He'll have lots of older women to flirt with!

So since we're having a boy, I started to think of all my friends who have (or are having) baby girls. There are SO MANY! See for yourself:

Kelly & Matt - Kayla
Alevia & TJ - Alevia Marie
Kathy & Geoff - Sofie
Steve & Shannon - Madison
Claudia & Matteo - Drea
Nanc & Joe - Jenna
Tina & Chris - Alexa and Christina
Jaymi & Michael - Ella, Josie and Maci
Steph & Scott - baby girl on the way
Kyla & Todd - baby girl on the way
Andrea & Troy - TBD in September (my guess is a baby girl!)

My apologies if I've left anyone out, but I think I've accounted for all our friends with baby girls. Ben says that all those playdates with baby girls will be practice for when he starts dating. Way in the future.

Doula Molly says..........."It's a.....................

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BOY!!!"

She had us in to her hospital this morning - *********** Hospital - and with her expert use of the ultrasound wand pretty early in the process exclaimed, "It's a boy! I'm pretty sure."

She kept going in hopes of getting a better shot, but baby boy wasn't exactly cooperating. He was squirming all around and at one point had his ankles crossed so we couldn't see the goods. But towards the end she got a great shot of the twig and berries. Mol is 95% sure it's a boy. It's tough to see in this picture, but in real life it was obvious.

The small box in the lower left corner is the close-up. It's Team Blue for us and we're so excited! Molly has made me promise not to tell my OB that she did an u/s. I'm supposed to go in on April 29th and say, "I have a strong feeling it's a boy."

We'd like to thank Doula Molly for making the big announcement, and her nurse friend Kathleen for assisting. And of course, thank you to ******** Hospital for letting us borrow your ultrasound machine. :)

Here are some more shots from the big day.

16 week belly pic ~ I can't suck it in anymore

Strangers are starting to notice that I am expecting. I guess it's pretty obvious from the size of my belly. It's ginormous. But I'm enjoying it. Everything except the fact that practically nothing fits me anymore.

Frannie took this picture for me. It's my last night at Hotel Silbert and I'm sad to be leaving. I've had such a good time staying with my adoptive mom and dad these past 10 days.


Ben and I are very excited about tomorrow. We close at 9am and then will be picking up Riley from Aunt/Doula Molly's. I'm sure he'll be sad to leave her and will be confused in the new place for awhile. We met the seller of our new place tonight and she left us her "invisable fence" which she said also works on cats. So Riley might get a taste of the great outdoors sometime soon.

I thought I felt a KICK!

I was sitting at my desk typing an email this morning when I felt what I can only describe as a tap from inside my belly. I stayed still and felt it continue for about 10 minutes. Now, the experts say that it is way too early for me to feel anything, and if I did feel something, that it would feel like flutters and not taps or kicks.

So, who knows? As for me, I will keep thinking that it's the baby ~ it makes me smile. :)

Goodbye 2526 James Maury...

Last week we moved out of our first house together. We had lived there for 4 and 1/2 years. It was a little sad saying goodbye. The entire time we were packing Riley knew something was up. He is thoroughly enjoying his time with Aunt/Doula Molly. She has been so good to us in taking him in when we go on vacation or in this case, are homeless, so Riley doesn't have to be boarded. I hear he's being pretty good so far.

Here are some pics from our last day in the townhouse.

Doula Molly will do the big announcement

Sorry I've been MIA lately but a ton of stuff has been going on lately and my laptop is packed away so I haven't been able to post updates. Here come a few.

We sold our townhouse on March 24th and were completely moved out that morning. I've been staying at Hotel Silbert (a lovely establishment - I suggest you visit sometime) and Ben has been living at home with his parents who have graciously been putting up with his hours and hours of gaming.

We settle on our new house on Thursday and move in that afternoon. That is definitely going to be a big day. But, I'm even more excited for Saturday!

At my last OB appointment I found out that I won't be able to find out the sex of the baby until 20 weeks (April 29th). I was disappointed because I had heard that you can find out as early at 16 or 17 weeks, and that some doctors do the big ultrasound at 18 weeks to confirm it for you. So of course I shared my feelings with Doula Molly and she offered to have us in to ********* hospital next weekend when she's not busy to see if she can make the big announcement. I am more than thrilled. It's only a week away and I cannot wait!!! Now, hopefully she won't have a flood of patients come in that morning, or else the plan will have to be postponed.

I just think it will be really special for my best friend to be the one to reveal to us the sex of the baby versus our doctor. I'll try to remember to bring my camera to capture the moment.

13week belly pic

So I'm a 1/3 of the way there! I'm already uncomfortable so I can't imagine what it will feel like to be 39 weeks pregnant.

We got our boxes today, so we'll be beginning the packing process this weekend. You know, nothing like waiting til the last minute. :)

A stranger noticed!!!

After our home inspection, we went to Rita's in Ashburn which, I must admit, will definitely be our new local hangout once we move there. I got a Root Beer ice and Ben got a cherry one (of course, he's so predictable!). And as we were paying the manager said, "You're expecting!" to which I exclaimed, "How did you know?!" He gave us a free kid's size mango ice for the baby. :)

I mean, I guess I am showing a little bit, but I didn't think it was obvious to the outside world! It was fun being discovered though. :)

We went home and I took a nap on the couch and had a dream about how I'm going to make Ben sneak me Rita's when I'm in labor. Screw the ice chips, I want my watermelon Rita's!

Our new house

Today we had the home inspection on our new house in Ashburn. The inspector did not find anything major wrong, in fact, there were hardly any minor things either. We're so excited and can't wait to move in on April 3rd! Here are a few pics...(copy and paste the link below into your browser - I can't get this to be a live link for some reason.)
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8EcNWTJs5bMv0

11w4d belly pic

Doula Molly came over today for a visit and to check baby's heartbeat with the doppler. She said my belly is getting big and that I should take another belly shot - so here it is! I think I'm getting big because I haven't been working out (from week 6 until the beginning of week 11, I've felt so bad I couldn't drag myself to the gym). Now that the morning sickness is fading, it's time to get back.

Good news on the housing front - we got a contract on our place. Now we just have to hope all goes well with the home inspection and appraisal go well so we go to settlement on the 24th. We've been searching for our next move. So far we like 3 places in Ashburn. Tuesday we're going to see 5 places in Sterling and then we'll likely write a contract on our favorite. We're hoping to be in our new place by the beginning of April.

Can't wait to start decorating the nursery!!!