Happy Memorial Day!

We are so thankful for the men and women who have fought and died serving our country.  Thank you for protecting our freedom- Happy Memorial Day!

Saturday, Robby went fishing and caught 20 catfish.  So in honor of memorial day we decided to have a healthy fish fry!  We chopped up some potatoes, fileted the catfish, and then threw it into the grease.  Of course, we HAD to finish the meal off with some Blue Bell ice cream...yummy in my pregnant tummy!!

Baby update- 23 Weeks!

How far along? 23 weeks- the baby is the size of a large mango now!

Maternity clothes? I feel super restricted in my normal clothes (except for stretchy dresses), so I am going to say yes to maternity clothes!  When else can you poke your belly out without feeling like you need to go to the gym?!  Plus, they are WAY more comfy.  I feel like I can eat for days in those pants- haha

Stretch marks? Not that I have noticed?

Best moment this week:  Even though I feel like a beached whale already, Robby continues to tell me how beautiful I am to him *blush*

Miss Anything?  I miss being able to sleep on my back and the process of getting comfy quickly.  I also miss being able to lift and move whatever I want when I want to.  My memory is something else that I miss- I feel like I am super scatter-brained these days!

Movement: Yes!  I feel like all baby girl McGowen likes to do is sleep, but I have felt her so much more recently.  It is so hard to explain the feeling- she just likes to give me these random jabs throughout the day.  It is so sporadic that Robby hasn't gotten a chance to feel her yet- I can't wait for that moment!

Food cravings: I am ashamed to admit this but french fries.  I know- no source of nutrition, but they are just so darn tasty!  Cheese is my other source of constant food- at least that has calcium and protein, right?

Anything making you queasy or sick: Not really.  Early on, the idea of cooking raw meat was so repulsive, but I have slowly gotten over that complex.  I have not thrown up once throughout the pregnancy. I got super nauseous and nothing sounded good during the first trimester, but I think my appetite is back in full force now.  Bring on the food!

Have you started to show yet: Yes, it is about time! I still think I just look fat instead of pregnant, but this week I feel like I am starting to pop more- yay!

Gender: GIRL!  We are so excited for the joys that a little girl is going to bring us.  I am so thrilled to snuggle,  play dress-up, and put bows all over that sweet girl's head!

Labor Signs: Nope nope.

Belly Button in or out? Still in.

Wedding rings on or off? On- not swollen yet.

Energy levels: I was doing really well for awhile, feeling normal almost - but, this week, it has been back to being lethargic and sleepy when I get home from work. I've been wiped out, but it might be from the fact that we moved this past weekend.  I have the daunting task of unpacking and organizing the house.

Looking forward to: Nesting!!  I just bought the baby bedding, and I can't wait to start decorating/putting together the nursery.  However, I have a lot of unpacking to do before then, but I will conquer...eventually!

Robby got me beautiful flowers to celebrate being half way through pregnancy! Woo-hoo!

It's a GIRL!!

Cinco de Mayo Weekend was filled with fun!  Robby always wanted to wait till birth to find out the gender; however, I wanted to be able to mentally prepare and pray specifically for our son or daughter.  Our compromise was to have a gender reveal party where we could find out with our family and friends what the sex of the baby was going to be, and it was perfect!  Our sonogram appointment was actually 2 1/2 weeks before our party, so we just had to wait in excited anticipation!  I totally didn't realize that Cino de Mayo was also the same time as the Kentucky Derby because I would have totally changed the theme of our party, so I could have an excuse to wear a huge floppy hat! haha One day this whole big hat party has to happen.  I really didn't know what sex was growing inside my belly- I think I didn't really allow myself to have my mind made up because I didn't want to have one ounce of disappointment with the gender.  We were so blessed by the family and dear friends that came to the party to celebrate with us- we felt so loved!  So with out further ado here is the happenings of Cinco de Mayo weekend:

Friday we went to Southwestern Seminary's graduation to see some wonderful friends graduate- sadly we didn't get pictures with all of them (sad face about the Hunter's) but we were so thankful to celebrate everyone's accomplishments!

 

 

Saturday morning the men went to shoot skeet while we got ready for the party.

 

Our Cinco De Mayo Baby Gender Reveal Fiesta! 

 We had a fabulous time seeing what everyone thought the baby was going to be...

  

¿Es una niña y un niño?

The beautiful cake my friend Meagan made for us- she is so talented!

Time to cut into the cake...!  We were both so thrilled to find out what our baby was going to be.  (I can picture all the bows and pink tutus now!)  Robby has already started to clean his shot gun!

IT'S A GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!

My sister is due 2 1/2 weeks before me which is sooooo exciting to get to share in this crazy journey of motherhood with her.  Spencer and Lauren are having a baby boy- best friend cousins for life!

Celebrating with family- Robby's pictured on top and mine below.

March/April

Okay, I promise I will get better with this whole updating thing! haha March flew by, but we started it off with a relaxing 5 day vacation to Cabo San Lucas which was amazing! But, even though Cabo was great, the most exciting part of this past month was hearing our baby's heart beat for the first time which was the most BEAUTIFUL sound I have ever heard...I got a little teary-eyed when hearing this amazing sound of what God is doing.   However, the baby is already causing us to rearrange our lives- Robby and I got an awesome deal to go whale watching in Cabo, but unfortunately we couldn't go because you can't be pregnant on the tour with the rough waves.  Oh well, but we are probably going to hold that over the baby's head for quite a while haha (jk). Oh how our lives are NEVER going to be the same!

 Don't worry- my drink was virgin! haha 

 

 We spent time soaking up the sun and enjoying quality time together.

 

 We are thinking about permanently moving to the beach...thoughts?

 

At the end of March we went to Fort Worth for Robby to take his National Counselor Exam- which he passed! (Thanks for all the prayers!)  That is a big stress-er that is now off our plate.  On Saturday, before the test, we wore our orange and participated in the MS Walk which benefited the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

 We celebrated Gary's birthday while we were in Fort Worth as well.  So blessed that he is a part of our family!

 My mom has a huge hill in front of their house with tons of bluebonnets, so we had to take advantage and take some cheesy pictures!  My hubby is such a great sport, and I appreciate him so very much!

 

Rachel (my sister-in-law) came down to see us, so of course, I conned her, my mom, & Gary into joining in on the bluebonnet picture taking. 

The very next weekend we were so excited that Robby's mom came to Henderson to celebrate her birthday and Easter with us!

 

We went out to a yummy Italian restaurant in town and had a blast with our unique waitress while celebrating Robby's mom.  We were so happy that Rachel drove in to join the fun.  On Sunday, we went to church to celebrate that Christ rose from the dead to pay for our sins which allows us everlasting life if we will accept His grace.  Which by the way is so mind-blowing because I for one am a total sinner and deserve nothing, but He loves me and gives me mercy- wow!  After church, we had lunch and then Robby's mom gave us an Easter basket filled with all sorts of goodies.  It was a wonderful weekend of celebration!

My mother-in-law put this gum in my Easter basket which I thought was hilarious!!!

 

Baby McGowen update:  Here I am at 15 weeks pregnant in the gray and 18 weeks at sonogram ...our baby was very snugly, sleepy, and modest and did not want to show us its private parts.  The technician was so sweet and let us go grab some orange juice (apparently that wakes up a baby?!) and walk around a bit.  When we went back into the room the baby had totally flipped positions so we could see some important information.  The technician wrote the gender in a card and we sealed it and shipped it off to our wonderful baker- Meagan!  We will find out very soon at our gender reveal party if we are having a beautiful baby girl or a very handsome baby boy!  I really have no idea what is growing inside me- I vacillate daily!  For a while I thought I was having a girl because I have been so moody and emotional that I figured there had to be extra estrogen in my body; however, I think that is just called pregnancy! haha

Fun Festivities

January and February Happenings:

 

Robby's brothers came up to visit us to celebrate their 21st birthday! Woo-hoo they are legal!  We had tons of fun getting to spend time with them.  I, of course, did not get the wonderful opportunity to participate in the drinking festivities- baby-1, Marissa- 0!

  

Robby told his brothers that they are going to be uncles in their birthday cards! They were excited!

 So glad they came up to stay with us!

Official 21 year old beer drinking and Robby & I with our 6 weeks growing belly.

Robby refuses to celebrate Valentine's day so he bought me this adorable dog like a week before! haha I made him a cheesy dynamite stick made out of Rolos with Turtle chocolates & little notes which I put inside a red mini mailbox.

 

Our first doctor's appointment!  Nine weeks prego here...it's baby time!!

Our Little McGowen baby that looks like a gummy bear!

And I was like baby, baby, baby, ooh

I am PREGNANT- ahhhhhhhhh!  I don't think it has really set in that Robby and I are going to be solely responsible for another human...pretty crazy if you ask me!  I feel like I should have to take a test or something to make sure I am actually qualified for this monumental task! haha  The good thing is that I know God is in control-amen!  So, as Robby said, baby McGowen is due Sept 20th, so I am almost finished with the first trimester- 191 days to go and we could not be more excited about this amazing blessing!  Ahhhhhhhhh! I'm still kind of freaking out in my head.  I feel like my mind just races- will the baby be healthy? am I going to be a good mom? what hospital? blah blah blah.  I just have to stop and take a deep breath and realize this baby is already eating my brain and leave it at that! lol  Stressing over stuff isn't good for baby or mamma!

 The night I told Robby, I was cooking in the kitchen and Robby was like, "wait, I have to get a picture of this." which I replied, "why?" and he responded, "this is the first time you are barefoot, pregnant, and in the kitchen!" haha

Super excited to have a baby!

Telling our parents was such a joy!  We drove down to Austin because Robby had a Dr.'s appointment, and we told his parents that we wanted to have lunch with them.  We may have fibbed a little and told them that we had a belated anniversary gift to give them that was too fragile to ship...this of course was their sweet response when finding out that they are going to be Grandparents!!!

 Telling Robby's parents in person was so priceless that, as we were driving back to Henderson, we decided to take a rather large detour and drive up to Fort Worth to tell my mom and Gary.  We also told them that it was a belated anniversary gift so my mom let Gary open it- it was a delayed response...at first they just thought we got them a stupid picture frame till they both realized that there was something in it! haha Our baby is going to be so blessed to have such fantastic Grandparents on both sides of our family!!

 

Well I have many more baby details to fill you in with, so I will try my best to be better at updating!  YAY! We are having a baby!!!

My Turn to Contribute-X or Y?

Well, hello everyone…this is my first personal post to the McGowen blog.  As I debated exactly what to write about for my first blog post, I thought about the normal things that people do-interests, hobbies, beliefs, quotes, etc.  However, I didn’t want to talk about any of those things, and I figure, as you continue to read our blog, you will figure those out.  

Drum roll please...I have decided to tell everyone that Marissa and I are having a baby!!!!!  Marissa is sitting here next to me saying, "Fine, you have the joy of telling everyone" :)  I just said yep, "That's how I roll, taking all the credit" hahaha.  I mean I did have a pretty big roll in this whole baby making thing. 

So, let me tell you how it all started-well not the sex part, it isn't that kind of blog lol!  Anyway, I came home from work, and Marissa said that she had a little present for me.  She had it in a gift bag but said that it wasn't a big deal and played it off very well.  As everyone knows, Marissa takes pictures of everything, so when she got the camera out, I didn't think anything about it.  However, little did I know that she had the camera on record and taped my response when she told me that I was going to be a dad!  In the "little gift bag that wasn't a big deal" was a positive pregnancy test and a baby onesie that said "Daddy Loves Me."  I hope that you enjoy the video! (That tricky, wonderful, beautiful wife of mine!)

 

Thank you for sharing in our excitement.  We appreciate all of the people in our life that continue to be an encouragement to us, and we know will one day be an encouragement to our baby. 

Baby McGowen is scheduled to arrive on September 20 and is the size of a lime this week!  I am so excited to be a dad; the Lord has truly shown us favor!  

Robby