Second Trimester Update!!

Wow, time is really flying! I realized I haven’t updated since the big gender reveal (oops), but we have been so busy with our move to Houston, starting work down here and some traveling! As I sit here and write this at 26 weeks pregnant I can’t help but look back over the last couple months so thankful for the wonderful people in our life. Jaxon is one blessed (and spoiled) little boy and he is not even here yet! I have been fortunate to have 4 baby showers with family and friends in 4 different places. This has been so special because everyone is all over the place and you have all been able to be involved in some way. We really appreciate the love for Jaxon and all of the sweet gifts!! We have been able to check so many things off the list of what we need because of you all! (See shower pictures below) J

We are officially Texans! We are getting settled into our new life in Houston and really enjoying the change. We have A LOT going on—new city, new job location, new house and of course new baby, but everything continues to move along as planned. Thank goodness!! We met with our new doctor the first week down here and really like her and her whole staff. She made the transition really easy and we are very excited to have her deliver our sweet boy. Also, the hospital is amazing! We are in great hands. We are officially pre-registered for his birth. July is going to come fast!

I have loved the second trimester. It’s been full of energy and so much excitement with the gender scan, showers and lots of growing. Surprisingly, I love all the changes I am going through. Pregnancy really is the most beautiful thing and I feel very blessed to be able to experience it. There is nothing better than feeling Jaxon kicking and rolling all over the place. Jared loves being able to experience the kicking too and we have been trying out find out Jax’s favorite music seeing what he responds to. So far, it seems to be Justin Timberlake. I don’t blame him..that new album is good! We already have so much fun with him. We can’t wait to meet him!!

Jaxon continues to develop and grow healthy and strong! He has definitely hit a major growth spurt since I last posted..maybe even two of them.  He is doing great and I am too. Exercise is definitely helping me continue to feel so good. We have another appointment this Friday for gestational diabetes testing and the normal checkup. Soon we will start going to see the doctor every 2 weeks instead of just monthly. We are about to start the 3^rd trimester…can’t believe it! We are doing a 4D ultrasound in a couple weeks and are very excited for this. Looking forward to a sneak peak at what our little man is going to look like and of course just another ultrasound is always a bonus. We will get a disc of all the pictures taken and a DVD of the session, so pray we get a lot of good shots and I’ll be sure to share some of them.

Two of my cousins are expecting and I remember thinking when they have their babies (which seemed so far away) we are definitely getting close in the home stretch. Well, they are so close! Jessica/Alex and Natalie/Stephen, we are thinking of you guys and can’t wait to hear about the arrival of your little boys in May!

To all of our family and friends for being a part of a baby shower in some way we love you and appreciate you all very much!!

With love,

Anna, Jared & Jaxon Hawkins

Here are some pictures from each shower. There were so many more pictures from them of people who came, pretty decorations and of course all the gifts, but I just put a few so this wouldn’t be so long!! 

Greenville Shower :)

Thank you Carole, Ashley and Hilary for hosting a perfect afternoon with all of you! We missed you Hilary!

 

Huntsville Shower :)

Thank you girls for Jaxon's western themed shower!! Miss you all!

 
  

Albertville Shower :)
Thank you Aunt Vicki for the cutest Jungle Themed Shower! Loved seeing all the family in Albertville!!

 

 

Destin Shower :)
Thank you Kathy and Lisa for hosting this beautiful shower at Kathy's! So great seeing everyone back home!

 

 

Again, a huge thank you to everyone who threw/came to a shower or sent a gift! Everyone involved made each one so perfect and special and I loved the intimate time with all of you!! I wish I could post all of the pictures and showing every gift Jaxon has been spoiled with!

20 weeks!

23 weeks!

 

26 weeks!

IT'S A.......

BOY!

Jaxon Jeffery Hawkins

 

                20 weeks

           His cute feet :)

We are beyond excited to officially confirm a little boy is in our future. Jared and I both felt this one was going to be a boy. I guess mother’s instinct was right ;) Most importantly, the anatomy scan could not have gone better and everything is very healthy. He is developing and growing as he should and we are so thankful for that! Also, my placenta previa found in the last ultrasound is completely gone showing the placenta has moved up away from the cervix as it should. Great news!

We can’t believe we are halfway through the pregnancy. Time is flying! I am still loving being pregnant and it has been so much fun planning and picking things out. It was a little overwhelming registering because there is so much to consider, but it was really exciting. We just can’t wait for him to be here! My heart has already changed so much and I am literally obsessed with him ;) I’m already “that mom” wanting to show off his ultrasound pictures lol. I can’t imagine how we are going to feel when we get to see and hold him for the first time. Our hearts are so full and we are so thankful for all the love surrounding Jaxon already.

I am finally starting to feel some kicking going on as of the last week or so and loving it. Jared hasn’t been able to feel anything yet, so we are both anxiously awaiting stronger kicks and consistent movement. His heart rate was beating strong today at 145 and we got to see so many great shots of him. We were able to see his feet and hands for the first time really good. It is amazing doing the ultrasound and seeing his brain, heart, kidneys, spine, abdomen, etc etc. So cool! I know I’m partial, but I just think his little profile is the cutest :)

For those of you that haven’t heard, we are moving to Houston at the end of this month. Work is taking us there and we are really looking forward to the change and everything ahead. It’s a great move professionally, but most important personally for our family. We were down in Houston last weekend and purchased our first home! I am flying back for a day this week to be a part of the design meeting picking out all the final options since it is a new build, which will be fun. We will officially be in Houston the first of April and move into our home in May. We are going to miss everyone here and the friendships we have made!! Lots of changes going on, but everything has been moving along smoothly. We are ready to get to Houston and get everything set up in preparation for the baby in July.

I will start posting more frequently as we have baby showers, the move and more appointments in the near future! There will be lots of pictures to post!

Thank you so much for the continued love and support throughout our pregnancy!! Below are some belly pics over the last couple weeks and shots of Jaxon from our last ultrasound at 16 weeks.

Love,

Anna, Jared and Jaxon :)

                     Jaxon at 16 weeks

 
                          16 weeks

  

 
      Growing very quickly!!!

Here We Grow!

Hi everyone! I know it's been a few weeks since there has been a blog update, but we go to the doctor every 4 weeks right now and there wasn't too much news to update before this week. Don't worry, we've been taking belly pics watching the growth over the last month :)

We went to the doctor for an appointment that was not routine due to some unusual spotting on Monday (Feb 11). The doctors felt everything was fine, but had me come in just to check. Everything is ok! I do have placenta previa (placenta is low) which was the cause, but this can be common at this point and should correct itself over time. This does not cause any harm to me or the baby. We did an ultrasound and got to see our sweet baby for the first time since 8 weeks. He/she has grown SO much and it was amazing to see all the features and hear the heartbeat again. The heart rate was at 148. Unfortunately, we didn't get too many pictures because the baby was all cozy with arms and legs folded up in a little ball. The nurse checked for gender since we ended up having an ultrasound, but both feet were covering the baby's bottom. The wait continues until March 11 :)

We went to the doctor again today (Friday the 15th) for our regularly scheduled 16 week check up. We just had a quick belly check to measure the growth, which happens to be lot over the last week and half!! We are growing quickly and i'm loving it. We heard the heartbeat going strong at 148 again. We just love getting to hear and see our baby! It is the greatest thing and always so special. It's amazing to see all the changes.

Our next appointment is just a little over 3 weeks away and is the big one!! March 11 we find out the gender and get the results back for all the health tests we have done. Can't wait! I am dying to start buying everything for the nursery and of course all the cute little outfits :) With the appointment quickly approaching we have asked family and friends for their official gender predictions.

Here are the results...

Girl 
Jared's Mom 
My Dad
Ashley
Meleah
Brett
Chelsey
Sarah
Courtland
Melanie
Teegan

Boy
My Mom
Jared's Dad
Chris
Hilary
Kayla
Jestin
Shaun
Josalyn
Taylor
Reshard
Emily
Marcel

Jared and I have been back and forth, but lately he is really thinking boy and I am going to stick with my first instinct which was definitely boy! :)

                                                                        14 weeks :)

                                                                       16 weeks :)

           15 weeks, 6 days. Face down with arms and legs bent. Sleeping or practicing block starts ;)

We are just loving every minute of it. Pregnancy is such a beautiful thing and everyday we just feel so blessed! Hoping the next few weeks go by fast!!!

XOXO,

The Hawkins

First Trimester is Almost Over!

First off, we want to thank everyone for the overwhelming amount of love and support after sharing the news! Thank you so much for all the sweet messages!!! I hope everyone continues to follow the blog and keep up with our journey! 3 months down....6 months to go! :)

We had our 12 week appointment last week and everything went great! Unfortunately no ultrasound this appointment, but we did get to actually hear the heartbeat for the first time. We loved this and a great way to know baby is doing ok! The baby's heart rate is staying around 160. All of my blood work so far came back normal and things are continuing to move along as smoothly as they can. Thank goodness!! My energy is starting to come back, which is really nice because we have lots of baby prep to get started on during the second trimester! :)

We have our 16 week appointment on February 15th for our routine monthly check up before our BIG 20 week appointment on March 11th when we find out if Baby Hawkins is a BOY or GIRL!!! :) Every appointment is exciting, but we are counting down the days until that one!!! We will be taking official gender predictions before then ;)

13 weeks photo :)  Belly has definitely started growing mixed with the less than attractive pregnancy bloat that pays me a visit everyday. I think this picture looks bigger than it actually is! Baby is now the size of a peach at 3 inches and and will have big growth spurts in the next couple weeks.

With Love,

The Hawkins 

Happy New Year from The Hawkins!

Happy New Year!!!

We are so excited to start off 2013 by announcing that we are expecting our first baby! We are officially a party of 3 :) We were surprised with the news right before Thanksgiving and it took a couple (ok..maybe 10) positive pregnancy tests to believe we really were pregnant!  We managed to keep it a secret until Christmas when we shared the news with our parents and siblings by way of special ornaments. It was a special moment for us to finally share the news that we will never forget. There is already so much love and excitement for our little baby and now we are excited to share this with the rest of our family and friends. We feel so blessed to have been given this precious gift and could not be happier during this time!! Baby Hawkins is due July 30, 2013!!

We have had two appointments and were spoiled with two ultrasounds this early on. After waiting 3 weeks from the time we found out, which was so hard to do, we finally got to see the doctor at what we thought was 8 weeks. After the ultrasound and seeing a tiny baby with a strong heart beating fast (heart rate of 139 to be exact) we were measuring a week early. Lucky for us, this meant we got to go back 9 days later for another ultrasound and the rest of the 8 week appointment. It was amazing to see how much the baby had grown and changed in just over a week! The arms popped out and he/she opened them up for us to get a perfect picture. The heart rate also went up a good bit to 169. It is the most amazing experience to look on the screen and see this tiny baby knowing that is our son or daughter...crazy!! We also love seeing that little heart beating so fast. I don’t think either of us realized we would be able to see that so early. It is truly a blessing and we feel really fortunate to get to experience this. We are already so in love with our baby!

Thankfully, the first trimester has been pretty easy with the worst part being fatigue. While it may have kicked my butt most days, especially at work, I will happily take that any day over some of the other dreaded first trimester symptoms and do know how lucky I am (sorry to those of you experiencing these symptoms!!) We are happy to be a few days away from the 12 week milestone about to enter our second trimester. I’ve been busy looking up anything and everything on Pinterest building a massive idea board for all that’s to come. Everything is so cute!! Can't wait to find out if we are expecting a boy or girl!

We want to thank our family for the love, support and prayers as our little family starts growing. We are beyond excited and can’t wait to share our journey with you all. For whoever wants to follow, I am planning to update this as we go along from each appointment and all the fun along the way :) Stay tuned!

Love you all!!

-Anna, Jared and Baby Hawkins :)

6 weeks, 6 days first ultrasound. heart rate 139

8 weeks, 2 days heart rate 169

8 weeks, 2 days heart rate 169