Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas to all of our family and friends.  Matthew and I had a wonderful Christmas, filled with lots of gifts for the baby!  Here are just a few things that JBird got for Christmas this year (he or she must have been very good!).  Thank you!

O Christmas Tree!

Wrigley & Boo can't wait to open presents!  I think they get this from their Uncle Matt.

Matthew & JBird got some books to read together.

  This one is called Scaredy Squirrel

Fantastic Mr. Fox

An IU onesie from Uncle Matt.

An ornament from Grandma and Grandpa Nett.

A Bouncer chair from Aunt Jill

A camera from Grandma and Grandpa Boone.

 

28 Weeks

Ok, I'm actually at 29 weeks (no one's counting, right?), but here are my belly pics from last week:

At 29 weeks, the baby weighs as much as a butternut squash (2.5 lbs) and is about 15 inches long.  Growing like a weed (just like me, as you can tell from the pictures!). 

So it turns out my iron is still low, so I'm up to taking supplements twice a day instead of once.  Good news is that my glucose tests were fine, so no gestational diabetes!  I had another appointment today, and everything went well. 

Long Overdue Update

Sorry it's been so long since we've posted!  (Thanks for the reminder, Sarah :)  First off, the 24 week belly shots (taken on 11/14):

 Things have been pretty busy for us the past couple of months.  In October, we went back to Indiana for a week to be home with my Grandma for her surgery and to attend Matthew's cousin Zack's wedding.   Last week, we had a wonderful time hosting Jim, Patsy, Jason, Jill, and her boyfriend Joey for Thanksgiving.  We had a fun-filled week - in addition to Thanksgiving dinner, we took a day trip to Port Townsend on the Olympic Peninsula where we had some very good ice cream, cheered Jason on in the Seattle Marathon, ate lunch at the Ballard Farmer's Market, and celebrated Jill's birthday with cupcakes and dinner at Ray's Boathouse. 

Lighthouse at Port Townsend

Jason near mile 17 & looking strong!

Matthew was very supportive of his brother

Jim at the Farmer's Market

Jill's Birthday

 Everything with the pregnancy has been going smoothly so far.  Baby J is kicking up a storm (baby is actually kicking right now as I type this!), which is very cool.  We had a doctor's appointment on Friday where they they did a blood draw to check for gestational diabetes and my iron levels.  I was borderline anemic to start, and was feeling really tired throughout much of October and the first half of November.  I've been taking iron supplements, and it feels like they're working, but we'll see what my blood has to say.  Starting with this past appointment, I'll be going in to see the doctor every other week now (instead of once a month).  Hello, third trimester!

The nursery is slowly coming along.  In addition to the changing table, we purchased a dresser off of Craig's list, too.  Matthew founds some no-VOC paint, and we had fun painting them (as seen in the picture below - I posted a larger one so you can see his Matt Boone impersonation).  We have a rocker (thanks, Jim & Patsy!) and crib on order.  Very exciting!

Dresser pre-paint

Priming away

Tonight, our amazing Seattle friends threw a baby shower for us.  I'm hoping to get some pictures from Addison (as I didn't take any!) to post soon.

20 weeks

Leah is busy in the kitchen, so she asked me to make tonight's post.  So we're already up to 20 weeks.  It's hard to believe October is almost over.  As you can see from the photos Leah's belly is growing steadily.  Also notice we were able to capture the Colts on their way to another victory in the background. 

 Leah is starting to feel the baby kick now.  I have yet to feel it, but hopefully will soon.
  I'm not as clever as Leah (or at least not tonight) so I'll make this post short and sweet.  So long for now.

Ultrasound Update

We had an ultrasound a week ago today, and everything looked great!  The baby was actually a bit on the big side, so our due date was moved up a few days to 2/28/11.  I was happy to hear that, although a friend said that babies are much easier to take care of while they're still in the womb :)  Matthew claims that he was counting on those 5 extra days, and now he won't be ready.  

Also, we successfully did not find out the sex of the baby.  I was a little worried that Matthew would see something, but the tech we were working with was really good about telling him when not to look.

Anyway, here's the latest picture of Baby J:

This is another profile pic, looking at the head and abdomen.  You can see the baby's spine and heart (darker spots near the top of the chest).

I've signed up for weekly emails that describe the baby's development based on how far along in the pregnancy I am.  We think it's pretty funny that each week, the baby's size is compared to some type of food (usually a fruit or vegetable).  When we started receiving them, Baby was the size of a medium shrimp.  He or she is now as big as a banana!  Grow, baby, grow!

Story Time

On Friday night, Matthew and I went to our local bookstore, Secret Garden Books, to meet author Laura Numeroff.  She wrote one of Matthew's favorite children's book 

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.

 

She read the book outloud, but made lots of "mistakes" during her reading (such as "If you give a mouse a cookie, he's going to want a glass of orange juice" instead of a glass of milk).  The children (and adults!) thought this was hilarious, and kept shouting out what she should have said.  

She autographed the book for Baby J

Boo is a big fan of the book, just like her Papa

Matthew and I were both read to everynight when we were little, and can't wait to start this tradition with our little one!

16 Week Belly

We took a break from watching the Colts dominate the Giants last night to take 16 week belly shots.  We had to wait for them to stop showing a close-up of Eli before Matthew would take the picture.  The baby is growing (and so am I)!

We also got a call from the doctor's office today about our blood work.  The nurse said that the baby is perfect!  Negative for Down Syndrome, Trisomy 18, and Neural Tube Defects.

Our next appointment is October 4th, where we'll have an ultrasound to make sure the baby's organs are developing on schedule.  My doctor said if everything looks OK at this point, then everything will continue to develop normally from here on out.  Pray for a good news!

Our First Baby Purchases

So far, we've made two purchases for the baby.  One is practical, the other one...not so much.  Purchase Numero Uno:

This was a Craig's List steal!  With a new changing pad, a few cute baskets to put on the shelves, and perhaps a coat of brightly colored paint, it'll look like new.  Every time I talk about the baby's room, Matthew reminds me that we'll be moving a few months after the baby is born, so I can't do anything crazy like paint the walls...but I can paint for the furniture!  (or rather, he can while I supervise).  I stole the idea from my friend Beth Munk, whose baby girl Scarlett was born today (Congrats Beth, Jeff, and Jackson!  Happy Birthday, Scarlett!).  Scarlett has a super cute bright green crib.

And now, for the not so practical purchase:

A Pearl Jam t-shirt.  I just couldn't resist!  I found this at a children's clothing store in Post Alley by Pike's Place Market called Boston Street (http://www.yelp.com/biz/boston-st-seattle) when shopping for something for Sarah Dunbar's baby, Jacob (I ended up getting him a Run DMC onesie - this store is awesome!).

March 4th will be here before we know it!

Hello family and friends!  We started this blog as a way to keep you updated on the newest addition to our family (due March 4th!). 

You may be wondering where the blog title came from...we've decided not to find out the sex of the baby, but have started thinking about names.  If we have a little boy, his name will be James Hardin, after both of his grandfathers.  We're still undecided on a girl's name, but her middle name will be Jane (her mom's, grandma's, great-grandmas' middle names).  Hence, Baby J.  Or J-Bird, as my dad likes to call the baby :)

Be forewarned, this first post has a lot of ultrasound pis.  Probably too many.  Can you tell we're excited?

This is from our first ultrasound on 7/28.  It's hard to see much here, but the faint dotted line is taking the "crown to rump" measurement to estimate a due date.

Also from the 7/28 ultrasound.  The bright white triangle-shaped mark that surrounded by gray on the right side is the baby's heart.

7/28 utrasound.  The lines below are the baby's heartbeat.  Very cool to hear!

8/10 ultrasound.  Matthew wasn't able to be present for the first one, so we did another one on the second visit and got to listen to the heartbeat again.  You can see the umbilical cord, too in this pic.

8/10 ultrasound.  This is a picture of the back of the baby.  The spine is developing nicely!

8/10 ultrasound.  The baby has legs!  I was pretty amazed to see how much had changed since the 7/28 ultrasound.

8/20 ultrasound.  This ultrasound, along with some blood work, was part of our sequential screening to check for abnormalities such as down syndrome and trisomy 21, 13, and 19.  I'm still waiting on results from a second blood draw, but so far everything looks great!  The baby's arms and legs are crossed in this shot.

8/20 ultrasound.  This is one if of the baby's face and body.  I think Baby J looks a bit like an alien in this shot (they tell me he/she will grow out of this stage!)

8/20 ultrasound.  This one's my favorite.  It's a side view of the baby's head - you can see the nose and lips.

For those of you I haven't seen in awhile, here is what I looked like at 12 weeks (currently at 15 weeks).  We plan on taking updated belly shots every 4 weeks or so, so check back to see me (and the baby) grow!