Baby Girl Furniture

Yesterday was exciting because the dresser and nightstand that I want for our baby girl became available (very briefly) on Target.com.  I was lucky to catch it and order it!  Here's what's on the way...

Now to select bedding and decor for both Ryleigh's room and the baby's room.  My favorite part of nesting!!

Gender Reveal Party!

What a blast!!?! We had so much fun revealing that Baby Gooden is a GIRL!!!!  Here are a bunch of pictures from our exciting event this past weekend.

Made it ½ Way!

Today is the ½ way mark in our pregnancy journey, and we celebrated with a wonderful ultrasound!!  The baby looks healthy and is growing right on track. The baby kept his/her legs up by his/her face the whole time, which was really funny to watch. We are relieved and happy! Ryleigh joined us for the appointment and was fascinated by the whole experience.  It was interesting for her to see the “jelly” on Mommy’s belly and then watch the baby move around in my belly. She asked Barry, "when I grow up, will I get jelly on my belly too?" So stinkin' cute! The technician was kind enough to spell-out the baby’s gender on screen so that Ryleigh didn’t figure it out. She’d spill the beans before the big reveal party if she’d found out at today’s appointment :).

Now, it’s time to get ready for our big reveal party and to let the shopping commence – yay!

Cribs, Dressers, Nightstands, Oh My!

Nesting must have kicked-in... I'm feeling the baby kick frequently now, so I'm constantly thinking about all the stuff we need to buy and tasks we need to complete before the baby arrives.  Barry keeps reminding me that we have plenty of time, but I just don't "feel" like we have lots of time. The first 1/2 of this pregnancy went buy in a flash! So, he's so wonderful, and is finishing bookcases to get the house "ready" and put together the crib yesterday. Love this guy!

Now I'm trying to find a dresser and nightstand that coordinate with Ryleigh's old crib, and it's not as easy as you'd think... I'm determined though, so it'll happen :).

Also, because I ordered and have now used my doppler twice, I'm really glad I bought it. Yes, it gives me some piece of mind, but the unexpected benefit - Ryleigh loves listening to her sibling's heartbeat!!!!  I don't know how often it's "safe" to use this thing, so I'm being cautious and sticking to once or twice per week for now, but Ryleigh is involved and that makes my heart happy!

Daydreaming...

We are just under a week away from the 1/2 way mark and learning whether our bundle of joy is a boy or girl. Exciting times! But, while I wait, I've been doing some daydreaming about the nursery. I knew I wanted a nautical theme for a boy's nursery, but now I'm thinking I want the same for a girl's nursery. I've been looking at Babies R Us and Target, but wasn't seeing anything I like... And then it dawned on me to check Etsy. Now we're rolling! The creative juices are flowing, and I'm pumped about it.

We also have a week and a day until the Gender Reveal party, which has me a little freaked out because I'll be on travel for work all week next week. I'm sure it'll come together :).

I'm also expecting the arrival of my doppler this afternoon... I couldn't help myself... I need to hear the baby's heartbeat when I'm not feeling many movements. I'm going against some good advice on this decision, but I held out for a quite a while, so I'm giving myself credit for that!!!

Did you know doctors can tell you the gender of your baby through the blood work they do for genetic screening?! Apparently that's how my other friends and acquaintances are finding out. I wish I'd known! But, we'll do it the "old fashioned" way at our 20 week u/s on Wednesday. It'll be here before we know it!

In other news, we spent some time with Barry's sister this week before she goes back to Virginia Tech for the Spring semester. We love spending time with her and will miss her, but she's ready to get this semester started!

18 Weeks Pregnant!

Holy appetite! I'm not kidding... I could really eat ALL day. I'm trying to be good, but right now, I want breakfast biscuits and peanut butter sandwiches and cheesy pasta... Fortunately, I'm also enjoying salad, but I could eat a HUGE one right now (and I just had a peanut butter sandwich folks).

In baby news, I'm feeling him/her move almost hourly, which is helping my neurotic side relax a tad. I'm really enjoying being pregnant now that I can tell the baby is doing well in there. And people at work are starting to ask (brave souls) because my belly is rounding out a lot.

Also, GREAT news from Dr. B's office.  My second trimester screen (also known as the AFP, but don't ask me what that stands-for) showed no increased risk of open neural defects (i.e. spina bifida). Now that we've passed all the screening hurdles, I'm even more excited - if that's possible.

BTW, side note... June babies are everywhere! I can't even count how many friends/co-workers/acquaintances are expecting in June.  September was a romantic (or perhaps intoxicated) month ;).

Happy New Year!

I can't believe it's 2015! It's an exciting year ahead!!!

I had a very quiet and lazy end of the year - working from home and spending lots of time with my kiddo. We were all battling a cold, but it gave us a reason to sit around and watch movies together.

And, we spent NYE with very good friends and neighbors. I even stayed awake to see the ball drop!!! Here's my cutie-patootie NYE outfit :).

I also had my 16 week check-up with Dr. B.  All looks good - baby was resting and happy. We did some 2nd trimester screening blood work, so we're waiting for those results, but hopeful that they will be normal.

This past weekend was busy for Barry... he put away the Christmas decorations (not to minimize... he had to build shelves in the attic to store everything) and pulled-down all the baby gear from the attic. I had fun going through it and cleaning it up. It's all stacked in the nursery closet, but it's ready to start preparing. We'll get going on that as soon as we know the gender.

Now we wait until Jan 21st for our big ultrasound! In the meantime, my sister-in-law is crafting away, helping me prepare for our big gender reveal party later this month. Fun times ahead!