The Real Stars Of This Show

I had my 22 week check up and ultrasound yesterday.  Everything looks good.  The technician was able to scan Nugget's heart and she looks okay.  Both babies are exactly 1 lb. 3 oz. right now, so their growth is good.  Both heartbeats were normal.  

I got to watch them kick each other on the monitor.  Nugget was drinking the amniotic fluid (doesn't she know she pees in that stuff!?!) and Wizard was punching his hand in the air (presumably at the ultrasound wand being pushed into my belly near his head).

Here are the latest pictures:

The technician couldn't get a good shot of both babies together,

 so we'll have to settle for the side by side head photos.

The Wizard (aka baby boy)

Princess Nugget (aka baby girl)

22 Weeks Update

I love seeing my two little chickadees move further down the pregnancy calender!  I'm not so sure I love the ever increasing belly that comes with each week.  Right now I'm still a manageable size but when I see pictures of other pregnant women at 22 weeks I realize just how much bigger I already am.

Sleeping is hard right now (I know, get use to it).  My hips give me problems at night and I feel a lot of downward pressure when I get up and walk around.  I'm trying to keep up with my yoga and gym visits but I spent most of last week out of town and this week driving the dogs aimlessly around Charlotte while buyers view our house.  So getting back  into the routine is tough.

I go for my 5 (or is it 6?) month check up tomorrow.  They will do another scan of Nugget's heart since she was so camera shy last time.  This is probably the last visit with my doctor here in Charlotte.  I've already contacted a group in Wilmington and have an appointment set up for mid-April.

Keep your fingers crossed on the sale of our house.  We've had it on the market for about 13 days and we've already had 10 showings.  Our realtor tells us there are two potential buyers at the moment, but as of yet no official offers.  One buyer is coming back for a second look on Friday.

PS:  Dave is secure enough in his manhood to openly admit he's a fan of Kelly Clarkson (we've obviously been watching American Idol this evening).  

The Imaginary Nursery

Good folks of this blog, you know we are trying to sell our house and move to the beach for Dave's job.  The only dilemma being we have no idea where we will live when the babies are born.  So how does one decorate a nursery when one has no idea the zip code of said nursery (obviously with a ton of imagination and some severe hope that our house sells this month)?  

On the positive side, a missing zip code will not stop me from creating the nursery of my dreams.  So, here's the world premiere of my imaginary nursery.  We've picked the cribs and some artwork.  

The artwork was found on sale at Anthropologie earlier this year.  I bought two pieces and two additional pieces were Christmas gifts from friends.  The artwork is by Lorena Siminovich (she does fun children illustrations), she did these four collages specifically for Anthropologie (her website is pretty cool www.lorenasiminovich.com).  

As for the bedding, a wonderful friend of mine from college has agreed to make some custom bedding.  Wizard's bedding is inspired by the Owl artwork and Nugget's by the Peacock.  I must admit I finally started getting excited about this imaginary nursery when my friend said she'd make the quilts (God bless talented quilt-making friends)!  Oh, and a shout out to Teppie for suggesting I do custom bedding (she clearly got tired of my complaints about the lack of cool and creative coordinating boy/girl bedding sets).

(imagine two cribs)

Little Nuggest's quilt will have a replica of the Peacock on it.

Little Wizard will have the Owl on his quilt.

Parents In Training (P.I.T.)

As first time parents, it's probably time for Dave and I to get serious and start preparing for the arrival of Wiz and Nug.  Dave's hit the Internet (EBay more specifically) in search of the baby essentials like my favorite childhood book Richard Scarry's Busy, Busy World.  He snagged it for a respectable $45 (some people were paying $150).  

Of course when the book arrived there was a $3.95 sticker on the cover (but really this book is out of print, so we didn't mind the 110% mark up in price).  The one we bought was published the same year Dave was born.  

As for my part in the preparing-for-babies process I've been practicing my bedtime reading skills on our first born children (Lavender and Bailey).  Here's a picture of me in action.  I'm going to make such a good mommy (even if there is a treat hiding in my hand behind the book).

Fuzzy Math & The Forgotten Month?

How many months pregnant am I?  I'm 21 weeks.  I've got two pregnancy books both of which disagree on what month I'm in.  I say 6 months, but every time I do the math I end up with some extra weeks at the end of the pregnancy.  Here's what I keep coming up with:

1 - 4 weeks = 1 month

5 - 8 weeks = 2 months

9  - 12 weeks = 3 months

13 - 16 weeks = 4 months

17 - 20 weeks = 5 months

21 - 24 weeks = 6 months

25 - 28 weeks = 7 months

29 - 32 weeks = 8 months

33 - 36 weeks = 9 months

37 - 40 weeks = 10 months

Does this mean women are pregnant for 10 months but someone forgot to inform society?  I've been trying to take belly photos every month and now wonder what to do at 37 weeks (two 9 month photos?).  

After some careful Internet research I've found the error of my logic.  Apparently I'm using a lunar calendar to track my pregnancy.  Lunar calendars follow one full moon cycle which is 4 weeks.  While the Georgian calendar, followed by most of humanity, says a month is 4.333 weeks (probably where the 9 months came from).  

If I calculated my pregnancy using the Georgian calendar my due date would be July 22, 2009--exactly 40 weeks from October 15, 2008.  Which conveniently computes to 9 months (+1 week):

November 15 = 1 month
December 15 = 2 months
January 15 = 3 months
February 15 = 4 months
March 15 = 5 months
April 15 = 6 months
May 15 = 7 months
June 15 = 8 months
July 15 = 9 months (my official due date per doctors)

Apparently Grandma was right (she often is).  She told me I was 4 months pregnant and I told her I was 6 months pregnant.  We were obviously using different calendars.  So Grandma, you are not losing your mind, I am 4 months pregnant though I feel and look about 6 months pregnant and could possibly be 6 months pregnant if we all started following the lunar calendar.