Kickin' Daddy

Addison finally said "hi" to her daddy.  We just arrived home this evening from being in Arkansas for the holidays and decided to relax and watch some tv.  Addie was kicking up a storm tonight and, up until now, Shane really hadn't been able to feel it when he would put his hand on my belly.  Around the third or fourth kick, Shane flinched and smiled really big.  Shane was so excited to finally have felt her move.
It's such a strange feeling,  Addison's movement becomes more pronounced every day.  Being able to feel what's going on also helps make everything seem more real and comforting.  It's an amazing feeling!

The results are in....

Shane and I had talked about baby names long before even talking about having a family.  After finding out that we were pregnant, we narrowed down our favorites to 5 boy and 3 girl names.  We then decided it would be unique and exciting to have our family and friends vote on their favorites of our top picks.
In October, we sent out voting slips with our top 5 boy and top 3 girl names (click on the picture below).
After a month and a half, the results are in.  The doctor has confirmed that we will be having a baby girl.  The name that took the lead for the girls was Addison Elizabeth Handley.  We've attached a picture of the voting slip and the results slip below.

19 Weeks

Today Shane and I conquered our Christmas shopping.  I've decided that there needs to be "expectant mother" parking at ALL malls and stores! Just Kidding.  While we were out, we found a really cute wall hanging to put in the nursery.  I'll post a picture on here within the next week.
Over the last two weeks, I've been feeling "flutters" more frequently.  It seems like they happen most when there is a lot of noise going on around me.  I can feel them several times in one day and then go a few days with nothing.
Despite several calls from the doctors office to reschedule, and reschedule again....we are set to find out the gender of baby minnow next week!!  Originally the appointment was set for Wednesday the 16th at 10am.  Then I got a call from the doctors office asking if we could move the appointment to 11:30.  Of course, I accepted, even though a later appointment meant that we would have to wait longer to find out the sex. Then another call came in a few days later asking if we could move it to later in the afternoon or perhaps a later date.  UGH!!!  Luckily, I was able to keep the appointment for the same day, but we moved it to 3:00 Wednesday afternoon.
I'll keep everyone posted as to what we find out.  Of course Shane and I will be happy no matter what the gender is!

The Nursery

We're still working on the nursery, but here are some pics of the before and after.  Shane has put so much work into this little room!  Shane laid the carpeting himself, assembled the furniture, hung the curtains and blinds, and he even painted the ceiling fan to match the accessories!!  What a great guy!
The color is a little off in these pics and really doesn't do the blankets and curtains justice, but you get the idea....

 

17 Weeks

Our trip was AWESOME! Of course, I was worn out from all of the walking we did, but it was still a great time.  If you've ever been to NY, you already know how difficult it is to find a bathroom while sightseeing.  While we were walking around Manhattan, of course I had to pee every 10 minutes.  Somehow, Shane was always able to find a place that would let me use their restroom.  It was amazing!
We saw a few shows Stomp, Wicked, CirqueDuSoleil Wintuk, and we stopped at an IMAX theatre and saw the animation movie A Christmas Carol.  There were several other touristy things we did as well, but most of all we just walked around.  At one point, we were at the corner of 5th Avenue and 48th Street and had Alec Balldwin walk inches in front of us while crossing the street!
As you know, just before our trip my baby bump came out of nowhere.  We took a picture of my belly while we were in NY, and then another once we got home.  As of last week, doc says I have gained 4 1/2 lbs total during pregnancy and everything looks great.  If only it felt great when I went to put my jeans on!

16 Weeks

I had my 16 week doctor appointment this morning and everything is looking good.  The heartbeat was 151 and doc says we're progressing nicely so far.  I didn't get a chance to take a baby bump photo this morning because we were a little rushed getting out the door, but I will do my best to take one while we're in New York this weekend.  I will say, this next baby bump picture will be one that some of you have waited for.....I'm starting to show!!!  It happened within a matter of days last week, and all of the sudden, I had a belly!!

We're both so excited for our trip!  We leave for St. Louis tonight and catch the first flight out tomorrow morning (6AM) for New York.  Keep your eyes opened Thanksgiving Day because we'll be on the streets watching the Macy's parade.  Have a good weekend and great holiday everyone!!!!

14 Weeks

Shane and I have been starting on the nursery this week.  We've got so much going on over the next two months that we figured it would be best to at least get the big stuff out of the way now.  So far, we've got the dresser/changer, crib, and the glider is on order.  It was cute to see Shane put the crib together.  He put a lot of effort into it and everything looks great!  I took a ton of pictures that I'll soon post on here.

Not much else has changed.  I'm currently about a pound over my pre-baby weight and still haven't really seen any sort of "baby bump".  My next doctors appointment is my 16 week appointment on the 20th.  I've tried using the handheld doppler to listen to the heartbeat at home, but I still can't find anything.  Most of the blogs that I've read online say that they couldn't find the heartbeat until about 20 weeks with an at-home doppler.  I'll probably keep trying anyway ;)