Weekend at the Lake

I am about a week late in posting this, but last weekend we had the great privilege of visiting Possum Kingdom Lake! Andrew's brother's wife Amy spent her childhood weekends on this reservoir, and her parents recently bought a second lake home right on the water. They invited us to their lovely place for a weekend of fun and sun. We had a great time! Since I am with child I was unable to partake in the tubing/skiing/jet ski fun but very much enjoyed watching the others from the boat and taking quite a few dips in the lake! It was so refreshing to get away and some relief from the heat in the water. I have concluded riding on speed boats is one of my favorite activities in this world.

Humm...this is not our best together shot but the only one I have of both of us. Notice I wore my lap swimming suit. It did the job but was not the cutest thing on the lake for sure. I have a variety of lovely 2 piece swim wear options, however I personally feel totally uncomfortable wearing them at 17 weeks pregnant. Some girls can totally pull this off....I am just not one of them.

Oh well...me and Baby M had a great time totally covered up in our 1 piece lap suit. Very fun weekend indeed!

On the pregnancy front, I am just about 18 weeks along now and feeling awesome. I don't think I have ever felt this hungry in my whole life though! Food has also never tasted so good! For the first time I always know exactly what I want and feel completely satisfied when I get it. Our baby also apparently loves some spice. I have been craving all kinds of spicy food, the greater the kick the better. My current favorite are sandwiches from Potbelly with their famous hot peppers. If you don't know what I am talking about you are seriously missing out. Oh man that is a good sandwich! I also am cooking with a lot of jalapenos and Asian hot sauce...yumm! This Thursday we have our "big" ultrasound where they will measure and look at all of his/her parts and tell us with certainty if Baby M is a he or a she. We are super excited and anxious for Thursday to arrive!

Nathalie and Baby M

Belly Shots

The Belly Shot has been something I have been meaning to do weekly since we discovered Baby M. 16 weeks into it I have two pictures taken on the same day last week. This is even the first baby. You are supposed to be good about this kind of thing with the first. I think my hesitation to take these images are due to several factors. First of all, how pregnant I look over the course of a single day seems to very quite a bit. I wake up looking fairly normal, slightly poochy and my pants don't button but I can still wear them. However, by the time I get into bed you'd think I was about to give birth right then and there! It is a very strange phenomenon that I have read is normal, likely due to bloat, but not shared by most of the women I know who have been pregnant. The question this raises for me is when to take the belly shot on any given day? I mean at what point is my belly the most accurate so to speak?

These shots were taken before dinner so I was a little larger than that morning but not as big as I would be after eating my evening meal. The other issue is I still feel like I don't quite "look" pregnant. As you can see, there doesn't seem to be a distinguishing bump just yet so I am left with photographing my extra chub until I "pop". I have been promised this will happen soon! Let's hope so! So here they are. I am making a commitment to be better about taking and sharing these pictures. I know I will appreciate them once Baby M is here. Oh and thank you to Maria who took these and helped me find my best side angle if there is such a thing!

Nathalie and Baby M

Is Baby M a Boy or Girl? Cast your vote now....

This question haunts me daily. I am so eager and excited to find out! Our doctor told us she could tell us at our next visit (9/2). That seems so soon! Part of me can't wait and is dying to know, the other part thinks it is really cool when people postpone this news until delivery. What an incredible moment when the baby comes out and someone announces..."it's a...!" Must add a lot of drama to the moment. Maybe that is too much drama for me. So I am slightly torn. It seems like everyone finds out these days and as a result the baby manufacturers have all together stopped making "gender neutral" garments. Finding out would make shopping easier....

For now though, I have posted a little poll on the side of the blog to see what everyone else thinks. Simply vote if you think Baby M will be a boy or a girl (the poll is under the "Wesson" section). I have been told by several people they just "know" what we are having. How do they know this? I personally don't have a clue either way and am excited about either possibility. What do you think?

Nathalie and Baby M (is it annoying that I keep including Baby M? I just don't feel right taking all the credit for these posts)

Short story about yesterday's doctor visit:

If you didn't know, when you are pregnant you are required to pee in a cup each and every time you visit the doctor. I have made the mistake during prior visits to use the restroom before arriving at my appointment only to find it extremely difficult to give the required sample. Yesterday I planned ahead and waited until I arrived, by which time I was in serious need of a ladies room. I left Andrew in the waiting area while I asked the front desk lady if I could please use the office bathroom with the plastic cups in order to empty my bladder as well as leave my "sample". The more I talk about this the more I realize I am talking about my pee on the Internet. Oh well...I am too far into the story now to turn back. The front desk lady of course obliged my request and I hurried into the restroom. As I was doing my business my phone began to ring. I decided to ignore it since I had my hands full and hoped no one in the office could hear the level 4 ring through the door. About a minute later, it rang again. I thought, sheesh how annoying! After about 3 rings I was able to get my hands on the phone and see that it was Andrew, or actually "My Lover" as he has himself labeled in my phone. Frustrated, I answered, "Yeah babe?".

Andrew: "Where are you?"
Me: "Seriously? I am in the bathroom"
Andrew: "Oh well they just called your name"
Me: "Well can you tell them I am in the bathroom?!"
Andrew: "Ok"

When I came out I saw that all of the nurses and office staff where laughing. Apparently they had all heard what I said to Andrew. I guess I was kinda snappy and yelly through the phone/bathroom door. I apologized to Andrew on the way back to the room....I think we are their favorite patients.

Nathalie and Baby M

Some Updates....

Pregnancy:

Baby M is trucking right along. Andrew and I were blessed to be part of a class this weekend for individuals learning to use sonogram equipment at a local college. We basically got a free sonogram that a student administered with the help of an instructor. They put the machine on my tummy and Andrew had a seat of his own too with a perfect view of everything. We were there for almost 30 minutes and got to see so much! Baby M is a highly active child (although I still can’t feel a thing). He or She was constantly kicking his/her little toes and waving his/her fingers at us. It was the most incredible experience to see our baby moving and squirming around! The last time we had an ultrasound (7 weeks) Baby M was just a tiny blob on the screen. The fact that 6 weeks later we have a bouncing, kicking, thumb sucking baby blows my mind. I can’t wait until I get to kiss on that sweet face and hold those tiny hands and feet! I need to scan the images they gave us, but for now just imagine a baby ultrasound photo.

Birthdays:

My little sister Maria, who you may remember we visited in New York in May, is now making her temporary home in our guest room. She is currently looking for a job in the Dallas area in the music field and will be staying with us until she gets settled. It has been nice to have her around. She keeps Wesson company during the days which he LOVES, she always unloads the dishwasher before I have a chance, and she is available to accompany me to places like JoAnn’s fabric store to look for baby fabric (something Andrew would loath). She and I also share a birthday. Well almost…we are 1 day apart. Our mother went into labor with Maria while setting up my 2nd birthday party. Needless to say, the event had to be postponed for the arrival of baby sister. We celebrated this year by having a small gathering on her birthday Sunday night and dinner at home on Monday complete with 2 cakes! Andrew also took me out the Friday before for a little date of our own. I have been craving sushi like crazy and can’t really have it. So he took me out for sushi and we ordered a lot of cooked kinds. It helped with the craving, but I still can’t wait to eat a spicy tuna roll after I deliver Baby M. Andrew has offered to order this dish into the hospital if I still want it that bad. What a guy! Here are some pics from the various events.

Before our date...Maria did my hair too...another roommate bonus!

Maria got me a Mommy Yoga video....THANKS Maria!

Nathalie and Baby M