Merry Christmas!

Here we are in front of our Christmas tree.  Baby Girl is 25 weeks gestation in these pictures!  Happy Holidays and safe travels!  We wish everone the best in 2012!

The Power of Hormones

For about a month now I have been able to feel our little girl moving about and in the past couple of weeks her movements have been getting stronger and stronger, so much so that I sometimes get woken up at night when she is having what I like to call "play time".  Eric had been eagerly awaiting his first chance to feel her movements from the outside but from around Thanksgiving until early December her movements were not strong enough.

On Saturday (12/10/11) at around 4:00 am I was jolted awake from a nightmare with my heart racing and to my surprise our little girl was kicking quite strongly.  I'm guessing because she also received a dose of the chemicals coursing through my body as a result of my nightmare.  I woke Eric up and he was able to feel two good, strong kicks.  His first time feeling our little one move!!!!!  Although it was 4:00 am and under somewhat strange circumstances, Eric and I revelled in this moment of shared experience to once again remind us of the little life growing inside of me.  Since then Eric has been able to feel her move on a couple of other occasions, usually when we are laying in bed.

It's a Girl!!!!

On Monday, November 7th,  Eric and I went in for the second ultrasound and Baby Black cooperated very well to let us see that she is a baby GIRL!  She was sitting cross-legged and the ultrasound tech was able to zoom in from below.  She seems to be developing very well.  We were able to see her little toes and her hands clasped together under her chin.   Lots of fun little details to be seen!  

Many have predicted Baby Black to be a little girl.  I even started calling her "baby girl" before this last ultrasound, so I'm glad I turned out be correct :)  My mother shared that when she thinks of Eric and I with kids she can only picture girls.  My little brother, Ethan, had a dream in which he bought a monstrosity of an indoor play gym for our little girl.  And it turns out they were both correct!  Eric's mother is excited to have her first granddaughter, already having three grandsons.  Bring on the frills, lace, and pink tutus!!! :)

Here is a picture of the baby bump at 20 weeks in.  We are now halfway through the pregnancy!

Girls' Weekend!!!!

Two of my college friends, Jennine and Jenna, made the trip down to Valparaiso to visit their pregnant friend rather than having me make a long trek up to see them with multitudes of bathroom stops :)  Thanks girls!!!  We kicked Eric out of the house for the weekend so we could have it all to ourselves. (Eric spent the weekend in Chicago with two of his friends from college).  Our weekend consisted of lots and lots of gabbing to get caught up on each others' lives, bridesmaids dress shopping as Jenna and I will be standing up in Jennine's wedding come June, talking all about Baby Black, and wandering around downtown Valpo.  We had some very delicious eats while the girls were here.

And here we are enjoying a yummy pizza fondue and our sparkling pear juice!!!

Our Little Pumpkin

I decided to dress up the baby bump this year as a little pumpkin for a bit of Halloween festivities on a work day!  Here I am with "our little pumpkin":

Here is a close-up of the "little pumpkin":

Happy Halloween everyone!!  Anyone need some candy?  We did not get a single trick-or-treater this year :(

Baby Bump @ 17 wks

Baby Black's First Picture

On 9/28/11, at 13 weeks and 5 days gestation Baby Black had his or her first picture taken at the first ultrasound.  Both Eric and I were extremely surprised by the detail we were able to see so early on in the pregnancy.  

We're Expecting!!!

On the morning of August 5th, I took a pregnancy test before Eric headed off to work and here is what we saw:

For those having a hard time reading it, it says pregnant.  I got a digital test just to make things easier on us... no way to misinterpret this result!  SO EXCITED!!!