And the big news is revealed! It's a BOY :)

For those of you who I haven't told personally, I apologize. Joel and I were trying very hard to keep the baby's gender a secret until we could tell the family. We found out on April 1st that our little bundle is a boy. I looked at the screen and there was no doubt in my mind that we're having a little boy. He was wiggling all over the place and doing little flips for us. At our very first ultrasound (just over two months along) the doctor was checking to a) confirm we were indeed pregnant and b) see how far along baby was and set a due date. At that time he told us baby was still small so he set us back a week from what we thought we were. We had to do 10 weeks twice... it was a bummer! The reason I bring this up is because at this last ultrasound, doc said that once again our little one was smaller than what my new set due date is. Only by a few days I guess, but I'm wondering if we're going to have a small little boy. It doesn't worry me because I know that doctors try to keep all babies in one general "this is where your baby should be." He said everything else looked good; heart, tummy, brain and spinal fluids... so no reason to worry about him yet.

As for me- I'm starting to feel pregnant. And by that I mean that my stomach is getting bigger and after I eat I definitely feel like I need to wobble to keep the pressure off my stomach area. (otherwise it is very uncomfortable) Of the 3 pounds I have gained so far, baby is a whole .5 pound of it. I'm also starting to feel like my skin is not big enough for him anymore. Imagine trying to stuff a a body pillow into a plastic grocery bag... it just doesn't fit... that's how I'm starting to feel. A little overstuffed haha. People still tell me they don't think I look pregnant yet, but I CAN tell! I ran into a friend yesterday who said they thought I had miscarried because I wasn't showing very much for being almost 5 months prego. Compliment? I think so?

Other than that, life is going well. We're getting settled into our new place here in Nampa. I LOVE it! It's so close to family and bigger! I'm loving the third bedroom. Baby's room is coming along. He has a few outfits and diapers in the closet, a dresser, nightstand, and crib. So most of the big furniture is covered. Everytime I pop by the baby section at store I have to force myself to put things back because who knows what we'll get at the baby shower. I anxiously wait for it :) It's like a big party for ME (not joel) and I get all these presents to open and be excited to play dress up on my baby. Joel hates it when I even joke that our little boy will be a momma's boy and not a "manly mans" boy. haha... So anxious for him to arrive. Names picked out? ha! Boy names are so hard... suggestions are SO welcome! Hopfully we'll have something picked out before he's born.

I was only a little bummed.... :(

Well I have found great support these past 3 months of being pregnant from a website called Babycenter.com. I joined a group of young women who are also first time mommies due around the same time I am. It has been great to share concerns and hear that other women truly are going through the same things I am. Sometimes complaining to your husband just isn't enough. haha. The reason I bring this up is because while I read about other womens' stories, I have discovered that a lot of women have the chance to go to a 3D/4D imaging center. At these centers women have had the chance to find out the sex of their babies EARLY! At first I though, "oh, why spend money for an extra ultrasound?" But now... now I'm thinking "ugh! i want to know the sex of the baby now! Then we can pick gender specific clothes and accesories and NAMES." Soo... I got online and looked for places that did this kind of thing. The women online had been saying they were paying anywhere from $40-$120. And so I thought... it's worth a look. Well I got online to find a place like that in our area and NOTHING! The only place that popped up didn't do the 3D/4D (because typical ones are 2D) ultrasound until 17 weeks!! And my doctor can tell me between 18 and 20 weeks!! ugh... there is no way I'm paying $100 for someone to tell me a mere week early. Stupid stupid. So of course as the heading says, I was only a little bummed.... :)

Guess What's New...?

Well we have some fun news for everyone. Joel and I are expecting! We found out the morning of christmas eve. It was a fun little christmas present to ourselves. Now we are both very excited for what is to come. I couldn't help myself and have been to Babies R Us and a couple other places looking at all the fun new things. We're still quite a ways from finding out what the gender is ( about 10 weeks more still). But we look forward to our first ultrasound on Feb 1st. I'll do my best to keep everyone updated.!!

January 2010

Well the new year has begun and Joel and I are preparing for another year. It's hard to believe that we've been married close to 8 months now. I remember counting down until our wedding day and now here it is 8 months after (almost). We are having a good life. We've been very blessed and love where we're at in life. Zedd is getting bigger. He's a BIG eater right now. He's getting himself a little pot belly. Joel is enjoying work. He just got a $1.35 raise and is very happy for it. At the end of January he will be starting his 4th semester of College. He absolutely LOVES his major. -math- We're excited to see where all of this education takes him (well us).

I'm learning to cook more things. I love cooking. I also love grocery shopping. My crock pot gets it's fair share of use now. It's fun to learn new meals that just get thrown into the crock pot, sit and cook, and are ready for dinner. My favorite way to cook!!

Zeddicus

Well Joel and I decided that it would be nice to get a pet. As of October 19 we have a kitten named Zeddicus Zul Zorander. But we call him Zedd. :) My cousin Shayla baby sits for a family that found him. Their dogs had zedd in a corner and the dad saved him. Shayla thought she had found a home for him but they fell through. After talking about it, Joel and I decided that he would be a good companion for me during the days, while Joel is gone. He's still very much a kitten. Very very active! But when he calms down he wants to be the center of your attention. Being held, pet, snuggled and loved. Welcome to our family.

Life continues

ll it has been a little since we've updated everyone on what's going on in our life. First- we've been married almost 5 months now.. I can't believe it! Joel is still working and going to school. He loves all of his classes. I am currently a homemaker :) I love being home. Joel and I are having so much fun being married. We play games and watch movies and wrestle. We're also getting together with friends and having fun. I am having lots of fun getting together with one of my old school friends. We've known each other since elemantary school and are still friends. She got married last august and already has a year of marriage under her belt. I've had a lot of fun hanging out with her. Joel and I have also been getting together with some old high school friends of ours. Brett and Ashley got married a year before Joel and I almost to the day. They moved in just down the road from us about a week and a half ago. Its been fun helping them move in and get together. This last week they came over and we carved pumpkins and made homemade pizza. Joel and I love home made pizza!!Ashley carving her pumpkin.

Brett with their 2 month old daughter Payten. Very cute!

Hopefully Joel and I will have lots of documented memories that we can share with our family that isn't around us. I'm not sure if we're going to dress up for halloween yet, but we'll see I guess :)

Our Wedding

May 23! It finally came. Around may first we were already counting down the hours and there were a lot of them. It seemed like it would never come and time would drag on forever. Finally, I woke up on that saturday morning and couldn't believe that it was my wedding day. I would be mrs. zwygart. I met Joel at the temple and we were sealed for time and all eternity. The whole time we were both just waiting for it to be over so we could hug and be alone. Our ring ceremony and reception were Beautiful! We're so glad that so many of our family and friends could come and share this with us. Immediately following our reception we headed to the air port for our honeymoon. We caught a 6:45 flight to seattle and from there a red eye flight to orlando. Our first night married was on an air plane, woo hoo. Finally we got to orlando and had to wait another 3-4 hours for our transportation to arrive. We napped in the food court, haha. Finally at 3pm Sunday afternoon, we were able to load our cruise ship and crash in our room. We were exhausted from all of our traveling. We were very happy with our honeymoon choice of going on a cruise. It was a 7 day trip and we stopped in Haiti, Jamaica, Grand Cayman Islands, and Mexico. We had so much fun! In Haiti, we went on a zip line called the Dragons Breath Zip Line. It is the longest zip line in the world, over water. At first we both thought it would be scary, but it was so beautiful that it just takes your breath away and you stare at the ocean and scenary. I hated Jamaica. The people there are very pushy and in the end, we would just pay them to leave us alone. It drove me crazy. We were only on the island for an hour total is my guess. Bob Marley is their hero, though. You'd see his picture every where and on everything. The Grand Cayman Island was a lot of fun too. While we were there we had the chance to go parasailing. It's always interesting to try new things and of course our honeymoon is a chance to splurge on new things. While in Mexico we had the chance to drive a dune buggy for a tour around the island we were on. Our tour guide's name was Tito. He took us to a secluded beach and showed us some of the small town shopping areas that are a little less tourist-like. Joel and I bought a hand made blanket that is gorgeous. It has the aztec calendar on it and is our wedding colors. We got a good deal on it. We also discovered that I'm the haggler and not Joel. He's not aloud to talk. :) We also went snorkeling on our dune buggy trip. It was so much fun to swim with all the fish and see sting rays! We concluded the trip with me getting a whole head of braids. (gotta do it at least once! not my thing though) I had a blast with my husband on that trip. It has also been a lot of fun to build our home together. We are finally getting some furniture too! Our bed went from on the floor to having a frame and being on top of these bed prop things that make it so we can fit stuff under our bed. The first morning we both went to get up for work and were shocked at the distance to the floor. It was a fun little suprise. We've also gotten some book shelfs, a few chairs, night stands, and side tables. Free stuff rocks my world! Thank you to all the people who have given us stuff. Tomorrow will be our 1 month anniversary. It has been a fun and crazy trip learning the little things about each other that make us different. I have honestly loved it too. What type of dishwasher detergent to buy, tissues, what foods are good, how to pay for things, what a savings account is for.. those are just a few of the fun things. I've loved it though. We have had a wonderful 1 month of marriage and hope to have many more!!!