Moving around

I finally started to feel her move a couple of weeks ago, and she is VERY active. Mark can now feel her kicking a flipping around if he puts his hand on my ever-growing belly. I managed to make it almost 20 weeks before having to mostly switch to maternity clothes, but in the past few weeks, those stretchy waistbands have become my friend. I wish I had started to wear them sooner!

We also painted the nursery room a very feminine shade of ... beige. Mark's parents came down and worked hard to get it done in an afternoon. We were going to have a unisex decor anyway, and we didn't want to have to paint the room again, so we stuck with neutral. We're using lots of primary colors and an alphabet theme. Pictures to come once the room is done, which will not be for awhile!

Shower in CA

While we were in CA over Thanksgiving, my mother, Pam and Marisa threw us a shower. Here are a few photo highlights from that morning. It was great to see family and friends, and during the shower we revealed the baby's gender. One of my favorite highlights was that we played this game where everyone guessed what baby food was smeared on a onesie. Of all the people there, Heidi won that game, and she was the only one who does not have a child or one on the way. I just thought that was hilarious.

Baby's First Photo Shoot

We had an ultrasound in mid-November, and that was when we found out that

It's a Girl!!!!!

It was definitely our most exciting appointment so far. Even though I felt many of the effects of pregnancy, it was still very surreal to me. I hadn't felt her moving yet at that point either, so it was fun (and relieving) to see her doing somersaults on the screen. She even gave us a little wave of her hand. We were amazed as each little body part was identified and measured, knowing that just weeks before she looked like the little bean we saw in the first ultrasound and that in just a few months she would be ready to join us on the "outside." It was a great reminder of how God knit each of us together in our mother's womb in a delicate, miraculous process.

Here are a few of the images we got to bring home.

Girls' Weekend

In October, I got to take another trip to SoCal for Heidi's birthday. Christina and I went for a girls' weekend to celebrate and had a great time. We went to the ballet, shopping, The Coffee Bean ... girl stuff. Who knows the next time we'll be able to do that!

Trip to SoCal

It hasn't been all baby prep lately. We had THREE trips to California from September to November, so if you have any questions on the latest FAA requirements for baggage, you know who to ask. The first trip in September was for my (Angela) friend Christy's wedding, and I had the privilege of performing the wedding! It was a beautiful day with a beautiful couple, and we felt like we were tucked away at a Tuscan villa, right in the middle of L.A. The problem with doing the wedding was that I couldn't snap photos, so we just got some shots at the beach beforehand.

Early Ultrasound

This is from early September when we first went to the doctor. We couldn't believe that he/she (since we obviously didn't know at that point) already had a little head and body. We also were glad to hear that things were progressing normally.

Finally Up and Running

Well, we finally got this started. It took awhile for a few different reasons. Our laptops had been slowly dying over the past year or so, and we finally got a new one! We haven't even had a printer or scanner at home since we moved, but that's taken care of, too. I (Angela) have also been working really long hours over the past few months, but that's over now. Today is my first day as a stay-at-home-mom-to-be. I still might do some work before the baby arrives, but at least for now, I'll be taking care of things at home.

We've enjoyed keeping up with some of our far-away friends this way, and we hope you do, too. If you don't want to post comments, you can just send either of us an email.