New Updates to the Nursery

We got the crib in earlier than expected, so I was really happy!  Blair put it together Saturday morning while Harley and I supervised.  Then we went shopping for a little bit and quickly found a dresser.  I've been looking for the perfect dresser for my nursery for a long time.  We went to El Paso Imports in Rice Village and within 20 minutes, the dresser was in the back of Blair's truck on our way back home.  It was exactly what I had been looking for, it has character, is the right color and has the right dimensions. 
Then on Sunday I went to Pottery Barn Kids and found the rug and chandelier.  I'm still debating on the rug, but think I'm going to keep it.  The chandelier is so pretty and hasn't been hung up and installed yet, so it's not in the picture.  It's really pretty though. I'm just so excited everything is coming along.  I think seeing our new niece really helped us get our thoughts together and helped me make some decisions too.
Next I'm working on the walls and then the linens get in in about 4-6 weeks - can't wait!

28 Weeks Today! And a New Niece!

Yeah, I'm officially in my third trimester! 

This week was so exciting, my sister-in-law had her baby yesterday!  Her second beautiful girl, Charlotte Mae.  I got to learn a lot from both Kacey and Brent during the whole process.  It was very helpful and I took great mental notes.  She delivered at the same hospital as I will deliver, so Blair and I know all the parking, valet, quick entrances and all for the big day.  We also know how to get around the hospital better.  It was very neat to hold the baby and see how small she is and we definitely got more excited for our own.  I watched how to change the diaper too.  Blair and I both have never changed a diaper, so we're waiting for ours to be the first one - and that's probably an excuse not to have to change one at this time...ha ha.  We are so happy for all of them.

Here is what the babycenter.com says about my 28th week:

By this week, your baby weighs two and a quarter pounds (like a Chinese cabbage) and measures 14.8 inches from the top of her head to her heels. She can open and close her eyes, which now sport lashes. This movement is more of a reflexive blink than a deliberate opening and closing, but it won't be long before she's batting those beauties at you.

Weekend Pictures with Mary

Mary and Brendan came in town this weekend to hang out.  We figured out Nana's (my Mom's Grandma name) baby room and Blair and Brendan went to an Astros game.  Of course we ate a lot over the weekend including Escalantes queso (thanks to Wendy).  Mary was really only in town for about 48 hours, but we got some good time in together.  I had to talk to them about borrowing a pack and play for the baby when we come visit them in NYC next year with Baby A.  Everyone got to feel the baby moving around and even see her moving in my stomach.  Here are the pictures of Mary and I.  My favorite is the classic "prom" picture.  As you can see, I'm getting bigger.  I'm at 6 months right now...

My Tummy and Harley

Here is a better picture of my stomach (since many are asking for better pictures of my tummy).  This was over 4th of July weekend though, so I'm a little bigger since then.  I'm taking Harley for a walk in the heat.  We both didn't make it very far that day.  These days Blair is the one who walks Harley.  There are days I'll go with them and waddle behind them to get some exercise, but it's hard to keep up with Harley's steps.  She's always on a mission to find the perfect spot to sniff out.

Then here's another picture from the same weekend (I tried to pose quickly):

Blair and I all dressed up...

We went to a fabulous wedding of my good friend this past weekend.  Despite my pains and sinus allergies, we got all dressed up.  The wedding was amazing and the bride, gorgeous.  We had such a good time and were so glad we could go.  Here is a picture of us all dressed up.  Thanks to my wonderful sister in law for letting me borrow such a cute formal prego dress.  It worked out great and since it was a bubble dress, you couldn't even tell I was 25 weeks pregnant.  And I even wore heels and it wasn't that bad!  Ha!

25 weeks...what is a rutabaga?

I'm 25 weeks today!  Here is what the babycenter.com says about the baby this week:

Head to heels, your baby now measures about 13 1/2 inches. Her weight — a pound and a half — isn't much more than an average rutabaga, but she's beginning to exchange her long, lean look for some baby fat. As she does, her wrinkled skin will begin to smooth out and she'll start to look more and more like a newborn. She's also growing more hair — and if you could see it, you'd now be able to discern its color and texture.

So I looked up with a rutabaga is and here's a picture:

She is still moving around a lot...kicking, elbowing, pushing, twisting, you name it, I feel like I can feel her throughout 50% of my day - which is a lot when you think about it.  This truly is a miracle!  And yes, I'm still a little freaked out that there's something growing inside of me especially now that I can feel it moving.

We're going to a wedding tomorrow and I'll try and take some pictures to post.

Blair in 1996 or 1997 at my old house!

So I knew I hadn't posted in a while, and thought I'd do another one today.  Here is a picture that a friend of mine found in her house.  This is Blair (and some guy we have no idea who) at our old house on Holidan Way.  He came over after Junior Prom with a bunch of my friends (he was one of their dates) when my parents were out of town.  Don't you just love his tux?  We both vaguely remember this night, but the proof is in the picture...we were friends in high school!  Who knew he would marry me and I'd be carrying his baby?  It's fun to think about the "fate" that was involved.

Nursery in the making

We've gotten started on the nursery and I'm so excited!  With many thanks to my in-laws who helped move the furniture around in the house, the room is cleaned out and ready to fill with baby things.  Here are before pictures of the "office" and a picture of what it looks like now in the first stages of the nursery.  The chair is amazing and we just got it in last week.  It's a glider/rocker/swivel...which makes it comfy for late night feedings and perhaps a rest spot for Blair after a dramatic baby diaper change - since he'll be changing all the messy ones...ha! 
This room was originally pink when we moved in and I had always planned on making it the nursery, so I painted it green within a month after we moved in.  I knew green would go great with a boy or girl.  So the colors for the nursery are green (only on the walls) and the linens will be a white shade (like the chair) and the furniture is most likely all going to be a dark wood and then I'll bring in a touch of pink in the chandelier, rug and accessories.  I've ordered the crib and it's on back order until the end of August...hopefully I won't need it until after then. 
We moved the big desk into the front bedroom along with the office chair and ottoman.  We actually like this a lot better since there's a bed in the front bedroom too...it makes for great telecommuting days for me.  On Tuesdays I telecommute from home and work at the desk and rest on the bed when needed.  Harley's little nap area (under the desk) was obviously moved, so it's taken her a little bit to get use to the new space but I think she's adjusting fine. 

Office Pictures:

Nursery Picture:

More pictures to come when we get more pieces in the room...which will be a while.  In the meantime, I've been framing pictures and paintings I've been meaning to do for months and have been hanging them up around the house...I guess it's what is called "nesting."  Blair will come home from work and I'll be hanging something or moving something around and his comment is "Ah...nesting again?"  I'm really having a good time organizing everything though.

22 Weeks and 4 Days

Here's a picture of me at 22 weeks and 4 days.  I'm definitely showing and instead of people ignoring the "questionable" bump on my stomach, they are all stopping me and asking me my due date or making baby comments.  People have been asking me what I'm craving and it's really the same thing...anything with fruit!  I've moved on to Cheerios instead of Fruit Loops and my absolute favorite thing to make is smoothies.  I'll make a banana/blueberry smoothie or banana/kiwi smoothie.  My Mom has been making me some green smoothies, which is fruit and some sort of vegetable like celery, kale or carrots.  I'm also eating a lot of whole fruits, especially watermelon, oranges, apples and blueberries.  And for a bad treat, I'll eat ice cream.  Sonic Happy Hour (2-4) is awesome!  I go on Tuesdays when I work from home and take Harley with me...she loves Sonic Happy Hour.  I get a watermelon or cherry limeade slushie for 86 cents!  I've tried all their flavors and these two are my favorite.  I guess this is really a bad treat too because it's mostly sugar.  I highly recommend it to anyone though on a hot Houston day.
Baby A loves to kick and Blair has been feeling her kick a lot, which is really special.  I've been feeling ok, I guess what's expected being 5 months pregers...definitely not unbearable, just a little uncomfortable.  I still love being pregnant, it makes me feel really good and I've been eating so much more healthier and exercising a little more.  In the mornings I do yoga stretches for about 20 minutes (Harley helps by sitting almost on top of me, watches and roots me on).  On Tuesdays I get to go to my Pilates/Yoga/Ballet class for 30 minutes.  I love this class as it helps my legs and butt look good with a large tummy.  The instructors are so encouraging and always talk to me about what they learn I can do.  Then I'm trying to walk a little more.  I'm usually really tired when I get home from work, but I try and go with Blair to take Harley for a walk.  I need to work more on pushing myself to go. 

Here's me at a little over 22 weeks and growing...

Here's Harley excited to go to Sonic Happy Hour (she was moving a lot and this was the best pic I got)

20 Week Check Up

We had our 20 week check up last week.  I had another ultrasound and there is definite confirmation that the baby is a girl!  It was so neat to watch her move around on screen.  She was waving her hands and would cross her legs and uncross them and then turnaround.  She's kicking a lot now too, so to see her moving all around was really neat.  They said everything is still looking good and they did a lot of measurements and took a lot of pictures for the Dr. to review.  The Dr. said all is well and she has 10 fingers and toes...we counted on screen.  Here are some pictures of the ultrasound, they aren't that great.  She looks kinda weird in the face pictures, so don't judge her by these pictures.  The ones with the hands and feet are the best.

She looks like an alien here.

Here's her feet.

Here's her hands.

AND...Blair felt her kick two nights ago for the first time!  It's very faint, but he was excited he finally felt it. 

Hawaii Pictures

I had a time downloading and labeling our pictures, but here they are...finally!  And my pregnancy brain kicked in when I got the camera all ready for the trip by deleting old photos off to make room for Hawaii photos, but forgot to bring the charger.  So my camera lasted about two days and I had to use my phone camera the rest of the time...which turned out ok, but we didn't get a lot of pictures with the two of us since my phone camera doesn't have a timer on it.  Here are some of my favorite pictures from our trip, but all of them are in the link at the bottom of the post. Just click on Hawaii Pictures 2010 and that should bring up the Kodak Gallery site.  They pretty much tell the story of everything we did.  We stayed in Maui for 2 nights and took a ferry to Lanai (another small island) for 4 nights. 

Here's Blair driving the road to Hana in our cool Mustang Convertible

Us at Waianapanapa State Park on the road to Hana

We woke up at 3am our second morning and drove up the volcano for 1.5 hours to Haleakala National Park (House of the Sun) to watch the famous sunrise over Hawaii.  We were over 10,000 feet high and above the clouds.  It was definitely worth the drive and early morning rise.

On a grassy hill overlooking Wailea Beach, it was great people watching and our favorite beach in Maui.

We took a ferry ride to Lanai for an hour.  It was 9 miles away and the sea was rough and angry that day.  I was trying to keep it down the whole ride there.  Thank goodness for my motion sickness wrist band I'm wearing...it was a lifesaver the whole trip.

We went snorkeling in Manele Bay on Lanai.  It was voted the best snorkeling beaches in our book and we saw a lot of really pretty fish and even some eels.  Here's Blair coming back from his second outing with the fish.

We went on Fisherman's Hike along the West side of our hotel on Lanai.  It was a wonderful rough hike up and down the cliffs to the beaches you see behind me.  It was a great workout.

We also went on another hike to the East of our hotel to Sweetheart's Rock or Pupu Pehe.  This is half way to the rock...what a view.

We made it to this destination...facinating how the rock formed over time.

This picture is bad quality, but the only one of both of us together that isn't in a shadow.  We just ate dinner at our hotel on Lanai and this is the hotel's lobby area.

All in all, we had a great "babymoon" and hope to bring Baby A back here some day.  She did a lot of kicking while we were there, so I know she'll love it in person.

Hawaii Pictures 2010

More pictures from our river trip

I cut out just Blair and I since I didn't get permission from the others to put their faces on the blog :).  Also, so many people are asking if I'm showing yet and YES, I'm definitely showing as you can see from the picture.  I'll have to take some better pictures of my tummy soon though.
We're headed to Hawaii this Saturday for a week, so there will be more pics to come!

Seguin - River Trip 2010

We went on our annual river trip with my friends and their significant others.  It was so relaxing and I had a great time hanging out!  I got a huge turtle float and we just anchored by the dock on the river.  It was like my own little lily pad.  I didn't even have to swim in the water...which was amazingly cold as usual.  The Bailey's cooked crawfish for us and it was delicious.  We went out to Gruene (The Gristmill) for dinner another night.  We got to watch Asleeep at the Wheel play in Gruene Hall from outside until the officer came around for loitering. 

Here's a picture of the float I used..."turtle, turtle" and us eating crawfish.

 

16/17 week check up

We had our check up yesterday and all is well with Baby A.  Her heartbeat is perfect and we're still right on track. 
I've been having a lot of upper stomach pains and after some tests, the Dr. concluded it's just all my organs moving around making room for the baby.  It's quite uncomfortable, but not too unbearable.  It is hard to sit at my desk all day (even with hourly breaks).  I wish I could work from home on the couch with my feet up...oh well.
Also, I've already gained 17 lbs.!  That means I gained 13 lbs. in 4 weeks.  I can't believe that.  The Dr. said I'll probably gain about total 35+, which she says is great.  She said I'm doing very well in the weight department so I'm not too worried about it.  Plus this is my time to eat whatever I want and crave and not think about if it will hit my hips...because it will! 
So look out friends, I will definitely be in a bathing suit all Summer. With all of our planned trips to beach, lake, river and pool destinations, this is the summer that I'm going to let loose and not care if I am mistaken for a sea lion basting in the sun.
Here's a picture of what I looked like last Summer.  This is from our annual family trip where we went to Chesapeake Bay, Maryland.  This year we are going to Plymouth, Massachusetts in August. 

We'll compare this picture to an end of Summer picture of this year...ha ha!

Wal-Mart

So we are beginning a family and I guess that means we are now shopping at Wal-Mart.  We went there for the first time together this weekend.  Our cart is very full.as you can see by the picture.  It was very overwhelming and we'll definitely go back for the random things we will need in the future.  As for groceries, we found that the Kroger by us has cheaper items that we purchase weekly, so we'll probably still go there.  All in all, Wal-Mart was a blast and amazing people watching...especially with the location we went to. We were definitely shocked with the total cost that our full cart wound up adding up to...it was a little cheaper than we both guessed!

We are headed to Sequin for our annual river tirp this weekend and I'm sure we'll have many pictures from that. 

My favorite part of the day...

After work, Blair and I take Harley for a walk.  I love this time because it's so peaceful - meaning no cell phones, no computers, no tvs - just nature and being outside and watching all the activities in our neighborhood.  We talk about our day and catch up on things.  Then we come home and I'll read a book or magazine and Blair will read his newspaper or magazine in the backyard.  Harley likes to get up in the chair with me while I read and we just hang out.  This time is so nice and really means a lot to me.  Houston weather has really been great right now and the humidity hasn't kicked in yet...thought I think it will be coming in the next day or so. 
I know once Baby A comes that this time will be minimal, so I'm trying to soak it all in and take advantage of this time I have with Blair and Harley.

Finally told work this week

So officially EVERYONE now knows that I'm pregnant.  I finally told work this week and they are all happy for me.  I told them I was pregnant and that I plan to come back to work after my 12 weeks of FMLA is up.  My director was especially excited for me since he has two kids himself.  It was such a relief to tell them.  Now I don't have to hide my bump anymore and can wear whatever I can fit into from my closet without having to cover up.  I'm getting a lot of stories and advise from other ladies in the office...which is always interesting.  I'm very happy and relieved at the same time that everyone knows.

On another note, I just love seeing pictures on everyone else's blog, so I'm going to try and post a picture with every blog, even if it doesn't go with the subject.  This is a picture from our honeymoon in Costa Rica taken from our balcony on our last night in San Jose.

Brunch

Mary and Brendan came in town for the weekend and we had a lot of fun.  We got to go to Brennan's for brunch before they left on Sunday.  Here's a picture of Blair and I at brunch all dressed up - he's so handsome.  The Bananas Foster was amazing!

It's a GIRL !!!!

We got our results back from the testing and they came back great results and we found out that we are having a girl!  We are so excited!

Now we can discuss things like, her name, colors for the nursery, etc.  I think we were more excited about finding out the sex of the baby then we were when we found out we were pregnant.  It will be wonderful to have a little girl. 

12/13 Week Check-Up (now we can tell everyone)!

We had our 12-13 week check up yesterday and heard the baby's heartbeat, it was amazing! 
Now we feel better about telling everyone!  So spread the word!
We also had an appt for first trimester testing.  We don't get those results for a couple of weeks.  We also will find out the sex of the baby with those results, so that's really exciting.  Then Blair and I won't have to fight over names and it will narrow down our selection by 50%.  I'm more nervous about the test results.

The ultrasound was pretty neat since we got to see the baby move around.  It had the hiccups, which was funny to watch it jump up and then slide back down.  It also liked to wave its arms a lot too.  Here are some pictures from the ultrasound...it is touching its nose...

Harley is bonding with the baby

Here is a picture I took of Harley-girl bonding with the baby.  She's been very attentive lately and cautious around me.  After I laid on the floor, she came over and laid beside me and put her head on my stomach.  She's going to be a great nanny!

Our long weekend trip to NYC and Philadelphia

Blair and I took two days off of work (I haven't taken a vacation day since Thanksgiving) and flew up to NYC to visit Mary, Brendan and Huckleberry and then took a bus on Saturday morning to visit Paul, Renee and Sam. 
We had a great time playing with little Huckles, who is now 50 lbs., and we got to shop and eat at some great restaurants.  We met up with some of Blair's college friends for dinner and it was so good to see them.  We also got to have dinner with one of Blair's cousins that I hadn't met yet.  It was really nice.  The first picture below is of Mary and Huckles getting ready for a walk in the rain.  His little raincoat is so cute. The next is of Huckleberry at the dog park playing with two other dogs and he won the tug-o-war contest.  As any dog owner should know, you aren't suppose to bring a tug-o-war toy to the dog park.  The lady that brought this toy was finally given back the toy all covered in slobber. 

Then on Saturday we took a bus to Philadelphia to visit with Paul, Renee and Sam.  It was so great to see Sam and see how much he's grown.  He's so lively and was a lot of fun to play with.  We got to babysit him for a little bit and he was so good.  He loves to dance and play ball.  He also just started saying his ABCs out of the blue and knows a lot of animal noises.  He knew all the noises of any animal we said!  Unfotunately we didn't time getting pictures with him right since he was napping when we left...next time though.
It was so nice to get away for a while and visit with family.

11 weeks and 3 days

This past weekend was great.  On Saturday, I got to meet up with my longest friend, Kendra, for coffee and talk about pregnancy (she has two adorable girls), ran errands and went to dinner with Blair.  On Sunday, we drove to Austin and back for Mr. Jack's 3rd birthday.  It was great and I got many hugs from Jack.  I hope he likes our Hannah Montana DVD we got him. 

I'm still feeling the same...tired and a little nauseous.  I'm very grateful that I haven't gotten physically sick.  Especially since I wasn't looking forward to running to the bathroom at work or explaining why I had to run out of a meeting. 

I'm also extremely tired, but can never fall asleep.  My Dr. says it's "pregnancy insomnia"...and I was really looking forward to going to bed at 7:30pm and catching up on my sleep...oh well.  In the car on Sunday, I tried to sleep and couldn't, but the good thing is that I did finally fall asleep late last night and when I woke up in the middle of the night multiple times, I fell right back to sleep. 

My cravings are still: fresh fruit, fruit juice, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and Fruit Loops or Cheerios with milk.  To help with the nauseous feelings, I try to eat or drink something every hour or two when I feel it coming on.  The good thing is that I'm not eating unhealthly at this time.  I can eat a hand full of grapes or drink a glass of juice and feel a lot better for the next hour or so.  Also, jolly ranchers and sour candies help. 

I feel pretty good and despite the minor set backs mentioned above, I am very fortunate not to experience the horror stories of the first trimester. 

BIG NEWS!!!

We're going to be parents!  We're really excited to start a family.  The due date is October 29th and I'm 11 weeks on Friday.  We are praying for a healthy and happy baby.  I think it looks more like Blair in this picture :)