A Butterball Turkey, the a size of a lemon

So, you lucky ducks get to skip week 13. I was tired and it looked like a boring blurp to read. as does this one. Sorry. But what is exciting is that we had an ultrasound yesterday and I realized I have a plump little monster inside of me. And here's a shocker for ya...they changed the due date (AGAIN!) to Oct. 31. BUT the baby is measuring a week early (right on my original due date: Oct 24th). I laughed at them and told them to pick a date any date, my luck this thing will be stuck in me til mid Nov. If you do the math I realize this only puts me at 13 weeks...let's just say I refuse to count backwards :) We got to see baby's hiccups and watch it flip around. They had a hard time getting the measurement they needed, they tilted the bed, jiggled my stomach and all kinds of crazy tricks to get baby to move to a better position.

And the million dollar question has been "when do you find out the sex?" Well, we don't have a date for the ultrasound set just yet. My next appt is on May 17 and after that I will make the gender US appt. It gets tricky because I have another US scheduled on June 5th already (exactly 6 weeks from now) that I could just wait until then to find out. Honestly I'm not in a hurry to find out. Once we know the sex the pressure is on, everyone stresses me out with talk of themes for the nursery and showers and questions about names pop up...AHHHH! I like to fly by the seat of my pants, Andrew needs to figure everything out this second. I think I'll enjoy saying "we don't know anything" for a little while longer. In the meantime, maybe I'll get a belly photo up by the end of the week?

A non-baby post will be coming soon! Andrew and I have been busy pretending to be interior designers and get our house to look alive. It's a headache and I'm already sick of looking at paint samples. But yay for me, I bought pillows and curtains wahoo! 

Little butter ball turkey measured 8cm from crown to rump

High Five!

Baby Center Week 14 Update:
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.

Heard the Heartbeat

Not the best picture that the doc could have captured, but we're just glad she was nice and got one for us!

Does anyone know how to get a voice memo from your iPhone (it's a  .m4a file) to upload?

We heard the heart beat today, it was pretty cool! I think we both feel a little comforted knowing that you can hear and see the little monster and know everything is healthy and normal...whew! That crazy creature in the picture was doing a serious workout, it was hilarious to see it move around! It literally looked like it was doing jumping jacks in there. Gosh I can't wait to stop calling it "it," a him or her will be nice...maybe we'll see a sneak peak next week, if not we have to wait until we schedule another ultrasound after our May 17th appt. Andrew recorded the sound of the heartbeat and I can't figure out how to upload it but I can text or e-mail it. If you are truly interested in listening, let me know :)

Tomorrow is 13 weeks and the buttons on my pants are screaming. Still no belly photos, i'll try and get on that! More to come tomorrow...

12 weeks, size of a lime

A LIME, that is huge compared to the poppy seed it  used to be, it's all going by really fast! Maybe it's just a key lime, but still a big difference.
Things we are excited for: Tonight we got to go to Andina's for dinner. Thursday we get to hear the heart beat. Saturday I get a massage with Alanna (wahoo, thanks Ricky and Andrew). Sunday is the 2nd baby shower of the season (yes, there is a season this year!). 
Things we hope to accomplish: take a belly picture. Buy paint for the downstairs. Buy the overpriced curtains I want from anthropologie. spend more time on pinterest. Purchase all 6 baby shower presents this weekend so I don't procrastinate.
I would also like to let you all know that magic did happen today and the 12 week fairy granted me an appetite for dinner. I'm hoping this is a long term solution to my problem, I forgot to specify.

Kinda looks human :)

Baby Center weekly update:
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.

Family photo session

Get it? "Bump"

My handsome boys! Spike shows his only trick (zoom in to see the drool)

Crazy little monsters...all three of them!

These will be on FB shortly, which means yes, you can tell the whole world grandma's and grandpa's :) 12 weeks tomorrow! whoop whoop! Lets hope the 12 week fairy grants my wish: an appetite. I'll let you know, I'm hoping for something magical. We are going to Andina's for dinner tomorrow, a true test of my nausea.

11 weeks (ish)

Well the nausea is still lingering and I found out today that the bathroom at work echoes and if the doctors are in their offices, they can hear everything. And ya, I heave pretty loud.
I received a message from KB a few days ago stating that I needed to retake my genetic screening blood test again because she put the wrong date of my US in (background info: you have to have this test done between 10-12 weeks). Based on my first US (the earlier scans=more accurate. after 12 wks or so genetics take over and it's harder to calc), she calculated my due date to be 10/30. This obviously doesn't change much of anything other than the results of the genetic screening. I refuse to count back one week, so happy 11 weeks to me :)

Baby Center:

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 hiccuping that may be happening now that her diaphragm is forming.

Andrew: the new Make-a-Wish Volunteer!

So I have always been a big fan of the Make-A-WishOrganization and all they do…It started when Jenna became a Make-A-Wish childand we were treated like royalty for a week as our whole family enjoyed manyevents leading up to Jenna’s wish…swimming with dolphins.

After Jenna passed away, we had found some journals of hersthat spoke of what she wanted to do when she grew up…One of these items was tovolunteer for Make-A-Wish. That has stuck in my mind for a long time, thinkingthat would be very cool.

The next thing we did in connection with Make-A-Wish was toparticipate in the Wedding Bells program.

If you rememberour wedding, this is where we had the paper picture tents on all of the tableswith the picture of Jenna kissing the dolphin. We decided to donate funds tothe organization instead of the guest gifts.

This led me to about a couple of months ago. I decided toreach out to a member on the Oregon chapter’s team and discuss volunteeropportunities. She said I could jump right into being a gift giver!

After sending in my application, recommendations, andbackground check, I went through the 5 hour orientation course yesterday.

I now get to help a child and their family through theentire process of coming up with their wish, planning, organizing, presentingthe approved wish at a send-off party, and being there as they leave theairport and come back!

 I remember how coolthe people were that did this for my family, and I was excited to become one ofthem too.

I will keep everyone posted on when I get my fist Wish kid.They will team me up with a person that has done it before at first, but I amreally looking forward to it!

-Andrew