Peek-a-Boo

We had our ultrasound on Wednesday, and we finally saw the baby! It's funny how seeing this baby, and feeling it move in my stomach, can really make this pregnancy hit home. I am growing a BABY. In my BODY. It's still so surreal.

The ultrasound was very fast, and thankfully, the baby is developing just perfectly. I'm not the type to worry, so I hadn't given much thought to the fact that if something was wrong, the ultrasound would most likely show it. It didn't really occur to me, until I laid down on that exam table and she put the jelly on my stomach. Then, I wondered what we would see. Well, we saw the heart and cranium, the spine, and little baby fists. We also saw the baby sticking out it's tongue and moving it's mouth. It is so amazing to me that this little baby started out as a speck, and now has all it's working parts. Speaking of working parts, it has genitals! We don't know which kind, but the ultrasound tech said they were "normal and unambiguous." Thumbs up for that.

I have been starting to feel more connected to the baby, now that I can feel it. It wasn't that I felt disconnected before, but I guess seeing is believing. Obviously, I've known all along that there was a baby in there, but now that I can actually feel it move, well, that is a feeling like no other. It's kind of unexplainable, but in the best possible way.

I just feel so happy. So happy I am having a baby, and so happy that James and I are going to be parents. Of a BABY. That I am GROWING. Crazy!

Oh, and since we skipped last weeks pictures (have I mentioned this project is a burden?), I thought I would post another shot or two from our vacation.

Tiny Dancer

Today I felt the baby move for the very first time. It was subtle, yet so obvious that it was the little rascal moving around. It felt like gas, except without the, well, gas. I felt it four or five times in a span of about a minute. I guess the baby likes Chick-fil-A's Spicy Chicken Sandwich as much as mama does!

It was the coolest feeling in the whole world. I cried.

VACATION!!!!

The title of this post, in all caps (which means I'm yelling), comes from a cruise director on the cruise James and I took a couple of years ago. The entire cruise, he would randomly yell "VACATION!!!" It was really annoying and the opposite of relaxing, which is what vacation is all about, no?

If I don't get to the beach at least once a year, I get...pissy. I love vacations, or any traveling, really. I love planning it, packing for it and and all the "stresses" that come with travel, like spending money and flying. I. Love. Vacations. I need to go places every once in awhile. For me, travel is not a burden, it's necessary to keep me sane.

Our most recent vacation was to Cape San Blas, Florida. It's my husbands most favorite place on Earth, and he's been wanting to take me there for the last six years. Although at first, he wanted me to go camping in the State Park. Um, I like camping, but for a maximum of two nights, and certainly not when it's hot. So, we rented a house on the beach and we were both happy. :) It was so beautiful there, and so un-crowded, I hesitate to talk too much about it because I don't want everyone to go there and make it crowded. But we literally did almost nothing all week except lay on the beach. The one day we actually did something, we rented a boat and drove to the tip of the Cape, which is only accessible by boat or hiking seven miles from the state park. I can honestly say, it was one of the best days of my life. Have you ever had one of those days where you felt like you were in a movie? That was this day. We found shells that were as big as my hand. We plucked sand dollars straight out of the ocean. We saw a school of dolphins that were swimming along side our boat. We saw a bunch of stingray, and even a sea turtle. It was awesome.

Being on vacation got me thinking about how our vacations will change once we have a baby. Or will they? Do they have to, really? I mean, I realize that there are places we will go once we have kids that we may not have gone before (Disney World), but more than anything, I just want to instill my love of travel in my child. I want to make an effort to go places and do things, regardless of how much (literal) baggage I must carry. For us, travel and vacations are a high priority, and I want it to continue to be that way. I want my children to learn to entertain themselves while on a road trip or an airplane. And I want them to be excited about going places, to relish the journey and the destination.

While on our trip, we did have some fun with photos. I was so relaxed on vacation, that my baby bump grew quite substantially. Here's evidence:


And this is one of the seashells I plucked off the ocean floor:

For Real

I've been a little behind on my blogging. And picture-taking (see last post). But we're going to get back on track here. There's so much to say!

First, we got a crib. And, according to my friends, we are way ahead of schedule. I guess the prime crib-purchasing time in pregnancy is sometime around six months along?? No one told me there were rules about when it was appropriate to purchase things, sorry. Would you believe me if I told you that we didn't plan on getting the crib so soon? Because we didn't, I swear! The crib had been out of stock ever since I found it and decided it was the one. I just happened to check one night, and there it was, back in stock. So, James told me to buy it and I did. I'm sure he wishes everything were this simple.

I will tell you that putting the crib together and in place in the work-in-progress-nursery was the very first moment of this pregnancy where it felt REAL. Like, we're having a BABY, real. It was pretty cool. For days afterward I would just wander into the nursery to look at the crib and the little onesie that we put in it. I can't wait to paint the room so I can get my decorating on! We (I) have decided not to have a theme for the room, more a color scheme of bright colors like yellow, lime green, orange and turquoise. Because nothing says "baby" like citrus colors! Haha

Here are a few random things I have noticed lately:
1.) I can no longer bend at the waist with the same flexibility. This affects everything from painting my toenails to bending over to pet my dog to leaning forward in the sales meeting. I'm told it will get worse, which means I'll have to pay to get a pedicure, have James pet Chloe for me and bring a cot to my sales meetings.

2.) If I stop drinking liquids at 8pm, I can almost make it all night without getting up to pee. However, when I get up the next day, I'm so dehydrated that I drink my body weight in water for the next 12 hours and therefore spend the day in the bathroom, peeing. There has to be a better way.

3.) I'm going to have to invest in new undergarments. In a larger size.

So, for my sixteen week pictures James wanted to go to the Pennybacker Bridge. It was a gorgeous day, although the very instant we hiked up to the lookout, the wind started blowing something fierce. It pissed me off, since I can't really pull off the Victoria's Secret catalog windblown look. For multiple reasons.

15 weeks

This little photo project is turning out to be quite the burden. I feel the need to go to these great places and get these fantastic pictures. But it's wedding season, and my husband is very busy taking pictures of other people, so, I'm relegated to Sunday photo sessions. Those of you who know me well know that I have a long-standing tradition of not showering on Sundays. I've been not showering on Sundays since college. Sunday is a day of rest, people, and showering and putting on lotion and blow drying hair and putting on makeup is not restful.

So, last weekend I thought I would take full advantage of my no-shower Sunday tradition and go bike riding downtown. That gave me an excuse to look like crap in these pictures. But you can really see the bump in my workout clothes! We took these pictures in front of the Stevie Ray Vaughan statue at Lady Bird Lake.

Mind your own business.

By this point, most people who know I am pregnant know that we are not planning to find out the sex of the baby. Their opinions are split about 50/50. Half think it's awesome to wait, and the other half feel if it were their choice, they either couldn't wait to find out or are just planners and would want to know in advance. I don't expect everyone to agree with the decision, but I do expect people to be polite about it. And this week, I came across someone who crossed the line and was overly pushy and rude about my choice, and it really pissed me off.

It was a coworker, and one who is usually so incredibly nice. He asked when we would find out the sex, and I told him we weren't planning on it. I got the typical response at first..."but how will you plan your nursery?" and "what about the clothes?" I explained my position on both: the nursery will be bright and cheerful, not gender-specific and the clothes will be pajamas for the first few months, so who cares? Then he kept pushing. He even used the word "crazy." I again explained that we thought it would be a great surprise and that we weren't planning on buying many gender-specific items, because we plan on having more kids. And he kept pushing. Then, he actually insulted me. He said that the "surprise" of finding out the sex at birth was actually "anti-climactic," and that I would probably not care at that point because I had just gone through labor.

Um, excuse me? First of all, it's none of your damn business what I do. If you don't agree, smile and nod and get the hell out of my way. Secondly, you don't know whether it would be anti-climactic, because you found out the sex of your baby before birth, so you really don't have any idea what that would be like. Third, when I tell you at least five times in the conversation that this is what WE want, the decision that is best for US, shut the hell up.

I'm sure this will not be the last time I come across someone who has their own ideas about my plan. And don't get me wrong, I certainly don't expect everyone to agree with my decisions. What I do expect, however, is common courtesy and respect. Be polite. Smile and nod, you know?

So, let's get to the baby bump, shall we? It's really bumping these days. This week, James wanted to shoot the pictures at the car wash down the street. Because nothing says "We're having a baby" like a car wash?? No. For at least the last three years, the car wash has had a sign out front that says "Big changes coming soon." And well, big changes are coming soon to the Dvorscak household, so we took the pictures under the sign. Just in case the car wash decides after three years to actually make big changes.

13 Weeks

Oh I am definitely showing now! This is the first week I have been unable to button some of my pants. I actually spent a hour in my closet today trying on clothes to figure out what I'll be able to wear for the time being. Thank god for the belly band!

We took the 13 weeks pictures at the Texas State Capitol on a gorgeous (and hot) afternoon. Have I mentioned it's hot here? Already? And it's only April?