Weekend in St Louis

We had a 3D sonogram done, and the technology is amazing! Unfortunately she was in a bad position to get a good picture of her face. There are distortions in all the photos because of either the cord or placental tissue in the way. From what we could see she has chubby cheeks and full lips. It was so adorable watching her suck her thumb and yawn while we were changing positions and poking her to try to get a better view. The little bumps in the pictures are placental tissue.

We really want to thank Jim (Brian's dad) for getting us tickets to a Cubs/Cards game!! We had a blast! My mom got me a maternity Cardinals shirt for Easter that says "Mom's future fan." It is too cute! We also ran into my brother who went to the game with some of his friends from school. The weather was perfect and the it sure was exciting. Pujols hit a gand slam and we stomped the Cubs 8-2!! GO CARDS!!!

After the game we went to the Cheesecake factory with some of my KE friends from college. The food was amazing and it was so great to see Arpita, Sarah, and Susan!! I miss those girls so much!

3rd Trimester!

I can't believe we only have 3 more months to go!! We're starting to get antsy now that the nursery is almost done. We've picked which hospital we will go to for the delivery (St John's) and preregistered for our stay, we've set up everything with our pediatrician, signed up for Lamaze and a breastfeeding class (we've already taken "baby basics" and "birth and beyond"), had our car seat professionally installed, and starting getting the house ready for life with a baby. We've made lots of preparations and have a list of the few things which remain (buy a deep freeze so we don't have to grocery shop quite as often, paint a few things, have the carpets cleaned, etc).

I feel huge at this point... I don't know if I can take 3 more months of growth! Standing for an entire 8-hour shift is no longer possible without some serious fatigue afterwards. Luckily I am blessed with a job where it is possible to sit for a short bit now and then.

I am so thankful to finally be working at one location! The store in Jacksonville is great, we're not too busy, the staff is wonderful, and I love my job! My biggest blessing though is Brian, he has been so great. He takes such good care of me both physically when I'm tired and emotionally. I am so lucky to have such a loving and understanding husband. I know he will be an excellent dad and will continue to be a great husband. I am so happy with where my life is right now!! I wouldn't change a thing!!

The most awesome feeling ever!

Baby Tori is finally getting big enough that you can see her movements from the outside! Brian got to feel her move for the first time a few weeks ago. She tends to be the most active in the very early morning, she has started waking me up around 6am most days with big kicks. I have been wanting to get one on video for a while now and this afternoon she had some play time so I got to capture it on video! They're not very big, but if you look closely you can see her move where I push. Definitely the coolest thing I have ever seen!! Thats our baby girl in there!

Progress on the nursery

Well we've made major progress on the nursery! Here's the before picture. It took 2 coats of primer to cover the neon green!

We've swapped the electrifying lime for a beautiful shade of pink!! We also cleaned up the trim with a fresh coat of paint. Thank you boys! Now its starting to look like a little girls room.

After our sonogram we went to Babies'R'Us and purchased our baby bedding. It's called Olivia, and its very light pink and green with lace and eyelet trim. Its simple but elegant and girly and I love it!!

I didn't like the mobile that came with the bedding but while looking online I found this great butterfly chandelier that we're using instead of a mobile. We know she won't be able to see it for a long time but we think its pretty!!

We're still missing some furniture, which should be here in May. The glider and night stand will go in the empty corner. I also found this great rug! Its perfect with the light green and pink with roses!

We still have lots of stuff to do, we have some shelves to hang and some empty places to fill. We're also going to stencil white butterflies in a few places and hang wall letters to spell out her name. I will post more pictures as we get the rest of the furniture and accessories in the room. Brian has been working so hard the past few weeks with all the painting and putting everything together, I don't know what I would do without him!! We're going to take a well deserved break for a little while and concentrate on finishing a few other projects around the house.

Baby Tori

I found a website where you can upload pictures of you and your husband and it makes a picture of what your child may look like. Maybe baby Tori will be a little red head!

Its a girl!!!

Below are the sonogram pictures of our DAUGHTER!!!! :-) We decided on the name Victoria Rose for a girl years ago when we first started talking about having kids. We're going to call her Tori for short. During the sonogram they checked all her tiny little organs and everything looks great! We saw her tiny little heart up close and could see the valves opening and closing! She's actually measuring 4 days bigger than her due date, so she might be tall like her daddy. She's 14 ounces (almost a pound already!) and so adorable.

Here is our sweet baby girl's little face! It almost looks like a 3-d sonogram! We will do one of those once she's filled out a little more. You can see the her legs up straight (the long things to her sides), she was folded in half with her feet above her head the entire time! Gymnast maybe?

Its a girl!! She may hate us when she's older for posting pictures of her rump on-line for all to see, but it was such an exciting moment! She was folded up so funny that it's hard to see her legs, but the two bright white dots are her butt bones and the text is pointing right to her "goods."

The big round thing is her belly, this shot it looking up through her arms at her face. You can see her little nostrils and top lip. She was moving her mouth around a lot, the sonogram technician did a little replay to make it look like she was saying "mama."

Baby Tori playing with her toes :-) Thats her leg and little foot on top and her hand on bottom.

This shot is just to show how folded up she was. Such a cutie already! The technician was not able to get a shot of one of her kidneys because of the way she was laying so we get to have another sonogram next month! I love getting little peaks into her world.

Old wives tales

It's a girl if:
Your baby's heart rate is at least 140 beats per minute - yes, it hasn't been under 140 yet
You are carrying the weight in your hips and rear -no
Your hair develops red highlights-always has, nothing new
Your belly looks like a watermelon -not so much
You are craving sweets -always, again nothing new :-)
You crave orange juice- I did the first few months
You are moodier than usual during pregnancy - kinda, no more than to be expected
Your face breaks out more than usual- nope, yay!
You refuse to eat the heel of a loaf of bread - that’s just wierd
Your breasts have really blossomed! -yes
Your pillow faces south when you sleep -yes, not sure what that has to do with anything…
You hang your wedding ring over your belly and it moves from side to side- nope
You add your age at the time of conception and the number for the month you conceived and the sum is an odd number- 25+10=35 so yes…. but the Chinese gender chart says boy

It's a boy if:
You didn't experience morning sickness in early pregnancy- yes! I was very lucky, no morning sickness at all
You are carrying the extra weight out front - yes!
Your belly looks like a basketball -yes
You are carrying low - lower than higher
You are craving salty or sour foods - not really
You are craving protein -- meats and cheese - not really, just craving dairy
Your feet are colder than they were before pregnancy- well I have been pregnant all winter so hard to say
The hair on your legs has grown faster during pregnancy - not really sure
Your hands are very dry- again it has been winter
Pregnancy has you looking better than ever - break outs wise yes, but pale since I'm not tanning
Your nose is spreading -no……haha, does that happen?
You hang your wedding ring over your belly and it moves in circles -yes!

**Thats more BLUE than pink! We think its a boy but we'd be just as happy if its a girl... we'll see in a few hours!!!! We're so excited!!!