If you think its easy to walk into a store and pick out the perfect stroller, car seat, crib, etc. - you are wrong! There is an overwhelming amount of options and just when you think you've narrowed down the list, you see something else popping out from the corner of your eye and bam - the list grows!
Chris and I have been checking out strollers most recently. Of course, we want one that is safe, reliable, easy to use and Chris wants an "off-roader". He wants to be able to take the baby on adventures in the park and not have to be tied down to stick to silly paved roads.
We know that there is no need to go overboard on the baby stuff, especially before the baby is even born, but I dare you to walk through Babies 'R' Us and not want to grab every little boot and bib that is on the shelf! They are just so freaking cute!
I've been waiting for it and it seems as though I've officially "popped"! Depending on the day, my belly seems to be more or less noticeable but last night when I was getting ready for Zumba, I looked down and there was my belly!
We went in this morning for our long-awaited 20 week check-up and are happy to announce that everything is perfect and the baby is looking beautiful! We started with an ultrasound and for about 30 minutes, we looked at different angles of the baby, checking and measuring and saying hello. The ultrasound tech said that the baby was in the perfect position for pictures and I told her it's because we gave Blueberry a pep-talk last night to smile pretty. As you can see, we came home with enough pictures to fill an album.
At 20 weeks, Blueberry is 12 ounces and at the 37% for weight. They told us that the baby is trending to be about 7 pounds at birth which I am totally ok with seeing that the 3 Asman kids were 8 pounds + and Chris was a 10 pounder!
During the ultrasound, we could see the baby moving around, putting its hand near its mouth at one point and then later, it looked like it was playing with its toes. I guess there isn't really so much to do in there so playing with your toes seems like a pretty fun game. Even though it was moving around a bunch, I couldn't feel anything, although I have felt flutters more and more frequently over the past few weeks. It is always exciting to feel but so fleeting and quick that I haven't been able to share the feeling with Chris yet. My books tell me that in the next few weeks, hopefully Chris will be able to feel movement in my belly too!
See the baby smiling in the picture? See its little hand and foot? Based on the measurements, this baby will follow the family trend of having big feet. The foot length and the femur length are supposed to be about the same but of course, the foot is a little bigger than normal and we are expecting to have another big-footed family member!
I am only up 2 pounds at this point and some days you can see the bump more so than others. We have another appointment in 4 weeks and I have been told that in that time, I need to work on gaining 2-4 healthy pounds. Unfortunately, that doesn't mean that I can eat guacamole and brownies for the next 4 weeks, although that does sound delicious!
So? Can you see anything? My baby bump keeps fluctuating - some days its bigger and some days its smaller. I wore a tighter exercise shirt to Zumba class last night and felt pretty big but then this morning, there is not much to show. Apparently Blueberry is a little shy this morning.
Today officially marks 20 weeks - the half way mark! This week, our reference fruit is a small cantaloupe. I don't know about you but I do not see a small cantaloupe in there. Blueberry is 6.5 inches and 10.6 ounces and hopefully growing bigger every day.
We have been listening with our stethoscope to see if we can hear heartbeats and haven't been able to yet. The heartbeat would be really faint so I'm not surprised that we can't hear anything. I am getting good at finding the dogs heartbeats though, and I think they like when I lay on their beds and listen. In my stomach, I hear swishing and feel little flutters and keep trying to share with Chris when I feel them but they are on and off and unpredictable.
We have a doctors appointment and ultrasound scheduled for Tuesday morning and this is the one I've been counting down to. It seems like such a long time ago (7 weeks) that we last saw the baby and can't wait to see what he/she looks like at this point. If the baby cooperates, we could find out the sex but I think we are going to leave that as a surprise. I keep thinking, "Well, maybe we should find out - it would be really fun - and then we can pick out the right things." but then the surprise is gone.
I will post pictures when my belly is more visible - I just know that one day soon, I will pop!
It's official - I now have a maternity wardrobe!
Mommy came in for all of 32 hours and in that time, we hit Bloomingdales, Destination Maternity and Macy's, went out for lunch, went out for dinner, did some homework, did some Amazing Journeys work and went for a walk with the dogs. It was a whirlwind visit!
Besides the maternity store, all of the other clothes we found were actually 'normal' clothes! All of the spring and summer clothes are luckily following the flowy trend so about 60% of the clothes are not specifically maternity clothes. I have a handful of clothes that I know I will be able to grow into from my existing wardrobe but now with these additions, bring on the baby bump - I'm ready! I have leggings, pants, shorts, skirts, dresses, tops and a sweater!
The clothes are really cute and now all I have to do is wait for the weather to warm up and for my bump to get a little bigger.
Thank you Mommy and Daddy for my new wardrobe!
I'd like to introduce you to Gee Gee (GG)! Grandma has made her official submission with what the baby should call her. The name is short for "Great Grandma" and could be extended to GGG for "Great Grandma Gerry" but we will keep it short and sweet.
Grandma said that "Bubbie" just didn't feel right so we told her that whatever she wanted to be called (within reason) was fine with us - and this is what she picked. We think its really cute and can't wait for baby to meet Gee Gee!
More submissions should be on their way within the next few months and suggestions are always considered. Be creative but beware - this is what the baby will grow up calling you!
