Ralph can hear our voices now!

Your pregnancy: 19 weeks

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How your baby's growing:

Your baby's sensory development is exploding! Her brain is designating specialized areas for smell, taste, hearing, vision, and touch. Some research suggests that she may be able to hear your voice now, so don't be shy about reading aloud, talking to her, or singing a happy tune if the mood strikes you.

Your baby weighs about 8 1/2 ounces and measures 6 inches, head to bottom — about the size of a large heirloom tomato. Her arms and legs are in the right proportions to each other and the rest of her body now. Her kidneys continue to make urine and the hair on her scalp is sprouting. A waxy protective coating called the vernix caseosa is forming on her skin to prevent it from pickling in the amniotic fluid.

Memory is the diary that we all carry about with us.

I will start this post out with my 18 week belly shot. :)

In other news, not a whole heck of a lot has been going on since my last substantial post. We had a really good weekend and thankfully the weather cooled down a bit. However, it is supposed to be almost 100 degrees this weekend and I am a bridesmaid in an outdoor wedding. Yikes! Oh well, bearing the heat will be totally worth it because Jess and Matt are finally getting married! Yahoo! :)

Speaking of weddings, we went to Brittney and Ben's wedding on Saturday. They got married at Ben's dad's farm outside of Dallas, OR. It was a gorgeous setting and a beautiful evening! I am so happy for them! Congrats Mr. and Mrs. Bailey!
Devita got a pretty good shot of Brandon and I as the sun was setting that evening. She's a pro. :)
Today I spent late morning/early afternoon prepping the baby's room for paint. I cleaned it out last week and after breaking the bookcase (my ideas are not always great.... moving a full 23+ year old bookcase = fail), Brandon boxed up all the books and put them in the closet for me. I taped around the window/door/closet/baseboards, and Brandon is going to finish up by taping the ceiling for me tomorrow or Wednesday. We're hoping to start painting Wednesday evening. :-D
And lastly ... I will end with this crazy picture of our crazy dog. :) He is such a joy. lol

Nursery inspiration

Because I am having some seriously nesting instincts ... and because I have nothing to nest with ... I thought I would update my blog with some of the ideas I have for the baby's nursery.

Before doing that, here is a quick update on baby ...

We have our big ultrasound tomorrow afternoon at 3:30pm and I am on the edge of my seat in anticipation for the big reveal. We'll (hopefully) know whether we're having a Ralph or a Ralphette tomorrow! Yahoo!

We have decided on colors to use for a boy and colors to use for a girl. If it's Ralph, we'll be using green, yellow, and two shades of blue. It's it's Ralphette, we'll use green, yellow, and two shades of purple.

We are going to paint three of the walls a solid color (either the lighter blue or the lighter purple) and then paint the focus wall with stripes. I think we are going to do something like this (image found on google images):

I would really like to find some polka dot fitted crib sheets to use as well as the solid green one that we have, and any other solid colors we find.

For the wall, there are a few different things I want to do. I want to make either a monogram or the baby's name with wood letters. There are a couple different ideas I have for this ...

(from this blog: http://oneaday.blazeman.com/2009/06/10/moving-ahead-on-the-new-nursery)
Except we want to change it a little and probably just create this type of thing on the wall instead of in a frame ... we are also thinking of other shapes we can do for the cutouts. Again, depends on boy or girl, though we like stars for either.

Also I like this art (from etsy http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=26143432):
I have seen on a few different blogs (this one was the first I've seen it in ... (this is the first one I saw: http://herecomes2under2.blogspot.com/2009/07/dd2-diy-canvas-bird-art.html) using scrapbook paper instead of paint outlines. Shapes are still up for thought, though I really do love the birds. :)

As far as the closet goes ... I am going to make organizers to put in between the baby's clothes to sort them by size (newborn, 3 mo, 6 mo, etc). I thought I had pictures of what I'm thinking ... but I guess not. It will just have to be a surprise! :)

Anyway, I think that is all for now. Cross your fingers for a cooperative (and healthy) baby at tomorrow's appointment! :)

18 weeks

Your pregnancy: 18 weeks

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How your baby's growing:

Head to rump, your baby is about 5 1/2 inches long (about the length of a bell pepper) and he weighs almost 7 ounces. He's busy flexing his arms and legs — movements that you'll start noticing more and more in the weeks ahead. His blood vessels are visible through his thin skin, and his ears are now in their final position, although they're still standing out from his head a bit. A protective covering of myelin is beginning to form around his nerves, a process that will continue for a year after he's born. If you're having a girl, her uterus and fallopian tubes are formed and in place. If you're having a boy, his genitals are noticeable now, but he may hide them from you during an ultrasound.

Can't believe I've already been pregnant for 18 weeks

We had another doctor's appt yesterday and it went very well! My fundal height (size of my uterus) is right on track, which I was told doesn't usually happen until after the 20th week. So that's good that we're finally on track somewhere. lol Baby's heartbeat is 156bpm; it is still so exciting to hear that little heartbeat! My OB had a medical student from OHSU with her, so we actually got to hear the h/b twice. The student listened once and then my doctor also listened when she came in. I'll take it! :) I love hearing Ralph's heart beating inside my belly. It's proof of the strange concept that there really is a human growing in my belly! It's hard to believe sometimes, but between the little pokes I feel every now and then and the heartbeat, it's undeniable! Oh, and the ever growing belly certainly helps reassure me too. :)

Anyway, I had to have my alpha-fetal protein levels checked to see if we are at risk for having a baby with spina bifida. Also, my doctor wanted to check my thyroid again. Apparently it was a little low in the first round of bloodwork and she just wants to make sure it's functioning properly. If not, I get to join practically my entire family (mom's side) in taking thyroid medication. lol Turns out most of her brothers and sisters have thyroid problems ... who knew?

Also, we scheduled our "BIG" ultrasound for Tuesday at 3:30pm! We are VERY excited and practically dying with anticipation about whether our little one is a little lady or a little man! Up until last night I was pretty positive that we are having a boy ... all my thoughts/feelings have been boy. Other than wishing I could paint the walls purple, I haven't really given any serious thought to a girl. However, last night I had a pretty vivid dream (yay pregnancy? lol) about finding out the sex of the baby. We (for some reason) didn't have the tech tell us at our appt, but she put a picture of the u/s in an envelope and we opened in when we got home. (We were standing in the kitchen ... see? Told you it was vivid.. lol) When we opened it up, the picture revealed a little girl! Sooo... who knows? Apparently my mother's intuition sucks. lol Now it will be a surprise either way! I am dying to know though! Can't wait to call our little baby a "he" or a "she" instead of "it" or "the baby". So look for an announcement on Tuesday night to find out if Ralph is in fact a Ralph or a Ralph-ette!

The last piece of news is that I got the job! My first day is Thursday and I'll be working as a Success Coach at InsideTrack. Basically I'll be working with college students via phone to help them succeed in their first year of school. It should be a pretty good job and although it's not teaching, it's something I think I'll enjoy. It will be weird commuting to/from work with Brandon though! I doubt we'll see each other much during the day because he is always really busy and I have a feeling I'm going to be swamped, especially when trying to acclimate to the job! However, if they don't move his office like they've been talking about doing, we'll be pretty close to each other proximity wise. I was hired to work with Westwood College and their cubes are right outside Brandon's office. Go figure! lol Anyway, it should be fun and I am looking forward to the professional growth. It stinks that I was unable to find a teaching job, but like I said ... I really think this is something I can be good at ... and any skills I learn here will be invaluable when I finally return to teaching. This wasn't in the plan -- but as I've learned, life rarely goes according to plan! Wish me luck on my first day!

I like this.

Not everyone is healthy enough to have a front row seat in our lives. There are some people in your life that need to be loved from a distance. It's amazing what you can accomplish when you let go of or at least minimize your time with draining, negative, incompatible, not-going-anywhere relationships. Observe the relationships around you. Pay attention. Which ones lift and which ones lean? Which ones encourage and which ones discourage? Which ones are on a path of growth uphill and which ones are going downhill? When you leave certain people do you feel better or feel worse? Which ones always have drama or don't really understand, know, or appreciate you? The more you seek quality, respect, growth, peace of mind, love and truth around you...the easier it will become for you to decide who gets to sit in the front row and who should be moved to the balcony of your life.

Most of all, she loved the people and couldn't imagine living anywhere else.

Since we actually have a day without plans, I thought I would write about the last week and a half or so since my last substantial post.

We drove home for the fourth of July, which was fantastic. It was good to go back home and relax in an air conditioned house. I didn't realize how much I've taken it for granted until moving up here and not having it! We spent a lot of time with my family, watched fireworks, and ate good food. It was a good trip.


We drove back to Portland on Sunday and brought Sarah with us for the week. We kept each other company since we both have terribly productive lives. lol I also had two more interviews. I think they both went really well and I should be finding out this week if I got the job. Cross your fingers! My start date would be July 23, which would pick up perfectly pay-check wise. My last school district pay check is on July 31 and my first paycheck with my new job would be Aug. 7. It would definitely be nice to not have a lapse in pay!

On Friday, Sarah and I went to the beach. It was a gorgeous day. 72-ish with a slight breeze. We went to Tillamook first to go to the cheese factory. Sarah had never been there and let's face it, the cheese factory is pretty much my favorite place on earth. lol
We enjoyed our ice cream and free cheese samples and then went looking for the ocean, which is actually quite the task in Tillamook. We ended up heading out toward Cape Lookout State Park, which is beautiful to drive to ... but it's a pay for day use area, and we didn't want to pay to go to the beach.

We ended up driving down to Pacific City. I've never been there, but it was a really nice little beach town. The beach we went to wasn't very crowded and it seems like every other person we saw had their dog with them. Denali had a GREAT time playing in the water and Sarah and I loved being by the ocean. If it weren't for the stormy winters, I would love to live at the beach.
We drove Sarah to Cottage Grove yesterday to meet up with my parents so they could take her home. It was nice of them to meet us halfway so that we didn't have to drive 8 hours to take her home.

After running a bunch of errands yesterday afternoon, I went to Jessica's bachelorette party last night. It was fun. We started the evening at Vanessa's house and then went downtown for a few hours. Yay for her becoming Mrs. Chambers in less than 2 weeks! Can't wait for the wedding. :)

And that, my friends, sums up the last week and a half. Today is kind of a lazy day. We don't have plans, which is unusual for us ... and we haven't quite decided if we're going to spend the day watching TV or if we are actually going to get up and do something. Either way, I'm glad to have a relaxing day with my hubby!

17 week update. :)

Taken at like ... 12:30am after being at Jessica's bachelorette party. I was pretty tired. lol

Your pregnancy: 17 weeks

See the big picture

How your baby's growing:

Your baby's skeleton is changing from soft cartilage to bone, and the umbilical cord — her lifeline to the placenta — is growing stronger and thicker. Your baby weighs 5 ounces now (about as much as a turnip), and she's around 5 inches long from head to bottom. She can move her joints, and her sweat glands are starting to develop.

16 week update ... pretend I posted this last week. :)

Your pregnancy: 16 weeks

See the big picture

How your baby's growing:

Get ready for a growth spurt. In the next few weeks, your baby will double his weight and add inches to his length. Right now, he's about the size of an avocado: 4 1/2 inches long (head to rump) and 3 1/2 ounces. His legs are much more developed, his head is more erect than it has been, and his eyes have moved closer to the front of his head. His ears are close to their final position, too. The patterning of his scalp has begun, though his locks aren't recognizable yet. He's even started growing toenails. And there's a lot happening inside as well. For example, his heart is now pumping about 25 quarts of blood each day, and this amount will continue to increase as your baby continues to develop.

I need to post this before I forget!

On Sunday night, the coolest thing ever happened -- I felt the baby move! Brandon, Sarah, and I were sitting on the couch watching a movie and eating macaroni and cheese ... and sure enough, I felt a very slight, but unmistakable, tapping on the inside of my belly. It was 1-2" below my belly button off the right side ... and it was the coolest feeling in the world! The first time it happened, I didn't know quite what it was ... so I didn't say anything. But when it happened again about 30 seconds later, I knew exactly what it was! I just looked at Brandon and said, "I think I just felt the baby move!" Sure enough, it happened again ... and then again! I'm pretty sure I teared up -- not that that should be a surprise to anyone who knows me. :)

Anyway, I can't wait for the bigger kicks ... especially the ones that Brandon will be able to see/feel. It will be amazing! It's strange to realize that this little baby is really moving inside me though -- it's a huge reminder that I'm growing a human! :)

Annnddd... I guess while I'm posting, I will post the rest of our baby updates...

We've decided on a crib:

And a dresser/changing table ...
And we found a 5 piece bedding set for $3! It's super cute.
Ours is just like this one ... except the duvet cover isn't reversible. It's the green/white hippo pattern on both sides. The sheet is green and the pillow case has the hippo pattern. The 2 blankets that came with the bedding are the striped pattern, however. They aren't great blankets -- not super soft -- but I think that once they are washed, it will help. Besides, they were only $3 for the whole set! What a steal! :) We've decided that if we are having a boy, our nursery colors will be blues/greens. If we have a girl, we'll use purples/greens/blues.

I'll post about the 4th of July weekend soon ... need to upload pictures first. :)

Camping photos (6.26-6.28)

Our first morning. I had one of those days where I needed to eat every 30 minutes.. lol I started out with a bowl of cereal and then pulled out the fruit salad. Brandon thought it was pretty hilarious to see me with this gigantic bowl in front of me.

The boys doing dishes in the morning!

I'm such a proud fur-mommy! He was totally fearless!

Brandon picked some wildflowers and made me a super cute little boquet of flowers. I loved them! Denali ate the boquet about 3 minutes later. lol Story of my life.

Jess and Matt taking a little nap in the shade.

The boys on our way back downstream. They were matching that day and we thought it was pretty funny how similar they look from behind.

Our little camping crew. :)

Life as of late -- this will be a long one!

Figured it would probably be worth it to make the belly shot/baby update separate posts since this one might be long. It's been a LONG time since I've actually written about what is going on in our lives.

We are moved in and mostly settled. There are still boxes, but they are pretty much contained to the baby's room and they are almost all school boxes. The garage still needs to be put together and cleaned up, but we are trying to figure out what we want to do for shelving in the garage. Everything we need to live and be comfortable is unpacked though. I will take some pictures after the kitchen gets cleaned up. So look for them within the next few days.

Our neighborhood is really nice and really quiet for the most part. Our neighbors are great! We are feeling pretty fortunate to live here.

Other than unpacking, we've been pretty busy! Brandon's parents were here the first weekend we were here. They helped us unpack and get settled, which was really generous of them. Brandon went back to work after that weekend and my first week was spent unpacking, grocery shopping, getting settled, organizing, reorganizing, and going to doctor's appointments.

The following weekend (June 19-21) my family came to visit. It was really fun having them here and hanging out with my sisters (who stayed at our house). It was a pretty low key weekend, although Brandon got to show off his culinary mastery on his new grill. I bought him a "happy June 16" gift. :) We have been living off our camp grill for the last two years and let me tell you, the difference in his grilling is night and day. He does such a good job on the full size grill! We've already gotten a ton of use out of it and hopefully it will be good enough quality to last for at least a couple of years.
The following week I spent most of the week looking for jobs and cars. We decided that we wanted to start seriously looking for a Subaru Outback and sell the Honda. We had pretty high standards/expectations for what we wanted, so we thought it would take quite a while. However, we were able to strike a killer deal last night and with a $19 compromise, we were able to purchase a 2005 green Subaru Outback 2.5i. It has about 46k miles on it, so we've backtracked ~15k miles from our Honda. Like I said, our monthly payments are $19 higher than what we were originally looking for, but we are still saving almost $100 month, which will be awesome. We also have a MUCH safer car (6 airbags, 5 star safety ratings) with much more room! We'll be able to go camping and actually be able to bring everything we need. I am so excited about our purchase! I have to admit though, it was hard to say good-bye to our little blue Honda. It was such a fun car to drive and the color was to die for! That being said, we are happy that we're now a 2 Subaru family. :)
There is a shot from the dealership's website. I haven't been out to take any pictures yet this morning, but I will!

As far as jobs go, I had a phone interview with Brandon's company yesterday. They want to see me for a group interview next week, so cross your fingers! I would be a Success Coach -- working with college students to help them succeed in their first year of school. I'd be working with traditional students and non traditional students, which would be really neat. It's not a teaching position ... but it's a job and it's something that I really think I would enjoy/be good at. Encouraging students/staying in school/doing your best is something I believe in strongly and this would be a great step for me right now!

Last Monday, we went to dinner with Stan and Carlene, who are part of Brandon's extended family. They were in Portland for a night after a trip to Bend (they are originally from Texas), and they were generous enough to treat us to a delicious Thai dinner downtown!

Last weekend we went camping with Jessica and Matt. We were planning on going to this neat spot by the river that Jess and Matt always go to, but.... it didn't quite work out. lol They were supposed to be able to leave town by ~4:00, but Matt got stuck at work until after 7:00 ... so we all ended up leaving together around 8:30/9:00. When we got to the campsite, we were sad to find out that it was totally full with some partiers. Bummer! Anyway, we then proceeded to drive to 4 other campgrounds on Hwy 6, only to find out that they were full (because let's face it ... it was after 10pm on a Friday night... lol). At this point, Brandon and I were getting pretty low on gas, so we thought we would drive to the gas station on Hwy 6, only to find out that it's not open that late. We then proceeded to drive back to Banks, only to find out that the ONE gas station in Banks is also not open. At this point it's almost 11pm and we aren't entirely sure what we're doing. lol

We decided that we would try Stub Stewart State Park, which is on the way to Vernonia ... BUT we still needed to find a gas station first. Forest Grove was only 6 miles away, so we decided to continue our adventure by driving to Forest Grove to find food and an open gas station. Believe me, this was more difficult than it needed to be. Eventually, however, we found a gas station where we filled up and I was finally able to pee (because by this point, it's been about 3 hours.. lol) and then we stopped at Jack in the Box for dinner. I just about had a meltdown in the drive through because I was so hungry. lol Luckily, we made it just in time. :) Jack in the Box has NEVER tasted so good!

We finally made it to the campground around ... oh ... 12:45am. lol We drove around the entire thing and there were TWO campsites left. They both happened to be handicap sites. lol Go figure, right? Luckily Jessica and Matt read the signs and they clearly say that if you arrive after 7pm and there is nothing else open, you can camp in the handicap sites, so that is what we did. By the time we got our tents up and what have you, it was well after 1am and we were exhausted!

The rest of the weekend went really well though. I didn't put sunscreen on and got MAJORLY sunburned (see belly pic below) and my face is currently peeling off. We spent Saturday afternoon at Jones Creek enjoying the river and the shade and teaching Denali how to swim. It was a great weekend! (I will put pictures in a new post..)

Sunday night (6/28) we had a BBQ/housewarming party. We had 10 or 11 people here total and it was GREAT to see everyone! I didn't take a single picture (can you believe it?), but had an absolutely amazing time. :)

That being said, I think that about sums up the last two weeks. This post is getting really long anyway, so if I think of something else I will just put it in a new post. :)

Adios amigos!

15 week bump shot

15w2d

Don't mind the sunburn. Anyway, I feel that there is a legitimate (but small!) bump. Especially after comparing this picture to my previous pictures. Baby is growing and I am very excited!

Baby news this week

Your pregnancy: 15 weeks

See the big picture

How your baby's growing:

Your growing baby now measures about 4 inches long, crown to rump, and weighs in at about 2 1/2 ounces (about the size of an apple). She's busy moving amniotic fluid through her nose and upper respiratory tract, which helps the primitive air sacs in her lungs begin to develop. Her legs are growing longer than her arms now, and she can move all of her joints and limbs. Although her eyelids are still fused shut, she can sense light. If you shine a flashlight at your tummy, for instance, she's likely to move away from the beam. There's not much for your baby to taste at this point, but she is forming taste buds. Finally, if you have an ultrasound this week, you may be able to find out whether your baby's a boy or a girl! (Don't be too disappointed if it remains a mystery, though. Nailing down your baby's sex depends on the clarity of the picture and on your baby's position. He or she may be modestly curled up or turned in such a way as to "hide the goods.")