Finally some real pictures!

Hopefully you can tell what you're looking at in these new pictures. How did we ever live without 3D ultrasounds?

Stick people rule!

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The Big Belly

Nothing too exciting, Nicole is officially at 20.5 weeks, so we decided to take some "belly" pictures. These are direct from our home studio with only the slightest touch-up on the computer. Look for more pictures in the near future. Don't forget to wish Nicole a Happy Birthday on Wednesday! She accepts all major credit cards as well as personal checks...

The big day! (Not that one, the other one)

We finally have news worthy of print. Nicole had another ultrasound today to check out the baby's progress and make sure he doesn't have a toe on his forehead or anything. I am happy to report that he checked out fine, with all measurements being on target for 19 weeks. And boy, do they take a lot of measurements!
I have included two scans from the ultrasound below. Unfortunately these are only black and white, 2D images. I think you can still make out some details though. The first image is a profile with his head on the right facing upwards. The second image shows off his right foot just as he kicked Nicole's bladder. Thanks baby!

In case you didn't pick up on my deliberate use of pronouns:

It's a boy!

No, we don't have a name yet. Look for a post soon with some of our ideas.

Someone's turning 16...

As of tomorrow, Nicole will be at 16 weeks. I hear that milestone is way cheaper than the one where you have to buy a car. In a mere three weeks, Nicole is scheduled for an ultrasound that should tell us if the baby is a boy, girl, or cat.

Just kidding. About the cat part.

I'm bored, so deal with it.

No new baby information, but as the title suggests, I have nothing better to do. We went to the local farmers market today despite the overcast skies and cool temp. Here's a few phone pics of our purchases. The mini apples (last picture) are great. More to come about the baby soon!

Orange soda anyone?

Nicole had another prenatal appointment today to mark her 14th week. She had to take an oral glucose tolerance test to screen for gestational diabetes. This involves chugging 50 grams of glucose in less than 5 minutes followed by a blood glucose test 1 hour later. In case you're thinking, "I get to drink orange Gatorade," you're wrong. Nicole describes this concoction with 1 word: disgusting. Imagine a generic brand of orange soda, flat of course, with 2 lbs of artificial sweetener added. Not Splenda mind you, rather that stuff from the 70's that caused cancer in lab rats. Now chug it down in front of an audience (nursing staff) knowing that you will get poked by a needle in 60 minutes.

Jealous yet?

It's Alive!

Let's leave the debate of when life begins to the candidates. I just wanted to post a sample of our baby's heart beat. You may need to turn it up to hear it!

For those just joining the action...

Nicole is officially done with her first trimester and is now 12 weeks and 1 day along. She had a standard first trimester exam today that went well. Best of all, we got new pictures of the baby (this proves we're neither having a chicken or The Blob). The first image shows a profile shot in which I feel some facial features and even an ear are readily visible. Trust me. The second picture shows the fetal heart rate by doppler at 173 beats per minute. The sonographer told Nicole that this is one of the most active babies she has seen. I'm not sure if that's good or bad...

For anyone seeing the blog for the first time, you only missed out on 2 posts. We tried to wait until now to make the news public, but it seems we slipped and told a couple people. No hard feelings I hope.

Stay tuned for more!

Already skipping grades!

Well, not quite a whole grade, but we did find out that Nicole is actually at 7 weeks and 1 day instead of 6 weeks. She's thrilled, believe me. The latest ultrasound (and last one for at least 1 month) is below. No, we're not having twins, unless the doctor is lying to us. That's the "yolk sac" and the "baby". Nicole swears she's not having a chicken - but that's what it sounds like...

And now for something completely different...

You probably noticed the title change for this blog. Yes, we're having a baby! We will try and update this from time to time so everyone can stay in the loop.

Our pea in the pod. (It actually looks like a pea too!)

More photos

Lake Las Vegas

I find that gambling when you have no money gets old very quick. So instead we opted for an expensive round of golf! Weather was a little different than Minnesota. Light breeze, 70 degrees, 9% humidity, and clear blue skies.