Playing games with Dad

I was playing this cool new game with Dad today. He lays his head down on Mom's belly and then when I feel him there, I kick him in the face. HA HA!! Apparently it's not very nice to kick your dad, though, because after I did it a couple of times, he told me to "go to my womb."

Hooray for Baby Shopping Sprees!

My smart dad figured out a way to combine his 10% employee discount with a 10% off discount for opening a Target Visa card to get me about $1100 worth of furniture and accessories for only $870 dollars. Mom and Dad wandered around the baby section of Target for about 30 minutes looking like lost sheep, but after a couple of calls to the grandparents and aunts and uncles, they had things figured out! Now we've got a crib, a changing table, a stroller, a carseat, a swing, a rocking chair, and more! They even remembered to get a camcorder. After all, I hear that they won't let you leave the hospital without one of those. I think Mom is most excited about her new camo purse/diaper bag. Apparently, you can also buy this bag at DiaperDude.com.

There is still a lot of stuff that I need. If you are interested in getting me something to welcome me into this world, please see my Gift Wish List at the bottom of this webpage which is a continual work-in-progress. And on behalf of myself, Mom, and Dad...THANKS!!!!

WHOA - we're half way there!!

Bon Jovi said it best. Sing it with me now...

WHOA...we're half way there!

WHOA...livin' on a prayer.

Take my hand and we'll make it I swear

WHOA...livin' on a prayer.

That's right - we're half way to the due date! Only 140 more days to go. That means you only have 140 more days to vote for whether you think I'm a girl or a boy. :)

I got my first book!! Brian and Natalie sent me "Goodnight Moon"and Mom's been reading it to me at night. It's perfect timing, really, since my hearing just started developing this week. Thanks guys!!

Greetings, Earthlings!

Here I am again. Loud and proud. And yes, I look like an alien. I guess the truth has to come out at some point - the mothership deposited me here in the womb.

Mom was 19.5 weeks along at the time of these photos making me 17.5 weeks old.


The second Ultrasound turned out just fine - I have all of my vital organs, a nice spinal cord (which apparently glows in the dark, as seen in the photos), strong bones, and a HUGE belly (yep, Mom was right...I have been eating all of her food). I wasn't behaving very well for the lab technician. I found this great hiding place in the womb and decided to take a nap there, making it hard for the tech to see what she needed to. HAHA!

In this second picture, I was doing my impression of "The Thinker" as I contemplated what to put in my next blog posting and who I should support in the 2008 Presidential election. Or, maybe I was just politely covering my nose as I was about to sneeze. I don't really recall...

Here's the image tilted to help you see it.

What are you looking at?

Mom's got a baby bump!!

There's no hiding it now...Mom is definitely pregnant and people are starting to stare. Mom has been studying the eye-movements of strangers that she meets and has noticed the distinct eye-movement pattern of face-to-belly-to-face-to-belly-to-face with increased fixation durations on the face region after each successive saccade from the belly region. She's now thinking about auctioning off her belly space on E-bay so that businesses can use it as advertising space. I mean, if people are going to stare at her belly anyway, she might as well make some money off of it!

And it's official, Mom's clothes don't fit anymore. So, she spent a morning at the Salvation army buying up all of the long shirts and anything with an elastic waist. She also spent some time eyeing the cute baby clothes (25 cents each!!), but didn't buy anything for me yet. :(

I went on my first plane ride to Kentucky this past weekend. It was fun to get to spend some time with Gram and Pops, Grammie and Grandpa, Aunt Monica and Uncle Walter, and my cousins Maggie, Clara, and Tyler! Maggie is hoping that I turn out to be a boy, so she can claim to still be the youngest granddaughter. :) While we were in, Aunt Monica and Uncle Walter gave me a hand-me-down PACK AND PLAY!! WOO-HOO!!

On Mother's Day (Sun, May 11th), I started kicking and wiggling around enough for Mom to feel it. I was trying to say "HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY" in morse code. Dad thinks the baby movements are cool; Mom thinks it's freakin' weird. She still can't get over the fact that she has toes, ears, and a nose inside of her. Gross!

Mom has been feeling much better! The morning sickness only creeps in about twice a week now and is actually finally confined to the morning hours. Apparently, the trick was to stop eating crackers, cereal, and toast in the morning and start eating burritos and ice cream. The pet seal still barks almost every day, but at least it's not getting sick as often. Mom's convinced that I'm actually a seal and not a baby - I guess the Ultrasound tomorrow will test that hypothesis.

Yep, the second Ultrasound is scheduled for tomorrow! I can't wait to wave hello to Mom and Dad again. I'll post pictures from it soon. You won't believe how much I've grown...I'm actually more of a Little Byte now than a Little Bit (yep, I'm going to be a pun-creating computer nerd, just like Dad).

My new home...6 Plum Court

Mom and dad bought a house!! Moving date is TBD, but hopefully it will be soon so Mom can actually help Dad some. Here are some pictures:

And here's my room, soon to be decorated in Sesame Street style:

My first 3 months in the womb...

I can't believe I waited a whole 3 months of living before I started my own blog. I wish I could blame it on the fact that I was working on my taxes or a dissertation or something. Unfortunately, my only excuse is that it took me this long to get internet access in the womb.

It's April 12th, 2008, and I am 13 weeks old. My mom is 15 weeks along in her pregnancy. My Dad is a math professor and he's been trying to explain to me how to do these complex calculations about pregnancy dates. Apparently, people count pregnancy weeks starting from 2 weeks BEFORE conception (uh - why?) So, even though the doctors keep saying that Mom is 15 weeks along, I'm really only 13 weeks old. Either way, that means that I'm due October 6th, plus or minus an unspecified amount of time since I'm going to make it a surprise. Sorry, Mom and Dad...I get to choose my own birthday!!

Mom's been having a rough go of it so far with the "morning" sickness. The nausea and vomiting started off lasting all day, although the past week has been better than the rest. Everyone says that since she's 15 weeks along now, she should be feeling better any day now. I think she's hoping that means "yesterday". Usually in the morning, Mom makes this weird noise that can only be described as a baby seal barking. Dad's been trying to figure out how to catch the seal to get it out of the apartment so Mom feels better. Any ideas?

Mom and Dad have been starting to think about baby names, and frankly, I'm a little worried. They've been throwing around the name "Franjelinorbica", which I'm pretty sure is some weird combination of everyone on Dad's side of the family. Please pray that I get a real name so I'm not stuck with the nickname "Jello" for the rest of my life.

They're going to have to come up with both a boy's name and a girl's name, though, because they've decided to not find out what I am until I'm born. Apparently, the doctors were 99% sure that my cousin was going to be a girl. Then, when it turned out to be a boy, poor Joe had to wear a dress to his infant baptism and sleep in a pink room with strawberry shortcake blankets! Anyway, Mom's not trusting any doctors to tell her what's a boy and what's a girl; she'd rather go in thinking the chances are 50/50. And keeping my sex organs a secret until I'm born is fine with me. I'm sure it won't be the last secret that I'll keep from my parents...

Hello, world!!!

This was me on March 24th, 2008, when I was just 10 weeks old (Mom was 12 weeks along). I was pretty wiggly when they tried to photograph me. Hey - I was just dancing to the Ultrasound music! :)

Mom and Dad were pretty excited to get to see me. I showed off my fingers and toes for them. The doctor said everything looks good so far and my heartbeat was a strong 160 beats per minute - I'm practically a little hummingbird in here!