20 week update

Yippee I am half way there!!! Well I was half way there 2 weeks ago, but I thought I should do a half way point update. I have received a few requests for a belly pictures so here is my tummy at 20 weeks.

The week before I took these pictures I didn't really feel like I had a bump yet. Then all the sudden it was there. It was exciting, but it freaked me out at the same time.

These pictures probably don't really show how much I have grown, but when I look down at my tummy I can totally see a difference. Also I have filled out more around the middle rather then going forward...I guess this is what always happens first.

Things to remember....

1.There are so many things that happen to your body that no one talks about. When I first got pregnant I bought like 4 books and even in these books they don't fully talk about everything. So needless to say there have been surprises for me along the way. Here are just a few...

• Pink brush- 1st off I was already worried about my teeth for obvious reasons (vomiting, brushing induced vomiting & so forth) so I was really freaked out when I spit and my tooth paste was all pink. Upon inspection I realized my gums were bleeding. I did this for about a week stressing that I had some sort of gum disease...then I found out what it was. Apparently in your 1st trimester the amount of blood in your body doubles. Then it doubles again in the 3rd. (this happens to help with the baby and to deal with the loss of blood during delivery) So when I was brushing my teeth the pure pressure was just pushing the blood out. TOTALLY NORMAL....if you are pregnant. My moms would bleed even when she was not brushing so I consider myself lucky.
• Pregnancy stupidity- I did not see this on coming but I have officially become less smart while I am pregnant. No this is not an excuse but an actual thing that happens to pregnant women. Apparently your body becomes so focused on the baby you don't really think of much else. Even if you don't realize you are pregnant! I would describe this as walking around in a foggy haze. I remember before I knew I was pregnant I was talking to Jacob's brother Adam and seriously having a hard time keeping up with the conversation. I remember thinking this exact thing "I don't remember it being this hard to talk to Adam". Haha now looking back I think it is hilarious and makes more sense. I have good days and bad days with this one, but seriously overall my IQ has gone down several points. The trust question is...Does it come back?
• Obviously your body changes while you are pregnant. Now the books do talk about this stuff and try to help you be prepared, but women themselves NEVER talk about this. I obviously won't talk about them but I was surprised none the less.

2. The next thing I am going to share is most likely my favorite pregnancy memory so far. For some reason smells the never bothered you before, and you probably loved are now your worst enemy. Well I have this going on big time and one of the things that I can not stand is Jacob's deodorant. I used to love the smell but when he would comes near me now I seriously just start dry heaving. It made me sad because this started to bother both of us. So one day I spent like 30 minutes in the deodorant aisle at Target with Ethan picking out new deodorants that might not bother me so much. I bought like 3 and after a few trial runs NONE of them helped. Finally I said to Jacob I wish you could wear mine because it obviously doesn't bother me. Jacob laughed at this idea. Well after one long volleyball tournament I came home to a very happy Jacob. After talking to him for a while I realized his smell wasn't bothering me anymore. It turns out Jacob did use my deodorant that morning and actually liked it. Well now Jacob wears Secret deodorant so he can be next to his wife for the next 4 months.

3. Now here is a memory that isn't so cute. For some reason when you a pregnant you get leg cramps while you are sleeping. I kept waking up sore like I did a really good leg work out and I wasn't sure why. Then that week in my book it talked about how you get cramps for no reason in your sleep. Well they have progressively gotten worse. I actually have to jump out of bed like two times a night. They are bad, but once I put some weight on it the pain immediately stops.

4. I have had two official crying breakdowns that while I was crying I was thinking why am I crying...I honestly couldn't stop. The first was while I was suffering from morning sickness and I knew I had to eat something but I physically could not make myself. All the sudden I just starting bawling that I was going to be a horrible mother because I wasn't feeding my baby!! Now I realize the baby was taking everything from me and he was just fine. The 2nd time was Jacob grabbed my sides to give a hug and said "Wow you are starting to grow" oh man that opened the flood gates. Needless to say I am positive Jacob will never say that to me again. I am also starting to get sad when watching some random tv, but don't worry I have been able to hold back the tears.

5. The newest thing that the men in Jacob's family like to do is make jokes like I am gaining weight and not just pregnant. They all think this is so funny, but honestly I don't think I like this joke. It doesn't make me cry and I get why they like to do it but this joke I hope starts to get old.

Easter Weekend - one busy weekend

Every Easter the Karchner side of my family gets together for a family BBQ at the park. We were told to bring out own meat so Jacob and I ran down to Fry's on Saturday morning and picked out a steak to share. Then we took it home to marinate as well as some Asparagus. Then we did some Saturday chores, and then it was off to the family BBQ. This year the spot where we normally have our party was already taken so we moved it to the Circle G park over by my sister's house. I guess the grill there wasn't cooking very well so they called Lee and Jerel and told them to bring their grills down to the park. The Gilmore's didn't have a truck so they opened up the tailgate to their Navigator and had Chase hold on to the grill from the back...now that was a funny sight!! Here are some pictures I got at the BBQ.

These are some cakes my family made together. I think Debbie and my mom did most of it. I think they are so cute. I think Martha would be proud.

**For those of you who don't know my mom and Debbie love Martha Stewart***

Here is a a close up of the Rabbit.

I think my sister did a lot to the Beehive because when I got to the party she asked me If I saw the beehive...which would leave me to believe she put A LOT of effort into it.

After everyone ate the family got together and played kick ball. I was impressed because almost everyone played. (I didn't because now that I am pregnant I am convinced I run funny, and I didn't want to take a chance of getting kicked in the stomach!!)

Here is a picture of one team, and Chase is running up to kick the ball.

Since spring is here almost everyone had flip flops on. So in order to play they were kicking the ball with their bare feet. Here is Aly kicking the ball without her shoes.

Here is Austin hanging out on 2nd base. One time Austin was running as fast as he could to first and once he got there he feel down because he was running so hard!! It made me so happy because it was classic Austin!!!

Here is Jacob kicking a ball. He did so awesome. I also have to metion how yummy our food turned out. Jacob is a wonderful griller, and I decided we should grill more often.

Ok don't try to tell me this isn't the cutest picture ever!! This is Noah and Ethan best buds for life!! Ethan didn't play very long because he didn't have tennis shoes on so the ants were trying to get him. If you know Ethan this is his worst nightmare. Noah was a trooper and could possibly be one of the fastest 4 year-olds I know. He would get running so fast that he looked like a cartoon character. (you know how their legs look like they are going in circles?)

Here is Jerel, Chase and Jacob. It was nice because they were all on the same team! They did awesome. Jacob and Jerel said they were sore the next day.

Now for the cheering section!!!

Here is my mom and dad. Their chairs were cracking us up. At least my dad bought these ones instead of taking them out of the neighbor's garbage.Here is Steph and Deb. Now they now wish they had my parent's chairs.

Here is Kenyon with some of the kids who were to little to play in the game. They all still had a great time playing at the park. Poor Sailor she had some poor luck she feel down the hill, and the ball hit her in her face!!!

Everyone had a great time at the BBQ and we decided the kickball this is officially going to be an annual event as well!!

Now for Easter Sunday....

That Easter bunny is too funny. I accidentally left my purse at my parents house the night before, and the Easter Bunny put an egg in my purse. It was so cute because the egg said Ash on it too!!!

Here is Mamo with all her little yaya's.

Here is a cute shot Jacob got of Aly, Stephanie,and I...and the back of Ethan's head.

Chase is waiting so patiently to go find eggs. He likes the eggs that have the money in them. I can honestly say those are my favorite eggs too!!

It wouldn't be a family event with out Buddy

If you know my brother then you know this is a perfect picture of him, and I don't need to say another word.

After Sunday lunch at my parents house we went to Dinner at Aunt Tressa's we had a wonderful time there with Jacob's side of the family. The conversation is always entertaining and the food fantastic. I didn't get any pictures of this...oops.

1st Baby pictures

Ever since Jacob and I made our appointment for our Ultra Sounds it just seemed like time just stopped right there. Jacob and I truly felt like it was the longest month of our lives!!! Well I am glad to inform you that March 13th did finally come and we did finally get to see our sweet little guy for the 1st time. Yep that's right we are having a boy!! Although it came as no surprise to us. We were pretty much sold on the idea it was a boy from the start.

On the day before we went for our appointment I was visiting with my nephew Austin and I asked him, " Austin do you know what tomorrow is?" Austin looked down at my stomach and replied, " the baby comes?" (obviously he believes me I am pregnant now) I laughed and told him that we were going to find out if the baby was a boy or girl. then I let Austin feel the baby moving around. It was so cute because the second Austin put his hand on my stomach the baby just went crazy moving. Austin said, "This baby is too strong it has to be a boy." So the rest of the night he just kept telling me that he was positive it was a boy. Austin is a smarty!!!

This is a picture of our little guys profile!!!

I love this picture because when Ethan first felt the baby move I asked him what he thought the baby did. Ethan proceeded to show me a baby laying on his back and then punching two times up. Well in this pictures is a perfect shot of him doing just that.

Finally my favorite picture. This is hard for most people to see but I just love it. If you look closely you will see his legs curled up on the right. Then you can she him in all his boy glory. Then if you keep moving to the left you see his hand like his is waving, and his head like he is looking right at us waving. I love this picture because I swear he already has so much personality. This was like the 3rd picture we took, and 2nd he was such a good boy and let us know that he was all boy. Then he did this one like he was being playful and saying hello. I know he is having a party in there, and I know this because I feel it all too often.

Things I want to remember about our 1st ultra sound....

1. I was so worried about drinking the water and having to hold it through out the ultra sound. I thought this wasn't fair because I would be so uncomfortable and Jacob would get to just enjoy all the happens. Well this wasn't 100% accurate. The waiting room was torture, but once I started seeing him move and everything I didn't even remember I had to go to the restroom any more.

2. He wouldn't stop moving around and the lady doing the ultra sound said that he was very active. A few minutes later I looked over at Jacob he looked so happy and a little bit concerned. He then told me he was worried how active or baby was. I asked why? Jacob replied well if he is that active in there he is going to be crazy when he comes out!!!

3. After looking at a few pictures Jacob and I got used to it and we were noticing everything. He saw him sucking in the fluids. Yawning and getting comfy. It was just so much fun.

Wedding Tag...

Well my wonderful friend Annie tagged me, and we had the pleasure of reliving our wedding. I thought it would be fun to answer them and then let Jacob answer them. I wonder if they will be close. Let the fun begin....

1. Where did you meet?

Jacob-

Stacy and I met at the Property Management Company we both worked at, though she would have you think that we met during High School through Sarah Tindill, I don't think we actually met but I know I had been to her house and she mine. Stacy was the receptionist and I was a sales agent and my desk was about 6 feet from where she was answering the phone and I could stare at her pretty face all day long.

Stacy-

We meet for the 1st time back in high school. Jacob was friends with my cousin Sarah and we both remember going to each others houses BUT we don't remember each other. The time that I remember meeting Jacob is where we both worked at good old Brewer-Caldwell. Part of my job at the time was to cover the phones while the receptionist went to lunch. One day when I was answering the phones a new employee came up to me and said he knew my cousin in high school. I asked what his name was and he said, "Jacob." before he couldn't say his last name I said, "Ash"? He said yes and then I laughed, because in high school Sarah would always talk about her friends from Mesa High, and I could always say there last name, but we both knew I had no idea what this person looked like. I told this story to Jacob which I don't think he thought was very funny.

2. What is the 1st thing you said to your husband?

Jacob-

"Your Sarah's cousin, right?"

Stacy-
I am not sure but I think it was something like, "Hi nice to meet you."

3. Where was your 1st date?

Jacob-

For our first date we did a double with my room mate at the time, Stewart Marler who took out Stacy's cousin Kristyn Chandler. I remember I was coming home from a friends wedding reception and on the way home, I went and picked up Stace and then took her to my house. The four of us cooked something, I can't remember what, and then we watched a movie. Stacy was very hot and I was excited to hang out with her. Our co friend Chelsea Hunt hooked us up.

Stacy-

I can tell you we doubled with Kristyn & Stuart, I remember most of it was at Jacob's house, that Jacob picked me up in a full out suit (which made me nervous...what the heck were we doing?) at one point we went to QT for Hot Chocolate (which later became and ritual), and what I was wearing even down to how my how my hair was & Jewelry. Other then that I draw a blank...how sad! Oh yeah and I remember always thinking does this boy even want to be on a date with me?

4.Where was your first kiss?

Jacob-

Our first kiss was downstairs during a movie and Stacy and I were cuddling, and then we kissed.

Stacy-

At Jacob's house on the leather couches downstairs.

5. Did you have a long or short engagement?

Jacob-

I would say it was average. We got engaged in March and Married in June, and we started dating in November. Trust me, if it was up to me we would have been married sooner! But I think everything went perfect!

Stacy-

Let me think. We were engaged in March and Married in June. I think that was long enough!!!

6. Where did you get engaged?

Jacob-

We got engaged at Stacy's house no thanks to Stacy. It seemed like she did everything to spoil every engagement idea that I, her family, and her friends came up with. I was originally going to propose at my family's beach houses in Mexico (a bunch of us friends were going to go down there for a few days) but plans were cancelled at the last moment. So as Kristyn was distracting Stacy I conversed with her family upstairs how to propose. We were all going to play a board game and when Stacy and Kristyn came back upstairs I had hid the ring under the deck of cards. When Stacy started to shuffle she saw the ring and then I got on one knee and proposed. To my surprise she said yes.

Stacy-

Poor Jacob he tried to propose to me like 18 times and I kept messing it up. He originally wanted to take me to his beach houses in Mexico and propose there, but I canceled!!! He was holding on to the ring for about a week before it actually happened. It was after Sunday dinner at my parents house. My whole family knew what was up even the kids!!! They kept trying to get me out of the room, but all the sudden I would reappear far to quickly. They sent me to get a game, to my car and even do something for my mom. I even had visitors at the door! (Lindsay & Brette) Finally in one last desperate attempt Kristyn pours soda down the front of her and tells me she needs a shirt. I told her she knew where my clothes were and she could take anything she would like. Normally this would be fine, but seriously EVERYONE in my family said go downstairs and help her!! Now looking back on that why on Earth would Lee care about me helping Kristyn get a shirt? Also I can picture Kristyn out of the corner of my eye spilling it on herself and it looks set up. Plus she was laughing!!

Once I got back up stairs. Everyone was pretty quiet which was a shocker because if you know my family we are VERY LOUD! We were getting ready to play Apples to Apples and so I go to grab the cards to start setting it up. My niece Aly is on my right and Jacob is on my left. I grab the cards and I see this object in the cards. I see that it is a ring, and I look at it and think it is one of my mothers that she was selling. So I turn to Aly to ask her to put it up when I feel Jacob grab my leg. I look at him and he is sweating bullets and has a bright red face. I think he was 2 seconds away from passing out! Seeing Jacob's face I realized what was happening, and I couldn't believe the ring was for me. The funny thing is my family tried so hard to not be obvious and pretend like they were not paying attention that they actually missed the engagement.

7. Where did you get Married?

Jacob-

At the Laie, Hawaii temple.

Stacy-

We were married in the Laie Hawaii temple. We both wanted to get married somewhere different, but be able to go back again someday! Hawaii was an easy choice.

8. How did the reception go?

Jacob-

Awesome! We didn't really have a wedding reception, but we did have an "Open House" at my parents house, something cheap and informal and it was perfect!

Stacy-

GREAT! We did not have one. We had the option to take the money or have a reception. We decided to take the money and run!

9. The Honeymoon?

Jacob-

Awesome, we stayed in a condo right on the beach. We just relaxed and did whatever we wanted to for a couple of weeks. The food and drinks were great and we had a lot of good memories! We try to go back every year to the same spot!

Stacy-

Was fabulous we stayed in Hawaii for 16 days and lived it up. We had great food, and yummy pina coldas. It was awesome.

Now we tagg....Brette, Sharisa, & Lindsey

Baby Update (way long you might just want to skim)

So out of now where I realized that I am almost to the 1/2 way mark of the pregnancy and I haven't posted anything about our experience so far. This is basically a play by play of events so far.
Finding Out
We found out we were expecting on Sunday, November 25th. Jacob and I had just gotten home for church and I wasn't feeling well. I wasn't feeling well ever since the night before, which got me thinking. Normally I feel sick in the morning until I eat and then I am back to my normals self. Well it wasn't normal for me to feel sick this long. Then I remembered getting really mad at Jacob on Thanksgiving for no reason. I thought to myself that I was probably pregnant. I told Jacob what I was thinking and he said I should take a pregnancy test. I thought this test was just a waste of money but I did it anyways. For some reason I accidentally bought this really fancy test that was electronic and it started showing this hour glass. I got distracted and started talking to Jacob when all the sudden I look down (my 5 seconds after taking the test) and it says pregnant. I starting jumping up and down telling Jacob. He of course thinks I am mistaken or confused and doesn't believe me until I show him. We both couldn't believe it!

Telling the Kartchner's
After finding out we were expecting we told ourselves we were not going to tell everyone until Christmas. We decided this because there would be so many fun ways we could tell and we were going to be spending Christmas in Florida with Jacob's family. Jacob's family is scattered all over the US and so we are lucky to get everyone together once a year. We thought how fun it would be to tell everyone in person. So it was set in one month we would tell everyone. Yeah that lasted for 15 minutes!!! I can remember who's idea it was but we decided to tell my family that I was pregnant at Sunday dinner. As my family is eating I went and put the test in my mother's bathroom and run back to the kitchen and said, "Mom what is in your bathroom?" I did it this way because I knew she would think Buddy did something naughty in there. So my mom takes off to the bathroom. Once my mom sees the test she starts screaming leading the kids to think something bad happened. She starting yelling more and the kids & Jerel start running in there to see what is going on. This part was cute because Austin was totally confused how I could be pregnant but I didn't have a big belly. I just kept looking at my stomach like it was going to start growing right in front of him. I later told Austin and Ethan that the baby was only about the size of a piece of rice.

Telling the Ash's
Telling Jacob's family went a completely different way. We ended up telling his parents on Monday. We went to their house for breakfast and while Jacob blessed the food he said he was thankful for our baby or something like that. After the prayer there was this totally akward silence which Linda finally broke by asking," Are you pregnant?" Jacob answered, "yes!" We were lucky my dad didn't tell them because he was working on their house and thought was had already told them. Well like right after we told them some of the construction crew came over and Linda and Cecil had to go work with them. Jacob and I finished eating and then just left. Looking back on this I think it is totally hilarious. About 2 weeks before we left for Florida our sister in Law Katie came into town and Jacob accidentally slipped that we were pregnant and so the cat was out of the bag. We decided to still wait to tell everyone.

Once we got to Florida Allison kept saying how she was going to saute mushrooms. This put me into a panic because was sick and I knew if smelt that I would be throwing up everyone. I told Jacob he had to tell everyone so I wouldn't seem like a brat. So Jacob just randomly in the middle of a sentence tells everyone I am pregnant. Jacob's family is full of Joksters and so no one believes him. After a few minutes of him promising it is true everyone says congratulations. Then in true Ash form Allison asks, "When is your due date?" to which I reply, "August 2nd" she then says, "I am due August 1st!" Then the whole are you serious thing keeps bouncing back and forth. Turns our Allison and I are both pregnant!

Morning Sickness
Why do they call this morning sickness? More like smell, thought, tired or anything will make you sick, sickness. I didn't throw up too often but I do A LOT of painful dry heaving. I can honestly say I squeezed every last bit of food or liquid out of my stomach at least 5 times. These moments I never want to relive and made me wonder how on earth people had more then one child! One time I got sick while driving home with Jacob and I pulled over and was throwing up in a bush. An officer saw me and pulled over to see what was going on. I am sure he thought I was drunk, but once I said I was pregnant he didn't ask any more questions and just left. My favorite sick story is when I went shopping with my sister and Mom and Christmas time. After shopping for a couple of hours I must of gone to long with out food. I started getting sick in Dillard's and we did a hightail to the parking lot. My mom see and paradise bakery across the parking lot so she goes running ahead to go get me a coke and food. I didn't know why she was taking off so i figured I had to hurry and follow her. My sister in the mean time is on her cell phone talking to someone and just follows along no sure what is going on either. Well the running made me sicker so I stop throw up and then keep going. I get to another bush and repeat the ritual. My sister is one her phone and doesn't know if she should got after my mom or stay with me. She just keeps looking at me like....man I am really happy this isn't me. After I finish round two I look back a see a man has been standing there watching this whole thing. I am sure he was thinking. What on earth are these women doing??? I would be thinking the same thing if I saw 3 women running with shopping bags and throwing up!

My sickest moments were in Florida and right when we got home. I was sick with the baby and some sort of Flu. All I have to say about that was I lost 10 lbs in 3 days and I thought I was dying. When I saw the doctor the next week. I got on the scale and the lady asked have you been sick...I wanted to to say YA THINK?

Things I want to Remember...
1. When I got back from Florida the baby had grown and so Ethan was asking me all of these questions. I finally said the baby was about the size of a small plum to which Ethan replied, "THAT'S ON BIG PIECE OF RICE"

2. I don't want to forget how every time we talked about me be pregnant or the baby Austin would just start at my stomach totally confused on sold on the fact that I was lying. He even picked up my shirt one time to check, and another time he pushed out his stomach and said, " I look more pregnant then you do"

3. The 1st time we heard the babies heart beat. I love it when Jacob looked at me all worried and said I wasn't expecting it to sound like that!

4. Feeling the baby kick the 1st time. Everyone told me it would be gentle and feel like you have a butterfly in your stomach. So I was really surprised when I felt what I would describe as a fish doing flips in my stomach. I am convinced my baby is just stronger!

5. The babies nicknames so far are: piece of rice, fishy, and the little Ya ya!