baby threads and puppy dreads...

It. Is. Official.  Grace has cuter clothes than me.  And I guess that's how it should be, eh? :)  Today I went to register at Target... Stuart and I spent a couple of long afternoons in Babies 'R Us registering already, but because Babies R Us isn't quite as widespread as Wally World or Target, we decided to register some place else for convenience.  We feel so blessed that family and friends have offered to throw us showers... little Norah is so loved already! What a lucky gal. ;)

Anyway... due to Mommy's complete lack of restraint, and some help of friends and family, Grace has, as I have previously mentioned, acquired some cute threads. I'm talkin' size newborn all the way to12 months. That doesn't even count the few dozen dresses that my mom has saved from when I was a baby.  Needless to say, Grace already has an outfit for each holiday throughout her first year here. I am just hoping she is not a sumo-baby.  Stuart is 6'4, and I am 5'8...neither of us are petite, in any sense of the word.  AND both of us were over 9 pounds at birth!

I decided to share some pictures of some of my favorite (store bought) outfits. Mom is keeping my dresses "safe". I swear...you grow up, become responsible for other peoples' wellbeing as a nurse, get married, get PREGNANT and you are still not responsible enough to keep some dresses safe... sheeesh. Love you, Mom!

Grace's swimsuit for next summer. (Sorry, messed up and won't rotate for some reason..?!)

As you can see, Oscar quickly got jealous of the clothes getting all the attention.

Outfits from Julie and Kasey!...and my dog's paw.

Sunny sun dress.

Ready to go out on the boat next summer!...and my dog's head.

Preptastic!

Something warm for the wintertime...and my dog's head.

And that brings me to my second topic...Oscar. For those of you not familiar, Oscar the Pug became a member of our family in April of 2009.  He is a little rambunctious, a little obsessed with licking, and a lot spoiled.  I have been thinking a lot about how he will transition when the little one gets here, and to be honest, I am a little worried.  Oscar sleeps between Stuart and I in the FULL...yes, I said FULL...sized bed we share.  He is definitely used to getting ALL the attention.  AND he continues to have discipline issues, even though Stuart and I both thought he would outgrow them. 

I will say that he has come a long way, and Stuart and I blame ourselves for babying him too much.  The problem is... he will get into horrible mischief, going on underwear chewing rampages, running from us when we try to crate him, and grabbing food right off my plate...but then he looks up at us with his big brown eyes and while we do scold him, Stuart and I both say the same thing: "he's sooo cute."

Having a baby around to hog all the attention will be a big change for Oscar, but we are hoping he adjusts and we can remain a happy family.  As you can see from the pictures, he is a little stubborn, and was wondering why he wasn't the subject of my photography.

Moving on...we only have a few weeks until our 20 week appointment at the doctor.  I have this deep worry that Grace will have sprouted a man-part.  If so, we will be equally thrilled...but we will have lots of clothes to take back and re-registering to do. :)

I would also like to say "LIAR!!!!" to all those who told me the second trimester would bring bliss.  I have thrown up JUST as many times since I hit trimester 2.  I still have to be super careful about what I eat, and how much.  My bff from middle school, Tara, is also pregnant, and her little one is due two months after ours.  It's nice to have someone to commiserate with.  :)  She has been super sick, so I am convinced she is having a girl too...and they will be bff's.  Now Kasey just needs to get pregnant...;)

Well, I am pretty sure I would get a big fat "F" on this if it were a graded paper due to my lack of focus, and my total neglect of proper punctuation...however, I wanted to end with my proving/disproving the gender old wives tales based on my experience during pregnancy. :)

Heart rate: above 140 is a girl, below is a boy:  Grace's is ALWAYS above 140! TRUE!

Craving sweets: girl...craving salty: boy:  My big craving has been slushies...so TRUE!

Mayan legend: mothers age and year of conception...if both are even or odd, girl. if one is odd and the other is even, boy:  24 and 2010...TRUE!

Looks: baby girls steal their mothers looks, baby boys don't:  i do feel rather icky these days. TRUE!

Nausea: lots...girl. little...boy:  LOTS! TRUE!

Well I would go on but my love is home from work and we are heading to Lowe's to look at stuff for our NEW HOUSE! That's right. Keep your fingers crossed that everything gets in order by August 27th, our closing date, or we have to back to negotiations!...oh the joys of short sales!  :)

"it" turns into "she"!

Saturday was the day!  We decided to pay a little extra and find out baby Wiser's gender early at Baby Belly...and I don't care how ridiculous anyone thinks it is. :)  We were so blessed to be accompanied by some of our wonderful family, including Mimi and Sass, Uncle Andrew, Aunt Melissa, and Pam Pam.  I, of course, didn't wear my glasses, so when the ultrasound tech typed "It is a girl!" on the screen, I had to ask a teary-eyed Stuart what exactly had been written. :) 

We were amazed at how Norah Grace has gone from blob girl at week 8 to tiny baby at week 16. And that, my friends, is why they call it "the miracle of life". I am no expert, but everything looked pretty normal so far.  I saw a head, two arms, two legs, and a body. :) Phew! A little bit of a relief. Our doctor's big anatomy ultrasound is not until early September, so we won't know much more until then. :)

After the ultrasound, we all went to Marshall's, where Mimi and Pam Pam went a little overboard on the purchases.  Let's just say, little Grace will be one well-dressed baby girl! My mom is keeping clothes to have at her house, so I don't have to lug so much back and forth when Grace has bonding time with the ol' grandparents.

The distraction of my excitement caused me to forget to check the box that would have gotten us a cd of the ultrasound images....so I had to take pictures of the pictures, and they look kinda weird.  Of course, to Mommy and Daddy, they look BEAUTIFUL!  Without further ado...

What's in a name?

Well..hello. :)  Not much to update on the baby-growing front.  The nausea has not completely subsided, but is manageable...and I am hoping it is mostly behind me. Every once in a while, if I move too fast, or the wrong way, I get a sharp pain in my belly, on either side. I am told this is likely "round ligament pain" and can be attributed to the stretching of my belly. Speaking of belly, mine is there.  It's not huge, and some people say I don't even look pregnant to them, but other people tell me I have a definite baby bump.  I have been wearing my maternity clothes for a few weeks now...more for comfor than anything.  It's weird...when you are pregnant you really care MUCH less about how something looks, and much MORE about how it feels. :)

On Saturday, we are going to Baby Belly to get our gender ultrasound. :) I will be ALMOST 16 weeks...and I know, I know, it's a little early, and they could be wrong... but HE-LLO! I can totally keep my receipts after the buying spree we are sure to go on afterward. :) To be honest, I am almost done buying clothes, unless I find something special.  We have tons of little gender neutral onesies, and a few girl outfits, and a few boy outfits...I figured one of the many people I know who are pregnant will have the opposite gender, and I can bequeath them the outfits Baby Wiser can't use.

Anyway, we have our big doctor's ultrasound on September 9th, at which point I would be 20.5 weeks, so we had originally planned a "baby revealing" party on the following Friday. We have still not decided what we are going to do about that... knowing Stuart and I, we won't be able to keep our mouths shut until then, but I don't want to plan something for this Saturday night and then the ultrasound tech not be able to tell the gender yet. :) Ahhh decisions, decisions.

My lovely cousin Kris is planning a baby shower in Owensboro in October...I am so excited, already! I have gotten lots of advice, and a recurring tidbit is not to buy too many clothes, because people love buying baby clothes for pregnant people! Hint hint. ;) Jusssst kidding. 

I head into Dr. Dalton's office tomorrow morning for the monthly check-up. Here's hoping my blood pressure is good, my platelets aren't drastically lower, and he has no trouble finding the heartbeat. :) I look forward to these appointments with a sense of dread, to be completely honest. It is nerve-wracking.  There is a deep fear, in most pregnant women, I think, that something will go wrong.

The only real struggle Stuart and I are having is our baby boy name.  Stuart keeps saying that we have to have a boy name, so that if Baby Wiser winds up being a "he" on Saturday, we will know what to start calling him.  At one point in time, we were set on Samuel Reid...but we just don't know anymore.   Suggestions are welcome. :)

I guess that's really it, things are pretty status quo...  I can't wait to update with pictures on Saturday! :)