Monday we are scheduled for our "Big Ultrasound!" Hopefully monkey will cooperate and I can get my bladder as full as possible. I've been reading and asking currently pregnant women how they got their bladders full before the u/s. The consensus was to drink a TON of water right after you pee. Dawn went so much as to give an exact amount... 32 oz. I can do that!

If you haven’t made a guess already on what you think we’re having visit http://www.expectnet.com and do a search for "wildmonkey"

Happy guessing!!!

Happy 19 weeks to Baby K! We have some baby news! WE FELT KICKS. I had been feeling what I thought were gas pockets the past couple of weeks... but while laying on my back and trying to find the heartbeat the BebeSounds moved... and then it moved 3 more times in the same spot! I was so excited! I was waiting for Scott to get home from work, and as soon as he came upstairs I had him sit on the bed with me and I took his hand... after about holding the position for about 45 seconds he said "Isn't that interesting." HAHA I just died laughing because it was somewhere between "WOO HOO!" and "Whoa, something in there moved."

I've been using my BabyPlus twice a day, and it's working out great! The baby actually moves along with the beats sometimes! It's such a wild feeling! I also was given a TON of children's books from my co-worker. I counted them... she gave me 148. ONE HUNDRED FOURTY-EIGHT! Dr. Seuss, Curious George, Little Golden, etc... it was so wonderful of Hether. I tried to pay her, but she wouldn't take any money, so I took she and her son Popeyes for lunch, as well as a book for Dean, "Walter, the Farting Dog." Before you get more appauled that you are probably already are... it's by the same author as E.T. and was rated very high by Barnes and Noble's readers.  With lunch and the book, Hether called that even. Thank you guys!!!!!! {{{hug}}}

Scott and I had a WONDERFUL time in Columbus over the weekend. Wish we could do that more often! P.F. Chang's is now my new favorite restaurant! *lick* I was also able to find a maternity bathing suit for $20 at the larger JCPenny's Outlet store. What's really funny is that it's the same bathing suit as my pre-pregnancy suit! I wasn't sure what size to get, but I figured if I grew out of this one, it was only $20 vs. $80. :)

I went to our soon to be Cousin-In-Law's bridal shower Sunday. It was really nice to sit down and speak with Kim for more than 2 minutes. She's INCREDIBLY busy and it seems we always catch each other coming and going! She racked UP on shower gifts, and actually received something that she even mentioned I should register for.... BISSELL'S LITTLE BIG GREEN CLEAN MACHINE. She was soooo right. It's a portable steamer, you can do stairs, small spots and upholstery. I just kept thinking it'd be great for spit up on car seats and in the car. Only problem is that BabiesRUs doesn't have it available online, and Scott and I haven't had a chance to run by BabiesRUs to see if they carry in their store. So I think what I'll end up doing is registering at Target and only putting 1 thing on the registry... but only hot linking it from this site hoping that someone will get it for us! hehe

More shower plans are coming together, and I've gotten my invitation list pretty much together. I need to add a few more names of whom my Mother-In-Law would like to invite. I'm still agonizing over whom to invite and who would be offended, it's so nerve racking! This is a totally different experience from wedding invitations, where people are offended if they aren't invited!! hehe We thought that the date was at least in stone, but it had to move back a weekend because my family was going out of the country and wouldn't be back until the following weekend. No worries, PERFECT! That was the original weekend that Linda wanted to throw it anyway. I was thrilled to know that my mom, godmother and grandmother were all planning to attend! It will probably be the only time I get to see them before the baby is born.

Hurm, not much else going on, I'm really tired... makin' baby parts all day and night is starting to run me down... which is my body's way of telling me that I need to SLOW down. I'm working on it!

AND... Dawn is 4 - 5 cm dilated! I think she'll be having Meridian sometime this week! WOO HOO!

My big U/S Monday! I will try and post the outcome ASAP!!!! I'm sure I'll be swarmed with emails and phone calls all day until I post it! However, please realize that I won't post/email whether we are having a boy or girl until my mom and Scott's parents are told first. ;)

19 week belly picture added! (Remember, to click the "Every Week" link to see any odd numbered weeks)

One of my friends sent me a link from Old Navy that had a TON of their baby stuff on sale... well, guess what one of the patterns were that were on sale? MONKEYS! I was able to purchase these items for 50% off!!

I ordered this 0-3 months so he/she could wear it right away!

I ordered this in 6 - 12 months so that our lil' wild monkey can wear it during the summer!

Bib

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Rattle

TOO CUTE RIGHT?! :)

I called today to check in on my Triple-Screen blood results... "NORMAL."

And for those that don't know what a "Triple-Screen" is and what it tested, here's a brief explination:

During the 16th to 18th week of pregnancy, expectant mothers typically are offered a blood test called the triple screen test or triple marker.

For the screening, a sample of blood is drawn from the mother to measure three basic things: the levels of hCG (human chorionic gonadotropin) and estriol, which are produced by the placenta, and the level of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), which is produced by the fetus. The levels of these three substances in the blood can help doctors identify a fetus at risk for certain birth defects such as neural tube defects like spina bifida or chromosomal abnormalities like Down syndrome.

In determining the results of the test, doctors take into account the mother's age, weight, and ethnicity; if she is diabetic; if she is having twins or other multiples; and the gestational age of the fetus. Many of these factors affect the levels of the substances being measured and the interpretation of the test results, so the accuracy of this information is vital. If any of the given information is incorrect, the results from the screening may be inaccurate as well.

This week is my 18th week of pregnancy! Whoa, how time flies, I'm finally getting the questions of "When are you due?" and comments such as "Look at that little tummy growing!" FINALLY! I was thinking I looked like I had more of a beer belly than a baby belly! But if I don't get huge, no worries... but then again, I'd like for people to refer to my "bigness" as "all baby." Right Dawn? *big grin* Anyway..... since this is my 18th week of pregnancy I started using my BabyPlus that I purchased off of eBay from one of the best seller's I've ever run into! It was funny when I wore it for the first time. Oreo, Scott and I think even Linda didn't really realize what it was. Oreo was freaked out by it, and wouldn't come near me while it was on!

BabyPlus, for those of you (like my husband) that need a refresher on BabyPlus is:

BabyPlus is a series of 16 scientifically designed rhythmic sounds that resemble a mother's heartbeat. The rhythm of the sounds increases incrementally and sequentially as the pregnancy progresses. The BabyPlus sound pattern introduces your child to a sequential learning process, built upon the natural rhythms of their own environment.

This "auditory exercise" strengthens brain connections during the developmental time period when the advantages will be most significant for a child. BabyPlus is the first educational tool designed for prenatal use that has been proven effective. BabyPlus children have an intellectual, developmental, creative, and emotional advantage from the time they are born.

Your baby can very clearly hear these rhythmic sounds. She/he learns to discriminate between the sound coming from the mother and those from BabyPlus. In other words, the learning process has begun. Your baby's brain begins to accelerate the rate at which it compares and contrasts sounds. This process builds your baby's memory for greater capacity and function throughout life.

I hope that all the Mom's and Mom's-To-Be out there had a wonderful Mother's Day. My MIL gave me a "Motherhood" book, which was a little book of Baby Animals and their mothers with inspirational little sayings. VERY CUTE. And she gave Scott and I both a cute card. Scott gave me the sweetest gift... A Precious Moments expectant mother figurine! And of course, gave me a hysterical card. The whole Kloetzer Clan went to The Barn. It's a restaurant in Smithville, Ohio, which is a barn that was turned into a restaurant. It was pretty good. I'd have had a better time if I didn't feel sick. I'm not sure what came over me.

It was just an all over nausea feeling. Monday I had a really weird dizzy sensation from 6 until I finally fell asleep, with a little bit of violent vomiting going on. I think my sugars may have been out of wack. I felt better when I got up the next day.

Still trying to differentiate between my heartbeat and the baby's heartbeat. Will letcha know when I'm successful! haha And I've uploaded my 18 week belly pic. Just incase you wondered where all the pictures went because they are all there. You can choose whether to view every 2 weeks or every week. Use the little purple text links at the top and bottom of the pictures to toggle between the two.

And almost forgot! My wonderful, now emailpal, eBay seller has a Medela backpack breast pump that she's going to sell for me at 60% off the retail price (Regularly $279.99 plus $40 for the backpack, don't believe me, ask Scott about when he asked how much it was at Motherhood haha)! No worries lovely ladies, I already found a Medela replacement parts website that has excellent prices. All the replacement parts will cost me a little over $20! WOO HOO!

More good news.... Dawn is 2 - 3 cm dilated! I told her she'd be delivering early, but she refuses to believe me. So we'll see!

Have a wonderful rest of the week!

Scott and I experimented with the BebeSounds monitor that Dawn's sister is letting me borrow to hear our little monkey's heartbeat. However, it's very hard to pick up the heartbeat until around 17 weeks because it's a stethoscope type of monitor. I think I found the heartbeat last night, but not sure if it was mine... I was poking around and I think I felt a little bit of a kick or two! Very cool! But now just to hear the heartbeat!

I've also been doing a little "Wish List" adding at BabiesRUs. My mom wants to buy the stroller, and I was doing a TON of research on which ones were best for our needs, held up the best, were good for tall people, ease of use, etc. Which in turn got me to looking at other things that I'd need, and before long, I started to add stuff that looked very useful and items we'd definitely use! I found the cutest bedding sets for either a boy or girl, so depending on the outcome Monday after next, the bedding ensemble will be complete!

I happened to call my mom to check on my step-grandfather and she said for me to "take the stroller off my registry" because she's definitely going to get it! WOO HOO! One more big thing checked off our list!

Quattro Tour Travel System with LATCH - Kenbrook Print by Graco

I still haven't heard anything back from the triple-screen. And I'm always under the impression that no news is good news. *wink*

I have started to gather names and addresses for baby shower invites (which will be sometime in August), but I'm running into the dilemma of who "out of towners" I'm going to invite that so it's not a "you must send me a gift because I sent you this invitation." I don't want people to think I've forgotten about them during this big event in our lives, so if you do not get an invite it's because I didn't want to impose on you, and if you do receive one and think we're imposing, I'm apologizing in advance.... Why can't all my loved ones and friends live in the same area?!?! hehehe

Well that pretty much does it for any new "news" on the baby front. I can't believe I'll be 18 weeks Monday! My how time flies!

WHOA, 17 weeks…. Where has the time gone? 17 week belly pictures have been added! But the best news is that Scott and I bought our crib! JCPenny’s outlet store rules! We purchased a $300 crib (maple finish) for $80.05!!! The returned goods section of our outlet store had the crib marked down to $99.99 and May 1st for a ONE DAY ONLY SALE all returned goods were an additional 25% off!!! WHAT A DEAL!

Our Maple Crib (minus the drawer, it's sold seperately)

MIL went with me to help bring the crib home, and she ended up spotting a cherry finish cradle/bassinet that was $150 reduced to $50 with an additional 25% for a grand total of $37.50!!!! WOO HOO! Now all we need is to keep an eye out for an unfinished/maple finish dresser and changing table and a mattress for the crib. I think I’ll sick my FIL on it. hehe

Cherry Finish Cradle from MIL

One more week until I can use my BabyPlus! WOO HOO! I hope that everyone is having a wonderful week!!

I can definitely say that I have ventured into a part of the alphabet that only women dream of, pay big bucks for or... are pregnant. I had to graduate out of my pre-pregnancy undergarments weeks ago, but I thought that the maternity brazier I bought about a month ago would be fine, I mean, really... "How big can they get?" Well, from what I'm reading and what the nice lady at Motherhood, "Lots bigger." The best part is when she said "We have several types, but this type is the only one that goes that big." Not sure if that was a good comment or bad! LOL

I called yesterday to inquire about when I'd be getting the triple-screen results back, and the nice nurse said "7-10 days." The earliest I'd hear something back would be the week of May 3rd.

Hope that everyone has a wonderful weekend!