She came into our lives 4/21/06, and I'll do my best to post pics, stories, and what she's learning about the world!
Wednesday, December 28, 2005
Sugar and Spice...
And everything nice. Isn't that what little girls are made of? We'll soon find out! Christmas Eve we opened "the envelope" to discover that the next phase of our lives will be filled with all things girly. We are so thrilled, and have been so busy with family, and today shopping for girly bedding, that I haven't been online to post in 5 days. Sorry! :)
Christmas Eve was not only a fun day for us to discover what flavor our little joy will be, but also a fun day for my sister. My baby sister got engaged! I am so excited for them. They are perfect for each other and she didn't stop smiling all weekend. Congratulations Kelly & Paul!
Speaking of marriage, yesterday Jay & I celebrated our 8th anniversary! Yeah, we weren't in a hurry for kids, but now we can't wait for our little girl to make her debut!
No, we have not peeked at the card with the baby's gender yet, so if we've lasted this long, we'll make it till Christmas! Part of me is enjoying the excitement of not knowing, but the bigger part just wants to know. :) I bought a little yellow outfit yesterday because I just couldn't resist. A long while back, I posted about how all the online quizzes or old wives' tales pointed to a girl. However, Sunday I took 2 online quizzes and they both said boy! Well, one of them said boy, but it said that was a 50% chance, so I don't think that counts. We'll just have to wait 4 more days, but I'm curious to know what everything thinks it is. Maybe to keep it fun, I won't reveal the gender until I have some guesses!
Well, I'm glad you're so anxious to see my big belly (Cindy & Bonnie), but despite your new pic requests, I don't think it's quite time for one yet. I haven't changed much since the one I posted a few weeks ago! Maybe I'll post one after Christmas and blame the cookie weight on the baby.
Christmas has snuck up on us yet again--I can't believe it's just days away. I hope all of you have a very happy & special Christmas.
We don't know! But we WILL know Christmas morning. The ultrasound technician was able to tell the sex of the baby this morning, and to my dismay, I was NOT. I felt like Rachael in the episode of Friends when she gets the ultrasound and can't tell what anything is. Jay could see the face, but I COULD NOT! Later she did focus on the profile though, and I could see that. This pic is the clearest of the 3. You can see the hands near the chin, but unfortunately it's not as clear in the scanned picture as it is in the printout. In case you're like me and can't see it right away, the heavy white curve is the back of the skull. You can kind of see the ribs at the bottom, too (I think). It was so cute because when she paused on this shot, the baby would move his/her hands and touch his/her face a little.
I do get another ultrasound in 2 months, which is good because I wasn't expecting to, but bad because there's a reason for it. A very minor one and I'm assured it's NO reason to worry. Everything else is A-OK. Measurements are good, weight is good, blood scan came back fine, and we have a card that says boy or girl and I'm dying to know! Jay holds this card in his posession because he doesn't trust me. :)
This year, the 12 days of Christmas has significance for us, since in the 12 days until Christmas, we will be anticipating the contents of that little card.
I was tagged by Cindy, so here are my 7 things on 7 things...
7 things to do before I die: 1. Raise happy kid(s) who love God & help others 2. Move out of state or out of the country for a while 3. Visit the old neighborhood in Tokyo 4. Go to Europe 5. Write a book 6. Dive in the great barrier reef 7. Touch lives of other people in some positive way
7 things I cannot (or will not) do: 1. Smoke! 2. Say "GD" 3. Buy ridiculously expensive designer bags/clothes/shoes 4. Lie 5. Drive without yelling at people (OK, that one I'd like to, just can't) 6. Speak in public 7. Climb Mount Everest
7 things that attract me to my spouse: 1. He loves me 2. He respects me & treats me so I don't ever doubt his feelings 3. He loves God 4. He can fix ANYTHING 5. He is going to be the best dad EVER 6. He's so cute 7. He's considerate of everyone (It's very hard to limit that to just 7!!!!)
7 things I say most often: 1. Uhhhh 2. How cool is that? 3. WHAT? 4. YUM! 5. Are you serious? 6. What-EVER 7. These pants are too tight
7 books I love: 1. ANYTHING & everything by Dean Koontz 2. When the Wind Blows by James Patterson 3. Lake House by James Patterson 4. The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway 5. Any of the "Complete Idiot's Guide to..." books 6. The Pregnancy Journal :) 7. The Bible!
7 movies I watch over & over again (or would if I had the time): 1. Office Space 2. Dazed & Confused 3. Father of the Bride 4. Serendipity 5. Sleepless in Seattle 6. Blue Crush 7. Napoleon Dynamite
7 people I want to join in too: I don't know 7 bloggers, so I'm cheating on this one!
Is it just me, or does it seem like people are scared to use the word "Christmas?" I am getting sick of hearing the world "holiday," because everywhere I go, there it is. All the TV commercials advertise holiday sales, holiday candy, holiday gifts, and holiday decorations. I see signs & billboards advertising the same things. I hear wishes for happy holidays on the radio, and on the food network, I see shows about holiday baking and holiday meals. I understand that these people are reaching masses of people who celebrate more than Christmas, but not all of them. If you're going to have wreaths and holly and Christmas trees and candy canes and Santa, you can say Christmas!!!!
So in the midst of my frustration about this, I heard a story on KSBJ (a local Christian radio station) that made me think of this in a new light. It was about the origin of the candy cane. A candymaker began with a pure white stick to symbolize the pure nature of Jesus, then made it into a shephard's hook. Then he added 3 small red strips to symbolize the holy trinity, then a big red stripe to symbolize Jesus shedding his blood for us. OK, so I have since found out that it's not entirely true, but I still look at candy canes in a different way, and amazingly, since I heard that, I have been hearing more about Christmas and not so much about "the holidays." I guess we retain what we choose to. :)
What does this have to do with the baby? Nothing, except that I would like to make sure that my son or daughter always remembers why we celebrate Christmas. Since tomorrow is the big ultrasound, our anticipation to find out the sex is building. It will be really special to find out on Christmas if it works out that way, but if the doctor/technician can't tell or if we accidentally find out, then that will be OK too. :)
OK, I'm now 20 weeks, which is officially the halfway point. And for the first time, a stranger commented on my huge belly! Just kidding--she didn't really say it was huge, she just asked if we were expecting our first child. It was the Wal-Mart checkout lady, and we weren't buying anything that would indicate in any way that we had a baby, were expecting a baby, or even knew a baby. So here it is--my updated, 20-week belly pic.
Now that I'm halfway, that means I have halfway to go. Which means that belly is only going to get bigger, and bigger... yikes! :)
Anyway, I never posted any pics from NY. Here is a view from our hotel lobby. Did I mention we stayed at the Waldorf? :) Great view of the Chrysler building!
It snowed the morning we left, but I don't think there are any pictures of that. Central park looked amazing with snow on the trees and all the horses/carriages.
And here is one of the 3 of us in the hotel lobby. So much fun! It kind of seems like a dream now.
OK, the reality is this. When we walked into Wal-Mart tonight, they had a big sign that said 17 days till Christmas. That means 17 days until we find out whether a son or a daughter will change our lives forever. 17 days until we get to start buying little pink dresses or little corduroy pants. Only 5 days until we can theoretically find out, but we can hang till Christmas...WE CAN DO IT!
Phew, what a weekend. Only a week ago, I made arrangements to go to NYC with Cindy and Brigitte. I didn't even meet Brigitte until the day after we made the arrangements, but we had a great time. Frequent flier miles got us there for free, and Cindy's hotel points got us 2 nights at the Waldorf-Astoria! Yep, how cool is that? Rubbin' elbows with the rich & famous. So Cindy, I'm forever grateful. It was a quick trip filled with shopping and lots of walking. But hey--everything's just a few blocks away, right? :)
OK, why is my title about puke bags? This trip started out ROUGH. Friday Jay dropped me off at the airport around 6 am. I didn't get on the same flight as Cindy & Brigitte on the way out, so I was sitting at the gate by myself, reading my book while waiting to board. All of a sudden, I got really hot & felt nauseous. I ran to the bathroom and puked, so thank GOD there was no one in there, or they may have been wearing it. Luckily I made it to the sink. :) From that point, it pretty much just got worse. I started feeling sick again while boarding the plane, and I'll just say that between that flight, the layover in Detroit, the next flight to NYC, the cab ride to the hotel, and the elevator ride up to just the 10th floor, I went through a lot of puke bags. I'm sure the poor man sitting next to me on the plane had a good story for his friends. I determined it must have been some kind of bug because that's not just motion sickness and it's not morning sickness. The girls blamed it on the baby, but I'm convinced it had to be something else. I didn't get to enjoy Friday afternoon/evening in NYC, but at least I got to lay around a swanky hotel room instead of some yucky, bedbug-infested hole. I guess if you're gonna be sick on vacation, that's the way to do it. I was glad there were 3 of us, so the other 2 got to go out & enjoy the sights at night. Thank GOD I felt better the next day and we were able to get 2 full days of NYC at Christmas time. It snowed yesterday morning, and it really was almost magical. Friday was MISERABLE, but I can laugh about it now. It's really kinda funny to think about standing in a crowded elevator at the Waldorf, puking into an airsick bag.
Since Brigitte is such a photographer, I didn't even need to take pictures! I am going to snag hers and post a few, but for now my story is all I've got.
