The Cutters: Half Way

This last week marked 20 weeks for me and baby! I am half way done already! I've been amazed at how quickly this pregnancy is going, and to tell you the truth I'm glad! I really enjoyed being the pregnant the first two times and was not really in any hurry to have it done and over with, but this time is another story. I just can't wait for this little guy to get here. I want to be done with being pregnant and I want to hold my baby!

I know it has been awhile since my last official pregnancy update. So sorry about that, I was wanting to get some pictures to post on here and then our household came down with a cold that lasted for a couple of weeks. I now have the pictures and we are all healthy again so I am ready to post!!! Things are moving along very nicely now. My tummy is very noticeable now and I'm starting to notice it getting in the way when I bend over. I'm also feeling the baby move a lot now. Remember before when I said that I wasn't sure if I was feeling the baby or gas? Well, I am now sure that it was the baby and I now feel him throughout the day every day. I love to feel those little flutters!! I think that is the one thing that I will miss about being pregnant. Joel has even been able to feel the kicks on a few occasions. You usually can't feel anything on the outside, but every now and then if I lay really still and he gives a good kick, Joel can feel it!

We saw Merrie the week before last and she did a follow up ultrasound to make sure that we are still having a boy. It took about 10 seconds for him to go bottoms up and for us to get the proof we needed. He is DEFINITELY a boy! He was very active during the ultrasound and did some pretty cute things while we were watching. Merrie measured my belly for the first time during this appointment ... she said that I was measuring 21 weeks which, at the time, was about a week and a half ahead of schedule. I was a little skeptical about her measurement because I was able to feel the top of my uterus and it was just below my belly button ... Merrie's measurement went well above my belly button. We'll see what the next measurement says. I think she had somewhere to go after my appointment and was a little bit rushed this time. So, those were the highlights from my last visit. I'll go and see her again at the end of February.

We have been making small plans and adjustments already in preparation for this baby. A friend of ours was kind enough to give us their old infant car seat. I had saved everything from the other two kids, but have recently found out that car seats have expiration dates, and our infant seat expired and had to be thrown away. But thanks to our generous friends we now have an infant car seat for our little guy! Also, I found a diaper bag that I loved so I bought it!!! I usually peruse the baby section whenever I step into a Walmart or Target and have had my eye out for things that we need that I would like to have. I've had a hard time finding a diaper bag that was small enough to be convenient and not so purse-like that Joel would never carry it. So, when I saw this one, I just bought it lest it disappear off the shelves never to be seen again! The name debate is still going strong. Joel and I are having a hard time agreeing on a name that we both like and had actually just stopped talking about it all together for a couple of weeks. I do think we made some progress today when the subject was very gingerly brought up! We might be very close to naming this little guy! :) Haven't decided yet if we'll announce the name we choose before hand or make everyone wait until he arrives.

Here are a few of the new pictures of the baby as well as one of me. (I thought it was time that I posted one.) Sorry about the quality of these scans ... for some reason they came out kind of blurry when we scanned them into our computer.