Checklist

• Christmas decorations put away? Done!

Almost.

I have some new organization proposals for my husband when he gets home tonight involving new homes for our boxes of holiday decorations. I'm not sure what he's going to say, but hopefully my plotting will work.

The rest of my checklist for the week?

• As You Wish with Mindy and possibly Amanda - I'll be making a frame for Andrew's ultrasound picture (did I mention Bean's name is Andrew?) :)
• Celebration dinner for Amanda - Starbuck's newest store manager!!!
• Amanda over on Thursday to prime Andrew's nursery.
• My room cleaned before we head out to San Diego for New Year's weekend.
• Time to rest!!!!! This should probably be at the top of my list.

Ooooooh baby!

I guess it's time to get started with our baby preparations now that the holidays are over. We need to register for our little guy, which will be fun and overwhelming at the same time. I visited Buy Buy Baby early on in my pregnancy with my friend Ashley, and when I said "I really have no idea what I'll actually need," she responded "You'll need everything."

Great.

It's gonna be so weird looking at different kinds of pacifiers and bottles... pee-pee tee-pee's and toys. Adam and I also have a really interesting history when it comes to registering... maybe things will go better this time around. :)

Next will be painting his room, which I'm not allowed to do. Amanda has volunteered to prime the room, and then we'll have to figure out what we're going to do and how it's going to look. We've looked a little bit here and there, but now it's decision time, which is a little scary!! Thankfully I'm still really energetic and my work craziness has subsided a bit. It's hard to imagine how all of this stuff will get done in time - and yet, it feels so far away! I'm officially in my 6th month, which makes me feel like I'm really far along, and at the same time I still have months to go. So weird. I guess I'll just take it one step at a time. :)

Oh, and I love all my Christmas presents, but the one I've used the most so far is my wonderful pregnancy pillow that my husband got me. I kept saying I wanted one and never bought it - he finally just did it for me, and it's seriously the best thing ever. I use it to sit on the couch, to sleep, to relax... you name it. He's such a great husband!!! Now, if I can just get our little guy to squirm and kick when Daddy wants to feel him. He seems to get super active whenever it's just me, and as soon as Adam's hand hits my stomach, he stops. The turkey!

It's gone!

My waistline is officially nada. Disappeared. I feel Bean moving under my ribcage now, although I think his feet are still facing down, cause he still kicks around my bladder. I keep looking at his face and it seriously is just so cute. I'm so excited to meet this little guy. At the same time, I'm pretty happy that we do have a baby, and that he's well cared for right now with little inconvenience to myself... I know that won't always be the case. :)

Adam and I are just waiting to get through the holidays, and then we can get started on baby stuff. We have a list of names that we've been considering, but even that is pretty much on hold until January. It does help that we haven't been able to do much to prepare yet - it gives me something to do with myself next semester.

I had my first ever studio recital this last weekend, and I can say that it was a huge success! All of my kids did really, really well! They each had solo pieces to play, and most of them played duets with other students. They did really well at performing their own songs, as well as playing well with their duet partners. I couldn't have asked for a better outcome! Adam took some photos that we'll give to the students, and Amanda was there to help with pretty much everything. I also wore my maternity dress for the first time - kinda random, but it was fun. :)

It's a.....

Boy! As most people know by now. :)

We are so thrilled to see our little man, and to know that he's healthy, and crazy active! He just simply wouldn't hold still during the entire exam. He also had one of his feet buried in his crotch through most of the exam, so finding what we really wanted to see was difficult. After some clever maneuvering on the part of our u/s technician, he finally obliged and we got a great view of his cute little toosh and... well, he's a boy! :)

After the high of finding out the sex, I had to step on the scale. I looked at the number, and seriously almost started crying... I think the only reason I didn't was because I had just had some of the best news of my life right before. I'm officially 10 pounds heavier than I ever have been - 15 of which have been gained in the last 4 weeks! I had no clue... my scale is broken at home, so I was in ignorant bliss. My doctor didn't mention anything about it, so I was a bit surprised - I finally said "Uh, by the way... have I gained too much weight?" He looked at my chart and said "Yes... yes, you have!" Since finding out, I've gained a total of 25 pounds - unbelievable for someone who spent the first third of it throwing up almost everything I ate. I have no clue how I managed to pack it on so fast, but apparently I'm choosing all the wrong foods to eat. :) So, besides obsessing over my little boy, I'm also freaking out about how I'm going to lose all of this weight after the baby comes!!

Ugh!!! Other than my weight explosion, everything looked "normal" which, like my friend Noelle, is my favorite word to hear. So, now we have to pick a name, register, visit the hospital, do a childbirth class, fix up the nursery, and countless other things before this little guy arrives. We're super excited, and we're so grateful for all of the love and support everyone has shown us in the last few months. We love all our family and friends so much and just know God has used each and every one of you to bring us encouragement during this time. :)