Barbie or Ken Doll

It's been a pretty busy past week. It's hard to know where to start. I guess the first baby news is from the 22nd when I had my monthly prenatal check-up with Dr. Wong. All went well. She said I am gaining weight at a healthy rate. The baby's heart beat sounded a lot stronger and we could hear it much better. Although it was difficult for the Dr. to calculate his heart rate since he moves away from the doppler device. She said it sounds loud to him. My uterus was measuring 20 cm which is average for this point. Although we did get sent for another ultrasound as we expected since John Jr. wasn't too co-operative the last time and they couldn't get a proper picture of his heart.

Then on the 23rd, John surprised me with a proposal and a beautiful diamond ring. Although I was starting to get a little suspicious toward the end of our walk to see the lights at the Parliament Building, as it was really starting to drizzle. In any case we don't have a date set yet. My brain is preoccupied with thoughts of baby these days.

On the 28th it was off for another ultrasound. Which is really a quite enjoyable experience, if you can forget about the 32 oz of liquid in your bladder. Jr. was much more happy and willing to co-operate. It's pretty amazing to watch the heart beat and see the little hands and feet move. And I guess it's safe to buy blue to your heart's delight as the technician once again confirmed that it's a boy. We were even able to see his little "bird" ourselves this time, leaving little doubt that it's a boy.

Above are two pictures from the ultrasounds. The first (right side up) is from the 28th. John thinks his nose looks like mine :-) The second (upside down) is from December 8th, so about 3 weeks ago.

Apart from that I have been busy thinking about the nursery. I think we've settled on a very light blue for the wall colour. Apparently bumper pads or comforters aren't safe for infants - who knew. So, I'm looking for a fabric with monkeys, elephants and giraffes to make a curtain and maybe a crib skirt. I also went to Sears and registered for some of our wants and needs. I know that some of you "from away" have been asking what we need. Thanks to the generosity of Alex, Nicole and a very rapidly growing Samuel, we don't need any clothes from 0-6 months. I have the spare bed filled with sleepers, onesies, socks and little outfits. Here is the link to our registry at Sears. If the item is available in both the catalog and in store (retail) the item could be ordered from the catalog and sent to the catalog store nearest here.

Sears Gift Registry

And since I've been having so much fun looking for baby stuff, I also registered for an on-line baby wish list.

Wishlist

I am just finishing my 22nd week. Which means only 18 more weeks to go. Holy cow!! Apparently this week the baby is about the size of a Barbie doll or I guess in our case a Ken doll. I am feeling the baby more and more all the time. And I definitely think my nesting instinct has kicked in. I have pretty well cleaned out every nook and cranny in the house over the past week. Although I am keeping pretty busy with my new cooking tools. I'm loving my new slow cooker and Kitchen Aid mixer. I have a feeling John is soon going to be longing for anything not cooked in a slow cooker. Although he seems to be enjoying the fresh bread that's to the mixer.

So, that's it for now. I wish you all a very Happy New Year. It's sure to be a life changing one for John and I.