Christmas, Baby Showers, and Birthdays- Oh My!

We hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday with their family and loved ones. We enjoyed a trip to Indiana to visit the Smith/Meyer clan. The festivities were so fun and it was great to see family and spend time together.

Besides celebrating Christmas, the Smith/Meyer family arranged for a Baby Shower for Sweet Girl as part of our Christmas celebration. We received many wonderful gifts and I tried to pick up on any parenting advice that I could from all those present. Thank you to all for this special celebration! We can't wait to use all of the fun gifts.

December 26th is Alan's birthday and we enjoyed spending the day with his parents and then dinner with Tom, Ann, Steve, and Amanda. Alan enjoyed delicious scallops for dinner and an exceptional rendition of "Happy Birthday" sung by his family.

Below are various photos from our holiday weekend.

Auntie Amber learns how the Princesses like to dance from our resident expert, Abigail.

Amanda and Sweet Baby Nolan

Abigail received a Princess carriage for Christmas and was dancing around in sheer delight! Christmas is extra fun when you are 2 1/2 years old!

We got Tom some pottery that he had been eying, but had him thinking we had never heard of the pottery before. It was so fun to watch him open his gift :)

We received a Boppy as a gift and I am delighted! I have heard they are so useful.

The happy parents learning they just received a giant box of diapers!

Alan's new birthday shirt...looks like a winner!

Alan's new hoody and Star Trek DVDs...very excited about both!

Getting Prepared

26 weeks and life is good. I am feeling good and baby is growing right on schedule. I passed my glucose tolerance test and am thankful to not have diabetes or to have to drink that yucky orange stuff again. I have experienced my first "cravings" which include all the milk I can drink and ice-cold fruit cups (mandarin oranges or fruit cocktail). I have not eaten canned fruit in years, but for some reason it has been tasting delicious.

This weekend we bought a car seat/stroller combination and learned how to install it in the car. It is not rocket science, but was really nice to have someone show us the tricks to getting it installed. We also took a tour of the birthing center at the hospital. It was nice to see where the big event will take place and get a feel for what options are available at the hospital.

 We wish everyone a joyous holiday season!

The bump is getting larger!

Merry Christmas 2011!

Alan with a gift for Sweet Girl

Some of you may know that Alan likes to call the baby Sweet Ninja Smith. Our neighbors found us the perfect Christmas gift!

24 Weeks

Life is good. I feel great and am enjoying this phase of pregnancy. This week Sweet Girl should be about 8 1/2 inches long and weigh about 1 1/2 pounds! It feels like it is all happening so quickly.

Alan and I have been learning a lot about what baby needs and what would be nice. I have decided that trying to fill out registries in the store is super overwhelming, but on-line is much more manageable for me.

Sweet Girl has been kicking up a storm this evening! I am sometimes surprised by an extra forceful movement, but overall it is wonderful to know she is moving around and doing well. No exciting photos for this week...check back soon for some holiday fun!

Date Night

 After a busy weekend of researching baby gear and cleaning and organizing the house, Alan and I were excited to do something special. We went to see Ruth Moody, a Wailin' Jenny, in concert and had a lovely meal before the concert. It was great to take some time to just be together and as always we had a fun time together. The concert was great and Sweet Girl must of enjoyed the music because she was kicking all throughout the show.


 Belly photos: The pictures are not the greatest, but you can see the belly at 22 weeks!

Quickening

Quickening- the first time a baby's movement is perceived by the mother...

I finally felt the baby move! Or at least I am pretty sure that I felt the baby move. After dinner  I was laying down, while my wonderful husband did the dishes, and I felt a bubble moving on the side of my belly. Not wanting to get over excited at what might be gas, I left my hand in the area and sure enough I felt two little twitches on my hand! I can't wait for it to happen again so I can confirm that this is the real deal.

It's a GIRL!

Sunday marked the 20th week of my pregnancy. Half way through more or less! On Monday we had our 20 week ultrasound which is used to take a close look at baby's anatomy and make sure all the parts are developing and are growing at the right rate. Baby now weighs 11 ounces and everything looked normal. Perhaps the biggest finding from our ultrasound is that we are having a girl! Alan and I are so excited. I have been thinking about how knowing the sex has changed my perception of the baby. It has taken a bit for me to shift my thinking from Baby Smith to Baby Girl but I already feel closer to this sweet child. I feel so blessed to have access to ultrasound technology as it is very reassuring that everything is going well with Baby Smith.

I hope to post some belly pictures soon. There is no doubt that I look pregnant and have been experiencing lots of stretching and growth. It is pretty amazing how the body accommodates for this new life.

Below are some of the ultrasound photos from Monday. The yellow-tinted images are a 3D reconstruction of the ultrasound. 

Baby is facing toward the left. The head area looks deformed because that part of the head was outside of the ultrasound scan.

This one looks a little weird, but the face is just above the dark space in the middle. You can see 3 fingers spread across the face.

Profile picture of Baby.

 

This one totally scared me during the ultrasound, but let's just say we know the kiddo has two eyes and the ocular bones are developing!

Exciting Times

This past year has brought many changes to the Smith household, but none more exciting than the anticipation of Sweet Baby (Ninja) Smith! Baby Smith is due to arrive in late March and we could not be happier. After a rough first trimester I am keeping food down and looking more and more pregnant every day. Alan has been a huge help around the house doing extra cleaning and cooking and keeping me in good spirits. The ultrasound pictures are from week 12 and the baby bump picture is from about week 15. The pictures are from a screening test for trisomy abnormalities. Thankfully Baby Smith has a very low risk!