20 Weeks

Or so I think! I forgot to mention on Wednesday when we went to the doctor that the baby actually measured a week earlier. Since it was only a week the doctor wasn't going to change my due date but told me not to be alarmed if I'm a week past my due date.

I'm still doing great. The only issue right now is sleeping. I can't seem to sleep at night because I'm not a side sleeper and that is the only position I'm supposed to sleep in. Not only just my side, but preferably my left side. I wake up a lot with my arm hurting from sleeping on it or changing positions. It is quiet annoying but I will just have to get over it. I'm also experiencing major "growing pains" that sometimes keep me up. I think on Saturday I woke up at about 4:30 and never really got back to sleep. Oh the joys of being pregnant! At least none of my body parts are swollen...yet.

As far as our weekend went, I stayed pretty busy. Since Brent and I were up with the chickens on Saturday we decided that we would start clearing out the pink room. We only got as far as the closet because I had no idea how much stuff was in there and I had already filled the other closet with stuff from in there so the rest of it went in the floor. I'm feeling at little overwhelmed with making room only because I HATE clutter and it is everywhere in my house! Our back bedroom is currently filled with maternity clothes and clothes I'm taking to consignment. The pink room floor is almost unseen with things that need to make their way to the attic. It is a mad house around here! I'm hoping soon I will get my house back!

Later on Saturday, my mom came up and we did a little shopping. There was a local gift shop having their Christmas Open House and I was on a mission to find Christmas stockings for us. Well I was denied, but at least my mom racked up and got some of her Christmas gifts out of the way. Next to the gift shop is a children's clothing store and of course I went over to look. They had the CUTEST things and I picked out several outfits that I wanted. They had a pair of bloomers that I just HAVE to have! I'm hoping since most of everything I picked out was Christmas stuff that she will run a sale after the holidays. We also went to the mall where my mom just had to buy a few clothing items for the baby! They were really cute and Brent and I had so much fun looking at girl clothes. OK, I had more fun that he did but he wasn't totally miserable. He seems to have an opinion on how I will be dressing her and we disagree on a few things. Like bows as big as her head. According to Brent they have to be proportional to her head so NO big bows! Ha! I will let him live that dream for awhile then throw on those big bows when he isn't around. They are just too cute!

Today, the hospital where I will be delivering had a pregnancy fair. We got a lot of free goodies and signed up for a million door prizes. We also got a tour of the labor and delivery wing. Things are starting to set in with me that I'm having a baby. That all this isn't just a dream. Brent is starting to really get excited and is hitting the door running with all the information we are getting. He actually asks more questions that I do. Actually, he asks ALL the questions. I seem to also be in a daze. Not sure why; maybe just overwhelmed and need time to process.

This is a wild journey and thank goodness I'm not doing it alone!!

Survey Says...

It's a girl!!! We were both 95% sure it was a girl and the doctor confirmed our hunch. We were both amazed at watching the ultrasound. We could hardly tell what anything was and I thought her legs were her arms and her butt was her head! You will see from the video below that to a normal person not everything is easy to pick out. There are a few moments where the video pauses and he was either taking a picture or showing us different things. At one point he puts the monitor right at her heart and you can see the 4 chambers and it beating (CRAZY!!!) and then another time he shows us her brain. There isn't a really good picture of her face because she decided to be difficult and have her arms up the whole time. Even now watching it, it still doesn't feel real. We are in awe and find it hard to believe that that is the baby inside.



Now on to the questions...do we have a baby name? No, we had a boy's name but we haven't been able to decide on a girl's. Not that I would tell anyway. My Nanny told me that was rude, but that's just because she wants to know. But we decided that we aren't telling the names A. because we don't have one and B. because we are trying to pick out a name that no one we know has and if we finally settle on one we don't someone saying 'oh so and so just named their baby that.' Plus some things just have to be a surprise! I will guarantee you it will not start with an A or B. 3 out of the 4 great grandchildren on Brent's side all have A names and actually they all have AMM initials. No B names because Brent and his 2 brothers are B's. If you know anything about me, you know I love being different so I have to think outside the box. Don't worry I won't pick a weird name that no one will be able to pronounce (Nanny!).



Are we excited? VERY!!! As we were waiting to see the doctor after the ultrasound, I started rattling off Brent's To Do List. (as you will notice I said BRENT'S). :) He told me to chill out. That we still had 5 more months and that everything didn't have to be done this weekend. I am such a planner and it drives me crazy to do a little at a time, but to keep my husband happy I will have to learn how to take it slow.



Are you disappointed? Not at all! We have always said we wanted a boy and a girl so it didn't matter which one came first. Plus, with us being so sure it was a girl, today was just confirmation of our gut feeling. I think it will be fun for Brent to have 2 priss pots on his hands!



Well, here is the video of the ultrasound. It takes it a minute to starting showing anything so don't freak out when you stare at a black screen.

The Maternity Store Threw Up...

And it landed in my guest bedroom! Thanks to a wonderful family friend, I had a stack of clothes and 2 totes full of maternity clothes to look through this weekend. Plus, a girl in my Sunday School class brought me a bag full yesterday. It has been awhile since that many clothes were thrown from here, there, and yonder in my house. Sadly, I am not quite ready for maternity clothes yet. I was hoping my now I would have a noticeable belly, but that just hasn't happened. I know I should be grateful not to have spread from head to toe, but it would be nice to not get looks from people when I wander into the maternity sections. I am tempted to where a sign that 'Yes I'm pregnant. I'm allowed to be here!' Oh well! People are assuring me that one day it will all come, until then I will just have to accept my small swell. (I will post a new pic of me on Friday marking my halfway point)

Besides looking through maternity clothes, I spent the majority of my day Saturday with my Nanny. We were working on my wedding quilt. Yes, I realize I have been married 3 years and it isn't complete. I am bound and determined to have it complete by the time the baby comes. Hopefully, sooner because I have lots of other sewing projects lined up for the baby. Whether she likes it or not Nanny is stuck with me for the next couple of months working on this quilt because as I have said I love to sew but I am by no means as good as she is or all that great.

Sunday was a big day in the Miller household. It was Sunday afternoon football and our favorite teams were playing each other. Colts vs 49ers. I'm not sure I have ever actually yelled at the tv during a game before as much as I did Sunday. Our dog, Colt (gee wonder how we came up with that name), was trying to take his afternoon nap in my lap but I keep yelling and clapping and he couldn't get his full nap in. I knew the Niners weren't going to win but they did better than I thought. We only lost by 4 and we were the first to score a touchdown. It also helped Peyton wasn't at the top of his game.

Also on Sunday, I experienced my first "nesting" episode. Our house doesn't have that much storage and every closet is stuffed full. I worried about this issue before I ever became pregnant but blew off the task of purging until I was actually pregnant. Well, the day has come and I am proud to say I emptied out one whole closet and either made room for it in my closet or ditched it. I ran around here like a mad woman throwing clothes, hangers, and whatever else that got in my way. I can't tell you how much better I feel. I am now ready to tackle clearing out the bedroom for the baby. Depending on what we have depends on which room we clear out. When we painted our house we went ahead and painted the bedrooms according to gender. So Wednesday we will see if we are clearing out the pink room or the grey room. Oh what fun we will have! Please feel free to stop by if you like to be bossed around because with my limited lifting ability I'm pretty sure I will be very vocal on how exactly I want it done! Brent is super excited!!!

By Your Side

And I'll be by your side
Wherever you fall
In the dead of night
Whenever you call
And please don't fight
These hands that are holding you
My hands are holding you.

I heard this song on my way to work one morning after I heard the news that my grandfather probably wasn't going to be around much longer. I was having a difficult time with the news and was stopped at a railroad crossing and was just crying out to God that I wasn't going to be able to handle this on my own. I just didn't think I had the strength. This song immediately came on. If you haven't heard the whole song I encourage you to look up the lyrics or download it (it is by 10th Avenue North). God was trying to remind me there was no need to try and get through this alone; He was going to be there for me.

As many of you know, my grandfather (aka Poppy) passed away last week. The day that Brent and I announced we were pregnant to everyone was the day that Poppy was taken to the hospital for an infection that required surgery right away. I wasn't able to talk to him directly but I was told that he was super excited for us and told everyone in the hospital about our news. I can only imagine him smiling and giggling as Nanny told him the news.

I wasn't too concerned with him having to go to the hospital because for several years his health hasn't been what it was and plus I was pregnant nothing bad could happen. Well, I was wrong. With details I can't bear to relive, Poppy took his last breath last Sunday surrounded by his loving family.

Since I am pregnant it was advised that I shouldn't go to the hospital. Now I can only see that as a blessing because when I think about him, my mind doesn't have to fight images of him healthy and images of him in the hospital. I can simply see him the last time I saw him, sitting in his big blue chair, tv on, fussing at me over my tattoo. Despite my many attempts of waving my foot around, he didn't catch on til 6 months later. He always liked to fuss at me over changing anything; hair, piercing, etc. He always said he liked me just the way I was. Of course, knowing that these things bothered him, I always managed to go over there after a new hairdo, just to get a rise out of him. Even though he didn't like the change he still told me I looked nice.

I'm not sure there will be a day that will go by that I won't be tempted to pick up the phone just to hear his voice. Thanks to caller ID, he always knew when I was calling and would answer with a cheery 'hi.'

I was blessed with 26 years with Poppy and here are a few things I will miss...

1. His smell. The man loved to smell good! He did not leave the house without his Polo aftershave on whether he was going to the farm or church. Nanny even gave Kevin (the funeral director and our close family friend) a bottle so he could rub some on Poppy. Guess she thought he ought to smell good when he went to heaven.

2. The way he dressed. Now, other than smelling good, Poppy liked looking nice. So he would prefer for me to remember him in one of his suits, but that wasn't his everyday look. When I see him he is wearing his Red Wings, blue jeans, short sleeve button up, pocket protector in the left pocket of his shirt with an assortment of pens and pencils, and his ball cap.

3. How on Sunday mornings you'd swear you were at the opera house. He would sing his choir songs as he got ready and my brother and I would be sitting on the bed trying to watch cartoons, but couldn't hear the tv over Poppy. We giggled most of the time because when you are little you think people are crazy for singing in the shower.

4. His laugh. It was more of a hee hee kind of laugh instead of ha ha. You could always hear his laugh no matter where you were in the house.

5. Our Tuesday morning phone calls after watching the bachelor/bachelorette. Why he started watching this show I will not know, but he liked to call to do a show recap and talk about who we liked and wanted to win. We hardly ever picked the same one, but always agreed on who wouldn't get very far.

Pops, you will be truly missed by all who loved you. I know you are finally able to walk just the way you have dreamed about all these years. I love you!

It Was a DIY Kinda Saturday

I have been promising Brent that I would make us a headboard for our room for about a year now. Every time I found time to do it something would come up or I would have another project that needed to be done first. Well this weekend when our plans to go out of town changed I told Brent that we were making the headboard, no excuses. I was tired of him telling me how good the headboard looked (his cute way of reminding me to get it done).

So we woke up on Saturday headed to Hobby Lobby to get material; sweet they were running a sale on material. Lowe's for plywood, Wal Mart for batting (what no foam?), Hancock Fabrics for foam and back to Wal Mart for d-rings. We finally got home and I went to work. I think it took us longer to run around town for all the supplies then it did for me to make it and him to hang it. This is by far the easiest project I have done for the house. I was a little nervous that it wouldn't turn out the way I wanted but once we had it up I was satisfied, for now anyway. I am so glad to have this project done because I am bound and determined to have our room complete before we have to start working on the baby's room. I am so particular about what I want that it usually take me forever to decide on something. My final piece of the puzzle right now is curtains and I have been searching for curtains since last November! Hopefully I won't be this bad when it comes to the nursery or this poor child won't have a complete room when they are born!

Our finished product. Simple I know but who knows how long it will stay that way!

15 Weeks and The Big Debate

Today we went for our 15 week check-up. Everything was good and normal; heartbeat sounded good and I gained 3 POUNDS!!! Oops! My doctor said that I shouldn't worry about those 3 lbs; that I was allowed to gain that much, but HELLO! Guess I'm going to have to lay off those fries and chips I have been inhaling for the past couple of weeks! Dang and they were soooo good! But all good things must come to an end.

We also made our next appointment which will tell us if (as I put it to my parents) we see a Suzie or Willy. Brent and I are super excited and are counting down the days. Nov 4 is my appointment and trust me when I find out you will probably be able to hear my squeal from the doctor's office but in case you don't, I will of course post their first picture.

Now, to the debate part of my post. For the past couple of weeks Brent and I have had several debates about my growing belly or lack there of according to him. I keep assuring him that I am getting bigger and that I used to be able to button my pants. He, however, looks at my small swell and says he sees no change. REALLY? So each day it has been my goal to wear something that will assure him that I am getting bigger. This still doesn't help nor does him watching me bounce around the room trying to fit in my jeans. The boy just didn't get it. Well, lucky that all changed today. We had a bet going about my weight gain. He said none and I said 5 pounds. As soon as the nurse announced the number, I turned and said 'HA!' Of course then he had to tease me when discussing who was going to get the last piece of cake. With a big smile, he told me I looked like I needed cake. Hey its strawberry so it counts as a fruit, right? :)

How 'Bout them Niners!!!

Today is a great day...MY NINERS WON!!!!! This little fan is just excited and wishing the game would have been on here instead of watching Romo struggle. It has been awhile since I have been proud of my team, but I'm thinking this is their year!

WAY TO GO 49ERS!!!!!!

Oh and haters, I know they lost last week but the score was close and what can you do when Favre pulls a Favre.