Hump Day Bump Day! (9/30)

It's Hump Day Bump Day (HDBD) again!  YAY!  And as promised, I'm including the very first HDBD photo for easy comparison...

Here's the first one, taken September 9th:

And here's the photo from this morning:

Okay - so I KNEW that I would get big.  But I had no idea how quickly!  It's been about a month since we've started taking pictures and it's already pretty obvious that my belly is serious about getting really big.  I'll be 4 months on Friday.  5 more to go...

With all this growing that I have left to do - I'm just hoping that Baby isn't going to be ginormously huge - like that 19.5 pounder in Indonesia last week. 

Feeling Any Movement Yet?

According to all the baby stuff we've been reading, I should expect to feel Baby moving any minute now.  Of course, it could take up to even a few more weeks to feel anything too.  It depends on how active Baby is and how alert I am to Baby's movements.

And the fact that I don't really know what I'm watching out for makes it a little bit harder to watch out for it.  But I got some tips to help me out - like I'm more likely to feel Baby's movements when I'm just lying down and relaxing or right after I eat.   So - at least until I feel Baby move, I plan on doing a lot of lying down, relaxing and eating.  I want to make sure I'm giving Baby optimal conditions to help me feel Baby movements.   

15 Weeks!

Today marks 15 weeks for Baby.  I know, I know - that's lovely  - but what does that really mean for Baby?

Well - Baby is about the size of an apple (4 inches long, 2.5 oz)... and Baby's legs are growing longer than the arms now.  (Maybe that's why I've been so tired these last few days...  I'm always convinced that when I'm particularly exhausted, even though I've gotten plenty of sleep, that Baby is up to something BIG.)

Oh- and probably the biggest news - Baby is forming taste buds!  This is big news mostly because Don's favorite hobby is cooking and he's darn good at it too.  Baby's taste buds are sure going to come in handy!  :)

Practicing on Other People's Kids...

Since Don and I are both on our way to being parents for the very first time, we've suddenly started taking more of an interest in helping others with their kids.  (See title)

I've even started volunteering in the church nursery once/month with a friend.  (Never really saw that one coming...)

Anyway - over this past weekend, we got to see a lot of our friends - some of which already have little ones.  Kevin and Jana brought their adorable little baby, Kameron, out to play too.  Kameron was completely intrigued by Don and they had a pretty good time together, as you can see from this picture.

Way to be, Kameron.  Way to be, Don.  :)

Hump Day Bump Day! (9/25)

Wow!  I'm not quite to 15 weeks yet, and I can't believe how big I'm getting!  Maybe it's that it's my first pregnancy and I'm not sure what to expect.  Or maybe it's Don constantly telling me "you're going to be HUGE!"  with a gigantic smile plastered all over his face.  (He's cute.)

Regardless - Starting with next week's HDBD, I've decided to repost the first picture (taken 9/9) once a month for easy comparison.  (My old boy, Tufte, seems like he would like the idea of comparison...)

In the meantime though - enjoy today's photo.  :)

Working out...

It turns out that it's super important for preggos to be active and exercise throughout their pregnancy.   And everyone has a different reason why - I've even heard that it can make labor and delivery easier (but how in the heck would they prove that?) Somewhat counter-intuitive if you ask me - all I wanted to do for at least for the first 12 weeks was sleep.  Well, and pee - but that's a different post.

Anyway - before I was pregnant (or, more correctly, before I KNEW I was pregnant) I was training for the half-marathon, so I was working out 6 days a week.  Running a lot - doing ab workouts, going to yoga, the whole 9 yards.  As soon as I found out that I was pregnant, my knees really started hurting - it might be coincidence from running too much - and it might be all mental.  But I'm not taking any chances... so i stopped all the mileage all i was putting on my jogging sneakers and started a walking routine instead with my gym buddy, Sarah.

Sarah is an awesome gym buddy and has been so wonderful with this whole pregnancy thing that Baby and I are going through.  She meets me early in the morning, even though she doesn't have to be up that early.  Anyway - the days that I used to go running in the morning, we now walk.  And it's been AWESOME!  I love walking around near the lake and watching the "ducks" (they might actually be geese or some other kind of fowl - I don't really care enough to figure it out) and the few people that we see out and about are SO FRIENDLY in the morning.  That was probably the biggest shocker.  People are actually friendly in downtown Chicago in the morning.  Really friendly.  Everyone greets us and wishes us a good day.  It's almost other-worldy.

But anyway - this revised routine is turning out to be quite a highlight!  It doesn't bother me that much to wake up at 5:30, either!  Here's to an easier delivery!  (?)

Letting Baby be just a baby...

For awhile now, Don and I have gone back and forth about whether we want to find out if Baby is a boy or a girl.  Don doesn't want to know until Baby is born - but at first I did want to know - ASAP.  Of course, we don't even have the option of finding out until the end of October - when baby is about 5 months into formation.  That's when they do the "fun" ultrasound - otherwise known as the "privates-seeking-ultrasound".

There are many many reasons for both sides of this particular argument and neither side is right or wrong.  So it just kind of comes down to - what do WE REALLY want?  Do we want to know - or would we rather just let it happen?

After thinking about it a lot, I've decided that for me, the only real benefit to knowing is being able to bond more by calling Baby by name sooner, while Baby is still in the womb.  However, there seem to be a lot of benefits to waiting.  One - people have done it that way forever and it would be neat to do it the way our folks and their folks and their folk's folks did it - (but this is kind of weak.  Mostly because if we have this available to us, why not use it?)  And sometime ultrasounds can be wrong anyway (even though that's not nearly as common anymore with the advancements in today's technology).  But the best one yet, is that I would end up buying the stuff that we really need for Baby, like diapers and cribs and strollers, instead of the super-cute baby clothes that I see all the time at the store when shopping for maternity gear - or even when just shopping for toilet paper and detergent.  Who can pass up buying cute baby clothes?  Not me.  Seriously. 

So - back to my point.  After much consideration, we've decided to wait and not find out if Baby is a he-male or a she-male.  We'll give Baby these few extra months in the womb to just be our baby and we don't have to worry about pink or blue.  The time will come when Baby will join us here on the outside of my body and then we'll all know.  And besides - I can use cute little nicknames for Baby and bond, bond, bond our prenatal time away.

Btw - 'm pretty sure that Baby is a girl and Don is pretty sure that Baby is a boy - so until Baby gets here, I guess we'll just be arguing at dinner parties over Baby's gender - unless Doc slips up at one of our many, many office visits in the upcoming months...

14 Weeks - Baby can now squint!

Baby can also frown, grimace, pee, and possibly suck her/his thumb.  Although I don't really like to think about the peeing part that much because - where's it all go?  yeah.  exactly.

So Baby is officially 14 weeks today based on the first due date we were given.  We've since heard that Baby was a few days older based only on size - but our due date wasn't officially changed...

Anyway - every week, on Fridays, I get an email telling me what Baby is up to this week.  I signed up for it online at babycenter.com - it's a site that Don found.  Not only does it have great information for what Baby is up to - but it gives some helpful hints for mom and dad too - like what I should be expecting this week and what Don can be expecting too.  :)     (Although no one really warned us about my new carnivorous meal choices...) 

I love knowing what Baby is up to and what it can do now.  Last week it got finished up with it's fingerprints!  What a busy Baby!  And we know that Baby is roughly the size of a lemon now too.  (Doesn't exactly explain why my baby bump is so huge...)

Every time I get one of these emails describing what Baby is up to and how quickly Baby is growing, it totally reminds me of Psalm 139.

Psalm 139:13,14:
¹³ For you created my inmost being;
       you knit me together in my mother's womb.

 ¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
       your works are wonderful,
       I know that full well.

What am I craving?

Almost the very first thing that people ask me as soon as they find out that I'm pregnant is, "Are you having any cravings?" - or something along those lines "What's the weirdest thing you've craved?", etc.  You get the point.

To be honest, I haven't craved too many WEIRD things, but things that are just really weird for me to want - namely, meat.  If you've known me for longer than five minutes, you know that I'm a pseudo-vegetarian.  That means that I'll eat meat from time to time, but it's rare.  I just don't like meat - the taste, the texture - none of it is appealing to me and it really never has been. 

Lately - in the past month or so - I've been asking for mini-cheeseburgers and tacos with ground beef and all kind of other delicious meat things.  Last night I had to pick a place for dinner with our friend, Scott.  I picked Weber Grill.  True - it was a block away and I was beyond hungry at that point.  But that place is meat central... fish, cow, pork, chicken - you name it.  And I was happy there.  I repeat, I was happy at a meat place.

Mark this in the record books, peeps.

From what I've heard and read - this is my body's way of taking care of itself and making sure that it gets all the nutrition that it needs.  Baby is pretty good at getting everything that it needs - and will even take from me if I'm not eating enough of it.  (Which is scary).

But it's amazing to me how my body knows what it needs and my taste buds adjust accordingly.  Wow - God knew what he was doing when he created us people.

Between the pillows and the baby belly...

you may just find ME! There is very little room for me left in the bed anymore, and she is hardly showing.... I am very worried for the future. I think I may be moving to the floor before the third trimester. It's ok. I like camping.

Things are growing well, and Amanda's new favorite thing is an Egg McMuffin type concoction that I have termed Egg BrMuffin. Yeah, I know it does not SOUND as catchy but it LOOKS very appealing and it is is healthy to boot! And it makes my beautiful wife SMILE! What could be better than that? Well, baby smiling would be great too but we just can't tell about that yet.


I continue to grow along with the mama to be - possibly because I have given up on my workout schedule and I have increased food consumption in stride with her. So increase caloric intake, decrease burning those calories, and wahlah - you are halfway back to your pre exercise form (and all-time high of weight)! Luckily Amanda (and Dalene) are addicted to Biggets Loser and I found myself extremely motivated last night during the season premier. Especially the 40 year old huge Dad who wants to be around for his kids... that really puts it in persepctive. Now mind you, I was not motivated to the POINT of action, but I certainly CONSIDERED action. In fact I lowered the priority of 'Gym Cancellation' to my to-do list already.

This next week I am doing some self assigned homework... I am going to find in the Bible every reference on how to raise children in a way pleasing to God and begin writing them out. Even the one's with the rod (thanks, Samson). I believe everything we need to know to raise up our little one is right there in the WORD!

Hump Day Bump Day! (9/16)

I'm amazed at how much my belly has grown in only one week!  I'm going to be huge...

Wondering if These are Dishwasher Safe?

Our good friend, Jane, gave us the cutest little salt & pepper shakers in honor of Baby.  Cute and very funny too.  I wonder which one's pepper?

Note that the "boy" baby, or the one with the green bonnet is crying and is showing a little plumber crack.  I'm not sure what that means - but it's funny. 

What the Bump?

I saw this sign outside my place and decided to take a picture of it this morning on the way back from the gym.  This describes my belly perfectly right now - I can't wait until it's obvious that I'm pregnant instead of looking like maybe I just had a few too many pints of Moose Tracks instead.

Mocktails - A pregnant girl's best friend...

It can be rough to be a pregnant girl in the city.  So much of city life is built around socializing and meeting friends for a drink or coffee.  Both of which are either banned or limited from my consumption... but I'm finding ways around it.

When I go out for coffee, I can order a decaf latte and get some calcium and dairy with a jolt of coffee taste and a fraction of the caffeine that I would normally get.  Or iced tea has been one of my favorites lately.  "Iced Venti 2-Bag Wild Sweet Orange Tea, please".  yummy!

Cocktails, on the other hand, have been eluding me.  What's an acceptable alternative a lovely martini?  At first, I would order cranberry and soda.  Then I started switching it up to cranberry and ginger ale (actually not as bad as it sounds).  And at house parties, I found that drinking my juice blends and/or ginger ale in a wine or martini glass actually made it easier to forget that I wasn't really drinking anything "naughty".  ("naughty" meaning - not for the preggos.)

But this weekend, my friend, Lindsay, made some for-serious non-alcoholic cocktails for us!  We call these blessed things Mocktails for obvious reasons.  And they were absolutely delicious!  There were some fruity ones, that I honestly didn't believe were non-alcoholic at first.  And there were some creamy chocolate ones too - very delicious.  Let's just say that Lindsay is truly a mixologist.  She's amazing.  She just is.

My goal now - to find a restaurant or bar where I can order one of these mocktails.  Someone has got to have something like this, right?  Or are they common knowledge?  Something you can get anywhere?

And not the classic Shirley Temple blah, blah, blah.  But you know - the wonderfulness that Linds was mixing up.  Anyone know of anything like that in the city?

Maternity Pillows!

For those of you that don't know - when you go to try on Maternity clothes, most stores offer a small, baby-belly shaped pillow to try clothes on with - it's a great way to see what the clothes might look like after you get unbelievably huge (read "in your third trimester").

This fun little tool was brand new to me - the first time I was aware that this thing really existed was last week.  But it only took one use for me to see how helpful this could be.  Although I have no idea if I'm going to carry low - or high, I do know that when I'm much bigger the clothes i'm trying on will still fit like they're supposed to.  (ie - dresses won't magically become mini-skirts, etc.)

The belly pillow itself looks strange.  It's just this lump of pillow that wraps around Velcros in place around your waste.  It's kind of lumpy under clothes too - but how else are you going to simulate how you might look at 8 months?

Here are some pictures - of the belly pillow and me trying on a dress with the belly pillow.  That's right, peeps.  I'm going to get HUGE.

 

 

Daddy's First Post

Wow, where to begin? First, I am so thoroughly and unbelievably happy and have been praising God for the amazing gift of life He has placed in my wife's belly. Then I think "sheesh! I have not changed a diaper in, oh, about 16 years". My baby nephew (who had the smelliest diapers of all) turns 18 in five short months! Do I remember how to do it? Uhm, has the technology changed? As if changing diapers is going to be the biggest hurdle for me. The truth is I was always able to give those kids back to sister and head home every night. I never had the 3 am wake up feedings, etc. I still have much to learn. Or to re-learn.

So here I sit at the fine young age of 38 (in less than a month). I did the math and technically I am old enough to be a grandpa... I actually have a cousin that has been a grandma for many years now, so it is true. No age limits for entering fatherhood. Good. Check.

I have to say, even though I knew we would have a family (maybe a dog named Sue or a kitty cat, and even discussed outsourcing some kids) but I never really envisioned myself as being a father-to-be. So I am still getting used to this being real. Real. REAL. I've decided I need to post some regular pictures of myself to challenge Amanda's Hump Day Bump Day photo series. But alas my stomach will not grow (I hope). Maybe a shot of stress lines? Or I could start working out again and take weakly pictures of my "guns". (Please, please... quit laughing). I am open to suggestions. And I would love to hear any comments from the Daddy's reading this - real world stories appreciated but please avoid the desire to scare me. Seriously. Thanks.

Fun Green Hooded Baby Sweaters and Awesome Moms!

Last night, I saw my good friend, Lindsay.  Her mom heard that I was pregnant and even though she's never met me, she made the most adorable little baby sweater for Baby!  It's the perfect shade of green (because it's one of my favorite colors and gender-neutral as we don't know if Baby is a boy or a girl yet).  And it has a zipper that goes up the back of the sweater, to the hood.  It's going to be soooo easy to put this on Baby!  :)

The only requirement was that I had to take a picture of the sweater on Baby and send it to Lindsay's mom.  Assuming I don't forget that point due to momnesia, I'm in!  Heck, I'm even going to post a picture of the sweater of awesomeness here. 

Thanks, Lindsay's Mom!  :)

Hump Day Bump Day! (9/9)

The idea of Hump Day Bump Day is to show a weekly picture of my ever-growing belly.  So, every Wednesday, with the help of my amazing hubby, Don - I'll be posting a picture of my big old belly.

Yes, I know - this concept is not new with me - but it's brilliant!  So I will adopt it for my own blog.

Enjoy!  :)

Dreams are Interesting Things...

So - even before going into this pregnancy, I was fully aware that pregnant women have some bizarro dreams - it's almost stereotypical - just like pregnant women looooooove pickles.  On everything.

Anyway - back to the dreams... I've been noticing lately how it seems like a lot of non-preggo folks around me are having weird dreams too.  Today while I was at work, my friend, Angel, came over and said "I had a really weird dream about you.  I dreamed that one day when you came into work, you were hugely pregnant, like a basketball was on your belly!"

And that's how I told the girls at work that I'm pregnant...
(to much excitement, squealing and hugs - I love those girls!)

Some of My Favorite Preggo Things...

While shopping yesterday with Momma Mags, we happened to stumble across a Motherhood Maternity store.  What a relief!  All day long, I'd been looking for styles and fashions that could grow/shrink with me - wrap-around dresses, empire cut tops, etc - and I wasn't having much luck.  This place not only had a wide variety of clothes at very decent prices (also a relief!), but they even had a pillow for me to use while trying clothes on - to see how I might look further along in the pregnancy.  HOW FUN!  :)

Due to Momma's mad scouting abilities, we were able to find some super cute tops and even a pair of jeans.  Wow.  This might be one of my new favorite places.  Plus, they had tons of other things there for pregnant women - hard candy to ease nausea, books on pregnancy, pillows to help you sleep comfortably, etc.  And every time a new customer walked in the door, the saleslady would say "Welcome to Motherhood".  And that made me giggle.  So yeah, this is one of my favorite preggo things.

Other favorite preggo things that top the list - as of right now - the book "Girlfriends Guide to Pregnancy" by Vicki Iovine.  I found a cheap copy on half.com and it's been entertaining - to say the least.  She's so snarky and downright funny that it was a super quick read and helped me figure out a wee bit more about what the hell is going on with my body right now anyway.  Way to be, Vicki. 

And, of course, the book "What to Expect When You're Expecting" - it's a classic.  Informational and reassuring.  Not nearly as entertaining as Vicki's book, but an important resource nonetheless.

Fun things about pregnancy...

There are many things about pregnancy that aren't fun.  I've experienced quite a few of them so far.  "Morning" sickness/nausea  (which lasts all day), crazy horrible heartburn that only smoothie-flavored Tums can cure, getting up 3 times in the middle of the night every night just to pee... 

But I'm finding that there are some really fun things about being pregnant too: being required to eat lots of calories (well-balanced, of course) and the cream of the crop - new clothes!  Of course, a lot of the "new" clothes, are really just new to me - but who cares?  They're so cute!  (My sister, Renee, let me borrow a bunch of clothes that she used when she was pregnant. Thanks, Renee!)

It's tricky because I'm not big enough to require actual maternity clothes yet - and probably won't be until at least 2-3 more months, but I'm starting to stress out some of my buttons...  I learned some tricks for extending waistlines during pregnancy involving hair ties and another trick with something called a belly band - which should work for at least a little while longer - but what do I do when those don't really work anymore?

Seriously - what's a girl with an ever-growing belly to do about this?  Go shopping, that's what.  This girl is on a serious budget, so I'm hitting an outlet mall and some clearance racks with Momma Mags this weekend while Don is sailing the Tri-State. 

And that, friends and loved ones, is a fun part of pregnancy.  :)

 

What a Difference a Month Makes!

The top picture is Baby's first "photo shoot", taken on 8/4/09.  Baby looks kind of like a fishing lure here.  

There was one phrase the technician said that almost gave me a heart attack at the exact same time of providing immense relief.  "Well - there's only one".  Up until that moment - I hadn't even considered that I might be carrying more than one child... (I have so much to learn).

And the bottom photo is the most recent ultrasound photo, taken 9/3/09.  Baby is getting SO BIG and is starting to actually look like a real baby. 

It's Official!

We're finally to the 12 week mark (actually, 12 weeks and 2 days according to the ultrasound today).  We think we're close enough to the 2nd trimester to start leaking the good news!  I even made sure to let my manager at work know, so it's officially official now.  (My manager is awesome and so excited.  Thanks, Joanna!)  :)

We had our monthly checkup appointment today too.   We were scheduled to hear the heartbeat at today's appointment, but the doctor couldn't pick it up on her "heartbeat listening equipment thing" (terminology mine), so she went ahead and did a quick ultrasound instead.  Isn't that great?  We were able to see Baby's head and arms and watch Baby move around - and she gave us some pictures to take home too.  I'll post those shortly.

The OB/GYN that we're going to has 4 doctors in that office that take turns with deliveries on evenings/weekends - so I meet with a different one at each of my monthly check-ups - just in case my doc isn't the one on-duty when Baby decides to join us on the outside of my womb.  I wasn't sure if I would like the doctor rotation situation - but I think all the doctors are really great so far.  They take their time to make sure all our questions are answered and just have a calming way about them.

I haven't gained any weight so far, but I'm excited to balloon up like a proper preggo as the second trimester commences.  Weight gain, here I come!  :)