He's kicking away...

So, when I had my big u/s a couple of weeks ago the u/s technician tried to help me feel the baby kicking. We would watch him on the screen and she would have me put my hand where his legs are and when we'd see him kick she'd say "did you feel that"? I mostly couldn't feel it but there was one time that I thought maybe I did. I was a little disappointed because I still wasn't really sure whether I was feeling anything or just imagining it. So, over the past couple of weeks I've felt a "flutter" every now and then and been like "I think I just felt him kick but I'm not sure". I haven't been able to mentally connect the feeling in my stomach to the fact that it is my baby kicking. Well, over the past couple of days I have definitely felt it! Last night he was kicking several times in a row and I was 100% sure that's what it was! Most people describe it as a flutter but I think it's more like a "thump". I was so excited! MrKLB was with me and I told him I wish he could feel it but I don't think the kicks are strong enough yet for him to feel. I'm so looking forward to when he can feel them, too, though!

This weekend I went shopping with my mother and had a great time. We bought some fabric to recover the cushions on my glider and ottoman for the nursery. I have a Dutailier glider and ottoman that a friend gave me and we are going to recover the cushions and MrKLB is going to strip and stain the wood (it's white and we are doing dark furniture). I already know the fabric I want to use for the bedding, so we also bought some sewing patterns for the crib skirt and curtains that we plan to make. So, that was fun!

On another note, I should be finding out at work this week or next about my bonus for last year. Since the economy sucks I don't think I'll get as big a bonus as I did last year, but I have been told that I'm getting something so I'm anxiously awaiting the details. This would be a big help towards buying nursery furniture and a stroller and car seat, etc.! So, crossing my fingers that I get a decent amount after taxes and then once we know for sure we'll probably go ahead and order the nursery furniture.

I'm off to NYC next week for a few days for work. I love going up there, but it's too bad I won't get to indulge in fine wine like I normally do! Oh well, it's for a good cause... :)

Something I never thought I'd hear....

Something I never thought I'd hear my husband say: "You need to gain more weight!" LOL! He said that to me this morning after I weighed myself. I went to the gym yesterday and didn't eat a big dinner so my weight was down a little today. I'm completely on track for a healthy weight gain during this pregnancy and my doctor agrees, but it was just funny that he had that reaction. I assured him that the weight will come! I have no doubt that I'll start putting on some more pounds soon.

So, I've been working on my registry this week (yeah, when I was supposed to be working) and I'm feeling a lot less overwhelmed. Now that I've had time to organize my lists and recommendations from friends I was able to add a lot to the registry. I still have more to go and I'll get some feedback on what's on there so far, but at least I feel like I'm starting to get an idea as to what we need.

I found another place that carries the nursery furniture we want and am going to stop by there this weekend to see what price they can give us. The price they gave me on the phone was lower than the first place we looked and the man said that he can't quote a discount over the phone but that if we come in it would be "worth our while". So, I'm curious to see how good his discount is!

I also marked a few other things off my list this week including signing up for a breastfeeding class. Thanks to my friend Carrie I found out that one of the hospitals around here offers the class for free! So, I will be taking that in June. We haven't signed up for the childbirth class yet (mainly because we don't want to pay for it yet) but it looks like we'll be doing that in April.

Oh, we got the cutest gift ever from MrKLB's aunt this week! It's a Georgia Tech onesie, bib, and socks and some GT pacifiers! I was surprised that she found some Georgia Tech stuff that looked that good because most of their merchandise is crap. Anyway, this is a pic from the website, but it is actually so much cuter in person. We were so excited when this arrived at our house because we have visions of our little man wearing it for some tailgating this fall! :)



We're going to a party tonight and I'm making pigs in a blanket to take with us. Not very difficult, but they will be appreciated by this crowd, no doubt. I'll be the designated driver, of course, so hopefully I can find some ways to entertain myself amidst all of my intoxicated friends. :)

Half Baked

I am 20 weeks pregnant today and as MrKLB likes to say, our baby boy is now "half baked". :)

I can't believe that I'm already half way there! I think the first 20 weeks have gone by pretty quickly... though I guess the first few really shouldn't count. It will be interesting to see how quickly the second half of this pregnancy goes. I'm starting to get bigger now and I am sure that I will be amazed at how big my belly actually gets! Here is a picture of my baby bump from a few days ago:



As a reference point, here is what I looked like at only 5 weeks and 3 days:



Anyway, I'll try to post more pictures later as the belly continues to grow.

So, MrKLB and I both had yesterday off work for President's Day, so we had a wonderful 3-day weekend! We saw Dracula at the ballet on Friday night, went to eat with my family on Saturday to celebrate my mother's birthday, did lots of shopping for baby stuff, and even went running with the dogs TWICE! Yay!

So, on the shopping front, I think we've decided on our nursery furniture. We haven't ordered it yet and may still change our minds, but right now we have a favorite. I'll post pictures later when we order it. We've also decided on a stroller. We're going to get the BOB Revolution. It gets great reviews, can be used with an infant seat, and is good for both jogging AND for trips to the mall, etc. So, with any luck, we'll be able to pull off having just this one stroller and then getting an umbrella stroller for when he gets bigger.

We also started our registry at Babies R Us on Sunday. It was quite overwhelming! I've read the Baby Bargains book so I felt somewhat prepared, but when we got there there were just so many different things to pick out that I couldn't remember all of the recommendations. So, we added some items and will go back to add more later when I have my list compiled. It was fun to get started, though!

Oh, last Thursday at work I got recognized for being with the company for 5 years and I got a Flip MinoHD! I wasn't really familiar with these but it's a cool little camcorder that let's you take HD video and easily connects to your computer so that you can edit and share those videos. So, hopefully it will be useful for when the baby comes and I can post little video clips on my blog!

Okay, I think that's all of an update I have for now. Back to work...

It's a BOY!!!!

Ah, finally some time to blog!

So, yesterday was the big day and we found out that we are having a boy! It was such an amazing experience and a fantastic day!

We showed up Dr. A's office and were a little early. So, we sat around for a few minutes and finally got called back for the ultrasound. We first walked in and she said "so, are we finding out what you're having today?" and I said "we hope so!" She explained that she'd be taking a lot of measurements and checking out the anatomy, etc., and would walk us through it. So, we started and it was so fun to see him again (though I didn't know he was a "he" yet!). I immediately saw his little heart beating and was excited. She was moving around getting some different angles and at one point I thought I might have caught a glimpse of something between his legs, but then I figured I didn't know what I was looking at. A few minutes later I thought maybe I saw some internal parts that would mean girl, but again, had no idea. Either way, through the whole thing I kept thinking she would say boy. She actually waited quite a while before telling us! We saw all four chambers of the heart (really cool!) and could see into the brain through the soft spot at the top of his head. We saw the spinal cord, two feet and legs, two hands and arms, and we even got to watch him swallow! How crazy! She held the wand still for a while and showed us how you could see the fluid going into his mouth and we could see his tongue inside his mouth/throat and waited for him to swallow. Apparently it's hard for babies to do this because they don't really have the swallow reflex yet, but they do manage to do it! So then, after what seemed like forever but really only a few minutes, she said "so you want to know what it is, right?" and we said "yes"! She got close up on a shot that was just his bottom half and there it was right between the legs! She didn't even have to say it. I said "I think I know what it is!" and looked over at MrKLB. He was all smiles. I actually started crying a little because I was just so excited to finally know! I'm going to have a son! He's no longer just a "baby" he is "MY SON!" Anyway, we got to see a lot more and it was just amazing! He weighed in at 11oz. I think he's going to be a big boy! :)

After the u/s we had to wait for a while to see Dr. A. She came in and asked if we found out what we're having and we said "we're having a boy!" She measured me and I asked a bunch of questions and then we were done.

After we left we went to REI to look at a stroller we had been researching. Then we went to Target and bought his first two baby outfits! We got a little onesie that says "I love Mommy and Mommy loves me!" and a cute little outfit that has pants, a shirt, and a blue vest (it has Winnie the Pooh on it). That was MrKLB's favorite! Too funny! I'm going to have such a good time dressing up my little man! Here's a pic of the outfits...



MrKLB's parents are out of the country so he had to email them but I called my Mother and then my Dad to let them know they were going to have a grandson. I knew my Dad would be so excited because my brother has a little girl and my step-sister has 2 little girls, so this is the first boy. When I told him he said "that is great news!" but then he said "so, how sure are they?" and I said "we're 100% sure... we saw all the parts right there on the screen!" Too funny! Then we started emailing friends, etc., to let them all know.

Anyway, I was on cloud nine all day yesterday. I went for a run with the dogs in the afternoon and was thinking about my little baby in there running along with me. We went out to one of our favorite restaurants to celebrate Valentine's Day (and our little boy) and had a great time!

MrKLB and I both have a 3-day weekend this weekend so I'm sure we'll be doing lots of shopping/looking for furniture and strollers and carseats, etc. We'll probably try to start our registry, too.

Well, things have been crazy hectic at work so that's all for now. Yay for team BLUE!

Awesome weekend and an exciting week ahead!

I had an awesome weekend visiting my college roommate, A, in Austin! We ate too much, stayed up too late talking, and talked babies. She has an 18 month old little boy who is adorable! It was so fun to get to see him and hang out for the weekend. Also, I came back with a TON of maternity clothes that I'm borrowing from A and her friends. I think I brought back almost 20 items including jeans, shorts, tops, and 2 bathing suits! MrKLB was excited because he knows that means I'll be spending less money. :)

So, this week is going to be exciting because we are finding out on Wednesday if we're having a boy or a girl! I can't wait to finally be able to call our baby "he" or "she" rather than "it". I'm also excited to start getting more serious about picking a name and thinking about how to decorate the nursery, etc. Friday night we're going to see Dracula at the ballet, and then this weekend we'll be doing some shopping - specifically looking at more nursery furniture, etc. We also have plans to go to one of our favorite restaurants, which is a Valentine's Day tradition. Oh, and we have Monday off for President's Day! So, I'm really looking forward to this weekend!

Well, I don't have much more to update now but should have an exciting post on Wednesday! Until then I'll just be impatiently waiting...

We have daycare!!!!

I am so excited to say that we officially have a spot reserved in daycare for our baby! After touring the 3 daycares last week, MrKLB and I had given it some more thought and had picked our favorite. Then we heard from one of the ones we visited that they didn't have availability until Summer 2010! Of course, it would have been nice for them to tell us this BEFORE we visited, but the lady that is in charge and knows all of the scheduling for the infant room had a family emergency the day we toured, so she wasn't there to tell us. Anyway, fortunately that one was the one that I had vetoed, so I wasn't really upset.

Anyway, after talking to some friends I realized that we were lucky that our 2 other choices - including our favorite - still had 1 space available each and started getting nervous that it might fill up. So, I went back to our favorite this morning, talked with the director some more, visited the infant room again, and put down our deposit and application! And you know what? I felt great! I knew it was the right decision and I am so excited to mark that off my list! When we visited the first time I wasn't 100% sold, but it was the last of 3 places we had seen that day and between the newness of it all and being overwhelmed with seeing not only the infant rooms but also the toddlers up through pre-K, it was just a lot to take in. Today when I went back I really got to talk to the director and loved her (Ms. Ashley), and saw lots of parents dropping their kids off and visited the infant room again, and just got a great feeling about the place. So, yay!!!

It took me exactly 10 minutes to get to the school from my house, just like it did when I did a trial run last week. I think that overall it will add about 25 minutes to my commute, but the good news is that I don't have to do the drop off/pick up every day because MrKLB works from home on days that he isn't travelling so he can do it some, too.

Oh, and 9 days until we find out if it's a boy or a girl!!!!