132 more sleeps

Vital stats at week 21:
Heart rate: 150
Estimated weight for Little C: 1 whole pound
Weight gained by the mommy: 16 tiny little pounds

Belly shot at week 20/21:

136 more sleeps

I have so many things to give thanks for today. My wonderful husband. An incredibly close and loving family. Good, stable jobs in scary economic times. Dear, sweet friends. The opportunity to be a parent. The list goes on and on...

Most of all, I am grateful for the source of every single item on my list of thanksgiving. As we gathered for our Thanksgiving celebration today, my Uncle Jeff read the following passage from Acts 17: 22-28:

So Paul, standing before the council, addressed them as follows: "Men of Athens, I notice that you are very religious in every way, for as I was walking along I saw your many shrines. And one of your altars had this inscription on it : 'To an unknown God.' This God, whom you worship without knowing, is the one I am telling you about. He is the God who made the world and everything in it. Since he is Lord of heaven and earth, he doesn't live in man-made temples and human hands can't serve his needs-for he has no needs. He himself gives life and breath to everything, and he satisfies every need. From one man he created all the nations throughout the whole earth. He decided beforehand when they should rise and fall, and he determined their boundaries. His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him-though he is not far from any one of us. For in him we live and move and exist. As some of your own poets have said, "We are his offspring."

As I held my grandfather's hand and looked around the room while Uncle Jeff talked about Paul's message, I was overwhelmed with gratitude that our little one will be blessed with a family that acknowledges God as The Source. I am thankful that I know Jesus. That through Him I have a relationship with the One who gives life and breath to everything.

On another note, we have hope that our child will also be blessed with Uncle Cam's flair for fashion...

147 more sleeps

So Jared has a collection. Of DVDs. Of almost 500 DVDs. And hey, that's a yot of DVDs. Said collection has resided happily in the closet of the man cave for the last two years. Since the man cave will soon become the baby cave, the collection needed a new home. The original plan saw the movies in a giant swiveling storage unit tucked away in another closet. One small wrinkle: the giant swiveling storage unit would not swivel in the confines of the closet. Or any other closet in our home.

Ironically, the giant was delivered on November 17th, our 2nd anniversary. Since I was battling a nasty cold, I didn't feel like going out. Last year, we celebrated at an intimate, candlelit restaurant. This year we ate Chinese takeout and puzzled out how to connect the A bolts to the G inserts. How things change. Yes, we assembled the giant swiveling DVD tower in our living room. Where it is visible to anyone who walks into our home.

I know this may be getting a bit deep over a storage unit, but I am hormonal. When I look at it now, I see something besides its monstrosity. I see a father making room for a little C in his life. And I love him for that and a whole yot of other reasons. Maybe even more reasons than DVDs in the collection.

Happy anniversary, J!

Love made visible

162 more sleeps

We had our 13 week sonogram on November 2nd to complete stage 2 of the Nuchal Translucency Screening process. Sounds scary, but everything came back ok. Sadly, my Advanced Maternal Age requires some additional screening for genetic issues. I asked a physician friend to come up with another term for AMA and he suggested "arthritic, old, knocked up lady." I think I'll stick with AMA.

Mom came with us for our visits, which was really sweet. She did ask me if I was sure I didn't want the radiology tech to tell her the gender. She can't help herself; we're impeding her shopping with this ridiculous surprise nonsense. Little C was not as bouncy this time, but the sweet one did give us a really cool moment. This tiny babe totally gave us a "Guns Up" from the womb! We've got a true Red Raider on the way.

Vital week 13 stats:
Heart rate: 153

Weight: 6 ounces

167 more sleeps

A quick overview of our two major first trimester themes:

Theme 1:Tired. Amazingly, fatigue was the only consistent pregnancy side effect I felt. After reading the gestation horror story Belly Laughs and hearing war stories about friends and friends-of-friends, I am so grateful. I tried to focus on the fact that after April 12, I may never be able to make the couch my first and only after hours destination or go to bed at 7:30 p.m. again.

Theme 2:Travel. Little C racked up some serious frequent flier miles during these 12 weeks.

First, Hawaii. Roger and Diana invited us along for an amazing trip to Hawaii to celebrate Roger's retirement and their 40th wedding anniversary. We spent five nights on Maui and one night in Honolulu. The beaches and company were incredible. Sadly, Jared and I probably held Rog and Di back from enjoying the nightlife as I was sound asleep by 9:00 p.m. We didn't get any pictures of Jared and I that I liked, but we have a lot of great memories.

The McCauleys at the Old Lahaina Luau. Unfortunately, the only chance I've had to use the phrase, "Bring me another Mai Tai!" in context was thwarted by my delicate condition. They sure did look yummy.

On Haleakala, Maui's volcano. This breathtaking spot is called Throwing Bones. It was believed that this is where bodies and souls ascended after death.

At the summit. 10,023 feet!

View of the beach at sunset from our condo's lanai. Lucky little suckers, aren't we?

Hotel balcony on Waikiki

Drinks at the aspirational hotel, the Royal Hawaiian, with Diamond Head in the background



Pearl Harbor



On Waikiki Beach

Then Austin. I met high school girls Lydia and Geetha, plus high school girls the second generation member, the beautiful Jothi, to celebrate the upcoming birth of the newest member of high school girls the second generation, Sophia Catherine Wright, at Amy and Keith's lovely baby shower. It was so sweet to get to see Amy and Keith, with their friends and family, preparing for little Sophie's arrival. We had, as usual, lots of laughter. I feel so blessed to have these friends I've known for over 20 years (yikes, that makes me old!) in my life. They have all grown up from precious girls into beautiful, smart, and strong women.Those girls are always so good for my soul!

Jothi. Isn't she lovely?



There was lots of Jothi lovin' going on.

Then Austin, again. Our sweet friends Ashley and Jeff gave us tickets to the Austin Film festival for Christmas. We were able to spend a couple of days peeking into the world Ashley's been diving into with the work on her screenplay. Jared was in heaven. All of the films he could watch! We had some celebrity sightings (Tom Skerritt, Ron Howard, Cheryl Hines) and great conversation with great friends. Of course, I have no pictures of the four of us in action at the festival. But, hee hee. Sophia Catherine Wright happened into the world while we were there. So Ashley and I made a hospital visit to meet her. She is precious and the Wrights are a beautiful, beautiful family!

Jared also made a solo trip to Cleveland for the wedding of a fraternity brother, Mike. He had a great time reconnecting with college friends and stayed with Troy, Tina and their adorable kids Owen and Aubrey. Little C and I made a business trip to Boulder somewhere in there, too.

Hopefully, this kid will continue to be a good traveler after birth!

195 more sleeps

Let me just say that this process has revealed some pretty rusty writing skills. I hope little Cash or Cate is not a literary critic or grammar cop. Though the product might not be the best, the intentions behind it are. I want this little one to know that with healthy respect for how our lives will change in ways we cannot even fathom, we chose this adventure. That we spent 40 weeks joking (kind of) about sharing diaper duty 50-50, the agony of sleepless nights, and being "those people" with a screaming kid in a restaurant or airplane. That one of the most anticipated parts of our week is receiving the email that tells us what piece of fruit the little one compares to in size. That we, along with grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, and dear friends, literally counted down the days until we met face to face.

We had our first preview of that sweet face on September 30 at our 8 week sonogram. My first response to seeing the little one on the big screen was to reach for Jared's hand. That tiny one was bouncing around all over the place. Jared, wide-eyed, asked, "Can you feel that?" I couldn't, but I did feel an overwhelming sense of wonder and relief when I heard the heartbeat. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Vital stats at 8 Weeks
Heart Rate: 158
Length: 5.89 cm

247 more sleeps

The afternoon of August 9, 2009 was a certified nail biter. I sent Jared to the store for four, count 'em four, tests. Our first result was an instantaneous, bold positive. The sight of that little pink plus sign launched a thousand tiny butterflies of elation in my tummy. I decided it would be wise to do a confirmatory test before we called anyone. I gulped down four glasses of water to expedite the testing process. Result number two was positive. However, it was neither instantaneous, nor bold. Deflated, I gulped down four more waters for test number three. As you might imagine, result number three was even more faint than number two. When I walked into the living room with teary eyes, Jared served his usual role as the voice of reason in our lives. Hypothesizing something about diluting things with eight large glasses of water, he encouraged me to let nature take its course before taking the fourth test. Of course he was right. After number four, we knew...OUR EGGO IS PREGGO!

It was a lot of fun to tell our family and friends. Roger (paternal grandfather-to-be) had my favorite reaction. There was lots of excited laughter and these words: "You've made us very happy." We're pretty happy, too...

We were able to see my np the next afternoon. She came into the exam room and asked nervously, "So do you want to be pregnant?" When I answered affirmatively, she said, "Whew, cause you are." She estimated our due date at April 12, 2010. Only 247 more sleeps!