30 Weeks

Baby #2

Cole at 30 weeks
(just for those who were wondering)

You Know You're Big When ...

I was asked by 2 different people today (within 15 minutes of each other) when I was due. One of these people I knew, the other was a complete stranger. When I told them May 2nd they both looked at me in disbelief as they gasped at the size of my belly. In fact, the one asked me if I was sure it wasn't twins (her daughter is due in April and about half my size). They should see me manoeuvring around in my recent painting endeavours, in what will be Cole's new room. Good thing the pants I paint in have an elasticized waist!

Two Down, One More to Go

I had good intentions to take my Belly shots at the same intervals as the ones from my first pregnancy. However, 22 weeks landed right around Christmas which came and went, along with a busy agenda of finishing off the painting in the basement, a toddler with croup and then thanks to my weakened immune system, I myself am presently sick with what is mostly likely bronchitus. In other words, this pregnancy is just flying by amidst the events of life, even if uneventful in its own proceedings. So here I am at 26 weeks. Two trimesters down, one more to go.

Baby #2 at 26 Weeks

Pregnant with Cole at 26 Weeks

It's a GIRL!

Here are Baby Brown #2's first pictures. She was rather cooperative and the tech was pretty confident in the gender ... of course there is always a chance they are wrong :) I think the best part was seeing her moving her arms around and at one point she let out a giant yawn.

Guess we'll need to buy some pink sleepers ...

Anticipating Tuesday

Baby Brown has his or hers halfway point ultrasound on Tuesday morning. I must say I'm probably slightly more excited about this ultrasound than I was about Cole's. With Cole we were just excited to see first pictures of our baby. This time around I've already had an ultrasound of this child and seen him or her kicking away. What I'm really anticipating is finding out whether this baby is a boy or a girl. We found out what we were having with Cole too, but since he was our first, we were super thrilled either way. This time we already have a boy. Of course we will once again be overjoyed with either outcome, but it will be exciting to know if its a girl because then we'll have one of each (which would be wonderful). If its a boy, I can hardly wait to start pulling out all of Cole's old clothes to sort through them for his new sibling and reminisce about when his brother was so tiny.

Of course I'll post Baby Brown's first pictures next week and let you know the results :)

Baby Brown: The Sequel

As promised, here is a belly shot of Baby Brown #2 ... finally :)

November 2009 -17 weeks

And just for comparison sake ... here is a picture of Cole at 17 weeks ... just in case you were wondering :)

October 2007 - 17 weeks

So far I feel really good as long as a can catch a regular nap during the day. Everything appears to be fine and the baby seems healthy. I have my next ultrasound December 8th and we should hopefully know the baby's gender at that time.

Cole of course, is living life as usual. He knows plenty of words but uses them sparingly including shapes and colours. He also loves to sing and sway to music. He's generally a happy kid except when teething flares up. Who knew 2 year molars could take so many months to come in?! I think we'll all be much happier when they finally show up!

38 Weeks

Hey everyone ... just letting you all know that I'm still here and very pregnant. Don't worry ...we'll keep you updated if any thing changes!

Finishing Touches to The Nursery

Just a few pics of some of the finishing touches to Baby Brown's room.

Shelf mounted above dresser

Valance put up above window

Some custom artwork by mom (me) ... VWs of course!

Week 36: The Final Belly Shots?

Finally an update!

It is now officially less than a month until Baby Brown's due date. So far my pregnancy is still going really well with the only complaints being a lack of sleep thanks to Baby Brown's athleticism and night owl tendencies, and a lack of clothing that actually fits over my stomach (the only thing that has REALLY expanded on me during this pregnancy). Or as a lady from the church put it "she looks like she put a beach ball under her shirt!"

The most common question these days ... "how are you feeling?" (pretty well for 8 months pregnant) and "have you picked a name yet?" (yes - but we're not telling ... since everyone knows we're having a boy . Something has to be a surprise on the big day ... so we're not telling ;)

So with only a few more weeks this could possibly be the last belly shot before baby comes. I've really been enjoying my maternity leave. I've been mostly catching up on the sleep I haven't been getting at night and getting things ready for the big day with shopping, laundry, packing, and making lots of lists. I think we're as ready as first time parents can really be ... which of course means we're expecting a lot of the unexpected! Life is changing ... but we're looking forward to it!!

Week 32: Let The "Holidays" Begin

As of the end of Friday of last week, I am now officially on my maternity leave. Unfortunately, we don't have a computer at home and with the completion of my job, I had to hand over my laptop from work. So if my blog entries seem sporadic at best I apologize. I can still check emails on Dave's computer at work but that won't be very often. I tried to convince Dave to be updating our blog from now on ... but he didn't seem too keen on the idea. Maybe if enough people left comments ... :)

30 Weeks: Baby Bump to Baby Buldge

So far everything continues to go well for me and Baby Brown. I am now well into my 3rd trimester and starting to feel a bit uncomfortable with the considerable extra mass I'm carrying all out front.

Baby Brown's favourite past times include kicking, pushing, squirming, elbowing, and getting the occasional case of the hiccups (he is VERY active). He must also like eating because I have definitely noticed an increase in my appetite ... on Sunday I split a medium pizza with Dave - 50/50! My past times now include more napping, dropping and bumping into things, and frequent absent mindedness.

Hard to believe but I only have 2 more weeks of work before I start my maternity leave. Wow time flies!

P.S Everyone ... if you click on the label at the bottom of this post called "Pregnancy" you can see all my Baby Brown related posts including my previous belly shots.

We're Registered ... Sort of ...

A couple of weeks ago Dave and I opened a baby registry at Sears so that those who wanted to buy us stuff for the baby (you know you want to) would know what items we specifically wanted and still needed. We started out online, however, you can only put items in from the catalogue. So recently, when we were in our very small Sears store, we thought we'd add some of the smaller items they don't have in the catalogue - like sheets, blankets, bibs, etc. When we approached the staff to do so we were informed that all their registry scanning machines were broken and had been sent away for weeks. Rather inconvienient for the gift giving season don't you think?! So as of right now we have a very small registry on the Sears website that can access from this link. We hope to add to it later if Sears gets their machines fixed ... hopefully before the baby is born!

26 Weeks: For Sure A Bigger Belly

Last time I posted a belly shot my mom commented that I looked pretty much the same. I think this time there is definitely a difference. Of course I always know when there's a difference because I'm the one carrying around the extra pounds, out growing even my pregnancy clothes, can no longer bend over without sitting down, and now need to look in the mirror to do up my pants. Finding a winter coat to cover my all-up-front baby bump is going to be a challenge! Still 14 weeks to go!

To see my previous belly shots go to: Week 22, Week 17, and Dave & Me and BABY makes Three!

100 Days To Go

As of today I have approximately 100 days to go in my pregnancy. Of course I say approximately because it could be a few more or a few less depending on when this baby decides he wants to come into the world. Sometimes if feels like the days are just crawling by but then I look back and wonder where the past few months went. Hard to believe I'm about to enter the 3rd trimester!

Week 25: A Friend for Baby Brown

Congratulations to our good friends Kris and Melody who's son Kaleb Douglas arrived last Friday afternoon. I've enjoyed being pregnant with one of my best friends for the past several months, and the birth of their first child only brings home the reality that the birth of our little guy is not that far away! In fact, I'll be done work in just 7 more weeks! I look forward to having some down time to get things ready and to hang out with Mel and Kaleb during the weeks before Baby Brown arrives.

23 Weeks: Missing Modern Medicine

So far 23 weeks hasn't been much fun. Not because the baby isn't well, but rather because I've caught a nasty cold.

I've felt it coming on for the last week and a half, but this weekend it came on in full force. That's right, I have the sore throat, the cough, the chest congestion, the stuffy nose and the sneezing all at once. For years I have complained about the taste of Neo Citron but now that I can't take medicine to cure my ills, I miss that yucky warm lemon taste with a hint of medicine dearly.

Happily I can say today that I feel the worst is behind me. I have survived the worst of the common cold by common means ( a lot of rest). Here's to a good night's rest and the capacity to function the rest of the week!

Week 22: The Bump Gets Bigger

Believe it or not ... the baby may almost be a pound by now and about a foot in length. Of course he has a lot more growing to do and so do I. I think I'm in trouble because I'm already having trouble putting on my socks and shoes!

Week 21: Kicking Like Crazy!

It's been a little while since our last update, but that's because we spent last week at our annual District Prayer Retreat in Banff. We drove down with our friends Kris & Melody who are also pregnant - but much farther along (just over 8 months at the time). Needless to say, there were a lot of bathroom stops and walking around to prevent any blood clots.

Of course while we were in Banff we did a little shopping and it goes without saying that we had to buy something for our son. Dave is rather famous for the size of his big toes (especially the right one). Some guys on his floor in college actually carved it into a pumpkin one year for Halloween. Anyway ... we came upon a great find in a children's store. There is a series of plush monster dolls called "Ugly Dolls". There are a variety of creatures with multiple arms, missing or multiple eyes and buck teeth. One of the dolls is actually named "Big Toe" and so we couldn't resist ... we had to buy one for our future son who could possibly inherit the same digits.

As far as what's new with baby ... our little guy has become an acrobat. I've been feeling very sporadic, and infrequent kicks for about a month. But as of the end of October our son has found his legs, arms, and elbows and has begun kicking frequently. Of course most of the time this is in the evening and especially when I've laid down to go to bed. Dave jokes that our son is actually nudging me with those big toes! No matter when, why or with what he's jabbing me with - there's no other feeling like it in the world. The second trimester is great!

Week 19 . . . It's a Boy!

Today (Oct. 31st) was our first, 19 week ultrasound.

That means, our baby's first pictures.

It really is amazing at how much you can see on an ultrasound ... the beating heart, his spine, fingers, and toes, even our son's smile! And yes ... it's a boy! Apparenlty the little guy has a lot of energy because he was moving around like crazy .... not that I can feel all of that yet. We're so excited for our little miracle!!

Doing some more flips

(You can see the spine)

The baby's face (top view)

Daddy's feet? (Look at that big toe!)

17 Weeks . . . Baby Bump

As the baby continues to grow, so does my waistline. I now have the cute "baby bump". No hiding it now . . . everyone who sees me knows I'm pregnant!