The Dude's First Christmas

And he's not even born yet!

Look at the loot he pulled in this year from the womb:

Cat book from G&G Barker

Eggplant hat from Tommy's Cousins Noelle, Eloy and Carly

Dude shirt and black hightop Chucks from our friends Ashley and Tricia

Sock monkey onesie from G&G Stone

Thanks to all for the well wishes and happy thoughts!

First Ultrasound

I'm now 13 weeks along, and I signed up to be part of a study through the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development looking at new moms to be. They're studying 10,000 first-time pregnant women trying to find out the causes of premature labor, low birth weight babies and hypertension. The upshot for me is a small stipend and 3 free ultrasounds. The Dude wouldn't cooperate with the technician when it came time to be measured and to have his photo taken, but we got to see some great movement as he floated around. We also got to hear his heartbeat and to verify all limbs accounted for. It's too early to tell his gender from the ultrasound, but maybe next time! What an amazing, intense experience. Tommy was even a little teary-eyed for a bit. The photos didn't scan well, but I promise all looked great in person.

Things I like about the second trimester so far: 1. Not being nauseous around the clock. 2. Starting to show! 2a. Being able to go up one loop on belt with no guilt. 3. Extra energy. 4. To be continued....

We're Pregnant!

Positive pregnancy test on Saturday, October 10, 2011

Due date: June 11, 2012

(Which also happens to be mom and dad's anniversary, and two days after my birthday!)

We had decided in the spring of 2011 that we wanted to try to get pregnant (well, actually, Joanna decided while watching a Flyers game from Tommy's friend's company box, but she got Tommy on board eventually). We decided to wait until Joanna came back from India, and within a few months, a positive pregnancy test confirmed our success. We struggled to wait until the start of the second trimester to tell everyone, and finally announced on Thanksgiving.