Like My Swaddle?

Swaddling is a real skill and takes practice. This girl has magic powers too! Seconds after I'd wrap up Sage her hands would be straight up. I could almost hear Sage saying with hands up in the air "look what I can do!" It's amazing what a hours old baby can do.

36 weeks

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I think Dad's Excited!

Not sure if Autumn's excited playing baby till baby gets here.





Thanks Jay and Sharon for the gifts!!
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Surprise ER baby shower

Molly and I are due 5 weeks apart. Work completely surprised us and threw an all pink baby shower. I turned so red when I walked in and Molly teared up. We really work with a great team of people.


Belly to belly.



Some of the crew. Check out my belly button. It's been out forever and it seems it's only getting worse. When kids rub my tummy they only rub that part.



Inside the cake was zebra stripes. Misha sis a great job on the cake balls. Yummy baby shower food. We both received so many cute gifts. I really like owls. My coworkers gave me some really cute owl blankets and onesies. Like I said...great group of people. These people make the ER survivable.
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33 weeks

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Too much belly!

Jarom acting like he can't kiss me cause my bell is getting so big.
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Family Baby Shower

My sisters threw a baby shower for me after Time Out For Women. It was a full house. We had fun. I felt special and became even more excited for this baby. Me being pregnant still doesn't seem real. Seeing all the baby things sure helps. I received so many cute baby items. I loved all the clothes, blankets, burp clothes, bows,...The food table looked pretty too. I had a great time. If only I had a name for this little one.









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Time Out For Women

I'm not sure who's idea it was but this is most of the daughters and wives in the Bell family. Two sister-in-laws couldn't come cause they had food poisoning. Just kidding! They had good excuses. We had a fun weekend together hearing motivational talks. I love this picture of me! :-(





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South Padre

Jarom and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary. I was 32 weeks pregnant so I wanted to take it easy. We went to South Padre. The water was a little better than Galveston but not much.  After we settled in at the hotel we went on a dinner/ sunset cruise.  They served fajitas. It was relaxing for sure.  The weather was great too.
The first night we went walking and saw so many crabs. Jarom had me take a picture and this is what I got....


It was dark! They were so fun to watch. They stare at you but run sideways. We enjoyed our walks on the beach.



Day 2 we went fishing. They captain took us into the ocean for about 20 min. 2 min in I got nauseated. 5 min in I ran to the restroom and vomited about 4 times. I felt fine afterwards. I thought it was funny cause it was so ridiculous. My first time to throw up being pregnant but I don't think that counts.
Jarom caught 4 fish and I caught 1. We had a good time. It was bay fishing so not as exciting. We still had a good time. Next time Jarom will go deep sea fishing.

On the 3rd day we went snorkeling. There was so much sea weed on the bay floor. It was scary to put our feet down. After we got over that we had fun. About 15 small fish were hovering under my belly. Jarom thought it was weird. After we snorkeled the captain cooked up lunch.


We drove around South Padre checking out the island. We were off season so several places were closed. Here's my hot pirate husband. :-)


We had a great trip. I enjoyed my virgin margarita. We had a good time swimming in the ocean with my pregnant belly. Jarom and I had so much fun being with each other as we always do. It was a great anniversary trip.
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28 weeks

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27 Weeks

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26 weeks

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25 weeks

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Rain...lots of rain

Jarom and went out to see Eric's new place now that he's living in Texas. They were at Stephenie's eating some awesome potato soup so we went over. On my way out I stepped on this sprinkler box to avoid the long wet grass...


and my foot went right thru it! I started yelling in disgust cause who knows what was in there and my foot and pants were soaked. Jarom was worried I'd hurt myself. I was fine just really grossed out.
It was flooded all over Houston. Stephenie said we had gotten more rain than the major hurricanes.
The next day I had to drive down town for my last day of jury duty. It was raining SO hard. I was 15 min late. I was driving down the road and at the last second saw a mechanic dolly in the road. My only choice was to make sure I straddled it and ran it over. If I had stopped I would have been rear ended. I ran it over and it made the worst sound ever. I was afraid it got stuck under but it came out. When I finally found the parking garage I heard noise under my car. I looked underneath and had torn the front underside of my car partially off. One of the jurors pulled it the rest of the way off. I'm so lucky that was all that was wrong. To add to my little situation my hands where black from that under piece and my umbrella opened up when I was trying to get into my car to go home. Bad luck I'd say but at least my car drives and I'm all in one piece.


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Jury Duty

I had been summoned for jury duty. I was kind of excited to get out of 1 day of work. We had been brought into the court room so we could be questioned as appropriate jurors for the case. I didn't have anything to say because I didn't understand the terminology at the time. When I was asked what I do for a living I also added in that I am 24 weeks pregnant and need to go to the restroom frequently. I told them I was concerned I would interrupt things. Well it didn't matter I was chosen! I started to cry cause I was so mad but was able to stop before anyone noticed. This is my second time summons AND chosen. I got even more irritated cause the case was so stupid. It was basically a dad wronging his child with an inheritance he should have received. This fight had been going on 9 years. There was barely any money involved. It was a waste of everyone's time. It lasted 2.5 days. I was also irritated to waste my days off.
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Fathers Day

For Jarom's Fathers Day I bought him a tie with baby pink in it for our little girl. He wore it to church. I made him breakfast in bed. I poured him a bowl of Crunch Berries and he ate it in bed. I was working hard on his breakfast while I was finishing up my Fathers Day talk for church. I wasn't too nervous which is a first for me. Happy Fathers Day everyone!
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Jarom turns 32

For Jarom's birthday we woke up and went to breakfast at McDonalds. That's what he wanted. They do have the best pancakes for some reason. Then we went and I bought him some shoes. His other shoes had been falling apart for 6 months. We found some in the first store we went to. Originally $65 and we paid $24. I was more excited than Jarom I think.


Next we went to the IMAX Tornado Alley-3D.



I couldn't stay awake the whole time cause if I sit still any length of time I'll fall asleep.
For dinner we went to Texas Land and Cattle. Jarom wanted a good steak for his birthday. He liked it but it wasn't so good he'd have to go back. The coolest part about dinner is I 100% felt our baby kick at least 3 times in a row. I can say for sure it wasn't gas or my phone ringing in my pocket. It surprised me and I got a little teary eyed. It was amazing. I'm pretty sure Jarom teared up too but he won't admit it. Such a cool feeling!
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20 Weeks

I'm 20 weeks in this picture. I have a bump! My stomach never stuck out like this before. No big meal could do this. The girls at work say if they hadn't seen me before then they'd say I ate a lot for lunch. To me I feel it's very obvious and Jarom agrees. I'm
ready to really look pregnant ( I think) so people won't think I'm packing on the lbs. I think I've gained around 15-17 lbs. The weight gain has slowed down a little which I'm glad cause adding carbs back in my diet made a quick huge 10 lb difference in my first trimester.
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Baby Aston is a GIRL!

Those are the little legs crossed. She wouldn't move her feet for most of the U/S but finally did enough for the Dr to see nothing there. The Dr did joke and tell us to keep out receipts.
I felt a little disappointed when I found out cause almost everyone at work and Jarom "knew" it was a girl. Their confidence took away my surprise. I'm actually really excited to have a little girl. If Jarom is right again then she will have strawberry blonde hair and weight in the 6 lb range. We'll see... We have a bet who can guess the weigh in. I hope he's right cause I guessed a little heavier. I don't want to push out something big going off what my sister Stephenie described. I'll spare you the details.



The girls at work posted this for me. Made me feel good.
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Mother's Day

Jarom told me since our baby's legs are kicking then it's my first Mother's Day. He bought me a cupcake that he knew I'd love and that he could promise he wouldn't take a bite. I know I'm not Jarom's mom but he's excited for us to be parents. So am I.




Happy Mother's Day to all women.
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Baby Aston

Meet Baby Aston! Finally after 1.5 years and with the help of an eight dollar pill called Clomid...we are pregnant!
I didn't think it would work. I google the chances and it only increased the chances of pregnancy by 29% instead of 24%. I thought well I did that for nothing! I waited and waited and had signs that I wasn't pregnant. I was so upset and didn't think I could deal with whatever the next step would be. The next morning I went to the gym and ran my usual 3 miles. Afterwards I decided to go to the dollar store and buy some more pregnancy test cause I was going need them for who knows how many more months. I got home to shower and go to my hair appointment. I decided to take a test. I have no idea why. Maybe cause it would be 1 dollar wasted. Then...immediately a faint, faint faint line popped up. My sister Stephenie called me right then and I told her and started to tear up. I told her I had to call Jarom. I sent him the picture but he didn't believe it. I told him a line is a line and it means positive. I know cause I ran at least 5 test a day x 3 days per week x 5 years. I know what a line is. I told Jarom I'd go pay for a digital test.
Three hours later after my hair was finished I went and bought a pack of 3 digital test to find out for sure. I came home and read the directions on this fancy test. I tested and.... ERROR! What?! I had just emptied my bladder. "I can't wait another 20 min to go again"! So I made myself go with pure determination. Success! 5 min later.....



I sent Jarom the picture and called him. We couldn't believe it. I found out 1.5 weeks after implantation. We had been in the mode of "when we get pregnant" for so long that it was weird to change our new conversations to "when the babies born".
I am now 14 weeks. I have had only a little nausea but not enough to make me vomit. I've dry heaved maybe 5 times. One episode was my fault cause I waited too long after breakfast to take my prenatals. My biggest complaint is being exhausted but I'm doing much better now. Also I've gained 10lbs! Ahh! Everyone else vomits a loses but not me. I am grateful pregnancy hasn't been bad so far. I've had a few other pregnancy symptoms but I'll spare the details.
I've had to also do a lot of praying with this pregnancy and my nerves. I don't know if it's cause I'm an ER nurse but anything can happen. I've seen a lot of anythings. I was so afraid I wouldn't get through this first trimester cause I want this baby so bad. With a lot of prayer and truly trying to understand that I have no control over anything in this life, I've managed to let go and try to enjoy this period in my life. I guess I worry a lot. Poor Jarom.
I feel very blessed I was even able to get pregnant in the first place cause I just didn't know if that was possible. Jarom and I are both very excited for the next step in our lives.

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Yum!

For April Fools we were lucky enough to get to participate at my sister's house. She made cinnamon roll except she put breakfast sausage and cheese inside. Instead of frosting she used gravy. So yummy. I ate 2.5. Her little 1.5 year old ate 2 also. They were yummy. Of coarse later she made real cinnamon rolls. They were amazing. Yum!



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And We Moved (in March)

Jarom switched jobs in November so he had quite the commute for 5 months till our lease ended. He drove 1 hour and 10 min to get to work each day. I would have died with all the traffic but he didn't complain much. Now we live on the outskirts of downtown. It only takes Jarom 29 min now. It cut my commute in half also. We like our place. We unpacked everything the day we moved in. We still need to hang pictures.
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My Birthday

Lately I've started to like owls. For my birthday Jarom decided to get me this ring. He waited till I fell asleep and slipped it on my finger. He said a min later I got up and went to the bathroom, took the ring off, and went back to bed. The next morning on my birthday I was walking out of my room to go to work when Jarom asked me what was on the nightstand. He is normally asleep at this time so I thought this was unusual. In the dim light from the neighboring gas station I saw my ring. I love it. Thanks Jarom. I felt bad his idea of me waking up with a ring on my finger was ruined.
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Kayaking on Lake Conroe

I've been wanting to kayak for a while. We finally had an opportunity and took it. It was harder than it looks or I'm weak. The owner gave me the fast boat since I told him I work out. He kept bringing up Jarom's lack of athleticism. When out excursion ended the guy brought up how I was so far behind Jarom the whole time. It was work for sure. Jarom is strong. I am weak.
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What's up with that?

This is what Jarom wore to church on Sunday! He has been trying to wear these to church since he got them for Christmas. He thinks since we are in a new ward he can get away with it. Also he chose not to shave that morning. His grandma would have been proud to see this. J/k that's a whole different story. As soon as we walked in to the building he was asked to say the closing prayer. I was happy he would get his opportunity to display himself. I really did think it was funny. Plus he was introduced as Brother Ben Ashton. We had a good time. Jarom makes me laugh.


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Galveston Island

My in-laws took us sailing. So fun. We were lucky enough to see dolphins. Jarom loves water.

We also went to Moody Gardens. Look how pretty my mother-in-law is. Cute picture.

That is a little waterfall in the background.

Jellyfish that we could see from the dock. So scary. I think my niece was stung at Galveston. Ahh! We saw several.

Playing at the beach.

Oil Rig Museum