Once again I'm falling behind...way behind. This is going to be a long one.

Had my monthly checkup with the Doctor on Friday June 26th. So far I'd gained about 5 1/2 lbs. My blood pressure had worked its way back to my normal readings with this supposed 40% increased blood volume. Not that it was high in the beginning of my pregnancy, it was high for me. On Friday it was 113/72. The baby's heart rate was 150 bpm.

So our 2nd trimester ultrasound was Wednesday July 1st at St Francis Imaging Center. At this point the gestational age was 19 weeks and 4 days. They confirmed what we already knew...it's a BOY! There heart rate was holding steady at 150 bpm. Right now they estimated that he weighs 12 oz and according to their measurements he's measurings 20 weeks 0 days, so a few days ahead. Pretty much the only other thing I could interpret from the fast typing and photo snapping of the U/S tech was that the baby had 4 chambers in his heart, so no problem there. Since it wasn't done in my Doctor's office, my Doctor will discuss the results on our next visit, July 24th.

Below are a couple of the shots they got during the ultrasound. They took a great spine shot (as usual) but it wasn't on the printout they gave me. Our next ultrasound will probably be the 3D/4D ultrasound which I plan on doing around the middle of August.

I had to rotate this one to get the right effect, it's a frontal shot of the baby's face, I think it's cute with its little fingers by his chin.

Zoomed up close to the foot, so it's kind of hard to see.

Confirmed it's a boy! The dark spot is his bladder. ; )

Profile shots, you can see his nose and mouth.

 

We spent the holiday weekend at the lake...surprise! We went down after work Thursday evening, grabbing McDonald's for dinner and stopping at my Mom's house along the way to deliver some home grown tomatoes, squash, zucchini, jalapenos, and a few onions.

I've learned that I have to pick the squash and zucchini immediately when they are ready of they will grow into giant vegetables and pretty much be no good. My onions aren't getting very big, thankfully I have A LOT of them. I may have to plant them in looser soil next year.

Who knows what's happening to my bell peppers, they pretty much start melting before they are anywhere close to being ready to harvest. I have managed to get 2 or 3 that are useable. But the tomatoes and jalepenos are doing well. With the hot days, the tomatoes are ripening up really fast. I should soon have enough to make some fresh salsa

So on about our holiday weekend...

On Friday my sister Melissa, nephew Kell and her friend Megan came up to the lake. Shortly after they got there we went out on the boat with Rusty and Pam. Kell had a lot of fun, he let us throw him into the lake and he loved it. He really likes Rusty and of course his buddy Nic. Nearly everyone but me (the shorty) could touch the bottom, so I relied heavily on my life jacket to save my energy. After some fun in the sun Kell fell asleep on the boat and slept until we got back to the dock.

Me and Kell

Kell and Melissa, Kell looks upset but he really wasn't, was just not being photogenic.

Kell playing captain.

We have a little actor on our hands, someone got him with the water gun.

Nic, my skinny husband who's lost 3o lbs since winter.

Kell shooting Nic with the water gun.

Me and my bump, excuse the squished fatty arm. My arms have actually trimmed up since becoming pregnant.

Down for the count.

Melissa and Megan on the cigarette boat.

After dinner we went back out with Jason and Kim on their pontoon. Pam's grandson was there and I think the Wenninger in Kell came out and he started to show off his swimming abilities to his new friend. It was funny because earlier Kell would get in the water but would not swim.

Once it got dark, all around us people began shooting fireworks, so we got a pretty good pre-Fourth of July show. Kell was really enjoying watching them. When he'd see one, he'd throw his hand in the air and yell "YAY!" Then he got to where he was turning our heads with his hands to 'help' us see them.

While we were sitting there watching the fireworks, Nic started whispering sweet nothings in my ear. Just kidding! But we did chat a little and pretty much decided we're going to name our baby boy Bryce Owen (the middle name was a great suggestion off of Baby Center). We chose Bryce because it is the one name that we both agree on, and Owen is the Welsh alternate form of Nic's middle name Eugene.

 

The next day was the Fourth of July. Melissa had to take Kell back to Broken Arrow so he could spend the day with his dad, however she and Megan came back. Amanda joined our group on this day. The day started out cloudy and rainy. Surprisingly I was okay with the rain since it is much needed.

 

About 2 pm it cleared up and we went out with Frankie and Bryan. We first tried our hand at fishing but the fish were not biting, so we met up with some friends and hung out with them in a familiar area. This area is a group of trees out in the middle of the lake by Topper's and the water around it is very shallow, so we just tie up the boats and hang out in the water. It's good for kids because it's shallow.

After a few hours on the boat and swimming, we went back to our sites and grilled some chicken for dinner. I had made some potato salad the day before that we had with the chicken. Around 8pm we headed back out on the boat to watch Western Hills Resort's firework show down at the end of the lake by the dam. We met up with the Rash's and the Brown's who were on Jason Brown's dad's houseboat. They had invited us a long, but with 8 in our group we felt it would be imposing on them.

Some more photo bombing, while we wait for dinner to be ready.

Fara and I relaxing.

Nic and his women!

As soon as we got to the bay in front of Western Hills, we tied up next to the houseboat and anchored down. We soon notices there were some storms south of us, and Mother Nature was going to give us a fireworks show of her own. Fortunately we never had a drop of rain fall on us.

The Western Hills fireworks show was short and according to Nic not very impressive. Well after last year's show what did he truly expect?! This year the economy is in a slump so I didn't expect any improvements. I just enjoy the trip there, hanging out with friends, and watching the fireworks reflect off the lake. Sometimes I'm easy to please ...other times not so much!

Here's a few pictures from our Fourth of July evening.

Preparing to load up on the boat, of course we can't forget the ice chest.

Heading over to Western Hills

Nic and his two wives! LOL!

Of course I had to get a shot of the sunset. The picture doesn't do it justice.

The wild ones: Melissa, Megan and Amanda.

My bestfriend Amanda and me. I have a similar picture of Nic and our friend's son from last year.

The boat was rocking a lot so I had a hard time getting any good steady shots of the fireworks, even with the firework setting on my camera this about the only good one.

Sunday morning we were all slow getting out of bed. As usual I had to get up with Fara around 7am so she could do her business, then we crawled back in bed and didn't get back up until 9 or so. While I was trying to talk myself into getting up, I had my hands on my belly and sure enough I felt a thump against my hand. I was so excited that Nic can now be able to feel the baby kick/punch, however it's still small enough that it can move around a lot so the location of the kicks/punches are no consistent so Nic hasn't got to feel it yet. I just happened to be lucky my hand was where it as. Since then the movement has continued to be more thumps rather than flutters and I'm feeling it all over.

Of course I had to share this one of my sister Melissa from Sunday morning. It's just too funny not to share. We thought she looked like a troll doll!

I did finally pick out the crib bedding after looking at dozens of websites and probably hundreds of crib bedding sets. Most importantly I have also received Nic's approval on the set. I had another one picked out, but it was was twice as expensive than the one we're getting. Nic has always said I have expensive taste. I was looking for something neutral, definitely no blue, and this one is considered neutral but I think it's more boyish than girlish. I think it's just too cute. I've gone ahead and purchased it since it is not available in stores anywhere near here. I have posted a picture of the set below.

Now I need to work on getting the dresser and/or chest of drawers that match the crib before I get too big to be so mobile. It's a good thing you have 9 months to prepare for a baby, it is much needed.