36 Weeks!
Well, only about 4 weeks until the due date! We are going to the doctor every week starting this week, and so far the head is down, the doctor can feel it, and Lauren is about 50% effaced. Progress!
We also started the childbirth series at the hospital - finally. Lauren is the first one due in the class, most of the others are due October, November and even December and she has the smallest belly! Aaron finds this worrisome, Lauren figures she is just carrying more in her middle, but all in all the baby is healthy and there is no need to worry, some people just carry the weight differently. The information is a bit overwhelming and scary - um, epidural, thanks! - but they did do a relaxation exercise and gave a cd talking you through it and Aaron really liked that. They gave us a bunch of worksheets with tips, etc. so we will have to read them over and probably pack some in the bag we will take to the hospital.
Other than that, the room is just about ready, and is looking great. We have to wash the blankets and things we know we will be using right away so that is a project for the next week or so and then Lauren will pack her bag so that it is ready to go. At this point, Lauren is still working and hoping to make it a few more weeks though she is ever more uncomfortable. The baby is making good progress growth wise and if you look at the right moment you can see the blob move! Aaron read that the baby will move away from a flashlight or a frozen/cold spoon when put up against the belly so we tried it last night and finally, he got to see the baby completely move positions. It was very exciting, and we may try to do that a bit more often in the next few weeks or try the flashlight.
Oh, and now we are really not 100% decided on names. We are going back and forth from Hayden to Savannah, but there is always the chance we will see something else we like before she debuts.

Lots to catch up on this week. We had a doctor’s appointment this week and all is looking good. The doctor said Peanut is in the correct position (head down) so that is good, and she is growing very well. The next appointment will be in two weeks and then we go to weekly appointments. Heartbeat still sounds strong and everything is going well.
We had our shower this past weekend and it went really well. Thanks again to Pam, Kelly, Kristin and Lauren’s mom for helping to put it all together. We ended up with a pretty big group and though we feel really bad that we didn’t get to spend a lot of time with everyone, we hope everyone enjoyed themselves because we did. We got a lot of great stuff – overnight Peanut’s room transformed into something that looks like a baby’s room. I will post some pics of the shower when we get some. Thanks again everyone who came, we had a great time.
In other news, we have already attended two classes at our hospital: the maternity tour and childcare basics & car seat safety. The tour was really helpful because they showed us the process of where we go when we check in, etc. Reality! The facilities seem nice and we really like that they keep the baby with you basically all the time, except for morning check-ups. Childcare basics taught us how to swaddle which seems like a miracle if its done correctly. The guy in the video just wraps up these screaming infants, picks them up and holds them on their side and instantly they stop crying. Amazing. Hope we can figure that one out! We got a lot out of the car seat safety portion. They were very knowledgeable and will even inspect the car seat once we put it in which we will definitely take advantage of.

You may have noticed we have changed the title of this blog (again). We have come up with another front-runner for our Peanut's name. We are still considering Hayden, and nothing is definite until we actually meet her, but for now we think we like Savannah Hope the best. But, as I have said before, we have 2 more months so we might come up with something we like even better by then. Stay tuned!

Here are a couple of pics from Hawaii from the digital camera. A lot of the ones with Lauren in them did not turn out the best so we will wait until we get the disposable cameras developed in the hopes that there are some better ones. This one you can see a bit of a belly there. The next is the gorgeous scenery we looked at all week (oh, to be back!), and the last is of a sea turtle that we actually swam with.

Ok, we are bad so we'll try to catch up on everything in this one post. Peanut is growing a lot and everything seems to be on track. Lauren feels movement and kicks every day, and can even see her stomach pulsating when Peanut moves. Aaron got to feel a good strong kick the other day so now he knows how it feels. Lauren had to take the glucose test to check for gestational diabetes, which came back abnormal so she had to go for the 3 hour test. This meant fasting from dinner until the test was over and getting blood drawn 4 times over 3 hours. Not to mention sitting at the testing place for 3 hours! But, the results came back fine so we are in the clear on that one, too.

We actually just got back from Maui and had a great time. The weather was beautiful and we had lots of fun. Lauren (or maybe just Peanut) got a bit seasick when we took a snorkel trip to Molokini and then Turtle Town, but Lauren did do the snorkeling at both places though she ended up "sicking up" in the ocean. It was really pretty and we had a good time, just wish it could have lasted longer. We will try to get some pictures up in the next couple of days once we have a chance to go through some of them.

We have also created a registry for baby items - we spent 2 hours registering one night at one store! Lauren's bridesmaids, Kelly, Kristin and Pam have generously offered to throw her a shower so that is coming up as well and should be fun. We are in the 30th week this week so about 10 more to go, we just can't believe it. We have also started clearing our spare bedroom, getting it ready for not only Peanut, but for Gavin who will begin overnight stays with us this weekend. We have been in our place for a little over 2 years already and we are just now finally organizing and making the spare room livable! The "theme" will be hawaiian/surfer, which will work well for the baby and for Gavin, and things are moving along though we do have a bit more to do, and then get the baby furniture. All in all, though, things are moving along!

Well, we saw the doctor this week, and sadly no picture but everything is still going well and we did hear the heartbeat. And our childbirth class got cancelled on the first Wednesday we were supposed to have it. Kristin and Lauren got there after rushing from work only to be told the class didn't have enough couples to have it continue. So now we are looking at other options.
The belly is growing steadily, sorry for no pictures yet but we really will try to take some and put them on soon. There is lots of movement in the belly, and Lauren tries to catch it when it starts by putting her hand on her stomach but she usually just misses it, though a few times she thinks she actually has felt it outside. She's an active kid so as she gets bigger we are sure we will all be able to feel the movement.
Other than that, we are making some progress in choosing themes for the room, choosing other accessories and deciding a date for the baby shower - thanks in advance to Aunt Pam, Kelly and Kristin who have so far generously offered to be a part of putting a shower on. We have not actually started a registry yet but will probably do that at the end of the month.

Oops, as you can see by the date, this was supposed to go up mother's day - two weeks ago!
Lauren got more preggy clothes for mothers day, and she is very excited about it. In just a few days, her stomach really started protruding. What looked like a bloated belly on a Friday was a definite bump by Sunday. We have taken one belly shot but Lauren is not happy with it so we will try to post one soon, even though we are already half-way through!
In the past few weeks, the activity in the tummy has majorly increased. The other day Lauren got a few good hard kicks, and is feeling lots of fluttering. Basically every day she feels some movement. Lauren has also begun sleeping with a body pillow because she is quite uncomfortable these days sleeping, and since she can't sleep on her stomach that seems to be helping. We also signed up for lamaze/childbirth prep classes. They actually begin this Wednesday. Yes, it seems early, but they recommend signing up 3 months prior to your due date, and we would miss one class of the next session which begins at the end of June so they told us to sign up for this one. It is 5 weeks long. Sadly, Aaron will miss the first class because he was informed last Thursday that his work needed to send him out of town for a repair - to Denmark! He left Sunday and will come home this Thursday, but Lauren's oldest and greatest friend Kristin has graciously offered to go with Lauren - thanks, Krist! So, that's about all the news I can remember for now... we have a doctor's appointment next week and we are crossing our fingers we get another picture!

Okay, so we have been seeing some really great t-shirts for pregnant couples, and while we would never actually wear most of them we are getting quite a kick out of them - just had to post a fave... Oh, and we want to give a shout-out to Aunt Pam who has sent Lauren a tank top that says 'We're Hungry' on it, which got delivered to us with no note or invoice and we were sort of freaked out because we had no idea who it came from! We finally tracked down the sender, and a few days later received a shirt for Aaron that says 'My boys can swim!' Too funny, Aunt Pam! (For those who can't see the pic very well, its a stick figure with a pregnant belly and underneath it says 'LOOK WHAT I DID!')

As you can see, we have decided on a name - for now. So, Peanut is now Hayden Sienna Miller's nickname. Everything is trucking along just fine, just wanted to post a quick update to let everyone know that the results of Lauren's AFP test came back just fine, not that we were worried but it is good to know things are fine.
Other than that, Lauren has gained weight - she thinks is excessive but it is just right - and she does have a bit of a bulge going on. She definitely can't button any of her non-maternity pants which is quite a thing to get used to but she is managing. Aaron has done a little of the sympathy weight/cravings, nothing too bad though he has had some interesting cravings and eating habits. Lauren's favorite was the night he combined Mother's oatmeal sandwich cookies with icing filling, macaroni and cheese, and his cayenne pepper in one bowl - yuck!

IT'S A GIRL!!!

Well, we have not posted in a while, so lets get you caught up. Two weeks ago we had a doctor's appointment - no new pics but we did hear the heartbeat - it sounded like a stampede in Lauren's stomach. Then, the biggest thing: we scheduled the "big ultrasound" where we could find out the sex of the baby.
So today we went in with our blank VHS cassette which Aaron will add shortly to the blog. They made us wait, of course, and Lauren was going crazy - the not knowing was killing her! Now, we both figured it was a girl, and everyone who made predictions said it would be a girl. Aaron was definitely hoping for a girl.
Finally we get called in, and the technician tells us that he has had boys all day. We said we would be the exception to the rule - and we were! He measured the baby's head, torso, legs, and heartbeat. Everything is perfect and right on schedule. Then he gave us the big news - ITS A GIRL! So now, we have got to concentrate on names. We had a boy's name picked but now its back to the drawing board :) Afterwards, Lauren had to get more blood drawn for the AFP test which will test for Down Syndrome, etc., and we will get the results next week.
We went to Babies'r'Us to try to get something "gender specific" now that we know its a girl, but couldn't figure out what to get so we just looked around and tried to settle on bedding and other things we will eventually register for.
Above, these are the pics we got from the ultrasound. The top one is proclaiming our little girl is in fact a little girl. The technician said he saw from every angle and is 100% sure she is a girl. The middle pic is of her facing upwards, not a great shot but we think we can see her cheekbone and head and torso. The bottom pic is of her facing down. The dotted bright white line is her spine.

Our Family is Doubling in Size!!!
And no, we are not having twins. As some of you know, Aaron has a son, Gavin, who is now 4 years old. Just yesterday Aaron was awarded 50% legal custody and a visitation schedule. Aaron began seeing Gavin in December, but Lauren was not allowed to meet Gavin or Aaron would not be allowed to see him. So, papers were filed with the court and not only did Aaron get visitation, but the court ruled that there were to be no exclusions - meaning Aaron can bring Gavin around anyone, and Lauren finally gets to meet her step-son. Congrats to Aaron for holding his own at court, it was a long day and he did a fantastic job representing himself - it was tough and Lauren and Peanut were very proud. And Peanut is so excited about this, too. (S)He was jumping around all morning - Lauren swears she can feel Peanut moving. So now what was a two-some at the beginning of the year will be a foursome before the year is out! We are all so excited to incorporate Gavin into our family and our life. So thanks for the well-wishes and support.

These are the pics from our second appointment which was March 9. As you can see, it actually looks like a little baby. While we were watching the screen, we could see the heartbeat which looks like a flashing light. We also watched the baby kick, punch, and move - it was pretty cool! An active little guy/gal, that's for sure! As of now, the due date is still September 25, and growth wise we are right on schedule. Two more appointments and we will be able to know if it is a boy or girl - we are dying to know!

So far, everything is good - I have had nausea but no throwing up or anything. I do get lots of headaches, though. I have gained a few pounds so far - I feel like its very noticeable but I am still wearing my clothes (for now), though I have gotten a few maternity clothing items already...

Sorry it has taken us so long to get this up and running but now we've done it. This is the picture from our first appointment back in February, when it was confirmed that indeed we are preggers. So far we are due September 25 - 2 weeks before my birthday and 4 weeks before Aaron's.
We were taken a bit by surprise with this - we made the decision to start a family mid-December thinking we would have a few months before anything happened, and WHAM! within 2 weeks Lauren was pregnant. Surprise! But, we are happy. We weren't sure at first, when I took the first 2 pregnancy tests the lines were quite faint, so Aaron took one to compare - his had no line, thank goodness! But, just to be on the safe side we got 2 more tests, each of us taking one, and yet again Lauren's had the faint line and Aaron's had none. So, we knew for sure Aaron was not pregnant, but Lauren probably was, and now its confirmed! Aaron, of course, is thrilled because he has been wanting me to get "knocked up" since we got married. I, with the help of all these new hormones, am feeling excited and scared and everything else. But all in all we are really happy and feel very blessed that this has happened. Stay tuned!