December 25; 26 weeks

We had a very merry Christmas! It was wonderful to spend time with our families. We are not quite done celebrating yet, as we will get together with Titus' family this weekend as well.

The baby is growing and kicking every day - the easiest way to make him kick like crazy is drinking hot chocolate. :) I have been feeling great aside from some back pain, which is probably due to carrying around 17 pounds more than usual.

Titus and I also celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary on Saturday the 22nd. He started the day by bringing me a caramel latte and goodies from the bakery. Later we went to Bello Cucina, which is the closest we can get to our wedding dinner spot since The Jazzy Fox turned into Bello's.

We got a few baby gifts for Christmas, and the nursery closet is slowly accumulating items. Titus was keeping his clothes in that closet, so he moved them out last week. I am sharing my walk-in closet with him... we'll see how that goes. Of course there is plenty of room at the moment since most of my clothes don't fit me!

My dad and Shelly gave us a DSLR camera for Christmas, which was exciting, generous, and unexpected! I am looking forward to learning how to use it in hopes of getting some great baby pictures.

December 12; 24 Weeks

This week baby boy is almost a foot long (ear of corn) and weighs just over a pound. He is quite active, especially after I eat. At Young Life on Monday night, I was the singer on stage. When I got off stage and sat down to hear Pat's talk, the baby started punching or kicking me! I am used to the general movements, but this was the first time it was noticeably a hand or foot. The funny thing was, I couldn't tell anyone because we were all quietly listening to the talk! I let Pat know afterward that his talk either had a good or bad effect on the baby- not sure which. :)

Last weekend I took our cousin Karin and her friend Megan (also seniors in my English class and Frontier cabinmates) to visit UMD. It was fun to show them the sights of Duluth despite the foggy weather. Karin's dad Kurt found us a great hotel room in Canal Park, and we loved it! Perhaps the best part was Bentleyville. It's a huge display of Christmas lights, and it's free. If you've never gone and you have the chance, check it out.

The baby is not the biggest fan of traveling - hopefully that changes once he can actually enjoy the sights himself!

We have our six month appointment this Friday - nothing else very exciting to report!

November 27; 22 Weeks

According to some websites, 22 weeks is the start of the sixth month; others state it's a week or two later. Either way, the baby is definitely showing himself and making himself noticed. He has been very active!

We scheduled our 3D ultrasound which will be in 5 weeks. It will be so cool to see what's going on in there! I accidentally read some horror stories regarding 3D ultrasounds online - basically, I can expect to see what will look like a baby Homer Simpson in my belly. Thank goodness it's just the 3D at work and not what he will actually look like. :)

November 25 - He's gonna be a soccer player?!

The baby has been kicking me for a few weeks now, but when I've tried to let Titus feel it, he has never been sure he did - until last night! I think maybe the Thanksgiving food was crowding the baby, so he was kicking for some more room. Titus definitely felt the kicking!

We had a great Thanksgiving break, celebrating with both sides of our family. We are so thankful for all of you! Titus finished putting up the Christmas tree tonight as well.

We wondered what Maddy would think of all this baby stuff. Well, in the past month she has chewed up five books and a couple notebooks - very unusual for her! We are chalking it up to the baby. In the pic here she is showing her super cuddly side, which I only get to experience when Titus is gone - otherwise she is Daddy's girl.

November 20 - 21 weeks

We have officially made it past the halfway mark!

This picture was taken Wednesday, November 21:

Below is the start of our baby hand-me-downs! The rocking chair originally comes from Lance and Marny, so I've rocked their babies (now 6 and 10) to sleep in it already. Then it went to Asko and Teresa, and finally it's landed at our house! The pile of clothes comes from Erin, and we also have a little 3-D activity gym from Lance and Marny (not pictured). Knowing there are a million things we will need for this baby, we are grateful for everything people give or loan to us! :)

November 16 - 20 Week Ultrasound - It's a.....

Boy!

I could not have been more shocked when the ultrasound technician told us we are having a boy. Titus and I had a fun argument going for the last 15 weeks or so about what the baby would be. I just knew it was a girl, and most people agreed with me. However, Titus was sure it was a boy... and he was right! This is one of the few arguments he will win, I suppose. :)

It took me the weekend to recover from the shock and get used to the idea of a little boy running around our house. If he is anything like Titus, though, I think we should be safe.

We decided to bet on the gender, and the winner got to choose the restaurant we went to after the ultrasound. Titus was very chivalrous in choosing the restaurant he knew I would have picked anyway - Bello Cucina. We had a great dinner before he left for Young Life fall camp at Castaway for the weekend. He was the only male leader for 10 boys in his cabin, and he definitely came back wondering why he wanted a boy so badly! I reminded him we are having one, not 10, and he won't be a teenager for quite some time.

Since finding out, I've been getting nursery ideas (yes, from Pinterest... they should probably pay me for this blog since I'm always mentioning them), and I've found that it can still be exciting to decorate a boy's room.

Here are some pictures from the ultrasound, a 20 week bump picture, and our way of telling Facebook friends the news.

Baby's head and body

Baby's footprint

Baby's lower body

Baby's anatomy in the middle... pretty easy to see!

Announcement!

20 Weeks - Nov. 16, 2012 - the blue ribbon is there to indicate the gender!

November 6, 2012 - 19 Weeks - We Voted!

I suppose this will be the last time our baby is in a voting booth for 18 years, so I thought I'd mark the occasion. Thanks, Emily, for the photo idea. I'm 19 weeks pregnant here, and it is one of the first "bump" pictures I've taken - I've been slacking on that. It's not quite as big as it looks in this picture, but I'm sure it will be soon!

October 2012 - More Babies!

When I first found out I was pregnant, one of the million thoughts going through my mind was who else would be pregnant at the same time. I already knew our friend Abby was pregnant, but she lives in Michigan, so our comparing notes would have to take place via Facebook.

I soon found out that I would be joined on this crazy journey with two great friends! Brianne is due just two weeks ahead of me, and Belinda is due about a month and a half after me. It is so exciting to go through this together! I've known both Brianne and Belinda since kindergarten, and it seems quite serendipitous that this is happening to us at the same time!

September 2012 - School Days

Near our 12 week appointment, I decided it was safe to share our news at school. A couple close friends at school already knew, but for the rest it would be quite a surprise! Our school is pretty unique in that our students love to know pretty much everything about their teachers, so I knew they would be excited, too (not to mention the fact that some of them had been asking me when I'd have a baby for over two years!).

I had already told our principal about the baby a few weeks back, and he told me to let him know when the information was public. I emailed him one morning to let him know it was, and not two minutes later he sent an email to the rest of the staff telling them all! In our small school, that also means the students knew in about five minutes flat. They've been excited ever since - especially with helping pick out interesting baby names - usually their own name or a variation of it, or something crazy like Sage Loveblood.

Here's a picture of my College Writing 2 seniors during Homecoming Week, right around when they found out:

September 2012 - Announcement Pics

To announce our big news to others, I wanted to do something creative, and again Pinterest had some answers! I took some ideas from them and asked our friend Courtney Draxten to take some photos for us. We had a great time with her on a wonderful fall Sunday at the Kirkbride (state hospital) in Fergus. Maddy was such a trooper - I am pretty sure she loves being the center of attention and having her picture taken. Here are a few of our favorites. Thanks, Courtney!

August 24, 2012 - Titus' Birthday

On August 24, it was Titus' 31st birthday as well as my cousin Katie's wedding. I was still quite tired and we hadn't shared our news with the rest of the family yet, so I tried to hide my lack of energy through the wedding and reception. It was also a little tough to escape the smokers without seeming rude! Luckily I have never been much of a drinker, so people rarely questioned me this summer about why I wasn't drinking (except for Aunt Karen!). The reception was beautiful, and it was fun to be with our extended family. We ended up leaving early due to being so tired, but we had a great time.

August 2012 - How We Told Our Parents

We wanted to come up with a fun way to tell our parents our exciting news, and where else do you find great ideas but... Pinterest? I (Mindy) saw some ideas on there that I liked and took a few pictures. Titus helped choose the best one:

I even tried to buy Titus some new shoes for the occasion, but he refused. :) We told our parents pretty early on for a few reasons, including the fact that we wanted them to share in the excitement, but also because I was extremely tired and we thought they should probably know why! (I pretty much slept through the month of August, but I got some energy back just in time to return to teaching on time.)

We had Carolyn, Steve, and Diane over for dinner one night, and we gave Carolyn and Diane both presents for "helping out so much while I was gone" at the writing institute I attended in for three weeks in July. Carolyn says she knew what we were up to right away, but who knows! When they opened the presents and saw the picture above in a frame, Carolyn got in on the news and said so. It took Diane a couple minutes longer, but they were all very excited! A couple days later we had Kirby and Shelly over for dinner and also gave them the surprise present. Our parents all knew then, but we kept it a secret for a few weeks longer from everyone else!

August 2012 - It's a Baby!

After 5 1/2 years of being asked when we are going to have a baby, we can answer it for you: April 2012!

Our first appointment was in August, and we were lucky enough to get a little ultrasound. (The doctor may think Mindy is a bit of a worrier and wanted her to see the baby was actually in there and doing fine. We're okay with that!)

The baby was barely a blip on the screen, but he/she was there!