Sunset

While in La Quinta, my dad and I snuck away one night for a walk while the sun was setting, these are some of my favorite shots of the georgeous pink sky as the sun set.  You would blink and it would be night...it seemed to happen so quickly!

18 Weeks and Excited!

We are very much excited to be entering the 18th week of our pregnancy!  In just a couple of weeks we will get to see our little one again via ultrasound (January 29th!  YAY)!  So exciting!  Things have been going well.  I am definitely into maternity pants!  My appetite has definitely not picked up that much and I am still struggling through food as often it leaves me feeling a bit queesy.  I'm thinking there will be a shift soon!

It has been fun and exciting, I feel little flutters here and there, but not consistently yet, which I'm hoping is just around the corner!  I think I'm more excited for the day to come where Trevor can actually start to feel things moving around in there!  We did buy a doppler and have been finding the heartbeat more consistently!  Trevor gets random messages with baby's heartbeat, and I don't think that it has gotten any less exciting!  I do have a video for you all, should I ever figure out how to post it!  It really might have to wait for Trevor to come home!!

We are talking and thinking and planning more and more about nursery options and about our list of things around the house that we would like to get done!  I think soon we will have to shift those conversations into action as time seems to be flying!

Here is a glimpse into week 18...

How your baby's growing:

Head to rump, your baby is about 5 1/2 inches long (about the length of a bell pepper) and he weighs almost 7 ounces. He's busy flexing his arms and legs — movements that you'll start noticing more and more in the weeks ahead. His blood vessels are visible through his thin skin, and his ears are now in their final position, although they're still standing out from his head a bit. A protective covering of myelin is beginning to form around his nerves, a process that will continue for a year after he's born. If you're having a girl, her uterus and fallopian tubes are formed and in place. If you're having a boy, his genitals are noticeable now, but he may hide them from you during an ultrasound.

Baby is now the size of a Sweet Potato!  I do love sweet potatoes!  It really is getting bigger every week!

Although not our baby, I found this picture of a 18 wk old fetus in womb and I found it amazing how big and human it has gotten, so I thought I would share it as a sneak peak into the reality of little babe in there!  I am really looking forward to the opportunity to do a 3-d ultrasound!  I know it won't be like this picture, but it will be so cool to see our little one more vividly!

Anyways...I hope this post finds you all well and happy after the holidays.  January is always a tough time because it is the reality of being back to the grind of things!  Hope you all don't work too hard and enjoy this nice weather we have been having!  We will continue to post pics of our trip to La Quinta and of other things going on!  Sorry there was such a gap, with the holidays and being out of town, it left me little time to check in!

xoxox

This and That

We had a lime tree in the front yard and the boys were able to enjoy a fresh grown and picked lime in their beers one afternoon!  I was VERY jealous!

I just liked this photo!

Trevor and I got to cruise around in my dad's very fun SSR!  We had the top down every time we drove it!  Even if it meant having the heat on a bit!  We passed people walking in their touques and parkas, we giggled to ourselves!  We figured they'd understand after they read the back Alberta plates!

I think if I lived in California, I'd have to have a convertable!  It just would be wrong to not enjoy the weather, mountains, and palm trees without the wind in your air!

Prickly Prickles

I just love these photos of the cactus from my parents' backyard...The prickles prick quite a but more prickly than you would think!  You don't want to lose your balance around one of these suckers!

Tsk Tsk, we never finished a game of Risk!

Lucky or unlucky dice?!

We learned how to play Risk while we were down there!  When my dad was reading the instructions, we were convinced we would never understand the rules, but as we got into it, it got easier!  However, we realized that a large amount of time needs to be set aside for this game!  It was a long, long process - and I don't think we officially finished a game!  Nonetheless many good arguments and grudges were had by all - and we enjoyed trying our luck at the dice without risking any money!

La Quinta

We spent the holidays in La Quinta at my parents' house.  La Quinta is just outside of Palm Springs, and the weather was - for me - perfect!  Not too hot, so just the way I like it.  The above flowers were in my parents' backyard and we had a little hummingbird friend who came and visited them religiously!  They were quite pretty.

I flew down on Boxing Day with my grandparents and mom...security was crazy and our plane was 3 hours late!  It was interesting to see what new 'rules' were implemented...very strange.  Trevor flew out on New Years Day...wish he could have come sooner, but better a short amount of time than no time!

I love this leaf!

These are literally in my parents' backyard.  They are the last lot and have mountains that flank the end of the yard...very cool and very nice.  If you stare at the picture long enough, you may be able to see a road runner!  Okay, maybe not, but if you stared at the real thing long enough - you'd see one - or three!

15 Weeks!

We are excitedly in our 15th week of pregnancy and it's always interesting to see what baby is up to and how much it's grown!  This was my update this week...

How your baby's growing:

Your growing baby now measures about 4 inches long, crown to rump, and weighs in at about 2 1/2 ounces. She's busy moving amniotic fluid through her nose and upper respiratory tract, which helps the primitive air sacs in her lungs begin to develop. Her legs are growing longer than her arms now, and she can move all of her joints and limbs. Although her eyelids are still fused shut, she can sense light. If you shine a flashlight at your tummy, for instance, she's likely to move away from the beam. There's not much for your baby to taste at this point, but she is forming taste buds. Finally, if you have an ultrasound this week, you may be able to find out whether your baby's a boy or a girl! (Don't be too disappointed if it remains a mystery, though. Nailing down your baby's sex depends on the clarity of the picture and on your baby's position. He or she may be modestly curled up or turned in such a way as to "hide the goods.")

 

Baby is the size of an orange! Yum Yum!

Merry Christmas everyone!  Hope you all are celebrating with family and friends!

xoxox

14 Weeks and counting!

This week we are celebrating 14 weeks!  We had an ultrasound yesterday and for once Trevor was finally able to be there!  He got to see baby dancing and rolling and kicking around.  It was so amazing.  Although we still have the subchorionic hemorrhages, we are optimistic and hopeful that things will continue to grow and be healthy!  The ultrasound tech was awesome, he really took his time to play around with baby and show us different things.  Baby was too busy 'break dancing' so he struggled getting an exact heart rate.  It was clocked at 162 bpm which he said was normal.  On Tuesday, it was 151 bpm, so we are always in the same range!   He tried to get a footprint but the positioning just wasn't happening.  At one point, he showed us the umbilical cord and then turned on the color and we were able to see red and blue going back and forth showing us the blood circulating between me and little babe!  Sooooo cool! 

Trevor is convinced babe was sucking it's thumb here.  We did get a good sight of baby's nose and its pouty lips at one point!  We also saw it open and close its mouth!  We really wished we could have walked away with a video stream of it all, but we only have still shots!  Here you can see how long baby's legs have gotten in the past few weeks!  The bright white area along the bottom is the spine and you can also see it's jaw bones showing up as bright white too!

Baby was kicking and dancing around, so here you see its butt up and its arms were down by its side!  I wish I could feel it all too!

Butt up as it kicked around!

This one creeps me out a bit!  It's a straight on shot of the face, so you can see the eyes, jaw bones, i think the brain!  It was a bit odd for me, but equally cool!  It really liked this position and cozied up into it a couple times, so I had to jiggle around and the tech poked a bit! Aren't we great parents?!  haha.  At one point it gave in and rolled over for about five seconds and then assumed this exact same position again! 

Here baby is facing away from us.  So you see the back of the head, the ear on the top there, the legs sticking out towards the back, and the white spine curling over! 

Just thought I would share our update!  Our little baby is now the size of a lemon!   We are so excited for our next ultrasound at the end of January as we were told there would be more detail  to see then!  We were thrilled with the detail in this one, as if you look back at week 10, the progress is amazing!!  Thanks for sharing in our joy!  And thank you again for all the special warm thoughts.  We appreciate all the support and love we've been given through these past weeks!

xoxox

Christmas Fun!

Below we are sharing some of our favorite Christmas decorations!  Our tree, our stockings hung by the fireplace with care, our lovely manger, our talking teddy that reads us The Night Before Christmas, and our new Snowman addition!

So anyone who knows us knows that we LOVE Christmas!  With things being a little crazy, we haven't quite completed our decorating. I have yet to set everything up or add and 'fluff' the staircase garland, but all in good time (maybe after Christmas?!  lol).  Nonetheless, I thought I would share some of the warmth we've dispersed around the house!  Every time I turned around, Kia was there!  Waiting to be a part of the photo  shoot!  She warms my heart more than any Christmas decorations, so she made her way in here too!!  She's such a ham!

My brother also stopped by to help my dad build a ramp going out the back door for Ms. Kia.  He brought with him the cutest thing that he and Lesley got us from the craft fair.  This little snowman made a home on the mantel right away!  What a cute, thoughtful gift.  Thank you to you both.  I had to take a picture from the side too - just to emphasize its cute little baby bump!!

Happy Holidays Everyone!

xoxox

Kia's Snoogle!

So, a couple weeks ago - we bought a Snoogle Pillow. Essentially it is a maternity pillow to help support while sleeping. We leave it on the foot of the bed...and I have caught a certain someone 'snoogling' this pillow on several occasions! On this day, we finally caught her with the camera! She always gives us a flutter of the tail and a "what, isn't it for me?!" expression! So I made a deal with her - she gets it during the day, I get it during the night! She's so funny- she literally climbs right in the middle of it. It cracks me up every time!

Baby Update!

Today we are entering our 13th week of pregnancy! YAY! I am welcoming it with open arms! I am eating more, feeling more like myself, sleeping better, and am more optimistic than ever before!

We met with the OGBYN on Friday and it was so nice to finally sit down with her and ask her all my questions about the Subchorionic Hemorrhage and random pains I've been having! She put my mind to ease quite a bit!

She said my middle of the night abdominal muscle pains were totally normal and just fall under the category of round ligament pain (abdominal stretching, etc.!). They were odd - very brief, sharp pains that would go away within seconds - but scared the crap out of me when they woke me up in the middle of the night!! I was thinking they were fine, but being the first time I'm going through this - I just wanted to check!

As for the notorious SCH - - - she said that the ultrasound she reviewed showed that the SCHs were tiny. She was optimistic that we were now in the second trimester and things would start to grow more rapidly and hopefully take care of those devilish SCHs. She said unless the bleeding increases or changes for the worse in any way to not worry about it or be too concerned about it. So, when it came back after a week (very mildly) yesterday - I was far calmer! It's gone so far today too (knock on wood!) - so I think her telling me that many women have these little problems helped me relax!

Now the two most exciting parts of the visit were:

1) HEARING THE HEARTBEAT FOR THE FIRST TIME!!!! It brought me to tears immediately! She struggled finding it at first and found mine a couple times before we stumbled across the little ones, but there it was! All 151 bpm of it! It was the best sound ever! I remember putting my head down and just being so grateful - couldn't help the tears! Then I had her go get Trevor so he could experience the same feeling!

2) BEING CLEARED TO TRAVEL! Before we found out about our wonderful news, we had planned on flying to Palm Springs to spend some holiday time with my mom, dad, grandparents, and brother and sister in law! It's a very low key vacation. My parents have a home down there and I plan to spend most of my time lying by their pool! I was worried she wouldn't want me to fly, but her exact response was "short of smoking crack, which I'm not concerned about you doing, there is not a lot you can do that will change the outcome. Go, enjoy the change in scenery and warm weather!". YIPPEE!! She said that the flight was short, there was medical care in Palm Springs, and we are now in the second trimester where they encourage expecting moms to get away while they are feeling up for it! I'll take it! She didn't bat an eye and seemed totally at ease with it. She said if significant changes happen between now and then we will re-evaluate.

All in all, I am feeling much better! I get to venture back to work next Monday which I am so very much looking forward to! Trevor is back at work, which sucks. It's hard to believe that the next time he's here we'll be celebrating Christmas Eve together!

We have a follow-up ultrasound coming up NEXT Thursday when I pick Trevor up. I'm so excited for him to finally get to experience seeing our little one! I am hoping and praying for the best! I had asked the doctor if she would call me with the results (whether they still showed the SCH or if the SCH got worse) and said nope! Ugh! She said if the baby is growing and looking healthy, there is no need to worry. That helped. I will hope for no phone call! Keep your fingers and toes crossed for our family!

I also love Wednesdays because they are the beginning of a new pregnancy week so I get all my emails updating me on what's going on inside! Below is a picture of the baby - which might I add - looks a lot like a baby now! Apparently the head's growth is slowing down a bit so the body can catch up and start to proportion out! The little babe also has its own set of unique finger prints already and its organs are starting to function! So amazing to me!

Also, the little babe is the size of a peach this week! Pretty cool! Think of that as you enjoy your fruit this week! haha.

I just wanted to send one more special thank you out to all those who have given extra support, love, and generosity over the past few weeks. It was so nice to know that we were being thought of and cared about. The positive energy is something I find to be very powerful and I just wanted to express some appreciation! THANKS!

Much Love
xoxox

Kia's New Bed!

Well, Kia's grandma bought her a new bed, and we have moved her window over to the middle. I think it is safe to say she spends about 90% of her down time on this bed either sleeping or looking out over her neighbourhood! She loves it! It took her no time to adjust and these were taken about 5 minutes after me placing it down! So easily pleased!

Thanks mom for giving your granddaughter such comfort!!!

xoxox