Almost 6 Months!!!!!

Quinn will be six months old in a few days! I totally missed the 5 month post, but we've been busy!
He has his six month check up next week, so I'll have the new weight/height stuff then.
We visited the dermatologist about a month ago regarding Quinn's eczema and cradle cap. We got some new things to try and a new bath regiment (every night!) and it does seem to be helping. Neither problem has gone away entirely, but we are managing it. The most important part is that it's not bothering the little guy any more!
He is wearing 9-12 month clothes (depending on the brand). He's getting so big! He eats every 3-4 hours, sometimes going longer. He usually still has one middle of the night feeding, around 2-3 AM. We're going to start solid foods after his 6 month check up! He's really been interested in our food lately, so hopefully he'll like his! Other than that, he's still getting exclusively breast milk.
He actually has been sleeping in his crib (he was in the pack and play in our room), and we're working on weaning off the swaddling! He sleeps with one arm out, hopefully soon we'll be able to stop the swaddling entirely!
The boy can roll! He finally rolled front to back a couple weeks ago, and now there's no stopping him! He actually gets his knees up under his bottom too....I'm really not ready for crawling, but I think it's coming sooner rather than later!
He is very good at grabbing things, and can get them to his mouth very well (which is, of course, where everything should go). He will hold out his arms and reach for things he wants.

We had a visit from Quinn's honorary Auntie Shawna for Thanksgiving, and then Auntie Jenn came down that weekend. It was a great visit from both of them!

New things Quinn can do:
-rolls from tummy to back
-Reach/grab towards things he wants
-Consistently put things in his mouth
-He's started making 'gargling' noises, and thinks that's pretty funny

Quinn quirks:
-He is a fan of Dr. Seuss books, we think it must be the cadence of the stories
-He loves dogs now, too! He thinks Hunter and Toby are just cool and likes to talk to them! (I guess they pay more attention to him when they're visiting than his kitties do!)
-He's getting into the "I want what Mom has" kind of stage. He's always trying to take whatever I have (Mostly the phone and my water bottle)

And now the kiddo is awake, so this is all you get!

4 Month Update

Quinn is now 20 weeks old! 4 1/2 months! He had his four month check up a couple weeks ago. He was 16 pounds (67%), 25 3/4 inches long (76%), and his head was 17 1/4 inches (84%). Yes, it seems right now that he has a Harman size head. :) The visit went fine. He got his next set of shots. The doctor did detect a very slight heart murmur, which she is not worried about, and most will resolve before the child's first birthday, so we're just monitoring that at his visits. He still had cradle cap, and had developed excema (as I suspected). So after trying different things, he is now finally clearing up (thank goodness! He was so itchy!!), but we do have an appointment with a dermatologist next week. We may food allergy test him at 6 months if he is still flaring with the excema to rule out that. For now, I have given up any nuts, and combined with the new skin care regiment (no washes or shampoos, and lots of Aquaphor), he's doing better. So, we'll see.
The same week of his visit, and his shots, he was doing some major teething. That's right. At 4 months old, Quinn popped out both of his lower center teeth. Definitely improved his mood, and he's doing well, so we're still exclusively breastfeeding (well, and expressed breast milk in bottles)!
He is wearing 6-9 month and 6-12 month clothes (depending on the brand). He eats every 3-4 hours, sometimes going longer. He usually still has one middle of the night feeding, around 2 AM.
He officially rolled over (back to tummy) the night before his 4 month check up. He's doing it more regularly now, but can't really do tummy to back yet. He also learned to put his feet in his mouth. He grabs onto things really well now, and will reach for toys.

We had a visit from Grams and Gramps (my parents) last week, which was great. Grams got to babysit, and we did a lot of fun stuff. We did shopping, pumpkin carving/painting, and went to a pumpkin patch! (Look to the shutterfly photo blog for pictures soon!)

New things Quinn can do:
-Laughing fits
-rolls to his back to tummy
-Talks a lot, and has learned that he can make his voice go louder....
-Reaches for things

Quinn quirks:
-He loves playing 'airplane' and being upside down!
-He likes when Blue's Clues is on...we turned it on once and he was laughing and yelling at the TV and didn't want us to turn it off!
-He loves the kitties! He petted one by himself a couple days ago!



So many toys, how will I put them all in my mouth?!

Smiley, happy boy!

First trip to the park!

Polar bear Quinn, who will know at an early age that penguins and polar bears do not live in the same place!

Have a great day everyone, and visit the photo blog for lots more pics!

Some 3 month pictures

I now have a photo blog (much easier to upload pictures there), so visit themightyquinn612.shutterfly.com for more!



With his snuggle buddy, his favorite toy


In the strawberry patch :)


With Mommy. How I love this boy!!!

3 Month Update

Quinn is now 16 weeks old! 3 1/2 months! He has his 4 month check up soon. He wears 3-6, some 6-9, and even some 6-12 month clothes (depending on the brand). He is eating every 3-3 1/2 hours, sometimes going longer. We had two weeks right when he was 3 months that he slept through the night!! Lately, he's regressed a bit, but usually only for 1 late night/early morining feeding.
He still loves to lay on the floor and flail around. He's discovered how to really move his legs and likes to put them up in the air. He is doing pretty well with tummy time, he can get his head up really well and is working on those 'baby push-ups'. He is really close to rolling over. He can go from his back to his side and back again, but hasn't gotten all the way yet. He laughs, smiles, blows raspberries, and 'talks' a lot now. He has figured out his fingers pretty well, and will grab at pretty much anything: fingers, blankets, toys, my hair (I understand why a lot of women with small children have short hair now!).
He does really well at the sitter's, and we all seem to have a good schedule figured out.

The day we realized he really needs buckled in the bouncy seat all the time...


New things Quinn can do:
-Laughs
-rolls to his side and back
-will 'blow raspberries' back at you :)
-Grabs at things

Quinn quirks:
-He seems to mostly save his pooping for mommy, particularly if I've just changed him
-He loves his snuggle buddy! It's fun that he has a favorite toy already!
-He still needs swaddled because if he is sleepy, his hands automatically gravitate right for his face, which, of course, will wake him up

2 Month Photos

Gotta love the hippo hat!



For those wondering, yes, Tony picked out this shirt. :)

2 month Updates-the Boy, 11 Weeks

Quinn is 11 weeks old! 2 1/2 months! He had his 2 month check up a couple weeks ago. He was 14 pounds 3 ounces and 24 inches long. He's in the 80-95% for all his measurements. Obviously, having no problem growing! He has outgrown all his 0-3 month clothes (except some pants) and is fitting well in the 3-6 and some 6-9. He eats every 2 1/2-3 1/2 hours, sometimes fitting a 4 hour stretch during the day and anywhere from 2 1/2- 5 hours at night (although the 5 hours have only happened a couple of times). He loves to lay on the floor and have 'flailing time'. He really gets going! He loves to sit up, and likes his Bumbo seat pretty well. He does OK at tummy time, but seems more interested in sucking on his fist (which he can finally get at, darn the thing for moving all the time when he's upright!) than looking around or trying to roll over. The ceiling fan is still a very interesting thing as well. He smiles all the time now, and even has a kind of half laugh, half screech when he's really excited.

Quinn got a visit from his Auntie Shawna, who greatly improved his personal library!

My smiley boy :)

Poor kid is balding, all the way around, and thinning on top with a receding hairline....hopefully it comes back soon!!


New things Quinn can do:
-Smiling all the time!
-He will stare into a mirror (that baby follows him everywhere!)
-He drools a lot lately, and blows some pretty impressive bubbles.
-He will track things really well, if they interest him. :)

Quinn quirks:
-We've been playing peek-a-boo, and he gets really excited when we 'come back'
-Every morning, without fail, he will wake himself (and us) up between 3 and 6 AM and have a large poo.
-He is ever more our Houdini baby, and gets out of any swaddle we put him in.

2 Month Updates- the Family

So, I haven't been on in a while. Primarily because we've all been adjusting to our new schedules now that we're back at work. Quinn goes to the sitter 3 1/2 days of the week. I drop him off and Tony picks him up, so that we keep his time with us as much as possible.

Going back to work has been the hardest thing I've done. I honestly never thought I would want to be a stay at home mom until I was faced with the prospect of leaving Quinn with the sitter. We both need to work to maintain the life we have and want Quinn to have, and I know he will be well socialized and love us just the same, but all I could think of was that he should have his mom with him always and I was abandoning him. It's been 2 weeks since I went back, and I have cried everyday when leaving him, but I am accepting the situation little by little. I go and feed him and visit with him at lunch time, which helps.

Warning: if you don't want to hear about breastfeeding, you should stop reading now. For some reason, this topic weirds some people out.

I am still exclusively breastfeeding the kiddo. I pump while I'm at work (so exciting) and bring the expressed milk to the sitter to feed him. Pumping is going fine, it's still weird but that's what I have to do for the kiddo, so I do it. I have no problem keeping up with him, I actually put more milk in the freezer than we take out (so we rotate the 'freezer stash') every week. We are actually going to need to buy a deep freezer to keep the milk longer and get it out of our freezer where it is taking over. :)

Tony is enjoying his new job so far. He's starting some new things next week, so we'll see how that goes.

I have officially lost 33 of 40 pounds gained during pregnancy!! Now, if only my hips would retract enough for my pre-pregnancy jeans to fit....I seem to be perpetually stuck between my pre-pregnancy and maternity wardrobes.

6 weeks!!!

Quinn had a doctor's visit today. He checks out perfect; which, of course, we already knew! He's up to 12 pounds, 7 ounces and 22 1/2 inches long!! He's fitting into his 0-3 month clothes well, except for the pants. We have only found a couple of bottoms that fit his little back end and legs. That's OK with us, since onsies are much easier anyway. He's eating every 2-3 hours during the day, and every 2-4 at night. We actually had 2 nights in a row this week that had 4 hour stretches! He still only really fusses when he needs something, and doesn't really spit up. He has recently decided he likes his swing. He seems fascinated with the lights.

Asleep on Dad


My adorable smiling boy!

A very serious look.


New things Quinn can do:
-He holds his head up very well now
-He will turn his head as well as his eyes to look at you when you're talking to him.
-He has found his thumb a couple times and really liked sucking on it, but can't seem to get it in his mouth consistently

Quinn quirks:
-He gets contented smiles right after he eats and when he's falling asleep
-He loves lights! He'll stare at them for a long time, particularly colored lights.
-For some reason, he seems to get the hiccups right after we change his diaper...

Road Trip

So, we're officially crazy. We took Quinn on a road trip to Ohio to meet my extended relatives when he was about 4 weeks old, mainly my grandparents. 3 1/2 hours to St. Louis, 5 to Indy, and another 6 to Ohio; not counting stops along the way to feed and change the boy. Overall he did very well in the car, he slept most of the time. He would really only fuss after a pit stop, and then only for 30 minutes or so. The last 20 minutes of the drive were the only exception, when he screamed bloody murder and nothing would calm him. We had a couple of bad nights, mainly the one when he woke up every hour and wanted to nurse. Nonetheless, it was a very long week. But worth it, for my grandparents to meet Quinn.

We stopped in St. Louis to see Tony's parents and little sister on the way there and back. It was good to see them again, and for them to get to love on the kiddo. We stopped in Indy at my parent's house to see my family. Then my mom and sister came to Ohio with us.

The Ohio trip was great. I got to see family members I hadn't seen in years, and everyone was very excited to meet Quinn.

Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa Crile


Great-Grandma Houston


Quinn at the beginning of the trip...



and at the end...

3 1/2 Weeks

Quinn is 3 1/2 weeks old now. He is doing great! We don't have another doctor visit for a couple weeks, but on a trip to work I weighed him and he was around 9 pounds 11 ounces! He has outgrown most of his newborn clothes, but the 0-3 clothes are still a little big for him. He is going 2-3 hours between feedings during the day, and around 3 hours during the night. We have found out that constant moving equals sleeping for him, so the car or the stroller just send him right to sleep. Also, the vacuum cleaner...if you turn it on, he instantly calms and falls asleep pretty soon after that! We've actually used the dust buster to get him to sleep a couple nights. :) He is still a really good baby, he doesn't fuss unless he really needs something, and he doesn't really spit up!
Here are a couple pictures:

Staring at me while I take his picture- yes, he makes eye contact now!

Hanging out with Moe (coincidentally, Moe ran away seconds after this picture)

Bath time!! He doesn't hate it as much as I thought he would!

What Quinn can do:
-eye contact and track things with his eyes
-he can pick his head up if he's on his tummy and keep it up for a while!

Quinn quirks:
-He doesn't freak out when his feet are free anymore, but a sure way to calm him if he's looking overstimulated is to swaddle his feet/legs
-His favorite way to fall asleep is laying tummy down on someone's chest with his head under your chin
-Instant sleepiness in the car or stroller and if the vacuum is on
-He feels better if he can hold someone's finger during diaper changes
-He has projectile pooped on Tony 4 times (haha!), tried to with me a couple times, but I dodged

11 Days

Hi everyone! We are all doing well. Quinn is now 11 days old! We left the house for the first time since coming home yesterday. Quinn had a well baby check up at the doctor. He now weighs 8 pounds 7 ounces (3 ounces more than birth weight), is 21 3/4 inches long (2 1/4 inches longer) and his head is 14.5 inches (1 inch larger!). He checks out perfect (as we expected!) After our appointment, we stopped by my work to say hi to everyone. It was nice to get out of the house, but very tiring. :) I don't think we'll be going back out soon because of the heat, though. We're actually all hiding in our bedroom with the window covered and the lights out to keep the room cool- the heat index is 110 here.

To keep from having to post pictures in multiple places, check my flickr site for most new pics of Quinn.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7201112@N03/


Every time I see this picture, I automatically think "Pull my finger!" :)

Quinn Lawrence is here!

So I'm bad about updating, but at least I have an excuse this time. :) I'll give the brief update now because I'm tired and the whole of the story is long and emotional. I was ready for the kiddo to come. I was getting very uncomfortable and having a lot of braxton hicks contractions. On Friday, June 12 (1 week before my due date), my water broke just before 7 PM. We got to the hospital and got set up in a room. By that time, the contractions were on top of each other with no break at all. I got my epidural (LOVE THE DRUGS!), which made all the pain go away. I progressed very very fast. Quinn's heart rate started dropping too low, and I was pushing, but he was not coming out quickly enough and his heart rate was still down, so I had an emergency C-section. Quinn was born at 8:59 PM that day (yes, about 2 hours after my water broke!) He came out screaming and was perfect, way better than the doctors expected him to be! After surgery, I got to see him for a few minutes, but then my heart rate went way too high, and they couldn't get it down. Eventually they got it under control, but I had to go to the ICU for the next 15 hours or so for observation. Tony spent the night going back and forth between me and Quinn, and we all got to be together on Saturday afternoon. We were released from the hospital on Monday, and are glad to be home. We are all doing well (besides the sleep deprevation :). I will update more later, but here are some pics.

Other random updates

Let's see...the only other big news I have is that the girls at work threw me a surprise baby shower at work last week (the same day as the Mraz concert!!). I work with an awesome group of people, and it was really sweet of them (and a couple other friends who came!)! We got to have Olive garden for lunch, yum! And then they had the break room all decorated, complete with safari baby decor and cupcakes, yum again! We got really nice gifts from everyone; thank you, thank you!!

We also got a baby gift from Tony's coworkers. They got together and gave us a card and a very nice gift of cash! :) We used it to help buy a glider/ottoman for the nursery. It is a fantastic chair that we have both already napped in. :) Thank yous to all the people who helped with that gift!

My parents also sent us a present: they bought the stroller/car seat travel system we wanted! Thank you so much!! It's already assembled, we just have to install the car seat bases. :)

I had my first Mother's Day this weekend. My mom sent a 'bouquet' made of fake flowers and baby clothes. Too cute! Tony (even though instructed not to) bought me roses. :) Gotta love that guy! I have a hard time thinking of myself as a mother yet, but as my hubby points out: do you feed him, shelter him and love him? Then of course you're a mom! Point taken. :)

As I am getting bigger and it is getting harder for me to do some things easily (stupid shoelaces!), I decided Quinn should know that it was getting close to time for him to come out. So we had a conversation (albeit, a decidedly one-sided conversation) in which I told him he has until Father's Day to be born. That gives him a couple days past my due date, which I think is perfectly fair. :)

Well, I think that's enough posts for one day. I will really try to update again soon. :) In the meantime, here are some pics for the day.

All the baby shower presents sitting in our new glider chair!

My baby clothes bouquet from Mom on Mother's Day!

Have a great day, everyone!

Early Anniversary

Tony and I celebrated our 5th anniversary last week. I think I wrote about it before, but our anniversary is a week after my due date, so we decided earlier would be better. :) We don't go out very often, and generally find it hard to spend money on date stuff, but we splurged. :) We went to the Jason Mraz concert here in KC at the Starlight. It was fantastic! The tickets were general admission, so we left early and stood in line for about 2 hours. It was hot, and uncomfortable, but worth it. We got some really good seats, bought a couple T shirts (even though I won't be able to wear mine for a couple months!), and waited for the show to start. The girl who opened was OK, I didn't really care for her. The Plain White Tees were next, and they did a pretty good job. But Mraz!!!! He (and the band) were, as expected, fantastic. No one sat down the entire time they were on- well, I sat down a couple of times, but my feet, hips and back were killing me! The show was great!

If you ever get the chance to see Mraz in concert, go! I highly recommend it! I do not neccesarily recommend going when you're in your last month and 1/2 of pregnancy, however. I was so sore, tired and swollen from standing, but it was so worth it!!!

Pregnancy Update

Wow, so I'm bad at updating lately! I've had two doctor visits since the last update. The first was completely, measuring normal, normal weight gain, etc. I then got switched up to every 2 week visits. The last visit was good as well. I was measuring big again, though. So, they did another ultrasound which showed that little Quinn is doing just fine, he's just...well, I think he's going to be big. :) He was measuring two weeks ahead and had an estimated weight of a little over 5 pounds (with me at 33.5 weeks)! The doctors don't seem at all worried, just told me that I'm probably going to have a big baby, which we always suspected anyway. :) I go for my next visit in a week, then I go every week until the kiddo comes!! Only 5 1/2 weeks left!!!! That seems really crazy!

Overall, I'm doing pretty well. I don't have tons of swelling, which I am thankful for. I am achy, and tired, and feel huge, but good. Most days. But everyone has bad days, and I think all the hormones and carrying around the equivalent of a bowling ball or two in my abdomen make me entitled to a few more than other people. :) Quinn moves around all the time, and now that he's running out of room he has taken to pushing more than kicking. He does get the hiccups several times a day, which is a pretty weird feeling. He actually woke me up this morning because he had the hiccups. :)

Update!

I just realized how long it's been since the last update! I'm sorry to anyone who actually reads this! :)

I have my next OB visit in a couple days. Last time I had my glucose test for gestational diabetes and they tested my iron levels. No news is good news with them, and I didn't get a call, so everything is good! I'm doing pretty well. My belly is definitely getting bigger, and it's getting harder to get up and down (especially at work!). I get a little short of breath sometimes because the boy's taking up more room and pushing my organs around even more! But overall, I think I'm doing really well! The past week, the kiddo has been such a squirmy little thing! He's moving around a lot, flipping and turning and kicking! It's so much fun and very strange at the same time! As of this Sunday, we have only 2 months left!!! The end is nearing, and it makes me very excited and very nervous!!

We have been attending a Childbirth class at the hospital, which has been very informative. We learned a lot and had a good time. (Although we both started laughing during our 'relaxation techniques' portion :) We had a tour of the birthing center at the hospital where I will be delivering at the last class, and it was great! The place is awesome and reminds me of a nice hotel more than a hospital in looks, but still has all the great monitoring and everything I would expect of the hospital!

We have also finished painting the nursery and assembled the crib!! It definitely looks like a little kid's room now and not just a spare bedroom! We are very proud of it! Tony took a long time making sure the stripe was level, and the trees took me a long time to paint, but I love it!
This is the cutest print that my little sister got for us! It fits perfect in the room!

Other than that, things are good at home. My job is going well. Tony actually has a new job next year. In addition to still teaching a couple classes, he will be the instructional coach for the high school. It's very exciting! In case you don't know what that is (I didn't!), basically, he is in charge of the new teachers. He is a resource for them, helping them with lessons, discipline, etc. He will also lead all of the seminars and such for those teachers. I think of it as helping new teachers be better teachers, which I think he will be great at!

I'm recuperating from getting another crown on a tooth. :( I cracked the another lower molar on the other side. So, two crowns in 6 months...yuck!

Well, have a great day!

A Good Day

I had my monthly OB visit today. I'm now 27 weeks along. I had to do the glucose screening test, but the glucola drink was not that bad. They drew blood and I should have those results by the end of the week. I actually weighed the same as last month, so no lectures about weight gain this time! The Dr was measuring my belly, and was getting a measurement of 31 (it should be 27 - the measurement of the belly matches the weeks of gestation), which is quite a bit ahead of where it should be. This could have been caused by a big baby, the baby's position, or extra fluid, so they wanted to do a quick ultrasound to see why I was measuring big. Yay, extra ultrasounds! So, the tech got all her measurements (he's measuring a little ahead, but nothing big. I do have some extra fluid, but it's within normal ranges, so everything's OK). His heartrate was 153, and he weighs 2 pounds, 9 ounces now! Then, just because she could, she used the 3d/4d ultrasound to get some really good pictures of the little guy!!! So here are the new pictures!

A new profile picture :)

The last time I had an ultrasound the kiddo was covering his face, and he was doing it again today. The tech shook my belly a little, and told him to move his hand. Luckily, he actually did!


Such a cutie!Look at that little face!

I think this is the best one!Perfect little toes!! I love little toes!!

I cannot adequately convey how awesome it was to see my little guy!!

Have a great day everyone!

Spring is Here!!

It is in the high 70's today!! After I post this, I need to open up the house!

Everything is going well here. I know I haven't posted in a while, sorry! So, as far as pregnancy news, I'm 26 weeks along now; I'm almost to the 3rd trimester! The little boy kicks all the time, which I like because I know he's doing well in there, but dislike when he insists on jumping on my bladder when it's full! And since it has been requested (you know who you are!), here is a picture of the belly.


We went to Kirksville last weekend for our nephew's birthday party. I cannot believe he is 6!!! We had a fabulous time! We love you guys!! Here are some pics of the kiddos.

The birthday boy himself!

Me and Daniel. He was my buddy the whole weekend!

They are both making faces at me, but I still love this one of Kate and Tony.

I have lots of pics from the weekend. I'm going to put my favorites on my Flickr account, so you can find more there later today if you wanted.

We are going to paint today! We primed the nursery a while ago, but it got too cold to have the windows open, so we had to wait. I will post pics of that project later. :)

Overall, everything is good! I will try to post a more verbose accounting of what's going on later. Right now, I think I need to open my windows. :)

Updates...

So, I'm 24 weeks now! Feeling pretty good, other than some achy hips and back. My last OB visit went fine (except for the part where I'm supposed to 'slow down' my weight gain....) Oh well.

I feel the little guy every day now. He likes to bounce on my bladder and kick my pelvis... I saw my belly move for the first time the other day. I guess I'm going to need to work on my automatic verbal responses before the kid gets here, because I saw my belly move and yelled "Holy S***" to Tony....gotta work on that. :) Tony got to feel the baby move for the first time the day after that, so he's pretty excited about that. No more Aliens movies for a while though....creepy!!

On an exciting, non baby note...we get to see Jason Mraz in concert in May!! He's coming to KC and we bought ourselves tickets to celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary (not til June, but it's a week after my due date, so I don't think we'll be going out on our anniversary.) I'm so excited!!!

We started our first art project for the kiddo. Tony saw a mirror online that he really liked that had etchings of animals in it, so we bought the stuff to do it ourselves and did test runs with small, cheap mirrors. They came out pretty cute, I think we'll have to incorporate the hippo and monkey into the final piece. The picture's not very good, but it's hard to get my camera to focus on the etchings since it is an auto focus thing. :)


Not much else going on, we got some snow yesterday, but it will probably be gone in a couple days. :(
Tony's birthday is this week....still not sure what we're doing, yet. :)

Hope everyone has a good day!

Hormonal Ramblings....

I'm 21 weeks now! Sometimes (not every day) I feel the little guy moving. It feels like a fish flopping around in my abdomen. So weird! I get very impatient to feel the next movement, which may not come for days!!

I cry a lot more often now than before I was pregnant. Darn hormones! Yesterday, I was taking cupcakes with me to work, and the container of frosting fell down the stairs. There was frosting all over the walls, front door and rug. I stood at the top of the stairs staring at the mess (and loss of delicious frosting) and just cried!

I have emotional freak outs at least once a week. They usually revolve around the baby and being a Mom. I feel really badly about these, because Tony tries to but can't usually make me feel better at those times, but I just can't stop them! On that note, if anyone is not at least a little terrified about being a parent and having a tiny life that they are responsible for, then it is my opinion that they obviously have not really thought about it!

We've been trying to put together a registry for baby stuff, but there are so many different brands of things and so many things in general...

Most of my shirts don't really fit any more, but I hate shopping for clothes! And the maternity sections at our local stores just stink!!

OK, I think I'm done venting. Don't get me wrong; I love being pregnant (mostly!) and am grateful that everything is going so well, but I just feel overwhelmed some days. Yesterday (after the frosting incident) I was having one of those days, so I peeked at the kiddo with the ultrasound at work and he was grabbing his toes with his hands. So cute! It made me feel a lot better to see him playing around in there!

We have the colors for the nursery almost picked out. Just a few minor changes. Everyone will have to wait for it to be done to see, though!

The baby still does not have a name. Right now, I am leaning towards Quinn, and it's growing on Tony. We'll see.

On a non-baby note, Tony and I celebrated the 10th anniversary of when we started dating. We celebrate every year, instead of doing Valentine's day. Tony (I love that he cooks!!) made pancakes with apple cinnamon syrup for breakfast. Then he made homemade chicken fettuccine Alfredo for dinner. He even bought some sparking grape juice. :) I made chocolate cake for desert (yum!). We tested paint colors in the nursery and had a nice lazy day to celebrate.

Well, I guess that's enough rambling for one day. I should do some laundry, but I'm feeling very lazy and unmotivated...

Hope everyone is doing well and having a good day!

Halfway Done!

So, I'm 20 weeks now! The kid is halfway done, so to speak. :) Everything is going pretty well here.

I'm still waiting to feel those movements and kicks regularly. The ultrasound tech told me that the placenta is attached in an anterior position. Basically, that means the placenta is sitting right in the front of my lower abdomen, acting like a pillow between me and my little boy. So I've felt kicks one time definitely, a week ago, to the side of my belly, and I've felt some "swishing/swimming" kind of sensations a couple of times, but nothing consistent. I'm pretty sure I'll be glad for the protection later when the boy is kicking at my ribs with some force, but right now all I want is to be able to feel him moving around in there!

I've been pretty tired lately, and kind of moody. (Just ask Tony! Thank goodness he loves me so much!) Otherwise, everything is going well.

We are stuck trying to name this little guy. We have a list of names that one or neither of us feel strongly for. Any help would be appreciated, so feel free to leave a comment with name suggestions! Just keep in mind that we may or may not use them!

Tony is off at a teaching conference in St. Louis until Tuesday, so it's just me and the cats at home...let me tell you, they are cuddly, but not very good conversationalists. So if anyone's around, feel free to give me a call!

Well, I guess I should go do some laundry...have a good weekend everyone!

And we have....a healthy baby BOY!

We went in to have my 20 week ultrasound today (I'll be 20 weeks on Friday). The tech was super nice and looked for the gender right away! There's no mistaking it, the kid is definitely a boy! He measured right at 20 weeks and everything looks great!!

This picture is pretty self-explanatory! :)


He was pretty set in the same spot the whole time. He must have been pretty comfortable because the tech was even shaking my belly to get him to move and he would just flip back to the same position. :)


I already think he's pretty cute!

He kept wiggling his toes at us, which is why the picture is blurry. :)

Checking in

Just thought I'd check in. I'm not sure if anyone is actually reading this, though.

Things have been pretty quiet around here. Tony's been having academic team competitions lately, so that and normal school stuff take up a lot of time. Work's going well for both of us.

I had to have a tooth worked on this week (having a crown put on). It took a while for the numbing to work (they had to use extra on me), and my mouth still hurts, but at least I can have hot/cold foods on that side without pain!

The pregnancy is going well. I'm 17 1/2 weeks now. Definitely showing; my wardrobe is getting smaller and smaller. I'll have to break down and go shopping for maternity tops sometime soon. Luckily, I wear scrubs to work and don't have to have the dress clothes some people do. My next appointment is in 2 weeks! I'll get the 'Big' ultrasound! And, yes, we will be finding out the gender of the baby (LB cooperating, of course!). It will be a surprise if we find out in January or June. The only difference is that now it'll be a surprise that we can then plan and prepare for. And for those of you who know me well, you know how I like to prepare and plan!!

New Videos

Here area a couple of videos I took to let everyone see how big the baby has gotten at Christmas! (Just in case you were wondering, the videos are all on a loop. These actually play twice- the ultrasound machine only captures a few seconds at a time.)




The baby always seems to have the hiccups!




The baby seems to be grabbing at his/her feet here. I think it's amazing that you can see the little fingers!

A New Year!

Happy New Year to everyone! I haven't updated in a little while, with the holidays and everything going on!

My family came for Christmas, even though they almost didn't make it! It was great to see everyone! We ate a lot, played games (our favorite family pastime!), and had a nice time relaxing. The cats got almost used to my parent's dog being here the night before they left. Typical for felines. :)

I had my 16 week doctor's visit this week (I'll be 16 weeks tomorrow!). Everything was good. I've gained more weight- not fair being weighed with holiday weight AND pregnancy weight!! We got to hear LB's heartbeat with the Doppler again, wonderful at 146 beats per minute. Everything is going really well. My belly is really poking out now, there's no hiding it! I'm hungry ALL the time, so I'm trying really hard to eat healthy snacks! We go back the end of January for the anatomy ultrasound! And YES, we will be finding out the sex! (as long as the baby cooperates!)

We've bought a few things for the baby, nothing much, yet. We're waiting to find out the gender to really get going on the nursery! We have ideas, but the colors have yet to be finalized.

We didn't do much for New Year's. Stayed home, at snack foods, watched a movie, and then I fell asleep! I can't seem to stay awake that late anymore! Now we're lounging around, and Tony is grading some tests.

I'll try to post some pictures later today!

Have a great start to the new year!