20 weeks

I've made it to the half way mark! Last night I went back through my old pictures to see how I looked when I was 20 weeks along with Ady and wouldn't ya know it? It's the one month that I don't have a picture of!

Ok, baby update. 19w6d

Owen is going through a major growth spurt! All I seem to be interested in is eating and sleeping. I've slept like a log the last two night and woken up exhausted. Today I took a 2 1/2 hour long nap. It was wonderful. Before that I had an egg, cheese, and ham sandwich with hot chocolate. What more could a pregnant lady ask for?? ;)
I felt a major kick last night as Ian and I were watching a movie. I'm used to the little ones and wasn't expecting a big one when it happened. I actually said 'oh'. Ian asked me what was up and I told him that I just got a swift kick to my belly button! :) He actually had a reaction, so that was good! :)
As soon as we found out that we are having a boy I wanted to show Ian the bedding that I'd been looking at all along. Yeah, he didn't like any of them..so the search was on. It only took us a few minutes to find one and fall in love with it. Here it is...





We both love it because it's neutral and can be used with any future kiddos that come along. It matches the wall color of the room already, and it isn't typical but not overly modern for us. Now, we just have to order it!

What else is there...oh yeah...I read a few blogs out there. A couple of my favorites are Dooce and MightyGirl. Well Maggie, aka MightyGirl, posted a video from momversation (love that site) about circumcision. I watched the video and it was rather hard to get through because all the moms were very hard core on one side or the other. There has never been a question that Ian and I would circumcise our son. Never. We never even had a 'talk' about it. Until last night when the topic was breached for the first time...
We ran some errands and on the way home, Ian mentioned he was nervous about having a boy because he 'will have to teach him to be a man'. I asked Ian what he thought that meant and to him it means teaching him to play sports and neither Ian or I are athletic. I think there is more to it than that and that Ian will do fine. I expressed my nervousness at having a boy too. I know what to do with a little girl..been doing it for over 4 years now....so I told Ian that he would have to be there for the circumcision..I just can't watch that!

Ok, I think thats about all. I'll try and get a decent belly picture in the next couple of days. :)

I've been meaning to share..

I had a major craving for french toast a couple of weeks ago. I've always made my moms standard recipe with OJ and cinnamon for an added kick but that just didn't sound good to me. (Sorry, Mom) So I searched for a new recipe and found this....Thank you Alton Brown!!

Ingredients

• 1 cup half-and-half
• 3 large eggs
• 2 tablespoons honey, warmed in microwave for 20 seconds
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 8 (1/2-inch) slices day-old or stale country loaf, brioche or challah bread
• 4 tablespoons butter

Directions

In medium size mixing bowl, whisk together the half-and-half, eggs, honey, and salt. You may do this the night before. When ready to cook, pour custard mixture into a pie pan and set aside.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Dip bread into mixture, allow to soak for 30 seconds on each side, and then remove to a cooling rack that is sitting in a sheet pan, and allow to sit for 1 to 2 minutes.

Over medium-low heat, melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a 10-inch nonstick saute pan. Place 2 slices of bread at a time into the pan and cook until golden brown, approximately 2 to 3 minutes per side. Remove from pan and place on rack in oven for 5 minutes. Repeat with all 8 slices. Serve immediately with maple syrup, whipped cream or fruit.

Pour some Maple sugar over that and it is...oh! heaven! So So yummy! It is hands down the second best french toast I have ever had. The best french toast I've ever had is this:

Stuffed French Toast
French Oven’s baguette, mandarin orange cream cheese,
toasted walnuts, syrup, raspberry butter

served up at the Snow City Cafe in Anchorage Alaska. You will wait a good hour for a table on the weekends, but oh so worth it!!

19 week belly pic

Here's the 19 week belly pic. Sorry it's so bad!

Instinct was right!

Today was the big ultrasound and we are happy to announce that

It's A Boy!!

Back when I was pregnant with Adyson, we talked about boy names and decided on Owen Douglas so this time we will be able to use the name. Owen Douglas is on his way! :)

We went in for the ultrasound and the tech squirted the goo all over my stomach. I was braced for something cold and was very surprised that it was quite warm. Owen was breached during the u/s and my placenta was anterior (in front of my uterus) so the tech was pushing very very hard on my stomach to get all of the measurements. She finally asked us if we would like to know the sex and we answered yes! She was moving the wand around trying to get him positioned the best way and Ian said he could see 'it'. The tech told him 'No, that was the umbilical cord'. Anyway, next thing we knew she was telling us that we are having a boy! Everything looked great on the ultrasound. He is even measuring a couple of days ahead and weighs in at 11 oz right now.

This confirmed my gut instinct from the start. For whatever reason as soon as I found out I was pregnant I said that this time I was having a boy. I guess that says something for 'mothers instinct'.

After the ultrasound we made the required calls to family and shared the good news. Then I had to go out and buy my first 'boy' outfit. I have to say, boys get gipped in the cute clothes department!!

First Inquiry

Today, I was asked when I am due for the very first time. Tomorrow I will be 19 weeks. I was packing up my stuff to head home from class, when my instructor came over and asked 'when are you due? will we get to make an announcement in class?" I just laughed and told her that "no, there won't be an announcement as I'm not due until June 19th" :)

Tomorrow is the big day! We get to find out if baby is a boy or if everyone can knock me over with a feather and baby is actually a girl!

First big baby purchase

Last night I convinced Ian to go to Babies R Us and look at the travel system we have been eyeing. I had found a coupon for $20 off and with the money I have saved up and the gift card my mom gave me for Christmas, we could get a really good deal on it.
We got there and pulled it out, tried it out and then spent the next 15 minutes trying to figure out how to fold the damned thing. Finally one of the managers saw us and asked if we need help. Yes! Please! She couldn't get it either. So she pulled over one of the girls that puts these things together and she decided it had been on the floor too long and was defective now. Um..ok. The gal was nice enough to pull another one down and 5 minutes later we had a brand new one to play with. Piece of cake to make it fold. It's even one handed so that was great.


We got a jogging stroller, not because either of us jogs (Ha!) but because we do like to go places other than the mall! Like camping, and to the Renaissance Festival which is basically in a big field (not stroller friendly!) I also wanted it so that I can use it to kick my butt into taking the baby down to Silver Lake and walking the 2 mile trail around it and get the dreaded baby weight off. This stroller moves so so much easier than the ones that we've had for Ady!
Can't wait to use it now!!

18 Weeks

It has been bitterly bitterly cold this past week! I'm talking -25 every single morning! Luckily, according to the weatherman it is over and we are getting a heat wave this weekend! On Sunday the temperature should be in the 20's! I'm really looking forward to that. :)

Baby has been moving around a lot when I'm sitting in class trying to pay attention to accounting, which is really hard to do when you have a baby poking you and rolling around in you! We get to find out on Friday if it's a boy or a girl. So excited! Ian looked up a fortune teller last night on the internet and no matter how he tried to word it, he is not having a boy. We are having a girl according to the very acurate and reliable internet fortune teller. ;)

I've finished my first week of classes in the new semester and it looks like this will be a very stressful semester because of one class. Financial Presentations. The woman that is teaching it has never taught the class before so we really have no idea what to expect! We have project due in March that will be created in Access. That program is impossible to work with! I can't stand it. So that was my big stress this past week.

Last night we went out for Indian food. I've never tried it before. It wasn't bad. Pretty good actually. You could order anything in mild, medium, American hot, or Indian hot. My dish was pretty basic, just chicken and veggies on a hot skillet. Next time I'll try something that has a sauce to it b/c mine was a bit on the dry side when you mix it with rice. One guy that went out with us, Joe, got a goat dish..I don't think I will ever be that brave!!

So that brings us to today. At breakfast this morning Ady was very curious about the baby again asking me where it was, so I showed her the hard part of my stomach and told her that the baby is in there. Next she wanted to know if she could play with baby's 'bilical' cord. :) So then came the explanation that the cord has to stay inside until the baby is born and that by the time she gets to see the baby, most of the cord will be gone.

Yay for regular movement!

On New Years Eve, I felt my first flutter and then nothing. Now a couple of weeks later I'm very excited to say that there are regular little movements from the babe. Mostly at night when I'm going to bed I can feel s/he rolling around and today when I was sitting in my class I felt a roll. Made class much more interesting! :)
Lets see..what else is new? We are getting lots of snow right now. Boo. But thats the price I pay for living in Minnesota...but on the bright side of that coin, it's so so much better than Alaska!! I talked to Ian's dad the other day and he was telling us how cold it was up there right now and it exhausts him to walk to mile or 2 to the gym! Well, in -20 it would exhaust me too!!
Thats about all really. Well, Ady is still adamant that she is going to have a sister, there will be no brother! My mom really wants it to be a boy, mainly b/c she doesn't like our girl name. Oh well.
Only 10 more days and we'll know!

17 Weeks

Here is the 17 week bump. A tiny one, but hey, it's there!

Nothing much to report really. Ian is starting to take a bigger interest in things 'baby' related. He asked me last night how much of my 'bump' was baby so I pointed things out to him.

We are settled on the boy name but I'm still not 100% for our girl name. I don't think that matters much though, because I am still convinced I'm carrying a boy this time around.

I didn't sleep very well last night. My back, hips, and legs were all hurting from what I suspect is my sciatic nerve. Joy.

Ady started a dance class last night called Creative Movement 2. She is in love with it already. Ian is already wondering how she will handle it when she is tall and 'big' like the women in his family. I just roll my eyes and point out that she is only 4!! When we got home and I asked Ady what they did in class she showed me some jumps and a slide type move that they worked on.

There will be a big recital Mother's Day weekend and that should be a lot of fun to see a bunch of 4 year olds all dressed up on stage together!

16 week Belly Pic!

Here it is..16 weeks already!! Now, if only Jan 23 would get here already!

Our New Years

It's a couple of days late, I know, but Happy New Year everyone!
Ian, Ady, and I went to a party at some friends house. The plan was to only stay a couple of hours..yeah we left after midnight! The party was a good time. Ady had a great time hanging out with everyone and playing with the dogs. She even got to take a lot of the pictures that we have now. I was happy to see some of the girls that I don't get to see very often and Ian got to hang out with a friend of his that is leaving for India soon.
The best part was when Ady was shown the dancing/singing snowman. She must have pushed that button 50 times!


Once midnight was getting closer the champagne was passed out (Ady had OJ and I had 7Up). We all counted down and I got a nice kiss from Ian! :) Shortly after that it was time for a very tired Ady to be getting home! As we were going upstairs Ady stopped and said that she had to say good bye to everyone. She went back down and hugged everyone that she knew! :)
Surprisingly, she was still awake when we got home so Ian and I both put her to bed. I turned off the living room light on my way back through and left the kitchen light for Ian to get. I finally got to put on my jammies and then went to take out my contacts. Ian had left the kitchen light on. I just thought 'good grief' and went to turn it off. I walked into the kitchen and sitting on the table was a box from Fred Meyers, just like there was a year ago when he proposed. I was shocked! I turned around and he was standing in the hallway waiting for me to open it. Inside there was a beautiful chain and a pendant that we had bought on our honeymoon. I was so happy!
That was pretty much our New Years. I don't think there will be any parties for us next year since we will have a 6 month old and a 5 year old! :)