Update!

I'll write one soon, I swear! :-) Life with our precious bundle of joy is amazing...and we're all adjusting well. Our Internet is hooked up in our new home so I'll be posting all the details of Tyler's arrival soon!!!!!

For now, here is something to hold you over! (This is the pic from Tyler's birth announcement, which was designed mostly by my mom. I'll have to post of picture of that as well!)

Well, Hello Tyler

Hi everyone! It's Alissa's friend, June. She asked me to make a quick post to let you all know what has been happening. It was a very exciting weekend.

Tyler Joshua was born July 9th at 4.36 in the afternoon. The little guy weighs 6 pounds and is 19 inches long.

He was so excited to meet mom and dad, that he decided to come a month early.

Both Alissa and Tyler are doing well.

I will let Alissa fill you in on all the details when she is feeling up to it, but I thought I would give you all the first of many pictures that I imagine we will be seeing.

ICK!!

I now have "pregnancy rash" all over my arms and a little bit on my legs. It's not too bad, but itches like CRAZY! I wake up in the middle of the night just scratching away at it.

Anyone else get this wonderful side effect of pregnancy?! LoL...when the nurse told me it was "pregnancy related" I wanted to scream, "ANYTHING ELSE?!" LoL...

Update: Our Jobs

Josh was supposed to start work on Wednesday, May 10th, but they called him that Monday and asked him to come in on Tuesday instead to get his SIX HOUR orientation out of the way! He was a little nervous about starting the new job, which worked out kinda nice since we were unpacking! I swear, I’d do one thing and he’d have five done!

His first day of work went great and things have been going good ever since. He's been getting home, for the most part, between 5 and 7, so that's pretty nice. Some days are earlier, some are later, just like his last job. The work outside is going good...he worked with a couple different guys to get a feel for things and now is mainly working with a guy named Adam. It's the inside computer stuff that’s ruffling his feathers! He said he’s pretty rusty with Auto CAD so we ordered him a text book and it helped him remember a lot. You know him, learning it in time isn't good enough...he wants to know it all now! I guess I don’t blame him though since his review is coming up soon. (Where did June go?!) He’s trying to prove that he is worth a lot so they pay him what he was making in the cities. They’ve been good to him already…we’ve been reimbursed for the first round of moving expenses and Josh got his bonus check last week! (Hahaha, I suppose we should get our bank switched sometime, huh?!) Dang Uncle Sam took half of it, but I guess it’s better to pay it now than to try to come up with it when we file our taxes in six months.

I have to tell about the company newsletter...LoL...they gave him a copy of the May/June issue when he first started. There was a message from the IT department saying everyone has individual passwords now instead of everyone using "packers" for the password! It wasn’t that everyone was using the same password that we laughed at…it was that the password was PACKERS!!! We’re happy to be back in Wisconsin! :-)

As for me, I called to make my appointment at the staffing company after being home for a couple days. I didn’t think I’d have any problem getting in right away to do the testing, but I was wrong! I had to wait a week to get in! I got an appointment on May 9 to go in and do my testing. That went great and they were impressed! She called me shortly after I got home to set up an interview with a place in Mosinee. I wasn’t too thrilled about the job (in marketing), but it was a 2-4 week assignment, so I was thinking it’d be perfect if it went for 4 weeks. I went to the interview and wasn’t impressed. They said I might be doing some telemarketing, which I have no interest in doing what-so-ever. When I called the staffing company to let them know I didn’t think I’d be interested they were completely unaware that there might be telemarketing involved. Needless to say they weren’t happy and neither was I.

Meanwhile, something else came up. My dad’s co-workers wife was trying to get me into where she works as a receptionist/administrative assistant. I went for that interview a week later and it went great. I know I could have done that job and I think I would have liked it…but…it was full time and it didn’t feel right to start a new job knowing that I probably won’t come back after the baby is born. That’s ok though…third time is the charm!!!

The staffing company called me with an American Family Insurance agent that needed a receptionist/administrative assistant for the month of June. So I came to meet with Jeff just before Memorial Day weekend and we hit it off! The atmosphere was great and I just knew I’d be comfortable working here! My first day was May 30 and I work 9:00 to 5:00 every day. I really enjoy this and am hoping he offers me a part time position here before my last day this Friday. (Again, where did June go?!) Sometimes I think he will and other times I can’t tell so we’ll just have to wait and see. If he offers me something I’m planning on asking for part time hours until the baby comes and then playing it by ear after that. But we’ll see how things turn out! We’re just thankful I was able to find something for the month and put some money in the bank!

Update: The Move

Our going away parties for work were both a lot of fun! The Thursday night before we left for WI we met a bunch of my co-workers at Green Mill and then Friday night we met Josh’s co-workers at Jake’s. We’re both very lucky to have had such awesome jobs and great co-workers! I know Josh had a tough time leaving work on Friday and I did too. They had a “meeting” that afternoon for me at work and I started crying as soon as I walked into the conference room! (Go figure!) We all ate ice cream cake (YUM!) and they gave me two cards signed by the whole office. The first one was a “Good Bye” card and the second was a card for the “mom to be.” Everyone in the office pitched in to get us a $200 gift card from Target for baby stuff! Awesome, huh?! Josh’s buddies at work pitched in and got him a $100 gift certificate for Cabela’s too! They were both pleasant surprises!

The move back to WI went great...we moved a lot more than Josh and I had planned on doing because my mom and dad were able to come over and they brought dad's truck and trailer. We pretty much moved everything except furniture. There’s nothing left in the kitchen cupboards and I’m so glad that’s done cuz that’s the worst room to do!

When we got home my Uncle Randy came over to my parents house to help unload everything. Now not only do we have stuff in half of mom and dad's garage but we have stuff in their shed too! But we're all settled in our one room apartment so I guess that's all that matters! :-) It’s hard saying, “I have no idea where it is” about everything, but that’s not important right now. We’re just lucky to have a place to stay for free and not be paying rent on top of a house payment!

Ticker thingie

It's amazing how fast this pregnancy has gone...I think when I added the ticker at the top of this page baby was in the first or second little picture thingie. Now he's getting so big and is on the second to last one! I couldn't believe it when I noticed it today...at the time I posted it, it seemed like so far away!

WHOOPS!

Wow...it's been a month since I posted! I don't know where the time has gone, but things have been pretty busy.

Quick update - baby boy is still doing great! I am too, just enjoying all those third trimester aches and pains! Baby shower is this Saturday...I can't believe how fast the time has gone!

Josh's job is going great and I have a job for the month of June that I really like!

More to come...sorry it's been so long!!

Busy, Busy!

Our social calendar is keeping us busy and I can’t believe it’s Thursday already! Our dinner on Monday with Luke and Dora had a bit of a change. When we got to TGI Friday’s Luke was there by himself cuz Dora was home with a migraine. What a bummer! But we still had a good time with Luke talking about their work (oh joy!), hunting (yay!) and how he never would have started ice fishing if we hadn’t met! We even had the same bartender that we had when we used to go there three years ago…it was a lot of fun!

Tuesday Dora had a job interview down the road from my work, so she stopped in to say hello. That was such a surprise and it was great to see her! We chit-chatted for a little bit and then she had to get going. I hope she’s able to make it to Josh’s happy hour after work on Friday so we can spend a little more time together before we leave.

Tuesday afternoon, kinda last minute, Mindy suggested going for pizza in town. It was the only night this week we didn’t have something going on, but at this point, who cares! I’m glad we got to go out with them, just the four of us, before we leave. It was lots of fun, as always! I’m sure going to miss them…Mindy has been a great friend since we met over three years ago when I started at R & H.

Last night I met Mindy and Linell for dinner at Applebee’s. (Yes, Applebee’s again! It’s about the only place to go in town!) We had a lot of fun catching up and talking baby stuff. Linell and her family got Squirt an ADORABLE outfit and a cute picture frame! After we shared dessert we all headed home. I got some packing done!!! Well, not much, but it’s a start. I packed up all of the little baby things we’ve accumulated so far.

Tonight is happy hour with my co-workers. I don’t know how many people will be there, but I know it will be fun! And Josh is going to come too!

THIRD Trimester!

WOW! I can’t believe it…I’m 26 weeks today. If my calculations are right I’m starting my third trimester today! The time has flown by with all the excitement going on and hopefully continues to fly by through these last 3 months!

Squirt is now about 14 inches long from head to heels and is a little under 2 pounds! He’ll start putting on more baby fat now and fill out all his wrinkly skin. He is able to respond more to noises now that his ears are getting more developed. And now he’s starting to take in small breaths of amniotic fluid, mostly in R.E.M. sleep. I had to post this picture (from BabyCenter) because I love how the baby is all scrunched up!
When Josh left for work this morning (he leaves an hour before I do so I was still in bed) he was playing peek-a-boo with Squirt. Lucky me since that consists of him yanking my blankets off, yelling peek-a-boo, and then throwing the blankets back on me! Nice way to wake up, huh?! I always tell him it’s a good thing I can laugh at him!

I think Squirt has had the hiccups before, but I’m positive he did this morning! I was sitting at my desk at work and had some very rhythmic movements in the lower part of my uterus, where he seems to like to hang out. I sat back to enjoy it for a couple minutes and then it stopped! It was cool!

And just to rub it in to everyone…we’ve picked a name for Squirt and we just love it! We use it all the time when it’s just the two of us. But it’s still a secret!! Your only clue is that it isn’t a new age name, it’s pretty traditional. To hold you over until he arrives, his middle name will be Joshua, after his daddy who already loves him so much.

Our last week of work in MN

When Josh woke me up before he left this morning he said, “Happy last week of work.” WEIRD! We’ll both have our last day of work this Friday.

Josh put in his two week notice last Monday and he said it went good. (We didn’t know how it’d go since everyone at his work has been in the dark about what is going on.) His boss said he had a feeling we'd be moving but he was still bummed because he’s been such a good worker. The rest of his coworkers know now and everyone has been very understanding since we are moving to be closer to our families. Everyone keeps saying how important family is, especially when a little one is in the picture, and I can’t help but agree!

Our plan for this weekend was to start packing, but that just didn’t happen! Friday night we went for our last fish fry at Bar & Grill and to tell our favorite waitresses about the move. We didn’t even stay to play pool, went right home after we ate! Then Saturday morning I went to get my hair done and say goodbye to my stylist while Josh ran to the grocery store to get some more boxes. We got home around the same time and left a little while later to meet Stevi for lunch. It was so much fun and SOOOO good to see her. It’s been too long! We got there at 12:30 and when we got into the car the clock said 3:55!!!!! No wonder my butt was getting sore! It was a blast catching up! Saturday night we had dinner with our neighbors, Ray and Pam, at Applebee’s. That was another 3 hour dinner!! We had a blast…they took pics and got us some super cute baby gifts, which we totally didn’t expect! I don’t think we’ll ever have neighbors like them again…we’re sure going to miss them!! Sunday was supposed to be our day and we were going to get a lot of our packing done and out of the way. Well, after we went for breakfast Josh napped and I did some stamping and worked on another craft project. When I went upstairs three hours later I napped and Josh went downstairs on the computer! Needless to say, after I got up from my nap neither of us felt like doing anything. Silly us, cuz if you think the weekend was busy, our week is going to be just as crazy!

Tonight we’re having dinner with Luke and Dora at TGI Fridays…where we used to go hang out when we first met! Fitting, huh?! Tuesday we’ll both be home, Wednesday I’m having dinner with Mindy and Linell, Thursday night is happy hour with my co-workers and Friday night is happy hour with Josh’s co-workers! Good thing we don’t have a lot to pack since our realtor said it’ll be best to have our furniture there for showings. Saturday we went room by room and made a list of what we NEED to pack, so I guess that’s better than nothing. Then when the house sells we’ll come back, pack what’s left, and try to fit it all into a big UHaul trailer so we can get it in one trip. We’ll see how that goes when the time comes!

So…NOW our plan is to get packed little by little this week. My parents are most likely coming here on Friday some time to help us haul stuff back to their house. We’re hoping to be ready to go to Wisconsin (for good!) late Saturday night or early Sunday morning. HOW EXCITING!!!

Baby appointments

We had our 3rd ultrasound appointment last Tuesday. It was exciting to get another chance to see him since at the last one we couldn’t see his face and he wouldn’t move at all! So I had a plan…since I had to have a full bladder I’d drink 12 ounces of apple juice and 12 ounces of water before the appointment! :-) He always wiggles around when I drink apple juice so it HAD to work! Well, I think it did because Squirt was a lot more active and we finally got to see his face! OH – and he’s still a boy…I had the ultrasound tech double check! :-)

It was very hard to make out what was what, so we decided to make a “map” to post here so you can compare it to the plain ultrasound. The pic is turned to the right and has everything marked on it – keep in mind he is a lot bigger this time! Red is his heart, orange is his whole head, yellow is his right arm, blue are his eyes, green is his nose, pink is his mouth!

This one is a little easier to see after you see the “map.” We think he has my chin! :-) I hope you can make sense of them...we had a hard time at first! :-) I've seen so many ultrasound pics on other blogs and ours never look anything like the other ones!

My follow up (and sadly, last appointment) with Dr. B was on Wednesday afternoon. Everything went great...we went over the ultrasound and baby is right on track for growing! He was 1.7 pounds! I was a little worried about his size because the ultrasound tech said he was measuring 23 weeks, 3 days and he was supposed to be 23 weeks, 6 days. She reminded me that the bigger the baby gets, the harder it is to measure how old his is in weeks and days so I shouldn’t worry. Then we got all my files wrapped up and ready to be transferred to Marshfield Clinic in Weston. She even said if I have questions in the future about anything, whether it was the pregnancy or about my files, that I could call her. How awesome! :-) After I met with her I had my one hour glucose test. Well, my blood sugar level was 190 something and it was supposed to be under 155 or something!! So I had to go back first thing Thursday morning to have a THREE HOUR fasting lab done. I had to drink a double dose of the soda thing and then have my blood drawn every three hours. Three hours in a doctor’s office…joy! Needless to say I almost finished The Baby Whisperer book mom and dad got us for Easter! The good news is I passed the second time! :-) She said my other result could have been due to something I ate during the day since my appointment wasn't until almost 3:00. Whew! So everything is OK! I'm so glad cuz like I need something else on my plate right now!!!

Baby side effects

My wrists hurt SO BAD! The water retention can cause symptoms similar to carpal tunnel syndrome in your wrists and is, of course, one of the symptoms I have! Joy! I get to sleep with braces on my wrists and when I wake up my fingers don’t seem to want to bend. Gets better as the day goes tho. I also use a brace at work while I’m at my computer to make sure that my wrist doesn’t bend while I’m typing. (My left one seems worse than the right one so that’s the one I wear the brace on.)

I also have to say that NONE of my sandals fit except a pair of cheap Old navy flip flops. I'm so annoyed!!!!!!!!! Yes, Karol told me her feet grew when she was pregnant, so I knew it was coming, but it’s different when it actually happens!! I started my search because of all the water retention. I started trying on sandals with mom at Walmart a few weeks ago and I had to get a ½ size bigger than usual! I ended up taking back the ones I got with her cuz they were too tight across the top of my foot. Then I tried on shoes at the local shoe store and Maurice’s before Josh and I went back to Walmart to search there again. I ended up getting a pair of backless white canvas shoes that fit SO GOOD! But I still wanted sandals cuz I live in them during the summer. Found a great deal on a pair at Kohl’s on Saturday!












They’re Adidas flip flops with really good soles on them and adjustable straps! They’re perfect and I feel much better now! :-)

The sign is in!

* Please excuse the poor picture quality...camera phone doesn't like the morning sun! *

The official For Sale sign came yesterday! It's really surreal driving up to the house and seeing it. But exciting too!! The first day our temporary "New Listing" sign was up I got teary eyed as I drove around the block. When I pulled into the garage all of the neighborhood kids followed me! They were standing outside the car and when I got out they said, "You can't move!" and "We don't want you to go!" I, of course, started crying! There have also been various neighbors saying, "We're going to take your sign!"

We live in such a great neighborhood. It's hard enough to leave and they're sure not making it any easier! :-)

Baby News and Relocation News!

Ok, it’s been awhile! Life has been pretty crazy around our house!

I’ve been slacking in my baby updates for the last two weeks, so here goes! I am now 24 weeks along…6 months! It’s hard to believe, isn’t it!? Squirt is now 1.25 pounds and just about a foot long! It’s just incredible…I keep thinking about when he was just the size of a grape! The time has really passed quickly, but I guess we’ve been keeping busy. His taste buds are developing and I wonder if he tastes what I eat or if he just gets the nutrients from what I eat. Anyone know? I think it’s pretty cool that he will get used to all the loud noises he hears in utero so when he is here with us they won’t phase him! The top of my uterus is now about an inch above my belly button, making it about the size of a SOCCER BALL! HOLY MOLY!!!!! :-)

Squirt has been moving around so much since he is growing bigger and Josh is able to feel him easily now. I don’t know what is normal as far as how much babies move, but it feels like he is VERY active! Last weekend when we were with my parents he was kicking so hard I said, “It feels like he’s going to fall out!” Now, I know that’s not possible, but that’s how it feels! Some times he even kicks so hard out of the blue that I jump! And then I laugh and laugh, so it’s welcomed! :-)

I’ve had a little bit of trouble with swelling, but it seems to be under control if I watch my sodium intake and keep drinking lots of water. It was a little scary when it got really bad on Saturday last weekend, but I realized, after I called the doctor in fear of preclampsia, that I ate some potato chips on Friday! The nurse reassured me that they aren’t worried about toxemia or preclampsia so I try to remember that if the swelling differs from day to day.

Speaking of the doctor, I had an appointment on April 11th and that went great. My blood pressure is back to where it was before, so she is going to keep me on the dose of my BP meds that the other doc put me on. She reassured me that the dose I’m on is still REALLY low and it’s nothing to be concerned about at this point. Whew. She asked me about the move and at that point we still didn’t know what was going on. So I talked her into bumping up my next ultrasound appointment just in case we move! :-) She actually wants them to be four weeks apart now instead of six since I’m “high risk” now for two reasons instead of just one, so it all worked out. My next ultrasound is Tuesday, April 25…next week already! Josh will be coming along, as usual! They’ll be checking to be sure Squirt is growing like he is supposed to be…and I’m also going to have them “make sure” he’s still a boy! (Not that I wish it was a girl, just so the shower invites are the right color! Hahaha!) Then I’ll see Dr. B on Wednesday for my last check-up with her and to get things ready to be transferred to a new OB/GYN in Wausau!

Our house officially went on the market on April 5th and we had a showing that same night! After that we had a couple more showings and even had an offer on Friday! The couple ended up backing out, which worked out ok since it was only on the market for three days. We have lots of time yet!

As far as the job side of things, Josh has accepted an incredible offer from Company #2 in Wausau! He is SO excited and so are the management and owners there! He'll be starting his new job on May 10th, so our last day of work at our current jobs will be May 5th! The owner of Company #2 arranged for a $5,000 sing on bonus, $500 for moving expenses and our insurance will start the first day he is employed there instead of after 60 days, so no one will have to pay for COBRA insurance. After 60 days they are going to give him a review and if he is performing (which he will be!) they will give him a raise to get him up to what he is making now!

As for work for me, I have a couple options right now and am also going to look into doing some temp work until the baby comes. We’re both hoping that after Josh’s 60 days he will be making enough so that I can stay home when the baby is born. That is our main goal and one of the only things now that is still up in the air!

The move is bittersweet as we have been here for four years now, have a beautiful home and have made some close friends that we'll have to leave behind. We both truly enjoy our jobs here so that will be hard as well. HOWEVER, we both know in our hearts that our lives and Squirt's life will be much better being closer to our families and friends. And I know we're both looking forward to having "normal" weekends with less driving! :-)

We love you all and thank you for supporting us in our decision to move to Minnesota and our decision to come back to Wisconsin!!!

New Stuff for Squirt!

I had to share a few goodies we picked up for Squirt! The diaper bag is from the doctors office and is filled with a bunch of samples and fun stuff! I picked up the lamp at Target, which was on clearance, TVM! :-) The green matches perfectly to the baby's bedding. And the little Chicky...I shouldn't go into details but I will! Josh had a Chicky when he was little (which he still has) and wanted to make sure his little boy had one too so we've been keeping our eyes open for one. I found this little guy at Target as well and HAD to get him!

I HAVE AN UPDATE!

Josh had a message from Company #2 yesterday when he got home and the guy said they are "definitely interested and want to continue this." SWEET, HUH?! He mentioned meeting next Friday, which is weird cuz it’s Good Friday, but on the other hand, Josh can take the time off and no one will question why! Josh is calling him back today to set up a meeting time.

AND…I just talked to Josh...he had his review with his boss this morning and it went good. No one at Josh's work knows about us moving except Fred, Josh's 2nd man that meets at our house in the morning. Josh wanted to tell him before he saw the for sale sign in the yard! BUT...a couple people at his work have been saying stuff like, "So since you're having a baby when are you moving back to WI?" and stuff like that. We weren't sure if his boss would say anything about it today, but he didn't. AND...Josh got a $3 raise! I can't believe this! Maybe he has an idea about the move and that's why he gave Josh such a big raise...to get him to stay! Urgh...who knows! All I know is the money isn't going to keep us here! :-)

It Happened!

JOSH FELT OUR LITTLE GUY MOVE LAST NIGHT!!!!!!!!

It was so exciting…his eyes got BIG and he had a HUGE smile on his face!!

The baby seemed to be moving a lot in one place when I was laying in bed. So I told Josh and he put his hand on my belly. I felt Squirt kick and watched his face light up! It was so cool! He said, “I felt it! It was just little, but I felt it! I thought it would be harder!” :-)

I’m 22 Weeks Today!

This week our little guy is looking like a miniature newborn…no more alien! He is 10.9 inches and almost 1 pound! Even his eyes are developed and the first little tooth buds are appearing under his gums!

Not a whole lot of new stuff to report today, which is ok too I guess! My belly button has been pretty sore…it’s stretching sideways! (I guess pretty soon it will be flat and then start sticking out!) And speaking of stretching, I’m starting to get some new stretch marks on the sides of my belly button. I knew in the back of my mind I’d get them because I had some before the pregnancy, but it was really weird when they actually showed up! I’ve been feeling a lot of movement from the little guy, but still not able to feel him from the outside of my belly. I’m starting to retain water on a daily basis now, it’s not just sporadic anymore. So I have to make sure I get up and walk around a lot, keep my feet up at my desk and DRINK, DRINK, DRINK! Water that is! :-) Otherwise, I’m settling in to the “easy” part of pregnancy…I’m getting used to all the weird things my body is doing, so all that’s left is to enjoy it until I get big and uncomfortable! :-)

Josh and his co-worker Fred picked up a glider/ottoman from one of his other co-workers’ house today. They said they didn’t need it any more and wanted it to go to a good home! We’re so lucky…those aren’t cheap!

…ok, so maybe I had more to report than I thought!

Furniture knobs

My grandma and grandpa from my dad's side are making all of the nursery furniture for our little guy. (Except the crib, which my mom and dad are so graciously getting for us!) After a short visit with them a couple weeks ago of brainstorming and flipping through JC Penny catalogs for ideas, we found the perfect set to model ours after! Before we left we got to talking about what type of knobs to use and I decided to try to find some animal knobs to match the bedding!

An unsuccessful trip to Target, Menard's and Home Depot, I decided to do some checking on eBay. I hit the jackpot with that one!! I found a woman that hand paints knobs and even customizes them to match whatever you want! So I got in touch with her via email and sent her some pictures of our bedding. I received my knobs in the mail today and couldn't be happier! This woman was so fast and is so TALENTED! Here is the sample sheet she sent me...they are exactly like this! And perfectly match the animals on our bedding!

Catch-Up Post!

Hi everyone! I’m a little bit behind schedule, but here I am! Last week was an insane whirlwind but now that I’m caught up I can write and get everyone up-to-date.

3-24…Went to PJ’s for Brooke’s birthday party. We had a really good time, we even stayed until 1:30! I couldn’t believe how fast the time went cuz I thought I’d be ready for bed at 10:00! :-) It was good seeing Brooke and Brad and all of our friends and some of our family. On our way back to my mom and dad’s house we came upon a car accident by the road my parents live on. Apparently the guy was drunk and drove down my parents road (which comes to a T intersection), across the highway, down the ditch and up onto the railroad tracks! When we got there his car was stuck on the tracks! So I called 911 and Josh made sure he was ok since he is certified in First Aid. The Sherriff’s department got there pretty quick to take care of things. Pretty exciting way to end the night I guess! Didn’t get to bed until prolly 3:00am!

3-25…Got up around 11:00…very rare for us! We took a ride past one of the houses we wanted to look at. It’s a great location but the yard is quite small. Then we headed up to Josh’s home town to visit with his family for a while. That was fun...we hung out there and ate dinner with his mom, Jim and Dan before we went to see Zach and Kim and new baby Kadince! She is just adorable and we had a great time visiting with them!

Today we got some great news! After three weeks of waiting for word on job offers or interviews for Josh we finally heard something! Josh checked his email and he got a job offer from Company #1, the place he already interviewed with! They sent him a benefits package (which looks good) and want him to come in to talk salary! Then he had an email from Company #2 saying they want to interview him! I think he will like that place better than Company #1 because they are more surveying oriented...I hope it all goes well!

3-26…Visited with Josh’s grandma and grandpa and then headed back home.

3-29…I’m 21 weeks! The baby is supposed to weigh ¾ of a pound and is about 10.5 inches long. But we all know our little guy is ahead of that…I just don’t know how much! His eyelids and eyebrows are fully developed too! I’m definitely feeling him moving around. A LOT! :-) BabyCenter said the little guy is oblivious to my schedule. That’s a little surprising because I’ve still been sleeping good, minus my one trip to the bathroom, and he seems to settle down right before I go to bed! I’m starting to see his patterns and have an idea of when he is active and when he’s not. I’ve been, for the most part, feeling great! It’s so nice to just be enjoying the pregnancy and not being miserable!

My doctor appointment today went well...Squirt’s heartbeat is 158. Just right! My blood pressure was 132/90 so they added an extra dose of my meds and I'll see Dr. Brown in two weeks to check it again. I honestly chalked it up to seeing a new doctor and being nervous, but I’ll still check it at the pharmacy and keep an eye on it between now and April 11th when I see Dr. B. I asked Dr. F. about the numbing in my hands. He said a lot of pregnant women get carpal tunnel during pregnancy because of water retention. It’s also irritated by sleeping with your wrists bent, which explains why it’s only bad first thing in the morning. So for the most part, all is well! :-)

3-31…We left work early today cuz Josh has an interview with Company #2 at 3:30! (WAHOO!) He will be meeting with the President of Company #1 on Saturday morning to talk about a salary! FINALLY...after over three weeks we get some answers! :-) He isn't going to take the job at Company #1 until he hears from Company #2 because we both think Company #2 will be a better fit for him since they are more surveying oriented!

Today…Josh's two interviews went great this weekend! The one at Company #2 looks pretty promising. He is really excited about that place because they are very up-to-date and surveying oriented. They gave him a tour and introduced him to a few people, so that's a good thing too! :-) The interview with Company #1 went good as well...we thought they were going to offer him a job, but it was actually a second interview with the president of the company. He likes that company too, but is really hoping Company #2 will offer him a job. Company #2 is calling him back this week and Company #1 will get in touch with him in the next couple weeks when they have a better feel for how much work they will have this summer.

I'm pretty sure Josh is FINALLY ready to put the house on the market...I can't tell you how relieving that is because we just don't know how long it will take to sell. He mentioned last night about putting the final touches on the house so the realtor can come take pictures, so this is a good thing!

Speaking of houses, we looked at about 6 houses in the Rib Mountain area with a realtor on Saturday. Mom and dad came along too…it was a fun afternoon! Didn't find anything we couldn't live without, but definitely got some ideas! And…we had Papillion’s for dinner…YUMMY! I love those Wisconsin pizza fries! :-)

Look!

After our ultrasound, we received some cute outfits from family and friends. When we got home Sunday night I felt the need to take pictures of them and post them! :-) I'm just so excited I have to share! I sure wish we could get a nursery set up, but it's just not going to happen right now...I'll come to terms with that sooner or later! Meanwhile, we have "baby drawers" in the dress in our spare bedroom that are reserved for "Squirt." (That's what Josh has been calling our little guy!)

Outfits from Christmas when I was only a few weeks along! Packers outfits from my parents, Pooh outfit from my Aunt Kathy, slippers from Josh's mom, and the giraffe is a little something my mom picked up for him a few weeks ago. It's so cute!

These are the outfits and Squirt's very first little toy that mommy bought him. I picked them up the day we had our first ultrasound and found out he was doing well!

This little outfit is the one Josh and I picked up on clearance at Walmart...the one with the kahki overalls and #72 on the onesie and hoodie!

Our friends Mindy & Ron picked up this outfit the night we called them to tell them we are having a boy...more overalls and they are just adorable! The shirt has a scooter on it and there is a little puff of smoke on the back too!

Last, but not least, this is the outfit my mom and dad gave us. My mom had picked up a boy and a girl outfit so she had this picked out to give us before we even had our ultrasound! :-) We just love it...it's adorable and Josh's mom told us Josh had that was similar to it when he was a little guy!

Soccer Player?!

I think I got kicked in the bladder for the first time this morning! I was driving to work and all of a sudden I felt like I could pee my pants! There was a ton of pressure...and then…NOTHING. LoL…Gotta get used to that I guess!

When Josh left for work this morning he said, “You have got up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night for four days in a row now!” LoL…I had been very lucky and still been sleeping through the night up until Monday night. When I get up I have to turn on the lamp on my nightstand so I can see where I’m going so I always wake him up. I think we need to find out nightlight and plug that in on my side of the bed…then again, he can wake up with me! ;-) Monday through Wednesday I made it until 4:00 am, but last night I had to get up at 1:00 am! Oh well…I really don’t mind except because of taking the Unisom I’m a zombie and have to do all I can not to fall asleep on the toilet! I won’t be surprised if it happens!

In not so good news, I’ve started to retain water again. I got rid of it last time it happened about two weeks ago, so I’m hoping I’ll be able to do it again. I think it is around two pounds, unless I actually gained some weight from this pregnancy. I really don’t think that’s it though since my fingers look like sausages and my feet hurt in the shower! I’ll just keep pushing my water and stay away from those yummy, salty foods! :-)

Ultrasound results!

Josh and I had our 20 week ultrasound yesterday! My gut feeling was right...our little Peanut is a BOY!!!!!!

The whole ultrasound experience was very interesting, to say the least! I didn’t have to have a full bladder and I’m SOOOOO thankful for that because our stubborn little boy wouldn’t move so the tech was doing all she could to get him to! When she first started she told us that the baby had his head down and was facing my spine. Not very easy to get at the head to get measurements, so there was a lot of poking, prodding and pushing on my belly. She said, “Sorry if this hurts!” and I said, “Well, do what you have to do cuz I’m sure the birth will be worse than this!” LoL. At one point she pushed on my belly and we heard a little thud on the ultrasound thing...I felt a kick at the same time! I think he was telling her to get out of his space! She took a few measurements and then we tried a few other things to get him to move. She laid me back on the table so I felt like I was standing on my head – didn’t work! Turned on my right side – didn’t work! Turned on my left side facing away from her – still didn’t move! As I’m facing away from her she said she was getting a better angle and I kept an eye on Josh’s face to see if his expression changed. Slowly a little smirk spread across his face and I knew something was up. When I rolled back over she had a picture on the screen and she showed us the two legs and then she pointed an arrow between his legs and said, “IT’S A BOY!” Since he wasn’t cooperating very well we didn’t get too many good pics, but we got the important one! This isn't very good since I just took a picture of it with my camera phone. Our scanner isn't hooked up yet, so that's all we have for now! :-) His butt is facing up and his legs are spread apart. If you look close enough you can see where she typed the word leg and the little arrow she put on there pointing to his boy parts !

This is his little foot, if you can make it out!

When we met with the doctor for the results, he said everything looked really good and he is ahead of the size schedule by 4 days! With the level two ultrasound it even shows the flow of blood in red and blue coming into and leaving the baby’s body from the umbilical cord. That’s the only place there was a little issue. They are going to have me back for an ultrasound every 6 weeks not only because of my pre-hypertension, but because instead of having two arteries and one vein in his umbilical cord he only has one of each. Normally this hinders the growth of the baby, but the doctor said he's growing just fine! :-) The doctor assured us there is nothing to worry about at this point and he was very happy with what he saw. Even though he is ahead of his growth schedule they aren't changing my due date since I had an early ultrasound and those are very accurate in determining the due date. Big babies run in my mom's side of the family, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised! :-)

When we were done we had dinner at Friday’s and spent a lot of time on the phone. Everyone was excited...we're very excited too! Then we ran to Walmart and had to stroll through the baby department to pick up something boy-ish! We picked up a little outfit that was on clearance… khaki bib overalls that have cute little patches on the knees. It came with a blue onesie with the number 72 on the sleeve and a grey zip up hoodie with the number 72 on the front of it. We had to have it since 72 was Josh's racing number when he raced snowmobiles! :-) And my dad’s old football number!

When we got home we made the cupcakes to take to our offices today…with cute blue frosting on them! The cupcakes are going over well...I put them on my desk and made everyone come over to me to get one so I could share the ultrasound pics! Mindy and Ron gave us an outfit (she went and bought it after we called them last night!). It's a blue polo shirt that has a scooter on it and a pair of jean bib overalls! SO CUTE! And my mom said when we go there this weekend she left a present for us on the table!

All-in-all, it was a great visit with lots of awesome news! Again, we are so blessed! :-)

Today is the big day!

I’m SOOOO tired today even though we were in bed by 10:45 last night! The hockey game was a really good and we WON 3-1! We had a blast…maybe I’ll post some pictures. On our way back to I-94 we took a different route than we usually do and drove through an AWESOME old neighborhood with huge, beautiful, old mansions…I know some of my family (mom and AJ for sure!) would have loved to see them. LoL…Josh was asking the street names so he could figure out where we were and I said, “I can’t look right now, I’m busy!” Hahaha…

This week the baby is 6.5 inches from head to rump. After this week the measurements will change…instead of measuring head to rump it will be head to toe. This changed because the baby’s legs are able to stretch out more now than it was able to in the first 20 weeks when they were curled against the body and hard to measure. (He/she must know I’m writing about him/her because I’m getting some kicks!) SO…after that explanation, this week the baby is actually 10 inches from head to heel!! WOW!!!!! That’s way bigger than my hand now! :-) The baby’s weight is now 10.5 ounces, quite a size change from my last ultrasound when the baby was the size of a small grape! Speaking of food, I’m a little bummed because BabyCenter.com didn’t give a fruit/vegetable this week!

There’s some other gross stuff happening that I’ll just briefly mention – a greasy white substance is coating the body to protect the skin from being in the amniotic fluid so long and will also help during delivery. The baby is also producing a black, sticky substance from swallowing amniotic fluid that will show up in the first messy diapers. GROSS! ;-)

My uterus is now at the same level as my belly button and I can definitely feel it. My belly button hurts! (Again, I’m sure this is nothing compared to what it’ll be feeling like in 2-3 months!) When I put my finger in my belly button I can feel the top of my uterus…last Friday we really had to push to feel it, but yesterday it wasn’t difficult to find cuz it’s so hard!

In this week’s info they also mentioned childbirth education classes and I just don’t know what to do about it. I don’t know if I should sign up now or if I should wait until we know more about moving. Advice anyone?

I’m leaving work today at 2:00 to go to the ultrasound! I’m all set…have our directions and just called the hospital to confirm my appointment. It’s at 3:00 in Minneapolis, which is why we are leaving so early. There is NO PREP at all, which means I don’t have to chug all that water and have my bladder pushed on! Sounds like good news to me! :-) I told her I just wanted to be sure and she said that the view on their machines is so clear that they don’t need to do that anymore…WAHOO! I’ll post again in the morning unless I have time tonight. But if all goes well and we find out the sex, Josh and I are planning on making cupcakes with corresponding colored frosting for us to take to work tomorrow! :-)

Interview Update

Another busy week at work! Too bad I don’t have a computer at home…oh, wait…we do! Uhm, I just don’t get paid to use that one! :-)

Josh’s job interview went great on the 11th…it was TWO HOURS LONG! Everything they said was good and they really seemed to like Josh. They are impressed with his qualifications and he said the company seems to be very good to its employees. The bad part…Josh was pretty disappointed in the equipment that they use because it is very outdated. However, he is still going to consider employment there if they offer it to him. He should be hearing from someone soon, they are supposed to mail an information packet about their insurance and other benefits. Oh – dad talked to the guy from this company on Monday and he said he hasn’t heard anything about the details, just that the interview went good and they liked Josh. He also told dad he thought they would lay Josh off in the winter. That really put a different spin on things, which sucks. But I guess it will all work out.

As for the house, until we hear something on employment, it’s not up for sale.

CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT THE ULTRASOUND IS TOMORROW!?!?!! The time has just FLOWN by! We are so excited we can hardly stand it! Tonight will go by fast cuz we’re going to the MN Wild hockey game. Hopefully tomorrow morning will fly! I’m picking Josh up at work at 2:00 and we’re headed to the hospital!! Eeeek! I’m sticking with my prediction - I think it’s a boy. I sure hope we’ll be able to find out after all this excitement! :-)

Another beautiful baby!

Kim (Josh's cousin Zach's wife) went into labor around 8:00 last night and had their baby girl at 2:16 this morning, ON her due date! She is 6 pounds, 8 ounces and 20.5 inches long. Everything went great and mom and baby are both doing fine. Of course, Zach is tired, poor guy, huh?! :-)

Today I am 19 weeks!

I can’t believe how fast the time has gone…our ultrasound is next week already. The 22nd will be here before we know it. Seems like I just made the appointment and that was almost two months ago! We’re hoping and praying that we can find out the sex that day, but even if we can’t, it’ll be great just to see the little one on screen again!

This little baby has been moving SO MUCH lately! It is just unreal how much difference a week has made! I feel him/her more than ever and much, much stronger. It’s still so amazing to me and still makes me stop whatever I am doing so I can enjoy it. I know Josh is just waiting until the kicks and moves get stronger so he can feel them too!

I’m a little bummed right now. After my last dr. appointment with Dr. B on the March 1st, she let me know that she wouldn’t be in the week that my next appointment was to be scheduled. At the time I didn’t think it was that big of a deal. But this weekend I decided I’d rather see Dr. B again in case we are moved by the end of April. I called her office this morning and she has NO openings at the office I go to until April 18th! What a bummer…so I’m keeping my appointment with Dr. F on the 29th and hoping that we will still be living in MN for my next appointment on April 26th. If not, I guess someone will have to take a road trip with me! :-)

So this week, at 8.5 ounces and 6 inches from head to rump, our little one is now the size of a small zucchini! (Again, so close Ash! She guessed an eggplant.) I got out my ruler so I could see just how big 6 inches is and it’s amazing! When Rayn and Meghan asked last weekend how big the baby was I cupped my hands together to show them, like someone was going to put something in my hands. But now 6 inches is from the tip of my middle finger almost to the bottom of my palm! What a difference! This week the little one is starting to grow more hair on his/her head…I wonder what color it is!
(Has anyone else noticed the difference between my BabyCenter info and the info on my baby ticker?!)

Josh’s job interview update coming soon!

Radio DJ has made a guess at the sex of our baby!

My cousin Brooke emailed me yesterday from WI and said, “You should call WIFC now to see what Dave Calloway says your having. All he needs to know is how old you'll be when you have the baby and the official month of conception.” I said it sounds a lot like the info you need for the Chinese Birth Chart, but I’ll give it a shot. I tried calling shortly after and no one answered. I emailed her back and said she should do it for me today! SO…she did! This is the email I, and a bunch of family and friends, got from her this morning:

Ok, so Alissa talked me into doing a baby check for her on WIFC cuz she couldn't get through. Dr Dave said that she is going to have a boy!! When Alissa has the baby, she or I need to call back to the radio station and let them know what she had. If Dr. Dave was right, they will send her a bib that says, “Dr Dave said I was going to be a boy!” If he was wrong they will send her a bib that says, “OOOPS!!!” He also said that since he's been doing this, Greece is the farthest they've sent a bib. Now I'm listening to the station to see if I'll be on the radio or not, I know....what a dork!! The things you do for the ones you love!! :O)

Now isn’t that cool?! So it’ll be fun to see if Dr. Dave and the Chinese birth chart are both right! :-) Only 12 days until the ultrasound!

Job update!

Just wanted to let everyone know that Josh’s informal interview (“meet and eat” as AJ called it!) was changed from last weekend to tomorrow. Please keep poor Josh in your thoughts and prayers…he’s a bit nervous! As I am too! :-) Things sound pretty promising, so I’m sure everything will go just fine. Depending on how things go on Saturday, our house might be for sale some time next week! I’ll update as soon as I can!

If, for some reason, things don’t go as planned, he has a back-up. Another company in Stevens Point also called. Josh talked to them and they basically said they aren’t hiring right now, but if the right person came along they wouldn’t hesitate to hire. SO…if things don’t look as promising as we’d like after tomorrow morning Josh will call and set up and interview there! I’m glad we have options, but I hope we don’t have to use them. :-) I’d rather live around the Wausau area and one of Josh’s “unruly” classmates from high school and college works there and he’s a bad influence! I’m just kidding, if that’s the way things work out, that will be fine. Josh is more responsible and mature anyway!

Shameless Plug!

Jacki (Josh’s mom) called Josh last night to let him know that Dan’s band, 4th Floor, is going to be at Coral Lanes Saturday night! They’re playing from 9pm-1am, no cover charge!

SO…go check them out if you don’t have plans! Mom, dad, Josh and I are going after Mom and I go with a friend of hers to see Bye, Bye Birdie at one of the high schools.

Let me know if you want to meet us!

No more adoption updates…IT’S DONE!

I had a very exciting email from Ronda waiting for me when I got to work today. It's finally over!!! *tears* The court hearing is done, papers are signed, and Aliya Mae is home for good! She attached some cute pictures, all taken in their home last night! I think these are the best pictures that I've seen through the past 5 weeks.

Thanks for everyone’s thoughts and prayers and for letting me share this story with you all! We’re going to Aliya’s welcome home party on Saturday and I’ll ask then if I can post a pic!

I’m 18 Weeks!

Every morning when Josh leaves for work he wakes me up to kiss me goodbye and usually touches or kisses my belly too. (I know, awwww!) Well, yesterday morning he said in a little sing-song voice, “You’re starting to get a belly!” LoL…I’d have slapped him if it wasn’t a baby! :-) But it’s true…my abdomen is starting to really show some changes and we can feel the top of my uterus almost at the bottom of my belly button. Just in the last week I’ve been noticing my belly button starting to get sore as my uterus keeps growing! I’m sure that uncomfortablness (lol…I don’t think that’s a word, but just go with it) will be nothing in comparison to what will be happening, but still! I’ve also quit wearing my pants at my waistline for that very reason…and now they’re hiked up damn near to my chest…it’s HOT! I’ve noticed more heartburn so my Tums are close by my side and my appetite seems to be growing, but I’m keeping it to small and frequent meals so I don’t get an upset stomach. At the moment I feel like I have these few things under control! :-)

The comparison food of the week from BabyCenter.com is..........drumroll please..........a large sweet potato! (I was so tempted to put a picture of sweet potato pie here...yum!) Baby is now 5.5 inches long and weighs almost 7 ounces. I’ve been feeling a lot more movement and that’s due to him/her being able to flex his/her arms and legs! Again, welcomed movement! Also, the reproductive parts are now formed if the baby is a boy or a girl…which hopefully we will see in 14 days at our ultrasound!

Josh and I did something very exciting on Saturday! We decided on and made our fist big purchase for the baby…BEDDING! It doesn’t have the ark on it, but has all the elements, even an olive branch above the little birdie! The colors are very gender neutral…green with light stripes and a yellow gingham in the backrounds. The animals all have different textures on them…the lion has corduroy on his mane and the elephant has denim on his ears. SO CUTE! There is a possibility that if we find out it’s a girl we might go with a simple pink bedding set, but just a small possibility. You know me and my indecisiveness!

Here are some snapshots I took of it in Target. Josh is such a good sport! LoL…and while I was taking pics with my camera phone a worker walked up to us and said, “Can I help you with something?” I nonchalantly replied, “No!” We got a good laugh from that one!

This crib also happens to be very close to the one we have picked out!

I’m 17 Weeks!

The baby is around 5 ounces, 5 inches now, about the size of a large onion! (Ash guessed a green pepper…SO CLOSE!)



I picked this picture cuz of the blue background! Man, if this kid is a girl, I hope I haven't given her a complex!


My doctor appointment yesterday afternoon went great. In and out in no time, with all my answers answered, just how I like it!

First topic of conversation, “How have you been feeling?” So I go into this big thing how I tried going off the Unisom and B6, got really sick, so I’m back on it. My doctor, who is awesome by the way, told me to QUIT feeling guilty about taking it and just be happy that I feel good and we’ve found something that can fix it! Ok, that’s doable. Then I told her that I can’t keep down the prenatal vitamins that she gave me. NO PROB! Keep taking the Flinstones, my iron is fine and that’s basically why you take special prenatal vitamins, so I’m good to go.

Second topic - blood pressure. It’s GREAT! 130/76! She’s very happy with that so I will continue to take 3 – 250 mg doses a day. I ask for a new prescription, which she almost forgot to give me before I left! We get to talking and both forget little things! (Last time it was prenatal vitamin samples)

Third topic – ultrasound! She made sure I had made an appointment at the hospital to have a Level 2 ultrasound done. YUP! March 22nd! It’s cool when you are so excited about something you can get the doctor excited too! I commented that we were hoping to find out the sex and she said, “Oh yeah, that won’t be a problem.” Of course I didn’t think about it until after I left, but I wonder why she said that! Are the Level 2’s that much more detailed or do they just make you walk around until the baby is facing the right direction?! Oh well, guess we’ll find out in 3 weeks! She said the tech doing the u/s will walk us through it, explaining everything, and then we will meet with a doctor for results the same day. My next appointment with Dr. B will be March 29th, four weeks from yesterday, but she won’t be in the office. I don’t mind seeing a different doctor, but with a possible move getting more real I kinda want to make sure I see HER again. So I might change it to the following Wednesday, but I’ll update on that. At that appointment they will measure my uterus to make sure it’s where it’s supposed to be, but yesterday she told me it is just below my belly button. Right where it should be! :-)

Fourth topic – weight. Another “Quit worrying about it!” This time I was worrying I wasn’t gaining enough weight. She told me between the 1st – 2nd – 3rd appointments I lost weight (from being sick) and between the 3rd and this appointment I stayed the same. She’s very happy with that and said as long as I’m eating and drinking I’m doing just fine! Since I’m eating smaller meals that is helping my metabolism, as well as just being pregnant, which could be why I’m not gaining any weight. She said she has had overweight patients that actually come back for their check-up after the baby is born 10-15 pounds lighted than when they got pregnant! WORKS FOR ME! :-)

After all the talking I got to hear the heartbeat again! It was 150 BPM, which is down from 170 last time. Apparently it goes down as the baby gets older/bigger. How cool! SO…according to the wives tale, it could qualify to be a girl! Am I wrong about my prediction?! We’ll see on the 22nd! (Hopefully!)

Animals!

I just had to post this picture of the stuffed animals we bought for baby while we were on vacation in San Diego. Josh laughed at me, but I wanted everyone to see! Especially since my discription of the giraffe from the zoo wasn't that great and I think it's just adorable!! :-) I can picture it hanging off the dresser or side of the crib...or our little one running around with it! Awww...

Movin' & Shakin'...while Walkin'!

All the times I've felt the baby move I've been sitting still or laying down. I just took some papers to the back of the office and on my walk there I had to stop cuz I had this weird feeling in my belly. Then I realized...the baby's moving while I am! I started walking again and the baby kept moving...I couldn't stop smiling! This activity is definitely welcome! :-) I know, I might change my mind about that when he/she starts kicking my bladder or ribs, but until then I'll enjoy it!

A new baby in the family!

We got a phone call on Saturday from my Aunt Kathy...she had some surprising news!

My cousin Jodi had her baby 6 weeks early on Saturday morning! Aiden Isaiah is 5 pounds and is on a respirator, but doing well. They were unsure about a lot of things when we talked, but everything was looking positive! Jodi was in labor on Friday at work, but she thought it was Braxton Hicks (sp?) until early Saturday morning. That's when they decided to call the emergency room to talk to a doctor, but no one called back so they just went in. Which is a good thing because they got there at 3:30 and she delivered in one push at 4:00 am!!! Could have been a parking lot baby! :-)

We're all glad baby and mom are doing well...sounds like dad is very excited! Can't wait to find out more details!

I finally broke down....

...and bought some Oxy this weekend. No, not Oxy Clean! The stuff for ZITS!!

My face, chest and back are beginning to look like they belong to a teenager!! It's just terrible! What's worse is I have to ask my poor hubby to get my back for me...the things you do for love! :-)

(I know, prolly too much information!)

Much happier adoption update

Our prayers are so close to being answered! The birthmother of baby Aliya has changed her mind again and will be proceeding with the adoption plan! She and the birthfather were both sworn in by a judge yesterday and signed the pre-termination of parental rights papers. The actual court date is tentatively set for Tuesday, but that may change because one of the lawyers has a schedule conflict. We also have to keep in mind that the birthparents have up until that date to change their minds again. I hope that they won’t put Ronda & Gregg through that heartbreak once more.

I cannot express how happy I am for the two of them! Updates to follow!

This and That

I have to tell you about my 2nd strange craving...I had it in Phoenix! (First was the canned tomatoes.) Josh, Ash, Adam, Dan, and I went to the grocery store on Saturday to pick up beer for Mason’s birthday party. We decided to get some chips and french onion dip so we could contribute a little something to lunch. Well, as we were walking to the car I decided I wanted some pizza. We talked about it briefly and decided there was some frozen pizzas at the house if I wanted to make one. The next thing I knew I was saying, “I want to dip my pizza in the french onion dip!!!!” Everyone thought it sounded gross, but Gram made me a pizza and it was just what I was looking for with my dip! :-) Josh’s Aunt Pattie is convinced it’s a boy cuz I was craving junk food. She said with her two boys all she ate was junk and with her girl she ate veggies and fruits. We’ll have to see!

Last Thursday night my craving was for cheese curds from Culver’s!! I have no idea where that came from, but I wanted them…and we ate at Culver’s for dinner that night just so I could have some! :-)

Speaking of food (hahaha) I’ve decided my jeans are no longer wearable! I wore a pair to work last Friday with the button unbuttoned. By the end of the day they were unzipped as far as I could unzip them and still cover it with my sweatshirt! Luckily, mom brought me some retired jeans of hers with the elastic waist… I think those will last quite a while and are really comfy!

I decided that the movement I felt is definitely the baby and not gas! :-) I felt more flutters last night and a few while I was laying in bed this morning. This is so cool!! Another bonus...knock on wood...I haven't been sick since for two whole days!

Our meeting with our realtor went really good last night. Things look good and he only had a couple minor suggestions for us to “stage” the house to get it ready for sale. One of which was to get rid of the deer head on the wall down stairs…hahaha! Looks like the only real downfall with the house is the two car garage. Most of the houses for sale right now have three car garages, but are also about $15,000 more than our house, so our will be perfect for a first time buyer or a young family. (Like us!) The fact that we didn’t put a deck on is a minor set back, but not a big deal in the pricing. He showed us how he plans to market the house and explained what will be happening through the process. Hopefully all goes well and it sells within 30-90 days!

And speaking of the big move, Josh has a hot job lead thanks to dad! Dad’s been working with an engineer at one of the big engineering/surveying companies in Wausau and found out they need some help. Josh emailed his resume to a guy there and got a reply back on Tuesday night saying that they would like to meet with him (on a Saturday!) the next time he is in town! He’s going to call him back today and set up a time on the 4th to meet with them! Great, huh?! They were also, for some reason, impressed that he has a background in road work as well. BONUS! :-) I’ll keep everyone posted on what’s going on with those two developments as well!

Not so great adoption update...

Got an email from Ronda & Gregg last week and it wasn't good news. The birthmother of baby Aliya has decided she does not want to continue with the adoption. This was devastating news for all of us and my heart is broken for Ronda & Gregg. I haven't heard anything more from her, but our hopes are that since the birthmother hasn't spent any time with Aliya since her birth it will be too much for her to handle and she will change her mind again. I know it sounds like a terrible wish, but it would be the best for Aliya too.

Please keep them all in your thoughts and prayers.

Movin' and Shakin'!

I think the first “weird feeling” I had in my tummy was in the van on the way to San Diego. There’s been a few since then, but I was never really sure what it was.

Well, today I’m positive the “flutters” are the baby because there has been a lot! Before lunch I felt it quite a bit around the center/left part of my tummy and it went on for a few seconds…it was amazing! Just a little bit ago I felt it on the opposite side! This feeling definitely makes up for being sick on and off for the last two weeks!

I'm 16 Weeks!

I haven’t been feeling up to par lately, which is why I haven’t posted. SORRY EVERYONE! :-) I’m not sure what happened, I’d been feeling great. Then after vacation I got a really bad chest cold (what my dr. thinks was leftovers from allergies in AZ) and started getting morning/afternoon/evening sickness again. Even with the Unisom and B6. So I’m dealing with that and trying to stay excited about being pregnant. :-) I can’t wait to have the little one here so I’m not sick anymore…not that there won’t be other things to deal with then!

Now…on to the details! The little one is now 4.5 inches long, crown to rump, and 3.5 ounces. About the size of…drum roll please…an avocado! (This comparison thing is really cool…last week when we were in the grocery store we picked up a lemon to see the size of the baby! It really hit home!) The baby’s legs are longer than his/her arms now and he/she can move all joints and limbs. The eyelids are still closed, but the eyes can move a little and he/she can sense light now. (Which of course Josh loved hearing…it’ll only be a matter of time that he is shining a flashlight at my belly!) Little toenails are even starting to appear! Hahaha…they said my hormones should have stabilized now and my nausea should have eased up. YEAH RIGHT!

In the next three weeks the baby will be having big growth spurts, doubling his/her weight and adding inches to his/her length! That is so exciting!! My belly is definitely showing growth already and I REALLY need to order some more maternity pants! I haven’t gained any weight so far…actually, I’ve lost a total of 5 pounds. I don’t think that’s a lot, so I’m trying not to be concerned about it, but I’ll definitely ask at my next appointment, which is a week from today. That is when they normally do the quad-screen, which tests for downs syndrome, etc. We are 90% sure we’re going to opt out of this test, as it doesn’t give a 100% answer anyway. Does anyone have any comments about this?

OH! I found out what is causing my stuffy nose, bloody nose, and terrible allergies! BabyCenter says: …increased estrogen can cause swelling in the mucous membranes and possibly the production of more mucus. Your blood volume is increasing, too, which causes your blood vessels to expand, including those in your nose. (You may get occasional nosebleeds as a result.) And because pregnancy alters your immune system and makes you more susceptible to certain infections, it might just be that you have a cold or allergies.

Since I'm on vacation, I'm copy and pasting the info from BabyCenter here this week! My BIL, Dan, guessed the fruit of the week on Sunday! I don't know how, but he did! :-)

How your baby's growing: Head to bottom, your baby's 3 1/2 inches long — about the length of a lemon — and weighs about 1 1/2 ounces. Her body's growing faster than her head, which now sits upon a more well-defined neck. By the end of this week, her arms will have lengthened and will be in proportion to the rest of her body. (Her legs still have some growing to do, though.) She's starting to develop an ultra-fine, downy covering of hair all over her body (called lanugo). Her liver starts secreting bile this week, a sign that it's already functioning properly, and her spleen starts contributing to the production of red blood cells. She's also producing and discharging urine into the amniotic fluid, a normal process that she'll keep up until birth. You still can't feel your baby's movements, but her hands and feet (which are now half an inch long) are more flexible and active. Thanks to brain impulses, her little facial muscles are getting a workout as she squints, frowns, and grimaces. (Like any child of mine will need practice making faces! HA!) She can grasp now, too, and she may be able to suck her thumb.

When we were in San Diego I was a little tired but, for the most part, did a lot better than I did the weekend of derby with all of that excitement and the long days. I forgot my Unisom and B6 on Sunday night and Monday morning there was no gagging...nothing even close! So that gives me high hopes for next week when I stop the Unisom and start back on my prenatal vitamins! YAY! My energy level has also changed a lot. Didn't even sleep all the way home on the 5.5 hour car ride back to Phoenix. I felt like a nap yesterday, but it passed quickly and I didn't really need it! I'm hoping the next three months will be a breeze...and I can't wait until March 22!

OH! We got the baby two little gifts, one at Sea World and one at the San Diego Zoo. We got him/her a blue and yellow pastel colored Shamu at Sea World that has the crunchy stuff in it (my fave!) and a giraffe blanket thing at the zoo! The start to our theme...Noah's Ark! Well, I'm pretty sure that's the theme we're doing!

Vacation!

I’ll be taking a temporary blogging hiatus between now and the 12th for our vacation to Phoenix. (I know, jeers from the peanut gallery…hahaha!) If I get a chance to do my weekly update from my SIL’s computer I’ll do that, but I’m not really planning on it!

Have a good week and I’ll write when we get back!

Check-up!

My doctor appointment went great yesterday! Everything is normal and progressing just fine! When I got there they wanted a urine sample, but I didn’t have to go! So she told me to try again before I left. Two of the nurses already know me by name, go figure!! The doctor was running behind, which I’ve never encountered at that office, but I didn’t care. I actually picked up a couple of the pregnancy magazines in the lobby and learned a few things!

When I finally got called in she said my B.P. was ok, which was 132/80. She said she wants it to be 120-130’s over 70-80’s. (Pre-pregnancy was 128/78 or so, so not much of a difference.) When she put me on Aldomet for the B.P. she put me at the lowest dose, so she said to take it three times a day now instead of two. No prob…I even remembered today! She also said my plan to stop the Unisom and B6 after vacation is just fine. She said she doesn’t want me to take the chance of being sick and I said GOOD! I’ll also start taking my pre-natal vitamins again at that time instead of the Flinstones. That will be a welcomed change since I HATE those things! They’re gross! :-) She said she had some samples of prescription prenatal vitamins to give me before I left. Works for me! Then she answered some questions, I of course forgot to ask about my weight but I’m not worried about it because if she thought I needed to gain more she would have yelled at me! After the Q & A she got out the little machine thing and told me we get to listen to the heart beat! I was excited because I really wasn’t sure what to expect at this appointment! When I got up on the table I asked her to show me where my uterus is since we’ve been pushing around down there and couldn’t tell the difference between my intestines and what we were actually looking for! :-) It was neat and I think I’ve actually felt it before, but she had to push pretty hard…I think we’ll just leave it alone for awhile...at least until it gets bigger! Listening to the heartbeat was really great, yet a little un-nerving. When she first put the device thingie on my belly there was nothing…I was holding my breath and trying to read her face until she finally found it and I heard that relieving sound of the little ones heart beat! It’s so cool…reminds me of the wind blowing and whooshing because it is so fast…170 beats per minute, which she said is normal and it will continue to come down as the baby gets older. (It was 178 at six weeks.)

As I was getting ready to leave she told me to make my next check up in four weeks and then started talking about my 20 week ultrasound. Because of my pre-hypertension she wants to have a Level 2 ultrasound done, which shows more detail instead of the normal one that they do at the clinic. Fine with me! :-) We’ll have to go to the “ghetto” hospital in Minneapolis for that one. After she gave me a number to call for my appointment, I was all excited and she sent me on my way…without a urine sample or my prenatal vitamin samples! (I ran there this morning quick to pee and grab the samples of vitamins!)

When I got down to the lobby I called right away to get my ultrasound appointment!! My next doctor appointment is March 1st, same time, and my 20 week ultrasound is March 22nd!! WE ARE SO EXCITED!! I hope that the baby co-operates and we are able to find out the sex! HOW EXCITING!!!!!! And I hope the time between now and then goes by FAST! :-)

Ronda and Gregg Update!

We received another update email from Ronda last night…they were able to spend two days with the new little baby and everything seems to be falling into place. Her name is going to be Aliya, which means immigrant to a new home. ISN’T THAT PERFECT?! Little Aliya will be discharged today and taken to a foster home where Ronda and Gregg will be able to visit her until the termination of parental rights court date. They’re hoping to know the date early next week, but are estimating it to take 3-5 weeks. This isn’t finished yet even though it is looking promising. Please keep them in your prayers!

The last week of my first Trimester!

This week the little one is about 3 inches crown to rump – roughly the size of a jumbo shrimp! Its weight is now a full ounce and even though it is so tiny, it is a fully formed baby! Isn't that incredible?! I even read he or she will start to urinate the amniotic fluid that is swallowed…kinda gross, but goes to show everything is starting to work! That could also explain why I had to get up twice last night to go potty, which is the most I've had to yet!

I’ve already had some vicious bouts with 2nd trimester heart burn, but nothing I can’t live through…just have to be sure to have my Tums with me! After we get back from vacation I’ll cut out the Unisom and we’ll go from there!

Doctor tomorrow!

I am so excited for my 13 week check up with my ob/gyn tomorrow! A lot has changed since my last appointment so I can’t wait to get to ask her questions…like, “Can you show me where my uterus is?!” We keep lightly pushing on my belly but I sure can’t tell what is what! I’m not even sure what else she is going to do at this appointment, but I’ll let you know! My appointment isn’t until 2:50, so I will post about it on Thursday some time, my last full day of work before vacation! :-D

Tomorrow's post...the 13 week update..tune in tomorrow for the food of the week!!!

Happy, happy news!

My cousin Ronda and her hubby Gregg have been trying to adopt for some time now. WELL…last week they were chosen by a birthmother, Tiffanni, and she intends on making them the adoptive parents! They met with her early last week and she was induced on Friday. Things did not go as planned and the baby wasn’t ready to come yet, so they sent Tiffanni home. She returned to the hospital yesterday and the baby came this morning at 5:10 a.m. A healthy 7 pound 2 ounce, 19.25 inch, baby GIRL! They were on their way to the hospital this morning to spend time with the little baby girl and are even going to get to take care of her over night! There is still a small chance Tiffanni will change her mind, so please keep them all in your thoughts and prayers. Hopefully this one will come through for them…it’s been a long time coming. An early CONGRATS to Ronda and Gregg!

Chinese Birth Calendar

I found this on another baby blog...it's a Chinese Birth Calendar that is supposedly very accurate in predicting the sex of your baby based on the mother's age when she will deliver and the month in which the baby was conceived.

SO...according to this chart my gut feeling is right...we're going to have a boy! (Cuz I'm sure this thing is 100% accurate, right?!)

Bellies

Jodi’s baby shower was a blast on Saturday! It was good seeing family that I haven’t seen in a while and we had a lot of fun getting to see Jodi’s belly! Little Aiden Isaiah is growing fast…only 10 more weeks for them. She has such a little frame it looks like she has a basketball under her shirt…it’s just adorable! I keep trying to picture what I will look like 3 or 4 months from now, but I just have no idea what to expect!

I heard from Kim, Josh’s cousin Zach’s wife, and she is less than 4 weeks away from her due date...they are having a little girl! She has been getting kicked a lot, which she says hurts but also reminds her that Kadence is strong and healthy! That’s a good way to look at it! Kim is also another one with a tiny frame and a big baby belly. Also adorable! But she looks totally different than Jodi does because of the way she’s carrying. I think I can tell the difference between the way a boy or a girl is carried…Maybe?!

Josh did our taxes last night and found out we are getting enough back to pay off the rest of my car (YES!) and have about $900 left over to save/prepare for the move. And the way my work pants feel today, I think a chunk of it will be going to maternity clothes. My pants are getting tighter! I wore these last week once and so when I put them on this morning they should be a little baggy, right?! WRONG! Getting a little uncomfy! Yes, I know, just a week ago today I was bragging about how I still had room! After my discovery I jumped on the scale and, to my relief, it’s still the same! I’m hoping we can run to Fashion Bug some time this week to get some pants. This week will be busy (Getting ready for our trip to AZ!) so we’ll have to see. I’ll definitely update if I come across some good finds!

On my way...

I'm leaving in 1/2 an hour to go to WI for the weekend. Tomorrow is my cousin Jodi's baby shower...she's due April 7th! Lots of new little babies on that side of the family.

Nothing else is really going on...other than another bloody nose today! WAHOO! :-)

I'm 12 Weeks Today!!

I can’t believe how fast the time has gone. It seems like just yesterday we were at our first doctor appointment, learning that I’d be at the end of my first trimester by the time we went to Arizona on February 3rd. Next Wednesday, February 1st, will be my first day of the second trimester! Please pray for no more morning sickness! (HOPEFULLY!!)

The comparison food of the week?! A LIME! The baby is now 2 inches long and weighs .5 oz! BabyCenter said his/her ears are now in their final positions on the head and the eyes (which started on the sides of the head!) have now moved closer together on his/her face. The intestines are moving into the abdominal cavity (from the umbilical cord!) and the kidneys are secreting urine into the bladder! The coolest part is they said the baby is getting better reflexes now so he/she will move if we push on my abdomen! But I won’t be able to feel it for another month or so though.

I think I’ve already started to get a little 2nd trimester heartburn! OH JOY! I’m taking Zantac and I’m STILL getting it! Monday I had half of a spicy chicken sandwich and couldn’t eat any more cuz I had terrible heart burn! And it happened again last night when we ate pizza, so here we go I guess! :-)

I’m still finding a few (not many!) food aversions. Tuesday night Josh made grilled cheese sandwiches and baked beans to go with it. I had a few bites of the beans and couldn’t eat them because I almost threw up! Guess I’ll add that to my list of things to avoid along with eggs!

Another side effect I’ve been dealing with is a stuffy nose during the night and in the morning. I washed all of our pillows, sheets, etc. and I was still miserable this morning, so I decided I’ll just have to deal with it! The worst part isn’t waking up with my tongue stuck to the roof of my terribly dry mouth cuz I can’t breathe out of my nose…it’s that when I get up I have a lot of drainage in the back of my throat that makes me gag! It’s been a while (that I can remember) that it actually made me throw up, so I can deal with it! I’ve also had about 3 bloody noses, which I read can also be a side effect of pregnancy. Or our dry house, so who knows!

OH WELL! I keep telling myself it could definitely be worse! And will all be worth it in the end!!!!!

Back in Action!

My week 11 update is a little late since I was sick last week, but here it is! The baby is now the size of a fig (on the left!), about 1.5 inches long and weighing .25 oz. He/she has started to move around a little bit and may even start getting the hiccups! Lucky for me babycenter said I won’t be able to feel them until 16-20 weeks!

Looking ahead to the future, I’ll be 12 weeks in just two days! (Wednesday) I’m happy to report that weight has stayed the same since my last doctor appointment on January 9th and I still have about an inch of growing room in my pants! My belly seems to have grown a tiny bit, just enough to make me start thinking about maternity clothes and worrying about where I’ll find them in plus sizes. I did some quick looking this morning and found that Fashion Bug carries a narrow selection of plus size maternity clothing online and in certain stores. (Lane Bryant advertises maternity, and then directed me to the Fashion Bug website!) Two of the stores listed were in Elk River, MN (about 30 miles from Twin Cities) and in Rhinelander, WI. Both are definitely places I can get to, so I’m happy with that! I also picked up some lounge pants that were on clearance at Walmart this weekend. I got them a size too big and they have a drawstring on them, so we’ll see how/if they work!

By the time we leave for AZ on February 3, I’ll be into my 13th week, almost in the clear for my morning sickness. Hopefully! I’m hoping to be able to stop taking the Unisom and still be able to get out of bed in the morning! I’d like to be one of the lucky women that has morning sickness stop dead in its tracks for the 2nd trimester! I really don’t want to be sick on vacation! Or on the plane for that matter, which I’m a little nervous about. We’re flying out of Minneapolis in the evening and flying back I the evening, so I should be feeling pretty good. But I can’t take my Dramamine and the last time I flew without it I ended up handing my puke bag to the flight attendant as we got off the plane! On Saturday during our little outing Josh and I went to the local drug store and picked up some motion sickness bracelets. We’ll see how that goes! I’ve heard some good things so I hope they work for me!

Pic of work announcements...finally!

I shared at the beginning of this month that I announced my pregnancy at work by giving everyone a little announcement...here it is! I thought they were so cute that I had to put up a pic!

Sicky lady again

I spent about 10 minutes throwing up before I left for work this morning. It's been a while since that happened, so I hope it's not starting up all over again. I don't feel very good right now either so I think I'm going to go home and rest tonight.

FYI - I sent for a copy of my lab results today so I can find out what exactly they tested. I want to be informed!

Testing, Testing

Just got off the phone with Blue Cross Blue Sheild, my insurance company. I was supposed to call them before my next appointment (February 1st) to see if the genetic testing for cystic fibrosis is covered by them. I was just told that it is not. I guess that's all I can do because we are not paying $450 to have it done. It scares me a little bit because a good family friend has a daughter that was born with it and neither family knew they were carriers of the CF gene. It's hard for them, but they are doing well. So I know it's possible to make it work if something does happen. They were an inspiration to have the testing done, but also are an inspiration to cope with whatever comes our way.

However, on the plus side, I did find out that the test for downs syndrome, MSAFP, is covered. I think they will be doing that one soon. I'll have to look at my literature from the doctor's office tonight.

Also, I had a message on our answering machine on Friday from my doctor's office saying that all of my recent lab work came back normal and looks good! YAY! I know they tested my pee cuz I had to do a 24 urine sample (FUN!) to make sure my kidney function is up to par (because of my prehypertension). I'm pretty sure she tested my iron and calcium levels too. I wonder why they don't send those good old post cards like they used to! LoL...cuz I don't even know what else they tested! I'm just glad it's all normal!

I’m 10 Weeks today!

Here’s a little info I found on BabyCenter about what our little one is up to this week! I think it’s funny how they refer to the baby as a girl! The info is really interesting!

How your baby's growing: Your baby is no longer an embryo! Though she's barely the size of a kumquat — just an inch or so long, crown to bottom — and weighs less than a quarter of an ounce, she now has completed the most critical portion of her development. This is the beginning of the so-called fetal period, a time when the tissues and organs in her body rapidly grow and mature. Her vital organs — the liver, kidney, intestines, brain, and lungs — are now in place and starting to function (although they'll continue to develop throughout your pregnancy). Her liver continues to make blood cells, and the yolk sac, which previously supplied these cells, is no longer needed and begins to disappear.

During the next three weeks, your baby's length will more than double to nearly 3 inches. Her head is proportionately smaller now than it was a few weeks ago, but it's still almost half the length of her entire body. Her forehead temporarily bulges with her developing brain and sits high on her head; it will later recede to give her a more human appearance. So the baby still looks like a little alien! Each day, more minute details — including tiny fingernails, toenails, and peach-fuzz hair — start to appear on her body. Her fingers are now completely separated; her arms bend at the elbow and curve slightly; her hands are flexed at the wrist and meet over her heart; her legs are lengthening; and her feet may be long enough to meet in front of her body. She is busily swallowing amniotic fluid and kicking her legs. I can't wait to feel those kicks!

If you could take a peek at your baby this week, you'd be able to clearly see the outline of her spine through her parchment-thin skin. Spinal nerves are beginning to stretch out from her spinal cord.

* Note: Experts say every baby develops differently — even in the womb. This developmental information is designed to give you a general idea of how your baby is growing.

How your life's changing: Your uterus has doubled in size by now. Before you got pregnant, it was the size of a small pear. By this week, it's grown to the size of a grapefruit. We can kinda feel it now through my layers of “polar lining.” :-)

It’s exciting how much is changing so rapidly now that I’m getting closer to the end of my first trimester! Also, my morning sickness is all but gone by taking the unisom and B6 and I’m feeling great! It’s nice to be able to think about what I want to eat and actually be able to eat it! (Instead of gagging at the thought of any food!) I still have bouts with fatigue, but nothing that sticks with me too long. I’ve decided that being pregnant isn’t so bad after all! :-)

A Birthday Party?!

I'm listening to the Today Show on my tv band radio at work right now. (I love that thing...it's great entertainment to get me through the work day.)

So anyway, they're talking about birthday parties, as in ON THE DAY OF THE BIRTH! Inviting family and friends into the delivery room as you give birth to your child! The kid comes out and everyone bursts into song, "Happy birthday dear baby..."

Are these people for real?! I can't even believe this! Not for a minute would I even consider having my own parents in the room, let alone my uncle Bob and friend Jane. I think that is a private time for the mother and father to see their baby for the first time and bond. And what if there is a complication? The nurses have to take precious seconds to clear the party hats and birthday cake out of the room? I'm puzzled as to why anyone would want to see that anyway! I know, it's a beautiful miracle of life, but that's ME the kid is coming out of and I'd like to keep that to myself and my hubby, thank you very much!

Wow!

Yesterday was so much fun! It was great sharing our pictures with family and friends. Everyone had such nice things to say and advice to give. I love everyone so much and appreciate them all in our lives. I thought about posting everyone's replies, but we decided to keep them to ourselves. Thank you all for your kinds words!

I will say that Ashlee emailed me this morning and said that Greg (Josh's dad) printed and stapled the ultrasound picture to their bulletin board! Awww!

Our first ultrasound!

Josh and I had our first ultrasound yesterday afternoon! It was SO AMAZING! I'm 9 weeks now so we weren't sure what would show up since the baby is still so little. (About the size of a small grape! Teeheehee!) But because it was a pelvic ultrasound we could see everything! His/her little head, arms and legs! It was INCREDIBLE when the a little human showed up on the monitor...made it very real! I, of course, shed a few tears! We were able to hear the heart beat, which was 178, and were even able to see it beating on the monitor. It sounded like a really fast whooshing sound and looked like a little wavy area in his/her chest. Hahaha...I keep typing his/her, but I feel, for some reason, that it's a boy. Hopefully we can find that out in the beginning of April! Oh, I also have borderline high blood pressure so after our ultrasound at 20 weeks I will be having one every 6 weeks to monitor the baby. The doctor said we shouldn't worry because people in my situation usually have no problems.

Here is one of the pictures!!! (I'm pointing at the head.) From there you can see a little arm and can kinda see legs! The doctor and ultrasound tech said everything looks normal and healthy. By the measurements the baby is growing the way it is supposed to and is 9 weeks old. The computer calculations changed my due date from August 11 to August 9, 2006. Fine by me! :-)

So, I was finally able to tell my coworkers our news today! We made miniature onesies that I stamped “Baby” on the front of. On the inside I wrote, “The P-------’s are expecting! Baby is due August 9, 2006!” They were all very excited. No one guessed like I thought they would! I figured everyone was on to me cuz I was sick...but then again there were a few other people were sick at the same time, so they didn't catch on! The only person that was on to me was Judy because she busted me one day at the book store in the “Pregnancy and Parenting” section and I panicked! It was a lot of fun sharing our news and knowing I don’t have to keep a secret anymore!

I can’t stop looking at the ultrasound pictures!!!!!!!!!!! THIS IS SO REAL NOW! I'M SO HAPPY!