IT'S A BOY!!!!!!!!

Melissa always joked and said that she was going to have two girls. Clint said he would worry too much about girls and said Melissa was jinxing myself by saying that. Obviously Melissa said it jokingly, because she really doesn't have a say in what we have and we'd be happy either way! After we told everyone, we had a lot of people tell us they thought the baby was a girl. A few weeks after that, Melissa started having A LOT of boy thoughts during the day, but dreamt twice that we had a girl.

They say Moms have an intuition. And hers was right....

The sonograms this week were very fun. It is amazing all that you can see ... face profile, belly, spine, ribs, hands (with fingers), feet (with toes!), heart, etc. At yesterday's sonogram the baby waved at us and then stuck his foot in front of the camera again so all we could see was FOOT and TOES! When he moved his foot, the tech also pointed out the cord and said that was causing problems for us to fully determine what we were having as it was right between his legs. So, the tech switched over to a 'blood scan' screen which lit up all the areas that had blood flowing. The major component with blood flow was the cord. Once it was lit up, the boy parts were visible!

We are SO very excited to meet our son! Not long now....we're over halfway there!

Shy baby...

Well...as most of you know by now...we had a shy baby this morning :(
The nurses and techs at the doctor's office were really nice and tried very hard to determine what we are having...but the baby did not want to show us its parts! So...we will go back on Thursday and try again! Stay tuned!! :)

Office Pool

Well...the results of the office pool are in....24 people have guessed what we will be having, when we will deliver and how big the baby is. 10 people have said we'll have a boy, with the 14 others saying we're having a girl. We'll know in two hours who is right!!! :)
On average, people think the baby will be born on July 11 (7/11...that has a ring to it!) at 11:23am, will weigh 7 pounds, 7 ounces (lots of sevens!) and be 20.1 inches long. Sounds like a pretty healthy baby to me!!!
So long as the baby cooperates....Watch for another post today....with EXCITING NEWS!!!

The baby's first Mardi Gras party

We had a BIG party last night....our 3rd annual Mardi Gras Shrimp Boil!! It was a lot of fun. Friends from work, Sunday School, running and school came by to celebrate. We boiled 15 pounds of shrimp, 5 pounds of sausage, two packs of mushrooms, 36 half ears of corn, and 10 pounds of potatoes. And it was EXCELLENT! We also fried some meat pies for those that did not eat shrimp. And for dessert....we had King Cake, brownies and peanut butter pie. The King Cake was sent to us from the Gallians, who this year could not join us from Texas. It had been a tradition for them to make their way over to Alabama for this party, but we missed them this year. It was very thoughtful of them to send the cake though and it was enjoyed by many! Greg found the baby this year, and was glad to hear that he did not have to have a baby because he found it! He did promise to bring the cake next year though!!! We have lots of leftovers....so we'll be making lots of meals containing shrimp this week!
Many at the party tried to guess what we're having. Two more sleeps until we find out!!!

Crib and Glider research

We have settled on a crib and dresser/hutch combo (for the changing table, dresser and bookshelf). It is the Babi Italia Pinehurst Collection from Babies R Us.


We will not be getting the wardrobe in the middle of the picture, but the crib and the dresser/hutch are exactly what we have been looking for.

We've also started to do some research on gliders for the nursery. We have looked at a lot of rocker/gliders, and found that many are reviewed poorly by owners. Several gliders out there are too small to be comfortable when sitting in them to nurse/feed a baby. That's not good, since that is what we will be using it for!!!! Others report that the glider squeaks after a few months of use. We definitely want a glider that is covered in microfiber. We just know the quality of this fabric is great and it cleans up well. We also know that we want the wood to be a 'pecan' color, as our furniture for the room is "tea stain" in color. And, we want an ottoman to match to rest our feet!

Here are our top finds:

GLIDER and OTTOMAN SETS:
Shermag Ultra Glider & Ottoman Set in Pecan
http://www.rockingchairs.com/glider-rockers/indoor-gliders/shermagultragliderwithottoman.cfm#ReviewHeader

Dream Collection Glider Rocker and Ottoman - Pecan
http://www.babysupermall.com/main/products/she/she37779pec.html

Crazy or not

Crazy or not...we have decided to cloth diaper (thanks to Kristin for putting this idea in our heads!). We are so very thankful for Mom and Dad Lloyd's excitement about cloth diapering too! Many many hours of research and thoughts have been spent on cloth diapering at the Lloyd household. But...just over a week after pitching the idea, we have a pattern and materials ordered. We'll be using the pattern from "Kayla Cloth Kits" (www.kaylasclothkits.com). Melissa and Sue both joined some co-ops for some great material at excellent prices. We'll be making 40 diapers in preparation of the many diaper changes to come this summer!
Other resources used:
www.verybaby.com
www.kidsinthegarden.com
Yahoo! Group for Kids in the Garden
Yahoo! Group for Covered Caboose

February 24th!!!!

Our appointment to find out what we're having was moved to TUESDAY FEBRUARY 24th!!! We are sooo excited! We will call/post as soon as we can!!! Once again...this is your last chance to put in your guesses! Melissa's office started an office pool for the gender, DOB, Time of birth, Weight and Length. We'll post some of the guesses soon. Some are amusing....17" baby that weighs 8.5 pounds! YIKES. Or...someone stated that we'd deliver on July 28th!! WOAH!!! No thanks! ;)

Maternity jeans are fabulous!!!!!

Just a quick update on "the mom-to-be"....

This is Melissa writing...and I am going to write about me....so no third person format (wink...wink...Kristin!). I am doing great. I feel well, am having no sickness and am "functioning normally" (eating, sleeping, working, studying etc.)! I am shocked at some of the long days I can pull, and by the fact that I have stayed healthy (many people around me are sick with colds and flu....it is that season!).

I am wearing my first pair of maternity jeans today...and I LOVE THEM! They are VERY comfortable and trendy (if I say so myself!). I am still able to wear some of my non-prego tops, but all my non-prego pants will be put up this weekend! I have "popped" (so they say) and am getting quite a little belly. :)

Some very special friends that sent me some maternity tops from their collection and I am very grateful! I will definitely enjoy the variety! Thanks Kristin and Elizabeth! I will take good care of them, clean them and return them in time for you to wear again! ;)

19 more sleeps until we find out what we're having!!!

All negative blood work is a GOOD thing!

We got word today that all of Melissa's blood work came back negative…so no downs, open spine or chromosomal defects. That’s good news! We weren’t really that worried about it since there is no history in our families…but you never know…
Anyway…now we’re really looking forward to the next doctor’s appointment on the 25th. And…we are pre-registered for a prenatal class on March 21st. That should be fun. Maybe Melissa will learn how to change a diaper, since she has never changed one!

Catch-up Post #1

As we mentioned....we'll try to catch you all up, since we only started posting at week 16! We are ending week 17, and all is well! Melissa has been feeling good, and is counting down the days until we find out what we're having (26 more sleeps!).

We found out we were pregnant on November 6th...Melissa's Dad's birthday. The next night we had our first Christmas party of the season...so it was fun to get dressed up and have a mini celebration! It was REALLY odd knowing something that NO ONE else knew anything about. We seemed to talk about the news all the time. It was as if nothing else was happening in our lives. We were super excited.

For Thanksgiving, we drove to Texas to see the McReynolds family. Melissa studied all the way there and a bit each day when we were there, trying to complete 3 classes of her MBA. We figured that everyone was a bit suspicious that Melissa declined coffee every morning and wine every night. That was a bit out of character for her! Overall, it was a fantastic visit and we drove back to Alabama uneventfully.

Upon returning home, Melissa and Clint went into high-speed-mode, trying to wrap up the year at work and school, as well as getting ready for a big trip to London England and to North Carolina for Christmas to visit with the Lloyd family.

Before the trip, we had our first prenatal appointment with our friend and doctor Jacquie Tessen. Jacquie was THRILLED when she heard us both talking in her office. She knew Melissa had been thinking about becoming a patient of hers, but had no idea that we were expecting. It was a great appointment, as we got to see the baby for the first time on the ultrasound. The baby looked like a little kidney bean and was 1.75cm long from "crown to rump". Little tiny baby! More later....

16 week appointment

Melissa went for her 16 week appointment this morning and both mommy and baby are doing great. Our doctor, Jacquie, is really happy with how everything is progressing. Everything on the blood work from the 12 week appointment came back normal and Melissa's weight gain is right on track. Melissa had another round of blood taken today in order to complete some testing and the baby's heart beat was heard and measured. It was 164. To bring you all up to speed...here are the measured heart rates that we have received:
@ 8 weeks: heart rate was 180
@ 12 weeks: heart rate was 160
@16 weeks: heart rate was 164

So....look up all your old wives tales and give us your prediction on what we are having!!! We will find out on Wednesday February 25th at 8:30am!

Ending Week 16

This is our first entry....but we will try to compile some blog entries that talk about the weeks we didn't write. We are in fact completing the 16th week of Melissa's pregnancy. All has gone very smoothly so far....no sickness, no complications and the doctor has said everything looks great.

As some of you know, Melissa found out we were pregnant on November 7, 2008 and we have been excited ever since. We kept it quiet until Christmas Eve when we told our families. Both sets of grandparents are extremely excited, as are Uncle Jeff, Uncle Vic and Aunt Heather.

This week, Melissa began transitioning into maternity clothes. The pants are absolute heaven, and although some shirts are still a bit big, a tight knit maternity sweater just gives that extra bit of room that she needs. This weekend, Melissa will organize her closet to have better access to the maternity clothes she has purchased thus far.