Big News Gets Two Posts!

We had our "big ultrasound" today to see the baby and find out the gender. See the Baby Blog for details!

It's a....

BOY!

We were pretty convinced HE was a SHE until today. The odds in our group of friends were leaning toward girl and I'd been the only one with any kind of Morning Sickness so we had convinced ourselves that it was a girl. Much to our surprise, the ultrasound showed clear evidence of a boy. So, here we are, on TEAM BLUE! Ryan can't stop smiling! He's so happy. He and Brandon are now officially planning the boys YMCA League basketball teams! Let the competitions begin!

He was super active during the ultrasound which was fun for us to see. Lots of moving his feet and arms, he even rolled over to his belly! He also had the hiccups so you'd see his little heart beating away and then his belly jump. So amazing! Here are the pictures.

Perfect profile picture.
Perfect little foot.
Either sucking his thumb or scratching his nose.



And now, for the R rated material. In case you want to see the proof for yourself... He's DEFINITELY a boy!


My doctor's office had just gotten a new ultrasound machine and the tech was teaching herself all the new buttons so she flipped over to the 4D mode. Normally you have to pay extra for this (though I've heard this tech likes to do free sneak peaks anyway). So we got to watch the little guy move around in a little more detail. He kept putting his hands up to his face and then he yawned and stuck his tongue out. I was afraid the 4D would look a little scary this early since there isn't much fat on the baby yet (if you pay for it, they tell you to come at 28-32 weeks), but I think he looked pretty darn cute!




So, we are almost to the halfway point. My first two ultrasounds (at 6 and 7 weeks), he measured a couple of days behind what the calender said my due date should be. Today, I'm 19weeks, 2days but measured right at 20 weeks. We'll see if this continues. I fully expect to have a big baby! Everything else is looking good. I'm feeling good except the once or twice a week morning sickness but I'll survive that.

Merry Christmas!

19 Weeks -- First Bump Picture

I'm entering the 19th week and finally starting to "show" but in normal clothes probably not enough for people to know for sure that I'm pregnant and not just fat. :)

I figure I better start taking the belly shots to document my progress. So here I am... 19 weeks.

I weighed myself at home earlier this week and weighed in at my pre-pregnancy weight. This is a good sign since I'd been losing weight slowly during much of the first trimester. I'm definitely eating more but probably still not enough. The mornings can still be hard and though I'm hungry, nothing sounds good until about 10:30 or 11:00am. It's not as easy to force yourself to eat as you might think.

Our "big ultrasound" is Tuesday morning. Please think good thoughts for the baby's cooperation in showing "the goods" then look for an update with gender news sometime Tuesday late morning/early afternoon!

Christmas Tree Additions

The tree is up and pretty much decorated. I might add a few more filler ornaments but I'm in no rush. I was finally able to get some pictures last weekend. Of course it was during the day so it doesn't really sparkle like at night. Oh well.


In my Christmas post last year, I reflected on how I decorate the tree. Again this year, I had a pretty easy time with the lights and was excited to use all 4 sections, though I made the EXACT SAME mistake when putting it up! (I missed a section and had to take it apart and start over). I enjoyed hanging all the meaningful ornaments and the memories they hold. The boat ornaments made me sad but happy at the same time (we'll get another one one day!).

Here are the new ornaments from this year: New Home 2009 (from my parents)
Mom To Be (from my aunts)
Snowmen making Sugar Cookies -- I got this one last year since cookies are my favorite thing to bake!

Hot Wheels aka "As Close to Darda as I Could Find" that I got for Ryan, Kevin and Eric after Christmas last year.

First Purchase

Today I made my first purchase for the little one. My first moment of parenting weakness I guess. One day I'm threatening to ground him or her (which the sentence should be increased by a couple of years but I won't go into that tonight) and two days later I'm buying him/her something frivilous.

Anyway, I was at Target buying some Angel Tree Gifts when I saw these cute Paul Frank onesies in the baby section. I haven't been buying anything since we don't know the sex yet so I was just looking at how cute the selections were since I love the little monkey.

And then, to my surprise and delight, I noticed a small little detail that made the outfit IRRESISTIBLE.

Do you see it? There is no way I could leave without one of these. I picked the most unisex one I could find, in the biggest size for next year use. I hope it fits!

And with that, I think we officially have a nickname for the nameless little guy (or girl)!

I'M IN LOVE WITH...

MY OVEN!

It's so pretty and big and roomy and has all kinds of fancy features and I don't have to bend over to use it and there are TWO of them!!!

And tonight, it made me so pathetically happy when I fit all 24 cupcakes on the middle rack. I'm talking so happy that I got my camera and took a picture! Ahhh, I'm in love.

Swing

I've always wanted a front porch with a swing, and now I have one! My parents bought us the swing as a housewarming gift and it was delivered Monday. Ryan managed to hang it all by himself and it looks fantastic!!!

Now all we need is some neighbors so I can be the nosey lady that sits on her front porch and spies on everyone!

Grounded!

I'm using this post as reference material for later in this baby's life.

Dear Nameless Kid Growing Inside of Me,
As of yesterday, 12/7/2009, you are officially grounded until you are 16. If you continue to make me spend any more time with my head in the toilet, you will get more years added to your sentence.
Love,
Your Mother

:)

Sigh... its been over 2 weeks and I thought I was in the clear. I guess I'll be one of those that has it happen off and on for the duration so I should just get used to it already and stop complaining!

In other news... I'm trying to eat more (I just had a WHOLE potato from Jason's Deli) and eat better and get the extra nutrients like protein, calcium, etc. I just I'm still not into eating lots of meat (which is a weird lifestyle for me) so I've tried to eat protein bars as snacks. Yuck, why do people CHOOSE to eat those things. Bleck. I think the eating "more" part is going to be fun but the eating "better" part is going to be hard.

First Christmas in Woodforest!

This year I've had a lot of trouble figuring out where all my Christmas decorations should go. And even after putting up the tree, decorating the mantle, draping garland on the stair handrails and putting Christmas colored place mats and napkins on the table, the house just doesn't feel as "Christmasy" as the old house did. I guess this is another one of the fun parts of having more space... gradually getting things to fill it all up.

We ran into the same problem outside. We have all these lights... icicles and nets... and no place to put them. Okay, we COULD line our whole house but just the peaks on our one story freaked us out in prior years. There is NO WAY either one of us are attempting the peaks on this house! None of our plants are big enough for net lights. But, we made it work and it turned out nice.

A few icicles on the porch and some lights up the columns (I've always wanted to do that). Frosty and the lighted trees are in the yard and this year they have snow around them (net lights!). The lights that normally string together the candy canes were on their last leg last year and we were too lazy and cheap to redo them this year so its just candy canes for now.

Another challenge was the front door. Our doors are tall and we have the wrought iron over the top glass panel. How do you hang a wreath without putting a nail in the door? I got creative and used some fishing wire to hang it from the wrought iron.

I opted for a more "natural" look to the wreath this year and left the bow off. I think I like it this way best.

I'm happy with the finished product of the outside decor. And to be honest... I think we have a great shot of winning "Best House" on our street! Ha! :)

16 weeks

We saw the doctor again today. No ultrasound :( so this baby's gender is still a mystery. We did ask if we could come back sooner than 4 weeks to find out the gender before Christmas and the doctor complied. We go back in 3 weeks, December 22 for the "Big Ultrasound".

Heartbeat was strong. I weighed in a couple of pounds LIGHTER than last time, with my tall boots on. I guess I should be happy about this but its weird to think a I have another life inside of me and I'm LOSING weight. The doctor assured me this was fine, the baby is taking everything it can from me (signs of the future???) and that as long as I'm eating better now (which I am) that I will start gaining weight soon.