It's a.....

GIRL!!

We had our big 20 week ultrasound yesterday! Mom flew in from DC just in time so that she and Rachel could be there for the big event. It was really amazing to see our teeny little baby swimming around in there! The tech said my placenta is in a good position (phew, I was worried about good placental attachment), and that the baby looks good! We checked out all her body parts and major organs. We saw her little heart fluttering and measured her brain, kidneys, etc. The tech said she seems to be normal sized, about 11 ounces. She even said her head looks normal sized! Phew! She also seems to be on track for the due date we hate previously calculated for February. We got to switch over to 3D for a little, which made her look even more like a real baby. The tech also made us a DVD of part of the procedure! Screening party, anyone?? :)

Isn't she the cutest??

Tiny baby feet!

We got lots and lots of pictures!! Bebe is super excited for another baby girl!!

Mom and Rachel both brought boy/girl gifts. Finally, we can buy the pink stuff!

We went straight to our favorite Indian restaurant for dinner to celebrate with Papa.

Time to start working on names for this baby girl! Here is the list my first graders came up with...I think Sparkle is definitely the front runner right now!

Here's a video Rachel compiled of the whole event!

Prep for Baby - 19 weeks

We feel like there are a million little things to do to get ready for baby! We are slowing making our way through our list, and getting a few things checked off.

We've been daydreaming about how to convert our "Guest Nest" into a cozy room for baby. I'm thankful that dad and I did a bunch of preliminary work last summer (no painting or building for me now!) We are a little reluctant to give up our guest space, but excited about making it work for baby!

This week Mom ordered a changing table for us! We've been on the hunt for the perfect thing to match our Loom crib that Rachel won for us in June. We're still in shock over that one. Thanks, Lullaby Organics! Don't they look cute together?? We haven't seen the changer in real life yet, but we're confident that we will love it!

Yesterday I got the scoop on district childcare, and scheduled us for a tour! The district infant center is at the nearest high school, which is only 2 miles from my school. I've heard GREAT things about the program, and can't wait to check it out. At one year, the baby can be on campus with me! Our long-term plan will definitely depend on where Jason ends up next year, but as a district employee I do have the option of getting a variance and having Baby attend any school in our district. I did laugh while I was trying to fill out the application paperwork...no name, no birthday, we don't even know the gender! No medical records, no immunizations....

We are officially signed up for a birth class! At the recommendation of our midwife, we decided to take hypnobirthing at the hospital. It's a comprehensive birth class that she said would offer the most options to couples who are committed to a natural birth. So for 5 weeks we'll spend Tuesday nights practicing breathing and visualization, and learning about what we can expect during labor. Hypnobirthing has been recommended to us by a couple friends, one who said that it has no become a life skill for any situation where she needs to go to her "happy place" (ie traffic!).

Other than that, we've been reading up a storm! Here are a selection of the books I've read over the last year in preparation for baby and my rating of each...with more to come!

Get Ready to Get Pregnant*****

Complete Organic Pregnancy***

And Baby Makes Three***

Birth Day*****

Catching Babies*****

How to Have Your Second Child First***

Big Book of Birth****

One Year to an Organized Life With Baby***

What to Expect When You Are Expecting**

Mayo Clinic Guide to a Healthy Pregnancy***

Eating for Pregnancy**

The Parent You Want to Be*****

The Everything Get Ready for Baby Book**

Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother****

Pregnancy, Childbirth, and the Newborn (in progress)

Last weekend we wrapped up the summer with one last camping trip! We tried to escape the rain by heading over the Leavenworth with Dawn and Derek, and only got a little wet! We did get to eat German food while watching the Huskies. Sweet! Camping while pregnant was definitely an adventure. But look how close our site was to the bathroom! Nice!

Leavenworth Thousand Trails - 18 weeks

We can't wait until Wednesday...it's ultrasound day!!!

17 Weeks!

Rachel - 17 weeks with Kenley, March 2009
Michal - 17 weeks with Baby F, Sept. 2011

Baby is 17 weeks, and we survived the first week of school! I was pleasantly surprised at how much energy I had each day, and am looking forward to a full 5-day week with my kiddos! So far my class seems pretty dreamy...just what I needed this year! I hope it continues! Jason had a great week too. His school was even featured on the news! You can catch a glimpse of his head in this clip. :)

We had a quick midwife visit last week. We checked in on baby's heartbeat, and got test results that Baby has less than 1/5000 chance of having any genetic issues. The baby is about the size of a 4 inch turnip, and is supposed to gain weight like crazy over the next few weeks. Next midwife visit is the big ultrasound, and we can't wait! Hopefully Baby won't be feeling shy. We're hoping to check off some baby stuff over the next couple weeks, too; find a pediatrician, apply for district childcare for Fall 2012, and other kinda important items. :)

Spreading the News!

This week we have been busy going public about Baby! I've been waiting to our first full-staff meeting to do our traditional announcement at school. Our principal always brings a Baby Ruth bar, which gets everyone all excited because we know that means there is a baby being announced! We pass the bar around until the person who is pregnant holds it up. We did the Baby Ruth on Thursday, and now the school people are in the know!

Once we announced at school, we were ready to tackle a tricky social world of our generation...Facebook! It worked out great that we could make our first post about Baby on the same day as the Huskies' home opener! Good news for the Frieslet, it got lots of "likes!" I've never had my inbox fill up so fast with comments!

Here we are, all dressed for Game Day!! We had a great time at the game hanging out with our Husky friends, especially after they had just seen our announcement on Facebook. I was happy that the belly didn't impose too much on my dancing, but making the tailgate rounds AND standing, dancing, and playing in the purple block the entire game really wiped me out! By halftime I was feeling DONE! Luckily we had great weather and a great game for the last home opener in Husky Stadium before the big renovation.

Jason also made sure his mentor teacher and principal were in the loop about the baby. The last group that I have to tell...students and parents!! Still not sure how or when to do that, but really hoping to make it until AFTER Curriculum Night on September 20th before I reveal!

We both spent all week getting our classrooms set up, and we are looking forward to the first day of school on Tuesday!!

Big birthday weekend! + 15 weeks

We celebrated 2 birthdays this weekend...Jason turned 33, and Kenley turned 2! To celebrate Jason, on Saturday we opened some great gifts (thanks, fam!) and headed out for mini-golf!
Here we are golfing at Interbay, where the heated rivalry between Michael and mom continued, Jason snuck in 2 holes-in-one to beat all of us, and Nan and Ron admitted they played a lot of mini-golf when they were dating.
Then we all piled in the car, shoved in some delicious cupcakes and Cupcake champagne, and headed to the waterfront to catch the Argosy boat to Tillicum Village! We've been having great weather, and it was a stunning day for a boat ride across Elliott Bay to Blake Island for dinner.

We were greeted by mugs of clams and baking salmon.

Nan and Jason checking out the salmon baking over an alder fire.
We make a pretty cute totem pole, don't you think?

Photo evidence of visiting PVA members!

Today we threw Kenley's big 2 party!! I'm sure Rachel will post more pictures soon at Kenley's Blog. :)

We celebrated another landmark recently...Baby's 1st trimester is complete! We did an all low-impact kickboxing this week (gotta keep the midwife happy!). Baby and I worked full-time last week, and lead 10 sessions of professional development for my fellow Bellevue teachers! Everyone is getting all geared up for the first day of school on September 6th! Jason has an official placement...he is going to be a 2nd Grade teacher this year! He had his first work day at his new school on Friday, where he unpacked tons of books and met lots of his fellow teachers. "September Experience" starts now, and then he will continue to spend a few days a week at the school leading up to his full-time student teaching in the spring. Very exciting! Our next baby appointment is on Friday, and we are looking forward to "checking in."

13 Weeks!

Things are going along swimmingly here! According to my books, Baby should be about the size of a peach...

or a medium shrimp...

...???

I'm busting out the maternity clothes lately, since the belly doesn't seem to fit in much anymore. Mom and I scored a pair of my favorite jeans at our local consignment store. I've never been so happy to have jeans!!

Meanwhile, outside the womb, we are both up to our eyeballs in school! Jason is deep in finals week, with only this week to go of the quarter! We just got great news that Jason will start his student teaching this month in the same district as me, in the next closest school! It should be a great experience for him, and a carpool buddy for me on some days. I'm trying to get a bunch of district and building projects done...when I'm not napping! Next week I'm leading professional development full time all week. Hopefully Baby will cooperate!

We took a break this weekend to go see our fabulous friends, Geoff and Kim, get married. It was a beautiful sunny wedding with a gorgeous bride and tons of band friends! We all got rooms at the Tulalip Resort where we were spoiled with late night friends, a fabulous shower, and an awesome pool (where we were joined by Rachel, Michael, and Kenley...that family does not pass up a chance to hit up a pool!). Our friend, Susan of Whimsical Photo was the photographer, and was sweet enough to take this shot of us at the wedding.

We also went to a Mariner's game with the fam! Did you know Jason joined the team?

We girls are big fans of the snacks. Kenley ate peanuts, popcorn, and milkshake non-stop before passing out on Rachel's lap!

I've spilled the beans now to my principal. She is super supportive and a great resource since she is in her 3rd pregnancy, and delivering at the same hospital as we are! She gave me all kinds of advice, including how to tell parents (via letter, with no room for input or personal-life digging) and when (she suggested before I start to show....I'll be 16 weeks by the time school starts and not sure that I'm going to be able to hide the belly for long!), as well as great new baby-wearing wraps and childcare options. I met with HR and got the scoop on Maternity Leave...sounds like we will be taking 6 weeks of maternity leave (paid since I can use my sick days) and 6 weeks of FMLA (unpaid, but I keep benefits for all 3 of us!) and then back to school in mid-May to wrap up the year.

We're also starting to think about childcare for the Fall. We'll definitely be applying to the district options (infant care at our local high school, then on campus with me at 1 yr old! I could visit at lunch!). We also toured a fancy local school. We liked that it is close to Bebe and Papa. We learned all about the "curriculum" for the infants (for example, the infants learn one new yoga position each week! And practice their colors! ???), and toured the beautiful building. We really liked the infant teacher, but we're not sure if the school (or the tuition) are for us. We're jealous of Kenley's Berry Patch, and wish we could drive to Ballard to take our baby there, too!

Our next job is to find a pediatrician...any recommendations???

We hear a heartbeat! - 12 weeks

On Friday, we had our second midwife appointment. We heard Baby's fast, strong little heartbeat! All our tests were clear, and everybody looks healthy, which was great news! We met a new midwife, who we liked just as much as the first. We feel like we are definitely on the same page as these women. Though she did say I may have to cut back on my kickboxing addiction...luckily pregnancy is temporary! According to my books, the baby is about 2 inches long, about the size of a lime. The baby is starting to look like a baby, move around, and develop reflexes like opening and and closing fingers.

We've been busy over the last 3 weeks. We got to work spreading the word about baby, and have had fun revealing our news to family and close friends. Jason announced the baby to his entire cohort at school! I've been feeling better and have more energy, which is nice. I feel like I can actually get stuff done without having to take a nap! Just in time for things to start ramping up at school. One highlight was last weekend at the Oregon Coast with the Friesen family. Here's a picture from the top of Neahkahnie Mountain, where we hiked with Nan and Ron. We lucked out with beautiful weather and an awesome view!

7/29/11 - 11 Weeks