Tomorrow is the big day!

We are scheduled for our anatomical scan tomorrow at 4. Rod and I are both very eager to find out if we are having a boy or a girl. I'm not nervous about the ultrasound, but I am a little anxious thinking that Rod might not make it in time. He has 2 big performances with his band at school this weekend. That takes a LOT of work to set up. Friday afternoon he has to set some things up before he can leave. I'm hoping he can get lots of volunteers to help him so he is able to leave by 2:30. Once he leaves, we have to hope that the traffic is light enough through Frederick that he can make it back to Hagerstown in time. Maybe I can stall the ultrasound technician for a few minutes until he gets there. Keep your fingers crossed for us! :)

57 days until Christmas!!!

I am so excited about Christmas this year. That's nothing different because Christmas has always been my favorite day of the year! The whole Christmas season has so many great traditions and memories for me. Some of my favorite things are: buying and wrapping gifts, the smell of cinnamon when you walk into a retail store, making cookies, Christmas specials on TV, decorating the tree (although my sisters and I have a tradition of complaining the whole time we are helping Mom with the tree), and of course watching people's faces when they open their gifts.

Rod is hoping that I stick to our Christmas budget this year because he knows for the next 18+ years I will not be able to keep from buying our kids tons of fun presents!

So, tell me what you're looking forward to this Christmas season.

Big Foot

Another lovely symptom of pregnancy has come my way...swelling! Yesterday I was changing for the gym. When I went to put my socks on, I looked down at my feet and let out an audible gasp. To my amazement one of my feet was extremely swollen! I've asked a lot of (previously pregnant) people about this. A couple have said it could be a sign of preeclampsia but most people say it is pretty normal. Don't worry, I've been carefully watching for signs of light-headedness and a racing heartbeat.

Today I put a makeshift stool under my desk at work which allowed me to keep my foot propped up most of the day. It looks a lot better tonight than it did last night.

This picture was taken last evening after I had already had it elevated for about an hour. Please excuse the worn-off nail polish. Later in the evening I took care of that!

I'm Having A...

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NEPHEW!!!

My sister and her husband found out last evening that they are expecting a baby boy! She said he was kicking all around and looks very healthy. :)

Bored or nesting?

After almost 5 days of being in this house, I have decided to tackle (multiple) projects. I hope this is what nesting is like! Although it would take me and an army of maids to get thise house organized, I feel like I'm making a little bit of progress. The dining room (which will become the nursery) has been our dumping ground for junk over the past 3 years. Because I'm excited to get the nursery started, I decided to begin my blaze of organizing in there. I am even organizing our wrapping paper!

I finally felt it!

Yesterday I finally got to feel the baby move! There have been times over the past two weeks when I thought I felt a flutter. Yesterday I felt it very clearly. I was laying on my stomach watching TV. I wasn't squishing the baby because I was propped up on my elbows, but I think the added pressure in my abdomen was what helped me be able to feel it. Now I am fighting the urge to lay like that all day so I can feel it constantly. :)

Camping Trip

Since the last several posts have been about boring medical stuff, I thought I would share some pictures today.

We chose a beautiful weekend to go camping. At night it got a little chilly but during the day it was in the mid 70s! It was fun to relax around the fire and chat with our friends Amy and Tony.

The only scary moment was when I tried to fall into the fire! I tripped over my chair one evening when I was trying to sit down in it. I was falling straight forward like I was going to land in the campfire. As I felt myself falling, I decided that I needed to do anything possible to keep from catching on fire! I used every muscle in my body to throw myself sideways to avoid the fire. It worked but not without some consequences. My arm landed on the grill part of the fire pit, I scraped my knee up, I knocked my chair and Rod's chair over on me, and worst of all I spilled my baked potato all over the ground. When I knocked the chairs over, the drinks that were in the drink holders spilled all over me. Meanwhile, Amy saw me falling and as she jumped up to help, she knocked her drink onto her lap. I'm sure it was quite a sight!

A self-portrait of me!

Rod cutting a log in half to put on the fire.

Rod grilling up some shishkabobs.

Our friends Amy and Tony with little Luc and their dog Odie.

This was a self-portrait using the camera's timer...not too bad.

17 weeks 2 days.