I'm sorry...what?! [21 Weeks]

Oops. As you can see, I missed a couple of weeks on here! Time is just passing me by!! We are officially a little over halfway to meeting our sweet Mason! We had a doc appt this past Monday and got to see him squirming around in there. He was lifting his hands up :) Brandon's mom (aka Gama) said he's already praising Jesus! That made me smile and almost cry [a good cry] because I started thinking about how much God loves Mason already and how I long for Mason to know Him. I pray daily that God will equip Brandon and I to be the best parents we can be, raising our children in a God-centered home and showing them God's love in our actions & words. Sometimes that makes me feel a little overwhelmed because I know we're human and I know we are going to screw up. But at least I know God will love us anyway even when we unintentionally screw stuff up. SO thankful HE is in control and we are not!

Once I hit 20 weeks, I kind of had a "oh crap" moment. I got the notification on my app saying "You're halfway there!" and I said "I'm sorry...what?!" There's no way the first 20 weeks flew by that quickly! But it surely has. And these last 20 weeks are going to creeeeeep on by, I'm sure. I'm ok with that though, seeing as there's LOTS to get done before Mason gets here!

The Lord has blessed us with a beautiful home starting mid-June in Benton. Some of our friends from church are building a new house and are wanting to rent out the house they currently live in & own. It will be the nicest house I've ever lived in. We do not deserve such a nice house. However, I am going to love & cherish that house every single day we live there. I pray I NEVER take it (and the big backyard for our dogs) for granted! Thank you, Lord, for Your many blessings!

My sweet family are already planning baby showers for me and my awesome girlfriends are planning a "Girls Weekend" for me! I. Can. Not. WAIT!

21 Weeks

Due date: July 11, 2014

Size of the baby: About the size of a pomegranate! (10.5 inches long and 13 oz)

Maternity clothes: Full swing! Nothing fits anymore :(

Gender: BOY! Mason Richard!

Movement: I have started feeling him move around this week! It's awesome!!

Sleep: Not much.

What I miss: Sleep! lol

Cravings: FRUIT! A mixture of granny smith apples, little cutie oranges, green grapes & strawberries are my favorite. I eat them every day!!

Symptoms: Fatigueeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. Sorry..I feel asleep.

Best moment this week: Getting to see Mason at his appointment Monday! I love him so much already, it's unreal!

What I'm looking forward to in the next week: I'm helping host a Nerium event next week with some awesome people! Can't wait to see what God does with my Nerium business!! [ www.defineyourbeauty.nerium.com ] ;)

18 Weeks & Gender Reveal Pics!

18 WEEKS PEOPLE! That means only 22 more weeks. I'm almost halfway there. This thought is just a tad bit overwhelming.

I promised in my last post that my next post would have pictures from the Gender Reveal Party! So today I will share about the party! The theme of the party was "Tie or Tutu" and it was hosted by my fabulous sister-in-laws, Mandi, Jamie, Dawn, and Amanda, and my awesome sister, Natalie! They did such a great job! [But I honestly didn't expect any less! These girls know how to throw a party!] They had all kinds of cute decorations with our announcement pics printed out as well as pictures of Brandon and I when we were just babies ourselves.

The way we revealed the gender was cutting into the fabulous cake Kaitlynn made for us! I wish I had a picture of it before we cut into it....oh wait. I have a video! :)

We got a pretty cool reaction, wouldn't you say? LOL It was so loud it actually scared my niece Addyson and made her cry! :( But she was excited it was a boy! She said she wanted a baby boy cousin named Mason. Or "Mayyysun" is how she says it in her cute southern accent.

So yeah! Our party was awesome and we loved every minute of it! Mason is so loved by so many already and that just makes my heart burst! I cannot believe it has already been 18 weeks. It's flying by!!

18 Weeks

Due date: July 11, 2014

Size of the baby: About the size of a mango! (6 inches long and 1/2 a pound)

Maternity clothes: Needing. More. Of. Them. My birthday is in a month....::::HINT HINT::::

Gender: BOY! Mason Richard!

Movement: Starting to feel him just a little! Little flutters that make me smile!

Sleep: Ehh...so-so. Keep having strange/scary dreams. And I wake up a lot because I have to pee lol

What I miss: Sleep! lol

Cravings: CranGrape juice..or what I've been drinking all week that I THOUGHT was CranGrape but it was Cranberry Pomegranate! 

Symptoms: Back pain and my skin is itching like crazy!!

Best moment this week: Getting to go home from work a little early today because of the weather. I got a little extra time to sit & relax! It was awesome.

What I'm looking forward to in the next week: Hopefully feeling Mason move around a little more!

Now I will leave you with some more pics from the party! I didn't get pictures with everyone that I wanted to (mainly because it was the end of the party when I realized I hadn't taken any pics with anyone yet! Preggo brain!!)

Not the most flattering pic of me...but wanted to capture the cute gift from the hostesses! A "diaper changing kit" for B!

IT'S A BOY!!! [17 Weeks]

You heard correct! It's a BOY!!! Brandon and I are so thrilled to find out this news! Mason Richard Burnside is so loved already! Of course we would have been equally as happy with a girl, but we are so excited it's a boy for several reasons.

My parents have 4 beautiful, precious, smart, talented granddaughters. Alexis, Faith, Neela, & Addyson have brought so much love & life to my parents (and to mine as well!) They love those girls more I think more than they love their own kids! ;) However, the only hope for my parents to have a grandson was for me & Brandon to produce a boy! So there's that for starters. Also, Brandon and I have discussed many topics that include having children, how many we want, etc. We always said we would love to have a boy first, because we believe everyone (boy or girl) should have a big brother! And of course, I know that Brandon would LOVE having a buddy to watch sports with, go hunting with, teach him all sorts of things... Therefore, we are STOKED for a boy!

How did we pick the name? In those many discussion topics regarding children, one thing we decided on quickly was the middle name for a son (especially if he was born first!) Brandon's middle name is Richard, Brandon's father's name is Richard, and my uncle's name is Richard (my uncle was also our officiating minister at our wedding), so the name Richard runs pretty deep. Knowing the middle name would be Richard, we started talking about first names. We threw a few of them out there, like Ethan, William, and Jack. We loved all of those. But Mason was a name I had loved forever, it was the only name we both agreed on, and that we both felt sounded really good with the middle name. So there ya go!

17 Weeks

Due date: July 11, 2014

Size of the baby: About the size of a sweet potato!

Maternity clothes: I feel a bump. It's just not very defined yet! :)

Gender: BOY!

Movement: I think I feel him every once in a while...slight flutters :) It's awesome!

Sleep: Almost non-existent. But thanks to my new Boppy body pillow, it's getting better!

What I miss: Can't really think of anything I miss at the moment!

Cravings: Still craving fruit. Have also loved me some Orange Juice & CranGrap Juice this week! And sweets as always :)

Symptoms: More back pain. Had my first case of pregnancy indigestion today..that's not fun!

Best moment this week: Knowing there's a little boy in my tummy!!

What I'm looking forward to in the next week: Keeping Neela Kate on Valentine's night! :) Slumber party!!

P.S. I promise to post pics of our fabulous Gender Reveal party in the next post!!