I always knew 12 was a good number :)

Michael and I have been extremely excited to become parents ever since we found out Poppy existed, but my level of excitement reached new heights after we announced the future addition to our family. So many people have told me that being a Mom is the best thing in life.... I cannot wait!

While the nausea has subsided, I'm still waiting for this surge of energy that I was told I would feel once I passed 12 weeks (not that I'm calling you liars, I just haven't felt it yet). I do feel like I've actually slept the night before when I wake up, but I still find myself crawling into bed as soon as I get home from work. I still have hope that I'll turn the corner soon and will get motivated to, say go for a long walk, or make a dinner that takes longer than 10 minutes to prepare, cook & clean up. But for now, I'll keep on enjoying our new TV in our bedroom (equipped with the DVR box!) and the simple dinners :)

Last Monday was a bit of a whirlwind. We both woke up excited that we had reached 12 weeks, anxious for the 4:15 pm doctors appointment, and pretty much dying to get home and start calling/emailing our friends and family to share the great news. My work day consisted of staring at the clock and starting to "fill" my bladder (the fuller the bladder the better the picture) at around 2pm. You can only imagine the pain I was in once I reached the doctors office. They could tell I was overflowing because they told me to use the bathroom as soon as I arrived. I hesitantly went, wondering if now that my bladder was empty, our picture of Pop would be ruined. But who knew.....your bladder refills pretty quickly if you are hydrated, and by the time we were called back, I was overflowing again.

Our first sonogram experience was a bit different than this one.

A - The nurse:

Sonogram #1 - we were just another patient

Sonogram #2- it was like I was the first pregnant person she'd ever seen

B- The room:

Sonogram #1 - only the nurse could look at the screen, so in turn we had to react to her facial expression (see A - you can imagine her excitement and our anxiety)

Sonogram #2- not only did the nurse have a screen, we had a 32'+ flat screen TV to watch our baby

C- Poppy

Sonogram #1 - Pop was only 6.5 weeks old - while amazing, all we could see was the heart beating and the beginning of the shape of a human

Sonogram #2 - Pop was now a mature 12 weeks - the size of a lime.....arms and legs flailing. Our little one became a bit camera shy when it came time to measure the neck. Already has a personality!

D - The pictures

Sonogram #1 - We walked away with one picture that we knew was our baby...but it was hard to make out what was what from the picture we brought home.

Sonogram #2 - 7....we walked away with SEVEN pictures...3 were of Poppy's feet (because s/he was showing them off) but 4 were the profile of our soon to be son or daughter.

We received confirmation that Poppy is doing well, growing big and has a strong and steady heartbeat (159 beats per minute). We were up until 11:30 sharing our news, listening to advice and grinning from ear to ear knowing that Poppy's existence was now public. Our next appointment is tomorrow (yay!) - we're going to get a recording of the heartbeat for you to hear - it's simply amazing!

For your enjoyment, Poppy Seed at 12 weeks (I couldn't post all 7 because the files are too large!):

Covering her (his) face with her arm (her hand is sticking up over her head) - legs are bent at the knee (maybe it's a little too crowded in there to stretch out.....or maybe we've got a tall baby...I'm going with the former)

Do we have a soccer player on our hands? The nurse kept saying that Poppy was showing off his (her) feet! (The bottom of the feet - you can see the right leg)....