A boy or a girl??? Yes, we found out!

We're having a GIRL!!!! Yes, at first we weren't going to find out, but when it came down to the last minute we decided that we would pretend that we weren't finding out the sex and that we could surprise our families at Christmas with the sex of the baby!

So, we found out on December 13th. Deep down I always thought we would have a little girl, but Will had convinced me otherwise. I think we were both shocked to find out the opposite. We had our boy name picked out, but we're still totally stumped on a girls name.

For the Christmas reveal I bought 3 pounds of pink Jelly Bellys and filled small pink mesh bags for each member of our family which they were instructed not to open until after our mom's opened up a larger present. (I've got about a pound of Jelly Belly's left - eek we'll be eating them forever!) For the larger present - I tried out my "crafting" skills and made/decorated from scratch a baby frame for my mom and Cynthia. Each theme was pink/purple, girly butterflies, flowers, pink bottles, etc... It was funny to see each of them open the frame and not notice that it read "It's a Girl" in pink letters across the top of the frame. It took each of them a few long seconds to figure it out. :)

Since I wasn't home for Christmas this year, my brother took the photos of my mom and dad opening the frame. Here's the sequence of photos of my mom...

	Opening the present.
	Oh how cute. Shirley made us a baby frame.
	No, wait! It's says she's having a girl! Oh....tears!
	Oh, Danny! Can you believe it??
	Mom calling me.

I thought those pictures were priceless. I hope baby girl finds them cute too.

Now we get to decorate our nursery. I can't wait to go shopping to see what's out there. Does anyone have any suggestions on nursery themes?

The Half Way Point

I'm almost 21 weeks pregnant. So as far as the timeline goes, I've reached the official 1/2 way mark. 20 weeks is 1/2 way because technically speaking, women are pregnant for 40 weeks....yes, that's actually closer to 10 months!

Will and I had an ultrasound last week only to discover that our little one seems very shy or dramatic. The baby was facing down and no matter how much the technician prodded and poked at my belly, the baby would not turn over completely so we didn't actually get to see the face. Instead, we got to see that the baby is sleeping with the arms held up to the face and hands covering the forehead as if exhaspirated. Here's what we did get a good glimpse at so far:

• An adorable foot (photo coming soon)
• 4 chambers of the heart beating (which were beautiful!!!)
• The tops of the ears sticking out
• A hand with the thumb stuck up in the sucking position

We're proud, doting parents for sure. We didn't get an accurate measurement of length since the baby was curled up in a ball. However, our baby weighed 10 ounces at the ultrasound last week and if my appetite is any indication, then we're going to have quite a big baby. Latey, I've been very hungry. Not to mention a bit emotional. I can basically cry just watching a commercial on TV. :)

Bending over - who knew it would be so hard?

Ok, this belly of mine is now preventing me from really being able to bend at the waist. And, I never realized how often I actually naturally bend at the waist. Here's just a few examples of my daily struggles....

1. In order to tie my tennis shoes, which I wear almost exclusively, I am forced to hike my entire leg up onto a dresser or the top of the bathtub! It's kind of funny.
2. How about trying to blow my hair dry with my head thrown over my body? That's now an exercise in itself. By the time my hair is dry I'm winded.
3. Getting a pot out of the bottom drawer of the oven/stove proves challenging.
4. When I feed the cats and put their food on the floor, I now do a fancy ballet move and kick back one of my legs so far that it and my body are parallel to the floor!
5. And forget about when I drop something. I either need to get down on my knees to pick it up or I have to call for Will to help me.

I'm not complaining. It's all definitely worth it, but I miss my waist!

Update on What's Happening to Baby

Keeping with the food measuring system: Baby is the size of a small banana or a zucchini - or about 8 inches long and weighs about 8 1/2 ounces.

The arms and legs are in the right proportions to each other and the rest of his body now. Hair on the scalp is sprouting. The baby's brain is designating specialized areas for smell, taste, hearing, vision, and touch.

Go baby go!!!

18 weeks picture

Well, as you can see, I'm definitely getting bigger. Here's my photo at 18 weeks. I'm starting to get lots of "advice" from women who can tell that I'm pregnant. It's a nice gesture, but I'm sure I'll be tired of receiving soon enough.

As of today, I am officially 19 weeks so the blog is falling a little behind. Chalk it up to the Holiday Party that Will and I hosted last Saturday night. We definitely had a great time, but I'm still trying to recover on my sleep. Our last guests stayed until 2:30 AM. I could barely keep my eyes open at the end of the night.

The weeks seem to be going faster now. I read recently that the baby is just now able to hear loud sounds outside of my body. In fact, the baby can get startled by a very loud sound at this point. So far the baby has been lulled by the sounds of my blood pumping and my organs working, but the ears are formed enough now to actually hear my voice, dad's voice and music... Yes, we'll be playing some formative Mozart for our child very soon. :)

I felt something

WOW!!! On the Saturday after Thanksgiving when I woke up, I felt a strange tingle - it was almost like butterflies fluttering around on my mid-left side.. Right away I wondered if it was the baby, but wasn't sure. Then it went away. On Sunday I felt it again when Will and I were walking through Target. Every few days last week I could feel that same feeling. Mostly on my left side and then it moved. I felt it right in the middle....so I KNOW it was the baby. The feeling was so slight I almost missed it. In the OB world, this feeling is called quickening.

I haven't felt it in a few days, but I have an appointment with the doctor tomorrow - my 5 month appointment. Will and I will get to hear the heartbeat again. It's hard to believe that I'm already 5 months pregnant. In 2 weeks we'll be 1/2 way there.