Baby Clothes and Winter Snows!

BRRRRR!  Today's weather was awful!  It snowed all day outside while I was at work today.  Arthur and I came home tonight and we had almost a foot of fresh snow on everything.  Usually it doesn't snow much out where we live, but for some reason it all seemed to dump right on our little house in the mountains.

I had a great day today.  Today was one of the first days in a long time that I've felt normal.  I normally have a terrible headache all day, but today I drank a coke around 9:30 or so and it helped me get through the day.  I am really hoping that it's just starting to go away because of how far along I am...but we will see.  If it comes back tomorrow, I know it's just the Coke working.  :)

Tonight we stopped by Arthur's family's house and spent some time with his little sisters.  It was fun.  We also picked up some super cute outfits that Arthur's mom got baby Finn.

This picture shows three of the outfits and the cute little shoes that Arthur's mom said reminds her of Arthur.   Two of the outfits come with onesies and bibs with an elephant and a tiger.  The middle outfit is my favorite, with little orange crabs all over dark blue pajamas:

The last two are his bug outfit and his cow outfit.  The cow outfit is hilarious because it comes with a little cow tail in the back:

These kinds of cute clothes makes me so excited to put my baby in them.  I normally didn't care much for looking for baby stuff, except for if it was for my niece or nephews.  Now that it's for my baby, it's a lot different.  I love that Arthur's mom is so excited that she's already looking for cute stuff like this.  Doesn't she have great taste!?  Spoiling grandkids are the best, or so I hear.  ;)

How far along:  16 Weeks, 5 days

How much time left:  23 Weeks, 2 Days

Top two symptoms:  My headache and nausea weren't too bad today.  I think I was mostly just tired today.  

Favorite thing I ate today:  Subway!!

Mood:  Because my headache went away earlier today, I was in the best mood.  I haven't been that happy in a long time, not since my ultrasound anyway.  I also loved getting such cute boy clothes from my mother-in-law.  

Worried about:  It was really tough to worry about anything today.  I guess I worried a bit about Arthur today while he was out delivering meals to old people, because of the snow.  Other than that, I didn't worry much about anything.  :)

Excited for:  Baby Finn to get here so we can change clothes a million times!!

What's in a name?

I've had several people ask me this week if we are sharing the name we've picked for our baby boy.  I think some wait to name their children until they are born, and some just don't want people to know for the surprise element when the baby arrives.  I'm just assuming here, and I'm not really sure why most don't share the name they had decided on.  Maybe because they aren't sure which name they like?  I know my sister waited until her kids were born to name them, and had her options down to a few when they were born.

Anyways, Arthur and I have always known which name we liked for a boy as soon as we started talking about having kids.  We only have a first name picked out, and  haven't yet decided on a middle name yet.  Maybe that will be our surprise element when he arrives.  :)

His name will be Finn.  Finn like Finland or Fish, which are two things that Arthur loves.  Finn like Fennemore, which is my Grandpa's middle name.  My grandpa was very special to me, and he died on July 23 of last year.

In other news, everything is going well with my pregnancy.  No major issues aside from the standard night nausea and day headaches.  My next doctor's appointment is a week from this Friday, on February 8.  Then two weeks after that I'll be 20 weeks and can do my official halfway point ultrasound.  That is something I'm definitely looking forward to.  :)

How far along:  16 Weeks, 4 days
How much time left:  23 Weeks, 3 Days

Top two symptoms:  I struggled with a really bad headache today.  It started around 8 or so, and didn't stop until tonight around 6:30.  I drank some Coke, and that seemed to help a lot.  It's weird, but I never liked Coke, and still don't really like it.  I just find that it helps my headache get better.  I get nausea pretty quick if I move around without eating something before and after.

Favorite thing I ate today:  Arthur and I went out to dinner tonight before we went to a movie.  French fries.  Delicious.

Mood:  My mood today was ok.  I get grumpy when I don't feel good, and so the middle part of my day sucked.  I felt like I couldn't do anything because my brain was so foggy.  I work really hard normally, and to not be able to think quickly and work fast really bugs me.  I can't wait for pregnancy brain to go away.

Worried about:  Lately I've been thinking about raising a kid in these times.  When I was little, there was no iPhone, iPad, Wii or Game Boy.  If we had video games, we rarely played them because they weren't too engaging.  I hope that I will still be able to teach my baby that make believe and playing outside are fun things too.

Excited for:  The weather recently has been awful.  I am excited for the spring and summer time which means that my baby is coming sooner...  Cold doesn't mix with excitement.  :)

Good Sunday Morning!

I love that it is a 3 day weekend.  I always feel like the weekends are too short.  I think it's because I don't usually do too much, and am pretty lazy.  I like it that way, though... so don't judge me.  :)

Yesterday, Arthur and I slept in until around 11:30 or so.  We played Wii with Mike and hung out for a little bit.  Around 3, we left and went to Buy Buy Baby.  It was pretty cool, but I didn't really see a whole lot I liked.  I think it's because we have a very specific theme in mind for our baby boy.

We are probably going to do his nursery in an "Under the Sea" theme.  I previously joined Pinterest but didn't really use it.  I went back on Thursday night (after we found out that he's a boy) and looked up some fun ideas.

Arthur's favorite theme is a dark brown crib and some cute ocean accessories:

He also likes the wall decoration of these schooling fish:

I'm not too picky, but I'm leaning towards liking the lighter colored wood because to me, it looks less cagey.  :)

I've been pinning some other things, not just room stuff.  I found some cute knit things that would be fun for pictures when he is born.  I just need to learn to knit.  :)

After Buy Buy Baby, we met up with my parents at the mall for a minute so they could pick up Arthur's grill saw.  My dad is redoing his bathroom with one of those walk-in tubs.  I think it's great that he's making an effort to make their house nicer.  He's doing it all himself, but he has asked Arthur to help one weekend when he's free.

At the Mall, Arthur and I went to Gap Kids and I found a really cute hat that was on sale.  I think it's  Christmas hat, but it looks like the 4th of July to me.  Because my due date is July 11th, it will be a perfect little hat for him to wear:

Then, we went to Cheesecake Factory with some friends and my brother.  There was a mixup on the reservation for how many, so Mike and his girlfriend waited for nearly 2 hours for a seat for 2 after we had left.  They still got seated just before 9, so it worked out.   

I ordered the Chicken Bellagio and the Godiva Cheesecake.  Sooooo good!

Arthur and I went to a friends house after dinner and played games.  I was feeling pretty good, so that was appreciated.  Overall, it was a good day.

How far along:  15 Weeks, 3 days
How much time left:  24 Weeks, 4 Days
 
Top two symptoms:  Yesterday my symptoms were slight nausea and a headache later on in the day.  Nothing too bad.  I think they're slowly getting better, which tells me that the 16 week timeframe for my headache going away may be true.  I sure hope so.

Favorite thing I ate today:  I didn't eat much of my dinner because I had Gastric Bypass 10 years ago... so I don't have a lot of room.  So I took it with me and ate some at our friend's house and it was just delicious.  I love that it includes Prosciutto on top, and pesto... two of my favorite things. 

Mood:  My mood yesterday was really good.  Since I found out that I'm having a boy, everything has become happier for me.  I love that.  :)  I did have a few minutes yesterday where I was worried about Mike and his girlfriend getting to eat, and I did have a bit of trouble processing those emotions.  That's one thing about being pregnant that I struggle with, which is not being able to let some things not get to me.  Pregnancy hormones win!

Worried about:  I chatted with a girl last night who was in the group I was with, and she's also pregnant.  She's much farther along that me, 30 weeks or so.  We were talking about different birth methods and whether or not we were going to go natural.  I worry about my pain tolerance, and I struggle to make a solid decision about how I'm going to handle it when the time comes.  I know that I'm going to have intentions of going natural, but I have absolutely no idea how bad it's going to be.  I do plan on pushing myself to stay strong and breathe through the pain... but every time I say that to someone who's been through it, they laugh at me because the know I have no idea how bad it can get.  It doesn't scare me, it feels more like a challenge, which I like.  I am probably over thinking it because I'm not even close to that time yet.  I will have to figure things out soon, I'm sure.  I'm open to advice here!

Excited for:  This might sound weird, but I'm very excited for dinner tonight.  Arthur is making squash and Salmon for dinner from Costco.  There is nothing I love more than salmon!  *drool*

What is it? Boy or Girl?

I know how important it is to apologize to someone if you haven't had a chance to talk with them in awhile, especially if they are upset with you.  So, let me begin our conversation today with an apology.  I am really sorry for not blogging in awhile.  I had a bunch of days where I was really struggling to feel happy about much of anything, so I felt like no news was good news until I had a happier perspective.   

I had hoped with the 2nd trimester starting that my nausea would magically disappear and that my headaches would just vanish.  They didn't, and so I got a little depressed. 

I also went to my 14 week doctor's appointment on Friday, January 11.  Both Arthur and I were told at our 10 week appointment that if we got there at a non-busy time that maybe we could have an ultrasound.  We purposefully booked an appointment at 9:00 in the morning so they would have no excuse of being busy with us being the first appointment of the day. 

At the appointment, everything was fine.  My blood pressure was normal, and baby's heart rate was 161.  The doctor asked me if I had any questions and of course I did.  I asked him about baths, because I'm having 1 a day now to help with the growing pains and crampy legs.  He said it was fine as long as the water wasn't so hot that it made my skin turn red, and as long as my body temperature didn't get too high. 

I also asked him about deli meats.  He said that in his over 2,000 deliveries, he'd never seen a woman who had contracted listeria from deli meats.  He said they were probably fine.  I do trust what he says, but I also know that I tend to be the 1 in a million (so you're sayin' there's a chance) that gets the bacteria.  So, I am just cautious.  I might incorporate some deli meats from somewhere that I see them cut it in front of me.  I dunno.  I'm glad that I'm not craving it too bad anymore.  However, I WILL eat myself a fat sandwich (from Subway, of course) that has lots of no-no meats on it as soon as this baby is here.  :)

The last question I asked was about my ultrasound.  I wanted to know if it was going to happen that day.  He said that he normally does an ultrasound at 20 weeks unless there is something wrong with the heartbeat, etc.  Because I'm checking out to be completely normal (thank goodness), he reassured me that most problems seen in ultrasound won't even be visible until then anyway.  I took peace from that and realized that seeing my baby was just 6 short (HA) weeks away.  *sigh*

A few days after that at work, I found out that I didn't get the position that I had applied for.  I was bummed for about a day, and the pregnancy hormones didn't help much with that.  Unfortunately, it exaggerates everything for me... so feeling sad is like feeling like it's the end of the world.  I tried to focus on sayings like "everything happens for a reason" and "it wasn't supposed to happen right now".  That helped a bit. 

Yesterday was date night for Arthur and I.  He sent me an email while I was at work that had the subject of "Off at 4?" and the email said "Date night!  Are you off at 4?"  I thought it was cute that he was so excited.  For us, date night usually consists of dinner somewhere with a Groupon and then home to let me sleep off the food, which is why the excitement was funny to me. 

I started feeling gross around 2 or so, and wanted to lie down.  I got the rest of my stuff done for the day and was ready to leave around 3:15.  Arthur was able to pick me up by 3:30, which I really appreciated.

I got in the car and was pretty grumpy and miserable because of how awful I felt.  Headache, nausea, etc.  He asked me if I needed something to eat, so I told him yes.  We went to Taco Bell and I got some food.  I ate it and started feeling a bit better.  I could tell he felt bad for me so he asked me if I wanted to go to Babies R Us and pick out something with some coupons he had.  Of course I did!!

We went there and it took us awhile to decide on something, because there was nothing that was gender neutral.  I kept commenting, "this will be a lot easier when I know if it's a boy or a girl."  I also said "I'm 15 weeks today, we could do Fetal Fotos."  Arthur was concerned because he didn't know how much it was and so I let it go again.  We decided on a cute blanket with owls on it.  It was brown, so it was good for a boy or a girl.

After Babies R Us, Arthur said he wanted to go to Costco to get some  paper towels because we are out.  We were closest to the Costco at 5300 South, which is close to Fetal Fotos.  I asked him if we could just drive past so I could price check.  He was pretty hesitant and sounded like he didn't want to.  I persisted because I really needed to know how much it costs so I could figure out if it would ever be possible.  5 more weeks seemed like eternity.

He drove over and parked, and I assumed he would just wait in the car.  He got out with me, which I appreciated.  We went in and I asked the girl for pricing and options.  She got me a couple of brochures, and went over how much it costs.  It wasn't too bad, the lowest priced package was only $79.00, which included a DVD, pictures and a 2D gender check. 

I was getting ready to thank her for the information, and went to leave, and Arthur said, "We'll do that one."  She said "Are you Genevieve?"  And I thought, how does she know my name?!

Arthur said "Surprise, you have a 5:00 appointment!" and I realized that Arthur had already booked a session for me!  I started crying! 

I think I freaked the girls out at the front desk because it was more like bawling.  I felt like I had just won the lottery.  I danced around and hugged Arthur and couldn't even see straight.  It was one of the most emotional times I've ever had in my life, ever.  I realized that I was going to find out if I was having a boy or a girl!

We went in the ultrasound room, and it was everything I had ever read about.  a very comfortable bed, dimmed lights, peaceful.  She put the goop on me and it was warm, unlike the freezing cold goop at the doctor's office for the heartbeat.  She put some music on, a lullaby on the piano.  There was a big screen TV at the other side of the room that I could see where the picture would appear.

She started the ultrasound and moved the little wand thing around.  The second I saw the picture of the baby, I started to bawl.  I felt bad for her because she was trying to get a good view, and my crying prevented her from being very productive.  I finally calmed down after a few moments and just watched.  It was so amazing to see the little head and the little body.  She took a bunch of pictures as she went along so I was able to know what was in each shot.

Then... she went to check for the gender.  She found it!  But, you'll have to wait...  :) 

I'll blog a little bit later today with the news!  Can you tell what it is?