Sweet music

Daddy and I were just laying here with our new heartbeat doppler that someone gave us trying to listen to yours. I don't think we found it but we did hear your kicks (and i felt them too!). We practiced first listening to mommys heart, then pancakes, and we tried listening to cherrio's but he was afraid of the doppler!


Such a sweet little baby serg. It was kinda of weird hearing the swooshes of you moving around in there. We heard my tummy growl a few times as well! It must be so noisy in there for you. 


It was special for your dad and i to be able to lay here and listen to your music though. <3 you segie!


xoxo
the mom

I let out a giant burp while sitting next to daddy


The dad: At work today I burped and people said "man, your wife must get so annoyed with you" and i laughed.

The mom: (Panic) You didn't tell them I burp worse then you, did you!?!

The dad: No, but I laughed at the thought of it.

Bizarre things i did not know about pregnancy...

When we started this little trip I knew the basics about pregnancy, and learned a few more things reading my What to Expect book. There are so many things though that I had no idea I would experience, and frankly, they're kinda weird sergie!


* I am always cold, always! I wore a sweatshirt while in the Amazon jungle. I have found myself going through really bizarre hot flashes though, in the middle of winter! I will get so hot out of nowhere to the point where I strip down to a tank top while its 20 degrees outside!


* If there was a burping contest and I was up against a million grizzly men, I would probably still win.


* Everything on your body swells. Everything. And I mean everywhere....


* I can feel you moving around in there, and you are big enough now that I recognize where you are kicking. I feel the pangs on my bladder, and on my cervix too! I was not expecting that. It literally feels like someone is in my lady parts.  SO weird. 


* My teeth hurt where I don't have any cavities, apparently this is pregnancy related. 


The whole concept of pregnancy itself is super strange when you actually think about it. I have a person inside me, literally sucking the life out of me. When you get bigger my whole torso will contort to your movements. Alien! 


I love it though- I am truly enjoying my mommie, sergie time :)


xoxo
the mom

Bulls-eye!

I know exactly how girls with big boobs feel! Everywhere I go people look at my face for a split second then their gaze goes directly down to my belly. OR they don't look at my face at all! I don't know why but it makes me feel so uncomfortable. 


Sergie sometimes I wonder if people who stare realize that I am pregnant or if they are just thinking "that girl has a huge freakin gut!". 


In a few more months though no one will be looking at me, they will all be looking at you :)


xoxo
the mom

Halfway Point!

20 Weeks!

Total Weight Gain: 4 lbs. (all this month!!! oops)
Pregnancy Woes this week: sleeping is difficult. nightmares, tossing and turning, getting up to pee constantly! 
Happy times this week: last night i was able to feel kicks from the outside! you are getting so much stronger and for some reason last night and this morning you have been kicking like wild. i had my hand on my stomach when i was laying down last night and one kick was so strong i felt it on my hand.
Belly Button Status: normal.
Food Cravings:  nothing.
Dr. Visits:  still just once a month. everything is normal. 
Labor Signs: none thank goodness!
Projects I worked on this week:  started collecting paint chips to decide on your room color and took a trip to the fabric store to look for curtains. 
Looking Forward to: your dad being able to feel your kicks. 


xoxo
the mom

My little time keeper

That's you. I always know when it is around the time of 11, 3 or 8. I start to feel little punches and rolls. I don't know what it is with you around these times of day but you turn into a little wild man. 


There is something about a hand on my belly that makes you stop though. Your poor dad, he feels so left out. I will start to feel you moving around and I will say "sergie is awake" and he gets a very sad look on his face. Last night he put his hand on my belly to see if he could feel all your kicking. Like a little freshie you stopped though, right away. Any time I have put my hand there to see if your kicks could be felt on the inside you also stop. I'm not sure what it is about a hand that calms you down. 


Speaking of all your activity. This morning I had my doctors appointment. She had a tough time listening to your heartbeat because someone kept kicking, which made very loud noises on the monitor, and someone kept rolling around, making it difficult for the doctor to keep the heartbeat for as long as she needed to. The doctor said I had a very active baby. This i KNOW! 


Everyone comments on how active you are. During all your ultrasounds you have been flip flopping away, throwing punches. You move away from the doppler for heartbeat readings. I feel your little punches. Lets talk about this baby sergie. I cannot handle a hyper child. I like calm, well behaved little boys. Something tells me though, that is certainly not you!


Daddy and I are going to have our hands full!


xoxo
the mom

Snips and snails, And puppy dog tails, That's what little boys are made of.

So it turns out my suspicion was right. You are a boy little sergie. Dad and I had to get up very early to head to the hospital Monday morning. Not without a stop by wawa first though. I know you don't usually start moving around till 11 and I wanted to wake you up so I thought a good dose of sugar would do the trick. Here was my breakfast.

I felt very silly buying a blue slurpie at 7:30 in the morning. It did the trick though because you were wiggling around so much during the ultrasound we almost didn't get to find out you were a little boy. The tech let grandma and grandpa joe come in the room to see you on the screen. When she told us you were a boy grandpa joe and your dad cheered. 

I'm sure people will think this is a horrible thing to say but I was a little sad when I found out i would have to forfeit my plans for a cute pink nursery and that I wouldn't be dressing you up in adorable frilly things. The fact that you are a boy means you will certainly spend all your time watching sports with your dad. Have i mentioned his addiction to ALL sports? I think I did. He is over the moon about it though, he's already planning out all the sports the two of you will play together. And I am sure I will get use to playing with trucks instead of barbies. 

The more it settles though the more excited I am that you are a boy. The only problem is you have NO NAME! If you were a girl your name was going to be Campbell Mae Constantine (sounds nice doesn't it?) but we just cannot come up with a boys name we like. I think Grayson is nice but your father hates it and we played with the name Tobin but everyone seems to think that is the worlds worst name (is it that bad?). So we just don't know. 

I do know that your name will not be jason or mathew or any other expected name. Serg, you're talking to the people who named their dogs pancake and cherrio. We don't do common or expected. So why would we consider anything else for your name. So the search continues for that perfect little boy name. I promise you will have one by july though (i hope!). 

xoxo

the mom

It's a....

......

(profile)

(foot)

......

(fingers)

 

BOY

18 Week Belly

Baby Serg getting bigger. 

T-Minus...

...3 days! 


Then we get to see you again, and hopefully find out if you are a little boy baby or a girl baby. I have noticed you usually dont get up till around 11 or so, then you sleep again till 3, then dont wake up again till later in the night. Well I assume you're asleep anyway because I can't feel you flip flopping around. 


Now serg you are going to have to wake up very early on Monday. Our appointment is at 8am and I expect you to be awake and cooperating. Then you can sleep the rest of the day. Grandma, daddy and I are counting on you! We are all super excited. 


If you are good I will treat you to a yummy breakfast afterwards!


See you then. 


xoxo
the mom

Snow Day(s)!

Baby serg it has seriously been a ridiculous winter. All I want is for it to be spring, then summer! I miss warm weather and having all the windows in the house open. And I can't wait for summer because I want to take you down the shore and on the beach. We can go to the dog park with panake and cherrio and enjoy the weather all afternoon. 


In the mean time though it will not stop snowing. I cannot remember a time when I have seen so much snow, especially in jersey! 

This is your house. Covered in snow. 

There is your daddy shoveling our walkway. He's such a good daddy.

Daddy shoveled out a "racetrack" for pancake and cherrio to run in

They loooove the snow! 

We made our very first snow man! And yes, he has apple eyes and a hotdog nose, because thats all i could find! Daddy thinks his red eyes are scary, ha, which I guess they are. Cherrio is scared of him and Pancake keeps jumping up and trying to steal his nose! We named him our baby sergie-man. 

This is the third major snowstorm we've had this winter. Almost two feet of snow, and then it just keeps piling ontop of the old snow. Crazy. Let's just keep thinking warm thoughts and maybe spring will arrive!


xoxo
the mom

Show-Off

I am thinking you must be a boy. 


The reason behind my suspicion is that you feel the need to show-off the fact that you are getting so big by constantly kicking my insides! Hard swift kicks and punches. 


They're not painful (yet) and I don't mind feeling you in there. It's rather reassuring sometimes. 


The fact that you remind me of your strength so often though leads me to that conclusion of thinking that you just must be a boy. They're the king of show-off!


xoxo
the mom

I'll take that, and that, and oh yes we will need that too!

Baby serg you officially have a registry. 

Babies r' us had been hounding me with phone calls trying to get me to come in so i finally did, despite the fact that i have been slightly dreading it. I have no idea about baby things. What kind of stuff you need. What brands are best. How am i supposed to know these things? 

I made the mistake of looking online for a list of baby "essentials". Holy wow! For being such a small person you sure do need a lot of stuff! 

Your father chose to sit at home and watch sports (this is very typical of him, sports watching constantly that is. You will learn to ignore it). Grandma and auntie came with me, which was good because we were there for almost 5 hours and your dad would not have made it that long! He probably would have ended up in the corner somewhere crying after seeing how long the list was and the prices of everything. 

Part of the reason we were there so long was we dedicated a whole hour to figuring out the complicated world of car seats! Four adults, one hour, trying to figure out how the darn things works. It has been decided though that once we strap the carseat properly into the car it is never being removed! It will stay there. Forever. 

Another hour was used trying pick out the best stroller system. We used the very scientific checklist to find the perfect stroller. 

- is it gender neutral* enough to cross over to other siblings 

- how easy is it to open and close (some were NOT so easy, they got kicked out of the running)

- how big is the bottom basket, does it have cup holders and cubbies

- will it fit in the car

I think we came out with a pretty decent pick of the Grace Quattro Tour Travel System. Consumer reports and safety ratings are good so no worries serg. 

We picked out some very adorable onsies, blankets, tub stuff. But don't worry, we got you some fun things too. A swing and bouncie seat to occupy and relax you. 

The beloved Bumbo seat

And this hideous looking thing. I am not looking forward to it sitting in the middle of my living room but grandma says you will love it so I will make the sacrifice. 

I think we hit most of your basic needs. Have we missed something? 

Your favorite toy though will probably end up being some box that a nice expensive toy came in. oh well. 

xoxo

the mom

*i would just like to note the lack of gender neutral baby items out there. they are all either pink, blue or brown. it makes things a bit difficult. 

Just a few more days...

I've been a slacker. I know. No excuses. 

The good news is we are only 11 days away from the next ultrasound. The "big" one! They count all your little fingers and all your toes, and your organs too! I've been very excited about this. I can't wait to see how much you have grown! I know you are getting bigger because I can feel you moving around more. (and my cothes are becoming much tighter) Usually I feel you while I am laying in bed or sitting on the couch with your dad. All the sudden I'll get that little "pop" from you, reminding me you are there. 

I am also very nervous about our little ultrasound trip. This is the last scheduled ultrasound so it's my one and only shot to find out if you are a little boy or a little girl. This means I need your full cooperation! I'll give you some juicebox (I know you love those) if you will move around and turn yourself in the right position for us to see! 

Baby sergio I really hope we have a super awesome ultrasoundist and that they get it right. How horrible would it be if they told me you were a boy and I went and painted your room blue and bought lots of little boy outfits and toys and then you came out a girl! Or vice versa. That would not be good, not good at all. 

Mommy will not have time to paint your room once you come so you will probably have the wrong color room until we move out of that place. And you will have to wear the wrong genders clothes because I will have already washed and prepped them for you. These things happen serg! They do. Let's hope they do not happen to us though!

So the plan is, I give you juice, you cooperate, and we pick out a great ultrasound tech and all should be good! Can't wait to see you. 

xoxo

the mom