Baby Bedding...

So I've mentioned this a couple of times and for some reason keep forgetting to post it. Perhaps I'm scared we jumped too soon, Pumpkin will end up being a girl and we'll have to find new bedding and a new theme for the room. Or perhaps I'm just a procrastinator...whatever! ;)

This bedding had been on my fave list for several weeks prior to our NT Scan at 11 weeks, was on a serious sale (almost 50%) and I was so nervous it was going to sell out before we knew if we were having a li'l boy or a lil' girl. Even the small possibility that Pumpkin is actually a lil' boy was enough to push me over the edge and cause my to buy it! So I did. :) And I love it!

"Charlie" by Serena & Lily.


I've seen it done as a circus theme, but due to Mike's dislike of the circus and fear of clowns, we've decided to go with an untraditional (because of the color) safari theme. Blue walls, white vinyl decals of a large umbrella tree "shading" the crib and animals to match the bedding, red vinyl birds, a giraffe rocking horse (yes, I know it will be awhile before Baby H can use it :)) and a couple of other pics for over the changing table and the glider that will play up the "world travel" and the "animal" theme with a bit more color. I can't wait to start getting it all together. I am waiting to buy any more items until we CONFIRM we're having a boy. ;)

Oh, but I did buy two small stuffed animals. An elephant and a hippo. Both in shades of blue. This is "Piper the Elephant" from JellyCat. He's 15" tall and you can't tell by this pic, but his colors match the bedding and the glider colors PERFECTLY! In fact his navy edging is also microsuede like the chair. So cute!

Happy 2nd Anniversary, Hubby!

So today is our 2nd wedding anniversary! Definitely worth mentioning! :) Two years ago today we were getting married in Santa Fe, NM. It was so much fun! I will never forget that weekend. And then, what a difference a year makes! Last year we weren't able to spend our 1st anniversay together because Mike was in Afghanistan. This year, I have him home safe with me, and Baby H is on the way! Much happier way to celebrate!

So what exciting plans do we have to celebrate, you ask? Cooking together when Mike gets home from work -- this is a fairly normal occurrence but tonight we're making homemade pizza on whole wheat crust (w/ pesto, italian sausage and roasted red peppers - yum!). I sort of feel like we should be eating turkey meatloaf and mac-n-cheese since this is what we ate the night Mike proposed, but pregnancy cravings have gotten the best of me and tonight we're eating pizza. :) Next year...

Just a couple of my favorite wedding pics to mark the anniversary:

14 Week Fun Facts

How far along? 14 weeks!
Total weight gain/loss: +7. I am perfectly happy with this...
Maternity clothes? I had to go buy some longer shirts this weekend. While I had my maxi dresses and mat capris, I realized fairly quickly when trying to dress for dinner with friends on Friday that most of my pre-pregnancy shirts aren't long enough to cover the maternity waist band on the capris. Elastic waist...so not sexy! I bought a couple at Old Navy and a couple more at Target...all good. :)
Stretch marks? Nope.
Sleep: I've been sleeping through the night recently...it's awesome!
Best moment this week: We bought Pumpkin's bedroom furniture! I can't wait for it to arrive in 10-14 weeks.
Movement: Apparently it's started, but I just can't feel it yet. Can't wait.
Food cravings: Same as last week. One major thing: water with lime juice. Yum! I didn't use to like even lemon in my water, and now I can't get enough. And lime!
Gender: Boy. :)
Labor Signs: Um, nope. And hopefully not for another 23+ weeks!
Belly Button in or out? Still in, of course.
What I miss: My summer clothes. Have I mentioned it's been in the 90s the last several days. Wowsers!
What I am looking forward to: Still waiting for my bump (I can really feel my uterus moving up from my pelvic bone now. Slowly getting higher. It's kind of cool to realize it will eventually give me my bump.)Oh, and we have our next doc appt this Saturday at 1pm. Just a normal appt and listening to Baby H on the doppler, but still exciting.
Weekly Wisdom: Patience.
Milestone: Pumpkin apparently has eyebrows this week...I'm hoping they are normal eyebrows and not a unibrow like my grandpa's twin. haha!

14 Weeks...

Think of it this way: You're a third of the way through and baby's a third of the way cooked. Now that the "big stuff" (like skeletal and organ development) is taken care of, your baby starts a period of rapid brain growth, fat buildup and detail work. Highlights this week include:

Your baby now has fingerprints! Book 'em, Danno! Believe it or not, he actually created them himself while swimming around in the amniotic fluid. As he moved his hands, the skin on the tips of his fingers formed unique ridges and folds. That's why no one on earth has the same fingerprints, not even identical twins! Cool, right? Baby's arms are now in proportion to his tiny body, but his legs are still on the short size in comparison.

Meconium, that tar-like, sticky first baby poop, is now loading up your baby's intestines, which means you might want to set aside a bottle of olive oil, one of the few things that will get the gooey poop off of baby's bottom.

Your baby continues to gain new and impressive skills such as practicing and controlling voluntary muscle movements (this will help him fling food across the room later in life). Your tiny dancer's movements are no longer the jerky, uncontrollable twitches of yore—he now moves with graceful control.

Your baby is now weighs about an ounce and is the length of a flip phone, or roughly 3.5 inches—he's tripled in size from a mere three weeks ago! Luckily, you haven't done the same.

*3D Pregnancy

Oh, and I just wanted to add...

we better be having a little boy (2.5 weeks til we know for sure) or this little girl is going to have to just live with the blue, white and red room that her mommy and daddy have dreamt up because I'm in love with the ideas we have for the nursery already!

We'll just make sure everything else in her life (clothes, etc) is girly-girly. ;)

Oh, and here's a better picture of Pumpkin's furniture...

Great Beginnings...

is an awesome baby store in MD. We went today to look at the furniture, gliders and strollers. What an amazing selection! I'd been dreading the drive there but they're the only store in the area with the stoller that I am still considering (discussed in an earlier post), so we decided to make the trek just for the fun of it. And for the glider! We went this early because we'd heard delivery could take as long as 12 weeks for the furniture and gliders, and as it turns out it could be 10-14 weeks. So we ordered everything today. I'd like the nursery to be done by 30 weeks so I'm not trying to do any of the major stuff once I'm nice and big. :)

I know I wrote a whole post several weeks ago now about Young America and the 4 Seasons crib we had liked on our first furniture outing, but we opted away from it after reading some reviews. Despite being one of the largest furniture retailers of children's furniture in the US, it gets some questionable reviews and ratings as you do research. Quality is apparently hit or miss and like so many brands out there, they use particle board in a good part of their construction. After much research, we decided on a brand called Romina out of Romania that does beautiful, high quality work. All forest friendly, 100% Beech solid wood construction, no chemical odors or formaldehides and totally baby safe with every precautionary mechanism you can imagine. Just awesome. We decided fairly quickly on the Karisma line, and we ended up just ordering the convertible crib and the 6 drawer dresser (which will be used as the changing table). Initially we purchased it in Bruno Antico, which was a medium brown/honey color but after some thought I called and changed our order the Espresso (color shown). I'm so excited! Mike typically doesn't like dark woods, but this is just gorgeous and you can see the grain of the wood in it.
This is the crib.
This isn't exactly our 6 drawer dresser, but it's the same heighth and width. Just has two columns of three drawers insead of the center drawers and two cabinets.

We also bought our glider today. After testing out the three brands considered the best on the market (Dutailier, Little Castle and Best Chairs), we very quickly narrowed it down to one of two...a Little Castle and a Best Chair. All of these chairs were upholstered, cushioned gliders/recliners. The two we were choosing between also swiveled. In the end we opted for the Little Castle because it was more comfortable and also has a slightly better quality (accding to the sales lady) than the Best Chair. I have to admit I'd gone in there initially thinking we'd end up with a Dutailier (considered the best of the best), but it just wasn't for us...I guess that proves the point that you really do need to "test drive" everything for yourself before buying it rather than just reading reviews, etc. online. We also bought an ottoman (for when the chair is in the normal gliding position). The ottoman glides too. This is the chair:

Now the fun part...picking out the fabrics. I knew I wanted a contrasting color piping for the chair. Initially I was thinking a dark blue chair with white piping, but somehow we ended up with something just a bit different. Navy microsuede with a sky blue piping. The colors are just beautiful and, upon further inspection when we got home, coordinate with and complement our bedding perfectly. I can't wait for everything to arrive. :)
Navy
Sky

Have I even discussed the bedding in this blog yet? Hmm...I need to check that out. If not, that'll be my next post. All about the bedding, untraditional safari theme and the more than adorable elephant and hippo that I've already purchased (the hippo today) for the baby's room. So soft!

It's late, I'm tired and we have church tomorrow. We spent the afternoon at our friend Scott's BBQ. He just landscaped his backyard, and it's gorgeous! And so relaxing! But, thankfully, we got home just in time because the thunderstorms started as soon as we walked in the house. Yikes!

xoxo
V

Happy 2nd trimester to me! :)

Yay! Well, we're here...13 weeks, 3 days. I thought it would take forever to get here, but it seems to have gone quite fast. And I have a feeling 2nd trimester is going to go very fast, as well, because of visitors (Mike's grandparents and my mom in May) and travel plans (going to Alaska in July with the Husband family and my mom). So...time to get serious about getting ready for baby. :)

In an effort to be proactive, I did go yesterday and volunteer at a consignment sale called "Just Between Friends". It's a sale held nationally for maternity, baby and children's clothes and products. So much stuff! For volunteering for 4 hours, I get an early pre-sale pass to shop before the masses. It was fun, but I don't think I'm going back today to shop. First, it's 45 minutes minimum each way (took just over an hour getting home yesterday in rush hour), and I'd have to be near Dulles at 6pm, which for those of you who don't live in the area would be HORRIBLE due to rush hour traffic. Second, I don't think I want to buy used items for Pumpkin. Does that make me a snob!?! ;) I looked and looked yesterday at all the items in hopes of finding something wonderful (steered away from even looking at things like cribs, strollers, car seats, etc (anything that I think seems just safer to buy new)and clothes (because mom and Tia Carmen think it's not going to be necessary)), but I just wasn't able to find anything worth a minimum 45 minute drive (each way). Even the well-loved and taken care of items were just not what I was wanting for our baby. I think I need shiny and new. Is that wrong? I don't think so. :) So...yesterday was fun, but I'm back to looking online for the best prices and sales on NEW items for this little one. I'm absolutley keeping this sale in mind down the road though for both selling and buying items. They have the sale twice a year.

We're shopping this weekend for Baby H. Time to buy the crib, dresser/changing table and glider. It can take as long as 12 weeks (accding to the woman at the store) for the furniture to arrive, which would have it arriving around 25-26 weeks. Since I want to have the whole nursery done by 30 weeks, just in case, it's perfect timing. :) We're also looking at more strollers this weekend since it turns out we're not as settled as I thought on the Stokke. Need to test drive it ourselves after hearing a few iffy reviews. We'll see.

Score!

Slept through the WHOLE night two nights in a row now...woot woot! :) I love sleep.

Great news...NT Scan results

We got the call from the midwife this afternoon, and thankfully, all is well. Our Down's Syndrome risk is 1 in 9,441, and the trisonomy 18 and 23(?) risk is 1 in 16,461. Yay!

This feels like one more hurdle crossed for this pregnancy.

And Some Day Soon...

I'll have a belly pic. We just got reimbursed for the digital camera yesterday! Yay for getting the check in the mail! I'm buying my new camera this morning, and I will hopefully will have a weekly belly pic starting next week once I'm officially in 2nd tri. Maybe I'll have a belly too! ;)

13 Week Fun Facts

How far along? 13 weeks, 1 day!
Total weight gain/loss: No idea. I'll tell you next week. I am going to the gym as soon as I'm done with this post though. ;)
Maternity clothes? None of my pants are fitting now so I'm permanently in my bella band or maternity jeans/capris. The maternity shorts and khakis I bought are still too big, so I'm not sure what I'm going to do this weekend when we hit 80 degrees. Hmm...
Stretch marks? Nope. But I'm fighting them anyway starting this week with a Burt's Bees Mama Bee Belly Butter that my friend, Jill, bought me for my birthday! So nice!
Sleep: Last night was the 1st night in recent history that I slept through the whole night without getting up to use the restroom in the middle of the night. Huge accomplishment!
Best moment this week: Sleeping through the night is the highlight so far!
Movement: Apparently it's started, but I just can't feel it yet. Can't wait.
Food cravings: Still different every day. Honestly, I don't have much of an appetite recently.
Gender: Boy. :)
Labor Signs: Um, nope. And hopefully not for another 24+ weeks!
Belly Button in or out? Still in, of course.
What I miss: Still missing the salads.
What I am looking forward to: I want to start showing for real instead of just looking a bit chunky!
Weekly Wisdom: This week's lesson is not baby related. Sometimes the best thing you can do is to let go and say "good-bye". I miss Sierra so much, but I know she's in a better place and without pain.

13 Weeks, 1 day...

Well, the exciting thing is that by Friday we'll be out of the 1st trimester and into the 2nd. Woot! I've been waiting for this week for the past 10 weeks! And look at the little 3D baby diagram...he looks like a baby instead of a seahorse! Amazing! :)

So, what's baby up to this week:

Your baby can make a fist and even suck his or her thumb this week—both skills that are über-cute during infancy ... and not so much at the age of 9. If you're really lucky, you might catch a glimpse of baby's thumb sucking on an ultrasound photo. That's a framer! Other exciting developments include:

Your baby's eyelids are fused shut to protect his eyes as they develop. His bones and skull are solidifying and soon itsy-bitsy ribs may appear. (Baby ribs! How cute is that?!) Baby's intestines are finally right where you want them—in his or her belly instead of poking out into the umbilical cord (so happy about this because the idea of them in the cord was REALLY FREAKY!). Baby's tooth sockets are all loaded and ready to pop out baby teeth six or seven months after baby is born (causing baby a lot of pain and you a lot of lost sleep)(I just heard of a girl on the board I'm on whose baby was born with one tooth already out! Makes breastfeeding sound scary! :)).

Who's that singing? Elton John? Could be your baby: His vocal cords and larynx are completed now. He won't be able to make any sound yet, however, because sound waves travel through air and baby is submerged in fluid.

Your baby-to-be now weighs about 20 grams (.75 ounces) and is nearly 3 inches long, or about the size of a Nutter Butter, covered in chocolate. OK, it doesn't have to be covered in chocolate, but isn't everything better that way? I've also heard the size of a PEACH...sounds much yummier! And healthier too! :)

*3D Pregnancy

Yesterday was a sad day...

we had to make the horrible decision to put Sierra down. She just wasn't getting any better, and the vets seemed to think that her little body just wasnt capable of fighting off the infection in her leg because of the Cushings and perhaps because of the tumor in her liver.

It happened so fast. Don't get me wrong, she had been going "down hill" for several months now (anal gland adeno carcinomas removed in January, Cushings diagnosis (finally!), liver tumor), but I guess I just kept hoping for a miracle. And I certainly kept hoping that her last days would be comfortable and without pain. Unfortunately, that's not what happened.

I took her for an ultrasound last Tuesday so we could determine whether the Cushings was resulting from a tumor in the pituitary glands or one of her adrenal glands and to make sure the carcinoma had not spread to her lymph nodes. Well, the carcinoma had not spread to the lymph nodes and the tumor was in her pituitary. We also found the large liver tumor that they weren't sure was benign or another carcinoma. We never found out. When I got her home from the vet, it didn't take long to realize she could not stand up from the sitting position. She had no strength in her rear legs. At first I thought it was a result of a pulled muscle from being sprawled on her back and tied down for the u/s, but it quickly became evident that it was not the case. She'd had a "hot spot" on her rear left leg for a couple of weeks that was neither mole nor cut. It was red, but the vet had looked at it just a couple of days before and wasn't concerned (Cushings makes dogs more susceptible to skin lesions). In a matter of 24 hours it became an inflamed, pussy mess. Despite getting her to the vet on Wed and putting her on a round of antibiotics (although we were limited to the kinds we could put her on because of the liver tumor) and morphine for the pain, her leg continued to get worse. By Friday it was swollen to twice its size. They increased the antibiotics but told us that if we didn't see improvement over the weekend that we probably wouldn't see any at all (Cushings also makes it harder for the body to fight infections), and we'd need to make the decision to put her down. We decided we'd return on Monday (today).

As it turned out, Saturday and Sunday were not easy days for her. She hadn't been able to stand on her own since Tuesday night and finally was not able to do the stairs by herself either. Mike was carrying her everywhere. She also started wimpering a bit, which is just heartbreaking. I didn't want her to be in pain. Why was the morphine not working!?! By noon on Sunday, we decided it just wasn't fair anymore (for her), so we took her back to the vet. The vet decided that we could try to lance the infected part of the leg, clean it out and hope for the best but given how things were going so far it appeared that Sierra's little body just couldn't fight the infection even with the help of the antibiotics. We decided it was time to stop the pain and let her rest.

After some private time and alot of tears, they came in and injected her with an overdose of anesthesia. She didn't feel pain and didn't even struggle for a last breath or anything (which they warned was possible). Her little heart just quietly stopped. They will be cremating her privately so that we can get her ashes back. We plan to scatter them over her favorite spot in the backyard where she spent many a day lounging in the shade of the house.

I know she's in a better place and free of pain, but for some reason, that doesn't make this any easier. I miss my little shadow following me from room to room. She was such a wonderful dog. Even with her unwillingness to run or fetch distances longer than 10 feet, she was the best dog. I think she will be missed for a very long time.

Our Trash is Other People's Treasure...

We had a yard sale today in an effort to organize and declutter before the arrival of Baby H. We sold a decent amount of stuff and ended up making $700+, so not bad. We also had a ton of stuff left over that we've already taken to Goodwill. Then there are the few remaining big items that we'll put on craigslist. I love craigslist.

Anyway, I'm exhausted. Physically exhausted and emotionally drained. I should be taking a nap, but alas...I'm not.

I will discuss the emotional drainage in another post probably tomorrow. It all has to do with our wonderful pup, Sierra. She's truly not doing well, and this, unfortunately, may be her last weekend with us. I am so sad! More later.

Hope everyone is enjoying this amazing April Saturday!

xoxo-
V

12 Week Fun Facts

How far along? 12 weeks!
Total weight gain/loss: Alright, alright...I'll say +4.
Maternity clothes? Loving maxi dresses...now just for the temp to stay permanently warm.
Stretch marks? Nope.
Sleep: So good! It's a bit amazing (I give credit to the snoogle) even with the 1 wake up up each night to use the restroom.
Best moment this week: NT SCAN OBVIOUSLY (see post below)!
Movement: Apparently it's started, but I just can't feel it yet. Can't wait.
Food cravings: It's different every single day. I'm just not very hungry.
Gender: Well, since the lab tech thinks BOY, I guess I better assume it's a boy until we are told otherwise. :)
Labor Signs: Um, nope. And hopefully not for another 25+ weeks!
Belly Button in or out? Still in, of course.
What I miss: Enjoying salads...I ate spinach salads for lunch and dinner daily before I got pregnant and now I can't even think about raw spinach. Blah! I'm making sure to get in my veggies either cooked or raw with hummus. But I want to start enjoying salads again!
What I am looking forward to: I want to start showing for real instead of just looking a bit chunky!
Weekly Wisdom: Everything you thought before you were pregnant may change once you're pregnant: e.g. I didn't think I wanted to know the gender before the birth and I also didn't want to name the baby before seeing him/her in person! Now we think it's a boy and already have a name! Seriously. But I'm so excited!
Milestones: Other than seeing the healthy baby at the NT Scan, I'd have to say choosing a name (assuming he is, in fact, a boy)! Hope everyone is ready for another Michael in the family (both sides) because this little one will be Michael Alexander (but go by "Xander") assuming he's truly a little boy.

12 Weeks...

Baby's face is looking more human as his eyes have moved to the front of his head and his ears are in place. Hooray! Other amazing fetal highlights this week:

Your baby is able to swallow this week and practices on the amniotic fluid he or she floats in. (And you thought baby food was kind of nasty!) And in case you're wondering how your kid can breathe in all that fluid, here's your answer: Fetuses get oxygen from the blood pumped into their bodies by the placenta and don't breathe with their lungs. Mystery solved!

This is kind of gross, albeit fascinating, so feel free to skip ahead: Your baby's intestines are well under way, but they aren't all where you'd expect them to be. Instead of all being locked away in the body cavity, some are dangling on the outside, in the umbilical cord. They begin to move into their proper place this week.

Don't forget to put a baby nail file on your registry—your little nugget's finger- and toenails are forming this week. The chin and nose are also becoming more defined.

Junior has doubled in size over the past two weeks and now weighs almost ½ ounce. He's also now around 2 ½ inches long, about the length of your pinky finger or a Vienna sausage, which, in a few months, will be indistinguishable from one another. (I've also read a large plum, which I think is way nicer sounding then a vienna sausage).

*3D Pregnancy

Happy Easter!

We had a great day today with church in the morning followed by a wonderful brunch at Tia Carmen's. It was so yummy and so nice to see everyone!

I was thinking this morning that this is our last religious holiday without Baby H! Weird thought, but honest. And very cool! I can't wait for the Fall/Winter Holidays this year! Yay!

xoxo
V

Oh boy! That was AWESOME!

So we had our NT Scan yesterday, which is part of the 1st Trimester Screening (testing the probability for Down's and two other chromosomal abnormalities). The total exam consists of a blood test (not bad, just a pin prick on the finger and then filling up 5 lil' dots on the paper with blood -- apparently I'm a "very good bleeder" -- nice!) and then the ultrasound! Our ultrasound tech, Kelly, was so friendly and really patient with showing us everything rather than just rushing through with her measurements (we were with her for an hour!). Apparently the two main things they're looking for during this exam, other than the normal stuff, are the amount of fluid behind the baby's neck and the existence of the nasal bone. We have to wait til the midwife gives us our results at the end of next week, but Kelly seemed to think all looked very good.

Baby H is still measuring right on track at 11w, 3d, just about 2 inches CRL (crown to rump length) and the lil' heartbeat was at 169bpm. It's so nice to know that all is going well in there!

Mike and I both really enjoyed the experience. He kept asking questions ("is that normal?" "what's that?" "um, why's the baby facing a different direction now -- are there TWO!?!"), which would set me into laughter and mess up the pic on the screen. Whoops! But, in the end, we got some great pics. We started with the normal 2d u/s and then switched over to the 3d and 4d u/s. 4d is actually real time video and is absolutely amazing. Baby H spent most of his time lounging back with his lil' ankles crossed but then started moving his little legs and stretching out. So cute!

A BIG surprise: you really aren't supposed to be able to tell the baby's sex until much later (about 16 weeks) even though by the end of the 11th week (from what I've read) the genitals are developed. We went in fully thinking there was no way we'd even get an educated guess at Baby H's gender (Mike had even asked me earlier that morning if we'd be able to, and I assured him he'd have to wait at least another month before we knew anything). Anyway, as we started looking at the 3d u/s things became much clearer (obviously), and Mike with his questions had to ask what a certain lil' something was on the baby. Kelly started laughing and said she was fairly certain that was a penis and scrotum. I was shocked! Not because I've been certain Baby H was a girl (so much for mother's intuition), but because she was even willing to make such a guess so early. After much doubtful questioning from me, she conceded that it is early but if the baby is well developed that they can occasionally tell early on with the new 3d/4d ultrasound equipment (that being said, she was so impressed by Baby H that she mentioned showing the pics to her co-workers for evidence of penis and scrotum between 11 and 12 weeks -- ha ha!). Anyway, she went on to start showing it to us and said she was actually pretty certain when she was looking at the 2d u/s that Baby H was a boy (she went back and showed us a couple of those pics and what she was showing us made sense). So long story short, we think Baby H is a boy; however, even Kelly said we should hold off telling people (yay right-- try keeping Mike quiet after 3 Jack and Cokes at the HH we went to last night!) and not buy any blue until the confirmation in about a month (absolutely!). But it's kind of exciting! As most of you know, Mike has been holding out hope for a little boy even though (so cliche) we both just really want a happy and healthy baby. So I'm happy that he's so happy! Ecstatic is more the word, and quite proud of the development (so far) of his lil' boy's boy parts...now let's hope Baby H doesn't turn out to be a girl. Ha ha!

I mentioned pics...She was more than generous and gave us 10! Awesome, right! I won't bore you with all of them, but here's quite a few. Enjoy!






xoxo-
Vicky

Editing my 11 Week Fun Facts...

because I don't care if I'm pregnant, I still want my weight gain to be accurate when revealed to the world. :) And, no, I'm not one of those crazy ladies who is trying to not gain weight; in fact, far from it. I'm eating basically anything that sounds good at the moment, which is not like me at all (as you all know!), and I'm making sure to get in (at least as much as possible) all of my servings of all of my food groups every day. ANYWAY...

after finally being able to relieve myself today (for the first time in a couple of days -- also not like me) (sorry if TMI), I am back down to +2. This makes me happy since every one of the books I have says women typically gain 2 lb on average in the 1st tri. I want to be AVERAGE!!!!!

Okay, with that cleared up, I am off to the grocery store. We have friends coming over to dinner tonight, which means I can't just eat cold cereal again for another meal. Boo! ;) But I am looking forward, as always, to having people over.

xoxo-
V

11 Week Fun Facts (sans belly pic...boo, but last week)

How far along? 11 weeks!
Total weight gain/loss: Well, there may be a bit of a dispute here but I'm going with +4. Yesterday's doc appt had me at +6 since my first appt at 4 weeks, 3 days, but according to our home scale I'm +4 since I first got on the scale at 4 weeks, 0 days. I'm going with the home scale since it's friendlier.
Maternity clothes? My new Seven maternity jeans are awesome. Love them. I will say that they stretch to be a bit too big right now in the booty but I think the girls had me do this so that they'll last through the whole pregnancy. So for now, they're just getting washed and dried on high between wearings to get them back to their original size.
Stretch marks? Um, no. The girls at pea in the pod did try to sell me a stretch mark cream the other day, but I think it's a bunch of bull. Isn't it just a matter of using any moisturizer and not the $50 2oz bottle specially made for pregnancy? And don't genetics play a role? I think I've read this...anyway, I am happy that I was able to resist any urge of buying a superfluous product solely based on vanity.
Sleep: I have had so much trouble sleeping recently. At first it was discomfort, but my fabulous Snoogle solved that dilemma. Now, it's just insomnia. I've NEVER had insomnia...I am a good sleeper! I need to figure this one out. I even tried to stay up later last night than my normal 9:30-10pm bed time in an attempt to sleep longer. Nope. Was still up at about 3am and unable to fall back asleep. Perhaps it had to do with the ridiculous dream I had though...I was a carpet salesman. Door-to-door. And I was trying to convince my potential purchaser that my carpet was totally stain resistant; I was even trying to explain away the possibility of mold in cases of flooding a la Hurricane Katrina. So odd.
Best moment this week: Heard the baby's heartbeat at our Doc appt yesterday!
Movement: Apparently it's started, but I just can't feel it yet. Can't wait.
Food cravings: It's different every single day. In fact, I've stopped prebuying the whole week's groceries on Sunday because I've found that my idea of what sounds yummy seems to change to often to nail down a week menu in advance. Last night? Ignored all the fresh groceries in the pantry and refrigerator and indulged in General Tsao's Chicken, stir fried veggies, brown rice and crab rangoon. I've had more chinese food in the last 2 months than I have in the last 2 years prior to being pregnant. Crazy, but delicious!
Gender: I'm completely open at this point and have NO IDEA. :)
Labor Signs: Um, nope. And hopefully not for another 26+ weeks!
Belly Button in or out? Still in, of course.
What I miss: Being able to wear absolutely anything in my closet.
What I am looking forward to: Ultrasound on Friday!
Weekly Wisdom: Be rational!
Milestones: So apparently as of 11 weeks, 1 day the baby is now considered a fetus! Woo hoo!

11 Weeks...

Your Baby
All of your baby's vital organs are now formed and functioning, so the risk of defects decreases this week as your baby becomes less susceptible to outside influences. Phew! Other exciting developments include:

Baby's ears are assuming their proper place this week and the fingernail and toenail beds are beginning to form. Your little "pumpkin head" really lives up to his nickname as his head is nearly as big as the rest of his body.

While testes or ovaries are completely formed now, don't start decorating the nursery. You won't be able to see your baby's gender for a few more weeks yet.

Your baby is really on the move now. In an ultrasound you might be able to see your little acrobat flailing his or her arms and legs and doing somersaults worthy of Cirque du Soleil. You still won't be able to feel any movement, so if you feel something "kick" in there, it's probably gas.

In the next nine weeks, your baby will increase 30 times in weight and almost triple in length. You might feel like you're increasing 30 times in weight at this point, too, but we can assure you're not—because, honey, you ain't seen nothin' yet!

Your baby now weighs a third of an ounce, about the same as two small, Starbucks-sized packets of sugar, is about 2 inches long, the length of one of those sugar packets. Isn't that sweet? (Not as sweet, but easier to imagine -- according to one site, Baby H is the size of a lime this week.)

*3D Pregnancy

3rd Doctor's Appointment

Our 3rd doctor's appt was today. We met with one of the hospital midwives (Patrice Valle) who was awesome. She's part mexican, spanish and italian, and as she mentioned, looked a lot like me. She came in to the exam room with such a positive energy and fun personality, I couldn't help but enjoy myself. We just went over very basic things, such as my symptoms (minimal), concerns (this non-strenuous work out thing sucks) and determined that I've officially gained 6lb in my first tri. Not bad for someone with an increased appetite, no morning sickness and inability to workout for real.

The highlight: Baby H's heartbeat was heard loud and clear on the doppler at 174-179bpm. Very good and healthy for this point in the pregnancy. I guess the baby's heartbeat gets really fast until about 11 weeks when it starts to decrease and then eventually level out somewhere between 120-160bpm. Yay, Pumpkin! You're doing good.

We scheduled our next doc appt for May 2nd, which is a Saturday. I'll be 14 weeks, 4 days (so out of 1st trimester)!

Next big milestone: NT Scan on Friday. I'll be sure to post pics of our u/s as soon as I have them. And speaking of pics...we finally got the mattress company to send us $160 to replace the camera the delivery people stole. So hopefully I can buy it soon and get on track with taking my weekly belly pics with the nice, new camera. Now to just get the belly. Hmm...

xoxo -
V

Awesome Birthday Weekend

Yesterday was my 32nd birthday! It was so nice having Mike home for this one, but I couldn't help think of my wonderful friends who last year helped me celebrate in his absence by taking me to a surprise murder mystery dinner theater. It was "interesting" to say the least, but we all had a great time. This year was very laid back, but so enjoyable.
Friday we had HH/dinner with several of Mike's friends and a couple of their wives/girlfriends. All nice people although a few of them are "new" friends and I'm beginning to think that they may think I'm just the boring, stick in the mud wife that doesn't drink and always acts as designated driver to her Fat Jack-loving husband. I try and still be social and "cool" with my seltzer and lime, but it doesn't always work when everyone else is celebrating the weekend with a few cocktails.
Saturday we had a few close friends and our DC family over for pizza and cupcakes. We also had plenty of beer/wine and mocktails for the 4 (yes, 4) pregnant ladies at the party. Mind you, there were only 14 people at the house (including us), so more than 25% were pregnant. How times have changed! We went ahead and broke the news to our DC family and the friends who didn't know that we're expecting Baby H. Mike was very sweet and wanted to take it upon himself to come up with the way to tell them. He ended up presenting me with a birthday card from a "special someone" after the singing of "Happy Birthday", and the card's envelope was addressed to "Mommy". So sweet! I think Tia Carmen initially thought it was a card from our stinky Sierra, but Tio David figured it out for everyone. It was so nice to finally be able to share the news and excitement with everyone! Yay!
Sunday (the actual birthday) we went to church and then to Capital City Brewery. I was craving a fried chicken sandwich for my birthday, but of course, they didn't have it. So instead I ate my weekly allotment of Tuna on Sunday and had a Tuna Melt and chips. Yum! After lunch, we went to Buy Buy Baby to see about strollers and other items. I thought they carried the Stokke there, but apparently not. Only Great Beginnings in MD carries it (in our area), so we'll have to hit up one more store to test drive it prior to making our final decision. If Stokke isn't worth it, then I think we've decided on the Quinny despite the fact that it's not as high...it does get better ratings in the "Baby Bargains" book that everyone recommends.
Gifts -- well, I think I've mentioned the fetal doppler I bought myself as a birthday gift. In addition to it, my fabulous husband had already purchased me a Snoogle which is the most wonderful invention in the whole world. It's a total body pillow that just envelopes you in all the right places, and I think I'm in love. It doesn't really allow for much snuggling with the husband (or turning off the lights) once you're in it for the night, but it's providing sleeping like I haven't slept in weeks. Now if I would just stop waking up at 4am ready to start the day -- seriously! I also bought myself some Seven maternity jeans on Friday because I was fed up with the belly band. It kept pushing my jeans down (requiring readjusting) every time I sat down or bent over -- annoying! The jeans are awesome and totally cute. And will be one of my few splurges for maternity wear. Thankfully, some $$ from my mom and tio David are being applied to the purchase of these jeans (thank, y'all!), so I don't feel so guilty about the price. Also noteworthy, Dad and Letty bought me a gift certificate to Apple Seed, an awesome maternity/baby boutique in Old Town. I've browsed it but haven't shopped, and I can't wait to go back once I start to show in order to buy something super cute for summer. I also got so many other wonderful gifts from family and friends -- I'm a lucky girl!
Anyway, what a wonderful birthday!

Just for fun, pics of the snoogle in action:

Baby Names

Okay, so we've obviously been discussing names whether we have a lil' boy or a lil' girl. BTW - we'll find out around May 15th (can't wait!). Mike and I agree on some (for both genders) and totally disagree on others. I've put all the ones we've agreed on or I like on this website called www.babynames.com. You may wonder why I'm not putting Mike's names on here when I dislike them; you know, just for the sake of fairness. Well, that's because there is no chance! ha ha!:) There is one name that he keeps harping on that I've said that (i) if we have a boy and (ii) if he can find someone in his family lineage with the name, then he can use it...as a middle name. So what is it? CALHOUN Seriously. I'm praying that no prior Husband has had the name Calhoun. :)

Anyway, telling people our names makes me a little nervous because I think sometimes people overstep boundaries and give negative commentary even when it's not requested. But hopefully this is a nice, anonymous way to say either yes or "hell no" to some of the names we like without hurting our feelings. In my opinion, children's names are like china patterns. What do I mean? Well, when girlfriend's get married I'm always excited to see the china pattern they selected for their registry because I think it says a lot about someone's personality. Some of my friends have had sets I love and I think make perfect sense for them. Some -- not so much! I've actually been shocked a few times and wondered what was hiding underneath my dear friend's exterior that led them to make the choice they made. It just made no sense. That being said, you can never comment and never judge. It's too personal, and I realize that fact. Now that people are havng kids? Same thing with names. Love 'em or hate 'em (the names, that is), I'm not commenting unless explicitly asked for my opinion. Otherwise, all names are "cute". :)

So...here's the link to our list. Be nice. :)