News!!

I have held off a few days posting this news on my blog, upon the request of my sister. I got an email from her today saying that I could post the news and that she couldn't wait to read what I write. Yikes! I hope I don't disappoint! Anyway, the big news is that . . .

She is ENGAGED!

I am so excited for her. I believe they are planning on having a wedding in September, which I think will be beautiful! I have to admit that I have been pondering what my baby girl will wear to her auntie's wedding! I've got to watch myself that I don't turn our baby into a little high maintenance/materialistic girl! Congrats to Jenny and Luke!

Baby Girl Update!

Thanks to my 9 1/2 hour of sleep on Saturday night and a 2 hour nap on Sunday afternoon, I had a difficult time sleeping last night. After laying there for over an hour, I decided to get up and read a little bit. That seemed to help. I do believe our baby girl is a night owl! I felt kicks the WHOLE time I was laying there trying to sleep and while reading. That was from about 11:00 pm to 1:30 am! I hope that's not her favorite time of day! :)

We had a very fun "baby" filled weekend. On Saturday, after I got a massage, we drove to look at fabric at a quilt shop and then on to some outlet stores. I do believe we hit every baby clothes store that was there, but I could be wrong. She is going to be one well dressed child! She already got some outfits for the family trip to Hawaii we are planning on in July of next summer. I believe that we found a good "going home" outfit for her (purchased by her Grandma Susan). It is footed pink toile with a matching hat and bib. Seems just right to keep her warm on that February (or January) day. Andrew thinks it look a little big but it is a newborn size so we'll just have to see. Of course, she'll also have a cute pink quilted jacket that I found on sale for about $4 at baby gap. I'm going to stop buying clothes because we have so much else to get (in the way of furniture) and I believe she'll have plenty to wear and plenty of homemade quilts to keep her warm!

Time feels like it is going so slowly and I just wish she would get here but I know when I look back, I will feel like it was just speeding by!

Drumroll please . . . .

In light of the fact that we found out the sex of the baby today, I tried to change my blog color to be appropriate but I'm just not that talented. So, I'll have to wait for Andrew to help me.

In the mean time, we're having a . . . .

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GIRL!!

Yes, and one baby only. I think Andrew may have thought he would be disappointed if it wasn't a boy but he sure looked happy when the tech told us and all the way through checking measurements. It feels weird to know and it feels like it will take some time to get used to, since everyone thought it would be a boy (except me and a few others in the family). Let the pink fest begin! :)

*Update*

My ultrasound just got rescheduled. It is now set for Monday morning at 9:00 am! :) I am so excited to find out what we are having . . . if the baby cooperates!

Game Pictures

I'm posting these before work so I ran out of time to rearrange them. Oh well! Here we are after the game.

Our trusty sports companions after the game.

Sold out crowd!

We were close! Ok, Andrew was using his telephoto lens but they were still great seats!

Large amounts of people screaming and pounding their seats!

We had so much fun! Ok, I've got to go get ready for work!

Last Day

I do believe this is the last day for my high heeled shoes, at least for the next 4 to 5 months. With the back pain I'm already experiencing at 9:10 am, I believe a trip to a shoe store may be in order over my lunch break. I must say that I'm sad. I love my high heeled shoes.

Kicks and Dreams!

I am now officially feeling kicks fairly frequently. The most I have felt was laying in bed after the Bengals game. I guess the baby was still all wound up from the excitement too. I love it when I feel the movement and I wish I knew when it was going to happen so I could be perfectly still and really feel it. I can distinguish that feeling from everything else now and it's so cool!

I am still having very wild and vivid dreams. I had one last night about a friend from church who caught the double flu. It was very gross and very graphic. I won't be telling her about the dream, as it didn't portray her in a very good light, at all! I felt so relieved to wake up from that dream. I really want to dream about babies, so maybe I should read one of those books before I fall asleep! I am now getting up almost every night to use the bathroom. I finally bought a nightlight today so I don't kill myself getting to the bathroom anymore.

The laundry room is getting the second nightlight because, this this morning I found that Dewey had chewed up one of my bras during the night. He sleeps in the laundry room and hasn't chewed on anything like that since he was about 8 or 9 months old, so I think taking walks together and using a nightlight for him is in order. We'll probably keep him in his crate for a while, too. I was pretty mad as I don't have very many good bras!!

Only 7 days 22 hours and 20 minutes until our ultrasound (ok, it took me a while to figure that out, but you get the idea that I'm excited)!!

Who Dey!

About noon yesterday, Andrew calls me and asks how much trouble it would be to cancel my lessons for the evening. I told him it wouldn't be bad, as I only had two of them. He said for me to go ahead and do it since his dad had gotten tickets to the Bengals game! This is especially funny since we had just been talking about how we could get a few tickets to go. Anyway, it was a lot of fun and I must say that I have never seen such dedicated fans (or should I say fanatics!). Anyway, it was a lot of fun and I hope I get to go again someday. I especially enjoyed the Ohio State's marching band at half-time. We had a bit of a walk to get down there so my back is rebelling this morning but it held up amazingly well (thanks to my frequent visits to the chiropractor).

I'm definitely starting to get the itch to buy more baby stuff. Thankfully my husband is reminding me to just wait, since we don't know what gifts we will get. I just like being prepared but I suppose getting things this early is just silly. 9 days until our ultrasound!

Ugh!

Apparently, I'm not one of those pregnant women that gets to stop getting sick at 14 weeks. I got a big whiff of my fridge this morning and it just set me off. Yuck! I hope this goes away after the baby is born (being able to smell the fridge, I mean). Only 10 more days until our ultrasound. I'm very excited (as I've said before)!

Also . . . I'm pretty sure I can feel movement now. It started last week on Thursday when I was laying in bed. I just felt some popping movements that didn't feel like anything else I've ever felt before. I have felt them on and off a few times since then!! Yeah!

Ok, that's all for now. I've got lots to do today, so I'd better get working!

Resolve

Allergies in Pregnancy
by Marjorie Greenfield, M.D.

Women who suffer from nasal symptoms (allergic rhinitis) may find that they get better, stay the same, or feel even worse in pregnancy--each individual's response is different. Symptoms are not life-threatening but can interfere with a good night's sleep and leave you feeling miserable. If you know what you're allergic to and are pregnant, try to avoid that thing (or things) rather than taking lots of medications. It also helps to decrease exposure to cigarette smoke and other known environmental irritants. It's not unusual for women who did not previously have allergies to suffer with nasal congestion while pregnant, as the hormones of pregnancy can cause swelling of the nasal passages and increased mucus production. In these cases, symptoms typically are worst in the second trimester and resolve within a few days after childbirth.

I'm still suffering from a sore throat, ear popping, and sinus congestion. It just doesn't seem to want to go away. I have had allergies all my life but if they get this bad, they usually resolve within a week or so. I have a few ideas of things to try that are natural, so I will try those before just deciding to stand it! I'm also thankful that I have a chiropractor appointment today as I'm having a hard time taking a deep breath because of a sharp pain in my ribs. I'm pretty sure that something got pulled out of place while we were hiking during our camping trip. I love my dog but he can pull pretty hard when he wants to go somewhere fast!

We had a good time last night attending a Cincinnati Red's game. We had great tickets on the 2nd row right by 3rd base. I'm not so much a sports fan as I am just a fan of the atmosphere of major league sports. Anyway, we had fun even though the Red's didn't have a good game!

Only 15 more days until our ultrasound! I'm so very excited!

Weekend Camping and other stuff

We had a great time camping this weekend. Our camping site wasn't the greatest but now we know to call and ask which sites are good for tents or just know because we've been there before. We had a good time hiking, paddle boating, reading, watching movies (yes, we brought our laptop), and cooking campfire food! :) I've got pictures! If I ever blog from home again, I'll have to put some up. We took Dewey with us. It was a bit annoying when the barked at night but I had a good time with him anyway (I can't speak for Andrew).

I also had my yearly dentist appointment this morning and . . . no cavities. I guess Epic Gum and toothpaste can keep my money (they have a cavity free guarantee). I'm a bit sore from the cleaning because my cleaning person was a bit violent.

Still no official baby movement yet. I have felt a few things that feel like fluttering but I'm not absolutely sure what it was yet, so I'm not going to say it was the baby moving. I'm hoping to feel something very soon! I now officially have one pair of pants that won't button. I took them camping with me, so I was extra dirty wearing some pants twice! I have a few other pair of maternity pants (which I might really need in a few weeks) but I need to get them hemmed. I can do one pair by myself but I'm hesitant to hem my jeans. I might see how much it would cost to have someone else do it.

First day of preschool here today, so lots of work to be done. Lots of crying preschoolers too! :(