6/21/11 - 18weeks, 1 day

I just got back from our 18 week check up. The baby looks great and weighs about 8 ounces (or a half pound). Gerald wasn't able to make it as he had some work appointments, but I was able to see the baby all curled up in my tummy - and saw the spine and femur bones, too. We also got our results from the 2nd trimester screening, and the doctor said all the results were very low: 1 in 52,000 for Down's Syndrome, 1 in 100,000 for Trisomy 18 and our Spina Bifida came back negative. There was one other test that came back negative but I don't recall what the name of it was. Anyway, everything looks great. I go back in three weeks for another checkup but we won't have an ultrasound that time. At the following appointment, I will have my dreaded Glucose test and that will have an ultrasound that follows.

5/31/11 - 15weeks, 1 day

We had our fourth appointment and ultrasound today. We decided to bring Sabrina with us since she is soooo excited about her new baby brother or sister (actually, she's pretty adamant that it's a sister, not a brother). We received the results of our blood draw from the 1st trimester screening - the doctor said everything came back great and my hemoglobin was 13.8 (anything above 12 is considered good).

As soon as the ultrasound started, Sabrina kept cooing about the baby - "oh she's such a good girl! She's so cute! Aww, look at the baby, Mommy!" It was adorable. Then she kept kissing my arm and my belly and telling me she loved me and she loved the baby.

We got to see the baby move and wiggle which Sabrina thought was so cute. We heard the heartbeat which was 151 bpm. The doctor showed us the baby's head, legs and arms. She/he is measuring right on at 15w1d, so we went ahead with our second trimester screening blood draw. Sabrina warned me: "Now don't cry Mommy when you get the shot!" Afterwards, she told me "Oh you were such a good girl Mommy!" and gave me a hug and a kiss. :) I love that little girl. She is such a love bug. She's going to be a great big sister!

I Heart Craigslist

I love it when you find really nice, decent people on places like Craigslist that aren't out to scam you. Craigslist can be such a great tool, but there are so many shady people on it - please who will tell you that they are out of state, but want to buy whatever you're selling and pay you through Western Union (only to retract the money later). Then there are the really nice people who just genuinely want to do business. I love it when that happens. We bought two gorgeous bathroom vanities for a steal on Craigslist, then turned around and sold one of them to cover most of the costs of the first one. I had so many scammers emailing me over the course of a couple of weeks - then we found this really sweet couple who had a child the same age as Sabrina. They came and paid for the vanity and took it home. I wasn't there, but Gerald said they were very nice, and to me it kind of seemed like they might be people that we would have been friends with.

Today, I was scouring Craigslist for some good finds, and found these beauties:





Although when I called, the woman I spoke to said someone was coming at 1 PM today to pick them up. :( Boo hoo. Oh well... I figured I'd have to find something else. Then at 4 PM she calls me back and says the person who was supposed to show up keeps claiming her car won't start. She said she's given her two or three tries to get there, but she was fed up and would rather sell them to someone else. So yay!!! We get the dresser and night stand - for a total of $150! It's not the best deal on the planet, but it's still better than what you'd get in the store.

So we're going to pick them up on Saturday. Yippee!!!! We'll probably use them in the new baby's room. I'm so excited!

I love when you get great finds for a good price! My best so far though is our solid wood T shaped desk with hand carved detail that I got for a whopping $12. That's right - $12. That desk is gorgeous, and though it needed a little TLC, there is no beating that price. The woman who owned it was being foreclosed on and had to sell it quickly. She put it on Ebay and nobody bid on it. Gotta love those amazing finds!!!

6w3d - Baby's First Ultrasound!

Yay! We had our first appointment today, and confirmed the pregnancy. We even got to see the little bean! The sac was measuring right on time, but the baby was measuring around 5 weeks and change. The doctor said this isn't anything to worry about as anything between 7-10 fluctuation is normal. We also got to see the baby's heartbeat!

We go back in two weeks (April 13th) for a follow up ultrasound. I think they want to see how the baby is measuring then and whether or not we need to adjust the due date... but that's just a guess. Either way, it will be exciting to see the baby again. :)

Friday, March 25th - 5 weeks, 4 days

It's been a little over a week and a half since we found out we were pregnant. :) I've had pretty mild symptoms - at first it was mild nausea all day, but that has since gone away. I have had stronger cravings than I did with Sabrina - mostly salty foods like pickles, olives, and tom yum soup (but those are things I craved with Sabrina too - just not as often as I do now).

I fell asleep at 9:30 last night which is unheard of for me. Unfortunately, last night also marked the first night of waking up at 1 in the morning for a bathroom break (or maybe it was 3 - I was soo tired!).

Next Thursday is our first ultrasound appointment, and I can't wait! I will feel so much better once I'm able to see the baby and know that everything's okay. Until then, I've been a really worry-wort! But that hasn't stopped me from browsing Etsy and Pottery Barn Kids to look at things for the baby's room. :)

If only Thursday would get here sooner....

Big Announcement!

We're pregnant!!! I found out on Sunday, March 13 at 3w6d. I took a pregnancy test on Saturday which appeared negative, but as I went to throw it away, I noticed a shadow of a line while it was tilted and had the light on it a certain way. But, I thought it could be a "ghost line" so I threw it away. On Sunday, I decided to test again with my very last cheapie test, and sure enough a very faint pink line showed up! On Monday morning, I used a digital test which says the result will show up in three minutes, but within a minute it came up POSITIVE!

I called Dr. Matsuda and they don't like to see anyone until 6 weeks, so my appointment is set for March 31st at 6w3d. Until then, I'm a nervous wreck - I will feel much better once I see the baby and know for sure that everything's okay.

My symptoms have been different than when I was pregnant with Sabrina - I went back and re-read how it was when I was 4 weeks, and I had pretty much every symptom in the book. This time though, I'm mildy tired but I am having trouble sleeping. Before, I would sleep through the night. Now, I'm waking up every couple of hours for no reason. I do have a little bit of discomfort in my lower abdominal area - not sure if I'd call it cramping though. I do get very hungry if I haven't eaten a snack between meals, but not nearly as hungry as I got when I was pregnant with Sabrina. I am nauseous throughout the day, but not to the point where it feels like I might throw up. I've been a little dizzy and lightheaded, too.

I went ahead and ordered some extra cheapie pregnancy tests just so I could give myself some peace of mind - hopefully those arrive soon!!!

I Made a Fancy-ish Cake!

So, I've never been good at cake decorating. The thought of it is VERY scary to me - especially since whenever I use frosting the decoration never turns out as I had hoped.

But my cousin, Carrie, and her husband and three children were coming from Seattle and were going to have dinner at our house. Since Gerald is the cook, he made dinner (hamburger sliders and hot dogs) and it was my responsibility to make dessert. I wanted to do something fun for the kids but still not the "boxed cake with frosting on top" look.

In my quest to be more "domesticated", I've started reading cooking magazines. I came across this cute recipe in Food Network magazine:



The recipe can be found here.

This recipe was super easy, and came out so cute!! Check out my version of the cake below:



The only thing is I had a lot of leftover chocolate cake that was crumbled to make the meatballs, and lots of extra "noodle" frosting... wish I had another event this weekend so I could utilize the leftovers and make another one.

This recipe is definitely going in the "keeper" file!