Adventures in Virginia

This week is my tour of Virginia! I wanted to go see Mom and Dad's new house in Roanoke, see Grandma's new place in Roanoke, then head to Northern Virginia for some quality time with Taylor (and Jen and Leif!). Roanoke was great. Had some good R&R time with Mom and Dad. The new house looks awesome and their water pressure rocks. :) Seriously, a shower is a like a massage.

I've been with the Hansen family since Monday. The main point of my visit was for Taylor to really get to know Aunt Sara. I see her so infrequentlly, she really has no idea who I am which breaks my heart! Well...mission accomplished! I am "Ah Sah" which is Taylor-talk for Aunt Sara. She calls me from the other room, tells me to come sit with her. We play babies, which is this weird ritual of laying all the babies face down on the ground. Then I have to cover each baby with a blankie. We then say "ssshhh, baby sleeping" and we watch the dolls on the floor. This game is all Taylor...I'm just there to play. We've been having a blast. The time with my sister is nice too. :) It's not often that we have a few days just to ourselves to do nothing but hang out and chat. I WISH THEY LIVED IN NORTH CAROLINA!!!

You have no idea how cool it is for me to be with a little girl knowing I've got one on the way. When we play dolls, or get her dressed in cute little pink skirts, I just MELT. I'm so excited I can hardly stand it. Baby Girl J turned 20 weeks old today which is officially halfway through!! This week she is the length of a banana, and well over half a pound. The biggest thing for me right now is feeling her kick. I want to feel it all the time, and I even complain that she doesn't kick me more! It's so subtle right now, just a little flutter here and there. I am craving those rib-crushing kicks other mommies talk about. I guess that's just one more confirmation that all is well. But for now, I'll just cherish the little flutters that my Baby Girl gives me just to say hi to her Mommy!

A few pictures with Taylor this morning...

Nesty Nesterson

My books say that around the 8th month, most women start to nest. I need to write the publisher. I am approaching 5 months, and my nesting is out of control! I'm so fortunate to be able to work from home during this time. I say to myself at least once a day - I don't know what I'd do if I worked outside of the home and had to get ready for Baby J. Women do it all the time - my hat is off to them. The closets are all shaping up, except Daddy's, I need more than a day to tackle that one. Just kidding, Daddy! I think there may be a crew from HGTV in here somewhere, waiting to jump out. Because I'm cleaning, I'm throwing out a TON of junk that for some reason we moved into our new house, I'm decorating, I'm rearranging. It feels really good though. Baby's room is totally cleaned out now and we're ready to paint the week after next!

I guess I "nest" because I worry about running out of time, and I want everything perfect. Thing is, regardless of closets or decorations or paint, it will be perfect. Baby J has two parents who adore each other and have so much fun just being together. That's really the best thing we can give her, so I'm glad that part of our lives is completely ready for Baby J. With that, I know the rest will just fall into place, with a little nudge from a few to-do lists...

I listed a condo in SouthPark this weekend, so I'm pumped about that. I love being busy.

And last, I hope Baby Geist makes his/her arrival soon!!!! I got the call from Gina last Thursday that it was probably "go time." The doctor had her thinking the baby was coming within the next day! Poor Gina and David and their families are now just waiting...still no baby. At least everybody is healthy, but how frustrating! She must be going crazy. Baby Geist - I think August 6 would make a wonderful birthday, let's make it happen!!!!!!

Happy 19 weeks, Baby J.

The Little Pepper

So Baby J turned 18 weeks old yesterday. I find it so funny that all these books and websites compare the size of a child to a fruit or vegetable. I guess it makes sense and is an easy way to give people a point of reference. But at one point, she was the size of a kumquat. First of all, I did not know what a kumquat was, nor did I know how big it was! So I googled it, pretty small.

Anyway, she apparently grew into our little pepper last week! I'm sure she's a perfect pepper. At our last ultrasound, she weighed 6 ounces, and that was a couple of weeks ago. So she may be approaching a whopping half pound by now!! Hard to believe when I know how much I've grown, that she is only responsible for 1/2 pound of that!! :( :)

A few pictures...

A shot of our new landscaping - Travis' long-term dream of having irrigation has finally come true!

The Justice Family in Rhode Island

Congratulations Gaiya and Kevin! The wedding was gorgeous, so was the Bride! We had a blast at the wedding weekend in RI.

Think Pink!

It's a girl!!!!!

I apologize for not sharing the news sooner. But then again, it doesn't matter because I haven't sent out the link to this blog to our friends and family yet! I am such a slacker. I will do it today. And if anyone is really bored, they can go back and catch up.

Anyway, here is the story of the night we found out we were expecting our Baby Girl. It was Wednesday, July 16. Our reservations were for 7:30 at Ruth's Chris. We were leaving the next morning for Rhode Island. Our appointment was at 8:30 a.m. The ultrasound technician checked everything else first. We found that she has a healthy heart, kidneys, bone formations, etc. so that was wonderful news. Then she shook my belly like a bowl full of jelly trying to get the Baby in the right position to determine the sex. She had us turn away, made a few clicks on the computer, and said she knew.

So we went ALL day in agony. :) Travis had the envelope where she wrote down the Baby's gender. I called him every hour at work to make sure he hadn't peaked and for us to talk about how we could concentrate on absolutely nothing. Finally by 5pm, we'd had it. I got ready and headed to uptown to meet Travis. We figured we could hit the bar at Ruth's Chris, have a glass of wine and a glass of lemonade, and maybe open it before dinner. Well, that didn't work. The bar was SUPER crowded and loud and it wasn't the romantic setting we'd hoped for. So somehow, we sat at that bar for an hour and a half, ate some chips, and stared at the envelope on the bar before us.

Promptly at 7:30 we got seated in a perfect spot - a very quiet table in kind of a dark corner. As soon as we were alone, we ripped into the envelope and saw those three words..."It's a Girl!!" She had also included an ultrasound pic which apparently proved it was a girl, although Travis and I saw nothing. (I guess that's the point hahahaha) We laughed and giggled, Travis began picturing the terror of raising a teenage girl, and we laughed some more. I was worried he'd be disappointed that it wasn't a boy just because he's always said how he'd like several boys like his own family. He assured me up one side and down the other, there is no disappointment. He's just as thrilled as I am and can't wait to have his little girl. He even said to me, I hope you won't get upset when she likes me more, because that's going to happen you know. OK Daddy, whatever!

Plans are shaping up to get the nursery ready - so we sure hope the ultrasound technician was certain!!!

Anticipation

Tomorrow is the big day. Anticipation is high at the Justice house. My mind sometimes wanders to things other than the gender of our unborn child...but rarely. I pretty much obsess about it from sun up to sun down. To all you ladies out there who wait to find out what you're having, my hat is off to you. I can't imagine knowing that you could find out and having the patience to wait!!! I feel like it's Christmas Eve and I'm waiting to see what's under the tree. I was never disappointed as a child, there was always something to make me throw up. (hahaha, that is no joke. As a kid, when I got super excited, I threw up. I hope Baby J doesn't inherit that weird trait). I know I will not be disappointed tomorrow either. Do I have a preference? Absolutely not! I feel weird that I don't. Shouldn't I know whether I'd be more excited about a boy or a girl? I guess that's a good thing. I will just be thrilled to know that we have a healthy little baby growing, and to be able to START SHOPPING!

We had the most fun dinner ever last night with Drew and Holly to celebrate their engagement. We spent 4 hours eating fondue - the chocolate was hands down the best course. I am still full, no lie, and that is a difficult feat to accomplish these days. It was a great night, and it's not often you can say that about a Monday!! T and I fly out to Providence, Rhode Island Thursday morning for Gaiya and Kevin's wedding! So the plan is to not get organized today, so that I can stay busy tomorrow packing while that envelope is staring at me. Our dinner reservations are at 7:30 tomorrow night - and we plan to open the envelope that will reveal 'it's a boy' or 'it's a girl' once we get settled. I know we'll be dying to tell our families, but we also don't want to be sitting in Ruth's Chris on our cell phones squealing. We'll figure it out - big news is coming tomorrow!!!!!!!!!

T minus 7 days!!

OK, I am a total blog slacker. And what is worse, I haven't really even shared this blog with everyone yet, keep thinking I will "make it perfect" first. So I guess I will get over my perfectionist mindset and start sharing our little family blog.

A week from today, Travis and I have another ultrasound. They call it the anatomy check. I think we all know what that means! Of course there's more to anatomy than just, is there a ____ or isn't there. Apparently they will check the four chambers of Baby's heart, the kidneys, and a whole host of other organs. And of course we hope all is well with all the organs. We are most excited about finding out the gender of our baby! The ultrasound is at 8:30 in the morning. Keep your fingers crossed that Baby's legs aren't crossed! We are taking an envelope and will have the technician write down Baby's sex and seal it in the envelope. At 7:30 that night, Travis and I have reservations at Ruth's Chris where we plan to open the envelope and then celebrate the results over a nice steak dinner. The next morning - the three of us fly to Rhode Island for Gaiya and Kevin's wedding. Should be a great week next week!!!!

Travis is pumped about the massive landscaping work that is being done in our front yard as I type. Pictures to come later when they are done!