Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

We've tackled the big project...painting the nursery. It's transformed from a red guest bedroom into a beautiful green and brown nursery. And now everytime I walk in the room, it makes me crave mint chocolate chip ice cream (yum!). But it looks absolutely great! Brad also took the furniture out of the boxes and assembled the crib. The room will look even better once it's all pulled together. We have a few finishing details to complete first.

Here's pictures of our weekend of painting:

Just getting started!



Stuart found a great "fort" to hang out in as we worked.

Here it is all painted.

Brad taking the crib out of the box

This week Monday, we had our 23 week appointment. Not much new to report. Baby Clark's heart rate was ~140. At the past few appointments, it had been running between 150-155. Some people say you can tell gender based on heart rate...I'm not sold on the idea. I'm gaining weight right on target and measuring on track as well.

Last weekend, Baby Clark went to his/her first concert. How exciting that it was my FAVORITE band as a child. Yes, that's right, Baby Clark and I were dancing to the 80's hits of New Kids On The Block...reunited at last. It was a fun filled night of friends and screaming women. Not to mention extremely long lines at the bathroom (where I spend a lot of time lately with pregnancy-related urinary frequency). I think I've scarred our child for life!

And probably the biggest news of the last couple of weeks..."Marathon Brad" made a local appearance. Brad ran the Grand Rapids Marathon and came in 14th overall! Amazing! He set a PR of 2:51:03. It was great for him to run a local marathon so more family could come to support him--so of course, we all are taking the credit for the PR. We sure were a great team of cheerleaders. Next on the list: Boston 2009!

Check out all of the pics by clicking on the link under "our pics" on the left of the screen.

And here he is on You Tube (mile 12)--turn the volume down if you don't want to hear my parents "cheerleading".

50 Yard Line

We're half way to our goal...20 weeks! So, what's been going on in the past 7ish weeks? The most exciting news is that for the past few weeks, I've been feeling baby movement. What a cool thing! It started as the feeling of muscle twitches, then kind of a butterfly sensation, and now it is becoming almost like a wave feeling or even very weak punches/kicks. I notice it most when I'm sitting or laying, not so much when up and moving around. It's a neat feeling to wake up to in the morning. So far, we've not really been able to feel the movement externally on my belly, but I'm sure it's not far off.

We had our third OB appointment last week Monday. All is well with Baby Clark. His/her heart rate is still around 150 and my fundal height is measuring right on. The bittersweet news is that we likely won't get to have another ultrasound, unless something is suspected to be wrong. We were thinking we'd have another ultrasound (those cool 3D ones) at around 20 weeks, but my doctor said that it's not necessary because I'm progressing very normally. So, we're happy that it's not needed, because that would mean something was possibly wrong. But we are disappointed that we won't get a sneak peak at what Baby Clark looks like. I guess it adds to the surprise that we're so looking forward to!

As far as getting prepared for baby's arrival, we've been a little behind the ball. It's been difficult to take on these "indoor" projects when the weather outside continues to be so nice on weekends. And we spent one weekend in New York City, which was just so wonderful. This was Brad's first NYC trip and I haven't been there in about 7 years. A nice get-away...and maybe our last prior to baby. So, needless to say, we've got some work ahead. Things we did do? We did pick out nursery furniture, which we'll be picking up this week from Babies R Us (it's the Amy Coe Stamford collection if you interested in checking it out on their website). And we've purchased baby bedding, after MUCH research (it's the Bunny Meadow pattern from Babies R Us--very earthy). Our next project will be painting the nursery...painting over brick red paint...Brad can't wait! Then at some point we need to tackle registering, something that seems very overwhelming to me. And investigate baby classes at St. Mary's.

People have been asking for photos. Well, we've been taking pictures of my growing belly profile since early on. Some pics of my progress are below. I'll keep posting these every month or so now that I'm beginning to grow more quickly...scary to think of what I will look like! I'm surrounded by preggies at work, all at different stages, so it is fun to compare bellies. And it is alarming to see what I might look like in just 4 weeks. I suppose my investment in maternity clothes will soon pay off!

Anyway, more to come in the following weeks!

8 Weeks

16 Weeks

20 Weeks

Too cute to resist buying from the street vendor!