Kleenex (with aloe), please...

Before Wednesday, I hadn't really gotten emotional over the baby. I had one break down but I think it was a result of a bad day at work accompanied by the constant feeling of thinking I was going to throw up. I'm generally an emotional person - cry at the Biggest Loser, a sappy commercial, or when UNC wins a national championship.....so it was kind of shocking to me that I hadn't really shed any tears over the baby. When seeing our baby for the first time at 6 weeks, I was expecting the tears to flow. But nothing. When I heard the heartbeat, I was expecting to need tissues. But nothing.

Our appointment on Wednesday was a long one - they measured pretty much every inch of Poppy's body - head, belly, arm, legs. We saw the four chambers of Poppy's heart, a "beautiful" spine, diaphragm, & liver. After 20 minutes of measuring and receiving a good progress report, I was growing more and more impatient....Obviously, I'm thrilled to pieces that everything else was growing as expected, but I wanted to see one thing. Would we be painting the nursery pink or blue? Generally speaking, it's pretty easy to see which body part you are looking at on the big screen and I could tell the sonographer had moved down to lower half of Poppy's body. As soon as she pointed out one leg, Michael and I knew immediately that we were going to be proud parents of a little boy. He was not shy....

And finally, the tears started to flow.

it's a......

baby boy :) Thanks to everyone who participated in the poll! It was so fun to track. Michael and I are thrilled to pieces.

More later - off to work after a pretty much sleepless night.....

xo

42 hours...but who's counting?

We've been counting down the days (ok, hours) until we find out if Poppy is a boy or girl..... It'll help us with a lot of decisions....

It'll cut out half of the 20,000 names in our Baby Name book....

Help us determine what color paint to buy for the nursery.....

We can use the correct pronoun when referring to our baby....

I can actually purchase something that's pink or blue (because I'm just like that...)

We'll be able to inform Carrie & Mitchell that they'll have a brother or sister....

As the exciting day approaches, I've really started to show. I may be getting past the "is that girl pregnant or has she just put on some weight?" days. Actually, I could care less what people think....I know you're in there, Poppy and I'm so excited to meet you. Whether we'll be buying dresses and dolls or sneakers and trains, we'll take you the way you are....

We've got movement!

I felt the baby! Well, we both did of course. Steph said she was starting to feel something while she was at work. We weren't sure if it was just gas...or something else. The first time I felt it, it was just like a little pulse.

I wonder what the baby was doin in there....was it a Jackie Chan style kick?

Or was it more like a Mike Tyson punch?

Whatever it really was, I just like the think of it as my little player giving his/her coach a high five.

Remind me after the baby's born that I need to teach him/her that the chest bump and fist dap are much more in style nowadays.

Shopper Stopper Storm 2009

The last time I remember DC being hit with more than 10 inches of snow was in 1996...I was a sophomore in high school. Does this mean it'll be another 13 years before the next massive storm hits? Poppy will almost be 13 years old - excited for sledding, snowball fights and hot chocolate on breaks from the winter wonderland.

While we both wish the little one was already here to play in the snow, we were kids at heart today on her behalf. We went out multiple times to measure how many inches had fallen, debated on whether or not we'll have work/school on Monday, baked a cake and had a mini snowball fight....(well, Michael threw one ball at me, which hit my arm and I pulled the pregnant card).

While Poppy couldn't see it, or feel the snow - s/he made her first snow angel today.....

It's here!

I'm still fitting in my clothes....but it's arrived. The much anticipated baby bump is finally here.

10 weeks....

16 weeks....

Happy Birthday Carrie & Mitchell

I know our blog is about our journey to becoming parents, but I feel like I'm already a mom......just to two little kittuns. It took a LOT of convincing to get Michael to agree to bring cats into our home. After begging and pleading, we started our search. We quickly found out that it wasn't "kitten" season - we were looking in January, and the influx of kittens wouldn't be until May. Determined to extend our family, I continued our search. We finally found someone who had a brother and sister in West Virginia. The boy was nameless and the girl was named "Flower". Based off two pictures, we made our way to Frederick to pick up our new "kids". I immediately fell in love with these two.....

It's been a fun four years with Carrie Bradshaw & Mitchell Hedberg. Some of my fondest memories:

- Their first night in our home - we had dinner plans, so we spent a good 30 minutes barricading them into a small space because I read that letting them loose in your home could be too much at first. Mitchell cleared the 3 foot wall on his first try.

- Mitchell escaping our Rockville apartment, ultimately locking both of us out. I had to take him down to the lobby to get a spare key. That was the first and last time he's ever seen a dog. He ripped a couple of holes in my shirt and skin from clawing into me so deep, fearing for his life.

- (This isn't quite "fond", but I'll never forget it) Michael brought them home after their "big" surgery - Mitchell acted like nothing happened to him, encouraging Carebear to play. Carrie couldn't walk a step without falling over. It was really sad :(

- Watching them chase toys on the hard woods and sliding 4 feet because they couldn't grip the floor to stop themselves.

- Carrie's "rolls" - When she is happy, she'll walk up to you and collapse on her side and roll on her back. I'll know somethings wrong when she stops doing this.

- Their obsession with meme (if you don't know who meme is and are wondering, email me).

- Their first day in our new home. While it's a little bit bigger, it's pretty much the same....just more carpet to destroy.

- Their first overnight trip at Mom & Dad's - which was also their first time they've ever been up or down stairs!

- Their unconditional love. After the worst day, I come home to two kittuns who are ALWAYS happy to see me (it's probably because they know they are about to be fed)....but there's nothing like cuddling with them at night while I watch my girlie shows.

Happy 4th Birthday Carebear & Mitchell - you've caught up with Michael in human years....but you haven't caught me yet....You'll always be my baby shnookes.