It's Going to be a Very Long Wait

I finished reading Echo in the Bone (the 7th book of the Outlander series) a couple of weeks ago and I am already really sad. The series is not done, which is good, as I am not ready to stop reading about Jaime & Claire. But, I am sad because it will be a couple of years till Gabaldon is done writing the next one.

 

According to a recent blog post of hers, it generally takes her at least 2 1/2 years to write each book! Which if you actually think about it and how long they are (normally 800 to 900 pages, hardback) and how she tries to be historically accurate, then than 2 1/2 years is not very long.

 

I started the series last August and went straight from one book onto the next, no waiting. Now I get to sit and wait. I really should not complain though. I think about her readers who started the series, when the first book was published in 1991 and how long they have now been waiting. That's 19 years!

 

I think I may start the Lord John series by Gabaldon, which is a spin off of one of the characters in Outlander. Or I can just start reading them all over again, hehe.

It's a...

Girl!!!!

Well... pretty sure. The u/s tech wouldn't say 100%, but most likely the baby is a girl. I was completely shocked. Actually... I think I am still in denial!

Boys dominate David's family and when I married him, I thought to myself, am I prepared to have all boys? Yes I was, as David was totally worth it and I would love any child that the Lord blessed us with regardless of whether it was a girl or boy.

So going into this pregnancy, I was convinced this little baby was boy. I even called the baby a he/him several times this past weekend, haha. I hoped that I was wrong and that it would in fact be a girl, because honestly the girls stuff is just too cute for words.

David on the other hand, had thought the baby was girl since the beginning, when he had dream about it. He is taking the announcement completely in stride and already thinking about little USC cheerleading outfits!

Anyways, everything looked great at this u/s and she(that's weird to say) is measuring right on track at 11 ounces. Ultimately a healthy baby is what we have been praying for and finding out the gender is just a perk of the amazing technology that we have now.

My next appointment with the Peri is in 4 weeks and I will have another u/s. Hopefully the baby will cooperate a little more and we can get a good look at the goods!

But we are very excited and can't wait to meet our little Ivy Mae in August!

~ 20 Weeks!

We are halfway there! Halfway to meeting our little one. Holy Cow! Well minus 2 days, but it's close enough. I haven't done a real baby update in several weeks, so there is lots to say!

As I mentioned in my last post, tomorrow we will hopefully find out the sex of the baby! Yay! Other fun stuff is that I have been feeling the baby several times a day, since about 16w2d's. He or she is kicking like crazy right now, as I type.

I have been receiving lots of comments at work lately. When are you due? Is it a boy or girl? I "popped" a couple of weeks ago. I haven't been taking weekly belly shots, but here are two recent ones.

15 weeks



19 weeks



I have been wearing maternity pants, since about 15 weeks and really should have switched sooner! Shirts wise, I am still in half regular/half maternity. I have been wearing the same 4 shirts to work and it's pretty sad. Trying to find business professional clothes for work, that also fit, has been interesting. If I could wear casual clothes everyday, I wouldn't be having any issues. I have found a couple of cute items though.

How am I feeling? Pretty good! Emotionally a 1,000 times better than the hot emo mess, that I was in the 1st trimester. Sleeping the entire night still. No stretch marks or heartburn (yet). Food cravings - not so much. I am running more hot than I used to be and when I get too hot, I do get dizzy. But overall, I am doing well.

Coming up, we have to decide which of the two hospitals that my Dr delivers at, that we want to go to. I am leaning heavily towards one of them, but feel it's best to do as much research as we can, so we will be touring both. Those appointments have been made and will be coming up soon!

David and I made the decision awhile back, that it is our goal to have a natural childbirth, so I have been doing a lot of research. We will probably be taking childbirth classes on the Bradley Method and have a potential instructor lined up. I also would love to have a Doula there to help while I am labor, but I don't think we will be able to afford it. :(

I have reserved two books at the library, that were recommended to me on natural childbirth, including Pushed by Jennifer Block and Ina May's Guide to Childbirth. I will have lots of reading to do.

So there you go! I think I just about covered everything, haha. I will try and post tomorrow when we get home, about how my appointment and u/s go!

Boy or Girl... That is the Question

A week from today, we have our next appointment with Dr. B, my Peri and get to find out the sex of the baby! Well hopefully I should say. Baby, you better cooperate next week, I mean it! We don't want to see any crossed legs or funny business going on. ;)

The last couple of days have been creeping by because of the growing anticipation. I remember when we got our bfp, David and I were discussing when our big u/s might be and March seemed so far away and now we are only a week away. At times it has seemed as the days were going by so slowly, but most of the time it has felt like time is flying by. I now think about August and how it is going to be here before we know it!!

I am looking forward to calling the baby by his or her name, picking out clothes and knowing more about who our little one is. I feel like a kid waiting for Christmas morning! I currently think the baby is boy and David on the other hand thinks it is a girl. We shall know soon enough who is correct!

Only 7 more days!!!

Random Friday Musings

Hello Friday! Oh how, I have missed you! It took you long enought to get here.

 

Since, it's Friday here are some random musings:

 

~ I am really looking forward to seeing Alice in Wonderland! It better be good as the previews look!

 

~ I was going through some old, old posts on here and boy some of them are horrible. So boring and seriously lacking punctuation! If you started reading around when I started this blog, thank you for sticking around!

 

~ Why are Thin Mint Girls Scout cookies so darn good!?!

 

~ I "think" I may have smelled Orange blossoms last night. I was locking up for the night and I caught what I thought was the scent and then I took a big smell and nothing, hmmmm.... It's getting to be that time of year again, so maybe I did smell it. I really wish we lived closer to the groves!

 

~ Last night's Office episode, made me cringe several times. Oh my goodness! We haven't really watched this season, but I heard that is was the episode in which Pam had her baby, so I just had to watch it.

 

~ The rain needs to just stop for awhile, so we can get the backyard area cleaned up and all the leaves picked up. It still hasn't dried out from the last rain. Oh and the Jalapeno plant is still alive, it's now going on it's third year! Amazing since everything else died a long time ago.

 

 

Hope everyone has a great weekend! Try and stay warm or for all the So Cal peeps, keep dry!

I Can't Cook Rice for the Life of Me

Many, many, times I have tried to cook rice and it's a failure every time. It drives me crazy that I can't get it right. All I want is some yummy, fluffy Mexican rice. Is that too much to ask for?! If you have dinner at my house and I serve you rice, just know that I didn't make it. Instead, I took a package out of the freezer and threw into the microwave for 3 min and Voila.. rice! Thanks Trader Joes! :P

Anyways, I "think" I have narrowed down the reason why I can't make rice. IMPATIENCE! I like to think of myself as a pretty good cook, but I know that I could be a lot better. Because I tend to be impatient, I make mistakes and things don't come out right. There is a reason why you need to let something sit for 5 min. They didn't just put it on the recipe for fun. And there is a reason you are supposed to simmer and not boil.

I was reading the March issue of Cooking Light and came across and really great article entitled, "The 25 Most Common Cooking Mistakes". I learned that there are several things that I do incorrectly. Here are a few:

4. You boil when you are supposed to simmer. This is where my impatience comes in.

6. You over soften butter. Whaat! I didn't think that was possible. Hmmm.... Kristy, I think I figured out why our chocolate chip cookies were really flat!

17. Meat gets no chance to rest after cooking.

23. You pop meat straight from the fridge into the oven or on the grill. Ooohhh!

So, check out that article! You just might learn something new!