Update...with pictures

So I went in for my monthly checkup today. I was also able to have another ultrasound. At my last ultrasound, because Danica was laying on her stomach and wouldn't move, we didn't get a good look at her profile or heart. I had a glass of Dr. Pepper for breakfast, as the Doctor ordered, to try to get the baby to move more this time. I think I always go to my appointments during her napping time.
***I've gained a total of 12 lbs so far and seem to be doing fine.
***Danica weighs 1 lbs 10 oz! Which is normal too, but I just couldn't believe that she's already that big. I know, in the whole scheme of things, it's not that big, but still...it's cool.
***Her heart rate was 154, so she seems really healthy!
Here are some recent pictures:

..::At 24.5 weeks...and growing::..
..::Profile, she has her hands up by her face::..
..::It's a GIRL!! The nurse said those little white dots are her "girl parts." Yes, she said "girl parts." So which exact girls parts...?... we're not sure::..
..::She's yawning. I think we were interrupting her nap::.
..::Her hand. You can't tell, but it's covering her face. Apparently she was shy::..
..::Another profile::..

I did it!

I took a picture. Well Tyler did.

Here's me at 22 weeks!

Anybody have some pixie dust??

**I could wear my wedding dress to church...and that it wasn't weird.
**I could be tied to an elastic rope and taken for a ride in a helicopter all across New York on a bright summer day (it would feel like i am flying)
**I wasn't afraid of heights
**I could eat everything in a buffet. (I usually just waste money instead because I can't even finish one plate.)
**I could drive in reverse down a busy street. (Or maybe even a Drive-Thru.)
**I had the nerve to slap someone. (I promise I'm not malicious. I've just always wanted to slap someone across the face, and most importantly, get away with it.)
**I could go back in time and visit different time periods, for as long as I wanted, without getting older.
**That life was a musical sometimes.
**It can be said, when I die, that people remember me for all the good things I did.
**I could rewind, fast-forward, or pause real life.

Tyler and I decided what our girl's name is going to be. We just haven't sat down and figured out how we're going to spell it yet.
Any preferences??

We have a list of a bunch of girl names that we like and agree on, but before I was pregnant...maybe before we were married... I told him I like the name Danika and our first girl should be named that. He agreed as long as the middle name was Tjej.
He was serious.
And I agreed.

Tjej is how you say girl in Sweden (where Tyler served his mission) and is pronounced like Shay. We were going to spell it the Swedish way and thought it was kind of neat. (Hey, it was just going to be a middle name anyway.)
Then we spelled it out on paper. Um, not so much.

It's so fun to plan for our baby. I think especially since it's a girl! The day we found out, I had to go out and buy an outfit. I got a dress and a onesie for $5 total!!

Well, still no pictures. I'm usually gone all day and so is Tyler. Typically by the time I think about taking a picture at night, I'm already in my PJ's and Tyler's working on homework. I do have a 4 day weekend starting today so I guess I don't really have an excuse.

The baby's kicking a lot and I think I'm getting a feel for her sleeping patterns too. It's so exciting. I am getting bigger and my regular clothes that I thought I could wear as maternity clothes, because of their style, aren't fitting like I thought they would. Guess I better go shopping soon.
Oh darn!

EGG-cellent

Today has been a great Sunday, despite the slightly cooler/windy weather.

We had Stake Conference at 9:00 and we sat in the second pew. Great seats, but don't be fooled. They were not soft seats, but all hard benches. Our bums killed, but we didn't let that get us down.

Our visiting authorities were Elder L. Tom Perry, a member of the Twelve Apostles (and now the oldest...and I wouldn't be surprised if he was the tallest...living apostle) and Elder Wheeler, a member of one of the Quorum of the Seventy. The meeting was absolutely wonderful and inspiring!

Because our meeting was at 9:00 instead of our normal 1:00 meeting, we were home by 11:30!! So nice.

Eggs are on sale at Walmart. We had a million hard-boiled eggs, so I made Egg-Salad Sandwiches for lunch today. After seeing my neighbor (I'd like to give a shout out to Heather, heeeeyyyy!) peel hard-boiled eggs for their Egg-Salad Sandwiches the other day, I couldn't get them off my mind. Mmmmm.
I decided to spice things up a bit. (Maybe this isn't a new concept to you, but it was for me) I wanted the egg mixture to taste more like deviled eggs so with the familiar mayo I mixed in mustard, salt, pepper, and paprika. Pretty tasty, I must say. I also added lettuce, bacon, and tomato and of course we had a side of unhealthy potato chips. I think the tomato and bacon made the sandwich for me and, if I can help it, I never want to have an egg-salad sandwich any other way.

So, it's only 2:00 now and perfect timing for a peaceful Sunday nap.

We're Having A...

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We're so excited!

She's healthy and weighs 11 oz, which is right on target, I'm told. She was laying on her stomach the whole ultrasound, so we weren't able to get any cute profile pics. We got our "it's a girl" sonogram and one where her hand is covering her face. She must have been really shy because at my next appointment we're going to try to get a better shot of her. No pics of me yet. Those will come too.

Update

3 more days (woo hoo) until we find out if it's a boy or a girl!! We'll find out on Monday at 11.

My 18th week was quite adventurous for me
~I started feeling the baby move! It's so crazy and I love it!! Feeling it move has, so far, been the best part of being prego. I can't wait until Tyler can feel it too. To me it feels like a mix between a bubble popping and the hard pulse you can feel in your legs after running or something. It's hard to explain.
~Last Friday, I got another kidney stone! It is not a fun experience. This one was probably 3 or 4 times bigger (about the size of the head of a small nail) than my previous one at 6 weeks . I'm not sure what caused them or what the build up was. Around the time of the first kidney stone, I was taking my prenatals and drinking those slimfast shakes and I wondered afterwards if it was just a buildup of too much calcium or something like that. So, just in case, I stopped drinking those. Well, a few days before I got my second one, I was thinking that I hadn't been eating much meat and that I needed more protein in my diet so I decided to start drinking the slimfasts again. Well, needless to say, I got another kidney stone. So I'm guessing that's what it was. I think I've got a few more in the fridge if anybody wants them, cause I sure wont be drinking them anytime soon!

The baby is about 6 inches long (when I stretch out my pinky and thumb, like the hang-ten sign, that's 6") and weighs 8 1/2 ounces! (We'll find out the exact stats on Monday). I'm a lot bigger now than I was at just 16 weeks, when I took my belly pics. People have actually been saying that they can see my belly now! It's exciting. I'll have to take another picture soon.
For some reason I keep calling the baby He and then correct myself and refer to it as It. Tyler still calls the baby Festus. Haha.

Right now, according to the results in the poll where you answered whether we are having a boy or a girl it's 15 to 9 in favor of us having a girl. I'm kind of hoping you're right. I think it would be great to have a girl, but of course we would be ecstatic either way.

Well, next Wednesday I'll be 20 weeks! My pregnancy will be half over. Looking back it feels like it's gone by pretty fast, but as I remember living through it, it went pretty slow. For the most part I've really enjoyed being pregnant. Like they say, the second trimester has been the best part! And I just can't think about what will happen at the end of it all. Well, I mean, I think about actually having the baby and how that will be, but I'm not ready to think about the labor yet. I don't want to think about that, until I have to, which will, I guess, be fairly soon. We'll start looking into classes soon. There have been a few that we've been interested in and they start around week 27. Fun fun!!

Hamburger Cake and Fries

For those who asked, this is how I made the Hamburger Cake and Fries for Tyler's bday, pictured in the post below.
Visit my recipe blog HERE

Shout Hooray!!

Tyler turned 26 on March 4!
The day and celebration were pretty chill. Tyler had to work that day, so that night we went to Bombay House with 6 others from Tyler's work. The Indian food was soooo yummy! We highly recommend going there to eat.
We had a good night and had lots of fun with his co-workers. Apparently we had too much fun, because at one point, while eating, someone shushed us. I couldn't believe it because this was a noisy restaurant and everyone and their cousins were making noise. Crazy.
We didn't pay any attention to them.
After dinner people came over and had cake and just chatted the rest of the night instead of watching the movie we had planned. It was great and we had a lot of fun.
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One year older and wiser too...The Birthday CakeHe's so happy he's 26!Blowing out the candles

Back and Forth

I would have to say that the majority of my pregnancy, thus far, I've felt like I was having a boy. Even though I don't really understand how I, or anyone, can really feel something like that. I just felt that way. And it was kind of confirmed to me when I had a dream that we were having a boy.

Now I feel like I'm having a girl. Maybe it's because I recently had a dream we're having a girl, haha, (Which was a crazy weird dream by the way...pregnancy dreams are so weird!) even though that same night Tyler had a dream that we were having a boy. And now myths say I'm having a girl.

I had my 17 week checkup on Monday. The heartbeat was at 168 and Festus was doing just fine. One of the myths says that if the baby has a higher heartbeat, then it's a girl. So I asked the nurse if she believed in Old Wives Tales. She went on to explain that some she might believe, but others are just too outrageous. And I agree. She told me that if she had to guess now, she'd say I was having a girl. (She's pregnant with her 3rd girl.)

I'm really excited/anxious to find out. It's something that's been on the brain lately. Sometimes it'll float to the back of my mind, but it's always there. (Can you tell??) I'm so impatient!

We have a name picked out for a girl. We can't really agree on a name for a boy, but I'd say it's 90% set in stone.
We'll find out March 16!!

I would post another picture of my growing belly, but I don't think it's grown enough for the naked eye to see a difference. I'm doing fine though. Hardly ever sick. My pickle intake has finally gone down. (No more going through a jar a week!) I've gained 3 lbs since my first visit. My doctor told me that because I'm underweight for a girl my age and height (that isn't prego) I should expect to gain about 5 lbs extra than the average 20- 40 lbs pregnancy weight gain. Which isn't the greatest news, but as long as the baby's healthy, I'm A-OK. Weight can come off. I still haven't felt any movements from the baby, even though I know it's moving around like crazy.