Wow!

Saw this link on someone else's blog...not much else to say except, "Wow!"

By the way, I'm officially in my second trimester now. The symptoms that are supposed to magically dissappear after the first trimester haven't said their goodbye's yet, but I'm holding out hope that they'll pack their bags and hit the road any day now.

Butterflies & lil' fishies...

I definitely felt the baby move this weekend. The best way to describe it is that it feels like a goldfish swimming around in my belly. I've felt it a few times today. I can't wait until Anthony & Wesley can feel him/her move & kick.

I also have a noticeable lil' bump. I saw my mom yesterday and the first thing she did was rub my belly (not something I'm especially fond of people doing, but what can you do?) where it was poking out.

Ticker

The ticker in my sidebar was taking too long to load everytime I opened the page, so I added a different one at the top. It's cuter, anyways. :)

Bloglifting...

There's a term in the scrapbooking world for when you steal/borrow/copy an element or a whole design from someone else's scrapbook page called scraplifting. Well, I'm bloglifting a sidebar element from Ali Edwards' blog and adding a spot for a quote that I'll change out periodically (I hope). I'm also shamelessly bloglifting the quote she had up the other day from Anna Quindlen that I love.

And, just because I adore Ali and her outlook on life (as well as her scrapbooking style), here's a picture of us from CKU Nashville last month.

Lil' Peach

I'm 13 weeks today, and according to my newsletter, the baby is about 3 inches long and roughly the size of a peach.
Edited to add: It also says he/she now has his/her own unique fingerprints. How awesome!


I *think* I've felt him/her move, but it's so light that I'm not totally sure that what I'm feeling is the baby. If I'm laying completely still and really concentrating, I *think* I feel faint, little swishes.




My doctor would be proud of me. I weighed this morning and have gained a couple pounds since last week. The nausea is still hanging around, but I'm still keeping my fingers crossed that it will magically dissapear over the next week. :)

Lil' Kiwi Update

So, my weekly pregnancy newsletter says the baby is the size of a kiwi this week. Amazing how such a tiny little thing can make me so sick. : )

I just got back from my 12 week appointment and got fussed at because I've lost 5 pounds in the past four weeks (I'm definitely not 'trying' to lose weight - just keeping food down has been my goal for the last month and a half). Other than losing weight everything checked out fine. The nurse used the doppler to find the heartbeat. It took a minute or two to find it (see above comment about it being a tiny lil' thing) and as soon as she found it the little booger moved and she spent another few minutes trying to find it again. When she finally did, it was 153 bpm (which is good).

I haven't felt it move yet, but I distintly remember the day I felt Wesley move for the first time and it was around 13 weeks, so I may feel a flutter or two starting in the next couple weeks. I don't think anyone but me can tell that I'm getting a little baby bump. I'm sure that will change soon. : )

People are constantly asking how I'm feeling. In case you're curious, I feel about how I imagine someone with the flu feels (I say 'I imagine' because I've never actually had it) - nauseated 24/7, nearly constant headache, so tired that at any given time of day I feel like if I'm still for more than 10 minutes I'll fall asleep, cranky, and sickened by just the sight or smell of food. Pregnancy is not for the faint of heart, that's for sure. But, lest I sound like a big, complaining ball of hormones, I should add that I know it's worth it in the end, and once I get to hold that little bundle of joy, I would gladly do it all again (I think). : )

My next appointment is Oct. 10th. And, I went ahead and scheduled the big ultrasound for Nov. 5th. So, in a little less than 8 weeks we'll know whether it's a boy or girl!

Ultrasounds & Such

By popular request (meaning Anthony said I should), I'm just going to post all the baby info. on here rather than making everyone sign up and login to the Care Page website every time they want an update. So, here's the post I put up on that page last week...

Here is our first ultrasound from Aug. 15...

There wasn't much to look at when we had that ultrasound, but the baby measured right on target (at 8 weeks) and the heartbeat was a healthy 167 bpm. We got to see the little heart beating and they turned the sound on for just a few seconds to measure the heartbeat, so we got to hear that precious sound. It never ceased to amaze me when I heard that at every doctor's visit with Wesley & it's no less amazing this time, either. I asked Anthony later that day if it seemed more real to him since he had seen it and heard the heartbeat. He said something like, "Yeah. You're growing a kid inside you." I thought it was cute.

I've been posting weekly belly pictures on my flickr account. If anyone is interested in seeing my belly grow, you need to sign up for an account and add me as a friend (you can search by email - the one I'm registered with is monportrait@yahoo.com) and then I can give you access to them. I don't have them as public pictures (thought it would be a little weird for the general public to be looking at my belly), so only people that I mark as friends are able to see them.

We found out last week that one of Anthony's good friends at work & his wife are expecting their second child about two weeks after us. They also have one son with a big age gap between the two, like us. I think it will make it easier on Anthony to have a buddy that's going through the same thing and who has been through the birthing & infant stage and can assure him that he'll survive it. :)

We've also known for a while that Anthony's sister, Lynsey & her husband, Jordan, are expecting their first. I was so shocked when I found out she was pregnant, too. Not necessarily just because she was pregnant, but because she is due the very same day as me. Yes, you read that right. She's due the same day. Lynsey's dad didn't believe me when I told him Anthony & I were also having a baby and we're due on the same day. He really thought I was pulling his leg. I finally convinced him that I was for real & he (and my mother-in-law) were very excited to be getting two grandkids at once. I doubt that Lynsey & I will end up delivering on the same day, but I would venture to guess that the babies will be born within a couple weeks of each other.

Lots of people have asked if we have names in mind yet, so I'll go ahead and say here that we do, but we're keeping them a secret. Since everyone will know what the gender is, we want to keep something for a surprise. And, I don't want everyone weighing in their opinions on our choices. Once the baby is here, no one will care what we named it (and if they do, they probably won't say anything to our face). :)

My next appointment is Wednesday, September 12. They probably won't do an ultrasound, but I'll still post an update afterwards.

Picture of the week.....

I snapped this picture while driving home last week. Wesley almost always falls asleep on the way home. I think he is trying to start a new fad, two pairs of sunglasses at the same time.

We have a...

in the...















Expected to be done baking March 26, 2008

Picture of the week...

Oh, to be a kid again...

POTW...or maybe it should be picture of the month

Here's a picture I took on Mother's Day of me and the boy. The other boy was still in bed asleep because he was out late the night before with 'the guys' at a drag race, so no picture of him that day.

New Love...

Awww...the feeling of new love. You know what I'm talking about, the flip-flop of your stomach every time you see him/her, your heart rate speeding up, feeling like all is right in the world when you're together.
He even tells me that we were 'made for each other'
I bet you're wondering who it is, aren't you?
Well, my new iMac, of course.
What, did you think I found a boyfriend? :)
I've crossed over from being a purely PC user to a Mac user (at least at home - still have a PC at work - who is looking pretty dingy and pitiful now that I've seen that the grass is actually greener on the other side). He arrived at lunch Friday and I felt like a kid on Christmas Eve just waiting for 5:00 to come so I could go and play with him. Why am I referring to him as a person? Because he's that special. I even said out loud to Anthony at some point this weekend, "It's just so pretty." The screen is bigger than any of the tv's we own. That has to say something about us, huh? Anthony thinks we should just turn our chairs around and watch all our dvd's on it instead of the tv (the desk is across the room from the tv in our living room). If I remember, I'll come back and post a picture, so you can ooh and ahh over how beautiful he is. :)
Happy Monday!

My Visual DNA...

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

POTW...more toothy (or lack thereof) pictures

Anthony picks Wesley up from daycare on Mondays because I have class that night. When I got home Monday night Wesley ran to meet me at the front door (technically it's the side door, but back to the story) and says, "Mommy, I lost another tooth." Apparantly, he pulled it at daycare that afternoon, and when Anthony picked him up Wesley greeted him with tooth in hand. So, he now has no front teeth. He looks so odd without them. I couldn't get him to look natural for a good picture so this will have to suffice. These days everytime the camera turns his way he does this posed, 'cheese' smile and looks like he's thinking, "Can we just hurry up and get this over with."

POTW...such a boy

We're having our bathroom remodeled. So, there's a lot of junk lying around in the house and backyard (a nasty layer of dust covering nearly every horizontal surface in our house - which I'm refraining from cleaning every night because it will just be back the next day) and we have a boy that likes to get into EVERYTHING. So, I'm washing dishes the other night and Anthony comes in and says, "Quick, get your camera." I grab it and follow him to the bathroom and look out our {new} window and see this...

He had crawled in and couldn't figure out how to get back out the way he got in. He eventually just climbed out the top. That's the pile of stuff that has been ripped out of the bathroom. I don't yet have my new vanity installed. Crossing my fingers that I will before the weekend is up.

Happy Thursday!

POTW...one less tooth

Before & After

After several days of wiggling his tooth and multiple attempts by myself and his dad to try and pull his first loose tooth, it finally just fell out on Saturday, while he was sitting on the toilet of all places. I was just outside the door and he said, "Mommy! My tooth fell out!" He was so excited aobut the tooth fairy coming to see him that night. I had made a little pillow with a pocket sewn on it to put his tooth in and then for the fairy to put the money in. He doubted whether the fairy would know to look there since his tooth was supposed to be under his pillow, but gave in when I convinced him that it would get lost in the couch cushion (we were visiting my parents). The next morning the first thing he did after he woke up was jump up and check the pillow. Sure enough, the tooth fairy came through and left him a one dollar bill, which he spent the same day on a matchbox car. Now, the tooth fairy is wondering what she should do with the tooth...

For a day or so after he lost it, when I saw him smile it made me chuckle because he looked so funny with that gap in his front teeth.

(click on the pictures to see them larger).

Warm & fuzzy feelings...

I've always been a 'Daddy's girl' and that didn't change when I got married. I respect him more than anyone else, and I adore the relationship that he and Wesley have together. My dad hates having his picture taken, so I have to sneak them in when he's not looking. In this one, from Christmas, they're hanging out, watching tv. Wesley is a 'Grandaddy's boy' for sure.

The Numbers Movie...

I found this neat little movie on Stacy Julian's blog. Take a look at it. It's pretty cool.

Change is good...

Decided I was tired of the old blog template. So, I changed it.
Hope you like it.

All I want for Christmas...

I was so excited a week or so ago to find out that Wesley had his first loose tooth. He had a dentist appointment yesterday, and according to the dentist, he actually has a whopping 4 loose teeth. I can feel the two front teeth (on top) that are loose, but I can't feel the bottom two. At any rate, Wesley may soon be singing "All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth." I guess the tooth fairy needs to get her act together so she's ready when the time comes. I promise to post a picture of him sans front teeth when it happens.
Remember that funny feeling when you would stick your tongue in the hole left by your tooth? My step-dad used to tell us if we were able to keep from sticking our tongue in there until our new tooth came in, it would grow in gold. I was never able to keep from doing it.
One of the joys of parenthood is that you get to relive your childhood memories that you may have forgotten over the years, and you get to watch your children make those memories for themselves.