Planning way ahead

It's been really nice having two sisters just ahead of me in this parenting journey. I've been figuratively looking over their shoulders by scanning their blogs and listening intently to conversations at the family gatherings...

Scraped from their blogs I've browsed on to other blogs that strike me as 'good places to remember and revisit in 12 months or so...

http://www.notimeforflashcards.com/
A great blog with activities and even songs for young children.

http://mymontessorijourney.typepad.com/my_montessori_journey/2008/06/cards-and-count.html

Montissori was my primary education - and in my opinion a fabulous method of educating young children. This blog is my first foray into getting ready to try and pass some of that love of learning on to my own little one. *I am SOOO looking forward to this*

And another montisorri link - this post in particular about early math education and materials:
http://montessorifreefall.blogspot.com/2008/08/choosing-montessori-materials-math.html

More later.

B, out!

Cravings

Today, Brian needed to make a quick run to the store for some school supplies (he's taking some evening classes). I asked him if he would pick up a couple things for me while he was out... just a jar of jalapeno pickles and some rocky road ice cream... did I just ask my husband to get me pickles and ice cream??? (Lest you worry, I don't eat both in one sitting... typically.)

It's a live one!

The morning of August 17th, 2008, I woke up and was just lying in bed, enjoying the warm bed and thinking about what I wanted for breakfast. These days I'm always thinking about what I'd like to eat next, being 17 weeks pregnant. As I was daydreaming of eggs-over-medium, I felt a little stirring in my belly. It definitely wasn't a hungry tummy grumble. It definitely wasn't digestion (my stomach was empty). I hadn't moved suddenly, so it couldn't be shifting due to gravity. It was a fluttering and then a tightness on one side that slowly relaxed. This was the first time that I could say without a doubt that I felt baby move inside of me. It was sort of strange but mostly amazing.

Mama at 3 Months

Here's me at the very end of my third month of pregnancy. (These pictures were taken on July 11th, 2008.) I'm starting to get a little baby bump! The room I'm standing in will become the nursery... as you can see, it's not much of a nursery yet.

Our First Ultrasound

On June 25th, 2008, Brian and I went to a routine checkup with my OB/GYN. I was 9 weeks pregnant, and the doctor wanted to try to listen for the baby's heartbeat using a Doppler. After several minutes of trying to pick up the heartbeat, the doctor was unable to do so. He said that it was probably no big deal, but if we'd like the peace of mind we could have an ultrasound. Otherwise he would try to listen for baby's heart again in two more weeks. We told him that we'd like the ultrasound, and here is the result!

Brian and I think the picture looks more like a lima bean than a baby, but when we were able to see it live, we could make out tiny arms and legs and there was a constant flickering in the center that we were told was the heartbeat. In this picture, the head is on the left where the crosshairs are, and you can almost make out the legs on the right.

The doctor says everything looks healthy and was impressed that we were seeing baby's limbs move so much at this early stage.