25 Weeks 2 Days

Just a little update on the Cliffster this week (from babycenter.com):

Head to heels, your baby now measures about 13 1/2 inches. His weight — a pound and a half — doesn't sound like much, but he's beginning to exchange his long, lean look for some baby fat. As he does, his wrinkled skin will begin to smooth out and he'll start to look more and more like a newborn. His hair is probably recognizable now (in color and texture), although both may change after he's born.

I also read that this week, his nostrils are unplugged (they've been plugged to this point) and that his permanent teeth buds are growing high up in his gums. Little Cliff is still active as ever, and I've noticed he's awake more now than he was a few weeks ago. Especially when I'm trying to go to sleep at night....must be preparation for a few months from now!

OB Appointment

Good news from the doctor today....I only gained 2 pounds in the last month! My total is up to a whopping 8 pounds through 24 weeks. She said I needed to gain at least 12 more pounds by the time Cliff is born, about a pound per week. I think I can handle that! Everything else is looking good: Cliff's heart rate was in the 150s and my blood pressure is normal.

I go for my glucose screening next week to test for gestational diabetes. I have to drink a glucose mixture (that I've read/heard does not taste good!) and then exactly one hour later have my blood drawn. Apparently only 5% of pregnant women develop gestational diabetes and if you do develop it, it normally goes away after delivery. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I'm in the 95% that doesn't get it!

I asked what I could do about my legs cramping up at night and she said stretching normally helps, along with additional exercise. So it looks like Brinkley and Nuke will be going for longer walks....they'll be thrilled!

July 4th

Happy belated July 4th! We had a very relaxing time in Gatlinburg, TN with my family....as relaxing as it can be with 5 kids ranging from ages 1 to 10! :) Just kidding, it was great to spend time with everyone, and we got to enjoy the pool and water park in the hot weather. Here's a picture of the whole Booe family right before we left last week.

Things are going well with Baby Boy Engle. We've started referring to him as 'Cliff' for now....and no, that's not what we're naming him! Since we're keeping the name a secret, we wanted to be able to call him something instead of just 'he' or 'him'. A few months ago when we bought the baby name book, the cashier randomly pointed to a boy and girl name and jokingly said that's what we had to name our baby. Cliff and Rhoda were the winners. And my mom informed me last week that Clifford is a Buell family name, and that maybe we should stick with that.....hmmm, we'll see....

Anyway, Cliff's been moving around quite a bit lately! This past weekend I was able to see my belly move when he kicked and so was Brad. They had a little game going on where Brad would push on my belly and Cliff would kick right away....it was pretty cute:)

My next doctor's appointment is on Thursday, so I'm hoping they aren't going to tell me that I've gained a ton of weight this time! I feel huge, but Brad keeps reassuring me that I'm pregnant, not fat. My belly has started to pop out a little bit over this past week though....it's a weird feeling! I never thought it would feel heavy like it does, almost like my muscles are sore, but just around my belly. I've been reading that the baby grows a lot faster now than it did up to this point, so it makes sense that I'm starting to grow faster too. I can handle that, but I'd love to get rid of the leg cramps in the middle of the night! Here's the latest belly pic at 23 weeks, 4 days:

Cliff and I watched 5 of Brad's baseball games this weekend in the Denver wood bat tournament. It was pretty hot, but I made sure I had lots of water and snacks - followed by lots of trips to the port-a-potty (YUCK!). The Wolfpack played really well and made it to the championship game, but didn't end up coming out on top. No home runs for Brad this time, but some big hits and RBIs. I even got a little riled up when some of the fans for the other team were running their mouth at our team....I couldn't believe it when I started yelling back at them! If it's bad now, I wonder what it'll be like once little Cliff starts playing sports?! I better learn how to control it....but I guess I've got awhile to figure it out!

More news later this week after the doctor's appointment.....

Father's Day, Childbirth classes, and swimsuits!

Brad celebrated his first Father's Day last weekend. We had his dad, little brother Max, sister and brother-in-law Melissa & Jason, and nieces Cambell and Mylee over for dinner. We all had a good time, despite the fact that our whole menu was planned to be cooked the grill and we ran out of propane! So we moved it all to the oven and just ate a little later than planned. I got Brad a book about fatherhood during the pregnancy, childbirth, and through the first year. He seems to be enjoying it, I hear him laughing while he's reading, so I must have made a good pick!

I registered today for childbirth classes. We start August 22 and go once a week for 5 weeks in the evening. I am planning on nursing (I'm gonna give it a shot!) so I also signed up for a breastfeeding class. It's just a one-time class at the beginning of October. I'll be delivering at St. Joseph's Hospital in Denver, (close to downtown where we both work), and they also offer a 'Baby Business' class. You get a tour of the hospital, fill out pre-admission forms, make your co-pay so you don't have to worry about it later, and also fill out forms for the birth certificate and social security number. We laughed about a class called Boot Camp for New Daddies, but I'm sure some dads need it! But not Brad....he's pretty prepared since he's changed diapers and babysat before. Good thing we have lots of nieces and nephews!

Last week I bought the dreaded, but necessary, maternity swimsuit! I tried a few on at Target since I didn't want to spend too much on it, then ended up ordering one online. Now, if you've never actually seen a maternity swimsuit, the bottoms look like 4 people could fit in them. They all look huge on the rack, but then when you actually try it on, it somehow fits. It's really sort of depressing. Anyway, most of the time I appreciate Brad's honesty about how clothes look on me....he grew up with two women, so he's got a pretty good fashion sense for a guy! As I was trying on the bottoms to my hot new bathing suit, he said, "Are you sure that's the front? Are you putting them on backwards?" Not the best thing to say to a pregnant woman who already feels fat ALL THE TIME! Of course he said it came out wrong, he didn't mean it like that, etc. It was pretty funny....haha

So aside from the fact that I look like I'm wearing a black and white tent, the suit isn't all that bad. It will get me through the hot summer, and right now that's all I'm really concerned about! Although, before I was pregnant, I thought I'd be one of those 'cool' pregnant people that wore a bikini with her belly sticking out.....now that I am pregnant, there's not a chance that my preggo belly is ever going to see the light of day!!

We're headed to Gatlinburg, TN for the week of July 4th to vacation with my family. The resort we're staying at has a brand new water park, so we're both really excited about that. Probably more excited than my nieces and nephews! I'll be hanging out at the lazy river while everyone else is going down the fun slides....something to look forward to next year! And don't expect me to be posting any pictures of me in that maternity suit when we get back....

IT'S A BOY!!

It's official - we're having a boy! There is no doubt about it from the pictures....as you can see, he was not shy! (The pictures are kind of hard to see, but I couldn't make them any bigger...sorry!) Brad and I were nervous all day long since our appointment wasn't until early afternoon yesterday. The sonogram technician asked us if we wanted to know the sex, and we both said yes, but we wanted to know if the baby was healthy first and if everything was okay. Ten fingers, ten toes, and all the right parts....a healthy and growing baby! But about halfway through the sonogram, we were both a little antsy to get to the good part (follow the arrow on the bottom picture...it's kind of looking at him from the bottom like he's sitting down...you can see his legs out to the left and the top)!

It was a very overwhelming feeling, actually seeing the baby move around and kind of seeing what he looks like...at least for me, it made it more real now than it was before. He was very active though, and I'll be taking all the credit for that - I drank a Diet Mt. Dew right before we went so he would be good and awake so we could see the goods!! We got a lot of good pictures since he was moving around a lot, and Little Mr. Engle seems to be very photogenic! The sonogram technician let us look at a picture to see if we could figure it out before she told us. I didn't say anything because I didn't want to guess wrong, but Brad knew right away. We were both super excited and of course I cried! My doctor said that we can buy blue and wash it, she's that sure it's a boy....so Brad will be busy painting the nursery soon!

We do have a couple of names picked out, but we're keeping them a secret until he's born. Something needs to be a surprise! My sister keeps asking, saying that she won't tell anyone...yeah, right!!

And now for the belly pic.....this is me at 20 weeks a few days ago. I've only gained 6 lbs. so far, and my doctor tells me I'm doing good. I'm drinking a lot of water like I should be, the only bad thing about that is that I'm running to the bathroom all the time!

Hopefully this finds everyone doing well....have a great weekend!

18w1d

Not much news to report.....just thought I'd let everyone know that I'm still feeling pretty good! My appetite has definitely increased over the past couple of weeks, but so has my grumpiness. Brad can, and probably will, vouch for that! But he's still a trooper. He even made an extra stop last weekend so I could get ice cream, after Dairy Queen didn't have exactly what I wanted. Who knew that Dairy Queen doesn't have butterscotch sundaes anymore??? It was a huge tragedy at the time!

Baby Engle is about the length of a large sweet potato by now, weighing in at almost 7 ounces.....according to babycenter.com!

I've had a couple of requests for some belly pictures, so I think I will have to break down and post one. Maybe next week!


GENDER ULTRASOUND COUNTDOWN: 14 DAYS!!

Daycare update...

Yesterday I let out a huge sigh of relief.....we registered Baby Engle for daycare!! We ended up choosing the first center we visited because we both really liked it. It's called Creative Beginnings, and it's only about 5-10 minutes from downtown Denver, where Brad and I both work. When I called to hold our spot, I panicked a little when they checked to see if they still had availability for mid-January....only 2 spots were left! Whew!! The best thing about this center is that they have web cams in each of the classrooms. Of course, it costs a little extra, but I think for the first year it'll be worth it. From what I've been told, those first few daycare drop-offs are going to be hard, so that way, once I get to work, I can check on the baby as often as I want!

In other news, I think I've figured out my flex schedule at work after I come back from maternity leave. It's not official yet, but I did find out that I'll be able to go to a 40-hour week year round. Doesn't sound like much of a flex schedule, right? But actually, compared to the 50- and 60-hour weeks and every weekend during tax season, it's going to be wonderful!! My vacation time won't get reduced at all (yay!) but my salary will be reduced by about 13%.....but I'll take it! Apparently I'm the model employee for a public accounting firm - having the baby after the October 15th deadline, and coming back right before the spring busy season. Little do they know it definitely wasn't planned to turn out that way!

Happy Memorial Day weekend to everyone!


GENDER ULTRASOUND COUNTDOWN: 21 DAYS!