Kick Dog-base Ball

We are now in week 22. Our girl continues to grow reaching between 10-12 inches in length, about half of what she will be at birth! Her canines and molars are starting to develop as hardened tissue in her gums. Her eyes are developed, but the irises have no color. She is exploring the womb by touching everything, and I can tell you some days she is very busy! My favorite fact this week is that she now has a full set of neurons and can now process everything she learns. She now weighs a pound, that seems so big! I am feeling okay, a little sore from all the stretching going on. I still have a belly button, but it is slowly disappearing. The day it is gone will be a weird one.
It was a busy weekend here, hence the late post. We spent Saturday working on our baby registry and getting a lot of that done. When I got home the Triplett kids were over to play with the dogs. This is where the title comes in. Travis (9) was swinging and I was tossing a tennis ball at him to kick. We started to joke about needing bases and the next thing we knew we had developed a game. Milo was first base, Ally was second and Kodak was third. John was over by this point and had also joined in. Travis' mom Jana came out and his four year old sister Evie joined in whenever an extra player was needed. We did not keep score, just outs. It was really a lot of fun as our bases would run away, try to grab the ball or run towards the pitcher. I did have the unfair advantage of having Kodak and Milo follow me constantly, but that is okay because I could not run as quickly as the others. It was a lot of fun and wore us all out. Sunday was catching up on some rest and working on painting. The dogs and I did play with the kids again. I got the kids to "help" me bathe them, so we got clean dogs out of that deal. The nursery is 90% done, just need to touch up the white stripes (not the band).
Next weekend we head to Minnesota to visit the Olson's and Mary and Earl. So we will try to post from the road. Have a good week!

Colors

Wow, it is hard to believe it has only been a little over a week since we confirmed we are having a little girl. It is much easier to talk about her now and plan for things. To help our family and friends with our thoughts on girl colors John and I decided to put some info in our blog.




So, no baby pink or baby purple (unless it is a minor color). I am not into pink at all, but am okay with fuchsia/raspberry, deeper pinks in my book. I love how there are lots of variety in girl clothes right now. Chocolate or navy back grounds with stripes or flowers in fuchsia, yellow, greens, purples and all sorts of other colors. I have shared some pictures of patterns we already own to help. Hope this gives people a better idea of what we are thinking. It is not absolutely no pink, just pink as a minor detail, not the whole outfit. Ruffles are fine, no lace. We love all the nature patterns out there right now, especially birds and owls.
So baby girl has been busy this weekend. She has been bouncing around in there having a good time. She wanted to get up at 5:30 am yesterday just like we had all week. I hope this does not stick with her long! She did not want to get me up this morning thankfully, but has been flipping around quite a bit this afternoon. It is so hard to believe that she is about 10.5 ounces! That is about the size of a can of Rotel's (making chili today!). She is about 9-10 inches. I forgot to ask at the ultrasound, but I think she is good and big. Her digestive tract is working now and she is taking sips of amniotic fluid to absorb some fattening nutrients. She can even taste the fluid now! The rest of her senses are still developing, but at a fairly quick pace.
We have finally put our first coat of paint on the walls in the nursery. Still a soft yellow with white stripes on the bottom. We are looking for some black and white curtains for the two windows and John wants to go with dark brown furniture. So, things are coming together slowly there. We are trying to make a list of things we will need and what to register for. Not too busy here this weekend and I even got in a nap. Yeah!
I hope everyone has a great week!

Baby Girl Steman

Here are two of our favorite ultrasound pictures. The first if a nice profile shot with her hand up by her face and the second is her first footprint. John thinks she may sleep like him with her hands up. She was actually moving her hands and feet a lot during the appointment. I laugh to think her profile looking like one of us versus the other because we both have the straight German nose! It should be fun to see her in another 2 months.
We are now in our fifth month. Wow! It has been flying since I started to feel better. Our baby girl is about the size of a coconut now. She can use all her senses now so John tries to read out loud to her every night. Her skin is covered in vernix, a cheesy coating to protect her skin from the amniotic fluid. She may even get the hiccups now. I shall have to see if I can feel that movement. She can grab her umbilical cord if she feels it, so could be practicing some swinging in there! Very busy girl!
We had a busy week this past week. My mom came to visit and we checked out local gardens, found some plant seeds, saw the baby and looked at baby clothes and other items. I was good and only bought 2 shirts, Mom picked up some cute onesies/shirts too. I have to wait for more winter clothes come out before I can look for a going home outfit. Cold weather gear, here we come.
Hope everyone enjoys the pictures!

It's a...

Grapefruit! Well, that is the approximate size of the baby this week. It must be rolled up because bebe is almost 9 inches now!
So the news you have all been waiting for, if you have not already heard, is, wait for it...drum roll please...We are having a little girl! She was a very active baby at the ultrasound today. She moved around quite a bit throwing her hands in the air like she just does not care...Feet were moving hands waving. In a good number of the ultrasound shots she has her hands up around her face. John says she takes after him for the arms over head sleeping position.
We had a great ultrasound appointment with a technician named Carolyn. She had been doing this over 30 years and was real quick to check the sex for us when we said we wanted to know. She printed a lot of profile pictures as those are her favorites. One of the shots with bebe's hand at her head Carolyn called bebe's Drama Queen pose. We also have a foot picture and a shot of her girl parts.
The midwife told us everything looks really good. All growth seems to be moving along at the right speed and bebe shows all the signs of being a nice, very healthy baby girl. One slight concern was the placenta being attached a little low in my uterus, so we get to go back for another ultrasound in 8 weeks. There should be no problem with the placenta, but they have to check, so another free view for us!
I had a great birthday. I felt like a little kid waking up this morning expecting the ultrasound and to confirm our suspicion of a little girl. We had a good lunch and took mom to check out some baby stuff. We were good though and only bought two small shirts at Target. A yummy Italian supper and a wonderful gelato cake rounded out the evening with presents. John had called the local gelato store and talked to them about making a Carvel like cake. They nailed the cookie, but they did not let it crumble. It was delicious, but hard to get through!
So, that is all for this week. Thanks for all the birthday wishes!

Girl or boy? Boy or girl?

So in preparation for tomorrow's appointment I have some fun myths and folklore for distinguishing the sex of the baby for you.

If your fingernails are growing stronger and faster during the pregnancy it indicates boy. So, 1 for boy. Nice healthy nails here!
If my mothers hair is gray, it means boy. If it is a color (even if dyed) it if a girl. Mom has brown hair, 1 for girl.
If your bottom is gaining weight, girl. If it is maintaining its pre-pregnancy shape, boy. According to John, score 2 for boy.
If your hands stay nice and smooth, girl. If they get rough and callused, boy. My hands are still nice and smooth, so 2 for girl.
If your leg hair growth is heavier than before, boy. If it is growing at the same rate, girl. Well, I still shave the same rate here, so girl again.
If you have shortness of breath and find it harder to breath since becoming pregnant, this indicates you are carrying a boy. And I thought it was because I was more out of shape than I thought! Boy here.
It is a tie!

So, what does all this show us? I took away that you can find enough myths and folklore to indicate either and we shall just have to wait until tomorrow!