It's a girl!

Yup, that's right folks, Jay was right and I was wrong. We had our 18wks ultrasound this morning, and we're going to have a little girl! She's actually in the 90th percentile in weight right now, tipping the scales at a whopping .62 lbs! She's also a very active little girl, according to my doctor. I've been feeling her move a lot lately--lots of little flutters and light bumps when I'm sitting still, but I didn't know what was normal. He had a hard time getting her to lie still during the ultrasound! Also, all the major stuff they check during that ultrasound were normal, so praise God! Looks a bit like an alien, doesn't she? It's a side shot of her from head to foot, with her head being on the right side.

Let the pink shopping and female name-picking begin!

Mauck family Thanksgiving

Well it's back to the daily grind after a long, wonderful weekend of family, eating, traveling, fun, and relaxing. Jay and I drove with Paul and Diane to Kansas Wednesday, to the Mauck family colony in Whitewater, about 30mins north and east of Wichita. The Maucks remind me of my mom's family, the Pannells, as three generations live within 10 minutes of each other (that's Paul's brothers and their wives, the remaining grandparent, Grandma Winnie, and one grandchild and her husband and child). They also enjoy Nerts!! However, they had always played singles, but I managed to talk them into trying doubles, so it was a lot like a Pannell family evening! However, I didn't represent the Pannells very well, as Kyle and I never could pull off a victory. Next summer, we'll need a rematch.

Counting me, four of the Mauck grandchild couples are expecting babies next year, including Kyle and Audrey, Jay's middle brother and his wife! There are already seven great-grandchildren aged 1.5 to 11, so next year will be crazy!

Hubby killed a deer Thanksgiving day, so I heard "Where's Jay?" all day long! Perhaps a better question is, "What season is it?" because that always explains where Jay is! No, pretty much the two animals Jay hunts are trophy bucks and bass. He could care less about shooting birds or catching other kinds of fish.

Anyway, we managed to somehow fit a new ice chest full of deer meat, the buck's head wrapped in trash bags, all our luggage, and mine and Diane's own hunting conquests (from Kohl's and Super Target) into the back of my car Saturday morning and made it home that afternoon.

Pannell family, we're sorry we couldn't come to the Friday get-together, and we hope to see you soon!

I suppose the second trimester must be the one where you have lots of energy, because I got all my Christmas decor up over the weekend, too! I'll post some pics in the next couple days. First, I need some reindeer antlers or Santa hats to put on Shadow and Ranger. That'll fix 'em!

We go for our big ultrasound tomorrow, so the boy/girl announcement will be posted sometime tomorrow!

I can feel the little one move!

I think all my viewings of that sexyback Office video (see previous post) have got my baby grooving! I felt him/her kick, shift, and roll several times yesterday! It was amazing! I might have felt smaller movements last week, but yesterday there was no denying what these little insdie bumps could be. I skipped what a couple people described to me as "butterfly wings fluttering against the inside of your tummy" and went right to kicks. What a miracle--praise God!

This is why YouTube was created

Okay, this has nothing to do with pregnancy or marriage, but for an old-school Justin Timberlake fan and a die-hard The Office watcher, this is the funniest video I've seen. Ever. Watch it.

16 weeks bump

Okay, I might not look much bigger than 12wks in this pic, but I feel a lot bigger! Everyday, my tummy is feeling more and more foreign to me! My skin's getting tighter, and so are my clothes! However, I'm not one to hide a pregnant belly--I'm not going to suddenly start wearing flowy shirts when my more form-fitting ones still stretch across my belly just fine. I say, rock the belly!

Hubby came back from a four-night deer-hunting trip in Kansas last night, thank goodness. Although I call his trip deer-watching, because he didn't actually kill a deer. Hey, bow-hunting takes a lot more skill, blah, blah, blah! That's what he says. Thanks to Jay's cousins Tracy and Kourt for housing and feeding Jay and Preston. Can't wait until my first Mauck family Thanksgiving in Kansas!

(Almost) Four Months Prenatal Appointment

Well, the doctor visit yesterday was pretty uneventful, which is a good thing. We listened to the baby's heartbeat--always a thrilling experience. It was amazing--he put his little ultrasound thingy up to my belly, and immediately we could hear the quick tha-thump, tha-thump, tha-thump. The heart rate was 155, which the doc said was normal and good. I've only gained a 1/2 pound! That is unbelievable, because I can't button up any of my pants!! That ususally takes a weight gain of 5 or 10 lbs, in my experience.

We did simulated interviews this week in my English Methods class, with us taking turns in the hot seat and asking each other some tough questions. This made me realize that I'll need to get a maternity business suit, because I'll go for job interviews either in the next month or two (if I passed my test) or in the spring, when I'll be six to nine months pregnant! And my methods teacher told us not to divulge any personal details in the interview...my belly's going to do the talking for me!

It's November?!!

We had a busy week so I'm little behind in posting!

Last Tuesday, Jay and I, his parents, and our friend Colby went to the OU/Oklahoma Christian exhibition basketball game at Lloyd-Noble in Norman! I was a little conflicted, sitting among Maucks (and oh yeah, I am one!), but wanting to yell "Go Big Red!" For the non-Maucks reading this, OC is a long Mauck tradition. Despite the fact that I'm Sooner-born and Sooner-bred, I've always liked cheering for the underdog, so I cheered OC onto a thrilling defeat by OU. Neither team is very good this year, so the game itself was not that much fun to watch. It was good to see people, though, especially my overworked, overstressed sister, who ate with us afterward! Jay got to visit with old college buddies, too, which he doesn't get to do enough.

I took off work Friday to study for my OSAT--I can't tell you what a relief it is that's over!! It was the most intense testing experience of my life! The GRE was harder, but this test seemed so much more important: If I can't pass this test, I thought, I'm not qualified to do the only job I can see myself doing! It took me three and a half hours (the Journalism OSAT took me only an hour and a half!), and my hand was seriously cramped when I got out of there. It's only 80 questions, but the majority of them were over a reading, from poems to Shakespeare to speeches to articles. Then came the essay question! That's what cramped my hand up so much. I was so in the zone that I didn't even look back over my answer sheet, which freaks me out a little. I just put down my pencil, got up, and handed my test in, all in a daze. Now I have to wait a month to see how I did!! However, I really think I passed, because I felt confident of my answers at least 75% of the time, and I'm sure my essay will get a really high score. Yay! I had a funny dream last night that I was taking the test again, but this time a bunch of people I knew from college were in there, and we were all hanging out and visiting, and having cokes, and I keep getting off on my answer sheet. In reality, you're not allowed to speak to ANYONE during the test, you can't have anything sitting on your desk, and you have to raise your hand to get a bathroom pass! Yikes!