Twig and Berries, It's a Boy!

It’s (semi) official, it's a boy! We went today for another sonogram. Jenn and I were both fairly confident we were having a girl this time. The heart rate was up; she is carrying low, all signs pointed to us having a girl. So we were both surprised to see his little twig and berries, clear as day.

Everything looks good so far. The baby looks healthy and presumably happy. Because as we all know, babies are always happy… Yeah. That’s it. All smiles and giggles. I digress.

The edumacated guesstimated weight is 10 ounces, and it looks like we are a bit further along than we had originally thought. The due date will probably end up being earlier in May. That’s good. Hopefully we will be on schedule, and Jenn will recover enough to have Alex’s birthday party after the delivery.

Say hello to little Liam Thomas Newton. Keep your fingers crossed and the well wishing flowing. Oh, and notice that it looks like he’s got his finger in his nose on the first picture. The sonogram tech (nurse, whatever she was she was great) could not get a good profile shot. The little bugger wouldn’t roll over for us. Of course, he was all over the place when she needed him to be still for the measurements… He’s already not cooperating.

16 Weeks, and Helen

We went to the doctor again today. The heart rate is around 160-161. According to the “Old Wives Tale” this means we are having a girl. I’m not exactly sure what that tale is, or what the ranges are for girls vs. boys, but we’ll take each little indication that we’re having a girl this time and hold onto it as fact simply because we really want to believe we are having a girl this time. We go again the first week of January. That will be the big one, the one where we get to bring a VCR cassette and record the sonogram. For you folks that were born after 1980, it’s a magnetic tape used to store video. For a full discussion on the VCR, see the wiki page. It’s also the visit where we will be able to find out for sure (as sure as one can be about these things) whether it is going to be a boy or a girl.

The baby is moving a lot lately. I actually felt it kick last night. We tried to get Alex to feel the baby, but he would burst out into uncontrollable giggles. I don’t know if he was just really uncomfortable or freaked out or what. He could not keep it together long enough to feel the baby kick. He is so excited though and talks about the baby all the time.

We got to spend Thanksgiving with my parents. We had a great time and stuffed ourselves silly. After Thanksgiving we drove up to Helen for the weekend. The weather was beautiful on Saturday, and we spent most of the day walking around Helen and doing fun stuff with Alex. He got to ride one of the horse drawn carriages. Alex and I also got to see a really, really big model train set. The thing was two stories high. You can see pictures here. Alex was so amazed. He loves trains, and this was just so cool for someone who loves trains.

12 Weeks, No Boy Parts Yet

It is still to early to tell, but we actually want to know the sex of the baby we grasp at every clue and make more meaning out of it than we probably should. At 12 weeks we can see the two little femurs with nothing in between except for the umbilical cord. This could either mean that the little boy parts haven't dropped yet, or it could mean that they never will because it is a girl. It is weird how with Alex we wanted it to be a surprise and that it didn't bother us not knowing what the sex was until he was born. With this one we don't know and it is driving us crazy not knowing. We've decided that we want to know and that makes it hard to wait to find out. So we still don't know if it is going to be a little girl or boy yet (we haven't completely decided on the names yet, just kicking the tires on a few names to see how they roll).

The heart rate looked good, but they neglected to tell us what it was. Everything looks healthy, and we could already see the baby moving around. He/she measures around 12 cm head to butt (just under 5 inches).

Alex went with us to see the sonogram. He says “guess what, the baby is going to get bigger in a month, did you know that? Mommy tells me that, and I tell my friends that too.” He sat there, wide eyed. He is so excited to be a big brother, and has already told us that he will share his room with the baby. He was upset when we said that the baby would have its own room. His teacher says that he talks about the baby every day at school. We think he is going to be a wonderful big brother. He is so caring.

We are busy preparing, whenever we can find spare time. We already put the call out to see if we can get our old baby stuff back, as well as any hand-me-downs from friends. We are very lucky to have such a good group of friends and family. It makes it easier since we just rotate all the baby goods to whoever needs them.

We are into the second trimester now. Jenn is feeling better other than having a little cold right now. Poor Jenn just gets over the morning sickness and now is just plain sick. She is tired of not feeling well. We are really looking forward to the second trimester. It is such a wonderful time.

Anyways, wish us luck and keep your fingers crossed for a little girl!

Beach Cousins

I forgot to post this picture, but this is from our trip to Florida to see my cousin Markie graduate from High School. We didn't actually make it to the graduation itself, but the afterparty was quite an event (don't mess with Jenn when she's checking ID's).

This is Alex with his future cousin. I love this picture, they just look so cute together on the beach. I do think Alex would fit in quite well with the beach scene. He seemed to inherit his absolute love of the beach and ocean from his mother. Don't get me wrong, I love the beach too, but Jenn's love borders on obsession and even worship.

Candler Park Festival

The Candler Park Festival was a lot of fun this year. Alex got his face painted (very scary, I know). Mom's leg was bothering her and Jenn is still not feeling well, so we didn't last too long.

Things are going well. We should be finding out whether we are having a boy or a girl soon. I can't wait to find out! Keep your fingers crossed for a girl. Of course, as always, we'll be just as happy with a boy as long as it has all 10 fingers and 10 toes. I think we would even settle for something that's maybe just a finger short or something...

We're going camping with the ex-neighbors this weekend, and can't wait to head out. Alex has been going on all day about "smarshmallows" and chocolate. It's funny because no one but Jenn seems to actually like eating the smores as a whole, but the good thing about the smores is that they are made out of three things, and everyone is bound to enjoy at least one or two of those things. I think the best part of the whole experience is for Alex to have a legal, acceptable, and even encouraged excuse to play in the fire.

Round 2

Well, here are the pictures of the latest Newton. We are exactly 6 weeks pregnant today, and the baby is due May 16th. Jenn's really hoping for a girl, and I get the feeling that she'll get her wish. I don't know why, I just think it's going to be a girl this time. The heart beat is where it should be, and all of Jenn's levels are where they should be for this point in the pregnancy. This pregnancy is markedly different than the last. With Alex she was generally only nauseous at night, but with this one it is an all day event. Also, her appetite was huge with Alex. With this one she can barely bring herself to eat.

The good news is that we are halfway through the first trimester. From what I remember, the second trimester was the golden time. That was when Jenn had more energy, and things really started to happen. She started showing more, and we could hear the heartbeat with a stethoscope.

Anyways, wish us luck. We are finally ready for another! Keep your fingers crossed and hope for a girl. Jenn really wants one!

First Day of Kindergarten, Afterschool

We just picked Alex up from his first day. He told us all about PE (as he says, "guess what the gym is called? It's called the P.E. That's where you play soccer and basketball and run"). Apparently there was also a search for a ginger bread man at some point in the day.

His teacher has traffic lights for each kid, and first time they get in trouble they go to yellow, next time they go to red and have to sit out. Alex came home with green!

He was very excited about his first day and talked our ear off on the way to the car. He doesn't quite understand why he is not riding the bus though.

We were of course the first of the "nervous parents" to show up at the school and had to wait a while. Everything went very smooth, except for us sitting at home all day wondering how his first day was going.

I've attached some pictures. Our camera is acting up so we didn't get as many as we wanted. We are off to go measure how tall he is (we are marking his height and the date on his door jam).

First Day of Kindergarten

We got a few pictures this morning. He was very excited about starting school and wearing his new backpack. We live close to the school (less than 1/2 a mile) so we decided to walk this morning. We dropped him off at school, and he asked mommy to play trains with him (they have trains and tracks at school, which he loves). She told him no, that he will have to listen to the teacher and if she says it's ok to play with the trains, then he can play with them then. He was fine with that and wandered off to find something else to get into.

Friday was the harder day. We had open house at his school. Since we are nervous first timers, we showed up 30 minutes early. It was good though because we got a chance to walk around the school and meet some of the PTA parents. There is a ton of parent involvement at the school (we are now card carrying PTA members). We also got to meet his teacher for the first time. She is very nice. She has a master's in education and has been teaching Kindergarten for the past 8 out of her 11 years of teaching. Apparently she is very well thought of. We heard at length from a few people at the school just how great she is, which makes puts us at ease.

So we seem to be in a great school, with one of the best teachers. They teach art, music, and Spanish all the way from K through 5. We are both home today waiting to hear about his first day.