Mia's Birthday & Nursery Paint

Our niece Mia turned 3 Thursday, so we celebrated last night with one of her favorite pastimes - bowling. It was quite entertaining - she definitely had fun!

Here are some other pictures from last night.

This is this nifty rack thing they have at the new bowling alley by our house - all she has to do is put the bowl up there and push and she gets pins down every time. Beats the old-fashioned way when it took 5 minutes just for the ball to get down the alley when a kiddo is bowling.
Baby Lily - 8 months old:Action shot of Taylor bowling:
Paige & Lily:
We also had a huge accomplishment today - we painted the nursery - finally! It's taupe and turned out just how I wanted it. It feels so good to have that finished - now we're ready for the furniture to arrive, which should be sometime in the next few weeks. I also bought the glider and ottoman today, so I'll post pictures of those after Jason picks them up, hopefully in the next couple of days.We go back to the doctor tomorrow for another ultrasound, so hopefully we'll get some good pictures of Fletch! I'll post as soon as I can get them scanned.

Two Exciting Things!

1. Jason felt Fletch move for the first time last night - finally!! He's been waiting for this day for months! The kicks (or punches or whatever they are) are getting stronger and stronger!

2. My coworkers were very sneaky and surprised me last night at a "yay we're finished with the second quarter" celebration with the hard-to-find infant car seat and super deluxe stroller that I so desperately wanted. They are so awesome (and apparently very good listeners when I was researching and complaining about the pattern being discontinued, etc.). I'm so excited - I came home last night and immediately got the car seat out, and I put the stroller together this morning. Now they will just sit and wait, but at least I can look at them whenever I want!! Here are some pictures:

Belly - 22 Weeks

Here's my current belly - I will be 22 weeks along as of tomorrow. It's getting bigger and bigger, that's for sure!I am still feeling great, other than the occasional headaches, which unfortunately have sometimes been debilitating like the one I had this past Sunday. My newest ailment is heartburn - I have been waking up nightly for the past week with raging heartburn, and man, it is not fun. Luckily, I learned after the first 3 nights of getting up to get the Tums and they are now placed strategically on my nightstand. Yes, I realize that it is pathetic that it took me 3 nights of getting out of bed to come to that solution. Other than these two complaints, life is good!

We ordered the baby's furniture a few weeks ago, so that was an exciting thing to check off the to do list. Here's the picture from the website. I'll post a better picture when it arrives, which should be another 4 weeks or so.

Turf Perfect is going full time!!!

As most of you know, Jason started his own business late last summer. As it turns out, the business has grown to the point where he will be stepping away from his full time job at Anheuser Busch in order to focus solely on lawn care & landscaping. His last official day will be Friday, April 10th, although he'll most likely continue on a part time basis through the end of the month as they attempt to find a replacement.

(!!!Shameless plug Alert!!!) If you or anyone you know has lawn care or landscaping needs, Jason would love for you to consider Turf Perfect.

Jason Clayton

(314)402-3753

turfperfect@gmail.com

ad on Craig's List.

Halfway There!

I am officially 20 weeks along as of today, which is halfway. I feel great! My belly is continuing to grow and we're going to look at furniture for the nursery Sunday. I bought the paint for the walls, so I just need to find the time to get the paint on the walls. Things are coming along!

Here is a new belly picture - thanks to my photographer Melissa!!

Pictures from Ultrasound 4

At long last, here are the three pictures we got last week at our ultrasound:

Ultrasound #4

We had our "big" ultrasound Monday where they do all the tests and measurements. Everything went well, except the technician couldn't do certain measurements on the heart or face because of the baby's position. We'll have those tests done next time we go on April 20th - they say this is common.

Anyway, the baby currently weighs 9 ounces and is head down, which doesn't mean much since there is so much time left. My due date registered as August 11 this time, but since the other three ultrasounds said August 13, August 14 and August 13, my doctor finalized the due date as August 13.

The heartbeat is 154, which the doctor says is "still a chick heartbeat."

We got a few new pictures, but they are close-ups of the legs, arms and spine. I will add them to this post as soon as I can get them scanned in.

I am 19 weeks tomorrow, so it's probably time for another belly picture. Hopefully this weekend.

In Between

I feel like I am completely in between right now. I am down to two pairs of work pants and zero jeans that fit me. My sweaters still fit for the most part, but when we had that touch of spring last weekend and early this week, I discovered that very few of my regular shirts fit me. I bought quite a few maternity shirts last weekend, but I feel funny wearing them - like I'm a barely pregnant woman wearing big maternity clothes. But what other option is there? I'd rather wear roomy clothes than try to squeeze into regular ones and be uncomfortable all day. What a conundrum!

My big ultrasound is Monday - I'll post Monday night or Tuesday.

Belly - 17 Weeks

I decided it's time to start the belly pictures. It's still pretty small, but it is an undeniably pregnant belly now, so let the photos begin.

AFP Test

I just realized I never posted a follow-up to Ultrasound #3b regarding the results of my blood test, which I later discovered is called an AFP (alphafetaprotein) screening test. The test came back negative! No Down's syndrome or Spinal Bifida for Fletch.

Yay!