as time flies by...

June 16th is almost here! We will be moved in to our brand new house June 16th. (17 days from today).
Even though it took longer than we were hoping, the end is here and we couldn't be more excited!

Our fence is being finished, our porch railing is being finished, and then we must landscape!
Our carpet will be put in just days before we move in so there is ZERO chance of ruining it prior to move in.
Other than that, our house is all ready for us!

We "broke ground" on our property June 6th 2010. It has been a long but amazing year. Time has gone by so fast! It has been an epic adventure.

And now only two more months until little Baby Bruce arrives : )

The love of my life...

(This photo was taken Sophomore year homecoming 2002)

Justin Adam Bruce, what a wonderful man : )

I love him so incredibly much. I never thought love could be the way we experience it together. You see romance in movies of being rediculously happy and being swept off your feet. Well that romance is normally found in the first few months, or years. But we are on year 10 and it hasn't changed a bit. I don't know what it is, maybe because we are still young or because we have watched other relationships fail, but we always make sure, every single day, that we show eachother how much we love one another.

I would say that we easily tell eachother we love eachother at least 10 times a day, but probably alot more than that. We say it periodically, and we also say it whenever we say goodbye, whether that is in person or on the phone. Some people may think it's silly but if you love someone why would you ever hesitate or cap the number of times you tell them?

We also call eachother, all the time. If I am at work or Justin is at work we call eachother at least twice while gone, but normally Justin calls me more than that : ) I love hearing from him and telling eachother stories about customers or people we are working with. We always have so much to talk about!

Our connection runs very deep. It would be hard to suprise one another with anything because we always want to tell eachother everything, and the second it happens! lol. I have heard so many stories about special ways women have told their husband they are pregnant, I couldn't even imagine suprising Justin about the baby, the second I found out, he found out, lol.

It is going to be interesting revolving our life around someone else. As much as I am excited to have this little Peanut of ours, it will be hard adjusting to life around Peanut, instead of life around Justin.

I am so lucky to have married such a wonderful man, and an amazing best friend. He makes me laugh harder than anyone in this world. He knows what I like, what I love. He knows how to make me feel so extremely special, all the time. We always have fun together, we love going on new adventures. Life is just amazing.

This past year has been so crazy and hectic and we are still so strong. It hasn't put pressure on us as a couple, or husband and wife for that matter. For the last year we have been building a house, I received a promotion at work, Justins company went out of business, Justin got hired at Boeing, and we are having a baby. If there was ever a time to stress out and lash out at one another, it would be now. But our relationship has just gotten better and better. I have heard a few times now, "If you really want to test a marriage, build a house together", well we are doing just that and it has only made us stronger and closer together.

Someday... I will be able to relax again...

27 weeks pregnant... 13 weeks to go!

Today is the big "wedding day". Along with working full time and building a house, Justin and I are also in a wedding. I am the "Maid of Honor" and Justin is a groomsman.

It has been a very hectic last couple of months but the wedding is finally here. I am so excited to see how this wonderful day turns out. Don't worry, I have a beautiful dress that fits perfectly : ) I actually ordered it two sizes too big and had them alter it last week.

We haven't moved into our house yet. Still not done. Well for the most part it is done but it's all the tiny annoying things that are left. We will be moving in the next couple weeks and I am so excited! We will have about 2 months between when we move and Peanut arrives... AHHH!

I wish I had more time to get everything ready but oh well, what can you do? At least everything wil be new!

leaving my 2nd trimester behind me... and welcoming a midwife ahead of me!

As of Wednesday I hit 26 weeks pregnant. Only about 14 more to go. So crazy to think that we have been expecting a little one for that long already! Feels like just yesterday that we found out we were going to be parents! Next week marks the beginning of the third and LAST trimester.

http://www.baby2see.com/development/week26.html

So much has changed...
Well besides the belly growth and the back pain, alot has changed in our minds as well.

So we had this great doctor, Dr. Joshua Nathan. But for the past 5 months our appointments were rushed, 10 minutes long, and gave us ZERO direction. We would ask questions and receive support but no real answers. We could always tell that Dr. Nathan was trying to avoid the "sue factor" and would just support how we felt but not give us any guidance.
Last Monday (April 25th) we had our 25 week appointment and when Dr. Nathan mentioned that his wife was due with a baby in a few days, I then asked him where she would be delivery the baby. He then told me that his wife is a midwife and that they are using a midwife in Seattle...hmmmmm....
So, MY baby doctor, the one responsible for my entire pregnancy, his first choice for his own child is a midwife?
This left Justin and I a little confused. So we went home and watch a recommended documentory called "The Business of Being Born"... TALK ABOUT AMAZING! It opened our eyes to a whole new world! We felt so touched by the knowledge, guidance, and support of this documentory that things for us have changed 100%.
So this past Monday (May 2nd) we met with a midwife... And she was amazing!
http://www.cascadebirthcenter.com/
We have never been happier with our decision to switch. I feel so much more relaxed and cared for.
We will not be having the baby at home but at the Cascade Birthing Center, which  is located right next to Providence Hospital.

Life is goooooood : ) And we are more than thrilled to be bringing our baby into a peaceful, loving environment.

25 weeks pregnant!

Just some fun and games ..

So today I decided to browse the "Gender Myths"...

The first myth I looked into is the "Chinese Gender Myth".... outcome: BOY!

Second: "Old wives tale gender prediction".... outcome: GIRL!

Third:  "Gender prediction based on heart rate" .... outcome: GIRL!

Forth: "Wedding ring w/ straind of hair" .... outcome: GIRL!



Time will tell!
How exciting : )

RIP Max : (

Max was just over a year old and was quite the amazing puppy. It was love at first site with Lily and Max. She loved that dog so much.

Yesterday Max got hit by a car and died. It has been really hard for Colleen and Adam and as of right now the girls just think he ran away. I am not sure if they are going to tell them or not. Lily is 5 years old and Julia 4 years old. I don't personally think they should tell them. Lily is already heart broken at the fact that he ran away. Lily has said before "I hope Max will go to the same heaven I will go to when he dies because I want to be together". She has such a big heart : (

Love the way the blankie turned out : )

FRONT AND BACK

BEAUTIFUL : )

Not that I don't have enough projects going on...

This is the beginning of Peanuts first blanket! It is all fleece and no NEEDLES or KNOTS needed. It is a really neat technique that I saw yesterday at the craftstore and decided to do it! The end result will be a quilt like fleece baby blanket. The color scheme is neutral since we don't know what the little one is yet : ) The pattern with writing says "I love my daddy & I love my mommy". Definitely fell in love with that one.

The yellow with polka dot fabric will be the back of the blanket. Can't wait to finish it : )

This was a mutual effort for Baby Bruce by Mommy and Daddy : ) Our first Peanut project!

22 weeks and counting!

Here is my bump : )

We are now at the 22 week mark. More than halfway through the pregnancy. (average pregnancy is 38-40 weeks). Peanut is very active! Maybe it's a boy haha. Time will tell. At this point in the pregnancy the average weight gain is 10-16lbs. I have gained a total of 7lbs which is good because I am already a bigger woman. I have always been nervous about being pregnant because my body can gain weight so easily. One of my friends, who is much smaller than I am, gained 80lbs during her first pregnancy. Talk about a scare tactic! I am just glad things have been going so smoothly for us. I don't crave junk or fried food. Fruits, veggies, smoothies, yummmmm. It is actually hard for me to eat the amount that I am supposed to be eating. I am not used to eating so much and I even give myself a headache quite often for not eating enough on time. Water has been easy to drink as well. If my back didn't hurt so much this pregnancy would be pretty easy. Unfortunately my tail bone, which I broke 14 years ago, is in alot of pain. It has been waking me up at night and sending pains through my legs. But if that is the worst thing I have to deal with then life is pretty good! 

Our house will be ready for move in, in one month! I can't wait to get everything organized and see how beautiful our home is. We have worked so hard! We were hoping to finish in 8 months, the program states about 10 months but unfortunetly we are finishing in 11 months. All things do happen for a reason though!

Justin's Birthday.. 24 years young

Justin's Birthday is March 18th. Good ol day after St. Patty's day. This year he decided he wanted to go to Traxx (a very fast go-cart race track) and then after he wanted to go bowling. So about a week before his birthday I sent out a text message to about 25 people who we are friends with. Or I guess we thought we were friends with. After a few days I realized.. hmmm.. Only four people responded to the text message. Now, first off, I don't expect eveyone to drop what they are doing and attend Justin's birthday, but what I do expect is a response, especially when I specifically said "I hope you can come, let me know if you can make it so that I can reserve bowling lanes". I don't think it is much to ask to expect people who say they are "friends" to reply, even with a "sorry we have plans already".

So after not getting responses from about 20 people, I then sent out a message on facebook. This message went out to 26 people. ONE person responded.

Since I normally try to stay as positive as possible and NEVER air dirty laundry on my blog or facebook, this is out of character for me to be upset about, but what it comes down to is, I AM DONE! I am so sick of everyone pretending to be our friends and then they can't even respond and let me know "hey, can't make it". Is that really so much to ask? If I had a dollar for everyone who said "I will help you with your house" and yet, 10 months later, still haven't even tried to come help. Oh man. But anyways.

All in all, Justin did have a great time on his birthday. He had 5 people show up at Traxx to race with him ( I was a spectator). And then for bowling a few more people showed up and he had a great time. He is a very easy going person and enjoyed every minute of his birthday.

Happy Birthday Hubby of mine : )