Drum Roll Please!!!!!

Well we went to the doctor today for our ultrasound. She said everything looked good, and that all the measurements were right on, and still looking at a due date of December 24th.

Before we went in, Andy and I put a wager on whether it will be a boy or girl. I knew it was going to be a girl, so if I won he had to massage my feet for one hour, in addition to two nights a week letting me watch watch whatever I wanted on TV WITHOUT complaining. He knew it was going to be a boy, so if he won he got to watch all the football he wanted on Saturday's and Sunday's without me complaining about it. So we walked into the doctors office both hoping that we were the winner. The ultrasound tech thought it would be fun to keep us in suspense until the very end, so after about 20 minutes, she finally said "Do you want to know the sex?" And we were like get on with it already! So............

IT'S A BOY!!!!!!!!!

Looks like I will be watching a lot of football this year!

Just a Bit Dusty

So last week we had one of our famous dust storms.

I thought I would take a picture of it from our TV to show all of you how fun it is to live in Arizona! We have 115+ degree weather, crazy monsoons that flood our streets(see below, I added a picture from a monsoon last year), and dust storms!

Ever since we moved here three years ago now, we had been hearing how crazy the monsoons were here. However we never really experienced one until last summer, and boy was it crazy! It just came out of no where, and I promise it took like minutes for our front street to look like this! I was half way up my calves!

Also, you can't really see it at all in this picture below, but some kids on our street had taken pool floats and were floating down our street with them, it was really funny. The rocks you see in the picture are my front yard, so the water was literally half way up my front yard! Good times were had by all!

Pregnancy, Week 17

Well week 17 is now passing me by. Here is a bit from i-am-pregnant.com about what is happening in week 17:

Your baby's weight has doubled in two weeks and now weighs about 3.5 ounces! The crown-to-rump length of your growing baby is 4.4 to 4.8 inches. If you spread your hand out opened wide, you can see about how big your baby is.

Your uterus is moving up and is now approximately 1.5 to 2 inches below your navel. You are showing more now and there is a noticeable swelling in your abdomen. At this point in your pregnancy, a 5 to 10 pound weight gain is normal. Other people can probably feel the difference in your lower abdomen if they were to rub your tummy. To be the most comfortable, you should be wearing maternity clothes or clothing that is too large for you. You may have felt your baby move already. However, you might not feel it move every day at this point. As your pregnancy progresses, movements become stronger and more frequent. Feeling your baby move can help reassure you that your baby is doing well. You might also notice that your gums or nose bleed occasionally. This is from the increased blood volume that puts pressure on small blood vessels and capillaries.

Huge changes continue to take place within your developing baby. This week fat begins to form and will continue to do so until he is born. Fat is important to the body's heat production and metabolism. Right now, at 17 weeks, water makes up about 3 ounces and fat 0.018 ounces of your baby's body. In a baby at term, fat makes up about 5.25 pounds of the total average weight of 7.7 pounds. The placenta is continuing to grow at an amazing rate. The placenta will continue to develop in tandem with the fetus and it will weigh more than a pound at birth! By this week, the placenta is large and well established with a network of blood vessels that exchange nutrients and waste.

The eyes are facing more forward. The ears are now close to their final position. Your baby is more flexible with ability to move head, mouth, lips, arms, wrists, hands, legs, feet, and toes. Fingerprints are forming now.

This week I have really felt the baby move a lot. At first it was just little flutters I would feel, and this week it's full on kicking! This being my first child I find this fascinating! Andy has been able to feel the kicks a few times too. Usually when we are sitting on the couch I make him sit there with his hand on my stomach just in case, I don't want him to miss it.......they are just so cool!

We are getting excited because in week 18 we get to find out the sex of the baby we just hope he/she is not feeling modest that day!

Less Than 24 Hours Until..........

WE ARE READING THE NEW HARRY POTTER BOOK! Yes we are that excited, and to take it one step further, we pre-ordered two copies so we will each have one and it will be shipped right to our front door from Barnes and Noble.

Happy reading this weekend, to all you Harry Potter fans!

Pregnancy, Week 16

The weeks are seriously starting to fly by! I can't believe week 16 is almost over and am now starting week 17!

Here is a little bit from i-am-pregnant.com about what is going on in week 16:

At this point of your pregnancy, your baby is approximately 4.3 to 4.6 inches long and weighs 2.8 ounces. Not only is your baby growing, your uterus and placenta continue to grow to accommodate the growing baby inside of you! Just six weeks ago, your uterus weighed about 5 ounces. This week it now weighs 8.75 ounces! The amniotic fluid that surrounds the baby is increasing and there is about 7.5 ounces of fluid. You will easily be able to feel your uterus approximately three inches below your navel.

Five and a half inches tall and only six ounces in weight. The child can grasp with his hands, kick, or even somersault. At this time, your baby is holding her head erect. Because her muscles are developing, she can make some faces now. Your baby is able to squint, frown and open its mouth. There is enough calcium in the bones that they will show up on an x-ray. Your baby's fingernails are well formed now and the legs are longer than the arms. Because your baby is moving well now, you may begin to feel his movements! Some women say that the early movements feel like gas bubbles or a slight flutter. If you have not yet felt the baby move, don't worry. Fetal movements are usually felt between the 16th and 20th week of pregnancy. You may feel your heart beating 'louder'. This is because there is a lot more blood in your body than normal. (about 20-25% more

This week for me has been a week of worries. For a few days I had been feeling the baby move, and move on a regular basis. Then the next day I didn't feel anything. I started to worry about it right before I went to bed that night, and of course had to be woken up in the morning by a terrible dream. At about 6 am I was on the computer searching to see if it was normal to feel the baby move and then not move all of the sudden, or at least not be able to feel it. I was reassured that it was completely normal, and not feeling the movement is only a concern as your pregnancy progresses.
I was happy to be feeling the movements again later the next day. They have been sporadic since then, but at least not nonexistent.

When I was up on the computer that morning, I think I got a very small feeling of what it is like to be a concerned or worried mother. I haven't even met my baby yet, and already I am worrying about it. I guess I have a lifetime of that ahead of me.

Well besides this episode and the whole registry issue (See previous post entitled Overwhelmed) things have been good. I am still feeling good, and am noticing my belly slowly but surely getting larger and larger. If I am wearing a t-shirt it is still hard to tell, but if I wear anything else you definitely know I am prego. Here's to a good "Week 17!"

Overwhelmed

I went into Babies "R" Us today, to start registering for a few things. It was nice at first, they sit you down and explain how everything works, how to use the scanner, where everything is, and they give you a list (For first time parents) of things you will be needing to register for. I'm thinking OK this should be good, and quick.....well nothing with me is quick, but at least this should be painless right?

WRONG!!! I got started, and then my mind just went all over the place! There was so much stuff on that list! This list had everything down to cotton swabs......I repeat, COTTON SWABS.....I don't think it would have ever crossed my mind to make sure I had cotton swabs handy? So then I start thinking, maybe I'm not cut out for this whole motherhood thing. I mean, I don't know how much of something to get, do I need to register for this now if I won't need it for 6 more months, do I need outlet covers if the baby won't be walking the first day they are home? I think I walked around the store about 6 times running back to scan stuff I forgot, or had decided against it the first time around and changed my mind about 15 minutes later.

Do you think I could just hire someone to buy all of this for me, and just make sure everything looks cute in the nursery........do people like that exist? I know I have about 5 months left, but all the sudden it seems so urgent to get this all done now, and RIGHT NOW!

I am sure some of you out there understand right? Or am I in a land of my own? If anybody would like to leave helpful tips or comments on this post, they are more than welcome! I am hoping this craziness will soon pass, at least until the baby arrives, then I am sure there will be a whole new level of crazy in this house!

Pregnancy, Week 15

I decided to start a blogging journal to keep track of all the changes and things going on in the pregnancy. I also wanted to have something to look back on many years from now and remember what my first pregnancy was like.
The baby at 15 weeks

So here I am at week 15 almost 16. Here is some info from i-am-pregnant.com as to what is going on in week 15:

Dates and numbers: There are 168 days until your due date on December 24, 2007. You are 112 days pregnant. You are 3.7 months pregnant. You are in your 4th month of pregnancy.
Your 1st trimester: March 19, 2007 to June 17, 2007. (0 - 12 weeks) Your 2nd trimester: June 18, 2007 to September 30, 2007. (13 - 27 weeks) Your 3rd trimester: October 01, 2007 to December 24, 2007. (28 - 40 weeks)

Your baby's crown-to-rump length is approximately 4 inches and she now weighs approximately 1.75 ounces. Your baby is close to the size of a softball and you can easily tell that you are pregnant now! If you wear maternity clothes or a swimming suit, other people will be able to tell that you are pregnant also. You can probably feel your uterus about three to four inches below your bellybutton.

Your baby is growing at an amazing rate and looking more like a human every day. Because your baby's skin is so thin, you are able to see blood vessels through the skin. Lanugo hair covers your baby's body, but it will be gone when your baby is born. The hair on the eyebrows and head continues to grow. Some babies are born with little or no hair and others have a head full of hair! If you have an ultrasound at this point, you might be able to see your baby sucking its thumb. Even though the eyes continue to move to the front of the face, they are still widely separated. Your baby's ears look like normal ears and continue to develop externally. The bones that have already formed continue to get harder and retain calcium. The baby is very mobile and flexible at this point. She can bend her arms at the elbows and wrists and she can also make a fist with her hands.

I think the fact that I am HAVING A BABY has finally registered. It's weird for the first few months, because you know you're pregnant, but you don't look it. You just feel sick and icky, and you know why, but it doesn't seem real. There's no belly or ultrasound to look at to prove your pregnant, just a pregnancy test. Now that I am starting to show, it is really starting to feel real. I also swear I am starting to feel the baby move around a bit. I just get these weird flutters in my lower abdomen, who knows if that what it really is, but that is what I like to imagine, it makes me feel like I really do have this life growing inside of me.

I felt really sick the first 12 weeks or so of being pregnant. I was lucky I was not hovering over the toilet at all, I just felt really nauseous. I also had this awful taste in my mouth all the time! It would never go away not matter what I did, so food just tasted bad. The only thing that remotely sounded good to me was fruit, so I pretty much lived off that for weeks. Then one day about my 13th week or so, it went away! The only thing I deal with now really is exhaustion. I feel really good overall, and feel very fortunate that so far things have been pretty smooth sailing.

I have noticed this last week that my appetite has started to increase. I haven't noticed any strange cravings, just some that are not really normal for me. I have been wanting chocolate, which is not normally something I like. Also, spicy food, I do like spicy food, but it's almost like my tolerance for spicy food has increased, and it always sounds good. I would have to say however the strangest thing yet was that I ate a hamburger! I don't do red meat, especially hamburger! We went to Red Robin one day, and for some reason I decided I wanted to try a hamburger because it sounded good. Andy said, "Are you serious?" Well I was, I ordered it, and the amazing thing was that I LIKED it! Haven't had that craving again, but that hamburger was sure tasty!

We have an appointment the last week of this month for an ultrasound to find out the sex of the baby. I honestly have no preference whether we have a boy or a girl. Andy however, will profess to the world that we are having a boy, and because of his family genes we will never produce a girl. So because of that, I think I am secretly rooting for a girl. If you will notice I have a poll at the top of the blog to vote for whether you think we will be having a boy or a girl. EVERYONE VOTE FOR A GIRL!

We are both getting more and more excited about our soon to be baby. We constantly talk about what or who it will look like, will it have hair, and when can we find out what we are having so we can at least say "Him" or "Her" and not "It." I am very lucky to have such a wonderful husband going through this with me. He has been really good at listening to my gripes and complaints, and even helps satisfy my appetite by going to Dairy Queen to get me Peanut Buster Parfaits when I ask him to........seriously those are so good, and I am not quite sure how I ever lived without them before! :o)

The Truth is Inside

Yesterday (July 6th) I went to one of my good friends birthday party. I met Chelei at the University of Phoenix a few years back now, and we very quickly became friends. Chelei is one of the funniest and sweetest people I know, and I just love her.

We celebrated her birthday at a world wine bar called Kazimierz. It was a really neat place that had comfy couches and chairs to sit in and great food like Egyptian flat bread pizzas, and cheese and chocolate fondue. The decor was fun as well, very international and old world style, with their current theme being "Christmas in July" which included everything from a Christmas tree, Christmas lights, and even stockings! Kazimierz is meant to replicate a 1920's style speakeasy with the entrance being in the back of the building. There are no real windows, so the lighting is mostly candlelight, and above the entrance in the back is a single sign above the door that reads "The Truth is Inside." See picture below.

In the picture above Chelei is four people to my left, with the pink shirt on. We had a great time at the party. Lot's of good conversation and food, I think I almost needed to be rolled out of the building I was so full. As my good friend Nicole stated as we were eating "Gosh Naomi, you are like a garbage disposal tonight!" Thanks Nicole, love ya! :o) I am pregnant people remember? That food probably help me create part of an eyebrow or something last night! :o) In the picture above Nicole is two people to my left.

Anyhow, Happy Birthday Chelei! Love ya, and hope you had a fabulous day!

The Rump

For those of you who really know me you will understand how impressive this picture really is.

I made my first roast!

I am not much of a red meat eater, never have been. My repertoire consists of chicken, seafood, and more chicken. Usually when Andy asks what we're having for dinner he'll say "Are we having chicken or chicken?"

I started to feel guilty about not cooking red meat enough, and I was also worried that he might soon start to sprout feathers and cluck in his sleep. Hence, the picture to document my first attempt at cooking a roast. I found a good recipe for the crock-pot and tried it out. It was actually pretty good, and Andy enjoyed it which of course was most important. I forgot to take a picture after it was fully cooked, but I am sure you can all tell by this beautiful picture that it was a roast masterpiece! :o)

Independence

In the truest sense, freedom cannot be bestowed; it must be achieved. ~Roosevelt

It is easy to take liberty for granted, when you have never had it taken from you. ~Dick Cheney

This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave. ~Elmer Davis

Freedom is never free. ~Author Unknown

As we Americans celebrate this Independence Day, let us remember the fallen soldiers, and the soldiers still fighting for us, and this country so that we may be free.

We have the bravest soldiers in the world, and I want to thank all of the men and women in the Armed Forces for their service, and for continually fighting for our freedoms.

Andy.....The Old Geezer

On the 23rd of June we celebrated Andy's 27th birthday. Well we really had two celebrations. On the 23rd (his real birthday) we just stayed at home and relaxed together. I decorated the house, made dinner, and I attempted to make an ice cream cake. The cake tasted really good, it just didn't look at that appetizing....pretty much it just fell apart.

On the 24th, we then went to one of Andy's friend's houses from work to celebrate. It was fun, we had a BBQ, and played card games, and just stayed up chatting all night.

I unfortunately wasn't very good at taking pictures of all of the events, I just have these few when he first walked into the house on his birthday. He loves cotton candy, so of course I had to buy him a bag, and he of course dug right in.

Our Yard After

So here is what our yard looks like after. The sod company delivered the sod first thing Friday morning, and we started laying the sod Friday night around 7pm and finished around 11pm. The sod arrived on these pallets you see below, and I swear each weighed 100lbs.....so I allowed Andy to do most of the heavy lifting(I just reminded him I am pregnant, it's the best excuse to get out of many, many things!), and I cut and placed the sod. So after laying all of that sod, as you will notice in the last picture, we were one piece short, which was frustrating. We are hoping to get a piece this week from the sod company. Andy even thought he ordered extra, but I guess we needed just a tad bit more.

I would just like to note here as well, that we finished the sprinklers the last weekend of March, we just laid the sod the last weekend of June.......that pretty much sums us up....PROCRASTINATORS. All we needed to do after the sprinklers was level out the yard, and instead of doing that in March or April when we were still in double digits, we of course had to wait until the last week of June when we were having triple digits to lay the sod. I mean what fun would it have been to get it done months ago......it's much better to wait until the last minute I always say.

Anyhow, we were pretty proud of ourselves for finally feeling like we accomplished something, and the yard is looking pretty good too. Hopefully in a few weeks, it will all take, and the grass will be nice and green.

Our Yard Before

About 4 months ago, we started the process of laying sod in our yard. The first step of course was to put in a sprinkler system (We don't exactally live in Washington.) So Andy's parents came down one weekend and we put in the sprinkler system. Before they got here we had shoveled all the rocks out of the front yard and pulled some unsightly bushes and shrubs that were cluttering up the front yard. It took about 2 days to get all of this done, and the men did a mighty fine job. Here are a few pics of the weekend adventure.