Friday :)

Hey all :)

I read yesterday that at about this time, we could start hearing the baby's heartbeat with a regular stethoscope - so I think Ian and I might be purchasing one of those!

I am feeling terrible today - so there's not going to be much blogging - sorry!!! The kids at school are starting to comment about how my stomach is getting 'bigger' or 'tighter' or they just randomly walk up and put their hands on it - haha. It's fun though - there's about 400 people going through this pregnancy with me at school :)

I'm really considering whether or not I should get a sub - yuck --------

Hope everyone is feeling better than I am!
Love
Laura

Happy 4 months!

Happy 4 months Baby Bally! 18 weeks - wow! I love the weekly milestones, and this week, both tickers changed their picture! So fun!! 4 months... 5 to go!!! :) (And a double bonus, the farther along I get in my pregnancy, the warmer it will get outside!)

Yesterday was a fun and somewhat calm visit to the doctor :) We heard the baby's heartbeat again - yay!! It's just so amazing that there are TWO heartbeats in my body - crazy!! Besides that, the doctor asked how everything was going - and I didn't really have any questions - so it was a quick visit! (Kind of... we waited in the waiting room for 30 minutes) But, it was a good visit nontheless! I should start to feel the baby kicking soon - it starts around 18 weeks for some people - so that will be exciting!

Besides that, I have one of those colds where I feel like I've taken NyQuil, but just not as good - so I'm thanking those kids at school for sharing so nicely :)

Hope everyone has a great day!
Love
Laura

What a great day :)

Today has one of my favorite events of the pregnancy - going to the doctor! And those in my family - I bet you thought you'd never hear me say those words! (I used to HATE the doctor - as so many people do....). Anyhow, these little visits are the closest insight I have into what's going on with the baby, so they are way fun! Today Ian's coming along too, so he'll get to hear the heartbeat for the first time! I'm just praying that baby is healthy in there!!!

On another positive note, our friends Nate and Alli sent us an awesome baby package yesterday! It had some things for us to use when the baby is born - which was awesome because it made it that much more real (not that my stomach getting bigger doesn't make it real enough!) And then they also gave us a few books, including Baby Bargains which is an awesome answer to my cry for help in the entry 'Baby Depot'- Now we have some things to look through :) There were a few other fun things in there too - and we are just so lucky to have such great friends! Especially when they have a 4 month old baby keeping them busy! :) Thanks so much, Nate and Alli! (And little Henry for giving them the parent knowledge that they are now sharing with us!!)

I'll give you all an update tomorrow morning on how our little baby is doing! Think the doctor would let me record the heartbeat on my camera? I'm seriously considering it.....

Love you all!
Laura

The Cookie Monster

Good morning, all!

So yesterday's huge dilemma was that the night before, I had eaten ONE spoonful of cookie dough. Usually it is many more than one!! Anyhow, I spent the day yesterday totally freaking out that I was going to pass salmonella on to Baby Bally! I 'googled' during my planning period all about it, called my mom and freaked out during my lunch time - even asked my assistant principal if she had ever eaten cookie dough while SHE was pregnant! hehe... Mom called back and reassured me that it was probably okay - that she probably ate cookie dough when she was pregnant with us three kids - so I felt MUCH better! But what a fear that I had poisoned this baby!! I'm already so in love with this little guy/girl and I'm barely showing and he/she still has 5 more months to go - whew!

On another pregnancy note - I having trouble reaching down for things already. Tieing my shoes, picking up student artwork from the floor (no drying rack) etc. I don' t even want to know how hard it will be when I'm 8 months pregnant! All I know is - It's not quite like it used to be :)

By the way - the cookie recipe that caused a total freak out yesterday makes one of the best chocolate chip cookies I've ever had - It's similar to the Nestle recipe, but you put pudding in it! Just makes them super soft and fluffly - here's the link :
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Award-Winning-Soft-Chocolate-Chip-Cookies/Detail.aspx

Hope you all have a wonderful day!
Love
Laura

Looking ahead :)

I was just telling my sister, Mary, that we've only known about Baby Bally for 3 months, and we still have 5 more months to go!! (The first month, I had no idea!) Wow - It's going to be quite a while until we get to meet the little guy or girl!! :)

Anyhow, there are some exciting things (in the world of pregnancy) happening in the next few weeks - so that should make it go by more quickly!

This week (Weds) - Dr's appointment - get to hear the heartbeat :)

Next Monday - Feb 2nd - Dad's (Ian's) birthday!! :) Last birthday without the baby!

Then the NEXT week, Feb 12th - Ultrasound!! We'll get to see what the baby is looking like!! :) That also marks the halfway point :)

After the ultrasound, we have John's recital to look forward to on March 8th - then hopefully it will be getting warmer outside!

So, even though it seems like it will be a while - there are little steps along the way to keep this mom amused :)

Hope everyone has a wonderful Monday! More baby stuff tomorrow :)
Love you!

How???

Sometimes the after-school club kids saunter into my room to help me stack chairs or draw on the whiteboard - good kids, and very friendly! Anyhow, yesterday one of these children, a 1st grader walked into my room after school. This was our conversation....
Student: "Mrs. Bally, Is you pregnant?"
Me: " Yep, I am! Pretty exciting!"
Students: "How?"
Me: "Well, it just kinda happened" (Not knowing what else to say!!!)

Wow! Did that one word throw me for a loop! I told his mom about our conversation and she just laughed - and I could tell she had no intentions of explaining how it actually happened!
But whew!

On to a different topic - next Weds I'll get to hear the heartbeat again! Yay! And then two weeks after that the 20 week (halfway) ultrasound! I love those doctors appointments!

Have a great Friday!
Love
Laura

Happy 17 weeks!

I think.... that my 4 months isn't until next week - but I'm not all that sure! It's 4 weeks after the first trimester (13 weeks) but I believe pregnancy months are every 4.5 weeks - Anyhow! We're still at a landmark today so everyone gets some pictures :)

Now... I did not know that my stomach looked this big. Ian's been telling me the past two nights, 'You really look pregnant all of a sudden' and no wonder the student made the comment that he did!!! The first two are just me in my favorite winter sweater. My photographer (Ian!) suggested I show the belly with just the white shirt - The shocked look comes because I had just checked the earlier two pictures and realized how big my belly looked from another view!!! Crazy, I tell ya!! But pretty fun too :) Keep in mind that these were taken after a long day at school and while I was cooking dinner - so they are purely for belly size purposes!! :) And I was actually 'trying' to suck it in! Although that is not possible anymore....

Anyhow, this really just happened since the weekend - I guess baby needs more room!

Laura from the side.....

Laura turned a little....
Laura shocked because her belly looked huge in the last two pictures!!

Say hello to Baby Bally!
Have a great day everyone!
Love
Laura