Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! We had a wonderful Thanksgiving meal and evening spent at our friends', Lisa and Harry, house. And in honor of stuffed turkeys and tomorrow being the start of Week 17 and my 5th month of pregnancy, here's a new baby bump picture! Hopefully no one confuses me with a stuffed turkey! ;)

Hard to believe my kiddos at school still haven't guessed that I'm pregnant! They just think I'm getting chubby! Oh, and ignore my head being cut off, I have established that my husband is not ever going to be a professional photographer!

You know, I used to think that time was moving so slowly, and it just amazes me that I am going into the 5th month and am only a few weeks shy of being half way through.

What was that?

Today I was sitting at a desk in the workroom at school and I felt the baby move! It was the coolest feeling. I was sitting there cutting out Thanksgiving placements for the kiddos and all of a sudden I felt this little push from inside!! And I know it wasn't gas! ;) I can't wait to feel it more and it will be even more awesome when Ian can feel it too!

Family News!

I have some exciting news! We are really pleased to share that my brother, Jimmy, and his wife, Christine, are also expecting! So two new babies will be joining our families this summer! How exciting for all of us to be able to go through this together. They've also started a blog, so be sure to check it out to see what's going on with them and their new journey!!

16 weeks!

Well, today I had my 16 week doctor's appointment. Everything went well. We heard the heartbeat on the doppler, although that was a bit of a challenge since the baby was busy hiding! Apparently there is an artery nearby and the baby was hiding behind that so all we could hear for awhile was my own heartbeat until the baby finally moved! That was neat because you can hear the movement on the doppler too! It sounds kind of like paper being crinkled. The baby's heartbeat is 142 beats per minute and everything else was fine too. No swollen ankels yet or anything. My next appt is on December 18 and that is when we'll have the ultrasound to see what the baby is. I tried to get in earlier, but apparently there are developmental measurements that they need to take and it is better to get these done at 20 weeks than 18. So what's 2 more weeks right? It only feels like eternity!

Can you see what I see?

Not quite (especially since the eyelids are still fused shut)... but get this... if I put a flashlight up to my stomach, the baby can actually sense the light and will move away from it... Now that's kinda weird!!

Can you hear what I hear?

Well apparently the baby can! Starting this week, the bean can hear!! So my book says to start singing to the baby and that they can actually recognize words and songs after they are born... Poor thing... it's going to have to live through a lifetime of hearing his or her tone deaf mother singing, and it doesn't even get a break in the womb!!

Well I have my 16 week appt this week on Friday and I'll find out when our gender U/S is going to happen. So hopefully it will be sometime in the next two weeks and we'll finally have an answer to that intriguing question... are you a baby girl or a baby boy hiding away in there?!

Finally a baby bump!

So just thought some of you might like to see the bump starting to emerge!! I'm getting harassed at school because I don't "look" pregnant yet. So here's my proof! The first picture was taken at just about 6 weeks back on Sept 10th. The next two pictures were taken this weekend after we got home from a wedding and were taken at 14 weeks. FYI... Ian said I looked too cheesy when I was smiling in the 2nd picture, so that's why I look all grumpy in the last picture.

And just to update everyone... I'm oficially out of the 1st trimester. I'm feeling good, except for coming down with a cold this weekend. But managed to completely escape morning sickness, and am hoping to start getting some energy back!

Marine Corps Ball

We went to the Marine Corps Ball yesterday. I had a few moments of panic a few weeks ago when I found out I wouldn't be able to get my hair done at my hair stylists b/c she was out of the salon at a wedding for the day. But I asked my friend Amanda at school if she would be willing, and she did an awesome job! By the time we were both finished getting ready, both Ian and I looked pretty spiffy if I do say so myself! :)

We had a great time sitting with Ian's friends at military and I didn't even mind not being able to drink. The Ball was at the Ft McDowell Casino for the second year in a row, and again they did a great job. The food was good and it looked like everyone was having a good time! After the Ball we walked over to the Casino to play some slots. Didn't walk away with any winnings though!! We stayed at the hotel and then drove home this afternoon. All in all, a very nice weekend, and it was especially nice to have Ian around on a weekend!!!

11 Weeks 6 Days

Well today I had my 12 week appt... just shy of 12 weeks! The ultrasound looked great and Ian was able to come too! We saw the baby and heard it's heartbeat. They did the 1st trimester screening, and so far, no problems! When the ultrasound tech first zoomed in on the bean, her first comment was that the baby was saluting! I got a little chuckle out of that. We were hoping that the bean would be moving around... but no... apparently we are having a LAZY baby, b/c no matter how many times the tech poked and tried to bounce the baby, it just kept on sleeping... I told Ian these were early signs the baby was going to be taking after him! :) The tech also tried to check for gender eventhough she told us it was unlikely she'd be able to tell. And here are the results.....

The bean is either a girl, or it was too early to tell if it is boy. So basically... it could still go either way! So I'm gonna say 50% chance it's a girl and 50% chance it's a boy! Ha Ha! All that being said, the tech said if she had to call it today, she'd say it was a girl... but no guarantee... So we'll just have to see. Ian asked her if she thought it was just cold "in there" and if that's why we couldn't tell. I gotta hand it to him, he comes up with some good ones every now and then! I have another ultrasound at 18-20 weeks, so we'll know for certain hopefully in 6 to 8 weeks.

Hmmm... what's new?

Well, I haven't been posted anything new in awhile, and that's because nothing new has been going on! Still feeling good... not sick at all... just tired. I'm starting to show a teeny tiny bit... so I need to have Ian start taking pictures so we can see my different stages of roundness!

Speaking of which I have a funny story to share... Last week at school I was talking to two of my rather brilliant girls whom I normally adore. And one of them asked if I had been using my Wii Fit lately (we were looking at the Scholastic Click catalogue to see what Wii games they had). So my response to that question was to ask a question of my own... "Does it look like I have been using my Wii Fit?" To which my other student responded, "Well, not really." At this point the student who asked the question reached out and poked my belly and said "Nope... not using it." At this point I called them both brats and sent them on their way to PE (which they had been stalling going to anyway). So it would seem the kiddos have noticed that the belly is getting rounder too! We'll see how long before they put 2 and 2 together. Anyway, that's my funny story.

Well I have my 12 week appt and ultrasound this week... so I am sure I'll have more to share on Thursday. We're just hoping Ian can get off work on time so he can go with. I got the strangest look from him the other day when I told him the baby was about an inch and a half and showed him how big it is... I think he's rather perplexed by the whole situation and he made some comment to the effect of me and the baby being aliens... Seriously though, he is excited and wants to see the ultrasound and hear the heartbeat. Maybe just maybe they'll be able to tell the gender too! I know, not likely, but one can hope!! Until Thursday...