Doctor's Appointment & Ultrasound

Monday we were given the best Christmas gift yet - a great check up and a healthy ultrasound! At my 19 week ultrasound, I was told that my placenta is "low lying." This means that instead of it being high on my uterus (as it should be), it's low down by my cervix. Normally, as the uterus grows, the placenta grows up with it. However, if it doesn't, then an automatic C Section and bed rest is required towards the end of pregnancy. I wasn't too worried, because the majority (in the 90th percentile) of women who have a low lying placenta early in pregnancy don't have the issue later on.

So after we were told the good news that my placenta had grown up and was normal, we got to see Peyton move around and even yawn a few times! I'm not sure if he was actually yawning, but he was opening and closing his mouth. He was measuring about 2 weeks ahead, mainly because of his large head!

The past few weeks we've been cleaning out my office, which will be the nursery. The closet was full of boxes, so we spent a lot of time cleaning out other rooms and closets in the house to make more room for storage. Every thing's pretty much cleared out, except for the big pile of Goodwill and Craigslist stuff sitting in our loft. Somehow we got away without needing to rent a storage unit. So in the next few weeks we'll be painting and the decorating will begin!

Being that I've got lots of Christmas shopping yet to do (eek!), I probably won't have a chance to blog tomorrow. So here's the tidbit for 26 weeks:

Your baby is as tall as an English hothouse cucumber and weighs about 1 2/3 pounds. (Length: 14 inches, head to heel.) *Peyton was measuring about 1 lb, 15 oz on Monday, which means by tomorrow he'll probably be 2 lbs!

I HOPE EVERYONE HAS A VERY MERY CHRISTMAS AND THAT WE ALL REMEMBER THE REASON FOR THE SEASON!

LOVE TO YOU ALL!

Deck the Halls!

Just wanted to post a few pics of our house all decked out in the Christmas spirit!

A little tradition I've been doing since 2002, the first year Steve and I started dating, is to get an ornament for that year and put our picture in it. It's fun to pull out all the past ornaments and remember each year. It's also a little crazy, at this point, to see how much we've aged and changed! But we always have a good laugh at a few of the oldies but goodies :)

Christmas 2002

Christmas 2003

Taken in Carlsbad, CA

Christmas 2004

Christmas 2005

Another in Carlsbad, CA

Christmas 2006

An engagement pic - Dec 23rd was when he popped the question!

Christmas 2007

The year of our wedding!

Christmas 2008

Our first Christmas w/ Ginger :)

This years pic will probably be a belly shot, and 2010's will be our first real family picture! Here's what our cozy house looks like:

And here's an ornament my mom gave us - Parents to be!

Here's Santa's (bad) helper:

She wasn't too thrilled about her new necklace, but we were ;)

Baby hiccups?

Thursday night after I got up to use the restroom, I noticed Peyton started kicking a lot. As I laid there, I felt him kicking and then noticed some light twitching that was pretty consistent and coming from where I think his head was. It only lasted a few minutes, but I'm pretty sure it was hiccups!

I was reading about hiccups the next day and it was saying how they're practicing breathing and if you eat something or get startled, they'll sometimes get the hiccups. So maybe when I suddenly got up to use the bathroom that startled him. It hasn't happened since but am hoping it does!

Update

I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season! I can't believe Christmas is in 2 weeks, let alone New Years in 3 weeks. Wow!

Steve got back today from a Real Estate conference in Texas. He was gone for 4 days and it was so hard to be away from him! It definitely gave me some insight as to what women go through when their husbands are away for months at a time in Afghanistan... only that would be a million times worse. I don't know how any of them do it!

While he was gone, I spent a few nights at my moms house. It was lots of fun and she really pampered me (& Peyton). She made huge meals both nights and we watched a few Christmas movies. Mom got in some really big kicks from Peyton and it was nice to get some mommy/daughter time in before I become a mommy myself. :)

Last Saturday kicked off the Christmas Party marathon! Then this weekend we have 3 events to go to and up until New Years, our weekends are packed. Even though I love this time of year, all I can find myself thinking about is the baby and starting the nursery! I know come January 1st (the start of not only a New Year, but the 3rd trimester), I'll be tearing the Christmas decorations down and be in baby mode until the nursery is complete. Also in Jan we start our childbirth preparation classes, baby care class, and I'll take a breast feeding class. Then Feb is the baby shower, and I'll also be getting maternity pictures taken around then too. (can't wait!)

Tomorrow I'll be 24 weeks. The picture of me was taken tonight.

Here's the tidbit for this week:

Your baby has caught up with an ear of corn in size and gained about 1/4 pound since last week. (Length: almost a foot.)

I can't believe he's gaining 4 ounces a week now! I remember when he would gain 1/2 an ounce a week and that seemed to be a huge milestone.

Oh also, I have to share the biggest laugh of the week. I took my car into get serviced and check out what they gave me as a rental -- a Smart Car! I think karma caught up to me because just last week I said those cars are the ugliest cars ever! I'll admit, I had a choice to get something else, but this was free of cost and I was kinda curious about it. ;)

Enjoy the rest of the week!

23 Weeks!

Today I'm 23 weeks pregnant! Steve took a picture of me last night and boy have I grown. No wonder my back is killing me!

Peyton's been kicking a lot and I love every minute of it. My appetite has definitely increased and I've noticed my tennis shoes have been pretty tight, so I think my feet are swelling a bit. To date, my biggest pregnancy complaint is definitely the awful backaches. However, if that's the worst it gets, I'd say I'm pretty lucky :)

Here's a tidbit about 23 weeks:

Your baby weighs about as much as a large mango -- just over a pound. (Length: more than 11 inches.)

And the Winner Is...

We're excited to announce the name of our baby boy... and the winner is... PEYTON!!

Amazingly, it wasn't a hard choice, as we both fell in love with it right away. Funny how it came about -- one night at an ASU football game, Steve was joking and said, "We should name him Peyton Tom Eddie Olson!" These are a few of his favorite people: Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, and Eddie Vedder. We laughed then after a second I said, "I actually like the name Peyton!" That night we looked up the meaning (Warrior of the Village) and fell in love.

Since then we've used it constantly and nothing seems more fitting. We're still deciding on a middle name, but for now he's Peyton Olson!!