A BIG Stick of Butter - that moves!

Jenny decided that it was my turn to write the weekly "Toilet Paper Tuesday" segment. Since I avoid any and all confrontation with her, I agreed. She is 13 squares around (I don't watch her do the test, so I just take her word for it), and has gained approximately 8 pounds (3.6 kilos) over the last three weeks. We went in for the monthly check-up yesterday, so that is how I know about the weight. Obviously bound to happen, so no big deal. Overall, things are going great and I can just about start to feel a little bit of movement. A few nights ago Jenny was feeling a lot of activity in her belly, so she grabbed my hand and I could feel a tiny bit of movement myself, which I thought was pretty neat. I am looking forward to see how it reacts to a lot of noise during a Packer game when the season starts!

Regarding the Culver's Situation: Jenny had her heart set on mashed potatos from Culver's restaurant, and instead was given fries in the drive-thru.....Warning: Don't EVER mess up a pregnant woman's food order, as everyone else has to suffer. She didn't go back to Culver's to fix the order, and I'm glad she didn't. I think the police may have been called if she had.

A few other thoughts I have and would like to share:
1. Thanks to everyone who has visited our website and I apologize for not responding or commenting back very much. So even if you don't want to leave a comment, keep coming back and seeing what is going on with us!

2. Recently there have been a few people close to us that are going through some hardships with illness and loss of loved ones, so Jenny made a comment I would like to share.

She said, "Things happen to good people so that the rest of us will pay attention to the gifts we get every day in life but are too busy to recognize or appreciate."

I find myself thinking often about our friends and their hardhips and what Jenny said, and I try and slow down and think about what we have and the people that we love. It is hard to express what our friends and family mean to us, so about all I can say is that we love you and are looking forward to the next time our paths cross.

Peace out!

Well, it's still Tuesday and time for another update. I am sitting here at work trying to finish up a lighting calculation that needs to be submitted to the plan commission tomorrow--and I have to be on the road to Peoria, Illinois by 5am. I am sure I will be pretty beat by the time I get home tomorrow night and that I might just go to bed as soon as I walk in the door. Sometimes I wonder why I should be so dedicated to my job since it really isn't dedicated to me. Mike's salary provides the bagels and I add the cream cheese (not sure if it's Philly yet or the store brand).

An update on the waist line--up to nearly 12 toilet paper squares now. I feel like I look like a lopsided pear with drumstick legs, but some people say I look cute--I think people just say that to make the expectant mother feel a little less hideous. I guess I should take what I can now, as I am sure the comments such as "you look like a tank" or "you look like you're about to explode" start sliping out of people's mouths. Some little baby facts include being nearly 5-1/2" long, 7 ounces and full of facial expressions.

The kids got home on Saturday and things have been manageable. Ashlynn has designated herself my personal nurse, and initially insisted on opening all doors for me and ordering my meal at McDonald's. She even asked me if I needed a wheelchair. In any case, she has been walking around with a doll practicing to be a big sister of a new baby and she is taking it very seriously too. Both kids are excited so far--we'll see what happens once the baby gets here.

Maybe Mike will blog the Culver's Situation later......

A stick of Butter......

That's what my book correlates the baby's head to rump length to this week. Its tiny little heart supposedly pumps as much as 25 quarts of blood a day, and its taste buds are as developed as an adult's. It's hard to imagine that this baby inside my body is already that big--and is going to get a whole lot bigger. I'm still measuring 11.25 toilet paper squares from last week though. My wardrobe has drastically shrunk and shopping for maternity clothes has been a chore--not much selection and costly for the duration of wear. Too bad I can't wear Mike's sweatpants and t-shirts to work....

We spent this past weekend up in Minneapolis and spent some time with Matt at his new bachelor pad he shares with two friends. The new house is pretty nice and we had a good time at a St. Paul's Saints game on Friday and a leisurely 2.75 mile walk around Lake Harriet on Saturday. In the afternoon, we headed to visit Scott and Linda Jacobson at their new house for Tate's third birthday party. There were quite a few people there and lots of activity with all the little kids and dogs running around and having the time of their lives. We had a great time, which was spent visiting with people we haven't seen in a long time, yet feeling like no time had past since we last saw them. I have to mention that Scott & Linda and Todd & Kari Peter are expecting as well--we are all due within a week of each other. I wonder how many other FarmHousers got bored that week that we haven't heard about..... I'm sure Mike will post a lengthy detailed blog about our trip, so I won't steal his thunder on that one. You'll just have to check back later for him to post the details......no pressure Mike.

The week ahead will be a busy one as Mike has a work deliverable and I have to travel to Boston for two days. I don't look forward to the travel with all the new security requirements, but I can look forward to a good cup of New England clam chowder and some fresh seafood while I'm there--that alone is worth the trip for me. The kids return home on Saturday morning and I am excited for them to be home. Ashlynn will get her spacers put on next Tuesday and the remaining sections of her braces on the following week. We'll be sure to post a picture of that and I'm sure she'll be smiling as she has been pestering me for a while to get them. Some of her friends already have them, so for her it is cool to be getting them ahead of the other friends who will also be getting them over the next year or so.

Until next time......

Toilet Paper Tuesday

Well, it is Tuesday and I got the results from the roll of toilet paper. I'm sure everyone is just dying to know what it says.....I am up a quarter square this week--11.25 squares. Maybe next week I'll get a belly shot posted.

I'm starting to feel movement now, which I started to suspect about a week or so ago. The only way I can describe it at first would be to imagine a fish in a plastic bag filled with water. Every once in a while you feel a swoosh of something, but before you quite know what it was--it's gone. It wasn't very pronounced, but it's not your imagination either. Over the last couple of days, I am feeling it move a little more with increasing strength, but not enough that Mike is able to feel him/her. For me, at least, it's starting to be a little more real rather than some bad case of the flu and run-away PMS.

Mike and I have been on the rampage with home improvements. In the last two weeks, I've stripped three rooms of wall paper, painted three (starting #4) and working to clean junk out of the house. I can't believe I ended up with 4 bags of garbage from the kids rooms alone. Mike has done a number of projects in the yard and around the house. I figure that if I want this stuff done, I better do it now while I can still move around in a somewhat normal manner. If I don't get it all done, I'm likely to mull over it for the next year and drive Mike absolutely crazy with my complaining.

The kids will be home on the 19th, so it will change from a quiet, calm place to a chaotic bustle of activity. The kids start school on September 1st, so there will be an abundance of shopping and organizing to do to prepare for the next school year. Once that starts, time seems to evaporate.

15 Week appointment

This morning, Mike and I went for another prenatal appointment with the midwife. It's hard to believe we are already at 15 weeks and getting close to the half-way point of this adventure. The morning sickness is better now and my energy is getting back up there, but somewhere along the way I seem to have lost my brain and have been possessed by hormones. Any of you ladies that have been through this probably can relate (or you have repressed it) and all the men who have been subjected to it will probably have lifelong mental scarring from it.

Anyway, in case you have wondered how Mike is doing with all of this, I'd have to say he has been awesome. He has been grounded while I seemed to have turned into a full fledge pregnant psychopath (I don't really think I'm that bad, but hey, I got to keep a sense of humor about all this).

So back to the subject of our visit today. We got to hear the baby's heartbeat and it was around 150 bpm. The baby is about 4 inches long now (head to rump) or equivelant to the length of a grapefruit. According to my pregnancy book, its ears and eyes are now where they will be at birth and is now starting to grow eyebrows. They say the baby can now suck its thumb, which I hope doesn't develop into a permanent habit. My uterus is now just below my belly button and I have a visible pouch. On a website message board I participate in, someone started a "Toilet paper Tuesday" where you measure the widest part of the abdomen. Yesterday I measured 11 squares so you get a little perspective. I'll try to update every Tuesday....

Here is an ultrasound photo in 3D from a couple of weeks ago. It's kind of fuzzy, but as the technician put it, it looks like a gummy bear. We'll have another ultrasound in September at 20 weeks which I hope will have better definition.