Me and Baby's excited Auntie Cristina

Baby brought in the halfway point with a bang . . . or should I say a kick!

Around 10:45 pm on Tuesday, December 6th a wonderful thing happened. I felt my little baby move for the first time! I had been waiting since the day that I hit 18 weeks (the earliest average time to feel fetal movement) and I was beginning to wonder if the baby was ever going to move. There I was, relaxing on the couch at my mom and dad's waiting for Scott to come back from James', when I felt a little whump. "Oh my goodness!" I cried out, unsure of if what I thought had happened had actually happened. But, sure enough, a few seconds later I felt another whump! I quickly sent Scott a message as quickly as I could before Mom and Crissi came back into the room - he had to be the first person that knew that our little baby was moving around inside of me! Then came flutter flutter - a few seconds of constant motion and I knew for sure: from now on the little person inside of me was going to make him or herself known. The woman who did my ultrasound said that the baby's growth was very healthy and normal - a whopping 9 inches from head to toe! Well no wonder I keep feeling all these taps and flutters! I chose to use the picture here becuase it reminded me of one of our baby "snapshots" below where our baby is also sucking on its hand. Ooh - it's just so cute and loveable!

Our First Baby Pictures

Yesterday was my 20 week ultrasound and it was so fun! I never expected that we would see so many little details! If you are able to make sense of the bottom picture, you'll see that the baby is sucking on its tiny little hand! We counted fingers and toes, and even saw little baby Siemens' mouth open up and the tongue sticking out! It was quite unbelievable. Only God could create such a miracle inside of me. The middle picture shows the baby's lips with an open little mouth - so cute! Also, there's a leg curled up over that big round belly. On the very top picture the baby is facing the "camera", but really all you see is the bone structure. The woman who was doing the exam was very fun - we could tell she just loved her job! She kept smiling and giggling and making pleased little noises as she described to me what she was checking for and showing us all of the different parts of the baby. It was suprisingly easy to recognize what everything was, but you can't tell from the pics. We either have a very shy or a very rebellious baby because we just couldn't get the baby to stay still for a single shot. The lady said that the baby was very difficult because it was moving around so terribly much. That's why she felt sorry for us and gave us three pictures for the price of one! See, who says babies can't save you money? (ha ha)

Bubble Belly

Well here is my four month picture! It's so exciting for me to think of this little person growing inside of me and I'm loving every inch of my pregnant belly. I'm still wearing some of my regular shirts (the ones that are long enough) but sticking mostly to maternity pants. I've had fun shopping for clothes for both me and the baby this month.

The time has finally arrived!

For all of you who have been patiently (or unpatiently) waiting to hear the news, I am about to announce which bedding I liked best and why. Drumroll please . . .
It's number 2! I like this one because it has bright "cirtus colors" (as the website described) and that it has stipes! I love stripes! Even the sheets are striped. This goes great with my color choice of orange, and it will match perfectly to do one wall striped. Plus, I love the cute little animals that match up with the letters of the alphabet (so educational). I think that the soft yellow would look so nice with the dark mahogony crib that we chose. If you want to check out more pics (which the color shows up better on) go to www.babygap.com. Anyway, sorry that this took so long. I wish I could blog more often, but our internet is so full of viruses that we can't use it so I have to squeeze it in when we're at mom and dad's.

Unbelievable!

Okay, now for all of you who have been saying that I haven't published in a while here's 2 new posts! I was reading my week by week update about the baby and how he or she is changing, and I read that the baby is 51/2 inches long (and 7 ounces)!!! That's HUGE! Have you ever looked at 51/2 inches on a ruler? Well, I did and could hardly believe it. My little baby is growing up so fast . . . I can still remember when it was the size of a pea (ha ha). I thought I was showing a lot already, but when I think of the size of that baby I can't believe my belly isn't sticking out farther yet. I'm so excited to think that it could be anytime that I start feeling him or her moving around inside of me!

Making a list . . .

Well, Christmas is coming and you know what that means - people are asking me for my wishlist! Now I had a bit of a dilemna choosing if I should ask for stuff for myself or for the baby room, so finially I decided to write down everything and let the people buying do the choosing. So, first order of buisness is choosing baby bedding sets. I posted a couple that I like so if you have the time please vote on which one you like better or which one seems more "me". I'll leave you all in suspense and publish in a later post which one is my favorite

Knock On Wood

Do I dare say that I am finially starting to get over my "morning" sickness (who came up with the name for that anyway? It's more like "all day" sickness)?!? Allthough I haven't been feeling 100% (more like 70-80), it's getting a LOT better. It seemed hopeless there for a while. Thanks for all of you who have been praying for me. So many people say "The sicker the mom, the healthier the baby." I guess if I look at it that way, it's worth all the ranchy sick stuff. I'm loving the baby more and more every day. I love playing music for the baby and rubbing my belly affectionately. Scott laughed yesterday evening, because he said my belly had even grown since Sunday! I love it! Now if I could only get some energy. It seems like everything gets me out of breath (even this typing is almost too much - ha ha)

Hallelujah for Maternity Pants!

Wow! Can you believe that our baby is already this developed?! It's crazy to think of all of the changes that have taken place inside my own body in the last 3 1/2 months. Little baby Siemens is about 4 inches long this week, weighing about 2 1/2 ounces, and growing FAST. Some exciting changes with baby that have been taking place is that he or she is developing taste buds, moving all of the limbs and joints, and becoming sensitive to light. The pregnancy journal that I subscribed to even says that if I shine a flashlight directly at my tummy, the baby shies away from the light! I've been going through some exciting changes too. My belly is growing bigger all the time and I went shopping for my first pair of maternity pants yesterday. They feel so wonderful - I'd almost forgotten what it felt like to button up a pair of pants when I wear them!! I also bought a present for the baby that he/she won't be able to use for a while . . . the cutest and softest white snowsuit. Amber and I tried it onto Hailey to get an idea of how big my baby will be next winter and it was so cute on her. It made me so excited to have a little baby of my own to hold and dress.

Baby's Cousin Hailey

There were a lot of great costumes at the party, but I'd have to say that my absolute favorite was baby's cousin Hailey Mercedes who was dressed up as this adorable little Bumble Bee. Have you ever seen anything cuter?

The Proud (and very blue) Mommy and Daddy

Last weekend we got dressed up and went to James and Sherisse's for a halloween party after Scott's hockey game Saturday night. We had a great time hanging out with friends and everyone did Karyoke until the late hours of the night! Of course the baby couldn't dress up, but I think that he or she sure heard its share of party music and could probably feel the vibrations (who couldn't?)! The funny thing about our costumes was that Everybody actually thought that the wig I was wearing was my real hair!! I even fooled Scott and my own Dad! I thought about being a big pregnant woman for the party, but couldn't wait that long to tell everyone the news.

Life as a pregnant woman . . .

Well, the first 13 weeks have been a roller coaster. I've been sick, I've been excited, and to top it all off, I've been bursting with this HUGE secret. Scott and I kept it a secret for just the two of us for a few weeks, and then we told our parents so Scott could get the sympathy vote as he dealt with me and my constant upset tummy (I tell you - that baby is having one wild party in there!) Just kidding about Scott though - he's been so great and he's every bit as excited as I am. It's been so fun sharing the news with people that we're going to be parents. We've had some funny reactions. Everything from "I knew it!" to complete shock and speachlessness. Plus, I can finally use all of my clothes again - it was pretty limiting to wear only the ones that hid my growing baby from everyone. In the last few days I've been going on the internet "shopping" for my new maternity wardrobe, which has been fun. At the end of my ninth week we had an ultrasound, and it was so fun to see the baby - and so real!! I saw it's little heart beating, and the arms and legs moving around. It was so cute and we couldn't believe that our baby was so big already (almost 2 inches!). We feel so blessed to have this little life growing inside of me. Praise God!!

wowza!

Can you believe it?

I'm just over three months and already my belly is growing! I can't even wear most of my pants buttoned anymore. There are so many changes that have been happening so fast that it's crazy. Scott chuckles when he sees my "swoolen belly" because he's used to nothing there. It's a fun way to make the pregnancy more real to him (since the barfing does't seem to make him very excited for some reason . . .)