Don Juan's photo shoot

Don Juan was not prepared for the paparazzi and the ultrasound tech had to do a lot of prodding to get him/her to stop covering his/her face. I stuck to my guns about not finding out the sex. I think Chris thought I'd cave at the last minute, but I really want the surprise. Although, we think there may be some little boy parts showing (check the full body profile pic and let me know what you think). We'll know for sure in September! Everything looked fine to the doctor. Don Juan is in the 40th percentile in size...so he/she is a little one, but that is perfectly fine to me. I keep hearing about all these Minnesota 10 lb babies and I'd rather not have one of those!

I've heard many old wives tales to figure out if we are having a boy or girl. This week though, a new study was published about women who eat breakfast, specifically cereal, are more likely to have a boy. The study seems to be under fire in terms of its validity so I'll take it as another old wives tale. For those of you who know me, I am a huge cereal fan. My mom pointed out that the study did not look at women who ONLY eat cereal because there was a time in my life when I would have probably qualified for that. Here's the link to the study...yes, it made the NYTimes. http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/04/23/boy-or-girl-the-answer-may-depend-on-moms-eating-habits/?em&ex=1209268800&en=d56ad30a16aa7ce0&ei=5087%0A

Finally I've been having many more instances of "kung pao chicken" Last night I was woken up by a somersault and a few kicks and punches. It is a lot of fun and almost worth giving up sleep.

Halfway there--20 weeks!

Hey Folks! A full blog update is forthcoming. We've got a couple of technical issues to iron out then we'll have new Don Juan pics!!! Woo hoo!

Now a 2 car family

We now have 2 cars! I used public transportation for a year, but when the route changed so my ride would be an hour and a half we decided it was probably time to get another car. I will miss my reading time, but we both like having a little extra time now that Chris won't have to drive in two different directions to drop me off at work and then head the other way to his office. So Chris is happily enjoying his SUV (happy earth day?).


This week we went to an Ethiopian restaurant in our neighborhood. It was really good but definitly for more adventurous eaters. We both got full on the injera (spongy bread) pretty quickly so we are eating some spicy leftovers for the weekend. Don Juan seems to appreciate it as I've had a few more kicks :)

Baby or Kung Pao

As many of you know Laura is not a very patient person. Yes, she is the child who 2 weeks before Christmas will seek out and open any present she can find. It is this lack of patience that lead us to a rather interesting debate..."Was that the baby kicking or the Kung Pao chicken?." For those of you who don't know, Laura has been demanding that our child make it's presence known to her. Already "Don Juan" has been grounded for the next several years for his/her insubordination. After dining on some take out Chinese food, Laura was sure that the grumblings in her is stomach was the baby...I on the other hand felt that it was just the "dirty" Chinese food making it's way to the fart factory. Laura demanded that I place my hand on her stomach to try and see if I could feel anything. After several minutes I had to tell her that I think it was just the Kung Pao on it's journey out. Laura unwilling to believe that such a high class meal of Kung Pao chicken (at $6.95) could be the cause of all the noise and movement, proceded to poke and prod at her stomach. I tried to get her to stop this as I do not want a baby that is full of dents. However she chose not to listen to me. It is at this point I became aware of the great and terrible vengeance that will be wrought against my wife by our child. After several weeks of poking, threats and groundings, I feel that when Don Juan is ready to make him/herself known, Laura will not get what she hoped for. No doubt Don Juan is currently working out in secret, possibly behind the kidneys, getting the biceps and calfs formed and ready. Once Don Juan has grown enough he or she will wait for the perfect opportunity to strike. My prediction is that she or he will attack the bladder, there by causing maxium damage and embarrassment. Image if you will Laura, enjoying herself at her baby shower, enjoying a snack and a drink with the family. When Don Juan, with the now massive fetal bicep muscles, grabs ahold of Laura's bladder causing her to completely lose control and she wets herself in front of everyone. I have of course warned Laura of this, but still she presists. I guess we will just have to disagree on the cause of Laura's stomach event that evening. For now all I can do is smile and wait for the day that there is no doubt that Don Juan is saying hello...I being the first one to point out the fact that Laura has in fact peed her pants.

Fate is not without a sense of humor and toliet jokes are always funny.

Chris - Future father.

18 weeks and new clothes!!

So I've been quite lucky on the maternity clothes front. A wonderful coworker gave me three boxes of her clothes. She is on the petite side like me so not much altering needed. Then this week I got a box from Mom and Jennifer. They went on a little shopping spree when Mom was visiting Colorado. Thanks everyone! The picture is one of the outfits from them.

All that growing!

Dear Don Juan,

I know you are growing because I'm getting comments here on the outside. Since you are still quiet I'm sure you are just taking your time to give me a few kicks. I thought I'd throw some advice your way while you are developing. Last night I read that colic often runs in families. Both your daddy and I were colic babies so if you find the recessive gene in there we'd greatly appreciate it. Plus, you don't want to have an upset stomach all the time. Also, if you happen to stumble upon a straight teeth gene pick that one up too; although, you may not find it. You probably won't find much in terms of height so I apologize on that one. If you do want to be a redhead you may find enough in there to have a beautiful (or handsome) mane. As your aunt and second cousins will tell you there is some teasing in the beginning, but that red hair gets tons of compliments once you hit your teens.
So as we are getting all the nurture part ready out here I thought you'd appreciate those nature tips.

Love
Mommy
P.S. Daddy is completly right that most of all we want you to pick the healthy, happy genes!! But since you are doing all that developing and have some spare time on your hands you can think about the details.

The Strand spring volksmarch

Lake Street Bridge

Chris and Cece taking a break on our walk

Down the stairs...this is on the St. Paul side

rowing team

Me and Cece

Chris and I took advantage of the 65 degree day yesterday and walked for a little over 3 hours. We took the bridge from our neighborhood across the Mississippi and then down along the river. We saw some beautiful houses in St. Paul, had a picnic and walked back across the Lake St bridge. Cece had a great time and was so pooped out that she didn't wake me up till 9:30 this morning to go for a walk!

Oh, and we got our new couch delivered! It has a hide-a-bed that is quite comfortable so all visitors are welcome :)

Above picture: before the walk

Below picture: After the walk...the couch is a success!

Don Juan--16 week pictures

Here are pictures of Don Juan at 16 weeks. You can kind of see the arm and hand as he/she was shaking a fist at me and the doctor.
We got good news that my quad screen came back fine. This is a blood test for 4 different genetic diseases and it gives a risk level. Don Juan has very low risks. Yay!!