Baby Update

On January 13th, we will find out if we are having a little boy or a little girl. My sister and my friend Kelly purchased us gift certificates to Prenatal Imaging for Christmas. I will be 18 weeks, the earliest the place feels comfortable stating yes, you are having _____. I have a feeling we are having a boy; everyone we know is having girls. We have our girl name picked out and cannot agree on a boy name, so of course it will be a boy. I honestly don't care whether we have a boy or a girl. Carl says he would love to have a daughter, but then again, he doesn't want to be walking with her looking at guys saying, "Are you looking at my daughter?!" lol.

I've been feeling good. If I over do it during the day, my body lets me know in the middle of the night (lots of ligament stretching). My stomach has started to itch a lot, not sure if that is pregnancy related, though.

I finally broke down and purchased some maternity clothes. Ashley helped me pick out some jeans and some shirts. I think she was more excited than I was about the shopping, lol. :] I still have one good pair of jeans that fit and a pair of shorts (not that they are usable in VA right now).

I do feel baby move occasionally. I have to be sitting/laying really still, and I usually have to be squishing my lower abdomen (like curled in a ball). It is amazing.

Bahamas Vacation

We had a wonderful time on our cruise to the Bahamas! Some days were not as warm as we had hoped, but it was good. We left from Newport News on Sunday the 20th. Our flight was suppose to leave at 4, and the airplane wasn't even there when 4 rolled around. We were a little stressed because we didn't have a big lay over in Charlotte. When we landed in Charlotte, we looked like crazy people sprinting through the airport (good thing I was only about 14 weeks pregnant!)... only to get to the gate to find out that our next flight was delayed as well. Oh well, we got some exercise that day, haha.

We boarded the ship in Miami on Monday and cruised to Nassau and arrived on Tuesday. Carl and I went to Atlantis, explored the aquarium, looked for a place to eat lunch for 45 minutes (we ran across a buffet that was $28 a person... I don't know about you, but I can't eat $28 worth of food, much less want to eat that much!), then went on a 60 foot almost straight down water slide. It was a little chilly when we were dry, so when we were wet, it was freezing. We decided one slide was enough, and got our towels and dried off.

Atlantis

Carl loves the Chicago Bulls

The sharks that swim around a tube you go through on the water slide

Top portion of the slide

Wednesday, we anchored off the coast of Cococay. Carl and I were eating our breakfast watching the boats coming from the island to the ship almost tipping over because the water was so rough. It was decided that it was unsafe to try to boat people to the island, and we set sail for Key West. It would have been really nice to relax on the beach and do the Blackbeard BBQ, but I would rather not have been thrown into the rough sea.

Cococay

Formal dinner

Thursday we were in Key West, and walked for 2 hours around the island. We saw some very interesting people (a pirate with a wooden leg, a guy pushing birds around in a stroller, someone with a lemur, etc.). We then went Jet Skiing in the Gulf of Mexico. The water was beautiful (freezing) and we went for a "swim" (Carl swam, I jumped in, and got right back on the jet ski). The water was really rough, so we didn't go very fast on the ski. We ate lunch at Hard Rock Cafe. It was also the only day we forgot to put sunscreen on, and the only day there wasn't a cloud in the sky. We definitely got burnt that day.

Port of Key West

He had a wooden leg and a parrot (who is hiding behind his head). He rode a scooter around Key West.

Sunset

Friday we just drifted in the ocean and relaxed. We arrived back to Miami on Saturday and flew back home that night. All in all, it was so nice to go relax and see things we had never seen. It was great to just be able to be together, without our phones and computers :]

We also climbed this 2 story rock wall our first night. It doesn't look that high, but when you climb it when it is really windy, it is pretty scary (also for someone scared of heights!)

We did miss our family on Christmas, but we went to my parents' house the Sunday after to finish up Christmas.

Missed my sister on Christmas

Baby Rhodes and Sisterly Christmas

Carl and I went to our doctors appointment on Friday. It was a really quick appointment, we reviewed the results of my blood work (all was good, I just have to get an MMR booster once I deliver because I lost my immunity). She found the heartbeat right away and it was strong. I asked if we would get to see the baby again, and we were able to. :] Peanut has really grown! "She" was in there jumping and spinning around and even had the hick-ups. I told my midwife I keep dreaming we find out the baby is a boy, and she said she thinks she may have seen boy parts when she first peaked. Hopefully, if the 3D/4D place that my sister and Kelly went to will do the ultrasound at 17 weeks, we will find out the sex the week of Jan. 6.

My sisters and I (along with Carl and Jeremy) did our Secret Santa exchange tonight. We all had a really good time (thanks Mel and Jeremy for hosting and having Jakes BBQ) and we all put a lot of thought into the gifts we give each other. You can go here to check out all the pictures from tonight's festivities. I picked Natalie and bought her flip-flops that you can change the straps. Carl had Jeremy, so he got him a drinking mug with hand painted tiki men on it (we have to finish the gift on the cruise by purchasing the alcohol for the glass). Natalie had Mel and got her a Longwood Soccer shirt along with some Darwin book or something. Jeremy purchased Carl a few rounds of golf at his favorite golfing place. And the best gift of all was from Mel to me... she got me a gift certificate for the 3D/4D place she went. Soooooo excited!! On a side note... Kelly, Harry, and Emma also purchased us a gift certificate at the same place :] I can't wait to see Peanut in all "her" glory and find out if I have to stop calling her a her. Thanks Mel, Nat, and Jeremy for being great family.

Carl and I (and Shrek... long story) leave tomorrow for Miami!! Hopefully we don't get snowed in or our flights get delayed/canceled! On Monday we get on our cruise ship and head for the Bahamas. I am so excited for 85 degree weather, I am not a fan of cold weather (which may change when I am 9 months pregnant and it is like 70 degrees). I will be sure to take lots of pictures.

Randoms

First, let me just say I am sulking in sorrow tonight. I haven't made anything less than an A- since my second to last semester of undergrad. That all changed today. I have a B+ on my graduate transcript... GASP! Sigh. If I weren't pregnant I would probably partake in an alcoholic beverage right about now (maybe I'll just ask my sister to do it for me... wait, she already does that every night, haha). I may try to finagle some points out of my professor (depending on how far away from an A- I was) since his feedback on certain things were a little wishy-washy. This is truly a very upsetting day. Good thing we are going to the Bahamas on Monday and I can take my mind off of this disappointment.

On a cool note, my friend Ashley had a lingual frenectomy on Wednesday. This is where the cut/laser the little fold of tissue under your tongue that connects the tongue to the base of the mouth. She was very tongue tied. Okay, so it probably isn't cool to you, but it's pretty cool to us SLPs*.

*My bad Mel, I know how much you have my abbreviations... speech-language pathologist

Anyways, I finally uploaded some pictures from the camera to the computer. I totally forgot about so much that I hadn't blogged about (not that my life is all that interesting). So here are some pictures from the past couple of months.

Halloween

Mine... of Koal dog
Carl's

Molly's Birthday

Ryleigh eye-balling the cake... I just noticed that the 1 is backwards

It's my party and I'll cry if I want to

Uh, why is everyone singing?!

Cake, good!

I can't remember what she ate.

14 Weeks

Starting to grow! I guess I should have a before pic up, huh....

This was 9 weeks

Baby Rhodes at 13.4 Weeks

Today, our good friend Kelly was working another 12 hour shift at the hospital I will be delivering. She told us they were slow, and we could come up to see how much our baby has grown since our 10 week appointment. The baby has definitely grown!! I get worried (which I'm sure is normal) that the next time we look, the baby won't be there. Now that I'm not getting sick, it's like I'm not pregnant (other than wanting to sleep all the time, and crying over silly little things... like your husband waking you up at 9 AM after you worked 12.5 hours the night before and all you want to do is sleep 30 more minutes). We saw the heart beating away, we saw the spine, we saw some long bones, feet, and little fingers.

The pictures printed out very small, but the head is on the right, a little hand again near the face, and then the body.

For a while, "she" was being lazy and wasn't moving (again, referring to the baby as a girl to make Carl mad). Kelly kept moving the ultrasound instrument (yes... that is a technical term) and eventually she woke up and wasn't very happy. She started kicking and punching and moving all around. I asked Carl to grab my phone so we could get it on video. Of course when we got the camera out, she stopped moving. So here is a little video... you see one last punch on the right hand side, and then a little body movement.

We are going to be parents!

We are sooo excited! It has been very hard keeping this a secret (okay, so, I told some friends, but not shouting it to the world was hard!). I took a test on Oct. 8 early in the morning. There was a very faint line making a positive mark, but I didn't want to wake Carl up and get him excited if it wasn't for real. On my way to CHKD, I picked up a digital pregnancy test and took it in the bathroom. It came back "pregnant".

You can barely see the up and down line.

I really wanted to tell Carl in a very special way. I was going to go get a onesie that said "I love my daddy", etc. Well, that didn't happen. I couldn't hold it in, and on the way home, I called him to tell him.

Our friend, Kelly, did an ultrasound on us at about 7 weeks so that we could actually see that there was a baby. Thanks Kelly! :]

Today was our 10 week apt. We finally heard the heartbeat. I cried. It was the most amazing thing I had ever heard. Our midwife recorded it and sent it to us on our phones. She is so amazing! We then went and got an ultrasound done. We saw the baby moving his/her (I'll refer to the baby as a her until we find out otherwise... just to make Carl mad :] ) little hands and feet. She didn't really move other than that... I think she figures I move enough for the both of us, haha. :] After the ultrasound, I had to go get 4 things of blood drawn, but we won't talk about that.

There is a little hand by the face. The head is on the left, feet on the right.

Our due date is June 16. We get to find out the gender in late January. We can't wait to have a little one in the house. I've been feeling okay, some nausea, which has really subsided compared to what it was a few weeks ago. I'll take it!

Visitation

Carl and I saw 3 of our nieces this weekend. We went to my sister's house for the day. Before Molly was born, we saw each other, at minimum, every other weekend at our parent's house. Now that Molly is every where and into everything, it is hard for her to be in a home that isn't "baby proof". The only time that Mel and I have the same free moment is on our morning commute. So, we were very excited when we all had a free day to visit.

Ryleigh is talking up a storm. Carl kept calling her gorgeous and she would run back to me and say, "Did you hear what Carl said? He said I was gorgeous." She was thinking it was something bad. Molly is walking now. She laughs most of the time she is doing it. And Kaylee is just a big of a goof as ever. But so smart.

We had a good time playing with the girls (and I guess hanging out with my sister and brother-in-law). Here are some pictures of the visit.

You lookin' at me?

I know, I know, I'm mean, but in my defense, she was laughing, too.

Goofing around with her lovie.

Cuddling with Uncle Carl

Cutest little butt ever

Ryleigh's face cracks me up. I'm not sure what Kaylee is "throwing up"

Beating up Uncle Carl

Ryleigh wanted to go home with us. We buckled her in and it is very obvious why children are required to be in booster seats until they are 8 (and no, we weren't planning on taking her home, especially without a booster).

Carl "beating up" Molly.... taken by Ryleigh. Don't call CPS... they were goofing off. :]

And another video courtesy of Ryleigh.

And on the way home, Carl and I were discussing metamorphosis (not a serious conversation). We were joking around about tadpoles/frogs and caterpillars/butterflies when all of a sudden Carl asked me if I knew what penguins were before they are penguins. Of course, I looked at him funny. He proceeded to tell me that they are whales and that "the whales go poof, explode, and out pop little waddling penguins." I think I was crying I was laughing so hard.

Always Remember 09.11.01

I can remember exactly where I was when I heard the news. It was my sophomore year in high school. I was walking to my biology class through our court yard. I passed two kids and heard one of them say, "Someone bombed the World Trade Center." I really thought that they were just joking and thought that that was a horrible and stupid thing to say. I'm pretty sure I muttered, "You guys are stupid" as I walked past (mature, I know). I walked into biology class and my teacher had the radio on and was listening to everything unfold. I couldn't believe what happened; I don't think I actually understood how tragic it was at that time. We did some busy work while we listened on the radio. I don't remember much else that day during school, except that every minute or so, someone was getting called to the office to leave. It wasn't until I got home that day that I realized all of what had happened. It is still hard to imagine that someone like that could happen here.

Thank you service men and women for keeping us free and for risking/giving your lives for the freedom of our nation. Thank you fire departments, police departments, and EMS for keeping our cities safe.

Where were you?

Image Credit

Update

It has been a long and busy week! Although school started the week before Labor Day, I hadn't started my placement at CHKD. This week my internship started, our new fall schedule at The Little Gym started, on top of classes.

I have been arriving at my internship between 7 and 7:20 (depending on traffic) and leaving at 3. I have seen an interesting mix of kids, from 4 months (for feeding) all the way to 12 years. I have also been able to observe a child voice evaluation which was interesting. My supervisor is a really good "teacher"; she explains why she is doing things in the middle of therapy and points out things while I watch. Next week, I will actually start doing therapy with some of the kids. My supervisor also has a few new evaluations and some re-evaluations coming up, so I will be getting lots of diagnostic hours.

Depending on the day, I either go from CHKD to work until about 8:30ish or I head out to ODU for classes that either end at 10 or 7. On Wednesdays, class doesn't start until 7, so my friend Ashley and I have started utilizing the gym at ODU. We took a spin class last week which was an awesome workout. Not sure what class we will check out next week.

This semester I am teaching a few more pre-k classes during the week and Saturday and I will be teaching 2 parent/child classes for the first time this semester. :] I am very excited. On top of that, I am now leading birthday parties and I will lead my first Parent Survival Night next weekend.

Needless to say, by Friday (my day off) I'm exhausted. So Fridays are my day to relax and get things done around the house, until it is time for kickball. Yes, you heard me correctly, Carl and I are playing kickball. We are on the "Pour Sports" team. My friend from work and her boyfriend started the team, so Carl and I joined. Tonight is our first game. We are pretty excited.

Our friends, Nick and Sheela, had their baby girl last Saturday, so we went to visit. Lauren is so tiny. She was 3 weeks early, but big enough and healthy enough to go home on time. And congrats goes to my sister's friend Amy and Mark who just had their second baby, a little girl. Congrats guys!

With baby Lauren

On Labor Day, my husband suggested we start Christmas shopping for people (did I mention how much I love my husband? I love doing things sooo early!). Of course, there were massive sales on everything. I think my jaw dropped to the floor when he said, "yes" to going into Zales to just look. We ended up upgrading my ring. :] Not that I didn't love the one I had (I did pick out the original one), we just happened to find one that we both loved. Carl did tell me I am now "good" for at least another five years (he did emphasize this).

Oh and speaking of new jewelry, and I was quite excited to learn that I won something from the McMommy And Me blog. She always has great giveaways and I love to read her other 2 blogs.

I told you there was a picture of me standing!