Maternity Shoot

After a short deliberation, we decided that we should do a Professional Maternity Portrait Session, only because we did one when we were pregnant with Tyler. After doing it, I'm glad we did. It made us realize, again, how special this time is and how quickly it is forgotten once baby is here. Besides, to me, there is a special beauty about maternity photos that set them aside from any other portrait. Not to mention that the photographer snuck in a few shots of Tyler alone, so that was nice!

We only contemplated doing it because we are now well aware of how fast the maternity portraits get covered up with newborn pictures, then 6 month pictures, etc. It just goes so fast! I would love it if I had enough wall space to just keep adding frames with new pictures, but that would require endless wall space and who has that???

Anyway, here they are for you to enjoy. Click Here To View Maternity Photos. If there is any family member out there reading this who wants a copy of any of them, let me know. 62 days to go! And so it goes...

Up Close and Personal

Hello, Ms. Riley! Yes, we will see you soon!
Where will technology take us next??? Yesterday, we had our 3D Sonogram done of Ms. Riley. I invited my Mom and Mother-in-Law along so that they could witness the experience of modern technology when it comes to the gestational world. My Mother-in-Law ended up with the stomach flu and was not able to attend, but my Mom got to witness how incredibly awesome it was!

Like with Tyler, Ms. Riley was ever so uncooperative and would not part with her right arm. Her right hand was in her face 99% of the duration of the scan, but we were still able to get some really great shots of her. The tech kept having to pat my belly and give little nudges to try and get her to move her arm, but it would end up right back where she liked it, against her face. She was moving a ton, just not moving that arm out of the way. I think I rolled from my back to my side to my back 4 different times. In the end, it worked for the most part and we were able to say hello to our little Riley Girl. We concluded that she has the same facial features as Tyler did and she DOES have hair, so I think we're all in agreement that she is going to be the female version of Tyler. I am ecstatic about the fact that she has hair because I already have a basket full of hair bows & headbands and more are being shipped to me as we speak (shhhhh...don't tell David!)
Yawning!
Eyes Open!
Smiling! It was really incredible to be able to watch our little girl (and yes, we did confirm yet again that there is a hamburger and no hot dog) on the screen yawning, rubbing her eyes, opening her eyes and even smiling. As I've said before, we had the same sonogram done with Tyler, but the miracle of new life never gets old and I would be just as intrigued if this were our 8th child. Now, more so than before, I CANNOT wait to meet her. CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE 3D PICTURES Only 11 more weeks (or less) to go until we get to see her face to face! And so it goes...

The Home Stretch

28 Weeks

The term "flying by" doesn't even sum it up. 40 weeks seems to be an eternity when you first find out you're expecting and feeling like garbage. But, when the joy sets in and the baby bump starts to expand, it seems to all rush together and before you know it, you're where I am........in Trimester 3 thinking "holy crap, only 12 weeks to go". It's possibly only 11 for me, since I may be scheduled a little early depending on Ms. Riley's growth.

It really set in last week when I went for my checkup. It had only been 2 weeks since my last visit and I just couldn't believe that I was already at the point of visits every 2 weeks instead of 4. Speaking of, I had my glucose test done at my visit last week (when they test for gestational diabetes) and I'll get the results next week. Fingers are crossed that all is well and I don't have to go back to take the 4 hour test.

Other than that, all is starting to come together. The pink and brown is starting to flood the house and I'm really starting to get excited about having a little girl! Everytime I buy something for Riley, David's response is "wow, I'm not used to seeing pink everywhere". He's getting excited, too! He often asks me "how's my little girl doing" when he gets home from work or being away, and it melts my heart.

In the next few weeks, we are trying to conquer the following:
- Traveling to Lake Wales as much as possible before I reach my "can't travel out of the county" stage.
- We will be having a 3D sonogram done of Ms. Riley, to try and catch an early glimpse of what she looks like.
- Mommy will be having a prenatal massage so that she can slip off into heaven for 60 min. or so.
- Infant / Toddler CPR course (we signed up for this when I was pregnant with Tyler, but a lovely hurricane threatened FL, so it was cancelled.)
- We are still deciding whether or not to have Maternity Portraits done. We had them done when I was pregnant with Tyler, but we now know how quickly they get covered up with baby photos. We'll see...

Other than that, we are all happy and healthy. Stats from my last visit were:
Riley's Heart Rate: 148bpm
Fundus Height: 28cm (right on target for 28 weeks)
Mommy's Total Weight Gain: 24lbs (right on target with Pregnancy #1)

And so it goes....