Pretty in Pink

"It's" a GIRL!!! We couldn't be more excited. Of course, I'd be so excited if it were a boy but still, just knowing that "it" is a "she" is awesome!! We had an amazing appointment today. We got to see every little detail - 10 fingers and 10 toes, perfect little lips, all the right parts in all the right places and even the blood flowing in her heart. Oh, and she was opening and closing her mouth and even stuck her tongue out. It was incredible. I cried, of course. Not that it wasn't real before but now it's all incredible real!

Now for some fun stuff - names and nursery colors and all the planning (yay to finally plan something!) that goes along with having a baby. We aren't going to tell people her name, something needs to be a surprise, so she'll remain LBH for now.

18 weeks and 3 days

Time just moves along, slowly. Things here are going pretty well.

• I had to invest in a body pillow the other night as I haven't been sleeping well at all. The pillow definitely helps.
• I felt the need to invest in some more maternity clothes as I already hate everything I own.
• We got our first baby gift today!! I think we now have a total of 3 things for LBH.
  
• I have the CRAZIEST dreams ever: people get fired, family we never see takes their medical degree to a whole new level or I try to get fired by throwing balls at coworkers. These dreams are on an entire new level!!

But, the most exciting bit of news for this week is that we're only 7 days away from finding out what we're having!! I had to reschedule my next appointment and it actually got moved up TWO weeks!! So, next Monday (the 30th) at 11:30 we'll go in for our 20 week appointment and we get to see if we're having a boy or a girl!!

YAY!!! I can't wait to start working on names and nursery colors and all kinds of exciting things!

Birthday's and Anniversary's

I'll start today with the really good news: I heard from the doctor's office and Paul is NOT a carrier for cystic fibrosis so we're off the hook there. What a relief!!

In the Holder household, it is the season of birthday's and anniversary's. This year they are a little bit different though. On the eve of my 30-something birthday, I am a little taken aback at the thought that this is my last birthday without a little someone in tow. I guess that means that it's the last birthday where I can get away with a celebration without having to worry about entertaining a small child. Of course, this will hopefully be the only birthday that I will celebrate without at least one glass of wine....

And our first anniversary is coming up this week and again, it will be the only one we have that's just the two of us. H0w weird. We're going to go to our favorite restaurant, have a fabulous meal, no wine for me and enjoy one another's company. Next year we'll probably go for Mexican food and if we're lucky, Ellen will babysit...

I'm not sad by this exciting change in our lives, it's just a little weird to think that things like this no longer impact just me or just the two of us. There will be 3 of us (and maybe someday 4 of us) to consider for everything. How strange.

Tiny bubbles

My first really exciting pregnancy moment occurred on Saturday morning, while trying to fall back to sleep - I felt the baby!!! It was just like I'd read/heard about - little bubbles or butterfly wings and if I hadn't known what to be looking for, I'd have completely missed it. It was SO cool!! I actually tried giggling my stomach around to make it happen again but no such luck. I know it'll happen again so I'll just have to try and be patient (I'm so bad about that!) and wait and see what happens next.

I had a couple of crazy dreams the other day too. I dreamt that I went in for an ultrasound to determine the sex of the baby and he/she would NOT cooperate. Then they gave me the baby and I kept telling them to put it back, it wasn't done cooking yet. And the baby still wouldn't cooperate and let me know what it is. I'm clearly not too anxious!

And lastly, I was watching the NBC Evening News last night and they were doing a segment on this years college graduates. It was a montage of graduates, speakers and graduation-related images - nothing really all that special. And wouldn't you know, I cried for most of it. I'm a MESS.

Yay for Friday!

Well, I almost ate better this week. I definitely do better if I plan ahead. I was better with lunches and snacks and all that, until yesterday. I'm still unsure where this sweet-tooth has come from but such is life.

I definitely look pregnant these days. Well, some days I look fat and other days I look pregnant but I definitely have a belly going. I do feel very pleased about the fact that I can usually make it through the night without having to get up to pee every hour or so. Really, my big concern with getting up in the middle of the night is waking up Hunter and him thinking it's time to get up and play (aka eat). I've been sleeping well but have crazy vivid dreams. I mean, they are so vivid, I have a hard time determining if they were fact or fiction.

I have a doctor's appointment on Tuesday but don't expect anything fun and exciting to come from that (like an ultrasound). I'm sure they'll take more blood, I'll get poked and prodded and away I'll go. But the NEXT appointment is the biggy - 20 weeks (oh, and the halfway point!!!) and we get to find out the gender!! I'm excited to know a little something about what's coming our way. (My good friend had an ultrasound today, at 12 weeks, and they think she's having a boy and I'm all jealous that she learned that!!) I've had a bunch of people tell me they think it's a girl but who knows, we'll just have to wait and see.

Food

I made a decision today that I was going to try and do some cooking, eat healthy and get back to focusing on my diet (this was after I saw Sex and the City and ate some popcorn). Before I was pregnant I was usually pretty good about making some food and cutting fruits and veggies every Sunday, so I'd have some good food to eat during the week at work. I think since week 6, I haven't done that at all. I've tried. I've brought food and snacks to work but haven't been able to eat most of it. I have found myself leaning heavily towards the carb end of the spectrum - bagels, pasta, rice, bread and so on. But no more. Or at least I'm going to try no more. I cooked today and made some food, cut some fruit and so on. Hopefully tomorrow I can eat the food I've prepared. I guess we'll have to see.