The countdown begins!!

It has become apparent that pregnant life is all about the countdowns and check lists.

Current countdown: "Anatomical" Ultrasound

Most recent item crossed off our check list: Purchasing nursery furniture

All very exciting things! We get to find out the gender of our baby in a little over 2 weeks!! I'm so very excited to be able to call Baby P "He" or "She" instead of "It". I'm also ready to get serious about names. We started a list for both boy and girl names several months back but decided to put it down until we only have to focus on one. Providing your child with the name they will go by for the rest of their life is such a big deal, and I need all the time I can get to make such a monumental decision.

Brent and I will be learning the gender of our baby in a very special way. Our good friends, Ryan and Audrey, will be throwing us a "Reveal the Gender" party just a couple days after our ultrasound. As long as Baby P doesn't decide to be bashful on the 27th and hide his/her stuff (**fingers crossed**), we will have our Dr. put the gender in an envelope and will give it to Audrey. She will be the first to know :) At this party, the gender will be revealed to us in front of friends and family using clever means such as cutting into a blue or pink cake or opening a gender specific gift. I'm so excited to share this moment with the people we are closest to versus finding out in a doctor's office. (I realize it would also be very special to find out when baby P enters the world, but come on, I can't wait another 5 months!!!) A big thanks to the Desjardins for offering to do this for us!

In other news, as mentioned above, we have purchased our nursery furniture! A little early in the game, but we had to start somewhere. We were also told to be prepared for it to take 8 - 12 weeks for delivery. However, 2 out of our 3 pieces were in stock and we are picking them up today! I guess the crib will stay in the box for a while, but at least it will be in our house. Also in nursery news, Brent spent the last two weekends testing his carpentry skills by installing a chair rail and wainscoting in our current guestroom/future nursery. May I say that it looks amazing and 100% spot on with how I pictured it. Pictures to come!

That's about it for now! The next post may very well be a big announcement!

A Little Christmas Magic

It sure did fly by, but this Christmas was truly wonderful! I can't put my finger on what specifically made it so special, however, I think a combination of factors helped out. Besides enjoying the time with our families, it was fun to imagine how different and exciting all future Christmases will be once Baby P is here. I remember how much magic and anticipation surrounded Christmas as a child and I am so excited for my baby to experience that. I also think Christmas break was exciting because I officially started my 2nd trimester and as all the books and websites have said would happen, I am feeling SOOOOOOO much better. No more constant state of queasiness and no more pure exhaustion. I'm starting to feel like my old self again. Also, this year, Santa gave me the gift of a tiny little baby bump (another fun 2nd trimester milestone)! Only noticeable to myself and possibly people who know me well and if I'm wearing a tight top....but a baby bump nonetheless :)

Here are a couple pictures from this Christmas:

Andy went into a banana pudding coma (which is a whole other story...)

 And Baby P got a little something from each family!

Appointments, coming out of the closet, and raging hormones - oh my!

Goodness, its been a couple weeks. Well, can you blame me? Since the last entry we've been through Thanksgiving, preparing for Christmas, and work has been absolutely silly for both of us. So, lets update shall we?

We had our second appointment last week. It went wonderfully. I was so super nervous for no reason I could put my finger on. Blood work? Nope, we've already discussed my lack of fear of needles (except the epi of course). I suppose I was just nervous that I would hear something was wrong with the baby. And supposedly, I'll feel this way every time. I feel like it will get better when I can feel kicking but right now its tough when I don't feel the baby nor do I look pregnant. But I digress. This time there was no ultrasound but he used the doppler to find the heart beat and that was very cool. First he found mine and I was thinking "yeah yeah, I know my blood is pumping, lets move on", and then he honed in on one much more rapid than my own.....I'M IN LOVE ALREADY!!! Afterwards, I was told that based on the strong heart beat and the fact that the machine can only pick it up after 10 weeks (in which I thought I still had a few days), that I have a 95-98% chance of walking away with a baby at this pint. YAY!! So, based on these odds, we decided it was appropriate timing to start telling the world. Thus, leading to the 2nd piece of this post's title:

Coming out of the closet. There's not really a whole lot to tell here. We've enjoyed telling all our friends and are so excited for all the love and support we are surrounded by. It means the world to us.

And as for the last part of this post's title, I believe it pretty much explains itself. For those of you who know me well, or even just a little, you know I am one of the least confrontational people. I prefer peace and finding common ground. Or atleast I used to. Something has snapped and my tolerance for stupidity has gone out the window. Now these people (HEB cashier, various customer service reps, etc.) really know how I feel. I of course blame it on pregnancy hormones. Or perhaps my husband finally rubbed off on me :p.

One last thing to mention - Christmas cards. They take on a whole new meaning now. I've always loved receiving those cards containing various family pictures, but always felt too cheesy to do this just for us and the fur-babies. However, this year, since our news is out now, I thought it would be fun to create our first....here it is:

One last thing - we get to find out gender in just 5 weeks from now!!! Any guesses? The odds are pretty good that you'll get it right ;-)

Houston, we have a baby.

What an exciting day!!! Today we went to our first appointment! This experience was so incredible I can't even begin to describe it. After the nurse asked a few questions about my history (not nearly as many as I had prepared myself for), the Dr. came in and we jumped right into the fun stuff - the ultrasound and listening to the heart beat! Everything looks great, the heart beat is steady, and it turns out that based on the baby's measurements, I'm 5-7 days less far along than previously thought. This puts our new due date at.....

Drum roll please....

July 7th!!!

That's right ladies and gents. Should this date prove to be accurate, no longer will we be celebrating our anniversary through an intimate dinner reservation for two, but rather with a parade of little munchkins celebrating Baby P's birthday :-)

So without further ado, here are some pictures of the ultrasound. He/she looks like a little seahorse right now :-) The top pic is definitely the best. The 2nd and 3rd are distorted by the Dr. trying to take measurements. The 4th is really zoomed out but at the bottom you can see the measurement of the heart beat.

Also, at the bottom I posted a video Brent captured of the heart beat! There is a lot of background noise, but if you turn your volume up high enough, you'll definitely hear it.

Spreading the News - Part II

Alright - so now the Piercey's know, and all Brent's worries of them finding out via facebook or other such means can abate :) His parents came in this past Friday afternoon. We had plans to pour everyone a drink and deliver the news via a toast. However, before we could even get to this point, Brigitte commented on how well a couple kids would fit in the back seat of Brent's new truck. It was just too easy :) And of course this was followed up by "good thing that's going to happen in 7-8 months". Brigitte was completely ecstatic and Tony displayed the "all knowing smile" that B mentioned in his previous post. Because the method of news delivery went off course, I did not capture a picture of the moment like Brent had with my parents. However, here is one we took shortly after.

The next day, Lauren arrived and we told her the same way we told Jeremy, by giving her the frame I had made displaying "To Aunt Lauren, From Baby Piercey". 

Sunday, we all went to the Texans game and had great seats! The top was open to the stadium and the weather was beautiful.  Although, I could have enjoyed it better without the migraine, but whatever.

Lets see - current pregnancy symptoms. I pee a lot. Now its out there, so what. For those of you who know me well, I peed a lot pre-pregnancy so now, its on. Sometimes worse than others but I definitely am not making it through the night. No "morning sickness" in the sense that I haven't lost my cookies yet, but I do have rather frequent moments of "oh, that doesn't feel right". And starting just the last couple of days I'm starting to have food aversions. And not an aversion to just one or even a couple things....no, I pretty much can't stand the thought of eating anything I already ate in the previous couple of days. Awesome. Still tired despite a consistent 8-9 hours of sleep per day.

Oh, and the strangest symptom: everything makes me cry, particularly music. At first it was understandable songs such as "Who are you when I'm not looking" by Blake Shelton. But now songs such as the Glee a cappella remix of "Teenage Dream" and then even  "Kids" by MGMT??? What. the. heck. Ah, pregnancy hormones.

Its also been an absolutely crazy week at work. Not in the sense that the work load has been tough, but that there have been some surprising/crazy/exciting new developments. But alas, I can not divulge these details just yet. Stay tuned :)

Spreading the News

Whew! Finally a minute to sit down and talk about last weekend! Keep in mind through all my "spread the news" stories that this is the first baby for both our families....very exciting!

Last Thursday we found out we were pregnant. It was Halloween weekend and we had plenty of fun activities planned here in Houston. After this fun little piece of news, we dropped it all and made a last minute trip to Austin. First up, my mom and dad!! We hadn't been at my parent's house too long when I just couldn't wait any longer. As planned, I approached my mom and asked her to feel a peculiar bump on my belly (as a massage therapist, she is used to people doing this and did not think twice when I did). After stating that she could not feel anything, I said "well, then we'll just have to give it another 8 months to grow". She was SO caught of guard and SO ecstatic! My dad said he had me figured out as soon as I asked her to put her hand on my belly. Brent caught a couple shots of the moment (and the 3rd is at lunch right after all this).

Later that evening, my brother and his girlfriend came over for dinner and that's when I broke the news to him. When deciding how to tell our loved ones, we couldn't decide if we would rather deliver the news verbally or by handing them something symbolic of a baby. Because of this, we decided to do it verbally with our parents and through a gift to our siblings. So, I spent my Friday afternoon making these for Jeremy and Lauren:

And here is a picture of my brother's reaction when handed his baby frame :)

The next day my Aunt and Grandma (who I am making a GREAT-Grandma for the first time) came over for a visit. We had been planning to tell all extended family at Thanksgiving, but once I saw them, I just could not keep it in! I asked them if they had noticed Brent's new truck outside and Brent casually mentioned how well the car seat would fit. They didn't really get it so he tacked on "in 8 months" and they went crazy :)

Last for our crazy-fast trip to Austin, we just had to tell our close friends, Ryan and Audrey. There was a very good chance we wouldn't see them until Christmas or even after the New Year, so we needed to take advantage of having them in person. (Also, we think its their turn  : p ). Anyways, we told them by taking out my new camera to "show off" and told them to check out this awesome picture I had taken. It was the picture of two pregnancy sticks, both with the word "Pregnant" displayed. Their reaction was the same as everyone else, surprise and excitement.

After returning to work on Monday it was driving me CRAZY that my best AND fellow-pregnant friend did not know yet. The plan was to wait until the weekend after next (since Brent's family will be in town this weekend), but after some email exchanges with her, it was apparent that we were going to have to just pop in on them one night. So surprise surprise, I chose that night. Hannah was the least surprised. While she was crazy excited, she was the only one that had begun to figure me out. Call it pregnant-women's intuition if you want. Afterwards, the 4 of us had dinner together and had fun planning our babies' wedding :)

Next up, the Piercey's!!! I am so excited!!!!! They are going to FLIP out!!

Baby P - you are probably going to be the most spoiled baby ever, and that is not an exaggeration. You are already so loved and you have barely reached the size of a blueberry. Which brings me to my last picture. Since I am 6 weeks tomorrow, I took my first belly pic...here it is! I hate to say it, but I doubt the slight bump is actually Baby P, but more likely a product of the 10 pounds I've gained since the beginning of the year. *sigh* already 10 pounds above where I want to be and pregnancy weight hasn't even started! oh well, I won't even care come 8 months from now :)

The suspense is killing me!

What a whirlwind weekend.... For pregnant people, we sure do move around a lot it seems. Timing is everything for sure. We've now told Chrissie's closest family, as well as my best friend, and Chrissie's best friend. The hardest thing about telling people is having to hold off on telling the most important people (short of my wife of course). My family has been planning on coming in to town for months this weekend, and I have to wait until they get here! You know my mom and sister are going to flip out. I see it already! And my dad... That all knowing grin on his face will be priceless.

Its amazing letting people know about Chrissie and my surprise. Its funny because at this phase it is such a secret thing. My co workers, friends, customers... None of them know that my life is about to take a major change, and its going to affect all of them in different ways.

I think it's now (5 days in) starting to become more real. Chrissie is tired, but pushing through. I have always cooked healthy dinners, but now its getting kicked into overdrive (Organic milk with no hormones or drugs, free range chickens, whole wheat everything) to make sure my wife and baby stay super healthy, not to mention, picking up the slack so Chrissie can relax. She is still kicking ass (Laundry, dishes, etc) but I'm trying to be the gopher for the [now] unimportant things..

Anyways, having Ryan, Audrey, Hannah, and Aaron in the know is great. Their support through this will be critical, and frankly, giving Audrey a reason to push on Ryan is an added benefit (sorry buddy :) ). Also, Hannah and Chrissie going through this together is priceless. I know that it will tie our families together forever. Telling Chrissie's family was a great experience. There wouldn't be another chance for 2 weeks, and Chrissie would have burst waiting to tell her mom, grandmother, and aunt! The support structure my wife will have around her through this is going to be incredible.

But as the title suggests, I'm counting the days to tell my Mom, Dad, and Sister. I'm SO ready to have them involved in this experience. Their love and support has been with me for so long, its a weird gap right now.. but I know telling them in person is the right choice. The Blue Label on the rocks will be oh so sweet on the tongue! Mom, Chrissie, and Lauren are going to go wild together all weekend. Dad and I will be babied out, guaranteed.

The book I'm reading outlines this whole process to a T. You'd think 6 billion some odd people have gone through this before! What's going to happen next? The excitement is awesome! So much to come...