The Month of October

Good things happen in October.

First, I was born in October, which means my birthday comes in October every year.

To make the month even better, Ryan and I got married in October four years ago.

Lastly, Halloween, which is one of my favorite holidays, is in October and celebrated all month long.

I love dressing up (although this year I didn't have the energy to do much)!

Another plus is that October is when Fall really rolls in. I love summer, but there's something comforting and cozy feeling about fall. It's also beautiful: the mountains start to look colorful when the leaves change and the air feels so crisp. I love fall colors and cool weather clothes (although I hate snow and winter).  

October is also the beginning of what I consider the holiday season: the season of Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years. For me this is always an especially magical time of year because I met Ryan right before Thanksgiving. This time of year holds special memories of first dates, getting to know each other and meeting each other's families. 

December 2008

This year more good things happened in October. For one, I am now finished with my first trimester and feeling less nauseous. Our big recent news though, is that we bought a house; a gorgeous house! Which means we moved. In fact, we moved ON our anniversary this year so we didn't do much celebrating. I have had so much going on and between packing and moving and cleaning the old house that I haven't had much down time that is spent doing anything other than napping (which is why I haven't posted anything new in weeks).

I feel like so many new things are happening for us and I love the direction our lives are headed! Next October we will celebrate 5 years of marriage and our first year in our own house, with a 6-month old baby in our arms!

I'm excited that I am starting to show a little baby bump (although if you didn't know I was pregnant you might just think I was packing on some extra pounds to stay warm this winter). I am still somewhat relieved when the doctor says everything looks great and I love hearing our baby's heartbeat! I will be 15 weeks pregnant on Wednesday, which means I'm out of the scary zone where a miscarriage could be a major concern (which is good for my mental health).  The baby is all done developing and for the next few months will just be maturing (and growing some more).

My baby bump at 14 weeks

I have been experiencing a couple of uncomfortable pregnancy and IVF side effects. Just this week I have been getting ligament pain in my tummy. I didn't think it would hurt so much! I have had a little cramping and then sharper pains in my right side (reminiscent of the pain when I had to have my appendix out) that don't go away; last time it last for two days. I felt better in the mornings and then worse after moving around, which was hard because I had lot of moving around to do last week with last minute things to move and cleaning to do at the old house.   

As for the lingering effects of IVF, every night I get sharp, stinging pains in my back where I used to get my nightly progesterone injections. I call them "phantom shot pains" since they usually start firing up around the time I used to get my shot. It seriously feels like bee stings and sometimes catches me off guard...so if I unexpectedly grab my love handles in pain, that's why.

We are counting down the days until we find out if this little one is a boy or a girl...I keep calling the baby a she, but I feel like we have only discussed boy names. I can't wait to find out and start buying cute little outfits and things! We will know the sex by Thanksgiving and plan to tell our families that night!

Baby Madsen at 12 weeks