Nursery!

So here are some long awaited pictures of the new nursery!  Obviously there's nothing hung on the walls yet...and no bedding...but you can see the general idea here.  Isn't that crib BEAUTIFUL?!?!?  I love it.  :)  

And you can't see it very clearly in the pictures, but Erik hand-painted all the dresser handles.  I told him that my favorite thing about my room growing up was the handles on my dresser, which were painted in all the colors of the rainbow.  So, Erik got creative and we've got some one-of-a-kind pieces!  The chest has numbers on it, and the dresser has letters of the alphabet. Very cute!

Hope you all have a loverly weekend!

26 Weeks!

I feel like the Energizer Bunny. I keep growing, and growing and growing....

Or maybe a chia pet. :)

Regardless, here's a full "side shot" for you guys. None of that angled stuff that's probably a little more flattering. (My sis has been telling me that I'm looking "tiny" for where I am, so I decided to prove her wrong!) :)

Merry Ho Ho Holidays!

Alright, it's ruler time again!

So we're 25 weeks pregnant today and 6 1/2 months in. AND, I just read that the baby is about 13.5" long! For those of you that are keeping track, that means Monster has grown 3 inches in as many weeks!!! Wild stuff. As for weight, we have an estimate of a pound and a half. Someone's getting chubby!!! Okay....maybe two people are getting chubby. :)
Happy Birthday Unkle Jerm!!!!
We'll try to do some pictures this weekend!
Cheers!

Doctor Fun

We had another Doctor appointment this morning, and have no real "news" to report other than things are still looking great! The baby's heartbeat was 147, which is right on with where it's been, and I'm measuring at 22 weeks. I was pumped about that (being 23 1/2 weeks and all...and still swaying from my trip to the scale) until the Dr. said, "Give it until the next appointment...you'll make it up." Bummer. So much for pretending to be petite! :)
But things are good, baby is healthy and I'm apparently "text book" at this point. Can't complain about that!!!

23 weeks and officially 6 months!

Here are a couple of pics from last night...we've been getting a lot of requests for pictures! And sorry that the first one is a little "off" but I was trying to take one of myself before Erik got home. Who knew that the camera strap would make the kitty so frisky? :) But he walked in the door just in time for the second shot!

The shirt shook. :)

So I've seen it on other pregnant women, and was fully aware (and excited) that it would happen to me, but I have to say....it is HILARIOUS! My shirt moved on its own for the first time Wednesday night. :)

All of a sudden those little flutter kicks are KICKS and are not only capable of being seen, but are capable of moving clothing! Now about 20 minutes after I eat, I get to sit back and enjoy the fireworks. Such fun! It just makes me giggly every time it happens. We might have to rename "Monster" and start calling him/her "Thumper"...

Get out your rulers!!!!!

Our kiddo is now 10 1/2 inches long!!!!! How insane is that?? And Erik and I snuck into the clinic this afternoon to hear the heartbeat (a fun date). Going strong about 150. :)
Status quo and happy.
And one day soon we'll paint that nursery...

Jack o' Fatty and Halloween!

What a difference 2 weeks makes is all that I can say.  I've officially gone from tiny, hideable bump to BLAM!  Tummy.  Kinda fun, and kinda overwhelming all at once.  So I'm including a shot from our 20 week + 2 days mark, as well as Halloween costumes from this weekend.  

Erik was a space cowboy,

 and I made an "oven" and strapped it to my belly.  Get it? :)  It's hard to tell from the pics, but there were all sorts of clever buttons we drew on there like bake temp "98.6" etc.  

Happy Fall everyone!!!!

Wow.

So we had our 20 week appt this morning, (3 days early...but whatever) and have some AMAZING pictures to show for it. We did the ultrasounds first, and really got to look at him/her for almost a half hour...incredible. He was sleeping, but would kick his leg, or rub his face with his little paw...it was so sweet. We tried to get a pic of his profile, but he refused to turn his face - even after much prodding (which sort of bothered Erik). BUT, here are the best of them. I'll try to explain them so you know what you're looking at!

OH! And for reference, he's about the length of a good banana, and weighs almost as much as a can of beer (11 oz!). And no, we did not find out the gender. :)

(and one more thing...for you "non-computer" peeps, you can double click on any picture to see it bigger. then just hit the "back" button on your browser, and it will take you back to the blog.)

First off, just waving hello. :)

Then we've got the whole enchilada...head on the right, both hands up to his sleepy face (think Van Gogh's "Scream" turned sideways), the body and legs to the left.

Ths one is either the nose picking finger, or he's saying he's #1...the jury's out.

Then we've got a great pic of the spine. :) He's looking down, head on the right. You can see the little mouth (looks like a V) about 5:00.

Little piggies tap dancing on the camera. This one KILLS me!

And here's a wonderful one leg extension. :) This one is headed up to my ribs!!!!! But you can see the foot, the shin, the thigh and the bend of the booty. The rest of the body is off camera, headed south.

And finally.... BOO!

Music to my belly?

Ahhhhhhhhh...Mozart.  :)

18 Weeks and Counting!!!!

Almost halfway there!  Happy Birthday Erik!!!!!!!!

Jackhammer!

So either this kid loves or hates the sound of a jackhammer. :) There's one going about 50 yards from my window right now, and baby has moved more this morning than it has in the past week! I looked it up, and yep, he/she can hear loud noises at 18 weeks. CRAZY. I'm 17 weeks and 4 days. I had a feeling this child was advanced. :)
I'm almost afraid to tell Erik because I know he'll put his iPod ear bud in my navel...

:)

So I felt the baby move. :) It happened for the first time this past weekend, which is a little early...but with our kiddo being such a wigglin' fool, I'm not totally surprised. I've only felt it twice since then, but it's still early enough that it's pretty sporadic. He's not strong enough yet to make himself known all the time! But I find myself just sitting totally still and focusing because I want to feel it again so much. I'm sure sometime in the not so distant future I'll be complaining about the tap dancing on my bladder, but for now? Heaven.

Maternity outfit

Okay, here it is.  The first full fledged maternity outfit that has ever graced this body.  

I have to admit...clothes shopping is a little bit overwhelming.  Some of the panels in those pants...holy cow!!!  What do they think I am, a kangaroo???  But, on the flip side, I may have discovered a new way to smuggle goodies into a movie theater...

But oh to breathe comfortably again....

And as far as bare belly pics go, well, we took one or two and I'm way too self-conscious to share.  :)  Get your own belly.

Happy 16 weeks!

Good stuff!

Erik and I just came back from our latest Dr. appt and things are still looking good! We heard the heartbeat again and it was going strong and LOUD around 145 beats, which is consistent with what it has always been. Music to our ears!! So our next appt is in a month, right before Halloween. That will be a really fun one because we'll have an ultrasound and have new pictures to post! And scary, but that will officially be the halfway mark...!!!!

And in the mean time, I've decided to embrace my "chub" and I'm beginning to think that maternity clothes might not be such a bad idea. I figure I made it to almost 16 weeks, time to breathe. :)

We'll do some more pictures this week...I think. :)

Sucking his thumb

Well, we're officially 15 weeks tomorrow and honestly don't have too terribly much to share on the baby front, other than things are still going really well and I'm starting to feel better in general - which I'm very excited about! :)



We have our next Dr. appt on Monday, so I'll be sure to give you another update then, but in the mean time I can update you on the progress the little Vandermonkey is making.



Little dude's getting bigger and bigger, and by this time has fingerprints, has learned how to pee (I know...weird...in his own environment!), and if little dude is a little dudette, she now has enough eggs in her little girl parts to have 2 million kids someday. CRAZY. And, what I think is perhaps the most fun, our little monster is learning to make facial expressions like grimacing and squinting, and might even be sucking his thumb! His arms and legs are now in proportion to his body, and don't worry mom, the body is growing much more than the head at this point.



So we've been busy!!! Erik and I have had a couple of really hectic weeks work wise, and that's going to continue for the next several, so I'm sorry that we haven't posted more, but we promise...more pictures and posts soon!

Compromise

So I've decided to reach a compromise on the color situation. As you probably guessed, I'm the one that really wants more than one color on the walls. :) And while I LOVE accent walls (have them in both living areas of my house!) the baby's room doesn't really lend itself very well to that because of the configuration.



SO. Right now, I'm thinking I'll go back to my original plan and put up a chair rail...which was shot down by the hubby because he thought it would clash with the large window frame of heavy wood, but I think he'd opt for that over a wallpaper border. (even though it was really cute with moons and stars and suns on it!!!)



And for the record peeps, everyone seems really concerned about tearing the border down. While I agree that job totally sucks (and I've done my fair share of it!), we most likely wouldn't tear it down ever. Reminder, we're only in this house for 3 1/2 more years! :)

Color Vote!

So I'm officially enlisting the help of anyone who cares to vote, because Erik and I are having a small difference of opinion on colors for the baby's room (or lair...as Erik is now calling it). I'm not going to tell you who stands on what side, but rather just pose the question:

Is it crazy to have two complementary colors on a wall separated by say, a wallpaper border, (lighter on top, darker on bottom) or is that too much craziness and is simplicity better? Should we just go with one solid color for the walls?

And I should probably let it be known that my husband IS letting me have my "own way" regardless of what he thinks...which he said last night is really only worth 20% of any baby decision to be made in the first place. While that holds true (I mean, duh) it's important to me that he doesn't hate the room.

So. I leave it to you guys. Majority rules.

Belly Galore

So Erik and I have decided to take pictures of the belly (weird that we've started referring to it as its own entity...) every month so we can track progress - for the delight or the depressive I suppose.  :)

We'll post them up here so you can guys can play along at home (and yes Mom, to make fun) either until it gets too crazy or I get too self-conscious about the whole thing.  But as of right now it's still fun!

Cheers to all and happy Sunday!

B & E

Wigglin!

So Erik and I had our official 12 week appt bright and early this morning! Everything is still looking great, but we have official confirmation that our child is a total wiggle worm. We told the doc how much he/she was wiggling during the ultrasound last week and she shrugged and said "well, some babies just move more than others." But as soon as we got the Doppler out and started listening she said, "holy cow he won't sit still at all!!" So we got to hear the heartbeat again, but not nearly as long in a stretch as we would have liked because our monster was all over the place and she was having to chase him around. She guesstimated the heartbeat to be about 150, which is consistent with what we've had so far. :)

I know I'm not really known for my calmness, and watching Erik drum every little movable thing in the doctor's office this morning made me realize how much he moves constantly, so I guess we shouldn't be surprised!

On the Horn!

Alright!

Thanks to all who have written back so far, it's really fun to have your comments. By the way, this kid has a corn-fed brain.

Things are going great this week! Beth and I have another OB appointment coming up Thursday morning and we're really looking forward to hearing the heartbeat again, if the brain doesn't get in the way. I can't believe there's a little dude/tte in there! Go baby go!

Now, if you'll excuse me, I must go play with wife and child!

cheers all,

e

Erik, Beth and Japanese man

Just received this pic from Mack, of Kyle's recent trip to Tulsa.  Who's the daddy???? ;)

Numero Uno

Good morning from Iowa City! We've recently passed the eleven week mark, and Beth is finally starting to get a little more energy back.  She's had some nausea every night about, but it is subsiding some.

We had a Dr. appt on Thursday and got some new pics of the kiddo- who actually looks like a real kiddo now!  Everything looked great and little Vanderpoop was swimming all over the place.  

Check out the pics and feel free to post responses to things, or send us an email!  We love you all and wish you the best!

cheers,

B & E