite a bit of foods, including limes?? Every time we eat she sits there and whines and begs right along side the dog so that's super fun. She is such a sweet happy smiley little thing with so much energy and curiosity. But when she gets mad, she gets reaaally mad. I like that about her because she's a go big or go home type of gal. Everyday I get with her is truly a gift because her little spirit has brought us so much joy. She's my most bestest creation.

Life is good to us. No complaints from me. I'm so happy for all the great wonderful people and things in my life. Two thumbs way up!

My Baby Shower

September 6th was my birthday shower and it was perfect! Thanks to my mom and sister Chelsea for planning, hosting, decorating, and food. Stacy and Kelda helped with dessert and Ali was in charge of the game. It was book themed and turned out exactly how I imagined and wanted. My bridal shower was last November, my wedding in January, and baby shower in September. It is safe to say I made sure people gave me a lot of attention and love this past year. I feel bad but at least it all got knocked out at once and everyone can now ignore me for forever ;) only 5 days have gone by since my last post. That's because I think days past 38 weeks pregnant are twice as long. Oh also I turned 23! I celebrated by going to wood ranch and seeing The Boxtrolls with my parents and Travis. This birthday sort of snuck up on me because I've been so preoccupied thinking of the baby. I can't wait to find out when her birthday will be! 

38 weeks

I am very good at blogging, hence why 7 weeks has gone by since my last update. Today I am 38 weeks pregnant, 14 days from my due date. It's safe to say it is flying by and I still have a few more things to do before she gets here (picking a peditrician, figuring out insurance, ya know just little things ;) ) so I'm not super anxious to get her out yet but once I've accomplished those then I'm sure I will be super ready. I officially feel like a whale it's wonderful. This baby is definitely squished in there. Travis is super convinced she's coming early for some reason and I do not agree. Today I'm heading up to my parents to hunker down and wait since that is the area that has the hospital I'll be delivering at. At my 36 week appointment baby was estimated at 6 lbs 9 oz, lots of long hair all over her head, femur bone measuring right on time which could mean she's tall, and big feet. 

Kind of crazy what your body goes through. I also had my shower a couple weeks ago but I'll post separately on that!!

31 Weeks and Counting

Today I am 31 weeks along! I feel like it's been moving along fast at times but dragging at others. My due date is 63 days away which does not seem very far away. I am definitely starting to feel much larger and some days I feel very squished with lots of back and rib pain, but for the most part I feel fine! I'm guessing in a few more weeks I'll be having a different attitude though. Trav and I are living in Rancho Cucamonga. We have a little one bedroom apartment and I really like it. It's fun to have our own place for the first time being married. It's hot but it's bearable and trav really likes his job! We had an ultrasound last week and baby was 3.5 pounds and measuring exactly to the day. I have no complaints and I'm so thankful Travis has been working so hard so I can relax during my pregnancy :) we are getting so excited and ready for our baby girl!

The progression of my growing belly:

19 weeks 

23 weeks

27 weeks 

30 weeks 

A Little Bumpdate

I believe the last time I posted I was almost 14 weeks pregnant, and now I am 23 weeks! Crazy how fast that time has gone by.  Baby Van Leeuwen is a GIRL!! My intuition was right and I was not one bit surprised when the ultrasound technician casually said "you're having a girl".  She said it so calmly it took us all by surprise-she actually had to repeat herself ;) Thankfully this pregnancy has been relatively easy so far, although now my hips and back are starting to feel the extra weight-especially at nighttime when I am trying to sleep.  Since I have an anterior placenta, I didn't feel little babies pokes or anything until 19 weeks and even then it was every so often.  At 22 weeks, she woke up kicking and has been kicking everyday since then.  It is the weirdest/coolest/strangest/amazing/surreal feeling in the world having someone hitting you from the inside.  She even kicks hard enough for her daddy to feel it, and I am pretty sure she saves the hardest ones for him.  I love this little girl so much already and hope these 118 days go by fast! (but not too fast-I still have lots of preparing to do ;) )

 

Baby girl being shy in 3D and her profile in 2D at 20 weeks!

Travis, Annie, & Baby Van Leeuwen

This will come as a shock to my 3-4 blog followers who already know this: we are having a baby! Baby Is due October 4, 2014. We can find out if it is a girl or boy in the next few weeks and it is driving me crazy. I am pretty sure it's a girl but Travis thinks it's a boy. One of us is right (I hope ;)) 

I am 14 weeks along tomorrow and we are so excited and it is going to be a long remaining 26 weeks!

Finding out the gender will hold me over for a while though because then we can stop calling the baby an "it", start clothes shopping, and think of names. So happy for our honeymoon souvenir and can't wait to see what a baby Travis + Annie looks like!!

At 12 weeks. Baby is laying on its tummy with its bottom in the air. And it is a human baby not a puppy (you don't think you need to explain that to anyone but you'd be surprised what people have thought)

A + T

We have been almost married for two months now. It feels like just yesterday and also sort of like forever ago and also sort of like it never even happened.  Because it was such a blur, I love looking at pictures from the day over and over again  just to prove it really did happen-and it was the best day ever.  Right now our life is a little crazy, but we are just going with the flow and having a good time. I love Travis and being married and can't wait to see all the amazing things this year holds for us.  Hopefully by the years end we will know where we are living, have jobs, and our own place ;) In the mean time, we are enjoying life's little adventures.