Getting Fat?!?!?

Well, that's not exactly how I'd like to put it...but yeah, I've gotten quite the baby "bubble" over the last month. I haven't taken any photos of myself since June 11th and WOW has there been a huge change! On top of the even HUGER (not that thats a word...) change from the first photo around 12 weeks to now. You can tell this little girl is growing, growing, growing!

12 weeks....

Currently at 24 weeks!

Pretty big change, dontcha think?!?!?

Stay tuned for even more growing and photos coming your way! And maybe more ultrasound photos in a few weeks...

A bedroom in the works....

Finally, we took some time out and went to a few stores to browse their nursery selections. This wasn't an easy task since we had some different concepts in mind. Girls are just so tricky!!!! God really thought it would be funny to give me a girl, didn't He?!?! I was/am such a tomboy! How on earth am I supposed to have girly stuff everywhere?!?!

Well, after hours of shopping and exhaustion I was at an "I'm giving up" point. Nothing strucky my fancy. It was either too pastel, too dark, too boyish, too much frill, or too much ballet stuff! It was impossible to find the "perfect room". I talked to a salesperson at Babies R Us who was less than helpful. Another disappointment there - he said *waving his hand around* "This is our entire nursery selection here, along with about 2 shelves over there on the side. Thats everything we have except for our online options" and then turned and started talking to some of his co-workers. Well, gee, thanks! Don't trouble yourself!!!

I had already scowered the wall with the nursery themes laid out and displayed and found nothing, along with going through all of the nursery furniture set up with things. It was quite disappointing since it was supposed to be my favorite part! I rolled my eyes and decided that I would go look in the "cheap, goofy" section in the two rows of shelves just for giggles since I had looked everwhere else. I found a bright pink princess frog theme......uuummm....no.

Around the last turn and saw lots of light pastel things...mostly boyish stuff (safari animals, blue set with moon and stars, and green/yellow bumble bees). Then, turn around and an extremely WEIRD girl setup of the most hideous vintage floral pattern I'd ever saw. I hung my shoulders and started to walk away when I caught something out of the corner of my eye.

Not exactly what I had expected to catch my eye, but I went with the feeling. Light pinks and purples with pinches of green. Daisies and butterflies - but not overdone. I was kind of half and half about it when Scott came up behind me and I pointed it out. We decided to delve in a little further and check out the full pattern and material. Well.......that was the deciding factor for me! The material was amazing! Everything was extremely soft chenielles and rich egyptian cotton fabrics. There was some accent areas done on fine netting (whatever that is called) with patterns of the chenielle leaves.

So, how much could something like this cost??.....well, a lot, thats how much! But, as the saying goes - You get what you pay for - and that was so important to me. That was the reason I didn't purchase anything online. I didn't want to get cheap materials and this definitely did NOT qualify as cheap material.

We spent the time to pick out EVERY piece they had in stock that was available with the set. Crib set, valances, receiving blanket, pillows, picture frames and wall art! The setup is BEAUTIFUL and the perfect amount of "girly" without going over the top! My mom is planning on coming up on August 13th to paint the room a sort of lavendar purple color that matched the daisies. Once that is done, we'll set up the furniture and decor and I'll post some photos!!

In the meantime, here is the commercial photos from the website with the pattern:

Ultrasound Photos

Finally, I took a CD with me to my appointment today and asked the ultrasound tech to burn a disc of the ultrasound photos she took. Much easier than trying to scan and crop the few printed copies we have. They are even more amazing on the computer than they are on the print-outs! So clear!!! Isn't technology wonderful?!?!? I hope you enjoy looking at our girl as much as we do!


No mistaking this girl for a boy! She bared all for us! Good thing too - she listens well since I had a talk with her before we went that there was to be no gender hiding games! :)

Isn't the 4-D concept amazing? Every detail is already so clear!

A profile view of our little girl...back to 2-D, but still beautiful

A view of her heart along with the beat pattern - 153 bpm...perfect!

5 perfect toes waving hello to Mom and Dad!!

Another 4-D view that didn't bounce the waves back 100%, which left a "gap" in the ultrasound of her head, but amazing facial features in this one. She looks less than thrilled that we're interfering with her nap!

Another weird gap in the ultrasound waves, but check out the fingers! She looks to have long fingers...and in my opinion, seems long all together! They measured her at 12" back in June on the ultrasound...about 1" - 2" more than the usual! The Jolly Green Giant on our hands? :)

My appointment today was cut and dry - my weight is finally going up, which I am happy about and the doctor mentioned excellent weight gain (but she said I'm still so skinny! (: ). 152 beats per minute today; exactly where she is supposed to be. Oh, and my blood pressure is still lower but perfectly normal at 110/66. That's the first time I've seen the top number more than 100 in a long time actually which could account for why I've been feeling better and less light-headed these days. There is a lot of discomfort in my right side where my surgery was with the stretching of the uterine muscles but the Dr. said that would be expected. I kind of wish it would spread between both sides though and give that one a rest! I had someone ask me with no prompting or anything how are along I was yesterday!!! That is a big milestone! I'm finally starting to show enough to look pregnant! YAY! We're still working on a nursery theme to be able to start working in there and getting some paint on the walls. Hopefully we'll come up with something soon because I'm getting anxious to make that room look like a place for her to come home to. I know, it's early, but I'm sooo ready to start making that side of the house pink! Luckily, Grant is totally into the pink look for his sister so he won't mind that at all! :)

We're talking about paying for one more ultrasound around the middle of next month just for another final glimpse before birth. It's up in the air, but I'll definitely keep everyone informed and post the photos of that one too. It's just about all 4-D with video so we'll get some interesting footage from that one. Especially if she is into playing and squirming around then like she is now. My innards truly get a workout from her hands and feet!!!