18 Weeks: "Ain't She Sweet" or "Mother Nature's Son"?

 So when is this belly going to show up and stop making me look like I'm just big in the middle?

What's new this week?
Whattoexpect.com
This week, your baby is hitting the height chart at five and a half inches long (remember, that's crown to rump) and weighs about five ounces (the weight of that boneless chicken breast you're making for dinner). And now for the skill of the week (drum roll please...): The art of the yawn has been mastered by your baby (someone's sleepy!).  In fact, you might catch a glimpse of that adorable yawn if you're getting  an ultrasound this month. You'll also glimpse of all the fetal movement your baby's doing - twists, rolls, kicks, and punches.  And would you believe your baby is finally big enough for you to start feeling those movements now (or anytime in the next few weeks).  So get ready! Something you won't see on the ultrasound, but you'll know is in working order, is your baby's nervous system, which is maturing rapidly at this time.  Nerves, now covered with a substance called myelin are forming more complex connections. And those in the brain are further specializing into the ones that serve the sense of touch, taste, smell, sight, and hearing.  Talking about hearing, your baby's is growing more acute making your little one more conscious of sounds that come from inside your body (which means you could both be listening to each other hiccup - a skill that your baby has by now).

Next week is our ultra sound.  We will get to see our little one and possibly find out the sex.  What an exciting time!
Before we find out the sex, I thought we could do a few tests on the old wives tales that are famous for predicting gender. Now most of the websites that I got these from said that these are complete bunkum but I think they're fun. So on with the show...

High or Low?
The way you are carrying during your pregnancy is one of the most oft cited ways of determining the sex of your baby. The general story goes that, if you're carrying low, you're having a boy. If you are carrying high, then you must be having a girl.

It is wayyyy to early to tell, as you can see in the picture.  So the answer is UNSURE. 


With Every Beat of My Heart
If you're having a girl, then the fetal heart rate will be above 140. A boy will have a heart rate below 140.

At our last appointment, the heartbeat was 160 so that means GIRL.

Sweet or Sour?
Many people believe that your cravings are caused by the sex of your baby. So, if you can't get enough chocolate, you could be having a girl. Does the idea of drinking straight lemon juice sound delicious to you? Then those sour cravings are a result of the little boy inside of you.

I always crave sweets. But I also like sour stuff. I eats way more sweets though (I ate like 17 brownies yesterday) so we'll mark that down as GIRL.


The Spice of Life
 It is said that craving spicy foods means you're having a boy.  The opposite is true for a girl.

I'm definitely craving spicy foods so that means BOY.  

Weight Gain
The belief is that, if your husband puts on weight during your pregnancy, then you will be having a girl. If he doesn't put on a pound, then you're carrying a boy.

I think Andrew has actually lost weight training for his triathlon so I think that means BOY.

Breakouts
Some believe that getting acne during your pregnancy indicates you're carrying a girl. Maybe the acne is caused by twice the amount of female hormones?

I haven't had too many breakouts. So mark another one down for a BOY.

So Sick
It is said that if you are sick early in your pregnancy with morning sickness, you will have a girl.

I definitely had some nausea early on in pregnacy so that means GIRL. 

Chesty Chestersons
If you have dramatic chest development, then you will have a girl.

My development in that area has been somewhat dramatic according to quite a few people so that would mean GIRL. 

Chinese Calendar
This link shows a cute calendar from TheBump.com .
My age at conception was 28 and the month was March.

Prediction: BOY

So what's it gonna be??????

Click here to take survey

There will be a very small prize available for the person who gets all the answers correct.  GOOD LUCK!

Happy Independence Day!

Every year we go to Syracuse for the 4th of July. Boating, cookouts, fireworks on the lake, The FROG... who could ask for anything more?

Andrew and I posing on the lake before sunset.

Aww, Erin and Doug also posing by the lake. Makes for a great background huh?

The fireworks on Lake Wawasee were awesome as usual.

The line of lights you can see on the bottom of both pictures is all the boats out on the lake watching the fireworks.

The grand finale is always crazy. Can you see the moronic swimmer in this picture? What is he thinking?

It's really hard to take pictures of fireworks at night with a slow shutter speed while trying to hold the camera still. But this picture reminds me of the "GREAT AND POWERFUL WIZARD OF OZ" for some reason.

So the Thornburgs weekend was obviously very fun. But I know what you're all dying to hear about....

How was Brian's weekend????

I know, I know. I'm getting to it.

Brian started off his weekend READY TO GET TO SYRACUSE.

Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Seriously, are we there yet??

Then he went out on the boat.

He took a quick swim.



So maybe he doesn't like to swim. But it is obvious that swimming is definitely instinctual to this dog. Poor guy.



Then he cooled off in the sun.

Once he finally cooled down, he barked at other dogs on other boats.

So Brian had a great weekend too. Happy 4th of July everyone!

Visiting Wyatt (and Katie and Travis too)

Travis and Katie brought Wyatt up to visit her parents this weekend.  Since it's a short drive away, we ran down to visit. 

I was glad we did because one of my favorite parts of July 4th is watching family and friends light off fireworks.  It never goes according to plan and the fireworks are usually disappointing but it's such a tradition.  It's so funny to me to watch men play with fire.  It's like they revert straight back to caveman days.  "FIRE, grunt grunt." "EEEEEIIII!! FIRE RUN!" That's usually how it goes.

I forgot my camera so my pictures didn't turn out so well using just my phone but you'll get the idea.

Notice the cavemen's matching T-shirts? Yep, we showed up and they had the same shirt on.  A little spooky.

Annnndddd they sat there for awhile.  "UH FIREWORKS HARD! OOH OOH!"

"ARRGGH! FIRE RUN!!!!"  Looks like a small campfire.  I promise it was one of the fireworks though.

We lit sparklers which were fun and pretty.

Then it got dark so the fireworks were nearly impossible to capture in a picture.  This one looks like the flash of the beginning of an atomic bomb.  Yikes.

Wyatt enjoyed the fireworks.  I think it energized him because he stayed up to play. 
Check out the following cuteness overload...

 Playing with diapers...

Playing with diapers and laughing at the adults for buying toys when a package of diapers would work just fine.

 One last smile before bedtime.  Aww! Look at those monkey PJ's!! So cute!

The Beginning of the July Birthdays

I missed some birthdays because of the holiday weekend so it's time for a tiny bit of catch-up (and a little bit of Paint "magic"). 

On July 3rd, my cousin Christina turned 27 years old. Happy Birthday Christina!!

Also on July 3rd, my Aunt Shiela had a big birthday.  She turned the big 5-0! Happy birthday Shiela!!

Happy Birthday to the first two of SIX July birthdays in my family this month.  Phew.  That'll be a lot of time spent in Paint.  :)

Second Hockey Game

Andrew played in his second hockey game on Sunday night. WHY must they have them on Sunday nights at 9:45 pm??

Anyway, this time I'm posting video. Andrew has improved remarkably.


This is a little more dangerous than I thought. The other guys stick hit him in the neck when he almost ran him over. I think I'm going to make the New Helmet Agenda our top priority.

Here is Andrew picking up his stick. Hey, at least he was aggressive right?
In the following video, you can see Andrew pulling a Chris Kramer in the game against Arizona...




He's still going to play even if he has to play laying down! :) Next week, Andrew is going to get the puck into the net by doing Kramer's Superman move!

Andrew is ready for action.

Watch out, Maroon and Yellow team! I don't think you know who you're dealing with!

The stands were again filled to the brim.  The girls in the top row were singing, "In the Arms of the Angel", that Sarah McLachlan song, LOUD.  Why? I don't know.  Couldn't they do that in the parking lot? I'm watching hockey ova' here!

The couple in front brought their own Budweiser Tallboys.  Now they know how to watch hockey!

They, again, shut the scoreboard off almost as soon as the final buzzer rang.  But the final score was 6-2. Andrew's team lost.  Bummer.

But it was a good game nonetheless!

Good game... good game... good game...

Andrew is getting better week by week.  Watch out Patrick Kane! Someone's coming to replace you! :)

Happy Birthday, Ya Old Farts!

This weekend was the long anticipated SURPRISE 30th birthday party for Andrew and Travis. Surprise parties are by far the most stressful thing on the planet and I don't want to plan one ever again. But this party turned into a great success even with all the major bumps along the way.

First Bump: Morgan Can't Read Numbers

So Katie and I had been planning this party for a couple of months. She sent me an email that said, "I'm thinking about the 25th for the boys' party." I wrote back, "The 26th sounds great." I did not realize until Katie sent out the Evite invitation to 80 people that I had read the wrong date. I told all of Andrew's family and mine that the party was the 26th. Holy moses. Yes I cried when this happened. For HOURS. How can I screw that up? Katie and I talked about switching it to Saturday but they were invited to a wedding that day and had invited the bride and groom. How awkward would that be? Um, we're not coming to your wedding anymore AND you're now invited to the same party and it's on your wedding day. Nope, not so much. So we kept it on the 25th and there were a lot of people who were able to make it because it was on Friday and not Saturday, (due to weddings or leaving for vacations that day) so that was good. Phew.

Second Bump: Trying to Keep it a Secret

There were several times when Andrew almost found out about the party. There was the time when we were talking to our neighbors, the Zmyslos, and they said, "Isn't your birthday party on the 25th?" I was standing behind Andrew furiously shaking my head no. Luckily it went right over Andrew's head.
Next, I had told Andrew several times that we were going out to dinner on Friday the 25th. He forgot and planned to take his clients out that night. I tried everything I could (including inviting his clients) but I couldn't convince him otherwise so I ended up telling him that we had planned a surprise party for him so he had to cancel on his clients. He was sad because he had never had a surprise party before but it was actually a good thing because...
The next day (the day of the party) Andrew got a call from one of his clients who said, "Hey aren't you having a birthday party tonight?" So I guess it's better to hear it from me than someone else, right?

Anyway, Travis was still surprised and both the boys had a wonderful time so the party was a great success!

Now on with the pictures!

The Cake for the 30 Year Old Farts

Me and the Birthday Boy

Kevin and Diane made it the night before they were leaving for vacation. Aww!

The members of Lost Days (Andrew's old band) showed up so they could have a mini-reunion. Let's walk down memory lane on that one, shall we??

Such great memories....
Now back to the party...

My lovely sister-in-law and I

The Thornburg Crew

The McCutcheon Crew: They were sitting in a circle singing songs. We never quite figured out what the songs were about but they were darn catchy!

I believe this is the point where Andrew had said something offensive and Kevin is referring to that statement with his hand. And well, so is Andrew. Nice.

My mom had taken over my camera at this point. She told me, "You'll be glad you have these pictures!" And then my battery died.

Brandon showed up after he got off work.

Can you imagine these two guys NOT having a good time together??

Hey there's me, sucking down some caffeine so I can try to stay awake for the remainder of the night.

The Keipers (thinking to themselves, please Wilma, stop taking pictures!)

Travis and Katie, looking cute

And of course the typical Andrew shot from the night. He definitely had a great time.

For more proof of his great time, check out this highly edited video (due to cusswords and the extraordinary amount of booing) of Andrew making fun of the Irish singer in the other room.




Speaking of the Irish singer in the other room...
My mom, dad, brother, sister-in-law, Andrew and I were all outside Nine Irish saying bye while they closed down inside. We hear an odd sound behind us. WHAT was THAT? We turn around and it's the Irish singer barfing his brains out all over the parking lot. WHAT???? He was just performing for everyone. He was throwing up so bad, he stopped once to clear out his nostrils (using the old farmer's kleenex, if you will). How nasty is that?? We were appalled. Actually no, we ran to our cars hysterically laughing. That is kind of mean. But I promise, after all the barfing, he was perfectly fine.

Okay one more story and then this post is over, I promise.

Since I had to ruin the surprise for Andrew, I wanted to surprise him by giving him his birthday present early.  But since I ruined his surprise two days before his party, this was going to be difficult.  I wanted to get him an iPad.  Now you would think with Apple introducing the iPhone 4 that day, it wouldn't be that hard to find a product that had been on the shelf for a little while.  Turns out, yes, it is still difficult.  I looked everywhere.  There wasn't one in Michiana.  Dang.  So Brandon found one using www.milo.com (which is an amazing website) in Merrillville.  So I call Best Buy in Merrillville and ask if they still have the iPad.  She said Yes.  "SWEET!! Can you hold it?" I ask.  "Yes, for an hour," she replies.
Oh CRAP.  I'm an hour and 20 minutes away.  So I jump in my car and race over there.  I call Best Buy again when I've still got 20 minutes to drive ask if they can hold it longer.  She pleasantly agrees.  I'm like SWEET! This is actually going to happen.

I arrive at the Merrillville Best Buy and walk in the door.  Being preggo me, I decide going to the bathroom is way more important than going to customer service to pick up the iPad.  When I'm in the bathroom, the power goes out in Best Buy.  Are you kidding me???  I walk up to customer service and they promptly tell me that they cannot help me because they have to wait for the computer system to come back up.
NOOOOOOO!!!!!  So I decide I'm going to wait it out.  I drove all the way over here, I'm getting my stinkin' iPad.

This is my view from the floor of the Best Buy.  Yes, I sat on the floor.  Not only did I sit on the floor but...

I squeegeed the Jello out of a cup out of my purse.  I was hungry.  I didn't want to have another episode like I did at the Cubs game.  Katie wasn't available to be my medic at this time.

So there I was eating Jello while sitting on the floor of Best Buy while I watched the Best Buy blue shirts struggle with anything and everything. At one point, the blue shirt borrows a customer's cell phone because BB's phones were not working and she needed to call the help desk for a problem with the computer system.  Man, was I glad I didn't work at Best Buy on this day.  Wow.

But guess what???

Perseverance pays off!  I GOT IT!! (Haha, look at that nerd! Taking a picture of her iPad with her iPhone. GEEK!)

Anyway, I was able to buy the iPad, race home, sync it, put all the fun apps on it (like the birthday app above) and get back out of the house before Andrew got home.  I was pulling out of our neighborhood and I called Andrew. "Where are you?"  He said, "On Quince Road."  He was less than a mile away.  I'm THAT good. 
SUCK IT, INDIANA JONES!!

So, I guess to sum up the whole weekend... I'm exhausted.

And next year I turn 30.  Andrew, you better start planning now.  :)

16 weeks: Wait, you're pregnant?

Yep, pregnant and not too much change in two weeks.  Still very easily hidden.  No maternity pants.  No belly bands.  Just loose fitting shirts and baggy jeans.  Can't complain. 

Now that the word is out at work, I'm getting lots of comments from coworkers.  One person said, "Oh you used to be skinny."  Another said, "Congrats, you're finally pregnant."  And yet, another one said, "So this must be an oops baby?"  Seriously??? Do you think they wanted to put both feet in their mouths after saying this stuff? Nope, they were totally oblivious.  I mean, seriously??

Anyway, on to the weekly babycenter update... 
15 weeks: 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.
16 weeks: 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.

We have an ultrasound appointment in 3 weeks.  So excited for that one! I can't believe I'm getting close to the half way point! Time is flying. 

As for how I'm feeling? This explains it. 

Last night, I'm sorry to admit, I teared up a little during the end of Mighty Ducks 2.  It's a problem. 

Did you know that Kenan Thompson was in that movie??

Well now ya do. 

So Mighty Ducks, Good Burger, Fat Albert and...
something else...
Whatever it was, it was tenacious...
It was audacious...
It was vivacious...
It was flirtatious...
Ooooooooo wwweeeeeeeeeeeee, what up wit dat? What up wit dat?

Don't worry, kept the tears in check for this skit.  :)