What a day!!!!

Wow, today was such a memorable day!!!

We got up and headed to our normal Saturday morning swimming lessons (Noah is in the last 2 year old class and now we still have to be in the room but not in the pool. The next lesson we don't even have to be in the room -- sniffle!) Then we headed up to Reading and dropped Noah off at my mom's in a hurry so we could get to our ultrasound which was in Reading as well. It was at a place called Baby Preview Co. It is a private ultrasound company that specializes in Gender and 3d/4d Ultrasounds. It was a really cool place and it was sooo different than the medical ultrasound. The lady led us into a private room set up like a living room with leather chairs and a leather chaise lounge for the mom-to-be. The one entire wall was set up as a screen and there was a smaller tv set up to view next to the dad's seat as well. There were candles burning and soothing music!

Once we began it was so neat because we hadn't had an ultrasound this far along with Noah and this baby was so much more developed... you could see every rib and toes in detail and what not. When the nurse went to look for gender the legs were too close together! Are you kidding?! But we looked 4 or 5 times and each time the baby opened its legs a little wider until we were finally able to see and it was pretty clear to all of us that it was a little girl!!!!

The company reccomends for the best 3d ultrasounds to wait until between 26 and 30 weeks but we were at almost 25 and so the baby was still lacking some of the extra fat cells so it looks a little skeleton-ish, but we still enjoyed it. We bought the video and at one point she even wriggles her body around and looks right at us as if she's saying hi. She sticks out her tongue and yawns and we have it all on video. It's really great!!!!

Here are some of the pictures:


this is my favorite profile pic in 3d, her arm is up by her face.


This is the girl pic and then the exact pic from Noah's ultrasound below:
and her profile.

So, we left the ultrasound place and went to buy her some things, just like we did for Noah. It was so much fun to pick out some girlie things. We grabbed lunch and headed back to my mom's. Noah hadn't napped and was on overdrive but we managed pretty well.

We then had a young adults event at church in MD so we headed south from my parents and Noah slept on the way. When we got there a bunch of folks were there and we had a good time, but Noah was beyond himself. We chalked it up to a poor nap and too much driving. When we left he kept saying that he had an "owie" in his mouth and wanted a band-aid in his mouth. We just kept trying to relax him until we got home when he vomited every morsel of what he had eaten that day all over himself and the car. Luckily we were right by my office and we ran him inside and cleaned him up and tried to clean up the car. Then we had to rush home for a late meeting with our contractor at 8pm! Ugh!!!

So, here we are after a run around day full of all sorts of emotions and insanity!!!! But we are really excited about our new addition and we finally feel like we can plan a little bit better. We have some time next weekend to work on the room and order some things for this little one.

Thanks already for all of your wonderful warm wishes!!!!!

24 Weeks

6 months! Time is flying right by!!! At the next doctor's appointment I will be in my third trimester. Woohoo!!!!

Since the last visit I have grown tremendously! The baby has gotten so much bigger and I am most definitely very pregnant. It happened in the span of 2-3 weeks and it was amazing. The baby is now about 8 inches long and a little over a pound. The doctor moved my due date up about a week and that puts us at July 6th. I'm hoping for June 30th. I don't want a 4th of July baby or a baby on Paul's birthday (the 5th). I'm still 20 lbs less than last time, but gaining more quickly than I had hoped. The doctor is thrilled with where my weight gain is, but I'm not. Oh well, I know I'm eating well and exercising. I haven't touched ice cream and have been very careful about what I eat. I am excited for it to warm up just a little bit more so that I can be outside for walks and play time more often.

We decided to go ahead and find out the gender, which will happen this Saturday, March 21st. We are going to a 3d/4d ultrasound site and it is 100% guaranteed for gender or you can come back. We'll get a video and some pics and we are super excited because the short 3d/4d preview we had before was awesome. The pics always look a little creepy to me, but watching the baby move was so amazing. We also thought it would be cool to share the video with our parents who didn't really have ultrasounds the way we do. What will they have when our kids are grown? In any case, tune in on Saturday (or Sunday) to find out what the baby is!

Still no decisions made on the room... that will all happen after this weekend. I have some time off after Easter as well and I think that will be baby room time.

Stay tuned for a belly picture once I get my camera all set up today!!!

Congrats Bryan and Lisa!!!

We went to a wedding Saturday night for some church friends and it was so beautiful. It was at a restaurant right on the Chesapeake Bay in North East. The room was full of windows overlooking the water. It was a brand new banquet hall that had a starlit ceiling! Everything was really wonderful and very extravagant... surf and turf, open bar, tiramisu and wedding cake and an eclair bar! The happy couple is headed to an exclusive island off of Belize for one week and then to a castle in England for the second week!!!!

Green Eggs and Smiles

This morning for breakfast Noah wanted Green Eggs and Ham, but we didn't have any ham, so we settled for green eggs:

And as you can see he is making this silly smile while eating his eggs.  This is his new smirk that makes me laugh every time.  It started a few weeks ago when I was trying desperately to calm him down at bedtime and I was singing him a very slow and soft lullaby and I looked at him and he was giving me this smirk.  I just busted out laughing and so now he does it on purpose to make me laugh.  Paul tried too....

Cheerleaders

aren't they the cutest?

I'll love you forever

So if any of you have the book I'll Love you Forever, you'll get this.  If you don't, it is the sweetest story about a mom who rocks her little boy in his sleep each night, even up until he's an adult.  When she is about to die, he comes and rocks her in her sleep.  It is a total tear jerker and it is one of Noah's favorite stories.  Noah makes up the words and then sings the song on each page... it's super cute.  

The words are:  I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, As long as I'm living, my baby you'll be.  

more nursery..

Well, it seems that some of you are having fun helping me and I LOVE it!!!!

So, i am going to go with the owl thing but i'm thinking i'll keep it to pillows, blankets, and wall hangings. Or like bibs, changing pad covers, etc. But not bedding or design or anything.

I am going to stick with the bedding I liked before. 

I'm thinking I'll keep the bottom of the wall white and paint a design on the top of the wall in chocolate to match the bedding. Either that or wallpaper which we have discussed several times. We have no problem with it but this room will not be the baby's room for more than 2 years and then that means the work of taking down wall paper. So, if I can find a stencil or design I can paint I would definitely prefer that. 

But, then I sat in the room tonight and I thought that it might be REALLY white if we do that. Thoughts?

I found these rugs that I love and this will add color.





The changing table has 2 shelves on it which I will also get colored baskets for (probably just brown weave and then tie turquoise or pink on when we find out, or maybe wait and just buy them colored). Then comes curtains. This one I'm just not so sure about. I want to get room darkening blinds because this room gets tons and tons of light, but I want to get long, flowing curtains for the big window.  Stripes? Polka Dots?  Solid?  Green? Brown?

Urban Outfitters also has this fabric that can be used as curtains and another one that is like hydrangeas that I like (but a little more girly)

I saw this super cute lamp (thanks Tammy) and it's from Urban Outfitters but they are out of stock.  

And the owl I still love.  

This awesome box is made of birchwood and hand carved and carries the pricetag of $400!!!!  Can you believe it? It would be easy to duplicate though...

So, I'm still really not sure about anything!!! But I'm having fun trying!