We're Having A...

My goodness the poll results have been neck and neck! Well, I assume you all have been waiting patiently to tell you whether or not our little Tadpole is a boy or girl.

First, look at our lovely little baby! This picture doesn’t show off any “important” parts, and the picture that clearly states Tadpole’s gender shall remain offline, but look how cute our little Tadpole is!!! ^_^ I am so in love already. <3

But I am sure you all really really want to know. Well here’s your hint, to continue off of Andrew’s status on Facebook:

… QRS, TUV, WXX, Z

WE’RE HAVING A GIRL!!!! ^_^ We are so excited for our precious little girl to come enter the world next year. She was so cooperative during the ultrasound. She made it very easy for the tech, Heidi, to get all her measurements and take a few pictures for us to take home. And she made it very clear she was a she! All her measurements fell in the average range, and her little heart rate was 148bpm. She looks strong a healthy. ^_^

And to add a cherry on top of this exciting news, Andrew was able to feel her kick yesterday! Little “Tadpollet” was being squirmy, so I had Andrew put his hand on my belly and push down a little bit. We sat in silence for a while waiting for her to move again, and she did! And she moved enough that he could feel it. We have one strong little kicker. Most dads aren’t able to feel the baby kick until later on because the movement is so sporadic and not very strong yet (babies are only about 6 inches long at 19 weeks). I have been praying that Andrew would be able to feel her kick soon though, and ta-da! God answered my prayers and blessed us with a miraculous moment. ^_^

Oh! And Andrew came home to this on this desk yesterday:

I went Christmas shopping yesterday and the Disney Store was having a buy one plushy, get a 2^nd one of equal or lesser value for free sale. So I bought our little girl her first stuffed animals; Classic Mini Mouse, and Chip. Then when I was at Macy’s, my eye caught sight of this little frog outfit, and I figure our little Tadpole needs one frog outfit, so I bought her first outfit. Isn’t the hat adorable?

As Promised

As promised, here is Novembers belly picture for those of you who wanted to see it before casting your vote on if you think we’re having a boy or girl. Poll is located on the right and will be close on Saturday morning at 10:00am. Right now votes for us having a girl is ahead by one. Andrew and I will find out tomorrow what lil Tadpole really is, if he/she isn’t shy. ^_~

As you can see, Hoshi wants to be involved as well.

A little more of a close up for this month to help some of you vote.

Aww, my little Hoshi and me ^_^

If you want to compare to previous monthly belly pictures, you can look back at the Monthly Pictures: August - October blog.

Thanksgiving Weekend

Tadpole had his/her first taste of Thanksgiving… via me of course. ^_~ Andrew and I had a wonderful first Thanksgiving as a married couple. We had the pleasure of going to the Thompson's, along with a few other friends of ours. We had a most delicious Thanksgiving dinner, with all the classic favorites, that everyone had a hand in creating. Andrew and I made mashed potatoes and sugar cookies to share. We also went to the Thompson's early to help. We helped out a lot by keeping their baby and toddler occupied while Shilo did most the cooking, but I was able to get some helping in. Though I do admit, I love playing with their kids. At one point Andrew and I were reading stories to Micah (their toddler). Shilo brought us my favorite kid’s book, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, and Andrew read it to our baby (Micah had lost interest at that point).

It was so fun to be gathered around a table to eat Thanksgiving dinner with friends. Both Andrew and I missed our parents since it’s the first year we were both away from our folks on Thanksgiving, but we enjoyed ourselves so much. And of my gosh the food was so good!!!

We all ended up eating so much food for dinner, that even after a break to play Scategories, we still weren’t that hungry for dessert. I am so thankful my appetite has come back!

Friday we went down to T-Town to hang out with Mike while he was in town. It was great getting to see him again (he was our best man at our wedding). After we had lunch together at a Mexican restaurant we decided to go to the mall. Not buy anything, but to walk it and people watch. Pretty entertaining actually. Some of the stores were PACKED with people reaching over one another to items they wanted to buy, and it was already late in the afternoon.

Saturday started off with a bit of light-heartedness, laughter, and entertainment. What did we do? We saw Disney’s Tangled!!! Such a great movie! The story telling and feeling of the film is like The Little Mermaid, Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast. We both laughed during the film and thoroughly enjoyed it. If you haven’t seen it yet, and you’re trying to figure out what your next flick at the theater should be, go see Tangled. 

From that our day turned in preparing for Christmas! The mantle to our fireplace is now decorated for Christmas. Though we both realized our stockings are in CA with our parents… Thankfully they’re shipping them up to us. So for the moment we have other stockings I’ve used as decoration up in place for the four of us. And yes, of course Tadpole gets a stocking! Lil Tadpole might not be out in the world yet, but we are anxiously awaiting his/her arrival next year. And yes… Hoshi gets one too… Pets in my family have always gotten stockings (well, “always” as when I started the tradition with Smokey and Chocolate the rabbits when I was seven).

We still are trying to figure out what we are going to do about a Christmas tree. Should we buy a real one this year? Should we get a fake one? Should it be small? Where the heck is it going to go??? But we did do some extensive Christmas and are almost done in that area. We still have lights and décor to put up, but our home is slowly starting to show signs of Christmas coming. Right now there is a pile of reindeer candy canes that Andrew and I made together for the kids in the Christmas musical at church, and for my 4 and 5 year old classroom. Hoshi seemed to be very interested in their noses. 

Here’s more of a baby update:

Thanksgiving Day marked the one week count down until we find out if our little Tadpole is a boy or girl. I just can’t wait to see our little one on the ultrasound machine again! My two top prayer request for Tadpole as of late have been that he/she is growing healthily, and that Tadpole isn’t shy when it’s time for the ultrasound. Now we’re only two and a half days away! And don’t worry, for those of you waiting for the November belly picture to cast your vote on if you think we’re having a boy or girl (poll located on the right), it will be taken later today and posted some time tomorrow.

Want to know something else exciting…? I have been able to feel Tadpole dance around inside me for about a week now! I don’t feel Tadpole moving that often. It’s been sporadic, but basically every day for the past week. But hey, the lil one is only in the six inch range. This means Tadpole is still too small for anyone to feel on the outside. It’s exciting for me to feel the movement though. I really want Andrew to be able to feel Tadpole dancing around too. But we have to be patient and wait for that. I would describe the movement as a mix between fluttering, and a light version of what you feel when your tummy gets a lift on a rollercoaster ride; except the feeling isn’t occurring in your stomach, but your uterus.

I have discovered that Tadpole does not like when my laptop is on my lap. I situate it so the heat coming from my laptop isn’t sitting on top of Tadpole, but the edge of the laptop is sometimes resting on my belly. Sometimes when this happens it feels like Tadpole is kicking at it to try and make it go away. I have complied so far and rearranged my laptop. Hoshi I think might have felt Tadpole move a little the other day. I was laying down, and Hoshi was laying stretched across my belly and chest, purring away as I scratched her ears. After a while, when Hoshi’s purring was becoming more intense, I felt Tadpole move and Hoshi then moved away from my belly and more up onto my chest. This could have been pure coincidence, but it just was too perfectly timed. I have been working on trying to figure out if I can push my hand a certain away against my belly to make Tadpole move to see if I can feel the movements on the outside so I can have Andrew do the same thing and feel our little one, but my plan has worked to no avail so far.  

And as a last little note, I think Tadpole enjoyed Tangled as well because he/she moved a bit during the movie. ^_^

Don’t forget to vote on if you think Tadpole is a boy or girl! Right now the girl vote is ahead with 13, and the boy vote is at 10. Voting will be kept open for a day or two after we find out the results, and we’ll let you know what the ultrasound reveals to us sometime after that.  

Random Quotes

Here are a few random quotes between Andrew and me that took place during the first trimester up to this last weekend (half way through the 2^nd trimester).

A: Are you okay?

C: Yeah. I just felt like I had to throw up on you, but didn’t want to.

A: But it’s exciting throw up because you’re pregnant.

While playing with a Strawberry Shortcake toy (about 2 inches) the same we had our first ultrasound done, Andrew came to a striking realization and whispered “Our baby is this big right now.”

A: Hahaha

C: What?

A: If you threw up in bed we don’t have a change of sheets.

C: Oh yeah.

Both: *Awkward laughing out loud*

C: Hmm, yeah… maybe we should get a 2^nd set…

A: Yeah… maybe… keep that bucket close, alright.

C: I don’t want violent games played around our baby when he/she is born.

A: Does Mario’s butt stomping koopas count?

C: No. I was thinking more of guns, swords, archery, that kind of thing.

A: So Wii Sports Resort is out then?

C: Hahaha no. =P

C: I feel chubby.

A: You’re not chubby! You’re makin’ baybay.

C: We are not naming our child Johnjacobjingleheimerschmidt ‘cause that’s not my name too.

A: I’m pretty sure Johnjacobjingleheimerschmidt doesn’t know anyone with the same name.

C: (After going through lots of boy names and not finding a single one we both semi-like) Fine. We can name our child Yoda if Tadpole is a boy, because he’ll be small and wrinkly when he comes out.

C: (While driving on 520 with Andrew) So, technically can we be in the 3 person or more carpool lane?

***Don't forget to vote if you think we're having a girl or boy! The poll is located on the right.***

Monthly Pictures: August - October

We have taken a “belly” picture of me on every 30^th of the month, starting back in August right after we found out I was pregnant. Some people have asked to see belly pictures to help with their vote on the poll. Here’s the deal: This post will contain the pictures for August, September and October. In 10 days on the 30^th of November, I will post the November “belly” picture. The poll for if we’re having a girl or boy won’t be closed until December 3^rd or 4^th. So here’s the pictures thus far!

August 30, 2010 - Week 5

September 30, 2010 - Week 10

October 30, 2010 - Week 14

October 30, 2010 - Hoshi was curious as to what we were doing, so we took a picture with her too.

 November 30, 2010 - Week 19 will be up in about 10 days. Don't forget to cast your vote on if we're having a girl or boy. The Poll is located on the right. The poll will be closed in about 2 weeks and we'll let you know what the ultrasound tells us. Right now, as I post this, the votes are 50-50.