22 Weeks and a life update

I am due exactly 4 months from today--time seems to be going so fast, but also so slow at the same time...

We had our 22 weeks appointment last Wednesday--it was a quick appointment, just measuring and listening to the heartbeat. The heartbeat sounded great, but I am measuring a week or so behind where I should be. Because I am measuring small, and I have a 2 vessel umbilical cord, the doctor says I definitely need an ultrasound at my 26 week appointment to make sure the baby is continuing to grow the way he should be. The doctor says that measuring small really doesn't become a real concern until I measure small two appointments in a row. We did find out that the baby tested negative for Down's syndrome, which was another concern associated with having a 2 vessel umbilical cord. The next appointment is the 26 week appointment, so I will have the glucose test and an ultrasound done on that day.

The baby continues to be very active. I feel him kick out my sides now, and I can watch him roll around in there. If I am laying down, I can see and feel where his body is in my tummy, although I usually can't tell which end is head and which end is feet because both ends are usually moving.

Mike and I are getting closer and closer to having a name for him... I have one I like better, Mike has one he likes better, and we both like each other's name--but we just haven't decided on which one to go with yet--the names really aren't that similar at all, so it makes it even harder. We have picked out a middle name, and it goes great with both names, so we have one thing figured out.

I made my first pair of booties last week!


We have begun to get serious about buying a house this spring or summer. The original plan was to move in July when our rental lease is up, but the more we really think about it, the more we realize it would be so much easier on us to move before the baby got here.... so we have begun the financial planning and house hunting! The major setback in the whole plan is that I don't know if I have a contract for next year. To fill you in on my current job situation... I am currently considered a long term sub, and my job is dependent on the need for my position at the school. The last 2 years they have needed my position, and they are anticipating needing my position somewhere in the district next year, but because it is too early to tell what numbers will be next year, they can't guarantee, for certain, that I'll have a position next year.... and banks and mortgage lenders don't really like to hear that when you are trying to buy a house. So for now, we just need to wait a little longer for things to fall into place with my job before the bank will go forward... and Mike and I knew this was our situation before we started the house buying process, so we just want to get everything we can in order for when I do find out what my job situation will be so we can move the house buying along quicker when that time comes.

So we looked at 3 houses on Thursday night. We are looking in Nevada because it puts me a little closer to school, and the pricing is better on homes than in Ames. We really only liked one of the houses we looked at... it is at 927 C Ave., click the link to see it. It has lots of pros, like a huge yard, newer carpet/flooring, huge kitchen, open living/dining area, lots of remodel potential upstairs, and a much lower price than we planned for... but some cons too, like no garage, a one lane driveway, one bathroom, smaller bedrooms with small closets... We have picked out 5 other houses to look at in the near future, just to keep our options open and see what's out there.


Mike is back at DMACC finishing up classes for his AA. He has just 2 classes left and will be done in May. He is doing one online, and one 6-9 on Tuesdays in Ankeny.

My job is going great! This is a wonderful time of year to be in Kindergarten because everything seems to really take off. We spend the first semester setting the base and getting the kids ready for reading and writing, and then after Christmas we really start to see things happen--the kids start seeing themselves as readers and writers, they gain more confidence, they start using their skills to figure things out on their own and become more independent, and it truly is awesome to watch!


In cat news, Charles is getting fatter. The last time I weighed him he was 17 lbs, and he is now up to 18.5 lbs....

20 Weeks

We are halfway there! The baby is very active lately--and he's getting bigger!! I can see his kicks low on my tummy one second and then right by my belly button the next, so he is definitely growing.

Our Baby Boy!!

Wednesday we had our first ultrasound!! Mike and I were so excited to finally get to see our baby... we'd heard the heartbeat, we'd felt it move, but it was something completely different and amazing to finally get to see the baby!!

We told the ultrasound technician that we definitely wanted to know the sex of the baby--so that was one of the first things we did!! The tech moved her wand around a bit, and then confirmed what Mike and I already thought--we are having a BOY!! (I did ask if she's ever been wrong... you know, just in case... and she said she hasn't been wrong in over 20 years... so yeah, we're definitely having a boy) Here's our proof ;)

Side view of the baby--the five white dots above his tummy are his fingertips.
His little foot.... and yes, I counted, there are 5 little toes :)
More pictures of our little boy :)

The tech said that he is measuring exactly for his due date!! He weighed 7 ounces as of last Wednesday. We had an appointment with Dr. Leeds after our ultrasound to measure my tummy and discuss the ultrasound. I am measuring right where I should be and everything on the baby came back completely normal and healthy. The only concern that he has is that I have a 2 vessel umbilical cord. He said that "historically" 2 vessel umbilical cords are associated with profound birth defects 1/3 of the time (which we have no signs of), and 2/3 of the time the baby is normal and healthy--he says everything appears to be completely healthy, so we're praying he's a healthy baby. He does want to do another ultrasound at 24 weeks to make sure that the baby is continuing to grow the way he should because sometimes the 2 vessel cord can cause growth restriction. But Dr. Leeds did not seem worried about the umbilical cord and our baby's health at all, so I am trying not to worry and just let our baby grow. I googled 2 vessel umbilical cord and scared myself to tears, but I keep reminding myself that my baby has no signs of any abnormalities and is perfectly healthy and right on target for size, so I'm learning not to worry the best I can. His kicks certainly feel strong and healthy :)

Christmas Break

We had a very busy Christmas break! Here's what we did!

On Thursday night, Mike and I stayed home and spent an evening together. We exchanged stockings--Mike's stocking stuffers fit in his stocking, my stocking stuffer is in the big box underneath--he got me the game Puerto Rico, which we got a chance to play with Crystal and Nate when we got to my parent's house.




The cats had a very merry Christmas--they got the stuffing and box that my Puerto Rico game came in, and they loved it--they still play with it almost 2 weeks later!


Friday morning before we left for Harlan, Mike got a chance to use his new Christmas present, the snow blower.

Friday afternoon we drove to Harlan. The roads were yucky until a little past Des Moines, but they were pretty clear beyond that. On Friday night, we had French Dips for dinner, and then Nate's parents came over for the revealing of Crystal and Nate's baby's sex. They will be having another BOY!!

On Christmas morning, we opened our presents. My mom and dad got us a Pack-n-Play and lots of baby items, like bottles, swaddles, and toys. Mike also got a fancy golf club. Ashton had lots of fun using the Pack-n-Play box as a slide.




Before the Schneider family came over for lunch, Mike and Ashton went for a walk to take some things out to the car--I think this picture is absolutely adorable!

Ashton also LOVED watching 24 hours of A Christmas Story!!

He's such a ham!


Mike and I got Ashton a train set--which he loved!! He kept saying, "WOW!"











Crystal and Nate got my mom a wireless mouse for her laptop--Here's Nate teaching her how to use it.

We spent Christmas night at my parents, and then came to Ames on Sunday. We had lunch at Great Plains with Pat, Maggie, and Josh, and then we went out for dinner and drinks at Old Chicago with Huston, Lekwa, Ian, Lisa, and Josh that night.

Monday morning we left for Clear Lake. We had dinner at Grandma Phyllis's house--she gave us some of the blankets she made for Mike when he was a baby for us to use with our new baby.



That afternoon we went back to Tim and Sue's to open presents and visit with Dale. We got a new mini camera--the Sony Blogger. I am trying to see if I can upload some videos--we'll see how this learning adventure goes.



We spent Monday night in Clear Lake and came back Tuesday so we could clean the house, and Mike could play Halo with Huston and Lekwa.

Wednesday was a big day for us--we had our ultrasound and got to see our baby boy! I will blog more about that in another post. In the afternoon on Wednesday I had a dreaded dentist appointment--I had a scheduled cleaning followed by getting 3 cavities filled, I was there for 2 1/2 hours... it was not fun.

Thursday was much more fun--Mike and I registered for our baby boy!! It was fun to finally get to pick out some things for our baby (we are registered at Target and amazon.com for those who are interested :).

Thursday afternoon we took my car to get new tires--whoo hoo--Mike was way more excited about it than me ;). After dropping off my car, we went to Soren and Amy's to hang out for the afternoon with them, Huston ,and Ada. We had some Hickory Park take-out, played with Ada, and then played some Carcassone.

Friday Mike and I finally had a day where we stayed home--it was AMAZING! I love seeing all our family and friends, but I was ready for a day at home. We finally got around to cleaning the house, and Mike got to play video games and I took a 3 hour nap :) For New Years Eve we stayed home, Mike made steak fajitas, and we played Boom Blox on Wii.

Saturday my parents came to town to exchange Ashton with Crystal and Nate (Ashton had been in Harlan for the last week) We went to lunch at "that really good soup place" as my dad calls it (He's talking about Panera ;) ) My parents left Ashton with us for a few hours while we waited for Crystal and Nate to pick him up. We had all kinds of fun playing with cat toys, jumping on the bed, watching Thomas. I also had to change a poopy diaper (I only gagged once--pretty good for me :).


Sunday was our last day of break :( On Sunday morning I discovered that I can see the baby kick me from the outside because he makes little bumps and punches that rise out of my tummy. We went to lunch at Bruce and Maurene's. Mike started digging through all his old kid stuff because he was looking for a certain blanket, which we never did end up finding... We did, however, find all kinds of fun things from Mike's childhood, like Micromachines, transformers, GI Joes, BattleTech cards and books, and lots of fun pictures... including Lekwa pretending to be hit by a car, and a picture of Mike's 6th grade girlfriend--on the back she wrote, "I love you!"--I thought it was pretty hilarious!

So that's how busy our break was! It went way too fast!