Big Day Tomorrow

Tomorrow we have a whole day scheduled around "Bean". Jeremy and I are looking at quite a few day care centers tomorrow. There are waiting lists and apparently we are a bit late getting on them. Yikes! Anyone want to sign up for days to watch the baby right when I go back to work?

After day cares we are headed to Birmingham to visit my doctor. Tomorrow we are finding out the sex of the baby. We are so excited! Many people has already asked me to call them after we find out. We will update our blog for sure tomorrow night but bear with us if we don't get all the calls made.

I have a baby bump for sure now. If I were famous, there would be pictures of my belly all over the grocery store check out line. The belly does make for an aching back and sleepless nights. I sure do miss sleeping on my stomach. I am thinking of making a bed of pillows with a hole for my belly. It could work.

I think I have had every symptoms of pregnancy so far, including cravings. So far my cravings have included 1) purple seedless grapes, 2) dill pickle chips (or anything with vinegar of it), 3) turkey sandwich on white bread from Subway, extra vinegar please, 3) grapefruit, and the newest 4)virgin bloody mary. My appetite has decreased a lot after week 12 but now, week 16, I am hungry quite a bit throughout the day. That usually means I eat my packed lunch at 9:30 or 10:00am and have to go out to eat for lunch. On the pregnancy update that I get in my email inbox, it stated that week 16 is a growth spurt week. I believe it, because of the hunger and the belly growth.

I will post tomorrow when we return from the doctor's visit. Until then...

Last Christmas as Two

Jeremy and I have spent our last Christmas as a family of two. We really enjoyed seeing our family and friends at Christmas time. It was a lot of traveling but we made it.

The weekend before Christmas we traveled to Decatur to see Aunt Nellie, Uncle Tommy, and Pat. Tony and Gina were in town as well. "Bean" got his/her first Christmas present. Aunt Nellie got Bean a cute Christmas blanket and stuffed toy. After a night of food and "Are you Smarter Than a Fifth Grader", Tony, Gina, Jeremy and I headed to Birmingham to spend the night. Since there are no mattresses left in the Birmingham house, Tony and Gina got to sleep on the air mattress. Jeremy and I got the closest thing to a bed, because of Bean, and slept on a pull-out futon.

Early Saturday we headed to Mema's for an extended family Christmas gathering. It was good seeing all the cousins. It was the biggest crowd that we have had for some time. After many gifts and a round of "Name that Christmas Song" Pictionary, Jeremy and I headed back to Montgomery.

Our weekend was still not over because we went downtown that evening to see one of Jeremy's really good friends who was in from D.C., Chris. Chris and his fiance Shelby had an engagement party and we made it for the after-party. I just sipped Sprite and Water and ran to the bathroom many times throughout the evening.

On Christmas Eve we spent the evening with our dear neighbor friends, Auvie and Yung, who are SO excited about Bean's arrival. Jeremy and I started a tradition last Christmas where we make soup for Christmas Eve. The reason behind it is to have a meal that doesn't take long to prepare or clean up so we can spend more time together. We decided this year that we would share our soup tradition with our friends. I made tomato basil soup, served in bread bowls, and salad. It was yummy! We then played a 'friendly' game of Scrabble. Auvie is a very good word-smith and challenged two of my words so I ended the game with negative points. Jeremy got lucky on a few words (like getting 15 points for a strategically placed "We") and lost by only two points. It was a fun evening.

On Christmas Day we traveled to Rainsville, AL and had early dinner with Jeremy's family. There was a huge crowd of 40 or so. It was a bit overwhelming but I should be accustomed to it by now. There is never a crowd under 25 there. Our Christmas quickly came to an end because we both had to work the very next day. Governor Riley decided not to let us off work for an extra day this Christmas. I understand his reasoning though, it would cost an extra 3 million dollars for an extra holiday. He let us off on Black Friday though. I am sure he hated the thought of all those State workers couped up in offices and not spending money in stores.

Jeremy and I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. Stay tuned for some excited baby news coming soon.

Pregnancy Hormones

One day at work I was extremely uncomfortable wearing my 'regular' clothes and knew it was time to shop for maternity elastic wear. I called Jeremy and told him to meet me at the clothing store to be with me while buying my first set of maternity clothes. I arrived before he did and began looking through the racks. While combing through all the blousy shirts and ruffles the pregnany hormones really kicked in. Tears started streaming down my face. I had to squint through the tears (my hands were full and I couldn't wipe them again) to try to find Jeremy. He had just arrived and was caught coming in the door looking at gadgets (which is typical Jeremy). I caught his attention and quickly waved him to where I was. When he noticed my tears he looked terrified. "Are you sad?" "What's wrong?" "Why are you crying?" My voice squivered as I replied, "I don't know." The tears kept coming.

I headed to the dressing room and BEGGED Jeremy not to leave me. I tried on the first outfit and walked out to Jeremy to get his opinion. Through the tears, I asked, "What do you think? How do I look?" Seeing Jeremy's face after I said that was priceless! He looked terrified to even look like he had an opinion. I am pretty sure that this is one of those moment that I will never forget. I ended up getting some clothes that would work for awhile.

An almost disappointing day.

So on Tuesday the 2nd, Haleigh and I went to our third (my second) checkup for the bean. As usual we sat around waiting for our turn and finally got called back to a regular exam room and not the sonogram room. The nurse then pulls out this little microphone and speaker and tells us that we are just going to get to hear the heartbeat today and not a full blown ultrasound. I must admit that I was bummed by this news. I mean it is great to have the assurance that the little heart is still beating away, but there's something about seeing s/he squirm. I mean the second visit we got to see s/he move all over the place with only two little arm buds, I can only imagine what we'll see now that the buds are becoming arms and legs. All weekend long I had been looking forward to seeing our bean squirm around on the screen like the first visit, but this nurse was stealing my excitement. After about 5 minutes of trying to find the heartbeat, she decided it was best if we do a quick sonogram and check things out. So we are steadily watching the screen and we see our little heart just a pumping, and how much development that had happened since the last visit 3 weeks ago. Haleigh asked the sonogram technician to show us the legs if possible, and boy did we see the legs. I don't know if s/he was excited that we were there or just ready to hit the road running, but those two little legs were churning as fast as they could go. The heart rate was about the same as before and hopefully the next visit we'll be able to see everything a little more clearly.

Lagniappe at Thanksgiving

Jeremy and I went to Mandeville, LA to visit with Mom, Stan, Gina, Tony, and Mema for Thanksgiving. We had a fantastic time and even got a chance to squeeze in a shopping trip to find stuff for the nursery. Oh by the way, for those of you who may not know, I am pregnant!! Today I am 12 weeks and 4 days (and just had another great check up with my doctor in Birmingham). So, back to Thanksgiving. Tony, Gina, Jeremy, and I spent some good bonding time over Mario Kart on the Wii. We even got Mom and Mema to play. The highlight of the trip was the tour of the Abita Beer Factory in Abita Springs. Well, the was the highlight for the others, really. Abita gave all "tourists" free access to the beer taps in the lobby of the factory. Lagniappe! They had root beer which was pretty good, but I mostly stuck to the Spring Water that was at the water fountain. It was a lot of fun and another way to spend some time with the family.

Tony and Gina got Jeremy and I a beautiful memory book to start for our little one, which we have nicknamed "Bean". On December 30th we will hopefully find out the sex of the baby. That will be a special day because is it also Dad's birthday. What better way to remember him than to begin dreams of our new family.

I will post pictures soon. Stay tuned...