2009 Already? (A Long one)

At this time last year if someone would have said to me, "Next year at this time you will be very pregnant!" I would have laughed in their face and said, "Oh no, not me, we are going to wait for a while!" What an unexpected blessing that we received in 2008...Matt has said more than once, "We had a plan, and God laughed!" We grow more and more excited as Kellen's arrival is nearing. But at the same time I have got a horrible case of the "What if's!" I have been told that every new mother has these, and that has helped calm me a little, but not really. Matt could not be more excited he has the attitude of everything will be fine and work out just the way it is supposed to! I have been trying to take on this same attitude, but my "what if's" have a pretty strong hold over me. If you ask Matt how I am...he will tell you that I am doing great! Don't listen, the poor thing has been putting up with a "VERY" moody Stephanie for a while now.

As for Christmas, Kellen made out like a bandit. Grandma Marquitta bought him his car seat, which was a BIG help to us. Uncle Andy and Aunt Crystal bought him a very cute Pooh outfit. Aunt Sara spoiled him with a bunch of very cute clothes. Grandma Dee bought him a very cute picture for his room and some very cute frames. Then with all the Christmas money that Matt and I received we bought some last minute items that we felt like we needed. So I can honestly say now that we are ready for him...whenever he decides to come.

I have had a couple of Dr's appointments since the last update. Things are going well. My blood pressure remains good along with all of my other vitals that they check. Kellen's heart rate has been good and strong. He is still moving away in there. He doesn't really kick so much as just move around and stretch out. At my ultrasound on Tuesday they estimated his weight at 7 lbs 13 0z. Yes almost 8 lbs with 3 weeks to go. The ultrasound Dr then told me that he has a BIG head and looks like he will be difficult to birth. Of course this does not help my case of "what if's" that I have. He also told me that if he continues to grow at this rate he would be about 11-12 lbs. Yes you read that right! One BIG Boy! I was by myself at this ultrasound so of course when I left I was a little bit of a mess. Matt just laughed and thinks it is a little funny. I on the other hand have had to remind myself that this is just an estimation and it can be off as much as a pound. So of course it sparked a bunch of questions....Will they take him early? Will I have to be induced? Will they want to do a c-section? What if they decide that it would be best to take him early and he is not as big as they say, then did we make the wrong decision? Pretty much from day 1 I have wanted to do a natural, no drug birth, but all of those options don't really lead to that outcome. Corrinna (our Doula) has said that if I am induced I probably will need to take the drugs, because it is like going from 0 to 60 and our bodies are just not meant to do that. Then most people that I have known lately that have been induced ended up in a c-section. So neither option really goes down the path that I wanted for my birth. But I will do whatever is necessary for the safety of Kellen and for me. I have not meant with my OB Dr since this ultrasound, so I will have to wait till Tuesday to ask my millions of questions. Until then here is a picture of Kellen from Tuesday.

Update on Kellen's Kidney!

The latest ultrasound showed that Kellen's kidney is the size that it should be for his age. It even was measuring smaller than last time. :-) Everything else is looking good. His heart rate was good and strong. He is moving up a storm...my belly kind of looks like an alien when he gets going since you can see him moving around in there. On Thursday he was in (what I think) a very uncomfortable position, but maybe he likes to be balled up. He literally looked like he was bent in half with both feet up by his head! She was able to get a good picture of his foot and toes and yes that is his head next to his foot! :-) Matt and I can't believe how fast time has gone. As of tomorrow I am 35 weeks, it feels like yesterday that we were telling everyone that we were pregnant. Everyday Matt reminds me of how excited he is..it is really cute! He is going to be a great Daddy. He tells Kellen he loves him and gives him a kiss each day. He has also taken up calling him K-Dawg...which I was not thrilled about so he settled on calling him K-Bear. But Matt did tell me that there would be a time when he becomes K-Dawg. :-) All I can say is I hope Kellen likes football! :-) With Matt's luck, Kellen will get his mommy's clumsiness and no hand, eye coordination what so ever. I cannot wait to meet the little man who has been kicking me and growing inside of me...I am sure that he will be here before we know it! Merry Christmas everyone!

Kellen's Room is Done!

Jerilyn was able to come over and finish Kellen's room so it is all finished! We have a few things left to get for his room and we are still deciding what to do as far as pictures on the wall or what not. We are leaning towards waiting till after he is born to do that part. So for the most part we are ready for him. We have a few items on our list to get, but they are small and I have enjoyed doing a little shopping here and there buying some of the items needed.

We had our last HypnoBirthing class on Saturday. She brought in an aromatherapist to talk to us and it was so interesting to listen to her. She has a 12 year old son that has had 5 fevers in his life time and never once has taken any antibiotics. He does not have the word medicine in his language...he just knows oils for different ailments. She talked about different ones that help with different things such as colds, cramps, stretch marks, energy, and on and on! I really was fascinated with the whole thing...I could have listened to her all day. Corrinna handed out some scripts for the hospital and went over any last minute things with us. It was a very fun class since it was the last one and next step means practice...practice...practice...till Kellen decides it is time to come! We have learned so many things over the last month, not only about the upcoming birth of our child, but I have learned things about myself as well and what I am capable of. It has been a growing experience for both Matt and I!

Daycares, Dr's, & Decorating!!!

I can't believe it has been over a week already I am not sure where time is going. On Friday (Dec 5th) Matt and I toured 2 daycare centers. The first one was very structured and all about curriculum and learning. The rooms were very tiny though and dark. There was not a lot of space to move around in. In the infant room there was 9 boys and 2 girls along with 3 teachers. They offered extra curricular activities and had a meal plan that cost an extra $3 each day. It also had a very hefty price tag that came along with it! The second one was bigger, brighter, and looked very clean. The playground is divided for each age group (and has a water park). The Director that gave us the tour knew each child by name and each of them knew her and their faces would light up when she walked into the room. They have a cook on staff that will make the meals and each meal has been planned out by a nutritionist....and it is at no extra cost. You got the feeling that your child would be loved there more than anything. It was also about $400 less than the 1st daycare. On Monday I received a call from the owner of the 2nd daycare and he wanted to make sure that all my questions were answered and also to let me know that he is there every afternoon and his door is always open. He was a very nice guy and you can tell that he really does want to offer the best!

Tuesday's ultrasound and Dr's appointment went well. Kellen's heart rate looks and sounds good, along with all the other stuff that they looked at. Matt could not go with my so my mom was able to go. We got to see his hand...it was really cute and I can almost imagine the small chubby little hand in mine. For some reason he does not move much for the ultrasound...he must know we are trying to look at him. I have decided not to post the pictures from this weeks ultrasound as I am looking at them, I can't even tell what what is. :) Instead I am posting pictures of our house all decorated for Christmas. Our tree looks a little like something from a Dr Seuss movie, but I still think it is beautiful when it is all lit up. Skyler likes to sit underneath it like she is a present. The whole time I was decorating I kept saying how different it will be next year. Next Christmas there will be 4 grandkids at my inlaws instead of 2, and one will be our child. I am so excited that I can hardly wait till next year! BUT I know that the next year will be an exciting one through out the whole year. We will have many "firsts" to look forward to and I can not wait to share them with all of you!

One BIG boy!!!

Kellen is really a growing...today they estimated his weight as 5 lbs 1 oz. One of the fun things that the tech told us was that he has a full head of hair (but they told my friend that too with her little one and she came out bald). My mom says that there is a good chance he will have lots of hair since I came out with lots of black hair, so we will see! His heart beat is good and very strong. Something new at today's visit, is that we got to listen to the blood in the umbilical cord...that was pretty neat. One of my coworkers ask what that sounds like...well it makes a swish, swish sound. He slept through the entire ultrasound and decided not to move at all. So after we finished with the ultrasound, they wanted to monitor me for awhile...so they hooked me up to this machine that monitors his heartbeat, movements, and contractions. After 20-30 minutes they took me off. So far I am not having any contractions and Kellen's movements were good. There were a couple dips in his heart rate, but the Dr thought that he probably just leaned up against the umbilical cord causing a shortage of oxygen for a moment, but then moved off of it (he said that this is normal)! As far as the pictures go...the top left one is his face and the tech says the white on top of his head is hair. Then the bottom left one is his face again...he is really looking like a baby! The top right one is his face with his arm across it. The bottom right one is his foot...big foot! :) The Dr walked us through all the pictures they took. Everything is looking normal except his right kidney. His left kidney is back to a normal size, but the right one has doubled in size since the last visit. The Dr still is saying that there is no cause for concern at this point and they will continue to monitor me closely. I will be going for ultrasounds every week here on out, so look forward to pictures weekly! The Dr said that if his kidney continues to enlarge then a perinatal urologist will be called in. If nothing changes then he will recommend that the pediatrician take an ultrasound of Kellen's kidney after he is born to measure the actual kidney size. The Dr said it may just come down to Kellen being on antibiotics when he is born. Even though he says there is nothing to worry about it is hard not to. If there is one thing that I have learned it is that "mommy's" just worry! :) It starts when you first get pregnant and I wondered if the worrying ever stopped, but my mom still worries about all of us and her youngest is 22!!! I guess it is true that they will always be your babies and never really grow up in your eyes! Matt is so excited...he told me today that he already loves Kellen and can't wait to see his cute face. Then he told me that he could not wait to carry him around like a football just so he could add something manly into the conversation! I know that we are all awaiting his arrival and when he makes his appearance he will be one loved baby boy!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I can't believe that the holidays are here already. I hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. It was a beautiful day here in Georgia, the sun was shining and it was about 60 degrees. We started our morning off with the Macy's Thanksgiving parade and a breakfast of coffee cake and this sinful bacon recipe that I just got from a coworker. Next on the list of activities was on to Greg's (Matt's Dad) house. There was a ton of food and everything was so yummy. I think Kellen enjoyed it to as he really gave me a couple of good kicks after I finished eating...or maybe he was telling me that I ate WAY to much! It was a nice day all of Matt's step-brothers and sisters were able to come with their families and Andy, Crystal and Ansley were there. Also my stepbrother-inlaw's family came too, so it was a house full. It was fun to see all the kids run around (6 in all). Ansley and Madison have grown so much and really are too cute when they play together.

To answer the question of the Holiday season...am I ready? Well the honest answer is yes and no. Yes, I am very excited for Kellen's arrival and can't wait to meet him. I have all the normal questions running through my mind...."what will he look like", "will he be a good sleeper", "will Matt and I be good parents", and so on and on. Physically though I can say I am ready to not have the swollen feet, the clumsiness, the extra weight and all the other not so fun stuff that comes with pregnancy, but I will miss feeling him move inside of me, all the kicking and turning. Then there is the part of me that is not ready...the part that is worrying about everything and anything. There is a part of me that is very scared to take on this next chapter of our lives. That part of my thoughts is becoming smaller and smaller every day. My friend Allison asked me if I was ready and I said, "physically yes, but mentally I am excited and scared to death all at the same time." She told me that she had felt the same, but now cannot imagine a life with out her baby girl! Seeing Madison come up to my Amanda yesterday and give her a kiss and say "I love you" for no reason took the cake and really made me ready to meet Kellen and see the type of person that he will grow up to be!

A piece of exciting news in our family is Amanda and Kevin found out that Baby #2 is another girl! So Kellen will be surrounded by 3 girl cousins! :) Look forward to pictures of Kellen in a princess dress or something of that sorts! :) I had a Drs appointment the other day and everything seems to be going well. My blood pressure is normal along with all the other fun things that they look at. Kellen's heart rate continues to stay strong and I am measuring right on schedule. The midwife told me that he is head down and down there pretty good. She also told me I can take my old friend "Zantac" for my heartburn...Tums was just not cutting it anymore! I think that was the best news of the day!

Happy Holidays!!!

Thank you Family and Friends!

Finally I am getting around to blogging about our Baby Shower. It was so much fun and we enjoyed every minute of it! The weather was wonderful and everything was decorated super cute. My friend Jennifer made the cutest animal cupcakes and balloons. Jerilyn, Ms. Cobb, and my mom made some yummy food...I ate till I was literally sick! :) Our friends Scott and Deborah Anne made a trip from Augusta with their new addition to the family, Sarah Scott. She is the cutest little angel you ever did see, I think my mom could have held her all day! Matt's mom, Marquitta, was able to be here from Colorado and share this exciting time with us. We got a very cool frame from Denny and Ashly that we can put pictures of Kellen as he grows each month. Andy and Crystal spoiled us and Kellen rotten with a very cool monogrammed diaper bag filled with all sorts of goodies. Jenn and Charles gave us a diaper genie...they thought it would come in handy since this baby is part Matt! :) Chris and Jenn gave us a monitor and Matt has had a lot of fun playing with it. When my mom came over, he turned it on and went upstairs and started crying like a baby, my mom looked at me as I died laughing and asked, "what is that?Even family from Indiana that couldn't be there sent a jump-a-roo! And that is just to name a few...on Sunday with all the gifts put in piles on the Dining Room table, I looked at Matt and told him that we are very blessed to have such a supportive family and such wonderful friends. My sister gave us our car seat and a box of diapers. His room as now been filled with baby stuff galore. We got our glider in that we ordered and it fits perfectly. The painting is almost done and the only thing missing now it Baby Kellen! We are so excited, we can hardly wait, but know that now is the time where he is growing like a weed and preparing for life outside my tummy! Let me just say thank you again to all of you! Matt and I are very lucky to have each and everyone of you!

29 weeks down 11 (or so) to go!!!

There has been so much going on and so much to tell! I still have not blogged about our shower that was almost two weeks ago, but I am waiting on pictures from friends so I will get them posted soon! On Sat we had another Hypnobirthing class. It has been so nice to learn about relaxation not only for Kellen's birth, but for my everyday life. Even with the few things that I have learned so far I am able to let go and relax. We did a little bit of yoga and lots more practicing on finding that deep relaxation that I will need for my birth. After class we headed over to the hospital to do a tour. It feels good to now know where we will be going and how things will go once I go into labor. I know that we cannot predict how the birth will go, but I now know what to do when it is time to go to the hospital. The hospital is very family oriented and the baby will never leave our room, unless there is an extreme emergency and also some pediatricians like to do their examination in the nursery. Other than that Kellen is with us the whole time. The Nurse also told us that the NICU is mommy and baby, so Kellen will never really be away from us even if he has to be in ICU (not that I think he will, but it is nice to know that they are very family oriented). I went to the Dr's today for a checkup and everything looks good. His heartbeat is strong and all my vitals are good too! Last night I was staring at my belly and Matt asked me what I was doing....I told him to watch. You can see Kellen moving around it is the strangest, but coolest thing I have ever seen! He has even woke me up on an occasion or two with all his kicking and moving! We are growing more excited by the day for his arrival! We can't wait for all of you to meet him!

Hypno - What???

As I have mentioned before Matt and I have decided that we would prefer an all natural, no drugs birth. It didn't start out to be about the drugs and how they affect our baby, it started out that I am afraid to lose control and the idea of being drugged and not being able to feel things scares me to death. At first Matt thought I was a little crazy and said that it is my body and my decision so he would support me all the way...I am not sure that his mind has changed (he has always thought me to be a little crazy), but he has been the most supportive husband and I could not ask for anything more. So my journey began researching and and talking to friends and my Dr about what was right for me. My Dr's office introduced me to Corrinna (a Doula that works with my OBGYN) and we talked for close to 45 minutes about options I had and also introduced me to the idea of Hypnobirthing. The theory behind Hypnobirthing is that a woman's body is designed to give birth and focuses on helping her to relax and work with her body and baby. It focuses on training your body to reach a deep level of relaxation through breathing, visualization, and light touch massage techniques. Once I did some more research on Hypnobirthing, I realized that this is the route that I wanted to take. So Matt and I started taking classes to learn the different techniques. We went to orientation a couple weeks ago and then this last Saturday we had our first class. Each of the 5 classes are 2 1/2 hours long and we will spend them learning and practicing techniques to help me reach deep relaxation. During the class we watched a couple videos and after one that showed a very peaceful birth, Matt said, "that is the birth I want for you". It has been so interesting learning how to put myself into a deep relaxation...I am no where close to being able to do it, but it seems to get a little better every time we do our homework. Each night we put on some soft music and through light touch massage and reading of a script Matt tries to help me find my place of deep relaxation. I can say one thing...it really helps me to fall asleep! :)

Still growing!

We had such a busy week last week and I have so much to say that I am going to split it up over the next couple of days. Last Tuesday we had another ultrasound. At 27 weeks, Kellen is weighing in at 2 lbs 10 ounces. The Dr says if he continues to grow at this rate he will weigh 8 to 9 lbs at birth. He was moving a lot during this ultrasound so we did not get as good as pictures as normal, but the top left picture is a profile of his face with him sticking his hand in his mouth. The bottom left picture is a little bit clearer profile of his face. The two right pictures are of his face, looking towards you! The Dr looked over everything with us and let us know that Kellen's kidneys are a little larger than last time, meaning they have filled a little more with fluid. He said there is still nothing to be concerned with, but they are continuing to monitor them closely. Other than that Kellen is looking good! On Wednesday I went to by normal Dr's appointment and this time I had a list of questions that I wanted to get some answers to. I had to take another glucose test at this visit so I drank a fruit punch flavored drink that could make anyone sick and then had to wait an hour for them to draw my blood. Hopefully all will come back okay on that! As for my questions...I asked the one question that I have continuously received from everyone around me...Why are we getting so many ultrasounds? The answer...It is because they are monitoring Kellen's kidneys. There are a couple things that anytime there is anything irregular about them they will monitor a mother very closely. One of them happens to be the kidneys. I learned that the kidneys are connected to the amniotic fluid, so the Dr's are watching his kidneys and also the fluid around him to make sure that everything is functioning correctly! Who knew! There are so many things that you just don't think about before you have a baby. I also finally found out that the test I took to determine if I was a carrier for cystic fibrosis came back negative. So all seems well and normal!

Let the count down begin!

I know that I keep saying this, but time is going so fast. We are officially under 100 days till Kellen is due. I had another Dr's visit last week and let's just say everything is normal. My blood pressure is normal, Kellen's heart rate is normal, I am measuring right at where I should. So all is normal. Matt and I also had our first Birthing class. It is 1 of 6 that we will be doing. Some of you have already heard that Matt and I are taking Hypnobirthing classes. I know that it sounds a little weird to some, but really it is about breathing, visualization, and deep relaxation. We have hired a Doula (A Doula provides many important services to birthing families. A Doula provides continuous physical comfort measures, fact - based informational and emotional support and promotes communication between parents and care providers. A Doula protects and nurtures the mothers memory of her birth experience). Her name is Corrinna Thompson, she is so full of information and has helped answer so many of our questions! Her biggest thing she teaches is making sure that we are informed. She wants to make sure that we understand everything about the birthing process and all of our options. We are looking forward to Kellen's arrival and can't believe that we are a little over 13 weeks away from his due date! We have another ultrasound next week so I will share some more pictures then!

Kellen is Growing!!!

We had another ultrasound today! It is amazing how much he has grown in the last 4 weeks. The Dr says he weighs 1 lb 7 oz and if he continues to grow as he is on average he will weigh 8 lbs 5 oz at birth! We got to see his heart today, which was very cool. The Dr showed us the four chambers and said all looks good. The Dr pointed out his kidneys, bladder, and aorta. He said that Kellen's kidneys still have a little extra fluid in them, but have not changed since last time. He said this is a good sign and we have nothing to worry about, unless they start collecting more fluid. The pictures on the left are of Kellen in his favorite position and that is laying on his tummy with his legs pulled up underneath him. The top picture on the right is of his little fingers. It is so cool to be able to see his hand. The bottom right picture is of his face. His face is really starting to fill out. Baby Kellen is growing and doing well. I still am in a little bit of denial that he will be here in 4 months or so. The closer it gets the more excited we get. Jerilyn and I have come up with a plan for Kellen's room and I can't wait to see the finished product!

Where is the time going?

I have not figured out where September has went, as October is just around the corner. We continue to slowly get ready for Kellen's arrival. We found a GREAT deal on a 9 piece bedding set on e-bay for $50!!! It arrived a few days later...brand new and still in the package. I was a little bit skeptical of what the quality would be like, but it is super cute and very well made...now all we need to do is paint the walls. The picture is from the website and we got everything you see except the hamper and the diaper changer cover. I will post a picture of Kellens room once we have the walls painted! We found a great deal on a diaper bag so we ordered that and got Kellen's monogram on it! It came this week and it is huge. My mom tells me that it is the perfect size for all of the baby stuff I will soon be carrying around. A couple of my coworkers have got me a few gifts...Melissa gave me some of the cutest onsies. One says, "100% Boy" and the other one says, "I love mommy". She also gave a cute pair of comfy pants to match. I can't wait to see him in them! Matt felt a little left out so I got him a onsie that says, "Daddies MVP". Kathy gave me a bib that I think is too cute to use! It may end up in a shadow box or something, because it would be a shame to mess it up! :) I had a check up this week and all is well. Kellen is growing as he should and his heartbeat is very good. As for me, I am good too! Everything is going really well and time is going very fast. A couple weeks ago Amanda told us that her and Kevin are pregnant again, so Kellen will have a cousin close in age. She is due April 1st, so they will only be a couple months apart. Our family sure is growing! I can't believe that talk has already begun about the holidays. It really does feel like yesterday that we were telling everyone we were pregnant. Before we know it Kellen will be here and we will have lots more pictures to share!!!

A Saturday Morning at Babies R Us

With such an exciting week we decided to end it with registering for our baby boy! Who knew that babies need SO much stuff. Matt and I were at Babies R Us first thing Saturday morning to register. We were there for THREE hours....everyone was so helpful. If they saw us standing in an isle staring at all the different things they would kindly ask, "Is this your first?" Then they would suggest a few items that seemed to be popular. Then once we got to the car seats we had no clue what we were doing...So we asked the guy working in the department and he spent 30 minutes talking with us about the different safety ratings on the different seats. Then he let us make our decision on the information he gave us. I think Matt learned his lesson when we registered for our wedding and I never got to hold the scanner once. :) I had done some research before going and had got lots of advice from other new moms, but I don't think anyone can prepare you for registering for a new baby. It was fun picking out different things from bibs to toys, but overwhelming too. I was very concerned about registering for things that we needed , but I wasn't sure if we were getting everything that we needed! I felt better about it once we got home and I could look at it online and see the big picture. Kellen's room is really starting to look like a babies room. We have all the furniture in there and we got the mattress this weekend. We are still looking for a rocking chair, but I think I found one that will fit in the room. I just can't believe how fast time is going and how soon our little boy will be here!
Link to Babies R Us...

http://www.toysrus.com/registry/index.jsp

It is a BOY!!!

I think that Matt is still grinning from ear to ear. We found out this morning that our little Bean is a boy, his name is Kellen Russell. He was moving a lot in the beginning and then decided to go to sleep, but we got to see different body parts...it was very weird! After we were done we sat down with a Dr and went through all the different body parts that they looked at and measured. Who knew that they could tell so much about a baby before they were even born. they looked at his kidneys, brain, legs, arms, bladder, lip and nose. Each part they measured and were looking for certain things. One of his Kidney's is a little enlarged, but the Dr said that is nothing to be alarmed about, there are many reasons for it and they will keep an eye on it over the next couple of ultra sounds, but they looked at his nose and lip to see if he had a cleft lip...but he looked normal. His heart beat was around 156 and normal. He really looks like a baby. The top ultrasound picture is of him face down and you can see his spine. The bottom picture is of his face looking at us...you have to look at it sideways! They are not the best pics this time, but hopefully you will be able to see something! Of course now Matt says that I have to watch football with him this season! We will see about that!

Baby Furniture

So it has finally begun to sink in that this is real! This weekend we moved all of the office furniture out...my mom was so kind to take some of it and the rest is sitting in our garage waiting for a trip to Goodwill. It was very weird to stand in the empty room and know that this was not an office any more that is was now the "babies room"!!! Soon this room will be filled with baby stuff and a real baby that would not be going back to someone else at the end of the day, this baby will be here to stay. Then I had to walk out, because that thought was just a little to weird for me, because at this time it still had not really sunk in that we are having a baby. On Sunday we took a trip back to Georgia Baby to take another look at cribs. We knew that two of the cribs that we liked were on sale and didn't want to miss out on that. We were told last time that it would take 4-8 weeks for the furniture to come in if it was not in stock, so we wanted to at least get it ordered. Well we made a decision and little did we know the crib that we wanted was in stock and ready to go home with us. So now it is not an empty room it is a room with baby furniture and that is when it hit me...This is real, we are having a baby!!! As Matt and my mom were putting together the crib Matt asked "Are we sure we want to do this"? My response was "It is a little late now!" We all got a good laugh out of it! Matt is so excited about it and really cannot stop smiling and talking about it. Every time we talk he will say "Hey we are having a baby"! Saturday night he told Andy "I can't wait"! This morning as I was making our lunches Matt calls down to me and ask me "Do you realize that we have a room full of baby furniture?" He really is going to be the best Dad!!! I have attached a picture of the furniture...of course it is the picture of the set from the Internet and we did not buy it all (the baby's room is the size of a lunchbox) We just got the crib and the shorter dresser without the hutch.

Second Trimester Already???

I am just not very good at this blogging thing yet. I have good intentions of updating it weekly just to let everyone know how it is going, but before I know it two weeks will slip by. I can't believe how fast time seems to be going. I am officially in the second trimester and very close to half way there. As of today I am 16 weeks, that hardly seems possible as we just found out what seems like yesterday! :) I am feeling good these days. I am not nearly as tired as I was in the first trimester and seem to only get a sick feeling when I let myself get too hungry! I think I may have perfected the art of snacking 6 times a day! It looks like I am taking the whole fridge with me to work these days. I am still working out with my trainer, but only have a few more sessions to go. Then I will really have to find some motivation to make myself go!

Matt and I have almost got the office cleaned out...we have one more pile of stuff to find a new home for. Then there is the furniture to decide what we want to do with. I thought we would never be able to clean out that room as I have used it as a place to put everything that didn't have a home! :) Last weekend we started looking at baby furniture. We have three that we like so far and one more place that we would like to go look. Then I am sure that it will come down to price when we make the final decision. All of the cribs that we have looked at will convert into a full size bed, so it will be able to keep growing with our little Bean!

We have also narrowed down our list of names to 1 girl name and 1 boy name. I was a little worried about that since Matt and I could not agree on anything. We started out with 4 boys names and 5 girls names and then slowly one by one marked the ones that we didn't like off the list. It was easy once we started telling people and getting reactions to the names. One of our girls names just happened to be a name of a women that murdered her husband...that one came off the list right away! So as of right now the boys name we have is Kellen Russell and our girls name is Keira Ashleigh. Unless something else comes along that we fall in love with...these are our names. We looked through 60,000 names, so I think we are pretty sure this is what the names will stay.

Baby Portman is Growing!

Yesterday Matt and I went and had another ultrasound done. It is so amazing to see how much the baby is growing. We got to hear the heartbeat. The tech tried to get the baby to wake up and move for us, but I guess he/she just wanted to sleep. They said the baby is growing as it should and looks good. When the Dr met Matt he said "Let's hope the baby does not come out at his size!" Well let's hope not! :) The Dr was a very odd man, but nice all the same. He went over all the pictures from the ultrasound and showed us different things in each picture. He said it is to early to see the gender, but at the next one we should be able to find out. And yes we want to know!!! We will find out on September 2nd...so we will be taking bets before then! :) Matt's family already have there guesses that it is a boy! Either way we will be happy! Today I went to my regular OB for a checkup. We talked about the results from the last set of blood tests. We then talked about upcoming tests that were options and also some that would need to be done. We have decided to take both the optional tests for Cystic Fibrosis and Downs. Not really to do anything about it if they come back that we are at risk, but to be a better prepared parents for our baby. I also have a Glucose test coming up, the Dr's have decided because of my weight it would be better to check for diabetes twice through out my pregnancy. So I will be taking one at the next visit and one around 28 weeks. I guess it is better to be safe than sorry! We also listened to the heart beat...the midwife said I must have a very busy baby since the heart rate was in the 150's.

How We Found Out!

I have been meaning to add this for awhile, but time seems to be slipping away. Some of you know the story, but the is the story from the weekend leading up to and the night we found out. On May 23rd, I had a feeling that I may not be getting my anticipated period. So on my way home from work I picked up a few tests. They came out negative, but I could not shake the feeling that I was pregnant. At 1 am I had a craving for Jalapeño chips , so I asked Matt to get me some until he finally gave in and drove to Walmart. He bought some chips and an orange Fanta. The check out lady kind of looked at him funny and he said, "My wife is pregnant!" Funny thing is that at this point Matt had no idea that I even thought I was. I got a good giggle out of it when he got home. Finally on May 27th I decided to take another test. This time I got a digital one. Well as you can see it clearly said "pregnant!!!" Even though I thought that I might be the shock of it actually saying pregnant was overwhelming. At this point I was wishing I would have waited for Matt to get home before I took it. I waited for TWO hours before he finally got home from the gym. He called and ask if I took it already and I said, "yes." I wanted him to see with his own eyes that it was positive. So I wouldn't tell him over the phone. When he got home and saw, he just smiled nonstop. For the rest of the night we just keep looking at each other and saying "we are having a baby." Nothing much has changed we still look at each other and say "we are having a baby!"

We are having a BABY!!!

Matt and I found out about 3 weeks ago that we are going to be adding to our family! It was tough deciding who to tell and who to wait to tell, in the end we have slowly been telling everyone! We decided to create this blog so we can share pictures and other fun moments that will be happening! It is much easier that way, instead of the 30 million phone calls! :) We are 7 weeks and 2 days as of today (we are due February 3rd). Today we went to the Dr to have an ultrasound and hear the heart beat! It was amazing. I think the baby looks more like a seahorse than anything! Matt is super excited about it and even has started to gain some opportunity weight as he calls it. I am a little tired these days and tend to be really picky about what kind of food sits well with me! I'll take a little bit of nausea over actually getting sick...so far I consider myself lucky! I am still working out with my personal trainer twice a week and dragging myself to the gym a couple other days! Of course this has not slowed us down a bit as we stay busy with friends and family. When I told my mom she asked if she was going to be a grandma to a real baby or another CAT!!! She has already decided she will be called "Grandma D"!!! It has been a blessing having her here with me to share all of this! Below is the first picture of Baby Porty (as of 7 weeks)!!!