29 Weeks

Here are some pictures of our little guy from the ultrasound I had today. The first ones show his face and the second are profile shots. The face ones look a little weird because the umbilical cord was floating in front of his face, especially in front of his eyes. I think he's pretty cute, but of course I'm biased :) I could see him making faces and moving around in there, so cool!

They estimated him weighing about 3.7 lbs right now, which puts him in the 67th percentile. So he's just a tad bigger than the average. He has a pretty large head though.... I blame Wally...

I've been feeling pretty good. Finding a comfortable sleeping position at night has been a little difficult and my sciatica has come back, but not nearly as bad as it was early on. I'm trying to stay active and keep up my exercise routine, but finding that I get tired more easily now. Other than that, I don't have much to complain about, I'm actually really enjoying being pregnant! I love feeling the baby kick and punch, even if it keeps me up at night sometimes :)

Below are a few pics from my shower at Maureen's house this past Saturday, including a belly pic! (I know, I'm way overdue for one.)

Nursery photos - Phase I

Well, its still a work in progress, but here are some pics of the new nursery. I owe it to my Mom, Aunt Linda and Wally for the painting, thanks guys!!! I still need to add the forest animal wall decals above the crib and we are hoping to get a few more accesories to complete the room. But just thought I'd share what we've got done so far.

Trying out samples...

Gotta have the appropriate attire, LOL

Halloween Festivities

Happy Halloween! Hope you all had a fun and safe weekend.

Here's us at our friends Ray and Lynns' party on Sat night. Our costume was Wally's idea :)


The girls...




The great sorting and trading of candy. Very serious business...

It's a..................................................................

BOY!!!!!




And more importantly everything looks nice and healthy!

We are both SO EXCITED, especially Wally!! I would've been really excited either way, but I was kinda hoping it would be a boy too.

It was such an amazing experience to watch him moving and kicking around in there. He kept moving his hand toward his face like he was trying to suck his thumb - so cute!! We could even see that he had the hiccups, haha!

We're still deciding on a name... We have a few ones in mind, but we're keeping them secret until we've decided for sure. :)

Quick Update

We were supposed to find out the gender of the baby today, but unfortunately I had to reschedule our appt for next week due to having the flu (didn't want to infect any other pregnant ladies.) Don't worry everything is fine, I am on the road to recovery at this point. I came down with a fever on Sunday night and called my doctor first thing Monday morning. They gave me a prescription for Tamiflu right away since H1N1 is so rampant here in AZ and they are giving it to all pregnant women with any type of flu symptoms due to the high risk that's been associated with swine flu and pregnancy. I was feeling pretty bad on Monday and Tuesday but after a full day on the tamiflu my symptoms have been pretty mild. Wally's sick too, but so far it hasn't been too bad for him. He got the H1N1 FluMist vaccine a few days before coming down with it, so we think that he might've built up some immunity to it already.

Anyway, I've been getting plenty of rest and taking care of myself. We've been checking the baby's heartbeat with a fetal heartrate monitor and it still sounds just as strong and fast as ever. I'm not crazy about taking the tamiflu since its in Category C and wasn't recommended for pregnant women before H1N1, but I know how dangerous this flu could potentially be for me and the baby so the benefit of taking it outweighs any risk there might be. I just can't believe I caught it after being SO paranoid about getting it. I washed my hands constantly, used hand sanitizer everywhere I went.... but I suppose there's no way to fully protect yourself short of walking around in a plastic bubble.

Sorry I don't have a updated belly pic this time, just haven't felt up to it. I'll try to get one posted by the end of the week. I added another week to our gender poll, so if you haven't cast your vote yet for boy or girl there's still time!

17 weeks

Holy cow, I can't believe I'm almost half-way there!

I've been feeling great, really no complaints. And a big plus is that the weather is really starting to cool off around here, it actually feels like fall - so nice!! Which is good b/c none of my shorts fit anymore, LOL.

But I'm still wearing most of my regular clothes, thanks to the belly band and all those peasant-flowy type shirts that happen to be in style right now. I can still wear my regular jeans and work slacks using the band, and I hope it stays that way. Yeah right, like that's really going to happen - HAHA! I've bought a few maternity shirts, but they're still a little too big at this stage.

Nursery Theme

I started looking at nursery bedding as soon as I found out I was pregnant and fell in love with this "enchanted forest" theme.



Aren't I a good decorator? LOL, j/k - its just the manufacturer's pic... I love the little forest animals, it reminds me of all the forest characters from Bambi, Sleeping Beauty and Snow White. I originally looked for something like that from Disney, but the only thing they make is Mickey and Winnie the Pooh stuff. I also like that its gender-neutral, although we have decided to find that out at our next ultrasound in a couple of weeks. So stay tuned... :)

We also found a rocker/glider last weekend that was on sale for a really low price at Burlington Coat Factory, so we grabbed it. The color of it is fern, so it will go perfect (I hope) with the forest bedding. Right now its in our room, since we haven't converted the guest room yet and there isn't enough room in there for it now. Its soooo comfortable, I can't wait to rock our baby in it!

Baby's first item of clothing

I know its kinda early to be buying baby clothes just yet, but I saw this on clearance online and thought it was just too adorable to pass up. As you probably know, Wally is a HUGE A's fan and the baby is going to be born right around Spring Training. We don't know if we'll be able to make it to a game with a newborn, but at least he/she will be sporting it in spirit.

Wally wants a matching one. And no, not a matching t-shirt... he wants an actual adult-size onesie.

Update - 15 weeks (or so)

Wow! I can't believe I haven't posted anything in over a month! Didn't September just start??!! Seriously, I don't know what happened to the last 4 weeks... sorry for the lack of blogging!

I'm really loving this whole 2nd trimester phase. I know I got off pretty light with morning sickness, but the fatigue and exhaustion hit me pretty hard in the 1st tri. I actually have energy to do stuff now and no longer feel like the living dead. Getting a decent work out at the gym out is now physically possible (I said possible, making it to the gym is another thing) and I can make it through a whole day of work without having to put my head down on my desk in complete exhaustion. I do have one complaint though... my skin seems to think I'm a teenager again and I read that you shouldn't use any kind of acne face wash/cream because of something to do with the salicylic acid being bad for the baby. *Sigh*.... at least I don't have back-to-school picture day to worry about.

I had another routine doctor visit this last friday. My doc used a hand-held doppler heart monitor to read the baby's heartbeat, she said it sounds nice and healthy. Other than that, it was pretty uneventful. Oh - my doctor is pregnant too, she'll be on maternity leave when I go in for my next appt in a month. I can't remember how many other kids she has, but I really like the fact that she's a mother and actually knows how everything feels.

Our next visit will be the one where we can find out the sex. We're still undecided whether we want to find out or not. We were thinking we didn't want to find out, but now curiosity is getting the better of us. Or I should say me rather than us, Wally is much more patient than I am :) I just don't like calling the baby "it," I'd rather refer to "it" as he or she. Anyway, we'll see...

Here is my 15 week and 3 day belly pic.

Visit from Dad and 12 week belly pic

No, you didn't miss this one if you have been checking my blog and haven't seen anything new since my 11 week post. This is now a few weeks old... I started it on the date stamped but just never got around to posting it. Sorry, I've been a bad blogger!



These pictures are from when my dad came to visit us late last month. He had to come out to the Qualcomm office in Chandler for business early in the week and then decided to spend the rest of the week through Sunday with us. I love it when his company sends him out here on business, its so nice to be able to spend some extra time with him now and then.


Here's us at a Diamondbacks game.

And here are my 12 week belly pics. I tried to get my face in the shot, but that never works out well with self-taken mirror pics :)

11 weeks

We had our 1st appt with my doctor this last Friday (the other two were with a nurse practitioner and the u/s was just with a tech.) She did another u/s but we didn't get any pictures this time :( It just looked like a blob this time anyway... But she said that everything looks really good, so that's all that matters.

I've been feeling pretty good, but I think the tiredness is here to stay for a while. My appetite has seemed to have gone back to normal, more like what is was before I got pregnant. I'm still eating a little more than usual, but I haven't really had any strong cravings or food aversions. My back gives me a little pain from time to time, but its always pretty short-lived. I've been trying to work out at the gym at least twice a week, but sometimes its hard to get motivated when all I want to do is come home and take a nap :) Other than that, I guess the new thing this week is that I've been a little "on edge" lately, I have to admit.... but Wally has been very, very understanding and so far hasn't taken it too personally, LOL. I am very lucky to have such a wonderful husband :)

I also joined a meetup.com group online this week for 1st time pregnant gals living in the area, and attended my first meetup with this past Sat. We met at a cafe in a central part of Phoenix for lunch, and it was really fun! There were 6 of us, plus one newborn. It was so nice to sit around and talk with other preggos going through the same thing at the same time. Plus almost everyone there was a transplant from either another state or country, so we were all in the same boat in regards to not having many close friends or family in the area. We talked about all kinds of pregnancy and baby related things, some that might have grossed out the people around us if they happened to be listening... :) But for us it was a great way to share our common experiences and concerns about what's ahead. I can't wait for the next one!

And now for your weekly belly pic! I think its safe to say that I am definitely starting to look pregnant now. (sorry D, I'll try to include my face next time)


But my bulging tummy is nothing compared to..........

Wally's Sock Belly!!!!

He was complaining last night that he never has enough clean socks. So I searched the house for every single dirty sock I could find and washed them all, which made up almost an entire load! When they came out of the dryer, he was so happy that he stuffed them all into his shirt and called it his sock baby, hahaha! Ah, I love my husband...

I think he was feeling a little left out ;)

Posting comments

I've had a couple of people tell me that they tried to leave a comment on my last post, but weren't able to. Apparently I had my privacy settings to not allow comments without realizing it. It should be fixed now, so please comment away!! Let me know if you still have problems. Comments are most welcome and appreciated!!

10 weeks

Well, 10 weeks and a couple of days to be exact. Actually the belly pic was taken at exactly 10 weeks, trying to take a pic consistently every week.

My work slacks and jeans have gotten a little too snug for comfort, so gave in and bought the Belly Band. Its a stretchy, spanx-like material band that you wear around your waist so you can wear your pants un-buttoned underneath. Then you use a rubber band or hair-tie and loop in through the button hole and around the button to keep your pants up. I really like it, except that it kinda rides up on me while sitting at my desk. But its life-saver for now until I'm ready for real maternity pants.

Speaking of work, I told my boss and all my co-workers last Monday. All the consultants that work remotely were in town for the week and the news kinda slipped out at happy hour after work. We were all sitting by the pool at the hotel they were staying at, and the bosses had only brought beer to drink. My boss asked me what kind of beer I wanted, and I said "No thanks, I'll just have water." He gave me a funny look and said, "Well, we didn't bring water, all we have is beer.... So what kind of beer do you want?" The nervous smile on my face told him something was up, so I figured it was as good of a time as any to tell him. Actually, I'm really glad it happened that way. I felt a lot more comfortable telling him in a relaxed setting rather than sitting down with him in his office. And this way I was able to tell the entire company all at once, and everyone was really excited. Two of the consultants had just had babies in the past year, so it was nice to talk with them. I was going to wait until I was through my first trimester to tell them, but I feel so much relief now that they know. And now they know why I've been looking like I'm hungover every morning ;)

Other than that, I don't have much else to report for this week. My back has been fine, and I haven't really had any nausea to speak of. I've been very, VERY, sleepy though... Especially after a meal. Hahaha, I feel like my dad!! Now after I eat, I can barely keep my eyes open and I have to go "stretch out" as my dad would say. And I can't watch more than 15 min of a movie without passing out like he does. Like father like daughter... Good thing I don't snore like he does, LOL.

Don't Look Down!

These pictures are from mid-June when we spent the weekend with Wally's parents in Sedona.

Our hike to Devil's Bridge, a 50 foot high sandstone arc.

Wally on the way down after losing his footing while trying to take a picture from the top

And there goes Murph!!!

Note: no dogs or humans were harmed in the taking of these photos :)

Not just the two of us anymore...

.......Yep, it's true!!


Wally and I are happy to announce that we are expecting our first child on March 12, 2010!!!







We are excited beyond belief!! A little bit terrified too, our lives are going to completly change!!! But for the better of course :)






Above are the pics from we got from our first ultrasound today. We got to hear the heartbeat which was probably the best sound I've ever heard, so cool!! 180 beats per minute, which the tech said was very strong and healthy. It was so surreal to actually SEE the baby, I can't believe I have a tiny human growing inside me!


As far as pregnancy symptoms go, I feel pretty good! I had on and off nausea starting around week 5 but that's seemed to have gone away the last few days. It was never that bad anyway (never threw up) so I consider myself pretty lucky. I had a pretty painful 4 days or so two weeks ago when my sciatica flared up which made it difficult to walk and kept me up at night. But that has also gone away on its own. I guess it was just the hormones that made my hips shift around and somehow pinched my sciatic nerve. Hopefully it doesn't come back, I think I'm going to start doing yoga or something to try and keep that at bay. Other than that, I feel more tired and sleepy than normal, and I can't seem to get enough to eat! Pastrami sandwiches, potato chips and chocolate chip cookies are my idea of heaven right now. I've also been craving a lot of fruit, so it's not all bad ;)


I know I haven't been very good at maintaining this blog in the past; but now that we have lots of news to share, I'm going to try to post weekly updates on how my pregnancy is progressing. And of course belly pics! I thought I had taken one of myself right when I found out I was pregnant, but must have deleted it from my camera :( So I guess I'll just have to start with today's. Not showing too much anyways, just looks like I've had a big meal...

I am 8 weeks and 6 days pregnant. Current weight is 125 lbs.

(Don't know how long I'll keep up with the weight stat, might get kinda embarassing, haha)

Wags for Wishes

Wanted to share our experience this last Sat at Wags for Wishes, a dog charity event benefiting the Make a Wish Foundation. For those of you that don't know, we joined a frisbee dog group called PHADD (Phoenix Area Disc Dogs) a couple of weeks ago. Its been great for us and Murphy since he LOVES catching the frisbee and we think shows some real potential to becoming a real disc dog. Plus its a great way to meet new people in the area and feel like we belong to a community. And to top it off, the practices are held at the park just a couple of blocks away from our house!!

We've been to the last two PHADD Sat practices and this last Sat we attended Wags for Wishes, held in Glendale, AZ. There were a few different disc dog groups there and some of dogs were doing some pretty amazing tricks. There were three novice competitions that everyone could enter, freestyle (where you see all the cool tricks, like dogs vaulting off of the handler's back and catching the disc), distance and accurancy, and time trials. Most of our group entered the distance and accuracy, which basically you got points by throwing the frisbee and having your dog catch it as many times as you could in one minute. It was $10 to enter and you got two trys. About half of the dogs in our group participated, including Murphy. We decided that Wally should be the one to compete, since he's the better thrower and I had stage fright, lol. His first round went pretty good, he caught two throws.

Waiting for the time to start...


The second round started off even better, he was catching every throw, including a couple that got bounced off his paw and still caught it!

Then with 30 seconds still to go in the 2nd round, after an impressive catch followed by much applause, he stopped in the middle of the course, spun around a few times, and relieved himself, right in front of the crowd... and I'm not talking about no.1... (no I didn't get a pic of it, I was laughing way too hard) I guess when you gotta go, you gotta go, haha!!! In the end, we placed second to last within our group, but I'm pretty sure he won best entertainment value, judging by the roars of laughter from the audience. What a dog...

He managed to redeem himself in other events though. We had him tested for natural herding ability, and not only did he pass, but the tester said he got an A+!! It was pretty cool to see his instinct kick in, once we got into the pen and I let him off the leash, it seemed like he immediately knew what to do. I half expected him to run away scared from the sheep, haha. But she said you couldn't ask for a better dog to start with, so that might be something we'll try to get him into also.

Kinda hard to see him in this pic, he's in between the black and brown sheep..

Rounding up one that broke away from the herd...

There was also a lure course set up, which was a sort of narrow, basic agility course with this squirrel tail that was run on a fishing wire track. Murphy went CRAZY while we were waiting in line for our turn once he saw the other dogs chasing it. If you've seen how excited he gets about the dot, just imagine him even more pyshco... I don't have any pictures of that b/c my camera battery died :(

Anyway, we had a really fun day and look forward to the next dog event, there a couple coming up in the next few months.

Christmas in Arizona

We celebrated Christmas at our house this year, since I didn't have any enough vacation time to make the trip back home. So both our parents, my sistser and her husband Chris were nice enough to come out to us. My aunt Linda was planning on coming too but she had to have back surgery and wasn't able to make the drive out to AZ. We were sad she couldn't make it, but her surgery went very well and everything is healing nicely, so we're glad she didn't attempt to risk it by coming out here. Here are some pics from Christmas day...


Ginger bread house building and an intense game of chess between my dad and Wally. Wally beat him, so my dad said I was officially allowed to date him now, haha.



Another "intense" game of checkers between Maureen and Chris... Maureen smile!!!

Most of Christmas day was spent working on a puzzle... just couldn't seem to pull ourselves away from it until it was finished, talk about addicting!!

The finished masterpiece...

We tried to get Yogi dressed up and into the chrismas spirt, but I don't think he was very happy about it...

For dinner my dad cooked a whole rack of prime rib, turned out amazing, as always... The hats are from these Christmas cracker things that we opened.