It's a...

BOY!!!! It was amazing and we are both so thrilled. We are not ready to share the name just yet; we are still working on it. But hopefully very soon. They took lots of pictures and even some video today so I am going to post these as web albums rather than individual pictures. Look for the links below. One album is all still pictures, one is videos, and one is 3-D images. I personally think the 3-Ds are a little scary but lots of people have told me that. The ones you see online are usually much later in the pregnancy when the baby is fatter and not so skeletony. The videos are incredible. There is one that you can even see him opening his mouth and swallowing. There is no debating that he is all boy!!!!

18 week 2 day ultrasound pictures

3-D pics from 18 week ultrasound

18 week ultrasound videos

Baby Bedding Favorites

Baby Furniture

17 weeks

It has been a really great week. I ordered the first item for our nursery, a glider and ottoman. I am so excited about it! I have been eyeing these ever since I even started thinking about getting pregnant so it was exciting to finally be able to make that purchase. They went on sale and I just couldn't resist. I ordered it in a sage gingham print so it will work for either sex. If you click on the link and choose the "fabric ottoman" from the drop down window where it says "pick a product" it will show you a picture of it in the fabric I chose. It should arrive right before we leave for NC.
I have also been looking at lots of baby furniture and baby bedding and have pretty much narrowed it down to a boy and girl favorite. My boy favorite is called Treasure Island and I love the theme for obvious reasons. My girl favorite is called Beach Cottage and is along those same lines of an island theme. I think we will go ahead and order the furniture this weekend. There is one store in the greater Houston area that has it on display so I am hoping we can go look at it tomorrow just to make sure it looks as good in reality as it does online. I will post a picture of it. When we got home from work this evening we attempted to move this old couch in our study out to the curb but Dow just couldn't do it on his own. It is a sleeper sofa and it is really heavy. We are having all Dow's family over next Saturday to announce the sex of the baby and are hoping they will lend a hand. :) I am very anxious to get the future nursery cleared out so I can start nesting but it will take quite a bit of rearranging.
Let's see, what else is new... well I feel like I am really showing now. It's funny because rather than being mushy and flabby my stomach is now pretty hard. I think it is combination of the baby growing and my organs shifting upward. Things are getting a little tight in there. I can't even imagine what it will feel like at 9 months! I have been feeling some pain/ discomfort in my stomach that I think is just normal stretching. There is something called round ligament pain that I have been having when I sneeze or I get up too fast. It just feels like a shooting pain for a few seconds and then it goes away. I have not felt the baby move yet but it definitely feels like there is something in there. It feels a lot like I have just constantly eaten a huge meal. I also ordered a maternity bathing suit for summer this week and it is so cute. It makes me very excited for our trip to St. John in July.
I am counting down the minutes until our ultrasound next Friday! The way I look at it there are really only 4 days because the weekend doesn't count and will go by quickly. We are so excited! We finally came up with a boy name that we both really like; we have had the girl's name from the beginning. So when I do my post for next week hopefully I will be sharing!

16 weeks

I don't have much to report this week. I have been feeling very well in general; I just get tired pretty easily. Last night I fell asleep at 7pm. :) This past weekend we went to a little fair/ festival in La Porte (where Dow works) and that was fun. I had been craving a snow cone for sometime and was finally able to satisfy that urge. It was fun to look around and see all the people with their little ones and think about how this time next year we will have one of our own! I am so ready to find out what we are having! Only 2 more weeks now. After Maggie sent out her cute pictures of baby Jack, I spent the majoity of the day looking at smocked outfits online. It will be fun when I can actually order one! We have a guy coming out this weekend to give us an estimate about putting a covered patio on the back of our house. We think it will really make the backyard a more inviting place and it will give the dogs a covered place to be when they are outside. I have a feeling once the baby comes they will be spending a lot more time in the backyard than they are used to. We also have a date night planned to go out to dinner and see "Baby Mama." I'm excited!

15 weeks

I passed my test!!!!! It is such a relief to have that over and done with and now I can kick back and enjoy the fact that all my favorite TV shows are coming back on! Seriously, I will not be signing up to get any more licenses while I am pregnant.
We had our dr. appointment on Tuesday and everything went well. It was a pretty uneventful visit but we did get to hear the baby's heartbeat - 152 bpm. She measured my belly and said that everything was progressing perfectly. Everything came back normal on all my blood work and on the other tests. I did find out that I have type O- blood (I have always wondered what my blood type was) which is the universal donor. I can give blood to anyone but can only receive blood from another O- person. Apparently most people are + so I am in the minority here and normally it has no affect on your health except during pregnancy. I will not take the time to bore everyone who does not wish to read about the rh factor but here is a link if you want to learn more:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhesus_blood_group_system
Basically since I am negative Dow had to get blood drawn to find out what he is. If he is negative, then the baby will be negative and nothing needs to be done. If he is positive (which he probably is) then I have to get several shots to prevent the baby's blood from mixing with my blood. It was nice that I was not the one getting poked this visit! :)
We were able to set up the BIG gender ultrasound for May 16th. I was pretty bummed because I had hoped to have it on May the 9th and this is a whole week later! It seems trivial in the grand scheme of things but I have been waiting long enough! The doctor was out of the office several days and they had a hard time scheduling the ultrasound and a doctor's appointment right after. I can't wait to find out but I guess I have no choice but to wait another week. The poll sure is looking like it's a boy. I still think it is a boy but my mom said she thought my sister and I were both boys, so I guess the mother's intuition is not always right!
Other than that there is not much to report. I have been feeling really good except for a few minor headaches. I have really vivid dreams at night. Random, I know, but it has been something I have really noticed lately. I am really excited about just being able to enjoy my pregnancy now. I feel like I am showing a lot more. It sort of seemed to happen overnight and this morning while I was getting ready for work I was like, "where did this come from?" I'll let you be the judge and will post a picture once Dow gets home and can take it. :)

14 weeks

I just realized that I never really posted anything for 13 weeks - oops! I think I posted the pictures and then I forgot to write something a few days later. Oh well, time seems to be going by much faster now that the nausea is gone. Or it could just be that I have been very preoccupied by studying for my test on Monday. It's down to the wire now and I am starting to stress. I am taking a class today and tomorrow, will study all weekend, and then take the test on Monday. AHHH, the pressure! I cannot think of a worse time to have to be dealing with this. I sure hope I pass but at this point I am just ready for it to be over!!!
I am very excited about hitting the 14 week milestone because that means I am now officially in the 2nd trimester! It just feels good to be a point where I can tell everyone (or tell a few people and let them spread the word for me). Let's see, what else is new? I found out that my ice cream headaches were actually migraines so that has been really fun. I have had 2 pretty bad ones where basically all I can do is lay in bed with all the lights off and not listen to the TV or have anyone talk to me. The most recent one pretty much lasted the whole weekend. I did some research and found that is fairly common for women to get their first one during pregnancy. Tylenol is about the only pain killer I can take and that really does nothing for the migraines. I just hope that this does not continue after I have the baby. I talked to my Mom and she said she remembered getting one or two while she was pregnant but never again after. Hopefully that will be true for me as well. So far my pregnancy has been very similar to her pregnancy with me.
I am definitely in maternity clothes full time now - not the shirts but the bottoms. I got lots of cute, essential items from Gap Maternity and am feeling much more comfortable. I think most of the things I got should get me through my entire pregnancy. Eventually I will need the shirts as well but for now I am just wearing a select few tops that are loose and long. I guess I can't think of much else to report. We go back to the doctor on Tuesday for my monthly check up and I guess we will find out the results of the NT scan. I am hoping I will be able to schedule the BIG ultrasound at that point as well!!!!