Baby Girl's Nursery-Stage 1

This weekend Brent and I finally finished painting the office, it is officially now a very, very pink little girls room. It will not stay pink, we are going to do some other big changes in the coming weeks. Stay tuned for those. In the mean time, here is a taste of the pink that covers our former office, 

The lampshade is our inspiration piece for the nursery. My mom and I found it at our downtown Market earlier this fall, and I fell in love. It's perfect, the colors are just what we want for our little girls room, fun, and whimsical, and it's the perfect inspiration piece. The green boxes are our storage, I love the wavy stripes and pop of color they bring to the room. We're loving putting the room together piece by piece, it's been so much fun finding the right colors and accents. But, we cannot wait to see the finished product, we'll keep you all posted on that progress.

21 weeks and counting

This past week our baby girl must have experienced a huge growth spurt, just look at the pictures in Belly Shots, I've grown a ton! Brent gave me a hug the other day and put his hand on my tummy, and just stared in awe at how big it is getting, and earlier tonight as I was getting ready to go to a friends birthday (Happy Birthday Annie!!!) I called him into the bathroom to show him how my belly had become lopsided! she was pushing out or fully sitting on my left side, which caused that side of my tummy to stick out further than my right. It's so neat seeing the changes she is making to my growing belly.

Some neat things going on this week, our baby girl is starting to give me some full on kicks, I keep feeling strong nudges in my low belly, these nudges will get stronger as baby girl continues to grow. I'm starting to notice she has preferred times of the day that she is active, sometimes early in the morning, and almost every evening right around 5pm. I'm getting anywhere between 5-10 kicks a night usually, which i'm not supposed to start counting for a couple more weeks, but it's hard not to pay attention to how active she is. Brent still has yet to feel anything, but her kicks are getting stronger, so hopefully he'll feel something soon. Another neat thing this week is our baby girls eyelids and eyebrows are forming, they are thin but protective, and will thicken as the weeks go on. 

From here out we may not have weekly updates. New developments are slowing down, and for the rest of this little girls time in my belly she will more or less just be growing stronger, her little features will become more developed, and her organs will continue to grow and be more useful to her body. I'll try to give brief little updates, but I don't think I get pictures weekly now, just every month. I'll still be updating belly shots though, so check back often for new pics of the growing belly. 

Were half way there!!

Thats right, were officially at 20 weeks! I cannot believe how fast the past 20 weeks have gone, and can only imagine how quick the next 20 will go! Especially with all the holidays coming up, our baby girl is going to be here before we know it! It's becoming more noticeable that i'm actually pregnant, not that I just had a huge lunch, thankfully. Even my belly button is starting to flatten out, which I didn't think would ever happen, I wonder if i'll ever be lucky enough to do that neat quarter trick. My neat weekly email update tells me that i'm popping out more because my uterus is now about level internally with my belly button, this makes sense to me, because I am starting to lose sight of my feet. I told Brent he is possibly going to have to start helping me put my socks on in a few weeks, she really hates when mommy bends over and squishes her, and I don't like her pushing on all of my internal organs.

This week our baby is starting to be measured in a different way. For the first 20 weeks she is measured from her head to her rump, which this week is about 6 1/2 inches. From here on out she will be measured from her head to her foot, which is about 10 1/2 inches. So if next week she seems to have made a huge growth spurt, she did, they added her legs into the equation. Baby girl is also almost a full pound!!! Which is seriously weird seeing how I've gained almost 10 lbs by this point... she should really weigh more I think. But that could be just to make me feel better. She is now also swallowing amniotic fluid more every day, helping her develop the amazing skills she'll use when she comes into this world in just a few weeks. I am always so in awe as I read the weekly updates, there are so many neat things that take place every week, and I cannot believe how much her developmental skills are working now. I cant wait to see her tiny lips move when she eats, and for her to blink her eyes and take in the world every day. I wonder if she'll sleep with her mouth open like her daddy, or all curled up like me. I wonder how long she will be, or tall, I'm sure we'll have a gorgeous girl with super long legs, Brent is already preparing to have to keep the boys away. We both wonder what sports she'll like to play. Brent and I both loved baseball and softball, so i'm sure that will be at the top of her list, but around here people tend to like Soccer more, so we'll see which athletic activity captures her interest. Brent is also so excited to be able to take her hunting with him. A couple weekends ago his hunting buddy brought his little girl, and Brent was just gushing about how fun it would be to hunt with his daughter in a few years. She will truly be born and raised in Idaho I guess, but I don't think we would have it any other way. 

I'm really going to try to remember to get some belly shots in today. I think I've grown enough in the last 2 weeks to warrant an update. Check back later tonight or tomorrow to see if I've succeeded. 

19 weeks... and a few days

So I realize this is a bit late... I'm technically 19weeks 4 days today, but, better late than never I guess! So big things this week, baby girl is about 9oz now! (i'm adding a few because i'm 4 days past... she's gaining that quick!) If she is growing hair, it's starting to grow now, I do wonder if she'll come out with a full head of dark hair, or be as bald as can be for awhile... I'll stock up on adorable little hats anyways. Her sensory development is growing like crazy for the next few weeks, meaning her eyes, taste buds, sense of smell and sense of touch are all heightening, which is probably why I keep feeling little jabs, shes just getting her feelers down. Also, her ears will become more sensitive, so Brent and I really need to start reading books to her, or playing Mozart, or just cut back on the curse words during video games (Brent!), I keep telling him she's going to come out talking like a sailor! 

It has been requested by some family (Hi Aunt Michelle!) that we start registering and making a wish list, and linking up our wish list items on here so that people can buy from them if they wish. I do not want to be presumptuous, but we've actually had several requests, so I think I will work on another tab that will include links to the baby registry (so far just at Babies R Us online) and also put up a wish list of items that we would love to have, but are not necessarily needed right away. We'll keep it short and simple, We really don't have a ton of room to put things, but a little girl can never have enough cute outfits and warm fuzzy blankets, or adorable clothe diapers to cover her cute little cheeks. 

Were having a ..................

Baby Girl!!! :) We had our anatomy scan today, it was incredible!! She was moving all over the place, kicking and punching and stretching, and folding herself in half!!! Brent and I couldn't get over the picture with her foot by her head, which I don't think we were given a copy of. It was so amazing seeing our little girl, she is perfect! measuring right on her due date, to the day! Her heart rate was 144, which is the same as at the appointment last week, so that totally disproves the old wives tale of under 150 = boy, over 150 = girl. Since she was moving around so much, the tech couldn't quite get a good picture or measurement of her heart or spine. So, I get to go back in a few weeks to see her again! I can't wait! 

(above) side profile of the baby's face

I love this pic because it looks like the baby is singing :) 

Her beautiful little foot! The tech counted 10 fingers and 10 toes!! 

And the money shot!!! These are her legs and butt, and you can see 3 little white lines in between her legs (they are circled with a very light colored line), showing us all proudly that she is our little girl! 

She was pretty folded up, so here is her body, with a leg bent up towards her head

"Hi Mom and Dad!!!"

What a cute little hand!