32 weeks down, 8 weeks to go...

We have hit the home stretch folks! The baby will be here before we know it. Everything is going well with baby and mommy's health. We had a bit of a scare of gestational diabetes, but after the three hour test we came back normal. Thank goodness too since it happened at the peak of the holiday season. Paul is very excited that we only have 8 weeks left, and of course I am getting nervous again about this whole birth process. We have decided (after much education and discussion) to go as long as we can without drugs. Partly of course, so I can show Paul that I am one tough chica. ;) I have gotten to the point of pregnancy where there is no hiding the "pregnancy waddle" and Paul likes to giggle at me every now and then. I kind of laugh at how much I grunt to get out of the car or recliner. It's just one more part of the beautiful miracle that we women get to participate in.

I'm sure you all have heard, if you aren't living it locally, that we have had lots of snow here in Portland. It has been fairly dangerous out there on the roads, but also just getting out of our drive way. Paul and I both stayed home from work on Monday, but Paul went drove to work and our neighbors drove me later. It was nice to get out of the house, and make some money, but I sure do like staying home and hanging out with the husband and doggy. Speaking of Bruno, he is no fan of the weather either. It takes a lot of convincing to get him to go outside to do his business, but he's done pretty well. We shoveled the sidewalk and he finds a nice spot under the bushes next to the house with limited amount of snow to use, then runs inside and sits in front of his little heater. Also, due to the weather we will be celebrating our Christmas in our little house just us since my folks have more snow on their end than we do. We are actually looking forward to celebrating just the two of us one last time before our world changes (for the better).

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas holiday and are blessed by your loved ones as much as we have been.

Snow!

Just wanted to post some pictures of our baby's first snow. I do realize she doesn't know that she had a first snow, but it was fun for me. Plus we got some really cute pictures of our little Bruno dressed up as Santa.

It's a GIRL!

Friday morning I had my 27 week appointment. Everything is going great. The baby is just the right size, my blood pressure has been fantastic, all blood work has looked wonderful, and the doctor is pleased with my weight (it has been a battle for the first time ever to actually gain weight). The only thing that was missing was knowing the baby's gender. So, when the doctor realized we really did want to know what we were having, she offered to run over to her ultrasound room for a peak. A refresher of the last ultrasound is that the baby was too shy and had legs crossed and tucked in so we couldn't see much at all. This time, the baby was VERY cooperative. SHE bore it all. There is essentially no question at all as to what gender our baby is now. Of course, the natural thing to do when we found out...we went shopping! We (including Paul) were very excited to go buy "little pink things". As you see in the picture, we have a nice little starting point for our baby's wardrobe. We have, obviously, put up the crib since we last blogged on here.

We have also started taking our baby classes. We are attending a 6 week course that we are 4 weeks into already. It has been a lot of fun for the both of us. The teacher is very intentional at pointing out the things that Daddy's need to know and involving them in the course as much as possible. We have learned a lot, and I'm sure we have so much more to learn. I have really started to embrace the process of child birth instead of being so scared about it. I know that with Paul by my side I will go much farther without pain control than I ever thought before. It really is a complete miracle what our female bodies can do people!

Other than that, we have been enjoying this time together as much as we can. We love spending our Saturdays and Sundays together with the puppy watching football. We are looking forward to next year when we have a little cheerleader sitting in daddy's arms watching the games.

I hope all of you are enjoying the change in seasons and have a fantastic love filled Thanksgiving.

It's not easy being Green

Tina is now 22 weeks along and really starting to show. We have finished painting the nursery a nice shade of green that isn't at all bright,and can now start putting in furniture and decorations. I foresee the Hill family doing our part to help the world financial crisis by stimulating the Swedish economy in the next few months, through multiple trips to IKEA.

On the cultural front, Tina has already started the corruption of our child. She and her mother went to a Celine Dion concert on Thursday. Tina told me she could tell the baby was enjoying the show because of all the motion she could feel, I like to think that my baby was showing some taste and trying to get out of there.

Baby movements

Well, it's official. There is a baby in there moving all around. It is the coolest thing to watch and feel. It didn't take long after I started feeling it before Paul could join in on the fun. Last night we had quite the rodeo and Paul got to feel a lot of it. This morning after Paul went to work, I could watch the belly move. I'm starting to think that the 5 months of morning sickness just might be worth it. Maybe I do like this pregnancy thing after all. :)

Who are you little baby?

We have successfully entered into our fifth month. The doctor says the baby is growing well and developing everything that should be developing right now. At the ultrasound we saw femurs, toes, fingers, kidneys, a heart, brain, eyeballs. Yup, we saw a lot. However, when it came time to see the goods...baby was shy. Baby had legs crossed and tucked in hiding what it has every right to cover. It's silly how we are asking the baby to show us what we will later require the baby to keep covered. So, here we are with a white room, no baby clothes, and trying to figure out how much gender neutral stuff to buy.

On another note, I have been promoted at my job! I am now the head of reception and "nurses" at the animal hospital that I work at. So far the job has been fairly manageable. I have hired two new employees, and trained one that was hired at the same time as my promotion. I am very excited for the team that I have and feel like we are on a great path for success. Paul has been plugging along at his job, not much has changed there. Bruno (our puppy) is almost a year old and can't wait for the baby.

That's all for now. I promise there are pictures to come.

The three of us...

We wanted to start a blog because everyone else has too. We figured now that we are pregnant, what better time to do it? That's right folks, we're pregnant. We are due Feb 18th, give or take two weeks. We are very excited, over whelmed, and anxious about it all. We hope to use this blog to keep everyone posted on the progress where ever you might be. We hope you enjoy!