Look what I made 2: Blueberry hats

Here is a photo of the blueberry hats I just finished making. After I got the hang of it with the first one they knit up pretty fast. Those babies are going to be darn cute all lined up with their little matching hats!
Eric finally got the computer working better yesterday (we had a near disaster earlier in the week, but thankfully the crisis has been averted), and last night we got the web cam working and video conferenced with the Yosts for the first time, which was neat. Ang got us the camera for Christmas as a way to keep in touch and also later to show off the baby. We've used it once with Carl in Spokane, too. If anyone else wants to get in on the action, Skype is a great program and easy to use.
Tonight it's off to our centering group. It's our turn to provide snacks, so I went out and bought ingredients for delicious fruit and yogurt and granola parfaits, which I am tempted to eat now, mmmm good. More updates on baby after our appointment.

25 week update

Heidi came to visit this weekend, which was a little unfortunate in the timing as I started getting sick with my first cold of the season on Friday. Eric had a brief little cold last week, so I thought that this would pass quickly, but I seem to have gotten hit a bit harder and longer than he did. And I can't take any cold medicine... blech!
Heidi did get to feel lots of baby kicks, which she had been anxiously awaiting. Lately I have been trying to figure out what body part I am feeling when she moves, but so far all I can tell is "big parts" vs. "small parts", which I am guessing are head/butt/back and hands/feet.
Also fun was playing with a new toy I borrowed from my coworker Christina, who is due to deliver her baby girl in a week or so. She lent me her doppler listening device, which has two sets of headphones and so we can both (or all three with Heidi) listen in to her heartbeat and movement.
I have also been industriously working on several matching little blueberry hats which I am going to give to several of the babies of my coworkers that are going to be born within the same few weeks. Should be pretty cute, I'll post a picture when I finish!

Belly button macro shots

My photo loving dad got me a great new lens for my camera this Christmas, with up close shots of sweet baby fingers and toes in mind. I have been practicing using it a bit on our cats, and today got the idea to take a few of my stretched belly button. I couldn't get a good angle, so Eric ended up taking them, and they turned out pretty cool!

Whistler trip recap

We had a nice long weekend in Whistler. I was a little bummed to miss out on what was apparently some great skiing, but there were lots of other things going on and we had lots of fun. Here are a couple pics from the bobsledding World Cup event we went to, and our snowshoeing trip. Some of those shots were hard to get- the bobsleds go 140-150 km/hr!
Baby was movin' and shakin' the whole weekend long, too. Eric has been feeling kicks more consistently, and even saw my belly move from the outside too. That's new! I first realized I could see it from the outside while I was soaking in the deep tub in our hotel room, and noticed her kicks were causing ripples. I can't get over that... she's getting so much bigger and stronger so fast. Now she is over a pound and about 11 inches long.

Anatomy scan #2

This morning we had our second anatomy scan, which was really fun. Less stress this time wondering whether she has all her parts in the right places, so we got to enjoy our guided tour a bit more.
Anatomy wise they were able to see everything they hadn't been able to the last time, including all the cardiac flow stuff, which all looks good. She also gave us a great view smack between the legs this time and I think it is safe to say it's a girl!
Also, she was just being the cutest darn thing ever, which was very entertaining. At the beginning she was frank breech, which means her head was up by my belly button, butt down, with her feet up by her ears. Again (just like the last scan) she had her hands on her feet and seemed to be playing around a bit. We also got a super cute face shot with her smacking her lips, yawning and swallowing. The tech even commented, "what cute lips..." and Eric and I both immediately giggled, both of course thinking that those must be Eric's genes with the juicy lips! By the end she had shifted her legs down and was crouching on them and bouncing a bit.
Anyway, all in all very fun and reassuring. Now we probably won't get to peek again until she's born.

Centering group #2

Today we had our second centering group with the midwives. It was fun to hear baby's heartbeat, and to discuss the pregnancy stuff going on with all the group members. We have a pretty fun bunch, so it was humorous and light and easy to talk.
My belly is measuring right on track at 21 weeks, which was nice to hear because I have been getting a lot of comments from people about how I am "so small". People love to comment... and probably think they are giving me a compliment, but I wanted to be sure baby is growing and of course everything is just fine. I'll just chalk it up to my long torso. Besides, I don't feel small at all!
Also, we have to go back for another ultrasound in the next few weeks because the radiologist didn't get a good enough look at blood flow out of baby's heart due to position. So, hopefully she'll cooperate the second time around. It will be fun to sneak another peak at her, and if the tech is feeling generous I may get another peek between the legs to be *sure* our peanut is a girl.
This weekend we are headed to Portland for some quality family time, and then next week it's off the Whistler for a 4 day vacation with Katie and Kevin, so we'll be busy for the next few weeks!

Project: Baby

This weekend we are going to start getting baby STUFF ready.
We have gotten some fabulous hand-me down clothes from the kids Maria nannies, borrowed a co-sleeper from Julie, and just ordered an on-sale stroller this week, and Ang sent us some of the cutest little baby socks in the world. Chris and Lucy have offered a crib that is actually a double hand me down: it started out with Olivia, Chloe and Teddy, then the twins, now our baby. That's the ultimate green contribution to baby's room. Just seeing a few baby things sitting in our office is making me antsy to start getting ready!
Last weekend Eric moved our TV set up out of the office to the living room, so there is a little extra space. I bought some big rubbermaid tubs to sort through and store office and closet stuff in the garage, which will be a big project. Today we'll get a dresser at IKEA and start putting things away. My goal is to get all the furniture moving before the belly gets to much more in the way :-). The good news is that with a little organizational effort, our garage storage holds more than we thought, and we will be fine for space for a while.