Christmas 2011

This last week has been a bit crazy. Our Christmas celebrations began the Monday before Christmas with my annual dinner with my girlfriends. It was a great night, and since most of us have little ones, or little ones on the way, it was filled with adorable little outfits, headbands, and bows. I've said this before, but I cannot believe I was possibly ever disappointed that this babe was a girl. The baby girl things are so cute I can't stand it! Tue night John had his friends over, and let's just say that that night prepared me for what taking care of a newborn will be like. I was up and down all night trying to quiet them down. Wed was a bit of an unexpected adventure. John and I were both pretty exhausted from the night before, and I couldn't wait to get home from work and go to bed. Well, instead of napping on the couch, we got to head to St Jude Labor and Delivery for a practice round. I had some bleeding and was admitted to L&D where we spent the next 5 hours. Everything with baby was perfectly fine, but I was given the orders to be on light bed rest due to the bleeding and some contractions that I was having while in L&D. This meant that we had to cancel our plans to go to the Mission Inn for dinner/Christmas lights the next evening, which was really disappointing-especially since I made those damn dinner reservations in September. Next year, I suppose...we also had to cancel our Yosemite trip planned for this week. We don't want to chance anything by being too far away from the hospital.

On Christmas Eve, John and I relaxed around the house and watched x-mas movies. We exchange our gifts on xmas eve since xmas day is pretty jammed packed. I have to say I was quite spoiled. My main gift was having stones added to my wedding band. It's driven me crazy that when my wedding band turns, the plain band shows and not the stones (petty, I know!), so John took it back to our jeweler and had the diamonds completed around the band. I love it and am one lucky lady. In addition to that, I got a few outfits (that I can't wait to fit into, post baby) and some funny stocking stuffers. X-mas morning was spent at the inlaws. We had breakfast and did a gift exchange, then headed to my parents for presents and dinner prep. I wasn't much help since I was couch-bound, but it was a nice relaxing day. That evening, John's fam joined us for Christmas dinner, and as usual, we stuffed ourselves to the brim with delicious turkey, ham, stuffing, potatoes, and more. Baby fared quite well this Christmas. She got more gifts than anyone and she's not even here yet.

Here's a look at some of the loot from x-mas day:

New Front Loaders! Aren't they glorious?! Our washer/dryer was about 15 years old and on its way out. We would have to dry our clothes for 2-3 dry cycles just to get them damp. Needless to say, with all the laundry in our future, it was time to upgrade. Thanks Mom and Dad!!

New goose down comforter!

Uggs for the whole fam! It's not Christmas day without a new pair of Uggs, and this time, we all got a piece of the action.

Mama's Uggs:

Dad's Uggs:

Baby's Uggs:

Funny story about babe's uggs. We actually got two of the exact same pairs, one from each grandma. But, one grandma did her holiday shopping much earlier than the other. 5 years earlier to be exact. Every Easter, the Hall's have an egg hunt. My MIL and FIL hide plastic eggs all over the house. Some eggs are filled with candy, some with $1 bills, some with $5, some with $10, $20, and the "Big Kahuna" egg has a whopping 100 smacks for the lucky person who finds it. The hunt gets very competitive, and the hiding places are pretty extreme. One year J found it taped to the underside of the toilet tank lid. Anyway, while searching for the Big Kahuna on Easter Sunday about 5 years ago, John and I stumbled upon a little box. Inside the little box was an infant pair of pink Ugg boots. When John asked his mom why she had a pair of baby Uggs in the closet, she answered that Nordstrom delivered them to her mistakenly and she needed to return them. John joked with me later on that she probably bought them for her future grandkid, but I thought that was crazy since none of us were going to be getting married any time soon, let alone having babies. Well, sure enough, on Christmas morning we opened a familiar package. My MIL admitted that she bought those for her first girl grandchild, and had to wait 5 years to be able to gift them. Talk about getting xmas shopping done early! So, now this little girl has not only 1, but two pairs of uggs waiting for her little feet to grow into.

And speaking of Baby Girl, here are some recent pics taken @ 31 weeks exactly. Only 9 weeks to go (plus or minus a few)! I had a doc appt yesterday, and they scheduled the rest of my visits up through my due date. I only have 6 more appts until D-Day. Craziness!!

2 Down, 1 To Go!

How far along?: 28 Weeks-3rd Trimester Baby!

Total Weight Gain/Loss: +9 lbs. Waaaaa, but I suppose it could be worse

Maternity Clothes?: Yep. And the ones I bought are gettin' tight. Eeek.

Sleep: So/So. I toss, turn, and kick throughout the night, making these last few weeks of getting sleep pretty darn hard for my hub. Sorry about that.

Best moment this week: Finishing the nursery (well, almost)! The crib, which was supposed to take another 4-5 wks to arrive came in over the weekend. I was able to set up the bedding and see the whole room come together. I just have to hang her letters and the room's ready!

Food Cravings: Still have yet to experience a real craving. In fact, I haven't experienced many pregnancy symptoms except for all that sickness earlier on. No weird cravings, no meltdowns or moments of hormonal insanity (I verified this with John, who is always honest when it comes to these things). I feel like a larger, more puffy version of myself. I guess mother nature decided to throw me (and my husband) a bone after making me puke my guts out for four straight months.

Gender: Still a girl-reconfirmed this at my 4D U/S = )

Labor Signs: Around 24-25 wks, I started noticing Braxton Hicks contractions. I wasn't sure what was going on at first, but my entire stomach would completely harden for a few seconds, then relax. There's no pain, and they haven't ever been consistent. Just my body warmin' up!

Belly Button in or out?: Yeah....it's out. Gross.

What I miss: Sleeping on my stomach, and my old clothes. No matter how cute they can be, maternity clothes just aren't the same. I miss my normal size jeans and my size small tops! I've graduated to wearing John's old shirts to bed b/c none of my oversized pj tops fit anymore.

What I am looking forward to: Hopefully seeing this babe's face during attempt # 2 of the 4D ultrasound.

Milestone: Moving on to every other week doc appts! Crazy how fast this has gone by!

Nursery Part 2

This weekend was very productive in the baby department. On Friday night, as we were on our way to get our Christmas tree, we got a call that our crib was in and ready for pick up. I was happy because I ordered it last week and it was supposed to take 4-6 weeks to arrive. So, on Sat am, we headed out to pick it up. The boys did some final touch up on the room, and then assembled the crib. I couldn't wait to see what it looked like with the bedding. I love how the room has turned out so far. The only things left to do are hang the wall letters and pick up the window seat cushion cover (once it's ready), oh and bring a baby home to use all this new stuff...Phew!


Setting up




Crib in all it's glory!


Glider





Bedding details


Inside


Dresser

DIY Wall Letters

With the nursery almost complete, the one thing I needed to figure out was the wall letters. I had a general idea of what I wanted, and I was going to order them on Etsy. I found a bunch that I loved, but they are pricey-especially since this girl's name is going to have 7 letters. For the style I liked, the average price was about $150.00 + shipping. Considering what we've already spent on this kid's room, I decided to google some tutorials and see if I could pull off making them myself. I was skeptical-even after 4 years in sorority spent amongst the craftiest of ladies, I have never been remotely crafty. But to my surprise, they didn't look too complicated at all. The letters I had in mind were a combination of this

and this

I like the idea of a square background, but I also liked the look of the design on the letters instead of just paint, so I decided to combine both.

A few weeks back, I headed to Michael's to gather the supplies:

Scrapbook Paper

Plywood squares (which had to be cut down from 12x12 to 7.5x7.5)

Wooden Letters

Paint (black for the edges of the plywood squares, and light pink for the edges of the letters)

Mod Podge

Exacto knife

After the wood was cut, I used the mod podge to stick the paper on the squares. Once it dried, I cut the paper down to size, then used another layer of mod podge over the paper.

I used two alternating black and white designs for the backing. I wanted it to stand out against the pink walls.

Next, I painted all of the letters. The letters I ended up going with had multiple edges. Since I was only going to use scrapbook paper on the top "layer" of the letter, I needed to paint them so the wood wouldn't show.

Painted (the flash made them look white, but they are pink)


Next was the tricky part-covering the letters w/ scrapbook paper and exacto'ing around the edges. A little time consuming, but they turned out cute! I did, however, start to regret using so many letters to spell her name...

And here they are on the wood squares. I just need to physically attach the letters to the sqaures and then hang them on the wall, but that requires another trip to Michael's.

Close up of the first pattern combo

And a close up of the other pattern combo

Depending on how they look once they are attached, I may add some embellishments. They already have a lot going on with the two patterns, but I will figure that out and then post the finished product once they are hung.

Final Countdown

As of this week I am officially in the third trimester. I can't believe how quickly this has gone by! I bought some sour cream this week that will still be good once the baby comes. That's scary people! It's going to be here before I know it. I've reached an unsettling point where I am literally getting bigger every day. All those weeks I went without showing are making up for themselves now. Needless to say, I am slathering myself in stretch mark cream like crazy in an attempt to hopefully stear clear of them. Hopefully my tactic works.
Starting this week my doc appts are increased to every other week. The Panera in the St Jude parking lot better get used to my face since that's where I go every appt to validate my parking. I also had my glucose test this week, which wasn't so bad. Poor John went with me to keep me company, and we were both highly entertained by the other clientele in Quest Labs. What is it about the DMV, Social Security Office, and apparently diagnostic Labs that attract the weirdest people? Don't normal people need to renew their driver's license pics or get their blood drawn? Where do they go to do it?
All in all, I'm still feeling pretty good. I'm tired by the end of the day, and I tend to fall asleep pretty early, and I can't quite get comfortable at night, but I'm still feeling good. For now.

Thanksgiving Weekend

We had a glorious long weekend (4.5 days to be exact), and I can't believe that Thanksgiving is already over! Our weekend began at noon on Wed when I got off work and headed out to my 4D ultrasound with my mama. I was looking forward to seeing this little girl's face, and to hopefully ease my fear that she doesn't have the Konrad "butt chin" going on. Alas, the little babe had other plans, and she spent the entire 45 min ultrasound completely facing away from sight. In fact, the tech couldn't believe that she was in such a funky, uncomfortable looking position this late into the pregnancy. Despite all the OJ I chugged, and despite all the shaking and jiggling the tech gave my belly, she hardly flinched during the entire ultrasound. At one point, she turned her head towards the screen but immediately stuck her hand over her face like a movie star trying to block out the paparazzi. Little diva already I guess. We will try again in a couple of weeks. Hopefully she'll have moved positions by then. If not, I guess I'll just have to be patient and check out her good looks in person.

After the U/S debacle, we headed home to a house full of girls for a night of pre-TDay bakin'. It was such a fun night, and we ended up with enough desserts to feed a small army. The final count was:

-4 Apple Pies

-6 Pumpkin Cheesecakes

-3 Pumpkin Cobbler Crumbles

-3 Batches of Choc Chip Cookies

Needless to say, no one starved come Thanksgiving Day. And, the desserts were a major success, even if I was too full to actually eat any of them post T-Day dinner.

Here's some of our loot:

On Thursday, we got up bright and early and headed to my parent's house. My mom and I started cookin' the goods, and the boys got to catch the am football games. John was so excited because this was the first year since I've known him that he was actually able to relax and watch football on Thanksgiving. We typically do Thanksgiving at his grandparent's house, and no one there ever puts the games on. After a day of cooking (and snacking), my inlaws came over for dinner. We had a great night of feasting, and I pretty much felt like I was going to explode afterwards. There is so much less room in my stomach now-the baby feels the need to hog all my turkey and stuffing space, so my one plate sent me into Monty Python "One Thin Mint" territory, and I couldn't even muster enough space to attempt dessert. Oh well, thank goodness for leftovers.

My mom, grandma, and I working away in the kitchen

John catching some football. I teased him that he looked like a little boy standing right in front of the TV watching his fav cartoon. I think he was that excited to be watching the game.

Me, John, Baby, and John's Mustache (Only one more day left of "Movember" Thank God!)


I had to take a bump shot b/c my fam overseas wanted to see it. Am I the only one who feels super awkward taking these?

On Friday (wow, we still have 3 more days off?!), John and I sat around like sloths until we slowly emerged from our respective food comas. We relaxed, watched a Lord of the Rings marathon, and napped (and downed some leftovers throughout the day). By Saturday, we were sick of T-Day food, so we headed to Irvine to one of our fav burger places, The Counter. We met up with our friends for lunch and then headed to Bergstrom's to pick up some of the nursery furniture that had arrived. The baby's room now features a beautiful dresser/changing table and hutch. I love it and can't wait for the rest of the goods to arrive so I can see the whole thing put together.

Sunday was another lazy day. Football and the rest of LOTR marathon-a perfect way to end our looong weekend. Now the countdown is on for Christmas. We are getting our tree this week, and all of our awesome decorations will emerge from our garage. LOVE this time of year!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I couldn't be more excited about this 4.5 day weekend! The Thanksgiving festivities start tonight, when my friends and I are getting together to do some pre-Turkey Day cookin'! We decided that we will all make our fav Thanksgiving treat together, then split up the goods and take to our respective T-Day gatherings. On the menu so far is (thank you Pinterest):

-Pumpkin Cheesecake
-{Supposedly} The World's Best Chocolate Chip Cookies
-Heroes Apple Crisp (my friend apparently reversed engineered this recipe and I can't wait to try it!)
-My Mother-in-Law's Famous Apple Pie that I am attempting this year

We are definitely not going to be lacking in the dessert department this Thanksgiving! Before we meet up for our baking session, I am headed out to get a glimpse of Baby Girl in 4D. John has opted out of this appointment because he finds the 4D thing a bit disturbing and would rather wait to see his kiddo in real life when she looks less like a "smashed pumpkin face". So, this means that my mama will be joining me. I'm excited to see what her little features look like, even if it is a tad creepy.

We plan to spend actual Turkey Day watching football, cooking, and eating, like any 0ther good American family. John's family is coming over to my parent's house for dinner, so we'll have lots of people to eat up these desserts so I'm not stuck taking them home and feasting on them for the next 4 days.

Our dresser/changing table/hutch is in stock, so we plan on picking that up at some point this weekend, once our food coma wears off. I'll post pics once that is set up.

Hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving!!

Nursery: Part 1

This past weekend we tackled the nursery. It was a joint effort between my dad, my Father in Law, and John, and those guys are pros because they got the whole thing mostly finished in less than 24 hours-and that included shopping for all of the supplies plus all of the tools we needed. There's some minor touch up left to do, but the hard stuff is done.

Here are some before pics of the room once it was cleared of all the bedroom furniture:









Here comes the PINK!



After:








We opted for a light pink on the top half of the walls and wainscoting on the bottom half. The pink was color matched to the pale pink accents in the bedding, which I also picked up this weekend. The walls are pretty pink, but overall I love how it turned out. The pink will be toned down with black furniture, which we expect in a couple of weeks. I can't wait to see it all come together!

Sneak Peak of the bedding-Large damask print bumper, with minky dot pink on the interior & coordinating damask, pink, and polka dot bed skirt-courtesy of The Baby Guy. Prettttty!


Oh, and this glider and matching ottoman has been ordered and is on it's way!

23.5 Weeks

In just a few short days, I will hit the 6 month mark! I can't believe I've been pregnant for nearly 1/2 a year. Despite how sick I was and how much I hated being pregnant for those first four months, this really has flown by. I know the next 3.5 months will fly by as well with the holidays approaching.

I am feeling great these days. Sleeping isn't as easy or comfortable as it used to be. I used to sleep like rock (and through my alarm), but now I'm awakened by the smallest thing. I also can't get comfortable. I always slept on my back or stomach, two positions that aren't allowed or possible any more. I kick (literally) my poor husband out of bed almost every night now, and I wake up to find him on the couch. So much for getting our good sleep in now! Although, as long as I am not spending my days/nights with my head in the toilet, I'm a happy camper.

Here's an updated survey:

How far along?: Almost 24 weeks

Total Weight Gain/Loss: + 5 lbs

Maternity Clothes?: Yeah...squeezing into my old jeans is a distance memory, although I have a couple of pairs of stretchy pants I can still wear. Still wearing all my normal tops.

Sleep: so so

Best moment this week: weighing myself and finding out that I am only up 5 lbs from my pre-preg weight after all the sickening Halloween indulgences I've had over the last few weeks. I was scared to step on that scale!

Food Cravings: Thanksgiving food! I can't wait for stuffing, sweet potatoes, and pecan pie!

Gender: Girl

Labor Signs: Nope!

Belly Button in or out?: In, for the moment

What I miss: Cocktails! So far I've been to three weddings, several nights out with friends, and a raging Halloween party, and I miss being able to have a drink or two with my friends. I also miss feeling energetic. I tend to fade around 9pm and I hate how boring I've become!

What I am looking forward to: Getting the house ready.

Weekly Wisdom: Exercise! I haven't been doing it enough, but I feel so good when I go on a long walk (hey, at least it's all uphill!). I have more energy and feel better overall

Milestone: having a healthy pregnancy so far, feeling good and being able to enjoy these last few weeks!

And, here's a recent pic

Nursery

It's getting to be time to start the best part of pregnancy: nursery decorating! Originally I had wanted to do a black, white and teal room. I didn't want anything too girly or pink. I've never been too much of a girly-girl, and didn't want my house to explode with pink because we were having a girl. I found some adorable black and white damask patterns that I was going to incorporate into the room, and teal/turquoise was going to be the accent color. Last weekend my mom and I paid a visit to The Baby Guy and man did he live up to my expectations! He had so much adorable stuff to choose from. I found perfect damask fabric for the crib bedding, but didn't love the teal choices. They all looked too boyish to me, even with a girly damask pattern. J and I talked it over and decided that a little pink wouldn’t kill us. We ended up designing adorable custom bedding-black and white damask bumper, with pink, damask, and polka-dot accents. The bedding I designed is a combo of the two below. It will have pink accents like the picture below. The skirt will look like this one, but reversed. The main pattern will be damask with the smaller trim being polka dot.

And the damask pattern like this pic. The difference is there will be soft pink in place of the blue, and no satin ruffle trim along the border.

I can't wait to see the finished product. It's always been hard for me to picture how designs will turn out without any visuals, but I know this will be adorable. We also plan to to wainscoting 1/2 way up the walls, and paint the top half a soft pink similar to the picture above.

As far as furniture, we know we want black. It will look great with the color scheme, and will work if we have a boy in the future. It's actually pretty hard to find nursery sets in black. Most sets we loved are only offered in white or brown/espresso. We picked some we liked at Bergstrom, but we haven't made any final decisions yet.

We sold all of our guest room furniture, so as soon as that's picked up we can get started. I'll be sure to take before and after pics of the whole process.

Wish us luck!

Week 20-Half Way Baby!

I've made it to the half way point! I feel like this pregnancy is flying by! I am finally feeling wonderful, and I love it. No more sickness or nausea, and my energy levels are back (although I still fall asleep early every night despite my best efforts to keep my hub company). It's been awesome to feel like myself again...I hope this lasts! About two weeks ago, I felt the baby move for the first time. Now I can feel it all day long. It's really cool. I still haven't had any specific cravings, except for Thanksgiving and Christmas food, but that happens to me every year around this time. Here's a little survey with more updates:

How far along?: 20 Weeks!

Total Weight Gain/Loss: None to date...I lost a few pounds in the beginning, and have put one or two of them back on, but I'm still right around my pre-prego weight. I'm sure that will change now that I'm feeling better, tho : /

Maternity Clothes?: Yes! I had to go buy a new pair of pants because most of my jeans are getting too uncomfortable. I tried a paid of maternity jeans on and they were like heaven! I am still wearing all my normal tops for now...

Sleep: Pretty good. I wake up a lot through the night, but that's more to do with my cat jumping on my head and less to do with the bambino.

Best moment this week: NOT throwing up at all! A week is the longest I've made it since I found out I was pregnant, so that is definitely the highlight of my week!

Movement: Yes! I can feel little kicks and punches. I can always feel her right after I eat, and then at night when I'm sitting still on the couch.

Food Cravings: Nothing specific, although I have a real sweet tooth lately. And that's strange for me because I really don't eat sweets. I'm usually a salty and savory kinda gal.

Gender: Still a girl

Labor Signs: Nope!

Belly Button in or out?: In, but it's less deep than it was, which means it's on it's way out...eeek!

What I miss: Sushi, big time. Also, I've missed working out. I've turned into a hibernating slug over the past 5 months, but now that I am feeling better I'm stepping back out into the exercise world!

What I am looking forward to: My "nesting" urge to kick in (see "hibernating slug" above). I am seriously dreading getting the baby's room ready. It's currently our spare room, so that means we have to clear out all the furniture in there and figure out what to do with it. The closet in that room also currently serves as my "overflow" closet, and it's full of excess clothes and other crap that I didn't find a place for when I bought this place about five years ago. Needless to say, it is going to be a project. But I will be happy when we finally bite the bullet and get it done.

Weekly Wisdom: Now that I'm not tossing my cookies all day long, I need to cut out the cookies-literally. I haven't been really worried about weight gain too much since I haven't been able to eat much. It's tough to pack on the pounds when you only keep 1/3 of your meals in your belly. But, now that I'm better I need to start monitoring my intake-especially with the holidays around the corner!

Milestone: Feeling her move, picking out nursery furniture

Week 18

Well, it's no secret that pregnancy has been hard on me. As excited as I am about having my very own mini-me, these past 4.5 months have been rough. Thankfully everything is healthy and progressing nicely, which is awesome. I just wish I was feeling good enough to really enjoy being pregnant! Here are some updates on all things baby:

I'm a little over 18 wks along with this little lady. We had an early ultrasound at 15 weeks to find out the gender, but the hospital confirmed that this is indeed a girl at my anatomy scan this past week. It took the first place we went about an hour and a half to determine that she's a girl since she was being so shy and protective of her privates, but this week was a different story. The tech confirmed gender within about 10 seconds of turning the screen on. Those legs were wide open! She is doing great, and even though she's not letting me eat much or keep much down, she is growing right on track. I, on the other hand, am not growing much yet. I have been taking some pictures of my belly, but feel silly because there is no really belly there yet. I can notice it, especially when I'm in the ol birthday suit, but I could still get away with hiding it if I had to. I have not had any substantial or weird cravings, but I have definitely accrued a list things I CAN'T eat. Meat is on that list. I can barely stomach any kind of meat, and if I can get some down, it has to be drowned in sauce so I can avoid the meaty taste. Funnily enough, I have been loving pickles. I haven't had to send John off for a pickle jar in the middle of the night, but when we go to our local bar, Roscoe's, I always have to indulge in their giant, fresh pickles. Mmmmm

That's about all that's new and exciting in our little world. I've been so bad at taking pics lately, so I'll try to get some up and documented next time!

Survey Says

About You

Name: Tracie
Age: 28
Height: 5'7"

About The Father
Name: John
Age: 28
Height: 6'
Are you still together: Yep, Married 1 year 2 months

About Your Pregnancy
Is this your first pregnancy: Yes
When did you find out you were pregnant: End of June
Was it planned: Ummmmm, nope!
What was your first reaction: Shock, then panic, then excitement
Who was with you when you found out: my cat-haha J was out of town that weekend
Who was the first person you told: Of course John, but the first person other than him and I to know was my BFF Brooke
How did your parents react: They thought we were playing a mean joke on them...once they found out we were serious, they were ecstatic!
How far along are you: 16 Weeks
What was your first symptom: Late
What is your due date: Feb 29th, 2012-a leap year baby!
Do you know the sex of the baby: Yes-Girl!
Have you picked out names: Ryleigh = )
How much weight have you gained: As of right now, I'm down about 5 lbs from pre-pregnancy...all that sickness and all those food aversions!
Do you have stretch marks: No and I'm hoping it stays that way!
Have you felt the baby move: Not yet.
Have you heard the heartbeat:Yes, so cool!

About the birth
Will you keep the baby: Seriously? Only if she's cute ; )
Home or hospital birth: Hospital all the way!
Natural or medicated birth: I want every drug offered.
Who will be in the delivery room with you: Husband
Will you breastfeed: Yep! Great for baby and a great calorie burner!
Do you think you'll need a c-section: No reason to think that yet
Will you cry when you hold the baby for the first time: I don't cry easily...
What's the first thing you might say to him/her: Hi-nice to meet you. Why were you so mean to me for your first four months in utero?!
Would you let someone videotape the birth: Who really wants to see that?
Are you excited about the birth, or scared?: My only real fear is of pooping on the delivery table...it panics me to think about that happening!

God Help Us

Well, much to our surprise, we discovered yesterday that Baby Hall is Baby Girl Hall! Lord help us! We both had boy in our heads-me because I had a feeling and can just picture myself with a house full of boys, and John, well because he really, really, really wanted it to be a boy. At least this little lady will be joining a large posse of girlfriends-all of my friends with little ones have girls, so she will fit right in!

Let the decorating begin!

Leapin' Lizzards!

We had our NT scan this week. This is the scary ultrasound that tells you if you have an increased risk of having a baby with genetic abnormalities. Thankfully, the munchkin looks great and tested negative for everything. We did get our due date moved back to what I had originally calculated before my first ultrasound. Looks like we are scheduled to have a leap year baby! The official due date is Feb 29th, 2012. I know that chances of having a baby on its due date are slim, but it would be a pretty cool birthday...

Here's a glimpse of the little guy or gal looking much more like a person, and much less like a flickering glow worm



Thumb-Sucker Already

And here I am at 14 weeks...where are you baby?? We have proof that you're there, but I hardly show any evidence of it yet!

We get another close up moment next Thu when we have our gender ultrasound. Crossing my fingers that this kid uncrosses it's legs! I'm already saving for the therapy my husband will require if they don't see a penis...eeek!

These Days...

I am finally emerging from the fog that is the first trimester. Good thing, seeings as in just 3 short weeks I'll be headed here



To do lots of this


And this


But unfortunately, none of this…

We booked a trip to Cabo with a group of friends several months ago, before the prospect of a bambino was even on our minds. The only downside to my current "situation" is since this is an all-inclusive resort, the rest of the group will have to drink my share of margaritas since I won't be able to get my money's worth!

Since I've been feeling much better this past week, I decided to drag my lazy butt off the couch and hit the gym last night. My daily work out routine crashed to a halt the minute that extra line showed up. Actually, it was really a few weeks after that when the never ending nausea hit. So, I skipped on over to the gym and was very proud of the 40 min cardio session that I completed. I left the gym sweaty and accomplished, planning on reinstating my gym routine…and then it hit me. I was going to throw up and I needed to get to a bathroom stat. So, there I was, throwing up in the locker room toilet during prime workout hours, with people in the stalls on either side of me. They probably just thought I was some poor, outta shape lady whose first gym session sent her crawling to the toilet. Just when I thought I was over all this nonsense…oh well. I'm going to attempt this again tonight, so finger's crossed history doesn't repeat itself.