22 weeks 3 days

Merry Christmas! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday! We had a wonderful relaxing holiday at home with Marc's parents. It was very nice to be home for a change and wake up in our own bed! I was spoiled by my hubby as usual and the dogs were excited to see that Santa didn't forget them and brought them a bed and toys to play with. Yes we know, we really need to have kids.

Anyway, Baby J too made out in the gift department. She got plenty of rattles, onesies and toys. It's so fun to see all the stuff she's accumulated in the last few weeks. We ordered her bedroom set and got her bedding in the mail already (it came in 6 days!). So we now need to get started on the nursery. Hopefully we'll sell this furniture soon so we can clear out the room. I'm hoping to start painting in a few weeks! The furniture won't be here until the end of February but that doesn't mean I can't get started on other things :)

Anyway, here are some photos of my every growing belly from last Friday. I swear it's already bigger now! ha ha! I am going to be a HOUSE by the time this little one makes her entrance into the world.









Happy New Year! Only 4 months to go until Baby J is official!

20 weeks 5 days...IT'S A...

GIRL :)

All the old wive's tales came true and we're having a baby girl. I'll post the ultrasound photos later this week. She is growing right on schedule at 21 weeks and looks healthy. Her heart, brain, feet and hands were all perfect. She's a hyper little one, although it could have to do with the 1/2 a diet coke I had before I went. I was scared she wouldn't cooperate and I didn't want her to be in time out :)

So we got in the room and the tech put the wand on my belly and the first thing we see is her bottom and legs spread wide open! It took about 1 minute to see that she was a girl. She did well and didn't disappoint her parents or huge support system of family and friends that were eagerly awaiting our phone call.

We are so excited to be having a little girl. We're going to start the nursery after the new year. We went to Babies R' Us to register last night which was a lot of fun. I know I have a million more things to add but it's a little overwhelming and scary in there! I think we got the major things though so that was good. We are getting the furniture next weekend so that should arrive in February. Anyway, as it all progresses we'll keep you posted.

I'm so relieved to find out what pronoun to use! It makes it so much more real to put a face and name to Baby J.

Have a great weekend!

20 weeks 1 day

"Whoa Oh! We're half way there...Whoa Oh, Livin' on a Prayer. Take my hand and we'll make it I swear!"

Ok I'll stop. I'm driving Marc crazy. BUT we're halfway through this whole pregnancy thing and it's pretty exciting. Last week I felt a few little taps when going to bed. It was so crazy!! I was so excited! And just now sitting here at work, I felt Baby J again. This time it was an actual kick to some sort of organ. It happened about 3-4 times. Very cool :)

So we're eagerly waiting for Friday to get here. I don't know how I'm going to get through the work day since our appointment isn't until 2:30. I'm trying to get everything done beforehand! After the appointment we're going to go and register at Babies R Us. I can't wait. This week I'll be doing research on the big items like car seats and strollers. The list is totally overwhelming and scary...so we'll see how far we get! It's so different than registering for your wedding. Then you're like "Oh yeah, that's cool. We need that." With this you have NO IDEA WHAT YOU NEED! You know the essentials but that's about it. Then you have to think about safety ratings, how durable they are so you can reuse them, colors, cool features etc. Yipes! Hopefully I'll come out the other side alive.

Anyway, we'll let you all know the good news on Friday night! Now that it's getting closer I feel like I completely have no idea! I think either way I'll be totally overwhelmed when I see Baby J kicking and moving around.

Happy Monday!

19 weeks 1 day

So, I'm getting impatient. Not for the baby to actually be here (trust me I can wait a while before I start to really think about labor) but to find out if Baby J is a girl or boy! It's driving me insane! I know that all the parts are there and formed we just need to see them...and we have more than a week before we can know! 11 days to be exact! AGhhh! AND to top it off I have yet to feel little Baby J's acrobatics in there...so I'm impatiently waiting for that too.

At least it's Christmas time so I have a million other things to keep me occupied. We got our Christmas trees (yes that is TREES - plural) this weekend so I was busy getting those all set up. We are looking forward to being home this year for the holiday since we've never been home on Christmas morning.

Other than that we're just going through the motions. We are trying to sell our guest room furniture so we can start on the nursery. But it's not as easy as one would think. I get at least three scam emails a day from Craigslist. I'm getting very frustrated. If it doesn't sell this month I'm just going to store it in the garage until I can sell it. I want it OUT of the room so I can start getting things ready. Although that of course freaks me out because there is so much to do. Luckily there's a writers strike so my t.v. shows are all going to reruns. I think the miserable January and February will be used to decorate and shop. Such a rough life I lead :)

Anyway, that's about it. I'll update you all on December 14th!!! Place your bets now! Oh, we tried the ring over the palm trick (you put your wedding ring on a chain and hold it over your palm). If it swings from side to side you're having a boy - in a circle you're having a girl.

We went round and round...so all signs so far are pointing to girl. Which of course means it'll be a boy :)

16 weeks 4 days :)

Hello family and friends!!

We are doing well. Baby Goodell is growing and growing. It's amazing how much I've grown in the past two weeks. I finally ordered some new clothes that I got yesterday and they fit so well! We're heading out tonight to go to California for the holiday. We're looking forward to this trip so much! Tonight we're driving to Ashland and then will finish up the trip on Friday. It should be a great time and to top it off we have 10 days off of work! Yippee!

Anyway, not much news to report. Still feeling great. I have tons of tons of energy and have no sickness at all!! I'll update next week from Grandma and Granddad's!

14 weeks 4 days

Hello!

So morning sickness has subsided and now the heartburn has set in. Ahhh yeah. But anything (and I mean ANYTHING!) is better than feeling seasick 24 hours a day for 2 months. So I'll take it.

Anyway, we went to our doctor's appointment today and all is well. It was pretty routine. All of my lab work from the last appointment came back great. No signs of anemia or anything else unusual. I got my flu shot (Marc loved watching that happen!) and then...we heard the heartbeat!! It was so cool. It's amazing that the little microphone thing works so well! Anyway, he started to look for it and warned me that it may take a bit to find and it and boom. There it was. I don't even think it took 30 seconds for Baby Goodell to be heard. (Is this a sign of things to come??)

Baby G's heart rate was right on target at 150. According to old wives tales, anything above 140 indicates...wait for it...GIRL!! So we'll find out in 6 weeks!

I can't believe our next appointment will be the big ultrasound. We cannot wait to find out what we're having. AND it's the half way mark of the pregnancy. That is truly unreal! But then again it's already November 1 and time is flying by. It will be time to go to that appointment before we know it.

I know I have been promising some photos so I'll get on that this week. My belly is getting bigger each day, although if you see me you may not be able to tell. I however notice...since I have NEVER had a gut this big in my life. But considering there's a peach/grapefruit sized growth in there, well I guess it's not that unusual!

I hope everyone is doing well and got through Halloween ok. I'm looking forward to our trip to CA for Thanksgiving...and SOOOO looking forward to the feast itself. I'm always up for a nice turkey dinner, but for some reason this year I salivate just thinking about it!

Talk to you soon!

13 weeks 4 days

Sorry for the long delay, but I wanted to post with good news. And that is that I'm starting to feel so much better! I woke up at 6:30 wide awake and full of energy. I didn't feel bad at all this morning. As a matter of fact I'm feeling better than I have in months!

Now, I'm starting to think I'm going to jinx it. That wouldn't be fun...but I'm trying to stay positive and not succumb to the evils of morning sickness. We'll see.

Anyway, Marc and I (and the boys!) went to the coast last weekend to celebrate Marc's 34th birthday. We had a great time but man oh man did we walk A LOT! Hee hee! We took tons of walks through town and on the beach. The dogs had a great time...I mean what dog wouldn't want 2-3 hours worth of walks a day?? We also went up to Astoria for the afternoon. It's a cute little town, trying to rebuild a bit. We had lunch on the riverwalk and managed to get there right when the rain stopped. All in all a great weekend away!

We are eagerly awaiting our next appointment on Thursday Nov. 1. It won't be too exciting, just getting weighed (yuck!) and hearing the heart beat. I just want to hear the little one so I know the peanut is ok. I'll post right when we get home!

10 Weeks 5 days

So I haven't written in a while so I thought I'd send a little update. Although there isn't really much to report. I thought that my morning sickness had subsided last week, but boy was I wrong. This week it came back with a VENGEANCE! I was miserable yesterday! To top it off I had a horrible headache all day that wouldn't go away.

But today is a new day! There is nothing like having a good day right after an awful day! I'm feeling great! It's cold and cloudy here but it's not putting a damper on me today. Although it's days like this that kill me. I store up all my energy and then run around all afternoon doing things I didn't do all week and then the next day I'm exhausted. Oh well. I keep thinking one of these days I'll have that pregnancy moment where you wake up and you have energy and you feel wonderful. You get that glow (as opposed to the green tinge of morning sickness). I can't wait for it.

Marc and I are going to do some scouting this weekend. I think we're going to start checking out some furniture. We've decided that we're going to use the red guest room for the baby. We'll sell the furniture after my sisters come next week. So we're making a date out of it and browsing through the gazillion things that we need for this baby. I'm hoping it doesn't scare me to death! Babies R Us is the most overwhelming place on the planet!!

Anyway, I hope you all enjoy your weekend. I would brag about my fantasy football team but it's HORRIBLE! I mean absolutely AWFUL! At least I'm better than Marc...but not by much. We'll see how bad my running backs are this week!!

I promise next update for a picture of my belly. Right now it's not really a belly but something is forming down there. I'm shopping for maternity jeans this afternoon. I'm actually kind of looking forward to that elastic waistband for those big dinners. I think they will come in handy on Thanksgiving.

We've got ourselves a BABY!!

We had our first appointment today. WOW! What an experience! I was a little nervous going into it. I just wanted everything to be ok. So we get there and the doctor was running 30 minutes LATE!! You've got to be kidding me! But we made it back there and after the dreaded scale we were ready to roll.

We had an ultrasound and it was amazing. The minute I saw the little guy on the screen I started to cry. It's so little, only 1.9 cm! But so amazing. You could see little arm and leg buds and the heart beating. 166 BPM, not bad! My doctor said everything looked GREAT and that the baby is perfectly healthy. I don't have to come back for another 6 weeks which is nice too. Just need to let Baby Goodell grow.

Anyway, we are so excited and very relieved. I now feel like it's real! It's amazing that there's something inside me that's growing and has a beating heart that I can't even feel. So here are the pictures...they are pretty much just blobs :) The head is the blob on the left, the body on the right.

Thanks for all your prayers! We love you all!!

8 weeks 4 days

Today is the big day! Our first appointment is this afternoon and I'm so excited! We get a ultrasound!! Yippee! I think this will finally calm my nerves and make all this so real! We'll post our first photos this afternoon and update you all on what the doctor says! Wish us luck!!!

7 weeks!

So for the first time in a week I was able to get up and have a cup of coffee. It was very good :) I wasn't queasy at all this morning so that was VERY nice. I've had 3 pretty good days in a row! I'm not getting my hopes up though. Tomorrow could be a very different story.

Other than that we're just going through the motions. There was a time last week when I was feeling so good that I'd forget that I'm growing a baby inside me. So Marc and I go on a nice long bike ride. We're crossing the street and he jumps up over the curb onto the sidewalk. Well this is like his 80th time showing off like this so I think to myself "I can jump that curb. No problem." But considering I couldn't jump curbs when I was ten I have no idea why I thought I could jump it when I was 28. But I tried...so I slowed my bike down, took a quick glance to the oncoming car on my right. Deep breath, hit the brakes a little more, a swift look up watching the 4 other people on the trail...here I go. BAM!! Right into the curb. I don't even think I got an INCH off of the asphalt. My wheel turns around, I scrape my knee and hit the back of my leg with something. And then I burst out laughing. I look up at Marc and say "Did you just see what I did??" I'm cracking up as I slowly lift my mangled bike and body onto the sidewalk. The nice lady stops to see if I'm ok. I am I say...but my bike seat is twisted at a 90 degree angle and I'm just trying to ride away from these people because I look like a total idiot. I was bright red and so embarrassed. I kept thinking about how cool I would have looked if I would have jumped it...but instead I just looked like a crazy woman in her bike helmet trying to be cool! Bad flashbacks to childhood, let me tell you!

I finally catch up to Marc who asks if I'm ok. I of course say yes I'm fine, let me stop and fix my seat. Then I get the LOOK and the following "You know you should probably not try and jump curbs when your pregnant!". OOpps! I wasn't even thinking that I could get totally mauled by the pavement while trying to look cool. Sigh...guess I have to leave these types stunts alone for a while. Then eventually I can lecture my kids on being stupid and trying to jump curbs. But at least I tried.

And I solemnly swear to avoid curb jumping or otherwise dangerous stunts while pregnant.

5 weeks 4 days

So, it starts. I woke up on Tuesday and felt yucky...got through it. Started to feel better by around 5:00 pm. Yesterday same thing...ughhh. Not fun! BUT the good news is that morning sickness is a good thing and decreases the risk of miscarriage. So guess I shouldn't complain.

Today I found that drinking a ginger ale first thing helps...so we'll see. Other than that not much going on. We golfed last night and I had to stuff myself into my golf skirt already!! What the heck! I think gaining weight in the beginning before I actually get a belly is going to be very hard. I have to keep reminding myself that I"m pregnant when I go and get dressed. But then again I can't stop stuffing my face so what can you do?? I got TWO desserts last night at the golf club...in my defense I didn't eat them both, just one and then a few bites of the other. Whatever, my metabolism is going pretty good right?? hee hee...

We're going to see Stevie Wonder tonight. It's outside and it's going to be a beautiful evening so we're looking forward to that. This weekend we're laying low. We're golfing with the V's on Saturday and then hanging out for the rest of the weekend. Hopefully I can get to the pool for an afternoon.

Well I should start working...ugh. My breakfast isn't settling well...looks like another long morning!

4 weeks 5 days...

Hello! Welcome to our blog!

As you all know we are expecting our first baby. Yeah...we're so excited. The best part is that we lied to you all! ha ha ha!! No just kidding, well sort of.

It's my first Friday night without my signature martini...hasn't been so bad so far. I had some crystal light instead. Same thing right...no difference?? I tried to add olives but it didn't really do it for me.

We are gearing up for a nice relaxing weekend. We have a date night tomorrow night. We are going to Claim Jumpers for dinner (I think with their portions this may be my fav prego spot) and seeing Bourne Ultimatum. Other than that I'm just trying to rest. I am starting to get tired when I go out or do things so I think that fatigue is on the horizon.

Nina gave us the cutest booties and hat today. She made them herself as you can see in the picture below. We also bought a little baby tee shirt at the concert last weekend (it was a little wishful thinking, but it worked!) that says "Future Crate Digger". (For those of you who aren't up on the hip-hop lingo that's a term for a dj). It's very cute.

Anyway, off to finish dinner.