Wild Kingdom & 16 Weeks

Well, let's get right to business! I know you just want to see belly pictures, so we took one for ya. We're still waiting for it to pop, but it's a good little baby bump for now. I am finding that all my "baggy" clothes are now my "only" clothes. ;-) I've always been one to wear my pants a little baggy around the hips, but lately, they fit nice and snug. Yikes! We had a dr. appointment this week and we heard the baby's heartbeat again (159 bpm)... so all seems to be well. We made our 20 week ultrasound appointment (only 4 weeks away). Bryan wants to know the baby's sex and I want to be surprised when it pops out of me. However, Bry is the responsible planner, which probably means I will lose the battle and we will know whether we're having a boy or a girl in one month (assuming the baby cooperates)!

So I'm realizing it's a good thing I don't mind people touching me because I already can't go anywhere without friends and family rubbing my belly. In fact, at church every Sunday, people suddenly can't seem to talk to me without rubbing my belly. They don't even look at it... they just sit there and blab and their hand just subconsciously rubs the belly. I definitely expected the belly rubbing once I had a basketball in there, but not this early!

Well, I think that's all the prego stories I have for now... I thought I'd share a little bit about what I do on my days off (Friday)... I guess I should say "day off." Usually playing on my computer in the office or at the dining room table, I enjoy the lovely view of our backyard. Some days are lovelier than others. haha. Anyways, you were probably wondering where the whole "wild kingdom" was going in the title... well, I have a great new camera that I bought with some collected Christmas and B-day cash, so I'm always looking for fun animals and things to take pics of. I never get to show these to anybody, cause they're not exactly the pictures you print out and put in with the friends and family pictures, so what better way to show them off than to post them on my blog. So, this last Friday, I captured all these different moments throughout the day. This is all our backyard... so we really do have a "wild kingdom" yard. I don't even have pictures of the bats, ducks, ibis or herons.

Let's start with my squirrel friend "Sammy." We have Sammy the boy and Sammy the girl. As you can see we have a "Squirrel Diner" attached to the Pine tree in the yard... yes, that's really the name of it. It is the most entertaining thing EVER to watch them climb in and out of this thing and they'll hang from their back legs while eating the peanut they just picked up at the diner. Well, after Sammy had a good meal, he was very interested in posing for some pictures. Enjoy! Thanks, Sammy! Isn't he so cute?!?!

I caught Sammy in action itching his belly. ha!

So, here's another good story. I caught this rare Hawk in our backyard. It looked like he was eating the grass, which was weird, but I thought, "Hey, maybe hawks eat grass!" Well, I started taking pictures from inside the house... and slowly got closer and closer, cause I didn't know when he'd get scared and fly away. As I got closer I realized he was making a meal out of the pesky mole that's been tearing up our yard (so I was very happy)! Anyway, I got closer and closer until he eventually grabbed the mole with his talons and flew off. I tried to follow him and snapped this 2nd shot just before he left my camera frame.

And last, but not least, here's a shot from the backyard looking towards the house... we had a family of Sandhill Cranes (mommy, daddy & baby) walking through the yard. I snapped this guy and several other pictures until they finally got annoyed with me and walked off to the neighbors yard. (I confess this was a couple Fridays ago, he's not friends with the hawk and the squirrel).
 well, that's all... I hope you enjoyed my photo tangent!

A Peeing Machine

We've passed 15 weeks! Baby "E" is about the size of a softball and is trying so hard to make an appearance through mommy's belly ;-) I'll wait a week before showing another belly picture, but let's just say it's showing just enough for EVERYBODY to be rubbing my "buddha belly." The evening belly is the best, because it's a day's worth of bloating, water, and food, so it's at it's biggest... always makes me smile as I inspect it in the mirror every night before bed ;-)

Just when I thought I couldn't possibly pee anymore.... SURPRISE! I can! I've always been a heavy water-drinker, but I'm considering a change in life-style. Last night we had our entire Odego (camp) staff over for dinner and I swear everytime I got back from the bathroom it was time to go again. I think I spent more quality time with the throne than I did our friends & family. However, I've got good news... my early morning pee (which had been arriving anytime between the hours of 1am and 6am) has been consistently waking me at 4:30am for the last couple days. So, I'm starting to feel like I have a routine, which makes me feel a little normal. I've read stuff that says just cut down on your water drinking in the evening, but I feel like I'm dying if I'm not always drinking water... so, I'll continue to suffer.

Thanks for all your comments! I enjoy reading what everyone has to say ;-) Martha, I had already purchased a Bella Band a couple weeks back, but I had not attempted to make use of it. So, after your comment, I decided all the button-less nights should come to an end... so I grabbed my most favorite jeans, that I had stopped wearing due to "fatness" and put the Bella Band to work! I was SOOOO excited to wear my favorite jeans again. I'm sure I'll be saying the same thing after I have the baby, but I'll be even MORE excited. Anywho, we have Pedro to thank for capturing the Bella Band moment for us in Target.

I hope I haven't bored you all. I'll keep you posted!

Sneak Peak

Hey all! Well, Apparently Baby "E" (as we shall call 'it') is now the size of my fist. We're up to 14 weeks for those of you that haven't tried (or haven't been able) to do the math :-) So far so good... I'm barely showing, but as far as most people are concerned I'm "not showing at all!" I guess when you've been built like a twig your whole life, you notice the littlest of bumps. I know there's a handful of you thinking to yourself... "yeah, yeah, skinny b*tch!" But, anyway, I think it's a fair size bump. 

The word is officially out to all of the family and to most of our close friends, BUT we still have a couple more calls to make. Crazy enough, I've told 2 close friends of mine that I'm pregnant to which they replied "me too!" I won't "out" them just yet, in case they have friends and family to tell still... but now worries, I'll try not to keep it a secret too long.

So I've begun to button-pop quite often... I don't feel like I really need maternity clothes just yet, however, I do find myself undoing a button when I sit or even half a zipper. I know, crazy, right! That's what I call living life on the edge. On a more personal note (& possibly embarrassing note) it is pretty exciting to finally over-fill my bra! I can't say that I've ever done that before. God didn't exactly gift me in that area, so these last couple months have been "full" of excitement. haha!

Well, I hope to have more exciting stories for you soon. But, I wanted to at least keep you up to speed and give you a little update. I hope you enjoy this quick pick I took for Missy last night who insisted on seeing my belly.

Remember... there's a fist full of baby in that belly!