Instant Tummy - Just Add Water

Sorry for the delay in posting these great tummy pictures! Michael and I came back to the wonderful surprise of our computer not working. Like we needed something else to add to our list of things we need to pay for now!

Without further ado, I present to you the first real Niffer tummy pictures (taken at 19 weeks)...


I do not know how many people will believe me, but I swear I got a tummy over-night! Wednesday I wore a pair of pants to work and thought "these are comfy, I should wear them on the plane tomorrow" only to find out that they did not fit the following day. Bam! Instant tummy!


Ok, ok. So this isn't quite the same as Miss Model #98, but it's not too shabby considering I don't have gorgeous hair like hers! Did you see my tummy? I love it!

As a side note, did you know that every pregnant tummy gets a line down below the belly-button, even the small tummies? I do now.


Yes, this was taken on the same day. And yes, that is still my own tummy. It kept growing as the "photo shoot" progresssed. It's HUGE!

In my defense, though, the camera does add five pounds! =)


Last, but not least... as much as I love my new-found tummy, I am still humbled by those with greater tummies than I. As you can see, David wins.

To know or not to know. That is the question.

Tomorrow is the big appointment! You know, the one where we get to find out how healthy our baby is, but more importantly, which gender it is! =P Actually, officially Michael and I are leaning towards not finding out. Strange, huh? I know! However, the closer we get to the appointment the more excited I get about it!

It's no secret, I want a little girl so badly! How cute would that be? And besides, I want to have the type of relationship with my daughter as I have with my mother. No doubt in my mind that I want a little pink bundle of joy.

On the other hand... I have to admit that in recent months I've been getting more and more excited about the boy option as well. Everyone knows that it's "Daddy's little girl" and "Momma's boy". Oh, how cute would that be!? No doubt in my mind that a little blue bundle of energy would be more fun than I ever previously considered.

So... I'm back to not knowing which I want, which I guess could be taken to mean that I don't have a preference. But then I start the whole cycle again. I want a girl. No, wait. I want a boy. No, wait. I want either. No, wait. I want both! No, wait. Just a girl would be fine.

See the vicious cycle?

Many people are surprised at the fact that we are leaning towards not finding out. Most of the time, they come up with the excuse of if we know the gender, then we can start buying stuff. I would totally agree with this if we were doing a gender-specific nursery. There is no doubt that the nursery needs to be done before the baby arrives. However, we've already decided that our favorite nursery theme (regardless of boy or girl) is Sweet Vanilla, which is very neutral.

And as far as clothes go... it would be nice to have a collection of yellows and greens because the pink/blue stuff is bound to come after the baby is born.

So knowing the gender just so that I can start buying stuff doesn't work for me. The argument that does... Naming the baby. I have to be honest and say that the thought of speaking to my baby by name even before s/he's born appeals to me.

Hmmm... Did I mention my appointment is tomorrow?! I wonder if I'm going to have the self control to say "no, no, don't tell me what I'm having."

Not Your Normal Thanksgiving

I just got back from Florida for Thanksgiving. Why did we go to Florida for Thanksgiving? Do we have family who live there? Nope. Not at all. However, that's where I ended up for the weekend (along with Michael, his brother, mom and stepfather). With the exception that I really really miss my family (and having Turkey Day in FL instead of the usual CO meant I couldn't see them at all), the weekend ended up being a good one.

We went to the Dolphin Research Center, where Michael often donates money, and got to see all the dolphins! Did I mention I love dolphins!? On Friday we saw 3 super-pregnant mommy-to-be dolphins, and by the time we came back on Saturday, there was a super itty bitty baby dolphin. It was only this big: <------>. For obvious reasons, it was really fun to see the new baby, but it was particularly so for me since the more I watched the baby, the more I thought things like "oh, I'm going to have one of those soon!" No, silly, not my own baby dolphin. Just my own baby. Try to keep up with me. =P

And while at the Dolphin Research Center, what better thing to do than get in the water with them?? And how exciting would that be? I wondered if the dolphins would respond to me differently since they would be able to tell that I was pregnant. I have to admit, I got myself excited to participate. I even thought about how they would tell me "you can't get in the water with the dolphins during your first trimester", and I would respond with "that's good because I'm in my 2nd." It seems like a pregnant woman can't ever do anything if she's in her first trimester. You're banned from so many activities, I guess because companies are afraid of you having a miscarriage and then suing them or something.

Anyway, point is this... I thought I was in. They ask the expected "how far along are you?" and I responded with a confident "19 weeks!" However, much to my surprise, they responded with "I'm sorry, you can only get in the water if you're in your first trimester."

What??!!!
So let me get this right... if you're in your first trimester of pregnancy, you can not do things like get a massage or a flu shot, but you CAN swim with dolphins???
Weird.

Regardless, it was still fun, and I got some great pictures! Hopefully I'll be able to post them soon.

Une jolie petite fille et son trop mignon petit frère*

I couldn't help myself. I am bored right now waiting for someone to show up to help me carry my heavy box... so what better way to pass a few minutes than to look at random blogs? Actually, this is the first time I've done so.

But look at this one! It's mainly filled with pictures of a super cute French family (I believe they're in Paris). I absolutely love the pictures of the little girl pointing to her little brother's nose. HOW CUTE IS THAT???

I've changed my mind. Instead of wanting a cute little baby with a British accent, I want a French one!


* Translation - A pretty little girl and her too cute little brother

Tummy Time?

About a week ago I found myself gathering email addresses for a group of mothers-to-be, so I now have a half a dozen new friends, all expecting to have a baby right around the same time as me. I think it will be fun!

One of them sent me pictures of her tummy today. She's beautiful! And the tummy! Oh my gosh! It's great!

Once again I find myself thinking "When is it my turn? I want a tummy too!" It's really quite surprising how drastically different everyone seems to be in the tummy department. I'm barely starting to show and I have seen pictures of other women just as far along as me who look like they could pop soon!

Have no fear, though, I will catch up!

Back 'N Belly 2000

Recently I've been trying to practice sleeping on my side, which has proved to be more difficult than I thought it would be. Up until a week or so ago, I thought I slept on my side all the time, so it came as a surprise to me that when I started to actually pay attention to it, I found myself sleeping on my back more often than not. I would find myself mentally reminding myself to sleep on my side, only to automatically flip to my back when I actually fell asleep.

So, sadly I haven't been sleeping very well. =( Woe is me. (did you see the hand go up by my forehead when I said that?) Woe is me.

Luckily, there is good news to this story. The good news is that I'm married to my Michael and my Michael bought me a pillow. He bought me the Back 'N Belly 2000 (well, ok, I added the 2000 - it sounds more impressive). It's a monster of a pillow and dominates the bed, but I absolutely love it! I have never laid on something so incredibly comfortable before. It just hugs my whole body. Mmmm... body hug!

You'll be happy to know that I slept like a baby last night. Hmmm... that no longer sounds right to me. I've heard too many stories about babies not sleeping through the night. Let's try again... You'll be happy to hear that I slept like a rock last night. Better.

The only problem I have with the pillow is that it kept me hostage in my bed this morning. If that becomes the norm, I'm going to need more hats!

Boo!

Yesterday I got to open another window on my pregnancy advent calendar for being 18 weeks along. Woohoo! Anyway, the window said "I may be startled by loud outside sounds".

"Quick!" I said to Michael, "Make a really loud sound!"

"No! I don't want to scare the baby!"

"Not even so I can feel him move??"

"No."

"Bummer."

Update: I have almost convinced myself that I have indeed felt the baby, but I'm still not quite sure. An update to come when I am sure. =)

Quote of the Day

Michael's response -
"Stupid people must have been put on this Earth to make smart people laugh."

Abs of Steel

I used to joke around that instead of having "Abs of Steel" like you see on those TV commercials, I had "Abs of Flab." It has a nice ring to it, doesn't it? Recently I've changed that to "Uterus of Steel" but that doesn't flow off the tongue nearly as smoothly.

This morning while I was brushing my teeth, Michael came up and put his hand on my tummy and said "Hello? Anyone in there?" I followed suit and knocked a couple times on my tummy, which made both of us laugh.

On the way to work he said that me knocking on my tummy felt really funny. He said that it didn't feel like knocking on a "normal" part of the body, or like knocking on his tummy. Instead was more like knocking on a kick-ball. Whatever that means.

It's reassuring to know I'm not the only one who is surprised by the hardness of my growing tummy.

Good to Know

Today's baby progress report:
"The ears are moving to their normal position now."

Well that's good to know. Who wants to have a baby with their ears... um... what... crawling up their back?? =)

When to Play the Pregnancy Card

I don't think I've had any really good opportunities to use my pregnancy as an excuse for something yet, which is really a shame. That's not to say I haven't kept my eyes and ears open for possible chances...

Today a friend invited Michael and I out to dinner to a restaurant that serves an amazing butternut squash pasta with a cream sauce dish. OH MY GOD! IT IS HEAVENLY! Sadly, Michael has a silly football game he needs to play tonight so we can't join. Besides, we actually just went to this particular restaurant two nights ago (that's how my friend knows about the place - I told him about the squash pasta!). Sadly, as much as I'd love to play the pregnancy card on this one, I doubt Michael would believe me if I insisted that the baby wants and needs butternut squash pasta.

An emergency of sorts came up at work today. Software folks fried one of my circuit boards again. Without giving away unnecessary boring details, I quickly grabbed the help of a lady who does circuit layouts to get the next rev of boards ready to be made ASAP. Michael later told me that his office mate said to give me hell for it because he was in line to work with this lady for some of his stuff but was told that she was pulled off of his project for one of "higher priority". I joked around with him and said things like "Don't mess with me, I'm pregnant" and "I'm not afraid of you".

So my question is, when do I get to legitimately play the Pregnancy Card? And when do I get a tummy?* And, though I know I'm recently been obsessed with this picture, when do I get hair like hers?**

* I had so many people tell me today "you don't look pregnant at all! have you seen Shana? she looks like she's about to pop!" (Note - Shana is only a few weeks further along than me)
** Wishful thinking I know, but I deserve it, don't I? (lie if you must)

Today's Random Updates

I had another appointment with my midwife yesterday. It went well, though a little on the boring side. All they did was listen to the baby's heartbeat (still at 150 bpm) and then felt where my uterus is. Speaking of which, I have recently found it interesting that though I'm getting a tummy, it's pretty much rock hard. My uterus is rock hard! It's two finger widths below my belly button, and when you press on my belly, you can definitely feel where it begins. Let's just put that on the list of randomness I never knew before.

So the appointment wasn't too exciting, but I (like my friend, Kim from college, who is expecting at the same time) still wish the appointments were closer together. Four weeks is so long to go without a confirmation that yes, indeed, everything is ok and your baby is still beating. There is still a part of me that expects to go into my appointment only to have the midwife say "umm... just why did you think you were pregnant?" hehehe.

My next appointments should become much more exciting.* I need to schedule the ultrasound for 3 weeks from now. That means we have 3 weeks to decide if we want to know what we're having (other than a baby, of course). My next midwife appointment is in 4 weeks again, and I'm told that they will start to take out a ruler to measure exactly where my uterus is (apparently they can tell just how far I've come based on the uterus traveling up my tummy). So, repeat after me: Oooooo! Ahhhhh! Ohhh! How exciting!


* Disclaimer - It's all exciting to me, but I fear for the sake of my readers that one of these days they'll realize I'm not as entertaining as I pretend to be. =)

Mind Boggling Factoid

I looked up a description of how far my baby is at 17 weeks. And here is a little piece of craziness:

"Mind boggling factoid of the week: if you’re having going to have a little girl, her ovaries have already produced millions of primordial egg cells, which, within a few weeks, will develop into actual eggs! Phew… just wait till she’s a teenager eh?"*

On a related note (but only because the picture was on the same webpage), isn't this picture gorgeous?? Can I look like that when I get a tummy? And what the heck?! How can she be only 17 weeks pregnant with a tummy like that??? No fair! I want my money back!

* Thanks to Baby Gaga

Tummy Tummy Tummy (17 weeks)

It's picture time again! Yay pictures!

These two pictures are my tummy at 14 weeks. I didn't end up posting them since nothing had changed. In fact, I look thinner in these pictures than I did at 9 weeks! Go figure.

However, for those who wanted to know, this is what I looked like after my first trimester. At this point, I had gained 6 pounds.

And here I am at 17 weeks. Look! I finally have a belly! And a chin, apparently. I'll have to work on that. Though I understand that gaining weight is healthy for the baby, I do not believe holding the weight in my chin does the baby any good.

Any guesses on how much I've gained at this point? Looking at the pictures, I think it looks like I would have gained a heck of a lot in the last 3 weeks. But all in all, I have now gained 8 pounds. It's strange to think that from here on out, it will basically be a pound a week. I'm guessing all that weight needs to go to my tummy in order for me to get nice and big.

Scrapbooking Ideas

I have to be honest and say that the ideas I mention below did not come from my new set of scrap booking friends. So, please, whatever you do... do not place blame on them.

Someone, let's call her Sally, responded to my post that I left a week ago about my new-found excitement about making a baby scrapbook. Remember? Anyway, Sally was nice enough to tell me that in her son's scrapbook, she had items from many different categories:

Nice:
Ultrasound pictures

Strange:
All of his baby teeth

Gross:
A piece of his umbilical cord

So thanks to Sally, I now have a "Plan B" to fall back on. If Michael thinks I'm going overboard on the baby scrapbook, I'll just remind him of what "overboard" really means.

Non Food Cravings

I'm looking forward to my first real strange food craving, but alas it has not happened yet.

However, for those of you who are curious here is the update:
- I no longer like, much less love, olives
- Mushrooms have once again become the slimy fungus I thought they were when I was growing up.
- Fruit on the Bottom Yorgort: strawberry - Nasty. Cherry - Decent. Apple - Good
- Still need to find pumpkin or squash ravioli

Unsolicited Advice

Don't you hate it when someone tells you something like "appreciate this now because it won't last"? It's always bothered me but I do not know why. It's not like those people saying it have bad intentions. They're just passing on advice to make my life better.

Regardless, it still annoys me. I think it's because I instantly get this attitude inside that says something like "what makes you think I don't appreciate it now?" Kind of like the time that my dad's friends visited us in Colorado and went on and on about how we didn't appreciate what we had because we lived with the beautiful mountains surrounding us every day. Then they would turn around and cut down the mountainside, without staying on the trail. UGH! DON'T TELL ME I DON'T APPRECIATE WHAT I HAVE!!!

When people told me to appreciate the flat tummy while it lasted, I got the same sort of internal response. "What makes you think I don't appreciate the fact that I don't have to worry too much about my weight?" or better yet... "Well maybe I plan to work out and get rid of my tummy!" We all know that's not true, but heck... That doesn't mean it can't be. =)

Well... Now it's my turn. The other day I went through my clothes to put away (not throw away) the ones I do not think I'll be able to wear for a while. I had forgotten about so many cute clothes that I have that I now won't be able to wear!

So, for all of you non-pregnant (or newly pregnant) friends out there:
Enjoy it while it lasts! Go through your clothes now and make sure you wear all the super-cute ones at least one more time! =)

Girl Fun

Last night I joined a couple friends for scrapbooking. Though I do not hang out with them often, I always enjoy it when I do. I think it will be fun to join them more frequently in the future. Seeing their work got me all inspired to make myself a baby scrapbook. I'm so excited!

No one should be terribly surprised by this news, especially if you have seen my scrapbook for my wedding. I think you could duplicate my entire wedding if you looked through it! It's really difficult to say which I enjoyed better, planning the wedding or doing my scrapbook. There were quite a few times when I remember making a decision based solely off of the fact that I needed to finish a page in my book. Pathetic? Probably.

So, now I'm going to start the obsession again for my baby! In my defense, I did warn Michael that this time would come. I think I even warned him before we said our vows. So he can't get upset. =)

Last night, as I was thinking of ideas on what to do with my future scrapbook, I had to laugh at myself for the things that came to mind that meant something to me. It's funny how some of the strangest random items can mean so much to you. In particular, the thought of putting my pregnancy test in my scrapbook did come to mind. Hahaha! How twisted is that? Don't worry, though, when you see my finished baby book, you do not need to be scared to open to the first page - Michael threw the pee stick away not too long ago.

The other thought that made me giggle last night was that upon looking at scrapbook supplies, it became obvious to me that my scrapbook project would be significantly easier if I knew the sex of my baby. Since we are currently leaning towards keeping it a surprise, I doubt Michael would appreciate me saying "we need to find out boy or girl so that I can order the right stickers for my scrapbook!"

Oh Lovely

I found a couple pregnancy tickers to add to my blog... I'm not sure which I like better, so for now, I decided to keep them both.

Today's status:
My baby is now urinating inside of me. Lovely. Why couldn't I be two days further along before adding the ticker???? Yuck.

I have a plan

As of last night, I now have the next five years of my baby's life already planned out (well at least for Halloween, anyway):

'07 (0.5 years old):
Girl - Pea in a Pod; Boy - pumpkin
(duh... I LOVE peas but everyone knows the pumpkin in the pumpkin patch is a must-have picture)

'08 (1.5 years old):
Girl - flower; Boy - Bumble Bee
(hehehe... imagine them stumbling around)

'09 (2.5 years old):
Girl - Tinkerbell; Boy - Dragon
(We saw the cutest dinosaur last night, but he might have been a dragon. I hope I didn't hurt his feelings).

'10 (3.5 years old):
Girl - Pretty Pretty Princess; Boy - Batman
(ok, so I was really looking for a Power Ranger costume, but can't find one for a toddler... they exist, though, because we saw the cutest little Power Ranger last night!)

'11 (4.5 years old):
Girl - Wonder Woman; Boy - Ninja
(I loved Wonder Woman when I was young and so I was happy to see that she's still popular and encouraging young girls to go kick some ass too)

Some of the funnier costumes I saw online:
Tootsie Roll
Hotdog
Snail
Caterpillar
and of course, Woopie Cushion