Baby, Baby, Baby...

So I'm sorry everything I write about is Baby Stuff, but it's all I really have going on! I mean, what other event could overshadow creating a human to care for? And I'm super excited, so there. :)

My friend Beth (who's become a really, really, super great friend) and I went to the Humane Society Thrift Store yesterday to look for stuff for the baby shower. (Beth has awesomely taken on the Baby Shower Hostess title. I couldn't be more grateful or more excited to have her do it. Like I said, she's pretty cool! Plus she's letting me be a little involved which is a lot of fun for me because it's giving me something to do towards the baby since I can't really get a nursery going yet because we are probably moving very soon, so I can't get stuff set up.) So we're doing a Mad Hatter/Alice in Wonderland/Tea Party themed shower so we went to the thrift store to find tea cups and silverware and other stuff that could be used as favors or decorations or whatever. It was so much fun! I'm not sure I've ever had that much fun at a thrift store before. Maybe it was because she let me talk a lot....

But we're going to go check out the Apple Orchard Inn tomorrow afternoon in hopes that it might be a good place to hold the shower. The owner said she'd let us use her living room if we wanted. Plus I think we should look at the cottages around the property. It's not expensive and it looks pretty. But I've never seen it in person, so we'll see. But if anyone has any other ideas for locations to hold a small party, let me know!

And we went and looked at another rental today. "Eh" is all I have to say. Part of me wants it just because it's a solid place, but the other more logical part of me has overpowered my need to move. This place was very small, is kind of too far from town, would need a little bit of work, and plus we don't have to move this very second. So we're going to keep looking. And we upped our price range so that should open a lot of doors. I really want to look into Three Springs. That'd be perfect! Not to mention we'd literally be right next door the hospital. I could probably walk there when I go into labor! Well, depending on the intensity of the labor, I guess.

Oh! And Zack's stepmom bought him and his dad NASCAR tickets for Zack's birthday weekend (the weekend of April 10th) in Phoenix! It was kind of a secrety while she and I got everything set up so Zack wouldn't be a pill, but it's done and he seems excited! I'm excited to go on a little trip. Zack and I have actually never been anywhere together. Well once to Pagosa, but that's nothing. So we're going to rent a car, and bring some cash, and get a hotel for a night or two and make a mini-vacation out of it. My friend Erin has agreed to house sit and dogsit for us which I'm thankful for, and I got Zack the OK for time off from work. So, we're going!

My tummy's getting bigger every week, which you think you expect until it starts happening. But it's been really cool. And the baby's bones are hardening and he's getting stronger so it feels like I can fell specific body parts (though I can't tell which ones) are moving around. That's been fun. And it's weird to look at your belly and watch it ripple and move without you physically doing it. Someone else is! I wonder how much weight I've gained? At my last appointment (I think I was 20 weeks, currently am almost 23 weeks) I had only gained 6 lbs total, and I was just starting to "pop out". But since then my tummy's really starting to look pregnant. If I had to guess, I'd say that I've gained at least an additional 5ish lbs since then. Guess I should invest in a scale!

I guess that's everything. :)

20 Weeks: Halfway there!

So now that I've finally got a belly and and can feel the baby move a lot every day, the fact that I'm preagnant is slowly sinking in and occasionally accompanied by panic! Mostly I'm positive, but I do get nervous sometimes when I think about things financially. My husband really wants to buy this place that we're in and is sort of pushing me into it, and I'm stubbornly planting my feet. There's no way this is a good idea right now. Maybe next year or the year after, but this year has enough change going as it is. In 4 more months we will have a little son, I will probably have to change jobs so that I can work part time. I also want more than my alotted 6 weeks maternity leave; I want at least 3 months. Plus if I have to go back to work full time, I need to find a sitter or a daycare or something, but I think that's lame because you're basically working to pay for daycare. I know for a fact we'd be fine on Zack's salary alone but he doesn't believe me. What I actually think it is, is he doesn't want to surrender his whole paycheck. But I understand that he doesn't really get what it's going to mean to him to be a dad, I know that will hit him when he can hold the baby. And after that he might be more understanding, I hope. Don't get me wrong! He's totally excited to be a dad, and really very sweet about it. I just don't think it's really a reality for him yet. I have a feeling it will hit him like a ton of bricks. So out of all my possible ways to worry about the baby, it's only money that scares me. And we can't take money with us when we go, right? So, essentially, I have no worries. :)

As for names for the baby, I'm at a loss! I LOVED Zackery Cash Maxedon and we'd call him Cash, but for some reason Zack started not to like it, and it's important to me that we both like the name. But whatever we decide, it will be Zackery "Something" Maxedon and we will call him by his middle name. Other names that I really like are Blake, Brooks, Courter, Calvin, and Coy (Coy has a special meaning to me because since the day I've been able to feel him move the best thing I've been able to use to describe the feeling was a Koi fish!) Zack said he kind of likes Courter and he's the one who suggested naming him Coy after I told him about Koi fish, but he's more picky than I am about a name. I would really like a name picked out within the next month though, so hopefully one will stick. Even though I know that sometimes after you see the baby you may name him something else.

I've been able to feel the baby move though from the outside for about a week! That was so exciting. And everytime he gets squirmy I put Zack's hand on my belly and the little punk stops moving. I swear he thinks it's funny ;).  But one time Zack did feel him a little bit but I really want Zack to be able to feel a good kick.

My belly's getting bigger every week and last week my friend Beth and I went to Farmington and I bought 2 pairs of maternity jeans which are AWESOME. It's like wearing PJs to work. I also got a couple maternity tops which I will start wearing in a couple weeks when I'm a little bigger. I can still wear most of my pre-pregnancy tops right now.

Other thing not preganncy related: I'm super excited about the movie Shutter Island which I'm going to see next weekend with my friend Erin. It looks super suspenseful. Also I'm really excited for Alice in Wonderland which comes out on the 5th and I HAVE to go see it. I've been waiting since the summer for it!

Zack's parents bought a house in Phoenix, AZ so they will be moved down there by the end of March. It's kind of a bummer that they won't be here when the baby's born but they aren't too far. Too bad they didn't buy a house somewhere cool. There's no way I will move to Phoenix. It embodies the 2 things I always said I didn't like: the desert and the city. Plus if I'm going to move away (as in out of Durango) it will be somewhere I want to go, not just any old place. Luckily Zack feels the same way about Phoenix so we don't have to worry about that. Honestly if he said he really wanted to move there too, I might bend. But I don't even have to think about that.

I really wanted to try to do a mini-vacation with Zack before the baby comes but I'm not sure that's going to happen. Maybe in the fall or winter will be a better time. I wonder if our baby will be travel-friendly? Guess we'll see! But I've been trying to focus on places that I may be willing to move to. Like the East Coast (like North or South Carolina) or Texas (Austin, San Antonio). Visiting somewhere is a must before you move there. So a few more years of visiting and maybe we'll move somewhere. Maybe.

Thank Heaven for Little Boys....

So Zack and I (and my mom) went to our ultrasound yesterday afternoon and found we were having a little boy! I tell ya, this family can make boys! I went the first couple of months thinking that we were having a little girl, and then about 4 weeks ago everything was telling me it was a boy. I kept having dreams that I had a little boy, my lack of the aweful pregnancy symptoms (a wive's tale, I know) was telling me boy, only gaining weight in front (another myth) was telling me boy. Then Saturday night I had a dream that Zack and the neighbor went to the ultrasound without me (I know, I know) and they told me it was a boy.

We got to the hospital and I had to pee soooooo bad. They tell you to arrive on a "very full bladder" and then when I got there, the ultrasound tech told me I was an overachiever. I was so full that my bladder was pushing my stomach out farther than it is and it was actually hurting my belly button because it was so stretched! So she looked at what she needed to see with my bladder full and then let me use the bathroom. I don't think I've ever been happier to see a toilet in my life! Then she measured the baby's head and spine, looked at a couple of places that could help identify Down's Syndrome (nothing showed up, thank goodness) and then went to look at the baby's goods. She's like "Oh yeah, it's a boy. You can tell because if they're playing with themselves, it's always a boy!" She was pretty funny. I liked her. I think at first no matter what they tell you the sex is, you're always going to be shocked. It took a minute to sink in. But I don't think I could or would be anymore excited for anything other than a little boy. I'm so in love already! He was squirming and kicking and covering his face, and he's got his Mama's lips. This boy has some kissers on him! But everything looked great: two arms, two legs, and a head! AND she wants us to come back in about a month just so she can try to get a certain shot of his heart that she couldn't get because he wasn't cooperating. And I'm really excited to get another ultrasound so I can see him again. I was preparing myself for just this one and that's it until the birth.

And I'm finally getting a Baby Bump! Personally I think it's still in a weird stage on me but here's a picture anyway. P.S. Please excuse my "Deer in the Headlights" look; I don't know why I have that face on!

So this is me at 19 weeks! One of the girls on the baby forum I'm on said I'm carrying high? Does it look that way to you? I don't know these things. All these other girls on that website already look undeniably pregnant, whereas I think I still look like maybe I've been eating too much.

As for the baby's name, it will be Zackery "something" Maxedon, and we'll call him by his middle name. We just have to figure that out first. :) I think we're getting close to deciding....