It's a BOY!

A healthy, rambunctious boy with longs legs and a big head! Just like his daddy!
Enjoy the pictures, we are beside ourselves with joy and thanks for such a good report today!

Big yawn! (My favorite pic)

The money shot!


Giving mommy a kiss! :-)

Oh the Antici pation

Tomorrow at 4 is the big ultrasound appointment. I'm not entirely sure how I'm supposed to get anything else accomplished in the next 22 hours.

Ahhhhhhhhhh!

Eloise Schwollywood

No, Eloise Schwollywood is not the name we've selected if we're having a girl - it's the name of my awesome new ride (bicycle ride that is). Richard finally realized that I will never be a badass-Cervelo-riding-triathlete and found me this fantabulous 1958 Schwinn Hollywood that is absolutely wonderful! So me and the Biscuit have been piddling around on it. Mostly just to my piano lessons (about 3 miles round trip) but I figure that counts as my excercise for the day.

Our biggest adventure was to the Durham Farmer's market (about 12 miles round trip). Now I know many of you reading this blog will think - ha, 12 miles, what a joke! But no my friends - Eloise is a 1-speed, 40 pound, steel beast. Put her up against the slightest incline in the road and the road will win every time. I made it to the Farmer's Market on my own (OK, fine, so I walked up the huge hill in downtown Durham) but on the way home (with the added weight of tomatoes, okra, peppers, and herbs) I let Richard ride beside me helping to push me up on the hills home! I have to give the girl credit though, on the down-hill right near our house, Eloise kept up with Richard on his high-dollar road bike while he was in the tuck-position! Go us! Maybe an Ironman is in our future after all (not).

Anyway, I love this bike and it makes me feel like a kid again with the kick-stand and pedal-brakes. I figure, too, I'll still be able to get my big ol' self on it for at least a few more months (until it gets really cold and I wuss out due to weather).

18 weeks, 2 days

Tuuuuuuuummy

Thumpity Thump Thump

So I mentioned in my last post that I've been feeling some flutterings. Since then I have felt a few goods thumps and many more flutterings...it is very exciting!

The other night as I was rubbing my newly funny belly while waiting for the tub to fill up for my relaxing bath, I got kicked (or punched or headbutted?) in the hand! I actually felt the little booger with my hand - and I totally freaked! I yelled downstairs to Richie to see if he could join in the fun, and he got to feel a thump-thump, too! That was very surprising because I didn't think I'd be able to feel anything from the outside for a while yet since I still don't feel anything regularly on the inside.

In other baby news, I finally got myself a little trunk-like basket to store the little baby items we've started accumulating, since we don't have a nursery-space yet. That was fun and makes me think the cute little things will actually survive until the baby's arrival (instead of being demolished by one of the dogs in the meantime). So now I can peek in the basket and visit babyville any time I want :)

1 week and 19 hours until the big ultrasound!

17 weeks - Potato

So the biscuit is the size of a baked potato and weighs about as much as a turnip now! (Note to self - go to grocery store and figure out how much a turnip weighs.) That seems huge to me, but we do always get the freakishly large baked potatoes when we go to the store - I think they mean a normal sized baked potato (5 inches long that is).

Every Monday when we arrive at another week, I allow myself to obsessively read every online website about baby development and pore through the many books I have on pregnancy. I allow myself to do this only on Mondays or else I would make myself crazy the rest of the week. (I stole the picture for this post from http://www.babycenter.com/ - one of my favorites for week-by-week updates.)

While I really enjoy my Monday-obsessive-readings about the baby's development, I have discovered that I am very un-obsessive about most other aspects of the pregnancy. For instance, I am not tracking what I eat or what my caloric intake is...I'm just not that kind of girl. I am also not obsessively reading about the various conditions and illnesses that can strike during pregnancy...I don't need any extra ideas about what could go wrong, thanks though. I also do not have a birth plan...why bother? Has anything I've planned ever gone according to that plan?

In other exciting baby news, we had a midwifery appointment last week and got to hear the baby's heartbeat again - it was much louder than last time and they found it right away instead of having to search for it. That was pretty thrilling! We have our big ultrasound in 2 weeks and 1 day to find out if I can finally start writing using "him" or "her" instead of figuring out ways not to call the biscuit "it." Yippee! I am also pretty certain that I've felt the little one knocking around in there. It's nothing big or constant yet but there's definitely someone in there trying to make themself known!