17 Week Belly-Photo! (17 wks + dinner to be fair)
I know you've all been waiting.
We'll try to take them more often from now on.
Right before we took this, Luke looked at me and said,
"I thought it was bigger than that."
Precious.

New Stuff & A New Room

Today we worked on the "Baby's Room", which until now has been our second bedroom catch-all. There are items in this room ranging from my sewing machine to Christmas decorations, to my high school track t-shirts and Luke's roller blades. Most of the work had to do with shelving books, (we've had the books and the shelves, but had yet to put them together...), and filing/shredding papers. We also proved our spacial abilities by successfully reconfiguring the closet in this room so that it would hold even more on it's shelves. My hope is that someday soon I'll be able to convince myself to finally get rid of (recycle-of course) the LARGE box for my kitchen aid mixer, under the logic that the mixer never ever sees that box, yet we have carted it around with us for the past five years. I keep thinking, "yeah, but, what if we move" (we won't) "and then I'll want to move the mixer in it's original box to cut down on the chances of it getting damaged..." (we won't even really use it though--I always personally hand deliver it from point A to point B whenever it's moved. Can you blame me?). Pathetic I know, but if we can get rid of that box we'll have room for yet another Rubbermaid tote! That would be huge, as the shelves in our bedroom closet are also bulging (some might say that they are rebelling). Anyways, here is the "before" picture of the room. I hope to someday get to the point where we can post a successful "after" picture to complete the set!

So needless, to say, that my feel of acquiring too much "stuff" as a result of our family's new addition is a legitimate concern. And do you know what is keeping me from sticking to my minimalist mindset that would otherwise prove to be so successful and would keep my husband happy??? The simple fact that baby stuff is so bloody cute. Here: take a look at some early arrivals that have already come in from grandparents (if you look close you can see the tiny shoes and sandals that my mom and I picked up on sale. Ridiculous!) Also, a favorite item that is so over the top cute is this sleep sack, which just so happen to match Mommy's rubber ducky "Jesus Quilt" from Elaine Bassett. Check it out! How cute will we be?...

Sigh. I am being totally won over by this stuff. Also, I haven't even mentioned the stack of children's books that we've already acquired or borrowed. It stands a yard tall when stacked up together. What can we say? I'm a sucker for everything from Goodnight Moon to those pesky 'Berenstein Bears'. I think that I will feel better when we can get our furniture for the room, and I can start putting things away. Other than that hope though, I am afraid that this is just one of the many instances that I am sure are headed my way where I will have to just let up, give in, relax, let go, and move forward all that will accumulate from now on. Once again I assert, that the entire parenting process is a difficult but rewarding and essential challenge for these two first born parents-to-be.

Raising a family in 1000 sq. feet? Bah-child's play! Cooking for more than two in a kitchen that has virtually no pantry space? Bring it on! Carting a family around with one vehicle? Tricky, but who doesn't love the smell of a challenge in the morning! Coordinating a work schedule with the loving demands of spouse-and-parent-hood? I was born ready! And yes: storing an entire child's worth of stuff in a room with no closet? How might you ask? Just get a little creative, and make some much needed "cuts" and it's smooth sailing. The secret, you ask, of our continued "success"? We pray--a lot.

Warning: Baby in Motion!

We had our 16 week checkup on Monday with the midwife, Heather, and it went really well for such a short visit. Standard procedure mostly; they took my weight (i've gained 7 pounds so far-right on track!), my blood pressure (118/59-great!), temperature (97.3-normal for me), and then it came time to check the baby's heart rate, and the fun began. I so look forward to this part of the appointment because there is something so magical, moving and really, so reassuring about hearing that speedy lub-dub. However, it wasn't quite so easy this time. The second that she put the monitor on my belly, the room was filled with noise: my heartbeat and a lot of other loud noise that I couldn't distinguish.

Normally it takes a few seconds to pick up a clear signal on the baby, and then the monitor is held over that spot long enough to record the heart rate. This time however, we still hadn't found it after about 30 seconds. My midwife looked calm, but at the point where I could literally hear (and feel) my own heartrate accelerate, I asked her, "is something wrong?"

"No, No, No!" she laughed, "I'm sorry, I should have said something, but I was concentrating. The baby is definitely there, and definitely fine--all that extra noise we hear is a lot of extra movement! You've got an active little one in there!" Man, was I relieved. From that point on, all we did was laugh, as each time that Heather picked up a signal we'd hear the baby throwing a left hook, or turning a somersault, or kicking up a storm. It was hilarious.

We finally got the heart rate. 135-140 beats of excited and busy beating. I felt so proud of my little busy body that I almost teared up thinking of all the things this child would some day do with all that energy.

Still can't feel any of these acrobatics, but that will come soon I'm sure. Maybe a couple more weeks (or a couple more days???). It's a feeling I just can't wait to feel.

Belly Shots

Here I am at 7 weeks. We'll consider this my "starting point" and see where I end up!









Here I am at 11 weeks, and we're beginning to see some growth! I thought it was all in my head, but Luke confirmed that I was indeed looking a little "bumpy".









Here I am at 14 weeks! Definitely starting to feel uncomfortable in
"normal" clothes. Despite my best efforts to convince myself that
I'm not really growing that much, I think this photo proves that
even after a work out and before dinner, I'm getting bigger!
I have my next appointment at 16 weeks and my next ultrasound
at 20 weeks, so it's going to be an exciting couple of months.

Bumpy road ahead

I'm definitely beginning to see the baby bump on the front of my body which has been pretty exciting. Seems like about a week ago I looked in the mirror and there it was. I thought I could hold out a little longer, but with only two pairs of pants still fitting comfortably (sans rubberband), I broke down and bought my first pair of maternity jeans on Monday. I got a great deal on them, and they are much more comfortable for both of us, so I guess it's not such a bad thing afterall, (and they're from the GAP, so come on, it could be worse and they could be uglier). Tops and shirts are not an issue yet as Mom has already bought me a few to work with and many of our lovely tunic and empire-waist inspired fashions are super preggo-friendly.

Also on Monday, my dear friend Kim lent me an entire box of "retro" children's books (many which I remember reading over and over myself at a young age), and we've had a blast reading through two or three of them each night before bed. I think it's probably a lot better for the baby than my current reading (Madame Bovary) which I'm not sure is a good influence on the little babe.

I'm hoping to post belly shots from the first three months soon so that the whole blogging world can follow my gestation profile. Luke gets a pretty big smile on his face each time he takes one of these pics, which is the kind of joyous thing that no one gets to see except the wife, and which I treasure more than anything in the world.

12 weeks!

I'm in week twelve and I'm starting to feel a lot more energetic which is great news! Luke and I have been as busy as ever, but now I'm feeling a little more "up for the challenge". I got to hear the baby's heartbeat at the last checkup on February 23rd: 140 beats per minute of perfection. There's an old wives tale that if the beats are less than 140 it means you're having a boy, and if they are higher than 140 it means you're having a girl. I guess this baby is going to respect our wishes and not going to let us find out until we get to the end!

A few lovely ladies from the church have decided to throw me a shower on June 12th, and I can't wait. It will be fun to see everyone together, AND Luke's mom will be in town for his graduation, so she'll be able to make it as well! My mom and sister will be hosting an additional backyard bash for us sometime in July, and I should be pretty big by then, so I imagine that will be fun too.

Another lovely development: I've only gained 3 pounds so far, which I think is fantastic. I am afraid, however, that it has to do with a loss of muscle tone, but my walking regimen is improving, and I'm doing sit-ups just about every night now. Also, no one tells you how much your tummy starts itching when you start growing, so we've been going through the belly-butter like you couldn't believe! It's pretty comical to see all these changes hit my body and our lives.

We're currently searching for great healthy and simple recipes to keep in our arsenal so that we are prepared for those tired days and nights ahead. So far I've had good luck just by asking our moms and other moms that we know, but I'm always on the lookout.

Lastly...I've decided that despite how busy and regimented pregnancy seems, I need to continue to make time for my knitting and crocheting. I've totally dropped my adorable amigurumi projects that I was working on, and I haven't even started with some of the fun patterns that are out there. Hopefully my energy is indeed coming back to me and I'll be up for more knitting in the near future.