It's a Boy!

We were guessing girl - even though we would both have dreams where the baby was a boy.  95% of people guessing said girl, all the old wive's tales pointed to girl, and boys are RARE in my family.  But it is most definitely a HE - We saw the goods REALLY clearly; I said "that's a BOY!" and the sonographer laughed and said "most definitely a boy."  My sister, Auti, was supposed to be a boy.  However, I'm feeling very confident that there's no way we got his gender wrong!!

Mike Birbiglia

Brent and I went to one of our favorite comedian's shows on Friday - Mike Birbiglia.  He is hilarious and we bought these tickets about 6 months ago.  My favorite stories of his talks about his real sleepwalking condition, REM behavior disorder.  Here's a link to one of his stories http://odeo.com/episodes/23866626-Mike-Birbiglia-Sleepwalk-with-Me  - Skip to minute 6:25 if you want to hear the BEST part about his experience in Walla Walla, Washington.   He's got funny stuff on youtube too :)

Callie's Senior pictures

I took Callie's senior pictures while we were in Ephrata.  I haven't edited them all yet but here are some of my favorites: 

 

 

 

Her boyfriend, David, jumped in some of the pictures too.

Auti's first Homecoming

.  Auti and her date, Kieran

 

her boyfriend, Chuky (no, she didn't go to the dance with him!)

with dad

getting help with the boutonniere

  I spent most of Saturday getting her hair and makeup ready - but she cleans up nicely, right?

Where is the time going? Week 17?!

I cannot believe it's almost the end of October.  Yikes.  I have been working so much lately, it makes the time fly by twice as fast as normal.  Since I've picked up an extra private client, I now work 2-3 12 hour days a week.  So now it's 8 pm and I just walked in the door... I left my house at 7 am.  It's hitting me I'm NOT going to be able to keep doing this until I am 39 weeks pregnant like I was hoping (yeah, right!!)
At least I have Tuesdays when I get off at noon :)  Yesterday I got off work, went straight to the doctor to figure out my blood pressure issue, and then straight to my hairstylist to fix these roots that have been driving me crazy.  The doctor went well - she really wasn't concerned that my blood pressure is a serious issue.  However, she did keep me there for nearly an hour and a half!  It was a REALLY thorough appointment.  She seems pretty sure my blood pressure rises at my appointments because of anxiety and is not a chronic problem.  She did take a lot of blood tests to rule out thyroid disease, etc.  We talked about relaxation techniques for most of the appointment.  Of course it was high when they took it about 10 minutes after I arrived to my appointment - before I left, I let them re-take my blood pressure and I gave them a beautiful NORMAL number. Her bottom line:  "looks like you're healthy, but you'll get a lot of hassling about your blood pressure at your appointments for the next few months!"  So no magic cure for my doctor office anxiety - not that I expected that.
I'm feeling great - sadly Shelby is not.  She had her anal glands expressed (don't gag, I know it's gross) yesterday and has been in so much pain since then.  She was up all night panting and whining - so we were up practically all night as well.  She is a drama queen - we called the vet this morning and they said there were no complications with the procedure (which she's had 4 times before without a problem!) and she is probably just sore.  Anyway, it makes me feel so bad when she's miserable. 

I began our halloween costumes this weekend.  We'll be the best looking bacon and egg you've ever seen.

OK, now for embarrassing journal entry of the week:

Ignore the typo in that journal entry!  I just noticed it and am fixing it as we speak on photoshop.

Conversation while doing this photo shoot:
Me:  I don't want to look the same in all pictures - tell me to do something interesting
Brent: Pretend your running
Me: (see above)
Brent:  (looks at pictures and laughs hysterically)

So I'm not model material, and he's not professional photographer... but we have fun.

16 weeks

We made it to 16 weeks!  Brent and I went in for our 16 week prenatal checkup with our midwife today.  I love the midwife we had last month, who unfortunately went on maternity leave until February (but that means she'll be back in time for our baby's arrival).  So today I met with a different midwife - who was great, but more concerned about my blood pressure than the previous one.  I get REALLY worked up before appointments, my systolic blood pressure is always high right when I walk in the office (which is when they seem to take the blood pressure unfortunately).  They usually retake it 5 minutes later after I've had some time to calm down and it is always in a normal range.    New midwife is concerned that the range gets so high - so now I am worried that I have some chronic high blood pressure condition.  I'm seeing a doctor about it soon just in case there is a problem, and the midwife said not too worry - it's mild if anything.  I'm sure my blood pressure is through the roof right now because I'm worrying about my blood pressure - this is a vicious cycle.  YIKES - so much to worry about these days.

Other than that - the appointment was great.  Baby's heartbeat is healthy strong and comes in at 158 bpm.  Last time we went the heart rate was 170 bpm.  Makes me wonder about the old wives' tale that girls have higher heart rates (higher than 140).  I was hoping we'd get an ultrasound today (other midwife said we would, new midwife said she doesn't do them unless there's a problem) - so we'll wait until the 27th to find out the gender at our BIG ultrasound.

We are counting down the days until our cruise, trying to get our halloween costumes together, and working way too much!

 

Loving Tuesdays & a wiggly baby

Tuesdays are my sanity days - I only work till noon.  It makes the 12 hour days on Mondays and Thursdays seem worth it. On the agenda for today: nap!
Today I decided that I really AM feeling the baby wiggle around inside me.  I've been feeling little movements for the past week and couldn't decide if it was baby or maybe just gas. Today the movements have been pretty noticeable, consistent, and feels like something is tickling me from the inside.  I never thought I would be able to feel the baby this early!

15 weeks & Auti's Birthday

I cannot believe it's already October!  Happy birthday to my little sister, Auti.  How did you get to be 15 already????