Half Way There!!!!

Well I, for one, can't believe it, but we are half way through this second pregnancy - 20 weeks down, 20 to go! That means it's SONOGRAM TIME!

I had my regular, everyone-has-one-at-this-stage-can-find-out-the-baby's-gender ultrasound yesterday and almost everything went great. Unfortunately Tony couldn't be with me because of a last minute business trip (grrr), but my mom and Grace came and stood in for him. (Grace was pretty wigged out by the whole thing.)

As far as the baby is concerned, everything looks perfect - 10 fingers, 10 toes, a strong heart beat and a good size head and body (they said the baby weighs about 12 oz, the size of a can of soda). Here are some of the pictures we got to take home, sorry the quality's not awesome, but it's the best I could do.

Although we chose to save the excitement of knowing the baby's gender for his/her birthday (just like with Grace), here are some thoughts to ponder - since I know you're all wondering what we will have:
1. I strongly feel like this pregnancy has been SO different from the first, that it has to be a boy.
2. The heart beat has consistently been in the 150's, which would suggest it's a girl (boys' heart rates are usually under 140 bpm).
3. According to the Chinese Lunar Calendar (which makes a prediction based on the mother's age and the month of conception), it should be a boy.

So, color me BLUE, but you draw your own conclusions . . .

Hooray for Democracy!

Only one week until Election Day (unless you've sent in your ballot early) . . .

Please vote to elect Pro-Life candidates and be a voice for those who can't defend themselves.
Visit http://www.crtlpac.org/ to download your pro-life ballot if you live in the Cincinnati area or let me know if you're interested and I can get you some info :)

A Quick Update

Unfortunately for our faithful blog-followers, things at my office have gotten much busier, so it's been difficult to find the time to post anything :)

Here are some quick notes -

1. Tony got to feel the baby move last night for the first time! He, very patiently, sat with his hands on my belly for fifteen minutes or so until our shy-guy (or girl) decided to give daddy a couple of bumps. It was pretty exciting for mommy to be able to share the kicks and rolls she's been feeling for the last couple of weeks. Let the belly feeling begin! (For those of you who may be wondering, I have no problem letting people I know feel/pat/rub my baby belly).
At 19 weeks, our baby is about the size of a tomato and weighs between 7 & 8 ounces. We have our sonogram next week and I can't wait to see his/her tiny hands and feet (and all the other parts too).

2. Grace is doing wonderfully and developing more and more personality every day. She's enjoying spending so much time with her Nana and Grandma; we are so blessed to have such wonderful helpers. Grace is planning on being a lightning bug for Halloween (if she cooperates with my costume plans) and we've been praticing saying, "Trick or Treat" - without much success :)

3. The pictures posted here are from a recent trip to HallZOOween (it was blazing hot and packed, but we had a LOT of fun) and from Grandma Peggy and Grandpa Bob's 30th Anniversary dinner - congratulations to them.

PS Thanks to those of you who are leaving comments on the blog, we love to get your feedback! (For anyone not commenting because you don't want to set up a profile, you can select to leave an 'anonymous' comment and just sign it at the bottom)

THANKS for checking in! XOXO

A Pumpkin Sunday

On Sunday we went to a Pumpkin Patch with Nana & Papa and Aunt Katie & her boyfriend. Here are some pics and accompanying captions --


Grace in the corn-box (instead of a sand-box, it was very cute): "Whew, there's my leg! I thought it was lost forever. And by the way, how dare that girl sitting behind me copy my cute Halloween outfit!"

Everybody riding out to the patch to pick a pack of pumpkins: "Did anyone check this farmer's credentials before we got on this rig with no carseats?! I mean, he's not even looking at the road! I'm very concerned. For crying out loud, Nana's about to fall overboard. Good grief."


Grace trying to convince daddy that a $45 pumpkin is a good investment by looking adorable sitting on top of it: "Daddy, what do you mean I can't take this pumpkin home? You said I could pick one out. Please .. .. .."