3 years together...

Wow! Dean and I have been married 3 years today! It's hard to think of where the time has gone, but at the same time it feels as though we've been married a lot longer. 3 years to me is not that long of a time, speaking... but today, for young couples, it's a rarity that 3 years can mean so much, last, and bring a couple even closer.

We've spent most of our marriage raising Jax, and now we've got another on the way, and still somehow in the craziness of parenthood, we've been able to keep each other a priority.
Though we may not always put each other first, we still know the importance that without the two of us, there would be no children, and is a gentle reminder of how important we are as a couple, and a team.

Our marriage certainly hasn't been perfect by any means. We have had our fights, and we squabble, and mostly of course about normal relationship woes... Kids, bills, money, news, etc... but we tend to end up laughing in most of our bickering, or at least we are able to laugh about it the next day.

Just last night Dean and I were in bed squabbling about opinions, and how one opinion could make the other mad... but this morning when I woke up, I woke up to the most amazing man kissing me good morning, and saying he loved me. ;)

If I stop long enough with being a mom, and the duties of being a Stay at Home Mom to actually reflect on the man I chose to marry, I am so proud of my decision. Sometimes it takes just that. To stop. Remember. And really think about where I stand to value Dean, and unbeknownst to him, I actually do this quite often.

I really did marry my best friend. I married the person that I have more fun doing absolutely nothing with on a Saturday morning, but cuddling and watching cartoons. I married the man who puts his family, friends and most importantly his wife and son always, at the top of his list. Who puts thought into a card, or a little note by the coffee pot. Who has always been able to make a bad situation better. Who knows that sometimes all I need is a hug. Who works so hard to allow me the opportunity to live out a dream and raise our beautiful family. Who makes me laugh at myself, smile at us, and look forward to the future. The list goes on. When I think of my marriage, I am overwhelmed with how blessed I am to have this kind of love, and a truly amazing husband.

Dean I love you more than you know, and that I could ever show. Thank you for an amazing life, and three of the most amazing years of my life. I look forward to so many more. To wrinkles, and shaky handwriting on cards. To rocking chairs, and more "honeymoons". To watching our babies grow. To loving you for the rest of my life.

Xoxo
Shylah

14-15 Week Prenatel Appt...

Well I had my 14-15 week prenatal appointment yesterday. My normal Dr. wasn't there, so I saw a new Dr. Of course this can't happen again, as when I don't see my normal Dr., the backup doesn't fully read into my chart, and thinks he needs to start complete care for me. My bp was amazing (for me) 114/70 (something), and while this is great for me, most women in the 2nd trimester drop to the 100/60 range. I am close, but not where my normal Dr said he wanted me at. This Dr, who was extremely nice and seemed generally interested in my background and health, thought it was good enough to lower one of my meds. Mostly due to the fact that I have been so tired and weak due to my bp being so low for "my body"... anyways, he wanted me to reduce one of my meds to twice a day, instead of three times a day. I am going to continue with my normal dose until I talk to my Dr. on Monday.

Babies HB was 158. Very good for going into the 2nd trimester, but a significant drop from last week. Last week he/she was at 170... I try not to read into the wives tails anymore about the sex of the baby, but the way this one is going, I am still thinking it's a girl. Jaxon's hb was always high and then very low... 130 range... Only 34 more days till we find out what the baby is!!!!

The Banana Splits I've been craving have caught up with me. I gained nearly 5lbs in 3 weeks. I am still within my weight range... I've only gained 7lbs so far. 3lbs in the first trimester and now a whopping 4 just going into the 2nd... Haha...

Next prenatal appointment is scheduled for Oct. 14th, however I am going to try to either reschedule this appointment or get lucky and move up my ultrasound to the 14th so that they are together... ;)

Hope you all are doing well!
Xoxo Shylah

Memories, Friends, and Date Night...

Well this weekend was a fun one! Dean had his 10 year HS Reunion for DCA in Nashville over the weekend. Of course we went and had a blast. I was really worried and over the last month had mild anxiety thinking of how his reunion would go. What people would think of me, me being his wife, and Jaxon... yada yada...

Dean, Jax and I all aced with flying colors. I do believe that Dean got the most compliments on his pregnant wife, which of course was what I was going for, and very flattering for me. We also have the "cutest son", but the only boy out of all the people that had children so far. There were three other pregnant girls, so it was fun to sit with them and compare child stories, and stories of how our "daddy's" are with them.

Jax also had his first kiss with a little girl that was two days older than him... She totally initiated the kiss... kisses, there were 3. And while I wasn't actually ready to watch my baby have his first kiss, I couldn't look away, and was actually running for the camera. Haha I guess I did good to avoid it till now. Then about a half hour later, she decided that she didn't like Jax anymore, so Jax pulled her hair...

Friday was the start of the reunion. We had a very low key barbeque dinner in one of the classrooms at DCA. It was really weird for Dean to be back in his old school, where he had so many memories, let alone the fact that for the past 5 months all we've seen is the damage to DCA caused by the 2010 Nashville Flood. His school was hit really hard, and it was really sad that the water had gotten all the way up the walls in the hallway where Dean's HS All State Soccer picture used to be. I assume one day they will put it back up, but they were still renovating the school from the flood damages.

After dinner, most of the families all went and watched the football game, which was very lopsided, even after the 1st quarter, so we left. No sense in sticking around to watch a game when the score is 37-0 after only 15 mins.

Saturday night was the dinner night, and our date night. We left Jax with Pam and our usual babysitter Ashlee for the night. Dinner was at the Wild Horse, and also kind of casual. Dean and I dressed up, which is nice for a change for us. I wore a LBD and Dean looked great in his slacks and dress shirt. It was a lot of fun to hear stories of Dean and how he used to be. HS dances, 'Most Talented' achievements, and how much he has changed. Once the year book was passed around, it was clear that Dean had probably changed the most. He was definitely talented and athletic in HS, but he claims he didn't "get cool" till college. Lol. It was so funny with it being a Saturday night in a college town, all the wives were standing around talking and learning about each other, and all thehusband's were glued to the TV's rooting on their college teams... (Too bad the Pac 10 (Pac 11), (Pac 12) ended up whooping on the SEC!) Regardless, he had a great group of friends then, and has a great group of friends now... :D

It was a very laid back reunion, and I am betting that mine will be a thousand times different due to the size of our graduating classes, and the fact that I was public, Dean was private... who knows. I've still got two years, but since all the HS reunion talk has been going on, I've already been dreading/anticipating my own in 2012.

After we were done at the Wild Horse, we decided to go out to a few of the bars and see some of our old "co-worker" friends... We stayed out late late late, but definitely made the most of our date night!

Wish we would have gotten some better pictures of the two of us... but that's how it always goes with us!!!! Hope you all enjoyed your weekend as well!

Love you all!
Shylah, Dean and Jax

Baby #2 Update...

Hello, just wanted to update everyone, and let you all know how our last ultrasound went. Baby is now measuring 13 weeks, and 6 days... (5 days ahead of what

I am going off of, and almost 14 off of our original due date, that the Dr. is still going off of for some reason.) Anyways, I am sticking with I'm 13-14 weeks pregnant! Baby's heartbeat was also very strong at 170.
We couldn't tell the gender, couldn't even get close enough for a peek, so a little bummed there, but our gender reveal ultrasound (fingers crossed baby cooperates) is Oct. 21, at 8:30 am. Haha, the girl scheduling appointments asked if I wanted morning or afternoon, as all my appointments have been late afternoon, and I asked for the earliest appointment, so I wouldn't have to stay up that much later from the night before. I can't wait! Of course we just want a healthy baby, but literally, this time around, I don't care. I know boys... a girl would be nice, but either would be just as fun for Jax I hope.

Our next follow up appointment is next Thursday, that is just to check weight, meds, and do an exam. Kinda wish I could have done both today, but oh well.

The dr is also starting to get more of a personality thankfully. Not sure if he's just losing his mean touch, or if it has anything to do with Dean being there... He had a sense of humor today anyways.

Oh yes, blood pressure has also been really good that last two weeks. It's in the "normal" range, but of course that is great for me. I have been a little more tired, just because my body isn't used to those kinds of numbers. Dr. is hoping to get me at least to the 120/60 range, and hopefully that will keep my bp low enough going into the 3rd trimester, that we can keep baby in the oven longer...

Well that is the update. Everything looks great! Baby is doing fine, and so far seems to be a laid back baby... If I remember right, at 13-14 weeks with Jax when we had an u/s, he was so active the tech could barely get a good picture... ;)