The Nursery

Now that we know we're having a little girl, all kinds of conversations have started around our house, least of which is what to name her. You all will have to wait for that decision until she's born though! We've decided to keep it a secret so that you all have a little something to look forward to, as if her arrival isn't reason enough! ;-)

The next major topic of conversation has been how to decorate her nursery. Justin and Ashley have been a huge help through this whole process, putting up with my multiple ideas and pictures of bedding I want their opinions on. I believe we've finally decided on bumblebees as the theme and the bedding pictured above from JoJo Designs. The next step is to start painting and decorating the walls, all of which I'm leaving in Justin & Ashley's capable hands as they have a much better eye for that kind of thing than I do.

Her nursery furniture is from Munire Furniture and the crib is pictured in the second shot. We opted for a lifetime crib that will convert to a full size bed so that it grows with her. Hopefully, that means she won't need any new furniture for several years, or that's the idea at least!

In addition to picking out bedding and nursery themes, Justin and I almost have our baby registry ready to go. I had no idea until we started this process just how many options were out there and how much you could get for a baby! Thank goodness for online product reviews and the help of a few good friends (Robyn & April!) to tell me what I really do need and what I only think I need. I'm sure there will be a few things that get left off, or added on, that fall into one of those two buckets but the basics are covered.

That's all for now. Hope everyone has a great week!

Lucretia

It's a Girl!

Well, yesterday was the big day. We had our 20 week sonogram that checked the baby's development and of great excitement to us, we were able to find out the gender. We're happy to announce that we're having a baby girl and everything is normal and on schedule according to all the developmental markers. Below's a couple pictures from the sonogram, not that I expect everyone to be able to decipher them but I wanted to share them with you anyway.

In the picture on the left, the white straight line on the left side is her femur developing. Her profile is in the middle and just to the left of her profile, slightly below her chin is her heart. You can somewhat see her spine, which is the top light line that runs from under her heart to the left side of the image. The right picture is a close up of her profile, which shows a bit more detail, such as the eyes, which are closed, and a better image of her heart. What we weren't able to capture was her little arms and hands, which she kept waving around. Justin and I did get to see her little fingers a few times but she was too quick for us to capture it on film. The most important thing was that all the developmental markers show she's right on schedule for being at 20 weeks.

I have to say that we had a bit of a mixed reaction to the news. Justin's first reaction was "well, there goes playing with trucks and tools...guess I'll have to learn how to have tea parties now". All the pre-planning I had done regarding the nursery was for a boy as well so when we picked out furniture and bedding, we were somewhat back to square one. Of course, we're thrilled regardless but we were more prepared for a boy. I have to say, finding bedding or a nursery theme we like that's not pink, purple or pastels is proving to be a bit of a challenge!

In addition to all the news from yesterday, I've started feeling her move consistently during the day. Friday was the first time I felt anything more than a slight nudge. I swear she was doing flip-flops! Now, I feel her moving around off and on all day long. She's pretty active in the mornings but seems to slow down in the afternoons. The evenings are a bit hit or miss but I've woken up a few times in the middle of the night to find she's pretty active. I'm hoping that isn't a foreshadowing of things to come!

Overall, we're very happy that she's healthy and developing on schedule. We're in the process now of finding nursery themes, decor and the all important decision of picking out a name. As for me, I'm doing well. I gained 8 pounds this month (gasp!) but given I hadn't gained any weight at all until now, they assured me this was fine. By this point, according to several pregnancy sites, normal weight gain is 10 pounds so that made me feel much better. I think that's about all the updates for now. Thanks for taking time to read through the latest in our journey!

Love you all,

Lucretia

Glowing Buddha Belly!

So, everyone's been asking me the same couple of questions lately.

1) How are you feeling?

2) What do you look like?

To put everyone's curiousity to rest on the second, here's a picture from last night that shows my ever expanding baby belly. Let's just say that I don't have a single pair of pants that will zip more than halfway and if it wasn't for this wonderful thing called a Bella Band, I'd be in danger of flashing someone on a daily basis, which isn't a good thing for me or them. I've managed to find really cute maternity tops on sale lately but holding off on the pants. I'm just not ready to trade in my favorite jeans and work slacks yet!

As for the first question of how I'm feeling, I think a website I was looking at this week put it best ... glowing buddha belly. I'm blessed every day in that I feel fantastic. This entire pregnancy has been as easy as I think it could be. Sure, there were days the first trimester when I didn't ever leave the couch and slept the entire day. There are days (and nights) now that I have the joy of knowing what heartburn feels like for the first time in my life. But overall, it has been a wonderful experience and I've loved every minute of it.

Justin and I both find it amazing that my body (and the baby's) knows how to grow little things like eye lashes and fingerprints and complex things like nervous systems and all the essential parts of a human being. I never understood till now why it was called a miracle but it truly is. God is an amazing being in that in a mere 40 weeks, he can create a complete human starting with just two little cells. For those of you that have been through this process, you know exactly how it feels. For those that haven't, words cannot express the amazement, joy and wonder you experience.

So, I hope this has answered the questions of how I feel and how I look for all of you that don't get to see me on a regular basis. I'm sure we'll be posting a few more pictures as time goes on of the baby bump so stayed tuned.

Love you all,
Lucretia

Welcome!

Welcome to the our online home! With several family members and friends out of town, we thought we'd give you all a place to keep in touch with us and most importantly, keep up with all the latest baby news. Feel free to comment, participate in polls and view our photo slideshow as it becomes available!

Latest Update:
Our last prenatal appointment was September 18. Sparky's heartbeat was 154 bpm, which everyone tells me is a good. I haven't gained any weight since last month's appointment but I'm sure that will change with the next one, which is scheduled for September 15. We'll be 20 weeks along at that point so should be able to find out if we're having a boy or girl (Vote for your choice in the poll!). If its a girl, I'll probably have to revive Justin before leaving the office since I'm fairly sure he'll be in shock! He's just not sure what to think about that, beyond wanting to lock her in a closet to protect her from the boys that will someday come calling. He remembers all too well what he thought of girls as a teenager and doesn't like the idea of some guy thinking about his baby girl that way! We'll keep you posted on what we find out so check back after the 15th for all the latest news.

Love you all,
Lucretia