Braved a blizzard to go to my 12 week OB appointment - only to have them dip my urine, listen to baby's heart beat, and out the door in 10 minutes - which I could have done at work for free. Oh well, it was exciting to hear it. The rate was 166 - he/she's wild! Gonna have a little hyper child. Running in circles and eating pixie sticks. Everyone thinks I'm having a girl because of the high heart rate. Since the day I found out I was pregnant I've thought it's a boy. I guess we'll see at the ultrasound - which I can't wait for! It's scheduled for Feb. 1. Then I can finally start shopping for bedding/clothes/etc. Recently I bought a crib:

It's still in the box waiting to be assembled. It's on Mike's chore list. I also bought the orange Bumbo I've been dying for. It's chair for babies basically, once they can hold their heads up. It's made of foam-type material. I really wanted the orange one because that's my favorite color, but it was hard to find. Only available at Target.com. I'm not planning on registering at Target so I just went ahead and bought it. It's so cute. I'm trying to get Darrell to sit in it.

No new cravings. No nausea - thank God! Still having a hard time brushing my teeth - makes me gag. No baby bump yet. I've noticed that everyone is staring at my stomach, trying to see if I'm showing yet. One girl at work even rubbed my stomach... yikes.

Week 12: On day two of being nausea-free! I'm hoping I've felt the last of that! I've been nauseous 24/7 for the past six weeks. Blech. I have an OB appointment tomorrow... should be able to hear the babe's heart beat. I've been resisting the urge to find/hear it myself at work with the doppler, but I'm waiting for Mike. I'm still feeling like it's a boy. In my dream last night I had a huge belly. My dream last week was that I was growing seven babies. My abdomen is starting to feel bigger. No weight gain yet. I read that in the second trimester I will gain one to two pounds A WEEK. That should be interesting. Been craving McDonald's fish sandwich with extra tartar.

Baby makes 4

October 19: Positive test!
Week 5: Feeling great. Still shocked. Can't stop smiling.
Week 6: Have told a few people - parents, siblings, best friend. Dreaming of chocolate cake. Keep saying "I don't even feel pregnant!" (this phrase will haunt me next week)
Week 7: Morning sickness is on! More like all day sickness. Barfed once at the movie theater. This is not fun. My sister's wedding is this week. Wondering if anyone will notice I'm not drinking/pretending to drink? It was so hard not to tell my family at the wedding.
Week 8: My first OB appointment. Due date is June 20. Scheduled all my future appointments. Most excited about the ultrasound on February 1st to see if it's a boy or a girl!
Week 9: Either nausea is slightly improving or I'm just getting used to it. Plans to tell the rest of the world next week. Started thumbing through the baby name book. Mike likes traditional Irish names - shocker. I think it's too hard to get serious about names until I know if it's a boy/girl.

More details later on this exciting adventure!
-Becka, Mike, Darrell, & baby

Productive boycot

Like I said before in my previous post, we have been out of town every weekend for the past few months. It's been a fun summer, but I'm sick of packing my bags every Thursday. My days off are spent out of town, which isn't really a productive day off. There is so much I want/need to do around our house. We moved in two years ago and I still feel like I'm living in someone else's house. Lately I've done a few projects to make this house feel more like our home. When we first moved in I painted the shutters and bathroom - which were both burgundy by the way, my least favorite color ever. Last February I painted our bedroom a "midnight blue" which turned out awesome. I've been wanting to paint the kitchen since I first saw it. It is what I would describe as "country blue," hell it had blue and white checkered curtains when we moved in. Gross! Luckily my mom is super talented and made me some cute curtains to spice it up a little bit. Anyways, Mike and his brother are running a marathon together in Kansas City this weekend. I really wanted to go. I love cheering on my husband... but... there is only so much exercise watching a wife can endure. Plus, I had to work this weekend and it was my co-workers baby shower. So, I boycotted the trip. Put my foot down. Stayed home. Mike threatened to take Darrell with him to Kansas City as punishment. Ha. Anyways - I painted my kitchen last night. Took me four hours. Thought it would be a good idea to have a couple beers... until I had to stand on a stool and hold a tray of paint. In this picture you can see the old blue, and the new *Spiced Pumpkin.* Before you judge the orange, let me tell you my bathroom is painted lime green. I love bright colors. It may not be the color you'd paint your kitchen, but it's totally me.

I bought this pineapple cookie jar over a year ago. I always new it would someday look perfect in my kitchen.
I pulled Darrell's bed into the kitchen so he could watch. He's laying on the pink Snuggie Mike got me for our anniversary. :)
I got this table for my birthday. It's a pub-style table with two stools. Perfect for our little family.

What's new

What's been going on at the McGinn house? Not much, we've been out of town almost every weekend for the past few months. Most exciting of all was the trip to Madison for Mike's Ironman. 2.4 mile swim + 112 mile bike + 26.2 mile run. He finished in 11 hours and 30 minutes. It was amazing. What an accomplishment. He has a marathon later this month and after that wife says "no more exercise!" ... for a while atleast...

Happy birthday Brooke! Which means it's my birthday too ya! The big 27. I wish I was 19 again...

Worth the money

In my quest to be the perfect wife, I've started cooking more. I have found that some grocery items are worth the money. For instance...

Skippy peanut butter. It's awesome. You can't go cheap on peanut butter. The real deal tastes so much better. I was raised on Skippy and I've converted my ex-Jiffy-lovin' husband too.

What about jelly? I insist on having Welch's squeezable grape jelly. Maybe I'm biased because my maiden name is Welch and I someday hope to reap the profits from jelly sales.....

Next item: tuna. I have recently come to love tuna in the foil pouch. No messing around with the can opener and trying to drain the can without getting the juice on your hands.
Stay tuned for grocery items that I think are...
the cheaper, the better!

Seven

Today my little dude turns seven. We are planning an outing to Petsmart so Darrell can pick out a new friend (stuffed animal). He is so sweet with his toys. He carries them around and loves on them like they are his friends. I can't believe we adopted Darrell three years ago. It seems like we've always had him.

Look at his cute little crooked tail:
Darrell's favorite place to be: (Mine too - shh don't tell Mike - he's not as snuggly)
This birthday, #7, make me sad though. I keep thinking that he is getting older......... one year closer...... to not being around. Too awful to think about.