10 Reasons being Pregnant is Awesome

Today is our routine monthly doctor appointment, and I am looking forward to it. I look forward to these appointments every month. I love hearing updates from the doc, hearing the heartbeat, etc.

Tyson and I are going to find out if our baby is a boy or a girl in 2 weeks. There is a poll at the side bar in our blog, so check it out and make your guess. Only 11 days left to vote!

I get weekly newsletters from a couple different pregnancy websites, and this article came from one of them called BabyZone. The title peaked my interest, so of course I had to open it and read it. Since I liked this article so much, I wanted to share it with you here. Keep in mind, I agree with most of these statements, but some are a bit silly.

1) Eating more than usual is allowed and encouraged.
2) Its an automatic argument ender.
3) Having a reason to ask for/receive more massages and attention. (Yes please!)
4) The glorious 2nd trimester. (Yes, I feel great!)
5) The mysterious pregnancy glow.
6) Guilt-free veg time. (Or you can call it me time or R&R. However, this doesn't really happen if you already have children.)
7) Pregnancy style: no longer an oxymoron. (I cant wait to get some new cute clothes!)
8) All the special experiences. (Heartbeat, kicks, bonding, etc.)
9) Being able and allowed to snooze when you want. (This one is also hard if you already have children.)
And the number one reason pregnancy is AWESOME...
10) CREATING LIFE! (The article says the X (and Y) factor, but I think this sums it up better.)

Sleepy Boy

Tyson and Ryder were running errands yesterday. Tyson turned around in the truck to snap a few photos for me, because he loves sending me photos of their day, and he knows I LOVE seeing them! Here is a sequence of 2 photos, all in the time it took to stop at a red light.

Shark Bait!

We made our way to the Aquarium of the Pacific yesterday, and had a great time. Ryder got to see lots of fish, and get lost just staring into those wonder filled fish tanks and aquariums. We got to pet and touch lots of cool things like sharks, sting rays, sea cucumbers, sea anemone, star fish, etc. It was so neat to see the wonder and amazement in Ryder's eyes.

Ryder loved touching the sting rays, he laughed and squealed every time they came up to his little hands.

To top off a great day, we also got a funnel cake to share...yum! Here are a few more pictures of the aquarium.

14 weeks

I felt the baby move today for the first time. Such a wonderful and exciting feeling. It felt like a somersault type of move for sure. I'm looking forward to many more of these feelings. We will be finding out in a couple of weeks if we are having a boy or a girl. We cant wait to find out if Ryder will have a little brother or a little sister.


Here is a bit more about the developments this week.
From head to bottom, he measures 3 1/2 inches — about the size of a lemon — and he weighs 1 1/2 ounces. His body's growing faster than his head, which now sits upon a more distinct neck. By the end of this week, his arms will have grown to a length that's in proportion to the rest of his body. (His legs still have some lengthening to do.) He's starting to develop an ultra-fine, downy covering of hair, called lanugo, all over his body. Your baby's liver starts making bile this week — a sign that it's doing its job right — and his spleen starts helping in the production of red blood cells. Though you can't feel his tiny punches and kicks yet, your little pugilist's hands and feet (which now measure about 1/2 inch long) are more flexible and active.

21 Months Old

Today is Ryder's 21 month birthday. He is officially 21 months old now. I cant believe how fast the time is flying by. Today he is spending his birthday with his Yaya at a nearby water park/play area. I'm sure I will have some pictures to post later.

About Ryder at 21 months:
He is such s sweet loving boy, but also loves to be a little rough. For example he will hit a toy or throw a car, and then a second later he will give kisses. It is quite funny to watch. I think most of his trouble comes from him not knowing his own strength. He is very strong. He still favors his left hand, but uses his right a lot as well. We think he is going to be left handed but we are still not sure. He loves all sorts of food except for weird textures like rice, etc. He also does not like to bite into anything cold. If he is having a Popsicle or ice we have to bite little pieces off and give it to him. He loves it that way. I would say his favorite things right now are his plugs which he calls "plooge", blankets which he calls "mink", his cars which come out sounding like "chares", all sorts of balls, bath time, the Cars, Shrek, and Ice Age movies, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Chuggington, most other Disney shows too. He loves listening and seeing cars, trucks and motorcycles...just like his daddy. He loves to be outside and especially playing with water. He has traveled to Colorado 4 times and Wisconsin 1 time already in his short life. He is quite the pro traveler now. He still takes 2 good naps a day, and sleeps 10 hours at night from 8pm to 6am. He loves his bed and loves going to bed. He usually asks to go "nighnigh", or when we say its time for "nighnigh kisses", he gets very happy.

He is such a joy to be around and to have in our life, we are very lucky to have him. We look forward to everyday because with Ryder everyday is a fun adventure.

Colorado Trip

Here are a few pictures of our trip to beautiful Colorado. We always have a nice time when we visit.

Almost 13 Weeks

Woohoo...we are out of the first trimester and into the second. This Saturday marks the next week...13 weeks down and 27 to go. On a side note, today I am wearing my normal work pants but had to loop a rubber band through the button hole at the top to get them to fit around my growing belly.
Here is our weekly baby update:

Fingerprints have formed on your baby's tiny fingertips, her veins and organs are clearly visible through her still-thin skin, and her body is starting to catch up with her head — which makes up just a third of her body size now. If you're having a girl, she now has more than 2 million eggs in her ovaries. Your baby is almost 3 inches long (the size of a medium shrimp) and weighs nearly an ounce.

4th of July

Here is a picture of Tyson and Ryder riding around on a little motorcycle at Tyson's brothers house on the 4th of July. They were both loving it so much, neither of my guys wanted to get off the bike.

Colorado

This past week has been so crazy, so its been a little while since I last posted. Today we are leaving for Colorado in about 1 hour. We are going to spend time and celebrate the 4th of July with Tyson's mom and brothers family out there. Looking forward to lots of fun and I promise to post some pictures when we return to our normal schedule again.

Happy 4th of July!