Her little feet!

It's a Girl!!!

Today was the day of the big ultrasound. The appointment was at 2:20 which made it a long day of waiting. Then we had to wait in the doctor's office for an hour before going in. Jim and my sister Cindy came. Seeing our baby was a neat experience, we saw it from the top of the head down to the little feet. The doctor measured and pointed out lots of major body parts and organs. We saw different parts of the brain, the four chambers of the heart, the stomach, the bladder, and the little thigh bone. She was dancing around during the ultrasound, making the doctor earn his pay. The doctor said that everything looks good. He ruled out some major birth defects, so we know our baby won't have spina bifida, cleft lip, or holes in the heart. We were very excited to hear that the baby is healthy. She still only weighs one pound, so we will keep her in the oven for a bit longer. The last thing that the doctor showed us was the gender. Jim could tell that it was a girl as soon as the doctor panned in, it left no doubt. We were a little surprised, as we both thought it would be a boy, but we are very excited. We're still unsure on the name. If you have any brilliant ideas, let us know. For now, we will call her Yosie (Short for Yosemite Park) or Brooklyn "The Bronx" Park. Yosie is my dad's name for the baby. She already likes the Yankees, daddy's little girl. Jim can't wait to buy her a little Yankees outfit, she would look so cute in pin stripes. I think that's a great idea as long as it's pink. I don't want to have any confusion, people thinking she is a boy when she is little. I plan on dressing her in lots of pink with cute flower bows on her head so that doesn't happen. We are so excited to meet our baby girl! She should come 07-08-09.

21 Weeks

Today we are officially 21 weeks! This means that we are over the halfway point! I am still only barely showing and I'm not sure that strangers can tell I'm pregnant yet but my stomach is growing. I am starting to feel the baby move a little bit but it's not strong enough for Jim to feel yet. Hopefully it will be soon. I am feeling tons better now that I am past the morning sickness phase. It's good to have enough hormones for a healthy baby but I am grateful that I am no longer throwing up everyday. That was no fun. My e-mail updates from Baby Center say that the baby is 10.5 inches from head to foot. About half the size it will be when it's born. It's still a little weird to think that I have something that big inside of me. The baby is growing and developing and I don't really have to put any effort into it. It's amazing to me that my body knows what to do to create another human being. A baby truly is a miracle.

The time has come.....

I can no longer wear my pre-pregnancy jeans and have switched over to maternity jeans full time. For awhile I would wear maternity jeans sometimes and do the little hair elastic belt loop trick at other times. I have given into the comfort of maternity jeans though and they are here to stay. I currently only have two pairs so I feel like I am a little limited in my clothing selection each morning. The first pair I have is from Savers. I went and bought a pair of used jeans for $6 when my regular jeans were starting to get a little tight. Last week I bought my first new pair. I decided on the secret fit belly jeans from motherhood maternity. After looking at many reviews online, I found them to be very highly rated. So far I must say that the reviews are right. They are very comfortable and I like that the elastic also goes up high in the back. I also like that I can wear them all the way up or folded down.I like all the way up better though because then there isn't a line midway up my belly. So far I can still wear most of my pre-pregnancy shirts, which is nice. I have a few maternity shirts but other than t-shirts,most maternity shirts I have seen are fairly low cut. Anyway I am sure that I will be buying more maternity shirts soon. We will also be able to start picking things up for the baby in the near future. We find out the gender on Monday. Hopefully the baby is in a cooperative mood. We have been having little talks lately with the baby about how it's okay to be immodest and show us during the ultrasound. We are excited to know whether we will have a boy or girl.

Oompa Loompa Sighting?

This morning on the way to school we soon found ourselves waiting at a red light at an intersection in Provo, UT. This intersection is famous for some of the slowest pedestrians on earth, sometimes it appears that they are not even moving as they attempt to cross the intersection in the short light sequence. Today was no exception. At first glance, it appeared that another slow walker was going to cross in front of our truck. Upon further review, it appeared that this man was no regular pedestrian. He was a bit short for an older man. He was slightly on the heavy set side and swung his hands to the side as he walked. His skin was a little bit darker than the typical Provo resident. It took a moment to put it all together, but I soon realized that we were watching an Oompa Loompa strut his stuff down the streets of Provo. The bounce in his step was unquestionable; he had escaped from the chocolate factory. Hopefully we will see him again. If we only had a movie sound track CD in the truck, he would have broken into dance for sure.

Valentine's Day 2009

I love Valentine's day! I didn't always like Valentine's day...I think it's one of those holidays that is definitely better if you have someone to share it with. This was Jim and my 3rd Valentine's day as a couple. The first year we had only been dating about a month. He went all out though...I woke up to roses, see's chocolates, a poem he wrote for me, flower petals spread on the table, and I think a balloon. I loved it! This year he bought me a huge stuffed animal. It's really cute. I think it's a duckling but we think it looks like a baby eagle. He also bought me two sets of roses. He bought a dozen beautiful red roses (my favorite) and then later added a dozen white roses. (Yes he is the perfect husband.) The flowers were accompanied by a card, some chocolate, and breakfast.

We made heart-shaped pancakes for breakfast together. They turned out really well and we strawberries and whipped cream on them (YUM!) My cute husband also noticed that if he cut the strawberries a certain way that they looked like little hearts. He is so sweet.



I love celebrating Valentine's day because it reminds me of how lucky I am to have a husband that I am deeply in love with and who I get to be sealed to for time and all eternity.

Jim and I later that day at a luncheon for our friend Christa's wedding