Baby Shower - 11/15/08

Last month I traveled back to Wisconsin for my baby shower. What a girls weekend it turned out to be! Thursday evening I met my girlfriend Juliet at the Milwaukee airport. Juliet flew in all the way from Los Angeles. She had never been to Milwaukee, much less Wiscosin. She has promised she'll visit again during the summer so she can really get a sense how much it has to offer. My cousin Machelle picked us up and we spent the night catching up at her apartment.

Friday morning we headed to a spa, where we met Nicky and Tammy. The girls had researched spas in Milwaukee and settled on Urszula's. They reserved a private room for the five of us. We changed into our big cozy robes and lounged on couches surrounded by goodies including fruit, cheese, rolls, and even a chocolate fountain with plenty of dipping treats. My treatment started out with a steam shower, followed by a 60-minute prenatal massage and 30-minute scalp/neck massage. It was amazingly relaxing. What better way to spend time with girlfriends. I could have stayed at the spa for another couple of hours. My girlfriends are the BEST!

We headed back to Machelle's for pizza and a nice quiet night in. My brother Joe took a break from studying and stopped over to say hello. I think a couple of hours with all the girls was enough for him. After Joe left, we stayed up watching Dane Cook and Sex in the City. What a great day!

Saturday morning Machelle and I introduced Juliet to George Webb for breakfast. We had to hurry home and get ready for the shower. Machelle helped curl my hair and it looked really cute, thanks Machelle! She also prepared an enormous amount of food, which we loaded into the van to bring to my cousin Chris' house. Tammy and Nicky met us at Machelle's and we were off! Chris had balloons and a cake to welcome me. The girls quickly set up all the food.

As the guests arrived I started realizing how blessed I am to have so many wonderful women in my life who care so much about me. If only mom could have been there. She would have oohed and ahhed along with the rest of us as I opened my gifts. I was taken aback how generous everyone was with gifts for the baby. I have to say that opening all the cutesy girly clothes confirmed my decision to find out ahead of time the sex of the baby. We received so many things....receiving blankets, onesies, tons of clothes, bibs, musical stuffed animals, a bouncer, bath products, a car seat, nursery decorations, baby monitors, gift cards, you name it. A couple of my favorites included a Green Bay Packer cheer leading dress and a cute pink outfit with a saying on the shirt that reads "Does this diaper make my butt look big?". My very favorite gift was a crocheted blanket from my Grandma Hoff. She has made so many blankets in the past and I always secretly looked forward to a blanket from her for my baby. It's beautiful. She even stitched in a "Made by Lorraine Hoff with Love" tag. I love you Grandma.

The next day (Sunday) Juliet flew out early and I spent the afternoon relaxing with Machelle. I was somehow able to fit all of my gifts in the 2 suitcases I brought with me! It worked out perfectly. I arrived late into Dallas that evening, but still had to spend some time with Chad and show him all of the gifts for the baby. Stella had to sniff each and every item. Chad couldn't believe how many presents we received. Baby Blockley is going to be one stylish baby!!!!

Thanks again to my girls, Machelle, Tammy, Nicky, Juliet and Chris, for making all of the shower arrangements. Chris, thank you for hosting and Juliet, thank you for flying so far to join us!! Also, thanks to Jamie and Juliet for taking photos!! I'm so grateful that I will always have this memory with me and will one day be able to share it with the baby.

Finally Fall

Today marks 22 weeks along for Baby Blockley. She has proven to be quite active, mostly later at night when I'm laying on the couch. Every now and then she kicks just hard enough for Chad to be able to feel her. I imagine she will only get stronger as she gets bigger.

According to my baby tracker update, Baby Blockley is approximately 11 inches in length, just a little longer than a carrot. She weighs almost one pound and is starting to look like a miniature newborn. Her lips, eyelids, and eyebrows are becoming more distinct, and she's even developing tiny tooth buds beneath her gums.

I'm starting to get used to regularly being asked, "How are you feeling?". I have actually been feeling GREAT! From everything I've read this is relatively normal. I'm hoping it lasts well into my 3rd trimester, if only I could be so lucky! Luckily enough we were able to schedule our recent during this time in my pregnancy.

We've been in the house just a little over a week and are almost settled. We only have about four boxes left to unpack. The sooner that is finished, the sooner we can fully relax. Along with the house came a yard with lots of trees and LOTS of leaves. Last weekend was absolutely beautiful. Although our goal was to finish unpacking, Chad spent much of the weekend raking and Stella spent endless hours running and playing. Who knew leaves could be so much fun?

From Dallas to Flower Mound Texas

It's official, we have left the city for suburbia! We moved last weekend from Downtown Dallas to Flower Mound, Texas. Luckily this time we had to hire movers. There are some advantages to being pregnant, ha! I won't bore you with too many details about the move, you've all been there and know just how much fun it is. We're slowing settling in and hope to finish unpacking this weekend.

Stella could not be happier. Our new backyard is her playground. She constantly wants to be outside. Chad and I are convinced she's lost at least three, maybe four pounds in less than one week. She cannot get enough of playing fetch with her tennis ball.









The leaves on our trees have just started to turn, and of course are starting to drop, right after we moved in. Chad will be busy with the yard this weekend. I'll try to get another photo or two posted.

We have already met a couple of our neighbors. An older couple next door has two huge sheepdogs that Stella has already befriended. The gentleman came over the other night and invited Chad to a Men's Club, shrimp dinner tomorrow. Chad is not sure what he's in for, but graciously accepted. More on that later........

There are definitely some advantages to living out here. Most importantly, we are much closer to Susan and Gary, soon to be Nini and Gramps :). The Town of Flower Mound is made up of approximately 60,000 people and has more shopping and restaurants than I know what to do with. There is very little traffic and parking is a piece of cake everywhere. Our house sits at the end of a cul-du-sac and is surrounded by trees.

It is very peaceful here!

19 Weeks and Growing!

Today marks 19 weeks along for Baby Blockley. As you can see I'm getting bigger everyday! The baby weighs approximately 8-1/2 ounces and measures 6 inches, head to bottom, about the size of a large heirloom tomato, per my BabyCenter.com update. Apparently I'll start growing even faster in the weeks to come, and will do my best to keep the photos coming. I have managed to squeeze into my work clothes up until now. Time to get a few more items :).

My appetite has grown as well. Many of you have asked if I've had any major cravings. I can't say I have had anything out of the ordinary, pickles, ice cream, although not together. I am longing for the foods I am not supposed to eat, like my favorite specialty cheeses, especially feta. I'm also not supposed to eat deli meat. I can't wait to have a cold turkey sandwich and I miss my diet coke!!!

Many of you have also asked how I'm feeling. I'm actually feeling great lately! The 2nd trimester is supposed to be the easiest. I have much more energy than before, very little nausea and my headaches are much less frequent. No real complaints.

I am, however, anxiously awaiting to feel the baby move. We were able to see her move quite a bit at our last ultrasound, but I can't confirm that I've felt anything just yet. Movement is typically felt between 16 and 22 weeks, usually later on that scale for first pregnancies. I think it will become all the more real when I feel her. I'll keep you posted!!!

A-Registering-We-Will-Go

At some point I realized a very exciting part of having a baby on the way, registering for my baby shower! I remembered how much fun it was to register when we got married and now I would get to do it all over again. Little did I realize that this time around I'd be faced with all sorts of choices of items I had absolutely no experience with. I had never even heard of the brands, Gracco, Evenflo or Chico.

Although I'm less than five months along, I still had to get started registering as my Wisconsin girlfriends are throwing me a shower in Milwaukee November 15th and invitations were just sent out.

In preparation of our first outing, I asked girlfriends for pointers and started reading a book called Baby Bargains. While the book is extremely informational, it is also a bit overwhelming. Ten pages into the "Baby Cribs" section, I realized I'd better focus on other topics as well to try to have some idea of what I was looking at when we got to Babies R Us and Target. Afterall the "Baby Cribs" section is 80 pages long. Just as I had predicted, I didn't get near as far as I had hoped through the book. I'd have to wing it and just take it all in.

I had been looking forward to this day all week. We met Chad's parents for lunch and then headed across the street to Babies R Us. Having two photographers in the family, we were bound to end up with one of them taking pictures, in this case video. Take a look.........

A BIG DAY

Today was a big day! We had a 9:15 am doctor's appointment, which included a routine ultrasound. Although some friends and family encouraged us to wait until the birth to find out if we are having a boy or a girl, Chad and I decided we really wanted to know ahead of time. And now that we do, it makes it all the more exciting!

As the technician rolled the ultrasound wand over my belly we could see the baby stretching and turning. Of course we were immediately searching for some indication to tell if the baby was a boy. I wonder if the technician makes all of her patients wait as she did with us. First she took measurements of the head, showed us the brain, measured the heart, showed us the stomach, kidneys, legs, feet, hands, you name it. Finally, she scrolled over the baby's bottom. That's when we found out.......

We're having a GIRL!



Originally I thought this was determined simply by process of elimination, that we were "not" having a boy. Little did I know that oftentimes they are able to tell that the baby is a girl, with a "detailed" enough view. Who would have known?

Before long Chad will be surrounded by girl power: mom, baby and Stella :).

As we're starting to share our news, a common question comes about. "Have you started thinking about names?" Yes, we have played around with names a little bit so far, but we have PLENTY of time to narrow down a few choices. Most likely we will not make a final decision until after the baby is born. Now that you all know we're having a girl, we have to at least keep one thing a surprise!

From the Beginning.......

Having been married for just over two years, Chad and I were starting to get used to the question, "When are you planning to have a baby?". We both knew we wanted children, and also knew there really wasn't anything holding us back. Often our answer was, "we're thinking about it".

Of course I think it was only natural for us to wonder if we were in the "right place" in our lives to have a child. Was our living situation condusive? Were we financially prepared? Were we emotionally ready for the lifestyle change? In hindsight, who knows if we ever would have felt ready.

It was Saturday afternoon, July 20th, when I finally decided it might be a good idea to take a pregnancy test. This was done mostly as a precaution to "make sure I wasn't pregnant" as I was scheduled for a test at the doctor that following week which should only be performed on non-pregnant women. Also, my chest had dramatically gotten larger over the last week. Chad jokingly urged me the previous night and again that morning to take a test, that I just might be pregnant since my boobs were getting so big. I think he liked to tease me about this, I don't believe he actually thought it was true.

I slipped quietly into the bathroom to take my test, without him knowing. I was sure it would be negative as it had been a few times before. I stepped back into the kitchen to get some water and let the 3 minutes pass before I could read my results. I slowly walked back into the bathroom and picked up the stick. Sure enough, it read PREGNANT. My heart skipped a beat. I looked at myself in the mirror, looked at my stomach and thought, oh my. Nothing could have prepared me for seeing that positive result for the first time.





For awhile beforehand I had imagined how I would first tell Chad the news when finding out we were pregnant. Would I tell him over a romantic dinner, or create some kind of surprise for him? All of that was thrown out the window. Instead, I found myself in a state of shock and couldn't think straight. All I wanted to do was to go to Chad and share my excitement and nervousness at what I had just discovered. I needed his immediate support and love. Into the living room I crept, stick in hand, no sense of romanticism what-so-ever. He looked at me. I had a funny look on my face, or so I assume. I held up the stick and let him read the result for himself. Afterall, he's the one who kept telling me to take the test, he should get to discover the news the way I did, ha! It took a couple of seconds for him to process what was going on. He smiled and his face lit up. I have to admit, I felt a little relieved when I saw his excitement set in. Now I laugh about how surprised we both were. Afterall, we had been married for 2 years, there wasn't anything holding us back. Although we weren't "trying", we weren't "not trying". Just to be sure, we headed off to Walgreens to buy 2 more tests. Sure enough, both were positive.

Of course we tried to figure out just how far along I could be. We contemplated waiting to tell anyone until we knew more from the doctor, but we were too excited to hold it in and knew we would need to cancel my orginal doctor appointment for that follwing week. Susan and Gary would for sure wonder why we missed the appointment. We decided we just had to share our news. We drove out to Susan and Gary's the next day. Susan figured it out. Although I can't say she really knew what she knew, until we said it, she definitely had a hunch. She said she could see it in my face. They were both ecstatic! It felt so good to have them share in our excitement and to have their love and support. Chad and I are both thrilled to give them their very first grandchild!

I called the docter first thing Monday morning and scheduled an appointment for next day. We even had a sonogram, which determined I was just 6 weeks along. I believe the sonogram is what really made things more realistic for Chad, especially when he heard the heartbeat. Thenthey took us in a room and gave us a diaper bag full of pamphlets, samples and loads of information. I think that's when it really hit me. It was alot of information, all at one time. And there we were, headed home, doctor-confirmed pregnant with loads of information in tow.

Now what?

Welcome

Welcome to our new blog, dedicated to Baby Blockley, due March 17th, 2009! We'll be tracking our pregnancy over the coming months.

Be sure to return for updates!

Love, Pam and Chad