The day you turned 18 weeks old in my tummy, I felt you move for the first time! It was this past Monday night, and Daddy and I were laying in bed. Daddy was talking to you, and he bounced his hand on my tummy to see if you would give us a response. You sure did! I could tell right away it was you, with a very determined, purposeful kick inside me. Mommy laughed and cried, Daddy laughed and smiled and we hugged and thought about all the movements you will be able to accomplish in your lifetime. I also thought about how in a couple months, that little flutter of a kick will be much stronger - enough to wake me up at night!
You are about 5 inches long right now, and you weigh about 5 ounces. You've recently begun to pick up on sounds outside the womb. We are getting a device that will project sounds into your little home so that your brain, memory and senses will be stimulated while you spend the last few months inside me. Baby Boy, you even have your very own set of toe and fingerprints now :) You are truly one of a kind, and we love you very much!
Here is a picture of what Mommy is looking like these days ...
Over the July 4th holiday, we took a wonderful trip to (sort of) sunny California. It turns out, there is a thing called "June Gloom" that no one seems to mention til you get there, but it involves mostly cloudy, cold, dreary weather along the coast during June and the first part of July. Once you go inland a little bit, it clears up. Apparently it has to do with the cold Pacific air meeting up with the hot inland air. Despite this, we had an AMAZING trip and created a lot of great memories of quality time with the fam.
My mom and I flew into San Jose, where we rented a convertible and took the quick trip south to beautiful Carmel Valley, CA. Aunt Sandy, Uncle Chris and my cousin Kyle live there, and I had never had the chance to visit their hometown before. They were wonderful tour guides and hosts (thanks guys!) It is gorgeous there ... we visited Monterrey Bay, Pebble Beach, Pacific Grove, Carmel-by-the-Sea, Big Sur, and more. Some of my favorite experiences were seeing seals and otters in Monterrey Bay, eating Clam Chowder on Fisherman's Wharf, visiting Clint Eastwood's Mission Ranch in Carmel, taking the 17-mile drive through Pebble Beach and seeing the golf course there, and the yummy fireside dinner we had at the local Fish House in Carmel Valley.
Can you spot the seals all lined up in the middle of this ^ picture?! They look like rocks!
After Carmel, we drove down the Pacific Coast Highway through Big Sur (breathtaking!) to the Hearst Castle in San Simeon. A very cool experience all around.
As my mom and I were driving from San Simeon down to LA, we realized we were going to drive RIGHT BY Michale Jackson's Neverland Ranch - 5 days after his surprising death. So, we googled the exact location and plugged it into the GPS ... sure enough, it would be about 10 minutes off the highway as we passed through Los Olivos, CA. So, being spontaneous and curious voyeurs on vacation, we naturally took the detour :) Wow - totally worth it. The small farm road was packed with satelite trucks broadcasting around the world, reporters were primping and finding their best angles for the camera, and many fans (or just curious observers of pop culture, like us). We saw the front gates of the ranch and the large memorial with flowers, notes, posters, etc that had been created. It was a *unique* experience, and I'm glad we were able to see that, especially at such a memorable time. We got to LA around sunset, and heading right to our hotel on the beach in Santa Monica - we were staying one night at the newly renovated ShangriLa Hotel - it was gorgeous, and the people couldn't have been nicer. Totally different than my other experiences in LA. After a yummy steak dinner down the street at BOA, we settled in for the night. The next day, we had a goal of seeing all the typical LA things - Rodeo Drive, the Hollywood sign, the Hollywood Hills, a couple famous peoples' houses, Grauman's Chinese Theatre, the Walk of Fame ... turns out, there was a bus tour that went to exactly the places we wanted to go! It was perfect ... navigating to all the "must see" spots around LA without having to find our own way and read about the stuff in guide books. Then we drove down to San Diego to meet up with Jeff, my Dad, Uncle Randy, Colin and Patrick. The rest of the weekend, we explored around San Diego and Camp Pendleton and spent some good quality time as a family all together. We had fun dinners out, went to the San Diego Wild Animal Park (like an African Safari in SoCal), and saw the Cobras Colin flies up close and personal. Man, those are some mean machines! This may be the last time we all get to be together before Colin deploys for Afghanistan in October, so it was a really special visit I will always cherish.
This weekend, we went to a GREAT concert ... Earth, Wind & Fire AND Chicago. It was so fun! They played together and separately. We were very impressed with their talent, especially Earth, Wind & Fire - they seemed to still be at the top of their game, even though they are celebrating their 40th anniversary as a band. They still have 3 original members, including Phillip Bailey, the guy with the incredible, unique voice, and they were all SO good. We had a blast singing along to songs like September, Sing a Song, Let's Groove Tonight, 25 or 6 to 4, Make Me Smile, Saturday in the Park, and many more :)
Daddy and Mommy have been given the most wonderful gift to have you as our son. We already love you and are so proud of you as you grow healthy and strong. You are getting bigger everyday, and at 4 months along, you are about 4 inches tall. On Friday, when we saw for the first time the very good evidence that you are a BOY, we also got to see your strong heartbeat, your sweet profile, your arms and legs and fingers and toes. You are getting so active inside Mommy's belly, and we got to see one of the cutest things ... you began sucking on your thumb (see picture below)! You moved your head and your hand around until your thumb found your mouth. Mommy and Daddy laughed with joy at your sweet little movements. We can't wait to meet you in 5 months!
Life is a great adventure, and we are so excited to share it with you, son!
Jeff and I are on the brink of a big surprise tomorrow! Will it be pink or blue for our little Baby L? Tomorrow, we are going back to the ultrasound doc to find out whether we are having a girl or boy. We are soooo excited :) We can imagine so many wonderful things that will be in store for our baby, whether it's a boy or girl. Of course, our primary concern is having a healthy, happy baby and we don't have a preference either way. I am just really looking forward to setting up the nursery and getting some real shopping started - ha! There are so many cute clothes - for boys and girls - and I am excited to know which to be buying for.
For some reason, from the beginning, we have both thought "it" was a girl. But over the last couple months, I have been liking meat even more than usual - especially bacon ... yum ;) - and that makes me think possibly boy because my mom was a vegetarian for like 10 years until she was pregnant with my younger brother Colin. He made her eat a hamburger, and she has never looked back!
Either way, tomorrow the big question of boy or girl will be answered!
Here are some baby bump shots. I have to say, I am surprised at how long it takes to really get a baby bump. I'm 15 weeks, and even though my clothes definitely let me know I'm bigger in the waist, I think I have been looking more like I ate a big dinner rather than looking pregnant. Apparently that's normal, and the real bump action will be coming soon enough. (I know in a few months I will be wishing for these days again!)
So, this is our first blog post in a while, and by now many of you know why we have been a little "distracted" :) On April 24, 2009, our lives changed forever when we found out we are having a BABY! WOW! Even just typing that word B-A-B-Y seems surreal. Jeff and I have never been more joyful, shocked, and excited than this. What a miracle life is.
We have spent the last several weeks learning about what is happening with the baby and its development and beginning to plan and prepare for this new chapter in our lives. We have had so much fun tracking the baby's growth as it went from the size of an orange seed (when we first found out) to a peach (about its size as I write this today). It is awe-inspiring to think of all the important things happening each day ... brain cells developing, fingers and toes forming, eyes, ears, nose appearing, bones beginning to grow ... I never really thought about all the little miracles that happen to form each individual person. It makes me realize that each person isn't a miracle, we are all a set of millions of miracles that came together to give life. What a profound and beautiful process.
On May 15, 2009, we had our first doctor's appointment. They call this a "confirmation of pregnancy" appointment, and to be honest, that's kind of how we viewed it too. Other than the positive pregnancy test (well, tests - we took 2 at home), we didn't have any outward, tangible signs that there really was a little baby inside me. This made the experience of seeing that little baby on the ultrasound screen and hearing a precious, strong heartbeat all the more powerful and meaningful. Here is what we saw on the screen!
In the picture above, the head is to the left and thefeet are to the upper right. You can see a little arm bud in the middle/upper part of the body, and the leg buds at the upper right end of the body. The baby was 7 weeks, 4 days old at this time, which makes its due date December 28, 2009! It was about 12mm long when this picture was taken, and its heart was beating at 150bpm. The doctor said everything looked and sounded perfect for that stage of development. We were amazed and excited, and so grateful that everything looked good!
Well, after the experience of seeing the baby and hearing the heartbeat, things started to feel a little more real. I continued to feel very well throughout the first trimester ... just needed to eat small meals regularly in order to keep nausea away. We began to rethink the way rooms are laid out in our house, and began clearing out the guestroom that's across the hall from our room, as that will be the nursery. We moved Jeff's office upstairs and made our lower level an "apartment" for guests (and it has now become my favorite room in the house because all the air conditioning sinks to the first floor!) We haven't really purchased any baby stuff yet, but maybe we'll start to get a little more proactive with that as we enter the second trimester.
The next big milestone happened last Friday, June 19, when we went in for a screening ultrasound. The pretense for the ultrasound was screening for chromosomal abnormalities, but our doctor encouraged us to go also to be able to see the baby again at this stage. I'm so glad we did - the screening checked out fine, and we got to see the baby move around quite a bit! It had grown so much in 5 weeks. It had a CUTE little nose, arms and legs, hands and feet, fingers and toes - I never thought I'd be so excited about those body parts ;) ha! Jeff's family was up for the weekend, so we invited them to come and see the baby with us. At first it wasn't really moving, but then the doctor bounced the wand on my tummy above the baby, and it got pretty active. So cool!!!
They allowed us to take a couple short videos of the screen as we watched the baby.
We want to find out if we're having a boy or girl, and they couldn't tell during this ultrasound. So the doctor invited us to come back for a quick peek in a couple weeks, as she is confident she'll be able to tell then. Can't wait to start going blue or pink crazy! :)
We are now at 13 weeks, and I feel wonderful. I am starting to have a little baby bump, and got a few maternity shorts and capris to accommodate my growing waistline. The store I went to offers FREE prenatal yoga classes, so I have started going to those as well. I'm really enjoying them.
Now that our big news is out there, I will be sure to stay current with postings as we prepare to welcome Baby! We have a few trips planned for the summer - during the "easy" 2nd trimester - and we're looking forward to seeing family and friends over the next few months!
Can't remember the last time either of us tried to fly a kite ... probably 15 or 20 years ago. It's a lot harder than I thought it would be! But it sure is fun :)
We got a kite in the shape of a parrot and took it out to Addison Circle Park. Kodi came too, and he thought the kite was out to get him the whole time. He kept hiding between our legs. Aw! At first, we had no idea what we were doing, and we became a spectacle for the other park goers. They were trying to give us advice and help get it going. Eventually, we got the hang of it and were laughing so hard trying to keep it up in the air!
I was heading to Cincy for work at the end of March, and made plans to stay with Grammy and visit with Aunt Mary, Uncle Mike and my cousins while I was there too. It was so good to see all of them! Grammy was doing very well and was feeling good. We went out to dinner with Mike, Emily and Dan, and then back to their house to visit with Mary and Meg too! Grammy made me a wonderful lunch the next day before I headed out to ... Hudson!
Turns out, Patrick was going to be on Spring Break from OSU that week, and Colin had leave and would be flying from San Diego to Hudson at the same time. So I changed my flight plans and drove the rental car up to Hudson instead of heading home. We were able to spend 3 wonderful days all together back in good ole Hudson. We had lots of laughs and were able to catch up on everyone's happenings. It was a fantastic, spontaneous trip.
We had some friends over for St. Paddy's Day this year. It was the first time we had a big get together at our place, and it was lots of fun. We drank Irish beer, rolled St. Paddy's themed dice, played Catch Phrase and had a great time late into the night :)
Jeff's family came to visit a few weeks ago. We had a great time playing games, attending an airplane exhibition, and cheering for our favorite teams in March Madness!
Shannon took this PRECIOUS picture of Kodi Bear and Brad, and I just had to post it.
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