Bean get ready for "Bean Town"

So Bean, and all of you out there that don't know me, your dad is a huge Boston Red Sox fan. Like my father before me and his father before him, I bleed Red Sox blood. Now I don't want you to feel any pressure or feel in anyway that I might be try to persuade you to follow down any particular path but when you get older you might notice that many of your outfits have a particular theme.... Just remember that I love you!

We are proud to introduce......Baby Bean!!!!!!!!

The appointment went well. We heard Bean's heartbeat (yeah, only 1 baby) and even saw her wave at us. She seems like a fun person already. Like me! *wink*

The doctor is hilarious. He kept John, mom & I laughing the entire time but not in a trying-to-be-funny way. He gave us plenty of time to ask questions and didn't rush us through like cattle. I think we made a great choice with this one.

Official due date is August 21st but doc says it could happen anywhere between 2 weeks before or after. I'm happy. John is happy. Life is good.

Yay....it's finally here! OB appointment that I WON'T miss this time.

I have my first OB appt in about an hour. I will be back posting what we learned later on tonight. Bean, honey, we can't wait to hear from you!

Still Hard To Believe

I look at the little fetus on the side of this blog and marvel at how it develops from day to day. I still can't believe this is going on inside of me. I'm creating a life. I mean right now it's happening, as I write this. John and I created a life! It is so amazing.

9 Weeks and So Accomplished!

Precious Bean, you are looking more baby-ish every week. Here's a list of all the things you are very good at so far:



Being nearly an inch long. (So teensy!)
Being the size of a grape.
Weighing a fraction of an ounce.
Looking more and more human. (I love that about you!)
Having body parts accounted for.
Your heart finishes dividing into 4 chambers.
Your heart valves and teeth are starting to form.
Your tail is gone (Hallelujah!)
Your organs, muscles and nerves are kicking into gear.
Your sex organs are there but not distinguishable yet.
Your eyes are fully formed but eyelids are fused shut for now.
You have tiny earlobes. (I can't wait to nibble them.)
Your mouth, nose & nostrils are more distinct.
The placenta is developed enough now to take over producing your horomones.
You are poised to start putting on weight!

No Appointment Today - Dang it!

I had written down the wrong time so I missed it by an hour. Yes, it is very frustrating. We were so looking forward to it. But her heartbeat will be even stronger and more audible next week, is what I've been told. So we are fine about it. Stuff happens.

Anyway, it was rescheduled for NEXT Thursday. And I promise I'll write down the correct time.

Maternity T-shirts I Totally Need to Buy

Precious Gift from a Precious Friend

We received a wonderful surprise in the mail today...a work of art made by my online friend Tammy. Yes, it is breathtaking, I know. It will hang nicely on Bean's wall. But it is also functional. The little pocket behind the moon holds a mini sound recorder! How cool is that?



And what better timing? Tomorrow John and I will go to the doctor and (hopefully) hear Bean's heartbeat. What a perfect way to document the beautiful sound of a tiny new life. Thank you so much Tammy. I will cherish this forevah.

If you want to see more of her work, or get a voice recorder of your own, check out her blog. Tammy, I know you never intended this to be a plug for your store, but hey why not...your stuff rocks!

Walking the Walk

So I'm coming to terms with how aggravated I get when behind the wheel. People are just so selfish. They don't mind inconveniencing the whole world if it means they can make that last minute turn across 3 lanes of traffic. It would be so much easier (and less DANGEROUS) if you would just pass your turn, make the next one, double back, and not be an idiot. Normally when I experience the side effect of Idiot Driver (who just has to catch the light so they scoot out and block a lane in the middle of an intersection when I have a green light) I mutter, fume and then go on about my business.

My muttering & fuming doesn't bother me. Maybe it should, but it doesn't. Well...until now. I think "One day I'm going to have a kid in that back seat and they will certainly think their mom is Hater-Of-All-People." Then I start to wonder - do I hate all people? Well that would just be silly. Of course not. I certainly dislike a lot of what people do.

So I can already see God working in us by way of Bean. This little baby is turning my inner world upside down and she doesn't even know it. You can't raise a kid by faking the funk. You have to know the walk and walk the walk in order to teach the walk to others. Hmmm. I used to worry about not having what it takes to teach my child to follow God. It's really easy though. If you truly are following God with all you have then it should be a cinch to demonstrate that to the kids.

Do we do anything other than eat????

I had one day (Friday) when my stomach felt stable enough to eat like I had pre-Bean. I actually felt really great. After work I went to buy groceries and make John a killer shephard's pie for dinner. But today I'm back to being unstable. yippie.

When food is unappealing to you, the food messages all around assault you like the poor nerdy unarmed kid in the middle of a paint ball field. A simple drive to the store means I get to pass like 4 restuarant signs (blech!)...watching TV is just torture with soooooooooo many food commercials (yak!) I mean jeeze, what can a pregnant lady do to escape? I'm going to go live in a cave. Someone come get me 7 months.

Having a Baby in August

I used to dread the thought of having a huge preg belly in the dead heat of a Florida summer. If Bean hadn't been so eager to get started, I would have done whatever possible to yeild a baby in October. Eh...God has the say so and I can't complain about that.

And I also realize that my family has an abundance of birthdays in August. Wouldn't it be neat if our baby was born on August 11th (my cousin Gary), on August 18th (my mother-in-law), on August 22nd (my cousin Karri), or on August 29th (my brother-in-law)?

Our Future Baby Boy?

Why's my kid gotta have beady little eyes and a 5-head???? Okay great. I wasn't wondering what Bean will look like before but I am now.



What do you think about our Bean Jr.?

Our Future Baby Girl?

Here's a fun little gadget. Upload your photo and it will kick out what your kid might look like. Thanks Cyndi for sharing this with me.


What do you think about our future new Bean?

Stuff I'm Wondering

I haven't gotten to the point where I'm wondering what Bean will look like. But I do contemplate how the rest of this pregnancy will go.

When will I start to show? I know it's different for everyone. Will I get to sport a big round belly? That would be neat. I've always thought denim overalls with a pink shirt underneath was the cutest outfit on an expectant mom with a big ol' belly.

Are horomones going to make me snap on someone? I hope not, and if so I hope the person/people can easily forgive me. If they survive, that is. ;o) When will I have my first craving? Am I going to get any decent sleep at all before the baby comes? Will I have freaky dreams like some do?

What will the first baby kick be like? Will I care if people touch my belly? Well, I care now because the belly pooching out is me, not yet baby. Don't be feeling my blubber! LOL Will my water break in the privacy of my own home (please God?) or will it happen out in public? And is it really as disgusting as they make it seem in the movies.

Well, that's it for today's wonderings.

My favorite things right now...

Grilled cheese sandwiches

Homemade fruit smoothies - Cuisinart blenders chop the ice sooooo well!

Cold water

*Ginger snap cookies

*Ginger ale

*Ginger root capsules

(* it's a pre-emptive strike against any nausea that might try to creep on me.)

Laughing - it takes my mind off the stomach cramps these STUPID prenatal vitamins are giving me.

I thought I would miss coffee & tea more but I don't.

Also reading 2 books - "On Becoming Babywise" (really interesting so far) and "Belly Laughs" (funny....crude but funny.)

Oh, and I've lost 3 lbs. Woohoo! I'm not trying to diet, just eating better.

Sweet email from my Mom

I adore my Mom's memories of her grandmother. Great Grandma Sarah was a precious woman. I have my own dear memories of her, but wanted to post this touching email from 1st-time-Grandma-to-be.

Rebecca, I think about you and John and the little butter bean all the time. You and John are going to be such GREAT parents!!!

I pray I will be at least as good of a grandmother as my grandmother was. I wish you girls would have had more time with her before she got dementia. She taught Gail and me how to sew and used to take us to plays in Chicago when we were young. She didn't drive so we would take the bus from where they lived into Chicago and we would always stop and get a real expensive box of chocolates for us to eat during the plays. Of course we all took turns spending summers with them in Illinois. I used to get to stay up late and watch Johnny Carson with them every night. They only had a 1 bedroom apartment in Illinois. And then a 2 bedroom house in Lighthouse Point, FL. My bed in their little apartment consisted of the pullout couch... that's why I got to stay up late and watch TV.

I can hardly wait to meet my grandchild. This is so very exciting for me. Remember if you have any questions, I've been through 3 pregnancies of my own and I still have the pediatric medical background. If I don't know the answer I can certainly find out. Like if you get constipated, eat lots of pineapple.

I love you,

Mom

Thoughts & Vents

Bean @ 7 weeks 4 days, you've got a little boodah belly going on now. It's kinda cute. Your head still looks like a beluga whale and you are finally sprouting arm nubs, but I'm sure when you are done cooking you'll be way adorable.

I'm getting excited about the appointment next week. I've heard from other moms that we will probably hear the heart beat. I can't help but wonder if there are 2 babies in there incubating. It is a possibility, you know. John's family has 2 or 3 sets of twins. My family has twins but way back in my great-grandmother's generation. Anything is possible.

The lesson I'm trying to learn now is who to talk to about pregnancy things. I've gotten some really great input from several girls whom I love dearly. They understand that every pregnancy is vastly different and are careful not to dictate or try and freak me out. I so appreciate that. Then there are the random idiots who insist that, like them, I'll have the worst most complicated pregnancy ever, that I'll detest being pregnant, and are quick to dismiss my positive outlook as naivete. I resent that like you wouldn't believe. So rather than punch them in the neck like I want to, I come here and vent it out. After all, I DO like having a job.

Seven weeks....really?!

So I'm waiting to actually feel pregnant. I know it's early. Too soon for ultrasounds or heartbeats or kicks. But I feel like we are on autopilot...doing things to prepare for Bean because we know we should, not because either of us feels maternal or paternal yet.

Like this morning...I went to the daycare center they have out here at work to put my name on the waiting list. I filled out my form, putting Baby Bassett as the child's name, and an estimated due date (sometime late August?) The lady showed me around the infant area. I felt like I should have been asking questions about the facility but I couldn't think of any. I expected I would feel some sense of wonder at seeing all the baby stuff and being around the 8 little cribs in that room, where one day maybe my Bean will be sleeping. Nope. I was like "Yeah, this is nice. Okay, see ya."

I've often told my mom, when I was younger and hadn't quite decided if motherhood was for me, that my fear about parenthood was not being maternal enough. Now don't worry about me - I'm not afraid of this. I just expected it to kick in already and it hasn't. But that is okay. I know it will. And I'm pretty excited about that change because I know it isn't something I contrive on my own. God wired it into me to happen at a particular time that is perfect - not too soon, not too late. And so I'm not worried that I'm broken. I'm just watching and waiting as this miracle unfolds. =)