Making Progress with the Nursery!

We've finally started to get our act together with this whole nursery thing.

The first step - clean out the spare bedroom...including clearing out the boxes in the closets, condensing all of the things that we need to save, and getting rid of all of the furniture that we don't need anymore. Who knew that after just a year and a half in this house, we'd have all sorts of....JUNK. Granted, a lot of it was stuff that we had from before we were married that we thought we needed but didn't - so it wasn't so tough to get a humongous Goodwill pile going.

The second step - go to Goodwill to donate boxes and boxes and garbage bags full of clothes and shoes and other nonessential items, as well as loads of furniture that we didn't need. It took four guys (my dad, Justin, my cousin Tim, and his friend Steve) and two cars taking two separate trips to donate everything. And what a relief it was to say goodbye to it all!

The third step - take a break from the cleaning and enjoy Thanksgiving! We had a fun low-key Thanksgiving with my cousin Tim and his friend who visited from Louisville. We ate a lot (ah, one of the perks of being pregnant is not being so guilty about eating...haha), watched the latest Harry Potter, and just hung out. It was FABULOUS.

The fourth step - start building! We're doing things slowly, but we've already built the crib and changing table/dresser as well as assembled the stroller. Okay, well Justin did it all while I napped.



The nursery before the building process (and after the massive cleanout)



Justin and Rupert taking a break from taking the crib parts out of the box.



Zoe telling Justin to GET A MOVE ON!!!



Seriously, get to work!



Ah, finally!



Whew - worn out!



It exhausted Zoe, too!



And just watching all of the action exhausted me!


We're not quite finished yet, but we're getting there!!!

Having Fun With Baby Yasette

We've reached the stage where Baby Yasette (by the way, thanks Ann for coining that term!) enjoys kicking and moving and having fun in such a way that not only I can notice it, but anyone who desires to put their hands on my tummy can also feel it.

Finally. Poor Justin has had to endure my own recounts of how it feels for weeks before he could finally feel it himself. And I know he was feeling a little sad that Baby Girl Y didn't want to say hi to Daddy, but he got over it real quick once he felt her for real.

Our latest form of entertainment is to grab the stethoscope and try and hear her heartbeat or at least her moving around. So far, we haven't heard much besides a little movement and my own digestion, but it's been fun to try.

We also enjoy putting a flashlight on my stomach to see if she'll react to it. She'll sometimes play along, but she's a little finicky about it.

I used to flick my stomach with my fingers to get her to move, but Justin is afraid that I'm hurting her ears, so I had to promise not to do that anymore.

Anyway, who knew how fun it is to play with an unborn baby! Can't wait til she makes her appearance for even more family fun :-)

Boring Pregnancy

Everyone loves to ask me how I'm feeling and if I've had any nausea or morning sickness or other common pregnancy difficulty.

My response is always that I'm feeling great, and that I've not felt any sorts of sickness (other than a regular cold/allergies, unrelated to pregnancy).

And the more I say it, the more I feel so....BORING.

I know, I know, I should relish in this boringness (I know, it's not a real word) and count my blessings (believe me - I've seen gals with way worse pregnancies than me...in fact, so much so that I almost never wanted to get pregnant myself).

But I sometimes can't help but feel that since I'm so boring that something's bound to be wrong.

Or worse - I'll get my payback once Baby Girl Yasay makes her appearance. I sometimes stay up at night thinking about how wonderful she's being in utero, that I end up worrying that she's just saving all of the drama for later.

So, please Baby Yasette, I'm begging you to be just as perfectly calm and healthy as you are now for the rest of your life. You would make your mommy and daddy the happiest parents EVER.

Heeding your requests....

A common trend in pregnancies is to take weekly/monthly/regular belly pics to chart the growth of the baby. It's a cute idea, and I was initially all for it and planned on having Justin take weekly pictures of me and my belly...but it just felt really weird to me.

In the beginning, I was self conscious simply because I felt that it was boring and there was nothing to see. And then there was the period where it was downright embarrassing - you know, the whole "Is she pregnant or just gaining weight?" time frame. Now (at 5.5 months) that there's no doubt that I am indeed pregnant, it seems a little funny to post the pictures since there's nothing really to compare it to.

I've never really been weight conscious (thanks to the intrinsic motivation I have of running long distances - which, sadly, has been quite nonexistent these days), but it's sort of been rough seeing that scale start to creep its way forward. It's all been in the healthy range, according to the Good Doc, but it's still slightly terrifying nonetheless.

But, due to your requests, here are a few of the latest belly shots:


21 Weeks


22 Weeks


22 Weeks, with Rupert

Officially a SAHM....eek!

Even though I knew in my heart of hearts what I was going to do after Baby Girl Y arrives, I didn't want to make it official. Not just yet. I. Love. My. Job. I love where I work, and I love what I do. I didn't want to have to choose between work or Baby Girl Y. I want BOTH.

Oh, but, the case for staying at home with Baby Girl Y ultimately won me over, as I always knew it inevitably would...I just didn't want to say it out loud. Because when I did, I knew that work would never be the same again.

What do I mean? My boss is fabulous, yet he is also very practical. Last year, when a fellow teacher announced she intended to stay at home, he very quickly turned things around and started the interview process for her replacement.

I knew, though, that it was only fair to tell him sooner rather than later of my decision. I wanted to do it before the craziness of the holidays came up because I didn't want to put additional pressure during that time....and if I waited until afterwards, well, that's a little too late. I kept putting it off, though, wanting to wait until another doctor's appointment to confirm that all was healthy with My Baby Girl. Well, that appointment happened earlier this week...

So I did it. Yesterday. And it was difficult. I cried (see previous post about me being an emotional wreck anyway). But, in the end, though, I'm relieved. I know that I'm doing what's best for me and my brand-new family. It'll be an adjustment, but I think it'll be all right. Will prayers be needed? Absolutely. But I have faith that I'm doing what's meant to be done.

So, assuming that the tentative date of our scheduled c-section remains March 9th, 2011, I'll be a Stay At Home Mom (SAHM) starting March 7th!

Actually, it's a girl!

So, we all thought that Justin & I have got ourselves a boy-in-the-oven. I did, Justin did, my parents did (see previous post). And the day before my ultrasound, my class did an informal poll and "Boy" won by a landslide (12 to 6, with 3 abstentions). Not to mention that the day of the ultrasound, I polled my fellow teachers, and they all picked "Boy" with the exception of one.

The gender was the last thing that the ultrasound technician checked. Which was fine by me because it was definitely way more important (and completely amazing) to watch the screen as she checked in on our baby's healthy heart and body. I had never felt closer to witnessing the miracle of God's incredible love and goodness than at that ultrasound...and it still boggles my mind that all that beauty is going on inside me as we speak. Every time our technician gave us the "all clear" that baby's completely "boringly normal", I couldn't help but think - How in the world is that possible when I feel like I have absolutely no idea what the heck I'm doing?

Anyway, so at the very end of the ultrasound, she shows us that, without a doubt, we've got ourselves a beautiful, healthy baby girl on the way. And she'll probably kill me one day for making this picture public, but here's the picture to prove it:



See the crosshairs? Above it is a leg, below it is a leg, and to the right of it you can see that she's all girl...

Oh, and here are some other ultrasound pics:



Baby Girl Yasay's Feet



And a profile shot.

Isn't the Miracle of Life the best thing EVER?

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My reaction when I found out we were having a girl? A little confusion. I hadn't pictured it at all, since I had already envisioned a Baby Boy Yasay all along. Naturally, though, that immediately went away, and I started thinking about all the fun I would have with Baby Girl Yasay, in a way that only mothers and daughters can do.

Justin's reaction was two-fold. We walked out of the ultrasound and into the parking lot, and he immediately tells me 1) He's going to buy a shotgun to ward off any potential suitors, and 2) if our next one's a girl, we're going for #3. YIKES. (Of course, he's just as excited as anyone - in fact, I think he's even more excited about the prospect of a girl...and, honestly, can't we all already picture him wrapped around her little finger?!?)

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So that night, we invited our folks over to announce the good news.

From the moment they walked in the door, they were making their guesses. They continued to make their suppositions, and Justin and I weren't saying anything. Finally, as soon as we started digging in to dinner, my mom couldn't take it anymore and she asked, "Well? When are you going to tell us?!" I just said that we've given them a few hints, and that they needed to figure it out.

So, here were some of their guesses:

"You're baby's Italian!" (We were eating lasagna.)
"It's a boy because of the scarecrow outside!" (That was purely a fall decoration on the porch.)

Eventually, they noticed that Justin had changed his shirt right before dinner to a pink one that matched the one I was already wearing.

And there reaction was pretty similar to ours...a little shock (since, again, we all thought "Boy") before the excitement kicked in.

Of course, in typical motherly excitement, my mom and I (and Justin tagged along, too) decided to go shopping the very next day. And, yes, as you might have guessed, we shopped 'til we dropped for all things Baby Girl.