More Baby Photos!

We went to the doctor today and got three new images:

1. Back with ear and shoulder.




2. Face ... oooh, ghostie.



Actually, Baby Thiel behaved per usual and faced toward my spine during the vast majority of the screening. This was a brief face image caught on camera. Generally, Baby Thiel hid its face - either by looking away or by expertly waiving its hands and obscuring the image. Gosh Darn It!

3. Shoulder, arm, hand and ear ... 3D, fun!



[Revision]

All in all our visit went well - Baby Thiel weighs in at approximately 2 lbs 2 oz now and both the baby's and my growth are 'on target.' We think they got all relevant measurements this time, but won't know until our doc gets the official ultrasound report later this week.

- H

97 Days

The little ticker at the bottom of this blog told me today that we have 97 days left in our pregnancy. I have two reactions to moving into the two-digit day count ...

For. Sure. This. Is. Awesome. Wonderful. Baby Thiel will be here in just over three months. Woo Hoo!

But.

Now. For. Sure. This. Totally. Freaks. Me. Out. Baby Thiel will be here in just over three months. Goodness Freakin' Gracious.

Just needed to type that out loud. ;)

Just a snipet ...

Things are going well.

Our baby room is coming together. Our home is coming together. Despite crossing many things off (and knowing that what needs to get done will indeed get done), our to do list can be daunting,(some days more than others!) but it will work out.

We are excited to watch my expanding waistline, but my feelings are not so certain about the increasing numbers on the scale. Watching the numbers go up has never been a good thing and reconciling that change while in a 'heightened emotional state' feels like walking a tightrope. (However, I did try on swimsuits last weekend - never my favorite activity - and while it was NOT fun and we did not actually purchase a swimsuit, I survived and walked out of the store laughing rather than crying.)

On the extremely urgent scale, I finally selected yarn to make a blanket for the baby. It is colorful and happy and I am excited to work with it - as soon as I pick up needles in the right size!

- H

Easter Sunday

Miss Zoe sitting pretty:




All dressed up for Easter:



Happy Easter All!

- H

Its a jungle out there ...

Several people have asked us about nursery themes ...

For awhile, I wanted a rocker covered in large graphic giraffe print. (Have I seen such an animal, er rocker? No, but I have a good - and unfortunately specific - imagination.) Also, Kyle loves monkeys - and I recently brought home a very cute stuffed monkey (that incidentally, Zoe thinks is her new best friend).

Putting these facts together, a few people have asked if we are having a jungle themed nursery. The first time it was asked I was caught off guard and went home to discuss the issue with Kyle. Now, acknowledging our apparent affinity for jungle-type animals, I am much less surprised when someone asks.

Our nursery theme is 'bright and happy' - Kyle actually prefers describing the nursery as without theme. With our art projects and the brightly colored citrusy fabrics, we think bright and happy is sufficient. (It allows us creativity within a pretty good spectrum.)

And, as for the rocker, I think we're going with bright turquoise blue or granny smith apple-ish green ... the giraffe print in my head is hard to find in reality and our citrusy fabrics don't really lend themselves to being paired with a big honkin' giraffe chair.

- H

Beginning at the End

This is our Z.

Slow slow quick quick slow ...

Spring comes fast and slow here to St. Louis (and I'm sure elsewhere too). We are eager for Spring to be here and stay. The daffodils have long since shone their faces and tulips are starting to join in the fun. But we got snow last weekend (though it melted within 24 hours) and have more in the forecast for tonight and tomorrow (it is APRIL for GOODNESS SAKES!!!).

One of the fun things for me about spring is taking the time to clean house, rearrange furniture and trade 'fall/winter' for 'spring/summer' clothes. Most of my clothes have already been 'traded' for maternity fare which wasn't nearly as much fun as digging into a box filled with spring clothes in light fabrics and bright colors. But we are definitely in full swing spring cleaning mode.

The roof, the door, and the garage are all things crossed off of our to do list, but our work preparing the house for Baby and generally maintaining the house for us continues. Kyle is almost finished repairing some of the sheetrock damaged by water on the second floor or by my overloading a shelf on the first. Having those two items taken care of and the paint repaired will be a wonderful development.

We've also played furniture fruit basket turnover this weekend. Some friends took the bed on the third floor, we moved the guest bed up to the third floor, and we picked up the crib and assembled it. (Yay!) Various other pieces were moved around, and I am adjusting quite nicely to the end results.



(This image is of the crib assembled to bassinet stage. We first assembled it to bassinet, then took it apart and built the crib stage, and then took that apart and built the bassinet. I know, we're a bit crazy.)

There are slower parts of spring for us too. We're still lingering over a new front door. (Hello, mail slots let cold air out and cold air in ... why would you think your home might be energy efficient with a big hole in the front door!) And work on the yard is still in limbo - last time we addressed that topic we waivered between an ostrich approach and a full-on wrecking ball to address that purple deck monstrosity out back. Also, things are slow because we are slow. After full work days and many work weekends, we just are not good at coming home and breaking out the paint brushes - but some day our projects will wrap up and the house will be as lovely in reality as it is in our dreams!!

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speechless

the other night i felt the baby kick - wow!

K