3D U/S Pictures at last!

Well, they might not be as good as the pictures of Sammy were but they are still cute! Here are some of the best ones . . .

This one of her litte foot is so cute

29 Weeks Pictures etc

Since there are no pictures of Evangeline to coo over I decided you all could coo over us instead . . . or failing that you can coo over our cat babies!! I have also included a picture of the yummy wine I could not enjoy at wine tasting last night so that anyone who likes wine can be as sad as I was!!

Charlie Girl and Alice

Watch this space for . . .

The u/s pictures. Evangeline behaved herself a little more yesterday and we got some good pictures, but then the printing machine broke so we don't have the pictures yet :-( But they will be up ASAP.

Jane xxx

Naughty Baby and 27 week update

So . . . the 3D Ultrasound did not exactly to plan due to Evangeline deciding to bury her head in the placenta and not allow any pictures. We could see part of her face - enough to see that she has Daddy's chin and Mummy's lips. We also saw her pout and stick out her tongue! But, all in all it was a bit disappointing and we are returning next week for another try!!
I did have an u/s at the docs today and she looked like she was still in a difficult position for photographing! But, since I am now in the third trimester I thought it time for another update!

Weeks: 27!
Weight gain: 19 pounds total (eek)
How big is baby: a bit over 2 pounds
Maternity Clothes: Yes! Although still in some non maternity dresses. This fact makes me happy.
Stretch marks? No but no doubt working on it
Sleep? Good except last night when baby decided I would be awake
Movement: LOTS!
Food cravings? Not really although on Saturday I demanded Pumpkin Latte, ice cream and cucumber sandwiches for dinner
Belly Button in or out? In
What I miss? Still champagne and spinning class. I also miss being able to move around quickly
What am I looking forward to? Baby showers coming up and the second attempt at 3D.
Milestone? I took the glucose test today and I am now having appointments every two weeks so it will all go even faster from now on. AND we have Evangeline's pram all set up. It is too cute and I will be sure to take a picture of it with the fabulous new camera we have thanks to Bill and Judy!!!

Pictures to follow next week . . . I hope!

Back from Europe

Evangeline very much enjoyed her first trip to Europe. So much so that she double the size of my legs one night just to show her appreciation!!

Seriously though, we had a wonderful time and did not want to leave. Any worry I had about flying was not necessary and we even got upgraded coming home by the nice Steward called Iain. I highly recommend British Airways to everyone. Gramps' 90th Party was a LOT of fun with family and friends. We stayed a night with Helen and Caleb in the Castle and then moved on to France to see Claire and Yann. Both of these visits were fabulous and too short. Finally we went to Kent to see Daddy and Judy and to attend Jen and Mark's Wedding.

Evie behaved herself for her first ever bridesmaid duty and only kicked me once during the ceremony. Linda's masterwork on the dress meant I didn't look too hideous.

Here are a few pictures from our lovely lovely trip to England and France . . . . complete with bump and a pint of beer.

Saturday is our 4D u/s and then we have a 27 week u/s at the docs the day after Labor Day. Yay!!

A brief word of congratulations to Gara and Brandon Hill who's son Travis was born August 25th. He is a very handsome young man and we are really very excited for them.

Jane xxxx

New tricks!

So, Evangeline now turns around a lot and I can finally feel her doing it! Its a bit weird but kinda cool. She is also kicking me a LOT harder now!! I started giggling in a meeting today because my belly had moved so much.

In order to better display these things to Auggie, I have taken to putting the remote control for the telly on my belly and letting Evie kick it. It is highly amusing (or at least it is to first time parents).

For anyone who cares, we are now registered at babysrus for most of our stuff. We are also registering at a local shop in Houston for some of our cloth diapering needs. There is a lot of pink on the registry :-)

That's all the updates from here.

Jane xxxx

23 Weeks

Well, first of all for you lovers of 4D ultrasounds, I am booked in for September 5th. You can thank Mummy for finding the place, booking the time and paying for it :-D

I stole the following questions from a friend, but it gives a good update so I don't think she will mind:

Weight: Lots. Only up 1/2 pound from last week but still, lots. I am told that only a pound of this is baby
Maternity clothes? Oh yes. I can wear a few of my non maternity t-shirts and one dress but otherwise, I'm all maternity.
Stretch marks? not yet but its a bit early. check back in 10 weeks or so for a certain yes.
Sleep? Good. My not drinking after 8pm is working so far. Again, I'm fairly sure I will not continue to be this lucky for long.
Movement? Quite a lot. She has her off days but she's quite an active little girl.
Food cravings? Not really. Just eating a lot.
Belly button in or out? In
What I miss: champagne and spinning class
What am I looking forward to? The next few ultrasounds to say hello to her again. Going to England!!
Milestone: Evangeline's room is finished except for curtains. I am having trouble finding curtains that do not involve and kind of valence and that are just plain.

That's all for now. We have to go and collect Auggie from the bus xxx

August 4th Update

Well, to be honest there is not all that much to update but here goes . . .

Evangeline is now kicking me a LOT! I love it except when I am trying to sleep. She has started kicking so hard it makes my whole belly move. This makes me laugh, sometimes inappropriately during meetings at work. She has also grown a bit recently as my tummy has expanded even further. Its pretty amusing to see me in a swimming costume.

Her room is almost finished. When we have put up a few more pictures I will pop some photographs on here. Her crib looks so cute even though it is currently missing its mattress. We have a white canopy over it which I think looks adorable. We bought a "You are My Sunshine" plaque to go somewhere in the room - Auggie especially wanted this as his mum used to sing that song to him when he was a little boy.

Today we visited Evangeline's school that she will attend once she is 6 months old. It was recommended by someone who's opinion I 100% trust and I was not disappointed. It was lovely and clean and the teachers all seemed lovely so we will be happy for her to go there. Our only issue is that they teach sign language. I think that teaching children to speak is a much better idea (call me old fashioned . . . ) but the teacher said we can opt out of that thank goodness!!! Over all we were very happy and will be putting her name down ASAP!!

Aside from busting out of maternity clothes and feeling a little like Aunt Marge in the Prisoner of Azkaban, that's about all from here!!

xxx

Our house - July 2009

Click here to view these pictures larger

Exciting arrival from England!

Well, Chris very very nicely went all the way to New Ash Green to collect Evangeline's push chair on Wednesday. He brought it back to Houston today and it is FABULOUS! We tried it out with a baby troll (strictly inside only) and we really love it. Auggie already looks like a proud Daddy!

The customs man at IAH looked at Chris a bit funny though. I think he wondered why on earth anyone would by a stroller in England and bring it back to America . . .

Evangeline is kicking some more. She enjoyed the new Harry Potter a LOT! I took her back for a second viewing last Sunday. She is also very large - or at least she feels that way. I am carrying very high so I look massive and I weigh more than I ever thought possible. I am slightly frightened by the "one pound a week" thing that apparently is forthcoming. I am also nearly too big for some of Auggie's t-shirts which is REALLY sad. So much for shopping in your husband's closet!! Of course baby is completely worth it and I can't WAIT for December!!!!

19/20 Weeks!

Well, my belly is getting HUGE and I feel rather like a marshmallow but things are good!

Yesterday we had our 20 week ultrasound. Auggie was able to attend this one which was very exciting for him. We saw all the important parts of Evangeline! She had her hand to her forehead in drama queen pose for a good amount of the time! Like mother like daughter . . . . I think her little feet were very cute too.

Unfortunately, the u/s lady was a bit mean and gave us really rubbish pictures. I will post them up here at some point but you really can't see much. She was running 30 mins late even though I was the first appointment of the day and then rushed through ours. I was annoyed! Still, it was so lovely to see baby happy and healthy. Mummy (Nana) enjoyed it too!

Evangeline is starting to kick me more and more. She likes mince pies and gives me a bit of a kick whenever I finish eating one. She has kicked Auggie's hand a couple of times too. I am looking forward to feeling her more, although I have it on good authority that this feeling will disappear by 30 weeks when she is huge and using me for martial arts practice.

Anyhoo - that's the most recent update! Everything is good!!

Well, Evangeline's closet has been expanding again. She received her first swimsuits for next summer from Debbie. They are so cute. I wanted to buy an adorable dress yesterday but Auggie cut me off, reminding me that we are going to get a LOT of clothes from other people. I suppose he is right but why should everyone else get all the fun????

We have discovered that the best shop in the entire universe - Mothercare - will ship nappies to the USA. YAY! They have the BEST nappy starter kit and we intend to get two. This gives us 24 of the best quality nappies for regular day use and then we can use Bum Genius for days when she needs to be extra pretty.
Apparently you can't buy NappiSan here so we will have to make to with something else.

Other than my excitement with nappies (which is probably not shared by anyone else) this has been a quiet week. I am looking forward to feeling her kick more as the weeks go on and we get to see her again on the 14th! yay!

Kicks

Evangeline kicked me yesterday morning. It was very exciting. Then, more exciting, she kicked Auggie's hand last night. Only very lightly but we both felt it!! I think it was the coolest part of the pregnancy so far!!!

Rude?

So, today, three people told me that I am "looking big for 16 weeks" and that it must be a big baby. Do they not realise that they just called a pregnant lady fat?? Bad form!!

Eva's Room, Maternity Clothes etc.

Here is the room that will be Evangeline's room. As noted below, this will need some toning down . . .

So, I went and spent my gift card on a pretty skirt and some tops. But my wardrobe was still looking a bit limited. So, I was telling a new friend of mine about this and she offered to lend me ALL of her maternity stuff!! Eleanor you are a life saver. Suddenly I have clothes for all occasions. Eleanor has three lovely kiddies so has had plenty of time to collect maternity wear! Yay for good friends.

Mummy spoke to Auntie Jill today who apparently also wants us to have a 3D Ultrasound thingy. Apparently I am being outvoted. I have told Mummy that I could probably be bought so I'm waiting for offers!!

I have been reading other ladies' posts about their baby bedding. I have to confess that I don't think I am going to do bedding. I think that nice white crib sheets and a white blanket will be enough. Maybe I'm just cheap??? Probably . . .

But we do have to make sure we have everything in white. We have to tone down the walls. When we moved into this house there was one nice big bedroom already painted in two shades of pink. Since we know 100% that we are having a girlie, it seems a shame to paint over the professional job with our attempts which are, quite frankly, likely to be total rubbish. So, we have decided to leave the very bright pink even though its not our first choice and just tone it down with a lot of white. So, I feel like I'm not nesting properly because I'm not looking at fabric. I hope Eva will forgive me!

We have decided on a chair from Ikea that we really like - it is white of course. I don't like rockers so I am going with a regular chair. We have some ideas on the crib too - again this will be white. I think we will have to register for it since we entirely blew our budget on travel items :-)

We are going to have to give in and buy one of the body pillows tomorrow. I can't stop sleeping on my back and since I don't really want to cut off Evangeline's blood supply, I will have to give in. Hopefully I can get one on sale or something!

I got an exciting surprise in the post today. I need to write a thank-you letter to Judy for the lovely and thoughtful gift!

Debbie has asked to see the pushchair - well here it is . . sort of. Ours has four wheels rather than three but otherwise it is the same!!



I also want to give a shout out to the wonderful store that was able to get this pushchair for us. It is discontinued and lots of other shops could not take an American card buy Daisy Chains in Bradford were great!! They have a cute store:
http://www.daisychainsuk.com/index.php

Charlie Girl Cat

Charlie Girl has figured out there is something up with Mummy. She follows me everywhere and waits outside our room every morning until she sees me. What a sweet kitty.

Above is our car seat. It arrived at Daddy's office today. Eva is excited about it.

15 Week Appointment

Today we heard Eva's heartbeat. This was especially exciting for Auggie as he has not been able to attend most of our appointments. Her stats? H/R 160 and very strong! She had a bit of a wiggle while we were listening which was fun!

Good news - the pushchair and the car seat are winging their way to Daddy's office! Yay! Auggie says she will be the best strolled baby in the USA - I agree.

Closet

Today I cleaned and rearranged my closet. This sounds pretty dull right? Well, it was - and it was pretty sad. I have decided the best way to make my life easier in the morning is to sort out the clothes I can wear from the clothes that Evangeline has determined are too small. Naturally the latter enormously out number the former. ARGH. She's worth it of course but it was still sad to push all of my favourites to the back of the closet. Overall I think this is a good thing though since it mean the closet got a well earned proper cleanup.

On a positive note, we THINK we have ordered our pushchair. I have placed the order with a small shop in northern England and hope that they will have it in stock. The one we want is discontinued and to make things harder, most of the stores that stock it don't seem to take American credit cards. What a pain!!! Fingers crossed that the little shop in Bradford will have it.

As you can see, we have taken a three year hiatus from posting on the blog. We're starting again with posts to keep everyone updated on Eva's progress and our progress with getting ready for her arrival.