Halloween

It was a Happy Halloween and Birthday for our niece Mattison (a.k.a. "Dorothy"). Baby O and I dressed up as a "dalmation" for work. We were all different animals in my office. Mason and Chris were festive and fun in their matching orange.

It's a...

GIRL!! We went for our 20 week anatomy ultrasound on Tuesday and found out my "hunch" was wrong. It was such a fun surprise-- and maybe one of the only times I actually enjoyed being "wrong" :). We would have been thrilled either way (and still will be-- we know its not a guarantee) but it is so great to be able to call her a "her" and not "it".

The best news is that SHE looks healthy and is developing well. She moved around quite a bit and the gender pictures the sonographer got she said is like she is sitting on a copier. So you're looking at her bottom and in the one that says "girl" the arrow is pointing between her legs... just below that you can see the back of a thigh. Well, you can try to see it anyways! :) In the photo on the bottom if you look closely you can see her feet. I asked the sonographer if she could show me what was at the bottom left of my abdomen because I had been feeling a lot of movement there. Sure enough, she's giving me kicks already. I love it.

The O Family visits St. Martin

We spent an amazing week last week in St. Martin (an island in the Carribbean divided into a French side and Dutch side). It was a fantastic week. We visited the beach, great restaurants, lots of family (Chris's mom was born and raised on the French side of St. Martin), not to mention shops, a casino, and fun scenic detours. One of my favorite parts was being able to experience and learn about Chris's (the Tackling) family history. I fell in love with the island and look forward to sharing the stories and experience(s) with our child(ren).

I spent the trip in mostly maternity clothes and I think I've seen the end of my pre-pregnancy clothes for a while. I really felt like my belly grew almost daily on our trip (but then again maybe all the yummy cheese, fresh french bread and chocolate croissants had something to do with it). I think the baby likes to travel. :)

I also felt the baby move for the first time on vacation. I wasn't sure until it kept happening in the days after we got home that it was indeed the baby moving I felt... but I know now that it was. Chris and I were sitting at dinner at a really nice restaurant on the beach (ironically and symbolically the building belongs to Chris's family-- its the building in the photo). I was actually talking about how I was nervous that I hadn't felt anything yet... right before I felt these funny bubbly sensations in the front of my lower abdomen. I told Chris "I might be crazy, or just hopeful, but I think I just felt something".

We also spent downtime and time on our flights going through our book of 5000+ baby names and making lists. The quality time we spent thinking and talking about the future was just as good and probably even better than all the amazing things and sights we experienced. It was a very special trip for us and one I know I'll always treasure. We're already talking about when we'll go again.