happy little ones

When I was in college I was involved with Campus Crusade for Christ.  The last couple years I was there, Sarah Fisher was on staff.  She is a lovely person, and much more crafty and talented than I am.  Now her name is Sarah Bong and she has three children, and she is still much more crafty and talented than I am.

When we found out that Baby Dahl is a girl, I bought some fun little things from Sarah's etsy shop (happy little ones).  Everything is well-made in her shop, and very inexpensive as well.  And when I got the package in the mail, it was awesome!  She had even sent some extra gifts along as baby presents! 

Here's the onesie she sent; it's white with a little strawberry embroidered on the chest.

A close-up of the strawberry.  I'm totally picturing Baby wearing this with a little skirt and sweater.

She sent two pairs of barrettes with little strawberries that match the onesie.

Better hope my daughter isn't as bald as I was as a baby!

Five little felt strawberries to play with.

Yummy!

So a huge thank you goes out to Sarah of happy little ones!  You can check out her shop here and her crafty blog here.

sweet friends

My apologies, I've been a bit lax about writing here.  It seems like it's been a busy week, yet looking back, I can't really tell you why.  I suppose it's just running errands, and then trying to sleep between.  I'm not sleeping so well at night, what with my big fat belly getting in the way.  I can't believe it's going to keep growing for 3 1/2 more months!!!

Some of our dance friends threw a surprise baby shower for Kevin and me last Friday.  It was so unexpected and special!  One of the studios in town has a free dance party once a month that we try to attend, so Felecia had decorated a couple tables with pink streamers, balloons, and flowers.  Our friends gave us the sweetest little baby clothes, toys, and books.  I'm super excited about the books - I'm hoping that our little girl will enjoy reading as much as I did growing up.  Thank you so much, Felecia, Jerry & Joan, Frank & Lynne, Anne, and Leona & Chad!  We love you!

I bought a baby crib today.  My brother had given us $100 to help with utilities and food since he's living here for a couple months, so I had put that aside to buy a used crib off craigslist.  Well, today I found just what I wanted!  It's white and very New England-y and will look so sweet with the lavender bedding from our registry.  It's new and has never even been put together.  The owner took it out because the box was pretty banged up when he got it, and he realized that a small hole had been put through the back.  He got a new one, but he wanted to get this one out of his garage.  And that's how I got a $230 crib for $80!  I can totally patch the hole, it's not that large or complicated.  Here's a photo of what it's supposed to look like when it's put together:

You like it?  I do!  I couldn't fit it all in the car though, so I'm picking up the rest of the pieces on Friday or Saturday.

In the meantime, it seems like 'tis the season to celebrate!  I'm heading to a bridal shower next weekend and a baby shower the weekend after that.  Then Kevin and I celebrate our 2-year wedding anniversary on the 21st.  My mom is planning a baby shower for me sometime in the next couple months, and apparently I'm not supposed to help.  Although I really like planning stuff like that, so I already designed a baby shower invitation.  :)

What else... oh yeah, I'm an AVON representative now!  Hoping to bring in a little extra money to help with medical expenses and car expenses and everything expenses.  I've enjoyed it so far, and the stuff in surprisingly inexpensive, so I feel good about selling it.  If anyone is interested, you can buy directly from my website here.

And that's all for now.  If I've made any glaringly obvious grammatical mistakes, please don't tell me; I'm frankly too tired to care today.

23 weeks ultrasound photos

profile

so cute!

the between-the-legs shot... it's a girl!

kinda creepy 3D photo

this is when she yawned and went to sleep.  you can see her hand up by her head.

apparently she has dreadlocks.  awesome!

girlification

I think that this blog's look needs to be a bit girlified.

Yep, it's true!  We're having a baby girl!

She behaved beautifully at the ultrasound yesterday afternoon, and the doctor got all of the photos she needed without digging into my stomach and bruising me like the other one did.  I took everyone's advice and drank some soda with sugar and caffeine before the appointment, so the baby was moving around during the first part of the ultrasound.  It was so fun to feel it kick and see it on the screen at the same time!  Later we saw her yawn, then put her hands up by her face and stop moving as she fell asleep - exactly how I sleep, with my hands up like that!

The best part had to have been when the doctor said "Look, there's her girly parts!" as she got the perfect angle between our little girl's legs.  I don't know if this technician was much more skilled than the last one (I think she probably was), or the baby just cooperated more (that too), but it was such a relief to have that huge question answered, finally!

She looks completely normal and healthy.  Everything is the average size and length for 23 weeks, so we're still right on track for June 17th.  No spinal problems, no cleft palate, no club feet, perfect heart and functioning kidneys, all 4 limbs.  It seems as if our miracle baby (miracle since we didn't think we could could conceive with my PCOS) is a perfect little girl.

And I got so many photos this time!  Not just the scary skull shot like last time.  Kevin will scan them at work on Tuesday, but you'll see just how perfect and beautiful she is!  Since I had the ultrasound done at Maternal Fetal Medicine at Memorial Hospital (heartily recommend them) instead of an ob/gyn, they also did some 3D photos for us as well.

It was super fun calling our families.  My mom hollered excitedly without moving the phone far enough from her mouth, so that was partially deafening.  We didn't call my sister, we just went over to their house so that we could all go to McDonalds together (gotta love that dollar menu).  Blake met us at the door, jumping up and down because he wanted to know so badly.  So I whispered "it's a girl" to him before the rest of his family, and I just love that gap-toothed grin that came out.  As I showed them all the pictures, Blake was the most intent.  He later came over to sit by me and look closely through the pictures again.  He didn't say anything for a while, and then said "Aunt Kellie, can I ask you something?  How can you tell it's a girl?  I can't tell."  He was trying to see it in the face.  I told him that the doctor said the baby doesn't have a penis, and since only boys have penises, that means it's a girl.  Beckie gave me a thumbs-up; apparently that was a good answer for a 1st-grader.  Then we joked about how it's a good thing babies don't wear pants because then we still wouldn't know.

So anyway, we are thrilled out of our minds to be having a little girl - it's exactly what we wanted.  And now Kevin will be vastly outnumbered against me, Baby, and Ruby.  I'll get photos up next week.

5 down, 4 to go

Kevin just called me during his lunch break and told me to have Ruby "play dead" so that I could see her tummy.  Expecting to see a big gash or scrape or something (standard fare on our thin-skinned, sensitive pit bull), I told her to play dead.  On her bare tummy skin was a skull and crossbones tattoo.  Kevin had gotten it from a student and decided that Ruby needed to be a little tougher, so she now has a fake tattoo on her tummy.

I can't wait to see what he does to our baby when I leave the house for an hour.


In other news, my due date is exactly 4 months away.  Five down, four to go!  Sometimes it seems like my pregnancy is going by so slowly.  But as I think of all the things I need to have done before the baby comes, it doesn't seem like four months is nearly long enough.

And we added the name Zion to our list of boy names.  Kevin and I both like it, and there's a little boy named Zion in his class who is absolutely adorable.  A bit of a pill, but so cute.  Anyway, we could add a little more multiculturalism to the Dahl clan by using that name: a Hebrew name meaning Israel, now traditionally given to African-American babies, and a Swedish last name.  We will turn this child into a Thomas mutt if it's the last thing I do!

happy valentine's day

Today is going to be a good day, I can just feel it.  Yesterday was a shite day, so today has to make up for it, right?  Right.

My plans include:  washing dishes, vacuuming, doing laundry, going to the library, and taking care of the nephews until 3:30 or so.

Our plans include:  eating some yummy steak (it's marinating in some Captain Morgan's Spiced Rum and brown sugar as we speak), gobbling down a couple heart-shaped cookies that I baked last night, and then watching a movie.  Is there anything good in the theater right now?  Or I have a code for a free rental from redbox.  And then going to bed early, because that's what I do.

I had a dream about my baby last night.  It was a girl, and about a month old, and she was gorgeous.  Like, I just knew that she would be a knockout someday.  She had the most perfect little lips, and big gray eyes with long dark lashes, and funny dark hair sticking up all over her head.  I can still picture her.  And I will try not to be disappointed when my baby comes out with a squished up face and no hair at all.

checkup

Kevin and I went to the doctor for my monthly checkup yesterday afternoon, and everything looks good and normal.  Baby's heartbeat has held strong at 140 bpm throughout the entire pregnancy, and it's always fun to be able to hear that.  I was shocked to hear from the doctor that I had gained twenty pounds so far though.  I was under the impression that it had been much less (twelve or thirteen), and I figured out why I was thinking that way.  I'm counting my weight gain as weight gain.  At the beginning of the pregnancy I lost about 7 pounds in a week because my morning sickness was so bad.  The doctor started counting at that -7 point, whereas I started counting at my original weight, the weight I was at when I got pregnant.  So what she sees as a 20 pound weight gain, I see as a 13 pound gain.  Guess I'm wrong.  And guess it's back to strict meat, veggies and fruit with no fun added.  o more pasta, since my PCOS is just turning that into sugar.  Dr. Raley gave me the go-ahead to do light exercise like ride our stationary bike, although she doesn't really want me out walking.

Something else crazy?  She said that if I fall between now and 24 weeks and everything still feels okay (no bleeding and Baby is still moving), then to just go in for a checkup.  But after 24 weeks, if I fall and things don't feel right, then I have to go straight to Labor and Delivery at the hospital, because they can deliver the baby then.  Can you imagine, at 24 weeks?!  So tiny!

Also, I ordered a baby sling online.  My mom gave me a coupon to get it free and only pay shipping.  Although shipping was about $12 (what the heck?!), I compared the price to similar slings at stores and on etsy and found it to still be a really good deal, so I went ahead and ordered the one in the photo on the right.  I got it from sevenslings.com, and I think that the turquoise-y blue will be great for either a boy or a girl.  I also think that there's no way in hell that model just had that baby.

Anyway, it was good to go to the doctor and hear good news, especially to hear that little heart beating.  It was really good for Kevin; he's had a rough week.  One of his good friends and co-workers was found dead in the bathroom at school on Monday, and things have been pretty hard for my sensitive husband.  She was a wonderful woman, only 35 years old with two kids.  She was working with Kevin in the Life Skills classroom last year, and their family even took care of Ruby for us while we took a little vacation last fall.  So they had a good connection and it's been a sad week for Kevin.  I think that hearing his baby did help him a little yesterday.

baby boy nursery

And in following up the baby girl nursery, here are some things that I would love to do in Baby's room if It turns out to be He.  Again, keep the walls neutral, soft gray, and bring in some red.  I like that red can definitely be boyish and isn't cliche like blue is.  All of these fantastic items were found on etsy.

crib set by boujiandnouna

gotta bring in the Swedish heritage!  dala horse decal by illuminantpale

Minnesota wall hooks by Old New Again - I adore this shop!

wall clock by Uncommon

gray baby blanket by BCJcreations

fun red poms by Pomtree

 And this is why I love etsy!

baby girl nursery

It has been really cold the last few days.  Really really cold.  So of course, I daydream about what to do in Baby's room!

Whether it's a boy or girl, I would like to keep the room fairly neutral as far as wall color - probably a light, soft gray that could go with either sex.  But if it's a girl (gender scan take two: two weeks), then I'd like to bring in some purple into the room.  A light, soft purple, not in-your-face... more lilac or lavender.  Here are some delightful things I've found on etsy that I might put in my little girl's ideal room.

 

purple shelf from Old New Again

white mirror from Dignified Rubbish
If you buy anything from this shop, leave a remark that you
heard about it from this blog and receive 10% off your purchase.

removable wall decals from Surface Inspired

wooden bunting from KitzieG

gray pillow by Robins Egg Blue

crochet bird by Sabahnur

Again, these are not all items that I will go out and buy, but I just think that they would all be adorable in Baby Dahl's room, if Baby is a She.