last birthday before mommyhood!

I turned 27 last week... officially in my late twenties. I don't so much have a problem with the age, but more so in the fact that I don't feel 27! At most I feel like I'm.... 23? Sometimes when Brian and I are together I feel like we're 17 again... how can a decade have gone by so fast?! But, I'm incredibly happy where I am at this point in my life... married, a home owner, expecting our first baby... I couldn't ask for more. I have a wonderful family and am starting one of my own-- I am incredibly blessed.

I wasn't planning on celebrating much, but we ended up having lunch with the family on Sunday, dinner with friends Sunday night, going to the Dodger game on Monday (my actual birthday), and then had a birthday lunch the following day with my mom. Overall, it was a great last-birthday-before-baby!

Lunch with the fam at Marmalade Cafe:

beautiful roses from Brian <3

Dinner at OlivA with some of the bestest friends...

Dodger game with E and Erin:

Lunch with mom (at Marmalade-- again! hehe):

and then of course we had to go into M.Fredric Kids...


where my mom bought these adorable little socks for baby girl!

Thanks for all the birthday wishes, gifts and love!! :)
27 was wonderful and I can't wait to celebrate every future birthday with my baby girl!

She's a Star!

This past Thursday we had the second trimester anatomy scan at my other doctor's office. I took the grandmas with me (my mom, Sandy and Andrea) since Brian couldn't get off work during his last week at FOX. (Side note-- Brian just got a great new job as a manager of research at ABC! woo hoo!)

They checked baby's heart, brain, and other organs. They check blood flow, her lip (for a cleft palette), spine (for spina bifida), etc. The doctor also gave us our results from the last scan and the risk assessment for down syndrome and the trisomy disorders were both 1:10,000-- he said we won the lottery with those numbers as they are the absolute lowest possible! They also double checked her gender... she's definitely a girl! Most importantly, our baby girl looked normal and healthy! :) We are so thankful.

Please enjoy this video I pieced together from our ultrasound. (Many things are labeled so hopefully you'll be able to see her pretty clearly.)

Don't forget to leave us a comment! She'll see this blog one day ;)

me at 19 weeks:

and Baby Girl at 19 weeks, 4 days :) (make sure to turn up your sound!)

Except for some muscle aches and leg cramps, I'm feeling good... and baby is kicking me every day! It's amazing :) Next up... working on her nursery!!

Pop! goes the belly...

I think it's safe to say that my belly has now "popped". It still has quite a ways to go, but on a day to day basis I think I definitely appear pregnant. I'm now 18 weeks, 3 days, and baby girl has been kicking away! Her kicks feels like little taps on the inside, like pops... but lately I've been feeling her at least once or twice a day. I notice her kicks more when I'm sitting-- I think it's because she has less room so I'm feeling her kicks more. Though I do worry sometimes that I'm constricting her space and she's in there going "mommy! you're squishing me!" Hopefully that's not the case... I'm calling her my little kickaroo ;) Everyone keeps asking me if we've chosen a name for her yet... the answer is a two-parter. Yes, she has a name. But sorry, we will not be sharing until she's born. ;)

At 18 weeks, baby girl is about the size of a sweet potato (aaw...), at least according to thebump.com. She is passing the hours yawning, hiccuping, rolling, twisting, kicking, punching, sucking and swallowing. Wow! I always think about what she's doing in there and wondering if she's bored haha Her bones are becoming more calcified, and her spinal cord is being wrapped with myelin, a protective sheath that speeds transmission of nervous impulses. Her eyes are now sensitive to light and she will supposedly change position to avoid bright light. I think that's why I feel her kick more when I'm in bed with the blanket covering my belly. :) She is about 5.6 inches (crown to rump) and weighs approximately 6.7 oz. Growing by the minute!

Brian takes a weekly picture of my belly progression, and I decided to make a little chart showing the last 10 weeks... so here it is!

I have 2 more doctors appointments next week so I'll have more pictures of baby girl to share then!