Journal entry #1

Hi there baby :)

I've been menaing to do this for a couple of weeks now, but as you will come to realize someday - rarely do I do much in a very timely fashion :) Maybe that will have changed after you make your grand entrance and get older - bu they say you can't teach an old dog new tricks right? (heck, we can barely teach TT new tricks, and he's still a puppy technically!)

Anyway, I just wanted to give you a little idea of what is going on out here in the world right now. You are currently 14 weeks and 3 days old - or so the doctors believe! We found out you were coming when I was about 6 weeks pregnant with you - two months ago already! on May 13th - just two days after Mother's Day! I had my first Dr. appt on June 2nd, and Papa & I got to see you for the first time and hear your heartbeat during the first ultrasound on June 16th. Your heartbeat was in the 130s range and you looked like a little tiny peanut - the grin on your Papa's face was huge - and I'm sure mine must have been as well!

The first trimester has been full of all the stereotypical "pregnant" stuff that people talk about - I had nausea 24/7 for weeks, as well as being mega tired ALL THE TIME! The nausea eased up into just evening sickness most of the time, but as we enter week 14 I'm starting to feel less "icky" and more like my normal self :)

Papa has started changing the cat litter so we don't accidentally get you sick, and I've been trying to eat healthy (I'm also eating hungry all the time now!) I haven't had any of the strange food cravings - I think they are a myth - but I can't get ENOUGH pickles (even more than normal) and I'm not enjoying many sweets - or even the thought of chocolate... which is not normal!

Friends and family have already started making predictions on when you will be born, and a few have even predicted whether you will be a boy or a girl... Your GrampaA says you're coming on December 18th - which is kinda early compared to your projected birth date of January 4th. Gr.AuntN & AuntC have both predicted that you will be a Christmas baby, while TB says January 2nd, Gr.AuntC says January 6th (which happens to be HER birthday as well!) and KBum is guessing January 9th.

Gramma thinks you will be a boy because of your elevated heart-rate at my second ultrasound on July2nd, she went with me and was so excited to hear it... it was beating at a rate of 149bpm. AuntL's first guess was for you to be a girl, but she has since changed her mind and also thinks you will be a boy. They're silly to put much stock in old wives' tales, but hey - they're having fun! AuntL & KBum will both be giving you cousins just a few months before you arrive, and Cass & Meg will be having babies a month or so before you join us - you're going to have lots of cousins & friends your age! And at least one of them will be a girl, and two will be boys!

Your Papa & I haven't started seriously discussing names yet, although I do have some picked out already... I wonder what we will name you, and if you will someday laugh or wrinkle your nose at names we had considered as I did to your Gramma at the names she had picked out for AuntK & I...

You have seven immediate cousins right now - LilMan lives with his mom in KY, but you will get to meet him soon after you are born I hope! On Papa's side you have six more cousins: Court, Alan, Ash, Jack, Dylan & Tony... You have an AuntK & UncleB, AuntA & UncleJ, and AuntC.

Your Gramma & GrampaR are so excited to meet you, and are going to spoil you almost rotten! Your GrampaA will teach you all sorts of things too young probably :) but he has a great heart. Your Nan was a wonderful lady and it saddens me that you will never know her personally, only through stories...

I <3 U...

<3Mom