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!