Our Baby: Future Social Butterfly?

At thirteen weeks (on February 26th), I went in for the nuchal translucency study and a bunch of blood work.  At this appointment, they did a very detailed ultrasound where they measured the fluid in the back of the baby's neck (pretty sure that's right) to make sure it's normal and doesn't indicate any sort of problem/potential disease.     

The ultrasound was incredibly detailed, and lasted probably at least 10 minutes, so it was a lot of fun for me.  I was sad that they didn't allow dads to come along, because I know Wyatt would have loved it.  The baby was moving around like crazy during the ultrasound, which was so fun to watch.  He/she had a number of movements where his entire body jumped up and kind of squenched up into a ball, and then fell right back down into a resting position.  I asked the technician if this could be hiccups, but she said she thought it was too early for that, so who knows what this baby was up to.  Dancing, maybe?  Everyone knows I love "So You Think You Can Dance," so I guess baby may know that too. 

We got a couple of great pictures from this ultrasound:

Here's one of the baby, presumably resting.  I love this one because it really does look like a baby at this point.  Especially at our first ultrasound, the baby really wasn't too cute, and I think actually resembled Skeletor a little.  (Sorry, just being honest here.)  So I was happy to see a cute baby forming in this picture. 

And this picture is the reason for the title to this post.  I'm pretty sure baby is waving to the world to say his/her first real hello.  Time will tell if this baby is a real social butterfly, but I thought this was a fun picture.  I must mention that another interpretation, offered by our friend Darby, is that the baby is playing an imaginary saxophone here.  This is another one we'll have to wait and see on. 

 
After the ultrasound, I went to get more blood work, which is never my favorite.  But, I had to count my blessings because they only took 1 vial of blood rather than the 6 they took the time before.  I was not a fan of that process.  I realize I have a lot worse things coming for me soon, but hey, I'm trying to build up my tolerance slowly.

Second Appointment

We had our second appointment on Thursday, February 11th.  Wyatt was able to come with me, which was great.  At this appointment, we were able to hear the heart beat for the first time.  (I say we, but actually, Wyatt hadn't made it into the room yet, so he unfortunately missed this part).  This was exciting, but it was a little nerve racking for a couple moments as the nurse had to search for a while before she was able to find it.  It was also pretty interesting for me, as a first time pregnant lady, how low the baby was sitting at this point in the pregnancy.  I had no idea how low the baby starts out! 

Next we went to have another ultrasound.  I don't think this is the norm for a second appointment, but since there was some confusion as to my actual due date, they decided to do another ultrasound to see if they could narrow down the date.  We saw the baby again, including the beating heart (which amazes me every time), and they were able to give me a new due date of September 3rd.  It was great to get this date set; I know the date doesn't mean a whole lot in relation to when you have the baby, but somehow it was reassuring that the baby was actually due when I thought it was supposed to be.  Why this was relieving, I don't know.  Let's blame it on weird pregnancy emotions.  So, based on the new due date, as of this appointment, I was 10 weeks 6 days along.

One thought I had while looking at the ultrasound...  I was thinking how fragile and dependent the baby was.  I thought about how tiny it was, and yet how immensely valuable, precious, and loved this baby already is.  In so many ways, this brought to life the verse in John where Jesus calls himself the vine and us the branches, and says that for us to bear fruit, we must remain in Him, and that apart from him, we can do nothing (John 15:4-5).  The baby on the ultrasound gave me a picture of what we must look like from God's perspective: precious, valuable, and yet entirely dependent on Him for all that we need in life.  The problem we face is how easily we forget our need for God.  My current prayer is that I'd be reminded that as much as any baby in the womb needs its mother in order to sustain life, we as believers need God immesurably more than that.  And the great thing is that God is ready and able to answer every prayer and fufill every need that we have.     

The baby excitement is definitely growing at this point!  We are so blessed to be on this journey.

We are pregnant!

Yes, it's true! We found out on December 22nd, while we were on our trip to Arkansas, and it's been quite a task keeping the secret since then. We did tell our immediate family on Christmas. It just seemed too perfect of an opportunity not to. We kept the secret from pretty much everyone else up until I was about 12 weeks along.

We went for our first appointment on January 18th, and it went great.  We were able to see the (tiny) baby and a very strong (and fast) heartbeat.  It was so exciting, but also felt a little surreal.  It's clear there's a baby growing, but it's hard to fully get my head around it when I still don't really look pregnant. 

The doctor measured the baby and said based on measurements, I was 6 weeks 6 days along (which would make my due date September 7th, the day after Labor Day).  This was interesting because I was pretty sure I was 7 weeks 3 days (which would make my due date September 3rd).  They'll review the measurements again at my next appointment and finalize a due date then.  Here's a picture from the journey thus far.

Me on January 1, 2010, at 5 weeks (based on my calculations)- I wonder when I'll start showing...  Until then, I'm trying to enjoy my ability to wear my regular clothes. 

We are so thankful to God for this gift and very excited to be on the journey to parenthood.

And I thought I was being healthy!

I've done a bit of an overhaul of my food and drink habits over the past few months. I decided it was a good idea to get unaddicted to caffiene and also to cut out artificial sweeteners out of my diet as much as possible.

The caffiene break is probably not permanent, but since I'd repeately told my husband that I could easily stop with the caffiene any time, and yet I never ended up doing it, I thought it would be a good challenge to push myself through it. A couple of months after that decision, I'm glad I made it; it's nice not to NEED caffiene in the morning and to know I won't get a headache if I don't have any for a day (or a week). I still drink coffee, but I just opt for decaf. And I do drink iced tea occasionally, but that to me is fine, since tea has way less caffiene in it per serving than coffee.

As for the artificial sweeteners, again, I wasn't crazy concerned about them, but I had read a few studies that tied artificial sweeteners to more cravings for the real sweeteners (i.e., anything with sugar), and that, in turn, had been tied to weight gain. And since I already crave anything sweet like a mad person, I thought this could be a good thing for me. This was a huge deal considering it meant giving up my beloved diet coke. I thought I'd be so unhappy without, but I'm actually pretty used to not having it now and don't miss it too badly.

To replace the artificial sweeteners, I subbed in Sun Crystals, which is made with sugar and stevia (a naturally occurring sweet plant) and is only 4 calories per packet. It's been great. Not quite sugar or splenda, but good.

Another item I subbed in was agave nectar. And that's where the title of this post comes in. I thought agave nectar would be a good substitute for sugar or honey and I was using it in my coffee on occasion. Then I saw this article today. Looks like agave nectar might not be such a healthful alternative after all. The article pretty much equates it with high fructose corn syrup. Not what I was thinking of when I decided to try to use something healthier than artificial sweeteners. I'm going to check on this with my mom (a nutritionist), but until then, I think I'll be laying off the agave nectar.

Other than the agave nectar issue, the changes have gone really well. But I can't lie, I still crave a diet coke every once in a while.

Pre-Christmas Trip

On the Saturday before Christmas, Wyatt and I headed out for a mini vacation. We went to Hot Springs, Arkansas. Why Hot Springs, you might ask? Good question. We had both been there before, and it is truly a beautiful part of the country. It is a great place to go to get away and enjoy nature, and not too far of a drive from Houston. So, Wyatt found a great Bed and Breakfast, and we took off.

We arrived on Saturday and stayed until Tuesday. Here are a few pictures from the trip.

The lake behind our lodge.

One of the lovely stores in Hot Springs.  Wyatt insisted I take a picture of it, and I'm glad I did. 

Us at the Christmas light show at Garvan Woodland Gardens.  It was truly impressive!

And one of us behind the lodge.

On Tuesday, we took a slight detour on our way home and stayed at Wyatt's Granny and Pawpaw's house in Hemphill, Texas. We had a great time visiting with them, and we also enjoyed Granny's delicious macaroons and fruit cake cookies. It was a great visit and overall a great pre-Christmas trip.

Another update...5 months later

So, I am way overdue on an update. I can't believe it's been 5 months since I last blogged. You might think I fell off the blogging wagon because I didn't have much to say, but quite to the contrary, we have had a TON going on, and I guess I've been so busy, blogging got dropped off my list of things to keep up with. But, I am now back, and am going to aim to blog at least once a week for 2010 (hopefully more, but I'm keeping my expectations low).

So, to give you a quick update of what's been going on in Smith land, we did finally close on the house on November 17th. It was a crazy process. Long story, but it was truly a miracle that we were able to close on the house. We had so many roadblocks in the process, and we had many moments we knew the deal wasn't going to go through unless God answered some serious prayers. So, we are glad the house is closed on and happy that the renovations are progressing so far. I have a lot of pictures of the progress, so I'll post some before and after shots in a post soon. We're thinking that the house will be completed in April, so we're moving along.

As for the Shred, I didn't end up making it through the full 30 days, but I did make it to about day 18. I love the program and was getting good results with it, but my knees started hurting a lot (probably due to the ridiculous number of lunges I was doing), so I decided to take a break from the program. On the positive side, though, even without finishing the Shred, I met my weight goal in December. No shortcuts or tricks, just a whole lot of consistent working out and not a whole lot of food that my body didn't need.

Also, I've updated the blog even more since my last post. Again, I used Shabby Blogs to make the changes, and I think it turned out well. I'm still planning on making a few more changes (want to change the header and my signature), but I'm at the limit of my blogging skills right now, so I either need to meet a blogging genius or I need to learn some more before I'm able to finish.

That's all the updating I'll do for now. Be expecting more frequent posts in 2010.

House, Shred & Blog Update

I have a few updates to post about, and in the spirit of conservation, figured I'd combine them into one blog post.

First, the house. We are officially in the option period for the house I mentioned in my last post. This week, Wyatt has been working like crazy to schedule inspections, estimates and meetings with potential builders. It looks like almost all of those meetings will happen this week, so we should know a lot more by the end of this week. Our closing date is set for Friday, October 9th, which sounds like a long way off, but we have a LOT to do before then.

We'll be doing a lot to the house once it's ours, so we're trying to get as many of the plans ready to go now so we can move quickly come October. Right now, the tentative plan is to add on a master bedroom, bath, and closet, a mudroom along with a little expansion onto the kitchen, and a front porch hopefully also with an expansion on the living room. The house is currently 3 bedrooms and 1 bath and is about 1200 square feet, so the additions should give us some great added space.

Here are a couple pictures of the house as it looks right now. Disclaimer: it currently looks pretty gloomy from the front. We are planning on repainting the house (with a different color scheme), trimming the huge magnolia tree, removing all the landscaping that currently blocks the window on the far right side, and adding a front porch. So, it will be a work in progress, but we see great potential and are excited to get to watch it evolve. Without further ado...the pictures.

Second, the shredding. I am now on day 12 of the 30 Day Shred and am holding steady (well, at least somewhat steady) at Level 2. I honestly didn't think I would get to a point where I could do Level 2 without feeling like I was about to faint, but it has gotten a little (emphasis on little) easier over the past week I've been doing it. I'm able to hold the plank pose on most of the moves for the whole time now. Yes, I still hate the plank pose, but at least I feel like I'm able to meet its match a little more now than I was at the start of Level 2. I'm down 3.6 pounds as of today, which I'm pretty happy about.

Third, I've been updating the blog over the past couple of weeks. Mainly I've been using the resources on Shabby Blogs and Shabby Blog's Blog (confusing, no?) to do the updating, which is great, because everything on there is free and super cute. I added a cute font from the Kevin & Amanda site, which wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. I also made the blog 3 columns rather than 2, added some buttons, reorganized my links, added my signature, and added a custom border. I still have a few kinks to work out and items to add, but overall, I think it's coming along pretty well. I give myself bonus points for even attempting this since I am far from a computer expert. If I can do it, anyone can!