Let the countdown begin!

My hubby will finally be home and I couldn't be more thankful! Of course we're anxious to find out the gender, but I'm also just excited to see him and spend time with him. Even though we use Skype I haven't let him see my belly for the past couple weeks. I figure if he's going to be shocked he might as well be really shocked :)

I'm absolutely in love with this belly and I can't wait to share it with him. Our little one is pretty active and the kicks are definitely getting stronger. Just this week I started to see my belly move. It's just amazing to me! I can't wait to see his face the first time he sees & feels our little one!

Some people have been asking me about leaving comments. Anyone should be able to leave one even if you don't have a google account. So please~ if you're reading leave a comment! :)

Under the post I write click on "comment". Type your message in the box and then click on "comment as" and select "name/URL". Enter your name and then hit "continue". Then hit "post comment" and you're done! It may or may not have you verify some random letters. If so, just type what you see and then it will post your comment. It's really pretty easy~ I promise!

We'll keep everyone posted just as soon as we know our little one's gender! I don't know if we'll send out a mass text, update the blog or call but we'll share the news just as soon as we can. Somedays I feel like it's a boy and then other days I think it's a girl so I'll guess we'll just have to wait a little bit longer to officially find out!

Check back soon~ the next update will be very exciting!! :)

Happy Birthday, love!

Being in Japan you get two birthdays this year~ today & tomorrow :) Lucky guy! I hope you had a wonderful day and that they let you out of class early this afternoon! Have fun at your Mess Night tonight and I'll talk to you soon!

We love & miss you very much!!

Ultrasound update!

As you all know, I had my ultrasound this morning. It was amazing! Heather went with me and we were oohing and ahhing and I'm sure I had the biggest grin on my face the whole time. The tech had her own monitor and then there was a 2nd monitor hanging from the ceiling that Heather and I were able to watch.

She said the baby looked perfectly healthy and from what she could see we don't have anything to worry about. The baby is right on track for my due date and she guessed the weight to be about 14 ounces. The heart rate was 156 which is right in the middle of the typical 150-160 range it has always been in. The head was resting on my bladder and the feet were at my belly button. I knew the baby was growing, but I guess I was shocked s/he was stretched out so far!

I was amazed at what we were able to see. Some things I could see clearly and others we had to ask her to point out again. The tech was really sweet and told us everything she was looking for and what she was measuring each time she took a measurement.

Our little one loved having his/her hands tucked right beside his/her face. The right hand was in a fist directly in front of the face almost the entire time. The tech had to work pretty hard to get the baby to move it's hand. We could see all the tiny knuckles, but she just wanted to make sure the baby could open and close it's fingers. She'd push a little harder on my tummy and the baby would just push right back at her~ just like a little boxer :) It was really cute! We only got a glimpse of the face from the front a few times, but she was able to get a pretty good view of the profile.

She wasn't sure she was going to be able to tell the gender for a good portion of the ultrasound. Our little one had it's legs held tightly together. She turned off our monitor whenever she was measuring the thigh or lower abdomen area just so we couldn't peek. She tried several times to see the gender and finally our little one cooperated!

Don't worry, I promise I won't peek in the envelope! I printed out a little "It's a boy!" and a little "It's a girl!" when I got home on Sunday night to take to the appointment. I gave both to our tech at the end of our appointment. The correct one was folded into the middle of several sheets of paper and tightly sealed. As if that wasn't enough, our tech layered on some tape for good measure :)

I'm still at work right now, but I'll add some pictures tonight when I get home. The quality isn't as clear as what we saw on the screen so I'll do the best I can. Trust me though, our little one is super cute already! :)

The tech wrote a little note for daddy! :)



The baby's profile. The dark spot in the chest is the baby's heart.



A cute little leg!



We might have a thumb sucker on our hands :)



The baby's eyes aren't supposed to be open yet so I'm not sure what to think of this one, lol. You can see the baby's right hand beside it's cheek and the left hand is blocking 1/2 of the face.



We have a few more pictures, but the are sealed tight in the envelope. We'll definitely be sharing those just as soon as we can!

We're 1/2 done!

As of today I'm officially 20 weeks pregnant! I have no idea where the time has gone, but I can only imagine the next 20 will go by even more quickly. I started feeling the baby move this week and I absolutely love it! Our little one is about 10.5 ounces, 10 inches long and the size of a banana. Every week they compare the baby's size to a piece of fruit and I love that it was a banana this week. I refer to the baby as a lil' monkey all the time so I couldn't help but laugh this morning when I read that!

I'm packing my bags and headed for Iowa tomorrow! I couldn't be more excited! I can't wait to see our families and to be able to spend time together. Laurie, Ben & Sandy will be in town and so will the girls so I'm pretty pumped to be able to see everyone all in one trip!!

Here's my list of to do's so far:
*Charlee's 1st birthday party
*family dinner with everyone from Kansas (which includes S'mores at the cabin)
*lunch with the girls
*lunch at the studio
*meet our sweet little nephew for the very first time!
*compare bellies with Johna :)
*church
*Dixon family reunion
*eat at Carlos O'Kellys (This is just a given.)
*eat at Happy Joe's (This I just can't stop thinking about and I have no clue why. I haven't eaten there in years, lol!)

I feel like I haven't been home in forever, but I think that's just because Randy is gone again. I really wish he was going home too, but unfornately he can't. It's hard to imagine the next time we fly home that we'll have a little one with us! I cringe just imagining us making our way through the airport with all our stuff. I will definitely be paying even more attention to other parents this flight. I pray we'll be the relaxed type who doesn't bring 1/2 their house with them, but we'll see. I'm sure it will take a flight or two before we're able to figure all that out :)

I will see everyone very, very soon~ I can't wait!