what a great christmas!

Josh and i had such a great christmas, we hope you did too! We went to Tom and Ruthmari's (Josh's parents) house on christmas eve and stayed overnight. Christmas eve we each opened our one gift, which happens to be pj's every year. this year i got maternity/nursing pj's with a cool "boob flap" to make nursing a breeze once the little peanut is here.

Christmas morning Nathan, Ashley, Grace, Delsie (Josh's sister, husband and daughters) and my mom joined us. We had a delicous gingerbread waffle breakfast and got some very wonderful and generous gifts for the baby.

Josh's parents gave us this hip highchair which also comes with a tray cover and a cushy black seat cover.. i insisted on putting it together so i could play with it even after josh pointed out, the baby probably wont be able to use it until a year from now. what can i say, im excited!



The Lanigans (Josh's aunt and uncle) gave us our stroller..


And my mom generously gave us $ towards our hd video camera we want to get, hopefully we get it really soon and i can add video to the blog..


We also got some other fun things for the baby like a super soft baby blanket, cute diaper bag, and some fun toys. A huge thanks to everyone for the baby stuff!

We gave Tom and Ruthmari grandparents memory books. The books ask them a daily question about their childhood that they answer, then after a year they each have a book filled with memories to give to their grandchild. I love family history stuff so i am so excited for our child to have this! i know its a lot of work.. so get writin' nana and papa!

I also have to add that at the hunter/andersen family christmas party last week josh got a "man diaper bag". its black, non-descript and included a beer.. for josh, not the baby.. hehe!

im trying to get our last ultrasound pics on here but my scanner has decided to crap out on me.. ill get my favorite geek to look at it soon.

thanks again for the baby gifts, and i hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!

21 weeks.. we are over 1/2 way!

Baby Andersen now weighs about three-quarters of a pound and is approximately 10 1/2 inches long — the length of a carrot. His eyebrows and eyelids are fully developed. And you can certainly feel him move. He's oblivious to your schedule, though, so don't be surprised if he starts working out just when you're settling down for the night. If you're having a girl, her vagina is formed now, though it will continue to develop until birth.

20 weeks!

Baby Andersen weighs about 10 1/2 ounces now. She's also around 6 1/2 inches long from head to bottom, and about 10 inches from head to heel — the length of a banana. (For the first 20 weeks, we use measurements taken from the top of the baby's head to her bottom — known as the "crown to rump" measurement. After that, we use measurements from head to toe. This is because a baby's legs are curled up against her torso during the first half of pregnancy and are very hard to measure.)

A greasy white substance called vernix caseosa coats her entire body to protect her skin during its long submersion in amniotic fluid. (This slick coating also eases the journey down the birth canal.)

Your baby is swallowing more, which is good practice for her digestive system. She's also producing meconium, a black, sticky substance that's the result of cell loss, digestive secretion, and swallowed amniotic fluid. This meconium will accumulate in her bowels, and you'll see it in her first messy diaper (although a few babies pass it in utero or during delivery).

its a spunky one!

i feel the baby constantly now, about every other hour for a hour it feels like the baby is doing tumbling practice. i think josh will be able to feel the baby too within a couple of weeks.. so cool!

19 weeks.. apparently the "pretzel stage"

Baby Andersen weighs about 8 1/2 ounces, and he measures 6 inches, head to bottom — about the size of a large heirloom tomato. His arms and legs are in the right proportions to each other and the rest of his body now. His kidneys continue to make urine, and the hair on his scalp is sprouting. This is a crucial time for sensory development: Your baby's brain is designating specialized areas for smell, taste, hearing, vision, and touch. If your baby is a girl, she has an astonishing 6 million eggs in her ovaries. They'll dwindle to fewer than two million by the time she's born.

18 weeks!

Head to bottom, baby Andersen is approximately 5 1/2 inches long (about the length of a bell pepper) and she weighs almost 7 ounces. She's busy flexing her arms and legs — movements that you'll likely start noticing more and more. Her blood vessels are visible through her thin skin and her ears are now in position and stand out from her head. Myelin (a protective covering) is beginning to form around her nerves, a process that will continue for a year after she's born. If you're having a girl, her uterus and Fallopian tubes are formed and in place. If your baby is a boy, his genitals are noticeable, though he may hide them from you during an ultrasound.

17 weeks!

Baby Andersen weighs 5 ounces now (about as much as a turnip), and he's around 5 inches long. He can move his joints, and his skeleton — until now rubbery cartilage — is starting to harden to bone. His sense of hearing is also developing. The umbilical cord, his lifeline to the placenta, is growing stronger and thicker.

4 months pregnant!

How your baby's growing:
At 4 1/2 inches long (head to bottom) and 3 1/2 ounces, baby Andersen is about the size of an avocado. In the next three weeks, she'll go through a tremendous growth spurt, though, doubling her weight and adding inches to her length. Her lower limbs are much more developed now. Her head is more erect than it has been, and her eyes have moved toward the front of her head. Your baby's ears are close to their final position, too. Some of her more advanced body systems are working, including her circulatory system and urinary tract. Her heart is now pumping about 25 quarts of blood each day, circulating her total blood volume through her body many times. (By the end of your pregnancy, this will increase to about 190 quarts.) The patterning of her scalp has begun, though her hair isn't recognizable yet. Although closed, her eyes are moving (slowly), and she's even started growing toenails.

i felt the baby move!

i felt the baby move! i felt this once before but i wasn't quite sure if it was "it" or not. now I'm certain. it felt like something "swiping" the inside of my uterus, kinda tickled. now I'm waiting for a real full-blown kick, cant wait!

15 weeks!

Baby Andersen now measures about 4 inches long, crown to rump, and weighs in at about 2 1/2 ounces (about the size of an apple). She's busy moving amniotic fluid through her nose and upper respiratory tract, which helps the primitive air sacs in her lungs begin to develop. Her legs are growing longer than her arms now, and she can move all of her joints and limbs. Although her eyelids are still fused shut, she can sense light. If you shine a flashlight at your tummy, for instance, she's likely to move away from the beam. There's not much for your baby to taste at this point, but she is forming taste buds. Finally, if you have an ultrasound this week, you may be able to find out whether your baby's a boy or a girl! (Don't be too disappointed if it remains a mystery, though. Nailing down your baby's sex depends on the clarity of the picture and on your baby's position. He or she may be modestly curled up or turned in such a way as to "hide the goods.")

14 weeks!

This week's big developments: Baby Andersen can now squint, frown, grimace, pee, and possibly suck his thumb! Thanks to brain impulses, his facial muscles are getting a workout as his tiny features form one expression after another. His kidneys are producing urine, which he releases into the amniotic fluid around him — a process he'll keep up until birth. He can grasp, too, and if you're having an ultrasound now, you may even catch him sucking his thumb.

In other news: Your baby's stretching out. From head to bottom, he measures 3 1/2 inches — about the size of a lemon — and he weighs 1 1/2 ounces. His body's growing faster than his head, which now sits upon a more distinct neck. By the end of this week, his arms will have grown to a length that's in proportion to the rest of his body. (His legs still have some lengthening to do.) He's starting to develop an ultra-fine, downy covering of hair, called lanugo, all over his body. Your baby's liver starts making bile this week — a sign that it's doing its job right — and his spleen starts helping in the production of red blood cells. Though you can't feel his tiny punches and kicks yet, your little pugilist's hands and feet (which now measure about 1/2 inch long) are more flexible and active.

13 weeks.. onto the 2nd trimester!

Fingerprints have formed on baby Andersen's tiny fingertips, her veins and organs are clearly visible through her still-thin skin, and her body is starting to catch up with her head — which makes up just a third of her body size now. If you're having a girl, she now has more than 2 million eggs in her ovaries. Your baby is almost 3 inches long (the size of a medium shrimp) and weighs nearly an ounce.

new baby pics!

So we had our 2nd ultrasound today, its part of the "quads screening" they do. It was beyond cool. As you can see the baby now looks like a baby! The baby is 7cm long, this measurement only includes the head and torso, so he/she is much longer including the legs. The nurse was trying to get the baby to change positions so she started pushing on my belly and.. the baby started moving and swinging his/her legs and arms all around!!! i could not believe it!!! i wasnt expecting to see the baby doing the front crawl in there, coolest thing ive seen yet! The nurse did count 2 arms, 2 hands, 2 legs and 2 feet. We also saw his/her little fingers. It was an absolutely amazing day.

i think im showing early?!?

im days away from being a full 3 months pregnant and onto the 4th month. my books say this is usually the "almost showing" stage, but i seem to be way ahead of the game. i cannot even pretend to fit into my prepregnancy pants, some shirts i can still wear. i would be convinced this was twins, but we've already had an ultrasound and we only heard one heartbeat.

the other thing that amazes me is that i have this obvious new belly and ive only gained 4lbs(i might be up to 5 now). i feel like ive gained 15! maybe my body is moving fat from other areas and dumping it in my belly? i cant decide if that would be a good thing or not?

p.s. i swear im not pushing out.

12 weeks!

Baby Andersen has hit the 2-inch mark (about the size of a lime) and weighs half an ounce. Her face is beginning to look more human. Her eyes, which started out on the sides of her head, have moved closer together on her face, and her ears are near their final positions on the sides of her head. Your baby's intestines, which have grown so rapidly that they protrude into the umbilical cord, will start to move into her abdominal cavity about now. Her kidneys are secreting urine into her bladder. Her nerve cells have been multiplying rapidly, and synapses (neurological pathways in the brain) are forming. Your baby may have acquired more reflexes by now, including sucking, and she'll even squirm if you prod your abdomen, though you still won't be able to feel her movement for several weeks.

cutest baby item ever..

11 weeks today

Baby andersen, just over 1 1/2 inches long and about the size of a fig, is now almost fully formed. Her hands will soon open and close into fists, tiny tooth buds are beginning to appear under her gums, and some of her bones are beginning to harden.

She's already busy kicking and stretching, and her tiny movements are so effortless they look like water ballet. These movements will become more frequent as her body grows and becomes more developed and functional. You won't feel your baby's acrobatics for another month or two — nor will you notice the hiccupping that may be happening now that her diaphragm is forming.

baby andersen's first photo

this was our first ultrasound taken 9/17/07. we found out then we were 6 weeks and 5 days pregnant! the baby is on the left, kinda looks like a peanut, the "yolk sac" is on the right.