Robbie to post this week...

Okay. Dena says it's my turn to post. So here it is.

Today begins the 24th week This week Charlotte is the size of a Papaya. Here's a picture. She weighs 1.2 pounds and is growing rapidly! The other day she kicked/punched/head-butted so hard that I was able to see Dena's stomach move - from several feet away. I like being able to see and feel her moving.

We are continuing to prepare for this baby. Today I had to put together a dresser that we bought a few weeks ago so that we would have somewhere to put all of the clothes that we already have for a baby that is not going to be here until late September. She already has at least 30 distinct outfits. This is crazy to me, since I'm accustomed to wearing the same 3-4 things over and over. But whatever, I guess I don't make such a mess.

Aside from the clothes, we got a new crib-bedding-set package this week at Babies-R-Us. "New" because we already had one, but it was purchased before we knew what we were having, and it turned out not to be girly enough. Dena is keeping us on pace to acquire all of the available diapers in North America by the end of July. We now have well over 1000 diapers of all sizes, makes and models. With the diapers, clothes, furniture, swings, baby-carriers, diaper bags, and so on and so on, our house is filling up nicely with baby stuff. I feel like we're getting there and we should be ready.

Dena seems to be doing well. She is tired, and usually "rests her eyes" beginning at around 7:00 p.m. She is in full cravings mode currently and seems to swing between urgent-need-for-brownies and urgent-need-for-pickles. Today at the grocery, we were looking at hummus and I think Dena started drooling. I saw her eating some earlier.

Not much else new this week. We go back to the OB next week for our next appointment - wherein we confess that we have not yet found a pediatrician (which we were commanded to do at the last appointment).

Dena says to say "We will post some pictures regarding the belly." I'm not so sure, since we are horrible at (1) locating the camera at the right time, and (2) actually taking the pictures, and even worse at (3) actually posting them. But we will see what happens.

Sweet spaghetti squash!

So, we are 22 weeks today and things are going pretty well. I think I am beginning to feel pregnant at this point. A little uncomfortable at times and my cardiovascular fitness leaves a lot to be desired. Boggie on the other hand, is thriving cardiovascularly - or so I think. She is kicking up a storm, rolling around, and doing great. The other day she was kicking so hard I could see my belly move!! It was pretty amazing. At first her kicks were pretty surprising and felt weird but now I love them. I love to feel her swimming around because I know she is alright! Way better than the first 16 weeks or so when we felt nothing and just had to have faith.

This week we did get a bit of a scare but everything is fine. I have been having some cramping and tightening at the end of the work day lately and on Thursday we had a bit of spotting (TMI I know). Spotting, supposedly, is pretty normal during pregnancy, however it was new for me so I called the doctor. She told me to rest on Friday and see her that day. We saw her and she said everything was fine. She had me get another US just to double check the location of the placenta and make sure Charlie is doing okay and she is fine. Her HB was strong, the placenta was fine, and my cervix is closed and looks completely normal. The spotting may have been a freak thing. The tightening she says is possibly due to the fact that I am on my feet the majority of about 50 hours/week at work and I need to invest in a maternity support belt...I think my mom told me this when I was 8 weeks prego! :)So, I have purchased a belt. Not too stoked about it because I am already 4 million degrees on a daily basis and one more layer does not sound too enticing but I keep telling myself, "It is no longer about you and your comfort. We have to think about what's best for Boggie." I am willing to compromise - I am only wearing it at work! Who knows I may love it and wear it all the time.

So, I skipped last week because I figured all I was going to talk about was the US and how she is a sweet little baby girl! We are still so excited. It feels so natural to refer to her as a "she". In our US on Friday they did reconfirm that she is indeed a girl. One thing I know about this little girl is she loves her daddy. According to some research they can begin to hear voices and noises now so we are trying to talk to her and get her used to the sound of our voices as much as we can. Robbie even read her a book one night! It was so sweet. I know he felt weird but I loved it. He was reading and I was crocheting a baby blanket - so "family-like". One thing she LOVES is when he plays her lullabies on the guitar. She really gets to moving when she hears those strings. I am hoping this means she has the musical talents of her father. Of course, she should have my great taste in music (AKA celine dion)!

One thing that happened at the last OB appointment was that she said we needed to begin the process of selecting a pediatrician. For some reason I feel like this is a big deal! Being in the health care field I have seen good doctors and bad doctors and I do not want to pick a bad one. Fortunately, I work with some great pediatric case managers that have pointed us in a couple of directions so we are hoping to interview them in the next couple weeks. I feel like we were given an assignment and need to produce results by the next OB appointment. I can't imagine Dr. Dean feels that way but task-master Dena does and we will have one by June 8th!! They may think we are crazy but I accepted that I was crazy a long time ago. Now with a baby on the way things are really crazy.

We haven't really made much headway on the baby room. There is some minor work that needs to be done from an old roof leak before we can really get started. Our landlord has assured us it will be done before September. It better. That stresses me out a bit. Robbie is taking care of that project and I am sure he will deliver - the bigger I get the more intimidating I can be. I have no idea how to put a baby room together. I am going to rely on my friend Kate to help us. What she doesn't already know is she is going to have to help me make my, supposedly neutral but oddly with a lot of blue, bedding more feminine. I having no idea how this will work. I really don't like the idea of a room that looks like pepto bismal so a little more masculine is fine with me!

Well, things are moving right along. We received some super cute rocker baby onesies and a boppy cover from robbie's cousins (we will post pics once robbie tells me where the camera is)! Some of these clothes are so tiny! I guess she will be pretty tiny - she is only almost 1lb in weight and about 11 inches right now. Can you imagine how much growing she will be doing this last half of the pregnancy?? Can you imagine how much growing I will do this last half of the pregnancy - let's not think about that and go get a snack instead!

We will post belly pics too! Once again, once I find the camera. Check on Monday and all the pics should be there!!

Also, I added links for our Registry locations (Babies R Us and Target). Some people have been asking and I thought this might help!

Also, I changed the look of the blog...again. That pink was too much!!

And the verdict is...

Drumroll please...IT'S A GIRL!! As if you didn't already know from a telephone call, twitter, facebook, or the color change of the Blog! We are super excited and cannot believe we will soon be the parents of a beautiful baby girl!! Even better is the fact that she appears healthy and has all her necessary parts - two arms, two legs, two hands, two feet, strong heart, good umbilical cord, etc.! It was pretty amazing seeing our little angel bounce around. She was moving so much during the US. It is crazy because I feel the occasional kick and roll but I don't feel her nearly as much as she was moving. I am sure that will change soon :). I also gave her some chocolate milk before the ultrasound so that usually amps her up pretty good. We had a really great ultrasound technician that took her time explaining everything and didn't get frustrated when I interrupted her - it seriously says to not interrupt the US technician in the waiting room. She didn't seem to mind at all.

Robbie was there, of course, and our good friend Kate was able to be there too! It was nice having the support in the room. A little embarrassing when the tears started to flow within 5 seconds of the start of the US, but nice nonetheless. I think they were both pretty amazed too at how much she was moving and how formed everything looks! We were able to tap into their 3D technology a bit and she looks a little weird. The tech said she would look weird because she didn't have any fat on her yet. I thought, don't worry, if there is one thing I know how to do it is put fat on - me or a baby! I immediately went for more chocolate milk post-US!! We will post some of the pics today along with an updated belly shot.

This week marks the half-way point. We are 20 weeks along and doing great. I can't really complain about pregnancy after seeing that little girl in there waving her hands and kicking her feet. It really makes it all worth it. I will, however, keep with my original promise of this Blog and tell you what is going on symptom wise. So, nausea is a minimal factor. I do get nauseous in the morning and that is because I eat too far before I go to sleep and I refuse to get up in the middle of the night for a snack. I think my sugar is too low in the am. I think the biggest issue I am having is lack of sleep due to back pain. I will say yoga is my saving grace. It really helps when my back is flared up. I am adjusting to the lack of sleep oddly enough. I get a good solid 4 hours of sleep from 8-12 and after that it is usually touch and go. I just consider it one more way my body is trying to prepare me for the lack of sleep I will experience when the baby comes along. I haven't started waking Robbie up yet to prepare him, but that will come after about week 30 - he doesn't know that yet :).

I totally forgot! We have picked a name - Charlotte June Wagoner. Robbie wants to call her Charlie and I cannot refuse. I am pretty certain we will continue to call her Boggie every now and then.

A lot of people have asked us if we are registered anywhere. We have registries at Target and Babies R Us. They have a lot of stuff on them mainly as an organizational tool for me. We are going to add more cost friendly items and gender specific stuff now that we know what we are having - maybe this Sunday. We did take a trip this past weekend to IKEA and purchased a ton of stuff - dresser and crib included. I really think we are making progress! Soon, we will start getting the room together and we will post more pics as it progresses!

So, we will post another update on Sunday, as usual! Thanks for all the congrats we have received. We are so excited and cannot wait to welcome baby Charlie into the world!!

My love don't cost a thing!

So, 19 weeks and the baby is moving. Still pretty random but moving nonetheless and every kick makes me smile even more! The title of this blog is in reference to the baby's size. It is 6 inches long from head to rump, which is about the length of a dollar bill. I promise I googled it! That little baby could fit entirely in our hands - I'm glad it is still in there though cooking away!

So, what happened this week?? Well, I have been having some odd cravings. Number one I am obsessed with milk. I can drink milk like it is my job. I mean 8-12 oz of milk downed in about 2 minutes!! Before pregnancy I was borderline lactose intolerant and now I can't get enough of it. Don't even get me started about chocolate milk! That stuff is amazing. I can't believe I never drank it before. I think I would really like Cocoa Krispies but I refuse to even go there. The other bizarro craving I am having is spicy food. I usually hate spicy food. This weekend I was asking Robbie to find me some spicy curry. This morning I ate hot sauce on my eggs. I don't know what is going on! My cravings seem to wax and wane so I am sure this will be short lived. Case in point, I am not all that interested in pineapple anymore. I will eat it but I don't need it like before.

I also ventured head first into maternity wear. I have been wearing maternity pants now since about week 10 for comfort reasons so that I am used to. I did, however, wear a maternity shirt to work. The kind with the tie in the back and everything!! I can't believe it! I kept telling Robbie that I thought it made me look pregnant and he politely reminded me that I am pregnant. Sometimes you do forget. I swear. For those friends in the first trimester or beginning their second, there are times that I forget because I feel fine and I don't feel the baby moving. Then I get depressed because I wonder, "where did I get this gut?". Then I remember about the human being inside of me.

This week was also my 31st birthday. Thanks to all of you that helped celebrate with me, thanks for all the great cards, and thanks for all the gifts!! I am so grateful to have you guys in my life. This birthday was a little different feeling. I am usually pretty excited, although I deny it, about my birthday. I can't wait to see what Robbie will get me or where we will go. This year I didn't feel that way. This year my focus was on Boggie and the day could have come and gone and I would have been just fine. If I could have one thing for my birthday it would be a healthy, happy baby. That is all I can think about right now!

In the birthday cards we did get some money designated for the baby and we used that to buy a diaper bag - yes it was on sale and yes I did have a coupon!! Thanks Granny Lusetta!! We also found another crazy deal on diapers. I think Robbie is done with purchasing diapers for now. This box was on sale, I had a coupon, and inside it had $30 more dollars worth of coupons - that was the only reason he caved!! Slowly but surely we are accumulating the things we will need. Nothing too crazy, just the basics is my motto!

So we are one week, and some change, away from getting a sneak peak at our baby Boggie. May 11th is our ultrasound day and we are super excited. Our friend Kate will be there too to witness the event so no one thinks we are lying. We all know what kind of jokester Robbie can be. As the day comes closer we are trying to nail down the name options. I want to be able to start calling the baby by its name that day. Since it can hear I figure we might as well start teaching it in utero, right? One thing that is neat about the hearing thing. We went to the farmer's market last weekend and stopped to listen to a string quartet play - the baby went wild. I played some classical music in the car and nothing happened. Then, Robbie played his guitar and it started moving around again. I think we may have a little musician growing. I hope so. I love musicians - hey I married one!!

So, next post we will not be revealing the baby's identity but the week 21 post will have the goods! I am sure we will update FB and call folks right after we find out so don't worry!!