It's a boy!

Well, at least we made it six months without ruining the surprise. But alas, after many conversations with people who asked "You're really not gonna find out what the sex is?" we somehow broke down and learned the truth today at Heidi's latest doctor's appointment. With any luck, in just about 4 months we will be the proud parents of a bouncing baby boy. Boy!

I still stand by the fact that I would have been just fine going the whole time without a clue as to the sex of the baby had it not been for one overzealous doctor in Florence who accidentally let a couple "he"s slip at one of Heidi's appointments. But, as soon as that one little clue popped into my mind that it might be a Miles instead of a Lilly, then it just kept eating at me, up until today when I finally gave in and told Heidi it was OK for her to find out.

Now, don't think I'm going to go out and repaint the room bright blue, buy some plastic trucks, and reserve my spot in "learn-to-play hockey" classes for 2011 just yet (...OK, well maybe the last one). I think we are both quite glad to be having a boy, but I just want to make sure not to be shoving blue stuff with baseballs and dumb macho crap down his throat from day one.

I don't even really know what else to say...it is truly a rare occasion that you find me at a loss for things to write, but I'm just so happy!

Baby room coming along

Now that we've gotten that whole running thing out of the way, it looks like the Mowders are now free and clear to focus on getting ready for baby. We actually started working on adapting a room for baby probably a month ago, but it has been pretty slow going up until this point.

We started by taking down the bed in the twin bed CPU room and moving over our Full-sized guest bed. Then, it was on to cleaning out the closet in the baby room and getting rid of alot of the junk stored in there. We began painting last weekend, getting all but the touch-up work done. And just today I was able to get a paint edging tool to finish up the painting. Now, with just a quick once over with the vaccuum we will have a nice, blank, green-walled room to work with.


Me taking down nails to prepare for the paint job.


Heidi's brother touching up around the ceiling. Color isn't great on the photo, but I think you can get an idea of what it looks like here.


And, it doesn't stop there. While my parents were down over the weekend, they were nice enough to go ahead and help us buy one of the biggest, and probably the most important piece of baby furniture, the crib. It came from Target, and is a kinda dark mahogany color that I think should look nice in the room (assuming I can figure out how to put it all together.)

All in all, it seems like we are either right on track with the preparations or possibly even *GASP* ahead of the game, when it comes to getting the room together. I think the next step will be to look for an old dresser to work with as another painting project. I'm hoping to do something fun and jungle-looking, much in the same vain of the mural I painted on our coffee table.

Run Daddy Run!!!!!!!!

Well yesterday was te first big day of the year for the Mowder's. Chris ran his first Marathon the Bi-Lo Myrtle Beach Marathon. He did an awesome job he finished with ease and looked good doing it.

I can't wait until next year and Baby Miles/Lilly can be there to cheer him on. Of course this year Baby Mowder was there but had no clue what was up other than Mom was very uncomfortable all day long but it was well worth it.

I AM so proud of Chris he was a rock star and it even made me think thatI want to start to train for next years race. But I think that I will shoot for the half 13 miles will be hard enough for me.

Well I just wanted to share my excitment with you all and let you know that my husband is an offical marathoner now. I can't wait to get up at 4:30am and get out there for the next race day!!!!

Heidi

Loving being preggers!!!!!!

I think that I am finally enjoying being pregnant or at least getting used to it. Now that all the wonderful nausea has gone away. I was pretty lucky though and never really had morning sickness which is great. But the wonderful nausea was probably just as bad if not worse. I am actually not as tired anymore but I am waiting for that to start again once I get farther along and bigger.

The best thing is I am finally showing. I have a cute little(ok maybe not too little) baby bump going. I actually feel pregnant now too. I can feel the baby moving around a lot more even though I have really yet to feel it on the outside. Chris has tried to feel the little one kicking but it doesn't like to cooperate(I think little Mowder acts just like daddy). My mom did get to feel a little bit of kicking tonight because the baby was kicking up a storm. Baby Mowder actually moved around today and started kicking me in a different place which was neat to experience.

The one thing that I still am having trouble with being pregnant is having the baby just chillin on my bladder and the constant trips to the bathroom. I guess I will get used to it because it is just going to get worse not better.

This whole experience has been amazing and it is just going to continue to get better as the due date approaches and I get to see Baby Mowder for the first time I can hardly wait. The count down is on. Oh yeah I plan to put some baby bump pictures up for all to see just how big I am already and I am just now 23 weeks here real soon.

Heidi

Laughing baby videos

Why do people love videos of babies laughing so much? It's hard to believe that this one has 36,000,000 views. I'm pretty sure that's more than an episode of American Idol. Anyways, this one is pretty famous, but there were also plenty of others on Youtube that had like 7 or 8 million views and they were the same thing...just babies laughing at something.



I'm thinking that is going to have to be the first displaced dream I will have to push upon my baby once it is born. If I can't be an internet superstar, maybe my baby can.

Chris

Baby's 1st Kick

I was so excited on Friday morning when I got up from bed in the morning I felt the baby Mowder kick for the first time. I have felt the little one moving around in there plenty of times but I had yet to feel and real kick. It was really amazing at how strong of a kick it was for such a little thing. The baby kicked me right in the belly button which is an odd place to be kicked.

I think Baby Mowder is still breach at this time because it seems that most of the movement is down low. I hope that he/she moves around soon because it sort of makes me nervous knowing that he/she is not in the proper birthing position. I know I still have a few months to go before delivery but you really do worry about everything when you are expecting. It is crazy how much more your mind goes into overdrive.

Well I just wanted to share the good news of baby's first kick with ya all and hope for more to come soon. I can't wait for Chris to be able to feel the baby moving around that will be awesome. I will keep everyone up-dated as baby comes closer and closer to entering the world.

Heidi

Baby's first pictures

OK, these aren't actually the baby's first pictures, but the first one really just looked like a black dot, so I'm calling these the baby's first (and definitely not last) pictures. I think I'm becoming a sucker for this baby stuff, because I honestly can't think of anything to say how I feel about these, so I'm just going to show them.



Arm/hand view



Side view: Leg and foot



Baby feet



Back/spine shot (look at the bones in white)



AND FINALLY...


Full baby profile

Shopping Spree

Going along with Christopher's rearranging for baby I have been trying to get organized myself. So I have been trying to clean out my closets and start to get rid of stuff that I no longer need. I decided that what I no longer needed I was going to donate to Good Will since a new store was getting ready to open up in the area. Another reason I decided to donate to Good Will is that they recently hired a lot of clients from my work which was really awesome. I came home one day after hearing about a donation drive on the radio and told Chris to get some things together so we can go drop them off Saturday at the donation drive. So, we got 6 bags and 2 boxes of stuff together and off we went to Food Lion to donate.

Once we arrived Good Will workers helped us unload and offered us food and to sign up for prizes that they were giving away on opening day. I thought what the heck I am pregnant so the food and soda was a relief and it gave me an extra minute to sign up for the shopping spree that they were giving away. As time went on I got more stuff together to drop off at the next donation drive forgetting all about signing up to win a shopping spree I was just trying to get prepared for baby.

Well to make a long story short I received a phone call last Wednesday while I was at work from Jennifer at Good Will telling me that I was the winner of the shopping spree at the grand opening of the Surfside store. She then gave me the details I won a 1 minute shopping spree where I could grab all that I could. The spree is scheduled for 1-18-08 at 12pm.

I was so excited I have never won anything really before. I asked Jennifer if they had baby stuff because what better time than now to grab up some free baby gear. She said that they had alot and that I should go in and check out the store. Well the night before the shopping spree I drug Chris, my mom , and my dad down to Good Will so I could map out my plan of attack. I gathered up all the stuff that I liked and placed them on three different racks and placed a Woody costume, a Sponge Bob toy, and some rollerskates by the stuff that I had gathered so I did not misplace it.

Well it is finally Friday the big day the grand opening was being broadcast on the radio so I was getting nervous that the stuff I had picked out would all be gone so I decided to get down there a little early to scope things out. As I was pulling in I realized the place was a mad house I just knew that everything was gone and all my hard work the night before was for nothing. So, I went and checked in with Jennifer to let her know that I was there and she told me I had to wait for the radio stations to change over so she told me to go back and check on the baby area. I was happy to note that most of the stuff that I had picked out was still back there so I decided that I was going to stand guard to make sure no one tries to get any of my stuff.

Finally Jennifer tells me that it is time to announce me. She got me a shopping cart and tied balloons to it so no one could miss me. Then Ron, from Mix 97.7 announced that I was the shopping spree winner and that I was expecting my first baby and said to look out in the baby section because I was coming through. Jennifer was my cheerleader because Chris had to work so I was on my own.

I know what you think a minute is not a long time to shop but since I was organized I was able to grab 110 baby items all clothes ranging in size 0-3 months to 18 months and in both genders since we don't know what we are having. I also got the one item for Chris that he wanted a brown belt so all in all I got 111 items in one minute of shopping not bad.

After I was finished we bagged up all the stuff and it filled up 5 shopping bags it was awesome to be the center of attention even if it was just for a hot minute. I finished up the shopping spree with a quick interview on the radio so I felt really special. I would love to thank Good Will for the opportunity for me to collect some really nice clothes for my baby for free and I will definitely go back and shop there for more clothes for the baby Mowder as time goes on.

Heidi

Rearranging for baby

I know it's still early, but I know how busy things are gonna be throughout the next few months, so the other day I decided to take the first steps toward getting a room ready for Baby Lillian...or was that Miles. Whatever.

Point is, on my day off I was able to take down Heidi's old wooden daybed that currently rests in our CPU room and rearranged things in that room so that the full bed we keep in our guest room could slide over into that room. The room was a mess to begin with, so it took some considerable effort, but we were able to consolidate our guest and computer rooms to have one nice-looking guest/CPU room and one empty room full of junk and a few random baby items.

My guess is that it will take another few months before I get brave enough to reorganize that second room and really get it looking ready for baby, but still just doing what I did was (at least in my mind) a big step that really started making the whole thing feel more real than it has up until this point. It's hard to believe we are about to be half way through this pregnancy within the next week.

It's gonna be time before you know it. Pretty crazy stuff.

Chris

What the heck is a doula?

Hey there everybody it has been a little bit since I posted anything sorry about that. I have been busy with work, reading my pregnancy books, going to the doctor and just everyday life.

There is one thing that I would like to talk about is the difference between a midwife and a doula? Someone told me that I needed to have a doula and I was like "what is that I have never heard of that." Well the other day I was on Babyfit.com and one of their articles was about that exact topic so I thought I would share it with you all. So, if you are like me and have no clue this article is pretty helpful so enjoy.

What Are Midwives and Doulas?
Explore Your Options
-- By Antigone Arthur, Health & Pregnancy Writer --

Whether you’re a first-time mom or mom of many, having a baby brings with it many different emotions, perhaps the most common of which is worry. Mom’s worry. If you are expecting, you’re probably pondering the type of delivery you would like to have. Many women are opting for more natural births that can be performed in the home with as little medical intervention as possible.

This trend is becoming increasingly more common for second-time moms, having tried a traditional birth once, are more open to trying something more natural the second time around.

If you are considering a natural birth, you will undoubtedly want to know more about midwifery and doula practices. As a midwife or doula will tell you, there are many differences between a traditional or medically-managed birth versus a natural childbirth either at home or in the hospital.

Click here to find out the actual definitions and read the rest of article.

Heidi