As my dad put it, I’m “getting fat”! :)

My response, "I sure am."

My belly is getting bigger and bigger every week now. Somewhere between 16 and 18 weeks it really started coming out. Matt still talks to her a lot, he tells her he loves her, goodnight, and good morning most everyday. I've felt her move once and known for sure what it was. She did a little roll one morning, I've laid down and tried to feel it again, but nothing yet. Everyone tells me I'll feel plenty of moving later.

16 weeks

18 weeks

see Hans wondering if the big lady is going to give him any food:)

We've pretty much decided on Margaux Claire as the name. Margaux just because we like it, and Claire after one of my Great Grandmothers, Clara Belle, that I have very fond memories of. We are going to use the french spelling because it looks much prettier than Margo, and I'm not doing the Margot/Mar-GOT spelling. She'll just have to deal with it being misspelled, but people have the same problem with Brittany/ Brittnye/ Britnie, Laura/Lara, Lindsey/Lindsay. Obviously she'll be fine. My mother didn't gag when she heard this one. She either wasn't repulsed by the name, or she knew better than fight it. Baby Margaux also got her first Valentines day card from her Grandpa (My dad), it was super sweet and is totally going in her baby book. Her room is currently awaiting a lot of work. I have started on the quilt, after much debate as to whether I wanted to personally hand quilt it or not. I have decided to do it myself, and I enjoyed starting on it last night. Its very therapeutic to work on something. It has farm animals on it (of course), hot pink and polka dots. And if this cold weather ever goes away we will start work on the paint and replacing the carpet with laminate. I refuse to start moving furniture in a room that I am just going to have to move it all back out of to replace the flooring. Correction: I guess I'm not really lifting and moving crap, but you get the main point. Next week I have another doctor's appointment and ultrasound, I'll be about 20 weeks. I can't wait to see how big she is getting. So until then…

My Happy Valentine

Last weekend I made Matt very happy. The man got to go snowboarding. He's been dying to go for some time now, and for a short stint in January he was driving me crazy to let him go all by himself. I was not having it and told him he if he could not secure a buddy to go with, he was just going to have to wait till I could make the trip with him. Well, good things come to those who wait because he was able to go last weekend over the 3 day break. Of course I could not ski, so I watched him some and then went inside the lodge to thaw my rear end from sitting in the snow. I did get to snowtube a few times, which was fun. Anyhow, it was quite crowded. And there I sat at the bottom of this hill looking at people all dressed alike wondering if I would even be able to spot my husband. I was seriously delighted to find out that I could pretty much tell which snowboarder was him by the way he rides. People would shoot down the hill, turning occasionally to reduce their speed a bit. And then I would see someone coming down the hill carving out huge swooping "S" shapes in the snow. Just gliding back and forth. That was him. Matt said it was the "old fart" style. I saw a few other people that rode in that style, but not too many. It made me really wish that I was able to ski, but skiing is a big "no no" for me and baby.

I love that he always wears his helmet

On Valentine's Night we decided to check out one of the Riverboat Casinos. Matt and I aren't much on gambling, but we'll play a small amount. Well, the funniest part of the evening was when I gave Matt $5 to play video poker on the nickel machine (Wooo! see what High rollers we are). He wasn't gone 2 minutes before he returned with this confused look on his face. I asked him if he had cashed out. He explained how he had sat down, put his money in the machine and hit "Max Bet". Only after he lost that first bet did he realize he had just used 100 credits (his whole 5 dollars). He was surprised because the machine we had just left the Max Bet was 6 credits. "SOB took my 5 dollars" was what he kept saying with his confused puppy face. I just gave him 5 more dollars and told him to keep his finger off the Max Bet button.

Our drive home was pretty nerve racking. We woke up to a lot of snow in Ohio to begin our trip home. They were expected to get around 9 inches. Needless to say it took us longer than usual to get home, but we made it just fine. Worn out, but safe and sound.

Snow, Snow, Snow

Man we have had quite a bit of it this winter. Weekend before last we had bout 6 inches of solid thick snow. Then it warmed up. Now the rain the weather man called for became at least 2 inches of wet, slushy snow.

Matt out with his babies in the first snow

the second snow

Matt and I went to Lake Cumberland in Kentucky last weekend. It was quite beautiful and we had a wonderful time. Matt spent time with his Dad at an antique gun convention, and I spent time in the lodge's pool. It was what I was really looking forward to doing. Oh, It was great to swim around and really get my legs moving. I think I need to look into a short membership back at the Y so I can have access to a pool. I thought that a bathing suit was going to be depressing, but I was pleasantly surprised. reason 1- I have a belly with an excuse! reason 2- the girls haven't looked this good since I was in high school. But I'm sure if you ask me again in June or July when I'm closer to the due date, I might have a different opinion.

the view from our room at Lake Cumberland

Next weekend we will be going out of town too. Matt has been dying to go snowboarding, of course I can't. But the man is itching to be able to go down a slope. I figure that we should do it now because who knows what we are going to be able to do, and not do, in the next few months.

Pink or Blue???

Well… as I mentioned earlier, we went on the 23^rd of Jan. to see what the baby's gender was. But the baby was quite shy and modest. It kept its little legs crossed, or covered the business area with its little hands. I did jumping jacks, ran around the little room, bent down and touched my toes, did yoga positions, I think I pulled a muscle. I was definitely tired, but the baby did not turn or move, or uncover. So after 30 minutes, we rescheduled to go back and try again. Matt was dying to know, and then I had to reschedule, my reschedule. Oh the agony of being so close to knowing.

Today was the retry, and I prepped with a cup of coffee (guess who might have trouble sleeping tonight) and juice. Well it didn't take long this time before SHE showed us the important place. That's right… It's a girl! I was very wrong in my boy prediction. She covered up a few more times with her little hands, but we got a clear view. Matt and I are having a little girl. I've got my fingers crossed for some red hair!!

Here's some pictures, I can't tell what from what in most of them but I'll do my best.

Profile of the baby

Baby laying on her head, with her legs crossed above her.

cutest Gnome EVER!

I've been meaning to post these pictures of baby Sophia in the Gnome Costume that I made back in October.
click this link to see the October post.I was telling her I had just found out a was pregnant, and not to tell anyone for a while. She was such a good secret keeper:)

Waiting for Schlomo to grow mo and show mo

Everything is going great over here with Me, Matt and the Baby (we call it Schlomo). Somewhere right around 11 and 12 weeks I got to feeling a lot better. In fact, when I went to the Dr. today, I told her that I hoped that it was still in there. It is! And its little heart sounds fantastic. Like a little train chugging along. We are doing the 3D/4D ultrasound this weekend to see whether we are adding a boy or a girl to the American population. I think it's a boy, but I have no scientific reason for this. I just think it is. My belly is still a little deceiving. I still just look pudgy. At night, and depending on what clothes I'm wearing, I have a belly, but nothing that really says "I'm having a baby". I'm not complaining at all. It will show up in time and it won't go away in the morning. Also, (and no surprise here) the Dr. said that the baby is probably going to be pretty long. Schlomo's length has been ahead of schedule and we haven't even really gotten in to the major growing stage.

As far as names go, we have started making some lists. There are quite a few options on both lists, but we haven't really started narrowing them down yet. Matt doesn't want to start really thinking about them, and deciding, until we know what it is. We have some favorites, and we have decided that we are going to mull them over for quite a while. My mother hates most of the names we've thrown out for either sex. Somebody is not going to like the name, no matter what. So Prince Michael the ? or George Foreman the ? it is :)

and lastly... Matt and I made our first trip to the Clarksville Greenway. It was absolutely awesome. We had a great time. Matt, the baby and I rode our bikes the whole 6.7 miles (the baby and I slept good last night). I can't wait to see how much more is added in the next phases.

Here is my attempt at taking a picture of myself in the mirror with a belly.

It was at night and I had a prominent belly for the evening. I told Matt "quick take a picture. I look more pregnant and less chubby." Matt did try to take one for me, but he was seated lower than me, and took it from the bottom up. Yikes! It looked scary! So I did the ever popular phone and mirror shot.

shaky sheep cam

Matt gave me a tiny little video camera from Christmas this year.
We have had a ton of fun with it already. Here is a very rattled and shaky video of the frenzy that ensues at feeding time with the goats and sheep.