Cheese and Oranges!

We're back!! After some "lovely" months of laying on the couch wanting to puke, rotting my brain away watching way too much TV, especially Kathie Lee and Hoda at 9am drinking wine, and living on an inconsistent diet of : hamburgers the first 2 weeks, cheese and crackers, and pretty much my 7 open boxes of cereal: fruit loops and oatmeal squares to name a couple, for the last 10 weeks, I'm feeling much better.

I'm almost completely over my awesome double ear infection and upper respiratory infection that has dragged on for 4 weeks, but I have to say that the highlight of that aliment was after the 3rd week, when my ears finally popped and unplugged and I stopped being so annoying to my husband and family bc I stopped asking , "WHAT?" after every sentence...3 cheers for that!!
There are some other "fun" things about pregnancy that I've  never really experienced with such intensity-but as I've been lovingly reminded many times:  "You've worked so hard to be this sick .." :) Which I have...So I'm chalking it up to being all apart of the blessed opportunity and miracle of being pregnant, which definitely has been a fun trip.

weeks 12

13

14

15

sassy 15

17- what an awful picture, i look like death :)

18

On Wednesday we'll be 20 weeks pregnant, I can't believe that we're halfway there.  It has been such a learning experience for me and Russell. It has been so fun to read about all the changes that are actually happening in my body and then feeling all the changes that I'm reading about.  I can't believe how my belly has grown too...I don't just have a food baby in there, I have a REAL BABY in there.  Everyone told me that it becomes so much more real when you find out the sex and really watch them move during the ultrasound.  Well, it's definitely true.  We talk to him more and more and about our future plans even more.  Its just such an exciting time creating this little boy- I'm so much more aware of what I do and eat.

Week 19 & 4 days

Last week Tuesday, Russell and I had our big ultrasound to check all the major organs, measure the baby, see his heartbeat and find out the sex.  We decided that we wanted it to be a little more intimate so when we got in the room and u/s tech asked if we wanted to know the sex we said we had a favor.  We asked Jenny, the sweetest u/s tech, to not reveal the sex but to write it down on a piece of paper that we provided and then seal it in the envelope.  She totally agreed and we got started.

We watched the baby squirm around having his own dance party which made it difficult to capture a few shots of the heart.  She asked if I just ate something really good, bc it looked like the baby was really enjoying it...Well, i did have something really good-string cheese and a mandarin orange.  She concurred that the baby must love cheese and oranges!  We got to see him waving and checking things out and when it came to locating the "genitalia" she said to close our eyes.  We closed them for about a minute and she captured several shots of "it" and then left the room for a minute.  She took the pictures and paper and envelope and came and said here it is.  We put it on the counter and looked some more at our little one.

After 35 minutes or so of looking and failing to capture a fabulous profile pic and the 4 chambers of the heart she told me to walk around the room for a bit and move and that she'd come back in awhile to see if he had changed his position.  SO she left the room and I had a dance party myself.  Russell just watched and laughed as me and baby were rocking out to the quiet hum of the machine.  I worked pretty hard and practiced some sweet moves like Jagger and did a toe touch and everything :) About 15 minutes later we tried again and the baby was in the "perfect" spot for the last few pictures she needed.
It was truly wonderful to see our baby up on the screen moving, waving, dancing and having a great time growing in the womb.

Great little profile

His feet- we are not sure if he has russell's strong hobbit feet or my insanely small pinky toe feet, but doesn't matter, they are so adorable and small :)

So Russell and I had a plan.  We took the envelope, went to a quiet corner window table of the Red Lion at The Quay Restaurant, ordered some food, and then decided to open our surprise-just the two of us.  There were few couples in the restaurant and so we felt pretty private.  We opened the  envelope and read in blue marker, "Congrats, its a boy!"  Then enclosed were the pictures that no doubt could only be one thing, male genitalia!  We were stoked!!  WE kinda always wanted the "big brother" first and would have been just as happy with a girl, but Landon James Stott is on his way!

We thank all of you who continually support us and love our little growing family!  We hope that all of you had a fabulous summer and enjoyed your time with family and loved ones!  I am officially back at work and will be working up till the Due date which is February 6, 2013.  Russell has officially been moved to DAYS!!! what a blessing that it.  We sleep together, get ready and eat breakfast together, make dinner together and go to bed together.  We've never had so much "together" time, this is the first time since we've lived here, 6 years, that he has been on days, and we're loving every minute of it.  What a help it will be too when the baby comes.  Hallelujah!  I'll be blogging more often now and asking for advice on things so please visit and let me know your thoughts.