Our Baby In Action

It arrived!  The ultrasound office sent the video of little Avery kicking inside my belly.  Granted, it's only 3 seconds long, so it's nothing to sit down with a bowl of popcorn to watch, but it's so fun to get a taste of her in action.  Please notice how at the end of the 3 seconds you can see her whole body get involved with the thrust against her mama.  She's got some force in those Washburn legs!

Here's the quick 3 second clip:

Here's the clip looped, as I think it's easier to see the full movement this way:

Newest Baby Picture

Today I went in to get another ultrasound since Avery wasn't best positioned for a few measurements they wanted when we had our 20 week ultrasound done.  It was so fun to see our little girl again!
They even recorded a video of a good kick she had but had technical difficulties exporting it to a CD so they are going to mail me a CD once they get it burned.  Can't wait to get that in the mail!

Here's the best pic they got of her cute little face, button nose and all.  We even saw her open her mouth and stick out her tongue a little during the ultrasound.

Oh yeah, and also, all the measurements and technical checkups they did came back great.  Another healthy report!

Updated bump-22 weeks

Here's the latest pic of my baby bump...still growing slow, but steady.

Practice Session

We had the fun chance to watch our nephew Brayden over the weekend.  We've done this a few times now, and we love the chance to have some fun times with him.  This could be considered a 'practice session' for our baby on the way.  It is nice to know, however, that we will get to ease our way in over time to having an energetic toddler. 
Bray is a blast and a little character-the main lesson learned, though, is that if you are already a prego mama having serious trouble sleeping, then throwing in a wiggly toddler in your bed all night does not help your energy level.  I was exhausted mainly from no sleep by the end of the weekend but loved quality time with our favorite nephew!

A few pics from our weekend with Brayden:

Bray really liked Toy Story Mac & Cheese.

We hadn't even realized the boxes of baby furniture in the nursery also doubled as a fort until Bray showed us.

Bedtime snack!

Checking out the fish at the Seattle Aquarium.

Of course Uncle Butbut (that's what he calls Jacob) liked the Hawaiian fish.

At his first college basketball game.  Auntie Megan made it more fun by sharing her Swedish fish candy.

Hanging with the Washburn crew at Jonnie's birthday dinner.

He figured Uncle Jonnie would want help with his birthday candles at Buca di Beppo.

All ready for church on Sunday morning.

Back home with Dada for his birthday party.

Kickin' It Up A Notch

Our baby girl has been kicking more and more and it's such a fun experience!
I already posted this new development on FaceBook so I thought it'd be fun to share that post and the responses I got...

A funny daddy and B-Bo for our baby

Our little girl better be ready to laugh because she will be surrounded by silly guys, especially her hilarious daddy & grandpa.

This is the video my dad (B-Bo) sent to us midday as he was anxiously waiting to find out if we're having a boy or girl...

This is the video Jacob sent back to my dad later that night :)

It's A Girl!!

Today we found out that our baby is, as we suspected, a little girl!
We made a full day's event out of it and had a lot of fun.  Our appointment for the ultrasound was at noon, but we decided to wait until the evening to tell everyone what it was.  The only exception, however, was Auntie Jill, since I got to be the first to know what she was having with both my niece and nephew.  She got a special text right after the ultrasound to let her know that her babies have a baby girl cousin on the way!
After our ultrasound appointment and doctor appointment following that, we spent a few hours shopping for a few cute baby clothes and a couple maternity-esque tops for me.
Then we pulled off our big plan for the baby reveal....we had made reservations both at Pink Door Restaurant and Blue Water Bistro prior to the big day.  If we were having a girl, we'd go to Pink Door for dinner.  If we were having a boy, we'd go to Blue Water for dinner.  We had made a plan to post a video for our family letting them know which restaurant we went to at 6 pm so they would then know if we're having a boy or girl.
Jacob put together a super cute video of our day and posted it just in time (ok, the wifi was a little slow so it was just a few minutes late...) for them to all see.  After our immediate family got the news, we spread the word to other friends as well.
Best of all, the doctor said our baby looks perfectly healthy and is developing incredibly well.  It was so much fun to see how much she'd grown since 12 weeks, with all her arms and legs moving around, her heart pumping with all four quadrants working, her bladder, her brain, her eyes, nostrils, and so much more has developed so much!  We're now halfway through the journey to meeting her in person outside of my belly (although that does not mean, in any way, that I'm mentally prepared to push her out yet...we'll worry about that later). Knowing she's a girl helps us feel even more connected to her and thrilled that we can now better dream for her future and plan for her arrival.
A wonderful day and wonderful news for our baby girl!  Next step will be committing to a baby name (top runner is Avery).

Pictures from our ultrasound:

Baby's sweet little hand waving at us

More pictures from our big day:

Sneaking in a pic in the ultrasound room while the doc was out (pictures weren't allowed)

Showing off my baby bump at 20 weeks in front of the Pink Door

Here's the cute video Jacob put together on his iPhone to reveal the baby girl to the family

Loving the miracle growing inside me

For the most part, I've had over a month now of a much smoother pregnancy. Sickness is way down (although not entirely nonexistent) and as long as I get 9+ hours of sleep, energy level is pretty good.
However, the best part of pregnancy lately has been feeling my little baby miracle inside my tummy.  A questionable movement or 2 has transformed into all sorts of movements throughout the day.  I get the most kicks and moves from my baby when I'm relaxed and laying down.  I absolutely adoring feeling my baby move around in there (although, I do admit, this experience is such a wild one for a first time mama and just mind boggling every time I realize there is a human living inside me!).  The experience of a mama feeling her baby throughout her day is unique beyond all description and beautiful.  I feel like I'm getting to know my baby every day.

We got a wonderful gift on Christmas morning when Jacob got to feel the baby for the first time.  He's felt and seen the movements many times since then.  It's so fun for us both to feel more and more connected to the baby.  Also, "Mammy" (my mom) got to feel the baby move while we were away on a family getaway to Leavenworth after Christmas!

The big countdown is winding to a close-less than 2 days until we know if our little baby is a boy or a girl!

Highlights from our Christmas celebrations - our baby is in for busy holidays with lots of wonderful family who love them already!

Grandma Jan (official Grandma name is TBD) couldn't resist this baby sweater so she just got one of each for baby Washburn for Christmas.

Uncle Jonnie will soon get all sorts of experience with babies!

Snuggled up ready for Christmas Eve.  Next year we'll have our little baby to snuggle up with too.

Jacob's favorite Christmas gift: a new iPad! In a couple years it'll probably be a toy for the baby to play with :)

The whole BOW clan out in Leavenworth

Beautiful snowy night in Leavenworth