Maternity Photos 2014

My husband and I kept going back and forth on whether or not we wanted maternity photos taken. I am SO glad we decided to go ahead and have them done. We are so in love with these photos from Three Bee's Photography. We are so thankful that Amber was able to capture these beautiful, precious moments! 

The First Trimester

If I had to describe my first trimester in one word it would be S.I.C.K!!! All day sickness kicked in full force on Easter (April 20th). The funny thing about it though, I was so thankful to be pregnant that I didn't mind the multiple trips to the bathroom getting sick. To me, getting sick was a blessing (in disguise) because I knew I had a baby inside my tummy growing big and strong!

 Praise Jesus for zofran! When I was 7 weeks my Doctor put me on zofran and it saved my life. Although I didn't feel completely normal, it helped me function and keep food down! 

I couldn't stand the smell of eggs or raw chicken

My cravings were Pimento cheese, pickles, and all things SALT

I ended up losing about 7 lbs in the very beginning due to so much sickness and food aversions.

May 1st: Seeing the baby for the first time! At 7 weeks 3 days we got to see our sweet little bean and hear the heartbeat! The baby was 1.25 cm and had a heartbeat of 146 .  Hearing the heartbeat for the first time was the best sound I've ever heard! 

                

Holding my clothes thinking I had a slight "bump" haha! 

At 11 Weeks we were able to see our baby with all of it's limbs! The baby was moving and wiggling all around! 

We're Expecting!

Wow! Better late than never, right? At 8 months pregnant I finally decided to (briefly) blog about my pregnancy. I have absolutely LOVED every aspect of being pregnant and don't want to forget these special moments. I knew that if I didn't blog about it now I definitely won't do it when life is busy with a newborn! 

On the morning of April 11th, 2014 I woke up at 5:45 am to take a pregnancy test. I didn't want to get my hopes up this month so I kept brushing off my "pregnancy" symptoms but something told me that THIS was the month! I wanted to take a test because later that day I was leaving for GA to go wine tasting for a bachelorette party! Those two pink lines popped up ASAP and I was honestly in SHOCK! I just kept whispering to my self "oh my gosh I'm really pregnant!" 

I didn't want to wake Dale up yet because I wanted to tell him in a cute way. Since Easter was right around the corner I decided to write on our chalkboard "Hoppy early Easter, some bunny is egg-specting. Future Vol fan due Dec. 2014!" and put a little football onesie in an easter basket below the chalkboard.

I was shaking the entire time I was getting ready that morning because I couldn't wait to tell my husband!! He finally got up and got ready and made his way into the kitchen. I had to ask him to let Polo inside to make sure he saw the chalkboard and when he did he said "ARE YOU SERIOUS? I'm so proud of you" HAHA. We hugged and kissed and were obviously SO excited!!  

We are SO SO excited to become parents and thank God for this sweet blessing! 

Nothing like using the self timer on the camera to capture the moment....

{Backpacking Through Europe: Florence}

Florence was a neat and pretty city with not much to do. A lot of people have asked us what we did in Florence. We ate. That's pretty much what we did the entire time. EAT EAT EAT. 

 The Piazza Michangelo has a beautiful view of the entire city. 

The fake statue of David. We didn't want to pay to go in to see the real one. 

 Dales meaty pasta dinner!

  

I needed something "green" and some protein. This pasta would have to do...it was good though!

Dale loves tiramisu

Katie got pooped on by a pigeon. Apparently that is good luck in Italy?!?

We went to go get more food after dinner...

Dale also loves canolis. Two of the only desserts he will order in one night! Score!

The Duomo