Houston, we have movement

And we have had really noticable kicking/punching for a little more than a week now. They're so strong that Mike can feel them from the outside already. Quick story that cracked us both up:

The first time Mike felt the baby move, it kicked him right in the head! He was laying on my tummy talking to her and suddenly - bam- right in the cheek. Then two more above and below the temple. Hahaha. She can already defend herself. :)

And for your viewing pleasure (or just my memory if you don't enjoy them), here are some belly pics.

18w in Phoenix visiting Mike's family

18w in Phoenix

21w here at home. I know you can't really see the belly but I like this picture.

21w. Sorry for the blurriness. It's hard to take your own belly pics.

Oh and none of my kids have said anything yet. I'm amazed every day.

It's Aliiiiive!!!!!

My laptop that is. Oh internet, I cannot tell you how utterly happy I am about this. Mike's been laughing at me because I have been stroking my keyboard and saying things like, "Oh, I have missed you so much" and "Don't ever go away again, ok?" and "I love you computer." But truly, I am sooo glad to be able to relax on the couch and surf away. What does this mean for you? Hopefully, I'll actually be able to update more often. Hooray! And pictures will be making a return. :)

Funny story for the day:
I was walking into the school this afternoon for lunch. I hear behind me in small whispers "hurry! she's going inside. go, go!" I glance behind me and three little girls from another classroom are hurrying toward me. I continue walking. They call my name just before I reach the door. I turn around to three faces staring up at me. "Mrs. M, are you having a baby? Yes or no?" Hmmm, must be showing more than I thought. I was taken aback my the bluntness. No wishy washiness there. No room for wiggling. I quickly thought through all of the options: Lie. Truth. None of your business. What do you think? Why do you ask? I decided on truth. Why not? If anything were to happen at this point, I would be out of work for awhile anyways so I supposed it couldn't hurt anything. "Yup" came out of my mouth. The complete and utter shock on the girls' faces was priceless. They went running off yelling, "Mrs. M is having a baby!" I was expecting to come into a barrage of questions when I picked my kids up from lunch but got nothing. Not a word from any of my kids. I'm thinking it won't take long for word to spread though.

I must admit that I'm happy it's been put out there. Because really, how do you bring up pregnancy with a group of seven year olds? And when?

My doctor's appointment is tomorrow. Hopefully we'll discuss the ultrasound. And I'll get to hear the heartbeat again. :) I'll be sure to keep you all updated.

((hugs)) to all. I have missed you!

OH MY GOD, IT'S A..........

GIRL! She had everyone but Mike fooled. You should have seen the huge smile on his face the whole afternoon. Even the ultrasound tech before looking for the sex said "I'm thinking boy for you." The poor girl has apparently been blessed with her daddy's big hands and feet already. Let's all hope she grows into them.

Everything is looking great according to the tech. HB 141 and she was wiggling around all over the place. It's amazing that I can't feel it yet. On the screen the baby looked HUGE. She's measuring right at 19 weeks (which is where I originally thought I should be according to ovulation time and all that) so I'm happy. We'll see if the doctor changes the EDD when I go in for my appointment on Thursday. I have another u/s set up for February 13th. The tech couldn't get as many angles of the heart as she wanted so she wants me to go in again. Dang. You mean I have to see my baby AGAIN?! Alright, twist my arm some more. HAhaha.

I'm going to try to get the pictures scanned soon so I can show you how cute she is already. I'm so excited!

I have found a way back to you!

Hooray!!! I apologize so much for the long silence. Blame this as Mike has been playing it just about every night since he got it for Christmas. And I know that If I mentioned that I wanted to get on the computer, he would get off without an argument, but I feel bad. I just want my laptop to work again!

Anyways, internet, HELLO! Apparently blogger is not banned by the school district's communist internet blockingness. Yaay! So I am updating from school. This unfortunately means that I can't post any pictures. And I have some great ones from our trip to Phoenix while we visited Mike's family.

AlthoughI was worried about it, the visit was actually pretty good. My favorite part: We went to the Desert Botanical Gardens and saw the Chihuly exhibit. It was absolutely amazing! The things that man creates are awe inspiring.

I also got a great video monitor and a breast pump from Mike's mom for Christmas. So yaaay! Two big items out of the way already. I was so excited when I opened the monitor. I think Mike thought I was nuts. Haha.

In other pregnancy news, our Big Ultrasound is tomorrow. ::deep breath:: I keep having slight panic attacks. I know that in all likelyhood, everything is fine. But the "what if's" are getting to me. I don't know how to stop them either. So I just keep taking deep breaths and trying to calm down. It's working less and less. I wish that I had taken the entire day off tomorrow and not just the afternoon. I don't know how great a teacher I'll be what with the anticipation and anxiety. Oh well, the kids will survive one half day with a crazy teacher. Oh wait, they do that every day.

And since some of you are probably asking the same thing EVERYONE has asked us, we will find out the sex of the baby if a good oportunity presents itself. If there is no doubt about what the baby is, we want to know. If the u/s tech can't get a great shot, we're not worried about it. So, wish us luck tomorrow that all is well and good and that we will (or won't depending on your preference) know which team the baby will be on.

And as a parting question: What do you think is in there? I've been thinking boy from the beginning and Mike's been all about team pink. He's so confident that he's got me wondering and now I'm all confused. Everyone else that we've talked to thinks boy but is hoping for girl. What's your thought?

(Sorry for any spelling or grammatical errors. I'm not going back to edit this as the bell is going to ring very soon and I still have stuff to get done around this classroom.)