baby 101

Hello baby Paw,

Mom and Dad created this blog a couple months ago, but this is the first post. I guess I wasn't 100% committed to doing a separate baby blog. But I'm going to try it. I also don't know if it should be like I'm writing TO you or ABOUT you. I like the idea of it being to you, but it's easier to do it about you... For now, it'll be to you.

First of all, we love you so much and can't wait for you to be here. Time is flying by! But at the same time, I wish it was September.

According to our last visit at the doctor, you are a little bigger than we thought which moved your due date up a few days. September 12th. If you actually come that day then you will be here in 101 days.

Here's a quick rundown of the last six months. We thought we'd move to California for Dad's job before we'd bring children into the picture, but we got a little surprise back in January. I fell in love with you the day I learned you were inside my tummy. Even though you weren't considered a baby yet, you've been a baby to us since the day we saw 2 pink lines.

I went to the doctor that week for blood work and got the official confirmation that you were in there.

A week later I started to bleed. We were devastated because we thought we'd lost you. We cried a lot and told you grandparents that there was a baby in me but that there wasn't anymore. We spent the morning trying to reach my doctor, crying and talking about how strange it is to love and miss someone so much who we never even met. We finally got into the doctor and after some blood work and a lot of waiting, the doctor did an ultrasound and what we saw next was probably the happiest moment in mom and dad's marriage to that point. A heartbeat. You were still there, with a little tiny heart just beating away. When we saw your heartbeat you were about the size of a blueberry (that's tiny). We were overjoyed, to say the least, and we were so excited about the journey ahead of us.

4 weeks later we got to see you again, and this time we heard your heart beating. You had tiny little arms and they were wiggling like crazy.

Every appointment since then has gone well.

There was a quick unplanned appointed at about week 14. I wasn't feeling well at work and had some pains in my stomach, and because I worry about every little thing now that I'm a mommy, I ran to the doctor. Your Grandma Greenhalgh met us there, and because you like to move all the time they couldn't catch your heartbeat long enough to listen so the nurse did a quick ultrasound. Your grandma never had an ultrasound with her babies so this was the first one she'd ever seen. She started crying when she saw you. You are one loved little baby!

A few weeks later, we learned that you are a boy! We say just about everything about you at 21 weeks. Fingers, toes, hands, arms, feet, legs, tummy, face, cute little nose, and cute little boy parts!

We love you like crazy and we so look forward to a little baby hanging around this house. I'm spending a lot of time preparing for you. Furniture, clothes, toys, books, diapers, blankets. I had to promise your dad that I wouldn't buy anymore clothes until you were born. I didn't go too crazy, but if I'd bought everything that I know you'd look adorable in, we'd have to change your outfit 2 or 3 times a day for the first year of your life.

I was pretty sick from about week 7 to week 14. But as soon as it was over it didn't seem that bad, and during that time I knew it was all worth it. I just had to learn to get all the important stuff done each day between 10am and 3pm because before that I was asleep and after that I was too sick to care about anything I didn't get done.

I've been feeling you wiggle and kick inside of me since week 18. At week 22 it became very obvious when you were moving and where you were in there. Sometimes low and sometimes a little higher. Dad can feel you move through my tummy and he loves it. He talks to you all the time and he kisses my belly everyday. He even reads you bedtime stories. And let me warn you, you better love 'The Berenstain Bears' and 'Little Critter Storybooks'. Because we love them!

Oh, and PAW? Before we knew you were a boy we called you "PAW" (Paul and Andrea White). And now that we know you're a boy we still call you PAW because we aren't telling anyone your name until you are born.