Bouncing Baby...

Boy or Girl?

It's that time again!  In just 13 short really long days, we are scheduled for our 20 week anatomy scan of baby Parker.  And, hopefully, we have a cooperative little one and are able to find out if this baby is a he or a she.

But, before we do, it's your turn to weigh in.  Vote in the poll to the right whether you think this little nugget of love is going to need pink or blue booties!

To help, here are my answers to some of the common gender myths, if you feel inclined to make a more educated less random guess:

• Baby's heart rate: 150 (at my last appointment at 12 weeks)
• Morning Sickness: More than I ever had with Mr. Will (none), but nothing terrible at all. 
• Carrying High/Low: I feel like I'm definitely carrying higher this time then last time, but there's still not a lot of bump to see.
• Craving: I'm not really craving a lot.  Occasionally I'll really crave fruit or yogurt.  But I am STARVING all the time.  
• Mood: I've been much crazier this pregnancy.  My mood is all over the place.  
• My age + number of month of conception: 31 (odd)
• Chinese Gender Predictor: Says boy.  I would have given you the info to go calculate that yourself, but it's too complicated.  haha. 

Good luck!  

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CA Check-in

So, the Parker clan have been Californians for about 4 and a half months now.  I figure it's time to check-in on how everything is going for us out in the good old C-of-A. 

1) It is so beautiful here.  There's something magical about waking up to a hoar frost covered Fargo, but I am in awe of the North/East Bay Area.  Even looking out of the window of my house I can see 6 different types of trees with leaves in varying shades of green and red.  The water is minutes away.  There are bridges and redwood forests and beaches and lakes and mountains and so much to explore just around the corner.  There's so much diversity of landscape and beauty that I feel privileged to have so close. 

Just a 5-10 minute walk from the house.

2) It is more expensive.  This is not going to come a surprise to anyone, I'm sure.  But, our rent and grocery budgets have gone up (albeit, not as significantly as some might think).  Lucky for us, neither of us really have a commute, so we don't actually spend more on gas now than we did before.  I'm about ready to send Geoff back to school so we can't stop paying his school loans (ha, because MORE loans are the answer!) - but with so much to enjoy outside (see point one) there's more cheap entertainment for us. 

3) Summer is different.  When I was growing up, summer was warm and sunny while winter was chilly and wet.  It was that simple.  Summer storms did not register on my radar.  Then, after 7 years out of the area, I got used to hot summers with thunder storms rolling through and cold (frozen, really, in Fargo) winters.  I love that I can expect every day to be in the 70s and the skies to be blue and sunny during the winter.  We do get some clouds/overcast days (especially in the mornings) here and there, but generally we are mild and lovely.  I'd be lying if I said we didn't miss a good thunder storm every once in awhile, but we'll make do without them. :-)

Will's new backpack kills me.  He likes to make it fly and say "Buzzzzz!"

4) Work is going well.  For both of us.  Geoff just finished his manager training curriculum and completed his GIA (Gemological Institution of America) certification, so he's legit.  And things are going well for me.  We are both really happy in our current positions and are happy about the changes for us career-wise.

5)  We miss our friends.  Everything with our move happened so fast that I feel like we didn't leave things very "finished" in Fargo.  We had a great life out there and it's weird that it just up and ended!  This move has been good for us, especially to bring us closer to family and where we wanted to be long-term, but it's been a longer adjustment than expected because of the circumstances.  We had a visit this weekend from some of our best friends (who aren't in Fargo anymore, either), but it was SO good to see them and we miss all our Fargo friends.

Overall, we are trying to enjoy every minute of this new life we are building (and it's not hard to do so).  We are excited for our new little one to join us in January and are, admittedly, glad it won't be negative 10 (or colder) on the day our little one is born.  But, there is joy to be found no matter where you live - you just have to make sure to look for it! 

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Ring on a String

So, at this point in pregnancy where you look like you've been eating far too many donuts, not like there's a squishy, awesome little baby growing inside you and when you still feel well enough to be with busy sewing projects and painting but don't know enough about the little one to get started, you have to find something to do with all the baby energy. 

Sometimes, this leads me to the internet.  And the internet has all kinds of funny things to say.

I got into Googling the good ol' gender prediction
myths the other day and I, of course, started toying around to see what the predictions are for this little one. 

So, I tried the Ring on a String myth.  I never did this with Will, so it was really freaking me out when I did it the first time.  I tied my ring onto some string and held it over my belly and it started moving!  So, naturally, I started walking all around the house holding it over everything to see if anything else made the ring move. 

I held it over my computer - stayed still.

I held it over my sink - stayed still.

I held it over Will's cars - stayed still.

I held it over the dog - stayed still.

I held it over my hand - stayed still.

Put it back over my belly again - whoosh. 

I don't understand the mystical properties behind this myth, but it's freaking me out.  

P.S. Don't you wish you knew if it moved in a circle or back and forth?  Well, you'll just have to wonder for now!  But, to be honest, some sites say that a circle is a girl and back and forth is a boy, while others say that a circle is a boy and back and forth is a girl.  So - who knows what to believe!

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Tidbits

Interesting facts (or, perhaps, if you don't find them interesting, just some facts) for your Thursday:

1) I bought this for Will today.  He mostly just chews on his pacifier these days, and this seems like a better option.  I suppose it would be phase one in the pacifier weaning as well.

2) I'm 17 weeks pregnant today.  In 3 weeks I will be lying in an ultrasound room getting my 20 week anatomy scan and hopefully finding out if this little one is a guy or a gal.  September 12th can't come soon enough!

3) This is the most genius thing I've ever seen and I'm trying not to cry buckets of tears that I can't have one. 

4) The fruit fly infestation of my kitchen has completely diminished due to three factors: OCD cleaning and covering of food, a magical concoction of apple cider vinegar and baking soda down my drain, and a flying bug killer placed in my kitchen. '

5) School is back in session which means I don't need an alarm clock to wake me up at 7:30a each morning and it gets very busy outside my house at 12:20p and 3:30p each day.  On the bright side, I don't really need a clock anymore.

6) Thinking about baby names is stressful stuff.  I forgot what an ordeal it was last time.  Being responsible for someone's name is rough.  I think we have current favorites for a boy or a girl...but committing is downright impossible.

7) This is pretty awesome, too, as it will work with my current carseat.  Unfortunately, I've yet to see it anywhere cheaper than that. 

8) 40 days until my birthday!

9) 74 days until Will's 2nd birthday!

10) My Star Trek cross stitch is coming along swimmingly.  Be jealous. Also, I think I need this.

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6 Years

It's a little hard to believe sometimes that Geoff and I have been married for 6 years! 

This year, we did things pretty low key for the Anniversary.  Our actual anniversary was on Sunday and we didn't do a whole lot to "celebrate" per se.  We had a nice family breakfast, went to church, and had dinner over at our friend's Danny and Amanda's place.  I told Amanda it was a delightful treat for me because I didn't have to cook on my anniversary! But, really, we had a great time. 

Then, since Geoff has Monday's off, I took off Monday the 19th for us to go out.  We started the day by taking Will over to ride the Steam Train in Berkeley.  It was a short, beautiful ride through redwood trees with views of the bay and San Francisco.  Mama G and Cole joined us for the train ride and a picnic.  It was so surreal to take a turn off one of the busiest freeways in the country and then find ourselves winding our way up a mountain pass.  The Bay Area is really an incredible place that in 15 minutes you can go from the city to mountains and to the ocean.

After the train ride and lunch, Mama G took the boys back home while Geoff and I took Daddy G's convertible back down the mountain and over to go bowling.  We found an alley nearby that had 99 cent games on Mondays and Tuesdays.  It was a blast.  We really enjoy bowling - we used to do it weekly (if not more) when we were dating.  We are both a bit out of shape for it now (after three games, we were toast!), but we had a really good time.  I even beat Geoff one game.

We had already made reservations for dinner at a restaurant on the Berkeley pier called Skates on the Bay.  We had requested a window seat for our anniversary and the views promised to be incredible (and they didn't disappoint!).  But, we realized we were both wearing shorts and weren't exactly ready for an expensive dinner on the water.  So, we spent the tail end of the afternoon doing a little bit of shopping.  Then, we head over the restaurant where Geoff had steak and I had a stuffed pork chop. 

At one point, when I was ordering the Salmon, the waiter mentioned that it was cooked rare and wondered if that was a problem.  I mentioned to him that I was pregnant and really didn't want to get raw fish, so I ordered the pork instead.

Later, however, when delivering some bread to the table, we had an amusing conversation that went like this:

Waiter: Congratulations, by the way.  Is this number one?
Me (assuming he was referring to the number of anniversaries): No, this is our 6th!
Waiter: No, way.  There's no way you are old enough...
Geoff: What she means is it's our 6th wedding anniversary, it's our 2nd baby. 
Me: Oh! Dear! Yes, we are here to celebrate our 6th anniversary.  We don't have 6 kids.
Waiter: Well, that makes more sense!  Congratulations on both!

Geoff was pretty amused by the whole encounter.  I blame pregnancy brain. 

But, it was a lovely day and it's rare that Geoff and I go out and do something just the two of us, so it was a treat! 

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Life is Precious

Disclaimer: This is such a hard topic to put on my blog.  I feel like with such a sensitive topic, it's so easy to be misunderstood.  So, please read with an open mind.

So, I'd be lying if I didn't say that it was a little bit of a tough, emotional weekend for me.  August 11th would have been my due date for my little one that I lost in January.  I have a lot of faith that things work the way they are supposed to and there is no way I could adequately express (without sounding like a weirdo - yet, here I am, attempting it anyway) how much I learned from that little baby.  But I am truly grateful for the experience that I was able to have.  That little baby gave me so much in 9 weeks. 

So much more appreciation for my incredible little boy who I can't help by squeeze just a little tighter when I realize just how precious of a gift it is to have him in my life.

So much more determination to find a new job to bring me closer to family.

So much appreciation for my own body (which I give a hard time a lot) and the amazing things it can do.

So much more faith that there are far greater things than the life and death we experience here.

So much more love for those around me.

So much more compassion for those who experience issues with fertility.

So much strength I didn't know I had.

I'm so blessed and excited to be able to be pregnant again and that things are going so well for this new little one - one I wouldn't be able to meet if I had given birth a few days ago.  So, while it is hard to pass a milestone like this, I am so grateful for that little one and the changes that were brought into my life because of that little life, however brief. 

Note: I think I ended up sounding like a weirdo.

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