Oops...

I can't believe I forgot to mention the MOST important thing that happened during the past week!

Scott got to feel the baby move (as did Mom and Connor)!!!!!!!!!

The baby seems to be very shy. It will be kicking up a storm, and as soon as I say to Scott, "come feel this," it will stop. But last Saturday, we tricked the baby into kicking Scott. While we were at my parents' house for Easter/Brandon's birthday, Connor was showing Scott and me something on his iPod. Scott and I were sitting down, and Connor was in between us. The baby started to kick, and since Connor was talking, I didn't want to interrupt him. Instead, I just grabbed Scott's hand and put it on my belly. After about 30 seconds, I felt the baby kick right where Scott's hand was. I asked Scott if he felt it. He said he did, and it felt like a little hiccup. I was so excited that he finally got to feel it!

Connor wanted to feel it, too, so he put his hand on my belly. Then Mom and Dot came over. Connor and Mom both said they felt it, but Dot couldn't. I'm sure it won't be too long, though, before everyone will be able to feel it on a regular basis. :-)

Halfway!!

I am 20 weeks today, which puts me at the halfway point for this pregnancy!  To celebrate, Scott and I purchased a glider and ottoman for the nursery.  There is a furniture store in town that is closing one of its locations, so they are having a pretty good sale.  We were able to get a very nice set at a very good price.  Plus, I'm pretty sure it helped us make a decision on the color for the nursery.  The glider fabric is green, so I think we will look at a shade of green for the nursery walls.

I've continued to get some charley horses after days of being on my feet for a long time.  Sometimes I get them in my calves, other times in my feet.  One night this week, I got three in my feet within about 45 minutes.  Ouch!  Scott says it's preparing me for my contractions.

Ever since my belly started to pop, my mom has been surprised by my size.  She has asked me on more than one occasion if I'm sure there is only one baby.  I never really got why she thought I was so big.  I found out this week.  When we were at mom and dad's shelter house for Easter, we measured my waist (if you can still call it that).  At 19 1/2 weeks, I was about the same size as my mom was right before she gave birth to each of her kids.  I can't believe she was so small!  Brandon was not a small baby (8 pounds, 11 ounces).  How did he fit!?!?!  Amazing!

I think I look about average for 20 weeks (based on seeing my pregnant friends), but maybe I am a little big.  I was told today that my belly is growing exponentially.  I'll let you be the judge.  :-)

Nineteen Weeks

I'm almost halfway, and everything is still going exactly as planned.  In fact, I had a rough night last night.  I looked at my week 19 info, and it turns out the night I had was actually to be expected at this stage.

Here is the breakdown of my night:

11:00 - go to sleep (I actually made it up pretty late!)
1:15 - wake up to go to the bathroom
3:20 - wake up because I have a charley horse, decide I might as well go to the bathroom while I'm up
5:10 - wake up due to a pain in my hip from being on one side for too long
5:11 - 6:14 - drift in and out of sleep, but never really go back to sleep
6:15 - alarm goes off

I'm pretty tired today, but I managed to get together enough energy to take my weekly pictures.  Here I am at 19 weeks pregnant:

In other news, tax season is over, which means Scott's mind is free to think about things other than work deadlines.  As a result, we have started to talk about baby names.  We don't have anything definite yet, but we have some ideas.  We have decided not to tell anyone what our baby will be named until it is born, but I am excited to start thinking about what we will name our little one!  :-)  I have found already that naming a baby is a lot harder than I ever thought it would be!

Oh, and for those of you who have asked, nothing really happened with our "pet" bird.  When Scott got home that day, he said he was going to take care of it.  He even threatened to poison it (I nixed that idea quickly).  The bird must have overheard, because she never came back.  Maybe she still will, but for right now, there have been no more signs of her.

Until next week...

The Newest Herman??

Last spring, our house turned into a wildlife habitat.  My parents and brother came to the front door one day, and they were "greeted" by a duck.  She had just laid her eggs by our front door, and she was not happy about them intruding.  From then on, whenever I left the house to go on a walk, the mother duck would chase me down until she was satisfied that I was far enough away from her babies-to-be.

Then the bird came.  A robin built her nest on the windowsill above our front door.  From then on, we warned people to avoid our front door altogether or risk being attacked.  It was exciting to watch the baby bird hatch and learn to fly.  There were days that Scott and I would watch the nest all day because we were sure the baby bird was going to take off at any moment.  Unfortunately, we missed the day that it actually flew out of the nest.  And when it left, we realized what a mess the nest had made!  Twigs and branches hung down from the windowsill.  Mud was caked against the window.  It was such a pain to clean!

Finally, as I sat on the couch one day last summer, I noticed something moving behind the blinds.  I pulled open the blinds, and saw a hornets' nest on our back window.  I was not patient with these creatures.  I insisted that we kill them immediately and knock down the nest.

A couple of weeks ago, Scott mentioned the bird.  He said that if she came back this year, he was shooing her away because it was just such a mess to clean up the nest.  I'm very a little superstitious.  I know it's dumb, but I worry a little that Grovo died because we killed the baby hornets.  I told Scott that he could only shoo the bird away if he got to it before she laid her egg(s).  I don't want any more bad baby karma!

Taken today:

The race is on!  Will Scott make it home before the bird finishes her nest and lays her egg?

Eighteen Weeks

Overall, this has been a pretty good week.  The baby is still moving around.  Yesterday, I didn't feel it moving too much, and that made me nervous.  Scott said it was taking a break and to just calm down.  I think it had something to do with being back at school after spring break.  I was back on Monday, but it was a pretty low-key day.  Yesterday was the first day that I was up moving around all day long.  I'm guessing that was putting the baby to sleep.  Today, the baby is moving more.  It still isn't as active as it was during spring break, but it's moving a lot more than yesterday.

I had a little snafu with my doctor's office this week.  When I went to the doctor last week, I scheduled my appointment for my ultrasound, and I started my countdown to the day I would next get to see our baby!  My first ultrasound pictures weren't the greatest.  The baby was smaller than expected when I first went to the doctor, so the picture isn't very clear.  I went back two weeks later to make sure that the baby was growing.  Since they were just checking for growth, they just did a quick ultrasound, and the pictures are very dark and blurry.  I am so excited for the next ultrasound when I'll be able to see the baby more clearly!  Unfortunately, the ultrasound tech had to cancel my original appointment, and now I don't get to go until May 9 for my ultrasound.

Finally this week, we found our nursery furniture!  I went to Babies R Us on Monday to pick up something else, and I saw that they were having some great sales on a few bedroom sets.  Scott and I went back that night, found a set that we both loved, and bought it.  We are just waiting for it to come in now.  I'm so excited about everything coming together!

And to finish out the post...my weekly photos.  I'm feeling huge today!  It doesn't upset me, though, because I know it's for a good cause.  I've added in a shot of my bare belly this week because it actually looks like a pregnant belly now and not just a fat one.  :-)

Seventeen Weeks

This week I...

• Actually gained weight.  I was losing weight at the beginning of my pregnancy, and it was starting to worry me, so I was happy when the numbers on the scale went up this time.  However, that still doesn't make it great to hear the doctor (not my usual one) say, "well, it looks like you've been able to eat now."  Jerk!  Let's hope he's not the one on call when I go into labor.
• Felt the baby move.  A LOT!  Scott tried to see if he could feel the baby on Saturday night.  He couldn't, but I could feel the baby kick him.  That was pretty cool!  On Monday morning, the baby was moving like crazy, and I felt it with my hand, so I thought Scott would be able to feel it that night.  But, the baby moved up a little farther, and now it can't be felt from the outside anymore.
• Started getting a pain when I breathe from time to time.  That's fun.  I think it's a combination of allergies (which are usually bad this time of year) and things getting squished.
• Had my first baby showers.  I love my kids!  My 6th and 7th period classes decided to throw me baby showers on the last day before spring break.  They were so great!  I can't believe how much work they put into it.  Here are some pictures from the two showers:

One of the banners brought in by 6th period:

The gift table in 6th period:

The food table in 6th period:

6th Period brought in balloons:

Opening my gifts during 6th period:

My cupcakes.  Rainbow Chip frosting is SO hard to find, but it's my favorite part of the cupcake.  I love Aly for working so hard to get it for me!

One of the kids wanted everyone to dress like me.  No one else played along.  :-)

More balloons brought in by 6th period:

After opening gifts, the kids realized we still had some time left.  They asked me what else you normally do at a baby shower.  I told them that you play games sometimes, so they quickly came up with some games for us to play.

Then the 7th period celebration started.  These three girls planned this shower:

We played Baby Bingo.  They even had prizes for the winners!

Then I opened my presents from 7th period:

One of my favorite outfits:

 The girls also had the kids guess how many squares of toilet paper it would take to go around me, but no one got a picture of that game.  As of Thursday, March 31 (16 weeks, 1 day), it took 8 1/2 squares.  :-)

Finally, a picture of me at 17 weeks:

And a belly shot: