Halloween Baby

**Warning this post contains pictures from inside of me**

A few weeks ago I wrote a post stating that we have had an ultrasound at every single one of our appointments.  Well, that streak was broken yesterday at our 24 weeks check-up.  But because of all our ultrasounds, I've had a hodge podge of ultrasound pictures, some of them great and some of them that look like a blurry mess.  It amazes me how magical the ultrasounds are to watch, but the pictures just don't do it justice.  Probably because you can't see her move in pictures or watch her little heart pumping.  We have a DVD from our 20 week ultrasound that I find myself watching whenever I've had a stressful day.  There's just something about seeing our sweet little baby moving around in her own little world that is very calming to me.

Anyway, back to the point.  With Halloween approaching I have decided to share some of her pictures with you.  They are taken from different weeks and check-ups but needless to say she's going to be a skeleton this year:

                                     

19.5 Weeks

This is the full view of her "costume"

16.5 Weeks

Here is a close up of her head and "mask"

And the one that will really scare you...

17.5 Weeks

She's coming to get you!

This last picture is really pretty freaky in picture form.  However, if you were in the room with us when it happened you would've been saying "Awe" as she turned directly towards us and yawned.  It was such a sweet moment and a reminder that she already is a little person.  At this stage in pregnancy all of her organs and parts are formed and she is working on growing bigger and practicing for her entrance into this world.  It's kinda cool if you think about it.  And yes she is practicing, her little kicks have certainly gotten stronger and she seems to be taking up more space than ever before.

I'll go ahead and give a quick update from our checkup yesterday since I'm sure it's not enough to warrant a separate post:  Everything is right on track.  It started off with a glucose screen to see if I might be developing gestational diabetes.  It's totally routine, but I won't know the results of the screen for a few days.  The doctor had absolutely no trouble finding her heartbeat, 156 bmp.  He has also started measuring my fundal height (which is the measurement of my baby bumb).  Right now, I'm measuring slightly large.  He didn't seem to be too concerned about this as I haven't gained more weight than I should, but said it could be the way she was positioned and if not she could be a bigger baby. 

While I want a healthy, strong baby, I'm kinda hoping she's not too big.  I still haven't come to terms with the whole "birthing" process.  In fact at this point, my birth plan is something along the lines of The Sims.  You know a few groans and then the baby appears magically above your head and you just have to catch her while everyone stands around and cheers you on...  I think that is the way to go.  Haha ~ Wishful Thinking right!?!

Anyways, Happy Halloween everyone, thanks for checking in on us!



Aren't You Supposed To Be The Pregnant One?

I'm pretty certain that you're supposed to gain weight when you're pregnant. I was not, however, expecting to gain more weight than the pregnant person over that stretch.

That is apparently the case as of now. Jen has been gaining the required pound or two on schedule, as most people growing a person inside their stomach would expect. I have somehow managed to outgain her over the last couple months, and I'm looking for an answer as we speak.

Right before we had discovered the impending arrival of our new baby girl, I had just stopped a short-lived diet in which I had lost about 14 lbs. It's one of those self-maintenance things that I have to do every so often to prevent morbid obesity or diabetes, seeing as how I tend to eat nothing but food items consisting of mostly cheese or sugar. That weight loss put me around the 190 lbs. mark, which is still about 10 lbs. more that where I'd like to be.

But after feasting on mostly salad and white meat for a month or so, I had gone on strike and decided to return to my regular schedule of pizza and Ben & Jerry's. So you could see how me gaining all that weight back came as a total shock. Before you know it, I wound up just a shade below the weight cutoff for riding on elevators by myself.

The other day, Jenni made that pouty face that she makes with the eyes looking down and sticking out her bottom lip. After I asked her what's wrong, she replied, "I'm getting fat, honey." I said, "No, sweetie, you're gorgeous. You're not fat at all."  She proceeded to disagree and call me a liar, to which I replied, "If, at any point over the next couple of months, you feel like you're abnormally heavy, just stand next to me and no one will notice." She gave me a truly puzzled look, but I'm sure she's figured it out by now.

Also a bit strange is the fact that I've begun craving things and had some minor mood swings over the last couple of weeks. Nothing creepy or over-the-top, but it's been enough to notice. For example, I stayed up the other night watching "Mr. Holland's Opus" in its entirety. Although I've probably watched it about ten times, I managed to boo-hoo at the end like I'd never seen it before. Jenni, however, has remained mostly serene if not completely normal 99 percent of the time.

Just about two weeks ago, I managed to sprain my ankle pretty badly at work. Not wanting to sit out injured and miss a big payday on a busy weekend, I worked through the pain at the expense of my foot and ankle health. While that decision was totally worth it and I made an obscene amount of money for three days of work, I've now been waddling around with a handicapped swagger while displaying a swollen ankle.

Are you seeing a pattern??

Let's recap: weight gain, mood swings, strange cravings, swollen ankle.

Up until this afternoon, there was growing cause for concern that I may, in fact, also be pregnant. As unlikely and scary a scenario as that may have been, I'm at least showing all the side effects. But then things began to roll back to the original script this afternoon when Jenni texted me from work.

Jen:  Hey, you busy tonight?
Me:  I'm gonna watch the game, why?
Jen:  Oh, is that super important to you?
Me:  Well, i guess not. What's up?
Jen:  Can I treat you to a pedicure tonight?
Me:  Um... really?
Jen:  Apparently not.
Me:  Why apparently not?
Jen:  Because of your reaction. I thought you were just giving me a crazy look via text.
Me:  It was not a crazy look. I'm just scared.
Jen:  You shouldn't be scared, what are you scared of?
Me:  A pedicure? I have sensitive feet and I've never had one.
Jen:  Nevermind.

In the end, I chose the football game and kept my pedicure virginity intact.  This alone proves that there is no reason to be alarmed and that all of my "sympathy weight" and maternity symptoms were just a pure coincidence. :-)

It's A...

Okay I know I've been slacking in putting up the results of our Gender Reveal Party Sunday night.  Before I let all of you in on the not so little secret anymore, I wanted to write a bit about how the party went.  I wish I had taken some pictures of all the decoration's I made for the party, but it just got away from me.  I always seem to think I'll have time for that before a party starts, but ineveitably I'm working and perfecting things right up until guests start arriving.

We invited our immediate family to share in the big moment of finding out what our sweet little baby will be.  I made invitations and sent them around asking guests to come dressed in blue or pink depending on what they thought or hoped baby Gill would be.  Here is a list of who came and their color choice:

Team Pink:
Me - The Mom
Haley - The Big Sister
Mike - My Dad
Bethany - My Sister
Jessea - My Sister-In-Law

Team Blue:
Mike - The Dad
Judy - My Mom
David - Mike's Brother
Braden - David's son and 1st cousin of baby Gill
Todd - Mike's Brother
Charity - Todd's Fiance
Cherry - Mike's Sister
Jennifer - Cherry's daughter and 1st cousin of baby Gill
Danny - My Brother
Melissa - Haley's Mom

Team Green:
Sue - Mike's Mom (In fairness she did wear both a blue and pink ribbon)

The blue team definately outnumbered the pink team.  We had pizza, fruit and veggies for everyone to eat and socialize before we did our one activity.  I had special ordered blue and pink soda's from Jones Soda that I had our baby's ultrasound picture put on with a little poem on the back.  Definately a hit at the party!  I think more than one person took their bottle home with them and I kept 2 bottles (a pink and a blue) as a keepsake for our little one.

So after we all had full bellies we broke down some tables and got ready for the one activity that I had planned.  I looked up a bunch of wives tales online and fashioned some questions so that we could tally the results before we opened the box that contained our card that contained our baby's gender.  Anyways, my dad asked the questions and the tally's for a little girl rapididly stacked up.  It got to the point where everytime another tally would go up there'd be a slight sigh and all our team blue people were hoping the next question would have an answer that pointed to boy.  It was a lot of fun!

Finally the big moment arrived.  You could cut the anticipation with a knife.  My heart was pounding, Mike's heart was pounding, it had all come down to this moment.  After waiting so long, it almost didn't seem real that we would know in a matter of seconds what our baby would be...  I let Mike open the box that contained the card.  For some reason I had gotten really possesive of the card and wanted to be the one to open it, selfish I know!  We get the card out and I open the envelope and read the card to everyone.  Now I can't take credit for the poem as I got it off a forum but here is the card:

Big Drumroll Please.....

tatatatatatatatatatatatatatata

tatatatatatatatatatatatatata

............................................

So there you go!  Baby Gill is Little Girl!  Baby Girl Gill the Sequel!  So excited to finally know and be able to start shopping for cute little girl things.  And I know some of you are asking yourselves how Mike took it.  He is as excited as ever about this little girl and says he's not disappointed at all!  So yay!  Thanks to everyone who came to the party and a big shout out to my co-worker Diane who locked the card away from me to keep me from peeking before the party and for wrapping the box.  She did a fantastic job :D

And I just found out my sister video'd the moment of our reveal, check it out on her blog at:

Jenni's Gender Reveal

I hope this link works :-D

Cast Your Vote!

Hiya!! Well with our gender reveal party rapidly approaching I thought I would give all of you out there in CyberLand an opportunity to cast your vote in what you think Mike and I will be having. I have bit the bullet and am actually posting a belly picture. Eeek! And yes, I know it's not the greatest picture, just be happy I have the confidence to post one at all at this point ~ haha!!  I have been really resistant to do these types of photos because I still look like I've had one too many doughnuts instead of pregnant. MMM...A doughnut actually sounds kinda good right now :D. So does a peanut butter banana sandwich... It must be lunch time!   Anyways back on subject, this is me at 21.5 weeks.


To help you out I've put in a few questions I get asked when people are making their guestimations:


What do you crave? Sweet or Salty?
Sweet (But you should be aware that I craved sweet before I was pregnant too)


Still no nausia or sickness?
Nope, I haven't encountered it yet.


Do you prefer to sleep on your right or left side?
Right


What do you think it is?
A baby. (This is my first baby so I have nothing to compare it too :D )

Leave a comment with what you think it will be or send an email.  I tried to find a simple poll to track this, but most of the ones I found make you text in your response.  I would be unwilling to do that, so I won't ask that of any of you!  I will create a graph to show the results though as I have time to update it.  Thanks y'all!!

Countdown to G Day!

Thoughts on Pregnancy Thus Far

Well, I'm still pregnant.  Just thought I'd put that out there in case any of you were actually wondering how things are going.  We've had two appointments since my last post.  Everything is looking good and cooking right along.  We've had ultrasounds at every single one of our appointments.  I would show you the pictures from those sessions, but they are really not that great since we weren't supposed to be looking at the baby.  But our ultrasound tech, Leena, always let us take a peek since we were already in there and paying for it.  On second thought, there is one that I may put up, but I'll save it for Halloween as it's a little freaky. 

This Thursday is our 20 week ultrasound.  We are nearly half way through ~ yikes!  I guess I better knuckle down and start attacking that closet I've been meaning to clear out, and maybe start thinking about what we will need in order to take care of little one once it gets here.  On an up note, we will have the gender of the baby in hand at the end of this session, on a down note, our reveal party isn't scheduled until Oct 16th, so we won't actually know until then.  We could've found out 3 weeks ago, but I said we'd wait, much to Mike's dissatisfaction (I would've let us know, except as previously admitted to by Mike, he can't keep a secret to save his life, and it's not fair for me to know and not him).

Anyways, my thoughts on pregnancy so far:  Well I wish I had some big exciting or horror story to share with you, as nearly every woman I've come in contact with has shared one with me, but I don't.  It's been really easy for me so far. Knock on wood!  I haven't had crazy cravings or morning sickness.  I haven't turned into some ferocious monster who will bite your head off for looking at me the wrong way or started crying for no apparent reason.  All things I fully expected to happen to me as those who know me know I can be a bit extreme at times.  Actually, I think it's mellowed me out a bit.  I'm gonna miss this feeling of level headedness ~ haha!  A few gripes here and there, but even those have been more than tolerable.  Such as, I can't wait to have ankles again as mine seem to stay in a perpetual state of swollen.  Having my organs rearranged was a bit uncomfortable, but those seem to be pretty minor compared to what some women have gone through.  Maybe I'm like my mom who was built to have babies :-D.

Most exciting thing recently, is that I believe I have started to feel the baby kick!  I wasn't sure at first what I feeling as it usually happened when I was really hungry.  But I've been feeling it more frequently, so I'm thinking it's little one.  For all you men out there and women who haven't been pregnant before it feels like someone is tapping you from the inside.  Or like a band of Mexican jumping beans is putting on a concert and there is moshing involved.  Rock on little one!  Actually, I usually take this as my baby screaming "Pay Attention To Me!"  Which I try to do, really I do, but it's weird talking to your stomach.  Especially since I still look like I've had one too many doughnuts instead of pregnant.  What if someone sees me!?  "Hi, baby... I felt that... how you doin... did you like that applesauce?... I love you..."  It's just awkward.  And reading aloud is questionable as I feel like I am boring the poor little thing, "Did you know you're about 6" long? and developing rapidly now? You might be able to hear my voice..." So yeah, I'll need to practice this bonding thing a bit more.

But seriously, it is completely wonderful to feel those kicks and jabs!  Such a wonderful reminder of the work God is doing within me to knit a new life together with a unique personality, talents, and gifts.  I feel a bit in awe that I would be chosen to carry such a wonderful gift.  Only God knows the paths of this little one, but to be a part of it from the start is such an honor.  I only hope we can be good parents and teachers and raise this baby to see all the wonder and beauty of this world.

A Fun Frolic Into The Future

Jen and I had a conversation the other day over pancakes. We were innocently theorizing about how our unborn child would compose its personality from our own unique characteristics and what kind of combination we should expect in approximately five months. It was a mind-expanding conversation to say the least.

First, to understand the imaginary results of our findings, you must first understand who we are. And not just the two sparkling winners that all you peeps out there in blog-reader land probably know and love, but the sarcastic, flawed and wildly imperfect jesters that we tend to be when no one is looking.

So, in the interest of chivalry, we'll go ladies' first. :-)

Jen is a warm, charming and bright woman. She has a heart of pure gold and enjoys people who are considerate and polite, because she is never anything less than that to them. There is a slight bit of OCD hidden beneath the surface which adds to the "cute" factor but doesn't come off as crazy.  Jen is the curious cat that sees the small bit of thread hanging off the sweater and has to fix it. She loves board games and any type of activity that involves a group and allows for one to think outside the box. She puts a high value on ceremony and tradition, and always keeps her promises. She is a really terrible speller but has an affinity for hand-written notes. All these, in addition to those big, beautiful eyes and bright smile, are what made me fall head-over-heels in love with her four years ago today.

Our child is destined to inherit a few of these perks and qwirks, which is awesome. But when I think of what my side brings to the table, I start to worry just a touch.

My full name is Michael Shane Gill. According to most of the blood relatives who came before me, I'm mostly Irish-Italian with some other random notes tossed in for good measure. Some positives about me include a musical background, a willingness to see things through and a penchant for being very personable and unafraid to engage strangers in a conversation. I'm pretty good with numbers and patterns, and I can't stand when someone uses really awful grammar (either verbally or in text). On the other hand, I tend to not be on time. Ever. I can't seem to wake up at the correct hour and I procrastinate horribly. I tend to put off shaving every Sunday which drives Jenni nuts. I go through streaks where I swear way too much and I truly suck at keeping secrets.

Now Jenni has learned over the last 1,460 days how to work around my lesser qualities and ways to either refine my bad habits or outright ignore them. And she's really, really good at it. However, once we mix all these into a new bundle of joy, I'm somewhat petrified at the possibilities. Imagine with me, if you will.

1) A bright, charming child who sleeps all day and swears uncontrollably. Ugh... no good.

2)  A child with extreme attention to detail who can't keep a secret. I'll have to watch every word I say for the rest of my life! Hahaha... could turn out to be an awesome reporter in the long run though.

3) A musician with a heart of gold and perfect grammar. That actually sounds pretty good, seeing as how that hasn't really been done yet. :-)

There were several more possibilities we discussed at length that got crazier and more outrageous. Stuff like that makes us chuckle more than cringe, since we are going to love this child no matter what and we both share some pretty extreme senses of humor.

More in a bit.... stay tuned!