A letter to a friend.

Dear Body,

I miss you so, so much. It seems like yesterday we were running, frolicking and playing without getting dizzy and becoming short of breath. I know that growing a human is not easy, but somehow we we will get through this together.

Dearest neck- you have never had acne before. This is something new for us! I've never had so much fun playing connect the dots in my life.

To my hard working hands...you are always red now. And throbbing. Unfortunately, I dont think this is going to get any better for you, but much, much worse. I apologize in advance.

To my Back. WHY???????

Dear, dear rib cage. Im sorry this has happened to you. 4 inches in just a few short months is way too much and too fast to expand. This is not normal. Rib cages are not meant to do this. Please stay where you are, I refuse to buy a size 40 bra.

B cups. Sweet, sweet B cups. Where have you gone? I cannot believe at one point in my life I wanted anything different. I wished you away...now you are gone and I cannot wait until we meet again. I promise enhancement is not, nor will ever be in your future. It's defintely not all its cracked up to be. I miss you.

Tummy. Where do I begin? You and I....we have a love/hate relationship. What once was the deepest, darkest, endless hole of a belly button now is flat and is very easy to clean. I appreciate that. However, you are very itchy. You are very high maintenance. I apply my lotions and gels and you still itch. However, I thank you for not having stretch marks...yet. Please, if you plan to do this, wait until the last month or few weeks of pregnancy. Do it for my sanity. Thank you for keeping my baby boy safe and warm. He is the reason that all of this makes sense. He is the reason for me not popping you like a balloon and riding it to a far away island in the sunshine to bask in a bikini. He is my everything.

Dearest Hips. I appreciate the fact that I can still wear my own jeans. This is because you were large to begin with. Although I cannot button these said jeans ( due to body part mentioned in previous paragraph), I still want to thank you for being large enough that not much of an adjustment has needed to be made in this area thus far. You make being an incubator a little more bearable for me. I hope you continue to be a blessing all the way through the birth part of this...you know what I mean. Just please let him come out easy.

Booty. You have been and will always be ghetto. Keep it real.

Legs...hang in there. The 15-20 lbs I have gained was all intended to make you extra toned. Im hoping this plan works out. So far, the ankles are the only thing that have gained any extra tonage. This was not how it was intended to be.

And to the feet...bless your hearts. You might have the worst of all of it. Although you dont cause me too much pain, im sure im causing you much more pain than I could ever bear. Thank you for giving me a reason to buy new shoes.

And for the fetus livin it up inside me, thank you for giving me a reason to write this letter to my body. I know every ache, pain, and discomfort will all be gone when I see your sweet face. I love feeling you kick me, it never ceases to bring a huge smile to my face. You are worth it.

Sincerely,

Ali

21 weeks

Here is the lastest pic of me at about 20 weeks, close to the 5 month mark! I officially look pregnant in this picture I think...people at church even told me so that day so-- hooray! I guess its actually happening! P.S. I know my arm pose looks lame...Josh says I look like an Indian ( I come in peace) whatever!

Ultrasound pics

Here they are! The first 3 are the 4D ones....which are my favorite. You can see in the first pic hes got his hands over his ears and his legs crossed at the ankles.

Could he get here soon please?!?! :)

OH JOY........

We are having a baby BOY!!!!

I'll be honest, I was kind of hoping for a little girl ( mostly only because I already have a few cute outfits and Im used to girls, having 3 sisters) , but after seeing my little dude on the big screen yesterday I fell in love.

Josh and I are SOOO excited! We actually both deep down knew it was a boy so when we saw the "stuff" we just looked and each other and said of course!

Our buddy wasnt ashamed to show his boy parts, but when our nurse did a 3D shot of him, he immediately put his hands over his face and hid it and crossed his little feet over. We got some great shots of him, ill try to scan them in and post them .

We already love our ltitle dude and he already has me wrapped around his tiny finger. The name is still undecided and will be until Josh decides to like ANY of the names that I like! :) We cant wait to meet him April 1st!

Utah, Baby, and Nursery!

So apparantly this is going to be another one of those catch up posts! Last weekend was my birthday and my parents decided to fly me out to celebrate! It was also a good excuse for them to see their growing grandchild( first grandbaby on both sides of our families!) My birthday consisited of the Cheesecake factory for brunch ( you gotta get there early or it will be dinner before you know it!) Leaving my dad in the car for 2 hours while me, my mom and sisters shopped...(It was actually supposed to be a 30 minute trip inside Nordstrom to see some shoes, but we ended up getting slightly distracted and 2 hours later my dad called told us that the car battery had died from him sitting in it with the A/C on for so long!) He was a great sport to be so patient, I guess you get used to it having 4 daughters and a wife! After we went home, my sisters and I went out for some more shopping... I know, but when im in Utah for only 2 days I have to hit up all my favorites! Plus the Forever 21 in Utah is humongous now, you guys are so lucky. I was really excited because I found tons of cute shirts for my growing belly ( for UNDER 30 dollars!!) and didnt have to step foot in a maternity store. This has got to be the best time to be pregnant with the styles these days! And I LOVE a good sale! After a day of shopping we picked up my grandma and headed out to TGIF's for dinner and celebrated with a birthday cake at her place for dessert. Yes, I believe my fetus doubled in size over these 2 days since all I feel like I did was eat. On the day after my birthday i got to get together with my 2 best friends and their new babies Olivia and Gabe. Kristen invited us over for breakfast and we just chatted and watched the babies, both of which are ADORABLE. It made me want my baby to get here right this second! It was so great to play catch up with them and see them be little mommies! I cant believe we are having kids. I swear we were just out hitting on boys.

The babies are only 10 days apart, and its crazy to see how alert Olivia is compared to Gabe already. He was just in the nap zone at the moment and didnt want to be bothered. I love them!

After spending time with the girls I hurried over to Cafe Rio (oh how I miss it!) to meet my in-laws! It was so great seeing them, sadly I didnt take any pictures. But I did get showered from Grandma with gifts for the baby! The rest of the trip was great just speding time with family and enjoying the Fall in Utah.

Now for the next part, the amazing husband I have! When we found out we were pregnant I told Josh I really wanted to put beadboard up in the nursery. Im obsessed with it! I am so lucky I have such a handy husband, I swear he can do ANYTHING! So without complaints he got right to work on it. He worked on it so hard and finished it all while I was out playing in Utah.

BEFORE: ( our junk room ...)

DURING: ( such a hard little worker, love him!)

AFTER!: Obviously not finished or decorated, but the beadbaord was done when I got home and he surprised me by setting up the crib that I LOVE!!!! THANKS BABE!!!

Isnt it wonderful???!!! Last but not least, the 16 week ( 4 month) shot. Another disgusting picture of me. But we heard the heartbeat yesterday and I officially felt the first nudge too! So crazy someones really in there! :)

12 weeks!

So I realize this picture is hideous and it looks like I have a lazy eye but mostly its just for my family and friends in Utah to see the "bump" that is starting to grow. Officially 12 weeks! ( or 3 months, hence the 3 fingers) Not much to look at yet...which is fine with me! But I can definitely tell its beginning to be a little something, and I can tell im not going to enjoy this fat stage until it looks like im actually pregnant and just not growing a fat roll. However, I will try to enjoy it! I will be large and in charge soon enough!

OH baby!!!

When we told Bella our good news......

It was all she could do to hold in her excitement!!!! :)

Yes it is true!!! Josh and I are very excited to announce that we are expecting our first baby in April!!! How crazy is that! I am now over 11 weeks along and feeling really good. My first trimester has been a breeze to be honest. I have had a handful of sick days, but all in all its been quite pleasant!! Baby Holt will be here April 5th, the day after Easter!

Now for more details. If you dont care about this part...feel free to close out. But I guess some people might want to know ...and I need to document it any way since I am horrible at journal writing. A little bit on my history.

A couple years ago my OB/gyn doc told me I had PCOS. ( google it) Not a severe version by all means, but yes it was there and she told me...and i quote.... " You will NEVER get pregnant on your own. Fertility drugs are definitely in your future and you and I are going to become great friends when the time comes you want to have a baby."

Well, Josh and I took that into account, and decided that we didnt want to be 50 by the time we had a kid. So we decided we would try, and if it took us a year then that would be fine, but we would keep our fingers crossed that it wouldn't take that long.

Point of this story is we were pregnant 4 weeks later. Talk about a total shock!

We just feel really, really blessed and know that this is a miracle in our family! Maybe doctors really dont know anything...but I also know that nothing happens by pure chance. We are so excited for our little baby to come to our house!

So you might ask, how did I find out? Well about 5 weeks ago, I started with the symptoms. I felt crampy, sick, you know all of those fun things that we go through. Even my favorite foods sounded horrible and all I wanted to eat was cereal for every meal. I actually havent thrown up once so that has been awesome! So anyway, after 3 days and nights of constant nausea, I decided to take a test. I actually went to the dollar store ( didnt really want to spend 10 dollars on a stupid test!) and bought 2, because I was so sure the first would show up negative and then I could just keep the second to have on hand....just in case. I waited for Josh to leave to play ball with his friends, and then I took the test ( i know, im such a bad wife.) It couldnt have shown up positive faster. So, of course I thought" stupid Dollar Tree! These things are rigged positive!" I immediately took the second one, same thing. I think I almost passed out! You can imagine that it was the longest game of basketball Josh has ever played! When he got home, I told him he needed to sit down, and he knew right away what was going on. But he was super excited, of course.

The next day, I still wasnt convinced that I was pregnant, yes even after 2 positive tests! Im just super skeptical I guess! So I went to wal-mart and caved in for a real e.p.t. brand test. Big, fat + sign again! So thats the story. I went in last Friday and saw my little baby, and finally confirmed that its really alive and growing in there. At 11 weeks it actually looks like a little human too, and when she was trying to measure it, it kept jumping around. It was the most amazing thing I have ever seen in my life!

So....what will it be? A boy or a girl????????????? Cant wait to find out! :)

Busy, Busy Summer!

After long vacations and hundreds of pictures, I have a hard time getting motivation to Blog! It should be the other way around, but its just too overwhelming to choose which pictures to put on! :) Well, we were very lucky to travel a few weeks back to spend some time with our families! We started out our vacation by flying to Reno, where my family picked us up and drove us out to Lake Tahoe. This place is my paradise. We have been going there since I was tiny, so its always been a really special place for us! It was so nice to spend time with my sisters and parents too,we enjoyed hours of boating, wakeboarding, triple tubing, laying by the pool, mini golf, lots of eating, riding bikes along the Truckee River, rafting down the river, and lots of other random fun events! I recommend this place to anyone, it truly is so beautiful and so much fun!

Here is a view of the pool/pier area where we stay, right on the edge of the lake!!! Love it!

Me and the sisters on the Triple Tube. This thing is dangerous, but a total blast!

The boys insist on being as crazy as possible! I just try to stay alive without losing any teeth or breaking my arms.

The crazy fam at Mofo's, our favorite Pizza joint EVER!Just showin my wakeboarding skills...except it appears that I had let go at this point.

Again, we are special in our own unique ways.

Rafting the Truckee River!

After a 9 LONG hour drive to Utah ( while pulling the boat and 6 people in the back of the car)... we finally made it! Utah is the best place in the world. Not only did I get to eat CAFE RIO, but I finally got to see this new Forever 21 that everyone had been talking about at South town mall, see my pregnant best friends and get to go to Angies baby shower( thanks for planning that around me!) Of course the highlight of Utah though was the beautiful wedding that was also ( thankfully!) planned so we could be there. Josh's little brother Brennan married my lovely sister in law Skye!! It is so fun having Skye as a sister now. Its funny because when I was in dental hygiene school, Skye and I ended up living right by eachother in the same apartment complex, not even knowing it! We would go out to lunch weekly in provo, and I would listen to Skye vent about how much she missed Brennan on his mission and how she never thought she would be a HOLT, and how I didn't know if I would EVER become a Holt either, after dating Josh almost 3 years! We got to become really good friends, so now that its official and we are Holt girls, its even that much better. The wedding was so great and we were so grateful we got to be part in it.

Me and Skye at the wedding dinner!

Just me and the boy waiting for the newleyweds to come out of the temple!

all the Holt girls together!


And last but not least, my pregnant friends! Im so excited for them, both Olivia and nameless baby boy (but probably Gabriel) are going to be sooooo stinkin cute! And, I get to fly out to Utah in October for my birthday and to see the little bundles of joy, I cant WAIT!!! Good luck my friends.

All in all, summer has been great. Now on to year 2 of med school...what fun!

Washington DC, the place to be on the 4th!

So this is a little late posting, but I have been super busy! Josh and I got lucky enough to go to Washington DC over the 4th of July weekend! It was so awesome, we squoze in everything possible in the short 3 days we were gone. Our friend's hubby is doing an internship in DC over the summer so he hooked us up with a place to stay ( for free!) and also got us one of the sweetest views in DC for the grand firework show, on the roof of one of the giant law firm buildings down town. Ill try to keep the captions short since together the 3 of us couples had over 900 pictures, and I have tons I want to post!

We got to DC and immediately went to see this beautiful temple!!! My friend Kristins parents got sealed here so this was really special for her to see for the first time!

The next morning we started out the day in the Arlington National Cemetary. This place is unbelievable...such a cool cemetary.

We walked around the national mall a ton! This is a view of the Washington Monument from the Lincoln Memorial building. Just hanging out at Barak's House... you cant see the sniper on the top, but he's there.

Enjoying our State Capitol Building!

So this is a beam that we all got to sign that will be used to make the 9/11 memorial in New York. We got really lucky because the people that travel around with the beams were there for only the same 3 days as us, so we get to be a part in history! So awesome.


We got to go to a Braves/Nationals baseball game as well, pretty fun but I think we were all pretty tired from walking around all day!

The World war II memorial...representing our current residency of course!


The whole gang in front of the washington monument! Such a fun time!

We ended the 4th of July day by watching the most amazing firework show I have ever seen! It was something everyone should do at least once in their life, so worth it! Thanks friends for all the fun, and thanks everyone else for reading such a long post.

Race for the Cure NC

So every year I have a tradition to make myself run the Race for the Cure 5k. I have loved it in the past and always have a great time once im finished! The past few times I have run with my mom and sisters and one of my Utah BFF's Angie, but this year, I ran with my NC girlies ( for obvious reasons...I live here.) We had a blast! There's nothing like running 3.2 miles in 90 degrees and 100 percent humidity ( Note the RED face in my pictures!) I luckily talked Ceri, Ashley, Jesika, and Kristin to run with me...even though by the end we had all spaced ourselves out and ended up pretty much running by ourselves ... amongst thousands of other strangers! We did all meet up again at the finish line, and ended the race with popsicles, ice cream, free chick-fil-a coupons, Panera Bread (this is just like Paradise Bakery in Utah), free applesauce, and lots of other freebies! Im a sucker for freebies too, so that was a bonus! Thanks to Jesikas hubby for supporting us and coming to take pictures so we could all have something to blog about. Our next effort will be to run a 5 miler at Wilmington Beach...anyone care to join??!!