Gender Reveal Coming Soon!!! Second ultrasound and Scott's reaction!

Yesterday, Thursday, April 23rd, I had my second ultrasound.  The first ultrasound was unable to detect the gender.  I was only 18 weeks for that one, and a combination of a poor view/position of the baby plus the baby wasn't as developed yet, made it unclear what the gender was.  Also, the technician said that there was an artery (or something along those lines) that ran from the heart to the lungs that the first time they were unable to see.  However, last week at my normal appointment, the doctor used his measuring tape and said I was measuring 24 weeks (at that time I was only 22.5 weeks). So because of that, the technician at yesterday's ultrasound wanted to do the full measurements to check.  She said that if the baby was measuring big then that could be an indication of a potential problem, so she wanted to be sure.

My ultrasound yesterday went amazing!  No, unfortunately Scott was unable to come.  His boss's wife broke her arm, so he and the 2 other guys working the parts counter had to shift around their lunches, so he didn't ask off.  But that was ok!  Luckily he had a very slow day yesterday so I was able to go to his work after my appointment.  Ok, back to the ultrasound!  While I'm typing this, the baby is wiggling up a storm! Anyhow - the technician first took some basic measurements, then looked at the gender of the baby (yes!! we officially know!!).  And the technician was able to see the artery measurement too! After taking lots more measurements, she determined that the baby was measuring at 24w1d and at the appointment I was 23w3d.  She said there is nothing to worry about because it's not way off.  I also found out the baby has been growing like a weed!!  It's already 1lb and 9oz!!  I can't believe it!  The book I've been following every week said the baby would be only about 1lb to 1 lb 3oz, so I was quite surprised to see how the baby's grown! Overall, everything looked great and there are no concerns at this point.

But there were some fun, interesting things that happened!  First, once she started with the thing on my belly, I asked her how long it took her husband to be able to feel the baby move.  Just seconds after I asked her that, the baby let out a good kick and the tech said she totally felt that!!  It's as if the baby actually kicked the tech!  The baby was super wiggly the entire time.  And it kept it's hands up by its face and covering its face most of the time too! Scott and I were joking that it was as if the baby kept saying, 'Put 'em up!!'  And I think one of the coolest things I saw was when the baby was making movements, like sucking on something, and I could clearly see it on the monitor.  Scott and I later joked that the baby is taking after our cat Tiger on that one.  Tiger will be sitting perfectly still and just smack his mouth a few times - this is his way of telling us he wants food, water or treats.

After my ultrasound (they sent me home with 2 photos plus a DVD of lots of other photos too), I stopped in at Blair's to get some cookies for Scott and the guys at work.  I was going to get him chocolate chip cookies but they were all out; however, ironically, they had Ranger cookies!!  I thought it was the perfect touch.  Don't ask me what Ranger cookies are.  I had one myself and they kind of tasted like a cross between oatmeal cookies with tiny chopped up pieces of nuts and maybe a hint of cinnamon? Anyhow, I took them to Scott's work, and I walk in, literally bawling my eyes out (I started crying when the tech said the gender of the baby, and since then I'd been very emotional!), and walked up to the counter with the ultrasound pictures and told Scott.  He was so happy and excited!! He was beaming from ear to ear and it was really hard to have to leave him at the store.

But I headed to the library and ordered the baby reveal cards.  Here's the fun part - not only will all our friends and family be receiving them where they can take their guesses to reveal what the baby is, but they will also be revealing what the baby's name will be!!!

A little precursor to the name.  There are 3 sentimental reasons for picking this name - 2 are more sentimental and the 3rd is just kind of fun!  Now I realize folks may not like the name we picked, but I'm going to ask nicely, that if you don't like it, please don't tell us because the name isn't changing.  I'm overly emotional right now (thank you hormones!) and it would make my life easier if you just pretend to like if even if you don't :)

I've also been asked to register for things we need (we have virtually nothing!), so I have registered at Walmart (Scott and Kristen Adkins in Clark, WY) and if anyone wants to (and please do not feel obligated to!), all you have to do is look it up online here:  https://www.walmart.com/lists/view-baby-registry-items?id=f4be6f75-dd91-4b3f-8b4b-3ceed9ea3960

I also believe you can ask the front desk at the store and they should be able to print off our list for you.  I decided to go with a neutral color theme, however, we really don't have a real theme.
Also, please know that we are completely open to new, used and even homemade items.  We only registered for the basics that we thought we needed, but please feel free to venture off the registry too.  It's very overwhelming to think of everything we need, so if there is something that you used and loved, please feel free to share that info and send anything our way!! We are so VERY grateful to everyone who has given us gifts already and we just can't thank you enough for everything!  This has been a little bit stressful on us because of having house priorities that we have to pay for first before even thinking of baby stuff.  So thank you so much!

Our address should appear on the baby registry, but just in case, here you go:
Scott and Kristen Adkins
87 Overland Trail
Clark, WY 82435

Quick House Update!!!
As you may know we have a few 'must complete' items on our to do list before the baby arrives including: finish our shower (60% of tile has been completed, 0% of plumbing/shower head installation has been completed), plumb in the water line from the well (1% completed - everything has been ordered/paid for, just waiting on final deliver of items before we can get started), add in the electric line from the pole to the house and from the house to the well (1% completed - just picked up our electric lines today!!!), add in the well pump and pump control panel (I'll explain this more later - 0% completed), create a cellar to hold 500 gallon water tank and pressure tank (0% completed), and finally, once all the above is completed, we will need to run the electric wiring in the house, specifically through the kitchen, and then purchase all the kitchen appliances.  We have the refrigerator, freezer, and dishwasher picked out, but we still are deciding on the stove/oven.  As much as I'd love to have a dual oven, because of our limited budget, I have a feeling we are going to go with a 'regular' oven this time around.  Also, we will need to hook up the water not only to the shower, but also to the washer/dryer too (yeah!! no more Laundromats!).  WOW!! If you want to know why we've been a little stressed (mostly it's been Scott), this list of has been why!  The good news is, next weekend we will be getting all the electric/water lines started outside!!  And hopefully this weekend we should have the shower completed (except for the shower heads as we need to add in the drywall before we put those up).

Keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we tackle this lofty to-do list!

Have a great weekend!! In about 2-3 weeks I'll post a Gender Reveal blog post, but I'm waiting till after all the reveal cards have been sent out:)

We have TILE!!!

The last 2-3 weeks, Scott has been working diligently on getting our shower finished!!  First, let me say that our shower is not a pre-built, buy it from Lowe's and install type of shower.  It is a custom, walk-walk in that is 40" wide and 8' long!  There will be a normal shower head at the far end of it and then from the ceiling there will be a rain shower head too (that is for Scott as he likes to just stand under the running water!!).

It's been a process to say the least.  But this last weekend, we finally had everything ready to start tiling!!  We picked out 3 different types of tile - a pebble/rock that would be the border (~6") of the floor, a beautiful glass/marble/stone tile to use as a decorative border, and then 12x12 and 8x8 tiles of this two-toned ceramic tile that would be the main part of the wall and the floor.

I feel like a goof because I forgot my camera so I'm not sure I have the most updated pictures to post, but here is what I have!  We are pretty excited about it as it's finally starting to look like a shower!

In the middle of this group of pictures, are the pictures of the cats getting the mouse from last week.  Also, you'll notice in the shower, on the new wall there is a 'bump out'.  When we first planned the drains for the house, we planned on the shower being 36" wide.  But we decided we wanted more elbow room in there, so we widened it to 40" wide.  Because of that, we had to conceal (since we couldn't move) the drain for the bathroom sink.  However, from a girls perspective I think it turned out perfect because it is the perfect foot stand for shaving legs!!! Making lemonade out of lemons here :)  I'll be coming to town again next week and I'll post more updated pictures of the shower for you all!!  Enjoy!