Well he's definitely a boy! And quite proud of the fact as well! This is the first shot we got as soon as the Ultra Sound tech put the wand on my belly.
Just in case you are not proficient in reading ultrasounds the important part is that little thing sticking out of the crescent moon shape. Haha and I just realized that referring to it as a little thing could be seen as offensive to him later in life! Sorry the pictures aren't very good, I took them off the U.S. with my phone because my scanner isn't working at the moment. Here's another good one of him waving (he did that a lot).
He kept showing us his hands. The tech said that it's pretty rare that they stretch out their fingers like he was doing, I guess they normally keep their hands in fists. He wasn't being very cooperative about showing us his profile though. He kept looking right at us so we have a couple "Skeletor" type pictures but not a very clear profile shot. If he's being this stubborn already I'm in trouble!
In case you can't tell, that's his face in the upper right corner with his hands on either side. haha he's playing peek-a-boo already! Just a little creepy but still very cool.
Chad and I went and worked on some registry stuff today. It was fun being able to pick out the boy stuff. Chad was enjoying himself getting "his boy" all kinds of sports stuff. Very sweet! This is going to be so much fun!
I know you've all been waiting for the verdict and I've been horrible about blogging so.... the doctor is 90% sure we're having a little boy!!! :) When we went in for our ultrasound 2 weeks ago it was actually too early for them to do the full medical check through the ultrasound so they told us no go. We were pissed! And not just because we were so excited to find out the sex but because they didn't let us know until we were at the doctor's office for the appointment. Our doctor felt bad because it was her adding error that had us come in too early so she suckered the ultrasound tech into doing a quick (and free) ultrasound to see if we could see if the baby was a boy or girl. First off, he was sleeping and he is definitely my child. When the U.S. Tech pushed the wand on my stomach trying to get the baby to move, he threw his arm up like "Leave me alone!" haha Soooo my child! I've been calling the baby he/him/Tristan since the appointment so it would be pretty funny if we went in on Thursday and they said, just kidding, it's a girl. He wasn't being very cooperative but the tech was able to get him to move enough that she said she's almost certain it's a boy. So we go back this Thursday for the "official" ultrasound. They'll do all the health stuff they need to to make sure the baby is good and healthy and we'll get pictures then. Chad was disappointed for maybe half a second that they didn't say girl but now he's super excited. I am too.I must admit that I think I'll do better with a boy then I would with a girl... especially once they reach the dreaded teenage years! Looks like I'll be changing my page to something with blue.
I also started my new shift last week. It's not horrible but it's not easy yet either. It is currently 4:35 a.m. and I'm trying to stay awake. I'm good as long as I stay busy but if I let up I get drowsy. And it's not like I haven't gotten enough sleep because I definitely did yesterday... I think my body is still on my old schedule and it's going to take a couple more weeks before this feels normal. Monday's are pretty much always going to be hellish because I have to get back up at 9 a.m. for a meeting with my team. I don't have to go in or anything, it's just over the phone but a lot of the time it's kind of pointless and I'd much rather be sleeping. Today/Yesterday was horrible: I worked my normal shift, so 11pm to 7am and then one of our sales people set up a phone conference with one of my clients from 7 to 8 and by the time that was over, there wasn't any point in me trying to get some sleep before the meeting so I just stayed up. I didn't end up getting to sleep until around 10:30 or so. This poor baby is going to be so confused! Oh well... it's all worth it in the end!
I guess it's time to update on OUR baby. :) He or she is in there and doing well. We heard the heartbeat a couple weeks ago at the doctor which was very cool. I relaxed quite a bit after that as well. I will be 15 weeks tomorrow and am actually starting to feel pregnant. Haha, my pants no longer fit. I can button them still but it's so not comfortable with the little bump popping out. So I went and bought a couple pairs of maternity pants last night. My problem now is that I'm in between sizes so the pants are a little bit baggier than I would have liked but I'll probably grow into them. At this point I haven't gained any weight... in fact I've lost weight every time I've gone to the doctor. I'm not complaining though since I know I've got some extra to lose. The doctor hasn't said anything about it yet either so I'm not worried. I'm trying to be good about eating veggies and not overdoing it with other foods which actually isn't that difficult since I fill up so fast. My appointment for the ultrasound is on May 29th. Any votes on if it will be a boy or a girl? Chad has his fingers still tightly crossed for a girl and I think it may be. :) But I think that's probably because I know how much he's hoping for a little girl and I want him to be happy (not that he wouldn't be if it was a boy). Only 2 more weeks but the suspense is killing me! I apparently need to still work on this whole having patience thing!
My sister had her beautiful little boy last night. His name is Justice Kyng Brathwaite. He was 6lbs 13oz and 20 inches long. So little! Of course as tiny as Caitlin was, he probably didn't have much room to grow! It's so weird to think that my little sister is a mommy now and so exciting!
Here are a couple of pictures of the newest addition to the clan:
This is Caitlin and her new little boy.
And this is Justice (he looks just like his mom!)
Sorry, they're a little blurry since they are camera phone pictures.
I get to go to Scottsdale to visit her in May. My mom will also be there so I'll get to see both of them. It's going to be bloody hot but it will be fun to see her since it's been almost a year since we saw each other last.
Chad and I have been worrying about what we're going to do once the baby is here for daycare. Chad's sister had originally told us she would watch him/her but her plans have since changed. So we've been stressing a bit, even though it is a little early to worry too much. We've been considering all kinds of options. Ideally I'd like to be able to just quit and stay home but with the housing market the way it has been lately, that's not really possible. (For those of you who don't know, Chad owns his own company designing homes.) So for a while at least, I have to keep working. The company I work for is an IT Research firm and we have many international clients. The only way we're allowed to work at home is by doing the European shift which is at night. They were also thinking of adding a shift for our Australia/Asia clients but not for a while. Last Thursday morning my boss asked me if I would possibly be interested in doing a second European shift. He said it wouldn't be for a while but he just wanted to know if I was interested. I told him yes and went back to work. A couple hours later he called our whole team to his office and said that Dawn, our European Client Rep. has decided to stay home with her kids and we would be needing a new CR for that time shift. I took it! Granted it's happening a whole lot sooner than I expected but hopefully that will help me get used to the schedule before the baby is born. Starting on May 19th I will be working from 11pm to 7am. The time sounds daunting but I have worked nights before and actually loved it. So now I get to stay home. It was definitely an answer to our prayers. The worst is going to be getting used to that schedule since I'm falling asleep about 10 o'clock. It will probably take me a good month but then I'll be fine! I'm actually pretty excited. Not only do I get to be home but since I'm the European CR I will be the one to go to our annual European conference. This year I won't be able to since it's in October and I will be 8 months pregnant but next year for sure!
Lately I've been having struggles with eating meat... the thought of putting meat in my mouth and chewing makes me gag. Even just writing about it! Last night I made this yummy chicken dish that Chad and I have had before. First of all, he had to put the chicken in the pan because I just can't bring myself to touch the raw meat. When we pulled it out of the oven it looked and smelled quite tasty but the second I cut into the chicken I about lost it. I thought huh, that's interesting and tried again and about ran to the bathroom. So I told chad just to eat the chicken and I'd make something else and eat some of the rice that I'd made with the chicken. I took one bite of the rice and gagged because it had touched the chicken and that's all I could picture! Haha! It was awful! I ended up making some grilled cheese sandwiches and had some chips and a smoothy I made. So I have a bit of a dilemma. I know I need to be eating some meat for the protein for the baby, but at this point it's just not happening. Hamburger seems to be about the only thing I can handle without gagging and even that is iffy at times. Has anyone else had this problem when they were/are pregnant? Any suggestions of things I could eat to compensate for not eating the meat? I'll be 12 weeks tomorrow and for the most part the nausea I've been experiencing (only at night) is abating but now is when I start feeling like I might really get sick. It's pretty funny! I thought it was supposed to be easier after 12 weeks but it seems harder now! Alright, enough complaining! Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!
Today is the 40th Anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr's assassination so in honor of him I thought I would post a video of one of his most famous speeches. As well as a paper I wrote recently on the feelings I had after first really viewing and listening to his words.
I was brought to tears by reading and watching the, “I Have a Dream”, speech given by Martin Luther King Jr. on August 28, 1963 in front of the Lincoln Memorial. I could feel the emotion in the words. King truly believed what he was preaching. His speech was not just his hopes and dreams for the future, but also a warning to people of what could happen if they went too far in the other direction. He warned them not to let themselves be absorbed with hate. He warned them not to resort to violence because there was already enough violence against them. He warned white America that they were not going to just lie down and take it anymore. It was time for a change, time to pay on a long overdue debt. “It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro’s legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality.” I love this section of the speech because he is telling the whole world that, “We are here and we deserve as much any white man, and we refuse to back down”. It is an inspiration to me that they could stand up to such adversity and praise God for what they had and what they hoped to one day have. While watching the speech, I was in awe of how many people were there. It was a really incredible thing to see. I was honestly surprised at how many white people were in attendance. I think we are often taught that black people were alone and had to struggle against all of white America, when in fact they had support and even white individuals fighting in the trenches with them. Many Americans probably had the same hopes and dreams for the future that Martin Luther King had. My grandparents taught my parents to respect everyone, and that no woman or man is better than another because of the color of their skin or for any other reason. They may not have been on the front lines with the African Americans but they had begun to change beliefs in their own homes. King dreamed that one day his children would be able to live in a world that was just and treated them as equals. Have we reached that point? I believe that we have come closer to the end but we still have quite a bit of work left to do. There is still racism in our country and barriers that keep individuals back from realizing their dreams. We as Americans need to continue or to start teaching our children to love instead of hate. The best way to do this is by our example. We must watch how we treat other people, what we say and do in our homes will be reflected in our children. Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream is still alive today and the struggle continues. May we choose to follow the outline of his speech; to “work together, to pray together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day”, to become the great nation that he describes.
My friend sent me this story in an email the other day and I just loved it... thought I would share.
Recently I overheard a mother and daughter in their last moments together at the airport. They had announced the departure. Standing near the security gate, they hugged and the mother said, "I love you and I wish you enough". The daughter replied, "Mom, our life together has been more than enough. Your love is all I ever needed. I wish you enough, too, Mom". They kissed and the daughter left. The mother walked over to the window where I was seated. Standing there I could see she wanted and needed to cry. I tried not to intrude on her privacy but she welcomed me in by asking, "Did you ever say good-bye to someone knowing it would be forever?". "Yes, I have," I replied. "Forgive me for asking, but why is this a forever good-bye?". "I am old and she lives so far away. I have challenges ahead and the reality is - the next trip back will be for my funeral," she said. "When you were saying good-bye, I heard you say, 'I wish you enough'. May I ask what that means?". She began to smile. "That's a wish that has been handed down from other generations. My parents used to say it to everyone". She paused a moment and looked up as if trying to remember it in detail and she smiled even more. "When we said , 'I wish you enough', we were wanting the other person to have a life filled with just enough good things to sustain them". Then turning toward me, she shared the following as if she were reciting it from memory: I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright no matter how gray the day may appear. I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun even more. I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive and everlasting. I wish you enough pain so that even the smallest of joys in life may appear bigger. I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting. I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess. I wish you enough hellos to get you through the final good-bye. She then began to cry and walked away. They say it takes a minute to find a special person, an hour to appreciate them, a day to love them but then an entire life to forget them.
The Look on Chad's face when he realized I'm pregnant again -PRICELESS!!!
Yes, you read correctly... I'm PREGNANT!
On Saturday, March 1st I was at Target picking up some lamps for our newly painted and refurnished bedroom and happened to walk by the aisle that has pregnancy tests and just thought to myself... What the hell, I'll just take one! I was starting to wonder if I was pregnant because I was having a lot of the same symptoms as the first time around and I still hadn't had a period after the D&C and this was almost 7 weeks later. I didn't really think it would be positive but sure enough, it popped up with the word pregnant. :D Chad was at work all day Saturday so I had some time to plan a surprise for him. We already had the teddy bear because we made it about a year ago for our future child, so I went to Wal-Mart and bought a couple little outfits, one for a girl and one for a boy and also bought a bouquet of balloons. I clipped the balloons on a bouncer we have, strapped the teddy bear in with the pregnancy test in its lap and draped the outfits over the edge of the bouncer and put it in our living room, right in front of the door. It was the first thing Chad saw when he walked in and the look on his face was truly priceless! He just stood there staring with this look of disbelief on his face and finally stammered out... "Are you pregnant?".
We went to the doctor on Tuesday and they ran a blood test just to be sure and yes we are! Someone's getting impatient to get here I think because like I said, no period... we just got pregnant! We won't know until the ultrasound on the 18th how far along we are but the doctor said probably about 5 weeks so the baby will probably be due the end of October or early November. Obviously we're still in the "danger-zone" but I'm determined to stay positive and not worry about what could happen and just hope and pray for the best.
Wow I haven't written in a while! Things are going pretty well... just super busy. I'm never home during the week! Monday and Wednesday nights I have class, Tuesdays I work out with my trainer and Thursday's is Yoga with Janelle. And then there's work on top of that! But we were still able to get away for a week with Ryan and Janelle... haha our partner's in crime! Ryan had a conference for work in New York City, so Chad and I flew out with Janelle last Monday to meet him and hang out for a few days. It was a blast! We crammed so much into the one week though that it's a bit of a blur (I'll have to look at the pictures to remember it all!). Some of the highlights were the Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, Natural History Museum, Eddie Izzard Comedy Concert, the Bodies Exhibition, Ground Zero / St. Paul's Cathedral, Central Park, Rockefeller Center and Time Square. Typical touristy stuff! Our hotel was just 2 blocks from Madison Square Garden and we could see the Empire State Building from our room. It was lit up Red, White and Blue for President's Day. I'll post more with pictures and such.
On another note: It's now been six weeks since the D&C and we're doing okay. It's still frustrating to know all the other people having babies but I'm alright with it. Now I'm just hoping for twins! Yeah I know I'm crazy but I think it would be fun and we'd have two out of the way at once! ;) I know a baby will happen for us soon (whether it's one or more) and that belief is comforting.
Just in case you are not proficient in reading ultrasounds the important part is that little thing sticking out of the crescent moon shape. Haha and I just realized that referring to it as a little thing could be seen as offensive to him later in life! Sorry the pictures aren't very good, I took them off the U.S. with my phone because my scanner isn't working at the moment. Here's another good one of him waving (he did that a lot).
He kept showing us his hands. The tech said that it's pretty rare that they stretch out their fingers like he was doing, I guess they normally keep their hands in fists. He wasn't being very cooperative about showing us his profile though. He kept looking right at us so we have a couple "Skeletor" type pictures but not a very clear profile shot. If he's being this stubborn already I'm in trouble!
In case you can't tell, that's his face in the upper right corner with his hands on either side. haha he's playing peek-a-boo already! Just a little creepy but still very cool.
