He's getting bigger (and so am I!)

Well, by popular demand (although I'm not sure why!), here are a few pics of me this morning before work - I'll be 22 weeks tomorrow, and boy is my stomach getting bigger!!!!




I feel good, Ben kicks up a storm daily, but so far has let me sleep at night, which is nice! He has discovered the joy of kicking my full bladder, which is not nice, but I'm getting used to it!

Our crib bedding came in yesterday - very exciting!!!! Here's a picture:

It's not quite as bright in person, it's an awesome color! We're excited! Now if only our crib wasn't on back order!!! But it should be here in early July, so still in plenty of time!!!! And now if only winter would leave Minnesota (we're supposed to get snow showers AGAIN this coming Saturday - in MAY!).

So things are good here ~ hope everyone else is doing well!!

It moves!!!

So Friday was a first for me - I actually SAW my belly move as Ben was kicking/punching and moving around in there!!! Crazy!!! Jerred saw it happen on Saturday and felt some good kicks/punches too! So awesome to be feeling him all the time now!!! And so far he's been sleeping when I'm sleeping, which has been nice!!

Didn't take any pictures this weekend, we'll try to take some tonight and get them posted up for everyone to see!

And it snowed here Friday night/Saturday morning - and it stuck to the grass! It snowed all day Saturday but never hard and didn't stick, and there were flurries on my way to work this morning. Weather Channel says we're 20 degrees below normal up here - I say we're 20 degrees below my tolerance level at this point! ENOUGH WINTER!

Hope everyone is well and warm wherever they are!!!

21 weeks!!

Today I hit the 21 week mark - somehow that just seems so far along! Could be because it means I start into my 6th month already today!!!! WOW!!!! I can't believe it!!! I ordered Ben's crib bedding, we finished our registry at Babies 'R Us, and we're working on cleaning out the closets/spare room upstairs so Ben has a room all his own soon!

Things are good - Jerred has been traveling non-stop this month for work, visiting NYC and VA this week! He got to see a whole bunch of our friends in NYC last night - I'm so jealous!!! But hopefully we'll get there for a visit in late May/early June!!

Feeling little Ben all the time now - so cool! We will take some pictures this weekend so everyone can see how I just keep expanding!!! I will include a picture of my face too, for those that requested it!

Hope everyone else is doing well - it's 73 and sunny here in Minnesota today, but will be 53 and rainy all weekend. Figures! :-)

It's a.....

So we had our "big" ultrasound today as people call it - and Baby Cook is an absolutely beautiful, healthy, baby.....

boy! Yep - that's right. Despite all of my insistence that we were not going to find out the gender of this little one, we decided this morning to do it! I think it meant more to Jerred to find out than it did for me to wait - and now we can stop calling the poor thing "it" all the time! :-) The tech said everything looked good, the doctor will hopefully confirm that when we see her again in 3 weeks! It's amazing how they can see so much - kidneys, diaphragm, all 4 chambers of the heart and the valves ~ it was awesome. I had tears in my eyes through most of it!!!!!

The pictures above are profile shots and then a frontal skeletal shot of the head (the "skeletor" baby shot as I call it), and then a very cute pictures of a perfect little foot with 5 perfect little toes!!!!!

So that's our news - the baby kept punching the ultrasound wand and moving around, so it was very fun!!!

I basically feel the baby every day now, especially if I drink some juice or lemonade or something sugary, and it's the coolest feeling ever!!! Hopefully the movements will get even more regular so Jerred can feel it more!

Hope everyone is doing well - spring has finally arrived here in MN - beautiful 60 degree days are a very welcome change around here!!!!

Tomorrow is the day!

Tomorrow is our ultrasound! I'm so excited and so nervous all at the same time!!!!! I just want to hear that all the measurements look great and the baby is healthy!!!! I'm getting a ton of kicks today so I'm hoping that he/she will be as active tomorrow so we can see all the fun on the screen!!!

I will scan in and post pics once I have time tomorrow/tomorrow night!!! Everyone keep your fingers crossed for a healthy baby Cook!!!

Good doctor's appointment!

Well, I had another doctor's appointment today (alone, Jerred is in TX for work until tonight!). All went well - great with weight gain and baby's heartbeat, I'm measuring 20 weeks (1 week ahead), so all looked good. A little concern with my blood pressure (120/80) but not worried until another appointment or two goes by. She said basically get some exercise and eat healthy and it should get better. If not, then I'll have to be monitored more. So keep your fingers crossed for me!

Not much else new - Jerred is in Texas today for work. Minor issue this morning when I turned on the Today show and they were talking about American Airlines cancelling almost 1000 flights today for its MD-80 plans (Jerred was scheduled to fly back on a MD-80 on American!!). But his travel department booked him an alternate flight on another airline so crisis averted!!!! He gets home later than originally planned, but hopefully with enough time to unpack and re-pack!

And then it's off to Florida for us tomorrow! I can't wait for sunshine and warmth while it snows here in Minnesota!!!!! :-)

Thump Thump!

Well, it's finally happening - little thumps and pokes in my belly!!! The past 2 weeks or so have been mainly flutters or a rolling sensation here or there, but the past 5-6 days has been little thumps and bumps here and there!!! Jerred even was able to feel one of the bigger ones last night while we were watching a movie! It's so awesome. I feel them when sitting still, on the couch or especially at work where I have my feet up and am drinking lots of water! So awesome!!!!!!!!

On another note - I went shopping last week for maternity clothes for our upcoming trip to FL (leaving in 3 days, thank god!) ~ and was actually successful! I got a bunch of shirts, some capris and linen pants and a skirt, and even a bathing suit! The top is obviously too flowy at this point but at least it fits! Yeah! Now I just need everyone to wish me luck on finding sandals tonight/tomorrow night - while I love shoe shopping, when you need something specific it never goes well! And I only have 2 days!

Our next appointment is Wednesday but I'm going solo - Jerred was going to be in Wisconsin for a work retreat but now they are shipping him off to Dallas, so I'm on my own. I don't really care since it's just the normal routine appointment - I just hope I haven't gained too much weight! I hate stepping on that scale!

That's about all that's new here - looking forward to our FL trip right now - warmth, golf, and we get to see family! The real bonus is some of our friends from NYC are going down at the same time so we get to see them too! YAY! It's been too long S&C! See you on Saturday!!