Team PINK!

It has been an exciting week! Last Saturday morning started off with all 4 of the grandparents-to-be gathering at our house, in their pink or blue attire to take one last shot at predicting the gender. We all piled in my Dad's Suburban and made the drive to Morrisville for our 11:30 ultrasound appointment at Baby Bump 4D. Aside from running a bit behind schedule (we had to wait about 30 minutes), the overall experience was great! The studio was very nice, the table was much more comfortable than those at the doctor's office, and the ultrasonographer was friendly and professional. She was able to quickly tell us that the "pinks have it!" and point out that our little peanut is most definitely a baby girl! Although it's still early, we spent the next 15 minutes or so watching her dance around and trying to get some good still shots of her. This is now the second professional that has told us that she is "very active," which I am hoping is a good thing! Although the first one did say "good luck with that!"

Once our 20 minutes were up, we waited in the lobby (and took lots of pictures with their "props") while she printed several photos for us, and also gave us a CD of the still shots and a DVD of the ultrasound. We also got a $50 gift certificate to Melissa Berg Photography, which I am very excited about! Melissa is a talented photographer, and happens to be a friend as well (or an "imaginary friend," as my husband calls it... friends I know only online, not in person- I'm not a creeper, we were planning our weddings at the same time and "met" on theknot.com on a local NC bride chat board). Anyway... all that for $115? Totally worth it, in my opinion!

Team Pink

Team Blue

 It's a Girl!!

Next we drove a few miles down the road and had lunch at Chili's before bravely venturing into Buy Buy Baby for the first time. Well, I should say, for my first time. My husband has been before (he bought a double stroller there once with his friend Dan and I am pretty sure everyone in the store thought they were a couple). My mom and mother-in-law and I had a great time walking through the store and looking at everything- and all the cute clothes more than once! The guys did pretty well- they did camp out in the glider section for quite a while, until the sales ladies tried to actually get them to buy one. They also had a grand time playing with the "life-like" 8-12 pound dolls in the stroller section, particularly the one with only one eye. It was a fun, but somewhat overwhelming experience! I bought one thing :)    Luckily the Grandma's each bought a few things as well- my mom bought mostly shoes, and mom-in-law a couple outfits and some matching socks! She is going to be one well-dressed little girl, that is for sure!!



Some of her loot!!



Since Sunday, I have spent many hours looking online for nursery ideas and am still tossing a couple around, but am making progress. Stay tuned!! Next up, though... registry advice?? Please help!!

XOXO

Exciting Times...

Well, as I said in the beginning... I probably won't post as often as I would like. Is it sad that coming upstairs to use the desktop computer seems archaic? I actually created the blog and wrote the first post from the couch using my Kindle, but I want to work on the blog design a little bit, so I am writing to you this evening from the "real" computer!! Unfortunately, all my blog styling knowledge is escaping me, so if anyone reading this has any suggestions for how to get cute fonts and better background choices, please let me know!

Anyway... It was another exciting day today on this pregnancy journey. I had my 16 week doctor's appointment, which was rather uneventful, but I did get to hear the heartbeat for the first time! We have had two ultrasounds so far, and got to "see" the heartbeat on the screen, but at my last OB visit, it was still too early to hear it with the Doppler thingy. Well, as you will see from the upcoming photos, this little peanut is growing, and growing fast, and Dr. had no problems locating it today!! It was actually quite loud! And, although he didn't actually time it, it sounded pretty fast to me.... which brings me to the next exciting piece of news. We have an appointment at Baby Bump 4D on Saturday to find out the gender!! I've had so many people ask me what I think it is, and a few offer opinions of their own, so I want to know what your guess is! Take my poll (on the right)! Here are some symptoms to help you guess, if you believe in the old wives tales...

• I had some morning sickness in my first trimester, but nothing unbearable
• I have not had any strong cravings yet, but definitely had some food aversions early on
• I was, and still am, sensitive to smells, which can sometimes lead to those aversions
• I have acne like a teenager
• My feet seem to be warmer than normal, especially at night
• My legs, face, etc. do not seem to be any hairier than normal
• During the first ultrasound, baby's heart rate was above 140
• Since the start of the second trimester, I have had frequent headaches
• I have not yet experienced the "burst of energy" that I keep reading about

I don't know how much truth there is to any of these, so if anyone has a fool-proof method, let me know! But do it quick, the imaging place guarantees gender determination, so if Peanut isn't cooperating on Saturday, I will be heading back every day next week until they can figure it out!

Our parents are coming with us on Saturday, but we haven't yet decided how we will announce the big news to everyone else. We tossed around the idea of a "gender reveal party," which seems to be the new trend, but I am running out of time to throw one together, and with so many of our friends and family being far away, and/or with small children of their own, the likelihood of getting a big crowd together seems pretty slim. Besides, I think I'll be too excited to keep it a secret until the following weekend for a big party. So- I'm open to suggestion, if anyone has any cute or creative ideas!


Well, as promised (I know some of you have been asking!) I will leave you with some more pictures of the every growing baby bump!

 

My chalkboard sign is a little hard to read, but this was at 14 weeks and 4 days- baby was the size of a lemon

 

 

I had to DIY it in the mirror last night, since hubby is in NY this week. This is 16 weeks and 2 days, baby is now the size of an avocado (head to rump, that is- doesn't include legs!)

 

 

And before I must go, and play with Sadie before she puts one more stuffed toy in my lap, here is a picture of my first baby! Won't she make such a good big sister? Let's hope so!!