Great Expectations.

This week we've been doing quite a bit of nesting. We rearranged our bedroom and decided where the baby will sleep. (We're staying in our one bedroom apartment until March, so things will be a little crowded for a few months.) We got a storage unit . . . no, not for the baby! Rick's friend Marc helped us put some of our extra stuff in it to make room for baby!

This is Rick with some sneakers for Rory! They're so cute. We get them out and play with them everyday. 

Babies Galore!

Babies!!

We've been spending good baby time with some other babies . . . getting some practice in before October! And who doesn't love baby pics! I mean, really!

This is cousin Maryne (and her mother Michelle, Rick's cousin) last weekend in Baltimore.

And this is baby Cooper and his parents Lauren and Brandon, who Vanessa worked with at Emergency Skills. They recently moved to Florida, so Rory will have to have a penpal instead of a playdate with Cooper.  

Then there's baby Elah, daughter of the Ocklers, demonstrating some scoot-crawling! 

What a cutie!

And this little guy is Austin spending some quality summertime with his Dad, Todd, at the pool!

So much baby cuteness!

Belly Pics . . .

These were taken last week . . . the baby belly's growing!

Sneaky Belly!!

Profile Belly!!

Baby Shower!

Rick and I had our first baby shower in my hometown of Oklahoma City, OK on Sunday, July 13. Thank you so much to all of you who came, and to all of you who could not attend but sent along such darling gifts!
Rick and I (and Rory) are very blessed!

It was such a lovely afternoon! Two of my family's dearest friends, Anna Stewart and Bebe Dotter, were our hostesses, and they decorated Bebe's home with a Peter Rabbit theme. So sweet!

We were showered with lots of love and so many wonderful things: adorable clothes, bath things, a bouncer, a diaper bag, a lamp for the nursery, cute musical toys, stuffed animals, blankets, a stroller, a stroller cover, toys, bibs, picture frames, Boppy pillow, a baby carrier, Snuzzler, thermometer . . Wow! And a beautiful photo album with the name we've chosen "Rory Clifton Younger" embossed on the front! We were overwhelmed!
My mother gave me a beautiful quilt made by my grandmother, whom I was very close to, and also an adorable child-size wicker chair that was hers as a child. My sister refurbished it and did a great job - its wonderful!

Birthday!

My birthday was June 11 and a small group of my dearest friends had dinner with me that night. It was fun - and the first night I got a lot of attention because of my growing belly. Plus Rick got me a camera - so expect more and more pictures soon!

Zee gendah!

These ultrasound pictures were taken in late May, in the middle of the second trimester. This appointment was our long awaited "anatomy" appointment. Our ultrasound technician was a very short, Slavic sounding woman who never smiled. Which was fine, because we were doing enough smiling for all of us. The baby was moving A LOT while we were watching - kicking and moving its arms. The lady was doing her thing and making sure all the organs looked good, etc., so we watched quietly and let her do her job.
Finally she said, "Do you vant to know ze gendah?"
To which we chorussed, "Yes . . . "
A long pause. "Is a boy."
Then I said, before I could help myself, "Are you sure?"
She replied, "I vill take a picture." Which she did - it's the one with his little "twig and berries" in relative close up. I'll let you play "Where's Waldo" and figure that out for yourself.

Grandparents!

We waited to tell friends and family until after the first trimester - which was very hard to do. Especially for Rick. We were like kids waiting for Christmas. So we called our parents and told them first at 11 weeks. This will be the first grandbaby for my parents and the fourth for Rick's parents. Needless to say - they were very excited.
This ultrasound is from our First Trimester Screening, so I guess it's an "official" ultrasound (taken at the hospital as opposed to in the doctor's office). The baby is bigger in the picture and you can see it's profile if you use your imagination. But, most importantly, he looks healthy and strong!!

Growing!

This picture is from our second visit to the doctor. Now at 8 weeks along, the baby looks like a little gingerbread man. Heart still beating everything looks good!

Yup!

So we made a doctor's appointment for a few weeks later and it was confirmed: Six weeks pregnant! Much to our surprise, we got to see the baby and see it's little heart beating! Wow!

We're having a baby!

Decided to start a blog to share this experience with our friends and family in lands far away. So, might as well start from the beginning . . .

It was Valentine's Day and Rick had no idea that we might be having a baby. I went with him to a Comedy Cures event and waited until afterward to tell him. We were stunned. It wasn't the teary excitement you see on Lifetime movies. After several moments of a riveting conversation: "Are you sure?" "Well, no, but I think so . . . maybe". . . we both decided that perhaps home pregnancy tests are very often wrong, so we better just wait to get too excited until we make a doctor's appointment. That way we'd have an official declaration. Never mind that I was three weeks late and had taken two pregnancy tests that turned positive the second a drop of pee fell on them. So, skeptics that we are, we celebrated the rest of Valentines Day in a numbly thrilled haze with sappy smiles on our faces.