Project Remodel

Well, we've started to redo our house. We are transitioning the spare bedroom into a nursery and the "computer room" into the spare bedroom. I don't think, Spare, is the right word, more like the multi-purpose, hold everything and try to fit guests into it, room. Since we don't know Cletus's sex and we intend to sell this house in the near future, we are trying to do more "neutral" in the nursery. I already know I am going to get some grimaces when I post our potential colors...it will be ok. It's all about accent  color.

we removed the bed and dresser. The plan is to rip out the carpet and put in hard wood floors

The current storage unit

Ah what color to choose

bye bye fish wall

So we are going to do a gray. Yes, kind of drab, but if it's a boy you can do bright blue or red and if it a girl a bright pink contrasts nicely. The top half will be gray and the bottom half kris is going to in white wood paneling to soften it up. 

We have a lot of work ahead. I would expect us to be grumpy, especially as we find that everything that we own does not fit in this house anymore.

week 13

Well, I have asked 4 different people and have gotten 4 different answers. At 13 weeks are you done with your first trimester? Or is it after 13 weeks you are completed? Not sure, but damn close enough to the second trimester I think. This week was a typical boring work week. I was fatigued again this week, bed by 9pm. Little Cletus must be having a growth spurt.

Let's learn a little about week 13. The average length is now 2.5-3 inches and weights between .5 and .75 ounces. The food comparison is that it is about the size of a peach! I've noticed that my pants are a little snugger lately. Not sure if it the uterus crowding, bloating, or most likely a combination of both. Not quite ready to buy maternity clothes though. Going to at least try to hold out until 16 weeks! I figure if I can make it till we go to Hawaii I will be in flowy dresses anyways.

I guess that is the other big news. Kris and I are headed to Kauai for one last Hawaiian vacation before we are tethered down! We are pretty excited. I will fly first to Maui for a 2 day pharmacology lecture then we will meet in Maui on February 17th. We will most definitely post pictures. 

I don't even have any good pictures this week. A friend gave me this though, which I thought was pretty cute.

Maybe this will help prevent stretch marks ( I don't have any yet). Most likely I can either blame or Thank my mom. Studies show that it''s all about genetic make up, how much collagen and elastin I have in my skin. A slow weight gain helps as well.

Chloe and the ONLY stuffed animal she has not ripped to shreds. Not sure why this one is so special. She has had it since Xmas.

Um...you have gonnorhea

First trimester lab work. Kris and I decided to get the 1st trimester screen which includes screening for downs, trisomy 18, and cystic fibrosis. We didn't really get counseled on if we should do it or not. We thought that if the baby had downs that we wouldn't abort, but it would be good to be prepared. They remind you it's just a screening and in fact it's arbitrary numbers that really don't mean anything.  I thought this was an interesting table for your chance of downs. In order to make the "guestimate" they measure the thickness of your babies neck and take some blood to measure alpha-feto protein.

Mother's Age	Incidence of Down Syndrome
Under 30	Less than 1 in 1,000
30	1 in 900
35	1 in 400
36	1 in 300
37	1 in 230
38	1 in 180
39	1 in 135
40	1 in 105
42	1 in 60
44	1 in 35
46	1 in 20
48	1 in 16
49	1 in 12

 

Here are my results....

So not bad. I don't think we need to worry about it. It's funny though when something is on your mind, don't you think you see it more often? Last night Kris and I went to the beauty and the beast broadway show. The little girl in front of us had downs. It was kind of neat because she was the happiest person in that theater.

Trisomy 18 is a little more serious and half of all babies born are stillborn. My interpretation was negative :)


One thing I forget is how sneaky healthcare is. I opted out of my pap because I had gotten one prior. I also had opted out of the STD screen, because I trust Kris. However, I got my lab work back today and...

So just in case anyone was worried I am STD free. I guess it's a good lesson to learn as a provider, to always be honest to the patient.

As for now Chloe is still are one and only. She has been extra lovely lately. I wonder if she knows something is up!

Hear Ye, hear ye!!!!!!

These are Cletus's legs. There are two of them, which is good. If you  look close you can see little ribs. 

I can finally not be worried for 24 hours and rejoice in knowing that Cletus is Alive and Kicking. The Ultrasound today was fun. Little Cletus would not cooperate though. He/She/It would not lay horizontal and kept moving vertical, crossing it's legs, and doing everything possible not get a good picture. It was pretty amazing watching it move and not feeling anything. Here are a few fun pics. I will try to point out the anatomy to you, as at 11 weeks and 3 days, it is not very obvious.

This is me getting the Ultrasound. Kris forgot to get the ultrasound guy. Also, apparently there is a law against taking photos of the pictures on the screen because this test was being used for diagnostic purposes, not pleasure. Interesting. 

Here is an attempt at a full body shot. Babe kept crossing its legs. 

This was an attempt at the new 3d reconstruction but Cletus would not have it

can't figure out how to rotate this darn thing, but now cletus is standing on his head, use your imagination

Who does Cletus look like  Me or ????

Or this one?

For being a friday the 13th this turned out to be an awesome day. We ended the day with a beautiful sunspot. God always finds a way

So no, we don't know the sex yet. Next ultrasound is in March at 20 weeks. That is the time we will find out if it's a boy or girl. Start taking bets now. As for everything else, I checked out good. No high blood pressure. It was kind of fun because when I first got there I was having a contraction and I was squishing bugger! So feel free to tell whom ever you would like now. I appreciate you waiting until we made sure all was well thus far. I will keep you post on any new developments.

Snow-pacalypse

Well that is what they are calling it in Valdez and Cordova, where they have gotten over 10 feet in three days. We fared much better but woke up to about 8 inches of fresh powder. Can you believe I still can't convince Kris to get a snow-blower? It is also times like this, and really the months of Dec-March, that I think that moving to Texas isn't a bad idea. In fact, it is still in our "options" column. Think Kris and I could handle Texas? (To Liz: remember, it's just an idea, and wouldn't happen until next winter anyway :)

the bbq is under there somewhere. Yesterday that was visible

no picking up dog poo for me! Yeah for spring when it is all moldy

So it has been a BORING weekend. Kris's well has been having some issues so he was on the phone all day yesterday with big wigs in texas and up here. He didn't even get to watch football, that is how you  know it is serious. I went skiing with chloe. I think next weekend we are going to try skijoring. I think she would be good at it, but i am going to make her pull Kris in case she takes off like a bat out of hell.

Friday at 9:15 is my ultrasound. Trust me, the anticipation is killing me as well. The appointment is followed by a doctor appointment so we will call you as soon as you can. Then you can spread the good news. :) Then we can also start the betting pool if it is a boy or girl. Love you all. Off to shovel!!!

Happy New Year

Happy 2012 to you all. I think 2012 is going to be a great year. We had a fairly mellow night which is exactly what I ordered. We hung around the house most of the day. Kris had a shooting tournament and I read a book. I wanted to get out and use my cross country skis but its been bitter cold (1 degree) and I am a bit of a wuss.

Liz and Ross then had us over for DELICIOUS food. Ross and Liz are quite the chefs. Ross cooked me this AWESOME fillet Mignon and yams. It was great. The Huebel family and our family are pretty good friends and there is no way I could have gone all new years with out a drink without them being suspicious. I tried to think of a clever way to tell Liz. My brilliant idea was to give her a can of "prego" spaghetti sauce. It was hilarious because I handed it to her and she said, "meat sauce" "did i say I needed sauce"  I waited a few minutes and then she got it. It was really nice to be able to tell someone that can be so happy for us. Like the rest of you, she has to keep quiet until until after January 13th. I am very fortunate to have a friend up here like Liz (ross too). She was already talking about baby showers. She also warned me that unless I want a bunch of androgynous ugly colors, I better find out what CLETUS is. 

So here a few pics of the night.

Liz was nice enough to let me borrow a beautiful shirt

making kris pose for pictures

war with party favors

My new favorite pictures of Liz and Ross.