|{ It's Finally Christmas Time!! }|

I definitely slacked when it came to posting for November so let's sum up what we did! :)

My silly Husband chopped up our wood to use in our fireplace!

And then he planked on his planks.

We celebrated Thanksgiving with some friends!! (Photo below does not belong to me)

Jonathan's brother, Ben, came home from his mission!! We got to meet him in Chicago during his layover!! It was awesome and we are so excited that he home!! Christmas is going to be awesome this year!!

Waiting for us at the airport! 

We celebrated our 5th anniversary!!! Crazy!!! That day we exchanged gifts, went to get some AWESOME sushi for dinner (Shiro), had our first fire in the fireplace of the season, and watched our wedding video! It was a wonderfully relaxing evening!! It's been the most incredible five years of my life! I'm so blessed to have this man in my life!

My new Fossil wallet that I LOVE!!

Jonathan's new wedding ring that is comfy enough to wear in lab!

At the restaurant!

And last, but certainly not least, we decorated our house for Christmas!! Always so much fun!!

|{ Coping }|

This post is a little overdue but I've been putting off writing it.

At my doctor appointment on October 30th we found out that we had lost the baby.  They don't know how long it had been gone but when they did the ultrasound the didn't find anything.  I was somewhere between 6 and 10 weeks when we lost it.

My doctor said that I am perfectly healthy and it was nothing that I did.  Miscarriage is very common but that doesn't make it suck any less. We were heartbroken.  Everyone around us has been SO AMAZING!! It's so great to have such amazing friends and family and they have really helped us to get through this unexpected hardship.

We both feel ready to jump back on the horse and start trying again.  My doctor thinks the chances of it happening again is very slim.  My doctor has also been awesome by the way, I kind of love her! I feel like she actually cares about me and it's a great feeling.

It gets easier every day, but it still hits me hard every once a while.  We are definitely grateful that it happened as early as it did and Jonathan has been the most amazing of all.  His love and support has been absolutely incredible and I am so lucky to have such an amazing man at my side.

I had fallen in love with this song while I was pregnant and now every work just fits perfectly so I thought I would share (I swear this was written about a child and not a woman) :

"Haven't Met You Yet"- Michael Buble

I'm not surprised, not everything lasts
I've broken my heart so many times, I stopped keeping track
Talk myself in, I talk myself out
I get all worked up, then I let myself down

I tried so very hard not to lose it
I came up with a million excuses
I thought, I thought of every possibility

And I know someday that it'll all turn out
You'll make me work, so we can work to work it out
And I promise you, kid, that I give so much more than I get
I just haven't met you yet

I might have to wait, I'll never give up
I guess it's half timing, and the other half's luck
Wherever you are, whenever it's right
You'll come out of nowhere and into my life

And I know that we can be so amazing
And, baby, your love is gonna change me
And now I can see every possibility

And somehow I know that it'll all turn out
You'll make me work, so we can work to work it out
And I promise you, kid, I give so much more than I get
I just haven't met you yet

They say all's fair
In love and war
But I won't need to fight it
We'll get it right and we'll be united

And I know that we can be so amazing
And being in your life is gonna change me
And now I can see every single possibility

And someday I know it'll all turn out
And I'll work to work it out
Promise you, kid, I'll give more than I get
Than I get, than I get, than I get

Oh, you know it'll all turn out
And you'll make me work so we can work to work it out
And I promise you kid to give so much more than I get
Yeah, I just haven't met you yet

I just haven't met you yet
Oh, promise you, kid
To give so much more than I get

I said love, love, love, love
Love, love, love, love
(I just haven't met you yet)
Love, love, love, love
Love, love
I just haven't met you yet

|{ End Of Fall + Bump Update }|

I decided that this last weekend was probably the last weekend of Fall.  Temperatures are definitely dropping over here and I have a feeling (or at least hoping) that we'll get some snow sooner rather than later!! It definitely is starting to feel like winter...and I LOVE it!! :)

We finally made it to the cider mill over the weekend! Definitely later than we would have liked to and most of the leaves are gone so it wasn't very Autumn looking.  I'm sure we would have gone earlier had there been apples to pick, but since it was such a bad harvest year there were no apples to pick.  So we went to Erwin Orchards, got some donuts and cider and went home.  Short trip but at least we made it.  And I actually didn't get cider.... since I'm pregnant and the cider is not pasteurized I had to get hot cocoa instead.  On the plus side, at the least the year that I didn't get cider and the year we couldn't pick apples ended up being in the same year.

On Saturday night we had our ward Halloween party.  We ran out of time and creativity this year when it came to costumes so I ended up at K-mart to buy our 50% off costumes.  At least we still looked pretty cute.  There were so many good costumes at the party! Everyone looked great and it was a lot of fun!

How Far Along:  10 weeks!

How Big Is Baby:  Baby is the size of a prune! (1.2 inches long, weighs .14 ounces)

Total Weight Gain:  I'm at 143 (pre-pregnancy weight was about 140)

Sleep:  Pretty good, though starting to dread the only sleeping on my side thing, it's not gonna be very comfy.

Best Moment Of The Week:  Spending Sunday with my husband eating chili and corn bread, and the Ward Halloween Party!

Food Cravings:  None. 

Food Aversions:  None.

Symptoms: 

Practically none this week.

Nausea- Pretty much gone.

Breakouts- The only thing really bothering me!

Other- Sore boobies, mild fatigue.

Gender:  Getting excited to find out!

What I'm Looking Forward To:  Seeing my family over Christmas! Can't wait to share my pregnancy joy with them! 

What I Miss:  Cider from the Orchard!

Next Doctor Appointment:  Tomorrow!! 

Hope everyone has a Happy Halloween!!

|{ 9 Week Bump Update }|

I was originally going to start my updates at week 10, but I got too anxious so I decided to start a week early! :)  I had a couple of ideas as to what I wanted to do with these photos, I kind of wanted to do them outside but decided that due to weather it might make it difficult.  Then I thought that maybe I could do them in from of my window so you could still see the change of seasons but I couldn't make the photos look good due to too much background light. So I decided to do them in front of my fireplace, where you can still see the 'change of season' due to my decorations.  

I also am planning to take a nontraditional 'bump' photo each week, I'll start doing that next week.  :) 

So here we go! My first bump update post! 

How Far Along:  9 weeks!

How Big Is Baby:  Baby is the size of a green olive!

Total Weight Gain:  I haven't checked in a while, but last time I checked I was about 4 pounds higher than my pre-pregnancy weight.

Sleep:  Sleep is great! I feel pretty tired during the day so I always sleep just fine.

Best Moment Of The Week:  I started my new job on Monday!! That was exciting! I also got to do my first real pregnancy massage on someone and it went great! :)  It was kind of weird to think that there were 4  people in the massage room instead of just 2. :)

Food Cravings:  I had a friend tell me that he didn't believe pregnancy cravings were real (which I suppose makes sense) so I'm interested to see if I really feel like I am having specific cravings rather than regular non-pregnant cravings.  So far, not craving anything in particular. 

Food Aversions:  Anything with too strong of a smell, like my husbands sardines or hot dogs.  Nothing sounds good when I'm hungry so it's been kind of hard to decide what to eat.

Symptoms: 

Nausea-  Not bad, just a little queasy when I get hungry.  There was one evening this week that was particular bothersome, but still not bad enough to throw up or anything.

Cramping- Very slight, only every once a while.  I still hate when it happens though, I'm afraid something is wrong when I feel it but it's never bad.

Other- Mild fatigue, breakouts, slightly heightened emotions, sore boobies.

Gender:  No idea! When asked what we are hoping for we never have a real answer.  At the moment neither of us have a preference! Just healthy! Please be healthy!!

What I'm Looking Forward To:  I can't wait to start showing!! I want this bump to get bigger! :)

What I Miss:  Not a whole lot yet! I even kind of like my negative symptoms because it means I'm pregnant and I love that!! :)  Not even missing certain foods either because usually nothing sounds good.

Next Doctor Appointment:  October 30th! (Pretty sure it's going to be an ultrasound appointment and I can't wait!)

|{ Thoughts On Having A Unique Name }|

I love my name.  I have met one other person with my name in my life and there have been a few times where people say they have met someone with my name. BUT, I have never met someone with my same spelling.  I'm not saying there aren't because I know there are, I've looked my name up on Facebook and there are plenty of people. :)

As I have looked on the internet for baby names or heard about people talking about naming your kids with a unique name, the feedback is often (though not always) negative.  People say things like, "No one will be able to pronounce it", "They will get made fun of", "They will always have to correct people and they'll hate that", etc.

However, as someone who has a unique name, I don't agree.  Yes, people say my name wrong, though as the years go on and more and more people have unique names it happens less often, I think people are getting used to it.  I have never been made fun of.  I don't always correct people, only when I know I'll see them again, and I don't really mind.  I don't get mad when people say it wrong.  It really doesn't bother me.

Most of my conversations go like this, "How do you say your name?"- "Shalay"- "Where does it come from? Is it Irish?"- "No, my Mom made it up actually."- "Well it's absolutely beautiful, I've never heard that before."

My Mom did make up my name, I asked her how exactly she did that because I can't even imagine just making up a name and she said that she was just putting letters together one day.  I had my name picked out before my parents even met.  My Mom even wrote me a letter, with my name, before she had met my Dad.

I'm proud of my name, I like that it's unique!  So I say, if you want to name your baby something unique then go for it! :) (Just don't let it get too out of hand, there are some crazy ones out there! Haha!)

|{ WE'RE HAVING A BABY!! }|

Hello lovely readers!!

I wanted to share some awesome news today!! Jonathan and I are expecting our first child!!!! We are SO EXCITED!!!

Here is our story!

On Sept. 25th I was supposed to go to the dentist to get my surgery started to get my tooth implant (woohoo!)! I hadn't taken a pregnancy test in a few weeks so I figured I should probably make sure I wasn't pregnant before my appointment (due to chemicals and such).  I was SURE that I wasn't pregnant! I was feeling cramping every once in a while so I was sure that I wasn't.  But I took the test first thing in the morning and then snuggled with Jonathan in bed for a few minutes.  When we got up he came with me and I walked right over to the test and picked it up, sure that it was going to negative.  To my immense surprise there were 2 lines!!! 2 VERY solid pink lines!! I couldn't believe it!

So, I called my dentist and had to cancel my appointment until I'm out of my first trimester and then called the doctor to schedule my first appointment! We had NO idea how far along I was, due to my cycle being so irregular so they had me come in as soon as they could fit me in (the following Monday and again on Tuesday).  On Monday (October 1st) I went in and just met with the nurse and we talked as she gave me lots of information.  Then on Tuesday I came in and saw the doctor and they did an ultrasound to figure out how big the baby was!

We found out I was 6 weeks and 1 day pregnant and my due date is MAY 27TH!!

It was so cool to see the little spot on the ultrasound.  Jonathan and the doctor even got to see a little heart beat flickering (I was too far away).  SO AWESOME!!

After that we spent the next few days cleaning out our spare room, which will now be a nursery!! We cleaned and painted and even went out and bought a few things (stroller and carseat, crib, and dresser to use as a changing table).  I REALLY hated the spare room before but it looks so good now!! It's awesome!!

(Ugly gray walls with our sample paint)

(Painting it white)

(All white! Even the ceiling to match!)

(Yellow stripes)

(Gray stripes plus putting together the crib!)

Then on Saturday the 6th we called our families on Skype and told them we wanted to show them our Halloween decorations and then said we had one more.  We put a sign on the nursery door that said "Get Ready!" and then showed them the room where we had put up a sign announcing that we were pregnant!! Their reactions were AWESOME and we recorded them! Once we put the video together I will definitely post it here! :)

So yeah!! We did it!! I'm pregnant!!! I'm feeling pretty good.  A little nauseated when I get hungry and I am REALLY thirsty for water ALL the time!! But I'm feeling great!! :)  I plan to start taking bump photos starting at 10 weeks! :)  The following photos were taken the day we found out! :)

|{ My Researcher }|

Things have been very busy over here in the Peterson household!  The hubby was about to start his 3rd year of medical school, in which he would get to start with rotations, when life threw us a curve ball.

Though it was really hard to go through at the time and left us feeling frustrated and angry I think that it turned out for the better!

Jonathan found a great lab to do research in this year instead, postponing medical school until next year! He is already having a lot of success, he is getting paid for it, and he will get MANY publications out of it which will help him to get into a really good residency!

He has been VERY VERY busy!! Definitely more busy than his classmates who did get to start their 3rd year! He spends every day in lab, even the weekends, and is there from around 8-10 in the morning to 8-12 every evening! I don't get to see him much so when I do I try to take advantage of it.  Usually the weekends are less busy when he only goes in for a few hours.  He has had a few days off, mostly for things like birthdays and my graduation, and those days are always awesome!

I am so proud of him for all the work that he has been doing and I'm excited for our future! He's so amazing!!

|{ Julie & Julia }|

I just watched this movie on TV and no matter how many times I see it I just love it!  It reminds me of when Jonathan and I were Italy because I saw it for the first time on the plane on the way there, then I bought the book (I believe it was in Rome), and read it while we were there.

I came home with a plan to start my own cooking project, which I did for a while until I just stopped, like I always do.

I think I like the movie (and the book) for multiple reasons:
1- I really do LOVE cooking and watching it always gets me in the mood to start cooking again.  I have definitely been in a cooking slump and I think I'm ready to get out of that!
2- I LOVE blogging and I can relate to how she feels about blogging and how exciting it is to get a comment (even if it is from someone you know)! And though my blog never has been nor ever will be as big of a deal as hers turned out to be, I still love my blog!
3- I feel like I can relate to her character a lot, we have a lot of the same temperaments and I feel like I would react in similar ways as she does to things going wrong.
4- And of course you can NEVER go wrong with Meryl Streep and Amy Adams is so adorable (and was in The Office!)

So, I'm feeling the need to try this project again. Yeah, laugh it up, you're probably right, it won't last long.  I need to take the time to figure it out exactly what I want to do and to make it a realistic goal.  No 524 recipes in 365 days. I'm not that motivated.

But first on my list:
Make Boeuf Bourguignon- Julia Child's Boeuf Bourguignon

Because it looks way to delicious to not taste!!

|{ Purple Shampoo }|

I've been lightening my hair for a while now and I think I may have hit the point where I'm okay if it doesn't go lighter. I am loving the platinum blonde!

When I got my hair done this last time my stylist asked me if I was using purple shampoo. I had NO idea what she was talking about and she told me to just go to a beauty store like Ulta and get purple shampoo because it would help to my hair keep the platinum rather than going yellow.

I took her word for it and walked into the store. "Uh, I need purple shampoo...?" I felt so silly but the sales associate simply smiled and walked me right over to the shampoo.  I grabbed a bottle and felt happy that I had accomplished the task.

It wasn't until I actually used it that I decided that having this hair color ROCKS!! I get to use the coolest shampoo!! I didn't realize they meant it was actually PURPLE!!! (And it smells good too!)

(Not sure where this photo came from, do you?)

|{ Little Hand Prints }|

After our get-together this weekend to celebrate my graduation/watch the Michigan football game I found these little hand prints on our desk cupboard doors.  You can't even see them unless you get done to their level.

I know you might think I'm crazy but they just melted my heart! I can't wait until it's my children who are making little hand prints everywhere!

|{ Certified Massage Therapist }|

Yesterday, September 8th 2012, I graduated from the Ann Arbor Institute of Massage Therapy!!

I'm a massage therapist for real now!! I can't believe it!! I got a job about a week ago at a place called Vibrant Touch.  I'm helping out a lady who has a private practice and needs help with her clients! I can also use her room for my own clients (which I will soon be working on getting! :) )

Graduation was amazing! It was surprising emotional, there were lots of tears knowing that we won't get to see each other again and that we've all been such an integral part of each other's success.  I gave a short speech which I think went pretty well, if your lucky I might post the video sometime...if your very lucky! :)

There was a lot of laughter and inside jokes as well, it was an all around amazing experience and now I'm a massage therapist!!! WOW!!!

Here were some of my favorite photos! I'm so glad my hubby was able to take lots of photos! :)

We get to put our hand prints on a canvas when we graduate!

I put an orange heart in Michelle's print and she put a pink one in mine!

|{ The Day I Turned 24 }|

The first thing I want you to know...my husband is AMAZING!! I don't know how I got so lucky but he is absolutely incredible and my birthdays are always so much fun...until his birthday comes around and then I just feel guilty because I cannot replicate his awesomeness!

Secondly, I want to apologize for the lack of pictures.  We just didn't end up taking many. *shrug* Oh well.

So, first thing in the morning we got up and went to breakfast at Angelo's, which is a popular restaurant in Ann Arbor and is on the medical school campus.  We got our favorite things to eat, mine is an omelet with ham, cheddar, and avocado and Jon's is Eggs Benedict! SO yummy!! Then, after breakfast Jon gave me this:

"Please don't hang me on this tree, I do not want to die you see! 

If I survive, guess these words three, I'll take you on a Shopping Spree!!"

It also had a few papers with directions for a random address and a note that said that I had an appointment at 1:00.

So, we played hangman at the table and I did NOT want that little dude to die so I took my time.  I never hit that moment where I knew what the answer was and Z was the last letter I had to guess! It was pretty hard!! So I finished the puzzle and it was not helpful.
Me- "What is that?"
Jon- "The place we are going shopping!"
Me- "Ok cool! I've never heard of it..."
Jon- "Yes you have! It's your favorite place!"
Me- *Looking confused at the paper* "Oh! H&M?!?!"
Jon- "Yeah, I definitely had to Google that one."

So, off to H&M we went.  I asked Jon what my budget was, he said I had a little over an hour before we had to leave for my appointment, that was my only limit! WHAT!? Awesome!! It was really fun to walk around the store knowing I literally could get whatever I wanted!! And I did, and it rocked! How cool is he?!

Jon's original plan for my birthday present was going to be a surprise.  In the room that will someday be the nursery for our child there is wood paneling on all the walls and it's all painted this weird gray-blue color.  He knows I hate it and was going to put up drywall in the room and paint it and then surprise me on my b-day! Aww!! But there were complications and our landlord doesn't want us to do that, so we'll have to come up with a new plan instead. Oh well, it's the thought that counts! :) He's so sweet!

Anyway, so after shopping we headed out to my appointment.  He refused to tell me where it was we were going or what the appointment was for but about 45 minutes later we ended up at the dentist...on my birthday... I looked at him and glared and he just laughed.  The appointment ended up being a consultation to put an implant in so I won't have the space in my teeth anymore!!! YAY!!!!! I am so excited!!! I have always been self-conscious about the space and now we are finally getting it taken care of!! I have an appointment on Sept. 25th to get the first of 4 appointments done and it's gonna be the big one where they do all the surgery. I'm a little nervous but excited! The ONLY downside is that I've waited too long to get it done so the roots are starting to grow towards each other so I have to get the tooth behind it pulled and get 2 implants, which means that for a few weeks I will have a bigger space there until the implants actually get placed, but it will be SO worth it!! I can't wait!

Wow, this post is getting long, so let's summarize the rest.
After that we went home and got stuff ready for dinner. We were having people over to make sushi!! It was so yummy and so much fun! We always love making sushi!! Then after that we had more people over and had brownies instead of cake (Triple Chocolate Ghirardelli brownies)! Then Jon got liquid nitrogen and we made homemade mango Dippin' Dots and raspberries! It was delicious and so much fun!!

It was an AMAZING birthday and I have my incredible husband to thank for it! I could not be more blessed!!