Life in the Vast Lane

10 months

2011-10-07T19:23:00.000-05:00

I think 9-10 months is my favorite age so far. Ella is developing so much of a personality, and I am loving getting to know her better. She pretty much smiles all the time - unless she's tired, then you have to work quite hard for just a little smirk. In general, she is a very happy baby. Even when she has refused to take her nap, or is way past her bedtime ... as long as she is entertained she is happy!

Ella is crawling now. She started by 'scootching' (ie pulling with her fingers and pushing with her toes) around 8 months, then it progressed to the army crawl, and now full on crawling. Her favorite motivation is all her daddy's cords, remotes and cell phones! We tried giving her an old remote and cell phone to play with, real ones mind you, but she is too smart for that. She knows which one's we use, and that is what she wants. I can line up three remotes on the floor in front of her and she will go for the one we use.

Music is one of Ella's favorite things. She'll 'dance', bobbing her head and moving her body whenever she hears it. She will turn her head to the TV when music comes on. And when she hear's Nate singing around the house she loves to sing along!

Ella's newest tricks include clapping and giving high fives. Neither of which she likes to do on command. But she is so proud of herself when she claps. She just grins from ear to ear with her new cheesy grin.

Eating is another favorite of Ella's. She is eating just about everything now. Her favorite food is whatever we are eating. Even if she has already eaten supper until she was full, if she sees us eating she wants to try that too! She loves to feed herself the best. The other night she sat in her high chair for 45 minutes feeding herself and was perfectly content. She can drink from a regular cup (if I hold it), and even from a straw! But she is just now learning how to hold her own bottle, and still working on holding a sippy cup.

Still no teeth in sight.

Ella is extremely social. She engages people by smiling and talking everywhere we go. She gets especially excited when she sees other kids and babies. When we are at home, she always wants us within eye sight and will occasionally just look over and grin at us from across the room.

She is loving the freedom that crawling is allowing her to discover new things. But she is also developing a little stubborn streak (which she most definitely gets from me!) She has definitely learned to speak her mind when we don't allow her to do something that she wants to do - like playing with the outlet, or sucking on a cord that is plugged in.

On almost a daily basis, either Nate or I make a comment on how amazing Ella is. We are truly just in awe of her, and completely obsessed with her! I can't believe the gift that God has blessed us with by being her parents. Obviously we are biased, but we definitely think we have the cutest baby in the whole wide world!

our little football fan

2011-10-05T22:27:00.001-05:00

Ella got her first taste of live football last weekend! It was an absolutely beautiful day, just a little windy. My company sponsors NDSU athletics, and we tailgate at all the home football games. Saturday was homecoming, and we couldn't find anyone to watch Ella - so we just brought her with!

She LOVED it! She practiced her clapping the entire game. The only part she didn't like was the gun going off every time they made a touch down. She was just enthralled with all the noise and the people and the lights. She even made a new little friend. My coworkers grandson is about 4 months older than Ella, and they had fun making eyes at each other throughout the game. Ella even tried to hold his hand!

She lasted until about half way through the third quarter and then she was ready to go home; we'd barely left the parking lot and she was asleep.

socks

2011-08-31T10:38:00.000-05:00

I am sad that summer is almost over. Sad that the nights are getting colder, that lake season is coming to a close. But sad also because it means I'm going to have to start putting socks on Ella again. Her outfits are infinitely cuter without socks. And anyone who has a baby knows the nuisance that baby socks are. It is quite the undertaking to find socks that are cute, fit your baby right, and (gasp) actually stay on. And then as soon as you do, their feet grow. So summer has been fantastic in that I can just send her off to daycare completely barefoot.

Yesterday was a little rainy and a little cool, and Ella has been fighting a cough. So good mother that I am, I decided she needed to wear socks. Ella hasn't worn socks since May - meaning half her life has now gone by without them. So when I put them on her last night to go out for pizza with Nate's grandma, they were a completely new thing to her! They were like a brand new toy.

So now it will be a challenge to keep them on her - not because they don't fit, but because she thinks it is a grand game to take them off!

Hi Mom!

weekend at the farm

2011-08-29T10:39:00.001-05:00

Ella and I spent the weekend at my parents farm, helping with wedding projects and enjoying the beautiful weather.

There is lots to do outside at the farm. Like going for walks,
checking out the apple trees, meeting the dog, watching the horses,
and of course swinging with grandpa and grandma.

We love all the fresh produce from grandma's garden: corn on the cob,
green beans, peppers, potatoes and steak on the grill!

Grandma has great toys too!

And of course, no trip to the farm would be complete
without helping grandpa fix something.

It's too hard grandpa! You have to help me!

five months

2011-04-28T12:22:00.020-05:00

Whoa, Ella is 5 months old. That means I’ve been a mom for five months! And you know what? It’s starting to feel a little more normal. Or at least, I’m starting to get used to this “new” normal. The past five months have been the hardest transition of my life. And it’s been wonderful. I still find myself questioning every thing. But I’m not feeling so much like my life is a wagon rolling out of control.

This month has brought many new things for Ella - the biggest being daycare. And she is loving all her new friends! The first week she came home exhausted every day. Her daycare mom tells me that she just sits and watches all the kids play, and smiles at them every time they stop and say hi to her. They are all in love with her too. And we love her daycare too. It’s an in-home Christian environment, we get picture texts every so often, and a complete printout of her Ella’s activities everyday. I was so apprehensive about sending my baby to daycare, and it truly has been such a blessing.

Ella has officially discovered her thumb! She and and her pacifier are still fast friends, but he’s slightly less important these days. Another new talent of Ella’s is sticking out her tongue, she always seems to stick it out the left side – and I just think it’s hilarious. She has learned to roll from her tummy to her back … so tummy time is now an optional activity in her book. She hasn’t learned to roll from her back to her tummy yet, there’s not as much motivation for that one! But she really is so close, she’ll get as far as her side with her head face down but just can’t get that arm out of the way. And just last week she discovered she has feet; grabbing onto them is a new hobby of hers.

We are definitely experience the four month “wakeful period” here – and hoping it ends soon! Ella has been such a good sleeper, sleeping through the night since she was about 2 months old. But lately she’s been reverting! We had her sleeping from 10pm-8am (with a 6am feeding) fairly consistently. But lately she’s been missing her paci around 1am, and seems convinced that 4am is a great snack time. I haven’t decided if it’s her still adjusting to being in her own room, or if she’s going through a growth spurt.

Ella is becoming more and more animated and interactive. Nate is a little worried about what that means in the future. He was hoping for a content and quite little girl like her mom … but I think we may have a little social butterfly on our hands! She’s constantly moving, talking all the time, and always wants to have us in her sights. She loves to be held, and loves to watch Nate rant about his day. She just sits and stares at him, and smiles and laughs – it’s completely distracting to him. :) Her little personality (or rather her big personality) is showing more and more every day. I truly cannot get enough of her. Some days I think I can’t handle the cuteness. Which I guess is good when she keeps me up all night!

not my favorite store

2011-04-19T11:15:00.002-05:00

To say that Walmart is not my favorite store is, well, an understatement. This is not a political statement, it’s just true. I try so hard to have a patient open mind, but I’m usually frustrated before I even find a parking spot. There are just so, so many people. And they all have their own pace, which usually doesn’t make much sense to me.

Saturday I had to go to Walmart. And with Ella in tow no less. This trip was no different than any other. I was maneuvering my car seat-filled cart around people every turn I made. As I traversed the store multiple times in search of the four things on my list, I was constantly accosted by brightly colored displays of stuff that I, supposedly, need.

By the time I had found my items, Ella made it known that she was done shopping. Her patience had worn thin. I made my way to the front of the store, only to find multiple people waiting in every check out. No surprise there. I found the checkout that seemed to have the best people to items ratio and hopped in line.

Ella didn’t really agree with my choice to stand in line. So there we stood in line, rocking the cart back and forth, praying that her little cries wouldn’t annoy all the people around me. Then something I wasn’t expecting happened. A Walmart employee spotted me and offered to check me out in the closed lane next to mine. Why yes, yes please!

He quickly rung up my items and was very cordial. He then agreed to check out the guy who walked up behind me, confused by the presence of a person in the “closed” lane - and I was on my way. Then as I was just walking outside, he came running up behind me with a bag of items I had left behind. What service. What a space cadet.

I won’t go as far as to say that this experience has changed my desire to shop at Walmart, or even changed my perspective of Walmart. That’s not realy what this story is even about. But I will say that I was touched by the encounter with this man. It was certainly nothing over the top. He simply help a flustered new mom.

It got me thinking though. How often do I look outside the things going on in my own little world and help someone else? Our new theme at church is servilization - and to me, this man epitomizes what servilization means. Servilization … a civilization of people following Jesus’ lead to serve others. We don’t serve out of religious obligation, our for the accolades, but rather because Jesus has changed our hearts and we look at people differently - or at least we should.

If we are truly following Jesus’ lead, our priorities, our perspectives and our purpose in life should be different. When I think of serving my mind mind usually goes straight to volunteering. Volunteering is certainly a great form of serving! But volunteering is an event. I like the concept of servilization so much because it reflects a way of life rather than an event.

Being a part of a servilization means holding the door for someone with their arms full, even if they’re still across the parking lot. It means smiling and being friendly the the cashier, rather than being impatient and rushed. Basically it means stepping outside of my own little busy world, with my own agenda and to-do list, and looking around at the people in this world with me and how I can make their day and life a little better. And that’s my challenge for today.

four months

2011-03-28T10:50:00.007-05:00

I was looking through pictures from Ella’s birth today and it made me a little sad. 4 months have flown by so quickly, and I find myself already forgetting so many things. I have not been very good about documenting Ella’s life so far - I’ve just been living every moment.

Ella is becoming more and more free with her smiles. Her favorite time of day is morning. She wakes up so happy, and is content to lay on our bed and talk to us (or the ceiling) while we get ready. Any attention from us brings huge grins, and even giggles sometimes! She is very ticklish - on her feet, neck and back especially. She loves when we make silly faces or sounds, and thinks it’s SO funny when my hair brushes against her face.

We were almost certain that she was starting to teeth already. But our pediatrician said she didn’t see any signs of teeth coming in just yet. Ella has definitely entered the ‘oral’ stage of development! Everything goes right to her mouth, and she is drooling all over the place.

Tummy time is becoming a more acceptable activity, but it still doesn’t take long until Ella is ready for something different. She’s loving her play mat more and more; she loves to reach for (and chew on) the dangling toys, and loves to kick at the bars. She will hang out there for a good half an hour at a time perfectly happy to play by herself. She’s starting to roll to her side quite often; she sticks her feet up in the air and over she goes! Rolling over is coming next! Soon we’re going to have to keep a very close eye on her!

We are starting to notice an awareness of individual people. When Ella doesn’t recognize someone, she is not as free with the smiles. But a couple reassuring smiles from mom or dad, and she warms right up to anyone.

Bath time used to be something that Ella simply tolerated. She was ok with it, but there was definitely a time limit on it before she was ready to be done. There were also times that something would scare her and she would get so upset that nothing short of scooping her up, holding her close and soothing her for a while would take care of. But bath time has recently become Ella’s new favorite activity! She has discovered that when she kicks (another of her favorite pass-times) it makes a new fun sound as the water splashes! She is so happy to just hang out in the tub, kick her feet and smile and giggle up at me. I seriously love it.

Not only did we move into a new house this month, but we also moved Ella into her own room. It was a big step, but mostly for me! It was so reassuring having her in her bassinet right next to me, not to mention convenient for nightime feedings. Now when she wakes in the middle of the night, it means one of us has to drapes to the other end of the house. And by the time we get there she’s usually too awake to simply take her paci and go back to sleep. But after the first few nights, with the help of my mom, she is starting to get the hang of it. And Nate and I are certainly enjoying being able to watch TV in bed again, and just having our own room back. :)

three months

2011-02-24T10:30:00.033-06:00

Ella turned three months on Sunday. Our life has been so chaotic lately, but I didn't want to let such a momentous occasion pass without documenting it. So somehow I found the time to try my hand at tutu making, and made Ella her first tutu. I think it turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself!

Ella is seriously just a little sweetheart. I know she has known Nate and me from day one, but she now shows it with a big smile upon seeing either of us. And when Ella smiles, her whole body smiles - from the scrunching of her toes to the waving of her arms.

We have settled into a fairly great routine, going to bed around 10pm and sleeping through the night until 6am. She then eats and goes back to sleep for a couple more hours. Typically around 11am she goes down for a good two hour nap. The remainder of the day is a pattern of eat, play, sleep!

Ella loves to chat. She will just go on and on telling you all about 'it' to whomever will listen. It is seriously one of my favorite things in the world. She is at her happiest in the morning when she wakes up for the day. On days I am lucky enough to stay home, we will just lay in bed and chat for as long as we want!

I am convinced that Ella is going to be a soccer player. Anytime she is on her back, her legs are up in the air kicking. When she eats, she loves to push off against things (the chair, your hands, whatever) with her feet. All this exercise has paid off too! She is quite adept at standing, and is no longer interested in sitting.

Ella is still not the biggest fan of tummy time, but she's accepting it more and more. She can hold her head up like a champ. Ever the over achiever, she makes it even harder on herself by attempting to hold both her head AND her feet up at the same time - balancing on her tummy. What a goof.

Her pacifier seems to be her first true love. Whether it's in her mouth, or looped in her fingers, she likes to have it close by at all times. She also seems to enjoy sucking on the pacifier ribbon as much as the pacifier itself! When it falls out (which it does often), she will sometimes get lucky enough to get it back in her mouth herself - but most of the time we are compelled to come to her rescue.

She is simply our little doll. We fall more and more in love with her everyday. And as little bits and pieces of her personality begin to appear, I get more and more excited to see who my daughter will become. The past three months have been the most difficult, challenging, life-altering, wonderful and rewarding of my life. And I wouldn't change any of it for the world.

the state of hockey

2011-02-21T10:16:00.002-06:00

Since Minnesota is the state of hockey, and both Nate and I love it, we thought we should expose Ella to it at a young age - so she too can develop a love for the fine sport. That and Nate's cousin's 5-year old son was playing one of his last games of the season over the weekend :)

So we bundled Ella up in her snow suit from Aunt Arlene. She was so stinking adorable that we could hardly stand it. I think I was more excited for an occasion to dress her in her little bear outfit, than for the hockey itself. Thought Parker was a blast to watch! You wouldn't believe the skill and checking of 5 year olds!

Ella was such a good girl through the entire game. She just sat in Aunt Sharon's lap and took in the game. I think Nate is secretly hoping someday she'll be the one out on that ice!

tv time

2011-02-18T09:32:00.022-06:00

We're all aware of the studies. We know television is not good for kids, babies especially. They do not recommend TV watching at all for children two years and younger. And I am a good mom. So I absolutely do not, under any circumstance, allow Ella to watch TV. But try telling her that ...

Clearly this is a case of do as I do, not as I say. Despite my efforts to face her AWAY from the TV, she will always strain to see the TV over the top of her head anyway. She is her parent's daughter after all, and loves the TV.

Just look at those chubby cheeks! Really, how do you expect me to say no to this face?

better late than never

2011-02-16T11:54:00.001-06:00

Ella's birth announcements are finally in the mail!

valentine's day love

2011-02-14T09:16:00.009-06:00

5 months of blog worthy events

2011-01-25T10:53:00.004-06:00

July? Was it really July the last time I visited my little blog? Where does 5 whole months go? I'll tell you where ... pregnancy, building a house, having a baby, a couple holidays, moving, and life in between! So SO many great blog worthy events have passed, and no blog posts have been written. Well I promise many shameless back-dated posts are to come.

In the meantime here's a video of of my sweet little baby girl talking to herself in the mirror (from January 10th.)

little girls

2010-07-28T20:49:00.001-05:00

Our niece Krispen makes us laugh more than anyone. Just last night she had us all crying we were laughing so hard at her antics. It is amazing that a two-year-old can be so aware of her impact on others. She knows she's funny, and she eats it up! She has gotten so good at making funny faces, and will strike a pose just to make you laugh.

It is even more fun now that we know we will have a little girl of our own in a few months. Kip provides hours of endless entertainment for us, and I'm sure it won't be any different with our little Ella. I can only imagine the trouble these two will get into in a few years! I can't wait.

Ella Kate

2010-07-13T21:35:00.002-05:00

We first starting talking about baby names back in May. At the time I was still feeling like we were going to have a boy. The only trouble was, we could not come up with a name! We knew what the middle name would be Samuel - after Nate's dad, grandpa, and his own middle name. But everything we came up with for a first name either was already taken by a family member, didn't work for initials (can you imagine an Andrew Samuel Skaff?), or we just didn't agree on.

But a girls name? That was a different story.

Over a year ago, before we had even started to think about trying to have a baby, I mentioned a name to Nate and - to my surprise - he really liked it! So when we started talking about names back in May, I mentioned the name again. He still really liked it - even though he didn't remember liking it a year ago! We decided at that point that we were about 90% sure that would be her name - if she was a girl!

Then the week before the ultrasound we started talking about names again. Still the same trouble with boys names. When we talked about girls' names, I mentioned another name I really liked. Nate said it was ok. Then I mentioned THE name again. Nate got a big old grin on his face - and I knew that was her name.

So when the ultrasound technician announced, "It's a Girl!", we instantly knew what her name was going to be. We also knew that we would tell our friends and family right away that we were having a girl, and we thought it would be fun to able to share the name with everyone right away as well. So in the waiting room waiting to see our OB, we made it official. We're having a girl, and her name is Ella Kate!

Knowing Ella is a girl, and actually being able to call her by her name has made things more real than ever. I am not so excited and anxious for her to get here! I just cannot wait to see what she will look like and who she will be. I love her so much already!

ultrasound

2010-07-12T19:39:00.007-05:00

So Friday was our long awaited ultrasound. Finally. It's hard for me to even find the words to explain. Such a strange and wonderful day.

Let me just say, ultrasounds.are.amazing! I've seen plenty of ultrasound photos in the past, and I'll be honest, I never really understood what the big deal was. It's just a little blob that kinda looks like it could possibly be a baby, or sometimes even a tadpole!

But when it's your own it's completely different! I suppose it's quite different too since I'm 20 weeks and having my first ultrasound. So MY ultrasound photos actually look like a real little baby!

A real baby that's a GIRL!

That's right. We are going to have a little baby girl!

I was surprised. Nate not so much, he had a feeling it was going to be a girl. We both secretly wanted a girl ... but both felt like we wanted a boy first. But I guess God had other plans!

The ultrasound ended up taking about 40 minutes! Our little baby girl is a little gymnast! She did not stop moving once the entire time! The ultrasound tech had a difficult time getting all the photos she needed - the heart and the spine were the hardest. She kept having me roll onto my side, then to my back again, then to my other side - just to try to coerce the little girl to stay in the positions she needed her to.

She did finally get all the shots she needed. And I wasn't complaining one bit because it meant that I got to see my little girl for that much longer! I thought the most amazing thing yet was just feeling her move and kick inside of me. Well I was wrong. It is so much cooler to SEE and FEEL her kick at the same time!

It was such an amazing experience laying on that bed, holding Nate's hand the whole time, and watching our little baby girl kick and squirm around inside of me. Inside of me. Such a strange thing to think about a real live person living inside of me!

the fourth of july

2010-07-05T16:16:00.003-05:00

There is nothing like the 4th of July to make you stop and appreciate what you have. To me this holiday is all about being thankful: thankful that we live in such a great country, thankful for amazing family, thankful for God's beautiful creation, thankful for the sun ... And another great thing that happened this 4th of July? Nate felt the baby move for the first time :)

Happy 4th of July!

thirty and three

2010-06-30T18:47:00.004-05:00

Saturday Lisa turned the big 3-0, and of course used the occasion to throw a huge "kids style" birthday bash - complete with food, games, pinata, pin the cell phone on the Lisa, party favors, karaoke, a blow up bouncy castle, and nearly 70 people!

After the party was over, we headed downtown to stay at the Graves 601 for our anniversary. It's hard to imagine that we have been married for three years already! And the truly amazing part is that it just keeps getting better! I cannot imagine wanting to spend the rest of my life with anyone else.

Back in October I bought U2 tickets for Nate and surprised him for his birthday in December - yes I kept it a secret for nearly two months! He has always wanted to see U2, and never been able to get tickets. The concert just happened to be the same weekend as our anniversary, so I thought it would be perfect.

On our wedding night we had wanted to stay at the Graves 601, but had such an early flight out for our honeymoon the next morning that, after driving to Minneapolis from Willmar, we literally only had three hours in our hotel. So we decided staying at a nice hotel wasn't exactly the smartest thing to do. So once we made the plans for the U2 concert, we thought staying at the Graves the night before would be perfect. Especially once Lisa announced her plans for a big 30th birthday bash!

Unfortunately, back in May Bono had to have emergency back surgery after a concert in Germany and had to postpone 16 of his shows. You guessed it, ours was one of them. So needless to say we were heartbroken about the concert, but we still had a blast at Lisa's party and at the Graves.

That's the Stone Arch Bridge etched into the headboard, exactly at the same spot where Nate proposed. How perfect is that!?

we have movement!

2010-06-28T18:32:00.012-05:00

The coolest, most amazing thing happened last night! Nate and I spent the weekend in the cities - Saturday Lisa had a big 30th birthday party and then Nate and I celebrated our three year anniversary by staying at the Graves 601 hotel downtown.

We stayed much later than we had planned, and started our three hour drive home about 10:30pm. Nate was my hero and drove all the way home - with the assistance of a couple energy drinks. I did my best to stay awake and keep him company.

We were talking, he was in the middle of telling me something (who knows what), and suddenly I felt this really strange feeling in my lower abdomen. My stomach wasn't growling, it wasn't gas, it wasn't a cramp or the round ligament pains I've become oh-so-familiar with lately. No. It was something completely different. I interrupted Nate (very uncharacteristic of me, of course) and told him, "I think I just felt the baby!"

I had no idea if it was actually the baby I had felt. I have been watching and waiting to feel him, but had no idea what it would feel like. The rest of the way home I kept feeling the same thing every so often. With each time I become more and more convinced that it was indeed the baby. Nate of course was so excited and wanted to feel it. He kept his hand on my stomach for probably half an hour but was never able to feel it. They are such quick little movements, that even I have to be paying attention or I sometimes miss them.

I've continued to feel him move throughout the day today. Once I even thought I felt him from the outside, but it is so hard to tell if the feeling is coming from the outside, when you are feeling it inside as well! Hopefully Nate will be able to feel him soon! I think it would be so cool for him to experience that.

Feeling him move is by far the best feeling yet. There is nothing that makes it feel more real than actually feeling the baby move inside of you! So cool, and so strange all at the same time! Love it.

update on Nate and iPood

2010-06-18T12:39:00.001-05:00

We finally heard back from the lab yesterday with Nate's test results. Everything was negative. As in no infection. Part of me is relieved. He is ok. He's starting to feel better too. The other part of me wishes they had found something. Then we'd have a concrete reason for why he was feeling the way he was feeling, and then they could fix it. But for now he is ok, and I am happy for that!

Monday night - after spending most of the day in the clinic, and then trying to go to work for a few hours - Nate was in a lot of pain and not a very good mood. I left him on the couch and went to fill his prescription. I came home with more than just Vicodin, I found this:

If you know us at all, you know that we are both huge Apple fans, so this little shirt is perfect for us. I can just imagine our little 6 month old sporting this shirt with a cute little pair of jeans ....

It made him smile, and that was all I wanted.

an ultrasound ... but not for me

2010-06-15T21:58:00.001-05:00

Well hubby ended up getting an ultrasound before me! It's been an interesting week already, and it's only Tuesday.

Hubby woke up with such severe stomach pains yesterday morning he could barely walk. I'm a bad wife and didn't realize the severity of the situation so I left for work anyway. Luckily we were staying at the lake cabin with his family, so his dad brought him into the clinic. They were concerned about his appendix and his gallbladder. He ended up spending most of the day there getting an ultrasound, a scan, and hooked up to an IV in the waiting room.

The ultrasound showed such a high white blood cell count that they were almost certain he had appendicitis, and figured they'd have him in surgery that afternoon to take out his appendix! But they wanted to confirm that with a CT scan. That meant sitting in the waiting room for several hours, hooked up to an IV for fluids, drinking a little cocktail about every 1/2 an hour. Thankfully the scan did not confirm appendicitis. So no surgery!

But with white blood cell counts as high as he his the doctors are pretty sure he has some sort of infection. They want to do a few more tests, including E Coli and Crohn's disease. So they took a blood sample and sent him home to get a stool sample. We're currently waiting to hear back from the lab.

He's still in quite a bit of pain, but not as severe as Monday morning. Please pray that he gets better quickly and that they figure out what is going on inside his body!

15 week checkup

2010-06-11T09:42:00.018-05:00

I've been in Ohio for work all this week so I haven't had a chance to do any blogging, but we met with our OB (Dr. B) for the second time last Friday. It was a pretty uneventful appointment. She mostly just asked how I'd been feeling and then brought out the doppler, and found the heartbeat right away again - which was still just as amazing to hear! The heartbeat was right around 140 bpm this time.

I must have misunderstood Dr. B at my 10 week appointment. I THOUGHT she said that I WOULD get an ultrasound at the next visit (around 18-20 weeks), but IF she could find a "medical excuse" she would do one at this visit.

Turns out, she has to have a "medical reason" to do an ultrasound. Period. Apparently some company did a study a few years back that looked at low risk pregnancies, and whether or not the 18-20 week ultrasound made a difference in the end. They found it didn't. So of course the insurance companies jumped all over that, and now don't cover ultrasounds unless there is a medical reason to perform one.

In other words, you could technically go through your entire pregnancy without ever getting an ultrasound!?! I don't know about you, but that just doesn't sit well with me. Thankfully, Dr. B said I'm "measuring small" so I will be getting an ultrasound next time! Phew! (I don't know if I actually AM measuring small, but I'm thinking no since she didn't actually measure me ...)

My ultrasound/check-up are scheduled for July 9th - when I'll be 20 weeks. Again I have to wait 5 weeks between appointments, instead of 4, because of the holiday weekend. But if baby cooperates, we should be able to find out if he's a boy or a girl next time!

15 week bump

Krispen is Two!

2010-05-19T11:49:00.001-05:00

I can't hardly believe it, but my niece Krispen turned two on May 12th! We all went down to Excelsior this past weekend and had a little birthday party for her. She definitely got the idea that the party was for her - and that the presents were all for her! She just went from one bag to the next, pulling each item out, looking at it, and moving on to the next! It was stinking hilarious! Here's a few photos:

Target Field

2010-05-13T12:03:00.001-05:00

Nate has been itching to get to a Twins game at the new stadium since it opened. It literally has been killing him that he hadn't been there yet! We bought tickets with my family to go to a game in September, but that just wasn't enough for him. He COULD NOT wait that long!

So last weekend we headed down to Minneapolis, stayed with my brother at his new apartment downtown, with plans to go to the game on Saturday. Problem was we didn't have tickets! We couldn't get tickets online anymore, but we figured if we went down there surely someone would be selling tickets! Well, it turned out to be a little harder than we thought. We ended up paying more than we had planned, but got some pretty great seats!

We didn't luck out with a beautiful sunny 70 degree day like so many have lately. We actually had really strange weather. It was around 50 degrees and quite windy. One minute the sun would be out, then it would rain, then we'd get a gust of wind, then hail ... and on and on. Ah the joys of an outdoor field. But we had a blast none the less!

oh baby!

2010-05-11T22:14:00.005-05:00

I've been pretty absent from my blog lately - but not because I haven't had anything to write about! Actually quite the opposite is true! I've had tons to write about, just nothing that I could share yet. But I'm breaking the silence ...

We're having a baby!

Yup, that's right. Our little family is growing, and we COULD NOT be happier! We found out pretty much as soon as we possibly could have, and it was SO hard to keep the news to ourselves. We did tell our immediate families right away, but thought it wise to wait at least until our first OB appointment to start spreading the news.

The first few weeks after finding out were the toughest. I never had any full blown morning sickness, but just felt queasy and nauseous almost all the time. Also had some cramping, was absolutely exhausted all the time, and starving! I felt like I just could never eat enough, except nothing every sounded good! By around 8 or 9 weeks most of the symptoms subsided - except the hunger. But I've found that if I stay on top of that, I don't get queasy or nauseous. So I've now incorporated a mid-morning and mid-afternoon snack to my day!

At 8 weeks we were finally able to meet with the prenatal care coordinator at our hospital. She was absolutely wonderful! I was so nervous, and she just put me at ease about everything. She took time to go through everything with us and let us ask as many questions as we wanted. I had a bunch of lab work done, and also got an official pregnancy test!

At 10 weeks we finally got to meet our OB. We didn't get an ultrasound, but we did get to hear the baby's heartbeat with the doppler - a strong 150 bpm! I wasn't sure how I would react, but in the moment all I could do was smile - and look at Nate. It was beyond amazing. I'm sure it is a moment I will never forget. In that moment the pregnancy, and the baby, finally became real to me.

Today is the start of my 12th week, so past the scary part of pregnancy but not quite to the 2nd trimester yet. I started gaining weight almost right way, as you can see below! The first photo was taken around 6 weeks, the second was taken today.

6 Weeks

12 Weeks

So now you know why it's been so quite on my blog! I've had so many thoughts going through my head, so many things I wanted to share! But just couldn't spill the news just yet. But the word is out! Yay!