Christmas???

Okay - 10 days to go and the Christmas decorations are still not up. I ventured into the attic yesterday while Brian was gone to scavenge for the wreath for the front door. I found that and the wrapping paper, so that kept me busy for a while. This pregnancy thing has put a damper on my "do it yourself" abilities since the attic should be off limits - the bottom stair is non-existent at the moment and I was insane to try it. What I did retrieve I was able to throw down the steps instead of trying to balance it. BUT, I won't do it again.

We agreed today that with only one week left until we leave for Richmond - there will be no tree in the Piascik house. There will be garland on the outside of the windows and candles inside, but that may be the extent of it. I'm sorry to say that between being tired and record breaking heat (meaning it has never been this hot on record) in Charlotte - the Christmas spirit is waning. I can't wait to go to Virginia next week - hopefully the bug will catch when we get there. Brian promised we'd get a great tree next year when our little ladybug is crawling! So, does that mean we decorate it starting two feet from the bottom?

And the winner is...

Everyone has been very reserved with their thoughts on the gender of our little monkey. Only a few weighed in - Betsy said boy, my friend Jen said girl and the doctor at my 12 week ultrasound guessed a boy. I had done several quizzes on the Internet - a Chinese gender prediction based on age and month of conception, another one on old wives tales - all said boy. So based on that - Brian and I were diligently trying to come up with names for a boy. We loved Ireland where we spent our honeymoon so much we thought an Irish name would be appropriate and we could possibly combine it with a family name. It has been a challenge to come up with names that we agree on.

But the challenge has ended! We had an ultrasound on Friday and the baby is developing right on track and as far as the doctor could tell, after a very thorough exam, appears to be healthy. They measured the length of the arm and leg bones, looked at the spine, brain, heart and kidneys, and determined with 100% certainty that we are having a baby girl! Brian and I were in awe and very surprised having spent more than a month convinced we were having a boy. I even spent last weekend looking at boy clothes and had picked out jungle theme bedding for the nursery. While we would have been happy either way - we are so excited to know a girl is on the way! We had about 20 minutes to ourselves between the ultrasound tech doing the initial screening and the doctor coming in. Brian and I just smiled and started thinking of all the girl names that we had put aside. I think I asked him at least 4 times if he could believe it.

So, needless to say, I'm very anxious to find all things girl! We went straight to USA Baby and Babies R Us after our appointment and looked at nursery furniture and signed up for a baby registry. We tried not to go overboard on pink, but that's hard to do! It was so much fun, as evidenced by the registry. Brian picked out an adorable little one piece outfit with pink and lime green polka dots and a stuffed monkey rattle.

I spent most of Saturday under the influence of pregnancy hormones. Brian is lucky to have survived my hysteria. I woke up insisting that we go buy nursery furniture. We had seen a crib and dresser that I love and I was intent on going to order it. Brian said we could go look at it again, so off I ran to take a shower. By the time I finished getting dressed I had completely changed my mind and had moved on to our need to work on home improvement projects. We have 2 leaky faucets and a toilet that runs intermittently. I thought we should just replace the sinks completely. Then, of course, there was the attic step that needed to be replaced. Oh, and we need a new light fixture/fan for the baby's room. Our Home Depot trip was now turning into more than a few small fixes. Luckily, my insanity broke and we ended up with a toilet repair kit, a piece of wood and some screws. Brian survived the day!

Today, he had a break from me while he played golf. I ran out the fabric store and found some adorable baby wale corduroy - pink with red cherries. I'm very ambitious and have decided that I can make some cute little jumpers for the baby - I'll keep you posted on that endeavor.

Our Christmas decorations have still not made it down from the attic - Brian escaped that one more day. It's amazing how priorities are already changing.

Anticipation

The anticipation is building. We can't wait until tomorrow. Our level II ultrasound is tomorrow at 3 PM. According to a friend, the appointment goes fairly quickly. They count fingers and toes, look at the development of the heart and just make sure everything is where it is supposed to be AND they will most likely be able to tell if we are having a boy or girl.

We are planning on going straight to the baby store and look at furniture for the nursery. I've found a crib that I love on a website and am hoping they have something similar to it at the local store.

The excitement continues tomorrow - check back for an update this weekend. I'll hopefully be able to post some more pictures of the little monkey.