happy birthday!

can you believe that this baby boy is a year old? i know that i can't! where has the time gone? it seems like yesterday his momma (lindz) was telling me that she's pregnant with him! crazy! i'm so sad that i can't be there to help him celebrate but him and his sweet momma are coming in july to visit. yay!! i can't wait to take him to the beach!! he will love it. happy FIRST birthday alexander reuben neal! i love you!

18 weeks and counting!

here we are at 18 weeks! over the past few days i've really felt pregnant! i had a couple of people actually even ask me if i was! which was very exciting to share my news with strangers! baby j is very active already. i can feel him/her flutter all the time! i love it!!! baby j is very active in the afternoon and after i eat.
i'm not really having as many strong cravings as i was a few weeks ago for the pickles and olives. i'm just really hungry all the time now! i try and snack on healthy things like fruit, veggies and yougurt all while trying to get in some protein that will keep me full. any suggestions on healthy snacks?
so here we are...yes, i know that the room is STILL not clean-guess i'm not nesting right?haha!

thanksgiving and progress pic!

we have had a very exciting week/weekend-along with everything that's going on in the world between the tornadoes in bama, to the royal wedding, to the killing of the #1 terrorist in the WORLD!

first of all here's a picture of baby j and i last night at 16 and a half weeks! jes and i celebrated our 3 year anniversary last night! we went to dinner at our fave place The Chelsea, which is located in New Bern! It was so good!so, can you tell that i've popped? wow! i still feel good(minus the sinus infection that i'm fighting). i'm walking at least 30 min everyday! i still crave pickles, olives and anything salty. i'm pretty sure that the days of wearing my "normal" clothes are over! oh well!!...i know i still don't have any sheets on the bed in the pic but that room will be the nursery so we're in the process of transitioning and well, i just don't see the point to it! i have no excuse for all the crap piled up on the bed though...sorry!

the next 2 pictures are probably my favorite pictures EVER! my sweet proud husband! he has taken on hunting in a big way! this past saturday he got up at around 4 am to go hunting. i always thought he liked hunting but thought he really enjoyed getting out of the house and being in nature-never really thought he was too serious about it. this is the first season since we've been married that he's been hard core hunter! :) i love it! anyway, i know how badly he has wanted to get a turkey! it's all he reads about, talks and thinks about! seriously! well, he came back saturday morning and i asked him (jokingly) "so, where's the turkey?"(totally thinking that he didn't get one!) he grins and says..."oh, it's in the truck". AHHH!! i have never been so proud and excited for him! he was so excited he was like a little boy all day long! i know that he can do anything he wants to do. this proves it. i wanted him to post the story of getting the bird and calling it in and all that stuff but he wouldn't. he recorded part of his experience (not actually killing it-thankfully) and posted it on facebook. anyway, needless to say we're ready for thanksgiving!

a year ago...

a year ago this weekend i ran a half marathon! still, a year later i can't believe that me (the chunky middle schooler) ran 13.1 miles. i also can't believe that i ran it with a stress fracture! what was i thinking? i was bound and determined to FINISH regardless of my time and that I did.

but after a year i have had time to reflect on my run and myself as i person. it taught me that i can do anything i want to do if i put my mind to it. ANYTHING. i want to remember my half during labor. it was the hardest thing i've ever done and i'm sure that labor will soon take that place.

call me crazy but i loved training for the half. running to me is a wonderful release from life. i put on my ipod and go to my special place. is it hard? does it hurt? absolutely! but after you push through that first little bit you feel wonderful! i miss it! that's why i've decided to do another half-the disney princess half in jan 2013! i know it will be more difficult with a new baby but numerous mothers run-i'll just make it work! i have to do it! BECAUSE I CAN DO ANYTHING!!

a royal wedding!!

so yes, i woke up this morning an hour early to watch the royal wedding! did you? actually, jesse and i both watched it! why? it's a part of history-i can say i remember when prince william and kate middleton got married-i was 16 weeks pregnant and woke up an hour early...blah blah blah! i've also been infatuated with price william since i was alittle girl! there's just something about him...maybe the fact that he's a prince and i'm a hopeless romantic? however, the main reason? I LOVE WEDDINGS! they are amazing-everything about them. i love all the details, the bride and groom, the wedding party, cake, traditions and the meshing of two families to create one! just talking about it makes me excited! :)

i loved my wedding. it was truly a dream and everything was perfect including marring MY prince! it was exactly as i had pictured as i'm sure kate did today! everyone that we have ever loved was there! it was a fairytale!! jes and i will celebrate our 3 year anniversary on tuesday! sometimes i feel like we just got married and other days i feel like we've been married for YEARS! i am so blessed to have such an amazing, caring, strong and fun husband! he always makes me laugh! i'm excited to see what God holds for our future! here's a picture from our wedding....

sweet, sweet girls

are these not the prettiest girls? our sweet nieces(along with jason and amy) came to visit us last week on their spring break and then they headed to myrtle beach for some family time. we had so much fun with them! they are so excited about having a new baby cousin and i hope they will be as close to baby j as i am to my cousins! enjoy these pics of the girls on the beach...makes me hope baby j is a girl :)

15 weeks

so, i'm having issues with uploading pics..i just type an entire post and it deleted it!! ugh!

back to baby j...so i always thought i'd be the preggo lady that would take a billion pics and post them all on facebook to remember my progress. now that i'm here I DO NOT want to! who would want to take pics while your gaining weight?? really? well, here it is! baby j and i at 15 weeks! please disregard the unmade bed...cleaning day at the newsom house!

we're doing great and are so blessed!