Slowly but surely

I’ve found that the two most common questions asked of pregnant women are “How are you feeling?” and “How far along are you?” To the first, I have been able to respond... great! I have been blessed with an uneventful pregnancy (so far) and haven’t had to deal with any of the more uncomfortable aspects of the beginning of pregnancy (morning sickness, food aversions, etc.) To the second question, I always respond in weeks (which seems to be the common method of keeping track of time in pregnancy) and am usually met with the response, “Really? You don’t look like you are that far along!” What do you say to that? Anyway, I know it won’t last...

I helped throw a shower for my friend Alisha (she is due May 26th) and was convinced to take this picture for posterity. My friend Nicole, who took the picture, laughed as she was taking it and told me to stick out my belly more! That was two weeks ago... I haven’t taken another picture yet, but trust me when I say that I am definitely showing more now! Perhaps I will take another picture soon to show my progress... the biggest problem now is finding clothes to wear! (I went to Destination Maternity a few days ago in search of inexpensive maternity clothes. The full story will have to wait for another blog entry, but for now suffice it to say that I had the only male sales attendant in the store wait on me...I ended up taking about 20 items into the dressing room and only picked out 2 of them myself! Not the most successful shopping experience I’ve ever had...)

High Tech Baby?

It is no secret that the Lauers (especially Josh) are fans of all things Mac... so my mom couldn’t resist this onesie when she saw it. Not exactly a traditional iPod commercial but it certainly speaks the truth about babies!!

It's a BOY!

On Wednesday, Josh and I had the blessing of seeing new pictures of our precious little boy! Ultrasound technology is truly amazing as we got glimpses all 5 fingers on each hand, tummy, legs... even the 4 chambers of his tiny, pumping heart! He was moving around like crazy and seems to enjoy being tucked into a little ball -- a position that challenged the ultrasound tech to get the measurements she needed!

Over the last few weeks I have also begun to feel some of the baby’s acrobatics...it felt like a small muscle twitches at first and I wasn’t sure if I was just imagining that it was the baby. But seeing the baby move on the ultrasound screen and simultaneously feeling it confirmed my suspicions! I don’t notice him moving so much during the day while I am teaching and moving around, but as soon as I sit for a while I start feeling his gentle little nudges.

We also rejoiced to hear (and see) that the baby seems to be developing normally and to be healthy! All the measurements indicated that the due date given to us at the 10 week ultrasound was accurate -- August 22nd, here we come! The baby is also around 14 oz right now... just a little less than a pound!

Now we just need to get the baby’s room underway...

Too Cute

Some good friends sent us these adorable onesies... hard to believe that in 5 short months we will have a tiny little baby to put inside them. The baby is the size of a sweet potato -- hard to believe as I still don’t look very pregnant! We will get to hear the baby’s heart beat again on Monday (26th) during the regular check up. Then the big day comes on April 4th when we go in for our 20 week ultrasound... the technicians will look for organ development and check for a variety of disorders. Hopefully all will be well (your prayers are appreciated!) and we might get to find out if Little Lauer is a girl or a boy! Stay tuned!

Thick around the middle

How is it possible that something the size of an avocado can make me feel SO enormous? I am at 16 weeks and the baby is at about 4.5 inches long... I know that some of you (if anyone actually reads this blog) may be waiting for the “belly” pictures but the truth is that I just feel thick around the middle and far from that cute pregnant look I was hoping for. So no pictures of me anytime soon. I tried on maternity clothes at Old Navy for the first time... quite an experience. I could have done without the full length mirror in the dressing room...

Upcoming dates of interest: April 4th -- Ultrasound #2

Heartbeats and baby gifts

Yesterday was my 2nd prenatal doctor’s visit at which I heard the baby’s heartbeat! It was nice and strong -- the doctor’s word was “Perfect!” According to her, it was at just the right speed and sounded just like it should. I was just happy to hear it and be reassured once again that the little life inside of me was doing well! Our next appointment and the “big” ultrasound are scheduled for March 26th -- at that point, if we decide we want to, we can find out if it is a boy or a girl.

I have also posted a picture of some of our first baby gifts. The bunny’s name is Baxter and is sure to become a constant companion of little Lauer. The onsies and socks are from one of the coach’s in Josh’s club... it is funny to try to find a place to store baby clothes when there are still days I don’t even feel pregnant!!