Sorry for the extended absence from the blog. Our best friends Steve & Michelle experienced a terrible tragedy in their family early Saturday morning.

It has been a rough several days for their family and the days to come will continue to be hard. Please keep their entire family in your prayers.

Also, belly pics have not been forgotten, just delayed. We’ve still been taking them, I just need to edit them and post them — so check back later tonight.

Well, the “tomorrow” I mentioned in Friday’s post wasn’t quite accurate, but I’m finally getting around to posting the pictures from the big, exciting sonogram! Without further ado, here they are!

Pic 1 — The best profile shot we’ve seen to date!

Pic 2 — The one where we found out we were having a BOY!

Pic 3 –Another profile shot. At first it looked like he was trying to suck his thumb, but after further inspection it appers that he doesn’t have the whole hand/eyemouth coordination down quite yet. It looked more like he was hitting himself in the face!

Pic 4 — This might be my favorite picture of all. This was taken mere seconds after we saw his “boy parts” for the first time. The sonogram tech panned back up to his face and as soon as she did, he brought both of his little arms/hands up and put them in front of his face like he was embarassed! He’s apparently modest!

Pic 5 — His little feet and toes — hard to see in the picture, but it was very clear when we saw it up on the screen!

Pic 6 — Another shot verifying that it’s a boy. I can’t really tell from the photo, so I’m taking the sonogram tech’s word for it! Also in this pic is a good shot of the umbilical cord. It’s the 3 white lines in the upper right side of the pic. Apparently the cord has two arteries and a vein (what it’s supposed to have!) and they show up white in the picture.

That’s all the pictures that were taken during the sonogram, but we got to see a lot of other things up on the screen. We saw that the heart had 4 chambers and was beating strongly (150 beats per minute). We got to see both kidneys and the bladder. We got to see the spine and some other major bones. Interestingly enough, most all of the measurements that were taken correlated almost exactly with my due date. The one thing that measured further along (about 2 weeks further) was the length of the femur. So, who knows — maybe we’ll have a long-legged kid? I’m sure Tommy would be greatful for that since I come from a LONG line of shorties!

After we finished up with the sonogram, we headed over to the midwives office for my monthly checkup. All signs were good there too! Blood pressure was great and I had gained 3.5 lbs since my last monthly appointment. That makes a total of 6.5 lbs gained for the entire pregnancy so far. The midwife I saw that day, Sharon, had to do a double-take to make sure she was calculating it correctly! I told her not to worry. I’ve been exercising for the entire pregnancy, so that, coupled with the fact that I had a few extra pounds around before I got pregnant makes perfect sense. They don’t want me to gain more than 25-30 lbs by the time I am full-term, so I figure once I get into the 3rd trimester, that’s when the weight gain will really pick up. After we finished up with all of the appointments, my parents treated us to a scrumptious lunch. The perfect topping on a perfect day!

Other things that have transpired during Week 19:

• Found the Bradley class that we’ll be attending and signed up. Our first class is one week from today on August 18th! It runs for 12 weeks and we can’t wait to start.
• We got our first baby boy present from my best friend Michelle — an adorable pair of little socks that look like tennis shoes!

• I bought my first item for the baby — more socks! This is the cutest little set of 6 pairs of argyle socks, in all different colors!

• We started looking at cribs and bedding for the nursery. We’ve only looked at a couple of local places so far, but we’re beginning to get an idea of the theme that we want to do.
• We’ve started thinking about potential names! This has been both exciting and daunting at the same time. No final decisions made at this point, but there is a definite front-runner!

And that’s about it for week 19 — it’s been a VERY exciting one so far! I can hardly believe that on Wednesday, I will entering my 20th week of pregnancy — the halfway point! WOW! Stay tuned!

Well, today was the day that we’d been waiting for since we found out we were pregnant! The big sonogram where we found out if it was a boy or a girl. If you follow my Twitters, then you’ve already seen the news — otherwise, here it is for the first time!

We are having a…
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BOY!!!

We couldn’t be happier or more excited! Everything looked great on the sonogram pics and we have a healthy baby boy who is just growing like a weed.

It has been a long day, filled with lots of time with our wonderful family. I’ve gotten all of the sonogram pics scanned in, but I’m too tired tonight to post them. I will definitely come back tomorrow and do an updated post with lots of pics and a full rundown of the day’s activities.

Thank you all for your prayers and well-wishes!

Hilarious (true) conversation this AM between me and Tommy:

T: So the Packers traded Brett Favre to the Jets.
Me: Really? I guess it happened late last night because I hadn’t heard.
T: Yeah, it’s so stupid – he has no chance for a Super Bowl win now.
Me: Hmmm – so do the Jets already have a good QB? I mean, will he get to start there?
T: They cut their QB last night so they would have room for Brett. Their QB was ok, but has limitations and is made of glass. Chad Pennington.
Me: Oh yeah, I’ve heard of him. Oh wait, maybe I’m thinking of Ty Pennington, you know from Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.
T: Right. I think they’re first cousins.

Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

Check it out — Preggo Pics

Remember, if you need the password, just shoot me an email!

I’m a little late in my weekly update again this week. Tomorrow I will be 19 weeks, so I’m just sneaking this update in.

The biggest news this week is that our sonogram is scheduled for this Friday, August 8th — that’s only 3 days from now! I can hardly believe that by this time on Friday, we will know if we are having a baby boy or a baby girl. Wow — it gives me chills! I still have no feeling one way or another, so I definitely think I will be surprised either way come Friday. I will be sure to post the big news as soon as we get home from the midwives office!

What else of note has been going on this week? Let’s see, I did some shopping on Sunday for some more maternity tops — got some pretty good deals out at Grapevine Mills, so that was fun. Like I mentioned last week, I’m to the point now where I can’t wear non-maternity clothes. So, I have a totally justifiable excuse to have to go shopping on a bi-weekly (if not weekly) basis. Pregnancy is great!

Oh, on Friday we had date night and went and saw The Dark Knight. To be honest, I liked Batman Begins better, but TDK wasn’t a bad movie. Just a little too intense for my liking. However, we had sushi beforehand and Hot Tamales during the movie, so I can’t complain too much! For a while, Tommy has been saying that he thought TDK was better than Batman Begins — but he finally came around today and agreed with my conclusion. Oh, and it SO should have been Katie Holmes in the movie instead of Maggie Gyllenhaal — bleh! What a letdown!

OK, anyway so this was supposed to be a post about my pregnancy, right? Sorry, got a little sidetracked there! Well, my belly continues to grow. I’ll be taking a picture tomorrow for Week 19, so we’ll see then if it’s actually noticable growth, or if it just feels bigger. My belly button continues to get more shallow as well. Maybe we should start a contest to guess what week it’ll be when it finally pops out? Any takers?

We’ve been in our house for almost a year and a half now and yet only have about 4.5 rooms that are actually “decorated.” What can I say, I ran out of steam! Anyway, in preparation for the upcoming nursery decorating that we’re going to be doing in a couple of short months, I thought it would be a good idea to tackle a smaller, more manageable sized project first. Enter — the guest bathroom.

This bathroom is situated almost in the center of our house, directly off the hall that comes off the living room. It’s the only one that you don’t have to go through a bedroom to get to, so typically it’s the one that is most often used by guests. It’s actually also the bathroom that’s right next door to the future nursery, but seeing as how it’s going to be several years before the baby actually needs its own bathroom, we didn’t feel it was necessary to go with any sort of “baby” or “kid” theme.

Now, before I go any further, I have to stop and give major, MAJOR props to my sweet mama for doing helping me do this whole project. I’m sure there were some very significant parts where I added invaluable assistance — such as:

1) project funding — I was there with my debit card ready at all times,
2) nutritional sustenance — preferably in the form of sushi (all cooked stuff, folks, so nobody freak out!),
3) the suggestion of flowers on the windowsill — although this suggestion initially was balked at, the flowers did finally make it into the finished product by the end of the weekend.

Honestly though, my mom is a super fab decorator and I’m so lucky that she enjoys doing this stuff and helping me out! Love you mom!

So, without any further ado, I now present to you, our newly decorated guest bathroom!

When we got home this afternoon, I made sure that Tommy went and checked the mail first thing! Last week, I ordered a new case and car charger for my phone and I was thinking that today might be the day I got it. Much to my surprise, Tommy came back in the house with not one, but TWO packages! I recognized the address to be from my bloggy friend Lauren! I couldn’t get the package opened fast enough! She was just too thoughtful — look at what she sent me:

A beautiful congratulations card and my FAVE candy! The picture doesn’t do the card justice, but it’s just beautiful! The big clear star is a really neat touch! I was cracking up when I opened the package and saw the Hot Tamales — she has definitely been reading my blog. Thanks SO much Lauren! You ROCK!

The other package that I got today was more expected, but still exciting. Here’s what was in it:

Well, obviously that picture was after I put my phone into the case, but how cute is it? Again, my picture-taking skills don’t do this justice either. It’s a super bright hot pink and those are little blingy rhinestones all around the outside. They really sparkle and look SO cute! The other thing is just a car charger, which I’ve been meaning to buy since I got my phone almost a year ago. Oh well — better late than never!

PS — This blog post was written while being fueled on Hot Tamales. (Thanks again Lauren!)

PPS — I updated the Preggo Pics page with my 18 week pick. Check it out!

OK, I was wondering why the heck that people weren’t able to leave comments on my “pages,” but just on “posts.” Fortunately, I was able to figure out the problem and now my “pages” (About and Preggo Pics) will let you leave comments. So — feel free to comment away, if you’d like.

Well, this is pretty much the latest possible time I could post and still be considered in my 17th week! What can I say, it’s been a busy week!

This has been an exciting week of the pregnancy. My tummy has seriously popped out and there’s no denying the fact that I’m pregnant (as evidenced by my Preggo Pics). I am now no longer able to wear non-maternity clothes. That’s totally ok with me though, because I’m rocking the elastic waistbands. I’m already getting concerned that I’m going to have to go back to regular ole pants with buttons and zippers after this whole thing is over. But hey, that’s a LONG way way away, so why dwell on it now?!?

I still haven’t felt anything significant enough to say that it’s actually the baby moving. Sometimes I think I feel something, but then other times I wonder if I’m just dreaming it. There’s still plenty of time for that though. A lot of things I’ve read say that with your first baby you often times don’t feel any movement until after 20 weeks. So, stay tuned in the next few weeks to see what happens!

Our next prenatal appointment is on August 8th and as I’ve said here before, that’s when we’ll find out if we’re having a little boy or a girl (pending cooperation, of course). The past two appointments I haven’t been too concerned about stepping on the scale, because I knew I hadn’t gained much. I’m still weighing at home every couple of days and I haven’t seen a significant difference yet, but when I look in the mirror and see this belly that I’m growing, I start wondering if my scale is deceiving me! Oh well, another thing that I’ll deal with when and if I have to!

Oh, another thing that has happened this past week is that my belly button has taken on an entirely different appearance. My belly button used to be very deep — so deep, in fact, that you couldn’t even see the bottom of it. Not anymore. I was sitting on the couch the other night and my stomach was feeling SO tight. So I pulled up my shirt and did what I’m sure most pregnant women do — started inspecting my belly and more specifically my belly button. Okay, yeah — major difference there! My belly button is now a completely perfect circle shape and is much more shallow than it has EVER been. I can see the bottom of my belly button. That is a bit concerning to me, seeing as how I’m only in my 17th week! EEK! So, I’m just wondering if it’s eventually going to become an outie before this is all over. Another thing to “wait and see” about. Seems like there’s a lot of that going on around here!

Alright, last thing and it’s a fun one! We just finished making our travel plans for our babymoon! Yep, we decided to bite the bullet and take one last trip before the baby makes his/her appearance. We’re going back to the same region where we honeymooned — Mexico! The one big difference is that we’re not going to the same swanky, uber-expensive resort as back then. Hey, we’re still doing Dave Ramsey — don’t forget that! We are, however, going to a nice, all-inclusive resort in Playa del Carmen — one that I actually stayed at with my parents back in 2000 or so. And one of the best things about the whole trip — paying for it with CASH!

So that’s for this week’s update. I’ll probably wait a couple of days before I do the week 18 update post, but I should have the week 18 picture posted pretty soon! See ya soon!