10 pictures = Frustrated Husband

I have been taking weekly pictures of my baby bump, and promised not to show another one til it looked more like baby and less like bloat.  Well, to any unsuspecting person this bump may just look like I've got a little extra in the middle.  But after looking at myself in the mirror more times than I probably ever have in my life, comparing my bump to others' online, and resorting to a rubber band on my favorite pair of jeans, I decided that this is definitely a baby bump and not a bloated bump anymore.

Only problem?  Getting a good picture of said baby bump.  I learned something... 10 pictures = a frustrated husband.  Of course he thinks I look great, don't look fat, thinks every picture is good.  But I don't.  I kept repositioning my arms, my head, the direction I was facing, etc.  Then I thought it would be good to hold up a little sign that said "14 weeks" for easier tracking of the pictures we've been taking.  Well that caused even more problems with my t-shirt not showing off the bump very well, etc.   So finally after 10 tries, Russell gave up with a "surely you can pick one of these."  I almost didn't post b/c I hate these pictures so much.  But like I've said before, document I must.  So here's what I'm apprehensive to show you...

And just think... there are 9 others that are even worse than this one!  Russell had the idea to face forward with the 14 weeks sign and then do one from the side to use my hands to show off the bump.  So those are the ones I ended up liking more than me awkwardly holding the sign and flattening out my t-shirt.  So here's the one from the front...

Prison photo much?  I felt like I was posing in the line-up at the county jail for this one.  At least my laughter at myself brought my hubby's spirits up a little bit.  So there you have it folks, 14 weeks.  I'm definitely looking forward to future belly photo shoots... hoping they won't take as long since the belly will be easier to detect as we go along.  But I'm not really looking forward to getting bigger everywhere else.  I didn't gain any weight between the 8 & 12 week doctor appointments, but we'll see what happens at our 16 week appointment.  Not that I'm keeping an eye on it at all... hence the brownie I'm about to devour.  Christmas food, bring it on! 

Heartbeat at Home

So... I know the doctor told us to wait a few weeks before using the at-home doppler to listen to the heartbeat so that we wouldn't get frustrated if we couldn't find it, BUT I was just too anxious.  So on Tuesday of last week we decided to give it a shot and SUCCESS!  We both were so excited to listen to our baby's little (fast) ticker.  We've listened to it every day since!  My sister got to listen to it on Wednesday night and she loved it too!  It's just the neatest thing ever.  Since I can't feel the baby yet, it's fun to listen to its heartbeat and feel a connection that way.  I'm so excited to bring the doppler with me next week when we go visit my parents so they can hear their little grand-baby!  So fun!  In case you were wondering, the doppler looks like this:

It's so easy to use and so fun!  I recommend any future mommy's to get one!  We love it!

On another note, we just wrapped up a great semester of Tippi Toes dance classes!  Our dancers were cute little "peppermint candy canes" dancing for their parents this past week.  I am looking forward to a week of working from home in my pj's and recital planning!  I love looking at all the cute costumes like this one...

If this baby is a boy, I sure hope I have a girl at some point so they can wear fun costumes like this and dance with me!!  Heck, I'll make a boy dance too... at least when he's little.  :)

Russell's sister and her family are in town today!  We will get to meet our little one month old niece for the first time today!  And see our adorable 2 1/2 year old nephew too!  They will be here for a week or so so we'll get to do the Christmas Train at Dry Gulch and other fun things!  I hope to take lots of pictures of these cuties!  Here's a pic of our adorable nephew Grayson...

If he's that cute, I'm sure his little sister is a doll!  Can't wait to meet her and get some good baby time this week!!!

12 Weeks Dr Appt

We had our 2nd Dr appt yesterday!  It was really quick... check in at desk, sit down, open magazine, "Brittany", pee in a cup, blood pressure, "how are you feeling?", and then the coolest part... hearing the heartbeat for the first time!!  It was SO cool.  It sounded like I thought it would, but just listening to it and thinking about the little life growing inside me... so awesome!!  With not much to show on the outside of a baby being in there, it was so fun to listen to the proof!  :)  Our friends Beth & Oz that are having a baby girl in January are letting us borrow their doppler so we will be able to listen to the heartbeat at home too!  The doctor said the at-home kind is much less powerful than what they use at the doctor's office so we probably should wait a couple more weeks before trying at home.  But I am definitely looking forward to that!  I have a feeling I will want to listen to it everyday!  

Hormonal Hannah over here

Hormones... I know they can take a toll on you during pregnancy so what have they done to me?  I am now a cry-baby.  Not all the time, but lots more the past few weeks than normal.  If the alternative is being a psycho, I think I'm glad I've got the tears instead.  (For Russell's sake, let's hope the psycho part doesn't ever come out lol).  I am personally amused by the different things that have prompted my crying, so I thought I'd share with you here.

I'm in the car on my way to a Tippi Toes dance class a couple weeks ago and "Don't Take the Girl" by Tim McGraw came on the radio.  I love that song, but it's never caused me to cry before.  It gets to the part when they are at the hospital having a baby, but the momma is "fading fast."  Oh. my. goodness... I just started crying!  Had to pull it together fast and teach a dance class!  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-TXBniRz1g
You can see the really old school video and much less attractive Tim McGraw here.

Not too long after we found out we were pregnant, we dropped my car off to get an oil change, leaving Copper by himself for maybe 20 minutes.  We came back home to find Russell's brand new Bible, completely shred in to a million pieces in the living room.  Russell was LIVID.  He picked Copper up by the scruff of his neck and put him on the couch.  No abusive behavior or anything but he was mad and letting Copper have it with his words.  I burst into tears and couldn't stop saying, "he's just a dog, don't worry about it, we'll get you a new Bible, stop yelling at him."  Lol!!  I think it's funnier if you could have witnessed it.  Russell actually looked at me like "what is going on?" and stopped yelling.  I win.

It looked like this... oh wait.  This is one of my old Bibles he shredded months prior.  You would think we would learn our lesson.  Our dog loves to tear into God's Word.

Worship at church... It is not uncommon for me to be overwhelmed by the Holy Spirit while I am singing to Him at church, but it is pretty much guaranteed that I will cry EVERY Sunday now.

One day last week Russell came home for lunch unexpectedly.  He had a conference call and took Copper back in the guest bedroom (what will be the nursery) for the call so I could have some uninterrupted work time.  When I heard him get off the phone, I went back there and laid on the bed with him.  We talked for almost an hour... how to arrange the nursery furniture, our jobs, Christmas stuff, etc.  Then out of nowhere I burst into tears again!  "We don't do this enough... lay in bed and talk.  Can we do this more?  Please?  In 7 months we're really not going to do this because we'll be worried about a baby... please tell me we can do this more often in the next several months?"  Again, tears streaming throughout.  My sweet husband contained his laughter to just a smile, consoled me, and promised we would do this more often.  He is good to me. :)

I'm sure there will be more crying episodes to come!  And if there are any psycho episodes, I'll let you know of those too.

Baby Bump? Naaah.

Hello all!  I've been sitting on this post for a week now... finally getting the pictures on my computer.  I'm also kinda embarrassed to even post this... but the baby bump has got to start somewhere right?  I figure if I don't start taking pictures of the bump, then all the sudden I'm gonna have a bump and not know when it started!  So... here's a pic of me at 10 weeks.

How tired-looking am I?!  Geez.  Regretting post?  Probably.  Oh well... document I must.  So what you see there is probably not actually a baby bump, but more than likely a pre-pregnancy pooch.  Wondering about my little bump, I took to reading my books, the internet, etc. to see when most women start showing.  Everything I've read suggests that most women don't start showing until at least 12 weeks, but everyone is different.  So here are some lovely likely causes of my little bump...

1.  Bloating/water retention/constipation... fabulous right?  And definitely happening.  Everything that is going in, is NOT coming out... to put it as not-disgusting as possible.

2.  Weak abdominal muscles... definitely a possibility considering my lack of strenuous exercise the past few months, but it's not like I've had a baby before so I can't really use this excuse.

3.  Weight gain... ummm, probably.  Considering eating is what helps the nausea every few hours, I'm definitely taking in more than usual!

4.  Twins?  Nope.  We do have twins on Russell's side of the family, but the ultrasound lady said "there's just one in there!"

So basically what can we determine from this research?  I'm fat.  No, I don't really think that... but I am looking forward to actually having a baby bump and not just a bloated bump.  Maybe the next time I post a bump picture, it'll be more convincing that there's a baby in there.