Will Poppy look like Michael or Stephanie at birth....

(Michael on the left, Stephanie on the right)

There's no place like home....

For all those that are wondering, we are not moving before the baby arrives. Michael and I live in a cozy two bedroom (with walk in closets)/two bath condo in Germantown. While the "second bedroom" has been home to our OTHER huge flat screen TV and our guests when they arrive, it's the perfect spot for Poppy to call home. She'll have her own bathroom, walk in closet & view of Target to boot! What else could a girl ask for!? (If Pop is a boy, I'm sure he'll be just as excited about the storage space for his wardrobe and to know that Modell's is just around the corner from Target)

We were not the first owners of the condo and when we moved in the carpet was in okay condition. Shortly after we settled in, our beloved cats Carrie & Mitchell started to do a number to it. We let it slide because we knew we'd eventually have to get it replaced when we moved on to a bigger place. Since the housing market has been as bad as the Redskins the last couple of years, we've come to terms with the fact that we'll be at Eton Place for longer than we initially anticipated. As soon as this realization hit me, I started thinking about the floors. Begging and pleading with Michael, he strongly said, "Let's save our money and wait until we move". I reluctantly agreed. Until Poppy came into the picture :)

I think our kid would have died from cat hair inhalation if we let one toe touch the carpet. Not only that - I was getting pretty embarrassed to have people over with the stains/torn up sections (Thank you Carebear). Grinning from ear to ear, we purchased our carpet from Lowes - making our first step to baby proofing our home.

While our carpet was being installed, there was no way that Carrie & Mitchell could have stayed at home. They freak out when they hear a phone ring, so I could have only imagined what they would have been like if they stuck around to see their 1100 square foot scratching post ripped up and thrown out the door. So we packed their things, forced them into their crates and took a ride down to my parents house. Was this a practice round for a weekend away kid-free? Would I make it through the night without having to call and check in?

I failed miserably. They were so scared when we got there they wouldn't even come out of their crates. When they finally did emerge, they cautiously scurried around to get familiar with their surroundings and found comfort in my dad's workroom. After a few attempts to have them come out from their EXTREMELY secret hiding places to say goodbye, I left with a heavy heart. Will they eat? Are they scared? Will they rip up my parents carpet? I fretted about them all night and all day. Of course they were absolutely fine and as soon as I let them loose back at home, they were back to the good old Carebear & Mitch.

Mom/Dad - Thanks for kittunsitting! As much as they looked scared, I'm sure they had a great time exploring a place that is twice the size of anywhere they've ever been. And I'm sure Mitch shed a few pounds going up and down the steps for the first time in his life :)

Now, I know my baby won't be able to hide from me and I know that Poppy will need my parents to make it through the night, but omg! If I was this upset about leaving my CATS - how the heck am I going to be able to leave my KID!? Sigh - I guess I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

So I've heard that people start nesting right before the baby arrives....is that true? Because I think I've probably gone through every inch of our place and reorganized, donated or trashed something since finding out I was going to be a Mom. I guess I'm just a little anxious for the baby to arrive. I'm sure in about 37 days from now, I'll be grateful that I worked so hard to organize. The day we find out the sex - I'll just obsess over the nursery :)

We heart Poppy's heartbeat

13 weeks, 2 days.... 155 bpm (beats per minute)

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)....

And.....we're public

Let's all breathe a huge sigh of relief.....

Not because Poppy is safe and sound inside my belly.....
Not because I've made it to the second trimester
but because we're ABLE TO TALK ABOUT IT!

So welcome to our blog - We are in the middle of calling/emailing all of you, but I wanted to open this up to the public.

We've been blogging since we found out about Poppy on September 19th, so why don't you all catch up on what's been going on, and we'll post in a few days (ok, maybe hours) with some more exciting updates.

Love,
Stephanie & Michael

Do I see a bump?!

Week 5 (carrying a sesame seed)

Week 11 (Carrying a fig)

the most amazing sound....

I'm an extremely inpatient person. I also am VERY bad at keeping things from people. Hiding this pregnancy and having to wait weeks to see how Poppy is doing is agonizing. It doesn't help the comments I'm getting at work (and I'm NOT exaggerating here- these were ALL said after we found out I was pregnant):

"Steph, how's your baby?" "Um, I don't have a baby"

"Steph, we're going to have a party when you get pregnant" (I'm the only person in my department that doesn't have kids)

"Steph's pregnant! Just kidding - she's just sitting in Brandi's chair so I thought maybe she was" (Brandi had a baby girl Oct 1st, so maybe I caught the pregnancy bug from her chair)

(I can't wait to see their faces when I tell them I'm pregnant and 12 weeks along!!!!)

While Michael and I just want Poppy to be here already, we've realized we have a ways to go. We've started to focus on milestones - getting to hear the heartbeat, making the big announcement, finding out the sex, etc. etc. On 11/5/09 - we heard the most amazing sound that verified the little girl or guy is still growing strong inside.

We arrived at the doctor's office early because I had a full bladder and couldn't wait any longer to empty it :) After peeing in the cup and weighing myself 4 times, I sat down next to Michael and reported that I hadn't gained a single ounce in the last four weeks. The books say you're supposed to gain 5 pounds in the first trimester, so immediately I got nervous that something was wrong. I've been eating whatever I can get down....not the healthiest foods, but more than I typically eat so I was (and still am) floored that I still weighed the same I did 4 weeks ago. Especially because Poppy has been growing so much! Never in my life have I been so concerned with my lack of weight gain. The nurse and doctor both reassured me that everything is fine - as long as I'm eating and taking my vitamins, for now, it's fine. There is something different about hearing your baby's heartbeat for the first time. Yeah, it was AMAZING to see Poppy's heart beating away, but to hear it. I could have listened to it forever. It's strong and fast - I did "forget" to ask the BPM (which they say can help figure out the sex)...but this time it was enough to know that Poppy's doing well.

Our next appointment is on the day we reach 12 weeks and enter the much anticipated second trimester. Let's hope the exhaustion miraculously disappears as everyone says it will :)

As you can imagine (from the lack of weight gain), I look pretty much the same week after week (even though my doctor says my uterus is shifting "up"...whatever that means!)

4 weeks (9.19.09)

10 weeks (11.2.09)

Just FYI, the blog will become public for sharing next week!

Love,

Stephanie