5 months old

Its hard to believe that this time last year I was pregnant. In my first trimester, sick, starting to show (but really just looked like I ate to many donuts for breakfast), pregnant. at that point I didn't even know if it was a boy or girl, so I had a millions thoughts going through my mind. from what color eyes and hair, to how to decorate the room, to "will I make it through this??" The beginning is rough... there is so much going on mentally physically and emotionally, you are on a roller coaster for a little while.

Fast forward 1 year...

Joey turned 5 months old today. As I write this he is lying here next to me making noises and moving all around. This kid is going to run before he walks. He doesn't stop... talking... kicking... grabbing things... He rolls over and is almost sitting up. He can hold onto things and almost hold his own bottle. He amazes me everyday with something he does.

It is amazing how fast he grows and how smart he is. Just 5 months ago he was this little guy who I held in my arms and seemed so small. I look at newborn clothes now and think "was he really this small?" OK. so he was never really "small". 8lbs. 12 oz. at birth is not small. :) But now that he weighs in a little over 16 lbs. he was "small". Wow. In 5 months he has doubled in size. I wonder where we will be at 10 months?

5 months ago...

What day is it?

I woke up Monday morning at 7:15 am to my alarm going. Normally I wake up because Joey is stirring and is about to get up. But on this particular morning the alarm went off. I hit the button and rolled over. Christian said to me " Did you get up with him?" I said "no, you didn't?" He said no. I had to think to myself... What day is this? Maybe I was disoriented because I had just slept a whole 8 hours. I can not tell you the last time I slept that long. Must have been before I was pregnant, because I certainly didn't sleep well during my pregnancy. In the beginning because I had to pee all the time and then as the bump got bigger, there was no getting comfortable.

Anyway, back to Monday...  It was the first night my little guy slept through the night! He slept from 11pm to 7:15am. I was so excited. But somehow during the day I didn't feel as rested as I thought I should. Maybe because I have gotten used to only 5-6 hours of sleep at a time. Either way I was still really happy about my 10 week old sleeping through the night. not only that, but Tuesday and Wednesday night, he slept 7-8 hours. So hopefully this is the start of some longer nights of sleep. :)

Wont be long now

I was put on bed rest this past Monday (1-18). After being hospitalized last Friday night and being put on meds to stop the contractions. I know this is whats best until I have the baby, but it has been very hard and extremely boring past 3 days. I will be 36 weeks tomorrow. At that point they wont do anything to stop the baby from being born. As low as Joey is he definitely wants out! :)
All the test they have done show that he is extremely healthy and boy is he an active one. They did an ultrasound Friday night. It was amazing to see how much he had grown since the last one around 24 weeks. I can't wait to meet him!

Awaiting arrival

I had set up this blog a while back to start writing in when our baby boy Joey is born. One: to be able to keep family and friends updated on all of the fun things Joey will be doing as he grows up, but also a place to be able to look back at and remember. Everyone who is a parent says that "time goes by quickly" and "they grow up so fast" so I wanted to be able to look back and remember all those little moments.

But then I realized that really the story doesn't begin with him being born. There are a lot of memories leading up to our family becoming 3 (6 with our dogs, yes they are family).

Our family started small: Christian, Kristen and a dog named Lexie (2005). The first place we lived together was in Columbia, SC (2006).

In January of 2007 our family grew. Christian wanted a dog that was "his". I had Lexie for 5 years, and not that he didn't love her, but she is a min pin and he wanted a "guys dog".

With all intentions of getting only 1 puppy we to an animal rescue place. We found two of the cutest little beagle mixes. They were sisters and the last two left in their litter. We just couldn't seperate them. So a few hours later Maggie and Annabelle came home with us. They were only about 6 weeks old and training 2 dogs a time is alot harder than you think. So now we were a family of 5...

On Valentines Day 2007, Christian proposed to me. It was at sunset at Lake Carolina. it was freezing outside, but could not have been more perfect.



In May 2007, we had the opportunity to move to Hilton Head, SC. So in a few weeks time, we looked at houses and with my Dad's help bought our first house together. We closed on the house in June, but were not able to move most of our stuff down from Columbia until July. So now that we had moved in, wedding plans were well under way. We were married in Savannah, GA at the Mackey House on April 19, 2008.

We always knew that we wanted to have children, but had never really thought about when. I always believe that everything happens for a reason so when the time was right we would know...

We found out we were pregnant on June 18, 2009. I was about 5 weeks then. We only told a few people at the the time. The grandparents were of course extremely excited! On September 22, we found out it was going to be a boy. I had known in my heart that he was a boy since the beginning. I guess what they say about a mother's intuition is right. His name would be Joseph Alberto Arroyo. Joseph is my father's name and Alberto is Christian's father's name. We will call him Joey.

There are definitely ups and downs of pregnancy. Some days are better than others. For the most part I have been lucky to have a pretty normal pregnancy. Until week 31 where I began to have alot of pain and pressure. I have carried Joey very low the entire time and the more he grows the more uncomfortable it is. The doctor cut my hours at work to only 30 a week and told me that I need to try to be off of my feet whenever I can.

I havent worked only 30 hours in over 10 years. So while I know its best for me and the baby, it has been extremely weird and hard for me. At times I feel useless. I am not a person who sits back and watches things happen. I do things! I am very hands on at work and home. To have to be so dependent on others these past few weeks and unitl Joey is born has not been easy. I am lucky to be surrounded by people who love me and have been so helpful.

I am extremely lucky to have Christian as my husband. With out him I would not have been able to make it through these past few weeks or for that matter, my entire pregnancy. He truly is my everything and will be an amazing father.

I am almost 34 weeks pregnant as I write this and taking it one day at a time. There are good days, there are bad days, but everyday is one day closer to when I get to meet my son...