6 months!

Wow! Where did the time go? I'm finding it hard to believe that I've entered my 6th month of pregnancy!

I'm happy to report that I'm feeling pretty good these days, but for the last week all I've really wanted to do was EAT and SLEEP! I'm trying SO hard to keep motivated but I feel like my body is taking over and my mind only goes so far in motivating me to get things done.

I had a really busy week at work and the staff hosted our annual volunteer appreciation dinner on Friday. I was at work for 10 hours Friday and made the huge mistake of wearing shoes with a heel. After setting up, serving food, and cleaning up I was left feeling like I'd been run over by a truck. I woke up Saturday morning with swollen hands and feet and a terrible headache...definitely over did it! With the exception of a couple loads of laundry I didn't do much of anything other than lay around and sleep most of the day. I hopefully learned my lesson because I was miserable!

In happier news our little girl seems to be doing well nestled in my tummy. She moves constantly and I'm now able to distinguish between different parts of her body. Bella felt her move for the first time the other day and her reaction was priceless...it completely freaked her out! It took her a few days to get up the nerve to touch my belly again, but she finally was brave enough and knowing what to expect, she actually enjoyed feeling her sister move around.

I will try to post a new belly picture sometime this week.

Belly Pics!

Here are a couple pictures from tonight. These are officially my 22 week pictures as I will be 23 weeks tomorrow. Of course Bella had to be in on the action! ;)

The Great Tie Dillema...

This morning I came downstairs to find Andy in his usual work attire, with one exception...he was wearing 2 ties!

Here is a picture of him just before leaving for our appointment with our Doctor...



(In case it's hard to see in the picture, his ties are identical except for the color...one is pink and one is blue. He said our ultrasound would determine which one he wore to work.)

And this is what he wore to work...



Yes, it's true. We are having another little girl!! We were so certain that this baby was a boy that it came as quite a surprise when we saw those three familiar little lines on the screen. After our initial peek our Doctor took a few more measurements and I couldn't resist asking him if he was sure so he went back for another look. He explained it to us this way, "These 3 lines, no penis and no scrotum are usually what we see when baby is a girl." He said he couldn't give us a 100% guarantee, but that he was at least 90% sure. I knew he was extremely confident in his assessment, but I had to check none-the-less! ;)

And here is what she refused to show us last time...



I know this may look like nothing to a lot of you, but if you look directly above the arrow there are 3 lines on top of each other and those are her "girl parts". The picture is as if she is sitting above you and you look up at her bottom. Does that help at all?? ;)

Having a son would have been wonderful, but after waiting for so long for this baby, hearing that we are having a healthy little girl is some of the best news we have had since first seeing her little heart beating away in October.

Most of you know that Bella has had her heart set on having a baby brother and I'm happy to say that she took the news very well. She was still excited to go pick out the baby's first outfit and I was very pleased with her choice. I can't wait to see her baby sister in this...



I've become increasingly excited as the day has gone on and one of the things that I simply cannot wait to see is Andy with his daughters and how much they will both adore their daddy. We have so much to look forward to in the years to come and I'm so thankful for the blessing of this little girl.

22 weeks!

According to my weekly email the baby is about 10 1/2 inches long and close to 1 pound. Even though that is tiny compared to a newborn it still amazes me that something that size is living inside of me! This little one continues to be as active as ever, making his/her presence especially known whenever I'm trying to sleep. A couple nights ago Andy and I were laying in bed, him quickly falling asleep, me feeling like my insides were being turned inside out every 5 seconds. Finally I put his hand on my belly so he could feel a little of what was keeping me awake. He had a few minutes of fun poking at the baby and getting a nice strong thump back. Of course that did absolutely nothing in helping the baby to calm down and me get to sleep, but it was a fun little moment none-the-less.

Our next appointment is on Friday and we get to have another ultrasound in hopes of getting a clear gender shot. I'm starting to get excited again, but reminding myself that there is always the possibility of the outcome being the same as last time. Again I made sure to schedule it for first thing in the morning so I didn't have to wait all day. I will hopefully have some news to send out on the blogshpere by early afternoon.

Andy and I are on a mission around here. We have decided to clean out and organize our house (and lives) room by room. We planned to start with the garage, but in hopes of being productive yesterday with a limited amount of time we tackled our bedroom instead. We got everything done except for our under bed storage bins which we will finish up this morning. Even though we still have a LOT of work to do it feels great to accomplish something and be one step closer to our goal. We've also agreed to do nothing with the nursery until our re-organization is done. It will be hard to resist (especially if we are so lucky to find out if the baby is a boy or girl), but is great motivation to keep going!

Last week was a tough week at work for me as I dealt with many couples in crisis. Everyday as I drove home and pondered the day I kept coming to the same conclusion of how blessed I am to have the marriage and family that I do. Andy and I have faced some of the same situations that bring couples into my office feeling hopeless and ready to give up and to know that we can face life TOGETHER is more of a blessing that I ever imagined it to be. I guess I'm trying to say that I'm extremely grateful for the blessing of sharing my life with someone who I know will never give up on me or our family. It feels great to be doing life together!

Stuff...

First, I'll get the headless picture out of the way. Today I am 21 weeks, but this is my 20 week picture that I didn't get posted last week.



I'm finally starting to feel good on a regular basis. Andy no longer has to bring me breakfast in bed which is nice for both of us (believe it or not, I actually enjoy not having to lay in bed every single morning), my motivation is coming back, I'm able to eat more of a variety of foods and with the exception of being completely exhausted from head to toe by the end of the day (my day ends a lot earlier than Andy's and Bella's by the way), I'm feeling like myself again.

We have been busy working on projects around the house, not only getting ready for a new baby, but also getting back on top of things that we have been letting slide. We have some projects in the works that we are finishing up and starting some major cleaning out and reorganizing. While it's occupying almost all of our time, it feels great to be getting things done.

Andy is currently in Portland on business. We took him to the airport yesterday morning and when we started to drive away Bella said, "Mom, is he going to be okay by himself?" The concern in her voice was heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time. I assured her that Daddy would be fine by himself, but she was genuinely concerned about him. When she talked to him last night on the phone, I overheard her telling him, "I really wish I was there with you Daddy". She's such a sweetheart and even though I'll admit to the occasional twinge of jealousy, I have to say that seeing her and Andy's relationship develop into something so special brings me a great deal of joy!

The weather here has been unseasonably warm. We are currently in the low-mid 60's. It has been great but we really need a winter. We have had no snow or rain to speak of which has left the ski resorts hurting big time and if it stays this way, will have a grave effect on our water supply this summer. The weather is forecasting rain by the end of this week, so maybe this is just the start of our high desert winter??

Here are a few pictures of Bella and Andy snowboarding. I took so many that it's hard to choose, but these are some of my favorites...











I think that's all for now. I'm off to fold some laundry and hopefully finish up our taxes.