While I was off in Arizona sweating (110 is too hot to be pregnant), Robert was home working away in the nursery. Many of you have heard of the dreaded blue room. Everyone has one of these in their house, probably in a different color. It's the room where everything goes that doesn't fit into any other place in the house. Well, our blue room is no more, as Robert made it ready for the baby while I was in AZ. Thanks to the help of our friend Scott (and a few interns), they were able to take everything off to storage and empty the room for painting. The blue room is now a soothing yellow and green. I had many people ask to see the wonderful handiwork, so I'll keep the typing short, and get right to the pictures.

Also, miraculously, our glider and ottoman already came in - so it is the only thing setup in the room. But, I figure this corner gives a good feel for the color theme in the room.

For the first shower, we also received the hamper that matches our bedding. Since it was easy to take out of the box, we figured it would give a good feel for what the room will look like.

Aren't these blocks fun? My oldest (tenure, not age) friend Kim made these for me for my baby shower. She claims not to be crafty, but you can be the judge of that.

It's a.....

...good thing that I like the color green!

I'm sure all of you will have trouble believing this, but, apparently, Robert and I have a shy baby. We had our big ultrasound today, and left with no more conclusive information about the baby's gender than we had last night. Our little one kept its legs crossed the entire procedure. So, it looks like the baby will continue to affectionately be called the cashew.

You may ask, was it just because we did not learn gender that we thought the baby was uncooperative (oh, sorry, shy)? No, the baby did not want a picture of its face taken, and moved any time the ultrasound technician was honing in for a photo. Additionally, she had trouble getting some of the actual photos that they need for the full report. So, depending on what the doctor says, we may be going back for round 2 in a few weeks.

We did learn a few new things during the estimated measurements:
Weight of an average baby at 19 weeks = 8oz
Weight of our baby at 19 weeks = 11 oz

Weight of Nina at birth ~ 6 lbs
Weight of Robert at birth ~ 9lbs

HMMM - do you see where I'm going with this?

You will also notice that the due date has been moved a bit...looks like we are now tracking a little earlier. But, I'm sure the baby will join us when he/she deems ready. Otherwise, the ultrasound went well, looks like our little one might have Robert's longer legs, which bodes well for a future ballerina!

The Promised Land

End of Week 18

Well, after much anticipation, the days of feeling better have finally arrived. Knock on wood, I have gone almost 2 full weeks without nausea! I had almost forgotten what it feels like to be truly hungry. It is great to have an appetite again. Fruits and vegetables are still my favorite foods, and I really haven't had any new cravings, but I at least have wanted to eat like a regular human being.

We have finished the first "getting ready for baby" exercise. We built our new desk in the living room and have rearranged. Somehow, in the phenomenon that is interior design, we have added a full size desk and bookshelf to the room, and we now have more space. I'm not entirely sure how this happens, but it is a welcome relief.

I had my first prenatal massage last weekend, and much like other things while pregnant, it's sadly just not the same. They don't massage your feet or hands, really, so you leave feeling like you've missed something. I think the next time I go, I will have them just do intense back/shoulders/head, then I won't feel like it was incomplete. Apparently, certain massage spots can cause early labor, so they avoid them. I think once I hit the 38 week mark, and I'm considered "full term", I will be going for a full hour and half - bring on the labor!

The little cashew likes to hide out whenever I go to the doctor office, making it hard for him to locate the heartbeat on the doppler. This is discouraging, as we are soon to go to our 20 week ultrasound. I am beginning to believe that even though we want to find out the gender, the little cashew may not be so accommodating.

Odd Food Cravings

OK - it's official, I now understand what they say about crazy midnight cravings. I woke up at 2am last night with a STRONG desire for French Bread and cheese. And not just any cheese, brie! All I could think about was soft/chewy bread slathered in cheese. The craving was so strong I could taste it! Needless to say, I sadly went back to bed with no snack.

Our Little Health Nut

Week 15 - Things are Looking Up

I am finally starting to have some days where I am feeling pretty great. However, I have concluded that our little Cashew really doesn't like the unhealthy food. Things the baby does not like:

• French Fries
• Onion Rings
• Tater Tots

Any of these are items guaranteed to set me back a few steps in the progress of feeling better.

We took our first serious trips to the baby stores this past weekend to register. I thought building a wedding registry was hard, but I was mistaken. That was nothing, at least I knew what all of those things do! Thankfully, we had Amy (a mother of three kids herself) with us to help us know what items you really need vs the things the baby stores think you need. I'm sure this was great entertainment for her. The bright spot of the day was that we somehow managed to pick out a nursery theme faster than we were able to pick out china when we got married. I'm not entirely sure exactly what this says about us.

I learned, however, at the end of the day, Babies R Us is not as evil as I once thought. While I think the light inside is designed to give you a headache, we found that they had most things we had been looking for, and were even cheaper than Target for many things. Not that I'm anxious to head back, but I no longer consider them the work of the devil. I think the key is short visits with a limited shopping list.

The Little Cashew

The baby's in utero name has officially changed. A few weeks ago, when we read in the book that the baby was the size of a cashew, Robert was hooked. Ever since then, it's been all about our little cashew. This is highly ironic since cashews are about the only nut that I don't like! Even more so since the baby was the size of a cashew for less than a week. At the last ultrasound, we determined that the baby was about the size of a lime.

Which leads me to a very sad Cinco De Mayo. Since there was plenty of rain here in DC, Robert didn't have to play softball, which meant we could go out for some Mexican food (if you can call it that). I thought it wouldn't be all that bad without a Margarita, I mean, I could get a virgin Daquiri, right? NOOOOOO. Apparently, in preparation for their busiest night ever, the restaurant had chosen to only offer premixed daquiris. However, a Virgin Pina Colada did save the day! But, it wasn't quite as refreshing as strawberry would have been. Meanwhile, the guys both had beers with limes. Sadly, beer has never smelled or sounded so good, and I don't even LIKE beer that much.

We had another dr. appointment yesterday. I am still tracking at no net weight gain, even with my baby bump and all. I am tracking my weight on our Wii Fit, and instead of having weight LOSS goals, I have put in my monthly weight GAIN goals. The Wii must be so confused. Too bad it doesn't have a "pregnant" setting, then maybe in the future I'd get the cheery sound, rather than the groan that I predict I will start getting eventually.

For everyone curious, we are scheduled to have our OB appointment where we can learn the gender on June 19th - so 7 more weeks! Let's just hope the Cashew cooperates.

My friend Amy is taking us to Babies R Us to do the scary baby registry. I'm sure we will be rapidly overwhelmed with the amount of stuff that goes along with babies, but we are relying on her to tell us what we really need, and what we can do without.

New things I have learned:

• Vitamin B6 is a great energy boost. It keeps you up at night.
• The Boppy maternity pillow is the best TRAVEL pillow ever made.
• I still don't like pecan pie
• Crab Cakes are still fabulous
• Eating on a deck overlooking the beach increases the appetite (thanks Kelly and Billy for getting married in South Carolina)

On my way to being wider than I am tall...

For everyone who has been waiting to see how quickly I would pop out - the answer was quickly, very quickly. So, as promised, here are pictures of me and the baby at the end of the first trimester.

I made the mistake of shopping for maternity clothes before the morning sickness really kicked in and I lost weight. These jeans fit great around the belly, but are falling off everywhere else. I imagine someday once I start gaining baby weight, I'll grow into them. But, I wanted to find an outfit that would grow with me so I could have the same clothes on for each picture. After 3 oddly blob-like ultrasounds, we finally arrived at week 12, which is apparently when the baby acutally starts looking like a baby. Here is our little cashew. At the visit where this was taken, we got to hear the heartbeat for the first time and see the baby move about. The little one reacted to my belly laughs by dancing about (ok, so maybe it was more like flailing the arms about, but I'm going with dancing), so hopefully that is a sign we have a future dancer.

Flailing my arms about