20 Week Belly Shots!

Well, I'm definitely growing!  Here I am at 20 weeks (technically 20 weeks and 4 days, but who's counting), which is halfway through my pregnancy.  For comparisons, check out my earlier belly shots here.  I started taking photos in front of this wall with the window... do you think my belly will reach the window by the end?

Here's a full length shot...

And here's a close-up...

Halfway there... and worried about getting "That Big!"

Well, I'm officially 20 weeks today, so I'm halfway through my pregnancy. I sure hope the second half of my pregnancy goes as well as my first half has been.  I am definitely starting to show, and I think I'll have to break out all the maternity clothes after Memorial Day.  I promise to have more belly pictures up soon!

This past weekend, I convinced/forced Todd to watch the show on MTV called 16 and Pregnant.  He absolutely hated it - no surprise.  What was surprising to me was that he kept saying things like "Oh my gosh, she's SOO pregnant" and "Her belly is HUGE!"  After about the 5th time, I nicely informed Todd that I will get "THAT BIG" at the end of my pregnancy.  He is totally not convinced and says that those girls on the show were fat to begin with.  Then I tried to show him pictures of our friends (many of whom are much thinner than me) who have recently had a baby, and he's still not convinced that I will get "THAT BIG."  I'm a little worried about this.  I hope he doesn't freak out when I get "that big."

Oh a very happy note, I am starting to feel our little girl dance around in my belly.  It's very exciting and a little wierd at the same time.  I'm lovin' it!

Oh Boy, Oh Boy... it's Official!

We are having a GIRL!  Todd and I went to our doctor's appointment on Wednesday, and we were SHOCKED to find out the news.  I honestly had convinced myself that the Gender Prediction Pee Test and the Chinese Gender Prediction Calendar couldn't both be wrong.  When the sonographer typed "GIRL" on the screen, I couldn't believe it!  I'm so excited that Baby L will be a girl.  Of course I would have been happy with either a healthy baby boy or a baby girl, but I'm honestly SO thrilled that we're having a girl. 

Besides finding out the sex, this sonogram was basically an inventory count of our baby's body parts.  We were able to confirm that she has 10 fingers and 10 toes and that she has all of her major organs.  The sonogram was 24 minutes long, but unfortunately (or fortunately for you), I can only upload a video up to 10 minutes long.  I tried to cut some of the not-so-interesting parts out, but it is close to 10 minutes long.  Feel free to fast forward, etc.  Baby L decided to be shy this time and was laying face down for most of the sonogram, so it's hard to really see much unless you're a pro.  I'm still impressed by what the sonographer could make out.  The sonogram starts off by telling us Baby L is a girl.  Then, we take an inventory of her organs... they are all accounted for and all measured in the 50% percentile - good news!  Toward the end of the sono, she did a little turn so you can actually see her profile.  I can't wait to meet her!

Happy Birthday Todd!

Every time the subject of cake or ice cream cake comes up, Todd always talks about a whale ice cream cake.  He led me to believe (or I just assumed) that he often got a whale ice cream cake for birthdays when he was a child.  He always says the whale ice cream cake is the best cake ever.  So, for his 32nd birthday, I thought I'd order a whale ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins (since I know his favorite flavor of ice cream cake is BR Mint Chocolate Chip) so he could relive his childhood.  I really thought this would be an easy accomplishment... little did I know!

When I called Baskin Robbins, they thought I was off my rocker!  I actually ended up calling 4 different stores to see if they could do it for me.  One lady even asked me if by "whale" I meant a "wishing well"... only in Texas.  Feeling disappointed and defeated, I asked my friend Alyssa who grew up in Florida if whale ice cream cakes were typical in Florida, maybe being close to the ocean and Disney???  She assured me that whale ice cream cakes were not a staple at kids birthdays in Florida.   Being the best internet researcher I know, Alyssa googled whale ice cream cakes and found out there is a famous ice cream cake named "Fudgie the Whale" made by Carvel, an ice cream shop similar to Baskin Robbins.  She sent me the Wikipedia link, and as soon as I read that Fudgie is a famous ice cream cake mentioned by several comedians and making special appearances on The Simpsons and Family Guy, I realized that Todd has NEVER had a whale ice cream cake!  He just heard about it and saw it on his favorite sitcoms!

Well, I had already gone this far and gosh darn it, I wanted a stupid whale ice cream cake.  Ever so helpful Alyssa sent me both the nearest Carvel location and a coupon for a cake.  Unfortunately, the closest Carvel was almost an hour away from our house.  Plus, I've never been impressed with the quality of Carvel ice cream cakes.  So I set out on a journey to convince Baskin Robbins that they could do this.  I printed off two pictures to take into the store to talk to the cake lady.

Here's Fudgie the Whale from Carvel:

I hardly thought Fudgie was an impressive cake, so I found this image online of another whale cake:

In my opinion, the pink whale was a much cuter cake.  After taking the pictures into Baskin Robbins and assuring the cake lady that I would be happy with whatever she could create (I mean, it couldn't possibly look worse than Fudgie, right?), she agreed to give it a try.  I have to say, she exceeded ALL of my expectations!  Todd was right... this IS the best ice cream cake EVER!

I am now officially a Community College Student!

As if I don't have enough going on in my life right now, I just enrolled in a Photoshop Elements class at a local community college!  I can't begin tell you how hard it was for me to figure out how to register for the class online.  I finally had to call the school and have them register me for the class.  On top of it all, I've had a heck of a time trying to purchase the text book.  It's a good thing there's no grade because I'd be failing already.  Can you believe it?  I'm a college grad failing community college.

I decided to take the class because I know Todd is not going to let me hire a professional photographer to follow us and the new baby around all of the time, so I'd decided to add "family photographer" to my job description.  Since plastic surgery is not really an option, I thought Photoshop would be a good low cost alternative to make us all look beautiful.  There's no telling what I'm going to look like when this baby is born, and I'm happy to take any beauty help I can get!

Practicing to be a Mom...

I thought I would start practicing kids in bluebonnet photos...  How am I doing? 

Correction to my previous post: The sweet gift that Chelsey sent was NOT the first gift our baby received.  In fact, the first gift was from Aunt Dana, and it was Butt Paste!  Thanks Dana!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all Mommies, including mommies-to-be and mommies of pets! 

I received my very first Mother's Day card this week from Chelsey, my best friend from high school.  I was totally surprised and not even thinking I could celebrate Mother's Day this year.  Well, I do try to get Todd to recognize me for Mother's Day for being Coco's mom, but that doesn't usually work.  I may have more negotiating room this year and will definitely have true cause to celebrate next year!

Chelsey also sent me a surprise package earlier this week.  It was our first gift for the baby!  She sent a sweet little lamb and a cell phone for Baby L to use to call Auntie Chels anytime!  How thoughtful!  And of course, it was packaged in the cutest little box. 

We are so fortunate to have such great and generous family and friends.  So many of you have stocked me with maternity clothes, pregnancy books, etc., and I can't thank you enough!  Todd's wallet definitely does!

Happy Mother's Day to all!

Belly Pictures!

I've had a few requests for belly pictures, so here goes!  You asked for it!

I wish I had taken a pre-pregnancy shot, but I didn't.  I don't think I had changed much at 12 weeks, though.

Here I am at 12 weeks:

Full-length Shot...

Close-up...

Here I am currently at 17 weeks:

Full-length Shot...

 Close-up...

Does it look like I have baby belly?  Maybe a little one?  I haven't quite started wearing maternity wear yet.  I'm still wearing my fat girl pants, but they're starting to get a little snug.

Not Official but...

I think we have a good idea whether we are having a boy or a girl!  I found this test at Target:

It's a gender preditcion pee test that tells you if you are having a boy or a girl.  I have no idea how it works or how accurate it is since there was nothing other than directions in the box.  The pee will stay yellow if it is a girl and turn green if it is a boy.  Based on the test, we are having a BOY!

I told Todd the news, and he gave me some good reasons to have a boy:

1. It will be much cheaper than having a girl.  We will only have to pay for a rehearsal dinner instead of a wedding.  Todd did say it will be best rehearsal dinner ever!
2. We won't have to worry about our child getting pregnant at 16. (I guess we will only have to worry about him getting a girl pregnant at 16!)
3. Todd will be able to start our son out early and take him to the golf course when our son is 6 months old - whatever!

We go to the doctor for a sonogram on May 19th, and we should officially find out the gender of the baby.  Wahoo!