It's a girl!

Brandon wanted a boy. I wanted a girl. I won this time around :)

Kyla Loren McCuistion. We really like the idea of having familial names passed down, so we started with Loren, which is my dad's, Jeff's, middle name. Hence the boy spelling :)

I'm so excited to dress her up in all the adorable clothes we've already received from family and friends! I'm also excited to watch her grow up with future baby siblings.

Growing up, one of my greatest memories is of my little sister and I putting bows and cutesy clips in our dad's hair. Oh, the things Brandon gets to look forward to!

September and October

It's been a busy few months! For about 6 weeks I was feeling pretty terrible and stopped doing much of anything because of the major first trimester yuckies... nausea, exhaustion, and my GI disease was constantly flared... but I survived! And this second trimester has definitely turned out to be the happy one :)

While being so sick, I did manage to buckle down at school, getting ready for my final exam for Medical Transcription. I took the test at the beginning of October and I passed! Praise the Lord! I'm excited to start looking for jobs now and praying it won't take too long. God is so faithful to provide for us! It will be nice to have the additional income to help prepare for the baby.

The day I finished my test was October 5th, our first wedding anniversary! We took a trip to Seaside for a few days. It was perfect! We had breakfast at my favorite place, Bagels by the Sea:

Since becoming prego, nothing sounds better than bagels and cream cheese, especially on the days I'm feeling really nauseous, so this place seriously hit the spot!

Our hotel room was right on the beach (thanks again Mom and Dad McC!)

Those were taken from our balcony :)

We strolled through town...

We had so much fun just relaxing and hanging out for the week. Brandon knows how much I love history and took me to Fort Stevens to explore the battery and bunkers. It was so fun!

I do admit my stamina isn't what it used to be! I guess I zonked out on the couch after one of our outings :)

So now I am 17 weeks along, and most of the baby websites say the baby measures approximately 5 inches and weighs around 5 ounces. Here's a picture of the baby bump!

Yes, I'm huge! It's been pretty incredible. I love feeling the little baby every day doing fluttery somersaults in my tummy, and now knowing the baby can hear us and knows when I touch my stomach... it's amazing! Here is what the little peanut looked like on September 16th:

I can't wait for our next ultrasound on November 4th, where we learn if it's a boy or girl! The consensus is a boy, but I'm holding out for a girl... we shall see in only 12 days!

The baby is healthy so far and I'm getting a fairly clean bill of health, as well. We got surprising news after my blood tests came back, however. I was told that getting the chickenpox when I was 5 didn't immunize me for life... looks like I'm one of those rare cases, and need to be extra careful until I have our baby... weird!

I'm really happy to be past the first trimester exhaustion, it feels good to get back to working out and getting some projects done around the house. My mom and I got my office moved and now the office is the nursery! It is so exciting to start filling up the baby's room with things we splurge on or when we get something from the Grandmas :)

Life is good and we are feeling so blessed and excited! In 2 weeks, we will be anxious to share with you all what we're having!

First Day of Baby Shopping!

Yesterday, my mom and I thought it would be a good idea to walk through Babies R Us and glean some ideas for the nursery. It was so much fun! And really surreal...going with your mom to shop for mommy stuff for yourself! Wow, it's really hitting me now :) At first, the thought of decorating the baby's room was a little overwhelming. I lack in creativity but definitely know what I like when I see it. I was relieved when I came across a theme that I LOVE. One reason why I like this is that it ties into our month-long Costa Rica trip we took in October. We have amazing memories of that trip and all the places we stayed. The other reason why we both like this is that it's gender neutral. So, when we have more kids, we'll always have these nursery items to use each time we have a new little one! Here are 2 pictures of the theme Brandon and I decided to go with!

I'm also excited we found these! I think we can use them for the future kids no matter what the gender also :)

I think it will take a while before we can afford all these things but it's so nice to get ideas! Too bad we still have to wait about 2 months to see if it will be a boy or a girl. Time is going by slow! We are very excited for the first prenatal appointment on the 31st! I'm hoping I'll have an ultrasound picture to post :)

You know you're preggers when...

Brandon made his usual yummy blueberry muffins on Sunday and they've sat all day and night. I tried to eat one today and couldn't finish it... it was way too sweet! For those who don't know, I'm a serious sugar addict. Candy, baked treats, ice cream... you name it, I love it. But now, the last thing I want to eat is red licorice or sweetart balls or Brandon's super awesome muffins. Sad! I think the morning sickness has started because nothing sounds good but water. And spicy doritos. Hmmm. Looks like it's going to be harder than I thought to eat healthy and often in this first trimester! Guess I better force the healthy stuff down for the benefit of the little one :)

Big Changes!

Wow, this last year has marked the biggest changes of our lives! Brandon and I thought we'd use a blog to make it easy to share what's been happening with our little family! Here's a few things that we've been up to since June of 2009...

We got engaged on June 29th at Brandon's graduation party, in front of our families and friends! It was so special and a total surprise :)

In September, we bought our house in Brush Prairie that sits on 1.25 acres. It took a lot of work to change the paint colors in every room and we still have a lot of renovating to do, but we love it! Someday it will be the perfect home to fit our (future) big family :)

On October 5th, my dreams came true and I married my best friend on the beach in Costa Rica, where we also spent 4 weeks traveling. It was amazing!

Once we were back home, it was a fun experience settling into our new life. Brandon started his Chiropractic career while I worked hard to finish my Medical Transcription training. In February, Brandon thought it was time to add to the family, and surprised me on Valentine's Day with Kate the puppy :) We love her!

In May, we decided it was time to seriously think about having a baby. To our BIG surprise, on August 5th, (which happens to be our 10th 'monthiversary') I took a test, and it turned out positive :)

I actually took 3 tests total, because we couldn't believe it and had to be sure :) We wanted to be creative when we told our parents, so we brought Kate to each family's house, with a bib around her neck that said BIG SISTER and a pacifier dangling from her collar. Nobody got it at first though! It was pretty funny. We're so excited to start this adventure and feel SO blessed to have such wonderful friends and family to share this experience with!