Hump Day!

**Note: So I'm a total slacker - I wrote this post on Tuesday and never got around to putting the pictures on it - so read as if it was last Tuesday! :) **

A picture of my "Baby Bump" (By request)

Today marks the ½ way point in my pregnancy!! I am 20 weeks and have 20 weeks to go – 140 days each way! I have been remarkably surprised at how fast the whole this has gone! And I’ve heard that the second half flies by even faster!! I feel so fortunate to have felt as great as I do!! I can’t say I don’t still complain about the occasional headache, or back/hip pain, or about being tired – but comparatively I’m a lucky girl!!

So I mentioned in my last post about our 1st ultrasound that I had felt the ‘flutters’ twice up to that point. The first was when I was only 13 ½ weeks along, so I got a lot of grief from people that didn’t believe me that I could feel movement that early. Well, on Saturday the 10th (17 ½ weeks along) I was getting my back worked on so I was on the massage table lying on my stomach. She kicked so hard that it felt like someone had flicked the table from inside me! I was ecstatic to feel her actually kick! I didn’t feel any more movement until the next Thursday when I felt a few nudges throughout the day. I knew that it was unmistakably her!! Then on Friday the 16th, Neil and I were lying on the bed relaxing after work. He was on the phone with a friend making plans to watch the Jazz game that evening. I started feeling her pretty strong (for how small she still is) so as soon as he got off, I had him place his hand on my stomach. Sure enough, he felt the next few kicks from our little girl! Not only did I now have proof, but he got to share the excitement in feeling our baby!

Her cute little foot

Being a person who gets excited about the smallest little things, I have been on cloud 9 for over 2 weeks now. Not a day goes by that I don’t feel her for anywhere from 2-3 kicks, to 30-45 minutes of straight movement – usually at least 3-4 times per day!! I probably get annoying to listen to ‘cause I’m constantly talking about how amazing it feels and how fun it is. I love every minute of it!!

Her legs - bent and crossed

We had our ‘Dr. prescribed’ ultrasound last Thursday. It was quite a different experience, as the first time was all about how cute she was and seeing her move, etc. This time it was all about measuring her head and femur and spine and making sure she has all her parts. It was still amazing and fun and we still got some great pictures.

Her adorable little profile!

The Zoo

Chilly Willy and his pal Neil

While my parents were on their annual “After-Tax-Season Trip” (My dad is a CPA), we stayed at their house with my brother William (who has Down Syndrome). We had quite the experience with him – he definitely has a unique personality! Most days were great, although he had a few moments of “William” behavior!

William at the lion drinking fountain

We took him to the zoo last Saturday. Can I just tell you how fun the zoo is!? I haven’t been in years, but even having been probably dozens of times, it’s still fun to see animals up close and to re-learn things about them that you’ve probably learned 100 times. He took awhile to warm up from being a bit cranky, but once he got going, there was nothing slowing him down. He had to see EVERY animal, and read EVERY word about them, their habitat, their eating habits, etc. All-in-all it was a very fun afternoon activity! He’s sometimes camera shy, so a few of the pictures were ones I surprised him in, and others you can tell, he wants to be the center of the attention! :)

William liked that the lemur was so close to the cage.

He's almost as tall and almost as wide as a gorilla!

Will's handle in high school was 'Giraffe' - he liked watching the baby eat.

Apparently the “Ghost of the Bayou” is not an albino, but an actual species of Alligator that is white.

He thought it was quite entertaining when two of the black bears were having a wrestling match. He thought they were fighting – it took us awhile to convince him they were just playing with each other.

(The video is having a hard time uploading - I'll add it later)

We are glad to be back at home now, but we did have an overall pleasant time with our “Chilly Willy.” Thanks bud, for making it fun!

Boy or Girl?

It’s definitely a GIRL!! We are both SO excited to finally know and to start planning for her arrival! I’m sure the next question from most of you will be “What are you going to name her?” We haven’t decided yet, so we’re not going to tell anyone until we know for sure – Sorry! :( Apparently everyone else has more “intuition” than myself though, ‘cause I had no inclination one way or the other. I’m not one bit disappointed that it’s not twins either!!

The three dots in a triangle means a girl!

The whole process of the ultrasound was amazing!! She was so active and kept kicking her legs back and forth, and stretching her arms over her head! She stretched her whole body out, arching her back and everything. It’s just amazing that she’s only 4 inches long and moving so much, yet I couldn’t feel it. I’m 99% sure I have felt her twice though. Once was on a Sunday driving home from Neil’s brother’s house, and the other was the morning of the ½ marathon – I think she was wishing Daddy good luck! I just feel so lucky to have this sweet little daughter join our family. I feel so bonded with her already! (Probably sounds cheesy, but it’s so true!)

It's kind of hard to make out, but her face is turned toward the camera, you can see her eye sockets, her little nose, cheekbones, and chin.

Just a quick plug for Fetal Fotos – it was TOTALLY worth it! For anyone who’s anxious to find out the gender, or even who just wants another glimpse at their little one, I would totally recommend it! We got 8 printed images, a CD of probably 30 digital images, and a 5 minute video set to music of the whole thing! Neil and I watched it again before we went to bed last night. It’s kind of like my little window inside the womb! We are both thrilled to be pregnant, dying for her arrival, and anxious to be parents! We know it will be hard work, but we are looking forward to every minute of it! Thank you all for your support and for your enthusiasm in sharing our excitement!

Isn't she beautiful?

WAY TO GO!!!

Neil, Landon, and Dave

Even though I don't think he reads our blog very often, I wanted to take a minute and tell Neil how proud I am of him!! He ran the Salt Lake City 1/2 Marathon this past Saturday and he did outstanding for his first run!! His sister Lindsey (a veteran runner) challenged the family to start training back in November. We both had signed up, but after finding out I was pregnant, I decided it would be better to just try next year. Neil, his brother Landon, his sister Lindsey, and their dad Dave all ran the 1/2 Marathon. Lindsey's husband Ed and their aunt Heidi ran the 5k.

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Neil running

It was so fun to drive to each of the "Celebration Stations" and get pictures of them and cheer them on. At some of the stops, I barely had shown up when he would pass me - they all did such a good job! He ran the whole way, never stopping to walk except at water stations! I can't even tell you how proud I am of him!! Not just him - ALL of them! Neil's dad Dave has had a bad knee for a few months and wasn't sure if he'd be able to do it. Then just over a week ago he tore his rotator cuff! He was a trooper for going through with it!

Here are some of Neil's stats:

- Chip Time : 2:20:35

- Chip Pace : 10:43

- Age Division : 163 / 216

- Place Overall : 2496 / 3819

Once again, I just want to let him know how proud I am of such a wonderful accomplishment! WAY TO GO BABE!! I love you!

Neil & Landon

HUGE!!!

So I’m feeling pretty fat – even though I know there’s a baby in there! I’m 14 weeks and already in maternity clothes!!! I swear I’m having twins! I can’t even begin to describe how excited I would be if it really is! I’ve had a few people tell me they think it’ll be a boy and a girl, some tell me it’s a boy, and others say it’s a girl. So I thought it would be fun to ask what YOU all think? Post a comment on what you think we are having, and in just over a week we’ll be able to see who was right! :) Because I’m so impatient when it comes to exciting surprises, we’re going to Fetal Fotos next week to find out the gender. I have a nursery to plan so I need to get the ball rolling! Let’s see who guesses right – maybe I’ll even have a prize for the winner(s)! ;)

...And then there were three...

We had our first doctor appointment yesterday, and all went well. So it's safe to announce that Neil and I are expecting our first child!! We can't even BEGIN to describe how excited we are! It's a huge step in our lives, and it comes with a lot of responsibility, but the time feels so right! We can't wait to be parents and hope that in the next 6 months we can learn as much as possible to hopefully not be completely caught off guard by the changes that will take place.

I am about 11 1/2 weeks along - my due date is October 14th. We were able to hear the heartbeat yesterday - WOW! What an amazing experience!! I've been incredibly fortunate to have not been very sick. Besides the occasional 'queeziness' if I don't snack often enough, and the overwhelming feeling of tiredness, I've felt GREAT! Hopefully that will continue the entire time.

As this whole experience is new to us, we are suckers for information. I've spent countless hours online reading and researching anything I can get my hands on. I love to hear stories, experiences, or advise, so anything anyone wants to share would be wonderful!

We'll keep eveyone updated as we hit some of the major milestones along the way. It's such an amazing journey and we are so excited and feel so blessed to be able to experience it!!

(This is not OUR baby - but one at 11 weeks)

Europe #1 - Part III

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After our day in Montreux, we stayed in a city called Sion. We didn’t do much touring there, but it’s a cool little city with two big hills that have castles on them, and then the city surrounds them. We did get some cool pictures. Unfortunately, as we were leaving the city, our car bumped another persons in the parking garage. Luckily, he came out of the mall we were parked at pretty soon after it happened, and was VERY cool about the whole situation. Little scary as it was a BRAND new rental car, and now had some scratches on it. Luckily again, the rental company didn’t charge us for it and we ended up being just fine in the end! My brother snapped this photo as we were trying to speak to the guy about the situation - in French of course. Luckily my brother and his wife are fluent!

We drove to this town in the Alps where you could take a train up to Zermatt. It’s a ski resort town with a really neat view of the Matterhorn. Because it’s mostly a ski town, only permanent residents are allowed on the road that takes you there – but the train ride was beautiful. There was a really neat cemetery there for people that had died trying to climb the Matterhorn and a few other surrounding giant mountains. It was kind of sad because a lot of them were in their late teens, early twenties.

We spent some more time in the cities that surround Lake Geneva. This castle was in a town called Nyon. The courtyard in front of the castle had these strange face sculptures – Weird! We also went to the Olympic Museum in Lausanne. They mostly had a bunch of statues and things commemorating all of the places where the Olympics had been.

Our last stop in Switzerland was Geneva. It was a pretty rainy day, so we didn’t get a whole lot of pictures. We mostly shopped for souvenirs in the market places. The Jet d’eau was shut off when we were there – it’s a big water fountain that Geneva is famous for. I put a picture of what it’s SUPPOSE to look like, even though we didn’t take it.

After bidding my brother and his family farewell, we made the drive over the Swiss Alps into Italy to continue the rest of our trip on our own. We encountered quite the storm as we were nearing the peak of the mountain we drove over. It was a little scary, but made for a cool picture.

...To Be Continued…