15 Weeks

How your baby's growing:
Your growing baby now measures about 4 inches long, crown to rump, and weighs in at about 2 1/2 ounces (about the size of an apple). She's busy moving amniotic fluid through her nose and upper respiratory tract, which helps the primitive air sacs in her lungs begin to develop. Her legs are growing longer than her arms now, and she can move all of her joints and limbs. Although her eyelids are still fused shut, she can sense light. If you shine a flashlight at your tummy, for instance, she's likely to move away from the beam. There's not much for your baby to taste at this point, but she is forming taste buds. Finally, if you have an ultrasound this week, you may be able to find out whether your baby's a boy or a girl! (Don't be too disappointed if it remains a mystery, though. Nailing down your baby's sex depends on the clarity of the picture and on your baby's position. He or she may be modestly curled up or turned in such a way as to "hide the goods.")



In other news, all my thyroid labs came back normal. The specialist said since my levels are good for now, I can get blood draws every 6 weeks. I only have to go back to him if I go over a 2 for my TSH level. YAY! I just keep on the same dosage unless I see a change. What good news!

Big Baby News

I will have my BIG ultrasound on May 19th at 10am! It seems early, I will be 17 weeks and 5 days. So here's hoping we will see what the gender is!

March of Dimes Walk

I walked with Ryan, Natalie and our friends the Perrys today. We did a 5 mile walk to support the March of Dimes and fund research for premature births. Specifically I was walking for the Perry's son Ryder, and the Binning's daughter Allison. We had a nice day with a good breeze and warm weather!

Pregnancy Brain

Well I always used to deny it, but I think pregnancy brain does exist. I had salad and spaghetti for dinner last night. As a looked at my salad, I wondered why I put parmesean on it instead of cheddar. See the picture to figure out why!

Making Baybee The Elephant

Before Natalie was born, Ryan decided he wanted her to carry a bunny. So we made one for her. Now we decided the next one will have an elephant, so we let Natalie make the gift for the baby. Oma took us to dinner at Panera with her bunco winnings, then we were off to Build A Bear. Natalie had a great time making the 'effing' baby. She can't quite get 'elephant' to come out right! It was a great time and now Baybee is waiting for the baby!

Yard Work With Oma

While Oma was here, she helped me add some landscaping to our yard. We put azaleas down the side of the house, and by the front. We also added a climber to the mailbox and reshaped the edgers around to the side of the house. We also added some hostas and some deciduous trees to balance out the front landscaping. Here are some pics!

14 Weeks

This week's big developments: Your baby can now squint, frown, grimace, pee, and possibly suck his thumb! Thanks to brain impulses, his facial muscles are getting a workout as his tiny features form one expression after another. His kidneys are producing urine, which he releases into the amniotic fluid around him — a process he'll keep up until birth. He can grasp, too, and if you're having an ultrasound now, you may even catch him sucking his thumb.

In other news: Your baby's stretching out. From head to bottom, he measures 3 1/2 inches — about the size of a lemon — and he weighs 1 1/2 ounces. His body's growing faster than his head, which now sits upon a more distinct neck. By the end of this week, his arms will have grown to a length that's in proportion to the rest of his body. (His legs still have some lengthening to do.) He's starting to develop an ultra-fine, downy covering of hair, called lanugo, all over his body. Your baby's liver starts making bile this week — a sign that it's doing its job right — and his spleen starts helping in the production of red blood cells. Though you can't feel his tiny punches and kicks yet, your little pugilist's hands and feet (which now measure about 1/2 inch long) are more flexible and active.

Nothing Too New

Life just keeps on going here at our house. We are getting ready for Oma to visit this week, so we've been looking forward to that. Ryan hung out with some of his guys from work tonight so I got to catch up on some sewing projects. We also got the cars cleaned (inside and out), cleaned the garage, cleaned out some toys from the playroom, went grocery shopping, scrubbed the fridge, had dinner...the usual, lol. Tomorrow we have church and cleaning the inside of the house! It will be nice to be all cleaned up before we leave for Disney soon!

Natalie had a lot of fun this week - a trip to Busch Gardens, a painting suncatcher playdate, swim lessons, kid's day at the Y, and more I can't remember! I was kind of burnt out on pictures after our busy week last week, so none of those today, sorry!

13 Weeks

Fingerprints have formed on your baby's tiny fingertips, her veins and organs are clearly visible through her still-thin skin, and her body is starting to catch up with her head — which makes up just a third of her body size now. If you're having a girl, she now has more than 2 million eggs in her ovaries. Your baby is almost 3 inches long (the size of a medium shrimp) and weighs nearly an ounce.

Happy Easter

We had an amazing Easter day! We started off the morning with the Peninsula Egg Drop sponsored by our church, Waters Edge. Natalie was not scared of the helicopter this year. We stood out in the 45 degree weather awaiting the drop, and she had a blast getting the eggs. She went to her class, and we went to an amazing Easter service. No matter how many times I hear the Easter story, I'm touched by the depth of the 'reason for the season'.

We were reminded of our blessings throughout the day. We had a brunch with our VA family and friends, as well as another egg hunt. We had a lazy afternoon enjoying the somewhat warm weather, but lots of sunshine and fun. The day ended with a dinner with some friends from my old school/church.

I hope everyone else had a blessed Easter as well!

Early Easter and Princess Playdate

We had an early Easter celebration this morning! Natalie found Easter eggs and a basket from the bunny today. There was also a basket from Oma! She loves her chick and the Clifford books the best. She also put together a puzzle from Oma with Daddy. Notice that all the eggs are put away with the N's facing up...I think she's a little big OCD! She had a blast, and more fun will be had tomorrow!





Then we headed out to a princess playdate while Daddy went to the library to do homework. The girls made necklaces, had lunch, and dresses up. They also put on blush, lip gloss, and got mani/pedi's from the moms. It was a lot of fun!

Egg Dye Playdate

We had a few mommies and friends over today to dye eggs for Easter. Natalie had a great time. She wanted to do all the work by herself, and I think she did a good job. She did a dozen eggs! We are trying to plan when we have time to hide them, and her Easter baskets. Sunday we have a 30,000 egg drop from a helicopter at church at 8:30, then the service following, then a brunch/egg hunt at a friends house! So maybe we will do an early Easter tomorrow! I also threw in a picture of her cute hairstyle. She spent the night at Sondra's because it was our date night and I picked her up with her cute little braid!

12 Weeks

The most dramatic development this week: reflexes. Your baby's fingers will soon begin to open and close, his toes will curl, his eye muscles will clench, and his mouth will make sucking movements. In fact, if you prod your abdomen, your baby will squirm in response, although you won't be able to feel it. His intestines, which have grown so fast that they protrude into the umbilical cord, will start to move into his abdominal cavity about now, and his kidneys will begin excreting urine into his bladder.

Meanwhile, nerve cells are multiplying rapidly, and in your baby's brain, synapses are forming furiously. His face looks unquestionably human: His eyes have moved from the sides to the front of his head, and his ears are right where they should be. From crown to rump, your baby-to-be is just over 2 inches long (about the size of a lime) and weighs half an ounce.

Busch Gardens

Today we hit up BG for the first time this year. WOW - it was 40 when we left! But we had Breakfast with Elmo first, so we stayed warm. Natalie was a little afraid of the characters, but as long as I was nearby she was ok. Then we went over to the Forest of Fun which is the new Sesame Street area in BG. Hopefully by the end of the season she will be 38 inches and can ride the kid's roller coaster there. She had a good time and took a great nap!

PS - there are many more pictures on Facebook of the day if you are my friend there!

Visiting the Firestation

Our mommies group went to tour a firestation today. The guys were so nice and really showed the kids a lot of stuff. They got to climb in and out of ambulances and trucks, and got to hold or spray the firehouse! We got to see the bedrooms, kitchen, living areas too. They even turned on the sirens! Natalie's babysitter was on Spring Break so we picked her up to help with the girls. Then we all went out for some yummy Chick Fil A!

Natalie and I are getting haircuts tonight, so check back for pics!

The Big Day

Well not the biggest day, but I was excited to see ONE healthy baby and hear it's wonderful heartbeat!

Here are the highlights:

* Because of my hypothyroid I will get ultrasounds again at 20 weeks at at the third trimester to check the baby's growth.
* I am 11 weeks, but measured the baby at 10 wk 5 days, not enough to change my due date of October 22, 2009.
* My rubella antibodies never 'took', so I need to stay away from people with rubella and get an MMR booster after the pregnancy
* I am classified as 'complicated' due to the back/tailbone/thyroid issues so I will only be seeing ob's, not midwife/nurse practitioners
* I have an appt at 17 weeks, ultrasound at 20, and appointment at 23 weeks. And continue the 4 week bloodwork/specialist visits.
* The baby is about 4 cm and was very active and had a heart rate of 168.

Nice Weather

Seems like our weather can't make up it's mind! But on this one nice day we tried to get Natalie to start riding her bike. She's getting close, at least she reaches the pedals!

Natalie Riding

11 Weeks

Only one more day til the dating ultrasound, YAY!

How your baby's growing:
Your baby, just over 1 1/2 inches long and about the size of a fig, is now almost fully formed. Her hands will soon open and close into fists, tiny tooth buds are beginning to appear under her gums, and some of her bones are beginning to harden.

She's already busy kicking and stretching, and her tiny movements are so effortless they look like water ballet. These movements will become more frequent as her body grows and becomes more developed and functional. You won't feel your baby's acrobatics for another month or two — nor will you notice the hiccupping that may be happening now that her diaphragm is forming.

Swimming

Now that we are in week 4 of swimming, I thought I'd get a video up. We've worked on running with feet, using arms, putting that together, and floating on our back. One of her favorite things to do is jump in! Here are some pictures too! She's a little diva!

Oh eerie fact..I was looking up the blog from last time I was pregnangt...
1st Pregnacny - found out 6/14 and ultrasound on 8/2
2nd Pregnancy - found out 2/14 and ultrasound on 4/2...weird!

Natalie quote for the week: We were driving by a high school soccer field and Natalie said "Look at all those boys!". Uh oh.
Swimming

Ryan's Surgery

This morning Ryan had dental surgery to fix a spot from his wisdom tooth removal. The bone was supposed to grow to fill it in, but never did, so it was concave. Food was getting trapped there causing cavities on his other teeth.

We went in at 7 and he had consicous sedation. They put some moldable plastic in the space, and by 11 he was stitched up and ready to go. He's been an easy patient, and he should swell up some more by Sunday.

Natalie is glad to finally be home. She has spent 3 nights at friend's houses due to subbing and 2 early morning doctor appts.

That's all our news! I'm hoping for a much more relaxing weekend and week this week.