Updates and Pictures!

            I feel like I am behind on blogging right now, with so much fun baby stuff going on right now!  Of course you all saw that we had our ultrasound last week where we found out we are having a boy!  We couldn’t be more excited.  I really thought up until the moment we found out that I wanted a girl but honestly the minute the tech told us boy, I had tears in my eyes and was so happy I thought I’d just explode from the joy.  It just feels so right.  And all along we’ve felt really strongly about the name Jude and kept changing our minds about our girl names.  Here are some of the ultrasound pictures for you. 

First one, the junk shot proving his boy-ness:

I think that in this one he looks like he is flashing gang signs and is getting ready to party:

 

Face shot.  We couldn’t get any profile shots because of how he was laying.  The tech poked S quite a bit trying to get him to move into another position, but he didn’t want to.

And look at that perfect spine and head!

All in all, the tech didn’t find any problems what so ever and he is progressing along nicely.  Of course, the bigger Jude gets, the bigger S’s belly gets!  Here is her 20th week bump shot. 

Now that we know it’s a boy, it feels like we really have the go ahead to start putting this nursery together.  S and I put together the crib the other day.  It was much harder than I thought it would be, and easier than S thought it would be.  Either way it was time consuming, it took us about 1 ½ hours to put together.  I think it was the attached changing table that really made it take forever.  We got a sheet for it and I’m going to be making a crib skirt soon.  We’ve decided against crib bumpers for the safety reasons, plus no point in registering for a big expensive crib bedding set when all we really need is the sheets.  I think it looks pretty cute so far.  Here is it:

I also made curtains for the room.  The pattern is different colored dinosaurs if you couldn’t tell from the picture.  I think I’m going to use the same material to make the crib skirt so it all matches some.  Here is a shot of the curtains:

It’s all coming together and it’s looking so cute that I can’t help but go in there at least once a day to look around and smile.  It’s a really happy, peaceful room so far I think. 

Next up on the agenda is getting registered.  We are going to be doing that next week once we get back from a little mini vacation to the coast.  I asked on Facebook and got a lot of great information, so I’ll ask you folks as well, any advise on what to register for?  Specifically, if you already have kiddos, anything you ended up really loving or anything you got and hated and never used?  

-Liz

It’s a...

BOY!!  Little baby Jude is moving around and being stubborn in there.   I wonder where he gets that from?  He would not help out the technician by turning over.  He is hanging out facing down with his head at the bottom.  He is laying on his belly in there.  How weird!

 What an exciting day!  Not only did we did we find out about Jude, but it also rained today (it has officially been 70 days over 100 degrees here, so it was awesome to get some rain!)  and, the Ellen show is the Mother’s Day show where the whole audience is preggie.

We put the crib together last night and so we bought one crib sheet and one little outfit today.  Liz will post pics for you guys in a few days.  We bought some dinosaur material to make curtains out of.  We are just overjoyed.  Little Jude is looking about 19 weeks and 2 days and is only halfway thru the 18th week, so he is growing big.  I still don’t look preggie to the general public, but to people that I know, I am starting to show on a regular basis.

We are just so happy to know it is a boy.  We would have been really happy with either, but it is just really nice to know.
-S

One BIG Crib

Our crib is here!  Now that we have the crib, things are starting to feel real.  It struck me last night when I was picking it up, hey, we are actually going to have a baby to stick in that thing, and pretty soon at that.  Wow, still blows my mind.   

Picking up the crib yesterday was quite the ordeal.  We ordered it from Walmart and did the ship to store thing so that we wouldn’t have to pay for shipping.  Yesterday I got the email that everything was in and so I went after work to get it.  S was working till 11 last night so I couldn’t really wait for her.  I got there and the crib was in two really big boxes.  They had to call someone to help me out with them because they were on this big dolly and I obviously wasn’t going to be able to put them in my car by myself.   

Fast forward to twenty minutes later (Walmart is always so slow) and we were loading them into my car.  I drive a small, compact car with a hatchback, and figured with the seats down, surely the boxes would fit.  Wrong.  One of the two boxes was about 2 inches too long to fit into my car and close the hatch no matter how I moved the seats around.  At this time, it’s 9:00 on a Monday night and S was still at work and I couldn’t get a hold of my BFF, and I just couldn’t come up with any solutions other than to just wedge the boxes in as best I could and drive really slowly home (I tried to tie them up with a zebra scarf I had in the car, but that didn’t work).

Luckily we live about 1-2 miles away from Walmart, so it wasn’t a long drive.  But I was freaking out that the boxes would slide out of my car, not only messing up the crib but also causing a car accident.  I put my hazard lights on and drove slowly home.  Somehow, I made it home with both boxes intact and inside of my car.   

Once I got home, I realized that I had to figure out a way to get these out of my car.  Because I couldn’t close the hatch, I couldn’t just leave them where anyone could steal them, plus it would have killed my battery to leave the hatch open for three hours while I waited for S to get home.  So I got crazy and slid the boxes out of my car on my own, which was no easy feat, as they are like I said, big boxes that weighed at least 40-50 lbs each.  And then I somehow carried them to the front porch where I left them so that S could help me move them the rest of the way when she got home.   

An hour later, I started thinking, these are too heavy for her to move and I don’t want her to strain herself moving them, so I gathered up my strength again and somehow by the grace of God, moved them into the nursery.  Now they await being put together, which I will hopefully do tonight.     

Yesterday we also got a package from our dear old roomie who is now living in the UK.  She sent us the cutest onesie, which we realized is the first piece of baby clothing we have gotten.  One of S’s coworkers also got us this really cute monkey toy to clip onto the side of the crib, which I will do once it is put together.   It’s what is on top of the boxes to give you some perspective of the size of the boxes.
-Liz 

EXPLOSION #1! (and hopefully the last)

Okay preggie hormones, here we go.  I had an EXPLOSION yesterday.  We were in the car, driving to swim at a friends house and I was in stop and go traffic on I-35 (per usual) and I lost it.  I whipped the car around and drove back home.  We were on the road for an hour in what should have been a 25 minute drive and I LOST MY MIND!!  I was so livid…red faced, breathing fire.  I get home and tear into Liz.  She is confused and hurt and unsure of what to do and I am screaming at the top of my lungs.  What was I upset about….nothing really, but I was beyond reason and beyond upset.  WHOA!  That was intense for me and I was the one doing it.  I eventually calmed down a little and we went to the movies.  We saw Crazy Stupid Love and it was really cute.

My poor wife.  I cannot believe I acted like such a crazy, raged, lunatic.  We have been together for 9 years now and we hardly ever fight.  This was not even a fight, it was just me yelling at her for no good reason.  (side note-  sorry baby, you are amazing and wonderful and beautiful and I love you so much!  I don’t know who was yelling at you yesterday, but I will kick her butt!!!!)

Neways..emotions sometimes get overwhelming for me in my preggie state.  It is not only anger, I have also been intensely sad for a few hours and happy as all get out.  It is quite strange.  In the moment, it is like a roller coaster and you cannot filter or think straight, just pouring of emotion.

On another note, I think I have a craving:  Broccoli cheese soup.  Yup, this lactose intolerant girl cannot get enough!  I love it!!  I think Liz is going to make me some homemade so I can quit stalking restaurants for their soup.  She also made a delicious roast with parsnip mashed potatoes and Yorkshire pudding with gravy last night….yum.  Can you tell I am preggie and food is always on my mind:)

Here is to hoping for calmer mood swings….
-S  

Pretty Young Thing

It seems like things are finally starting to get moving and a shaking with this whole having a baby deal.  The crib/changing table combo and crib mattress are picked out, ordered, and on their way to the house.  The nursery walls are painted (though I need to get some touch up paint to fix where I scratched them last night moving furniture out of the room, erg!), and thanks to one of my wonderful BFFs, last night we got the base boards painted and are finishing doing the rest of the trim tonight.  On Wednesday we are having the carpets cleaned (yay for not having to do it myself!), and we are hoping over Labor Day weekend to get our registry together because by then we will know if the baby is a little bean or a little beanette.  Of course there is still plenty left to do, but now it feels like we are almost half way done now that most of the big projects will be done soon. I can’t wait for the whole thing to come together.  And thank goodness for my friend Rex for helping with painting the trim.  I quickly realized that I am terrible at painting trim.  I’m hoping that it will be a bit better tonight doing around the window and doors.  Also, the people who lived in this house before us painted the trim green.  I cannot even begin to say how stupid looking green trim is.  It’s so nice to have it be a pretty glossy white. 

Poor S is still not having a fun time being pregnant.  She hasn’t been feeling very good the last few days and last night she got really sick, which was the first time since we were in Mexico, so she has been doing better, but not great.  This morning her eye lids look a bit funny and I think it’s from how hard she was throwing up yesterday.  Boo.  But, her belly is getting really nice and round and I just couldn’t love it more.  She just looks so dang cute!

This week according to all of our this is what your baby is up to websites, the baby can now hear what is going on outside of the womb.  So it can hear us talking, loud noises, music, you name it.  Also, on the In The Womb documentary it said that babies in the womb can hear music and if they hear the same song often enough they will be able to recognize it even after they are born, which is too cool.  So that said, I’m starting to make Baby’s first Mix CD.  Any suggestions for songs?  I’ve gotten a few funny suggestions so far like Michael Jackson’s PYT. 

-Liz

17th Week Bump Picture!

Here is this weeks bump pic, as promised:

Isn't it looking awesome?  I'm guessing in just one or two more weeks she will look pregnant enough that people who don't know her will realize she is pregnant!

-Liz

Doctor's Appointment and Updates

S had a doctor’s appointment yesterday.  Everything looks good.  She is gaining the right amount of weight, isn’t having any problems, and is doing great!  She is still having a few bad days here and there being nauseous, but hasn’t thrown up since we were in Mexico.  We also got to hear the baby’s heart beat (strong and in the 150s).  When they were looking for the heartbeat they found S’s heart beat first and we were both worried, thinking oh no! Why is the heart beat so slow!  But, nothing to fear.  And everyday she is looking more and more pregnant.  We’ll post a belly shot tomorrow I think.

We have been so jealous of all of the other January 2012 baby mommas finding out the sex of their baby already that we seriously looked into going to a 3D ultra sound yesterday.  But the one we liked the best said that they could start doing the gender stuff at 17 weeks, and S is just a day or two shy of that.  But I’m glad we didn’t do it, because we asked at our appointment how many ultrasounds we had after the anatomy scan on the 25^th and they said, to our surprise, none!  So unless there is some sort of problem/complication with S before delivery, they won’t do another one the entire rest of her pregnancy!  I could have cried I was so sad to hear that we wouldn’t get to see the baby for almost 4 full months.  That means that I’m really glad we didn’t run out and pay for an ultrasound yesterday because we will for sure want to do that in a month or two to check on the little bambino/a!  But it is killing me, not knowing.  I’m starting to think that the baby is a boy right now.  I don’t really know why, but that is what I have been feeling, though S still thinks girl.  Hopefully we will find out either way on August 25^th!

In other news, we ordered our crib!  I’m so excited for it.  In the end, even though we liked the Ikea cribs and my brother even offered to build us a crib (he worked as a carpenter/furniture builder for a few years), we went with the Graco Lauren crib.  We ended up getting the one that had the changing table attached.  I was originally going to use a dresser that I am painting for the nursery as a changing table but a few people have commented that the dresser is pretty low, so in order to save our backs, we went with the changing table.  It should be here by the 24^th, so that week is going to be really baby filled!  Now all we need to do before the crib gets here is steam clean the carpet and hopefully paint the trim.  I can’t wait for it all to come together.  I started a new painting last night to hang in the nursery, I think it’s going to be really pretty once it’d done.

Happy Friday!

-Liz

Baby movement??

I think I have started feeling the baby move some.  It started when I was in Mexico.  Sometimes it feels like flutters and sometimes it is one swift hi-ya kick.  It never lasts very long or repeats itself around the same time I felt the first one.  Since I have never been preggie before, it is hard to tell, but I know my body well enough to know it is not my usual inside workings moving around.  Everyone says that when you feel the baby move for the first time, you will know, but I have not had the feeling yet of, oh my that was for sure the baby.  I was listening to techno on my way home last night and don’t think the baby is fond of it.  Either that or it is really fond of it.  It felt like it was moving around.  It also tends to move around quite a bit when I am laying down to go to bed.  I have a feeling that this baby is going to rock and roll all night while I am trying to sleep once I start feeling it on a regular basis.  I am excited to feel it move on a regular basis in the next month.

This week is week 17…the baby is growing TONS in the next few weeks.  I am excited to start really showing.  I think by week 20 there will be no doubts I am truly preggie, but we will see.  Right now, I am just extra padded in the middle:)

We have a Drs. apt. on Thurs.  No sonogram in this one.  Our big sonogram is on Aug. 25th.  This is the one where they measure the organs and such.  Or, as Liz likes to call it, “the one we find out the sex of the baby”.  Yesterday when I was blowing out my candles (we had a small b-day gathering for me)  Liz said, “wish for a girl!”  I did not wish for a girl…I am happy to be carrying either:)  I keep teasing Liz that I am going to find out the gender without her so that I don’t have to see her disappointment when they say, “it’s a boy!” at the next sonogram.  She better practice her happy face just in case:)

I am feeling sick on a regular basis again.  It depends on the day.  Yesterday I felt okay.  The day before I was nauseous all day long.  I was hoping it would go away completely, but no such luck yet.  I may be one of those women who is a little sick thru the whole pregnancy.  Yuck!

I feel like the worse pregnant woman ever.  People keep asking me if I am enjoying being pregnant and I  keep saying, “not really”.  Right now, I don’t know if I am feeling the baby move and mostly I just feel sick.  Not the most enjoyable thing ever.  Totally worth it for my little bundle of joy, but honestly, I can’t say it is all that enjoyable.  I enjoy watching my tummy and my baby grow.  I enjoy getting stuff for the baby and planning the nursery.  I am looking forward to all the love this little baby is going to get from not only us, but everyone around them, when he/she gets here.  I am dying to feel the baby move around on a regular basis and know that is what is happening.  But, right now, being sick is the main thing telling me I am preggie.  I feel kinda jipped at this point.  I wanted to be pregnant for over a decade.  I thought it would be this amazing experience where I would feel great and glow and dance around happily with my preggie tummy.  I am still waiting on that part:)  Right now, I am tired of puking and gagging and feeling exhausted all the time.  I am tired of my feet swelling from standing on them 9 hours a day.  I want to truly look pregnant instead of just looking fat.  Oh well, all in due time.  I think I will feel different once I feel the baby moving around and when baby Jude or Lily is born, I will look back on all of this and go, “it was great!”  and not remember a second of feeling sick:)

Here’s hoping the baby starts jumping around soon:)
-S

Mexico!

     Holla!  We are back from our wonderful and much needed Mexican vacation.  We went with my family, which included S and I, my mom and step-dad, my brother and his wife, and my youngest brother.  We had way to much fun.  We stayed in a really nice all inclusive resort right outside of Playa Del Carmen.  All we did was drink (not S though, don’t worry), eat, and float in some sort of water.  Paradise.  Luckily for S, she felt pretty good I’d say about 75% of the time we were there and didn’t get sick on the plane.  She did get sick on her 30th birthday though, which was Sunday.  Boo.

     While we were there, S thinks that she felt the baby move.  She thinks that she has been feeling it a bit for the past week now, but its just little pings here and there and a few flutters.  She doesn’t seem too look very pregnant yet, which I know is frustrating her, she wants to look pregnant now!  But she will be getting there soon, I think.

     On the way back into the US, we got our carry on bags searched in customs.  The guy searching S’s bag found all of her snacks (she was worried about times between meals at the resort and brought a ton of stuff to hold her over, which ended up being a good thing) and saw that she had a bunch of peanut butter crackers and asked if he could have a pack, “for security purposes”.  Too funny.  Of course she gave them to him.

  Not a lot of other fun stories to tell, we mostly relaxed while in Mexico.  I’ll leave with you with a few pictures.

My feet and the beach

More of the beach

 So pretty

Our feet in the sand

Here is the 16th week bump!

Jealous?
-Liz