Ultrasound Scrapbook Pages

I was looking at these baby ultrasound pages. Today we're going to St. Louis Mills, and I'm going to pick out some scrapbooking papers for our ultrasound images. I need to put them somewhere safe, and I'm excited about picking out the album.

I thought I could get a little inspiration from looking at online examples, but I found these pages completely uninspiring. Seriously, do you really want to compare the 40 weeks in your womb to a prison term?

Hopefully I'll be able to do better. At least, I'll take it as my challenge.

Baby is a. . .Boy!

I have to say I was really nervous lying there, waiting for them to turn the screen my way, looking for any sign of something I could recognize. Flashes of grey formed a strange kaleidoscope as the technician ran the ultrasound wand across my belly. Sometimes she pressed hard, and it became slightly painful. She and the doctor checked for everything else first. Then they found the baby. They examined our baby's heart: four chambers, beating along at a good pace, major blood vessels in place. They measured baby's belly: a very round, perfect balloon, floating with a string tied to me. They looked at baby's brain, zooming in from straight down, showing this new world with its two hemispheres. They found and labeled kidneys, bladder, feet, arms, thigh bones, and spine. They commented: "wonderful spine." Then they looked to identify baby's sex. After a lot of waiting and prodding, even bouncing the wand on my belly, baby revealed he is in fact a perfect little boy. And they gave us the pictures to prove it. But my favorite pictures are of his sweet profile and when he touched his hand to his face. It looked like he might even be sucking his thumb. Finally he placed his hands together, seeming to clap approval at our further discovery of who he is.

Our sweet baby boy.

Bastille Day

July 14, 2009: First Day in Paris

We arrived in Paris around 6:00 a.m. It had been a long flight, and we got little, if any, rest. Still, it was exciting, especially since our taxi driver seemed a bit on the insane side. J.D. snickered as I gave him half-teasing, concerned looks for our safety on the ride from the airport. Overall, J.D. appreciated the Paris drivers for making him look like an absolute saint behind the wheel.

Our taxi dropped us off near the Sofitel Arc de Triomphe, on 14 rue Beaujon. We had to walk a little way with our bags since the Champs-Élysées was closed and currently occupied by what looked like all of France's military. The streets were shockingly quiet. It seemed like just J.D. and I moving freely among the entire armed forces. Soon we dropped off our bags at our hotel, and we wandered down the Champs-Élysées to find a spot for the parade. By now, 8:30 a.m., people were crowding the streets. We found a spot that was already 4-5 people deep, but they were shorter than us, so it seemed like the best we would find. After waiting for some time, 10:00 a.m., a line of uniformed soldiers on beautiful horses rode by. They were impressive.













Then at 10:30 a.m. jets flew over with the French tricolors. Different waves of planes and jets followed. (J.D. identified them for me). We saw more tanks, military jeeps, loaders, and other equipment. There were many saluting men decorated like banana republic generals. But by this time, around 11:30 a.m. I began to feel very tired. The people were pressing in close. Many were trying to push in front, and a woman behind me kept chomping her gum right in my ear. I told J.D. I needed a break and went to stand beside a building. He joined me, and we decided we'd seen enough. We went back to the Sofitel and fell asleep for a few hours.















After resting we got ready and walked to the Arc de Triomphe. J.D. was excited, and I love seeing him so happy. We walked around the base taking pictures and then climbed the narrow, winding staircase inside to the very top. From our bird's eye view of Paris, we oriented ourselves to the layout of the city. We noticed how all the avenues shoot out like sun rays from the Arc de Triomphe. I told J.D. about what little I knew of the politics behind widening the streets, which I believe was basically to make riots and barricades more difficult and to enable marching troops down-- as we had seen illustrated earlier in the day. For dinner we found a little restaurant named Sir Winston's. We had tried another place earlier, but the waiter was chasing a little mouse out the front door, so we decided to move along. (The little mouse did get away. I was afraid for a moment that I would witness him being killed.) We learned another lesson at dinner. We learned to ask specifically for "tap water"-- otherwise we would receive a bottle of water for 5 euros!

Then we were off to see the Bastille Day fireworks. If people were crowded for the parade earlier, it seemed like nothing compared to the crowds now. However, we luckily stumbled upon a spot by the Trocadero with a perfect view of the Eiffel Tower. We found a spot to sit for me, although J.D. preferred to stand. He would occasionally play with my hair or rub my neck as we waited. Around 10:45 p.m. the show began when the sky was still a little light. Then in spite of the crowds, it was magic. It was easily the most lovely fireworks either of us had ever seen. The finale made me exclaim: "Beautiful!"

After the show we clung to each other as the flood of bodies began to move. We found our way home for the night and reviewed the video J.D. took of the fireworks. His video captured it much better than my pictures did, although I really tried. :)

On my pillow at the hotel was a little teddy bear. He came with a goodnight story, a quotation by Jacqueline Mabit: "Dreams are always the start of something." We ate our complimentary macarons and fell asleep quickly, looking forward to the day ahead.

Dover

Time to come home tomorrow. Today we really enjoyed seeing the white cliffs of Dover and playing on the beach. Dover was one of our favorites. It was a beautiful finale. I enjoyed watching J.D. skip stones and touch the water. Our timing was lucky. They had the 100 year anniversary celebration of the first flight from France to England, so special types of aircraft flew over frequently.

We also saw Leeds Castle and Canterbury Cathedral today. J.D. drank "Bishop's Finger" a special beer for pilgrims. :)

We returned to London around 6:00 p.m. and wandered to our favorite pub for dinner, the same one we visited on our first night here. We spent time watching people in Trafalgar Square. Football hooligans were singing and dancing on the steps by the National Gallery. One guy was break dancing for money, and the art installation on one of the plinths featured someone sitting on a toilet with balloons and signs raising awareness of bowel cancer. It certainly was free entertainment!

Well, I better get some rest. I can't wait to call everyone and see our cute cats we've been missing. What a great trip it's been. Part of me is really sad it's over. But maybe we'll be back in 10 years. :) That seems to be my pattern. We can hope anyway.

Goodnight and Love, J.D., Tammy, and Baby

In London

Well, here I am having super fun using our hotel room's Internet tv! We just found out about this service. What a busy day we had. I am seriously TIRED, well, at least mostly my feet. I've found I don't travel as well as I did 10 years ago, not to mention I'm halfway through my pregnancy now. By the way, I *think* I felt the baby move for the first time at Stonehenge! We're having a little Druid! :)

Today was Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's, and the Tower of London. Each of them is of course massive, and we were going from opening to closing, 9:00 until 6:00 (or 18:00). Anyway, we just returned from dinner at our hotel restaurant, and J.D. is having fun planning his pilgrimage to Nottingham for Warhammer World tomorrow. Meanwhile, I will be at the first day of my conference and need to get myself to Roehampton University. We're becoming used to the Tube -- J.D. is a big fan of the British underground system. Well, my session is about to time out, so I'll say goodbye for now.

Thanks!

Thanks everyone for the well wishes and all your help. We'll try to occasionally check-in online, and we'll definitely call when we arrive. Love you all. -J.D. & Tammy and baby

Looking for a house

This morning we went to look at houses. We saw four. The first one was on Dale Street. Upon entering the house, one immediately felt transported back in time. I walked into the kitchen with yellow counters and a bowl of plastic, red apples and declared to J.D.: "Honey, I'm home." The tiny bathroom was decorated in pink with a fuzzy rug. The house was previously, clearly lived-in by a little, old lady. It even still smelled like her perfume and powders. It made me sad because it seemed so clear that she had passed away and her family was trying to sell her house. The basement was the nicest basement we had seen (we looked at three houses previously). But there were no appliances, not even a stove included. Overall, it just made me sad to walk around, and I couldn't live there.

The next house immediately smelled of mold and mice. The basement had a dangerous, curvy stairway (I didn't even go near). The house's foundation was settling, and it was next to an abandoned building. It was not a difficult NO!

Another house we looked at was huge, but it was a real fixer-upper. With their price, we wouldn't have anything left to fix even minor problems, putting aside the fact the house was not currently livable. J.D. did not believe it was really FHA approved.

Then there was the house when I walked in, I was shocked. What immediately struck me was the lack of something. . . the lack of a stinky odor. It didn't smell like wet dog, cigarette smoke, mold, mice, or dirt. It was clean! It was neat! It had a nice, open living room with a vaulted ceiling, lots of lighting, and a pretty hardwood floor. The walls were freshly painted. There was a little room with light yellow walls that would make a cute nursery. The kitchen had a nice fridge, stove, and even... a small dishwasher!!!! There was a lovely little sunroom next to the kitchen. And there was a clean basement with storage, a washer and dryer, and lots of space for J.D.'s models! We walked out into the backyard and imagined Sophie and Athena trying to climb the tall fences. There was a black walnut tree with vines growing around it that had orange flowers. We imagined where we would put my garden. This house was clean, cute, and I could see us living here. We walked out the front door, and a woman pulled up next to the curb. She yelled from her SUV window: "We just signed the contract on this house today."

Still Not Knowing...

We still don't know if baby is J.D. Junior or Tammy Junior. Sorry to disappoint anyone.

The ultrasound was rescheduled for when we return from our trip. My doctor primarily wanted more time so baby's internal organs will be more fully developed. While they do examinations between 18-20 weeks, unless there is some reason to do it sooner, they prefer to wait until 20 weeks. Also, I guess I wasn't technically scheduled for an ultrasound, so we'll just have to wait a little longer.

Things are busy. I keep writing down lists of everything we have to do before early Monday morning. So much to do! I'm getting excited and nervous, but mostly excited!

J.D. brought home euros and pounds today. He said "I got the funny money!" Yes, indeed you did honey, expensive funny money.

He has been working so hard this week, arriving at work by 7:00-7:30 a.m. and staying late. Currently J.D. is crashed-out on the couch while some mellow band plays on PBS. It seems to have lulled him to sleep, although it probably wouldn't take much.

Well, back to the list.

Also, thanks to everyone that has expressed interest about our baby.

Not knowing...

Tomorrow at this time we might know if we're having a boy or a girl! I'm nervous, but I'm not sure why. I think probably because it's been awhile since we've gone to the doctor, but also, there's something about knowing if baby is a boy or girl that both defines and limits my pregnancy. Without knowing, baby is both and neither, pure human potential. Once her/his sex is known, it will immediately change the way we think about him/her. I honestly don't have a preference; neither does J.D. We just want healthy and happy. But on some level, I'm apprehensive about knowing because part of my personality is very attracted to dwelling in possibility and uncertainty.

However, just because we don't "know," doesn't mean I haven't had certain feelings and thoughts. I guess I like being able to picture baby as either a girl or boy. In the distant past, I always thought it would be nice to have a first-born daughter. But since I've been pregnant, I've just "felt" on some level that this baby is a boy.

The night before I took my positive pregnancy test (yes, really the night before), I dreamed about holding a fussing baby boy. I kissed his face, and he gave me a beautiful little smile. The next morning I decided I would go ahead and use an extra test I had. Just a week before it had been negative. Logically, I thought this would be another waste of a test, but something just compelled me to do it, probably largely my dream.

Then sure enough, two lines. TWO lines!!! What?! I started giggling, and J.D. asked with a slightly concerned voice why I was laughing near maniacally. I was happy, surprised, and overwhelmed with the new potential in our lives.

We'll just have to wait and see. Tomorrow may bring home another level of our new reality.

My Brother

This was June 13, 2009: Chad in his diesel truck at the Burley Tractor Pulls. :)