predictions

so if we were to go off of chinese gender charts, my feeling that our little chickadee is a boy would be correct!



tomorrow is the big day and we can't wait to see our chickadee again and hopefully find out what s/he is! cross your fingers that legs aren't crossed!! our appointment is at 8am, so look for an update as soon as we can get one out tomorrow.

memorial day happenings

no one saw it coming, but 5 years ago to this day is when grady and i first met. i had just moved back from richmond and moved in with les. i think i had been in town about 3 days and found out our friends dawn and ej were having a memorial day bbq. there was lots of good food, cold drinks and HOT SUN (you can tell from my shoulders!). i'm not quite sure when grady arrived, but i remember keeping my eye on him throughout the day.

of course les and i were acting silly as always...but here is a picture documenting the first meeting of grady and i! :)



pretty much since that day in 2005 the rest was history. we hung out again a couple days later and then were pretty much inseparable.

memorial day 2005 we first met
memorial day 2006 we were engaged
may 2007 (right before memorial day) we were married
august 2007 bought our first place
april 2008 adopted our first child (mojo)
february 2010 SNOWtorious BIG
march 2010 found that we are expecting

love you hun*

west virginia, mountain momma

this weekend we made the trip out to west virginia to visit jeani, bruce, star, kaelin and kamrin. we all met at jeani's and then headed to berkeley springs park. the kids all went in the pool while grady, mojo and i enjoyed a nice and relaxed afternoon in the shade. this was my first time to the park, and i'm sure we will be back once our little chickadee is old enough. we had some ice cream, walked through the antique mall, were entertained by some belly dancers and even saw george washington's bath tub!

as always, mojo was a fantastic girl with all the kids at the park that day. she even licked some ice cream off of a little girls face. we were only there a few hours, but when we were walking past the pool to head home we heard some kids say "bye mojo!" we love that she's still our little ambassador. she got her first dose of kids screaming, splashing and jumping around too. didn't flinch! hopefully that's a good sign for when little chickadee arrives. she's going to be a good momma.

grow baby grow!

18 weeks already?! our little chickadee is now the size of a cute little sweet potato!


i'm definitely feeling movements on a regular basis, normally when i'm sitting on the couch watching tv. my lunch of choice recently has been an everything bagel pizza with a fruit smoothie. i've definitely been feeling firmer lately, and have felt several growing pains here and there. and i think from all the changing hormones, my scalp had been VERY itchy lately. i asked the nurse if it was a normal pregnancy thing, and of course it wasn't. she recommended trying a different shampoo that was possibly a little more gentle. i'm glad to say i think i solved my issue, thanks to "say yes to carrots" shampoo and conditioner. which just so happens to have sweet potato in the shampoo. how fitting!!

coincidence

i don't normally believe in signs, and maybe i'm reading into this one a little too much, but here's the story. i took this orchid plant home from arnold about a year ago in full bloom. eventually all the flowers fell off and i trimmed the stalk as blanca (my second mom at arnold) instructed me to do. so for about 8 months this plant sat with no stalk and no flowers, leaves looking like they were all going to fall off. i really thought i had killed it and was upset because orchids are so beautiful and serene to me.

then, one day, about 4 months ago, i noticed something growing out of the bottom of the plant. i figured it was just a root trying to bury itself into the moss. turns out it was a new stalk! it shot up like crazy and then just a few weeks ago the buds started to appear. today the first flower bloomed.



again, i might be reading too much into this, but i thought it was interesting how right around the time when i found out i was pregnant that the plant started to grow again itself.

special delivery

while i was busy at a conference for work all last week, i came home to a large box full of goodies from the one and only miss lesley. she said she had sent a box of surprises and i couldn't wait to open it up and see what was inside. to my surprise it was full of birds!!! :) i absolutely love them! our chickadee will truly have a one of a kind nursery.



thank you so much les!!!

4 months!

i can't believe i'm at 16 weeks already. i have only gained a pound or two still, but i'm definitely growing. it's not obvious from the front, but when i wear a tighter shirt you can definitely tell from the side. i've also been experiencing some 'growing pains' if you will. little chickadee is a growin'!

let's go bananas

so lisa and i have had this running bet as to who would get pregnant first because both grady and i and lisa and christian have had similar relationship and life milestones. we both met our now husbands around the same time, grady and i being first. we both got engaged around the same time, grady and i being first. we both bought a house around the same time (next door to each other nonetheless), grady and i being first. so the only thing left for both of us was the baby. lisa was convinced that we were going to be first....i kept telling lisa that they would be.

hmmmm, guess who was right!

they weren't too far ahead of us, but lisa and christian will definitely be having their first before us, due june 17th. we had their shower today and it was a great success. we had tons of games to play, tons of food, and tons of cake!! because what pregnant woman (there were three at this particular party) doesn't like cake! :)

warm and cozy

i've been working now and then for a few months now on a blanket for miss lisa's little liam. their nursery theme is a cute monkey pattern, so i figured a green, yellow and white blanket would go perfect. i had never done a single crochet blanket before, and let me tell you...it took a little longer, but it's oh so soft and cute!

cute idea

so i don't normally have two posts in one day, but i was checking out the blogs i follow, design dazzle in particular, and happened to click on her recent blog entry (http://designdazzle.blogspot.com/2010/05/made-with-love-modern-boys-nursery.html in case you missed it). HOW CUTE!!! and almost like what we are doing with the "woodland/forest creature theme!" i'm going to have to keep some of these ideas in my back pocket.

i especially love the little bird on the doorframe. oh moooooooooooooom! :)

there's a rumbling

outside....and in my tummy!!!

we had our first thunderstorm of the year this afternoon and it was great. short lived, but great. i love the sound of thunder and my newly planted flowers appreciate the free watering. and with the first thunderstorm of the year, i think i'm also feeling the first movements of our little chickadee this week. it's not all the time, but every now and then it will feel like a bubble popping in my belly. and no, it's not gas!

and if my recent ultrasounds give any prediction on the activity level of chickadee i'm going to be in trouble! s/he seems to always be moving and jumping around on the screen. although i'm enjoying feeling the flutters now, i know i might not be so excited 4-5 months from now when i'm trying to sleep! but for now, i'm excited. i can't wait until grady will be able to feel movement from the outside. i know that's not for awhile though.

on a side note...20 more days until gender hatching!!! :)

mother-to-be day

i had a lovely and relaxed mothers-to-be day. thank you to everyone who called, sent cards, etc. it was very thoughtful! grady was actually in florida soaking up the sun, so i took it upon myself to go to tyson's and get myself a few little treats. :)

fell in love with the new "sittin' in a tree" pattern from vera bradley. i was very tempted to buy a baby bag with it, but they only had a bag with two handles where i want one with one strap that goes across your chest. oh well...maybe i'll just need to get a little tote or something with a coupon i got from them?!

it was a nice day, so when i got home i took mojo to the dog park. i figured she needed a little mother-to-be gift too! she had a great time and came home filthy (as normal). even though she didn't like getting her bath, she LOVES after she is done with her bath. she runs like a mad woman up and down the stairs, rolls in the grass, does laps around the yard, etc. i wish i had my phone nearby so i could have recorded it. too funny!

i was definitely pooped by the end of the day, so mojo, rudy and i were three bumps on the couch snuggling and watching tv. all in all it was a great day!

fabulous!

those were the words that i remember most from my doctors appointment today! 14 weeks and 5 days, actually lost 1 or 2 pounds from the last time i was there (completely ok), and my blood pressure was 127/83 (even AT the doctors office)!!!

met the third of the four doctors at my practice today, dr. flemming. she was very nice. she went over all the tests i've had done recently and commented "we love seeing these types of results, they're FABULOUS!" i was very proud of grady and i! :) all my blood work came back fine, my 24 hour urine test came back fine, and my NT test came back VERY good. she said i was in the 1 in 10,000 category!! woo hoo!! heard chickadee's heartbeat again and it was in the 150's (forgot the exact number).

unfortunately they weren't able to tell me what the sex of the baby was. i was hoping i might be able to, but not holding my breath. i have orders to get an ultrasound at 18-20 weeks though and you can bet i made it as soon after 18 weeks as possible. so folks...mark your calendars for june 1st. that will be THE day!

what will it be....team BLUE or team PINK?!

birthing inn tour

today grady and i had our tour of inova loudon's birthing inn where we will give birth to our little chickadee. after walking through the halls, seeing the rooms and meeting some of the staff i have no doubt in my mind that this will be a great experience. i'll probably be able to get there in my sleep when it's time too seeing as my pilates class is in the building right next to the actual birthing inn.

some things that i really liked were:
- wireless monitoring
- soaking tubs in all birthing rooms
- the option of having more than just 1 person in the room with me while giving birth
- private postpartum rooms
- free mom's support group every week

the size of the facility really made me feel at home too. it wasn't too big and not to small. so i didn't feel like a number. i actually feel like we will get personal attention while we're there. the small little touches too like, professional photos of all the staff's children decorating the halls and rooms, made it feel more like a home rather than a hospital.

here is a link to a virtual tour if you're interested in looking: http://www.thebirthinginn.org/Flash_tour/home.swf