19-20 weeks

Last weekend we met Nick and Marie in Austin for the Austin City Limits Music Festival. We heard some great music, had some delicious food, and enjoyed the balmy 91 degree weather, (past ACL Fests that we've been to have reached 108 degrees). And was super excited to see that one of my favorite artists, Erykah Badu, was sporting a pregnant belly. And she still got up on that stage and worked it.

As Long as We're Being Crude...

Let's play create a caption! Who can come up with the best caption for the above picture? Get that creativity pumping.

Bad Vibrations

So Nick's been staying with us through the duration and the aftermath of Hurricane Ike, and I'm very happy to spend time with him during the pregnancy. He seems to be enjoying the changes and the quirks in my attitude and behavior. But more than that I've been enjoying paying him back for all of his gag-inducing Valenta gas. This pregnancy gas is deadly, good god, I definitely feel something moving...and I don't think it's baby.

I'm thinking I may need to invest in a gas mask for Travis.

17 Weeks

We've reached the 17 week mark and everything is going well. I had my last doctor's appointment on Friday the 12th and got to hear the heartbeat. I have to admit that I was a little nervous because I go a month between each visit and I often wonder if all is okay because it's too early to feel movement. So when you hear the heartbeat loud and clear it's a relief and it brings a big silly smile to my face. My doctor said I could start feeling movement soon and we scheduled an ultrasound for October 3rd at 4:30 p.m. As long as the kid cooperates we should be able to find out the sex at that point. My belly's starting to grow, I'm too big for my breeches now, and still too small for maternity, so finding something to wear everyday is definitely an exercise in creativity. Apparently I've gained six pounds and I guess that's okay, all my doctor said upon examining my belly was that it looked like I was growing well.

I've been feeling great though, and I'm still not getting any weird cravings yet, except for milk maybe, I've been wanting to drink several glasses a day. So I guess if I'm going to have one, that's a good craving to have.

According to babycenter.com our baby weighs about 5 ounces this week -- about as much as a turnip. (Length: 5 inches, head to bottom.)

A Modern Nursery

We've chosen the color palette for the nursery, it will be the same whether it's boy or a girl. We're going to use peacock hues...like the image to the left. I'd like to find a fabric similar to the Ikat in the middle swatch, but with a little more whimsy to make it kid friendly, maybe something with bugs or animals. The color of the walls will be Sherwin Williams Intense Teal, (at right). And when we paint the walls we'll leave big white animal silhouettes walking around the baseboards.

We've been looking at nursery furniture too, we know we want something with modern lines and we'd like to have a 4-in-1 lifetime crib, one that will convert into a full size bed eventually. The modern cribs start to get a little pricey, so we haven't quite made up our minds yet. The one that we found at Babys'R'Us is by Baby Cache, and it gets great reviews, however they're so popular that apparently the manufacturer can't keep up with the demand. Babys'R'Us has a few others we like and Wal-Mart and Target do too, but they all seem to be 3-in-1 convertibles, not capable of becoming an actual bed. We're still shopping, let us know if any of you come across anything you think we might like.

Hot Cheetos with Cheese

Nick and Marie encourage my craving for Flaming Hot Cheetos by introducing me to an El Paso delicacy...Flaming Hot Cheetos with Queso on top. Mmmmm tasty.

Second Time Around

I'm sure everyone that reads this blog knows that our last pregnancy ended in a miscarriage right at three months. We were both pretty saddened by the event given that we were finally getting comfortable with the pregnancy and with the idea of adding a child to our family. It took us a little while to come to terms with it, and honestly the complete avalanche of hormonal changes that followed certainly made it harder for me. But my doctor was great through the whole thing and she reassured us that one miscarriage didn't necessarily mean that anything was wrong, that they just happen, quite often actually, and most of the time we have no idea why. I was amazed with how many people, from old friends to my anesthesiologist, came forward to tell me that they had gone through the same thing and that they tried again later on and were successful.

So several months passed and just as we started moving into our first house I started feeling much more tired than I should and voraciously hungry again...the same symptoms that I experienced with my first pregnancy. One night as I was complaining about being too tired to eat and too hungry to go to bed, and Travis turned and looked me square in the face and said, "You are so pregnant." And I was like, yeah, I so am!

So I scheduled an appointment with my doctor, whom I'm still CRAZY about, we had our first sonogram before 3 months--everything checked out, and here we are today. A full four months into it, and I've got to say that I'm feeling really good. The lethargy passed with the first trimester and with the exception of feeling a little thick in the middle, I feel like my old self.

Our last appointment was at the beginning of August and we got to hear the heartbeat. Travis summed it up nicely saying that it sounded like someone chomping on cookies. I remain constantly concerned about the development, and though I wish I could have more checkups and sonograms, I'm trying really hard not to worry myself.

Our due date is tentatively February 17th, 2009. And I'll be sure and update this with as many pictures as I can. We're both so grateful for all the support from our friends and family!