The Results are in...

It's a GIRL!

I am so excited to know what it is! This really makes it real and I am looking forward to getting started on the nursery, buying cute headbands on Etsy, and picking out a name. All the important stuff, of course :)

I am so thankful we were able to find out it was a girl, because baby was not very cooperative at all during my ultrasound. She was moving her arms and legs a lot, but wouldn't move into a new position. The tech could not get a shot between the legs. Greg's mom and sister had driven in from Waco that morning to come to the appointment with me - so sweet! My mom was there with us too, and of course Greg. I was so worried that we wouldn't be able to determine the gender. The tech was very sweet and patient though, and really worked with us.

First I drank a glass of water, ate a granola bar, and did some squats and twists. This helped us get a couple views that looked like a girl, but the tech still didn't feel 100% confident. Then she put this vibrating beeping device up to my tummy, but baby girl was completely un-phased. Finally the tech told me to drink a soda while I saw the doctor and we would take a look afterward. After the Dr. Pepper baby girl had still not moved into a new position, although she was quite wiggly.

However, God answered our prayer and the tech finally got a view that could confirm for sure it is a girl. YAY!

We finally got to tell our small group tonight. Here are the snacks I brought.

Below is my 19 week picture. Today I turned 20 weeks but I didn't have time to take a 20 week picture yet. So just imagine the belly below but bigger. I can't believe I am halfway there!!

Poll: Boy or Girl?

I put up a gender voting poll for fun. Here are some things that may or may not affect your vote.

My first feeling was that this baby is a boy.

At my 12 week ultrasound Greg asked the tech if it she could tell the gender. She looked between the legs and said, “Well, it is too early to tell, but I would guess girl. There is a little something there, but it is not a pee pee.” Ha!

Greg’s mom did the pencil test when I first announced I was pregnant. It said I was having a boy. She says her pencil tests have proved very accurate in the past.

I still eat sweets, but not as much as I did pre-pregnancy.

I have no idea if I am carrying low or high.

I have not peed on Drano.

I had morning sickness that lasted all day and got worse throughout the day. I was miserably nauseous, but only threw up once. This started improving around 15 weeks, although I still feel a bit nauseous at times.

I want a boy and a girl so I will be ecstatic either way. I don't have a strong feeling one way or the other on what it is, but I will make a guess.

My official guess is…Girl

Greg’s official guess is…Boy

We find out this Thursday!

Our bible study group has a tradition that when you find out the gender of the baby, you bring pink/blue snacks to announce the results to the group. Kristen made blue cupcakes and covered the top with icing so we couldn't see until we bit into them. Molly made little pink heart shaped cookies with icing. So fun! Since our bible study is on Wednesday, I have to wait a whole week to tell them! So I won't be posting the gender on my blog until after we have our bible study. I am going to tell people though, just not them -muahaha.

Baby Bump - 18 Weeks

So it seems all my posts recently are just weekly pregnancy updates. But I know if I don’t write it down I will forget what it was like at each stage along the way. I also think it will be fun to read these for future pregnancies to compare and be reminded of what it was like. These details might be boring to everyone else, but I think it is fun to have it documented. And maybe I am just weird but I really like reading other people’s pregnancy updates (even long before I was pregnant). God made pregnancy so fascinating – it is such a miracle!

At 18 weeks I am…

- Having a love/hate relationship with belly bands. It is a great invention, and has saved me from buying any maternity pants so far. However, my belly is tired of being restricted. It wants to be free. As soon as I get home from work I take off the band. Freedom. Also, the band gets bunchy and moves around and scrunches up my pants strangely in the back. Ugh, First World problems (funny youtube video). Life is so rough.

- Wearing mostly maternity shirts now. Regular shirts now look semi-hideous on me. Either too short, or if they are the loose flowy type they just make me look like a blob. Have they ever made a What Not To Wear maternity edition? I am sure everyone violates fashion rules throughout pregnancy, but it would be funny. Some maternity shirts I see I just think – WHOA NO. There is no way that could be a good look. On anyone. Ever.

- So excited that I felt the baby kick this past week! It took a number of days of me second guessing myself (is that just digestion?), but I finally think it is really the baby. I have felt it every day since.

- Snacking a lot. My morning snacks include: granola bar, hard-boiled egg, fruit, chips (which are supposed to be saved for lunch). My afternoon snacks include: string cheese, more fruit, almonds, jello pudding, and anything else I can find at my desk or in the break room. My after dinner snack is either a bowl of cereal, or a homemade smoothie, or ice cream.

- Sleeping great. Obviously sleeping is one of my strengths. Anytime, anywhere. I am very thankful that I am continuing to feel comfortable and sleep well at night.

- So excited to find out the gender!! Still no girl name. I have sort of given up on our deadline since there is a 50% chance we won’t need a girl name.

Baby Bump - 16 & 17 Weeks

Well there seems to be another big jump in size this past week.

At 17 weeks I am…

- Wearing belly bands with all my pants (except in the picture...didn't bother with it).

- Thankful that my morning (all day) sickness has mostly gone away. Although the past couple nights my stomach has felt pretty uneasy at night. Sometimes it will feel like that during the day too. However, overall it is so much better.

- Not having any particular cravings. Although I have been wanting some Cake Batter Ice Cream. Too bad there are no Cold Stones near me!

- Still tired. I think this is just probably here to stay.

- Not able to decide on a girl name! Greg and I have a boy name picked out, but we don’t have a girl name. I read through the whole girl section of the name book Jill let me borrow. That is about 50,000 names! Um, what is wrong with me that out of 50,000 names I could not find one I like?? Well there are lots that I like, but I didn’t want to choose a name that is too popular. But I guess any name you choose could end up being one of the top names in the next few years so you never know. I have given us a deadline of our next ultrasound (when we find out the gender) to decide on a name. That is only 2 weeks away!! Although Greg is ignoring my deadline and refers to it only as a goal.

- Anxious to feel the baby kick! I can’t wait until I can feel it move. Sometimes I poke it to try to provoke it to kick back. So far, no results.

- Feeling overwhelmed by all the options for baby gear. What kind of stroller to get - Snap-n-go, travel system, umbrella, jogging? I remember Greg and I having a hard time registering for wedding gifts. We would research things like Calphalon pots and pans and knife sets. Baby stuff seems even harder.

Maternity Clothes Shopping

I went maternity shopping for the first time this past weekend. It was pretty fun :). That may be the only time I have fun maternity shopping, but since it was the first time it was exciting.

First I went to 2 consignment shops that my friend Joan told me about – Second Childhood and Children’s Collections. They have mostly children’s clothes and only a small selection of maternity clothes, but I thought I would give it a shot in hopes of maybe snagging a good deal. No such luck. Second Childhood did have 2 pairs of cute maternity jeans though – one Gap and one Citizens, but they weren't long enough. Maybe I could have bought them as capris :)

Then I went to maternity Gap. It didn't have as much selection as I was expecting. They were having a nice additional discount on sale items though, so I bought 2 tees and 1 tunic/dress thing to wear with leggings. I did not find any pants my size that came in long. What is with that??

Then I went to Old Navy which had an even smaller selection of clothes. All I bought there were maternity leggings (just super low rise to go under the belly). I also looked at Target which I have browsed before, but didn't find anything.

Also this weekend we made a little bit of progress on the future nursery. I am waiting until we know the gender before doing any decorating but there were a few things we needed to do first. Since it is an empty room, it tends to collect junk. Dirty laundry piles get formed in that room, items waiting to go to goodwill or sold on Craigslist get stacked in that room, and random I-don’t-know-what-to-do-with-this stuff gets stored in that room.

We cleared out almost all of the junk, and moved a small bookcase into the closet to hold toys/books. We also bought a dresser on Craigslist this weekend that will be used as the changing table. I am pretty excited about it. It is really old (made in the 1800’s we are told) and needs to be refinished, but I love the look of it. I am planning on having the top remain wood colored, and the rest of it painted cream with heavy distressing – just like how Lauren redid herdining room table. I loved how it turned out. Except I am not going to attempt to do it myself. I already attempted redoing an end table and I didn't do a very good job. Maybe because it wasn't real wood, or maybe because I am impatient and have no time for things like primer or sealer or sanding or doing things “properly”. Anyway, the only bad part about the dresser is that the drawers are pretty wonky – there are no drawer guides. But I think we can deal with that. The picture makes it look in better shape than it really is. Anyway, I can’t wait to find out the gender so I can start on the decorating!!

Man Weekend

A few weekends ago we had a "man weekend" to celebrate Greg's birthday, Cody's birthday, and Fathers Day which all fell on the same week. My mom put together a backyard pool party and it was so much fun. She had everything decorated so cute and festive.

We enjoyed swimming in the pool, and Kyler was living it up relaxing on the float.

My mom bought water guns for the birthday boys and they put them to use attacking unsuspecting party attendees and wasps.

We relaxed outside and enjoyed some guacamole, queso, shrimp, potato salad, and beans. We had lots of sweet friend come over which made it so fun. Unfortunately I don't have many pictures of everyone. I was too busy eating guacamole.

My mom made this cute man cake.

Aren't Kyler's eyelashes the most beautiful, longest eyelashes ever? He is so cute.

We had a great time celebrating out men that weekend!

Smoothie Kick

Greg and I have been on a smoothie kick recently. I am not sure if this is a pregnancy craving, but if so then Greg has been having cravings too cause we have both really been enjoying making smoothies lately. Probably in part due to it being summertime which makes cold drinks sound all the more appealing, all the delicious fruit in stores right now, and the relatively cheap fruit prices (at least on strawberries). I also am proud to say that I worked at 2 different smoothie establishments in high school and college, so I guess I just have a love of smoothies. And it makes me feel like I am being super healthy when I drink a smoothie for “dessert”. Now, don’t think we get all crazy with our smoothies – I mean they don’t contain things like flax seed or spinach, but I still consider them healthy.

They are nothing fancy, but we usually blend up the following.

4-5 fresh strawberries

Blueberries (1/4 cup maybe?)

½ of a Banana

1 single cup of light vanilla yogurt

Crushed Ice

It usually makes enough for 2 large glasses. We change up the fruit combinations – maybe use kiwis, peaches, grapes, etc. Greg sometimes puts protein powder in his, but I don't like the taste of it.

By the way, that is not a picture of our homemade smoothies above. We are not that fancy.