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Another New Beginning

Today marks the start of my 2nd Trimester. WHOOO HOOOO! I'm really excited to start this new chapter in my pregnancy. This trimester, we will get to find out if we're having a boy or a girl, and we're super excited about that. We already have names picked out...Harrison Glen for a boy, and Riley (still working on a middle name) for a girl.

Also this trimester, we will get to see my belly start to grow, and as crazy as it sounds, I'm ready for it! It's so hard being at this in between stage...I feel like people look at me and question if I'm just heavier or if I'm pregnant. Jeff and I are definitely seeing a very small little bump, but underneath clothes, you can't really tell.

I've been receiving weekly e-mail updates from BabyCenter, which is the coolest website ever for moms. It gives me a weekly peek at what is going on with our little one, and I have to say that I look so forward to that e-mail every Sunday.

Listen to this...
This week your baby is 14 weeks along, and can now squint, frown, grimace, pee, and possibly suck his thumb! Thanks to brain impulses, his facial muscles are getting a workout as his tiny features form one expression after another. His kidneys are producing urine, which he releases into the amniotic fluid around him — a process he'll keep up until birth. He can grasp, too, and if you're having an ultrasound now, you may even catch him sucking his thumb.

In other news: Your baby's stretching out. From head to bottom, he measures 3 1/2 inches - the size of a lemon - and he weighs 1 1/2 ounces. His body's growing faster than his head, which now sits upon a more distinct neck. By the end of this week, his arms will have grown to a length that's in proportion to the rest of his body. (His legs still have some lengthening to do.) He's starting to develop an ultra-fine, downy covering of hair, called lanugo, all over his body. Your baby's liver starts making bile this week — a sign that it's doing its job right — and his spleen starts helping in the production of red blood cells. Though you can't feel his tiny punches and kicks yet, your little pugilist's hands and feet (which now measure about 1/2 inch long) are more flexible and active.

Well, I just don't know what to say after that other than WOW! God and His love are so amazing, and I am so thankful that He has blessed us with this baby. We can't wait to meet him/her!

Chores

I don't think I know anyone that enjoys doing chores (except for maybe my mama)! Jeff and I spent the better part of the day doing chores. It always feels so good when they're done, but when you're up to your head in things to do, it's no fun!

Here is all the stuff we did today...and we're not finished with the list of things I wanted to get done:

• Sweep
• Dust
• Mop
• Vaccuum
• Clean Bathrooms
• Change Bed Linens
• Laundry (all 6 loads...I'm a total slacker to have let it get to that!)
• Clean out closets in spare bedrooms (we managed to get one completely cleaned out, but we have junk everywhere; the other closet is still in process)
• Paint Baseboards (Jeff is doing this and finished the foyer, kitchen, and our bathroom...he still has the living room, dining room, hallway, and guest bathroom to finish)

Now, here are the other things I wanted to get done today, but they'll have to wait until next weekend:

• Move office "stuff" (we're moving our office to the other room as we start to prepare for this little baby to get here...the room that is our office now will be the baby's room, and the guest room will double as our office)
• Pack clothes (as my mid-section and belly are beginning to expand, I am not able to wear many of my clothes; so, in order to make room for the preggo clothes that I'm getting, I need to temporarily pack up and store some of my pre-preggo clothes)
• Purchase sleeper sofa (we found a great leather sleeper sofa that we will be getting to go into the room that will be the office/guest room so that when we do have guests, they have a place to sleep)

Well, now that I wrote that out, it doesn't seem like it's a full day of chores...but it was! We started at 10 and didn't get finished until close to 5. We'll wrap up the baseboard painting and start on the other list next weekend.

Tomorrow, we're going to church and then to cheer on our UCF Knights cheer team and dance squad in the UCA National Cheer & Dance Competition at Disney's Wide World of Sports.

First OB Visit

I had my first OB visit on Monday. It was exciting; I got to meet the midwife, and she was awesome. I have to say that I was very nervous about having a midwife/nurse practitioner as my "doctor," but after meeting her, I love her! Of course, I'll meet the three doctors that are in the practice later in the pregnancy because we have no way of knowing who will be on call when this precious little angel decides to make his/her grand entrance into our lives.

Anyway, after the "not fun" part of the visit, she got the Doppler Stethoscope so we could hear the little heartbeat. IT WAS SO AWESOME!! It was at 160 beats per minute this time (when we had our last ultrasound, it was at 169). I was disappointed that I didn't have my phone handy so that I could record the awesomeness that was my baby's heartbeat...next time!

Well, overall, I got a good report. I have gained 8 lbs., which is a little more than what they would like to see, but hopefully, I'll do better this next month. Of course, she said they really don't want me to gain more than 30 lbs.; and thinking that I've already almost gained 1/3 of that scares me since they say in the last 6-8 weeks I'll gain a lot...oh well, we'll see.

She did preach to me about walking at least 3 times/week for a brisk 30 minutes. I've not been great about exercising since, oh, about 8 months ago. I've been so bad...not motivated to exercise (even before I got pregnant). However, today I went for a 45 minute walk, and it felt really good (even though it was cold outside...I had on two pair of socks, two pair of pants, and two shirts).

I go back for my next check-up on February 1, so I'll have another baby update then!

~S~

Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year...welcome 2010.

It is so hard to believe that last night we said goodbye to the first decade of the 21st century. So much has changed in my life in the past 10 years...

I won't go into all the things that have changed in the last 10 years, I'll just say that I'm thankful for the changes and happy to welcome 2010!! I'm thankful for a wonderful husband who I love and adore, and thankful that he feels the same!!

This year, we will welcome our first baby into this world, and I pray everyday that God will prepare us to be the parents that He wants us to be! I guess it's probably normal to fret about the what, how, when, if, etc. when you think about having a baby, but I just have to remind myself that God is in control, and His perfect plan will play out exactly as it is supposed to.

Happy 2010!!!