Christmas in Pictures!

Finding her elf in Daddy's stocking - this was the day of her school Christmas party.

Being silly!

Finding her elf again.  How big does she look here?!

Christmas Eve!  Playing the piano at Oma and Opa's (my parents)

Still Christmas Eve but notice a whole new outfit.  She wanted to wear her 1st gift she unwrapped and kept adding things (headband mostly) to it.  Once she got this baby changing gift (diaper, wipes, cream, etc.) she had a hard time focusing on opening her other presents.

Dressed up for Christmas dinner.  She is not amused with getting her picture taken these days.

We gave her this shirt on Christmas morning and told her about the baby.  When I told her there was a baby in my belly she said "right now?".  And when I said yes and asked if she was excited she shrugged and asked to open another present.  About the reaction I expected =)

She got this trampoline and tent from my parents.  She got the undies from her Aunt and they make me laugh.

I predict this shopping cart will do some serious damage at some point.  It's metal and all the food that comes in it is solid wood.  Yikes.  She likes taking her babies on rides though.

We transitioned her into a new room with a big girl bed this weekend.  She's doing great...waking up a couple times a night but overall sleeping well and doing good.

She's so excited that she can now pull the candy canes off the tree!

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday!  Wishing you a very happy, healthy new year =)

1st OB Appointment & Christmas Prep

Today was our first OB appointment and the babe is measuring right on schedule for 9w6d =)  We were offered an interesting new test, it's called the "MaterniT21 test".  It is a blood test that can be taken anytime after 10 weeks and it can test with 99% accuracy for Trisomy 21, 18 and 13.  It can also with 99% accuracy tell you if you're having a boy or a girl.  How cool is that?!?!  We will go have the draw done next week and it'll take a few weeks to get the results.  Our next appointment is in four weeks...ah, a regular preggo =)

We are all ready for Christmas, thank goodness.  I only ahve a couple gifts left the wrap.  My Aunt and Uncle are coming into town on Saturday and my Mom has daily (yes, I said daily) family dinners planned for their 6 day visit.  Both M and I are taking the time off between Christmas and New Year's.  I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to that!  

Here are some holiday themed pics since I haven't shared any in a while...

Our tree with K's new elf (Twinkle)

Twinkle in her stocking.  She is seriously in love with this elf!

Every night we open a door on our advent calendar.

Thumper

Our 2nd ultrasound was today and everything looks great!  We got to hear the heart beat thumping away at 180bpm =)  The baby is measuring right on track at 8w6d.   So, so relieved!!!!

I do have a small sub-chronic hematoma  (2cm) but it is in a location that shouldn't pose any danger to the baby but may cause some spotting/bleeding if it's not just reabsorbed.  Over the next few weeks I will be weaned off the medications and we have now "graduated" to the OB, who we will see for the first time on the 21st.  

This is a head down view of the baby and you can see her/his fingers that just formed this week!

The babies head is down toward the bottom and feet toward the top.  Kind of blurry, sorry about that, pictures of pictures are tough.

The Meds & Potty Training

Had blood pulled today (7w6d) and it looks like my body is starting to produce it's own estrogen and progesterone =)  For those who might not know, in a FET cycle they suppress all your natural hormone production and supplement with medications.  Because my levels are going up it's a good sign that things are going as they should with the pregnancy (everything crossed!) and also that I may be able to say adios to the meds...and no time is too soon for that.  I'm still on oral estrogen pills everyday, two estrogen patches every other day and three progesterone suppositories daily (I know TMI...but my poor vajayjay!).  If everything looks good on the ultrasound and blood work next Thursday then the med weaning begins...and will likely be done by 11 weeks.  So only three weeks left, I can do it!  I'm also hoping that will help the queasiness I've had almost all day, every day. No complaints though...I know how lucky I am to be here.

In other news K has decided it's time for potty training.  I bought her undies over a month ago and told her how pretty they were and that she got to wear them when she used a potty instead of diapers.  On Thanksgiving morning she asked to wear them and we've only had a handful of accidents since.  She is wearing a diaper to bed and for naps but wakes up dry most of the time.  She also asks to wear a diaper to go poo-poo sometimes.  She has a sticker chart and loves getting a sticker for going pee-pee.  She gets an M&M for going #2 and she loves that.  At school I think she enjoys the attention of being one of the "big kids" in class since there are only 2-3 that use the potty.  Overall she's doing it pretty much herself...hope it keeps going this well!

Not much else going on...just the holiday scurry, I'm sure you all know it well =)

Sick

At 7 weeks (last Friday) apparently the all day sickness sets in...ugh.  Please go away around 10 weeks like you did in pregnancy #1!  That is all...

We Have a Heartbeat!

We are officially expecting a baby on 7/19/13!  We had our first ultrasound today at almost 7 (6w6d) weeks along:

In the picture the baby is on the left and the yolk sac (where nutrients are coming from right now) is on the right with the yolk stalk connecting the two. We think it more looks like the baby is holding a party balloon though ;-)  Her/his heartbeat is at 132 bpm (video on youtube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdhA28lpSss) which is great, they just want it above 120 at this point. Everything looks great, measuring right on track.  

The nurse did caution us that if there are genetic issues that between now and our next ultrasound at 9 weeks is when it would abort.  But the good news is that chance of miscarriage have now gone down to 5%

Thanks for all the good thoughts, they've obviously been working!

Animal Sanctuary

Saturday we went with some friends to an animal sanctuary that rescues large carnivores.  I had no idea that they are the 3rd largest illegal trade in the US (behind drugs and weapons).  This place is a non profit that takes in animals from circuses  zoos and private owners.  Many of the animals have been kept in small cages their whole lives and when they arrive they don't even have the motor coordination or muscle development to walk around a large enclosure.  They rehabilitate them in smaller areas and then move them to 2-3 acre enclosures where they can roam free.  The animals are amazing!!!  Most of our pictures are of lions and tigers but they also had smaller cats (lynx, bobcats, etc.) and bears.  K loved it even though it was only 40 degrees with a cold wind *BRRR*

Here is a tiger in the smaller pens.

K on the elveated walkway around the large pens - apparently the animals are less stressed with humans in the airspace rather than on ground level.

How cute are these lions?!

So excited!

Big male taking a nap

That's one big scratching post!

Don't you just want to scratch her/his tummy?

Two enclsures had packs of wolves.  They fed them while we were there and afterwards they just sprawled out on the ground and napped.  It was very fitting for Thanksgiving Day weekend =)

Two young males cuddled up in the rehab area.

Our stroller brigade

If you're interested in checking it out or adopting an animal their website is http://www.wildanimalsanctuary.org/.

In other news my first u/s is Thursday...time is crawling by this week!!!