The Night That Baby Kicked Dad

Good morning, all :)

Yesterday while I was observing a class during school, I felt the baby kicking, and I thought to myself, "Wow, this baby is going to town in there! I wonder if I could feel it from the outside?" I put my hand on my belly, and sure enough, little pulses could be felt from the outside each time the baby kicked!

Right before Ian got home, the baby was kicking like crazy, but then as soon as Ian tried to feel, the baby stopped! Well, I had heard from someone else, and done a little of my own research, that when I eat something, the baby gets all pumped up on the sugars in the food and will be active then - so, I decided to pop a mini-Twix bar and sure enough! Baby started kicking again!!

Ian was on the phone with his Dad, so I called him over and just had him sit on the couch with his hand on my ever-growing belly - the baby kept kicking and I kept asking Ian if he had felt it, but he just kept shaking his head. Finally, the baby gave me a few good whacks, and Ian asked, "Is that it?" I just nodded and smiled! It was pretty exciting! Ian told his Dad he was feeling the baby kick as they spoke and was able to feel a few more good kicks before the baby settled down off of his 'Twix' high :)

So awesome! What a fun thing that we can both have a sense of our baby now! Wow....

On a different note, I am loving that this is the last school day in February - bring on the nicer weather! And as I wrote on John's Facebook page... his Degree recital is now in the 10 day forecast on weather.com :) So exciting!

Have a great Friday, everyone!
Love you!

22 weeks!

Good morning everyone! Thursday, already! I can hardly believe how fast these weeks go! And being that it's a Thursday, that means another little baby anniversary! So Happy 22 Weeks Baby Bally!! On Laura's calendar, it's the 5 month mark, BUT in the pregnancy world, 5 months isn't until next week (They count each month as 4.5 weeks)... so for this week, happy week 22!! :)

Today my principal is subbing for me in the morning - His goal is to sub one morning for every full-time teacher in the school so he can get an idea of what it's like to be in their classroom. What fun! Anyhow, it's kind of funny because I remember planning this back in November and thinking "Hmmm... by February I'll be about 5 months pregnant and I should be pretty big! It will be a nice break!" Well.. silly me should have waited longer, I suppose! Although I'm just starting to 'look' pregnant, I know I have a LONG way to go!

Part of the planning was that I also gave him two of my most difficult classes :) So that will be a nice break for me!

Let's see... in the dream world, I had some of the worst nightmares EVER last night - They are the stuff that people would pay to see in a scary movie! But I HATE scary movies, so it was horrible! I know that pregnant women have vivid dreams, but pleasant, vivid dreams would be so much better!

Anyhow, hope everyone has a good Thursday - tomorrow is Friday! And then the weekend! yay :)
Then... in about a week is my brother, John's Senior Recital- so exciting!!

Have a good day :)
Love
Laura

ps.. Jill, I'm so happy that you read this blog! They're fun to write, even they're a bit silly! :)

Horrible Dreams!

So... I've read a couple of places that when women are pregnant, their dreams become more vivid to them. I don't usually share dreams... but... last night I had one that I honestly thought was real until I woke up, and it was horrible!

Basically, I had just had my baby - a beautiful little girl - perfect! I went to some sort of birthday party with some friends of mine (family oriented) and when I got back to the car, I realized that I had left my new baby in the backseat the whole time! I went in without the baby!! The dream basically kept going like that... everywhere I went, I would accidentally forget her! It was terrible.... ahhh!! horrible mom dreams!! I know in real life that won't happen - but it was still so sad :(

I also went to a yoga class last night - pretty interesting :) I basically did about 75% of the moves - modifying some for the 'almost 5 months pregnant' woman I am :) I also had a tiny breakdown with Ian when I put on some of my more form fitting clothes to go to yoga - something along the lines of how huge my middle is getting and how I'm just too short for this to look cute!!! Sigh... He just calmly hugged me and said, "But Laura... you're growing a human being in there! That's what supposed to happen.... you look fine..." What a nice husband :)

Alrighty - off to school. Hope everyone has a nice Weds - 51 degrees here today! Whoo hoo!
Love you all
Laura

I think it was the sweater....

Good morning, everyone :)

Yesterday I had a few teachers say to me, "Wow - you look really pregnant! There's really even a difference from Friday until today!" My response, "Thanks!" (I want to look pregnant! That way it doesn't just look like I'm eating too many donuts!!) I think it might have been the sweater I was wearing though... I told Ian that theory and his response was, "Uh huh...." (Like, okay, whatever you say crazy person!) Even he's been commenting that I'm really looking pregnant lately :)
I suppose I'll just keep getting bigger from here!!

Not much is new - I'm thinking about going to a yoga class with a friend tonight - but I'm not sure if it's okay for pregnant ladies? I'll have to investigate a little...

Today is my knitting club at school - I LOVE this club. The 5th grade girls actually sit around a couple of tables and talk and knit like little old ladies - it's SO cute! And today we're starting hats with the yarn they got to pick out from Hobby Lobby (we took a field trip) so it should be fun!!

Have a great day everyone :)
Love
Laura

Some little things

Good morning everyone :) Last Monday, I was getting ready to spend the day with my Dad and my sister (even though I didn't know she was visiting yet!).... This Monday, off to school again - definitely not as much fun! I'm happy though because March is beginning to show in the '10 day forecast' on Weather.com. The temperatures aren't really changing yet - but we'll get there!

Ian made a lot of progress on the room this weekend - the floor is beautiful! We have one more coat of stain to put on it and then the finishing stuff, but it just looks great. It's so neat to see rooms in this old house that are getting completed... I walked in there this morning just to look at it again!

Let's see... in terms of baby news... My mom is getting me a stethoscope and a good baby information book for my half birthday (I finally just decided) so that should be fun! I'll be able to hear the baby's heart soon on my own! The baby is definitely kicking more - last night I was making dinner, and I just felt the baby moving around like crazy! Ian and I can't feel it from the outside yet, but hopefully soon!

Last night I also had an average sized dinner, and then a little more spaghetti, and then at 11pm - I turned to Ian and said, "You are not going to believe this, but I'm hungry again!" So Ian, being the good father he is, suggested I go down to eat another snack. I felt a little guilty eating so late at night, but Ian was just like, "Hey, it's a lot of work to grow that baby - he's going to be hungry!" hehe... Anyhow, silly stories, but that's what's going on in my life!

More pictures of pregnant Laura will be showing up soon.....

Have a great Monday everyone :)
Love you

Strollers!!!!

Well, I spent probably 5 or 6 hours today researching strollers - I think I just might be going crazy! One of the downfalls of Peoria is that the stores here just don't have that many strollers on display - our Target only has one!! Baby Depot has a fair amount, but researching these strollers has now let me see that there are actually 'cool' strollers out there - so now I'm conflicted! :)

Sigh... I think I'm turning into crazy-psycho-mom.... and I still have 4 1/2 months till I meet the little person!

Have a great weekend :)

Happy Friday!

Well, it's Friday- yay! Except that this is also my most challenging day of teaching - but I suppose at least the reward of the weekend is on the horizon :)

Onto some other updates I suppose - Ian has a mandatory day off work today (kind of weird) so he's going to be upstairs sanding down the floor in the baby's room! (guest room). Kind of exciting! And kind of a super pain for Ian too - he's working so hard! Once he sands it, then we finish it (add color), then we can start putting baby things in it and getting it ready!:) I like that he's home though because then we get to see each other for a little bit in the morning - something we never get to do during the week!

I hope everyone has a great weekend - please be thinking of Mom/Martha :)

Love you all
Laura

Happy 21 weeks! :)

I love these little landmark birthdays - I am from a family that celebrates 1/2 birthdays, after all! :) This week our little baby is almost a pound! Amazing - and the average length of a 21-weeker is 11 inches. That's quite a bit of baby!! Another interesting pregnancy fact - I am 8 weeks into my 2nd trimester, and only 6 weeks to go! 19 weeks until the baby is HERE!!! :) Wow... just too exciting :)

Yesterday at school I had two kids get into fight - the girl punching said 'He was making fun of my drawing so I clocked him'. Niiice. My art classes are supposed to calm these kids! Anyhow, the principal made sure that I knew not to get into the middle of any of the students when they're fighting - he said just let them go at each other! Interesting, but makes sense! I wouldn't want one of those kids 'clocking' my little guy or girl!

I am just so looking forward to this summer - it will be warm and we'll get to meet the newest member of our family!!

Love you all - have a great day!
Laura :)

Let the registry begin....

So, after plenty of 'trial/research' runs and looking up items in 'Baby Bargains' and consumerreports.org, Ian and I finally took the gun to some registry items in Target :)

Actually, in the beginning of it all, Ian's dad called, so it was more like Laura walking around randomly scanning things - Ian finally was like, "Well, I should go and see what she's doing!" Where I then gave a laugh because I still was pretty much just guessing!!

It was so tiring though! We were all energized when we got to the first aisle, and then by the end aisle, we were skipping things (we'll come back to that later) and I was just scanning random newborn diapers!

But, it was fun to start picking out the little clothes that Baby Bally will be wearing!! Even though we don't know if baby's a boy or girl, he or she will still be so cute!!

Sidenote: If anyone (family or whoever) decides to look at our registry and go shopping, feel free to get things that aren't listed. I have somewhat of an idea now, but I'm still not a baby pro! - so if you notice something is not on the list, or see some cute baby toy or accessory - go for it :)

Also, Ian and I are registering at Target, Baby Depot (for the stroller, pack and play and highchair and some other stuff) and then maybe one item at Wal-Mart (our stroller). So... we'll try and get to Baby Depot this weekend and then I'll just add stuff randomly until the baby shows up!! :)

And please don't feel like you need to go and look at our registries or begin getting the baby stuff! We just decided to register because people kept asking :) It's pretty amazing that all of this is for the little one!!

Love
Laura

Surprise!! :)

Happy President's Day everyone :) Hope you had a wonderful Monday!
Today was the day that my Dad came down to visit, so Ian took the day off and we both planned to have a great day with the three of us! But he brought an awesome surprise with him.... my sister!!! I was just finishing getting ready upstairs when I heard someone coming up the stairway - I thought it was my Dad, but then I was SOO surprised to see that it was Mary!! I screamed, of course! And gave her lots of hugs! It was just such an awesome surprise - so thanks Dad and Mary!!! :)

Once they were here - we had some baby errands to do and then went out to lunch at Chili's - yum!! We stopped by Best Buy and Dad bought web cams for the Bally household and his house - so that now when the babe is born we can visit even though we're halfway across the state! I've already hooked mine up a bit - but it's hard to figure everything out!! Anyhow, awesome gift - thanks, Dad! Cletus already told me he's looking forward to little chats with his Grandpa :) Dad, Mary, Ian and I then went to Baby Depot (in Burlington Coat Factory) to look at baby supplies - I really need to start picking some things out, but it's still a tad overwhelming. It was great to have Mary there helping us - always nice to have a second opinion. And I think we may actually have a stroller picked out :) Then at Chili's, all was good :) Great company and good food!

I LOVED loved loved spending the day with family - we played cards and laughed and it was just fun :) Ian and I had a great time with everyone and it was so nice to have our home filled with some family!!! Mary and Dad, thanks for coming down - and thanks for the great surprise!!!!

Love you all
Laura

Happy Valentine's Day!

A rare occurance - Laura blogging on a Saturday!!

But Happy Valentine's Day to all! And I also love these types of calendar landmarks because for Valentine's Day next year we'll be a family of three! (Although we do already love our little baby - you are right, Mom!)

Love you you all!
Laura and Ian :)

A mother's realization

Good morning everyone :)

Well, I now feel like a bad Mom (already!) that I was teasing my poor baby about his/her picture :) He can't help it - and he probably didn't even know we were trying to take a picture :)

I woke up this morning just being seriously thankful that our baby is healthy and looks like he/she has all the limbs and parts and a nice shape head (The doctor really checked that part out for some reason!) And that's really what those sonograms are for :)

Anyhow, it will be fun to go back in 4 weeks - it will March, and hopefully nicer weather! And we saw an active baby yesterday - so it will be fun to meet him/her!!! I can't wait!

Next things this pregnant woman is looking foward to: My Dad is coming to visit on President's Day! And then my brother John is having his Degree Recital on March 8th - so exciting!!

Have a great Friday everyone!

Ultrasound PIcture - 20 weeks :)

Hey everyone :)
Okay, so before you scroll down to the picture - it's not the typical 'cute' 20 week baby picture that I was expecting! The doc thought this one was cool because it was when the baby was opening his/her mouth - and it was pretty neat because baby actually opened his/her mouth and stuck his tongue out for a second!! Very cute - but this just isn't what I was expected for the 20 week baby pic! I love that we can see the nose and it's a closeup of the face, but the mouth threw me off for a little bit!

Anyhow, baby is healthy - and to simplify - I'm going to call the baby 'he' for this post - even though we still don't know! :)

Okay, so Baby was flailing all around, really!!! Yesterday, baby's head was on the right side of my body, and then the legs were on the left - which makes sense because that's where I've been feeling the kicking :) We also saw the baby reach up and kind of punch me one time! Busy arms and moving head pretty much the whole time, which was SO fun to see! Doctor said something like, "Active baby... glad it's yours!!" Hee hee... made us laugh for sure! But the baby is definitely busy in there! :) We were also able to catch a glimpse of the foot and a close up of 5 toes - plus a hand and we could 4 little perfect fingers (couldn't see the thumb though) ... Let's see - we saw parts of the brain, and the four chambers of the heart - just very cool in general!!

The doctor also said that the baby was in such a tough position that even if he wanted to tell the sex of the baby he wouldn't have been able to- I suppose it's a blessing the baby was a little stubborn, because now the doctor wants us to go back in a month for another ultrasound, just to do some more measurements and get a better picture, and I am totally all about that :) I love seeing the baby!!

We don't really know how long the baby is because he was in a strange position - so I'm just not sure! But if you look at the picture, it's a profile of the baby's face - so you can see the shape of the nose, where the ear would be, and definitely the mouth :) The doctor explained the baby's position like that he was laying on his back, with his head tilted back even further. So kind of like the head was looking up... I felt so much better when a friend of Ian and mine said she had a sonogram picture that made her baby look like Skeletor - our baby's mouth is just a little scary! But... the baby is healthy, and it's just so cool that he's growing so much and having such a great time in there!

So... I am so thankful that baby is healthy! I just hope that in four weeks he's a little more photogenic!

Love you all :)
Laura

We're halfway there!!

Good morning :)

Today is a day I have seriously been looking forward to since Christmas - and I'm sure everyone else remembers what day it is today too - the sonogram!! I just cannot wait to see that little guy/girl moving around and being all baby-like :)

I was looking at the ticker at the top of this email, and it's also pretty neat because now they give the length of the entire baby and not just from head-to-rump... so I guess Baby is about 10 inches or so!! I got out my ruler this morning and looked at what that is - That's a lot of inches of baby!! And my stomach still looks about the same as when I posted pictures of myself... so no wonder I might be feeling the baby kick. There's just not a lot of room in there!

It's also 20 weeks today - So Happy Halfway There, Baby! :) Wow... 20 weeks along - now I'm in the 2nd half of my pregnancy. And soon we'll have a new member of our family! Crazy :)

Well, I hope everyone has a great day today! Check back tonight for pictures from our sonogram!
Love
Laura

A little surprise!!

I think I felt the baby kick yesterday!!! It's hard to explain - but it felt like little hunger pains (I wasn't hungry) or like little bruises (thanks baby) and just in one spot - and the doctor said it could start at 18 weeks - and I'm 20 weeks tomorrow - so yay!!! I hope it was the baby kicking, but since I don't have a ton of experience with this, I"m just not sure :)

Two interesting/funny stories about school....
1. There's an aide at the school who is about 6 months pregnant, and yesterday she said something like, "I know you don't want to find out what you're having, but I just have to tell you --- I have a 6th sense about these kind of things and I think you're having a boy!"

It's just so interesting to hear that from other people! I still am leaning towards a boy - and if it is a girl in there, she will have had a lot of people fooled!! :)

Story #2 - Yesterday was the '100th' day of school - so the little kids brought in 100 of misc. things - beans, cheerios, stickers.... welll... my last hour of the day I have about 6 kids, and they wanted to give Mrs. Bally a sticker - How nice! Then the baby a sticker... very cute as well :) (I stuck it on the side of my torso) Then.... they decided to give the baby about 10 more big stickers and plaster them right on my belly!! I didn't want to offend them (or make my baby mad by taking away the stickers) so I left the stickers on until the end of school - and I did get some crazy looks from a few parents... hehe... all for the kids, I suppose!!!

Anyhow - those are my stories for the day! I hope it was the baby kicking - that would be so exciting!!! And Mary and Dad - I love reading your comments!! They are so fun for me!!!

Have a great day everyone!
Love
Laura

2nd post for Tuesday :)

Hey everyone,

I think that I just changed the settings so that anyone (google user or not) can leave a comment - so give it a try if you want :) It's always nice to hear from everyone!

Love
Laura

It's a sunshine day :)

Wow - I just can't get over how refreshing this weather is!! And today is my day to have one PE class, so you can bet that we're going outside - which will be great!

I received a huge present last night because one of my friends from our small group (at church) gave me a laundry basket just packed with maternity clothes! Wow - I am just so appreciative!! I'm having trouble finding cute maternity clothes - just because there are only a few racks at every store I go to - and she is just so kind to let me use hers! :)

Let's see - I'm still feeling pretty good :) Which I am fortunate for! There are two other pregnant women at school, and they are having yucky pregnancies so far! So I am extremely happy with mine! The only trouble is that I just don't sleep well anymore - it's so hard to get comfortable! And then... because I don't sleep well... Poor Ian doesn't sleep very well either :( The other day he woke up at 4:15 or so and then just stayed up and went into work... I don't know. I feel bad!!

This weekend marks 1/2 way through February, and I could not be happier! I just want SPRING to come! But I am so happy we've had a few nice days - it's just makes everything easier!

Have a great day everyone!
Love
Laura

In the 5th month, Laura's tummy was getting bigger!

Happy Monday, everyone!
In IL we had awesome weather on Saturday - 66 down here in Peoria! Needless to say, I think everyone in our state totally loved it! :) Today it's supposed to be 60, then tomorrow... 66! Too bad I'm in school and then have my after school clubs... oh well, it gives hope that this winter will soon be over... It's just been so COLD!! (It is going back to the 30s after this little teaser - so we are still in Feb, I suppose!)

I was reading my 'What to Expect' book and it said that I was in the 5th month - which makes sense! But it's just exciting that I'm really moving along :)

My goal this week is to really start researching and picking out some baby things - I have emails from friends, a great book (thanks, Nate and Alli!) and now I just have to do my homework! It's pretty fun - but there are still just so many choices!!

As you have read in past blogs too - this is the week of the Ultrasound! Thursday... whoo hoo!

Alrighty, time for school!
Love
Laura

Happy Friday!

A lot of people at school have been asking how I'm feeling lately - and the answer is really pretty good! I'm so thankful that this pregnancy has been on the easy side for me! Watch - now the last trimester will be a real challenge!! (And I'm still a little worried about the baby coming OUT) !!!

I'm super excited because 1. It's Friday, and 2. It's supposed to be 57 degrees here tomorrow (and on a Saturday so we can all enjoy it!) . I so need this warm weather - I pretty much over winter for the year :)

Baby's doing good lately - I haven't felt any kicks yet... but he/she does a good job of making me hungry - so I'm hoping that everything's going well in there! We'll find out for sure next week!

Have a great Friday, everyone - and a great weekend!
Love
Laura

Happy 19 weeks!!

Wow - it seems like this pregnancy is going by quickly and slowly at the same time!! Happy 19 weeks Baby Bally - you sure are getting big!! 10.5 oz - and some websites say you are 10 inches from head to toe - that's quite a baby!! :)

I am loving being pregnant so far - It is just so awesome! Ian's excited too - we just can't wait to feel that baby kick!! :)

I've had some teachers saying that I'm definitely showing now - so it's a good thing I have all those maternity pants!

I can't believe that I'm almost halfway - that is just crazy! Now I just start getting big :) However, it's also a sign that spring is coming - yay!! And we have all sorts of fun events to look forward to: Ultrasound next week :) John's Senior Recital March 8th (in about a month!), Ian and I are going to Galveston in April, in April and May I start taking a few pregnancy hospital classes, and then in May we have the graduations of John and Ben! :) June I get out of school - and in July the baby comes!!! So there's something about every month - that should keep things moving along!!!

Have a great day everyone!
Love
Laura

Ian's 34th Birthday :)

I know this is a post for Baby Bally, but I'm sure he or she won't mind sharing the space with the parents once in a while! (I'll have to change the title of the blog after the baby is here!) Anyhow, on Saturday we celebrated Ian's birthday with his Grandma, Dad, and Mom - it was great! Carol and Bob made us a wonderful dinner and they made Ian a really cute groundhog cake!! Here is a video of Ian opening his present from the family - it was a hit! :) (And I say 'Yay' WAY too much- camera lady's going to need to work on not talking when she's taping!!)

Some party animals! :)
The cake in all it's glory! Will he see his shadow? We hope not!

Ian, Carol, and Grandma working on the candles - 34!!

The birthday boy :)

Oh no!!! Winter is ablaze!

Baby thoughts!

Good morning (or afternoon or evening!)

I've realized I've gotten into the habit of writing every morning - so even though I"m running a tad late for school today - I just still had to update everyone about baby bally! :)

Ian got a cute birthday card from Dad and Linda yesterday (all the way from Hawaii!!) and in it Dad's message said "By this time next year, you will have changed 1,115 diapers, prepared a few hundred bottles, and realized every day how blessed you are!" Those types of realizations are fun! Yet at the same time, wow!! Our life is going to change so much! But for the better for sure! :)

Ian's cousins sent us a REALLY cute little stuffed animal/book yesterday in the mail - we so enjoyed looking at it - and listening to it! It's amazing how Baby Bally is already starting to get little gifts!

Also, the board of education decided yesterday that they are not going to consolidate any schools or lay any teachers off this year - so yay!! That means Laura still has a job for next year :) (Unless something happens at the Irving level and my principal doesn't want to keep me) But, it was a huge relief to hear yesterday!

Okay, time to eat some Kix and then off to school!
Love
Laura

Tuesday, Tuesday

Good morning :)

So, I read up on baby stuff pretty much all of the time. Books, internet, really anywhere I can get the information!! I also end up talking to the dad-to-be about something baby related every day - which he totally expected, but I didn't! I remember when I first found out I was pregnant, I wanted our conversations to remain somewhat normal so I said "Don't worry, Ian - I won't talk about baby stuff every day!" Oh my - that is so far from the truth! Looking back, Ian says that he knew that was a promise I wouldn't be able to keep! But we enjoy it, so it's all good :)

I feeling pretty good lately - The only crazy thing is the amount of weight I'm gaining!! It just keeps going up!! Which I suppose it needs to - but it is still quite strange to see the scale with those numbers on it!

Well - time for school! I cannot wait for this winter weather to end- Hard to believe it will be 50 degrees here Saturday - I can't wait!!!

Love
Laura

Happy Birthday, Ian!!

Today is Ian's birthday! Yay! :) We had a great night celebrating with his parents and Grandma on Saturday, and he loved his gift of the GPS (So thanks, family! I'll put the video up tomorrow - I ran out of time this weekend!) I'm not sure what we'll do yet today, but I'll be sure to be extra nice to him! :) Ian did a lot of work on the house this weekend - He's working on wiring, so putting in new outlets, new switches, and then he and his dad put in a bunch of new canlights in the baby's room - so exciting and appreciated!!!

I'm finally feeling better - this cold was a bad one! Kind of like the flu on Thursday (just achy ALL over) and then just turned into massive head cold - but there's just a little reminder now! One of the students I tutor said to me Friday "You got soup at home? When you get home make sure you eat some soup - you shouldn't of come in today!" I though that was very sweet :)

Since this is a Baby blog - I'll share that I picked up two more pairs of maternity pants! So now my total is up to 3, and I LOVE them!!! Now Baby Bally won't have to get smushed!!

Hopefully within the next few weeks I'll feel the baby kick for the first time, so I'll let you know for sure!!! :)

Have a great week everyone!
Laura