Footprints...

Sleep is evading me this morning so I thought it would be a a nice quiet time to write... The dogs are curled up snoring by my feet wondering why the heck I am up at 4am!

Last Thursday we went in for our 20 week check-up. Steve and I were nervous and excited at the same time since we would get to see HerHe again. I had been feeling HerHe kick around for the past few weeks - but only on the inside - although Steve is enthusiastic each time I feel it - he's not getting anything on the outside of the belly yet with much disappointment!

It's amazing what you can see on the sonogram (and no we did not see any male or female body parts) although there was a moment when we both really wanted to peek when the PeriNatal doctor told us to turn our heads. In the pic above is our first footprint. I hope you can see that the baby has smart toe (second one longer than the first) just like mama:-) Thank goodness the baby does not have daddy's gigantor big toe (looks almost like a thumb)!

Here are a few more pics of HerHe that we received from Dr. Fogle (our PeriNatal doctor)...

I love the fat belly HerHe has at the moment (we love chubby kids around here!) The front facing one above it a tad alien-like - but still cool to see. The doctor spent a lot of time on the the babies heart - reviewing all four chambers, watching the blood flow and she said HerHe's heart was gorgeous (her words not ours). You can see the heart for yourself on the fat belly pic - it's the dark spot spot below the chin - kind of where you might expect it to be:-)

Steve and I had a great weekend and we were very motivated week last week. I believe I am in nesting "mode" as I have cleaned out the basement, the laundry room, the bathroom closet, our master closet and organized all my earrings and necklaces. Next I begin on the closets in the baby's room! Steve began re-tiling the fireplace in the baby's room - it's going to look fantastic with a cream colored marble with some corner accents - I'll post a pic when it's complete.

We headed to our neighbors on Friday for maritni's (grape juice for me). Saturday night we went over to our friend's Beri and Brian's house for a BBQ in East Atlanta for Prego's and Parent's.  Everyone there was either expecting or had little ones under 4. Beri and Brian are expecting a little boy three weeks ahead of us and it has been really great getting to know the both of them - it's great to have the support of a fellow prego!

My morning 1 cup of coffee has kicked in so I might as well go get started on those closets now! Hope this post finds you well, happy and healthy!

Heirloom or Grapefruit

Depending on which baby website we look at - we either have a grapefruit or heirloom tomato inside of us now. I'll stick with grapefruit this week #19. Sorry we missed an update last week but we were visiting Chicago and our latest addition, our nephew - Charlie!

We had such a great time visiting with Mary, IV, Ava, Harrison and of course little Charlie! Here are some great shots we took one morning...

Can you tell who the proud Uncle is in these pics? Steve was so excited to meet his new nephew - he could hardly contain himself! Charlie tried to feed off Steve's bicep which was quite amusing. Steve refined his skills in baby burping and changing this weekend. It was all great practice for HerHe!  Mary and IV are such great parent's and with Ava and Harrison as Mary's helpers - Charlie is never going to want for much in life.

We also attended a wedding for Steve's cousin Sue in Indiana which was great. Although we realized as we were slow dancing that we are starting to get further and further apart from one another:-) It was great to meet and see some of Steve's family (some for the first time) and it's wonderful to know that HerHe will have some fun cousin's to play with at the next family picnic! Take a look at these two little ones...

The weather was gorgeous in Chicago so we went for a long walk in Oak Park. We also met up with our friend Ali for brunch at the Bongo Room - so yummy - in Wicker Park. We know we may not get to see everyone again until after HerHe is born so this was really a wonderful trip!

On a more personal note, I had a great second interview today so hopefully I'll be taking over for a woman who will be going out on maternity leave next week. So it would be a perfect lead up to August - when I will be as big as a house I am sure.

From the baby stat department - our baby's skin is now covered with vernix caseosa, a greasy, cheeselike, white coating that protects HerHe's birthday suit from getting chapped or scratched. The nerves that control muscle movement are continuing to develop.  I am starting to feel little kicks and flutters inside which is really amazing and odd at the same time. A new little life is growing in there!

We head to the Dr's on Thursday for our 20 week check-up where we'll get a full body scan of the baby who will have some identifiable features now. Since we're not finding out the sex - we'll have to be sure to ask them to steer clear of a certain area:-).

Until next time - with some new baby pics!

Which One Is Bigger?

So a lot of you have been asking for a pic of the belly - well it finally popped and now it's worth showcasing! Steve and I joined the advertising bowling league with some friends back in January and this picture is from last week's game. We wrapped the season in about 9th place (out of 14 teams) so not too bad!

We hope everyone had a wonderful Easter and that the EB brought you lots of treats. Here is Atlanta we celebrate Measter (Mexican Easter). We still have ham - but not in the traditional sense as you'll see from the pic with Steve and the roasted oinker. 40 pounds of yumminess cooked for 4 hours, there were also home-made tamales by Dave Perez, tons of Salsa, Beans, Quac and a White Sangria with a hint of mojito mint by Abigail and Jason. I decided to make Fresh-Squeezed Margaritas - Steve said I was just torturing myself since I couldn't partake - but what's a mexican feast without margaritas!

On some less positive notes - it was a heck-of-a-week last week. We got our car broken into at the movie theater and they stole Steve's laptop, I was laid off from work (which isn't as bad as it sounds since I was not going to receive any Paid Maternity Leave anyway) and then I lost PorkChop. How do you lose the noisiest, snortiest, fartiest dog you ask? Well at about 9:30am he walked into a neighbor's house as I was chatting with another one of our neighbors. Then the other neighbor left for work and locked him inside. After I had most of the neighborhood out looking for him for 3 hours - we heard him barking from inside our neighbors house around the corner and luckily she came home for lunch and brought him safely home. I thought I would eventually forge the baby someplace - thank goodness I am just getting some practice with PorkChop!

The highlight of last week was on Thursday and our 16 week check-up (although we are now Week 17). No ultrasound this week, but we heard a strong 151 beats per minute and the Doc thinks we are doing great thus far! I don't have any food references this week for the size of Herhe, but I learned that the skeleton is ossifying (sp?) and the baby can swallow - which somehow regulates the amniotic fluid. It's always something new to learn about when there's a baby growing inside!