Last month!!!

We have hit 36 weeks, and only have 4 to go!! :) We're finally getting there!!

We had a doctor appointment yesterday, and she's still in the right position. He pushed on her and she stuck her butt up for him--it was funny. He measured me again and we're still a bit small; we measured at 34cm instead of 36, so next week we'll get another ultrasound to check on her and make sure everything is okay. I'm not concerned about it, though, I really did not expect a large baby--there's just not quite room in there! So hopefully we can get a good look at her next week and get another picture printed out!

Other than that, there really isn't any news to report. She's still all wiggles and fun!

Big ole belly! It's actually weird looking at it--it seems like some attachment on me rather than my actual belly!

8 months!

(I typed this awhile ago and forgot to post it because I hadn't uploaded the picture yet! So I'll add a bit of an extra update at the end...)

We have finally hit the 8 month mark! Zoe is still growing and moving, but since she has less room now, we'll mostly feel her butt, back, or knees just press up against my belly as she moves. She is (as she's been pretty much this whole time) in the head down position, so I get a lot of her feet in my ribs. Usually it's not an issue, but every once-in-awhile she'll stick it up there as I lean over and I smash her foot a bit. Oops! Last night she rolled over so her arms and legs are facing out instead of her back, and it's been fun to feel her little hands and feet moving around (definitely a change from a big buldge in my stomach from her butt)! This morning she also had pretty big hiccups! It's so cute to be able to tell what she's up to in there! But other than that we haven't had a lot going on. I'm still on track as far as growth goes, and we are just anxiously awaiting her arrival!

And now....we are at 8 1/2 months! We had a doctor appointment Tuesday (5th) and got to see her! She's looking good!! Unfortunately, we did not get a picture printed. :( We were just so excited to see her so big, we didn't even think about it until after. I measured a centimeter small this week; I've been exact with a centimeter per week, but for 34 weeks I was only at 33, and I only gained a pound since the last appointment. I think it's because I've gotten better about exercising though (I lagged behind in doing much for awhile). But that's why he checked her--to make sure there was enough fluid in there with her, and nothing indicating issues with her growth, but she's fine! She'll probably just be smaller since I don't have a lot of room for her! (Which I am A-Okay with! As long as she's healthy!) We are getting SOO anxious to meet her! It was awesome seeing her today--her cute little tiny fists and all! I am so sad we didn't get a picture printed! But...next month we get to see her in real life! :) :)

And we have made our trip to the hospital to get all ready in the system--so they are ready for us when we are!

So here's a picture of us at 8 months:

Hello third trimester!!

On Wednesday we finally hit the third trimester, and I actually have a belly to show for it now!

Archie (our cat--living with us again, but primarily outdoors) now loves curling up on my belly. :) It's so sweet!

And Zoe has stayed quite active moving ALL over! She literally moves around to all areas she possibly can--from my baldder to my ribs, but nothing painful (thank goodness!). I love how big she's getting because I can feel all her moves. She moves more smoothly now, and I can feel her gliding along my belly. Of course, she still has jerky movements and sometimes feels like she's running and trying to charge out of the belly! The other night I had lots and lots of crushed red pepper on my pizza and she was going NUTS! It was crazy how much she was moving.

She's also developed quite a love for daddy. When he gets home in the evenings, she'll start kicking as soon as she hears his voice. And she loves kicking for him when he puts his hand on my belly; as soon as his hand is there she gives him kicks and love! Sometimes she just wants daddy time because I will keep my hand on the belly and talk to her or prod her to get her to move, and nothing! But as soon as daddy puts his hand there, she's all wiggles! And we'll try to trick her and switch our hands out, but when she wants daddy, she only moves for him!

And we may have actually landed on a middle name for her! Mike talked about Leigh, so one day we were just passing random names by her (calling them out to see which ones she would kick for--yeah, we use our baby to make decisions. Sometimes she decides dinner for us.), and Leigh always got a kick. Madison got a kick once, but it was not as consistent as Leigh. So we're looking at Zoe Leigh Jones! Sounds like an actress name, right? :)

Everything is going just as well medically. We're still on track as far as size (we didn't get another ultrasound, but he measured my belly), my blood work looks great, and I passed the diabetes test with flying colors! I keep growing every day, and when it grows quickly I feel the discomfort of my skin stretching and everything inside growing. But the discomfort is usually gone by the morning.

I finally got to see her in my dream, and she was so gorgeous! She looked like a little model baby!

And still the countdown continues...we started buying the necessities for her, and it can get quite overwhelming at times. We aren't always sure about what we need or how to get everything, so one step at a time I suppose!

But my friend Vanessa had her baby Annaliese early this morning so congrats to her!! We're looking forward to getting to visit with them later today!

6 months!

I've been meaning to update this for awhile, but we don't have wireless internet and I don't really like sitting at the desktop computer, so I've kept pushing it off! But here's what has been going on!

Zoe has been making so much progress! A couple of weeks ago she started responding to light and my voice which was really cool! I was reading for my lit class, and decided I would read out loud to her. Well, I started getting tired of reading out loud, so I would stop and read to myself. But every time I did that she started kicking until I would read out loud again! It was so cute. So then I decided to test her with light: I got a really bright flashlight and shone it on my belly and she started kicking and hitting it. I moved it around a little (still in the same general area), and she would hit it wherever I moved it. And she did that until I guess she got tired of it and I felt a big move when I suppose she rolled over or moved further back or something because I couldn't feel her right up close anymore and she stopped kicking! Since then I've only tried the light on her one or two times because she does not seem to care for it! :)

Then we had a doctor appointment and took another ultrasound peek at her to confirm that we do indeed have a little girl!! And no other names have come up, so Zoe is looking positive. But still no middle name. And I haven't really been thinking of any, so maybe it will come to us some time in the next four months!

Oh, and the other day (as well as today) she was especially dancy and RIGHT up againt me so we could definitely feel her--not just when she moved, we could just feel my belly and feel her! It was awesome! We don't know for sure what we were feeling, but I think it was her head, and Mike thinks it was her butt. But it was just good to feel her. And since then she's been up close like that a few times. And we talk to her, and using certain tones make her move! (usually just annoying voices I do make her kick.) Also, sometimes she's moving around so much it looks like my belly is boiling--like lots of bubbles under my skin!

Time has still felt like it's dragging on! We hit 24 weeks on Wednesday, and it made me realize that when we were back home for Christmas (which had seemed like awhile ago), we were at 20 weeks--only 4 have gone by since then!! But classes start on Monday so that should help. And my friend Vanessa is due in 3 weeks so that should be a good distraction!

Until then, Zoe keeps growing, and I keep growing (just not quite as fast as her yet). We didn't take a new picture this week because there hasn't really been a change, but here are our 23 week pictures!

Gender, name?, kicks, and mommy growth!

On December 20th we skirted into the doctor's office for our ultrasound about an hour before we had to get onto our plane to head to TN for Christmas break, and we got this beautiful picture of our little baby:

Everything looks perfect and healthy, and Dr. Walker said he was about 99+% sure that we've got a little baby girl!! He was kind of hesitant at first, thinking he saw girly parts; but then we actually got to see her pee, and that was the selling point for him! Part of me is still a little hesitant because we never got a really clear shot of the genitals, though. I'm not sure if we get another ultrasound, but I'm hoping we do so we can look for some confirmation.

And then came the baby name book! Kind of...

We got it out to start looking for names, but way back when we had talked about Zoe, and that one has pretty much stuck around. We aren't 100% sure, but since we like it we haven't really been looking for other names. We don't have much on a middle name yet. We've tossed around Grace, but it isn't totally settling right with either one of us, so we don't really know yet!

Anyway, on December 26th after eating some noodles for dinner, I was not feeling very well so I went down to bed early. But a few minutes after lying down I was feeling mini explosions in my tummy (weird way to explain it, I know, but it really felt like tiny fireworks going off), and I let it go for a little bit, but then I decided to put my hand on my belly to see if I could feel anything--and there it was! Little Zoe's first kicks!! I texted Mike (who was just upstairs), and he came running down and was able to feel them as well! It was so awesome!! Especially because I hadn't been 100% sure I was feeling her move around in there; I'd feel something now and then, but I couldn't tell if it was baby or just my body. So the first time I know I definitely felt her, Mike was able to confirm and feel her movements as well!

Since then she's kept moderately active; she's pretty relaxed as of now and doesn't move around a whole lot. And she lets me sleep at night! A lot of my pregnant friends tell me they are woken up at night with baby movement, but Zoe stays quiet throughout the night (either that or I'm just so passed out--which is quite likely), and when I wake up in the morning she gives me a few wiggles to say good morning!

She's also started some more profound movements I'm quite convinced are body slams. It doesn't hurt me or bother me at all since she's still so tiny, but every once-in-awhile I feel her just slam her whole body against my belly instead of a few little movements. Also, I'm convinced she's going to be gigantic! Most women talk about the butterfly flutters they feel in their bellies, but I feel Godzilla stomping around when I feel her move! She doesn't move all the time, but when she does she likes me to know she's there! :)

We're at 21 weeks today and counting....! (very slowly, I may add. I know it's supposed to go by fast, but I guess when you're counting every day that slows it down a bit!)

Bitty Communicating

Well, first, just to make sure I have documentation of everything on the blog, we did take the at-home gender predictor test which said we are having a boy! We have some friends out here that it was accurate for, but my sister-in-law Sarah said she had 3 friends that all got boy results and had girls! So, we'll see...we should be able to have an ultrasound on Monday and find out, but we're cutting close to get to our plane in time!!

Today I kept having intense stabbing pains in the uterus area, and I had heard that heat can help. So I took a warm bath and was listening to classical music and the pain went away. After my bath I went to the kitchen to get a snack, and the pain came back even worse! I was trying to get a pear out of the bag and rinse it off and it was nearly impossible I was hurting so much. So, I got my pear and went back over to my classical music and the pain stopped. So as long as I'm here at the computer listening to music it's fine! I think little baby likes the music! :)

Home in TWO days!!!!!!! Today we're cleaning up everything so we have a nice place to return to! :)

Registry Update!

Note: the registry has changed slightly! We have now also registered at Babies-R-Us! And some items that WERE at Target are now on Babies because we were able to actually see them in person instead of rely on online reviews

So here is the link: http://www.toysrus.com/registry/search/index.jsp?_flowExecutionKey=_c55A854C3-6C08-AF3E-8E74-AE7AB41C9058_kF952C793-A56D-5E70-E56B-55C057179214&overrideStore=TRUS

[There are some items at the bottom of the registry that cannot be bought online--in stores only]

(Registery #46263604)

If you look for us without the link, remember that there are plenty of Sarah Jones! You can look in Monterey, CA or even possibly my maiden name (Below). It will be Sarah and Michael Jones in CA! Oo, the registry number makes it super easy! And that can be easily shared with people that don't have the blog.

And here's the Target link again: https://www.target.com/registry/baby/1UDO2O63QPWR8

(Registry ID #014399701461787)

Also, if you get something off the registry, please please please purchase it through the registry so it comes off the list and we don't have to deal with multiples! :) If you find the same item elsewhere for cheaper, just let us know and we'll remove it from the list so no one else gets it; we're all about bargains!

As for clothing, we have no reason to register before we know the gender, so that will come in time. Also, it's not something we're too picky about; baby clothes are cute in general! Speaking of, there are some things on the register that ARE gender specific--in some cases we picked the girl and boy version (sometimes just one), just so it's on there and we don't forget about it. We will update it after we know!

9 days until TN!!!!!