My Favorite Part

I have to say my favorite part of the pregnancy so far is being able to feel the little guy in there moving around. There isn't any kind of a pattern to it that I can tell, but I love it when he is doing cartwheels in there. I wasn't sure if anyone else could feel it, and had been trying to get Tanner to try for a while now ... but our timing was always off.
Well, last night (ok, actually this morning, for those of you who know Tanner), when Tanner came to bed, I got up to go to the bathroom and get a snack. That apparently woke up Little Man and he started kicking like crazy when I laid back down in bed. So I got Tanner to put his hand on my belly and he felt him almost immediately! It was so much fun.
I don't think I'll be the kind of person who gets irritated by people feeling my belly. It is too exciting to keep to myself! Well, I guess if people I don't know do it ... or if it happens all the time ... I don't know though. It is really neat!

Baby / Guest Room

The project for this weekend was painting the baby / guest room. The wallpaper border was such a nightmare. I spent way more time stripping that down than doing anything else. But once it was down, the rest came together very quickly! I love how paint transforms a room.

I may have to rearrange things once I get a crib, and I'm not hanging anything on the wall until I get that figured out.

And, baby update: I had a perfect stranger congratulate me yesterday! I am taking that mean that I am obviously pregnant, and people can tell I'm not just chubby anymore! God bless that girl!!

Detroit Barbell Powerlifting Meet

Tanner and I drove with one of his athletes up to Detroit this weekend for a powerlifting competition. We had a fun day Friday driving, eating, and hanging out in the hotel. Saturday, Tanner didn't finish a lift in the squat, but had a great time coaching Donny. It was Donny's first meet and he did really well. Here is a picture of Tanner bursting a whole bunch of tiny blood vessels in his face and neck!

And here he is coaching Donny on the bench.

First Belly Pictures

OK, I finally decided I'd better start posting some belly pictures. I have to be honest that I'm really having a hard time with the whole appearance thing. Tanner is great and is always telling me how hot I look with the baby belly. And I know to him I am, because I'm carrying his baby. But to people who don't know me, and to me, I just look chubby. Maybe before too long I will actually look pregnant.

But people keep asking, and I like this particular shirt a lot, so here it is ... Baby Belly #1. 20 weeks. Halfway through the pregnancy, I think.

And I really debated about saying this ... hopefully I don't offend anyone ... but my boobs are amazing! Apparently, they aren't going to last forever, so I am enjoying them while they last. Hmmmm ... maybe that is why Tanner thinks I look so hot right now!

Living Room Makeover!!!

I had an amazing weekend. I feel very refreshed and accomplished. Friday, the guys came with the new carpet and I painted in the living room. Saturday, I did a bunch of shopping for stuff to decorate the living room (and had a very relaxing afternoon at Panera with Mom). Sunday, Tanner helped me arrange furniture and hang blinds and curtains and even showed off his electrical genius by installing a new ceiling fan! I don't have anything on the walls yet, and I'm going to make a few pillows out of an old quilt, but the room looks 100% better. No more purple shag and dark green curtains!! I will actually not be embarrassed to have people over. So you are all welcome now. Check it out:



The guest / baby room is next! (And yes, Tanner is growing out that ridiculous beard again. Feel free to give him a very hard time about it!)

It's A Boy!

I can't even explain how the cool that ultrasound was. I've only ever seen the blurry pictures and wonder how anyone can tell anything from them, but it is so different to see it live. At first I could just see the spine, but then once I figured out where the legs where it was incredible. After you got oriented to what you were looking at, you really could see everything! We could see the chambers of the heart, the little fingers and toes, the mouth and nose ... and she didn't need to tell us it was a boy, it was obvious! She could even put it on a mode where you could see the fluids moving and at one point we got a good closeup of him actually sucking on his little thumb ... fluids moving and all! He also did quite a bit of moving around for us. He really likes to stretch out his legs and push against me. I can't feel anything yet though.

So that was really fun. Everything that they check for checked out good, and we got our due date pushed up becuase he is developing faster than they thought he was. I know when he was concieved though, so I'm going to take that in next time and maybe they will push the due date back again. I don't really care, except that I don't want to be induced and keeping the due date at Aug 3rd will help with that. But for now, the due date has been changed to July 25th.

I also decided to stop running today. That was a hard decision. I was kinda determined to keep running through the whole pregnancy even if it ment I had to slow down quite a bit. But, it has been hurting quite a bit in my groin when I run. All of the joints getting looser and the muscles pulling on them has really been uncomfortable. Nothing I can't handle really, but seeing the little guy in there moving around makes me want to be a little bit more careful about stuff. Hopefully the elipticals at the gym will be ok and I can keep up with that. Otherwise, it will just be walking and swimming for me!

Oh, and I promise to post belly pictures as soon as Tanner and I get around to taking them. I'm getting less self-consious about it!