More Pics, Update

These are more pics from the 3d ultrasound, thought we'd dump them out here since it's been kind of a slow news month. They can be kind of like a magic eye picture (It's a schooner!) so sometimes you need to look at it for awhile, take a break, go grab a drink, get comfortable, and then maybe you'll see something.

Monica's doing great and in high spirits, we've been painting for the past couple weekends and just finished the baby's room. She's been fussing around the house nesting and whatnot, and it's been incredible to have such a clean place. I could get used to this pregnant wife thing, except for that pesky "never get any sleep because of all the tossing and turning" thing.

For those who don't know, we've decided to name the baby Abigail Hope, and we're calling her Abbey.

Current Baby Size: 16 inches (!)
Current Baby Weight: 3 pounds, or about the total amount of weight that Monica has gained during this pregnancy.

Weeks 22-26

Here's where things get interesting. We did the 4-D ultrasound today, and found out all kinds of cool stuff. Mostly that this girl just won't keep those feet out of her mouth. The doctor kept prodding her with that ultrasound gizmo (wand? mallet?) but she wouldn't move her feet; they're still up above her head. We got some pretty good images of her face, but most of them are partials. That's all for now. Enjoy the pic!



Current baby size: Smaller than a bread box
Current baby weight: Not quite as heavy as a bread box

Weeks 19-21

It's a girl! And what a girl she is...check out the acrobatics! We're already hoping she'll get a gymnastics scholarship. No pressure, though...

Chris didn't get to come to the ultrasound with me, so we're getting a 4-D one done on June 1. Hopefully, we'll get some better pictures of her face, then. Less skeletal. From what I could see, though, she's a cutie! She was sucking her thumb, just like her mommy did! I wonder what she has that's like her daddy...we'll have to check out those computer skills ASAP!

She's moving around like a pro, and she either loves it or hates it when I've eaten a big meal, because that's when she moves the most. We'll say she loves it! Supposedly, whatever the pregnant woman eats frequently, the baby will develop a taste for. This girl is going to love Yoo Hoo and sandwiches!

I'm not quite big enough for people to walk up to me and try to touch my belly all the time...fine by me! I never was comfortable with all the touching that happens to pregnant women. A kid touched me in the hall on my way out of school on Friday, but I was on the phone with Chris about a flight mishap, so I didn't have time to slap her hand away! Hopefully, the baby gave her a swift kick. Maybe we should apply for some soccer scholarships too!

Current Baby Size: 10 inches. If she were a White Bass we'd have to throw her back.
Current Baby Weight: 12 0z., or about like a Wendy's Triple with Cheese*

*Net weight before cooking

Week 18: Fingers Crossed

No need to cross your fingers for the baby, the baby's fine. Cross 'em for our house, we just put an offer on another one, this time in Old Lake Highlands. A couple of fine Ole Ags live there with their little (boy? girl?) Beck. All we know is what the lettering on the walls of the green baby room tell us, and what it says to us is that the parents probably sing him/her to sleep like Tuuuuuuu eres un perrador/You're a loser baby*...

At any rate, since people actually live in this house, it's got a better chance of not being a smoldering pile of junk like that last house turned out to be.



Vitals
Location: Old Lake Highlands, Lake Terrace subdivision
Year Built: 1957
Size: 3 br, 2 bath, garage turned into 2nd living area with room for a TV as big as me
Backyard: Yes indeedy, plenty.
Haunted: Unknown

At any rate, they've accepted our offer, but now we've got to make sure it passes inspection and appraisal, which we feel it will. If all goes well, we should be moving into the new place by the end of May.

That's about all the quasi-baby related news I have (it's quasi-baby related because the baby will live in the house, I guess). If Monica has any comments (which, of course she does), she'll tack them onto the end. Or the beginning, she's ca-raaazy.

Current baby size: 6 inches
Current baby weight: 8.5 ounces, or about 54 Hershey's Kisses if it's a girl. A pile of 240 caterpillars if it's a boy.


*If you're struggling with this reference, ask someone younger. :)

Weeks 16-17

Hello! Not very many updates, except that I'm getting bigger every day. I did put on two of my old pairs of jeans, and I can still pull them all the way up, so that's good news! I didn't even have to jump or dance around to pull them up, either, so I'm feeling pretty slim right now :)

On another note, we decided not to buy the house (in post Week 15) to put the baby in, which means we're still looking. We found one we liked the other day...too bad we can see the Dollar General from the front porch!

The appointment on the 9th went fine- they took my blood, but I didn't make a big deal out of it. And, I got the smoothie, which was a plus! I go back on the 27th for the gender-diagnostic sonogram, and the technician is going to write down the baby's sex and seal it up in an envelope for me, and we'll open it together when Chris gets back from Coachella (below) on the 30th. For all you people who think I can't keep from opening the envelope...watch this. Well, don't really watch. You won't see much. You'll see me NOT opening an envelope, that's for sure!!



That's all there is to report for right now! Week 18 is coming up on Friday, but there may not be another post until after the sonogram on the 27th. Or until I do the Drain-o test, which my mom keeps telling me to do. I'm supposed to pour Drain-o crystals into a container and then potty into the crystals. Apparently, if it ends up blue it's a boy, and green it's a girl. No, thanks. I don't like tests that involve mixing Drain-o with...anything, really. But we'll see! If I do the test, I'll let you know!

Week 15

While Chris is behind me freaking out about dictating to me while I type, I'll say a few things! I'm in week 15 now, and there's not much to report. Oh, except that a co-worker came up to me, put her hands on my stomach, and said, "You've got a little girl in there!" WEIRD. I guess we'll see. If I do have a little girl in there, maybe my co-worker is some sort of medicine man.

Chris: "Children are our future. Invest in our future with love. That is all."

That was refreshing. He stopped my typing, informed me that he was ready to dictate, and that's what he said. Sigh.

Another doctor's appointment is coming up on the 9th, and we'll do the trisomy testing, and then on the 7th of May (I think), we find out if there's a little girl in there! After that, I don't know what will happen, but I DO know that I'll be getting another smoothie after the testing on the 9th.

Oh, yeah, and we bought a house to put the baby in! Very exciting. Here it is:


Man, this kid gets everything! Maybe it will want a nice Bentley to be driven around in...I'll have to ask about that one.

Weeks 10-13

Ok, folks! Sorry it's been so long, but since we've skipped about four weeks we have a few updates! At the end of week nine, we got our first sonogram, which was pretty cool. I didn't realize that the reason sonograms are so blurry is that the baby is moving around in there! We have quite a little dancer. Or soccer player, whatever.


Weeks 10-12 went by without much news, and then again at week 13, we got to hear the heartbeat. My mom came with us to the doctor's appointment, and tried to hold the phone up to the Doppler machine while the doctor was listening for the pulse, so my dad could hear it. It was pretty funny when the doc was all, "Yeah. You're creating quite a bit of feedback." Oh, Mom...

They also did lots of blood work at this last appointment, which grosses me out, but it also bought me a smoothie after my appointment since I was so good :) "Good" meaning, I didn't cry or yell when the nurse said, "Your vein just rolled...do you want me to take the needle out?" Wow. I may need another smoothie after I finish typing this.

In four weeks, we have the trisomy testing (to see if our kid is going to have chromosomal defects), and then four weeks after that, we find out if we're having a boy or a girl! Hopefully we'll find something to write about in between, but if not, we'll find some more cool text book pictures to post and trick everyone with.

Feel free to keep posting your family-friendly comments, and please keep the salty language under control- the baby has ears now!

CJ:
Current baby size - 3 inches
Current baby weight - 1 oz., or about $592.80 in gold at current market prices.