Embracing the body…

I’m trying to change my mindset and fully embrace and enjoy my last pregnancy.  It’s very difficult for me because I’m always conscious of my weight and the thought of trying to lose baby weight freaks me out…just being honest here.  And while I probably won’t be in any pictures by myself (I’m not a real fan of that when I’m not pregnant!), this is a HUGE step for me in my quest to embrace what I’ve got right now!  Stephen took this picture of Paige and I before church this morning…I’m 22 weeks and 4 days pregnant with Ryan.  Over halfway done already…I’ve got to get a move on preparing for his arrival!

Hannah’s Junior Prom

 

Last night was our niece’s Jr. Prom and she looked beautiful! 

I can only take credit for her make-up application, not how gorgeous she is!

 

Paige and Hannah before Prom…too bad Paige is cheezin’.

Uncle Stephen, Hannah, and preggo Aunt Maranda

Hannah and her date/boyfriend, Connor.  Good thing he’s a good kid…or we’d have to hunt him down!

5k Finishers!

Mom and I completed a local 5k race yesterday morning…and while we weren’t racing, it was a cool accomplishment for me. I’ve never participated in any kind of organized race so I was excited to finish!  Stephen was at the finish line waiting for us and it was a role reversal for us…I’m normally the one at the finish line waiting for him after a marathon.  We’re signed up for another 5k on May 8!

Workin’ at the Car Wash!

Paige and I tried to take the Durango to the automatic car wash this afternoon but I couldn’t get it to make change for my $5 bill…and I didn’t have but one quarter with me so we had to come home and change plans!  I thought getting out the bucket, water hose, and soap would be fun for Paige.

I think she LOVED it!  She enjoyed being in charge of washing the tires and using the water hose…a little too much probably!  We put one of her new bathing suits on and she had a blast.

  Bless her heart-she has no personality whatsoever!  She was a hard worker washing the car today…so much so that she crashed for her afternoon nap.  I think I’ll reward her when she wakes up with a trip to the sno-cone shack!

Easter 2010

Stephen, Maranda (with Ryan at 19 1/2 weeks), and Paige at Aunt Jan’s for Easter lunch…

All of the Banning-Miller-Harris girls…or Paige, my mom, me, and my sister Leslie.

Paige and cousin Gracie ready to head out to hunt Easter eggs! This was really the first year they understood to find the eggs…and the first year the weather has cooperated!

Paige is showing off her haul-she found quite a few of the money eggs!

And it’s really a shame that these 2 don’t get along or have any fun together!!

Paige is 4!

Paige turned 4 on March 24 and we celebrated with a Bowling party! I can’t believe the she’s already 4…time is flying!

She’s 4 years old!

We took her to Wendy’s (her choice) for lunch on her birthday before her party.

Isn’t her bowling cake awesome? 

Macy, Paige, Ty, and Chloe at the bowling alley

My parents got Paige a pink scooter and orange Dora helmet for her birthday…it’s what she asked for! She’s loving learning how to ride the scooter and is actually already pretty good at it. We had a blast on her birthday and we all crashed that night. Happy 4th Birthday, Paige Allison! We love you!

It’s A…

I’m a horrible blogger…I know. In my defense, I got a new laptop in January and I’ve just not figured out how to download new pictures! Plus, I hate blogging using Blogger, and I just today downloaded Windows Live Writer.  So, maybe now I can get back into the swing of things. Now for the good stuff…we went for our first ultrasound of Baby #2 on Monday, March 22.  I was a nervous wreck because I was so afraid something was going to be wrong, but God calmed my fears and we found out our baby is right on track and very active and healthy.  We also found out that IT’S A …

 

 

BOY! This 7th grandchild on Stephen’s side is the very first boy and was the last hope for carrying on the family name. Paige is the only grandchild on my side of the family so now we’ll have one of each! His name is Ryan Clark Banning and of course there is a meaning behind his name (I’m huge on my kids’ names meaning something!).  If I had been a boy, I would have been named Ryan Clark so I’ve always thought it would be really neat to name my son Ryan Clark-and I never really cared what my future husband thought. When Stephen and I were dating we (I mainly, but he obliged!) talked about future baby names and I mentioned how I wanted to use Ryan Clark…come to find out Stephen’s middle name is Ryan! It couldn’t be more perfect and meant to be.

This pregnancy is so incredibly different than my pregnancy with Paige. I should have known it was a boy long before the ultrasound! My hormones are crazy and while I try to control them, I often find myself crying for no reason and every reason all at the same time. I know my family is more than ready for this to be over so they don’t have to deal with crazy me anymore! 

I’m not big on taking pictures of myself weekly to document this pregnancy-I think mainly because I didn’t do that with Paige and I feel guilty doing it for Ryan.  I will, however, share pictures of our ultrasound day that exposes my belly! We had a roomful of family there for the big reveal because this is the last grandchild on Stephen’s family’s side and several of them wanted to see…and I didn’t care one bit! We had my mom, my sister, Stephen’s parents, his sister-in-law, and our 2 oldest nieces…as well as Paige in the room. I’m so glad they were all there!

 

I’m serious when I say that it took our ultrasound tech literally 52 seconds to determine it was a boy. She wasn’t even trying to find out the gender yet and Ryan was pretty set to show us his stuff!

I was so nervous! I just wanted everything to measure correctly and for the baby to be healthy. 

This is Stephen’s sister-in-law, Amanda, calling Stephen’s brother to tell him that it’s a boy!

It was a great day for us and there wasn’t an ultrasound appointment after us, so we got to spend lots of extra time looking at Ryan and getting lots of measurements!