the post that begs to be made / a very pregnant holidays / weeks 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38 and 39 / still haven't had the baby yet

yes, so i've had a lot of time to think about what to title this post and it's changed several times...sorry about that.

so here we are, two days before the due date, and other things have changed as well...



(sorry for the photo quality, taken with the phone in a hurry...)

first and foremost, i've started looking scary-crazy-big. like my stomach has a life of its own, which, well, it does. sometimes i feel completely normal and like i did nine months ago and then i'll pass by a mirror and think "what the heck?!" it's crazy. i never imagined i could get this big.

(this one was taken on the 5th)



as for the baby, he's huge, too. i don't know exactly how big, but he feels big. he stretches inside me and it feels like his foot is going to shoot though my side. we keep telling him that there's more room out here, but he's not listening. he's doing great, though, everything progressing completely as normal. he has (if it's not obvious) dropped, he is super low, and i'm pretty sure he's getting more and more ready every day.

and speaking of getting more and more ready, we're losing our minds. as much as people try and tell you the final days are hard, the anticipation is excruciating. i've been having irregular/occasional contractions for about a week and a half now, and i keep waiting for them to get down to real business, but no luck.

as for the past couple of months, new years was great and quiet—we drank sparkling apple cider and watched one more year of dick clark...christmas was wonderful and crazy-busy and our first (and only?) here in portland...





we had our two/kind of three/four if you count the dog family christmas morning before anyone got here for christmas and once again loved every minute of the day (and made homemade hot chocolate and marshmallows—awesome)...










we spent the first couple of weeks of december in atlanta (before i couldn't travel anymore), and we loved, loved, loved seeing some family, and we were able to spend thanksgiving in texas, which we're so thankful for, to have too few days with that family every year.





(my cousin's wife and i—she's due in april...)

our pictures have been slim, but there they are nonetheless...

okay, more soon, promise...and be praying that we have this baby soon soon soon!!! we're super excited and can't wait any longer!!!

23 Weeks

I don't know why 23 is the magic number, but it is. 23 is the week that I start gracing you with weekly updates about the pregnancy...so without further ado!



--I think I'm really going to regret this outfit choice, but I really wanted to show you "details" without showing you a bare belly...and Daniel and I cannot figure out how to take a good picture of me. That will be a work in progress...

--I have plenty of energy and am feeling great. But my shoulders are starting to hurt (from the extra weight? sleeping positions? I'm not sure) and I have a prenatal massage gift certificate beckoning me if I can just find the time...

--I'm feeling the baby "kick" lots these days, though they're certainly not all kicks. And we're at the point now that we can watch him through my stomach if he's really moving and I'm really still. It definitely seems alien-ish.

--I oftentimes completely forget that I'm pregnant. And then I'll start thinking that I'm super hungry or don't feel good or something's just going on with my stomach. And then I'll remember that I have a living human being inside me. This all happens when I'm looking at nursery ideas or baby gear, mind you, so I don't know what's going on in my brain.

--The future nursery is a disaster, with papers and stuff everywhere, so there's no progress there. But we've got a few clothes—many of which were gifts already, and one very guilty pleasure shopping trip for me (old navy was having a sale!)

--We're trying to learn and read up on delivery techniques and breastfeeding and start preparing ourselves for all of that...and the entire pregnancy is just sweeping by, with less than four months left!

return to blogland

well...where did two months go? i honestly have no idea. but i know if i dwell on it too long, i will stop writing and never post. so i'm just going to move past it...we're back and blogging and everyone will be happy about it :)

SO SO SO much has happened in the last two months, so we'll start with the most exciting thing and go from there...

many of you already know that we're having a.... BOY!!!!

we're SUPER SUPER excited, and so happy we can start dreaming about and connecting with a boy!!!



so, we found out in a pretty unique way, we had the ultrasound tech write down the gender of the baby on a piece of paper and put that into an envelope. then we headed straight to a baker who had instructions...if the paper said girl, the cake was to be vanilla, and if the paper said boy, the cake was to be chocolate. then, either way, the cake was to be frosted in chocolate. then we had people over and cut into the cake!!!! it was SO fun and SO SO SO exciting and we were SO very happy to share the moment with some of the people we love most, instead of alone in a dark room!!

SO, without further ado, here's our albeit pretty embarassing video...i don't think i usually talk like that. and we had skyped in our parents, so that's what i'm doing at the end—making sure they found out the baby was a boy...



our sweet, wonderful friend karen was our official photographer and got tons of great pictures! click here to see them all!











and, of course!! the baby himself! we got SUCH wonderful ultrasound pictures, we can't believe it!!! we are just completely smitten with our baby boy, and can't get over how perfect he looks in utero!



(this one's 3D, which is why it's so amazing...his face on the left, sleeping with his little hand up by his face on the right...)





(mahhh!!! look at him!)





(in these, you can see a leg folded up by his stomach..and then that long bone by his face is that arm/hand up by his face again)



(his face from the very front, looking straight on...you can most clearly see his forehead, nose and lips...)



(an arm and hand with five perfect fingers...we were able to count all his digits)



(an his other hand...read on the right where the ultrasound tech wrote "thumbs up!"—she was really excited about that! but i have a feeling we already have a problem with thumb sucking—i've read they learn to suck their thumbs in the womb)



(and a perfect little foot!)


and me? i'm feeling great, probably the best of the entire pregnancy thus far. this picture's actually from just after 16 weeks, but i'm pretty sure that dress accentuates it and that's still just about how i look...



on wednesday i'm 22 weeks along, and so will be finishing up the 5th month here pretty soon...everything's going by SO quickly! i'm gaining what feels like tons of weight but fortunately i think it's all in my stomach. but i already feel like i have a watermelon in my tummy and have no idea how it's going to get bigger!!! and i'm feeling him move tons these days, and daniel can feel him often—which has been SO awesome and really the funnest thing ever!

the official announcement

well, our incredibly-boring-for-the-past-year-or-so-blog is about to get as exciting as family blogs get with the addition of a family member!

that's right! we're having a baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

this picture is actually several weeks old...5 to be exact. and now our gummy bear has grown into a much more actual looking baby with long legs and arms and a defined nose and eyes and we even saw it squirm!

i'm 13 weeks along...due january 19th...

if you're family or close friends who have known for a few weeks, you've possibly been dying for this post—we told our parents around week 9, and family and others following—as i could gain any energy whatsoever to talk, as we started to accept it as real, etc., etc. it has been super, super fun getting love, support and excitement as we told parents, grandparents, extended family and friends.

tuesday we starting telling everyone "here," after our 12-week appointment on friday was in the clear. and we have been blown away with the excitement people are showering on us...we feel so blessed to be able to share the news with such wonderful friends! there were literally squeals and jumps and about a million texts tuesday—much, much more than we'd imagined. from middle schoolers to parents and everything between, it really has far exceeded our expectations....

we've even gotten gifts already!!!! some sweet, sweet high school/college-aged girls got us a pack of diapers and our good friends drew, natalie and honey sent us a pregnancy journal, which i'll be working on the rest of the day today...


and i'm sure you want to see me, right?!?! i mean, this is all about me after all, right??? well don't fret. we have pictures. but one thing, definitely. i'm still getting used to the stomach pictures and they're pretty awkward, so no making fun...

here's me at 8 weeks.


and me today. sorry the picture is blurry, the clear ones are ridiculous...


so that's it! we're pretty freaked out and very excited and terrified and thrilled and, and, and...

thus begins an expected long journey...and it's in some way the passing of a very good baby-less blog so far. hopefully it will still have hints of that every once in a while. we know most of you won't care about the head lift our baby does half as much as we will, and will want to see some gorgeous view or exciting trips. and trust me, we still plan on having those...

anyway, rambling...that's our news! feel free to comment away!!!!




p.s. we've had "comment moderation" on since we started telling family, because, well, we didn't want a mishap before we blogged here. but i just realized that we had the settings all wrong, and while i thought it would email us when we got a comment, it didn't so i just allowed several comments to go through...sorry i didn't see them earlier!!!!!

p.p.s i'm telling my good friend leslie via blog post since i found out about hers that way, too :) hi leslie!!!