21 Weeks!

Our little baby boy is making his mama smile all the time. I am finally able to feel the little guy moving, wiggling, maybe even punting! Last Friday, I had been busy all day. I finally laid down as I was exhausted. Suddenly, I felt him. I felt my baby boy! Five days later, it seems that I feel him more and more often. I was stressing that I hadn't felt him. My OB kept saying, "you'll feel him". He was right and what a feeling it is!! So, you want to know our baby boy's name? OK...I'll tell you next week!


This past weekend we did some serious shopping. We bought the baby's nursery bedding. PBK had the set I liked on sale. I knew once it went on sale it would sell out. So, Saturday night we went down and bought it! I love it! I also, had to break down and buy some maternity shirts. Suddenly all my shirts became belly shirts. Not cool! My sister, and friend, Carrie, will be proud of me!

Of course, once I had the bedding all bought I knew I needed to buy the actual furniture. Well, I've been dragging my feet on this one as the baby room had become the "catch all" room. Monday, Greg started moving stuff. And before I knew it we had already gotten a lot done. I am almost finished. I've had to do a lot of sorting and debating if I really like some of the decor that I have that hasn't been out since our last move two years ago. I decided I didn't. I have the donation center coming tomorrow and I have three boxes full of stuff. Plus, I am a scrapbooker. And I think all srapbookers will agree...we simply get too much stuff. We like everything, but we always find something else we like better and end up having a TON of stuff that is never used. I confess I think I am a pack rat.

I read in my nursing book that anything that annoyed you before the baby will totally annoy you once you have the baby, i.e. my disaster of a closet! So, as soon as I type this I am going to go tackle the closet. More stuff to donate, I'm sure of that!

I have to tell you real quick what a good wife I am. After our big appointment at Dr.K's last Thursday. I told Greg I wanted Ben and Jerry's Ice cream...the best ice cream in the world. Well, as we were driving there Greg said "well the Gingerman is right down the road, I could sure go for a celebration beer". I smiled and said, "sure honey, I'd love to go sit and watch you drink a beer and then drive home in Houston rush hour"! Greg was happy, and it was a nice day to sit outside and drink water!!

I hope you all are having a great week! It is starting to feel fall like here. I love it! Certainly, not like fall in Lawrence, KS, but it is cooling off.

Until next week!

Alicia

Just the words a Mama wants to hear....

I am breathing a huge sigh of relief. I have been since about 3:00 p.m. today. We saw Dr. K and he said everything looks good. When I asked him, "does my baby look great?, he replied, "yes he does"! Just the words a Mama wants to hear! We got to see many pictures of our cutie pie. We even got to see him in 3-D several times! Amazing, is all I can say! I am so happy, so relieved, so thrilled! Our baby boy was a little ahead of schedule which is great news since his Mama takes Lovenox, which can slow down baby growth. He weighed 14 ounces! He is 100% a boy! We got to see his package again today. There is no doubt he is a boy!

I am a shopping maniac. Greg and I are having a blast! I think my sister is too. She was up shopping on line the other morning. We hope to order our nursery here soon. I will post some pictures of what I have bought here very soon!

Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers. We love you all!

Boy, oh Boy!

Hi! I'll get right to the point! We made it home yesterday. We did a few things around the house and then we headed to my OB. My nurse asked if I had seen the Specialist and I informed her that I had to be rescheduled. She said, Dr. P may want to do an ultrasound since I am 20 weeks. She asked when I was rescheduled for and I told her on Thursday, but not to tell Dr. P, because if he knows that he may not do the ultrasound. She said let me do some talking to him. She came back giving me the all good sign. Then Dr. P came in and discussed how I was doing. He said when is your appt. with Dr. K? I said "next Thursday". Then out of no where I panicked thinking what if I tell him next Thursday and in actuallity it is this Thursday and it could harm the baby. You know having too many ultrasounds. Can that happen? My mind was racing. So, then I had to say, actually my appointment is this Thursday, my mind is mush! He said, no problem we will still do a quick peek!!!

Greg and I headed down to the ultrasound room. We were both so excited. I just knew though that they wouldn't be able to see, as you know we weren't supposed to find out today. I laid on the table, they put the wand to my belly, and boom to my surprise there was a little penis! WE ARE HAVING A BOY!!!! Out of all the pictures I have seen this pregnancy, there was no doubt our little guy was very proud of his package and wanted to show it to his parents! Greg and I both had huge tears of pure joy and excitement! They took several other pictures including, his hands, feet, profile picture, and legs. Now, I must tell you that I knew I was having a boy! I had said since day one, I think this is a boy! I didn't tell anyone, but Greg, but I knew. Then yesterday on our drive home from Ft. Worth, I said to Greg, "I don't want to say this too loud as I don't want the baby to hear, but I secretly want a boy!"

There you have it...we are having a BOY! We went and bought some cute little outfits from Janie and Jack and that was so much fun! I'll post some pictures soon of the outfits! I've never bought boy clothes, except for my friend Sarah's baby boy! I come from a family of all girls. Then we headed to Pottery Barn Kids to get the final numbers on the nursery. I had been having a hard time deciding on the nursery. My sister was right, once I knew the sex of the baby it wasn't hard to decide at all.

What a wonderful day! We are so excited and happy! Our baby finally has a name and I will share it with you soon! I feel like I can really start preparing now. However, I can't sleep tonight. It is 4:00 a.m. and I have been up since 3:00. I just keep thinking about the baby!

We did come home to a mess of a pool though. Greg has some major work cut out for him. Luckily, our good friend Brian is coming over to help him today. Other than the pool being a swamp, our house did great. When we got home, all up and down our street people had drive ways full of trees. Our house on the front looked just like it did the day we left. We are blessed. The house feels dirty though, so I am doing some cleaning today and of course, I have to go buy all new groceries. The pool, groceries, and cleaning seems so small though. Life is so good. We are having a baby boy and we just couldn't be happier. We see the Speciaist on Thursday. Please pray that we get all good news. I just want to hear "your baby boy looks perfect...I'll settle for, "your baby boy looks fine"! I'll write more on Thursday.

Love,

Alicia

Darn you, Ike!

Hi friends! I wanted to let you know that Greg and I are doing fine. Our house made it through the hurricane and we are so thankful for that. We are so fortunate that the Railroad sent us to Ft. Worth. We are staying here until power is restored in our area. Our dear neighbors are watching our house and using our kitchen as we have a gas stove. We are so thankful that they stuck around and are willing to take care of everything. We owe them big time! From what we are hearing Houston is a mess. My neighbor said she waited three hours for a bag of ice. Please pray for all the people of the Houston/Galveston area.

Our big day is canceled though. I told myself when we left on Thursday that more than likely I wouldn't have my appointment for my BIG ultrasound on Monday. I cried big time yesterday when I realized it wouldn't happen. I cried mainly, because I wanted to hear that everything was fine. Yes, I wanted to know if we have a little Alicia or a little Greg growing in my tummy, but mainly I wanted to know that my medication wasn't doing anything harmful to our baby. I won't be hearing that tomorrow. I don't know when I will have the ultrasound. I am going to call tomorrow, but who knows if they will even be open. I am not going to feel sorry for myself. People have it much worse than we do, and I am just thankful that tonight we are sleeping in a cool hotel, our house is ok, and we have wonderful neighbors.

Again, I ask that you pray for all of the people of Houston/Galveston. They are currently saying it could be 2-4 weeks before Electricity is restored. And keep in mind this is Houston, TX where it is still 90 degrees. I'll keep you all updated.

Love,

Alicia

18 Weeks and Ike

My good friend, Jinny, commented that there were no photos of me. So, I had Greg take a picture so I could show you all that I do not look pregnant. I knew this would happen to me as I am a classic apple body shape. Yes, that is me, skinny legs, and all middle. I have not gained any weight, and have actually lost weight, as food just makes me more nauseated. My OB says this is fine, since I started out with some extra padding. It is annoying that this is the one time in my life where craving food and acting on that craving is acceptable. I just have food adversions. But you know what, I know I am pregnant and that is all I need!

Ike is making more turmoil for the Gulf. We are evacuating this morning at 7:00. As you can imagine, I am a little stressed this time. I have my BIG appointment on Monday and it stresses me to think we will be driving back Sunday night or Monday morning. Greg told work he couldn't fly this time. The corporate jet was neat and all, but been there done that. We can't be at the company's mercy to get us back in time for our appointment. Pray that we don't have any issues with travel or sitting in heavy traffic (which stresses me out to no end with a blood clotting disorder). Please pray for all my friends who are staying in Houston. They are much braver than I am.

I am going to make this post short as I need to be packing. I will post on Monday to tell you our news. Oh yeah, real quick. I dreamt the other night the Perineonatologist said "your baby girl looks fine". I don't necessarily believe in dreams but I woke up and there was no getting back to sleep. All I want to hear from that doctor is "your baby looks fine, healthy, or perfect".

Love,

Alicia

17 Weeks!

Can you believe I am 17 weeks pregnant?! I seriously cannot believe it! Some days it just seems so hard to believe. So hard to believe, that God finally blessed me with carrying this wonderful gift. I could go on and on, but I won't...

Last Friday, we went to see Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers! It was a great concert and I sang and danced to my hearts content! I was however, very annoyed with the amount of marijuana being smoked. I mean, come on people. It is a public venue and my ticket cost as much as yours. Why should I have to breath in that crap all evening?! I absolutely could not stand the smoke. I couldn't stand thinking "I'm exposing my baby to this horrible smelling stuff". I expected some marijuana, but geez, it was everywhere. I will quit complaining and tell you about the people we saw. We saw, Rat Tail Grandma, T-back, and Belt girl. If you want details..let me know. I'll tell you all about them.

Then, on Sunday, we officially evacuated with Greg's work. We flew in the corporate jet to Ft. Worth. I must say it was very swanky and pretty neat! I know I will probably never do this again in my life. I told Greg, he either needs to become a Big Shot or win the lottery. We both laughed, and said, the lottery had better odds! So, we spent three days in Ft. Worth. It was relaxing for me. Not for Greg, who worked his rear off. Have I ever mentioned Greg is amazing at his job and he NEVER complains! He has worked two weeks straight, on call 24/7 and still never complains. Thanks Greg for being the man you are. You are such a trooper! I love you!

We are home now, and we never even got a drop of rain. Greg is still tired and I think he will be until his vacation September 23. I am feeling OK. Things are changing, moving, shifting, stretching, etc. Some days...well just aren't the best. It looks like most people think we will have a boy! Thanks for voting! You guys are great fans! Speaking of fans, Kansas Football season has begun! Rock Chalk Jayhawk!

I hope you all are doing well!

Until next week,

Alicia

16 Weeks!!

****Update
Greg took pity on my blog and put a poll over on the right side of the page! So, be sure to vote!****

This has been the longest week I have had in a long time. That darn hurricane, Gustav, is making Greg's job crazy and he is working all the time. To make things worse he had a staff meeting last night. I have cabin fever big time! I am bored out of my mind. The good news is that we have an appointment set for September 15 with the Perineonatologist for my Level 2 Ultrasound! This is the big day when we will find out if we are having a boy or girl! We can't wait to know!

We saw my OB on Monday and things are progressing wonderfully! My nurse, Andrea was back and I was so happy to see her. I have seen her several times in the last year. I was always saying "I can't stand coming here seeing all these pregnant women". She was so kind. She didn't tell me until she was literally about to pop that she was one of those women. Oh boy, did I feel bad. I apologized profusely, but I still felt like a real idiot knowing I had said it so many times. Anyway, when I saw her I was so happy to see her. She said "I was looking through my list of pregnant people coming in this week and to my surprise I saw your name!" It was great seeing her and of course being so proud that I was finally pregnant!

I have officially started wearing maternity pants. I was miserable. I made it 16 weeks, well actually 15 weeks, but suddenly nothing around my waist felt comfortable. I hit the jackpot, with Heather giving me a TON of maternity clothes. However, none of them were shorts. And it is dang hot here still. I went shopping the other day and there are NO shorts left. I think there were a total of 15 shorts and 10 of them were smalls. The others were hochie mama shorts or basically capris on these short legs. So, no shorts for me, until I get desperate and cut the legs off a pair of the jeans Heather gave me!

So the big day is September 15! Greg and I can't wait to give our baby the name that we have picked out. It will be nice to say "him or her" rather than "the baby". I seriously don't know how people can wait to find out until the big day. Quite honestly, we just aren't that patient! People who can wait are amazing! Greg and I do not care what God gives us. We just can't wait to know! Let's vote and see what you all think we will have. I wish I knew how to set up a poll, but you all know I am not up to speed on those kinds of things. Just leave a comment on whether you think we are having a boy or girl. Also, you can always be anonymous and just sign your name at the bottom. I have been told that many people don't leave comments, because they don't want to register. So go ahead and just be anonymous.

I hope you all have a wonderful Labor Day weekend. I will be dreaming of going on a boat ride. I remind myself that next summer I will have a baby riding in the boat with me! Oh, won't that be wonderful!! If you have a boat, get out and enjoy it...for me!

Love,

Alicia