Holy cow.

We set up our registries yesterday and holy cow was it exhausting. There was so much that we didn't know anything about, so thank goodness for helpful clerks and strangers in the aisles who helped us out. You'll find links to both our registries in the left-hand side bar.

One thing: we were starting to get delirious toward the end, so there's some overlap between the two and today I realized that we registered for a billion sheets. I may or may not go back and fix any of that at some point in the future. Some things are doubled up on between the two stores because we figured that some people may only shop at one or the other and if we happen to get two of the same thing it's super easy to exchange things. Plus, we'll be ecstatic about any gifts we're lucky enough to receive, regardless of where they come from.

Another thing: We tried to not pick things that were made in China as much as possible, but it was tough. From bedding to diaper bags, there was very little that didn't come from China. That said, I've done some searching on line for some diaper bags that we like a little better than the one on our registry that aren't made in China, in case anyone gets ambitious (incidentally, the one we did register for is great and we think we'll really like it - we're just trying to be a little more world-conscious).

There's the Re-Run Messenger

Or here's the Organic Caboose Organic Cotton Diaper Bag.

(This site also has a lot of fun clothes, toys, diapers and other stuff.)

There's probably a billion others out there; this is just what I found quickly. As you can see, I'm keeping in mind that Kelly will sometimes be carrying this bag thing as well...and that we'll use it with future children who may or may not turn out to be female...so we're going with easy-to-get-along-with colors and patterns.

Here's a fun site I found based out of Connecticut with some fun toys called Our Green House.

And my friend Michelle has mentioned this Etsy site to me a few times. It's an online marketplace for buying and selling all things handmade and looks pretty cool.

We do want to go with cloth diapers for LBH, and a lot of these sites as well as some of the sites I already have in the left-hand side bar have info on cloth diapers

And the judges say....

It's a girl!

We opened the sealed envelope with gender photos inside yesterday before serving Thanksgiving dinner to twenty-odd ravenous friends and family members. Kelly had purchased one blue bubble gum cigar and one pink bubble gum cigar the day before and when he opened the envelope and we peeked inside, he pulled out the pink one and tossed it to Denisha, who was the only person who didn't think we were having a boy. Then we pulled out the pictures and passed them around and hugged a bunch of people who were telling us congratulations and then we ate.

I'm not going to lie - the girl business comes to us both as quite a surprise. We were convinced - as were many, many other people - that we were having a boy. I think that Kelly and I had both sort of started planning mentally for a son...and now we're shifting that thought pattern a little. We aren't changing nursery colors - we're still going for neutral, earthy colors - or theme - we still don't want anything overly cutesy or anything with kid-standard cartoon characters - but it is a little bit of a mind shift to think about the different things that come with raising a girl over what you plan for with raising a boy.

Needless to say, however, we're both super thrilled and ecstatic about everything and look forward to meeting our daughter in four months. She's a little more real to me now, knowing that she's a she and not having to refer to her as "it" any more.

And by the way, for all the people who are asking already, no, we have no names picked out just yet. She's only been a "she" to us for 24 hours now. Names will come, I'm sure, a little more down the road, once we think about it some. It's a big deal, coming up with the name for another human being. Give us time.

New Stuff

I know it's been a while since I've posted a picture of me...Sorry. Here's one that Kelly took of me last weekend at twenty weeks along.



I'm definitely looking more pregnant, which is much, much nicer than looking just a little chunky. The one bonus(?) that looking pregnant has brought is that people feel even more at liberty to touch my belly. Which mostly I'm OK with because mostly it's been people I know. I don't know what I'll think when a complete stranger does it. I also think it's funny because at this point, there's nothing for people to feel except for my belly. They can't feel the baby moving around yet. I don't know...maybe it's just irresistable to people...maybe some people think the baby bump is just that cute...like a plush teddy bear at the toy store that you can't resist reaching out and squeezing a few times.

Speaking of people touching me, Kelly has actually felt LBH move. It's going to be a while until other people can feel LBH, I think, because I'm not comfortable with other people touching me that low and for that long like I am with Kelly - all the baby movement up to this point has been very, very low in my abdomen. Every once in a while I notice something a little closer to my belly button, but there's no way anyone could feel that on the outside just yet. But the other night when we went to bed I had Kelly hold my belly for a few minutes because LBH was moving around a lot. All of a sudden, there was one strong, quick movement and Kelly gasped, so I knew he'd felt it too. That's been it, but even that little bit was pretty cool!

Beautimus!

It's only one of the many that were taken, but it's one of my favorite. This is LBH's profile!



I've already decided that LBH is going to be photogenic like me, and so far it looks like I'm right. Now LBH just needs to have naturally straight teeth like Kelly and the other part of my decision will be fulfilled!

Quickening

I don't know why early fetal movement is called "quickening," but it is. And for me, that quickening is quickening. Movement is getting stronger and I can feel it more often and in more positions; I used to only feel it if I was sitting, but now I can feel it laying and sometimes standing, too.

The other day, LBH was going nuts in there so Kelly wanted to see if he could feel it yet on the outside. What I've read on line says that people should be able to feel the baby on the outside two to four weeks after the mother feels it on the inside, and yesterday marked two weeks that I've been able to feel movement. However, as soon as Kelly put his hand on my belly, all the movement stopped. Not to be outsmarted by a fetus, Kelly left his hand there for a good five minutes, when I felt a strong and powerful movement (Maybe LBH didn't like the extra pressure Dad was putting on his/her home environment?). I gasped and asked Kelly if he felt that too. He looked at me sadly and said, "No...Should I have?" I felt sorry for his little puppy face and reassured him that he'd be able to feel it soon.

I'm hoping we can feel LBH on the outside before Thanksgiving so the whole family can share that part of the fun with us!

WOW!

We had our ultrasound appointment today. One word: Wow.

The moment she put the device thingie on my belly we saw baby: an obvious head, eye holes, chest with beating heart, arms and legs. It was fast, but there it was. She took a bunch of measurements and pointed out body parts to us and answered all of our questions of "What's that?!?" When it came time for the sex check she let us know when to look away (and even though it was hard, we did it) and when we could look again. She also took LBH's heart rate: 144 beats per minute. All in all, everything was perfect and healthy and just as it should be. She said LBH weighs about 15 ounces right now and said I'm a little bigger than the calendar says I should be by about a week. But she also said that's not enough to change a due date or anything, that that growth could level out later on.

Kelly and I both think we have the most amazing and wonderful and beautiful baby to ever be photographed in black and white dots. And, speaking of the b/w photos, Kelly will scan them soon and we'll put some of them up here for your viewing pleasure.

Seared Tongue

I forgot to mention something on here that happened a few weeks ago.

When I started this pregnancy, I didn't really want sweet things. They just didn't taste that good to me all of a sudden - at least, not as good as they used to.

And then a few weeks ago I became completely unable to eat sweet things. I found that anything sweet seared my tongue - just burned the taste buds right off and left me with sore spots. Weird.

That lasted about two weeks. I'm OK now and am perfectly able to consume sweet things again without hurting myself.

I felt LBH!

Last night, sitting on the couch at Trina and Clifford's house knitting, I felt this little baby of ours moving! It felt more like electricity deep in my abdomen than a human being poking me, but I'm sure that it was LBH! I told Kelly and he kissed my belly and we both teared up a little...And then I sat there just feeling the awesomeness for a while, afraid to move my belly at all because I didn't want it to go away. I felt it again this morning when I woke up, too. It's so great to know that our little LBH is big enough and healthy enough finally that I notice now! Yay!