29 Week Appointment

We had another Dr. appointment last week complete with an ultrasound.  The short story is that Mom and baby are both healthy.  We did another ultrasound to check on the cysts that they saw in her brain on the 20 week ultrasound.  They were not very concerned about them and expected them to go away, and they were right.  There was no sign of the cysts.  These are apparently pretty common, my cousin Sarah who is also pregnant had the same thing on her baby.  They were also gone when they went back to check.

Our little girl is growing quickly.  She is currently 3 lbs. 6 oz. according to the ultrasound.  This is about a week ahead, they don’t change the due date.  It just means that she will probably be a big baby.  This doesn’t surprise us since Paul and I were both 8 lbs 6 oz.  We’d rather have her health, so that’s fine with us.  We were hoping to get some more good pics, but she was sleeping pretty soundly and even through we tried hard, she did not want to wake up or look at the camera.  Silly little girl! We are going to have to work on her photo skills =)  I also found out I passed the glucose test, so I’m thankful for that.  Now, we start going in for check-ups every 2 weeks.  I can’t believe we are already at 30 weeks!!!  Crazy!

Here are some recent pics of my belly taken in the nursury.  In case you haven’t seen Paul’s impressive painting job and carpentry skills with the crib.  I love the nursury and can’t wait to have it all finished.  Hope you are all well!

24 Week Appointment

We had our 24 week appointment on January 21st.  Sorry this is kinda late, I guess we can just blame it on the pregnancy =D  Anyway…

Everything looked good, baby girl and I are both healthy.  We were able to hear the heartbeat.  It is so strong and loud.  The Dr found it right away.  We actually met one of the doctors for the first time, he was a nice old man, but not my favorite.  Especially when he thought that I had a c-section scar.  It was actually just a line from my underwear, but I would think being a doctor for so many years he would be able to tell the difference.  Oh well.

I’m feeling her move a lot now, and Paul has felt her a few times too.  I just love being able to feel her, it’s one of the most amazing things in the world.  Mostly it’s in the evening and early morning, but then today she was active all day.  I’m starting the third trimester, so rumor has it I will get more uncomfortable as the days go by.  Next week I will go have the glucose test done where I have to drink all the orange liquid stuff.  Then on the 24th we have another appointment and ultra sound.  I’m looking forward to seeing her again.  

Baby quilt

I’m so excited, my Mom is making baby a rag quilt. This past week I went and picked out the material for it with my friend Nichole. She introduce me to this adorable quilt shop in old town Clovis. I love the materials, we even found one that matches our bedding and theme. I can’t wait to see the finished product. Thanks Mom! Here is a pic of the materials.

Christmas Traditions Tag

I got this from Heather Whittaker’s blog and could not resist.  

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping Paper! Bags are not nearly as fun.

2. Real tree or Artificial? Real!  I’m very passionate about having a real tree.  I’ve always had a real one, and the fake ones are just not ok!

3. When do you put up the tree? As soon as we can in December, this year it wasn’t until the 16th, not too bad.
4. When do you take the tree down? Depends on when we put it up, usually not until after new years.  This year it probably won’t be until the middle of January since the beginning of the month is crazy.
5. Do you like eggnog? Yes!  Love it!
6. Favorite gift received as a child? My Dad made me a doll house one year, that was amazing!

8. Easiest person to buy for? My Mom.

9. Do You have a nativity scene? Yes, two actually!  One is a Willow Tree that my Mom gave me, and the other is Fontinani from Uncle Mark.  It’s a really cool tradition that he has started.  The year you get married he sends you the holy family and a manager.  Then, every year after he adds another piece.  It’s always fun to see what piece you will get.  In our new place we have a mantle, and it looks soon cool set up on there.
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Photo cards in the mail, usually they don’t make it out before Christmas, but this year they did! 
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Hmmm…men’s body wash.  It was an accident, but still pretty funny.  =)

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? This changes from year to year, it’s hard for me to pick a favorite.  It think for this year I will for with Elf.
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Usually December, unless I hit an amazing sale earlier in the year.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Yes

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Carmel rolls on Christmas morning and lefse

16. Lights on the tree? Of course!!  That’s the best part
17. Favorite Christmas song? Baby it’s cold outside…  Not very spiritual, but so fun to sing along to with my hubby.

18. Travel for Christmas or stay home?  Stay home, but travel to the inlaws for Christmas Day (only 45 min away).  My husband works at a church, Christmas is not a vacation time.

19. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeers? I think so…
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Star

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Morning

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? The massive amounts of people in the parking lots and shopping
23. Favorite ornament theme or color? ?????
24. Favorite Christmas dinner? Ham, turkey, and all the fixings.  Especially the Christmas eve gathering with my Dad’s family in MT.

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? I will adapt to my favorite gift…Paul got me tickets to see Wicked.  I’m so excited!!!

What are your answers?

IT’S A GIRL!!!!

Well folks, we had our 20 week ultra sound on Tuesday, Dec. 23rd and it’s official…we’re having a girl!  It was really fun because we surprised our families with the news.  On Tuesday night we celebrated Paul’s mom’s birthday and at dinner casually took off our sweatshirts to reveal these t-shirts we made.  Then on Christmas morning, my parents opened a picture frame that my cousin, Somer, made that had an ultra sound picture and said “Baby Girl Haugen”.  By the way, huge Thanks to Somer for making the frame and helping with the whole process.  Isn’t the frame great?!

We had set up to do a video chat with my parents on Christmas morning, so we got to see them open the present.  They were totally surprised and had NO IDEA that we were going to find out before Christmas.  It was very fun and probably one of the best parts of Christmas.  I got tons of fun gifts, don’t get me wrong, especially tickets to see “Wicked” on Jan 5th from Paul.  I’m so excited!!! This will make 4 granddaughters on the Haugen side and 2 on the Bengtson side.  There are no boys, as of yet. 

The baby girl update…The ultra sound was very in depth and cool.  They spent lots of time measuring everything and looking at all the major organs.  Everything looked good, no major concerns.  They did see a cyst in the brain that they want to check again in 8 weeks, but they are 99.9% sure that it will go away and not be anything.  They believe these cysts could be caused by the large amount of fluid the baby is producing getting stopped up in the brain.  Since everything else looked good, they are not concerned.  The good news is, it means we get to have another ultra sound in 8 weeks to check.  The little gal was very active, we got to see her kicking moving her hands, arms, and even opening and closing her mouth.  It is so amazing to see this little life growing and living inside of me.  I’m not really feeling anything yet, but should be any day.  We hope you had a great Christmas and send you our best!

I love Christmas

I love Christmas! I mean I love seasons and holiday in general, but I really love Christmas. The thing I love about it are the smaller things. I thought everyone was luke this, but Paul recently informed me that is not the case. I get excessively excited over lights and Christmas trees. As the season has continued the list has grown so I thought I’d share with you. These are the things that I love about Christmas:

Christmas trees
Christmas lights on trees, houses, and driving or walking to look at them.
The cold weather combined with a fire place
Hot drinks
Holiday drinks at Srarbucks
Egg Nog
Christmas cookies
Christmas dinner (I like food ok!)
Christmas decorations
Time with family
Opening presents in your PJ’s
Chtistmas Movies (we started a new tradition this year where we watch one every night)
Christmas music
Christmas cards
Snow
Carmel rolls on Christmas morning

What’s your favorite thing about Christmas?

More Pregnancy Crazieness

I think I will start doing a running segment about the strange things that happen when you are pregnant.  This provides a lot of material to write about!  So, this week I have started to experience cramps.  On Thursday morning I woke up screaming due to a nice charlie horse in my left calf.  Paul quickly woke up and helped me rub it out and calm down.  It has continued to be tight and somewhat sore since then, but nothing as severe.  Apparently, this is normal during pregnancy due to the circulation in my body changing.  Who knew…  Then on Friday I had some lower back pain.  Nothing horrible, mostly just annoying.  This also is from the pregnancy and has to do with the muscles stretching, pelvis widening, and the weight of the baby.  Nice!  What’s funny about most of this stuff, is I don’t read about it in my book until AFTER I’ve experienced it.  So, at first I think I’m falling apart, then I read my book or hear from an experienced mother that this too is from the little one growing inside me.  Gotta love it!

Baby Bump at 18 weeks…

Not much, but I’m definitely getting a little bump.  I feels like a lot to me.  I wearing maternity clothes most of the time now, so that is a big milestone.

Cute Baby Stuff

My family in Montana did a really fun shower for me and we got a ton of new bibs and some gift cards.  I just love all the cute baby stuff that is out there now.  Here are a few of my favorites that we have received so far.  These are my top 2 favorite onesies.  Have you seen any cuter?

4 Month Appointment

I have a million things to write about, but I guess I’ll start with the most important. We had our doctors appointment on Wednesday and everything is coming along nicely.  We got to hear the heartbeat again, which I LOVE!!  It just lay there listening with this big cheesy grin on my face.  The little one was moving around a lot which made it kinda hard for the doctor to get a good listen, but IT is still growing and healthy.  I had gained 7 pounds which was much more than the 2 pounds last month, but when Paul reminded me that we had just returned from Thanksgiving with my Mom’s amazing cooking and I was starting to show I didn’t feel so bad.  That’s what you get with you spend a holiday with the Bengtson’s.  

Our next appointment will be the big 20 week one where we find out the sex and they do a real detailed ultra sound.  I very excited about this and can’t wait.  Yes, we will find out what we are having, and Yes we will tell you.  In the meantime I thought it might be fun to start a little pole…What do you think it is, boy or girl?  Please leave your response in a comment.  

As for me, the morning sickness is better so I’m enjoying the second trimester.  I have a little “baby bump” and have started to wear maternity jeans and/or my belly band (which is a must for any pregnant woman).  I’ll get a picture up soon.  It was a rough flight back from MT, but I managed to make it with out vomiting.  We had a great trip to MT and enjoyed seeing all the family.  I’ll write more on that later.