Home Again, Home Again Jiggity Jig

We made it back to Colorado a few hours ago...a very windy trip back but no problems with snow or ice which was good.

As excited as I was to be home and go get our girl Maddie, I already miss my family. Guess you can't always have it both ways-especially not when you live 6-9 hours away from them. Oh well...it was a great trip and thanks to the weather our trip was actually 2 days longer than we'd planned.

We did something that Matt and I never do...we went to the movies. Not once...but TWICE while we were in Kansas. Two movies, in the movie theatre in 24 hours-that's about 2x as many movies as we see in two years!!

Christmas night we went and saw "Have you heard about the Morgans"-very cute, light and funny. The day after Christmas we went and saw "The Blind Side"-I highly recommend this movie-it was amazing, absolutely amazing.

So now it's off to do laundry...lots of laundry and unpacking-not exactly my favorite welcome home present.

Home Sweet Home.

22 Weeks Pregnant - Merry Christmas!

Not only are we celebrating Christmas but we're celebrating being 22 weeks pregnant!

This week's update gives us the following:

"At 11 inches (the length of a spaghetti squash) and almost 1 pound, your baby is starting to look like a miniature newborn. His lips, eyelids, and eyebrows are becoming more distinct, and he's even developing tiny tooth buds beneath his gums. His eyes have formed, but his irises (the colored part of the eye) still lack pigment. If you could see inside your womb, you'd be able to spot the fine hair (lanugo) that covers his body and the deep wrinkles on his skin, which he'll sport until he adds a padding of fat to fill them in. Inside his belly, his pancreas — essential for the production of some important hormones — is developing steadily."

We reached our 22 week mark while in Salina, Kansas celebrating Christmas with my family. It was a cold, windy, snowy trip here but we've had a great time. Keeton, my 8 year old nephew kept us all laughing and on our toes, of course. My mom made sure this little one would be fully outfitted with Jayhawk gear and my sister made an adorable cup and plate for her future niece or nephew. As always, we were spoiled this Christmas.

We're currently stuck in Kansas with I70 being shut down at Burlington, CO-so we could get to the border and that's about it.

So...for now we're still in Salina ... waiting it out and hoping the roads open soon.

Merry Christmas-We're 21 Weeks Pregnant!!

Um...so here we are 3 days before Christmas and guess who's Christmas cards aren't done? Yep, that's right...me. So for the few of you that follow this, here you go-a Christmas blog post complete with the obligatory family photo...'tis the season! : )

So much going on and so much to tell you all about!!

We're 21 weeks pregnant!! MORE than half way there now!! Our weekly update from www.babycenter.com tells us:
"Your baby now weighs about three-quarters of a pound and is approximately 10 1/2 inches long — the length of a carrot. You may soon feel like she's practicing martial arts as her initial fluttering movements turn into full-fledged kicks and nudges. You may also discover a pattern to her activity as you get to know her better."

YES-for about 3 weeks now I've been feeling this little one flutter inside me -and YES, it seriously is the coolest thing ever! So far it seems like our baby isn't much of a morning person and is most active in the afternoon and evening. And, YES, I've been known to drink a little orange juice just so I can wake this little one up and feel them-cruel I know. : )

In other news-there is a HUGE storm that is blowing through starting tonight-it stretches from Colorado all the way across Kansas. Guess where we're headed for Christmas? You guessed it-Kansas! SO-Matt and I are leaving town about a day and a half early and trying to beat the storm. Wish us luck-driving across I70 in a wind, snow, ice, blizzard kinda storm-not really my favorite thing to do, or the safest frankly!

I can't tell you how excited I am to go home and be with my family-I absolutely can't wait. The good news is that since we're leaving early we'll have an extra day with them!! I have plans to decorate cookies with Keeton and finish up some last minute stocking stuffer shopping that I won't get done since we're leaving early. So happy!!

Well, it's time to get the packing started-I need to have the car ready and gassed up so that when Matt pulls in when can hop in my car and go...head for the Land of Oz.

Pregnancy & Produce: 20 Wks

With all the excitement about our ultrasound I skipped right by our weekly produce update!

This week we have some fruit to help us picture how big our baby is-our updates are from www.babycenter.com & http://www.whattoexpect.com/ this week:

From http://www.whattoexpect.com/ :

"You've got a heavyweight in your belly at 20 weeks pregnant (well, in baby terms, anyway). Your little champ weighs about ten ounces and has a height, crown to rump, of about six and a half inches. Think small cantaloupe (and probably as sweet too)."

From http://www.babycenter.com/ :

"Your baby weighs about 10 1/2 ounces now. He's also around 6 1/2 inches long from head to bottom and about 10 inches from head to heel — the length of a banana. (For the first 20 weeks, when a baby's legs are curled up against his torso and hard to measure, measurements are taken from the top of his head to his bottom — the "crown to rump" measurement. After 20 weeks, he's measured from head to toe.)He's swallowing more these days, which is good practice for his digestive system. He's also producing meconium, a black, sticky by-product of digestion. This gooey substance will accumulate in his bowels, and you'll see it in his first soiled diaper (some babies pass meconium in the womb or during delivery)."

We actually know from our ultrasound this week that our little banana/cantaloupe actually weighs 12 ounces right now. I'm not sure they told us how long our little banana is though...I'll have to check out the video again and see if the graph at the end show the stats.

Already we have watched the video a time, or two...and I just can't get enough of seeing our little one. There is this one part in the video where our little wiggle worm just wouldn't cooperate and let the Dr. get a good look at the heart-two little hands would go up and cover the chest or just turn over-so funny, stubborn just like one of their parents...I'll let you guess which one.

~Melissa

Introducing ...

Our little wiggle worm!! The Super-Sonic Ultrasound went amazingly today!! Needless to say we were pretty impressed watching out little one for over an hour today!

We went through two thorough head to toe "exams" and both times our little one got rave reviews! The Dr. was great and made lots of positive comments using words like "great, fantastic, wonderful & perfect"-which of course put our minds at ease and made us enjoy the appointment that much more!

There was one issue that the Dr. had-I believe his words were, "You guys are going to have your hands full-your baby isn't cooperating at all!" Getting the second round of heart pictures and scans was a bit difficult-our baby kept playing games and either turning around or putting a hand in the way-it actually got pretty funny at times. Even the Dr. was chuckling-I swear this little one was doing it all on purpose!

At the end of the appointment the Dr. talked to us about potential issues and the risk factors as with my age being considered. I'll be 36 years old when our Wiggle Worm is born and according to the experts that puts my risk for Downs Syndrome at 1/210. Based on the fact that the Dr. fond NO "markers" today with the comprehensive ultrasound, he lowereed our risk factor to 1/420. So yes...that definitely put our minds at ease. There is still no definite or guarantee on anything, but we feel really good about things after today's appointment.

OH...and in case you were among the doubters...We remain TEAM GREEN!!

Today is the Big Day - Super Sonic Ultrasound Day

And I'm nervous...excited...but really nervous. Like any pregnant woman, I just want everything to be alright with our baby.

I didn't sleep very well-woke up at 1:30am and just layed there for awhile, thinking.

Matt brought home the DVD's lastnight that the Dr's office told us to buy-they'll record the ultrasound for us and put it on DVD.

I have a early morning meeting today and hope that the day is busy enough to keep me occupied before I leave at 3pm for our appointment.

Today is also Week 20 - I'll update everything today, and hopefully have some produce to show you along side of ultrasound photos!

Keep us in your thoughts and prayers today please-
Melissa

Emotion, Freezing, Hungry

EMOTION:
I'm sure some of this is pregnancy related, but you can ask almost anyone who knows me and they'd tell I don't like being so far away from family and that for a few years now I've really wanted to move home. Yes-back to Kansas.

Now being pregnant it's even harder. I want to be closer to my family...my sister is 6 1/2 hours away and my parents are about 10 hours away. I hate it...a lot.

I'm the one who made the choice to move away and I don't for one minute regret that. It was truly the best decision I've ever made. But now, now more than ever...I wish I was closer to them.

I'll be going home for Christmas in about 2 weeks-we're celebrating at my sister's house. That will be so nice...but I want more. When I hear about Mom and Maegan getting together for a craft fair, Christmas parade, Keeton's school activities...I'm more than jealous. I'm sad...I'm missing out.

So now that I'm pregnant and have something that I want them to be apart of...I'm wishing more than ever we lived in Kansas near my family.

At the risk of sounding dramatic...I'm feeling rather lonely.

I can't quite explain it...and yes Matt is, of course, being amazing. I just wish Mom, Dad and Maegan were near by.

FREEZING:
It's absolutely freezing here...insanely freezing, below 0 degrees, for real freezing!! Enough already!! It's a little wrong that the weekend is supposed to be 32 degrees and I'm looking forward to that!

HUNGRY:
Yes...I just said it's freezing...but I'd still really like some chocolate/peanut butter ice cream from Baskin and Robbins. Yes...I'm serious. And I've never in my life ordered a French Dip sandwich but I did about 2 weeks ago at a restaurant...I've been craving it ever since.