Nursery Furniture!

So sorry it has taken me so long to blog this week. I have been swamped at work and very busy each night.

Monday was my 29th birthday (yikes!) and I received these pieces of furniture for the nursery. Yay! It's all coming together! Michael bought the crib and my parents (Danelle and Paul) bought the changing table. We put the crib together with the help of our across the street neighbor and friend, Jason. Thanks for putting up with us, J-Ray! Then, Michael and I tackled the changing table on our own. Before we started, we decided the construction of the table would cause one of two outcomes - we would make it without any issues, or we would end up divorced. Thankfully, it went well (very unlike us) and we are still in one piece! :)

There is also a matching toy box that my mother gave us, but it had lots of crap on it and I was running out the door the morning I took these and I didn't have time to clean it off to take a picture. I will post that later.

The room is still yellow (like neon), and we will be hopefully painting it soon. We also ordered the bedding for the nursery from Pottery Barn Kids. Our inspiration room is shown here:

LOVE IT! But, like all things, it will not turn out exactly like the perfect PB rooms, but we'll try to get it as close as possible! :)

No doubt about it... IT'S A BOY!!!

My child may kill me in my sleep one day for posting this picture, but I thought I would put the proof out there for all the world to see - WE ARE DEFINITELY HAVING A BABY BOY!

Michael and I saw "the goods" about three seconds into the ultrasound, we didn't even need the tech to point it out! Because of this, Michael is convinced that he is "well advanced for his fetal age"... Hmmm... Not so sure about that, but I guess we'll see. No doubt he will take all the credit for that one down the road. :)

We are super excited and constantly bouncing names around so that this child doesn't have to be known as "Baby" anymore. He deserves more respect than that! If you have any names you would like to throw in the pile, please feel free to put them in the comment section of this post below. We are looking for names with two syllables or more to go with our one syllable last name. Thanks for any and all input! Who knows...you may be the one who names our child!

The Cutest Little Person I Know...

Michael and I went for our 20 week ultrasound yesterday and found this little person in my belly! Yes, we do know the sex, however we are keeping it under wraps until Friday when we tell our family. You'll all have to practice some patience until then... :)

This pregnancy started out so abstractly for me - I never felt sick only a little queasy every once in a while, and I really haven't gained that much weight up to this point. I am half way through my pregnancy and hardly have a bump for crying out loud! Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining - but, when you are pregnant for the first time, you want to experience all of the good stuff as quickly as possible. So, about four weeks ago I was sitting at my desk and felt this poking sensation coming from the inside of my abdomen. "Hmmm, could that have been the baby? Nah, it's too early," I thought to myself. All of the books and email newsletters said for first time moms, feeling the baby comes between 18 and 22 weeks, and I wasn't even 16 weeks yet! I kept in the back of my mind though, in case it happened again, I would know what to look (feel, really) for. A few days went by and maybe a flutter or two, but no major news. Then, we were in New Jersey for my cousin's wedding and Michael and I were lying in bed at our hotel and lots of action all of the sudden. I grabbed Michael's hand so he could feel it. So exciting! Then, in the last week or so this baby feels like he/she is running a marathon every few hours. So, the abstractness (is that a word?) has become much more real (thank goodness!) and now finally our big sonogram was yesterday. It had been nine weeks to the day since my last scan, so we knew there would be a world of difference, but Michael and I couldn't believe our eyes! There's a whole little person in there! I can't believe my body can do this! Pregnancy truly is a miracle...

Baby Rand is healthy and has all the proper working parts! We even counted 10 fingers and 10 toes! He/she measured right on schedule at 19 weeks, 3 days and weighed in at 11 ounces. The tech couldn't measure the length of the baby because it wouldn't be accurate since starting at 20 weeks the baby is no longer measured from crown to rump (head to butt), but is now measured crown to feet and he/she was in a constant state of movement yesterday. His/her heartbeat was at 142 beats per minute. Everything looks good, so far!

Check back on Saturday when I reveal if Baby Rand is a boy or a girl... Oh, the suspense! :)

A Tale of Two Daddies

A great example of both kinds of dad my sweet, wonderful husband will be! Too funny!


America's Funniest Home Videos' daddy diaper changing montage - all Michael, all the time:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTij4txO8Uk



Totally stole this from Viola's blog:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9A2Ap3DyvLg

Little Claire Lussier

Our good friends, Viola and Jeff, had their baby, Claire Parker Lussier, on July 24 and here is a picture of the two of us when she was a day-and-a-half old.  She is so sweet and little.  Makes me excited for our little one to come in December.  Thankfully, she is covering the tummy pudge that doesn't quite look like a baby bump just yet.  Thanks, Claire-Bear!  :)

In all seriousness, Michael woke up around 3:30am on Friday morning (7/24) to let the dogs out and came to my side of the bed when he came back into the room.  It scared me - I thought something was wrong...  But, he was excited to tell me that Jeff had sent him a text saying that Viola was in labor and the baby was-a-comin' (my words, not his).  I think I might have squealed and asked all kinds of questions after hearing that, which is kind of unusual for me - I'm not really a middle-of-the-night kind of person...  It took me forever to get back to sleep.  I was thinking of Viola and Jeff and their exciting journey that was about to begin, and it made me want December to get here really quickly so that we can send out messages like that to our friends and family in the middle of the night.  I think I woke up at like 7:00am later that morning (also out of the ordinary for me) hoping for an update and there it was on Michael's phone - Claire was born at 5:50am and weighed in at 7 pounds, 9 ounces, 20 inches long.

Mom, Dad, and baby are all doing well!  I'm so happy for them to be starting a new chapter in their lives and we are so glad that we get to be a part of it!

Baby Rand's 3rd Picture

So, I had some minor problems in my first trimester with Baby Rand - not necessarily with the baby, but more with my body.  Anyway, the upside to all of that stress was that we got to see the little munchkin three times before he/she was 11 weeks GA.  SO CUTE!  Melted my heart and made me cry every time I saw/heard it.  That heartbeat is something every mother or father (my husband, especially) could listen to all day, every day.

I have this posted on my Facebook page, but thought I would post it here for posterity.  Luckily, I have it saved on my work computer so I can load it on my brand new blog, but also so I can sneak a peak at it every once in a while.  So, here is Baby Rand at 10 weeks, 3 days as of June 2, 2009.  Note the cutest profile ever, the hand by the face, and the leg stretched out.  This baby is a genius already!

Who will read this? Seriously?

Hey Y'all!

Ok, so a few of my friends who are either expecting or have already had their babies have been pressuring me to blog...  It's a great way to "journal" the important things that are happening in my changing body and with our sweet little one who comes in Decemeber.  However, I am not the best writer...  So, the other night in my haze between sleep and awake (happening a lot these days), I finally decided that I will try out blogging.  But, then I thought, who wants to read about me and my life?  This is the same reason I haven't joined Twitter (even though everyone else in the developed world has...but, I digress...), no one cares what I am up to every minute of the day, and if they do, they will call me.  Right?

Anyway, here I am in my 19th week of pregnancy (counted as 18 weeks completed) and anxiously awaiting the news of what kind of child I am carrying in my belly.  We find out August 6 if we are having a boy or a girl.  Names are already picked out as well as nursery furniture.  Michael thinks it's a girl and I think it's a boy.  To be honest, we don't really care what it is, as long as he/she is a healthy baby.  But, if it is a boy, he could have a harem of women when he comes of age (right now that's like 13 years old), because so many of our friends have had girls lately.  Guess the odds are in our favor for a boy.  We'll see!