Saturday December 31, 2011 - 27 Weeks

It's the last day of the year and Rich and I are super excited for the new year to start because it's the year of Tatum!! We will now be able to move forward with decorating the nursery now that the holiday's are finally over. There's not much to report other then I'm just growing bigger and Tatum continues to move around a lot! It is the best feeling in the world. It is so indescribable and there is nothing else like it. I feel bad for Men, especially Rich, and any woman who doesn't get to feel this. It is just such a miracle! To just know that I have a baby living and growing inside of my body is just so remarkable! It is something I will never forget and never, ever take for granted. Here is the latest picture of my baby bump!

Saturday December 10, 2011 - 24 Weeks

Here's the latest picture of my baby bump. It's getting bigger and bigger!!! :)

Thursday December 8, 2011 - 24 Weeks

We had our ultrasound today and the baby is doing great! She is growing like crazy and now weighs 1 pound 3 ounces!! We asked the tech if we could see a 3D of her face and she said it would be hard because of the baby's positioning but she would try. When it came time, the baby had her hand over half of her face so we only got a side shot. Little stinker! We got a good 2 D shot of her though and it looks like she's smiling. :) She was head up this time which makes sense to me, seeing that she keeps kicking me in the bladder! This kid loves to kick me in the bladder. It hurts so bad too so a lot of times I try to move her around so she stops. Ha! I have my next appointment on Monday with Dr Castilla so we are just plugging right along. I can't believe how fast this pregnancy is going. I'm really trying to enjoy all of it and not wish it away. Especially because this may be my only chance to ever be pregnant. Rich is still completely wonderful to me and I love to see how excited he gets about all the little things right along with me. He has been reading to Tatum at night and it is just too sweet! I am so blessed and truly lucky!!

Thursday December 1, 2011 - 23 Weeks

The baby's movements have now become consistent everyday! It is so exciting! I can feel her move around at various times of the day and night. She is so darn cute! It is so reassuring that she is doing great when I can feel her move/ I used to have to wait until I saw the doctor every month to hear her heart beat to know she was okay and now I can feel her moving. It is just so wonderful. I can now even feel her on the outside of my belly. I woke Rich up last night in the middle of the night because she woke me up kicking and I knew he would be able to feel it on the outside. Sure enough, just as soon as I put his hand on my belly she let out a big kick! He was so thrilled to finally feel her. Up until now he kept saying it was just something special for me. Now he can share in how special it really is! :)

We have another ultrasound scheduled for next Thursday to see how she is doing. We are really looking forward to it. We will hopefully get to see a 3D image of her face! I am hoping the technician will do it for us. We will also get a second peek to make sure she is still a girl hahaha!!

Thursday November 10, 2011 - 20 Weeks

I have officially started feeling my baby girl moving around in my belly! It is so exciting! At first I thought I could feel a little something but I wasn't sure. It's not very consistent yet but when I lay on my back at night in bed, I can feel a little movement. It doesn't really feel like flutters that everyone talks about. It mostly feel like little pushes. Every night now I get really excited to see if I can feel her move. I can generally feel a little here & there. I can't wait until it gets more consistent!

Sunday November 6, 2011 - 19.5 Weeks

Rich and I have officially decided to name our baby girl Tatum Elizabeth Strauss. We mulled over lots of different names but we both have loved the name Tatum for a long time and I have always loved the name Elizabeth. It sounds beautiful together, Tatum isn't a common name and also not a weird, uncommon name, so we are really happy with our choice! I hope she likes her name as much as we do!

Wednesday November 2, 2011 - 19 Weeks

As everyone can tell from the image above, we found out today that we are having a girl!!!! We are so thrilled! We had the ultrasound today and she is measuring perfectly on everything. Thank you, God! It was such a wonderful feeling today to see our baby on the screen and to see her little heart beating away.    We just bought a new camcorder to start filming everything and Rich wanted to film the ultrasound session but the technician wouldn't let him. We don't know why but we of course obliged, begrudgingly! ;) It was so great to see the baby's brain, heart, kidney's, etc for the first time. She now weighs a whopping 10 ounces! We both breathed a sigh of relief when we saw that she is doing just fine. At the end of the ultrasound, the technician asked if we wanted to know the gender, and we told her yes! She started probing around and I could tell instantly that the baby was indeed a girl but I didn't say anything just to be sure. The technician then said, "It's a girl!" and Rich and I both got tears in our eyes instantly. He said, "Are you sure?" and the tech told us that she would not tell us anything unless she was absolutely certain. So, we are definitely having a girl! We were both very overwhelmed with emotion but Rich especially was. He was so convinced we were having a boy and I think it was just a shock for him. He couldn't be more happy! This little girl will have him wrapped around her little finger. He is such a softie anyway and I just know that she will melt his heart. I'm so excited for little pigtails, bows in her hair, little tutu's, dresses, and all things girly! I know there will be lots of shopping in our future! After we left the doctor's office, we called our parents, siblings, etc. right away and everyone is so excited. Rich was just so choked up with emotion that he couldn't really talk on the phone to his Mom or sister. It was the most precious thing ever. :)

So now we can start planning the nursery and register for baby items. My sister-in-law, Melissa will make the nursery bedding for us. I need to start looking for fabric that is perfect. I don't know how we will decorate just yet but I'm sure there will be lots of pink! We are beyond excited for this precious little girl to come into our lives. She will be so loved and protected by us. We will provide her with a great life filled with lots of love!!

I am definitely in maternity clothes right now. My belly is getting bigger and bigger. People are starting to notice that I am pregnant now. I have purchased some cute clothes to get me through the rest of the pregnancy. I didn't want to buy too many. I would rather spend money on my baby girl! I'm sure this will be the story of the rest of my life!! :)

Here's a picture of my baby bump right now.