BIG NEWS!

Rian and I are having a GIRL!

We absolutely could not be more excited!  Her name is Hailey.  Middle name is still in negotiation... but we are getting close!

Here is how it went down!  My appointment was at 1:00, and at 1:30 they finally called us back to the ultrasound room.  The ultrasound tech, let's call her Joan, asked us right away if we wanted to find out the sex.  We said YES!  And she explained that she typically saves that part for last, of course!  So Joan starts checking all the tiny parts..... 2 arms... 2 legs... abdomen...stomach... kidneys.... head... brain... neck... spine....4 tiny chambers of the heart.... umbilical cord... level of amniotic fluid... everything!  She also checked for a cleft palette and physical symptoms of downs syndrome, both of which were negative - thank goodness!  It was amazing.  Admittedly half the time I didn't know what the heck she was looking at, but we'd just wait for her to say "... that looks good!"  Apparently throughout the whole thing she was looking at the 'goods' from a couple different angles to see if it was boy or girl, but we couldn't tell!  She did say that the baby was basically sitting on my bladder which is the most difficult angle to dicipher the sex.  But I said I would jump up and down if necessary to move it into the right position :)  Finally she had me roll to one side (towards the ultrasound screen) and she finally got the baby in the right position to confirm the sex.  She wrote 'THINK PINK' across the ultrasound screen so when we saw that, we knew!  And she said she is 100% sure, so hopefully there won't be any blue suprises in the delivery room!

I was 20 weeks and 3 days along at the ultrasound on Tuesday, and the baby measured 20 weeks exactly, so according to my doctor, 3 days isn't enough of a difference to change my due date.  Baby weighed 12 ounces, which is in the 32nd percentile for her gestational age.  We got a picture of her tiny face.... very skinny at this point but she will surely put on some weight in the weeks to come! :

I don't want to embarass Hailey by posting the pictures of her lady parts, but I can assure you she is a girl :)

After the appointment, Rian and I visited each of our moms at work to surprise them with the news.  We stopped at Carter's first to make our first pink purchases!!  It was really hard for me NOT to buy everything in the store.  We got one outfit for each grandma and a little something for ourselves :)  Both Marge & Peg were incredibly happy for us.  Then I texted my whole phonebook and put the news on FB! 

Rian and I went out to dinner last night to celebrate, then we told the good news to our first born Bucky Blue!  He was really happy for us :)

It's a...............

BANANA!

Haha.  We don't find out the sex until Tuesday, however I did hit 20 weeks yesterday!  And 20 weeks is the halfway mark!  Whohooo!!!!  It also marks the beginning of the baby being measured from head to toe rather than head to bottom.  That means our baby is approx 10 inches long now, the approximate size of a banana!  And when you consider that a baby is approx 20 inches at birth, I think that it's pretty big!

In addition to being approximatley 10 inches long, the baby also weighs approx 10.5 ounces.  Soon we'll have a 1-pounder on our hands! 

I have still been feeling good, so I'm thankful for that.  And maybe I'm just getting used to it, but I really don't feel like I've gotten much bigger in the past few weeks.  So I'll be happy for our appointment when we (hopefully) find out that everything is progressing nicely!  I haven't had an ultrasound since the first one at 7 weeks, so it's going to be crazy to see all those little arms and legs moving around!

Last weekend my sister came in town and we had a girls day with my mom doing lots of baby stuff while Rian and my dad worked on our basement.  We started my registry at Babies R Us which was so much fun!  I'm also starting to brainstorm nursery ideas.  Once we know the sex, I will surely start buying things like crazy!

While my sister, mom & I shopped, Rian and my dad were hard at work painting the basement and tackling the 'piano project'.  Readers Digest version: when we bought our house, the seller 'let us' keep the old player piano that was in the basement.  It didn't work properly, and after a few appraisals we learned that it wasn't worth much.  So we thought "no big deal, we'll just get rid of it."  Well, turns out, the previous owner basically finished the basement around this piano, meaning there was no way for it to exit the basement in one piece!  Rian and my dad have been hacking away at it for months now (and using the wood for firewood, hence the bonfire photo below), but there was a 300 pound metal soundboard attached to the back still hindering them from getting it up the basement stairs.  Well after lots of work (and lots of noise!), they finally broke it free and hauled it off to the scrap metal place, earning us a whopping $37!  

Basement - Before Paint:

Basement - After Paint:

Piano..... before:

During....

Success!

Celebrate :)

Yesterday we chose a carpet sample, so we are on our way to getting this project checked off the list!

Well... I'll be posting sometime this week with the big news on the gender of the baby (if you don't catch it on Facebook first)!  Care to place your bets??

18 Weeks

This week our little nugget is about 6 inches from head to bottom, and weighs about 6 ounces.  These are, of course, general statistics based on 'most' babies, but we will be finding out OUR baby's actual stats at our next doctors appointment in 2 weeks!  This is the big one.  The 20 week appointment where they measure all the baby's parts to make sure they're growing properly.  And we WILL be finding out pink or blue!  I can't believe that in 2 more weeks we will know what we are having.  Seems so crazy, and I can't believe I'm almost halfway already!

Right now I'm a little over 18 weeks along, and all the baby websites say to "picture a mango covered in cheese... that is what your baby looks like".  The mango is relative to its size, and the cheese is this waxy, cheese-like coating on the baby to protect it from getting too wrinkly while floating around in the amniotic fluid.

Here is our mango & 18-week pic:

I have been feeling great and getting bigger by the day.  And just this week I started to feel the baby move!  I usually feel it in the late morning/early afternoon while I'm sitting at my desk.  It's the craziest feeling... like gurgly bubbles that tickle!  But I love it :) I'm excited to go to Babies R Us soon and check out all the adorable baby stuff I will need to eventually stock up on!

In other news, we have lots of home improvements to do before the baby comes.  Since right now we are using the baby's room as the 2nd Bedroom/Office/Storage, we will have to move all that stuff downstairs.  But we can't do that until we finish the basement!!  Luckily the homeowner before us did pretty much everything except for paint and put in flooring, so Rian is painting soon and one of his work colleagues will be working on closing in the staircase and helping us find a flooring guy.  The basement project should be complete by mid to late February, so then we can start working on the nursery!  Time is definitley going to fly once spring hits........

17 Weeks, Christmas, & New Years

These past 2 weeks have flown by.  I zoomed from 15 to 17 weeks without even blinking... probably due to Christmas & New Years!  Here is a 16 week pic:

At 16 weeks, our baby was as long as an avacado (4.5 inches head to bottom) and weighed approx 3.5 ounces.  Now, only a week later at 17 weeks, we have a large onion!  5 inches from head to bottom and 5 whole ounces!

Our Christmas was wonderful as usual.  Started on Christmas Eve with a 3 hour breakfast date with my good friend Allison at First Watch, followed by playing in the snow with Bucky and Rian, then going to Mass with my family.

Christmas Day was a busy one as well.  We woke up and opened gifts at home (I got a new digital camera which will undoubtedly come in handy around June!).  Then we headed to my parents for a delicious breakfast and more gifts.  Next was a trip to Florissant to visit Rian's family, have lunch, and open more gifts.  Our baby got so many wonderful clothes and toys already!  Gender neutral at this point, of course :)  Then we zipped back down to south city for dinner and more gifts at my Grandma's house!  We are so blessed to have such wonderful families!

Christmas Day belly!

Collin's gloves to go along with his first pair or rollerskates/blades!

Rian's new "mummy" sleeping bag for camping

Cousin Shannon & Nephew Collin in their Christmas jammies!

I got sick on Sunday night (the day after Christmas) and missed a few days of work because of it.  I can only take regular strength Tylenol, so it takes a little longer than normal to start feeling better.

Friday morning (New Years Eve), Rian and I headed to Jefferson City to spend the weekend with my sister, nephew and brother in law.  We had a great time playing with Collin's new toys and just relaxing with family.

2011 is sure to be a wonderful year!  Happy New Year to all!