2/12/13

So I am going to dump a ton of pictures on you. Be prepared. I've been the laziest blogger ever and over the past 2 months a lot has happened and I've not been very good about posting. Time is certainly speeding by. Tons of overtime at my job hasn't helped much, and I have been off and on sick for the last 2 months. We're doing our best to enjoy every minute of being pregnant, though.

Carrie's belly seems to grow bigger by the minute. It started out as such a little bump and every day you see it rounding out and looking more and more like a basketball. Sylvie's rolling and thumping around are ceaselessly entertaining. We'll sit on the couch in the evening, our hands on Carrie's tummy, waiting for Sylvie to kick or flip or whatever it is that she does in there. She seems to favor the right side of Carrie's belly, curling up as a hard lump on that side. You can tell where she is because Carrie's belly becomes sort of lopsided. Sylvie kicks all of the time now, but we still giggle and titter like it is the first time. It seems like not so long ago that we were frustrated with wondering about whether there was anyone in there, so it's pretty great that we know she's there for sure.

My brother Kyle, his wife Amy, and their kids, Alex and Ava, visited us this past weekend. It was fun to see them, we got to spend some quality time with Alex and Ava, who loved chasing Gizmo around the house. Gizmo didn't care much for it, though. Pursuit by shrieking toddlers is not his idea of a good time, apparently. Kyle and Amy brought us tons of baby stuff. It will be a huge help, they held on to lots of very useful stuff and Sylvie will not have to worry about toys or baby clothes, toys, bottles, etc for a while. We are very lucky to have such thoughtful family. It's times like this you start to learn how fortunate you are.

The weekend before that, Carrie and I attended a 7 hour(!) preparing for childbirth class at the hospital. My work schedule makes it pretty tough for us to attended classes together, so we decided to do it all in one fell swoop. It made for a long day, but we learned lots of good stuff.

Anyway, as promised here are some photos of what we've been up to the last couple of months. You can see how Carrie's belly is growing, that's for sure.

Making a registry!

The belly is growing!

At the doctor's office, after the ultrasound.

Gender reveal cupcake

It's a girl!

Sylvie got her very own Pooh bear for Christmas

Christmas belly and antlers

Carrie's basketball belly 2/10/13

Get out of there cat! You are not a Sylvie!

01/02/13

So much has happened in the last few weeks! I've been under the weather with my annual Christmas plague, so now that I'm starting to get out of the vicious DayQuil/NyQuil cycle, I felt like I could write some more.

Let's start with the ultrasound and gender reveal. Our appointment with the doctor was the week after Thanksgiving, and I was able to sneak out of work(!) early that Friday and drive like a madman to Fort Wayne to meet Carrie at the doctor's office. We didn't have to wait long before we were escorted into a small,dark room with a giant crazy ultrasound machine. The techinician slopped on some weird jelly on Carrie's belly and we were off.

The ultrasound was a really interesting experience. They put a magic wand on mommy's belly and you see a crazy swirly black and white x-ray whatsit and then poof! The shape of your baby starts to appear. The machine allows you to essentially see the baby and also see through the baby, depending on how they move it. There were moments where it almost made the baby look like one of the xenomorphs from Alien. A cute xenomorph, though.

Carrie and I held hands while we watched the screen, and I must admit that we both got a little misty. It was my first chance to see the baby move. It was an immense rush of amazing, unmitigated happiness. I don't think I've felt that giddy since we got married. The technician counted limbs and made measurements, then said it looked like a healthy baby.

Then came the moment we were waiting for. We didn't want to wait to find out the gender, partly because we're horrible at waiting and partly because it makes preparation a lot easier when you know what colors and types of things to buy. It's really difficult to shop for gender neutral baby stuff. Fortunately, our Little Turnip was very cooperative and we were able to get a very clear view. No wiener! It's a girl!

We had our name picked out already. We actually had it squared away for a long time before we'd even gotten pregnant (because we're nerds like that). Sylvia Grace Mikaloff. We'll call her Sylvie for short, though. It's a familiar enough name that most people should be able to recognize and spell it, but not so common that there will be six or seven other girls in her class with the same name. I like it because it relates to the forest and trees, and Sylvia (or Rhea Silvia) was the nature goddess and mother of Romulus and Remus, founders of Rome. We didn't want to go with one of those strange postmodern names or the baffling names for girls which are actually last names or the name of spokesdogs for beer companies (sorry everyone who named their daughter Mackenzie, I think about Spuds every time I hear it).

That Sunday we had Carrie's parents and her brother over for lunch and to announce the gender to them. Carrie's dad was so anxious to find out that he kept trying to trick us into slipping up and letting the cat out of the bag by asking us leading questions. We held out, though, and waited until dessert, much to his chagrin. I baked some dark chocolate cupcakes with a strawberry buttercream filling and chocolate ganache on top with a yellow question mark decoration.

11/24/2012

Now that we are about halfway into our pregnancy, it's time to start making updates available for family. Carrie is having a fairly easy pregnancy so far - no nausea, not much discomfort - so far the biggest symptom has been tiredness. Carrie's baby bump is coming along nicely, her tummy is rounding out as the baby grows. According to one of the apps Carrie has on her phone, the baby should be about the size of an heirloom tomato. This is fun, but I decided to name the blog "Little Turnip" because a week or so t before the app told us the baby was turnip-sized. It rolls off the tongue better, too.

It's funny to think that just a few months ago, we found out Carrie was pregnant. It didn't seem real. There was just this abstract tiny pinprick of rapidly dividing cells floating somewhere inside my wife. Now there's a little person who flutters and wiggles inside her. Taken in a different context, this would be a crazy sci-fi thing to have happen. There's a little he or she in there that will think its own thoughts and make its own decisions.

Next Friday, we will go in for another ultrasound. Carrie says they will measure the baby's organs and limbs, and determine the gender (so long as the baby isn't modest and crosses its legs). We're very excited. If our baby is a girl, we have chosen Sylvia Grace Mikaloff (Sylvie for short). If our baby is a boy, we have chosen Sean Declan Mikaloff. We began guessing that we will have a girl, but really whatever it ends up being will be just fine. A healthy baby is, of course, the most important thing.

Two weeks ago, we went to Target to buy a crib. They had a nice crib that you can convert to a toddler bed, then a regular bed. When we bought it, we didn't anticipate the size of the unit when it was packed in the shipping carton. It was much too large for my little Nissan Sentra, so the clerk at Target was very kind and helped us unpack it and assist in some Tetris-style car loading. After about 20 minutes, we were able to get everything in and got it home.

The plan for our nursery is to do a classic Winnie The Pooh room. We want to paint a mural on the wall, and have been scouring the interwebs, library, and bookstores for Pooh pictures to paint on the walls. We should be able to hodge-podge a rudimentary projector to shine the image on the wall so I can trace it. I have no talent for drawing or painting, so it should be fun. We'll either end up with a whimsical child's room or maybe one with plain walls!

Since the baby is now supposed to be able to hear voices and sounds from outside of the womb, Carrie's been talking and signing to herself lots and lots. I have begun recording myself reading books, so Carrie can put on her Belly Buds and the baby will be able to hear my voice. The first book I have been reading is (of course) a Doctor Who adventure, "The Pirate Loop" by Simon Guerrier. Our kid's going to be a nerd.

Carrie has bought maternity clothes. We had a lovely day of shopping - like a Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman style shopping montage! She's been enjoying her new very cute outfits. She is stylish and comfortable; no more trying to squeeze into normal non-pregnant clothes!

Yesterday was Thanksgiving, our last without a baby. We had lots of fun answering baby questions. It is nice to be the center of attention. It will be more fun next year, when we can bring our Little Turnip along with us.