07.30.09
The kid’s gonna be a Cub Viking
Yesterday Kyle and I received an exciting gift in the mail from one of our favorite couples, Jen and Adrian. The Dallas duo mailed a package to our home, but it was addressed to “Baby Z.”
Kyle and I opened it together and laughed so hard. The tiniest Minnesota Vikings onesie for the baby, with a matching beanie and booties! The bootie was so tiny, it took up only a couple of inches in the palm of Kyle’s hand!
Look at the little bootie!
The second surprise was a Chicago Cubs blanket. I adore it.
These gifts were just perfect for our new family, because Kyle is a huge Vikings fan, and I am a Chicago lover. Kyle said he may have to take the baby boy to some Sunday football games now that he has the gear!
Thanks Jen and Adrian! This made my day, and made me all the more excited to one day see our little Viking pass out on his Cubbies blankie after game day.
We are blessed!
07.27.09
“B” is for Boy and Banana
I am finally at the half-way mark! 20 weeks pregnant. And, this week the baby is about the size of a banana.
Average size of baby at 20 weeks
Now, keep in mind… stats say a baby at 20 weeks weighs about 10.5 ounces, but when Kyle and I went to the doctor last week for the ultrasound, we were told our boy was already 12 ounces! He probably weighs even more now since that was almost a week ago! According to babycenter.com, baby is also about 10 inches long now! That’s pretty big. Baby Center, by the way, is a great resource for expecting moms and dads. It allows you to enter your due date and it will send you weekly updates on your pregnancy, which is where I got the banana bit!
Kyle and I bought paint and hardware for the nursery this weekend. We ended up with blue paint, but I think it’s a good blue. It has a gray tone to it, and it’s not too dark. We bought chair railing, base boards and wainscoting panels for the walls.
We ran into a bit of dilemma after we got home with everything and took another look at the bedroom. We didn’t think about how we would panel around the window, and that poses a bit of a challenge. We did some research online to see how the pros do it, and we found that the windows are always framed, to accommodate the wainscoting. So, it will look more like this:
Example
Luckily, Kyle is up for the challenge and when the man says he can do something, I let him! Now, we have to go back to Lowe’s and do more shopping. We will at least be able to start painting everything this week, so Kyle will be ready to start installing the bead boarding soon!
I’ll keep you posted on the progress…
07.25.09
Paint Dilemma
I’m going crazy over paint for the nursery. Thought I wanted yellow, and I still do, but yellow is a hard color to get right. You don’t want too yellow, like post-it note yellow. I was trying to go for the soft yellow-beige like color, but it’s been nearly impossible to find. You can’t trust the color swatches from the store, because they almost never look the same once the wall is painted.
I have literally bought 5 different yellow samples, and they nearly look the same. Now, I’m on to blues. Kyle prefers blue. But, again, it has to be the right blue. Not too dark and not too soft. So, I bought three samples of blue.
All my samples!
The yellows
The blues
So, after much discussion and thought… and staring at the wall like a fly… we are going with the blue in the middle. It’s kind of blue-gray. With white wainscoting it should look great! But, ask me how I feel later. I am having a hard time letting go of the yellow, because it’s what I have wanted for awhile. I was trying to stay away from the typical “oh, it’s a boy, paint blue” mentality, but I can add hints of color elsewhere, right?
I have some vintage yellow furniture from my Grandma Zobrist, who passed on last year. I chose it knowing one day I would use it in our nursery. I am hoping it won’t clash with the blues. Then, I have my nephew’s wooden cradle, from when he was a baby. The key is to not have too many mismatched pieces, because we still have to buy the crib, dresser and changing table, which will likely be dark wood. My decorating skills are really going to have to come together to pull all this off. Wish me luck! I am off to Home Depot.
Little Kyle's cradle
Grandma's yellow nightstand
07.21.09
Baby Z is a……
Boy!
We found out the exciting news today! I didn’t “feel” it was a girl, but I thought it would be. I don’t know why really. So, I was surprisingly shocked when she showed us it was a boy. Baby Z was showing us all his glory. There was no guessing or speculating his sex!
Kyle recorded the announcement with my phone camera, so luckily we’ve been able to share the news with all of our friends and family on the internet.
The technician spent about 15-20 minutes on the ultrasound, checking out all angles and extremities of the baby. He is healthy! Has all ten fingers and toes, a functioning kidney and steady heartbeat. We saw the baby completely through the images. The tech also measured the baby and said his head is a perfect size and he now weighs 12 ounces! Bigger than that heirloom tomato!
I can’t put into words the feeling and emotion that came over me today when I saw our baby through the womb. It is an extraordinary thing! It was hard to fight back the tears. Kyle said he can’t wait to buy our son his first set of golf clubs!
Now…. on to baby names!
A couple of images from the ultrasound are attached.
It's a boy!
Baby Z's face and side profile
07.19.09
Almost Half-Way
I am 19 weeks preggo today! 21 weeks (technically) to go… which means I am nearing the half-way point.
And, some exciting news to share. I am finally feeling the baby move. It started on Friday. It was a weird sensation. I didn’t know what to expect, but I knew what I was feeling. I could feel him or her move around a few times over a 5 minute period. It was sensational!
The baby is about 8.5 ounces now and 6 inches long. About the size of an heirloom tomato!
About the size of Baby Z
I am feeling great and have no complaints… other than my feet and fingers are swelling, and I run out of breath easily.
Kyle and I are almost ready to start working on the nursery. I have the color picked out. I just need to buy it. And, we have decided to do wainscoting on the walls. So, it will look something like the image below. Once we get that done, we’ll start shopping for all the baby furniture.
Wainscoting
Everyone’s been asking for pictures of me and my baby bump. I am terrible, and haven’t taken any yet. But, I promise I will, especially by this time next week when I have officially reached the half-way mark.
Oh, and I will be reporting back here on Tuesday. That’s when we find out whether we are having a boy or girl!
07.08.09
First Love, then marriage… then…
I don’t know why I’ve waited so long to share the news, but Kyle and I are expecting!
I am about 4.5 months along and my belly is starting to bump. Growing. Bulging. Not fitting into clothes anymore. Anyway… that’s not the point really. I am truly, fantastically excited about having a baby.
First couple of months were rough! I dislike hearing women say, “I had no morning sickness.” Not because I really don’t think that’s great… it’s just that I was not so lucky… it hurts to hear about their easy ride. For me, it came on gradually, I would get a little nauseous, vomit here or there, dislike the smell of bell peppers being cooked… but at about 10 weeks, it came at me with a vengeance. It was no longer “tolerable.” I spent 36 sleepless hours with extreme nausea and vomiting. Is this too much information?
Well, I finally got medication from my doctor, and it worked like a charm. A miracle drug so to speak. Life has been good ever since. Actually, I’m not even taking the meds anymore, and I feel great!
I have a doctor appointment today, which I think is the standard lab work to determine if any birth defects might be possible, and we will find out the sex of the baby in about 2 weeks! I am dying to know. I don’t want to buy a thing until I get the news, and the waiting is driving me crazy.
I haven’t felt the baby move yet, but last night I sensed something happening in my growing belly. Maybe the baby was kicking around or trying to tell me it didn’t like the halibut I ate for dinner. Either way, I expect movement at anytime, and I hear it’s the best thing in the world!
From today on, I am going to try really hard to blog so I can keep everyone up to date on Baby Z. This, so far, is one of the most incredible journeys I am on and I want to savor every second of it.
